Island flavor by the bowlful WEEKEND | 18 AUGUST 7, 2015 VOLUME 23, NO. 28
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MOVIES | 21
11 applicants for school board seat BOARD TO APPOINT NEW MEMBER TO OPEN SEAT ON AUG. 18 By Kevin Forestieri and Mark Noack
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Cyclists on Google bikes use a protected bike lane as they wait to cross Shoreline Boulevard.
Cyclists cheer improved bike lanes CITY PLANS SLATE OF NEW BIKE PATHS By Mark Noack
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typical bike lane normally doesn’t get much attention, but this bike lane is hardly typical. A simple green-painted strip separated from the roadway by cement blocks, this new lane along Shoreline Boulevard is being hailed as the first pro-
tected bike path in Mountain View. For local bike advocates, this new lane represents the first of what they hope will be a wave of new bike-friendly transformations throughout the city. Mountain View already boasts an extensive network of bike corridors, with more than 160 miles of bike paths
running through the city and the surrounding areas. But that doesn’t mean cyclists are always having a joyride while navigating city streets. Even while in bike lanes, cyclists often face a stressful time as they deal with cars zipping by at faster speeds and weaving See BIKE LANES, page 8
Office planned for downtown church property ST. JOSEPH’S CASTRO STREET PARKING LOT COULD SEE RETAIL, TOWNHOUSES, UNDERGROUND PARKING By Mark Noack
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n a bid to balance its bottom line, St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church of Mountain View is planning to lease out its Castro Street parking lot to be developed into a new four-story
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office building. If approved by the city, the proposal would allow the development firm Sobrato Group to build 96,500 square feet of new office space, as well as 12 townhouses. In the works for the last two years, the lease deal was prompt-
ed by the St. Joseph parish’s need to find new ways to raise revenue. The parish includes the downtown church and the St. Joseph Catholic School on Miramonte Avenue. See CHURCH, page 7
he Mountain View Whisman School District is looking to fill a seat left vacant by former school board president Chris Chiang, and there are plenty of people to choose from. Community volunteers, parents and even a former City Council member have all submitted applications. Eleven people applied for the seat as of the Aug. 3 deadline, many of them citing a need for civil discussion and a conciliatory fifth member of the school board. The board is facing big issues, including whether to open a new school in the northeast quadrant of the city — which has hundreds of school-age children and no neighborhood school — and a myriad of new strategies to narrow the achievement gap. The district office also has some new faces this school year, with three new principals, a new chief business officer and new superintendent. Chiang resigned from the board in July, citing hostility between board member Steve Nelson and his fellow trustees. Nelson had been censured by the board in 2013 for his actions, and was blamed for the mid-year resignation of Superintendent Craig Goldman. The board has continued to have trouble with heated exchanges between Nelson and district staff. Chiang’s term expires at the end of 2016. Profiles of applicants Peter Darrah, a district parent who served on multiple facilities committees and ran for the board in 2012, and Jill Rakestraw, an active parent and former PTA
VIEWPOINT 13 | ARTS & EVENTS 16 | GOINGS ON 22 | MARKETPLACE 23 | REAL ESTATE 25
member, ran in previous editions of the Voice and can be found online at mv-voice.com. The applications can be viewed online at the school district’s website, mvwsd.org. Sanjay Dave The current trustees of the Mountain View Whisman School District have lost sight of their priorities, says Sanjay Dave, who has lived in the area for 17 years. He points to recent meetings that have devolved into shouting Sanjay Dave matches as well as a tendency of some school trustees to micromanage district staff. “Of late, I don’t feel the board has been doing a good job pointing the district in the right direction,” Dave said. “A lot of personal issues have been going on, and the district has been taking a step backwards.” A senior manager at Synopsys, Dave said that he brings long experience serving on corporate boards and making difficult decisions. He has also taken a leadership role in local community groups, including the Mountain View Rotary, the Mountain View-Los Altos High School Foundation and the Los Altos Community Foundation. If appointed to the school board, he said his top goal would be to make Mountain View a model for education in California. To that end, he has worked as a tutor at Mountain View High School since 2006 and coached See SCHOOL BOARD, page 10