From: Sunol Community
News
Save Our Sunol Column
December 1999
By: Pat Stillman
Words may show
a man’s wit
but actions his meaning
.... Benjamin Franklin
Save our Sunol celebrated the holidays with a delicious dinner, catered by Sunolian Julie Lesher of Julie’s Cafe, for our November 29th meeting. The cafeteria at Sunol Glen School glowed with candlelight, lush greenery, holly boughs and wonderful food and warm friendships. A surprise birthday cake and gifts for Bart were presented by Bree James and Steve Doyle. The festivities preceded our last SOS meeting for 1999. Many thanks to Julie Lesher, Nancy Davis, Bree James Diane Tiessen, Rosemary Chang, Steve Doyle, Cindy Frillman and Dan Williams for their hard work and creative endeavors.
Lena Ch’en, SFPUC architect and project manager for the Water Temple restoration, gave us a project update. The reconstruction has been complicated by the non-uniformity of columns—some are partially hollow while others are solid—and the amount of deterioration from the elements over time. This will mean that restoration completion will probably be in early June. We will plan a celebration for this event.
Last year we agreed to postpone elections for SOS officers and board members until we had received our non-profit status with the IRS. We now have this status and will hold an elelction for officers and board members at our January meeting. A nominating committee was unaninously elected consisting of Bree James, Diane Tiessen and Stephan Doyle. Committee members are eligible to be nominated as an officer or board member. Voting members will need to pay next year’s dues at or before our January meeting. Dues are $15 for individuals or $25 for couples.
The SF EIR for the Watershed Resource Management Plan, including the quarry proposal, will be available after the first of the year. There will be meetings and public hearings with much needed input from all of us. The SF mayoral election will be held on December 14, 1999. Mayor Brown has expressed his interest and support for us in the past and Supervisor Ammiano is noted for his concerns for the environment and education. We are hopeful that Alternative S, the plan SOS designed for the land surrounding the temple, will prevail.
The SFPUC has some important changes. Anson Moran, the General Manager of the Commission, is retiring at the end of the year. Also, Tim Dayonot, Director for Government and Community Affairs, has accepted an appointment from Governor Gray Davis to head the Department of Community Resources and Development. We congratulate Tim but will sorely miss him. He came to Sunol many times and was the coordinator for the great Temple Restoration Celebration.
It has been suggested by some residents that a town meeting be planned for citizens to voice their opinions on future planning for Sunol. Recently, there were some concerns about locating an industrial building in the midst of a residential section. This controvery led to discussions at a recent Sunol Advisory Group meeting about zoning and other appropriate uses. SOS has been asked to sponsor the town meeting. We selected Jim O’Laughlin, Bree James, Neil Davies and Andrew Turnbull to serve as a committee to make the necessary arrangements.
An Open Space Initiative
is being written that will protect Sunol and other County unincorporated
areas from development. It also prohibits further strip mining of Sunol
and offers protection from additional environmental pollution to our school
children. It is a grass roots initiative that places development within
city boundaries where services are available thus preventing the spread
of urban sprawl.
The next SOS meeting will be Monday, January 24, at 7:30 pm in the Sunol
Glen School cafeteria.
Photo courtesy of SFPUC |
Photo by Rosemary Chang |
Photo by Rosemary Chang |