Upfront
Local news, information and analysis
Voters say ‘yes’ to land for composting plant Measure E passes, allowing parkland to be used for a waste-to-energy facility by Gennady Sheyner and Sue Dremann alo Alto voters made a strong statement in favor of keeping composting local Tuesday night when they passed Measure E, allowing a section of the city’s Baylands to potentially be used for a waste-to-energy operation. In an election that pitted two environmentalist coalitions against one
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another, the “sustainability” crowd scored a victory over park conservationists when 64 percent of voters cast their ballot in favor of Measure E, which undedicates a 10-acre parcel of Byxbee Park to enable construction of an anaerobic-digestion facility. Opponents of Measure E, a coalition led by former Councilmembers Emily Renzel and Enid Pearson, ar-
gued that the proposed plant does not belong in the Baylands. The initiative was spearheaded by former Mayor Peter Drekmeier, zero-waste activist Walt Hays and a coalition of local environmentalists and does not settle the green-versusgreen dispute, which is sure to continue for many months to come. It also doesn’t authorize the new plant, whose financial viability remains
debatable. What it does do is give the City Council a new option in the complicated and deeply passionate debate over the future of the city’s waste operation. “I think the voters want a facility that’s cost effective and that improves the environment,” Drekmeier said shortly after early results were posted, showing his side winning 64 to 36 percent.
The margin of victory held up, with 7,713 votes in favor and 4,267 against by evening’s end. Elaine Larson with the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters said that roughly 2,000 absentee and provisional ballots from Palo Alto remain to be counted, but that more than 90 percent of those would be counted (continued on page 8)
ELECTION ’11
Voters strike down binding arbitration More than two-thirds support Measure D, which scraps 1977 provision from City Charter by Gennady Sheyner alo Alto’s longstanding practice of forcing disputes between the city and its publicsafety workers to go to arbitration was repealed Tuesday night, as more than two-thirds of the voters cast their ballots in favor of Measure D. The measure strips the “binding arbitration” provision from the City Charter. The provision, which voters adopted 37 years ago, enabled a three-member arbitration panel to settle contract disputes between management and the unions. It was placed on the ballot by a 5-4 City Council vote after about two years of public hearings and a long debate over whether the provision should be modified or eliminated altogether. Measure D’s passage deals another heavy blow to the city’s firefighters union, which was recently engaged in an 18-month standoff with the city over a new labor agreement. The stalemate finally ended in September when the two sides reached an agreement that curtails the union’s benefits, freezes salaries and, most importantly, scraps the “minimum staffing” provision that required at least 29 firefighters to be on duty at all times. The firefighters union, International Association of Firefighters, Local 1319, vehemently opposed Measure D, arguing that it strips the city’s police and firefighters of their collective-bargaining rights. Unlike most other city workers (with some exceptions in the Public Works and Utilities departments), public-safety workers are barred from striking by state law. The measure also drew criticism from the Democratic Party
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Kelsey Kienitz
E-lated Former Palo Alto Mayor Peter Drekmeier looks at election results for Measure E alongside Dick Moyer, Dorothy Bender and Sue Friedlaender in Palo Alto Tuesday night.
HOLIDAY FUND
Field trips foster love of nature Environmental Volunteers deliver hands-on eco-education by Karla Kane ince 1972, Environmental Marilyn Hornor, a retired teachVolunteers has been work- er, has been a volunteer docent for ing to inspire a love of nature nearly 20 years. and science in more than 12,000 “I used Environmental Volunlocal children annually through teers in my classroom, and then field trips, camps and events. when I was teaching half-time,
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one of the volunteers talked me into doing it the other half of the time. Now that I’m retired, I’m full-time EV,” she said. “I love to teach kids, and I love the environment.” This past year, the organization received a $3,000 grant from the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund to support docent-led field trips at the Palo Alto Baylands. Before field trips, Hornor does hands-on work in the classroom, teaching students (usually second-, third- or fourth-graders) about which plants and animals
live in the various habitats of the bay. After the in-class lessons, it’s off to the Baylands for a two-hour field trip, where kids learn basic ecological concepts through games, observation and guided activities. “At the Baylands, it’s interesting because it’s different depending on the tide. If there are an awful lot of birds out on the mud flat during low tide, we look at what they might be eating and talk about what adaptations they (continued on page 6)
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