Sep 222017
 

Have you heard jets flying low and loud over your house, children’s school, or workplace, sometimes every 2 min or less, sometimes in the middle of the night or early morning? This noise is due to changes by the FAA in March under a program called NextGen, which concentrates air traffic in narrow corridors. As a result, virtually all SFO-bound flights from the South, West, and North converge over Palo Alto using trajectories that often cause substantial noise damage to residents.

Palo Alto has been disproportionately impacted. 3 of the 4 main routes into SFO now converge over Palo Alto. In the last 8 years, SFO arrival traffic increased by only 28%, while arrival traffic for the lowest and noisiest flights (3000-4000 feet) over Palo Alto went up a whopping 131%. In the last 2 years alone, the number of low flights (3000-4000 feet) over Palo Alto increased by 65% while nearby communities saw substantial reductions in low elevation air traffic.

Why should you care?

Many low flying aircraft degrade your health, productivity, and quality of life (as well as your children’s and other loved ones’) resulting in:

  • Sleep disruption, stress, and exposure to pollutants such as carcinogenic aromatic hydrocarbons from aircraft exhaust emissions that undergo chemical changes in sunlight
  • Decreased ability to concentrate for learning and working purposes
  • Reduced ability to enjoy the outdoors 
  • Aircraft traffic also impacts property values.

We want the FAA to:

  • Include noise and emissions as critical design inputs for arrival and departures routes.
  • Distribute noise equitably over populated areas when it cannot be eliminated.
  • Adopt more meaningful noise assessment methods on the ground.

What YOU can do!

  • File noise complaints with SFO in one click with stop.jetnoise.net
    • Login once through Gmail or Facebook (stop.jetnoise does not see or store your password but will email
      complaints to SFO on your behalf). Create an icon on your phone or computer home screen for easy access.
    • We prefer that you use stop.jetnoise.net because it is simple, gives you flight data, and makes it easier to roll
      up and analyze complaints.
    • At least one click per day to keep the planes away: one complaint from 100 different people carries much
      more weight than 100 complaints from one person.
  • Contact Congresswoman’s Eshoo’s office (eshoo.house.gov/contact; 408-245-2339) to demand that she
    make addressing this issue a top priority. In addition, fill out her SFO noise survey (tinyurl.com/nlpne5a)
  • Visit the Sky Posse Palo Alto website (skypossepaloalto.org) and get involved:
    • add a personal note to this flier and distribute it in your neighborhood.
    • sign our petition to reduce jet noise over Palo Alto (click the Sign petition! icon)
    • join our mailing list (click Join our mailing list on the website)
    • follow us on Twitter (twitter.com/skypossepa) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/skypossepaloalto )
  • Sign the petition to ask airlines to spend less than $5000 per jet to retrofit their Airbus A320
    series with airflow deflectors to stop the loud “whistling” sound (bit.ly/1OJAVok) as required in Europe.
 Posted by at 10:03 PM
Mar 112017
 

We have begun receiving bids from contractors for the replacement of the 8 decks which were identified as needing repair during the dryrot/painting project. Our consulting firm, Richard Avelar and Associates, apologized for the unexpected delays caused by the holiday season and year-end procedures. They have now finished the architectural drawings and the bid specifications and will conduct a bidders walk-through and collect the bids. Given the size of the project, estimated at $110,000, the Board is obligated to obtain competitive bids on the project. The Board will establish an upper limit for the project cost at the March meeting and then require only a short executive meeting to finalize the selection of the contractor. We understand the inconvenience experienced by our residents and are moving as quickly as possible to resolve the issue.

 Posted by at 11:26 PM
Mar 112017
 

The Board has recently received communications from residents regarding instances of property damage and vandalism. 

The complaints of property damage are related to inappropriate use of the common areas and facilities. In one case a resident reported that the legs of the chairs which had been located in the tennis court had been broken off, apparently by some youngsters using the chairs for goal posts for soccer practice. In the second case a resident reported that a number of children had been using the common green area between buildings for a playing field, causing damage to the landscaping, shrubbery and possibly the irrigation system and disturbing the neighbors. 

It has to be emphasized that Barron Square has NO DESIGNATED PLAYING AREAS and the common areas are NOT intended for this purpose. Juana Briones Park is a short walk down Maybell Avenue and has excellent facilities for these activities. The use of the tennis court is RESTRICTED to members of Barron Square who wish to play tennis. 

We have also received reports of vandalism to vehicles parked in the vicinity of the cul-de-sac. Given the proximity of this area to El Camino Real, the Association will be adding additional security measures to the fences and gates at the end of the fire lane. We have also requested a bid to increase the height of the property line fence with the adjacent property. 

 Posted by at 9:35 PM
Mar 112017
 

All homeowners should have received a ballot for an increase in the Storm Water Management Fee. This fee would cover operation of and improvements to the city’s storm water management system. Although most of Palo Alto is in Flood Zone ‘X’ which means little danger of flooding, we do live near a number of creeks (Barron, Matedero) which could flood and cause problems. 

The information from the City is a little confusing. The NEW fee shown is $1033.31 per month, but this is the TOTAL FEE for the entire Barron Square complex. It is paid by the Association as part of our common area utility costs and is included in your monthly homeowner’s fee. It is calculated on the basis of ‘impervious area”, areas like driveways, sidewalks, etc which do not allow penetration of water into the ground. A condominium complex like ours has a slightly higher ratio than individual homes. With 65 units the new rate averages out to $15.89 per unit and represents only a small increase of less than a dollar per unit over the fee we currently pay.

While the planned improvement projects mentioned are located in other parts of Palo Alto, blockages at one end of the creek system in the city have a way of affecting all parts of the city. The recent rainstorms we experienced should be a wake up call that we need to be proactive in our approach to disaster control.  

It was noted that several years ago, one of the agencies in San Jose voted not to pay $7.5M to improve Coyote Creek because they didn’t think any flood damage would result in more that that amount! Fast forward to last month, the damage is estimated at $500M, not to mention how people’s lives were destroyed. Some may never recover.

For more information about the program,  visit http://paloaltostormwater.org.

We would like to suggest that all residents give serious consideration to their vote on this ballot measure. Your ballots must be received not later than Monday April 11, 2017.

UPDATE (3/23/2017): 

Some of you may have noticed that the ballot states that the ballot includes your name and address, parcel number (APN) and your signature and that the accompanying letter states that

“Ballots will not be removed from their envelopes until the tabulation begins. As required by state law, during and after tabulation, ballots will be treated as public records.”

We wondered why these ballots were not treated as normal ‘secret’ ballots, such as those we are required to use for our Association elections, where your name and signature are on the outer envelope and this is separated from the ballot before tabulation. For answers and more questions, check out this article.

 Posted by at 2:52 PM
Mar 102017
 

During the holiday season we were forced to replace the mailboxes in the kiosk for buildings 10 and 11. We reviewed the condition of the remaining mailboxes which are 35 years old. Many of them have cracked or broken frames on the doors and were showing their age. The Board decided to upgrade all of the mailboxes and the new mailboxes have now arrived. 

Replacement of the mailboxes will involve careful planning and coordination between PML and the Post Office in order to minimize the disruption of mail service to the residents.

The procedure will be as follows:

  1. Distribution of the keys for the new mailboxes at the clubhouse.
  2. On a specified date residents will be asked to ensure that their mailbox is emptied.
  3. The next day the Post Office will unlock all mailboxes, old mailboxes will be removed and replaced by the new ones.
  4. The Post Office will install locks on the new mailboxes (hopefully the same day) and lock the mailboxes.
  5. Mail delivery will resume the following day.

Distribution of the keys for the new mailboxes will take place over the next two weeks. Each family must come to the clubhouse and sign for receipt of the keys. The initial distribution times are:

  • Tuesday, March 14, 2017 12 Noon to 2PM 
  • Wednesday, March 15, 2017 6PM to 7PM (prior to the Board meeting)

Additional times will be announced as needed. The sooner the keys are distributed, the sooner we can install the new mailboxes. Your cooperation will be greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, please call PML.

 

 Posted by at 10:47 PM