Saratoga News

News Briefs

Two more members join Hakone board

Two more members have joined the Hakone Foundation's board of trustees. The Saratoga City Council, at the recommendation of Hakone Foundation president Daryl Becker, appointed Elaine Salter and Jacqueline Bren-tano Stine to the board at its meeting Dec. 3.

Salter, a Saratoga resident, is currently involved at Hakone Gardens through her work for the gift shop, as a member of the Program Advisory Group and the Committee for Displays and through the Japan Bamboo Society, of which she has been a member since the early 1980s. Stine, a San Francisco resident, is the granddaughter of Isabel Stine, who built the gardens in 1918.

Employees' contract approved by council

The Saratoga City Council approved a memo of understanding with members of the Saratoga Employees Association Dec. 3.

Terms of the two-year agreement, effective from July 1997 through June 1998, include a 3 percent wage increase effective from last July and a 3 percent increase effective next July; new provisions for dental coverage, including a city-paid plan premium for family coverage and a reduction from $50 to $45 for single employee coverage; and the addition of Columbus Day as a recognized holiday.

Talks for the employees' contract, which should have begun in May, were delayed until June because of the city's budget hearings. A tentative agreement was reached in late October.

Wood fires can pollute the air

Summer's smog risks may be over for now, but the Bay Area Air Quality Management District warns that pollutants from wood-burning fires can be just as harmful. In response, the BAAQMD will be sponsoring Spare the Air Tonight warnings, much the same way the district informed residents when smog reached dangerous levels during its Spare the Air campaign last summer.

BAAQMD officials said pollution from wood-burning fires is especially apparent on a cold night, when cold air sinks close to the ground and warm air above acts as a lid.

[ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ]