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www.losaltosonline.com Wednesday, January 19, 2011

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

LA officials critique San Antonio center study

Is Los Altos friendly to its seniors?

By Jana Seshadri

The aging population weighs in on the city’s current state

Town Crier Staff Writer

I

By Elliott Burr

Town Crier Staff Writer

I

t’s fair to say Los Altos is home to a good number of seniors. By some estimates, 20 percent of the approximately 30,000 residents are upward of 65 years old, and the number is increasing.

Given the growing demographic, it makes sense that Los Altos and Los Altos Hills would cultivate an environment conducive to its more mature population.

But are the communities providing adequate services for seniors?

And, perhaps more importantly, should they?

That’s what at least one group in town is contemplating as it awaits feedback from an areawide questionnaire mailed to 4,500 seniors earlier this month.

Vol. 65 No. 3 • 50 cents

photos by Elliott Burr/Town Crier

Harry Chambers, 85, above right, plays bridge at the Los Altos Senior Center with friends. Ann (no last name given), right, cuts out a paper tree in an art class at the center.

Results are trickling in, and the committee will analyze the responses in coming months.

Once compiled, the committee plans to present findings to the city councils to determine existing needs and assess the role, if any, the cities should play in improving support for seniors.

“Because demographics are changing, wants are changing.”

– Candace Bates, Los Altos Senior Center coordinator

See SENIORS, Page 6

n a letter to the city of Mountain View, Los Altos officials registered concerns on the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the proposed mixed-use overhaul of San Antonio Shopping Center.

Los Altos’ review includes disagreement with the boundary line between the two cities in some of the schematic figures.

The entire El Camino Real right of way lies within the city of Los Altos, according to a staff report by Zach Dahl, Los Altos senior planner. But some figures in the plan incorrectly indicate that the boundary runs along the centerline of El Camino.

The plan proposed for the northeast corner of El Camino and San Antonio Road includes 350 new multifamily residential units; nearly See SAN ANTONIO, Page 7

Police shoot pit bull roaming in LA neighborhood Owner says dog was ‘perfect pet’

By Elliott Burr

Town Crier Staff Writer

L Elliott Burr/town crier

Mary Anderson holds a photo of her son’s dog, Zeus, a 2-year-old pit bull, shot by Los Altos police Jan. 10.

Anderson questions authorities’ use of a gun.

os Altos police officers said they had no choice but to shoot an unleashed pit bull last week, but the dog’s caretaker thinks officers went too far.

Mary Anderson said Zeus, her son’s 70-pound pit bull, was normally tranquil and that shooting it was “overkill.” In serious condition from gunshot wounds, the 2-year-old dog was

euthanized later that day.

A police department spokesman, however, reported that officers encountered an aggressive dog Jan. 10 on Aura Way. Responding to a 911 call from a neighbor who allegedly had to fend off Zeus with a rake, an officer shot the dog in the jaw after it lunged at him in front of Anderson’s house, according to a department statement.

Neither the officer nor the neighbor was injured.

“From the officer’s perspective, there was nothing else he could have done,” said Sgt. Scott McCrossin, who arrived on scene soon after the shoot-

ing. “This particular dog was not just trying to play – he was aggressive.”

Anderson said she didn’t witness the shooting but questions whether it was warranted. Two officers responded initially, and two more were called for backup, McCrossin said.

“He was a pit bull – and as a result, he was shot,” Anderson said. “I feel it was way too much. … This (dog) was not a monster.”

McCrossin, paraphrasing the police manual, said officers are authorized to discharge firearms at animals if there’s a threat to their safety or the See PIT BULL, Page 5

News

City eyes Homestead Road improvements Residents offer input on busy thoroughfare

By Jana Seshadri Town Crier Staff Writer

L

os Altos city officials solicited feedback from residents on a conceptual preliminary street improvement plan for a section of Homestead Road.

Approximately 90 residents attended the Jan. 8 meeting, held in the Grant Park Center Multipurpose Room, to comment on the city’s proposal to install safetyenhancing measures designed to maintain order and ease traffic congestion around the busy Foothill Crossing shopping center in south Los Altos. Improvements specifically target the area along Homestead between Foothill Expressway and Lucky Oak Street.

“Improved public safety (for pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicle drivers) is the main goal of the project,” said Jim Gustafson, engineering services manager.

Another goal is to mitigate several existing challenges in the complex traffic corridor and intersection, said Jim Schul, senior project manager at Ruggeri-Jensen-Azar, a Gilroy-based engineering firm hired to design the project.

The proposal includes a traffic signal at the entrance leading to Trader Joe’s, median and sidewalk upgrades, pedestrian crosswalks

PIT BULL From Page 1

community’s, and if no other method of containment can be used.

“In a rapidly evolving situation, (tasers or pepper spray) are not the most accurate methods he could have used,” said McCrossin, who once owned a pit bull. “Tasers are more effective when it’s a larger target. … Animals are so unpredictable.”

Los Altos Police are withholding the identity of the officer who fired the shot. According to a statement issued by the department, the officer fired one round as the growling dog lunged toward him in front of Anderson’s home on the easement between her yard and the street.

The dog then retreated back to its home and the owner contained him.

Palo Alto Animal Control transported Zeus to a local clinic. He was euthanized shortly thereafter at the request of the owner, the release stated.

TOWN CRIER FILE PHOTO

A car waits to make a left turn onto Homestead Road from Foothill Crossing shopping center in Los Altos. The retail area is a hot bed of congestion that poses safety concerns. with Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility, a mixed-use trail for bicyclists and pedestrians, new landscaping and improved signage and drainage, Schul said.

Efforts will be devoted to preserving existing trees – the oak trees will remain, Schul said, but the dying walnut trees may have to be removed.

Residents suggested reducing the speed limits on Homestead and Foothill, installing a “No U Turn” sign, adding a pedestrian crosswalk at the Fallen Leaf Lane intersection, coordinating light timings at the signals to prevent long lines of traffic along Homestead and Foothill and extending the bike lane past El Sereno Avenue along Grant Road.

The Foothill Crossing complex suffers from a host of problems, one attendee said, and city offi-

cials should work with the center’s property owners to resolve them.

Gustafson said city officials are in discussions with the property owners, the city of Cupertino and Santa Clara County to address the center’s safety hot spots.

Funding for the $640,000 project will be drawn from the state’s Proposition 1B disbursement, allocated for traffic improvements, Gustafson said, but the city remains approximately $200,000 short. A Safe Routes to School grant or a possible deal with Cupertino, in which part of the center sits, could make up the funding shortfall, he added.

Construction could begin in a year, with improvements slated for completion in approximately four months, he said.

Contact Jana Seshadri at janas@latc.com.

Student Quotes:

“I feel it was way too much. … This (dog) was not a monster.”

– Mary Anderson, dog’s caretaker Anderson’s other two dogs, both golden retrievers, were 30 feet away when the shot was fired, according to police.

Anderson said the dogs had never crossed her property line before, and that all three escaped after the wind blew open the front door.

She described Zeus as “a perfect pet.”

“He was around babies and children,” she said. “Sure, the dog was scary looking, but he had a heart of gold. … This dog never showed one minute of aggression.”

“This particular dog was not just trying to play. He was aggressive.”

– Detective Sgt. Scott McCrossin, Los Altos Police Anderson said she was forced to put the dog down at the clinic because surgery would have been too expensive. If Zeus had survived, Anderson would have had to obtain a police permit to keep him because, according to Los Altos Municipal Code, he would have been deemed dangerous.

Authorities aren’t sure why Zeus acted aggressively, but Anderson suggested that he was “protecting his property.”

Contact Elliott Burr at elliottb@latc.com.

Purchase photos you see in the Town Crier at towncrier.photoshelter.com.

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PleaseDorshkind Contact: Carole Linda Waud, Psy.D 650-641-2821 650-691-2434 or email us at linda.waud@mvla.net volunteer@pngmvla.org January 19, 2011 / Los Altos Town Crier / Page 5