Winterizing your home, support for the Alameda Food Bank, and concerns about Pacific Avenue’s Neighborhood Greenway
Tax credits for home winterization
To the Editor,
Growing up, my family emphasized the importance of saving household energy. I was taught to turn the lights off when I had left the room and to unplug cords when I wasn’t using them. Now, as a Solar Strong intern with Environment California, I have discovered there are many other simple steps that one can take to weatherize their home. Our Winterization Resource Guide offers easy, step-by-step ideas for homeowners, renters, and anyone hoping to reduce energy waste.
Beyond turning off unused lights and running the faucet as little as possible, homeowners can also seal up air leaks, install LED lights, and invest in energy efficient appliances, like heat pumps. Right now there is a 30% discount available for homeowners if they take these common-sense steps before December 31: the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Tax Credit is still active through the end of the year, and covers heat pumps and other efficiency improvements, such as enhanced windows and insulation.
As an Alameda resident, I know how important the environment is to our community members and believe homeowners should take advantage of this incentive while it is still available. By investing in common-sense energy efficiency technologies, Alamedans can strengthen both our homes and our community’s commitment to a sustainable future.
Sincerely,
Grace Keenan
Our move is complete – now the real work begins
To the Editor:
Anyone who has ever moved knows how difficult and disorienting it can be—even if you’re just moving across the street as we did. Now imagine moving a 20,000-square-foot facility that needs to remain in constant operation while the move takes place.
It’s no small feat, but the dedication, flexibility, and good humor of our staff, volunteers, shoppers and community supporters have made the process much easier. Construction on our new facility directly across West Ranger Avenue is now complete and we’ve made the move without missing a day of operation. We’re still fine-tuning details and settling in, and we deeply appreciate everyone’s patience and partnership every step of the way.
The timing of this move couldn’t be more critical. We are already seeing increased demand typical of this time of year. In the week before Thanksgiving, we served 1,750 families at our Island Community Market—a record number in our 50-year history. During the federal shutdown, Coast Guard members and other government employees living in Alameda missed paychecks and SNAP/CalFresh benefits were delayed. As a result, more of our neighbors—both inside and outside of Alameda—were facing added stress during a time of year that is already stressful. We decided in early November to temporarily lift the Alameda residency requirement and open our doors to anyone in need.
Since this spring, federal cuts have reduced the amount of protein, fresh produce, and shelf-stable items we receive from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture which directly affects our shoppers. The situation will become exponentially more dire with the expected tightening of requirements for SNAP benefits entirely. We are spending more money on food these days than ever before. In short, we are being asked to do more with less… and it’s a challenge.
Unlike with the sudden onset of the COVID crisis, we have had a small window to prepare for this new emergency. Our new facility was designed to help us respond regionally to an emergency and is already proving essential in allowing us to meet these rapidly increasing needs today and to prepare for the years ahead. Our staff and board have been working diligently to plan how we’ll adapt, sustain operations and continue supporting our community through this difficult period and beyond.
We need the support of our local community now more than ever. As demand continues to grow, we’ll need more funds and more hands to keep shelves stocked and doors open for every neighbor who needs us. To see how our new facility serves your neighbors—and how you can help—please join us at the community open house for our new facility from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, December 13 at 677 West Ranger Avenue on Alameda Point. We think you’ll agree that the new Alameda Food Bank is an exceptional point of pride in this wonderful, caring community of ours.
Teale Harden, Executive Director
Alameda Food Bank
Safety concerns at Pacific Avenue and Chestnut Street
To the Editor:
Please note that the image of the traffic circle in the article regarding the Greenway Pilot Project is terribly biased. The traffic circle is in shadow, so it barely shows. It does not reflect the garish aesthetic and diminishes its impact on the intersection.
The neighbors and I have been fighting the planned traffic circle at Paru Street and Pacific Avenue. I spent a weekend canvassing the neighbors up to a block away in all four directions from the intersection and, of the neighbors who answered their doors, 85% were OPPOSED to the traffic circle concept.
Cars race across Lincoln Avenue when they can manage to get clear traffic and then continue zooming up Paru Street all the way to Buena Vista Avenue without slowing at Pacific Avenue.
Adding a traffic circle at Paru and Pacific will merely serve to add a slalom-course obstacle for cars to zoom around. No one stops to check for bicycles or pedestrians.
On several occasions I have watched children approaching the intersection and being nearly missed by the cars racing through. Traffic circles will not solve this safety hazard. We submitted a petition to the City Council, mayor, and manager, explaining the dangers of the traffic circle and requesting instead a four-way stop—which is a much more cost-effective solution—possibly along with narrow yellow speed bumps to slow traffic. We do not think the soft pillow speed bumps slow cars sufficiently.
Neighbors in Berkeley have reported that when traffic circles were first installed in small residential intersections, cars just kept zooming around them without slowing to look for pedestrians or bicycles. Then they added yield signs, which also didn’t work, and now some of those intersections have four-way stop signs in addition to the traffic circles. What a waste of city funds! It would be far more cost-effective, simpler, and safer to just install two more stop signs at that intersection and be done with it.
A lot of these safety concerns seem to be borne out of the bicyclist contingencies and, while I agree with safety for bicycles, I do not always agree with cyclist’s preferences to avoid safety regulations. There seems to be a big push for cyclists not to have to follow traffic signs and not to have to stop at intersections. I get it. I ride my bike all over Alameda, too. But the reality is that there are still far more automobiles than bicycles and trying to shove bicycle safety above vehicle and pedestrian safety does not make sense at this time.
Just the other day, two teenagers were riding their bikes along Pacific Avenue and if it weren’t for one of them yelling “Car!” they both would have been hit by a car zooming up Paru Street. Fortunately, the teenager was even faster than I was at trying to yell out something. This type of occurrence happens all the time. It would be much safer to make that a four-way-stop intersection.
The traffic circle at Chestnut Street and Pacific Avenue also stands out as a very ugly addition to what otherwise would be a more picturesque and historic neighborhood. It is garish, blocks visibility, and is not effective in slowing those cars that just want to speed right through. I wish the image in the Alameda Post more realistically portrayed the visual effects of the traffic circle, rather than hiding it in the shadows.
Katharine Untch,
Alameda
Editor’s note: The photo in question was supplied by the City of Alameda and does not reflect an active editorial position of the Alameda Post.
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