New life for an old hangout WEEKEND | 16 OCTOBER 11, 2019 VOLUME 27, NO. 38
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MOVIES | 21
City lays out $81 million plan for El Camino Real NEW BIKE LANES, CROSSINGS PLANNED IN COMING YEARS By Mark Noack
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l Camino Real, the historic roadway that runs through more than a dozen Peninsula cities, has its share of problems as well as opportunities. It is considered dangerous for cyclists, unpleasant for pedestrians, slow for drivers and inconvenient for bus riders. Despite that, El Camino is bustling with activity, and developers seem to be falling over each other for the chance to rebuild properties lining the avenue. A potential win-win solution has been obvious for a long time. More than 15 years ago, the nonprofit think tank Joint Venture Silicon Valley urged Peninsula cities to seize a “golden opportunity” by harnessing the demand for redevelopment to transform El Camino Real into an urban neighborhood corridor. Slow but steady, that plan reached a major milestone in Mountain View last week, as the City Council approved a new set of guidelines for redesigning El Camino to meet its current needs. This so-called “streetscape” plan
lays out $81 million in future improvements along the roadway with much of that funding expected to come from future developers. In particular, the road map for El Camino Real calls for a series of new protected bikeways that would be built out over the next three years. At this stage, these new bike lanes would be built along about a 1.5 mile stretch from Sylvan Avenue to Castro Street. In addition, El Camino Real would be built out with three new bike and pedestrian crossings at Pettis Avenue, Bonita Avenue and Crestview Drive. More bike improvements could come in future years as part of street repaving performed by Caltrans or through new development projects that are submitted to the city. To make room for those bike improvements, city officials would not take away any of the six traffic lanes. Instead, public works officials say they intend to gradually remove on-street parking along El Camino Real, which See EL CAMINO, page 11
VOICE FILE PHOTO BY JAMES TENSUAN
Second graders at Gabriela Mistral Elementary learn Spanish at the dual immersion school. Tests show a big drop in English fluency among a cohort of native Spanish-speaking students in the program.
Falling short on fluency NEW REPORT SAYS ENGLISH PROFICIENCY RATE STAGNANT OR DROPPING AT MV WHISMAN SCHOOLS By Kevin Forestieri
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ountain View Whisman School District students learning English saw their language proficiency languish or even regress last year, with a steep
decline among students attending the district’s choice programs — Mistral and Stevenson elementary schools, according to a recent report. District officials say more needs to be done to ensure its students are proficient in
English by fifth grade, calling it a surefire way to close the achievement gap. The district’s revised goal states that 75% of English learners should to be fluent in the language after attending district schools for six years. Reaching fluency in English is one of the most significant factors in academic achievement, with Mountain View See FLUENCY, page 10
Driver faces murder charges in attack at Rancho San Antonio park SUNNYVALE MAN, 77, WAS WALKING ON TRAIL WHEN HE WAS RUN OVER REPEATEDLY, ACCORDING TO SANTA CLARA COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPUTY By Kevin Forestieri
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he Santa Clara woman who struck and killed a pedestrian at Rancho San Antonio last week is accused of intentionally driving onto park trails and swerving into pedestrians, according
to court documents. A statement by the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office alleges that the driver of the black Audi, identified as 50-year-old Mireya Orta, was acting “erratic” and intentionally when she hit one one of the victims and nearly struck a second victim at the
park on Tuesday, Oct. 1. Orta was denied bail last week, and remains in custody at the Elmwood Complex Women’s
INSIDE
Mireya Orta
Facility in Milpitas. Orta allegedly hit the victim who was on a trail and “intentionally reversed and drove back and forth over the man’s body multiple times,” according to the statement by Sgt. Noe Cortez of the sheriff’s office, who describes how sheriff’s deputies responded
to a disturbance call and the account of a witness who saw the Audi sedan hit a man walking on Permanente Creek Trail around 12:42 p.m. The man who was hit, 77-yearold Sunnyvale resident Lawrence See CHARGES, page 7
Entry-level homes are hot point for fall market REAL ESTATE | 23
ARTS & EVENTS 14 | VIEWPOINT 15 | GOINGS ON 2