VOLUME L, NUMBER 23 Your Local News Source Since 1963 SERVING DUBLIN • LIVERMORE • PLEASANTON • SUNOL THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013 Car-sharing Comes to Pleasanton By Ron McNicoll If the 15 cars are booked organization based in San The cars will be based between 10 and 15 cars are City CarShare, Toyota frequently, more can be add- Francisco. in "pods" in parking lots taken out of service. and Hacienda Business Park ed later, which could bring Paxson said that the cars equipped with electrical The vehicles are ready to are combining to provide the total as high as 30 cars, also will be convenient for chargers. go into service. However, employees with a fleet of 15 said Mike Harrington, City the 4000 residents who live Harrigan said that Toyota arrangements still must be electric vehicles that can be CarShare's electric vehicle in Hacienda Park. However, looks at the new fleet as an made with various business- Find Out What's rented on an hourly basis. program manager. There are any CityCarShare member experiment for its electri- es to establish pod locations. The project is expected to also plans to locate a pod at can rent one, so the option is cal vehicles in a car-share Happening start by the end of July, and the East Dublin/Pleasanton open to Pleasanton residents situation. City CarShare and Check Out Section A is scheduled to last for three BART station. outside Hacienda. Hacienda like the program Section A is filled with years. The results will be All cars would be booked The fleet will be ideal for because it encourages more information about arts, studied by UC Berkeley for in advance through CityCar- employees who commute people to get out of their Final Delta people, entertainment and its impact as an environmen- Share via phone, computer to Hacienda on BART, and cars, leading to a cleaner special events. There are tally sustainable program, web page, or smart phone need a car for only a couple environment. Report education stories, a variety of features, and the arts and said James Paxson, general app. Renters must be mem- of hours to attend a business- Harrigan said that a study entertainment and bulletin manager of the Hacienda bers of CityCarShare, which related meeting or luncheon, showed that for every car- Tells Costs board. Park Owners Association. is an 11-year-old non-profit said Paxson. share vehicle put into use, By Ron McNicoll The final report on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) for environ- mental restoration and water Scientist Takes supply reliability provides a more specific outline of Top Honors costs than past discussions In Flame of the plan. Released on May 29, Challenge the plan shows that it will What is time? How cost $19.7 billion in today's would you explain it to a dollars to build the capital 5th grader? improvements to implement Nick Williams, a retired the plan. Some $14.5 billion engineer and science pre- of the total amount would be senter from Lawrence Liver- for water facilities construc- more National Laboratory tion, including two 35-mile not only has done a fine job tunnels that would convey of conveying the concept fresh water under the Delta of time to 11 year olds, and deliver it to pumping he’s being recognized for it. stations in the south Delta. Williams took top honors in Another $4.1 billion the written category of The would be spent on building Flame Challenge, a global wetlands and other protec- science contest run by the tions for fish and plants in Alan Alda Center for Com- the Delta. There would be municating Science at Stony $1.1 billion spent for various Brook University, and actor, conservation measures. science aficionado Alda. Water would travel to the The contest challenges South Bay Aqueduct, just as scientists to explain com- it does now. However, be- plex scientific principles in cause it would be encased in simple terms so they could the tunnels, the water would be clearly understood by a not pick up the saltiness 5th grade student. In 2012 and pollution that the Delta the question put to scientists Photo - Doug Jorgensen contributes to the fresh river was “What is a flame?” This The Amador Valley High School baseball team celebrated after defeating De La Salle 3 to 1 to capture the North water that is the source for year the question was “What water contractors, say BDCP is time?” Coast Section (NCS) Division I title. It was the third win this season for Amador Valley over the No. 2 seed Spartans participants. “I put myself in one (19-8), the defending NCS champions. The title is the first for Amador Valley (18-10) since 2010. Amador Valley The South Bay Aque- of my 5th grade students’ reached the championship round with a 9-7 victory over top ranked Granada High School. duct is the conveyance that shoes,” Williams said about carries water to wholesaler his winning entry. “What Zone 7 Water Agency in the I wrote is an off-the-cuff Valley, and to water districts response, not relying on Discussion to Focus on Future of Education in Fremont and San Jose. the Web or digging through On June 8, thought lead- Rock the Rebuild, an organi- ogy, Entertainment and De- topics as new educational Zone 7 is one of 29 state time-related research. The ers, entrepreneurs, authors, zation of young adult musi- sign), which began in 1984 paradigms based on current water contractors, and relies explanation is what made artists, innovators and local cians looking to help those to bring together experts in research, time-tested and on the state project to supply sense to me, and what I educators will share ideas in need; to Laurie Bodine, the three areas. The TEDx new tools, as well as innova- 80 percent of its water. thought a 5th grader could on how children should be founder of START Leader- event -- one of the foun- tive practices from around Operation and mainte- understand at this ‘time’ in taught in the 21st century ship. She advises Fortune dation's locally organized the world. nance costs over the plan's his/her science education.” during a TEDx Livermore 500 companies, start-ups, conferences, will gather Rosalind Hamar, TEDx- 50-year permit is expected The creation of the Flame event with the theme “Creat- non-profits and schools on speakers from areas includ- Livermore organizer and to be $4.8 billion. Challenge began with an ing our Future: Innovate + strategic planning, innova- ing science, technology, Head of School at Valley Some 68 percent of the event Alda recalls from his Educate." tion and leadership devel- the arts and philanthropy to Montessori, said, “TEDx- revenue to pay for the proj- childhood. When he was The all day event will opment. discuss the intersection of Livermore will ignite the ect would come from water 11 years old, he posed a feature live and video pre- Las Positas College is education and innovation. conversation between inno- rate payers, the 25 million complex question to his sentations. A diverse line- hosting the event under the Included in the day's vators and educators from a customers statewide who teacher, “What is a flame?” up of speakers ranges from auspices of TED (Technol- discussions will be such (See DISCUSSION, page 5) (See DELTA, page 5) but was not satisfied with the answer (“It’s oxidation”). The teacher’s response did not explain, or satisfy, his Dreammakers and curiosity. Alda, a visiting professor of journalism at Risktakers Recognized Stony Brook, has been an advocate for the clear com- Dreamers take risks in sored the event that honors munication of science and order to turn their visions the innovators around the collaborated with Stony into reality. Tri-Valley. Brook to institute the Flame That was the message Chamber Board presi- Challenge. behind the Livermore Val- dent Jay Davis commented, Nearly 20,000 students ley Chamber of Commerce's "There is an amazing wealth judged the entries, includ- annual Dreammakers and of innovators in the Valley." ing kids from Europe, Asia, Risktakers Luncheon. Inno- The Heavy Element Africa, Australia, South vation Tri-Valley co-spon- (See LUNCHEON, page 4) America and 38 states in America. Alda awarded the 2013 Flame Challenge win- County Fine-tuning ners at the World Science (See CHALLENGE, page 10) Solar Policy Draft A focus on encouraging includes most of the urban urban rooftop solar pro- unincorporated area. duction in unincorporated Haggerty suggested giv- areas of Alameda County, ing solar developers the flex- and allowing a cash in-lieu ibility to pay cash rather than fee instead of land mitiga- mitigate the loss of prime Photo - Doug Jorgensen tion for rural solar panels agricultural land due to the Pictured learning the techiques of drywall are Mckenna Crawford and Billy Gao. has emerged from Alameda placement of solar arrays. County Supervisors. The cash could be used The board's Transporta- to support a county fund that tion and Planning Commit- would encourage roof solar tee met June 3 and reviewed development in urban areas, Learning the ABCs of Construction the continuing evolution of a explained Haggerty's chief By Carol Graham sociated Builders and Con- training facility is barely draft policy on solar power. of staff, Shawn Wilson. “We’re a bit of a well- tractors, Northern California visible to passersby. Yet The panel's two members Haggerty also suggested kept secret, but that’s some- Chapter (ABC NorCal). inside the facility, plenty is are Scott Haggerty and Nate that cash could be given to thing we’d like to change,” Tucked into a curve on going on.