Future greens WEEKEND | 15
SEPTEMBER 22, 2017 VOLUME 25, NO. 35
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MOVIES | 18
Council backs plan for pot shops in Mountain View MORATORIUM WILL BRIEFLY BAN DISPENSARIES WHILE CITY DRAFTS REGULATIONS AND TAX MEASURE By Kevin Forestieri
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MICHELLE LE
A trailer on Crisanto Avenue is towed by Mountain View police as residents of the makeshift trailer park lining the street watch on Tuesday, Sept. 19.
Police tow RVs on Crisanto Avenue SEWAGE LEAKS SPUR REMOVAL OF SOME VEHICLES THAT ARE BEING LIVED IN, POLICE SAY By Mark Noack
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risanto Avenue, home to the city’s largest makeshift encampment of people living out of their cars, was a tense scene on Tuesday afternoon as a police-led operation began towing vehicles for violating city rules. Witnesses said the operation
began around 1 p.m as officers cordoned off parts of the street to allow tow trucks to begin removing the vehicles. Two of the RVs were towed away because they were leaking sewage from their septic tanks, according to Mountain View Police spokeswoman Katie Nelson. In recent days city workers had tested some puddles
of suspicious liquid around some motorhomes, and they confirmed that the vehicles’ wastewater tanks were leaking, she said. The people living inside the leaking vehicles were warned on “several” occasions over recent weeks, Nelson said. See TOWING, page 9
alling it a sensible approach to a drug that’s legal and widely accepted in the Bay Area, Mountain View City Council members unanimously agreed Tuesday night to start work on city regulations that would allow recreational marijuana stores to open up in the city. At a Sept. 19 study session, council members overwhelmingly supported looking into “suitable locations” for the sale of recreational and medical marijuana — both of which share the same licensing and regulations under new state laws — as well as a local framework for permitting marijuana sales in Mountain View. City Council members also showed interest in a ballot measure imposing an additional tax on pot sales, which could pump millions of dollars into the city’s coffers each year. Mayor Ken Rosenberg said Mountain View residents spoke loud and clear last November that they favored legalizing recreational marijuana, and it would be odd for the city to ban marijuana sales and expect other
cities in the region to meet the demand. Election results showed that more than two-thirds of the city’s voters supported the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA), also known as Proposition 64. “Mountain View is known for its leadership on all sorts of issues, and I don’t see why we shouldn’t be on this issue as well,” Rosenberg said. Vice Mayor Lenny Siegel said marijuana sales present an “opportunity” to breathe new life into the city’s brick-andmortar retail industry, which has struggled to stay afloat in Mountain View because of high costs. The city needs to move away from the idea that marijuana use is a crime, he said, and look at zoning recreational pot shops along major commercial districts including the downtown corridor, the San Antonio Shopping Center and stretches of El Camino Real. “To me, this is something that people should be able to go to after their dinner and dessert in downtown Mountain View,” he said. “It’s socially acceptable in this area and we shouldn’t pretend otherwise.” See POT SHOPS, page 8
Mountain View veterinary clinic facing new complaints FORMER CUSTOMERS ALLEGE IMPROPER CARE BY VET WHO IS ALREADY ON PROBATION By Mark Noack
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ountain View’s Alta View Animal Hospital is facing mounting complaints from disgruntled clients who blame the clinic for mistreating or harming their pets. Allegations of mistreatment, shoddy record-keeping and other professional lapses, if sustained by the California
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Veterinary Board, could lead to the revocation of the license of the clinic’s owner and lead veterinarian, Dr. Tejpaul Ghumman, a Los Altos resident. A representative for Alta View has denied the allegations. The complaints against Alta View Animal Hospital are being promoted by Irina Badea and Jim Frimmel, a Mountain View couple who brought their dog
BooBoo to the clinic in April of 2016. At the time, BooBoo, a 12-yearold silky terrier, was clearly sick: he had a swollen belly, an overheated nose and digestion troubles, Badea said. According to Badea and Frimmel, Ghumman prescribed numerous tests — blood, pancreas, urine, X-rays and even ultrasounds. He suggested BooBoo
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might have Cushing’s disease, a hormone disorder often linked to a tumor. Over the next weeks, Badea and Frimmel racked up about $1,300 in bills for medical tests and a variety of medication, including antibiotics and chemotherapy drugs. Yet BooBoo continued to deteriorate — over the next days, the dog began rapidly losing weight but his belly swelled to the
point that he could barely walk. Badea says she began to question Ghumman’s expertise. At their last visit in June 2016, Ghumman continued to recommend more tests and drugs for BooBoo, but he seemed unsure about what the problem was. At one point, they say he urged them to buy all their pet medication from him. See VETERINARY CLINIC, page 10