Same Faces, Different Places                                                August 2003

Dianne Edmonds, LANN Co-President

Mike Abrams, LANN Co-President

Leslie Lodestro, Membership Chair

As LANN enters into its 4^th year, several changes are taking place on the Board. Same faces, yet different places for several key Board positions.

Leslie Lodestro, whose passion and vision took LANN from an idea with a small group of fellow residents meeting in her living room, to an organization of approximately. 500 members, is vacating the Presidents role to become Membership Chairperson. This change reflects her unselfish commitment to the organization, and her zest to fulfill one of LANN’s strategic goals: To double our membership. Leslie’s contributions as President are endless, as is her energy and dedication to Los Altos. Under Leslie’s vestige, LANN has helped countless residents navigate the rigors of City Hall, understand building and design guidelines and educate the Los Altos Community of several important issues. In her new role, Leslie will actively recruit new members and as well as increase LANN’s visibility throughout the community. Although this is something she has been doing as President, now without the administrative responsibilities that the Presidency carries, Leslie can focus solely on meeting the membership needs of LANN. "I’m looking forward to the challenge of growing our member base and can’t wait to get started!" she enthuses.

Replacing Leslie as Co-Presidents, (yes it takes 2 to fill Leslie’s shoes) are Dianne Edmonds and Mike Abrams. Dianne currently is LANN’s Treasurer. As Treasurer, Dianne has held the fiscal responsibility of overseeing the annual budget, membership dues collection and expense process. In addition, Dianne initiated the long term strategic and goal setting process the LANN Board undertook in 2002. According to Dianne, "This is an exciting opportunity to partner with Mike and build on Leslie’s successes. We have some immediate challenges such as energizing our current renewal process, filling several Board positions that are open or have terms expiring, as well as supporting Leslie in her new role. We are extremely grateful for the contributions of the existing Board members and advisors." Dianne and her husband, David Jaques, have lived in Los Altos for 7 years and they have 2 children, ages 3 years and 3 months.

Co-President Mike Abrams has been an advisor to LANN since 1999. Mike is no stranger to the community and leadership roles. His community service resume includes: PTA Co-President at Santa Rita School; Co-President Los Altos High School Parents Association; former board member of Los Altos Educational Foundation; member of Altos Cultural Association; as well as participating in numerous community fund raising initiatives. Mike and his wife Robin and their two daughters have lived in Los Altos since 1992. "I think all of us treasure the wonderful and unique community which Los Altos represents. LANN is a vehicle to ensure the community at large is focused on the issues, good and bad, that any community faces as it evolves.

The LANN Board feels extremely grateful and confident that the partnership of Dianne and Mike will meet the current needs of LANN and its members, as well as springboard LANN into a greater resource and organization within the Los Altos community.

Besides the usual applications for new two-story homes, we thought you’d be interested to know about the plan for a large apartment building on El Camino Real.

1.03-SC-27--M.Chen, H.M.C. Associates, LLP/ I. Agam--920 Madonna Way:  Consideration of design review for a new two story home. Project Planner: Kornfield

2.03-SC-28--M.Migdal--704 Covington Road: Consideration of design review for a new two-story home.  Project Planner: Rondash

3.03-SC-29--M. Migdal--710 Covington Road: Consideration of design review for a new two-story home. Project Planner: Rondash

4.03-SC-23--J. and H. Goodman--570 University Terrace: Consideration of design review to demolish an existing 3,177 square-foot two-story home and construct a new 5840 square-foot two-story home with an attached garage and a 616 square-foot second living unit.  Project Planner: Kornfield

5. 03-SC-30--S. and K. Canty--1730 Havenhurst Drive: Consideration of design review to demolish an existing single-story home and construct a new two-story home.

6. 03-D-01 ((03-UP-05)- J. Tze / El Camino Housing- 4444 and 4470 El Camino Real: Consideration  of commercial design review to: a)) demolish the existing restaurant building: and b) construct a new four story, 56-unit residential apartment complex with below grade parking. Project Planner: Banks

A couple of months ago I wrote a short article about my 15 year-old son being surrounded and hassled by a group of kids at the Mountain View Century Cinemas.  I was fairly concerned about the lack of supervision and security at the theater complex, especially during the summer evenings when lots of kids are out and about and able to get into mischief.  The Mountain View Police Department had the same impression---more security in the outdoor public areas would solve a lot of problems.

I'm happy to say that it appears that the Century Cinema management took the situation seriously, and there has been a noticeable increase in number of visible security personnel in and around the foyer area, both inside and out.  My son and his friends have returned for a number of evening movies this summer and there hasn't been a hint of the previous bad behavior.  This is a real credit to the theater.  They were able to move quickly to squelch a problem that could have ruined their reputation and their business, not to mention gotten someone seriously injured or worse.  Bottom line is, we're again comfortable with our son going to the Century theaters either alone or with friends.  Hats off to a business that has a responsible attitude towards the community and its obligations to its patrons.

Yes, it’s true—the Mountain View Los Altos High School District actually had extra bond money and to the thrill of many, chose to put in new athletic fields at both schools. However, the new fields will be made from synthetic material which causes some apprehension among those of us not familiar with today’s artificial turfs. So, as a football player’s parent, I decided to do some research.

Browsing several websites and reading many athletic department and sports center press releases; I discovered that artificial turf has made many improvements since the days of "AstroTurf" (now AstroPlay made by SRI Sports). Its use is much more widespread than just a few NFL stadiums, and safety statistics are much more promising.

Three of the top surfaces being used today are made by FieldTurf (Montreal), SRI Sports (Texas), and Sprinturf (Pennsylvania), with some 70 other companies joining the competition. Our schools have chosen Sprinturf. According to one site I looked at, Chris Daniluk, a regional sales manager with Sprinturf, was quoted as saying, "High school business has increased to about 75 percent of all sales for Sprinturf. We have seen 100 and 200 percent increases in revenue. We did three or four (high school) fields in 1997 and we’re doing 70 this year." That’s out of about 500 high schools currently putting in synthetic fields. Needless to say, artificial turf has become a booming and highly competitive business.

On their website, Sprinturf claims the following advantages: safest turf on Earth; feels and plays like natural grass; no rug burns or foot-lock; consistent performance rain or shine; all rubber infill—no sand; unlimited use 365 days a year; and cost effective and low maintenance. Sounds overstated and maybe it is, but I found many supporters among pro athletes, coaches, doctors, and administrators.

The top companies all claim fewer injuries on their surfaces compared to both earlier artificial field surfaces and natural grass fields. Besides safety, artificial surfaces have obvious cost savings in that they do not require watering, fertilization, or constant maintenance due to use and weather conditions. In fact, they allow for increased usage without reduction in quality. Additionally, materials are supposed to be more environmentally friendly, although I have not yet read anything that says what is to be done with the turf once it is used up (most have a 7-15 year lifespan.)

I’m hardly an expert, but I feel a lot more confident that our schools made a good choice. Hopefully, the new turf will eliminate certain injuries usually caused by inconsistent, wet or muddy fields. Hopefully, there will be cost benefits over the long haul. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to a high-spirited, fun, football season and I encourage high school families and neighbors alike to come out and support our teams this fall.

For further information, check the following websites: