Our View: It’s time to show your Love, Modesto
For a 6-year-old, Love Modesto sure has gotten big.
The annual festival dedicated to making the city better began in 2009. Since then, more than 56,000 people have been involved in projects in 50 cities throughout the region and state. Not all of the Love events are being held Saturday, but a great many people will be showing their love across the state.
In Modesto, it begins with a big downtown get-together at 8 a.m. in front of the Gallo Center for the Arts. By quitting time (12:30 p.m.), some 60 projects will have been started and mostly completed throughout the city. Sign-ups for specific projects closed Friday, but if you forgot and still want to help, organizers will find a spot for you if you show up at the Gallo ready to work.
There is a project for everyone, from face painting to trash pickup to collecting blankets to finding a police officer to encourage.
If you don’t have time for an extended commitment, join the MS Walk at Downey Community Park at 9 a.m., or come later and cheer on the participants.
The Love project has proved especially contagious, moving from Modesto to Atwater, Ceres, Escalon, Hughson, Manteca, Oakdale, Ripon, Riverbank and Turlock – along with so many others. To see a full list, check out http://loveourcities.org.
So much more to do ...
The “event” we’re most looking forward to at the 26th annual Earth Day celebration at Graceada Park is the “trash transformation” art contest. Yes, the food booths are fun (especially if you’ve just arrived from working on your Love Modesto project), and it will be interesting to learn how we can conserve water, fuel and so much more. But turning trash into art, that takes talent. The celebration ends at 4 p.m. … If you’re looking for something cerebral, plan to attend the lecture “Beyond the Clash of Civilizations” at the CSU Stanislaus Events Center. It’s free and open to the public to learn more about the Middle East. … And what better way to finish the day than to hear music that has never been heard before (at least not by a significant audience)? Eliot Bailen and Susan Rotholz will debut their Double Concerto for flute and cello with the Modesto Symphony Orchestra at 8 p.m. at the Gallo Center’s Rogers Family Theater. They have lots of time to practice, since they’re married.
Speaking out on water
The more people who emphasize the need to reduce our water use, the better off we’ll be during this drought. One who took his message statewide this week was County Supervisor Vito Chiesa. He wrote an essay for the California Department of Food and Agriculture. In it, Chiesa applauded Gov. Jerry Brown (who has been chastised over his “failure” to ask farmers to cut back on water use at the same time he asked those who live in cities to cut back), and he urges counties to reduce landscape watering and even washing county cars. We agree. A little dust never hurt anyone. No one can afford to waste water.
Dialing for drips
If anyone sees a leaky faucet or a running toilet at UC Merced, it’s not likely to go unreported. That’s because the university has developed a smartphone app you can use to report such waste. Staff put coded stickers in all the restrooms. A quick scan of your phone and staff gets a text to go fix it. A delightful byproduct: less paperwork for staff.
This story was originally published April 17, 2015 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Our View: It’s time to show your Love, Modesto."