May 2012
C O M M U N I T Y N E W S T H AT M A K E S A D I F F E R E N C E
Vol 15 No. 5
Serving Scotts Valley, Ben Lomond, Boulder Creek & Felton
Valley News
Plastic Bags have not been banned yet
Council Takes Pass on Plastic Bag Ban … for Now
K and told him that because of SVUSD’s record of providing the community with quality public education they would not be applying for the exemption if the measure passes.
anning Styrofoam may happen this summer in Scotts Valley but banning plastic bags is on hold. The county took the first step and will soon be followed by Watsonville while businesses in Capitola are voluntarily giving up providing plastic bags to their customers. When discussing a possible ban in Scotts Valley, the suggestion was made to not charge a fee for paper bags after the ban went into effect. However, the Save the Plastic Bag Coalition said that paper is even worse for the environment than plastic because as paper decomposes in landfills it produces two to three times the amount of carbon emissions. The fee for paper bags is seen as “mitigation” for the emission problem. The fee would relieve the city from having to produce a costly environmental impact report before the ban could go into effect. The county avoided such a report by charging the 10¢ fee encouraging shoppers to use re-useable bags.
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Senior Coalition debates support for Measure K before approval.
SV COMMUNITY LINING
UP
BEHIND MEASURE K
SVUSD $48 Parcel Tax Claimed Essential to Local Education By Noel Smith s the June 5 Primary Election gets closer, public support for Measure K is growing. The proposed $48 per year parcel tax will provide additional funding for the Scotts Valley
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Unified School District for the next three years if passed. The Senior Coalition is latest group to provide their official support for measure K. This is seen as a surprise because the Coalition is usually an anti-tax group. A senior exemption for
the proposed parcel tax helped to gain their backing. The exemption will be in effect for the 3-year duration of the tax once applied for. However, according to Derek Timm, Campaign Chair of Save our Schools SV said that many seniors are supporting Measure