I was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Los Altos. What else do you think L.A. Chung stands for?
My first Los Altos event was walking in the Pet Parade in 1962 with my Collie, Laddie. We all went down to the pancake breakfast at Rancho after that. I remember riding my bicycle on Interstate 280 the day before it opened to the public and passing under it to ride up to Maryknoll, before it was a retirement home for priests.
My elementary school was close enough to walk to, and is now Grant Park and community center. I learned how to swim at Los Altos Covington Pool and Los Altos High School in the summers. I learned to ride from Herman Koopmans, following him from Los Altos Hills to Portola Valley.
I've been in journalism since 1980, when I participated in the Maynard Institute's Summer Program for Minority Journalists. I've been a reporter for the Hartford Courant in Connecticut and the San Francisco Chronicle. During a 12-year career at the San Jose Mercury News, I was an editor supervising reporters in community news, weekend breaking news and business. I had a column through which I wrote about local events, the travails of ordinary people fighting City Hall, and the intersection of race, culture and public policy.
Since leaving the Mercury News, I've worked on the Chauncey Bailey Project, the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism and done research Hewlett Foundation projects.
In the old days, once I told people my name, I'd have to quickly add— "No relation to Connie." But no one knows who she is, anymore.
My Beliefs
Always say "Please" and "Thank you." It goes a long way toward making life more civil. Play nicely. Stand your ground if you believe you're right. Admit when you're wrong.
Politics
I believe in sanity, and in public officials striving to do the right thing for the greater good.
I vote in each and every election, and have, at different times in my life, been registered as a Democrat, Independent and Republican.
Religion
My mother raised me at the Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church. It's the closest thing to "my" church, even if I don't attend.
Local Hot-Button Issues
Los Altos elementary schools are the top in the state. But maintaining school standards during a very sluggish economic recovery period, with limited and unreliable state funds, will be difficult this year and in the coming years. It will require the school community to reach out to the broader community and make the case for donations and perhaps taxes.
Downtown economic vitality is a deep concern.
Some Los Altos races tightened up when the 200,000 vote-by-mail ballots and 35,000 provisional ballots cast across the county were all counted. The tallies will be certified Dec. 4.
Organizers of the beloved parade ask that lawn chairs be placed on the sidewalks only after noon and to eschew the use of chalk and tape to mark spectators' places.
Daily 3 game this evening are 8, 2, and 2. For Fantasy 5 and the Daily Derby, read below.
When you buy trees at these lots, your purchase helps others.
Thanksgiving Day, even with Black Friday specials creeping in, is usually easy to figure out. But can you check out a book?
Shop Small. Shop Local. Support our merchants, and keep our sales tax revenues local, too!
After a day of reflection, followed by a weekend of shopping-blather, what's important is still what was important Thursday: Family, friends, health, small pleasures.
Festival of Lights! Holiday Train Rides! Breakfast with Santa! The Mom Squad’s round-up of Holiday celebrations for the young and young at heart, plus some of our own.
Los Altos cooks: Forget to pick up that herb? Dinner guests: Don't want to come empty-handed? Up to a certain hour, you can find these stores open (and know who's closed).
Did you decorate your house for the holidays this year? Enter our "Deck the House" contest and you could win $100,000 for your local school district and $500 to pay your electric bills!
At least one solicitor was always ahead of police, and Monday brought reports of abandoned vehicles and strollers, alike. Los Altos Police were also on the lookout for the suspect in the Foothill armed robbery.
The suspect was wearing a black-zippered hooded sweatshirt, with the hood up. He appeared to be 18-20 years old, 5'6" tall, weighing 160-180 pounds, of slender build, medium-light complexion, and had no facial hair or noticeable tattoos or jew
The suspect was found with property from three Palo Alto homes she cleaned, and may have been stealing from homes from Los Altos, Mountain View, San Carlos, San Mateo and Redwood City, as well.
A $20,000 reward is offered for information leading to an arrest. One suspect is in custody, but another is on the loose and is considered dangerous.
The newly refocused committee sounds a note for looking out for all public school kids in Los Altos Hills, describing building plans for the Palo Alto Unified School District and the committee's plans to issue a School Performance Report each year.
The Los Altos Police log for Friday, Nov. 16 to Sunday, Nov. 18, also show loose dogs galore, and several fender-benders, downtown and beyond.
Leonids are not over, and Monday night from 9:30 to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday may yield some great viewing, Earth Sky Network reports.
No good at cooking turkey? Still love that feeling of gathering around the family table? Two local grocery store delis offer cooked turkeys—and whole menus—but get them fast while they last!
Several grocery stores offer cooked turkeys—and whole menus—but don't delay, deadlines range from noon Monday to Wednesday.
A Foothill spokesman called the incident a 'very strange crime' because the hold-up on the heavily traveled footbridge between the gymnasium and the main campus was so visible.
