A sweet taste of the cosmopolitan WEEKEND | P.12 JANUARY 21, 2011 VOLUME 19, NO. 3
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Council says school funding must wait DOWNTOWN PROJECTS FIRST IN LINE FOR SPECIAL DISTRICT’S TAX DOLLARS By Daniel DeBolt
parking improvements, maintenance and business recruitment espite concerns that it in the future. Spending $1.5 could hurt local schools, million to $2 million to attract a the City Council said long-sought downtown grocery Tuesday that it wants to extend store has had support on the City the city’s downtown revitaliza- Council as well. tion authority for another two While the tax district won’t years. expire for two years, the city “This is the last major chunk says it will begin paying off the of money we will have to do any- district’s $27 million debt right thing significant in the down- away so that the extension would town area,” said council member “hold harmless” local schools. Mike Kasperzak, referring to the That way the city’s schools can downtown authority’s current begin to receive their share $5.5 million of downtown balance. property taxes Without an ‘What’s good for the in five years. extension, the “What’s good money would for the school school districts need to be spent districts is good by the authori- is good for the city.’ for the city” and ty’s April 9, 2011 vice versa, said COUNCILWOMAN RONIT BRYANT sunset date. council member The proposal Ronit Bryant, was not met who supported with stiff opposition from school the two-year extension along officials and parents at the meet- with the rest of the council. ing, who were reassured by city Jim Pollart was one of seven officials that they would prob- parents who have been very ably begin receiving their share involved in school district fundof tax revenues by 2016-17, only raising efforts and who made one year later than if the author- their presence known at the ity were to expire in April with meeting. The group has been its current balance unspent. The primarily interested in the city’s council did not take a vote at the $26 million-a-year Shoreline meeting, but is scheduled to do Community Fund property tax so on Feb. 22. revenue, which is dedicated to City Manager Kevin Duggan maintenance and improvement said the intent of the extension in the Shoreline area indefinitely is not to add to the city’s eco- under special state legislation. nomic development funds, but Pollart noted that he felt “a kick to buy time so that the authority in the stomach” when he heard could “wind down in an orderly months ago of potentially several fashion.” The city needs time to million dollars in state budget spend its current $5.5 million cuts to the Mountain View Whisbalance, he said, which has been man School District’s $24 million budgeted for several studies on See COUNCIL, page 8 how to fund the downtown’s
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Teacher Patti Fambrini jokes with her students during cooking class at Los Altos High School.
Making the cut in cooking class TEENS SLICE, DICE AND STIR THEIR WAY THROUGH CULINARY ARTS AT LOS ALTOS HIGH By Nick Veronin
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atti Fambrini’s seventh-period culinary class at Los Altos High School has all the ingredients of a competitive reality cooking show. One student blindly stirs a bowl of sauce to his right while reading an itemized recipe on the counter to his left, mumbling the
directions to himself. A girl with her dark hair in a ponytail darts across the kitchen to fetch some herbs and spices. And when the brighteyed, extremely energetic Fambrini launches into an impassioned lecture, the adolescent cooks all snap their heads toward the sound of See CULINARY, page 9
Carbajal trial: Niece recounts being raped as child By Nick Veronin
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wo of three alleged victims took the stand at the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice in San Jose to testify against Pedro Carbajal, the Mountain View soccer coach who is accused of molesting his young nieces six to 11 years ago. The eldest, a 21-year-old, woman maintained her composure before Superior Court
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Judge Griffin M. J. Bonini on Jan. 14 as she told the court that her uncle had raped her numerous times when she was between the ages of 8 and 9. As county prosecutor Dan Fehderau questioned her in detail, she told the court that her uncle molested her while she was sharing a two-bedroom apartment on California Street with her mother, brother, two sisters, Carbajal and his wife.
During the cross examination, defense attorney Darby William attempted to cast doubt on the young woman’s testimony, questioning why she had such spotty memory of the purported attacks and why she took so long to come forward. Carbajal was first arrested and charged in February of 2009. “I didn’t know if that was what See CARBAJAL, page 8
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