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Los Altos History Museum gala features Rancho San Antonio showplace.

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Mtn. View on the Move

Local city managers debate future of Deer Hollow Farm.

Page 29

www.losaltosonline.com Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Community news for Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View since 1947

Teamwork for teens Local measures on June 8 ballot promote education

Vol. 64 No. 17 • 50 cents

ECH looks to shore up bottom line Town Crier Staff Report

T

By Traci Newell

Town Crier Staff Writer

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ocal teens may reap the benefits of two initiatives on the June 8 primary ballot – a bond measure for the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District and a parcel-tax increase for the Los Altos Library.

“If you want to give to the future, you want to give to education – and, for me, the libraries go hand-in-hand with education,” said Elayne Dauber, a volunteer on the library parcel-tax campaign committee.

While many elections usher in a PHOTOS BY ELLIOTT BURR/TOWN CRIER season of competing causes and ideoloLos Altos High School sophomore Ben Wiederholt gies, the two local committees engaged browses the teen section at the Los Altos main library, in campaigning for the June election where graphic novels, right, are popular. see eye to eye and support each other’s overall mission – enhancing education.

In addition to funding construction of new Measure A, a $41.3 million bond that would classrooms and updating current facilities, the extend but not increase the current tax rate, is bond would finance the installation of solar designed to mitigate projected overcrowding panels and other environmentally conscious and support educational programs at Los Altos features that could save the district $400,000 and Mountain View high schools, according to annually. backers.

See TEENS, Page 6

he year 2009 proved a banner one for El Camino Hospital. Officials opened a satellite facility in Los Gatos and capped the year with a new main hospital building in Mountain View. Finances remained strong, despite the ongoing recession.

So far, 2010 has been a wakeup call. The fallout from declining Medicare reimbursements, fewer elective surgeries and self-pay or uninsured patients – variables that have plagued other hospitals – has hit El Camino. Officials are facing an $11.3 million shortfall so far for the 2010-2011 fiscal year. This includes an $8 million “writedown” in uncollected bills.

Hospital executives emphasized that the deficits have nothing to do with the building of the new main hospital or the opening of the Los Gatos facility, which they said are budgeted separately. The financial morass has everything to do with the See HOSPITAL, Page 7

Police reassure residents, offer crime-prevention tips

By Jana Seshadri Town Crier Staff Writer

D

espite a spate of recent breakins and burglaries, Los Altos is still a very safe city, according to Police Chief Tuck Younis.

Younis spoke to a crowd of approximately 100 residents at Hillview Community Center April 21, a forum designed to offer crime-prevention tips and updates on the investigations.

“We live in a very, very safe community, and the credit goes to all of you,” Younis said. “But, we’re certainly not

free of crime.” there was a pattern.

Two daytime burglaries oc“We believe – and this is curred on Sunkist Lane (Feb. just a theory – that it’s some5 and April 5) and one on Oak one familiar with the area,” Street (April 9). In each case, Younis responded. “There’s the suspect(s) entered the home a lot of construction going through a side or front door and on, so we cannot say for sure. stole items, some of which have There’s no hard evidence as to Younis been recovered in the East Bay. who committed these crimes The cases are still under investigation, or why. We can’t tie them all together with limited physical evidence and no with anything.”

The police department is taking exsuspects, Younis added.

ELLIOTT BURR/TOWN CRIER tra steps to ensure residents’ safety, Residents expressed concerns about At a forum with police April 21, Los Altos the proximity of the homes burglarized said Younis, who highlighted strong, residents Ben Director, right, and his wife Pearl within a short span of time, wondering if See BURGLARIES, Page 5 voiced concern about a recent rash of burglaries.

News Resident’s Yorkie killed by neighbor’s dog

By Jana Seshadri Town Crier Staff Writer

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vercome with shock and grief at the death of her dog, longtime Los Altos resident Judith Marx Golub is on a quest.

Last month, a 43-pound, mixed-breed dog named Lucy, which belongs to Fred Haubensak, Golub’s neighbor at Los Altos Square, violently shook Dickens, her 13-year-old, 3-pound Yorkshire terrier, killing him in the process, Golub said.

“I want to make sure the vicious dog that killed my Dickens is removed from my complex,” she said. “I don’t want to live in fear.”

According to a Los Altos Police Department report, a witness to the incident said Dickens, who was not on a leash, was running loose in the public area of the complex. When Haubensak

BURGLARIES From Page 1

ongoing working relationships with the Palo Alto and Mountain View police departments and the crime lab, increased patrols, more officers in plain clothes out on the streets and communication with neighborhood watch groups.

Younis praised residents’ input and urged them to take a proactive approach, stay vigilant and continue to report suspicious people, activities and vehicles to the department.

“We had some very, very good citizens who reported suspicious activities,” he said. “Your calls led us to suspects and then to a lot of arrests.”

Younis offered the following safety tips for residents.

COURTESY OF JUDITH MARX GOLUB

Los Altos resident Judith Marx Golub wants to evict the neighbor’s dog that killed her Yorkie, Dickens. opened his front door, Lucy, on a retractable leash inside the entryway, “immediately fixed its eyes upon the Yorkie, appeared completely concentrated on the smaller dog and subsequently charged

after the animal, grasping it in its mouth and shaking it until it appeared lifeless,” the report said.

It was purely an act of defense, Haubensak said. Leash laws are See DOG, Page 15

• Call 911 when you hear an alarm in your neighborhood.

• An alternate emergency number to reach the police department is 947-2829.

• 911, when dialed from a landline or cell phone within Los Altos city limits, will connect directly to the police department.

• Establish a neighborhood watch group. Contact Paco Vergara at the police department at 947- 2776 for more information.

• If there’s a knock on your door, answer it to show that someone is home.

• Solicitors should be wearing special permits/badges from the police department. If not, report them to the department.

• Post a “No Solicitation” sign on your door if you don’t want to be bothered.

• Trim the bushes and plants

outside doors and windows.

• When you go away for a few days, ask someone you trust to keep an eye on your house. Stop the mail and newspapers, make sure the lawn is mowed, activate lights at staggered times and make it appear that someone is home.

• Keep jewelry and expensive items in a safe or hide them somewhere inside the home.

• Don’t hide house keys outside, especially in the front yard.

• Don’t leave expensive items in plain view, either in your vehicle or your house.

“Use your best judgment and always err on the side of caution,” Younis advised residents. “If something sticks in your stomach and doesn’t feel right, call us.”

Contact Jana Seshadri at janas@latc.com.

GRANNY UNITS From Page 4

housing tax of $1,050, she said.

As long as builders adhere to town regulations, Pedro said, there shouldn’t be a problem.

“It shouldn’t be complicated if (the unit) complies with our secondary-unit requirements,” she said.

Los Altos Hills processes an average of five to seven secondary-unit applications per year, and all proposed secondary dwelling units are required to comply with Zoning and Site Development standards as well as the Secondary Dwelling Ordinance, Pedro added.

According to the town’s municipal code, granny units must be built on the same property as the main house on a minimum 1-acre lot, have “complete independent living facilities for one or more persons” and

include “facilities for living, sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation.” Granny units cannot be larger than 1,000 square feet.

Pedro said the town is discussing ways to further expedite the granny-unit permit process, including nixing sewer-connection fees and relaxing parking requirements.

Still, Vallejos isn’t happy with the complex web of ordinances that he said impedes doing business in Los Altos Hills.

“The idea is to move quickly, but when a city throws a wrench into the process, it’s aggravating,” he said. “The state has paved the way (for secondaryunit building). … The town is stumbling.”

For more information on Los Altos Hills building codes, visit www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/building-andplanning.

Contact Elliott Burr at elliottb@latc.com.

Marion Jackstons’ childrens store is closing

30%off* *Does Not Include Special Orders or Previously Marked Down Merchandise.

No Adjustments on Prior Purchases.

all sales Final 222 Main Street Los Altos 948-0948 April 28, 2010 / Los Altos Town Crier / Page 5

Cover Story In addition to volumes of reading material geared to high school students, the teen section of the library, left, features a study room where talking is allowed.

Mountain View High School students, below left, craft ducttape wallets during a Los Altos Library-hosted event.

Teen librarian Sarah Neeri, below right, said the library is working to combat the idea that it is a “scary and authoritative” place to teens.

Below Left Photo courtesy of Ben Lundholm/Mountain View High School; Left and below right Photos by Elliott Burr/Town Crier

TEENS From Page 1

The library parcel tax, Measure L, which requires approval from two-thirds of voters, would levy $76 annually per developed parcel. The current tax, approved in 1990 and set to expire in tax year 2011-2012, totals $52 annually. The new tax would begin July 1, when the old one lapses.

Library supporters claim the tax increase is necessary to maintain current hours at the Los Altos main and Woodland libraries.

Woodland, located at 1975 Grant Road, underwent renovation earlier this year and celebrated its official reopening Friday.

In short, the libraries and schools need more money to maintain and supplement their services.

“It seems natural that libraries

and education go together,” said Julia Rosenberg, Measure A campaign chairwoman.

The two campaigns are collaborating by sharing details and informing each other when one makes a strategic move, such as posting lawn signs.

“We pay taxes for so many things we hope to never need, such as disaster relief,” Dauber said. “Isn’t it wonderful to support things we use and really give us quality of life? By supporting libraries and schools, we are supporting the future.”

In addition to campaigning alongside each other, the library and the high schools have developed a mutually beneficial relationship over the years.

The Los Altos main library, located at 13 S. San Antonio Road, provides a variety of educational resources and entertainment options for local teens, including T-

Page 6 / Los Altos Town Crier / April 28, 2010

shirt designing, movie screenings and video-game nights.

Librarians post fliers at the high schools promoting their programs. Recently, teen librarian Sarah Neeri and Mountain View Los Altos district librarian Ben Lundholm teamed up to bring library programs to Mountain View High School.

“I thought if the library comes and interacts with the students here, that is worth 10,000 fliers,” Lundholm said.

Neeri said the library is attempting to familiarize students with its services.

“The library can sometimes seem like a scary and authoritative place,” she said. “We want them to feel OK coming here and doing things at the library.”

Approximately 50 students attended a lunch period last month that featured creating do-it-yourself wallets out of duct tape, Neeri said.

“We thought we would take

one of our programs to the high school,” she said, adding that the project offered the library the chance to introduce its librarians and resources to students.

Although the school and city libraries work in tandem to serve students’ needs, they extend different benefits.

Lundholm said the school libraries provide a place for students to receive help with homework and to get to know an authority figure on campus that isn’t a teacher, enabling them to communicate with a librarian and know they aren’t being judged academically.

“It is important for the students to connect to an educated person besides a parent or teacher,” he said. “I feel my job is mainly preparing the students for when they leave high school.”

Lundholm said he wants to help students develop good judgment and discern the difference between good and bad information.

“I think establishing a relationship with the public library is a good thing,” he said. “It won’t help everything (in the face of budget cuts), but it can help lessen the impact (of cuts to the school library) if students know other places to get the resources.”

And providing those resources that schools can’t – both academic and recreational – is Neeri’s niche.

“We have a larger budget than the school libraries, and we have things that they might not have that students can use but might not know about,” she said.

Lundholm said he frequently refers students to the public library to access electronic academic journals to assist with their research.

The public library can help teens academically through electronic journals and a host of other resources, said Neeri, who added that the library requests requiredreading lists from the schools so that it maintains a well-stocked classics section.

But offering students academic help isn’t the library’s only specialty.

“I feel there is a lot of stress on kids in this community,” Neeri said. “I want them to be able to come to the library and get fun books.”

The graphic-novel section of the library is Neeri’s purview, an area that has expanded dramatically over the past few years.

Graphic novels tell stories using sequential artwork and words, similar to comic books.

See TEENS, Page 7

Cover Story HOSPITAL From Page 1

cost of day-to-day operations.

Bottom line: Hospitals, including El Camino, are heading into a prolonged, uncertain period in which the payment structure is undergoing change, with more to come under the passage of national health-care reform.

“We, too, are being challenged,” said Chris Ernst, in charge of the hospital’s marketing and communications. “We need to shore up the organization.”

In response, hospital CEO Ken Graham and other top executives are implementing what they call the ACE Initiative – an across-theboard review of everything and everybody in the hospital with a goal of better efficiency. Ernst said ACE, which stands for “Accelerating Continuous Excellence,” includes scrutiny of supply purchases and the billing process, and establishing performance benchmarks.

Officials have completed a sixweek assessment of operations and have developed an improvement plan, Ernst said. Hospital executives look to implement that plan over the next six to nine months, evaluate, then continue with ACE indefinitely.

Ernst said the ACE plan, which is actually an umbrella for “hundreds of initiatives,” is expected to generate $50 million to $70 million after nine months, through increased revenues and cost-cutting.

The outlook over three to five years, Ernst said, carries a $150 million to $200 million estimate.

“It’s big, it’s aggressive,” she said.

Marla Marlow, the hospital’s chief financial officer, estimated combined cost savings and additional revenue at $5 million a month.

“I think it’s something we have to do, especially with health-care reform on the horizon,” Marlow said.

Ernst added that the hospital district’s board of directors “is heavily supporting this.” Two members,

TEENS From Page 6

One of the more popular sections in the teen department hosts an array of video games.

To make the library more accessible, the library has designated a room especially for teens, stocked with tables and comfortable chairs. The room is not a quiet zone.

“It’s the Teen Room, or the Talking Aloud Room,” Neeri said.

“It’s good for teens to have a place where no one is going to tell them

El Camino board appoints Los Altos doctor as new member Town Crier Staff Report

May

disorders specialist in Mountain View, as well as a founding adviser r. Patricia Einarson of Los to ePATIENTS, an Internet start-up Altos is scheduled to be in Palo Alto that serves health-care sworn in May 12 as a mem- providers and chronically ill paber of the El Camino Hospital Dis- tients. trict Board of Directors, following She was the co-chief resident at her appointment at the board’s April the San Jose Medical Center from 20 meeting.

2003 to 2004, after Einarson fills the seat which she was in private left vacant after Mark practice in Mountain O’Connor’s resignation in View from 2005 to 2010.

February.

Einarson’s ca The board selected reer began in the busiEinarson from among four ness and technology Are you or someonesectors youinknow candidates and according 1980 with poto the board’s established sitions in marketing and having a celebration in May? Einarson or birthday protocol for filling seats internal venture capital between elections. OnceSend certifiedme with Hewlett-Packard your photo and Tandem by the county Election Board, Ein- Computers. From 1991 to 1996, so we can celebrate it here.of Ansyr arson will serve until November, she served as president when she will be required to run for Consulting, based in Los Altos. re-election along with other board She graduated from Stanford Medimembers whose terms are expiring. cal School and earned a master’s “We are very pleased to have Dr. degree in business administration Einarson join our team,” said Board from the Stanford Graduate School Chairman Wesley Alles. “She of Business. brings a diverse background, com- “I am very excited for the opplete with leadership experience portunity to serve my community in the business, technology and and bring my expertise in medicine, medical fields, which will support technology and business to bear for our important mission of providing the residents of the communities we quality care to the public in a com- serve,” Einarson said. “We have an munity hospital setting.” excellent team at El Camino Hospi Einarson, board certified in fam- tal, and I look forward to working ily medicine, currently works as a together to foster and grow this inchild, adolescent and adult eating stitution through the years ahead.”

D

John Zoglin and David Reeder, are on the ACE advisory task force.

Diana Russell, the hospital’s chief clinical officer, emphasized that the hospital is reducing costs without compromising the patient care on which the hospital has built its reputation.

“One good example is our supply area,” she said.

By reducing and consolidating the number of vendors, and initiating a nonclinical supply formulary, Russell said the hospital would pro-

mote good business management.

Staffing, too, will be reviewed.

“We’ll make every effort to avoid layoffs,” Russell said.

However, she said the hospital will analyze ways to use its labor more effectively, such as employing the appropriate number of staffers during peak times.

“We see this as an ongoing process, what we need to do continuously,” Russell said.

“This is the new normal,” Ernst said.

to be quiet.”

The room boasts wireless Internet access, enabling students to complete their homework. On some afternoons, students work together on group projects in the Teen Room.

Neeri, however, said she envisions the public library as adding to, not taking from, the services of school libraries. She said she disagrees with recent cuts to school library programs, acknowledging the unique value of such services.

“I think school libraries need to be open to the students to familiarize them with libraries early

on,” she said. “If you are really worried about the future of literacy, cutting libraries isn’t going to help that. I think there are people who are comfortable in the school libraries, and if you cut that space, it is just going to be a devastating blow.”

Overall, Neeri said, she wants to ensure that students have myriad choices.

“It’s for the teens,” she said.

“We want them to feel comfortable at school and at the library.

We want them to have options.”

Contact Traci Newell at tracin@latc.com.

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April 28, 2010 / Los Altos Town Crier / Page 7