CNPA_BNC_2011_FeatureStory_BeeKeeper

Your Health

Mother-daughter team promotes research for Late Onset Tay-Sachs disease.

Page 33

Mtn. View on the Move

‘Birds of Shoreline’ exhibition lands at Rengstorff House.

Page 42

www.losaltosonline.com Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Community news for Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View since 1947

Busy with bees

Hospital workers want execs salary cap

By Bruce Barton

Town Crier Staff Writer

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Local residents host hives to boost declining honeybee population

By Elliott Burr

Staff Writer/elliottb@latc.com

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PHOTOS By ELLIOTT BUrr/TOWN CrIEr

soft hum gradually inten- Los Altos resident Jack Ip, above left, handles part of his sifies to an incessant buzz backyard beehive with help from his father, Tack. The as Jack Ip opens one of the father-son duo has been beekeeping together for six years. wooden boxes he keeps in his Los A honeybee, right, gathers pollen from a flower.

Altos backyard.

It’s the sound of thousands of bees taking flight, wondering what’s Some beekeepers pursue it happening to their home. The swarm grows, which for most people is chiefly for the sweet byprodthe signal to get out of the way. uct, others more to stave off But instead of heading for safer ground, Ip’s eyes light up. what researchers call Colony He’s found the queen.

Collapse Disorder (CCD), a na“There she is,” he cries out through his beekeeper suit, pinpoint- tional phenomenon that’s surfaced recently. ing her among a cluster of the bumbling yet docile insects. “Without In other words, honeybees are disappearing. And no one really the queen, the bees are no good.” understands why.

Because the insects carry pollen to and from plants and flowIp isn’t alone in his enthusiasm. The Los Altos resident sells hives to a growing number of Bay Area residents – several here in Los ers, the mysterious decline in their population can affect crop yields Altos and Los Altos Hills.

See BEES, Page 6

Poll of the Week Visit www.losaltosonline. com to register your vote in the Poll of the Week: Does downtown Los Altos need a parking structure? (a) yes (b) No (c) Maybe when the economy’s better.

The Town Crier will publish poll results in an upcoming issue.

Vol. 65 No. 42 • 50 cents

LA council supports wider Loyola bridge

By Elliott Burr

Staff Writer/elliottb@latc.com

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he Los Altos City Council last week unanimously selected a plan to widen and add bike and motor-vehicle lanes to the bridge across Foothill Expressway that connects Loyola Corners to the unincorporated Santa Clara County area.

While Los Altos doesn’t have jurisdiction to renovate the old bridge, which a city engineer called “functionally obsolete,” city staff have been collaborating with county officials and advising on design preferences.

The project could cost several million dollars to

ELLIOTT BUrr/TOWN CrIEr

The council wants to add car and bike lanes to Loyola Bridge. implement, but the county will pay for and manage the upgrades via federal and state grants, according to county engineer Masoud Akbarzadeh.

See BRIDGE Page 5

he logjam between management and service workers at El Camino Hospital over a new contract has pushed the issue of executive pay to the forefront.

Members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) said they have discussed with nurses, doctors and even city councilmembers, putting an initiative on the November 2012 ballot that would cap Ryba hospital executives’ salaries.

Igniting the proposal was recent news of pay raises for the hospital’s top nine executives (putting salary ranges from just under $200,000 annually to more than $400,000) and new President and CEO Tomi ryba’s reported $695,000 salary. ryba, who joined the staff Oct. 5, met with hospital employees, supporters and members of the public during an “Innovation Celebration” Saturday at the Mountain View campus. The event recognized the hospital’s 50th anniversary of operations.

Union representative Kary Lynch, a psychiatric tech and 33-year employee at El Camino, said he has approached nurses, physicians and local politicians about forming a See HOSPITAL, Page 7

Cover Story BEES

bees – like yellowjackets, hornets and wasps – can endanger a hive.

Berenbaum suggests planting the right stuff to nurture a bee bounty.

“Among the easiest things to do are planting flowers that are good sources of nectar and pollen (instead of ornamentals that provide no resources for bees), tolerating ‘weeds’ in lawns that may actually provide food for bees, and buying honey from local beekeepers (local beekeepers can’t make honey without local bees!),” she wrote.

From Page 1 across the spectrum.

Leading researcher May Berenbaum, Ph.D., head of the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign Department of Entomology, said that while there’s no consensus among researchers as to why the number of bees is dwindling, it’s definitely not because of the proliferation of cellphones, as some have posited.

“Among the hypotheses still under consideration are infection by a novel pathogen, viral overload and pesticide toxicity (or combinations of some or all of these factors),” she wrote in an email to the Town Crier.

While scientists conduct experiments and formulate theories, residents have taken the situation into their own hands – and the benefits may be widespread.

A blooming passion For years, Cheryl Evans picked pomegranates from her backyard tree.

The tart fruit made great jam, the Los Altos resident said. But she began noticing that her tree had less and less fruit, until finally it had none.

Approximately a year ago, she bought a couple of bee boxes.

“I noticed the bees were really around that tree,” she said. “And now I have more pomegranates this year.”

Evans, who plans to move into a LEED-certified Los Altos Hills home that she and her husband built, said that while the honey that her bees produce is a plus, cultivating hives plays into her environmental conscience.

“Our new home has geothermal heating, solar and rainwater reclamation,” she said. “The bee thing is in keeping with that.”

Evans’ garden, which includes broccoli, kale, garlic, several fruit trees and flowers, just to name a few, thrives. She attributes its success in part to having her buzzy buddies around.

“I have a veggie garden and orchard and thought it would be great to get more bees propagating and spreading more pollen around,” she said. “It’s very exciting – and we just made two gallons of honey. We’ve never had honey that tastes so good.”

Once she moves to her new home on an 11-acre property,

photos by Elliott Burr/Town Crier

Tack Ip, top, displays honeybees festooned on part of the hive. Jack Ip, inset left, tends to bees in his Los Altos backyard. Cheryl Evans, left, looks for honeybees in her flowers. Her bees produce Los Altos Gold, above.

where she already maintains two bee boxes, she plans to add more.

“It’s been great,” she said.

Doug Smith, a San Jose-based beekeeper, installed Evans’ boxes. He’s been involved with beekeeping for approximately seven years through the Santa Clara Valley Bee Guild. In his experience, there are three reasons why people develop a passion for it: “Pollination and honey, people have heard about CCD and a lot of people have childhood memo-

Page 6 / Los Altos Town Crier / October 19, 2011

ries of a family member who kept bees and they’ve always wanted them.”

Demand appears to be growing. Smith said that when he first joined the guild, there were approximately 50 members. These days, a meeting draws four times that.

“There are a lot of different people, different ages,” he said. “A lot of engineers seem to like beekeeping – there’s a lot of problem-solving that goes into it.”

Ip, the Los Altos hive seller, works at Cisco Systems as a project manager. When he discusses bees, it’s clear he finds their behavior fascinating.

“I could squat in front of the hive for hours and watch it – if I had the time,” he said.

Ip said he’s trying to bolster the local bee population through

hive adoptions. While he hasn’t noticed CCD taking its course as harshly in Northern California, he mentors nearly 30 amateur keepers throughout the Bay Area who share his dedication. He also coordinates a bee-removal service (he calls them “rescues”) and often preserves the bees afterward.

“Bees are fascinating creatures, and we have a lot to learn from them,” he said. “It’s amazing how a colony networks.”

Ip said his father sparked his sixyear involvement with the insects.

Tack started the family tradition decades ago while living in China.

Maintenance matters Keeping bees isn’t all a pot of honey. It does require some work.

Ip said he teaches novice keepers the basics. Often it’s mismanagement that leads to the downfall of an otherwise healthy hive.

Smith’s advice is to make sure bees have enough food. Mites can deteriorate a colony and predatory

Bee in your bonnet?

Don’t sweat it OK, so you can’t put bees on leashes or teach them not to fly over a fence into a neighbor’s yard. And striving for a colony’s growth could rub nearby residents the wrong way.

But those interviewed who keep bees found their neighbors don’t seem to mind.

“We have a swimming pool and at certain times of the year, we have a few more around the pool,” said Los Altos Hills resident Don Matsen, who has lived next to an amateur beekeeper for close to 40 years. “We haven’t had any real problems, no stinging.”

Ip said his bees are tranquil and would only sting if given a reason. Also, he’s observed that his bees fly upward as they exit the hive. By the time they get over a neighbor’s fence, they’re far above anyone’s head.

Kimberly Thompson, a Los Altos resident, also keeps bees in her backyard. She said that while they don’t usually sting, it has happened.

“One stung my nephew, but he has a fear (of them) and they say bees can smell fear,” she said.

“We’re not afraid of bees – they’re just part of our life.”

Still, a bee sting can trigger an allergic reaction in some people.

Los Altos Hills City Councilman Gary Waldeck said bees could pose a liability if there were an incident.

“Say someone who’s allergic gets nailed – who’s responsible?” he asked. “The town because (beekeeping) is authorized?

The beekeeper because they had (bees)?”

The future Scientists and hobbyists contribute to saving the bee population.

On the research end, Berenbaum said they’re making See BEES, Page 7

News FILMING From Page 5

City Clerk Lee Price reported that the city receives approximately $70,000 annually through the Public Education and Government (PEG) Access Fund. Councilmembers have shown an interest in sharing funds with the schools to enable the district to broadcast meetings.

Price said the PEG funds have restrictions, and typically apply only to capital funds for broadcast projects. If the city were to share with the school district, the funds could be applied to camera and programming equipment, software and hardware.

Price said it cost the city approximately $25,000 to set up the webcasting software through Granicus.

She is confident the school district could implement a system for less.

Trustees Mark Goines and Doug Smith considered less costly operations and plan to gather more

HOSPITAL From Page 1

committee “investigating a number of issues.” These include a perceived lack of transparency and the confusion over two hospital boards and the amount of money spent on advertising.

“The issue that seemed to resonate with most people was executive pay,” Lynch said. “It was the first thing we moved on.”

Lynch acknowledged that details of the group’s plans are sketchy at this point – there’s still the matter of wording for the proposal and gathering the approximately 8,900 signatures required to place an initiative on the ballot.

(The county Registrar of Voters requires 10 percent of registered voters – the El Camino Hospital District’s last count stood at 89,020.)

But he indicated that the group is serious about moving forward.

“I can’t wait to circulate a petition,” said Lynch, who is also on

BEES

From Page 6 headway.

“We’ve been investigating the ways that honeybees detoxify pesticides. In 2006, the sequencing of the honeybee genome revealed that honeybees have far fewer genes that code for enzymes than break

EGAN

From Page 4 school, the city prohibited dropoff access at the rear entrance.

Now the school community and neighbors are dealing with escalating automobile traffic in front

Elliott Burr/Town Crier

A KMVT employee works in the city’s video control room at city hall. information on webcasting and archiving.

City and school district officials continue to explore a more affordable option for the school district.

Live feeds of the designated city meetings are available online at www.losaltosca.gov and broadcast at Mountain View KMVT-15 Community Television.

the union committee trying to negotiate a contract.

He said management could impose a contract on the union “any day now.” The two sides have been talking since April. Issues include decreased holiday pay, reduced retirement funds and the big stickler – elimination of workers’ free health-care benefits. Lynch said management wants employees to pay 10 percent of the costs.

“Due to increased costs in health-care insurance, (management) is asking for employees to share in the costs of health insurance,” said hospital spokeswoman Judy Twitchell.

She said the hospital “can choose to give one last, best final offer” to the union, which was still without an agreement after a Saturday deadline.

In the meantime, both sides have entered mediation. Twitchell said management has set another deadline, Nov. 11, for an agreement. If there is still no agreement

by Nov. 9, the hospital’s board of

directors must vote on the contract.

Lynch said the union is considering a one-day strike and plans an “informational picket” Oct. 31.

Twitchell said executive compensation is determined by an exacting formula that has specific benchmarks for performance.

“An executive compensation policy is something all (hospital) organizations do,” she said.

The level of compensation, she said, must compete with other hospitals’ and take into account the high cost of living in Silicon Valley.

“Attracting quality people?

That’s exactly our point,” Lynch said. “In the long term, (decreased benefits) will diminish the quality of care.”

The SEIU presence at El Camino is strong, comprising approximately 1,000 workers among three bargaining units. Positions include laboratory workers, clinical lab scientists, housekeeping and nutritional services employees. Hospital nurses have a separate union.

down pesticides,” she wrote. “We have some evidence that the relatively small number of enzymes available for detoxifying pesticides may underlie the vulnerability of honeybees to pesticides encountered in combinations.”

Ip, along with residents who propagate the benefits of beekeeping, said he plans to keep spread-

ing the word.

“My thing is not honey or production,” he said. “I want to keep educating the public about bees.”

To read Ip’s bee blog, visit www.losaltoshoneybees.wordpress.com.

For more information on Smith’s bee services, call (408) 802-1331.

of the school.

Smith said the situation at Egan would differ, because the rear access would offer a new option for families.

“You aren’t trying to change a bad behavior, you are trying to implement a new behavior,” he

said.

Casas and Mayor Ron Packard directed district officials to collect data on how many students would enter through an Egan rear entrance, if installed. The city council would then have a basis for discussion.

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October 19, 2011 / Los Altos Town Crier / Page 7