Happy retirement, Bruce
Sadly, I read about the retirement of our illustrious editor Bruce Barton in the Town Crier (Aug. 27, 2025). He will be a hard act to follow. Surely, after 32 dedicated years, he has earned his retirement. The communities in Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View owe him a very big thank you. He always tried to be impartial and fair in printing articles. Some of which he agreed with and surely some of which he disagreed with. I will surely miss him and wonder if some of my controversial opinions will get published in the future under new leadership.
Please join me in wishing Bruce Barton a well earned happy retirement.
Myra Orta
Los Altos
Vote no for astroturf
Thank you for making people aware of this toxic issue.
Dog park members just told me that you are conducting a survey about astroturf. I attended the city council meeting last month and many others articulated my view that astroturf is not a good candidate for a heavily used dog park.
My vote for astroturf in a word: No!
• It off gasses and sends chemicals into the soil AND the water table
• Critters that depend on Earth are contaminated. Ultimately this includes humans. Plastics have been discovered in our bloodstream, lungs…
• It cannot be kept clean
• Gets moldy and contaminated with animal and bird feces
• It is murderously hot when the sun is strong
Karina Nilsen
Los Altos
Beware flood plains
Re: Ashley Hawrylyshyn’s letter on concern over loss of the nonprofit Lapidary Shop in Shoup Park’s Garden House (Sept. 3, 2025), she might remind city council that the Garden House is in Adobe Creek’s flood plain – not a favorable spot for city records.
This creekside location was once Mrs. Shoup’s garden, her pride and joy, but a horticultural expense former city management were anxious to avoid so (they) offered the area to Los Altos Seniors to build the Garden House at their own expense. Today’s standards would not advise a city structure in a flood plain and municipal use would be wise to keep its recreation uses as fluid as possible.
Santa Clara County lost all too many historic documents when the Guadalupe River flooded out their basement storage and Stanford spent a small fortune in restoring archives lost to the San Francisquito Creek flooding of Green Library.
A Lapidary Shop is probably more suited to a river’s erosive action than city files.
Jack Lucas
Los Altos
