Korean comfort food with a smile WEEKEND | P.16 JANUARY 7, 2011 VOLUME 19, NO. 1
650.964.6300
INSIDE: TOP FILMS OF 2010 | PAGE 10
MountainViewOnline.com
City looking at busy year in 2011 NEW PARKS, NEW MANAGER AND POSSIBLY A NEW GOOGLE LANDMARK By Daniel DeBolt
I MICHELLE LE
Bus driver Janice King picks up Monte Loma students, Monday, Dec. 13.
Bus-driving job is a great ride SCHOOL BUS DRIVER JANICE KING ADORES HER ‘PRECIOUS CARGO’ By Nick Veronin
A
s the sun begins its groggy crawl over the Diablo Range, Janice King is checking signal lights, kicking tires and verifying that the alarm
sounds when the emergency doors at the back of her bus are ajar. “Ow,” she mumbles, reacting to the screeching siren that is activated as she opens the vehicle’s rear exit. It is 7 a.m., and King, a school
bus driver for the Mountain View Whisman School District, has been up since 5 a.m. She maintains a chipper air as she prepares to head out on her morning speSee BUS DRIVER, page 11
Siegel picked for mayor By Daniel DeBolt
P
icking the 2011 mayor was a no-brainer for the City Council Tuesday night. Without even having to discuss it, the City Council followed tradition and appointed the vice mayor, Jac Siegel, to the job. Picking a new vice mayor was a little more complicated. After outgoing mayor Ronit Bryant made some remarks about her year as mayor, she immediately nominated Siegel for the job and put it to a vote, which was
INSIDE
unanimous. among other things. Siegel said he was She was given a framed “really overcome by it,” resolution of appreciaand that his grandpartion that mentioned her ents, who came to the “energetically involving United States 100 years youth in city life” in a ago, would be proud to long list of accomplishsee their grandson as ments. “mayor of the one best In 2011, Siegel cities in the country.” said the city’s biggest Bryant called being Jac Siegel challenge would be mayor a 24-7 job, and replacing City Manager she said she was happy that the Kevin Duggan, probably the best city became more “green” during See MAYOR, page 6 her term and balanced its budget,
t may prove to be one of the most pivotal years in city history, for the simple reason that a new city manager will be hired this year. Other decisions that could shape the Mountain View’s future will have to made as well, such as how to revamp Rengstorff Park or restore Hangar One. If the city’s fortunes are bright, Google may grace North Bayshore with a new office building that aspires to be the greenest in the world. Whether or not that happens, residents can count on a bevy of new parks and trails to be built or designed this year. Unions asked to pay for pension hikes After two years of budget cuts, the recession will continue to take a toll on the city budget in 2011. City Manager Kevin Duggan said that the Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) reports that the city’s pension costs will be rising by as much as $1.2 million this year. That is one reason the city can no longer predict a “status quo” budget, Duggan said. The rising pension costs will likely lead city officials to ask that the city’s unions to pay for the additional costs. The union contracts of several hundred city employees are up for renegotiation this year, including members of the Service Employees International Union and the EAGLES, a mid-level managers union. Firefighters and police unions will negotiate new contracts next year. Rising pension costs aren’t the only thing threatening the city budget — inadequate tax revenues and another raid by the state of city funds are also real possibilities. The state has already warned schools to
GOINGS ON 21 | MARKETPLACE 23 | MOVIES 19 | REAL ESTATE 25 | VIEWPOINT 15
“buckle up, it’s going to be a rough ride,” Duggan said. That could also mean additional pressure from school officials and parents to share with schools the property tax revenue from Google and other firms that’s redirected to the city’s Shoreline tax district. Hangar One skeleton The dramatic life of Moffett Field’s massive Hangar One will continue to make headlines in 2011, as it has for the past several years. But 2011 may be the most dramatic year of all, as it appears to be a real possibility that the area’s most iconic building may be stripped of its siding and left a skeleton next year. In an e-mail sent Tuesday, Navy officials said Hangar One’s siding is set for removal in April. With no funding for new siding in sight, preservationists are now wondering whether they should begin their own fundraising efforts. After Congress failed to pass a $10 million earmark to fund the re-skinning, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo has placed hopes for the hangar on NASA, which has promised only $20 million to restore the hangar — not enough, preservationists say. New city manager selected Kevin Duggan, the city’s respected city manager for 20 years, will be retiring in April, and everyone at city hall seems to agree that filling his shoes will be tough job. The new city manager’s leadership style has major implications for the city, from how the budget is balanced to how the city government itself is structured. The top candidates will undoubtedly be See CITY, page 9