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Uploaded: Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 9:29 AM

Asian dust cloud reaches Bay Area today
Springtime cloud of acidic particles, desert dust can impact water reserves

by Sue Dremann
Palo Alto Online Staff

Posted by Kate, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Mar 25, 2009 at 10:03 am

Good heavens. Where is our City Council now that we need it? Will it declare an emergency? Will it demand that we all sweep off our sidewalks? Will it hire a consultant to deal with this? Will it pass a tax on the pollutants and bill China? Will Mayor Drekmeier make a green disaster proclamation- with photo op? Stand by.

Posted by Paul, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Mar 25, 2009 at 10:12 am

Au contraire. This is good news. We can blame China for our pollution. We have met the enemy, and it ain't us.

Posted by Howard, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Mar 25, 2009 at 10:14 am

Not to worry. The ban on plastic bags will cancel this out.

Posted by William, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Mar 25, 2009 at 10:29 am

Maybe the City Council should spend hours and dollars passing a non-binding resolution to send to the Chinese government.

Posted by Palo Parent, a resident of the Greenmeadow neighborhood, on Mar 25, 2009 at 10:31 am

But only if they pass a resolution after 11PM on a week night.

Posted by Dimitri, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Mar 25, 2009 at 10:33 am

For all that the PA City Council does or does not accomplish, dust clouds from China that pass us by are not within the council's scope of responsibility. I presume the earlier remark was in good humor. :)

Posted by Kate, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Mar 25, 2009 at 10:38 am

To: Dimitri"

Yep. You gotta have a sense of humor to live in this town or it will drive you bonkers.

Posted by William, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Mar 25, 2009 at 10:40 am

Thanks Dimitri. You are correct. My earlier comment was partly in humor and partly in sarcasm. I can only wish that the City Council reads these comments from time to time to understand the frustration that the PA citizen has with respect to how our tax dollars are spent. Please, let's get back to basics...police, roads, fire, etc.

Posted by An Observor, a resident of the Professorville neighborhood, on Mar 25, 2009 at 10:45 am

For what it's worth, which is probably not much, complaining about the City Council or any part of government is akin to shooting fish in a barrel. The challenge for each of us as citizens is to ENGAGE and work towards the change we want to see implemented. Hoping that the council will read these posts is not enough...

Posted by Albee, a resident of Mountain View, on Mar 25, 2009 at 10:50 am

Hey! The sky REALLY is falling! :)

Posted by neighbor, a resident of another community, on Mar 25, 2009 at 10:54 am

How did the City Council come into this? Bizarre.

Suggestions for the regular Paloaltoonline nasty bloggers: Hold your breath today. We'll all be better off.

Posted by Cloud 9, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Mar 25, 2009 at 11:30 am

China is not to blame. The good ol' US of A is the reason China has all of those pollutants we really *NEED* all that stuff they make for us...another effect of Globalization, coming back to bite US.

Posted by resident, a resident of the Adobe-Meadows neighborhood, on Mar 25, 2009 at 11:48 am

Maybe China will pull the plug out on all U.S. Treasuries, so Americans won't keep buying junk.

What about the nuclear economic bomb the U.S. dropped on the world? Toxic assets, anyone?

Posted by YSK, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Mar 25, 2009 at 11:49 am

If we had our new Superbeing Police Chief he could blow this nasty ol' cloud away with his Superbreath!

Meanwhile, China occaisonally sends over some pretty nasty stuff: SARS, Bird flu,giant lung consuming nasty dust clouds....what are those people DOING over there?

I think we need to get the City Council to call an emergency meeting for an EIR. I need that so my insurance will pay for my car to be washed and to cover the new filter for my HEPA unit.

Posted by Etaoin Shrdlu, a resident of another community, on Mar 25, 2009 at 1:10 pm

Time for the Palo Alto Process. Hire a consultant.

Posted by Disgusted, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Mar 25, 2009 at 1:17 pm

Every time I make the mistake of reading the comments on this "forum" it practically ruins my day. It's a haven for the apparently .00001% of Palo Altans who never met any government they liked. Without exception every contact I've had with Palo Alto officials has been positive. There was a burglary at my house and the police were prompt and fabulous! I pulled a building permit, and it went VERY smoothly. I've come home from vacations twice to find something happened to leave me without some utilities. Someone got there within 15 minutes in the middle of the night to assist me. I belong to a neighborhood association, and have found City Council members to be quite responsive to our requests, even if they can't accommodate every thing.

Posted by anonymous, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Mar 25, 2009 at 5:51 pm

All the clever quips aside -

Clearly, it isn't good that China feels free to continue massive industrial pollution. I haven't been to mainland China, however the firsthand reports I have heard were alarming in terms of the obvious serious pollution witnessed there.

I just don't think it is a laughing matter...

Posted by Rick, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on Mar 25, 2009 at 11:48 pm

I wonder who produces more CO2, The USof A or China?

We rely on Coal for much of our electricity as does China.

I'm sure we have more cars, trucks, etc than China and burn more gasoline.

The city of Industry, Palo Alto can hardly complain. We probably produce or cause more CO2 than any other bay area city, based on population. The industry needs to relocate to where the commuters live and the industry needs to provide busses for their employees so they don't have to drive 50 to 100 miles,solo, each day.

High density housing here is totally enviromentally unfriendly. Traffic jams, no trees on dense developments, etc.

Nuclear power is to only real way to reduce CO2, airborne radioactive emissions and mercury emissions that coal burning produces.

We should be working with China, India and other large elect. users to produce a "Standardized Nuclear Plant" that can be produced cost effectively and also a standard reprocessing method for spent rods from the plants. The French are doing reprocessing of their spent rods .

Which do the so called enviromentalists want? Coal Power or Nuclear Power? Most coal plants have NO Controls on emissions of CO2, radioactive materials or mercury and if they had the same standards of emissions that Nuclear has their power would cost many times what it does now.

Posted by SkepticAl, a resident of the Ventura neighborhood, on Mar 26, 2009 at 12:22 am

To "Disgusted" above -

I'm with you. I like Palo Alto, Palo Altans, and most of my experiences with the city functions have been pleasant. Not denying that other people have encountered problems, but I think we ought to be able to see the good and bad, while most people who post online here see only the bad. I used to post here almost daily, now I'm only reading once a week or so.

Posted by Relieved, a resident of the Triple El neighborhood, on Mar 26, 2009 at 5:01 pm

Thanks to Disgusted, Skeptical Al and others for bringing a note of reason and appreciation to this unusually ill-informed and unappreciative group of writers. I am relieved to find kindred spirits.

If you don't like what you see in Palo Alto, there are lots of things you can do to make it more to your liking - run for City Council, work for campaigns for candidates, lead neighborhood groups, volunteer for commissions. And if you really don't like it, you can move to some perfect town that will be all you want it to be.

Reading these comments is like listening to whiny teenagers (I agree this is a slander; many teenagers aren't whiny, but these writers sound like those who are). I just hope that they are getting entertainment and fun out of their rants - otherwise, I would imagine there would be more useful things to do with their time.

I know I'm appreciative of all those who do participate in government so I don't have to. And, in trade, I'm more than happy to live with a few oddities or imperfections. Overall, this is a terrific place to live.

Posted by ann, a resident of Los Altos Hills, on Mar 27, 2009 at 9:31 am

i'm with william in old palo alto...get back to the basics police, fire, roads, etc..

Posted by YSK, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Mar 27, 2009 at 5:13 pm

Disgusted, Skeptic, I have no problem with the police, the City employees or anyone below the level of the City Council. The Indians are great, I am not thrilled with the Chiefs. I have seen many others post comment of appreciation as well. Maybe you should really read the commentary before you come up with a percentage of people who are thinking ANYTHING about the City.