The Barron Park Association

City Council Directed Study of CPI Hazards

 CPI Toxic Fumes and Hazardous Chemicals, Emergency Preparation, Environment  No Responses »
Jul 302012
 
Curtis Williams (Director of Planning) has released the Request for Proposals (RFP) the City prepared to secure the services of a consultant to implement the City Council motion of June 4. The motion had two parts: 1) conduct an independent evaluation of CPI Hazardous Materials, and 2) provide input on Zoning and Fire Code issues. The RFP was issued on July 13th
  
Summary of key features –  
…..schedule – work would start at the end of August, and be completed by next February. Adherence to the schedule requires the full cooperation of CPI ; their legal representative at the June 4th meeting promised this; we shall see if they follow through and agree with the terms required for full disclosure of their materials to the consultant within the confidentiality clauses of the contract.
…..work involved  – two tasks: one to assess the risks associated with the hazardous materials at CPI (to be completed within 90 days of start of work), and the second to advise the City on Zoning and Fire Code issues.
…..meetings with residents –  first task involves at least 2 meetings with residents.
…..independence from industry and a track record working with public groups  : The qualifications state: “….The City of Palo Alto is seeking an experienced hazardous materials consultant who can demonstrate his/her technical competence to complete the required analyses and his/her impartiality and independence from local industries (and industry in general) that use  such materials.” The proposal response is to ”  Include a list of clients and/or related projects completed during the past five  years….AND…List experience working with public agencies and in public communications, such as neighborhood or community meetings, and advising Planning Commissions,  City Councils, and or other local government policy-makers.”
Here is a reference for some background on the 2006 toxic fume release and risks to residents from the  extremely hazardous materials at CPI.

Barron Park will be seeing green along Matadero

 City Actions and Activities in Barron Park, Public Works and Utilities Info  No Responses »
Jul 302012
 

The old Matadero water well site has been getting a complete makeover thanks to the City’s decision to use this well as part of the system that would provide emergency water to the public in the event of a natural disaster and a cutoff of the Hetch Hetchy supply. The project has required the BPA to put on hold its plan to beautify the area adjacent to the well site that included placing some benches.

The site along Matadero, near the intersection with Josina, is currently an eyesore. A photo taken today shows some very large white pipes and associated plumbing systems, surrounded by construction forms where a concrete pad is about to be poured.  Once in place, the pad will support a number of large electrical control cabinets, and the entire site will be enclosed by a new wire fence.

Matadero Well Site – July 30, 2012

However, the  appearance of the pipes and pumps and cabinets will be enhanced once all equipment is in place, thanks a group of determined BPA Board members, led by President Lynnie Melena. Continue reading »

Starbucks Drive-Thru Grand Opening

 Barron Park Business  1 Response »
Jul 302012
 

Love them or not – Starbucks Drive-Thru on El Camino is open. The Daily Post had an advertisement announcing their “Grand Opening Celebration” on Tuesday July 31st 10 AM to 11 AM.
The article didn’t say whether or not you had to drive your car through to celebrate or could use your bike….or  just walk in.

AT&T’s proposed DAS cell phone antennas in Barron Park

 City Actions and Activities in Barron Park, Public Works and Utilities Info  No Responses »
Jul 302012
 

A report by Doug Moran..with his updated Map of Proposed Towers (July 2012)

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=209482381320120716761.0004a3aa50f14ecb36fa0&msa=0

Report from the AT&T Open House June 20 on proposed DAS cell phone antennas for Barron Park (and elsewhere). Barron Park attendees included me, Art Liberman and Bob Moss (and possibly others).

AT&T had two engineers there who could answer the sorts of questions mentioned in the earlier messages (one that we had asked over a year ago). The engineer we were talking to said that this was the first time anyone had asked him about these sort of details, so apparently Barron Park _is_ different. Below is the info gathered.

1. The City’s database of cell towers had multiple errors. The relevant one was that it didn’t show AT&T using the tower at the VA Hospital (I have updated my map to reflect this).  This tower provides coverage for much of western Barron Park. The proposed DAS antennas in BP follow the contour of the limits of the coverage of that antenna. EXCEPT, the antenna at the top of Matadero is intended to provide coverage for the nearby section of the Research Park. For the small coverage areas that DAS is intended for, AT&T prefers to put the antennas on telephone poles because those poles already have the high capacity link (optical fiber) to their network node, whereas adding an antenna to the roof of a commercial building involves significant costs for the additional cabling. I didn’t get an explanation for the Chimalus site (because we had already monopolized the engineer too much).

Continue reading »

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