INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Delish Fall 2019
NOVEMBER 1, 2019 VOLUME 27, NO. 41
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MOVIES | 17
Mountain View looks to e-scooters as bike share programs languish By Kevin Forestieri
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undreds of electric scooters could soon be buzzing around Mountain View, giving people a speedy way to make that last-mile trip between work and the train station. The City Council on Tuesday night endorsed the idea of a pilot program that would allow scooter share companies to bring as many as 800 e-scooters to the city as soon as next year. The pilot program would have guardrails: barring children from using electric scooters, capping speeds and establishing designated parking areas that would prohibit “free-floating” scooter parking. Allowing users to park anywhere, city staff warned, could lead to scooters blocking sidewalks and littering the city. Similar pilots launched in cities like San Francisco last year have been controversial, prompting a flood of complaints that the hands-off approach of scooter companies led to a widespread public nuisance, with e-scooters clogging public
streets and blocking ramps and transit stops. The upcoming scooter share pilot is largely the result of market forces. Bike share programs have declined in popularity, at least locally, and many companies have pivoted to take advantage of the explosive rise in electric scooters. Last year, shared scooters accounted for 38.5 million trips in the U.S., making it the most popular form of transportation outside of transit and cars, according to the National Association of City Transportation Officials. Mountain View’s own bike share pilot program reflects the trend. In May 2018, two companies — Lime and ofo — launched bike share programs in Mountain View, but both began to wind down operations and withdraw from the program after just a few months. Lime withdrew specifically because of its shifted focus toward e-scooters, according to a city staff report. The interest in bike sharing
SCHOOL DISTRICTS SEEK TO DELAY START TIMES
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tudents in Mountain View’s public schools could be getting an extra half-hour of shut-eye each morning, as school districts weigh pushing back start times
City Council backs plan to prevent displacement from redevelopment By Kevin Forestieri
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he city of Mountain View is on pace to destroy 127 of its rent-controlled, mostly affordable apartments every year, threatening to push out low and middle-income families unable to pay the high
cost of today’s rent. With many units already torn down and more than 1,000 still on the chopping block, Mountain View City Council members resolved Tuesday night to do whatever it takes to keep some of those displaced residents in the city, backing a
suite of options ranging from affordable housing preferences to buying and managing apartment complexes as a public asset. The Oct. 29 study session was a long time coming. Over See DISPLACEMENT, page 10
See SCOOTERS, page 7
Late for the bell no more By Kevin Forestieri
MAGALI GAUTHIER
Jackie Cashen, a longtime resident of 2310 Rock St., is among the 59 households displaced by a redevelopment project replacing apartments with condominiums. The Mountain View City Council is looking at a variety of ways to preserve housing options for renters threatened by development.
to 8:30 a.m. or later. Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill requiring middle schools to start class no earlier than 8 a.m. and high schools no earlier than 8:30 a.m. by the 2022-23 school year. The Mountain View Whisman
School District is going a step further, exploring the idea of bumping middle and even elementary school start times to 8:30 a.m. or later. Mountain View-Los Altos High School District officials are looking to adopt the statemandated start times along with a possible overhaul of its weekly schedule that could incorporate more block scheduling and double-period days.
Numerous studies and selfreporting surveys indicate that students, particularly teens, are sleeping fewer hours than what’s recommended by pediatricians, typically around nine hours each night. The result is that kids are feeling sleepy or dozing off during the day, oversleeping on the weekend and consuming excessive caffeine to compensate, according to one report by the American
INSIDE GOINGS ON 18 | REAL ESTATE 19
Academy of Pediatrics. School start times play a strong role: Kids don’t tend to go to sleep earlier even when they have to get up at the crack of dawn — adolescents generally struggle to fall asleep before 11 p.m. — but later start times are effective in getting middle school and high school students to increase the number of hours
Pub Life WEEKEND | 14
See START TIMES, page 8