Short Takes Short Takes (October 26, 2005)

Dead in the water

Charles Marsala, the Atherton vice mayor who hails from New Orleans, didn't get a very good response when he asked his City Council colleagues to make a donation to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. The consensus: there are a lot of worthy causes, and the cash-strapped town coffers can't support them all, so to be fair, it won't support any.

Not wanting to sound churlish, Mayor Bill Conwell and council members Alan Carlson, Jim Janz and Kathy McKeithen ever so casually mentioned their own, personal donations to hurricane relief.

Mr. Marsala's suggestion that Atherton adopt a Louisiana town and encourage residents to direct their fundraising and donations to it also sank like a stone.

Mr. Janz had his own pitch: huge fundraising efforts have been directed toward tsunami and Hurricane Katrina victims, but not much is being done for earthquake victims in Pakistan. He said he's encouraging people to donate to the Red Cross, UNESCO or other agencies to benefit Pakistani victims.
Spare the (free) fare

Wouldn't you know it? The first year that Bay Area transit agencies offered free rides to commuters traveling on high-pollution "Spare the Air" days turned out to be the year with the fewest "Spare the Air" days to date.

That's right, when the 2005 summer smog season came to an official close on October 14, only one "Spare the Air" day had been declared by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the lowest number since the program began in 1991. Not that a dearth of smoggy, high-ozone days is a bad thing -- in 1995, there were 24 "Spare the Air" days.

Commuters who used free transit on July 26 saved more than 64,000 miles-worth of exhaust fumes, according to the air district's estimates.

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