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Menlo Briefs: Public comment sought on plastic bag ban report

Those plastic bags at the local grocery store are a step closer to extinction. Menlo Park and 24 other Peninsula cities may restrict the use of single-use carryout bags, and San Mateo County has released a draft environmental impact report to explore the effects.

The ban targets single-use bags, except those used by restaurants and for produce, and would also implement a 10 cent fee for paper bags until Dec. 31, 2014, and then hike the fee to 25 cents per paper bag.

Go to tinyurl.com/MP-bag to review the draft EIR online. The document also may be reviewed at the community development resource desk at the Civic Center at 701 Laurel St. in Menlo Park.

The only public hearing on the draft report, which was released June 22, will be held by the San Mateo County Planning Commission on July 11 at 9 a.m. in 400 County Center in Redwood City. Written comments may be submitted to envhealth@smcgov.org through the close of business on Aug. 6.

Menlo Park will hold an informational meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 25, in the Arrillaga Recreation Center at 600 Alma St. Comments will not be entered into the record. To help residents make the switch away from plastic, the city has reusable shopping bags available at the administration building in the Civic Center.

Have a quiet

The Menlo Park police would like to remind residents that fireworks and gunfire are illegal ways to celebrate the Fourth of July. That includes "safe and sane" fireworks, which reportedly are just as capable of setting your yard on fire as any other kind.

Anyone lighting fireworks or firing guns within city limits may be warned, cited, or arrested, according to police, and residents can report illegal holiday activity by calling 330-6300.

Free compost

Menlo Park residents can grab up to six garbage cans' worth of free compost on Saturday, July 7, from sunrise to sunset while the supply lasts. Bring a shovel, containers, and proof of residency to Bedwell Bayfront Park, located near the intersection of Marsh Road and Bayfront Expressway.

Register for

On Aug. 7, Menlo Park police and city officials plan to party with the rest of us from 6 to 9 p.m. as part of a national "Night Out" event. They'll attend as many registered parties as possible in three hours, hoping to build stronger relationships with the community, according to a press release.

Go to menloparkpolice.org to register your party. Contact Community Service Officer Gonee Sepulveda at gesepulveda@menlopark.org or 330-6300 for more information.

Posted by Tigerlily, a resident of the Menlo Park: Downtown neighborhood, on Jul 10, 2012 at 11:45 am

Let’s see now: we’re being told we have to ban plastic bags to “save the planet.” If the planet’s salvation depended on banning plastic bags, it’s life must be hanging by a thread. Seems there’s a sucker born every minute, who can’t spot an obvious scam. Banning plastic bags, besides being a brain-dead idea and a grand nuisance, will not even substantially decrease the number of bags we use, it will only decrease the money in our wallets by forcing us to PAY for the bags that have long been considered part of customer service. As such, this will mean piles of money for retailers, and also for companies that make plastic bags and “reusable” bags, as people will have to keep buying them. Furthermore, plastic bags keep produce fresh the longest, which means fewer trips to the grocery store to buy more produce—and fewer bags. Besides which most people DO reuse their plastic bags for a variety of purposes. Ask dog owners.

Just like the Cap and Trade plan, another, more dramatically ambitious “world-saving” scam, the plastic bag ban/fee actually accomplishes only one thing: laying another tax on “we, the people.” The number of bags used will not change, but our bank balances will go down, as will our quality of life, as the eco-bullies and the billionaires who fund them find more and more ways to control our every action, and to profit in the process. Ask Al Gore.