2011-04-26 "Pediatricians Warn EPA is Not Protecting U.S. Kids from Thousands of Toxins" by Angela Braun
[http://www.care2.com/causes/health-policy/blog/pediatricians-warn-epa-is-not-protecting-u-s-kids-from-toxins/]
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a statement [http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/apr2511studies.htm] yesterday, warning that children and pregnant mothers are being exposed to tens of thousands of potentially hazardous chemicals and that the Environmental Protection Agency needs to take immediate action for their regulation:
"The American Academy of Pediatrics is calling for an overhaul of the nation's chemical management policy because the current system fails to protect children and pregnant women, who are most vulnerable to hazardous chemical exposures. Over the past few decades, tens of thousands of new chemicals have been introduced into the environment, often in extremely large quantities. But the primary federal law that governs chemical management in the U.S. – the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) – has not undergone any meaningful revision since it was first passed in 1976, and since then, the TSCA has been used to regulate only five chemicals or chemical classes."
Other medical organizations, including the AMA, the Children's Health Advocacy Institute, the American Nurses' Association and the American Public Health Association, have all issued similar statements criticizing the gravely flawed TSCA and calling for its overhaul.
Under current TSCA law, countless potential toxins are un- or under-regulated, including common items that have become part of most children and adults' everyday lives: food additives, pesticides, dental resins, BPA-free alternative plastics, dyes and common construction materials.
2011-04-21 "Pesticide Exposure Before Birth Linked to Lower IQ in Kids" by Rachael Rettner
[http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20110421/sc_livescience/pesticideexposurebeforebirthlinkedtoloweriqinkids]
Exposure to pesticides in the womb may harm a baby's brain and hinder the child's intelligence, according to three new studies published today (April 21).
All the studies found a link between prenatal pesticide exposure and lower IQ scores at age 7. One study found children with the highest levels of exposure in the womb scored 7 points lower on an IQ test than those who had the lowest levels of exposure.
That IQ drop is equivalent to a 7-year-old performing as if they were 6 1/2 years old, said Brenda Eskenazi, a professor of epidemiology and maternal and child health at the University of California, Berkeley, who led one of the studies.
Eating foods that have been treated with pesticides is one way a fetus can be exposed to these chemicals.
The findings do not appear to be limited to one region of the country or to rural environments -- two studies were conducted in urban areas of New York and one in an agricultural town in Northern California.
It's important to note the studies only show an association, and not a direct cause-effect link, between pesticide exposure and intelligence. But if these chemicals really do have an effect on IQ, they could impact a child's ability to learn and could result in more children requiring special services in school, the researchers say.
Pesticide use in the United States has gone down since the women in the study were pregnant more than 10 years ago. This means the children of pregnant women today might be at lower risk for pesticide exposure than those in the study.
Pregnant women can reduce their unborn child's pesticide exposure by thoroughly washing fruits and vegetables, using a soft brush, if practical. Eating organic foods, which are grown without synthetic pesticides, can also limit exposure.
The studies were published in the April 21 issue of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
Pesticides and pregnancy -
Pesticides known as organophosphates are widely used on food crops and some are approved for use in home gardens. These chemicals are known to be toxic to nerve cells -- they may affect the way brain cells communicate -- and indoor use of some organophosphates has been phased out due to the health risks they pose to children. The developing brains of children are more susceptible to pesticides' toxic effects, the researchers say.
Eskenazi and her colleagues collected urine samples from women who were pregnant in 1999 and 2000. The samples were tested for a breakdown product of organophosphates. Samples were also collected and tested from the children when they were 6 months old until age 5.
At age 7,329 children took an IQ test designed to assess verbal comprehension, reasoning skills, working memory and the speed at which they processed information.
Every tenfold increase in the concentration of organophosphates detected during a mother's pregnancy corresponded to a 5.5 point drop in overall IQ scores, the researchers found.
The results held even after the researchers took into account other factors that could influence the child's IQ score, including the mother's education, family income and exposure to other environmental contaminants, including DDT, lead and flame retardants.
There was no link between exposure to pesticides after birth and the child's IQ score. This may mean a baby's exposure to chemicals while in the womb has a greater impact on brain development than exposure during childhood.
One of the New York studies, conducted by researchers at Mount Sinai Medical Center, found that organophosphates had a particularly strong effect on children's reasoning skills. The other New York study, by researchers at Columbia University, found a link between pesticide levels in umbilical blood and a decrease in the child's IQ and memory scores.
Other pesticide sources -
The levels of pesticides in the urine of the pregnant mothers in Eskenazi's study were somewhat higher than those seen in the average U.S. population, but they are realistic levels, she said. About 25 percent of pregnant women in a national study had pesticide levels higher than those seen in the study.
In addition to exposure from foods, people can be exposed to pesticides around their homes, schools and other buildings. Farm workers, gardeners and florists are among those who might have a greater exposure to pesticides than the general population.
The researchers recommend consumers lower their use of pesticides at home, noting that most home and garden pests can be controlled without using those chemicals.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
2011-04-26 "Santa Rosa: 2 hurt in chemical blast at Agilent"
by Henry K. Lee from "San Francisco Chronicle" [http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Santa-Rosa-2-hurt-in-chemical-blast-at-Agilent-2373680.php]:
(04-26) 13:24 PDT SANTA ROSA --
Two people were injured, one critically, in a chemical explosion Tuesday at a Santa Rosa company, authorities said.
The blast happened at Agilent Technologies on Fountaingrove Parkway at about 10:30 a.m. and forced the evacuation of more than 100 employees. A determination is expected to be made today on whether the building is deemed safe so employees can return, said company spokesman Jeff Weber.
A male Agilent engineering employee who was working on a machine suffered critical injuries in the blast and was transported to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where he was being treated for burns on his face Tuesday night, Weber said.
A woman who is employed by another company and works at the Agilent campus suffered a minor head injury from falling objects, Weber said. A chemical buildup on the bottom floor of one of the company's four buildings caused the explosion, Weber said.
(04-26) 13:24 PDT SANTA ROSA --
Two people were injured, one critically, in a chemical explosion Tuesday at a Santa Rosa company, authorities said.
The blast happened at Agilent Technologies on Fountaingrove Parkway at about 10:30 a.m. and forced the evacuation of more than 100 employees. A determination is expected to be made today on whether the building is deemed safe so employees can return, said company spokesman Jeff Weber.
A male Agilent engineering employee who was working on a machine suffered critical injuries in the blast and was transported to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where he was being treated for burns on his face Tuesday night, Weber said.
A woman who is employed by another company and works at the Agilent campus suffered a minor head injury from falling objects, Weber said. A chemical buildup on the bottom floor of one of the company's four buildings caused the explosion, Weber said.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
2011-04-20 "Bottom feeders: A novel way of dealing with an unpleasant problem"
[http://www.economist.com/node/18584104]
DESPITE their name, disposable nappies are notoriously difficult to dispose of. Studies of landfills suggest they may take centuries to rot away. But Alethia Vázquez-Morillas of the Autonomous Metropolitan University in Mexico City thinks she has found a method of speeding the process up.
As she and her colleagues describe in Waste Management, cultivating the right type of mushroom on soiled nappies can break down 90% of the material they are made of within two months. Within four, they are degraded completely. What is more, she says, despite their unsavoury diet the fungi in question, Pleurotus ostreatus (better known as oyster mushrooms), are safe to eat. To prove the point she has, indeed, eaten them.
The culinary use of oyster mushrooms was one reason why she picked them for the experiment. The species is frequently used in stir-fries and is often added to soups. The other reason was that Pleurotus ostreatus is widely used in what is known as mycoremediation—the deployment of fungi to clean up waste. It is, for example, already grown on agricultural materials such as wheat and barley straw, and industrial waste like coffee grounds and the leftovers from making tequila. Dr Vázquez-Morillas and her colleagues were trying to extend the oyster mushroom’s own culinary range.
The reason nappies are difficult to break down has nothing to do with their use. Even a clean nappy would hang around for a long time in a dump. The main ingredient of a nappy is cellulose, an annoyingly persistent material. Pleurotus, however, grows on dead or dying trees in the wild and is thus well provided with enzymes that break cellulose down. And, since Mexicans alone throw away 5 billion nappies every year, there is plenty of material from this source for them to get their mycelia into.
The idea that the result might be sold and eaten may be controversial but it is not absurd. The nappies the researchers used were contaminated only with urine, not faeces. A healthy person’s urine is sterile and Dr Vázquez-Morillas also treated the nappies with steam, to make sure. Such treatment would kill the nasty bugs in faeces, too, though, so mushrooms grown on treated nappies should, in theory, be safe to eat.
In practice, overcoming the yuck factor might be an insuperable barrier to marketing nappy-grown fungi, and the cost of the steam treatment could make the exercise futile. Mycoremediation of this sort does not, however, depend for its success on selling the results. Merely getting rid of what would otherwise hang around indefinitely is worthwhile. And of the fungi themselves, Dr Vázquez-Morillas observes, “they are cleaner than most of the vegetables you can find in the market, at least in Mexico.”
[http://www.economist.com/node/18584104]
DESPITE their name, disposable nappies are notoriously difficult to dispose of. Studies of landfills suggest they may take centuries to rot away. But Alethia Vázquez-Morillas of the Autonomous Metropolitan University in Mexico City thinks she has found a method of speeding the process up.
As she and her colleagues describe in Waste Management, cultivating the right type of mushroom on soiled nappies can break down 90% of the material they are made of within two months. Within four, they are degraded completely. What is more, she says, despite their unsavoury diet the fungi in question, Pleurotus ostreatus (better known as oyster mushrooms), are safe to eat. To prove the point she has, indeed, eaten them.
The culinary use of oyster mushrooms was one reason why she picked them for the experiment. The species is frequently used in stir-fries and is often added to soups. The other reason was that Pleurotus ostreatus is widely used in what is known as mycoremediation—the deployment of fungi to clean up waste. It is, for example, already grown on agricultural materials such as wheat and barley straw, and industrial waste like coffee grounds and the leftovers from making tequila. Dr Vázquez-Morillas and her colleagues were trying to extend the oyster mushroom’s own culinary range.
The reason nappies are difficult to break down has nothing to do with their use. Even a clean nappy would hang around for a long time in a dump. The main ingredient of a nappy is cellulose, an annoyingly persistent material. Pleurotus, however, grows on dead or dying trees in the wild and is thus well provided with enzymes that break cellulose down. And, since Mexicans alone throw away 5 billion nappies every year, there is plenty of material from this source for them to get their mycelia into.
The idea that the result might be sold and eaten may be controversial but it is not absurd. The nappies the researchers used were contaminated only with urine, not faeces. A healthy person’s urine is sterile and Dr Vázquez-Morillas also treated the nappies with steam, to make sure. Such treatment would kill the nasty bugs in faeces, too, though, so mushrooms grown on treated nappies should, in theory, be safe to eat.
In practice, overcoming the yuck factor might be an insuperable barrier to marketing nappy-grown fungi, and the cost of the steam treatment could make the exercise futile. Mycoremediation of this sort does not, however, depend for its success on selling the results. Merely getting rid of what would otherwise hang around indefinitely is worthwhile. And of the fungi themselves, Dr Vázquez-Morillas observes, “they are cleaner than most of the vegetables you can find in the market, at least in Mexico.”
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
"Working to Keep Sewage Out of the Bay" by Deb Self, Executive Director of SAN FRANCISCO BAYKEEPER
[http://baykeeper.org/news/column/working-keep-sewage-out-bay]
From the April 2011 edition of Bay Crossings
At the time of this writing, this year’s rainy season had already brought nine million gallons of raw sewage to Bay Area waterways, and a stunning 125 million gallons of undertreated sewage from the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) plants at Point Isabel and in Oakland.
Many people don’t realize that the Bay Area has such an old-fashioned public health threat. Sewage overflows can contain harmful bacteria, disease-causing pathogens, and toxic chemicals that hurt fish, sea lions, birds, and even swimmers in the Bay.
The spills and overflows are a direct result of long-deferred maintenance by cities throughout the Bay Area. Most of the cities surrounding San Francisco Bay have aging sewer infrastructure with cracked and leaking pipes that let in rain water, which leads to overflows at treatment plants. This situation also leads to sewage spills in neighborhoods, where backed up sewage erupts from manhole covers and then runs into storm drains that transport the raw sewage directly to the Bay. For the most part, Bay Area cities have delayed their capital improvement projects for years and abandoned routine maintenance work, making the problem even worse—and ultimately adding unnecessary costs.
To compel cities to engage with these essential public services, Baykeeper has brought a series of legal actions over the past decade to turn some of the worst performing sewage agencies in the Bay Area into some of the best. Recently, we reached a major milestone in United States v. City of Alameda, et. al—a lawsuit with EPA against the cities of Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland, Piedmont, and the Stege Sanitary District, which serves El Cerrito, Kensington and the Richmond Annex.
Under an agreement lodged with the Federal Court last month, all of the cities have committed to drastically reducing their frequent sewer overflows by establishing aggressive inspection and maintenance programs and fixing broken pipes to stop infiltrated rain water from overwhelming EBMUD’s treatment plant. Ultimately, the agreement should stop the routine wet-weather overflows of hundreds of millions of gallons of undertreated wastewater into San Francisco Bay.
On the Peninsula, Baykeeper also settled lawsuits against the cities of San Carlos, Millbrae and South San Francisco in the past year. These three cities are now on a tight timeframe to invest tens of millions of dollars on system-wide improvements that will reduce the number of sewage spills and overflows to popular recreation areas in the South Bay, and create green jobs in the process. The cases also resulted in the cities providing a combined $975,000 in lieu of penalties to other local community groups for projects to improve water quality in the Bay Area.
Major sewage system upgrades are also underway in Richmond, Burlingame, and Hillsborough, Burlingame Hills and East Bay Municipal Utility District as a result of previous settlements with Baykeeper. Legal action is ongoing against the West Bay Sanitary District, which serves the cities of Menlo Park, Atherton, and Portola Valley, and areas of East Palo Alto, Woodside and unincorporated San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.
[http://baykeeper.org/news/column/working-keep-sewage-out-bay]
From the April 2011 edition of Bay Crossings
At the time of this writing, this year’s rainy season had already brought nine million gallons of raw sewage to Bay Area waterways, and a stunning 125 million gallons of undertreated sewage from the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) plants at Point Isabel and in Oakland.
Many people don’t realize that the Bay Area has such an old-fashioned public health threat. Sewage overflows can contain harmful bacteria, disease-causing pathogens, and toxic chemicals that hurt fish, sea lions, birds, and even swimmers in the Bay.
The spills and overflows are a direct result of long-deferred maintenance by cities throughout the Bay Area. Most of the cities surrounding San Francisco Bay have aging sewer infrastructure with cracked and leaking pipes that let in rain water, which leads to overflows at treatment plants. This situation also leads to sewage spills in neighborhoods, where backed up sewage erupts from manhole covers and then runs into storm drains that transport the raw sewage directly to the Bay. For the most part, Bay Area cities have delayed their capital improvement projects for years and abandoned routine maintenance work, making the problem even worse—and ultimately adding unnecessary costs.
To compel cities to engage with these essential public services, Baykeeper has brought a series of legal actions over the past decade to turn some of the worst performing sewage agencies in the Bay Area into some of the best. Recently, we reached a major milestone in United States v. City of Alameda, et. al—a lawsuit with EPA against the cities of Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland, Piedmont, and the Stege Sanitary District, which serves El Cerrito, Kensington and the Richmond Annex.
Under an agreement lodged with the Federal Court last month, all of the cities have committed to drastically reducing their frequent sewer overflows by establishing aggressive inspection and maintenance programs and fixing broken pipes to stop infiltrated rain water from overwhelming EBMUD’s treatment plant. Ultimately, the agreement should stop the routine wet-weather overflows of hundreds of millions of gallons of undertreated wastewater into San Francisco Bay.
On the Peninsula, Baykeeper also settled lawsuits against the cities of San Carlos, Millbrae and South San Francisco in the past year. These three cities are now on a tight timeframe to invest tens of millions of dollars on system-wide improvements that will reduce the number of sewage spills and overflows to popular recreation areas in the South Bay, and create green jobs in the process. The cases also resulted in the cities providing a combined $975,000 in lieu of penalties to other local community groups for projects to improve water quality in the Bay Area.
Major sewage system upgrades are also underway in Richmond, Burlingame, and Hillsborough, Burlingame Hills and East Bay Municipal Utility District as a result of previous settlements with Baykeeper. Legal action is ongoing against the West Bay Sanitary District, which serves the cities of Menlo Park, Atherton, and Portola Valley, and areas of East Palo Alto, Woodside and unincorporated San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Nuclear Power is Anti-Life
2011-04-08 "Strawberries, mushrooms with Cesium-137 found in Northern California; 5 of 6 items in food chain sampling test have radioactive particles"
[http://enenews.com/strawberries-mushrooms-with-cesium-137-found-in-northern-california-5-out-of-6-items-in-food-chain-sampling-test-have-radioactive-particles]
UCB Food Chain Sampling Results, University of California, Berkeley Department of Nuclear Engineering [http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/2525]:
Six items were tested: spinach, strawberries, cilantro, topsoil, grass, and mushrooms. Measured in Becquerel per kilogram.
* Wild Mushrooms, Collected April 2 in Alameda, CA:
I131 @ 8.4 Bq/kg
Cs134 @ .63 Bq/kg
Cs137 @ .47 Bq/kg
* Strawberries, “Best By” Date of April 1, Location Unknown :
I131@ 2.5 Bq/kg
Cs134 @ .69 Bq/kg
Cs137 @ .67 Bq/kg
* Grass, Collected April 3 in Alameda, CA:
I131 @ 9.8 Bq/kg
Cs134 @ 6.9 Bq/kg
Cs137 @ 6.9 Bq/kg
*Spinach, “Best By” Date of April 8, Location Unknown:
I131 @ 2.8 Bq/kg
* Topsoil, Collected April 6 in Alameda, CA:
I131 @ 12.5 Bq/kg
Cs134 @ .99 Bq/kg
Cs137 @ 1.5 Bq/kg
* No radionuclides were found in Cilantro from an unknown location
Read the report here [http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/2525].
Guidance Levels for Radionuclides in Domestic and Imported Foods, Food and Drug Administration, July 2004 [http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/FoodContaminantsAdulteration/ChemicalContaminants/Radionuclides/UCM078341]:
For infants the FDA set the level of concern at 55 Bq/kg of Iodine-131.
Table 8 - Derived Intervention Levels (Bq/kg)
(radionuclide groups, most limiting of all diets)
Radionuclide Group Derived Intervention Levels
Sr-90 160 (15 years)
I-131 170 (1 year)
Cs group 1200 (adult)
Ru-103(a) 6800 (3 months)
Ru-106(a) 450 (3 months)
Pu + Am group 2 (3 months)
(a)Due to large differences in DILs for Ru-103 and Ru-106, the individual concentrations of Ru-103 and Ru-106, the individual concentrations of Ru-103 and Ru-106 are divided by their respective DILs and summed. The DIL for the Ruthenium group is set at less than one.
* Latest UCB test results: First time radioactive cesium found in spinach, arugala, and kale around San Francisco Bay area [http://enenews.com/latest-ucb-test-results-first-time-radioactive-cesium-found-arugala-kale-spinach-around-san-francisco]
* Human embryos in US likely bioaccumulating radioactive iodine, cesium, and strontium says physician who taught at Harvard Med School [http://enenews.com/human-embryos-bioaccumulating-radioactive-iodine-cesium-strontium-physician-taught-harvard-med-school]
* Cesium-137 levels in Vermont milk at 66% of maximum contaminant level allowed by EPA [http://enenews.com/cesium-137-levels-in-vermont-milk-at-66-of-maximum-contaminant-level-allowed-by-epa]
* IAEA: “Uncontrolled nuclear chain reactions” may be coming from melted fuel in No. 1 reactor [http://enenews.com/iaea-melted-fuel-in-no-1-reactor-may-be-causing-uncontrolled-nuclear-chain-reactions-bloomberg]
* Cesium-134 and 137 found in US food supply; Organic milk bought in San Francisco Bay Area [http://enenews.com/cesium-134-and-137-found-in-organic-milk-near-san-francisco-first-time-radioactive-cesium-found-in-us-milk-supply]
[http://enenews.com/strawberries-mushrooms-with-cesium-137-found-in-northern-california-5-out-of-6-items-in-food-chain-sampling-test-have-radioactive-particles]
UCB Food Chain Sampling Results, University of California, Berkeley Department of Nuclear Engineering [http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/2525]:
Six items were tested: spinach, strawberries, cilantro, topsoil, grass, and mushrooms. Measured in Becquerel per kilogram.
* Wild Mushrooms, Collected April 2 in Alameda, CA:
I131 @ 8.4 Bq/kg
Cs134 @ .63 Bq/kg
Cs137 @ .47 Bq/kg
* Strawberries, “Best By” Date of April 1, Location Unknown :
I131@ 2.5 Bq/kg
Cs134 @ .69 Bq/kg
Cs137 @ .67 Bq/kg
* Grass, Collected April 3 in Alameda, CA:
I131 @ 9.8 Bq/kg
Cs134 @ 6.9 Bq/kg
Cs137 @ 6.9 Bq/kg
*Spinach, “Best By” Date of April 8, Location Unknown:
I131 @ 2.8 Bq/kg
* Topsoil, Collected April 6 in Alameda, CA:
I131 @ 12.5 Bq/kg
Cs134 @ .99 Bq/kg
Cs137 @ 1.5 Bq/kg
* No radionuclides were found in Cilantro from an unknown location
Read the report here [http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/2525].
Guidance Levels for Radionuclides in Domestic and Imported Foods, Food and Drug Administration, July 2004 [http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/FoodContaminantsAdulteration/ChemicalContaminants/Radionuclides/UCM078341]:
For infants the FDA set the level of concern at 55 Bq/kg of Iodine-131.
Table 8 - Derived Intervention Levels (Bq/kg)
(radionuclide groups, most limiting of all diets)
Radionuclide Group Derived Intervention Levels
Sr-90 160 (15 years)
I-131 170 (1 year)
Cs group 1200 (adult)
Ru-103(a) 6800 (3 months)
Ru-106(a) 450 (3 months)
Pu + Am group 2 (3 months)
(a)Due to large differences in DILs for Ru-103 and Ru-106, the individual concentrations of Ru-103 and Ru-106, the individual concentrations of Ru-103 and Ru-106 are divided by their respective DILs and summed. The DIL for the Ruthenium group is set at less than one.
* Latest UCB test results: First time radioactive cesium found in spinach, arugala, and kale around San Francisco Bay area [http://enenews.com/latest-ucb-test-results-first-time-radioactive-cesium-found-arugala-kale-spinach-around-san-francisco]
* Human embryos in US likely bioaccumulating radioactive iodine, cesium, and strontium says physician who taught at Harvard Med School [http://enenews.com/human-embryos-bioaccumulating-radioactive-iodine-cesium-strontium-physician-taught-harvard-med-school]
* Cesium-137 levels in Vermont milk at 66% of maximum contaminant level allowed by EPA [http://enenews.com/cesium-137-levels-in-vermont-milk-at-66-of-maximum-contaminant-level-allowed-by-epa]
* IAEA: “Uncontrolled nuclear chain reactions” may be coming from melted fuel in No. 1 reactor [http://enenews.com/iaea-melted-fuel-in-no-1-reactor-may-be-causing-uncontrolled-nuclear-chain-reactions-bloomberg]
* Cesium-134 and 137 found in US food supply; Organic milk bought in San Francisco Bay Area [http://enenews.com/cesium-134-and-137-found-in-organic-milk-near-san-francisco-first-time-radioactive-cesium-found-in-us-milk-supply]
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
2011-04-06 "Roseland getting unique ‘urban farm’ park" By KEVIN McCALLUM from "THE PRESS DEMOCRAT" newspaper
[http://santarosa.towns.pressdemocrat.com/2011/04/news/roseland-getting-unique-urban-farm-park/]
They could have had a swimming pool. They could have received swing sets and soccer fields.
But when the city took the time to ask residents of Roseland what kind of park they really wanted, they got a surprising answer – vegetable gardens.
The folks in this underserved section of the city, many of whom live in apartments or homes with small yards, wanted more than anything else space to tend their own gardens.
“We’re in a recession and people want to grow their own food,” said Magdalena Ridley, outreach coordinator for LandPaths, non-profit agency she said aims to “foster a love of the land.”
That’s the vision behind the master plan for the six-acre Bayer Neighborhood Park & Gardens project on West Avenue, which won high praise from the Santa Rosa City Council Tuesday.
“It’s a very good example of community involvement and doing something good for a neighborhood,” Mayor Ernesto Olivares said.
The need for more parks in the city’s southwest has been painfully evident for years. The area has just 2.15 acres of parks per thousand residents, less than half the city average of 4.4 acres per thousand residents.
“The southwest area is basically under-parked in relation to the rest of the city,” Marc Richardson, director of Recreation, Parks & Community Services told the council.
There are several park projects planned to remedy that imbalance. But Bayer is unique for the degree of public input that went into the plan.
Area residents got involved with the property almost immediately after the city acquired it in 2007. The city joined with LandPaths, which organized programs to teach people about gardening and now runs the community gardens.
This early involvement of residents — who earn family plots by volunteering — built strong ties with the neighborhood and got them engaged in the planning proc
ess. That, in turn, helped the city win significant grant money for the project, Richardson said.
The project has received $11.5 million in grants and other funding for acquisition and construction, which is expected to begin in 2012. An additional $2 million nature education grant is pending.
The master plan includes a long list of amenities, including a greenhouse, farm stand, livestock barn, amphitheater, picnic area, multi-use turf area and a community center. The farmhouse on the property will be demolished.
The goal of this “urban farm” and neighborhood park is not just to help people eat healthier food. It’s to nurture a sense of community, Ridley said.
“It’s beyond just gardening,” Ridley said. “It’s creating a real positive context to interact with other community members.”
[http://santarosa.towns.pressdemocrat.com/2011/04/news/roseland-getting-unique-urban-farm-park/]
They could have had a swimming pool. They could have received swing sets and soccer fields.
But when the city took the time to ask residents of Roseland what kind of park they really wanted, they got a surprising answer – vegetable gardens.
The folks in this underserved section of the city, many of whom live in apartments or homes with small yards, wanted more than anything else space to tend their own gardens.
“We’re in a recession and people want to grow their own food,” said Magdalena Ridley, outreach coordinator for LandPaths, non-profit agency she said aims to “foster a love of the land.”
That’s the vision behind the master plan for the six-acre Bayer Neighborhood Park & Gardens project on West Avenue, which won high praise from the Santa Rosa City Council Tuesday.
“It’s a very good example of community involvement and doing something good for a neighborhood,” Mayor Ernesto Olivares said.
The need for more parks in the city’s southwest has been painfully evident for years. The area has just 2.15 acres of parks per thousand residents, less than half the city average of 4.4 acres per thousand residents.
“The southwest area is basically under-parked in relation to the rest of the city,” Marc Richardson, director of Recreation, Parks & Community Services told the council.
There are several park projects planned to remedy that imbalance. But Bayer is unique for the degree of public input that went into the plan.
Area residents got involved with the property almost immediately after the city acquired it in 2007. The city joined with LandPaths, which organized programs to teach people about gardening and now runs the community gardens.
This early involvement of residents — who earn family plots by volunteering — built strong ties with the neighborhood and got them engaged in the planning proc
ess. That, in turn, helped the city win significant grant money for the project, Richardson said.
The project has received $11.5 million in grants and other funding for acquisition and construction, which is expected to begin in 2012. An additional $2 million nature education grant is pending.
The master plan includes a long list of amenities, including a greenhouse, farm stand, livestock barn, amphitheater, picnic area, multi-use turf area and a community center. The farmhouse on the property will be demolished.
The goal of this “urban farm” and neighborhood park is not just to help people eat healthier food. It’s to nurture a sense of community, Ridley said.
“It’s beyond just gardening,” Ridley said. “It’s creating a real positive context to interact with other community members.”
2011-04-06 "Napa reduces solar panel fees" by ALISHA WYMAN from "Napa Register" newspaper
[http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/article_677006fe-60b3-11e0-bc72-001cc4c002e0.html]
In an effort to encourage green energy, the Napa City Council agreed Tuesday to dramatically decrease its permit fees for businesses and residents seeking to install solar panels.
A 2010 report by the Sierra Club revealed Napa’s fees were much higher than some nearby towns such as Yountville and American Canyon, and well over the amount that Napa needed to charge to cover its costs for commercial permits.
The city will now charge a flat fee of $299.55 for residential permits, down from the previous $391 fee.
Commercial permits will now be based on staff’s time needed for plan review and approval, instead of the project’s value.
For example, a permit for a 131-kilowatt project valued at $792,000 will now cost $1,219, instead of the more than $10,000 estimated by the Sierra Club. A 131 kW-sized project would power a typical grocery store.
Councilman Mark van Gorder said he was grateful for the grassroots effort that prompted the city to reduce the fees.
“I think this is going to hopefully encourage more people to ... install photo voltaics,” he said.
The permit fees came to the city’s attention after officials began looking at ways to encourage solar panel installation, said Cassandra Walker, the city’s Community Development director.
A Sierra Club report pointed out that Napa’s fees were out of line with surrounding cities.
A committee of the Loma Prieta chapter of the Sierra Club has been evaluating permit fees in the Bay Area and Southern California for the past seven years, said Kurt Newick, committee chairman and author of the report.
He has found that cities are arbitrary in how they determine fees for commercial permits and usually base it on the value of the panels.
“They are very expensive relative to the time and effort it takes for the city to approve a permit,” he said.
The time needed to review an application isn’t tied linearly to the system’s size, the report says. Contrary to what the city’s fees would imply, a 100 kW system doesn’t take 10 times more time to review than a 10 kW system does, the Sierra Club said.
In the reports, Newick uses an Excel fee calculator for commercial projects that a retired deputy building official for San Jose constructed. It is based on the time it takes to review the permit process.
Newick was thrilled that the city council approved changes in the fees and is adopting use of the calculator.
“I’m very impressed with the leadership in the city of Napa for so whole-heartedly embracing our Sierra Club solar panel fee recommendations,” he said.
The permit fee change might not have instant results, but studies show that government policies can steer society to certain technology or solutions, he said.
“It’s not going to be that the next week everyone floods the office to get a permit, but over time you will see a difference,” he said.
Solar panels offer a way for towns to become more independent in energy production, as well helping society steer away from non-renewable energy sources, he said.
“We need to convert over our society to clean energy sources so we can thrive as a civilization,” Newick said. “Otherwise, we might be come extinct.”
Despite the high fees, Napa and the surrounding county have distinguished themselves as being a high producer of solar energy.
In 2007, Napa won an award from the NorCal Solar Energy Association for generating more energy per capita from photo-voltaic sources than other comparable cities in Northern California. Napa County and St. Helena also won the award.
Napa is trying to become a green city and is happy to take one more barrier out of the way for businesses helping to achieve that goal, Councilman Peter Mott said.
It shows that government can be reactive to inequities, he said.
Councilwoman Juliana Inman agreed, adding that the city has reduced fees in other areas as well.
“It’s a good demonstration of the fact that the city is reasonable about these things,” she said.
[http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/article_677006fe-60b3-11e0-bc72-001cc4c002e0.html]
In an effort to encourage green energy, the Napa City Council agreed Tuesday to dramatically decrease its permit fees for businesses and residents seeking to install solar panels.
A 2010 report by the Sierra Club revealed Napa’s fees were much higher than some nearby towns such as Yountville and American Canyon, and well over the amount that Napa needed to charge to cover its costs for commercial permits.
The city will now charge a flat fee of $299.55 for residential permits, down from the previous $391 fee.
Commercial permits will now be based on staff’s time needed for plan review and approval, instead of the project’s value.
For example, a permit for a 131-kilowatt project valued at $792,000 will now cost $1,219, instead of the more than $10,000 estimated by the Sierra Club. A 131 kW-sized project would power a typical grocery store.
Councilman Mark van Gorder said he was grateful for the grassroots effort that prompted the city to reduce the fees.
“I think this is going to hopefully encourage more people to ... install photo voltaics,” he said.
The permit fees came to the city’s attention after officials began looking at ways to encourage solar panel installation, said Cassandra Walker, the city’s Community Development director.
A Sierra Club report pointed out that Napa’s fees were out of line with surrounding cities.
A committee of the Loma Prieta chapter of the Sierra Club has been evaluating permit fees in the Bay Area and Southern California for the past seven years, said Kurt Newick, committee chairman and author of the report.
He has found that cities are arbitrary in how they determine fees for commercial permits and usually base it on the value of the panels.
“They are very expensive relative to the time and effort it takes for the city to approve a permit,” he said.
The time needed to review an application isn’t tied linearly to the system’s size, the report says. Contrary to what the city’s fees would imply, a 100 kW system doesn’t take 10 times more time to review than a 10 kW system does, the Sierra Club said.
In the reports, Newick uses an Excel fee calculator for commercial projects that a retired deputy building official for San Jose constructed. It is based on the time it takes to review the permit process.
Newick was thrilled that the city council approved changes in the fees and is adopting use of the calculator.
“I’m very impressed with the leadership in the city of Napa for so whole-heartedly embracing our Sierra Club solar panel fee recommendations,” he said.
The permit fee change might not have instant results, but studies show that government policies can steer society to certain technology or solutions, he said.
“It’s not going to be that the next week everyone floods the office to get a permit, but over time you will see a difference,” he said.
Solar panels offer a way for towns to become more independent in energy production, as well helping society steer away from non-renewable energy sources, he said.
“We need to convert over our society to clean energy sources so we can thrive as a civilization,” Newick said. “Otherwise, we might be come extinct.”
Despite the high fees, Napa and the surrounding county have distinguished themselves as being a high producer of solar energy.
In 2007, Napa won an award from the NorCal Solar Energy Association for generating more energy per capita from photo-voltaic sources than other comparable cities in Northern California. Napa County and St. Helena also won the award.
Napa is trying to become a green city and is happy to take one more barrier out of the way for businesses helping to achieve that goal, Councilman Peter Mott said.
It shows that government can be reactive to inequities, he said.
Councilwoman Juliana Inman agreed, adding that the city has reduced fees in other areas as well.
“It’s a good demonstration of the fact that the city is reasonable about these things,” she said.
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