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Home + Garden Design Spring 2016 APRIL 8, 2016 VOLUME 24, NO. 11
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Scaled-back bus lanes get lukewarm response COUNCIL GIVES WARY SUPPORT TO VTA’S REVISED BUS RAPID TRANSIT PROJECT ON EL CAMINO REAL By Mark Noack
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t could be a bumpy ride ahead for transit officials’ goal to bring dedicated bus lanes to El Camino Real, based on the reaction from the Mountain View City Council. In a Tuesday review, some of the Mountain View council members who previously supported full implementation of the Bus-Rapid Transit (BRT) plan became skeptics after considering a scaled-back pilot version of the original project. The pilot project was recommended earlier this year by a Valley Transportation Authority policy-advisory committee as a way to appease the six South Bay cities along El Camino Real’s corridor. At a cost of $223 million, the original version of the BRT project called for using two of El Camino’s six lanes for busonly traffic, as well as building a series of new bus stops and infrastructure. The scale of the project and concern over its traffic impacts spooked many nearby residents and businesses,
leading VTA officials to return with a much milder proposal. The VTA’s latest pitch calls for a pilot project that would reserve the right lanes of El Camino for buses, shuttles and highoccupancy vehicles only during peak hours. Under the plan, the trial would be enforced for the full 17-mile stretch running from Palo Alto to San Jose during peak traffic hours: 7-9 a.m. and 3-7 p.m., Monday through Friday. The pilot project would cost a fraction of the original BRT plan’s price — up to $9 million — which would go toward repainting portions of the road and installing signs to alert drivers of the new rules. The pilot is expected last around three years, but it would likely require the drafting of new environmentalimpact studies, which could take up to two years to prepare. The hope is that it would provide useful information showing how a permanent project would function, said Los Altos Mayor
MICHELLE LE
Alondra Rivas, 4, gets a check-up from Dr. Swarnapali Seneviratna at MayView Community Health Care Center on April 5.
MV RotaCare closing down next month PATIENTS HEAD TO MAYVIEW COMMUNITY CLINIC AS FREE CLINIC’S SERVICE WINDS DOWN By Kevin Forestieri
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undreds of uninsured, mostly Latino families who relied on Mountain View’s RotaCare clinic have been transferred, medical records in hand, to a new primary care doctor in recent months. The migration of patients
to a new clinic a mile and a half away, the MayView Community Health Center, marks the final transition as the El Camino Healthcare District winds down operations at the RotaCare clinic at the end of May. It will be the end of 19 years of free, quality service, but hospital officials maintain that the transfer will be an
VOTER INITIATIVE WOULD LIMIT RENT INCREASES TO 5 PERCENT ANNUALLY
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isappointed by the City Council’s unwillingness to take stronger action, advocates for Mountain View’s large tenant population are bringing a rent control
See CLINIC, page 6
See BUS LANES, page 10
Tenant advocates submit rent-control measure By Mark Noack
upgrade for patients looking for consistent care. In January, the news came down that RotaCare was in a sticky situation. The clinic, which is located on the El Camino Hospital campus and has served thousands of mostly lowincome and uninsured patients
measure to voters. A new ballot measure submitted for the November election would impose a cap on rent hikes in the city, forcing most landlords to keep annual increases in the range of 2 to 5 percent. The new measure — dubbed
the Community Stabilization and Fair Rent Charter Amendment — comes in response to what many have described as a crisis in Mountain View’s rental housing market. In recent months, scores of renters have spoken before the council,
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pleading for relief from large rent increases that they say are forcing many from their homes. From 2011 to 2015, average rents in Mountain View increased 52.7 percent, according to a RealFacts market
report cited by the Mountain View Tenants’ Coalition. After nearly half a year of debating the issue, a thin majority of the council last month agreed on a package of mediation programs and lease requirements intended to address the problem. While the city’s ordinance, if given final approval, would place various See RENT CONTROL, page 8
Meet the Assembly candidates 14
VIEWPOINT 28 | WEEKEND 34 | GOINGS ON 34 | MARKETPLACE 35 | REAL ESTATE 37