By Robert Haugh
Santa Clara City Hall got rid of its lawn and now has a water-efficient garden at the corner of Lincoln Street and Warburton Avenue.
Despite all the recent rain, water conservation is still a priority.
The Department of Public Works (DPW) and Water & Sewer Utilities Department (WSUD) collaborated to create the new landscape. It’s about 5,100 square foot of native California plants.
The project was funded through the Landscape Conversion Rebate, a joint program between Valley Water and the City that provides financial incentives for lawn conversions.
The first lawn conversion was completed by WSUD in 2022. Now, a total of nearly 9,300 square feet of grass has now been transformed into drought-tolerant plantings to save water.
Santa Clarans can check out water conservation rebates that are available to residents and businesses at SantaClaraCA.gov/SaveOurWater.
Ugh
Sock Puppets… we have Five of them. I can deal with two given I just have two feet. But Five is way too many.
How lucky are we!!
Wait, I forgot to ask if calling someone a “Sock Puppet”, is a “Death Threat” of some kind? I need to be very careful what I now say, I might be removed from being a Parks and Rec Commisioner….
Should someone contact the Chief of Police to get his opinion?
Will he be removed from office if he thinks calling someone a “Sock Puppet” is not a “Death Threat”.
What should we expect our Chief of Police do with such a terrible / dangerous comment?
I am sure somewhere some dirty laundry is getting worried right now. Maybe scared as well… you all know how dangerous dirty laundry can be.
I’d love to see us bring some detergent to our next City Council Meeting. It sure smells in there, and from the attendance I saw at the last one, a pretty lonely place as well. Who wants to be around such a smelly place.
So let’s beat up good people Kirk Vartan, Jared Peters, or anyone of the other residents who show up to voice a opinion that is not in line with the “Companies” agenda. I mean how dare we go against “The Companies” best interest, what were we thinking.
Ok, sorry to have some fun with all of this… our City is getting ripped apart, and bleed of it’s cash reserves and I am left to try and make fun of a horrible situation.
Are concerned residents like myself left to feel like their voice / opinion does not matter anymore? Worse yet, If their opinion is different than the “Companies” opinion, are they going to be called out in public and shamed, and then removed from any volunteer service to our City.
All of that sounds terrible, yet it’s not just on the Horizon, it is now officially here.
Burt Field
burt.field@gmail.com
Santa Clara Parks and Rec Commisioner at least for now….
I think the best way to have a discussion with Burt Field and Kirk Vartan is treat them with respect, and to expect them to treat you with respect. Both are sincere and dedicated peoplegree. If we all agree to agree or disagree, we do it with grace. Both of these two people have grace, so we can expect that, too. Sadly Becker never learned that.
Ted, I found several studies/reports online that the VTA will be putting millions of tax payer dollars into this project, and of course they have a huge hand in the logistics and planning. The latter worries me more than the former as they have failed to implement any mass transit system suitable for Santa Clara County County demographics, and many local news sources have run so many articles on the lack of leadership and horrible working conditions at the VTA. I have zero faith they will deliver a top notch bicycle system. Empty busses and light rail, bus stops eliminated etc. If you have information that local bike lanes are well utilized, I was not able to find much about that.
Distraction Politytiks.
Follow the $$$. This forum, the “Santa Clara News Online,” and I write as a 30 year Santa Claran, is the most informative source (albeit not all) of city-related issues I can rely upon.
When the improved ACCURACY of this forum starts clarifying the TRUTH…. Expect those who do NOT deal in truth to respond…. For example, the latest posts seem to have whipped up Santa Clara Weekly, Mile Barber, the 49er FIVE, and Jeds York into a frenzy….
JED York must’ve called in a Special Favor to the SJ Mercury Rag…. in favor of Becker, who was most willingly to be quoted.
See https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/04/03/santa-clara-mayor-lisa-gillmors-mystery-special-advisor-raises-legal-concerns-experts-say/
Anybody know the hacks that were named in the article, other than Becker?
The SJ Merc Rag relied on a quote from a one “Sean McMorris” as a ‘specialist’ and in a position of a “Transparency, Ethics, and Accountability Program Manager for California Common Cause.” Sean McMorris, in his bio, claims to have been an “investigative journalist,” yet seems to feel free to opine on nothing he knows about (i.e., “if… then…,” “could be…,” etc.) This guy is a poor source of information for the SJ Merc Rag…
ESPECIALLY, the dude “Sean McMorris” is a position of “TRANSPARENCY.!!!!!,” yet his hack organization allows “ANONYMOUS donations,” which is is VERY OPPOSITE OF HIS POSITION, PRINCIPLES, ETHICS, INTEGRITY (if any), etc.
See: https://www.commoncause.org/about-us/donor-transparency-policy/?_ga=2.165350205.360186736.1680641921-680264137.1680641920
[[“Common Cause is committed to a policy of open and full transparency and therefore makes information about our funding sources, including individual donors, publicly available; however, anonymous donations may be accepted…]]
Where is the TRANSPARENCY in ANONYMITY????
CONCLUSION: Jed Jork and the 49er FIVE phoned in a favor and got some vomit passing as a “news” article.
VIVA SANTA CLARA!!! Down with the 49er FIVE!
Residents had an opportunity to get rid of 2 of the 5 last November. $$$$ talked thanks to Jed. Santa Clara is drowning in apathy.
We replaced our lawn with native plants years ago and are happy with the results today. California native plants are adapted to the slings and arrows of our California climate — looking good through the recent drought and looking good today, after rivers of rain, with minimal care and no chemicals or fertilizers. An easy way to see what a CA native garden looks like is to look through pictures on the Going Native Garden Tour website (GNGT, a joint effort between CNPS, California Native Plant Society, and UCCE Master Gardeners), which hosts an annual live tour. The most recent tour was held last weekend, so the next live tour will be in 2024. However pictures of gardens from the tours can be seen here. This list is sorted by city so to see City of Santa Clara gardens, scroll down to “Santa Clara:” https://gngt.org/GNGT/AllGardens.php?show=all&sort=city