On July 5^th my dad passed away. It was peaceful and not unexpected and from everything I learned through our hospice program our family and my dad had the best possible situation. We did not disagree about his care and we had enough money to hire excellent and loving help. My sister and I live close by with our wonderful, patient husbands and we both enjoy lifestyles that afforded us the honor of being with our dad daily as he weakened. My step-mother was a pillar of optimism and hope filling everyday with an energy that kept pulling us forward. Still with all that we had going for us, the end was a dull thud cloaked in a murky, thick film of depression for me.

I suddenly understood all the ads I had seen on television…the little cartoon characters trotting about with wilted flowers chasing a colorful Paxil pill complete with wings. I was content to stay in my bedroom watching these ads along with every episode of Trading Spaces that I could store in my TiVo. Things that used to delight me; a good run around the Stanford dish, planning a special dinner for my family, suddenly held all the allure of cleaning out the coat closet.

LANN was low on my list of things to hurry back to.

We muddled through my dad’s memorial service and the reception afterwards. I launched our relatives back home on their planes and hurried back to the comfort of my clicker and home improvement shows.

The week after my dad died I received a phone message on the LANN phone extension from a member. Charles Wilson had called. He said he had a problem and he needed help. I ignored the call finding the problem of how to cost-effectively replace the soiled carpet in the master bedroom of the Design on a Dime episode far more riveting.

Mr. Wilson called again. I was grieving and any problem Mr. Wilson had could not possibly compare to the fabric shortage being experienced by the television design team as they sewed their paisley slipcover. My husband let me know the next day that a "Charles Wilson" had left me a message on our personal phone line.

I finally hauled myself off the bed and staggered out into the daylight in the hallway. I dialed the number for Mr. Wilson. I left him a message and he called me right back. The Lutheran church with which he shared a property line was proposing the installation of a wireless, satellite antenna on their property. Mr. Wilson and his neighbors were concerned about the potential radioactive exposure from such a tower and they felt they were not being heard. I sent an email to David Kornfield, a Senior Planner in the City’s building department. He emailed right back assuring me that the Church had put the project on hold because of neighbor’s concerns and that any future proposals would be communicated to the neighborhood and be subject to planning commission hearings for approval. I called Mr. Wilson and shared a copy of David Kornfield’s response with him. The whole solution took 30 minutes including the drive time over to Mr. Wilson’s house with the paper copy of the email.

That simple act of helping a LANN member left me buoyant. This most unusual elixir lifted my depression in less time than it would have taken the T.V. Home and Garden team to install that new lighting fixture over the bathroom vanity. The prescription of volunteering is cheap compared to the hourly rate of a therapist or the anti-depressant medicines on the market.

I have had an epiphany since I took my volunteering tonic. In my father’s last months, as he lay in bed too sick to get up, he continued his good works. He was helping one couple negotiate a tricky property tax problem, pro-bono. He worked daily on securing funding for the Community Working Group to help the homeless in Palo Alto. He wrestled with an insurance company on behalf of my cousin Greg, an extreme sport photographer, who lost his camera gear on a mountaintop during a helicopter rescue. We kept encouraging dad to rest. We told him that no one expected him to continue with these projects, that everyone would understand if he stopped.

Now I know why he couldn’t stop. All the chemo in the world could not make him feel the way performing an act of service could. He felt useful, energized and better when he was helping others. It was the way he lived his life right up to his last days. His way of coping through acts of kindness explains why some of his worst days were better than some of my best.

I am still sad and that will be with me for the rest of my life, but the fog of indifference that was keeping me from enjoying life’s simplest pleasures has lifted and I will never again underestimate the power of performing a charitable act.

The quality of life in many Los Altos neighborhoods has been significantly degraded by cut-through

traffic, most of which speeds. One neighborhood in particular has been trying to do something about

its excess traffic since before 1999. Some refer to it as the "El Monte Corridor." Almond Avenue,

Springer Road, Cuesta Avenue and San Antonio border this neighborhood. The area is characterized by:

0. Motorists using local streets to bypass choke points along the expressway, the arterials and collector roads.
1. Motorists exceeding the posted 25-mph speed limit along the local streets and collectors.

The City hired TJKM Transportation Consultants of Pleasanton in April 2000 to analyze and make recommendations for El Monte Avenue. After 1½ years of study and neighborhood work sessions, traffic calming solutions were proposed for the entire length of El Monte, from Foothill Expressway to Springer Road. The solutions, costing in excess of $1M, were well beyond the City’s $150,000 capital expenditure budget for traffic calming.

The former chair of the Neighborhood Traffic Advisory Task Force, Kurt Ayers, has come up with a simple, effective, low cost solution that permanently addresses cut-through motorists speeding through the area’s local streets off of El Monte. His proposal recommends the installation of 4 barriers, strategically placed, to eliminate the vast majority of traffic issues currently being expressed by residents of the area. The benefits to closing off the four streets in the proposal include:

0. Functionality – barriers would eliminate the majority of cut-through traffic, including those vehicles that speed.

0. Low cost – this solution is one of the lowest cost traffic calming implementations available.

0. Ease of implementation – installation is simple, straightforward and quick to install.

0. Restoration of neighborhoods - allowing residents and children to utilize there front yards and streets in a more safe and quiet environment.

0. Promote safe bicycling and pedestrian activity, hopefully reducing overall vehicle usage.

0. Reduction of overall traffic at the crosswalk at the back of Almond Elementary School.

0. If implemented correctly, emergency responders such as fire trucks can drive over the barriers (as well as service providers such as garbage and recyclable pickup).

The proposal is not a radical idea. The residents of Palo Alto’s College Terrace implemented a similar solution back in the 1980s. The results -- most of the cut-through traffic between Stanford Ave., El Camino Real and California Ave. was eliminated. The neighborhood has flourished, as is evident by the activities found on their association web site (www.ctra.org).

The Los Altos city council asked staff to spend 8 hours evaluating Mr. Ayers’ proposal and make a recommendation. The evaluation was that the plan would have significant impacts on traffic and that these impacts should be thoroughly studied before moving forward. The recommendation was to consider a capital expenditure item in 2004/2005-budget cycle to hire a consultant to evaluate Mr. Ayer’s proposal. Considering the tight economic environment, the recommendation may have made good business sense. The frustration is that the residents along the El Monte corridor have been asking for help in reducing cut-through traffic and speeding through their neighborhood streets for 5 years. Some of these residents continue to ask is the City really serious about traffic calming.

For further information on the proposal, including the suggested location of the street closure or for a complete copy of the proposal via e-mail, contact Kurt Ayers at kurtayers@earthlink.net.

Two non-housing items are pending before the Planning Commission. The plans for the First Street post office renovation, referred to in our June newsletter, include a 15,500 square foot second story office over the existing post office, a parking garage on the north side of the existing post office including one level at-grade and one level below-grade, plus 20, loft-style, multiple-family residential units above the parking garage. David Kornfield is the project planner, so if you are interested call him directly at @ 947-2632.

The other non-housing item (of more-than-average interest) is item #6 on our list below.  Looks like Bandara’s is looking to increase their hours, open before 4:30pm and serve lunch. Questions? Call the Planning Department @ 947-2750.

LANN is marking the end of its 3rd year and eager to continue to work on our mission: Preserving the small town character of Los Altos neighborhoods. 

Please join us in this effort by simply renewing your membership with LANN.  Please take a moment and look at your address label and note if 06/03 or 07/03 is in the right hand corner.  This is our way of noting that your membership is up for renewal.  LANN has made a positive influence in a short period time and we would like to continue to serve our members by continuing our effort of fulfilling our mission. 

Thank you!