INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Holiday Gift Guide NOVEMBER 21, 2014 VOLUME 22, NO. 43
www.MountainViewOnline.com
650.964.6300
MOVIES | 28
‘Lame duck’ council set to vote on North Bayshore — with no housing WILL VOTE BE A ‘SLAP’ TO VOTERS WHO CHOSE THREE PRO-HOUSING CANDIDATES? By Daniel DeBolt
D MICHELLE LE
A car passes by the Milk Pail Market on California Street. The developer that owns the surrounding land announced it bought property adjacent to the Milk Pail to be used to meet the store’s parking requirements.
New plan to save the Milk Pail DEVELOPER BUYS ADJACENT LOT TO SOLVE POPULAR MARKET’S PARKING SHORTAGE By Daniel DeBolt
A
fter rescinding a deal to save Mountain View’s Milk Pail Market in July, developer Merlone Geier announced a new arrangement to save the popular market from closing when its parking agreement expires.
The announcement comes shortly before the City Council could take another vote on Merlone Geier’s next phase in the redevelopment of San Antonio shopping center. The developer made the move — which could curry favor for its proposal to build a movie theater, hotel, retail and office
space — in the days leading up to the City Council’s Dec. 2 meeting, when it is expected to take up Merlone Geier’s massive redevelopment plans for the part of San Antonio shopping center that surrounds the Milk Pail. See MILKPAIL, page 10
espite calls from residents that action be delayed to allow new council members to take their posts in January, the “lame duck” City Council on Nov. 25 is set to approve a plan for Google headquarters and the rest of North Bayshore that would allow new offices that could bring as many as 20,000 new jobs, but no new housing. Voters this month elected three candidates who favor at least studying housing for North Bayshore, replacing three termed-out council members who do not favor doing so — an indication for many that a majority of residents support housing in that area, now teeming with offices for thousands of high-tech workers. “For the old City Council majority to approve a draft Precise Plan that does not include housing immediately after an election in which the electorate clearly voted to consider housing in that area might, I believe, be
perceived as a ‘slap in the face’ of the community,” said former Mountain View city manager Bruce Liedstrand in an email. Mayor Chris Clark said in an email that the council is going to move ahead with voting on the North Bayshore plan, and a four-person majority is expected to continue its opposition to housing there, including member John McAlister and outgoing members Jac Siegel, Margaret Abe-Koga and Ronit Bryant. “We plan to move forward with its completion just as we completed the El Camino Precise Plan last night,” Abe-Koga said on Tuesday. The plan lays out a slew of development requirements for traffic management, building sizes and wildlife habitat protections in order to provide for cohesive development in the area north of Highway 101. The draft plan would allow 3.4 million square feet of new office space, enough for 19,428 jobs at 175 square feet per employee, adding See LAME DUCK, page 13
Superintendent resigns, cites need for new leadership MV WHISMAN BOARD OKS $227K PAY-OUT FOR CRAIG GOLDMAN By Kevin Forestieri
C
iting a need for new leadership for the Mountain View Whisman School District, Superintendent Craig Goldman will step down at the end of December. District officials are now looking for an interim superintendent to replace him. At a special meeting on Nov. 13, the school board met in
INSIDE
closed session and unanimously approved Goldman’s resignation, effective Dec. 31, along with an agreement to pay him an additional 12 months’ salary. The resignation agreement includes a lump sum payment equivalent to 12 months’ salary by no later than the end of January, as well as medical benefits for one year unless he’s “employed otherwise” during the year, according to board presi-
dent Bill Lambert. The lump sum payment, based on Goldman’s 2014-15 annual salary, will be $227,027. Goldman said there is a growing disparity in the “priorities and the methodologies” between him and the five-member board, and that only two of the trustees who hired him to replace former superintendent Maurice Ghysels in 2010 are still board members. They are Phil Palmer, who
appears to have lost his re-election bid to district parent Greg Coladonato, and Ellen Wheeler. “There is a difference in approaches to issues that has to be aligned between district administration and the board,” Goldman said. He said he was the one who proposed resigning to the board, viewing the move as an “obligaMICHELLE LE
See GOLDMAN, page 17
VIEWPOINT 23 | WEEKEND 25 | GOINGS ON 30 | MARKETPLACE 31 | REAL ESTATE 33
Superintendent Craig Goldman