Dear Editor,

Since changing to Daylight Saving Time (DSL) last Sunday, media opinionators are talking about making it year-round.  Permanent DSL is a terrible, dangerous idea.  Setting the clocks ahead one hour moves an hour of morning light to the end of the day.  That’s great between March 21 and September 21, when there is more daylight than night.  But for the winter-half of the year, we need more light in the morning when kids are going to school.

Our children go to school at about the same time that commuters are starting their treks to work.  Darkness and early morning sun in commuters’ eyes create dangerous hazards.  Later in the day, schools end before most commuters return home, so evening darkness is not as dangerous.

As it is, Daylight Saving Time ends in November, nearly two months past the September 21 Equinox.  Shortening, not lengthening, the DST period would make mornings safer for our children and grandchildren.

Yours truly,

Bruce Joffe, Piedmont Resident

In honor of Women’s History Month, Dress Best For Less shares the origins of Dress Best for Less.

In 1982, Wendy [Webster] Willrich, along with Jeanne Clark and other mothers of Havens Elementary School children, started collecting clothing and household items to sell to the community in order to raise money for the schools. This was the genesis of what would later become Dress Best for Less.

The enterprise quickly outgrew the space at the school and decided to open the Dress Best for Less shop at its original location on Piedmont Avenue where the store remained for almost 3 decades until moving to its current location  at 3411 Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland, CA 94610. 

For 37 years (and counting), DBFL has raised funds for the Piedmont Education Foundation.  DBFL is the single largest contributor to PEF, with donations totaling over $1 million dollars.

In addition, DBFL is proud to contribute to the community at large, regularly donating to community groups in the East Bay and beyond, such as Bay Area schools, St. Vincent de Paul, animal rescue organizations, Oakland Children’s Hospital and more.

To this day, Dress Best for Less remains a woman-run organization. The bulk of the DBFL team are volunteers, most of whom are mothers of current and former Piedmont School children.  DBFL is living proof of what a few dedicated and driven woman can accomplish.

Donations are always needed.

Marking Room:
799 Magnolia Avenue,
Piedmont, CA 94611
Phone – 510-653-0221
Monday – 10:00am – noon
Tuesday – 9am – 4pm
Wednesday – 9am – 4pm
Saturday – 10am – noon

The Premier Plant Exchange in California is 100% volunteer run!

Master gardeners answer questions and plant specialists identify donations.

Free to everyone.

Saturday, March 23rd, noon to 4 p.m.

4500 Lincoln Ave. in Oakland

The Plant Exchange is a free community event that began in Oakland, California in October 2007 as a way for our neighbors to get to know each other. It also encourages reuse, recycling, organic living, resource sharing, and information exchange.

This event rapidly grew to include gardeners, landscapers, urban farmers, and outdoor fans from all 9 Bay Area counties.  Now, over 2500 plants change hands.

Questions or volunteer at connect@theplantexchange.com

Read for more information > here.

Deadline for proposals: Tuesday, March, 19, 2019

Recycling vs. Landfill

Materials that could have been reused as recycling go directly into a landfill due to contamination.

Fact 1: The average recycling contamination rate is 25%, or 1 in 4 items.

Fact 2: The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 75% of waste is recyclable, yet only close to 34% of it is recycled.

Fact 3: While glass can be reused for an estimated 1 million years, glass cookware — such as Pyrex, ceramics, and ovenware — can’t be recycled.

Fact 4:  Heavily soiled paper, wax coated paper, and shredded paper cannot be recycled.

Fact 5: Compostable items can contaminate your recycling. The processes of composting and recycling are very different, so you can’t recycle food waste or compostable serviceware.

Fact 6: The three-arrow triangle symbol on plastics  does not necessarily indicate that the material is accepted in the local recycling stream.  The symbol also shows the type of plastic it is. Plastics labeled #3 – #7 are typically only recycled in limited areas. So pay close attention!

Fact 7: Nearly 1,000 recycling plants in California alone have shut down within the last two years due to the recycling contamination crisis.

Fact 8:  Did you know that you can recycle your cigarette butts to be converted into energy? Check out TerraCycle and the Butts to Watts program to find out more.

Fact 9: According to the Government Advisory Associates, material recovering facilities in the U.S. using single-stream recycling has increased by 82.6% in the last ten years.

Fact 10: Proper recycling generates over half a million jobs and over 100 billion dollars of economic activity in the U.S.

Fact 11: Total scrap plastic exports have declined by 40% in the last year mostly due to the U.S.’s high level of recycling contamination.

Fact 12: Despite pricey recycling campaigns and new sorting technologies, recycling levels haven’t improved in the U.S. in 20 years.

Fact 13: In 2017, a survey by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries found that 28% of responders were confused a+bout recycling, believing that it was a highly technical and sophisticated issue.

Fact 14: Recycle Across America has launched a massive recycling solution campaign by promoting nationwide standardization of recycling labels.

Read more of the Rubicon recycling report here.

The Piedmont Park Commission on March 6 will consider  consultants’ work reducing the landfill stream originating from Piedmont public activities.

In 2018, the City hired Abbe and Associates using money from ratepayers waste removal charges to provide outreach and technical assistance for waste reduction, recycling, and composting to reduce the landfill stream.  The consultants have been working with City staff, Piedmont Unified School District (PUSD) staff and students to streamline and improve waste reduction, recycling, and composting at City and School facilities.  Purpose of the consultants work is to:

• To increase the City’s and PUSD’s rate of diversion from landfill to 75% by working with staff and students.
• To educate about proper sorting habits to reduce contaminants in recycling and organics.

[Read the report Abbe Environ EXHIBIT A piedmont evergreen ]

On Wednesday, March 6, Laura McKaughan of Abbe and Associates will report on the progress achieved from July through December, 2018, the first six months of the program.

Civic events in Piedmont generate significant waste.

Another focus of the consultant work was the challenge to bring large celebrations and civic events –Harvest Festival, Turkey Trot, and Christmas Tree Lighting – into less wasteful patterns.

In 2018, the Harvest Festival achieved an 87% recycling rate (1635 gallons of waste material generated at the Festival was recycled or composted and only 245 gallons went to the landfill).  The 2018 Turkey Trot achieved a 96% recycling rate (548 gallons of waste material generated at the race was recycled or composted and only 24 gallons went to the landfill).  Preferred foodware options were identified for use at other events and even staff meetings.

The consultants work with the Piedmont Unified School District to reduce waste going to landfill.

The consultants worked with Piedmont Unified School District personnel by making site assessments of the High School and Middle School.  New outdoor recycling containers were installed at the High School with additional installations planned at all school campuses.

__________

Piedmont Park Commission Meeting Agenda: Wednesday, March 6, 5:30 p.m., in City Hall:

1.  Approval of Park Commission Minutes for February 6, 2019
2.  Update on Olive Ave. Street Tree Replacements
3.  Report from Abbe and Associates: Piedmont Evergreen Team  Abbe Environ EXHIBIT A piedmont evergreen
4.  Consideration of New Trash, Recycle and Green Waste Containers for Outdoor Public Spaces
5.  Update on Heritage Tree Nominations for 2019
6.  Update on Arbor Day 2019
7.  Monthly Maintenance Report

The meeting will be broadcast live on Cable Channel 27 and on the City website for the Piedmont Park Commission meetings  http://www.ci.piedmont.ca.us/video/.

For additional information, contact Nancy Kent at NKent@piedmont.ca.gov

Information for Piedmonters considering financing options for the installation of solar systems.

Piedmonters, and Californians in general, were encouraged to install solar energy systems following the passage of California Assembly Bill 2188 in 2014. Given the substantial cost * of the systems, some homeowners were enticed by the solar lease option, which required no initial cost. The February 18, 2019 Bloomberg Businessweek investigative report explained that the third-party-owner solar systems have no initial cost for the homeowner, but tie the property to a 20 year lease.

The offer to install a free solar system seemed to be an easy way to add value to a home and lower electric bills at the same time. A few years later as the lease payments escalate, some homeowners are less enthusiastic. Because the homeowner does not own the system, the tax credits are not available to them –instead they go to the solar company that owns the system. In addition, the solar array may have been sized too large as more energy saving devices (appliances, light bulbs, etc) replace previous units. One purchaser cited by Bloomberg saw monthly electric costs actually increase a year after the installation. When a house goes on the market, the lease obligation goes with it as an obligation of the future owner for the remainder of the 20 year lease. The result is that instead of making the home more attractive to prospective buyers, it can be a barrier. Buying out the remainder of the lease is an expensive proposition for the seller, but may be required by the buyer’s mortgage provider. Purchasing a solar panel system may be more economical than than the lease option.

As of 2020, California will require solar panels on all new homes, likely to be third-party-owner solar systems rather than the fully paid solar installations that would belong to the home purchaser. California Assembly Bill 2188 passed in 2014 required all city and county governments to adopt expedited/streamlined permitting processes for small residential rooftop solar energy systems.

* $22,000 was the cost in 2018 for a typical 6-kilowatt residential rooftop PV (Photovoltaic) system, according to the National Council of State Legislatures, but cost of a PV system varies depending on capacity, labor, permitting fees, inter-connection fees, taxes, transaction costs and indirect expenses.

Piedmont residents can safely and conveniently dispose of unneeded medicines and household sharps (hypodermic needles, pen needles, intravenous needles, certain lancets, and devices that are used to penetrate the skin for testing or the delivery of medications) in the Piedmont Police Lobby, 403 Highland Avenue, Piedmont, CA 94611.

State law (H&SC §118286) makes it illegal to dispose of home-generated sharps waste in the trash or recycling containers.

Approved sharps containers must be: made of a heavy-duty plastic; able to close with a tight-fitting, puncture-resistant lid, without sharps being able to come out; upright and stable during use; leak-resistant; and properly labeled as “sharps waste” or with the biohazard symbol and the word “BIOHAZARD” to warn of hazardous materials inside the container.

For additional information, contact the Piedmont Police Department at 510/420-3000.