A woman called to report that two birdhouses that were made by
the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society at Christmas Hill Park had
been recently destroyed.
A woman called to report that two birdhouses that were made by the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society at Christmas Hill Park had been recently destroyed. “Sometimes the wind blows them down, so we take them home and fix them. We found two on the Christmas Hill Park Ranch side, up along the side of the hay field that had been vandalized. We were able to take one home to fix, but the other one was in pieces. Somebody got angry and smashed them. I have no idea why someone would do anything like that. I guess we will have to make many extra houses at the Audubon box building get-together next month.”
Red Phone: Dear Bird Watcher, Red Phone finds it hard to believe some people don’t have anything better to do with their time. If you see any other birdhouses vandalized, let us know and we’ll pass on the word to the right people.
Leaky hydrant gets tune-up
“I have called the city a couple of times to report a leaking fire hydrant on the corner of Southgate and Church. They tell me that they will send someone out to fix it, but it is still leaking. I know with the water issues that we have in the county, we don’t need to be wasting water. If you can please let someone in City Hall know and hopefully get it taken care of it would be appreciated.”
Red Phone: Dear Drip, The squeaky wheel truely does get the grease. Or however the saying goes. Although we don’t have water rations here in South County just yet, we need to be careful of the water we use. According to the USGS, a single leaky faucet can waste 2,000 gallons of water a year. Red Phone can only image what the waste would be from fire hydrants that are leaky. We passed on your message to City Hall, and it looks like it was fixed on Tuesday.
“Residents sometimes are the first ones to be aware of a situation like this and it is invaluable to receive these calls,” said Community Services Operations Supervisor Dan Aldridge. “It’s important to give an accurate location of the problem such as a street address or cross streets. Contact information is helpful such as a call back number and name. Water staff will be dispatched for emergencies that must be handled immediately. Thanks again for making me aware of this leaking hydrant so it could be repaired.”
People can call 846-0444 during work hours to talk to the office staff or leave a message if they notice any water waste in the city. If it is an emergency after hours, call the Police Department at 846-0350.
What’s with the poles
“All along U.S. 101 someone has been putting up new aluminum poles between Morgan Hill and Gilroy. Now I see they are putting little white boxes on them with a solar panel. I was wondering if you knew what they were for?”
Red Phone: Dear Wondering, Red Phone contacted Caltrans spokesman Benjamin Edokpayi, who said the devices will be used to monitor the freeway.
“These are solar power for wireless traffic detection, for traffic counts and speed,” he said. An e-mail requesting more details was not immediately returned, so stay tuned for additional details, like why is Caltrans monitoring U.S. 101?
