Category: News

Part of FOLA’s charter is to keep an ear to the ground in order to keep current on what’s going on in our community and what residents are both pleased with as well as unhappy about. One subject, which lies just below the surface but seems to be a constant point for discussion, is why in the world do our City Council meetings last so long? Not only does it seem like they go on forever, but by the time they’re over, or at least it seems, it’s often past midnight and most of the attendees have departed for a good night’s sleep. For a small, mostly residential city of 30,000, we don’t exactly have the problems of a San Jose or San Francisco, so what could be taking so much time? Continue reading “So why do our City Council meetings last so long?”

Okay, before you know it election time will be upon us. No, we are not going to discuss the upcoming Presidential election ­— we would rather see and hear the fights that go on in your extended family than try tangling with anyone we aren’t tied to by birth or marriage. Our discussion here is about local politics, for better or worse.

We will try to provide some insight into both the election of Council members vying for the three open seats on the Los Altos City Council as well as the contest for Santa Clara County Board of Education. The what? Okay, let us cover the former in this article and the Board of Education in our next.  Continue reading “Ballot Blues – Election Season is Here, Los Altos Edition”

The purpose of this analysis is not to recommend a yes or no vote on Measure C. Rather, it is to provide some insight into the numerous objections to the Measure voiced by a group that claims that if Measure C were to pass, there would be an assault on representative democracy and generally create administrative chaos. In the preparation of this analysis, we have made an effort to collect all arguments advanced against Measure C, and then evaluate each. This collection of the arguments has incorporated a wide variety of sources. It is derived from the opposing ballot statements, newspaper letters to editors, lists from various groups, opposition mailers, candidate forums, and personal meetings. One of our board members has also traveled to San Francisco in order to meet with and interview the partner of the law firm that drafted Measure C in order to get his perspective.
Continue reading “Detailed Analysis of Measure C”

Vote No on Mordo? – should Mordo have to go?
Daily Post, Town Crier, and FOLA

On October 3, 2018, the Daily Post editorial made the following strong recommendation against re-electing Jean Mordo to the Los Altos City Council: Continue reading “Vote No on Mordo?”

Silicon Valley is about disruption and change. Move fast and break things. Los Altos isn’t. It’s about comfort and familiarity – an old friend. McMansions don’t live in our town – despite what some newcomers want when they initially show up with grandiose plans. The role of the Design Review Commission, as expressed by a long time commissioner, is to moderate the rate of change, thus allowing change at a pace that is comfortable, but incremental. Anyone walking through residential neighborhoods sees incremental change as 1950’s and 1960’s ranch houses are being replaced by single story modern and larger, but not overwhelming, two story homes.

Los Altos is about evolution, not revolution. Continue reading “Analysis of the 2018 Los Altos Election Results … Evolution, not Revolution”

Have you ever been to a carnival with a house of mirrors? You can make yourself look larger or even look like a crowd. Just a few people in the house of mirrors can look like a huge gathering. Here in Los Altos, special interests are doing the equivalent of a house of mirrors in the current City Council election. A small group of people is trying to appear as a large group of organizations who have reached a consensus on the best candidates. This small group is strongly pro-development and is not terribly interested in balancing the need for development versus what is best for the overall community. Continue reading “A House of Mirrors or Has Los Altos Politics Just Turned Dirty?”

Well Chris Harrison’s tagline, taken from the television show The Bachelor-ette, really applies to the election this year, both at the national as well as the local level. In Los Altos, the battle lines appear to be drawn with a fat marker between the “pro development” and the “resident-centric group” (or as some who favor aggressive development might say, “anti-development”). Continue reading “The most explosive season yet”

Why we should not rely on political parties to tell us who to vote for in City Council elections

Most of the more senior residents of Los Altos would probably agree that this presidential election is turning out to be more partisan, uglier and nastier than any in the last fifty years. But does that mean that our local elections for City Council members need to be partisan, ugly or nasty? We think not and we hope not. Continue reading “No Party this Year”

So this is part 2 of our series on the upcoming elections. Based on the feedback we have received from a number of you, we are pleased that our analysis is helpful as you think about City Council candidates and issues. Today’s edition is all about Santa Clara County Board of Education. The what?? Glad you asked. Continue reading “Ballot blues — the County Board of Education: What is it and why do I care?”

The 1993 film The Fugitive has an iconic scene where a freight train smashed into fugitive Richard Kimble’s (played by Harrison Ford) prisoner transport bus. After the impact the train derails, almost killing Kimble a second time. For those of us watching the Los Altos City Council meetings where the Community Center construction progress is being described, it brings back flashbacks of that movie and a train wreck happening before us, albeit in slow motion.

We know that readers often want us to tell them in twenty-five words or less what the problem is and what we want them to do about it. So instead of making you wait until the end of the article, let’s give you the short version of the story, which we sincerely hope doesn’t have a bad ending. Continue reading “The Community Center project – A train wreck in the making?”