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.
The Santa Clara County Board of Education is mulling how to place an 'objective' representative on the Bullis Charter School Board. Meanwhile, the parents' group, LASD Voices, urges residents to write directly to the county and the BCS boards.
An annual one-day fundraiser in which businesses donate 10-20 percent of their sales to the hospital gives you a chance to give—whether it's at breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert, or all the above.
The annual one-day fundraiser in which local businesses donate 10-20 percent of their sales to the Packard Children's Hospital gives you a chance to give—whether it's at breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert, or all the above.
Come meet Los Altos Patch Editor L.A. Chung, who will host coffee in the morning and beverages in the afternoon while she participates in Dine Out For Packard.
Plus, things that go bump in the morning (not night) and other noises needing attention. And, someone decides to make good on his warrant and turns himself in for arrest.
Los Altos High's Anthony Bello balances four AP classes, writing for the Talon newspaper, club activities in Vecinos and Students for Haiti Solidarity and ... playing nationally ranked tennis.
Oh, those 911 hangups, the reckless driving going on, and the disturbances! Despite that, the only arrest was for being drunk in public this past weekend.
Vandals had a field day at Los Altos High School over the Spring break.
Some of us thought that Monday would be the last day to file our taxes, but we get one more day!
The annual one-day fundraiser in which local businesses donate 10-20 percent of their sales to the Packard Children's Hospital gives you a chance to give—whether it's at breakfast lunch dinner and dessert, or all the above.
Last Wednesday, the Purissima Hills Water District voted to increase rates, to much outcry. Now that the dust has settled, what's the bottom line?
One bus. Five days. Eight colleges. Thirty-three participants. So much learned.
The runners' store on Main Street leans into the tape, edging past the bike stores this week in our readers poll.
The commander of the CHP office serving Los Altos and Los Altos Hills thanks those who have volunteered, and invites others to use their experience to help the CHP.
San Jose State University cites budget cuts as reason for ending the long-held policy of accepting any Santa Clara Valley student who met the minimum California State University requirements.
Patch is live-blogging the Purissima Hills Water District public hearing on its proposed 12 percent rate increase here at 6:30 p.m.
The Purissima Hills Water Board voted 4-1 for a 51-cent increase per unit, but drops the "autopilot" increases.
Resident Austin Vanchieri says the only way to survival is to consolidate ten water districts.
We need to exercise our Prop. 218 right to protest.
The Purissima Hills Water District's second rate hike proposal in three years—plus an automatic 'pass-through' rate increase provision for five years—is scheduled for a vote right after the evening public hearing April 11.
