When I first arrived in 1982, Lafayette was quiet semi-rural town.  It was known for its green hills and great schools.  Hey, wait a minute. I guess things have not changed much.  I’ll get back to that in a minute.

This morning I received an email from one of our members.  Why he sent this to me, I will never know, but it is worth a look and a laugh.  The subject is “guy catches really big catfish.”  Check it out…  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyaPytuKB1A.  It reminded me of the stories I kept hearing about an alligator living in the Lafayette Reservoir.  I think it made the 6 o’clock news back in the mid 70’s.  Now that is a BIG story for Lafayette.  Another big story was the rumor that the Beatles (after completing their last public appearance at Candlestick Park) took a helicopter ride across the bay and landed at the old heliport next to the Hillside Motel. Is it possible that the Beatles slept here?  Further research indicates that they flew to L.A. that same night. 

Well, I am going to start another rumor, right here, right now.  And for the 3 of you who will actually read my BLOG, you will be the first to know.  We can’t get the Beatles, but we have come pretty close.  If you have been to the Lafayette Art & Wine Festival over the last few years, you may have been introduced to the SUN KINGS.   This local ‘Beatles” cover band has become one of the Bay Area’s favorite bands.  Yes, they will be back again this year.  Not once but twice! 

It is with great pleasure to announce THE SUN KINGS, performing at the very intimate Town Hall Theatre in a special performance “being for the benefit of the Town Hall Theatre.”  Remember there are only 185 seats in our historic theatre.  Tickets are $50 and $75. If you buy the Gold Circle $75 ticket, it includes a private “meet & greet” with the band, front row(s) seats, a private champagne reception and sit in during the “sound check.”  There will be a special live and silent auction to participate in as well.  http://www.the-sun-kings.com/  http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=XRL6wHzy7_s&feature=related

OK, back to our semi-rural city.  So we have this Downtown Strategic Planning Process rolling on and perhaps coming to crescendo later this year.  It hinges on things like the height of buildings, downtown housing, view sheds and vistas, landscaping and parking, new parks and preserving creeks.  The Lafayette Chamber of Commerce has been following this process all the way.  And it will be a battle to work out some of the differences that members of our community have on these issues.  The chamber does support some growth without losing the city’s character.  If you have not been involved in the process up until now, you might want to start paying attention.  Future Planning Commission and City Council meetings will be deciding on what plan to support and implement that will set a course for development and planning over the next 20 years.  For me, it has been almost 30 years in Lafayette. Some changes have taken place.  I remember a story Earling Horn told me about the owner of Fleet Feet coming to town back in the early 80’s, looking for sites.  He said he would not recommend Lafayette. Couldn’t even find a deli sandwich for lunch.  Nothing going on here.  I remember Mt. Diablo Blvd. as a really unattractive strip, surrounded by the beautiful hillsides.  There is fear that Lafayette will change too much.  We just went through a period of time where our economy could have produced major changes.  What has been built in Lafayette in the last 20 years?  A Library.  A Veterans Memorial Builidng.  The Mercantile.   Town Center.  That’s it! Now it’s up to our commissions and elected officials to find a balance between growth that will be good for the community while still preserving our semi –rural feel.  28 years later and we are still known for our green hills and great schools.  And the Beatles are returning to Lafayette.  Life is good…  jay

http://www.thtc.org/              Town Hall Theatre
www.ci.lafayette.ca.us        City of Lafayette (info on the Downtown Specific Plan)

In January, the city of Lafayette asked Godbe Research to do a scientific public opinion poll of 400 people with the purpose to determine whether residents would vote to convert Lafayette from a general law city to a charter city.  The results from the poll clearly showed that about half the residents what were polled did not have are a real understanding about what a Charter City is and how it would change the way we do business in Lafayette.  For more information, you can go to the city website, www.ci.lafayette.ca.us and review all the findings.  But here is what surprised me…

A number of questions were asked about how our community gets their information about the city.

It needs to be noted that here in Lafayette we have three local newspapers!  Most small cities don’t even have one paper reporting on local news.

They also asked if Social Media was used in their home.  51% of our residents say they don’t use Social Media.  That means 49% are using some form of Social Media.  Here is what they say they use:

When we launched our new website this last month, we knew we had to build the social networking tools into our model.  We know we have members and visitors that only get their information form sources we were not using.  But it is obvious that our community is al little behind the curve.    Stay tuned, because this will change.

In order for the chamber to have a “fan” page on facebook, I had to set up a personal account.  Well, somewhere back in 2007 I must have set up an account.  When I found my way back to my page, I had one (1) friend. Thank you Melissa Mazzoli!  Now I have like 90 friends, and I have been found by old employees and old girl friends.  The hardest part about facebook is just keeping up with all the messages I receive.  By the way, I have no idea what “Mafia Wars” are and I don’t think I want to.

Back to the survey.  Here is the “feel good” part of this story…

97% of the survey respondents said they were very (81%) or somewhat (16%) satisfied with the overall quality of life in Lafayette.  Pollster Brian Godbe said that, in his 17 years experience running hundreds of polls for cities, he had never seen such a high number.  Atherton, at 96% was the previous high satisfaction level he had seen until he came to Lafayette.

Our residents may not know what Charter Cities are or what a Property Transfer Tax is, buy they do know they really like where they live.

Why does LASF have a shortfall? There are two reasons:

• Only half of 3,168 K-12 families have made a donation this year; and
• Some families, understandably, have donated less than in the past.

What can be done?

• Families & Businesses who have already given can donate more.

Please consider making a donation to LASF here: http://lasf.org/donate.html