Publishers note: The following letter was sent to Lukins Brothers Water Company customers on Aug. 28. It is a similar message other water districts in the Lake Tahoe Basin are sending to customers. Dear Customers,

Lukins Brothers Water Company, Inc. would like to thank you for your continued efforts in conserving water. All of your voluntary efforts have contributed to an overall reduction in water consumption of 6 percent between June/July 2013 and June/July 2014. In order to help manage limited resources during current drought conditions, the California Public Utilities Commission has ordered Lukins Brothers Water Company Inc. to notify its customers of the State Water Resources Control Boards (State Board) recent adoption of emergency regulations for statewide urban water conservation, including mandatory restrictions and potential fines for violations of the State Boards regulations. Your continued cooperation and support is needed to ensure reliable supplies of water for your comfort and necessary use.

The State Board has determined that the following water use activities by Lukins Brothers Water Company customers are not allowed:

1. Watering outdoor landscapes in a way that causes water to runoff onto adjacent property, non-irrigated areas, private and public walkways, roadways, parking lots, or structures.

2. Washing a vehicle with a hose without a shut-off nozzle or other device that will immediately stop the flow of water when not in use.

3. Using drinking water to wash driveways and sidewalks.

4. Using drinking water in a fountain or other decorative water feature, except where the water is recirculated.

Violation of any of these four prohibited or restricted water use activities may be punished by a fine of up to $500 for each day in which the violation occurs.

Please note that such fines are a last resort and that they may be assessed only by local law enforcement authorities. Lukins Brothers Water Company would like to thank its customers who have voluntarily conserved water up to this point and asks that you continue these efforts and comply with the State Boards new restrictions on outdoor water use.

In addition to the four prohibited activities listed above, the State Boards new regulations require Lukins Brothers Water Company to inform their customers that they must limit outdoor irrigation of ornamental landscapes or turf with drinking water to no more than two days per week. Lukins Brothers Water Company amended watering schedule and guidelines is as follows:

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Letter: Lukins taking steps to curtail water use

Sithonia is the middle of the three' fingers' which jut from north-east Greece A sleepy peninsula, it is less known to British tourists than the Greek islands It's calm and tranquility make it an excellent haven for a family holiday

By Jack Doyle

Published: 12:25 EST, 27 August 2014 | Updated: 09:34 EST, 28 August 2014

In Halkidiki, they have a saying about how the three peninsulas which stretch out below the northern Greek mainland accord with the different stages of a mans life.

The first finger, Kassandra, is bright and bustling, with a busy nightlife. It is said that this is for the man who wants to find himself a woman.

The second finger, Sithonia, is best for the man who has won his beloveds heart and wants a romantic break (or for couples with children).

A special sort of haven: The Anthemus Sea Resort is the perfect place for a family holiday

The third finger, dominated by Mount Athos, holds 2,500 Orthodox monks. Women even female animals - have been banned for nearly 1,000 years. This is for the man whose woman has left him; who is seeking sanctuary, and comfort, in God.

Or so they say.

That makes my choice fairly straightforward.

Read more here:
Greece family holidays: Halkidiki heaven on the middle finger

Tucson took some noticeable steps on Monday in implementing the final phase of its decades-long attempt to connect the east side with Interstate 10 near downtown.

Crews started demolishing three state-owned warehouses on Stone Avenue and Sixth Street to make way for the third phase of the citys Downtown Links project. It will ultimately connect Barraza-Aviation Parkway with I-10.

The $84.6 million project was divided into three phases, with the last involving work on Sixth Street from Church Avenue to Broadway.

This is going to be the most difficult phase, said Tom Fisher, Tucson Department of Transportation project manager.

Plans include constructing a new underpass, a deck plaza, buffered bike paths, elevated pedestrian walkways and a new four-lane road.

Downtown Links has its origins in the Arizona Department of Transportations 1981 Aviation Parkway plan to create a six-mile link between Interstate 10 near downtown and South Palo Verde Boulevard.

Almost from the start, the project garnered stiff opposition from neighborhood activists and businesses who feared the proposed route would destroy too many homes and buildings in historic parts of town.

It took 12 years to get the first one-mile length of roadway built, and another three years to finish the whole five-mile leg to the eastern edge of downtown, which is where the parkway has ended since 1996.

Even though it only spanned one mile, the proposed downtown route underwent over 20 redesigns before a final route was settled on in 2008.

Although the city still needs to acquire additional properties, the plan is to tear down as few structures as possible.

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Downtown-area warehouses razed for road project

Tucson took some noticeable steps on Monday in implementing the final phase of its decades-long attempt to connect the east side with Interstate 10 near downtown.

Crews started demolishing three state-owned warehouses on Stone Avenue and Sixth Street to make way for the third phase of the citys Downtown Links project. Itwill ultimately connect Barraza-Aviation Parkway with I-10.

The $84.6 million project was divided into three phases, with the last involving work on Sixth Street from Church Avenue to Broadway.

You can view the map of the projecthere.

This is going to be the most difficult phase, said Tom Fisher, Tucson Department of Transportation project manager.

Plans include constructing a new underpass, a deck plaza, buffered bike paths, elevated pedestrian walkways and a new four-lane road.

Downtown Links has its origins in the Arizona Department of Transportations 1981 Aviation Parkway plan to create a six-mile link between Interstate 10 near downtown and South Palo Verde Boulevard.

Almost from the start, the project garnered stiff opposition from neighborhood activists and businesses who feared the proposed route would destroy too many homes and buildings in historic parts of town.

It took 12 years to get the first one-mile length of roadway built, and another three years to finish the whole five-mile leg to the eastern edge of Downtown, which is where the parkway has stood at a dead stop since 1996.

Even though it only spanned one-mile, the proposed downtown route underwent over 20 redesigns before a final route was settled on in 2008.

Read the original post:
3 downtown-area warehouses to be razed for road project

Kevin M. Smith, an architect with Robert A.M. Stern Architects, testified Thursday at the second conditional use hearing for a Villanova University plan.

The university wants to build dormitories to house 1,135 students, a performing arts center, a parking garage and retail space on the south side of Lancaster Avenue on what is now a 13 acre parking lot. Smith described the Gothic-style buildings with exteriors of schist stone, which is similar to the stone facades of other buildings on the universitys campus.

Its meant to reflect the character of the buildings across the street, said Smith, who has designed edifices for Harvard, Drexel and Penn State, among many other universities. The 3 story dormitories will have pitched roofs, gables and casement windows. He envisions six residence halls in two groups of three. Students will stroll exterior walkways and gather in courtyards between the buildings, set off by archways.

The focus is on the pedestrian experience, said Smith.

The stone will also cover portions of the exterior a new pedestrian bridge to be built at Church Walk and extended to the R 100 Septa train station at the rear of the parking lot. However, Smith explained that plans call for the stone on the bridge to be broken up with other design elements, rather than a monolithic stone clad siding.

Its actually quite attractive, said Smith. More attractive than solid stone.

Resident Tish Long asked about the SEPTA bridge and Smith told her that Villanova plans to work with SEPTA to improve that bridge, also.

Residents Annamarie Hessman and Toni Bailey were concerned that the disabled people who attend Mass at St. Thomas of Villanova Church on campus would have further to go to reach the chapel. Smith said that handicapped parking areas will be designated at the rear of the parking lot next to a ramp for the pedestrian bridge. Also, there are some parking for the handicapped on campus next to the church, he said.

William Bolla, a lawyer representing Radnor Township in the matter, asked whether an elevator had been considered at the steps to the bridge nearer to Lancaster Avenue.

A variety of things were considered, said Smith. Continued...

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Architect testifies at Villanova University conditional use hearing

Add some art to your walk by visiting the sculpture park.

Where 12580 Rott Road.

How long A series of routes add up to about a 1.4-mile loop.

Surface Different sections in asphalt, wood chips and gravel.

Difficulty Easy, but the grounds have several staircases and gentle hills.

Can be used for Walking.

Hikers journal A walk through the park will be distracting, but the artwork is engaging enough that you wont pay attention to your exercise. As with many trails, the areas away from the entrance are less traveled and lend themselves to more solitude. Often, the clusters of art will include benches or other places to sit. The exhibitions are regularly placed along the walkways. The Mound City exhibition ends Sunday. The park has wireless tours that can be run through electronic devices.

Wheelchair accessible On the asphalt sections, but steps could be a problem. Most areas are accessible if you find the right parking lot.

Parking Plenty of parking.

Dogs On leash outdoors and outdoors only.

Link:
Trail of the week Laumeier Sculpture Park trails

Staff Photo by Cecelia Levine

The sun shines through the pergola at Van Vleck House & Gardens.

The crane that looms high above the intersection of Bloomfield Avenue and Valley Road serves as a constant reminder that Montclair isn't what it used to be. But a few blocks away are about six acres of greenery that remain much as they were a century ago: Van Vleck House & Gardens.

When Joseph Van Vleck Sr. moved to Montclair from Brooklyn with his family in 1868, he envisioned a haven tucked away from the clamor of cars and commerce. In 1916 his son, Joseph Van Vleck Jr., designed and built the Mediterranean villa that stands today and in 1939 his son, Howard Van Vleck, took over the property with his wife and four children.

In 1993, after decades of tending to the lands enclosed by the wrought-iron gate of 21 Van Vleck St., Howard Van Vleck left the property to the Montclair Foundation. It has since transformed the house into a center for nonprofit organizations to gather and has tended to every aspect of the property to preserve it as it was presented.

Over the decades, Van Vleck House & Gardens has suffered normal wear and tear. Given a small budget to work with, the Montclair Foundation fixed what it could. In 2008, the organization drew up a Master Plan which would home in on major facets of the property that needed repairs. According to Charles Fischer, executive director of Van Vleck House & Gardens, the plan sought to sustain the property for public enjoyment in accordance with the initial vision of members of the Van Vleck family.

With the help of many donors - who raised a combined $2 million through a capital campaign that was launched in 2008 - and Rodney Robinson Landscape Architects Inc., of Wilmington, Del., Fischer and his team undertook major renovations and minor detailing to maintain the Van Vleck family's former property.

Addendums and reparations include signage around the property; new perennial gardens and planting beds, such as rhododendrons, azaleas and other seasonal flora; a new irrigation system; a revamped barn which became the new Visitors' and Education Center; and a new parking lot.

Renovations to the house include minor detailing, a new North Mountain Avenue entrance, and repairs to stone steps, fountains, and walkways.

Fischer said he and his team will continue to regularly tend to the property and house with the intent to bring back and maintain its former glory.

Read more here:
Montclair's garden grows

Andrew Bauerschmidt, Evan Michalski, Chris Niepsuj and Alex Freitag recently became the newest Eagle Scouts of Immaculate Conception in East Aurora's Boy Scout Troop 599. They were honored at a special Eagle Scout Court of Honor on June 22.

Congressman Chris Collins, also an Eagle Scout and chairman of the Congressional Scouting Caucus, was the event's guest speaker. He congratulated the scouts on their significant accomplishments and presented each with a certificate of Special Congressional Recognition, a commemorative medallion and a Congressional Eagle Scout uniform patch.

Collins also spoke about the many benefits that scouting provides to our communities and encouraged the boys to remain active in scouting.

Scouting has been good to you as a boy, he said. Be good to scouting as an adult.

To become Eagle Scouts, each scout completed a minimum of 21 merit badges, 13 of which are required. Required badges include camping, cooking, environmental science, first aid, and personal fitness, among others. Non-required or elective badges were as diverse as: archery, astronomy, computers, forestry, shotgun shooting, skiing and small boat sailing. Scouting offers about 150 possible merit badge activities.

Each scout also served in leadership positions in the troop, volunteered many hours in the community and led a major community service project.

Bauerschmidts community service project involved restoration of gardens and grounds, including walkways, at St. Matthias Church.

Michalskis project was to improve drainage on trails at Knox Farm State Park by installing earth fill, drain tile, geo-fabric and five tons of crushed stone.

Niepsujs project was restoration of nature trails at the American Legion post on Center Street, including installation of benches, signposts describing local wildlife and steps to improve the accessibility of steeper sections of the trails.

Finally, Freitags project involved planting 24, 8-foot saplings of various species of trees within Knox Farm State Park.

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Four EA Scouts Achieve Eagle Rank

In response to this weeks Redondo Beach City Council vote in favor of a resolution supporting the new Harbor Village initiative, AES Redondo Beach has taken immediate steps to suspend its application to permit a new power plant with the California Energy Commission (CEC)and has takensimilar steps with the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD).

I admit, this may seem like an unusual step for an energy company to takeespecially when we have come so far in the permitting process and with such positive results, said AES Southlands Eric Pendergraft. According to the SCAQMDs Draft Title V and the CECs Preliminary Staff Assessment, the new plant would comply with all rules and regulations, and was on course forapproval.

But the city and community have been asking us for years to develop a plan that would enable us to close our Redondo Beach plant and revitalize the site in a way that allows us to receive fair value for our property without building a new power plant, said Pendergraft. And we finally found one in the Harbor Village Plan.

The citys support of the Harbor Village initiative confirmed its desire to work together to make this new vision a reality and its important that all of us give it our full attention, said Pendergraft. So we have suspended the licensing process for the new power plant, which also saves the city a significant amount of time and money that can be dedicated to other priorities.

With voter approval of the initiative, the existing power plant would be shut down and removed from the site, and no new power plant would be built. Under the initiatives proposed zoning, the plant could be closed as early as 2019, once the California energy agencies agree it is no longer needed.

By removing the old power plant, views of the harbor and coast would be enhanced, and surrounding property values would increase, said Pendergraft.

In addition, the new uses that the property would provide would bring increased revenue and economic vitality to the city.

The Harbor Village Plan guarantees that at least 10 acres of the site would be used for public open space, such as a neighborhood park, bike paths, an extension of the greenbelt to the coast, tree-lined pedestrian walkways and dramatic new ocean vistas.

The remaining land will include a quiet, attractive, single-family neighborhood, together with a new Harbor front area with ground floor restaurants, retail shops, a hotel, and offices, with residential space above.

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AES Redondo Beach suspends CEC permitting for new power plant

IT'S STILL JUST DIRT - PENNY ESSELTINE

At the end of July, Tillsonburg Horticultural Society members crossed the Canada-U.S. border for an international bus tour taking in the Buffalo National Garden Festival and Garden Walk Buffalo, which included 370 gardens located in clusters within a three mile radius in the city.

Our guide Sally Cunningham said, We are real proud of whats happened in this region. Twenty years ago 16 neighbours said lets do a garden tour and now there are 370 gardens in Buffalo that are now seen by as many as 55,000 people in just one weekend of Garden Walk Buffalo.

Our first Festival stop was Marcia Scullys Hidden Gardens of Eden, in Eden, New York. Sally said this was one of the most respected gardens in the region. Marcia likes to under grow plants under plants, and many, many pots. Marcia said it takes her three hours each day just to water the pots. She has hypertufa (hand-made) pots as well as old fashioned tin washtubs, filled with hosta pots, and even birdbaths pot filled with as many as 12 different kinds of succulents.

For the hardier plants Marcia pulls pots in close to the house in the fall and tips them on their side so the water does not accumulate too much. For the more tender plants in her garden she digs them up and takes them, bare-rooted in pans, all the way to her Florida winter home where she plants them in the garden there.

Tillsonburg Horticultural Society tour organizer Christine Nagy said that in the 15 years shes been touring gardens this is the best she has seen.

The imagination and creativity is amazing, said Nagy.

Smug Creek Gardens in Hamburg, New York was next. Its home to King of the Hosta World Mike and Day Lily Queen Kathy. Mike told us they have four gardens, all in virgin woodland, including four terraces up the hill with plants like day lilies, hydrangea and rudbeckia, a garden of small hostas (up to 12 inches tall) in rockery in the shade, a garden in a bog with raised beds to keep the roots out of the water, and a hosta glen. The deck too is a garden with more than 100 plants in pots. Thirteen acres in total and everything is labelled.

Thursday morning started in a modest income area of central Buffalo where Garden Walk Buffalo began. On 16th Street, Joe and Scotts amazing place has every kind of coleus known to man. One hundred and fifty pots planted with annuals each year.

Its always evolving, something different every year, mostly coleus," said Joe. "I sprinkle Miracle Grow in the hole before I plant.

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Tillsonburg Horticultural Society takes in Buffalo Garden Festival 0