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A Publication of the Emerald Lake Homeowners Association
P.O. Box 620449 Woodside, CA 94062
29 September 2003
Who is an Emerald Hills resident?
As of the census of 2000, there are 3,899 people, 1,437 households, and 1,120 families residing in EH. The population density is 3,312.1 per square mile. There are 1,466 housing units at an average density of 1,245.3 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town is 89.46% White, 0.56% African American, 0.18% Native American, 5.16% Asian, 0.21% Pacific Islander, 1.36% from other races, and 3.08% from two or more races. 5.18% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 1,437 households out of which 34.6% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 70.1% are married couples living together, 4.4% have a female householder with no husband present, and 22.0% are non-families. 14.8% of all households are made up of individuals and 4.0% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.69 and the average family size is 2.97.
The population age is spread out, with 22.7% under the age of 18, 4.3% from 18 to 24, 30.6% from 25 to 44, 32.2% from 45 to 64, and 10.2% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 42 years. For every 100 females there are 100.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 101.5 males.
The median income for a household is $127,250, and the median income for a family is $141,255. Males have a median income of $95,873 versus $66,250 for females. The per capita income for the town is $68,966. 2.0% of the population and 0.5% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 1.2% are under the age of 18, and 1.6% are 65 or older. [demographics source]
Who is a member of the Emerald Hills homeowners association?
According to the association bylaws (which can be viewed on our website), a Member is any person who resides in the house they own in the Area [EH] and who abides by the bylaws. This means two things: 1) membership is voluntary, and 2) you must own and live in your Emerald Hills home to qualify. Only Members are entitled to vote or hold an office in the association.
Since this is a voluntary membership, to raise funds the association is totally reliant upon the voluntary contributions of its members. The beginning of this year we began tracking the dates of member donations. Starting this issue, we post that date in the address block above. We hope you take a moment to read the newsletter, visit our website, and decide that being an association member is worthwhile--and deserves your investment of time and/or money.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Also starting this issue, we will share answers we've found to common questions from Members. A growing body of information will accumulate and be posted on our website.
Q. Where can a resident of Emerald Hills address a neighborhood eyesore? (inoperative, abandoned, wrecked or dismantled vehicle; accumulation of debris, garbage, refuse, weeds, overgrowth; any other hazard to public health or safety)
A. The issues listed above are addressed in the San Mateo County Ordinances under "Abatement of Nuisance." Report issues to the County Planning & Building Division's Code Compliance Unit at 650-363-4825.
Road Resurfacing Update
In 1997 the ELHA Board worked with the San Mateo County Public Works Dept. to see if we could get our roads resurfaced. The county would not consider resurfacing our roads unless they were brought up to county standards, which would mean a minimum of 22' wide streets with sidewalks or drainage ditches. This would mean that the land in front of our houses that is county property would turn into asphalt. It took two years to get our road standards changed for our area. The county agreed to overlay our existing street widths, keeping our neighborhood with that country feeling that it has had. The following is a list of the streets that have been overlaid, and the ones to be done by the end of 2003.
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Street
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Length
(miles)
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Width
(feet)
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Date
Done
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Lakeview
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1.91
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19
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1999
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Oak Knoll
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.37
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22
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2000
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Lake
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.25
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22
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2000
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Park
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.20
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20
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2000
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Woodland Pl
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.10
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18
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2000
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Vista
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.40
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19
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2001
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Lakemead
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.65
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19
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2001
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Bayview
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.35
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20
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2000
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Hamilton
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.40
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19
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2001
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Oak Park
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.40
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19
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2001
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Sunset
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.25
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22
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2002
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Springdale
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.45
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16
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2002
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So. Oak Park
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.09
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20
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2002
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To be paved next:
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Wilmington
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.60
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19
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Hillcrest Way
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.85
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19
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Upcoming Tree Giveaway
Mark your calendars: this year's tree and mulch giveaway is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday, October 18 at the usual location (Elks Lodge parking lot).
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
We research common questions from current Members. Go to our website for more answers or to submit a question.
Q. Where and when are trash & recycling bins to be placed (and removed) on collection day?
A. Garbage cans, recycling bins and yard waste carts should be placed at curb by 6 a.m. on your pickup day. Containers should be removed from the curb within 24 hours. For more info, contact BFI at 650-592-2411 or www.bfipeninsula.com.
Added only to this HTML version of the newsletter (not the print nor PDF versions):
A quick resident poll:
Do you want high-speed DSL internet access,
but can't get service from SBC or Megapath?
If so, let's band together. email me to join the "petition."
(If you have a view of the southern sky, DirecTV may also be an option.)
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San Mateo County Solar Home Tour
Saturday, October 4, 10:0 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Visit solar homes around San Mateo County and see the latest in solar technology, talk to solar homeowners, and meet various solar vendors at the San Mateo County Solar Home and Building Tour on Saturday, October 4. The Solar Tour is a great way to learn more about solar power from people who are already doing it. The eight homes on the tour feature varying photovoltaic systems including grid-tied and battery-backed systems, solar hot water heaters, and ground and rooftop mounts. Many homes also contain green building features. The tour also includes the largest solar installation in the County, the San Mateo County Forensics Lab. Tour costs: $10 per car (pre-registration), $15 per car (tour day). Sponsored by San Mateo County RecycleWorks and NCSEA. To get more information and register for the tour, visit www.RecycleWorks.org.
Friends of Edgewood to Celebrate 10th Anniversary
Sunday, October 19, 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 pm, at the Edgewood Park Day Camp.
The Friends of Edgewood will be celebrating the tenth anniversary of their founding, which coincides with the tenth anniversary of the designation of Edgewood as a Natural Preserve.
The celebration, an ice cream social, will be free and open to the public. There will be many fun things for children to see and do. Adults will be equally delighted by the many interactive opportunities to appreciate a decade's worth of accomplishments and help create a vision for the next ten years.
The theme, Powers of 10, will be evident throughout the day. The lawn area of the Day Camp will be transformed into a Main Street of 10 displays and exhibits that visitors can stroll through. Each of the displays will highlight a different area of activity in which volunteers from the Friends have been involved.
Over the past decade the Friends have made significant contributions to the preserve, including shielding the land from development, working with the California Native Plant Society to protect rare native plants and remove invasive exotic plants, adopting Highway 280 alongside the preserve, patrolling the trails, and training docents to lead wildflower walks, teach children, and support public outreach.
The Old Stage Day Camp entrance to Edgewood Park is one mile east of Highway 280 on Edgewood Road.
ELHA Endorses School Board Candidates
On Nov. 4, voters must select three trustees to the Redwood City School Board. The Emerald Lake Homeowners Association strongly recommends Alicia Aguirre, Chris Bohl, and Dennis McBride, because we feel that these three candidates have the qualifications, experience, and widespread community support needed to be effective.
In the past decade, the School District has undergone dramatic changes. Test scores have risen for nine straight years, new schools at North Star, Adelante, and MIT were launched. Two successful bond issues have enabled the district to modernize its facilities with new libraries, classrooms, multi-use rooms, as well as field, playground and many other improvements.
Leadership provided by trustees was instrumental in many of these changes. Now all public schools are facing devastating cutbacks. To reduce budgets while continuing to improve requires real leadership, knowledge, and experience.
Alicia Aguirre is a professional educator and mother of two boys. She is currently School Board President and is seeking her second term as a trustee. Along with being a professor at Canada College, she has been a classroom teacher and high school principal. A specialist in English acquisition, she has sharply improved the teaching of English to non-English speaking students in the district.
Chris Bohl is running for a third term as trustee and has twice been Board President. A resident of Emerald Hills and father of two girls, Bohl is a Senior Vice President of Investments at Smith Barney. He served on the ELHA board for 12 years. He chaired both the 1997 Measure A and 2002 Measure B bond campaigns, organizing the business, senior, parent alliance that passed these initiatives, the only successful Redwood City school bonds in 50 years.
Dennis McBride, a long time school and community leader, is also an Emerald Hills resident and father of two boys. A former Senior Vice President at Silicon Graphics with a background in finance, Dennis was recently named Woodside High's Parent of the Year. He has been a school site council president 7 times and is the treasurer of the Redwood City School Foundation and chairman of the Sequoia District Bond Oversight Committee.
All three candidates have worked with parents, teachers, and community groups to improve our schools. They have clearly demonstrated their ability to work for the well being of all the district's children. Virtually every elected official and community leader, as well as dozens of parent leaders, has endorsed them.
Please go to the polls on November 4 and vote for Aguirre, Bohl, and McBride. [Go to www.smartvoter.org to register and/or find your polling location.]
Help Redirect PG&E Transmission Tower Expansion Plans
PG&E is proposing to build a new 230 kV transmission line across Edgewood preserve as part of the new 27-mile long Jefferson-Martin transmission project. The proposal would entail a wider right of way, installation of much taller towers, new concrete foundations, and long-term disturbance for access and maintenance.
 Fortunately, one of the alternatives being studied would underground the new lines beneath Canada Road and Skyline Boulevard as they go north through Edgewood and the San Francisco Watershed lands.
Environmental groups, including Committee for Green Foothills, Sierra Club, Friends of Edgewood, and CNPS, have called for undergrounding the existing 60 kV lines (along with the new 230 kV lines) and removing the existing towers.
Besides the obvious environmental benefits of avoiding impacts to sensitive plant and wildlife habitats, this proposal would increase safety from terrorism and vandalism, reduce impacts to neighboring communities from electromagnetic fields (EMFs), and improve operational reliability.
The Public Utilities Commission and PG&E are now reviewing comments on the 1000-page draft Environmental Impact Report. To find out more about this project, or to get involved in the fight to underground the new lines and remove these towers, visit www.GreenFoothills.org or contact Committee for Green Foothills Legislative Advocate Lennie Roberts at 650-854-0449 or Lennie(at)GreenFoothills.org.
Ongoing Improvement
In an effort to improve our effectiveness as a homeowner resource, we have joined CAI, the Community Associations Institute (http://www.caionline.org/). CAI "is the only national organization dedicated to fostering vibrant, responsive, competent community associations." CAI provides information, techniques, and access to other resources to assist community associations in promoting harmony, responsible leadership, and a sense of community.
Updating Your Information
To revise or update your member information (how your name appears on the newsletter mailing label, for example) please contact Lee Lukehart. Please include your Area Parcel Number (APN), printed next to the mailing label.
Please Donate... Now Online!
We ask for your voluntary donation to help continue paying for the newsletters, notices, tree repopulation, and various expenses of your homeowners association. We are now able to accept credit cards, securely online! Just go to http://www.emeraldhills.org/pages/donate.html. Thanks!! The charge will appear on your credit card statement as "fund@emeraldhills.org".
The best way to stay informed: get on our e-mail list!
If you aren’t already one of the 303 homeowners "in-the-know," please send us your e-mail address. Just drop a message to our editor, at news(at)emeraldhills.org. Unless you request to not receive notices, you’ll be alerted to late-breaking community news and issues. You’ll also save the association money, since we’ll send you e-mail instead of a printed newsletter. (If you want to receive both the print newsletter and the e-mail–just ask!)
ELHA Directors
Carolyn Chaney
Steve Harper
Carole Henley
Lee Lukehart
Sallie Martin
Phillip Quan
Debby Wallach
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364-5547 President
368-4254
365-8559
366-5335 Vice President
369-7494 Secretary
365-2499 Treasurer
369-4430
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Board members and officers, eff. 7 April 2003.
Yes! I will help preserve Emerald Hills.
___ I’d like to contribute the standard membership dues of $25.
___ I can spare a bit more to help. Here is my donation for $40.
___ I’m a resident of one of the most desirable neighborhoods on the Peninsula, and I want to keep it that way. Here is my contribution of $_______ to help fight the good fight.
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___ My check is enclosed.
___ Please charge my Visa or Mastercard: (All personal information is kept confidential.)
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Credit Card #
Expiry Date:
Name on Card:
Billing Zip Code:
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Name:
Street Address:
City, ST Zip:
Home Phone#:
E-mail address:
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Mail to:
ELHA
P.O. Box 620449
Woodside, CA 94062
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