EVENT PROGRAM INSIDE THIS ISSUE
APRIL 22, 2016 VOLUME 24, NO. 13
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Fueling big hopes, South Bay launches alternative utility BOARD HOLDS INAUGURAL MEETING TO PREPARE FOR POWER PURCHASES community-choice start-up as the most effective tool available fficials from Mountain to reduce local greenhouse gas View and nearly a dozen emissions. Despite its potential, other South Bay cities remarkably few people so far met for the first time last week know about the program — to launch a new local energy Santa Clara County Supervisor utility that would rival Pacific Joe Simitian described it as “the Gas & Electric. The new agency best-kept secret in the county.” “When this is available, it — dubbed the Silicon Valley Clean Energy Partnership — still will be a wholly new choice,” he has a long way to go before it said. “We need to make sure we begins feeding electricity to local reach out to the community and residents, but the coming months explain the benefits of communiwill involve a string of formative ty-choice energy.” Perhaps its most crucial decidecisions on how the nascent sion of all, the new energy partutility will source its power. nership will The South need to make Bay utility partpurchases on nership is operSupervisor Joe the power marating under a ket and choose new program Simitian described whether to aim known as community-choice community choice for cost savings or higherenergy. This energy as ‘the best- priced renewinitiative — able energy. In gaining ground kept secret in all likelihood, in communities local cities will across the state the county.’ work to cre— pools local ate a menu of households together to buy power on the options that would give indienergy market, giving customers vidual households the choice to new leverage to find cost savings pay extra to lower their carbon or promote renewable sources of footprint. Simitian said he favors a longenergy. The idea was legally sanctioned term view to move the South Bay by the state Legislation in 2002; off power sources derived from however, jump-starting the pro- fossil fuels. “The cost of renewables is gram has taken years, in part due going down as their efficiency to challenges from PG&E. Early adopters, including is improving with every passMarin and Sonoma counties, ing day; I see them as key to our demonstrated they could offer future,” he said. “The world’s similar energy packages to PG&E going to change. You have to plan at a savings to ratepayers. Addi- for the long haul but in planning tionally, these programs also for that, there’s also going to be empowered local authorities to changes that we can’t predict.” Pooling money from its memswiftly boost the amount of renewable energy available for bers, the South Bay utility is starting out with a budget of consumers. In Mountain View, city offiSee UTILITY, page 6 cials have described the new By Mark Noack
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MICHELLE LE
Mindy Lieberman teaches the 2-year-olds’ class at Mountain View Parent Nursery School. A new report is urging state lawmakers to expand access to early childhood education and day care, which is unaffordable for about 70 percent of California families.
Investing in the future generation REPORT URGES LAWMAKERS TO IMPROVE PRESCHOOL AND CHILD CARE SERVICES By Kevin Forestieri
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hen it comes to education, the first five years of a child’s life are in many ways the most important. Early brain development is in full swing, making it a critical time to cultivate cognitive and emotional skills that
will put kids on track to succeed when they hit kindergarten. But for most families of young children in California, important resources for early childhood development remain out of reach. Most families are unable to pay for child care and preschool on top of the high cost of living, meaning many kids
are going into kindergarten well behind their peers, a cascading disadvantage that follows them into middle and high school. The Right Start Commission, a group of Bay Area politicians, company executives and professors, released a report last See CHILD CARE, page 16
Council: build senior housing on downtown parking lot DEVELOPER SOUGHT TO TRANSFORM BRYANT STREET LOT INTO AFFORDABLE COMPLEX By Mark Noack
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ensing a ripe opportunity to create more affordable housing downtown, Mountain View City Council members on Tuesday gave initial support
INSIDE
for redeveloping a Bryant Street parking lot into a dense apartment complex for seniors. Located across the street from city’s library, the 1.5-acre lot could be developed into dozens of subsidized homes, but city
staff warned that construction would still be years away due to the logjam of projects already in the pipeline. For years, Mountain View See DOWNTOWN LOT, page 13
VIEWPOINT 24 | A&E 26 | WEEKEND 29 | GOINGS ON 34 | MARKETPLACE 35 | REAL ESTATE 37