Farmers Market delights WEEKEND | P.16 AUGUST 12, 2011 VOLUME 19, NO. 30
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INSIDE: MOVIES | PAGE 20
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High-speed rail price tag rises again By Gennady Sheyner
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JUSTIN LAI
Hassan Kaziri, owner of the Union 76 gas station, says he may get rid of his full-service pump.
Fill ’er up with some nostalgia LOCAL GAS STATION STILL OFFERS FULL-SERVICE PUMP, FOR NOW By Nick Veronin
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ust off of El Camino Real, on El Monte Avenue, a family operated gas station continues to offer full-service to customers willing to pay extra for an automotive checkup and a little bit of nostalgia. Those who pull up to pump
No. 1 at El Monte Union Service, a Union 76 station located at 1010 El Monte Ave., will receive a variety of services, including a tire inspection, fluid inspection and window washing. All that, and station owner Hassan Khaziri, or perhaps his son, who serves as station manager, will refuel the
car — at a cost of about 30 cents more per gallon. “It’s pretty old school, in my opinion,” Khaziri’s son, Amir, said as he sat behind the station’s cash register, “but people like it.” Khaziri said that people who aren’t mechanically inclined See FULL-SERVICE, page 7
Petitioners rally to save Hangar One By Daniel DeBolt
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igning their names and writing notes on a petition, hundreds of people around the country are making it clear that Hangar One is an important piece of history to them, even as it is reduced to a bare skeletal frame in an environmental cleanup. An online version of the petition to U.S. senator Dianne Feinstein
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had 226 signatures as of Wednesday morning. The passion of supporters was made clear in their comments next to their signatures. Many pointed out that restoring the hangar and reusing the 8-acre space inside would create new jobs in the area. “The hangar is a symbol of our will to reach beyond our grasp,” wrote U.S. Navy veteran Clayton Lambert of Palo Alto. “It is an Art
Deco symbol of the birth of Silicon Valley. It is important to keep it, as a big reminder of our ability to realize our dreams ... even if they are bigger than life.” Mountain View resident Julie Lovins comments’ may reflect those who see the removal of the hangar’s siding as “painful.” “Hangar One is both a historic See HANGAR ONE, page 9
GOINGS ON 21 | MARKETPLACE 22 | REAL ESTATE 24 | VIEWPOINT 12
alifornia’s planned highspeed rail line could cost billions more than the state’s initial projections indicated, according to newly released documents from the agency spearheading the project. The California High-Speed Rail Authority released environmental impact reports for two Central Valley segments of the proposed line, which is slated to stretch from San Francisco to Los Angeles and reach speeds of 220 mph as it passes through the middle of the state. The two reports — covering the Fresno-to-Merced and Merced-to-Bakersfield segments, respectively — indicate that the combined cost for the Central Valley section would be at least $10 billion and could be higher than $13 billion. Previous estimates had the price tag for this section of the line at about $7 billion. The revisions should come as no surprise to legislators and critics of the controversial project, for which voters approved a $9 billion bond in 2008. At the time, the project carried an estimated price tag of $33.6 billion. The rail authority in 2009 revised the
projected price tag to $42.6 billion — a figure that local watchdogs and state analysts claimed was still too low. The Palo Alto-based group Californians Advocating Responsible Rail Design (CARRD) released its own projections in February, estimating the price tag at about $65 billion. The group used details from the rail authority’s own plans to come up with the estimate. In May, the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office issued its own report largely confirming CARRD’s estimate and projecting the cost of the project at about $67 billion. “We knew the costs were in a different ballpark,” said Elizabeth Alexis, co-founder of CARRD. “We wanted the authority to start talking about that ballpark sooner or later. “A project of this size is not in the realm of financial possibilities,” she added. “So you either just say no to the project or you make some changes.” Legislators have also been consistently skeptical about the rail authority’s financial projections and its business plan. Sens. Joe See HSR, page 9