Authentic French Treats WEEKEND | 20
SEPTEMBER 14, 2012 VOLUME 20, NO. 35
www.MountainViewOnline.com
Council OKs townhouses without park
CITY RELEASES BIKE COLLISION DATA By Daniel DeBolt
INSIDE
City officials have apparently bicyclist is injured every not regularly considered such nine days in Mountain data while planning the city’s View, on average, accord- bike infrastructure. It was coming to data compiled this week piled by police spokesperson by the police department. Bicy- Jaime Garrett for this story. clists say they want city officials “If there are clusters of injuries to take note of where locations it would seem to make sense happen and find solutions to to figure out why those areas make bicycling safer. are dangerous and make them The city has seen 203 bike- safer,” said Elly Phillips, who related injuries regularly bikes since September with her 4-yearof 2007, accordold son in tow on ‘When you ing to the data a trailer bike. compiled at the The cit y’s build good bike much-loved request of the SteVoice. None of vens Creek Trail infrastructure, the injuries were does not run near fatal. By press people feel safer.’ Phillips’ home, time, police could near El Monte not clarify how EUGENE CORDERO, MV RESIDENT Avenue and El many of the bikeCamino Real, so related injuries her top priority involved cars or exactly how is “having bike lanes that are many involved hurt bicyclists. safe.” Most of the injuries, 167 of them, occurred at intersections Fastest, but not safest along the city’s busiest traffic Cyclists say the most dangerous arteries with speed limits of streets in Mountain View also 35 miles per hour or more. El happen to be some of the best, Camino Real leads the list, with most direct routes for cyclists. 47 bike-related injuries, fol- That’s unfortunate because, as lowed by Rengstorff Avenue (31 Mountain View cyclist and bloginjuries), California Street (27), ger Janet LaFleur points out in Shoreline Boulevard (24) and her blog, “at 20 mph, 85 percent San Antonio Road (14). of pedestrians or cyclists hit by “I think that’s really impor- cars will survive. At 40 mph, 85 tant data to pay attention to,” percent will die.” said Eugene Cordero, Mountain After last week’s story on the View resident and meteorology state of the city’s bike network, professor at San Jose State Uni- cyclists logged on to the Voice’s versity. “As a bicyclist whose pri- Town Square forum to say they mary mode of transportation is agree that there’s still much more a bike, it’s very alarming to hear work to do. They expressed, we’ve had over 200 accidents in among other things, concern the last five years.” about the removal of bike lanes “I would encourage the City on Calderon Avenue, a lack of Council to use that number of bike lanes on El Camino Real 200 injuries and say, we want to and a busy stretch of Middlefield reduce that by 75 percent in the Road near San Antonio Road, next three to five years,” Cordero See INJURIES, page 10 said.
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See TOWNHOUSES, page 10
MOVIES | 23
Over 200 bike-related injuries in five years
By Daniel DeBolt
last-ditch effort failed to add park space to an isolated townhouse development before the City Council approved the 70-unit project Tuesday night. The Shea Homes project is the second phase of a townhome community at the intersection of East Evelyn and Moorpark avenues adjacent to the Sunnyvale border. The three-bedroom, three-story homes will have an average sale price of $700,000. “Maybe there’s some type of negotiation where we could create a park that would be open to the public,” said member Jac Siegel, suggesting that the city use the project’s $1.75 million in park fees to buy a half-acre of the site for a park. Seven homes planned to be built near the street would have to be removed from the project. “These homes have three bedrooms, you’re going to have kids here,” Siegel said, adding that the developer might not lose money in the deal. “Even if we get in-lieu fees for parks in the future, there’s no land available. We’re going to build and build and we’re not going to have parks.” Council members agreed that a park would be nice, but city staff said it could not be required of the developer, who seemed hesitant to embrace the idea. Members voted 6-0 in favor of the project without a public park, with Laura Macias abstaining. Macias noted that the first phase of the project was approved in 2006, and that the isolated nature of the site wasn’t unknown. “We said this area’s really
650.964.6300
HONORING THE FALLEN ON 9/11
MICHELLE LE
Mountain View firefighters held a ceremony to mark the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and honor the 343 firefighters who died responding to the disaster. Casey Harbison, a firefighter paramedic, holds the flag as Clinton Smith, a fire engineer, lowers it to half-mast. More images from the ceremony are on page 9.
Not everyone happy with EDI MV WHISMAN’S EXPLICIT DIRECT INSTRUCTION METHOD HAS CRITICS By Nick Veronin
W
hile the superintendent of Mountain View’s elementary and middle schools has touted the success of a new district-wide educational protocol, others are speaking out against it — saying it stifles individual creativity and forces students capable of working at a faster pace to slow down to keep pace with those who are struggling. The highly systematic Explicit Direct Instruction method, which is currently being implemented
in all classrooms throughout the Mountain View Whisman School District, is hurting at least as much as it is helping, according to a local teacher familiar with EDI. “It really just changes the culture of the classroom — drastically — and it doesn’t work for all kids,” said the teacher, who asked not to be identified because he was concerned about speaking out against his employer. “I didn’t feel like it was quality education. It feels like a 19th Century See EDI, page 14
VIEWPOINT 17 | GOINGS ON 25 | MARKETPLACE 26 | REAL ESTATE 28