What’s the big deal it’s the noodles. WEEKEND | P.16
AUGUST 19, 2011 VOLUME 19, NO. 31
INSIDE: MOVIES | PAGE 20
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A respite for the poor makes way for offices DEVELOPER MUST HELP WITH RELOCATION OF LONG-TERM RESIDENTS By Daniel DeBolt
The Pacific Euro Hotel is not the sort of place most people would want to stay. The smell of cigarette smoke permeates the air, and many of the rooms share a bathroom. A bulletproof window protects the front desk, and the general manager is known for her bulldog personality. But the downtown hotel at 891 West Evelyn Ave. is a welcome respite for many who are down on their luck, and some have stayed for more than a few years. The rent is as low as $1,188 a month for a small room with a TV, a microwave and a fold-out bed. No questions are asked about credit or rental history, and there is no waiting list — as there is with subsidized housing. Several families with children have even found refuge in the hotel. A couple in their late 20s, David and Michelle, say they moved here in November with their preschool-aged son after a family dispute left them nearly homeless last year. They say they know of two other families in the building, one with three young children.
David says that few landlords would rent a studio apartment to a family of three with no credit history, and they could afford nothing more. David works as a chef and Michelle stays home with their son. “This is the first time I’ve lived in Mountain View,” Michelle says. “This is the first time I’ve lived somewhere and I actually like it.” Soon, David and Michelle and everyone else in the hotel will have to move. The City Council has approved a new four-story office building development on the hotel site and an adjacent vacant lot. Demand for offices downtown is huge. Downtown’s popularity with tech startups has filled nearly every available space, creating a downtown office vacancy rate that is now less than 1 percent, says Mike Cobb of Colliers International. The hotel is a short walk away from busy Castro Street, the downtown transit hub, the social services agency on Moffett Boulevard, and the Community Services Agency, which gives food to low-income residents several days a week. David takes the train,
Local district produces more college-ready grads than county, state By Nick Veronin
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eniors from Mountain View and Los Altos high schools graduated at higher rates last year than their peers in the county and throughout the state, and a greater percentage of those graduates were college-bound. About 92.5 percent of the seniors
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in the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District graduated last year. That’s 14.2 percent more than the 78.3 percent of seniors who graduated countywide, according to a recent report from the Santa Clara County Office of Education. That’s also 18.1 percent better than the statewide gradua-
MICHELLE LE
David, Michelle and their son have lived at the Pacific Euro Hotel since November, but will be forced to leave when the hotel is razed. They say their son’s safety and the low rent are key reasons they like living at the hotel.
which runs in front of the hotel, to his job in San Jose. The couple has lived in more affordable San Jose, but the apartment complex they lived in had tion rate of 74.4 percent. On top of that, 66.4 percent of the class of 2010 graduated with all the necessary requirements — known as “A-G requirements” — to move on to a University of California or California State University school. Countywide, only 50.5 percent of seniors graduated with those requirements in 2009-10. “I’m pleased,” Superintendent Barry Groves said. “Given our student population, I think we’re doing exceedingly well.” Still, 69 the 921 enrolled seniors See GRADS, page 11
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too many problems, they say. “You don’t see as much violence out here as you do in San Jose,” Michelle says. “You don’t see as many police officers out. You
don’t see as many stabbings here or shootings here. I worry about that when it comes to my son.” See HOTEL, page 6
Google lines up big Sunnyvale campus COMPANY EXPECTS 2,900 EMPLOYEES ON SITE BY 2013 By Daniel DeBolt
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aving hit the limit for rapid expansion in Mountain View, Google has made its first move into Sunnyvale, leasing a large campus that could house up to 2,900 employees. Google confirmed on Aug. 12 that it had leased the 716,000-
square-foot Technology Corners at Moffett Park. The 26.5-acre campus is on Innovation Way and 11th Avenue, neighboring the Moffett Towers and the southeastern corner of Moffett Field. The Class A campus was built in 2000 by the Jay Paul Co. and See GOOGLE, page 10