Archive for July, 2009
Think twice about this weekend’s road trip
Long delays on I-80 this weekend
By Gary Richards
Monstrous delays are expected on Interstate 80 this weekend, as road construction and Reno’s Hot August Nights celebration could combine for a very slow drive into the Sierra mountains. Read this.
On Point: The case of the disappearing park
When Richard Bangert first realized that the park he had worked to keep in the development plan for Alameda Point had been taken off the map, his wife told him it must be a typo.
Back in 2002, when plans for a golf course and hotel had threatened what was called Alameda Point Park and public [...]
UPDATED On Point: The case of the disappearing park
Updated 1:21 p.m. Friday, July 31
When Richard Bangert first realized that the park he had worked to keep in the development plan for Alameda Point had been taken off the map, his wife told him it must be a typo.
Back in 2002, when plans for a golf course and hotel had threatened what was called [...]
Businesses appeal to public on school tax
Facing serious challenges to their lawsuits to invalidate Measure H, local businesses are taking their case against the school parcel tax to the public.
Steve Meckfessel, an owner of the marina at Marina Village, asked the school board and Superintendent Kirsten Vital to consider amending the tax in a half-page advertisement in this week’s Alameda Sun. [...]
UPDATED Businesses appeal to public on school tax
Updated 11:48 a.m. Friday, July 31
Facing serious challenges to their lawsuits to invalidate Measure H, local businesses are taking their case against the school parcel tax to the public.
Steve Meckfessel, an owner of the marina at Marina Village, asked the school board and Superintendent Kirsten Vital to consider amending the tax in a half-page advertisement [...]
Encore Saturdays concerts at Towne Centre
Alameda Towne Centre, which has been hosting free concerts every Thursday this summer, has added a series of Saturday shows that start this week and run through the month of August.
The free “Encore Saturdays” shows start this Saturday, August 1 with the Motown sounds of Pure Ecstasy. The lineup also includes salsa from Rumbuché, on [...]
Encore Saturdays concerts at Towne Centre
Alameda Towne Centre, which has been hosting free concerts every Thursday this summer, has added a series of Saturday shows that start this week and run through the month of August.
The free “Encore Saturdays” shows start this Saturday, August 1 with the Motown sounds of Pure Ecstasy. The lineup also includes salsa from Rumbuché, on [...]
Alameda Snapshot: Park Street Art and Wine
This week’s Alameda Snapshot is from the past weekend’s Park Street Art and Wine Fair. It was a great time with good food, beverages, shopping and people mingling out in the great weather.
Slideshow of more photos from Art and Wine.
Yogotuttifreshandfruity
Yeah, that’s the name of the new yogurt shop I’m opening up on Park Street. I plan on tiling the store in mosiac tile in some non-offensive pastel shade.
What I say next may be blasphemous for some, but I’m not so much a fan of the tart frozen yogurt. I sort of miss [...]
Green Living with Janet Marchant: Your Wonderful Green Bin!
Every Monday evening, my hubby has gone through the chore of dragging our family’s Gray Bin, Blue Bin, and Green Bin to the sidewalk. I am thankful that I have him to do this onerous task because they are too big and heavy for me to pull!
As I watched him out the window last week, I thought to myself how nice it was to have a green bin, but that we’ve got to do something about those other ones. Yes, I’m always thinking about how to be more green!
And then it struck me — Let’s just stop using the Blue and Gray bins!
If we put all of our weekly “output” into the green bin, we’ll be a greener family for it!
I called up ACI the next morning and I explained my idea. The nice man who answered the phone didn’t really understand what I was saying, but he finally caught on when I told him that I wanted to cancel the service for our Gray and Blue bins, and upgrade our Green bin to the EXTRA large size. I think then he finally got what I was talking about, and was glad to help adjust our service. A truck came just a couple of days later to do the exchange.
So now our family is doing Green-only waste management, and it feels great! I encourage all other Alamedans to do the same.
Just to give you a sense of what it’s like, I’ve kept track of what we put into our green bin for the last few days since we started. Here is a list:
- Kitchen scraps: banana peels, egg shells, coffee grounds, orange peels, moldy fruit, chicken bones, pork chops that we left in the refrigerator too long, and so on. I double-bagged these in some heavy- weight “Hefty Bags” so that it wouldn’t stink up the bin while it waited to be picked up.
- 3 or 4 hefty-bag-fulls of styrofoam packing peanuts that came with all the stuff we ordered from Wal-Mart.com, our favorite online store! (No need to double-bag these; they don’t smell bad at all!)
- Our daughter’s old bicycle. (Now that she’s going to be a kindergartner, she’s getting too old to be riding a bike; I don’t think she’ll miss it since I’ve been driving her to all her “summer camp” activities.) Fortunately the bike is small enough to fit into the XL-size bin!
- A couple of hefty bags full of empty containers like juice boxes, cereal boxes/bags, milk cartons, coke cans, and so on.
- Our last old-style “tube” TV. (Yipee! We’ve finally finished the transition to flat-screen now!)
- A big box of books and magazines that I’m done reading
- A whole bunch of mystery junk that I found under Chad’s bed when I finally got around to hauling out his room.
Anyhoo, all of this went into the Green Bin. It’s almost full and we have a few more days until pick-up, so I might have to order a second one. That’s OK – the more we put into the Green Bin, the more we are helping our Planet!
