"There's 13 million reasons to look at this project," Mayor Wiest said."

This is not an asset nor is it income, it is a liability and an expense.

Atherton does not get to keep a penny of this $13 million and must also pay the annual maintenance costs plus suffer the disruption to the park during construction.

But at least Wiest is being honest about his motivations - "There's 13 million reasons to look at this project"

Oh, the unintended consequences of the Clean Water Act. The government might actually spend billions to comply and install smelly mosquito infested catch basins near someone's back yard.

Atherton's Council did not play well with the Las Lomitas School District Board and passed on the opportunity to install this at Las Lomitas School. They instead chose to grab the money and install it at the park. The 13 million reasons to do this will likely not lead to any spare change for the Town.

The real reason to do this is environmental, but that motivation has its limits when it comes to disrupting the park and jeopardizing property values.

If the Town just can't resist these 13 million reasons then they should put the facility under Watkins.

The Watkins Right of Way which includes the paved surface and the adjacent Town controlled strips on both sides is wide enough and long enough to house the entire facility.

The channel would end up with a new North wall at no additional cost.

Building it in segments would allow continued park access thru one gate at a time and McCormick and Burns would provide access to almost all of the home during the project.

Shutting down the road would be no different than what was done for Marsh.

It could all be done in the dry season.

Watkins has a constant flow gradient,.

Would be very easy to install diversion gates,.

No new bridges would be needed.

Easy access for servicing.

The storage area would be no deeper than as is proposed in the park.

The water table is the same as in the park and hence not an issue.

The park would not be disrupted.

This is a bad deal for the Town. Its a complicated design what will require constantly maintenance $$ and in all likelihood won't work when needed.
It is a bad idea for the residents who will be paying for this decades to come, long after these council members have left council and moved away.
This is a bad idea for the children who will be dealing with year round disease carrying mosquitoes.
This is a bad idea for all the users of the park.
This overpriced boodegoggle will only marginally help flooding, if it works at all.
This will try to remove toxins from the water that barely exist compared to other municipalities in the bay area.
This will forever damage the natural beauty of our only park, the Jewel Of Atherton.
Tell your council members this is a bad idea and they should not proceed.
Bill Widmer 530-0078
Elizabeth Lewis 533-8830
Rick DeGolia 793-2800
Mike Lempress 690-6661
Gary Wiest 357-7122.

Darn, I read the headline and thought for a millisecond that Atherton was installing public swimming and/or water park facilities!

That would offer true public benefit. Other pools in the area are too crowded with the population growth. Even parks with water features are welcome in the heat.

I know, I know, we should be conserving water, but I can dream right?