San Ramon City Council Votes to Close Recycling Center on Earth Day

The City Council in San Ramon considers the City Recycling Center unimportant when there is money to be made. Recycling Center at Omega Road has been an important part of San Ramon environmental health for 17 years. It has been effective run by Valley Waste Management for many years and has become a regional asset for residents throughout the Tri-Valley area.

The City Council voted to close the center permanently on August 30 even though the 2020 General Plan requires that the city have a recycling center. They do not plan to open another site. The center land which is owned by the residence of San Ramon, will be sold off to a developer to build housing and retail mixed buildings similar to the conditions under which the City Center was sold off to Sunset Development.

The City Council has determined that we don’t need a recycling center any more. The money paid to Valley Waste Management in our monthly trash fee for operating the center ($146,000.00 per year) will go now be given to the city to put in their general fund and not returned to the residence of San Ramon in lower fees.

The San Ramon General Plan calls for the establishment of a permanent recycling center located within the city. The existing site should not be closed until another sit is selected. Until then redevelopment of the site can wait. Mixed use housing in this area is not a good idea. It will be in the middle of light industrial uses that are not going anywhere. That may be the plan all along, to drive local businesses out of the city by putting housing in the center of other uses. Just think what conditions these houses will be in five years with trucks from Morgan Masonry running around all day in the resident’s front yard. I call that instant plight.

The Recycling Center serves many purposes besides recycling. It serves to show that we in San Ramon care about the environment. It provides a show place that recycling is important and should saves materials from going to landfill which are fast becoming full. It teaches us and our children that the earth is not unlimited and should be protected. Recycling and reuse of materials are important to our future and our children’s future.

The City Council wants to show us that they care more about money and their economic agenda than the environment quality of our live in San Ramon. This should not be so in San Ramon and we should tell them at the next council meeting on May 13th. If you care about Earth Day and the environment come and say so.

Jim Gibbon, AIA

San Ramon For Open Government

Boy Scouts Camporee

The Boy Scouts of America Mt Diablo Silverado Council Meridian District servicing the cities of Alamo, Danville and San Ramon is holding their annual Camporee on April 26th and 27th.

The Camporee will bring together over 600 scouts for a weekend of camping and activities that promote and build the character of our youth and focus on the theme of American Heroes. This year’s Camporee will highlight the highest youth achievement of Eagle Scout and invites any Eagle Scouts living in Alamo, Danville and San Ramon to come and celebrate at the scouting event on Saturday afternoon the 26th of April.

The local Boy Scouts district has advanced over 395 Eagle Scouts locally in the last 7 years.

Notable Eagle Scouts over the last 50 years include J.W. Marriott, Michael Bloomberg, Captain Jim Lovell of Apollo 13, Neil Armstrong, Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer and the late President Gerald R. Ford. We would like to invite any local Eagle Scout interested in attending please contact marksmith68@comcast.net.