Mountain View Voice November 11, 2016

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NOVEMBER 11, 2016 VOLUME 24, NO. 42

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More fireworks in Mountain View Whisman boardroom SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER TELLS SUPERINTENDENT TO STOP TALKING AND SIT DOWN By Kevin Forestieri

T MICHELLE LE

DAY OF THE DEAD Arturo Noriega, a student advisor, paints faces for a Dia de los Muertos celebration at The View teen center on Nov. 4. Students from Crittenden and Graham middle schools’ afterschool programs decorated sugar skulls and had their own faces decorated in the tradition of Mexico’s “calavera catrina” for Day of the Dead, an annual festival to honor the dear departed. See more photos on page 14.

Earthquake upgrades made easier CHANGES WOULD ENABLE PROPERTY OWNERS TO FIX SOFT-STORY BUILDINGS By Kevin Forestieri

M

ountain View could become more earthquake-ready, after the city’s Environmental Planning Commission voted unanimously last week to clear the way for seismic upgrades to aging structures at high risk of collapse. Mountain View is home to roughly 100 to 125 multi-family residential buildings that have what’s called a “soft story” design — upper floors are held up by a structurally weak ground floor that’s typically left open on one or more sides for parking and commercial uses. These buildings are vulnerable to the lateral back-and-forth movement of an earthquake and

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are at risk of “pancaking” if the first floor collapses, according to assistant city planner Diana Pancholi. “When (the buildings) collapse, they do risk the lives of those who reside in them, and in the case of an earthquake, it will leave many families homeless,” Pancholi said. But when landlords interested in making safety upgrades approach the city, they hit a brick wall. That’s because the city bars property owners from making “structural modifications,” including seismic retrofits, to nonconforming structures or buildings with a nonconforming use — meaning they were legal at the time but do not meet current regulations. Because the

city’s soft-story apartments were built several decades ago, many of them fall under this category and cannot get the quick-fix needed to improve earthquake safety. Potential fixes for soft-story buildings include installing new interior or exterior walls, adding thick, 9-inch support columns and adding steel framing at specific locations on the ground floor. The concern is that these kinds of changes could butt up against the city’s zoning regulations by increasing the floor area ratio (FAR) of the building and reducing required parking spaces. At the Nov. 2 Environmental See SAFETY UPGRADES, page 12

VIEWPOINT 19 | GOINGS ON 27 | MARKETPLACE 28 | REAL ESTATE 30

hings got ugly at the Mountain View Whisman School District’s board meeting, when a tense argument between trustee Steve Nelson and the superintendent led to a confrontational back-and-forth over how the district office handles public records requests. The problem started in April, when Nelson sent the district office an elaborate and complicated public records request for math-relat- Steve Nelson ed documents going back to 2014. The request yielded 5,000 pages of results, which had to be pruned down to 3,500 pages over three months, taking up between 35 and 40 staff hours, before it was sent to Nelson. Since receiving the reams of paper, Nelson has come out swinging, calling the district’s administration “inept and (in) need of further training on Public Records Act compliance,” and calling the massive stack of documents “junk” and mostly useless. Nelson brought his argument — and his 2-foot stack of paper — to the Nov. 4 board meeting, accusing district staff of failing to

communicate with him to narrow the request. At the meeting, Nelson accused the district of failing to adhere to state laws requiring it to assist him in making a “focused and effective request.” Superintendent Ayindé Rudolph fired back, arguing that the district’s obligation is to fulfill the request, not to interpret Ayindé Rudolph what he was looking for, and suggested that Nelson’s broad request was the root of the problem. Over 90 percent of the district’s Public Records Act requests this year were addressed within two weeks, with the exception of Nelson’s, he said. Nelson argued that there was no effort on the district’s part to try to narrow the request, an assertion that Rudolph contested, sparking a back-and-forth with raised voices on who said what via email, and when it was said. Nelson demanded that Rudolph stop interjecting during his tirade. “Could you please not interrupt me, Dr. Rudolph, or I’m going to start yelling at you,” Nelson said. “Take a seat.” See NELSON, page 6

ELECTION RESULTS Due to this week’s Veterans Day holiday, the Voice went to press before the Nov. 8 election results were available. Go online to mv-voice.com for the Voice’s full coverage of local election results.

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die� and involves characters including a Holocaust survivor, a U.S. Marine in Afghanistan and Sandy Hook teachers and students. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Go to sherrirosepresents.com.

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AN EVENING WITH ROB SCHNEIDER Comedian Rob Schneider will be in Palo Alto on Sunday, Nov. 13, for an evening of comedy at the Oshman Family JCC (3921 Fabian Way). Schneider is best known for his work on “Saturday Night Live,� as both a writer and performer, as well as his appearances in Hollywood comedies, and recently produced a Netflix miniseries about his life. His Palo Alto show starts at 8 p.m. and tickets are $40 general/$35 for JCC members. Go to paloaltojcc.org.

‘HOW NOT TO DIE’ San Carlos playwright Sherri Rose will present her onewoman show “How Not to Die,� a “time-jumping, multicharacter� dark comedy that explores society’s obsession with safety and fear, on Nov. 12 and 18 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 13 at 3 p.m. at Dragon Theatre, 2120 Broadway St., Redwood City. In the play, which involves audience interaction, Rose counts down her “top 10 ways not to

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‘THE MUSICAL UNIVERSE OF OSWALDO GOLIJOV’ The Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, an award-winning youth string ensemble, its music director Ben Simon and Jeff Anderle, its founding co-director of switchboard music, will present a free concert celebrating the life and music of Argentinian composer Oswaldo Golijov on Saturday, Nov. 12, at 7:30 p.m. at Cubberley Auditorium, 485 Lasuen Mall, Stanford. Golijov’s music draws influence from a range of genres, including jazz, klezmer and tango. Go to tinyurl.com/j8fz9ou.

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Foothill College presents Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town.�

PALO ALTO CAMERA CLUB EXHIBIT Members of the Palo Alto Camera Club are displaying their best prints (including landscape, portraits, f lora, fauna, monochrome and more) at the club’s free annual exhibit, hosted by the Community School of Music and Arts, 230 San Antonio Circle, Mountain View, through Nov. 21. Go to pacamera.com. —Karla Kane

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Rob Schneider will perform in Palo Alto.

Foothill College tackles a beloved community-theater staple: Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,� the tear-jerking playwithin-a-play first staged back in 1938 about the beauty and tragedy of small-town life in Grover’s Corners, New England. Foothill’s production, directed by Bruce McLeod, promises some inventive new elements mixed in with the show’s traditionally minimalist staging. The show runs through Nov. 20, Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; and Sundays at 2 p.m. at Lohman Theatre, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills. Tickets are $15-20. Go to foothill.edu/theatre.

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Police are seeking the public’s help in locating a man wanted for an armed robbery in Mountain View who was last seen fleeing in a car Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 2. Officers responded to a reported robbery in the 1900 block of Crisanto Avenue, just south of Central Expressway, around 12:30 p.m., police said. Arriving officers spoke with two victims who told them a man went up to them with a knife, police said. He punched one of the victims, put the knife away and took out what looked like a handgun from his waist, according to police. The suspect demanded money from one of the victims, then ran away south to Escuela Avenue, where he got into a small two-door white vehicle that left the area, police said. The suspect is described as a Hispanic man standing about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing around 200 pounds. He was last seen wearing a gray shirt and black shorts, police said. Officers searched an area near Monta Loma Elementary School that wasn’t threatened, according to police. The investigation also led to a 15-minute closure of Thompson Avenue between Jane Lane and Junction Avenue, just north of the school, police said. Anyone who has information surrounding the robbery is asked to call the police nonemergency line at (650) 903-6395.

SEX OFFENDER ARREST Police arrested a man last week after officers allegedly discovered him living inside an abandoned apartment complex, and found that he had failed to register as a sex offender in Mountain View. Police became aware of two men inside the apartment complex on the 600 block of Tyrella Avenue on Saturday, Nov. 5, at around noon, when an officer patrolling the area noticed that the fence around the complex had been moved, according to police spokeswoman Katie Nelson. While investigating the property, officers found the two men sitting inside one of the apartments smoking and listening to music, Nelson said. One of them, 52-year-old Jason Mook, told officers he had been living in the apartment for several weeks, See CRIME BRIEFS, page 9

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The photos that accompanied last week’s story “Ahead of rentcontrol vote, eviction spree hits tenants” were attributed to the wrong photographer. The credit should go to freelance photographer Natalia Nazarova.

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Nurses agree to new hospital contract LATEST ROUND OF NEGOTIATIONS REDUCE PROPOSED CUTS AT EL CAMINO HOSPITAL By Kevin Forestieri

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VOICE FILE PHOTO

The burrowing owl population in Mountain View is getting perilously low, according to a recent city report.

Worries over dwindling burrowing owl population By Mark Noack

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ne among many inhabitants struggling to cope in a changing landscape, Mountain View’s fragile burrowing owl population appears to be slumping, raising concern among environmentalists that the species could make an exit from Shoreline Park. The predatory birds, which are listed as a California species of special concern, inhabit the 750 acres of open space just beyond the North Bayshore tech corridor that’s marked for rapid expansion. Tech compa-

nies looking to grow, including Google, are required to follow a set of city guidelines meant to protect the owl habitat. But even with those safeguards, bird advocates fear that the presence of thousands more workers and residents in the area will end up harming the bird population. Shoreline Park’s burrowing owl population has hit a new low, said Shani Kleinhaus, an ecologist with the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society. She points to the Mountain View’s latest report, which showed only one successful breeding pair of nesting owls, the small-

est number in the last 18 years. “That’s really at the verge of extinction,” Kleinhaus said. “We’re seeing a lot of disturbance and we think that might be a reason for the decline.” While the owls did have four chicks, there were problems. The breeding pair was a mother and son, a bad sign for the population’s future. There are many factors that could explain the low numbers. The owls are ground-nesting, living in holes hollowed out by squirrels. That can leave them vulnerable to a long list of predators, including foxes, skunks and raccoons. Feral cats are considered the worst of the lot, preying on owls as well as the small birds and rodents See OWLS, page 6

fter protracted and difficult negotiations that stretched for more than seven months, nurses at El Camino Hospital agreed to the terms of a new three-year contract that would give nurses a 10 percent salary hike over the three years, and retain existing benefits and higher pay for nurses working weekend and night shifts. Members of the Professional Resource for Nurses (PRN) union, which represents roughly 1,265 nurses at El Camino Hospital’s Mountain View and Los Gatos campuses, voted in favor of the new contract at the end of October, following another round of contract negotiations with hospital executives. The big change from a proposed contract that was rejected by a slim majority of nurses on Oct. 6 is that nurses who receive “differential” pay by working on weekends will continue to receive 10 percent more than the base hourly rate, and nurses working the night shift will continue to get 20 percent more than the hourly rate, as they do under their current contract. The proposed contract that was rejected last month would have cut that pay differential to 9 percent and 19 percent, respectively. Over the last two months, negotiations have prompted the hospital to backpedal on several proposed cuts that, when added

up, would constitute a major loss for the hospital’s nursing staff, PRN representatives said. The contract no longer has reductions in health care benefits for employees, which included cuts to coverage of nurses’ dependents and spouses. PRN representatives say the cuts to benefits would have cost part-time nurses about $9,500 each year. That isn’t to say nurses got everything they wanted. Christopher Platten, an attorney representing PRN, said the negotiation team had been fighting for a 12 percent raise over three years, which he said would have aligned salaries with the other high-priced hospital competitors in the area. The lower salary increase could have played a part in the initial vote by nurses to reject the contract, Platten said. The current three-year memorandum of understanding between El Camino Hospital and PRN, which expired earlier this year but has been extended multiple times, shows nurses have a current salary range of $56.75 to $95.41 per hour. Following the ratification vote, Cheryl Reinking, El Camino’s chief nursing officer, told the Voice in an email that the hospital staff are happy to see a strong majority of the nurses who voted — 80 percent — supporting the new contract, and that the agreement will provide “enhanced See NURSES, page 9

City mulls fix for Shoreline Boulevard congestion $22 MILLION UPGRADE PROPOSED FOR U.S. 101 OFF-RAMP By Mark Noack

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ne the city’s worst congestion hotspots, the Shoreline Boulevard gateway into North Bayshore, will get an overhaul under a plan to redesign a Highway 101 off-ramp. At a Nov. 1 meeting, the City Council reviewed various options for how the off-ramp and its surrounding streets could

be reworked to improve traffic flow into the bustling area best know as Google’s neighborhood. In the end, council members approved spending $1.8 million to have a traffic engineering firm shepherd the project through Caltrans’ approval process. Shoreline Boulevard serves as the main artery for traffic coming into North Bayshore, and city officials have made any new office development contingent

on companies proving they are severely reducing the number of employees driving solo to work. During a regular workday commute, the line of backedup cars can typically stretch more than a quarter-mile back on Shoreline Boulevard and its northbound 101 off-ramp. The crux of the problem, according to city staff, is a five-legged intersection at Shoreline Boulevard and La Avenida Street that tends to

act as a choke point for the traffic jam. As one of the possible alternatives, city Public Works officials are considering building a new “slip” ramp that would allow traffic coming off northbound 101 to turn east on La Avenida. Another option would be to divert the off-ramp to a new traffic signal at La Avenida, possibly adding a bus-only lane with priority at intersections.

An early traffic analysis determined that well-designed improvements to the off-ramp could cut the delay time at the La Avenida intersection by about 75 percent, or from about 3.5 minutes down to 45 seconds. It wasn’t that long ago when Caltrans redesigned many of the off-ramps, pointed out Councilman Mike Kasperzak. Back in See SHORELINE, page 8

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Q Mountain View Voice Q MountainViewOnline.com Q November 11, 2016

OWLS

Continued from page 5

that make up the owls’ main food supply. In fact, a released cat last year ended up mauling one prolific male owl, Kleinhaus said. Humans can also be a big nuisance for the owls. City parks staffers have installed signs and fencing to cordon off sensitive areas, but hikers sometimes go trailblazing. Shoreline Park prohibits dogs except in an off-leash zone near the entrance, yet some people still untether their canines in other parts of the park. By the city’s count, Shoreline Park has a total of five burrowing owls, although other migratory owls come from the north to spend the colder months there, said Recreation Manager John Marchant. City workers have tried their best to create a suitable habitat for the owls by building artificial owl holes and mowing down the nearby grasses to prevent predators from catching the birds off-guard. In an effort to encourage more natural owl habitat, parks staff sometimes set up squirrel traps around the nearby golf course. The squirrels are later released in areas more suitable for owls, with the idea

NELSON

Continued from page 1

Rudolph remained standing during the heated exchange, and told Nelson not to ask him to sit down as if he were “some kind of second-class citizen.� “I have listened to you question my degree, I have listened to you talk about my kids, and you just told me to take a seat,� Rudolph said. “Do not tell me to take a seat. Period.� Board member Jose Gutierrez accused Nelson of being “out of line,� shortly before board president Ellen Wheeler called for a break, prompting Rudolph and others to storm out of the board room. Nelson appeared to try to approach Rudolph as he left the room. The latest flare-up follows signs that district officials are frustrated with Nelson’s records requests. In June, Rudolph said that Nelson had inundated the school district with 55 requests for information in a single month, which he said detracts from the district’s ability to address other, serious issues. Nelson said his public records request in April was for information on middle school math “pathways,� and a better understanding of how placement policies would guide students from fifth grade into the district’s three middle school math tracks. His request reads as follows: “Request for emailed materials related to Middle School Math

that they will dig new holes that owls can use. “We’re doing everything in our power to make sure we’re not disturbing the owls,� Marchant said. “We’re putting a lot of time, effort and resources into protecting these species in hopes it’ll expand the population within the park.� The burrowing owl is native

‘If the conditions are right, we think the owls will come back.’ SHANI KLEINHAUS, SANTA CLARA VALLEY AUDUBON SOCIETY

to a wide area stretching from northern Mexico up to western Canada, yet the population in the South Bay has been declining for decades. The local owl population numbered in the hundreds in the 1990s, but in recent years that number has dropped to around 70 birds. Why did the population plummet so dramatically? In short, Kleinhaus points to the long history of office development on the bay landfills from Milpitas to Mountain View. She admits she tracks or pathways (Common Core 6th, 7th, 8th and pathway to Geometry in 8th for example). For the time June 2014 to end of February 2016, between the District Office staff and Middle School staff, between the District Office and TOSA working in middle schools. To Middle School math teachers (plural) from Middle School principals (only on math tracks and pathways). [no to: individual teachers, only broadcast to math planning groups etc.]

‘I have listened to you question my degree, I have listened to you talk about my kids, and you just told me to take a seat. Do not tell me to take a seat.’ SUPERINTENDENT AYINDÉ RUDOLPH

Also including math assessments related to choosing middle school math pathways. For the time June 2014 to end of February 2016: Any data spreadsheets at the District Office. Any data spreadsheets at the two Middle Schools. Any correspondence or documents that constitute administration of math pathways (or tracking) policy. FYI: The LASD found that email searches was the best

is in a conflicted position in discussing this topic — she works as a consultant for Google, advising the company on how to minimize its impacts on the species. Some public speakers criticized Google’s newest planned expansion of its Charleston East campus for setting a dangerous precedent since the project’s northwest corner would encroach on the buffer zone of the owl habitat. Yet city officials and Kleinhaus both say the move won’t impact the owls since the construction area will be separated from the bird habitat by the four-lane Amphitheatre Parkway. Overall, Kleinhaus described the push to dramatically expand offices and residences in North Bayshore as “a cause for concern,� potentially bringing tens of thousands more humans near the struggling owl population. But she insisted that risks could be counterbalanced. “Google is looking to mitigate and build habitat for the owl to create places where the population can increase,� she said. “If the conditions are right, we think the owls will come back.� Email Mark Noack at mnoack@mv-voice.com V

way for them to easily find this material.� For months, Nelson has argued that the Los Altos School District and the Santa Clara County Office of Education were able to fulfill with little difficulty similar PRA requests he made earlier this year. The problem is not his request, he said, it’s the Mountain View Whisman district staff’s failure to adhere to the law and help him narrow down the number of “hits� his requests get. Nelson told the Voice in an email that his requests for public records to other school districts were worded differently than his request to the Mountain View Whisman district. Confrontation, raised voices and thick tension are hardly new in the district’s board room. Last year, board members Greg Coladonato’s and Nelson’s comments on how to pay for construction management services led to a testy exchange during which the district’s construction manager, Todd Lee, stormed out of the room. In June 2015, Nelson stood up and loomed over Wheeler in a confrontational manner during a heated discussion on the school design for Castro Elementary. Nelson’s term on the board ends this year, and he has not sought re-election. His last meeting as a board member is expected to be later this month. View the story online at mv-voice. com for links to video of the confrontations during the school board meetings. V

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LocalNews

TCE joins list of known carcinogens By Mark Noack

T

he prevalent groundwater toxin in Mountain View’s northern region received new recognition as a health hazard by federal officials. On Nov. 3, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced it was adding trichloroethylene (TCE) to a list of known carcinogens in the department’s biannual report on cancer-causing hazards. The news comes as no big surprise. Federal health officials, for about 15 years, have warned that TCE could reasonably be linked to various forms of cancer. Since then about 20 epidemiological studies have shown a connection between TCE and various forms of cancer in mice, including kidney cancer and lymphoma, leading medical authorities to now reclassify it as a known carcinogen, said Dr. Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, which helps compile the carcinogen report. “There’s been concern about TCE and other solvents for a long

time,” Birnbaum said. “It takes a lot of analysis and a lot of review of the literature to compile this report.” The substance, an industrial solvent and degreaser, was heavily used on U.S. military bases and during the heyday of Silicon Valley’s semiconductor industry. Tens of thousands of gallons of TCE were dumped into the ground and the chemical made its way into the groundwater in Santa Clara County before its hazards to public health were fully acknowledged. Based on the new classification, a number of new regulations could be coming down the pipeline for TCE management, Birnbaum said. The White House is looking into further Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limitations on TCE use in industrial degreasing and in dry-cleaning businesses. Data sheets for employee safety in handling toxic materials could also be updated, she said. While the connection between TCE and cancer is now considered firm, the chemical’s connection to other diseases remains

VOICE FILE PHOTO BY MICHELLE LE

The much-used solvent TCE has been added to the list of substances that cause cancer by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. TCE contaminates groundwater in several areas of Mountain View, and testing is conducted to monitor its movements below ground.

less clear. Asked about a potential link between TCE and neurological degenerative diseases such as ALS, Birnbaum pointed to a 2014 study of the U.S. Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, believed to have the largest TCE contamination in the country. The study tracked about 9,000 deaths at the base and

found a higher hazard rate for ALS, but it was considered nonsignificant since it was based on small numbers, making it impossible to pin down separate effects, Birnbaum said. The link between TCE and various forms of cancer was far more evident. TCE is among the most prevalent hazardous substances in the

U.S., and it is found in at least 1,045 of the nation’s Superfund sites, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. TCE is considered carcinogenic to humans by all routes of exposure, according to the EPA’s 2011 health assessment report. Email Mark Noack at mnoack@mv-voice.com V

VTA board OKs emergency paratransit contract The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority approved a $12.5 million emergency contract with a new paratransit provider last Thursday, hours after its previous contractor was served a search warrant by the FBI. The VTA board unanimously approved the five-month contract with MV Transportation, a private Dallas, Texas-based firm, at its Thursday, Nov. 3, meeting at the agency’s San Jose headquarters. The former contractor, Outreach and Escort Inc., was served a search warrant by the FBI earlier Thursday. An FBI spokesman confirmed the search warrant was served at Outreach’s offices, but didn’t provide further details on the investigation. The VTA was already phasing Outreach out as its paratransit

provider. Outreach had been providing paratransit services to VTA since 1993 and the board asked for an audit of the organization in July 2015, Fernandez said. When Outreach didn’t provide all the requested documents for the audit and the ones that were submitted came in late, the board decided to terminate the contract with Outreach in June and is looking for a new contractor to take over the service, board chairwoman and Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez said. The VTA board also filed a filed a lawsuit against Outreach alleging false claims and fraud. The agency was in the middle of its 12-month transition period from the Milpitas-based Outreach, which continued to provide the paratransit service

through MV Transportation, when the FBI served its warrant, VTA CEO Nuria Fernandez said. Following the warrant service, the VTA decided to move to MV Transportation as its exclusive provider. By the end of Friday, VTA was expected to set up new phone and computer systems for MV Transportation employees who had been working under Outreach. The transition led to delays in responding to calls for the agency’s paratransit service, VTA spokeswoman Stacey Hendler Ross said. “These customers in particular are our highest priority because they’re among the most vulnerable in our community,” Hendler Ross said. In addition to its 7,000 paratransit clients registered throughout the county, the VTA was also

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working to help an extra load of customers Outreach had provided services to including the county and social service agencies, according to Hendler Ross. “We’re in a tough situation admittedly and we’re working very hard,” Hendler Ross said. MV Transportation is also sending employees from Southern California to Santa Clara County in assisting with the transition that’s expected to smooth out in the next few days, the spokeswoman said. Customers continued to receive the ride service, but may have experienced a delay in calls to confirm their reservation, set up a ride or ask questions, Hendler Ross said. In its search for a new provider, the agency sent out a request for proposals for a new paratransit contractor that were due last Thursday. The current contract with MV Transportation can be extended if the agency doesn’t select a new provider after five months, Hendler Ross said. Anyone looking for more information on the paratransit service is asked to call the VTA customer service line at 408-321-2300. —Bay City News Service

SHORELINE

Continued from page 5

2003, the state highway agency rebuilt various Highway 101 offramps as well as the Highway 85 interchange, he said. That work, conducted well before Google became an internet juggernaut, didn’t anticipate the hefty traffic demands for the area. For its part, Google officials sent a letter urging city officials to make bus-only and bike lanes a top priority. Any traffic-related time savings from rebuilding the streets would come with a hefty price tag. City engineers estimated an off-ramp redesign would cost up to $22 million. The City Council members reviewed one of the first big expenses of the project last week as they considered hiring the San Jose firm AECOM to conduct further study of the off-ramp options that would eventually need to be approved by Caltrans. AECOM was selected in a competitive process with a bid to do the study for $1.2 million. Adding that to the cost of Caltrans oversight, permit fees and project-management costs, the total bill grew to $1.8 million. The City Council approved the expenditure in a unanimous 7-0 vote. V

LocalNews

Crittenden to add creek trail, track to campus FOURTEEN REDWOOD TREES WILL BE AXED TO MAKE ROOM FOR TRAIL EXTENSION AND TRACK AND FIELD FACILITIES By Kevin Forestieri

‘We tried to fit the track and field on the site without removing the trees, but it simply wasn’t feasible.’

T

he Mountain View Whisman School District is just months away from major changes to the Crittenden Middle School field that would add a running track and a winding trail extension that would bring the Permanente Creek Trail through the campus to Rock Street. The project, which cleared an environmental review last month, would replace the existing baseball field south of the Crittenden campus with a 123,000-square-foot track-andfield facility. The project includes a 900foot extension of the Permanente Creek Trail to the west of the school from Rock Street down to the Farley Street and Middlefield Road intersection. The width of the trail fluctuates between 10 and 20 feet wide, in part because it has to squeeze by school facilities and a 12-foot easement required by the Santa Clara Valley Water District. The city of Mountain View will reimburse the school district for the design and construction of the trail, which is expected to cost about $1.2 million. To make room for the trail and the track, 21 trees — including 14 redwoods — along the southwest edge of the campus will be removed. At a school board meeting last week, project

NURSES

Continued from page 5

benefits” for veteran nurses who have accumulated more than 20 years of service at El Camino. The wage increases and other benefits guaranteed in the contract will be worth in excess of $39 million over the next three years, Reinking said. “This contract is the result of collaborative, good faith bargaining between the parties and a willingness to come to an agreement that is in everyoneís best interests,” she said in the email. “We appreciate our dedicated nurses and recognize the critical

CRIME BRIEFS

Continued from page 4

which was later confirmed by a neighbor. Police later arrested Mook after learning that he was a sex offender but had not registered as one here, Nelson said.

MARY ANN DUGGAN, PROJECT DIRECTOR

COURTESY OF MOUNTAIN VIEW WHISMAN SCHOOL DISTRICT

Crittenden construction plans include a trail extension and a running track, which will replace the existing baseball field and 14 heritage trees.

director Mary Ann Duggan said the school district had to weigh its options for getting rid of the heritage trees. The alternative would have been to remove the softball and baseball fields on the Crittenden lawn, which would have been a huge loss to the city. “We tried to fit the track and field on the site without removrole they play in providing high quality care.” In the thick of the negotiation process, PRN representatives claimed that hospital officials would not budge on cuts to salaries and benefits. The stalled negotiations hit a tipping point on Sept. 9, when more than 100 nurses staged a demonstration, marching along Grant Road in front of the hospital with picket signs demanding better treatment. El Camino Hospital’s board of directors is expected to vote on the ratified contract on Nov. 9, after the Voice’s press deadline. Email Kevin Forestieri at kforestieri@mv-voice.com V

Mook was arrested for failure to register and was booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail without bail. The other man in the apartment, 45-year-old Gary Calderon, was cited and released for possession of drug paraphernalia, Nelson said. —Kevin Forestieri

ing the trees, but it simply wasn’t feasible,” Duggan told the board. To counteract the loss of tree canopy, the district is expected to plant at least 41 new trees on the campus, all of which will be species native to the area instead of redwood trees, Duggan said. The tree removal and the new sports lighting proposed in the

project are expected to cause excessive glare for properties to the south and west of the project. By adjusting the brightness levels on the lights, the district should be able to mitigate any significant impacts to nearby residents, according to the environmental report. Board member Steve Nelson said he was concerned about the PG&E gas pipeline that runs under the Crittenden field, which he believes could be a major hazard in the construction of the new track and field, despite its not being mentioned in the environmental report. Duggan said the pipeline is too deeply underground to be considered within the “sphere of influence” of construction, and

will be surveyed and marked ahead of construction so contractors are aware of what’s underground. Tree removal is expected to start at the beginning of next year, followed by construction of the trail through May. Construction of the track and field is expected to start in June and end in November. The board is expected to sign off on the environmental report at its Dec. 8 meeting. Residents are asked to submit any comments on the project to the district office by Nov. 28 at noon, to Mary Ann Duggan at 750-A San Pierre Way, Mountain View, CA 94043. Comments may also be emailed to mduggan@mvwsd.org. V

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LocalNews SAFETY UPGRADES Continued from page 1

Planning Commission meeting, commissioners agreed that it’s time to loosen the rules and allow for these seismic upgrades, and voted 7-0 to recommend that City Council amend the ordinance to allow seismic upgrades and improve public safety. The move comes after multiple property owners approached the city seeking to retrofit their buildings, but were turned down by city staff. “As our nonconforming code exists today, it does not allow any structural modifications, even for seismic retrofits to address the situation,” Pancholi said. Assistant Community Development Director Terry Blount said that Mountain View’s regulations on nonconforming buildings are “very restrictive” and some of the most conservative he has ever worked under. By making a minor amendment to the law, Blount said, property owners can make the upgrades they need to safeguard residents in the event of an earthquake. The amended ordinance is part of a larger effort on the part of Mountain View to take stock of all of the soft-story buildings in the city, and find ways to encourage property owners to make the necessary fixes to prevent homes from pancaking in a major earthquake. The city currently has $350,000 set aside to conduct a survey of all of the city’s soft story buildings, many of which are apartments. The survey will be conducted next spring, and the report will offer

VOICE FILE PHOTO BY MICHELLE LE

Soft-story buildings, which include many of Mountain View’s older apartment complexes, often need seismic upgrades to prevent collapsing in a major earthquake.

options for how to offer incentives — or force — property owners to make seismic retrofits. Estimates from a 2006 study by San Jose State University found that the city has about 1,129 soft-story apartment units, leaving an estimated 2,823 residents at risk. The university later declined to share

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the addresses of the buildings with the city, and discarded the information. Other cities in the Bay Area, including Berkeley and San Francisco, have already moved forward with mandatory retrofitting programs for softstory buildings. Blount said he expects Mountain View will model its soft-story program on Berkeley’s, in terms of informing the public about safety hazards, conducting a survey, contacting property owners and setting up a timeline for submitting permit applications and completing retrofit work. In essence, the property own-

ers who approached the city with requests to retrofit their buildings are trying to get ahead of the curve and fix the problem early. At the EPC meeting, commission member John Scarboro raised concerns that these early adopters might make safety upgrades that fall short of the standards of whatever soft-story seismic retrofit program the city creates. Blount said there’s a specific standard set for retrofit work, and that the city’s chief building official will have to sign off on the upgrades. Taking the amendment one step further, commission member Preeti Hehmeyer suggested that

the city might want to do more in terms of incentives, including waiving the permit fees. Blount said the City Council could consider ways to reduce the financial burden of retrofitting a building, but it may not be necessary. As a former city planner for Berkeley, Blount said the city was able to achieve 98 percent compliance with the soft-story program without any relief from permit costs. The council is tentatively scheduled to consider approval of the ordinance amendments at the Nov. 22 City Council meeting. Email Kevin Forestieri at kforestieri@mv-voice.com V

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LocalNews

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The salvation of Shaw PEAR THEATRE PRESENTS WITTY, WEIGHTY ‘MAJOR BARBARA’ By Karla Kane

I

n George Bernard Shaw’s 1905 play “Major Barbara,� the characters grapple with questions that still plague us today, in this age of campaign financing and lobbyists. Is accepting money from sources with questionable motives or values worth doing if the money serves the greater good? Pear Theatre has revived Shaw’s thought-provoking comedy, just in time for Election Day. The indomitable Barbara Undershaft, filled with soulsaving zeal, has risen to the rank of major in the Salvation Army, where she tirelessly recruits converts from London’s poorest quarters, offering them food and shelter in the name of the Lord. But Barbara actually hails from an upperclass family. The granddaughter of an earl, her estranged father is Andrew Undershaft, an incredibly wealthy arms manufacturer of dubious morals and religious beliefs. Barbara, her siblings and her mother, the overbearing Lady Britomart, have all distanced themselves from Andrew, disapproving of the way in which he earns his fortune through selling weapons to anyone willing to pay for them. But now they’re all in need of his financial support, as Barbara’s sister is engaged to happygo-lucky dilettante Charles Lomax, brother Stephen has no apparent profession or direction, and Barbara’s fiance, the idealistic professor of Greek, Adolphus Cusins, is unlikely to be able to support her. The jovial Undershaft is delighted to reunite with his family but shrugs off their criticisms of his business (it’s the old, “guns don’t kill people; people kill people� argument). A former penniless foundling, Undershaft, with his motto of “unashamed,� is a firm believer in the power of capitalism. He considers his loved ones misguided, declaring, “This love of the common people may please an earl’s granddaughter and a university professor but I have been a common man and a poor man and it has no romance for me.� He makes a deal with Barbara, who’s clearly his favorite child and the one in which he most sees his own enterprising spirit. He’ll visit her Salvation Army shelter if she’ll agree to visit his armory. In Act 2, we see Barbara and

the shelter in action, in all its tambourine-rattling, flagwaving, “hallelujah�-shouting glory. The working-class East Enders seeking help there are grateful to Barbara and her earnest co-workers but much less genuinely invested in the religious message of the organization, mocking it amongst themselves and inventing depraved backgrounds to seem more “redeemed.� It’s clear they’re in it for the free bread and tea they so desperately need, not the promised eternal salvation and moral guidance. Barbara’s shelter is in danger of closing due to lack of funds. To her horror, her father sees this as a perfect opportunity to buy his daughter’s affection by donating a large sum, alongside a rich purveyor of alcoholic beverages who’s offered to pitch in (drinking is, of course, heavily frowned upon by the Army). To Barbara’s supervisor, taking the money, though it comes from unsavory sources, is perfectly reasonable. The money exists regardless, so why not put it to good and honorable use? But to Barbara, taking profits made off of weapons and booze is nothing more than blood money: completely unacceptable. Meanwhile, Undershaft’s workers are well-treated, wellpaid and seemingly happy. Is he, in fact, doing more for the “common� man by giving him a good job than Barbara is with her charity and religion? The play is full of smart and interesting musings on the value of compromise, ethics and principles, the British class system, and power. Shaw is a master of this type of social satire and intelligent discussion, contained within a quitewitty family comedy. The Pear’s

RAY RENATI

Todd Wright and Briana Mitchell star as a father and daughter with opposing values in “Major Barbara� at Pear Theatre.

version, directed by Elizabeth Kruse Craig, stands up very well, with the always-wonderful Todd Wright as Undershaft, Monica Cappuccini in perfect form as his formidable spouse, and Briana Mitchell as a the spirited and spiritual Barbara. Particularly impressive, too, is Michael Weiland in the dual role of the frivolous Lomax and the menacing cockney Bill Walker. Many of the actors in this production take on multiple roles, switching between the upperand lower-class ranks, which shows, as the program states, that “social rank is a matter of externals, rather than innate qualities.� Point taken, but it can be a bit confusing in action. And unfortunately, while Shaw’s script is wonderfully wordy, a few actors (especially Michael Saenz as Stephen Undershaft), have such appalling attempts at British accents as to render some lines unintelligible (one shudders to think what that other Shaw creation, Henry Higgins, might make of it).

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The set (designed by Kruse Craig and Norm Beamer, constructed by Beamer and James Kopp) drew applause at some clever trap-door transformations at the third act, and a backdrop projection is a nice touch, but I’d liked to have seen more done with it, to perhaps take up the full space. Audiences may not leave the theater with a clear sense of whether Undershaft is a devil or merely a good businessman (or if the mass bloodshed of the Great War in a decade’s time would have changed his opinion on his trade), nor whether it’s true that “there is only one true morality for every man; but every man has not the

same true morality.� They will, however, leave thoroughly amused as well as intellectually nourished. Email Arts & Entertainment Editor Karla Kane at kkane@paweekly.com. V

Q I N F O R M AT I O N What: “Major Barbara� Where: Pear Theatre, 1110 La Avenida St., Mountain View When: Through Nov. 20, Thursdays-Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m. Cost: $28-32 Info: Go to thepear.org

Mountain View Whisman School District OPEN ENROLLMENT 2017 – 18 (Kindergarten – 8th grade) January 6 – February 3 Kindergarten Information Night Wednesday, November 30 Castro Elementary School 505 Escuela Ave Spanish: 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm English: 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm MVWSD offers Choice Programs: Castro DI/Dual Immersion (English-Spanish) Stevenson PACT/Parent, Child, Teacher (parent participation) For more information and to schedule an appointment, please visit our website at www.mvwsd.org Para información en espaùol, visite nuestra pågina web.

750 A San Pierre Way • Mountain View, CA 94043 650.526.3500 • www.mvwsd.org November 11, 2016 Q Mountain View Voice Q MountainViewOnline.com Q

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Viewpoint EDITOR

Q S TA F F

Andrea Gemmet (223-6537) EDITORIAL Associate Editor Renee Batti (223-6528) Arts & Entertainment Editor Karla Kane (223-6517) Special Sections Editor Linda Taaffe (223-6511) Staff Writers Kevin Forestieri (223-6535) Mark Noack (223-6536) Photographer Michelle Le (223-6530) Editorial Intern Sanjana Garg Contributors Dale Bentson, Alyssa Merksamer, Ruth Schecter DESIGN & PRODUCTION Marketing and Creative Director Shannon Corey (223-6560) Design and Production Manager Kristin Brown (223-6562) Designers Linda Atilano, Diane Haas, Rosanna Leung, Paul Llewellyn, Nick Schweich, Doug Young ADVERTISING Vice President Sales and Marketing Tom Zahiralis (223-6570) Advertising Representative V.K. Moudgalya (223-6586) Real Estate Account Executive Rosemary Lewkowitz (223-6585) Published every Friday at 450 Cambridge Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94306 (650) 964-6300 fax (650) 964-0294 Email news and photos to: editor@MV-Voice.com Email letters to: letters@MV-Voice.com News/Editorial Department (650) 964-6300 fax (650) 964-0294 Display Advertising Sales (650) 964-6300 Classified Advertising Sales (650) 964-6490 • (650) 326-8286 fax (650) 326-0155 Email Classified ads@MV-Voice.com Email Circulation circulation@MV-Voice.com The Voice is published weekly by Embarcadero Media Co. and distributed free to residences and businesses in Mountain View. If you are not currently receiving the paper, you may request free delivery by calling 9646300. Subscriptions for $60 per year, $100 per 2 years are welcome. ©2016 by Embarcadero Media Company. All rights reserved. Member, Mountain View Chamber of Commerce

Q WHAT’S YOUR VIEW? All views must include a home address and contact phone number. Published letters will also appear on the web site, www.MountainViewOnline.com, and occasionally on the Town Square forum. Town Square forum Post your views on Town Square at MountainViewOnline.com Email your views to letters@MV-Voice.com. Indicate if letter is to be published. Mail to: Editor Mountain View Voice, P.O. Box 405 Mountain View, CA 94042-0405 Call the Viewpoint desk at 223-6528

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Did pop singer Engelbert Humperdinck have Tomi Ryba, the former CEO of El Camino Hospital, in mind when he sang his popular hit “Please Release Me, Let Me Go”? How can an executive, whose five-year contract the hospital board unanimously voted not to renew, get a severance bonus of $834,200 in addition to $223,673 in bonus “incentive” pay? If she were that good, why didn’t the hospital’s board renew her contract? Something does not add up here. This inquiring mind wants to know the rest of the story. Lina Broydo Los Altos Hills

TREE REMOVAL FROM PARK ‘OBSCENE’ As Google buys up and leases much of the Shoreline Regional Park community (North Bayshore area), it also wants (demands?) free Shoreline Park land to be able to park their buses inside the (city-owned) park. This not only reduces the size of the regional park but further restricts access to a public regional park. Out park-hating current City Council also approves of tearing out about 100 mature redwood trees (and probably hundreds more of other types) from the Shoreline Regional Park itself. Another Google encroachment is using city streets as a test track for their self-driving cars, and our bus stops for their huge, privately owned buses. This City Council stands for encroachment by Google. I think tearing out 100 grown, healthy redwood trees from a regional park is obscene. What other city in the world would do that? None — but they don’t have Google. Donald Letcher North Rengstorff Avenue

REMOVING TREES A SHORT-SIGHTED SOLUTION The qualities that come through trees are so vital to developing the soul and heart of the people living and working here. To throw that away as a way to solve the problem of the efficiency of getting to work is extremely short-sighted. Obviously the solution is not avail-

Q Mountain View Voice Q MountainViewOnline.com Q November 11, 2016

Q GUEST OPINIONS

able yet to the group evaluating the problem. (Europeans use bicycle and pedestrian routes together and announce themselves with their horns). I would hope for more from Google and the officials of Mountain View. Sally Clark Alvin Street

TECH INNOVATION RAISES MORAL CONCERNS

RESTORE SANITY TO HIGH SCHOOL LIFE

I hate to sound like a broken record, but with the event that took place (recently) I am compelled to express my dire warning again regarding machines derailing our lives. (A few weeks ago) the very first fully autonomous 18-wheeler semi-truck here in America drove 120 miles without a human at the wheel and delivered a shipment of 50,000 cans of beer. I’m sure there will be jokes forthcoming as to the beer and the driverless truck, but what this event forecasts is not funny. I’m a man of science, and a prolific inventor, and I love really cool technologies. In the abstract I find autonomous vehicle systems to be way cool, but in the real-world application thereof I must ask the moral and ethical questions as to what is to become of the tens of millions of people worldwide who make their livings and support their families as professional drivers of various kinds of vehicles? I can imagine that the clueless techies will respond with the predictable position that “Well, all those millions of professional drivers can find something else to do for a living.” Really, and like what? Are there millions of unfilled good-paying jobs out there just waiting for displaced professional drivers to snatch? Or perhaps the clueless techies will respond with, “Well, all those displaced professional drivers can go to school to be retrained in other fields.” Really? And what promising fields might those be, and who’s going to feed those displaced drivers’ families and pay their rent while they’re in school? Perhaps society can levy a 90 percent tax on the salaries of all techies to subsidize the retraining of displaced professional drivers? Yeah, I like that idea! In my last missive on this topic that the Voice printed I warned of future societal wars between humans and machines, and we are much closer to that time

Sure, parents of Mountain View, even though your highschoolers are already acing their SATs and APs, selflessly give them a little more motivation for their standardized state tests by putting the scores on their transcripts! Support your school superintendent, too, in what could soon be his other ideas: putting quarter grades on transcripts; putting middle-schoolers’ math scores on transcripts; putting gradeschoolers’ class projects on transcripts; and putting kindergartners’ sandcastles on transcripts. Yes, your unmotivated kids don’t have enough on their plates! Take it from me, one of your neighbors over in Palo Alto (and an English teacher at Gunn for 15 years): Keep “motivating” your kids more and more, adding to their stresses, and soon you’ll find it necessary to add to their burdens even further, in response to their crack-ups. You’ll saddle them, exactly as we’re doing in our Palo Alto high schools, with “social-emotional curriculum,” lessons on mental health and depression, a new advisory course and

VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY

CEO PAYOUT STRIKES A SOUR NOTE

Q YOUR LETTERS

than I previously thought. I see millions of threatened professional drivers attacking autonomous vehicles, and maybe even attacking those humans involved in the autonomous technology development. The techie world needs to develop a sense of morality sooner than later. Jeffrey Van Middlebrook Easy Street

Q LETTERS

Founding Editor, Kate Wakerly

Q EDITORIAL

a required tutorial, wellness teams, advice on “stigma” and how to look out for their suicidally depressed schoolmates. Good luck with that! Really, good luck. But if you’re a youth advocate, an educator, or a health care professional, you can add your voice to the only local chorus for restoring sanity to high school life. It’s got 535 members, is unwelcomed by Palo Alto’s school board and superintendent, and is at savethe2008.com. Marc Vincenti Chairman, Save the 2,008 Palo Alto

GET THE MONEY OUT OF POLITICS The global economy is a confusing game with many moving parts. Here is a simple analogy to explain what has been happening for the last 30 years. Just imagine the economy as a teeter-totter with money in the middle. The folks with the money use the weight of their existing wealth to overload their side of the teeter-totter; then they use the increasing wealth that rolls toward them to move the pivot point away from them to increase their advantage (actually they use their wealth to capture the politicians who then rewrite the rules to favor the wealthy). Got it? The only way to stop this rigged game is to get all that money out of our politics. Public financing of elections will eliminate their criminal advantage and restore the voice of the common people. Ed Taub Devoto Street

Viewpoint

A proposal to put people at the center of city planning by Bruce Liedstrand

W

hen making decisions about the physical form and functioning of our cities, decision-makers sometimes lose sight of the most important issue of all: how the decision will affect people. For example, we tend to focus almost solely on cars when designing streets, and we often create streets that are almost impossible for a person to walk across safely and comfortably. El Camino Real is one local example. We sometimes create housing projects that provide places for a person to live (and to park two cars) but do not create a comfortably livable neighborhood. Where can I shop conveniently? Where can the kids go to school without my having to be a chauffeur? Can I walk comfortably in my own neighborhood after dark?

Adding this question to council staff Part of the problem may be that we don’t focus on people and how they will reports would be likely to begin to experience and use what we are build- change how a staff person thinks about ing. It is easy to forget the old truth that the issue at hand. For example, a traffic engineer writing a staff cities exist solely as report on the design of habitat for people. If a neighborhood street there were no people Guest Opinion is likely to begin to on earth, there world think about people in be no cities. So, the most important test of any city is: How the neighborhood using the street in the future, not just easy car movement, well does it work for the people there? How do we restore people as the focus and whether there are ways to make the of city planning, design and function- street better for future residents. In my ing? One small change could help. The own Bentley Square neighborhood, for city of Mountain View, for example, example, there is a sidewalk only on the could adopt a policy that all staff other side of the street, so kids walking reports to the City Council on substan- back and forth to school on my side have tive community issues must include to walk in the street. For neighborhood a section entitled “From a Human safety, sidewalks should have been built Perspective” that clearly answered on both sides of the street when the the question: How will this proposed neighborhood was approved. And the “Human Perspective” section action be experienced by people in the would be likely to stimulate public discommunity?

cussion, at a council meeting for example, of whether the proposed project does, or does not, meet human needs. This discussion is may identify correctable problems before the project is built, rather than waiting for community complaints later. The small amount of additional staff work that would go into thinking about and writing the “Human Perspective” section might be a lot cheaper than trying to fix problems in a neighborhood street after it has been built. A city could easily test the “Human Perspective” concept by adopting it as a test program for a limited period of six months or a year, for example, and then having a community discussion at the end of the period about whether it has been a benefit to the community. Make sense? Let’s try it. Bruce Liedstrand is a former Mountain View city manager; now retired, he lives on Bentley Square.

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