Distilling memories WEEKEND | 16
JANUARY 19, 2018 VOLUME 25, NO. 52
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MOVIES | 19
Council allows pot deliveries to start Friday CITY EXPECTED TO DRAFT RULES FOR RETAIL MARIJUANA SHOPS LATER THIS YEAR By Mark Noack
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MICHELLE LE
Students in Arlene Miyata’s orchestra class at Crittenden Middle School practice on Jan. 16. School district officials have promised to boost funding for arts programs such as music.
School district boosting funds for arts EXPANDED ELECTIVE OFFERINGS REQUIRE MORE INSTRUMENTS AND NEW TEACHERS By Kevin Forestieri
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or decades, arts and music programs in Mountain View public school has been kept alive through support from nonprofits, school foundations and public agencies, giving children a chance to dabble in everything from
painting and ceramics to playing the flute and singing in a choir, from the moment they hit kindergarten through eighth grade. But buying and maintaining cellos and trumpets can be expensive, and with major plans in the works to ramp up art and music electives at
Crittenden and Graham middle schools, district officials say its time to pitch in more money to make sure individual schools aren’t forced to use discretionary funds on a thriving arts program. At a Jan. 4 school board
s of Friday, marijuana deliveries will be legal in Mountain View, but it will still be several months before retail pot shops could be allowed to open up in the city. In a 7-0 vote, the Mountain View City Council agreed to allow pot deliveries in the city while local rules for cannabis retail stores are considered over the coming months. It was the latest discussion on local implementation of Proposition 64, the 2016 measure passed by voters to legalize recreational marijuana in California. Under the state law, recreational marijuana was made legal at the start of 2018, but cities were encouraged to draft their own policies to regulate the local pot industry. Mountain View is one of the few cities in Santa Clara County that has shown interest in rolling out local marijuana retail businesses, but it’s something that city officials have approached with caution. In December, City Council members said that they needed more time to fully study
the impacts. So they decided to implement a 45-day moratorium on recreational pot sales to give them more time to draft local regulations. As the moratorium was revisited on Tuesday, Jan. 16, local lawmakers were asked to determine what kinds of marijuana businesses should be considered. Several public speakers urged the council not to hold up local recreational marijuana industry by analyzing every possible impact. Sean Kali-rai, a lobbyist for the cannabis industry, pointed to San Carlos. The Peninsula city had devoted considerable resources to studying marijuana cultivation and manufacturing facilities. But when San Carlos leaders finally approved their comprehensive laws, there were no businesses besides retail pot shops that were actually interested in opening up. “This is just not the place where you want to grow farms or cultivation. You go to the Central Valley, or Stanislaus County or Humboldt to do that,” Kali-rai See POT DELIVERIES, page 10
See ARTS, page 11
City council won’t insist on new neighborhood school LASD TO DECIDE WHETHER TO PUT BULLIS CHARTER AT SAN ANTONIO SITE By Kevin Forestieri
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espite concerns about traffic and a desire to bring a local neighborhood school to families living in the San Antonio area, a majority of Mountain View City Council members agreed Tuesday night to
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let the Los Altos School District decide whether to relocate Bullis Charter School to Mountain View. The council was split on a 5-2 vote, with members Margaret Abe-Koga and Pat Showalter opposed. The council majority said district officials should decide what kind of school would
occupy a future campus in the San Antonio area, despite the major financial support from Mountain View to ensure that the densely populated neighborhood gets a local school and acres of park space. See BULLIS, page 9
ARTS & EVENTS 14 | GOINGS ON 20 | MARKETPLACE 21 | REAL ESTATE 23
VERONICA WEBER
Retail cannabis shops won’t be allowed to open yet, but the City Council approved delivery services based outside of Mountain View to bring their products to residents, starting on Friday.