Palo Alto Weekly August 15, 2014 by Palo Alto Weekly

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Palo Alto

Inside: Festival of the Arts guide

Vol. XXXV, Number 45 ■ August 15, 2014

Inside:

Enjoy! Fall class guide

Spectrum 20

Eating Out 30

Shop Talk 31

Q News Residents make plea for ﬂood control

Home 35 Page 5

Q Arts Litquake rocks the local literary scene

Page 27

Q Sports Stanford women’s soccer season opens

Page 57

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Upfront

Local news, information and analysis

Residents near volatile creek make plea for flood control Dozens of speakers from East Palo Alto, Palo Alto and Menlo Park urge regional water board to approve long-planned project around San Francisquito Creek by Gennady Sheyner

t’s been more than 16 years since a flood swept through the homes of Spencenia Sims and her neighbors in East Palo Alto, and the day rarely strays far from their minds come winter time. After the flood in February

1998, Sims’ house was one of about 1,700 in East Palo Alto, Palo Alto and Menlo Park to suffer water damage after San Francisquito Creek overflowed in the largest spill ever recorded. She was displaced for three months. In December 2012, a smaller

flood forced her out of her home for the night. Sims was one of more than 60 residents from the three cities who brought their passionate, frustrated and at times angry pleas on Wednesday to a meeting of a state agency that some have blamed for standing in the way of an urgently needed solution. The San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority, which includes elected officials from the three cities and two counties on either

side of the creek, has been trying for more than a year to get a permit from the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board so that it can begin widening levees, building flood walls and restoring marshlands as part of the long-planned flood-control effort. In March, staff from the water board rejected the creek authority’s permit requests and asked for more information and design modifications. The creek authority reapplied for permits

on July 31. During a long and emotional meeting in Oakland, residents, elected leaders and senior staff from the three cities appealed to the board to approve the project, which aims to protect the particularly flood-prone area in the downstream section of the watershed. “We are asking you to help us,” Sims told the board. “We need (continued on page 13)

TRANSPORTATION

City looks to upgrade downtown garages Palo Alto officials turn to tech for ways to make parking more efficient by Gennady Sheyner

S Veronica Weber

Kings (and queen) of the hill Justin Lee, 10, left, Andrew Yang, 7, Jason Yang, 10, and HaYeon Lee, 7, climb and play on the large wood sculpture near the children’s play area at Mitchell Park in early August. Justin and HaYeon are from Korea, visiting friends over the summer.

EDUCATION

Paly’s new ‘academic integrity’ policy kicks off larger debate Pressure to excel fuels pervasive ‘culture of dishonesty in Palo Alto,’ student says

alo Alto High School Principal Kim Diorio says she wants to send a strong message about school culture with the unveiling this month of a new “academic integrity” policy for the school. The policy — which for the first time includes a “restorative justice” option, in which a student accused of cheating may opt to go before a panel of trained peers — was crafted by teachers and students and has been vetted by department heads, Diorio said. Teachers were to discuss the new policy in staff meetings this week before presenting it to all

by Chris Kenrick Paly students in school-wide discussions set for Aug. 29, she said. While the new policy offers greater clarity than before on what constitutes cheating and what the specific consequences are, Diorio said it does not address larger questions concerning “what we’re doing as a system that makes kids feel they have to” cheat. “How do you create an environment where getting a B or a C is an option as opposed to getting an A? That’s really hard,” she said in an interview Aug. 1. The tougher questions — involving homework load and “grading for learning versus grad-

ing to rank students” — are “conversations we need to have as a school,” she said. Meanwhile, a student has called for local schools to tackle the root causes of cheating in the wake of a Paly incident in May that forced Diorio to invalidate more than 100 algebra finals after cheating was discovered. The May incident at Paly was just one manifestation of a “larger culture of dishonesty in Palo Alto caused by incredible pressure to perform well academically in our district,” Vivian Zhou, a junior at (continued on page 15)

eeking to drive commuters out of downtown’s residential neighborhoods, Palo Alto officials will shift their focus this week toward improving the city’s garages, with the hope of making them both more efficient and more inviting. The City Council is scheduled to consider on Monday a range of garage-centered, technological solutions to downtown’s worsening parking woes, a problem that has dominated the city’s public agenda over the past year. The discussion will occur just as the city is finalizing a proposed “residential-parking permit program” that will set time limits for employees parking on residential streets; soliciting proposals for an expanded citywide shuttle program; and exploring a range of “transportation-demand management” programs aimed at encouraging drivers to switch to other transit modes. The council also agreed Monday to approve a $180,000 design contract for a “satellite parking” program that would allocate 132 parking spots on Embarcadero Road for workers who would then be bused downtown. While some of these programs have proved controversial (the contract for the satellite program squeaked by on a 5-4 vote Monday), the technological solutions are generally seen as “low-hanging fruit” in the great parking debate. The city’s parking garages have been historically underused, with many employers buying permits but then choosing to park on the streets, leaving dozens of unused spots.

At Monday’s council meeting, City Manager James Keene said the technological solutions that the city is pursuing will “make it faster to find spaces.” Some ideas, developed by planning staff and city consulting firm SP Plus, are relatively benign: new signs directing drivers to the parking structures; improvements to the city website’s section on parking permits; and enabling the sale online of parking permits. Staff plans to proceed with these initiatives this month. While the signage program will aim to bring more cars into garages, other proposals seek to provide drivers with information and flexibility. Some of these warrant further exploration, according to city planners, and will return to the council at a later date. These include the development of a parking app; more pricing options to increase the use of permit parking; and elimination of downtown’s “color zones,” which bar drivers from returning to the area once the time limit expires. Among the boldest recommendations from SP Plus is giving drivers the option of paying for garage access beyond the time limit and enhancing enforcement of on-street parking through the use of license-plate readers. One solution that the council will discuss Monday night is a proposed “parking guidance system” that counts cars entering garages and keeps track of occupancy. The system would also include constantly updating signs at entry points that can notify drivers of (continued on page 14)

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • August 15, 2014 • Page 5

Upfront

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450 Cambridge Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94306 (650) 326-8210 PUBLISHER William S. Johnson (223-6505) EDITORIAL Editor Jocelyn Dong (223-6514) Associate Editor Carol Blitzer (223-6511) Sports Editor Keith Peters (223-6516 Express & Online Editor Elena Kadvany (223-6519) Assistant Sports Editor Rick Eymer (223-6521) Spectrum Editor Renee Batti (223-6528) Staff Writers Sue Dremann (223-6518), Chris Kenrick (223-6512), Gennady Sheyner (223-6513) Editorial Assistant/Intern Coordinator Sam Sciolla (223-6515) Staff Photographer Veronica Weber (223-6520) Contributors Andrew Preimesberger, Dale F. Bentson, Peter Canavese, Kit Davey, Tyler Hanley, Iris Harrell, Sheila Himmel, Chad Jones, Karla Kane, Ari Kaye, Kevin Kirby, Terri Lobdell, Jack McKinnon, Jeanie K. Smith, Susan Tavernetti Interns Benjamin Custer, Christina Dong, Ciera Pasturel ADVERTISING Vice President Sales & Marketing Tom Zahiralis (223-6570) Multimedia Advertising Sales Adam Carter (223-6573), Elaine Clark (223-6572), Connie Jo Cotton (223-6571), Janice Hoogner (223-6576), Meredith Mitchell (223-6569) Digital Media Sales Heather Choi (223-6587) Real Estate Advertising Sales Neal Fine (223-6583), Carolyn Oliver (223-6581), Rosemary Lewkowitz (223-6585) Inside Advertising Sales Irene Schwartz (223-6580) Real Estate Advertising Assistant Diane Martin (223-6584) Legal Advertising Alicia Santillan (223-6578) ADVERTISING SERVICES Advertising Services Manager Jennifer Lindberg (223-6595) Sales & Production Coordinators Dorothy Hassett (223-6597), Blanca Yoc (223-6596) DESIGN Design & Production Manager Lili Cao (223-6560) Senior Designers Linda Atilano, Paul Llewellyn Designers Colleen Hench, Rosanna Leung, Peter Sorin EXPRESS, ONLINE AND VIDEO SERVICES Online Operations Coordinator Ashley Finden (223-6508) BUSINESS Payroll & Benefits Susie Ochoa (223-6544) Business Associates Elena Dineva (223-6542), Mary McDonald (223-6543), Cathy Stringari (223-6541)

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EMBARCADERO MEDIA President William S. Johnson (223-6505) Vice President & CFO Michael I. Naar (223-6540) Vice President Sales & Marketing Tom Zahiralis (223-6570) Director, Information Technology & Webmaster Frank A. Bravo (223-6551) Marketing & Creative Director Shannon Corey (223-6560) Major Accounts Sales Manager Connie Jo Cotton (223-6571) Director, Circulation & Mailing Services Zach Allen (223-6557) Circulation Assistant Alicia Santillan Computer System Associates Chris Planessi, Chip Poedjosoedarmo The Palo Alto Weekly (ISSN 0199-1159) is published every Friday by Embarcadero Media, 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306, (650) 326-8210. Periodicals postage paid at Palo Alto, CA and additional mailing offices. Adjudicated a newspaper of general circulation for Santa Clara County. The Palo Alto Weekly is delivered free to homes in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, East Palo Alto, to faculty and staff households on the Stanford campus and to portions of Los Altos Hills. If you are not currently receiving the paper, you may request free delivery by calling 3268210. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302. ©2014 by Embarcadero Media. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. The Palo Alto Weekly is available on the Internet via Palo Alto Online at: www.PaloAltoOnline.com

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

City/Zip: ________________________________ Mail to: Palo Alto Weekly, 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto CA 94306

There are human beings here at risk. —Dennis Parker, East Palo Alto resident, pleading with the Regional Water Quality Control Board to OK a local flood-control project. See story on page 5.

Around Town

FROM ATHENS TO PALO ALTO ... Know of any goddesses in town? The Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce is seeking not one but two this year — women worthy of the title of “Athena Award” winner. For the past 27 years, the honor has been given to a female leader who has not only attained excellence in her own career but also has inspired others to achieve their full potential. New this year, the Chamber is bestowing an Athena Young Professional Leadership Award “for a woman who demonstrates excellence, creativity and initiative in her business or profession.” Nominations of outstanding women for both Athena Awards are due Friday, Aug. 22. Go to paloaltochamber.com. The Weekly is the media sponsor for these honors, which will be given in October.

LONG LIVE THE Y ... The group of Page Mill YMCA gym members fighting to save the 35-year-old basement facility from closure this October has launched a website, longlivepagemilly.org. A group of nine members, self-dubbed the “KeepaPageMillY team,” are leading the fight and plan to post regular updates and information on the site. “We do not want our community to come to an end on October 1st,” a message on the site’s home page reads. “This is the place where we can discuss and consider, support and help, plan and organize, and find a way to preserve the fine community that we all love and are part of.” The website includes updates on various public and private meetings, the team’s “action plan” for keeping the gym open, press coverage, relevant documents, YMCA leadership and local media contact information (including one of this paper’s reporters) — and even a section labeled “conspiracy theories and rumors” (though currently, there is nothing posted there). A recent post says that the team is tentatively scheduling an open member meeting for the week of Aug. 18 or 25 to “update our status and have an open dialogue.” The YMCA of Silicon Valley suddenly announced in June that it would be closing the Page Mill branch and has refused to reverse the decision despite continued uproar from members. FRESH SCHOOL BLOOD ... Palo Alto Superintendent Max McGee has named new assistant princi-

pals for Terman and JLS middle schools as well as a new dean for Gunn High School. Tonya Bailey, an assistant principal from the K-8 Evergreen School District in San Jose, replaces Bhavna Narula at Terman. Narula left to take a position with the Milpitas Unified School District. Hillary Miller, who came to the Palo Alto district in 2011 as an English language specialist and coordinator, becomes assistant principal at JLS, replacing Barbara Harris, who in June was named Palo Alto’s director of elementary education. Harris replaced Kathleen Meagher, who moved to the Washington, D.C., area. At Gunn, special education teacher Tara Keith was named dean, replacing James Lubbe, who in June was named assistant principal at the school. “I am delighted to be adding these student-centered leaders to our PAUSD team,” McGee said in a statement. “Their experiences in leading teacher development, differentiated learning and focusing on student support will make their strong site teams even more effective in serving students and families.” AN ANTI-GREEN RESOLUTION ... The City of Palo Alto is adding its voice to a statewide resolution that calls on Gov. Jerry Brown to convene an environmental summit on — wait for it — marijuana. The resolution, which will be considered at the 2014 Annual League of California Cities Conference Sept. 3-5, “seeks to highlight the environmental and public-safety issues triggered by illegal marijuana cultivation, and calls upon the League, the Governor and the Legislature to take action by convening a summit to address the environmental impacts of such cultivation sites.” Resolution analysis cites extreme environmental impacts and public health hazards such as habitat destruction and fragmentation, illegal water diversions, killing and poisoning wildlife, land and water contamination. It also calls out a lack of oversight for unregulated, illegal marijuana-growing operations (though Santa Clara County, at least, recently tried to crack down with an Aug. 5 vote to ban the establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated Santa Clara County). Palo Alto staff is recommending that City Council authorize Mayor Nancy Shepherd to vote “yes” on the resolution. Q

Upfront STATE LAW

Labor board: Palo Alto violated law in firefighters’ negotiations Ruling could affect voters’ 2011 repeal of binding arbitration by Gennady Sheyner

n a stunning victory for Palo Alto’s firefighters union, the state Public Employment Relations Board has determined that the city violated state labor laws in 2011 when it put on that November’s election ballot a repeal of the binding-arbitration provision in its contract with public-safety workers — without first consulting with the union. Responding to a 2011 complaint filed by the International Association of Firefighters, Local 1319, and AFL-CIO, the labor board issued a 53-page ruling last week in which it found the city breached its duty to negotiate in good faith, in violation of a state law called the Meyers-MillsBrown Act. Though the Aug. 6 ruling doesn’t restore binding arbitration as a means to resolve impasses between the union and city management, it opens the door for the union to challenge its repeal in court and potentially overturn voters’ November 2011 decision. The firefighters’ complaint centered on the City Council’s vote, which was 5-4, to place on the ballot the measure to repeal binding arbitration, a long-standing and deeply controversial provision that critics said hampered the city’s ability to make meaningful reforms to employee benefits. Adopted in 1978, the provision empowered a three-member arbitration panel to

settle labor disputes between the city and its public-safety unions. The union alleged in its complaint that the city according to its contract was required to “meet and confer” with the union about the potential repeal, which the city declined to do. In its ruling, the board concluded that “the city was obliged to meet with the representatives of Local 1319 either to discuss and exchange proposals regarding the city’s proposed changes to the (binding) interest arbitration procedures or to clarify the city’s position that the proposed changes to its interest arbitration procedures were a permissive subject of meeting and conferring.” Measure D, as it was known, easily passed that November, with about two thirds of the voters approving. The new ruling represents a reversal of fortunes for the firefighters union, which had seen its prior challenges to the bindingarbitration repeal rebuffed by the labor board. In arguing for the repeal in 2011, council members Pat Burt, Karen Holman, Greg Schmid and Greg Scharff all argued that the clause is inequitable because it prevents the city from making the types of meaningful reforms to employee compensation that other labor groups have been forced to adopt

choosing and denied Local 1319 the right to represent employees in their employment relations with a public agency.” City Attorney Molly Stump disputed the labor board’s finding and told the Weekly that her office believes it is “wrong.” The council will consider on Monday night her request that the city appeal the labor boards decision. “It’s unfortunate that a procedural issue is being used to try to block the overwhelming will of the voters to repeal interest arbitration,” Stump said in an email. The new ruling from the board runs counter to that of the board’s Chief Administrative Law Judge Shawn P. Cloughesy, who just after the November 2011 vote, dismissed the firefighters’ “unfair labor practices” charge against the city, finding that the firefighters union waited too long before requesting a consultation with the city. Cloughesy argued in his 2011 finding that the demand by former union President Tony Spitaleri at a July public hearing that the council “adhere to government codes” in pursuing the repeal did not constitute an actual “meet and confer” request. Even if it did, the demand was “untimely,” Cloughesy wrote. He also concluded that the city provided the union with reasonable notice of its intention to alter the rules.

during the financial downturn (then-Vice Mayor Yiaway Yeh added the fifth vote that sent the repeal to the ballot). Opponents of the measure emphasized that unlike other employees, publicsafety workers cannot legally strike and argued that the binding arbitration provision is a way to protect their interests. The labor board last week stopped short of restoring binding arbitration in Palo Alto, noting that its authority does not extend to ordering election results to be overturned. But its determination that Palo Alto officials violated the law could pave the way for a fresh legal challenge from the union. The labor board noted that the only way to overturn an adopted charter amendment is through a “quo warranto writ,” a notice that challenges governmental authority for the action. Based on the board’s ruling against the city and its direction that the council rescind its vote to place the item on the ballot, “other persons, including the charging party here, may choose to seek such quo warranto relief.” The labor board has also ordered the city to publicly post notices alerting employees of the violation. The city’s conduct, the notice states, “interfered with the right of the unit employees to participate in the activities of an employee organization of their own

After years of deliberations, the labor board reached a different conclusion. While Palo Alto officials had consistently maintained that binding arbitration is not a subject that by law requires its negotiators to meet and confer with unions, the board flatly rejected this argument. In its ruling, the board asserted that “by refusing to meet with Local 1319’s representatives, the city failed and refused to consult in good faith.” While Cloughesy had determined that the firefighters’ failure to request a consultation with the city earlier in the process constituted “a waiver by inaction to consult in good faith,” the board disagreed with this assessment. Board member A. Eugene Huguenin wrote in the opinion that the city was “aware that Local 1319 still wished to discuss with city representatives the changes proposed by the city to the interest arbitration procedures.” Nevertheless, the city has “consistently refused to meet with Local 1319, either for clarification or to discuss the subject of the interest arbitration procedures.” Two other members of the fourmember board, Priscilla Winslow and Eric Banks, joined in the decision. Kevin McNally, current president of the firefighters union, could not be reached for comment Thursday. Q

COMMUNITY

Atherton community rebuilds plane-crash victim’s home

our years after a Tesla employee’s plane plummeted into an East Palo Alto neighborhood, destroying Lisa Jones’ home and child care center, residents of Atherton and dozens of community volunteers have stepped forward to rebuild Jones’ home — and life. Jones’ family members barely escaped when the twin-engine Cessna slammed into their bedrooms on the morning of Feb. 17, 2010. Since then, Jones has struggled while others in her Beech Street neighborhood have been able to recover. When a lawsuit that settled in July 2013 did not give Jones enough money to rebuild, Maryan Ackley, a longtime friend and Atherton resident, started to raise funds to rebuild Jones’ home. Now the project, which began in November, is nearly completed. This past Monday, Ebcon Corporation construction workers were putting the finishing touches on

by Sue Dremann the neat, beige-and-white home. “I’ve known Lisa since our kids were in kindergarten together 12 years ago,” Ackley said. “Our kids were friends, and we were friends. When the accident first happened, I stayed close to Lisa. When it became apparent that the settlement wouldn’t be enough, I reached out to the Sacred Heart Schools community” for help. Pacific Peninsula Group, a realestate development firm cofounded by Ackley’s husband, Stephen, became a corporate sponsor for the effort, which tapped into subcontractors who supplied in-kind donations. Dollinger Properties executive David Dollinger put up a $125,000 matching grant, which gave impetus to the community fundraising, according to Ackley. The nonprofit Rebuilding Together Peninsula, with whom Ackley has been active for many years, agreed to get involved. Scads of local businesses and contractors also

donated money, materials and time. “It really was a labor of love for a lot of people,” Ackley said. Chalk messages on the pavement in front of Jones’ home this week attest to that affection. “Lisa, You are loved!” student volunteers wrote. The students added words of encouragement at the driveway: “Audacity; Safety; Joy; Peace; Strength; Courage; Hope; Grace; Happiness: Community; Security; Care” — words that could describe Jones. Ackley said she first understood Jones’ impact on her community when she visited Jones’ day care center years ago. “She did such amazing work. She really provided very highquality early education. She provided such a needed service in her neighborhood,” Ackley said. But it all changed when the plane struck. Three Tesla employees — Brian Finn, Andrew Ingram and pilot Douglas Bourn — died in the accident, which was caused

Veronica Weber

Volunteer efforts, donations will get an East Palo Alto woman back into her house

A chalk message reads “LISA YOU ARE LOVED” on the sidewalk in front of Lisa Jones’ newly rebuilt home in East Palo Alto. The home was uninhabitable since a plane crashed into it four years ago. by pilot error, National Transportation Safety Board investigators determined. When Jones’ family fled the burning home, they left everything behind. The home was boarded up and red tagged. Ackley said students helped the family clean out their belongings last November before demolition. Construction began in April. The project went far beyond the usual scope of Rebuilding Together’s work, said Cari Chen, associate director of the Redwood City-based nonprofit. Workers replaced exterior walls, reframed the home and redid the entire roof. They replaced windows and doors and added new

drywall, new electrical wiring and plumbing and fire sprinklers. Volunteers showed up from trade unions; Menlo Park Presbyterian Church; Young Neighbors in Action Youth Ministry in Gig Harbor, Washington; the Atherton Sacred Heart Community; and Joan of Arc Parish in San Ramon. When the volunteers first came, project Superintendent Clark Schoening of Ebcon Construction said he wasn’t sure how the project could be coordinated. “But the kids really gave it their all. They gave up their summer (continued on page 12)

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • August 15, 2014 • Page 7

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n the second day of the Palo Alto Board of Education’s annual retreat Wednesday, new Superintendent Max McGee introduced six ambitious goals for the district, which the board provided feedback on and asked him to further develop before they decide which ones to adopt. A thread uniting the six goals is McGee’s commitment to making the school district more of a “collective community” rather than a “collection of communities,” phrases he used frequently throughout the twoday retreat. He introduced the six goals with the caveat that the board might decide to pare them down to just two or three, though board members did not make any decisions Wednesday. (See the sidebar listing the six goals.) Board members said they most resonated with two goals, one for its student-centric focus and another for its institutionalization of a commitment to innovative practices and programs. The student-centric goal focuses on better preparing students for “a future that necessitates global collaboration and competition” and cultivating a “district-wide culture that expects, advances, inspires and promotes academic excellence, hard work, active engagement and perseverance for every student.” The goal aligns with the district’s commitment to “mak(ing) sure student learning is first for everything we do,” member Melissa Baten Caswell said. Board President Barb Mitchell lauded McGee’s goal of developing district-wide review and evaluation for innovative, new programs and practices as “the heart and soul of our district” and the biggest change brought to the table Wednesday. “What I like about this — in whatever wordsmith form it ends up being — is it really prioritizes innovation,” she said. “I think we’ve always accepted it, but we haven’t had a systemic approach to it that supports it. McGee stressed that there needs to be concrete review and evalua-

McGee’s six draft goals The following were presented to the Palo Alto school board on Aug. 13, 2014: 1. Create conditions that assure consistency in curriculum, instruction and assessment while affording individual schools autonomy to design, develop and implement innovative practices and programs aligned with the district’s strategic plan. 2. To prepare students for a future that necessitates global col-

by Elena Kadvany tion processes for new practices or programs at every level of the district — from special education to the IT department — in order to have “outcome metrics and deliverables” that the board can act on. “It’s important here to have this district-wide system,” he said. “I think it’s critical.” Most board members said they appreciate the inclusion of further evaluation processes but wanted more detail on what those processes might look like. The board immediately found issue with the phrasing of McGee’s first-listed goal, which used the term “consistency” to promote evenness in curriculum, instruction and assessment while aiming to still allow individual schools’ autonomy. “Consistency seems to be a big issue,” McGee said. “That’s something I’ve gleaned over the first 13 days (here). ... However, we still want to give schools that autonomy.” “I think that particular word (consistency) risks being interpreted as ‘You do everything the same on Tuesday,’” Mitchell said. “I’ve heard that from staff members. ... I think what kids have said, it’s quality and fairness they’re looking for.” The rest of the board agreed that “consistency” should be replaced with a standard of quality and fairness. McGee’s sixth goal — “Generate a mindset of collective community learning that works collaboratively and actively to identify, prevent and solve strategic problems that are detrimental to teaching and learning” — struck a familiar chord. In his explanation of the goal, McGee urged the board to focus on “problem finding” rather than problem solving — and being proactive rather than reactive when problems arise. “Let me be blunt: There are issues around communication, right? What can we do to identify and prevent these ahead of time? This speaks to not being in such a reactive mode. Let’s think about these

problems ahead of time,” he said. He cited the series of federal Office of Civil Rights investigations brought against the district in the past few years as an example of something that diverted the board, staff and teachers’ resources and attention away from “the core mission.” “I wasn’t (here) at the outset (of the investigations), but a lot of this involves communicating and anticipating what are the problems going to be, what are the consequences of these decisions going to be,” he said. Board member Camille Townsend said she found the use of the word “detrimental” jarring. Others expressed that “Generate a mindset” should be somehow replaced with “Be more proactive and less reactive.” The board and McGee also provided feedback on a draft of the district’s 2014-15 annual focused goals, which were presented by Associate Superintendent Charles Young. The goals include evaluating writing achievement; assessing hybrid and online courses; implementation and impact of Common Core State Standards; raising the achievement of struggling students; providing training for the district’s recently adopted bullying policy; and creating more transparent governance and communication, among others. Before convening in a short closed session at the end of the day, the board discussed the evaluation process for McGee. The board is required by law to evaluate the superintendent every June and also traditionally meets mid-year for an informal conversation. They decided on Wednesday that for this year — McGee’s first as superintendent as well as a year in which two new members will join the board — they will do three evaluations instead of the usual two. One will be conducted in November and the other two next year with the new board members. Q Online Editor Elena Kadvany can be emailed at ekadvany@ paweekly.com.

laboration and competition, cultivate support for a district-wide culture that expects, advances, inspires and promotes academic excellence, hard work, active engagement and perseverance for every student. 3. Lead the development of a district-wide system of program review and evaluation that both encourages innovative practices and pilot programs and also provides evidence for efficacy and dissemination of them among school sites.

4. Align faculty, staff and administrators’ professional development with specific school improvement goals that are tied directly to the PAUSD strategic plan. 5. Develop clear accountabilities for ensuring implementation of key strategic plan initiatives. 6. Generate a mindset of collective community learning that works collaboratively and actively to identify, prevent and solve strategic problems that are detrimental to teaching and learning.

Upfront ELECTION 2014

Twelve vie for seats on the Palo Alto council Veteran attorney joins eclectic field of candidates for November election by Gennady Sheyner

ith the filing period concluding this week, 12 Palo Alto residents have officially entered the race for the five contested seats on the City Council. The group of candidates is made up of three incumbents, three members of the watchdog group Palo Altans for Sensible Zoning, a legislative aide, a retired history teacher, an engineer who wants to make the city “10 times better” and a concert producer hoping that this bid for a council seat goes better than his prior two. It also includes an advocate for the homeless community and, as of this week, an intellectual-property attorney from a major law firm. A. C. Johnston, the managing partner in the Palo Alto office of the law firm Morrison Foerster, was the last candidate to file his nomination papers before Wednesday’s deadline, joining a large and eclectic list of aspiring lawmakers. Johnston, who grew up in Chicago, has spent the past

25 years in Palo Alto, a period that was interrupted by stints in London, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. Johnston, 68, told the Weekly that public service runs in his family. As a son of an Illinois state legislator, Johnston said he has long thought about running and has recently decided that now the time is right for him to do so. He said he has no “preconceived idea” of what the city’s most burning issues currently are. “My priority is really to talk to the citizens and find out what’s on their mind,” Johnston said. Overall, he said, the biggest issue for the city is “how to maintain the quality of life in Palo Alto, which is obviously outstanding.” While many of the candidates have adopted the “residentialist” label, which connotes slow-growth sentiments, Johnston stressed the city’s “international reputation” and said he can’t imagine the city halting growth entirely. “Palo Alto is internationally recognized as the center of inno-

and who helped lead last year’s battle over Measure D, in which voters overturned a council-approved housing development on Maybell Avenue. Candidate John Fredrich, a retired Gunn High School teacher, supported the Maybell project, which included 60 housing units for low-income seniors, but he also identifies himself as a “residentialist.” Also embracing that label is Mark Weiss, who is running in his third straight election and who routinely rhapsodizes about the outsized influence of developers in local politics. Seelam Reddy, a retired Boeing engineer, has been less fixed in his positions, which range from demanding more transparency and limiting growth to preventing the closure of the Page Mill YMCA. Cory Wolbach, a staff member for state Sen. Jerry Hill, has put his legislative work on hold so that he can seek a council seat. He also said he was concerned about Palo Alto’s planning process and the parking and traffic impacts

vation,” said Johnston, who lives downtown. “For us to say that we should not change in Palo Alto just seems to be contrary to everything that the city stands for.” Johnston’s entry means this year’s council race will have twice as many candidates as the city’s last council election, which took place in 2012 — this despite the withdrawal of panhandler Victor Frost and Alma Place resident Richard WenA.C. Johnston dorf, neither of whom turned in their nomination papers, according to City Clerk Donna Grider. The field of candidates includes incumbents Karen Holman, Greg Scharff and Mayor Nancy Shepherd. It also includes three residents — Tom DuBois, Eric Filseth, and Lydia Kou — who have opposed “upzoned” developments

of commercial growth, though he tempers these concerns by advocating for more housing. Wayne Douglass, who like Wolbach entered the race in the waning weeks of the filing period, said his interest in running was spurred by the council’s recent actions toward the homeless population. This includes last year’s ban on vehicle habitation, an ordinance that was put on hold after the courts rejected a similar law in Los Angeles. The large number of slow-growth candidates could tilt the majority of the nine-member council toward its more “residentialist wing,” currently occupied by Holman, Pat Burt and Greg Schmid. The two candidates who have been most open minded about growth, Larry Klein and Gail Price, will be concluding their terms this year. Klein will be termed out, ending a career that included about two decades of service, four council terms and three terms as mayor. Price, who is completing her first term, has opted not to run. Q

RECREATION

Arrow dynamic Local resident finds passion, success and family bonding in archery

ntensity in his eyes, Alan Eagleton pulled the bowstring to his cheek and focused on a paper target dozens of yards below. Shot after shot, his arrows zipped beneath the tree canopy, consistently landing within a couple of inches of the bull’s-eye. He was just warming up. An East Palo Alto resident, Eagleton routinely finds himself at Kings Mountain Archers in Woodside, where he often practices for hours. As a competitor, he has enjoyed success on local, national and international levels. Next week, the world champion will compete in Croatia as a member of the U.S. Team at the World Archery Field Championships. But for Eagleton, archery is more significant than records and titles. Through the sport, he has forged fond family memories. He was born in Redwood City and raised in Los Banos. A couple of months before graduating from high school, he realized he had no idea what he wanted to do in life. His mother, a teacher with advanced degrees, encouraged him to further his education. His uncle, Tom Daley, offered him a

WATCH IT ONLINE

PaloAltoOnline.com

View a video of competitive archer Alan Eagleton on PaloAltoOnline.com.

summer job as a plumber while he figured things out. The day after graduation, Eagleton moved to Redwood City to work for Daley. Before he knew it, a few months stretched into a decade. Daley also happened to be an accomplished archer with compelling experiences to share. Before long, when the two were not wearing tool belts, they donned arrow quivers. “After about a year ... he set me up with my own equipment, and I started shooting with him,” Eagleton said. “From there, I started shooting tournaments and found I loved shooting paper targets.” Struck by Cupid’s arrow at 16 and married at 18, Eagleton found archery also served as a bonding experience for him and his wife, Kelly. She picked up the hobby shortly after he did, and the young couple began practicing and competing together. “She says she does it because she likes to hang out with me,” Eagleton said. “She knows that I love it, so she does it.” A few years later, the couple started a family. As a father of two boys, neither of whom expressed interest in archery, Eagleton hung up his bow for about a decade and half. Then one day, his youngest son, then 17, asked if they could shoot together. “He lasted about a year, and I just

fell in love with it again,” Eagleton said. “I went from compound bow to barebow. That’s when I really fell in love with archery.” Several types of bows and styles exist in competitive archery. Compound bows use cables and pulleys, which tend to provide better accuracy, distance and velocity, while barebows have no extraneous equipment, including sights. Though barebow is not an Olympic discipline, Eagleton preferred its purity and found plenty of competition elsewhere. “It was something instinctive,” he said. “Within six months, I was beating most local people. Within a year, I was competing nationally.” After netting a number of firstplace finishes in local tournaments, Eagleton joined premier organizations such as the National Field Archery Association, USA Archery (part of the World Archery Federation) and the International Bowhunting Organization. Since stepping onto a bigger stage five years ago, Eagleton has accumulated myriad top finishes at both indoor and outdoor events. Two years ago, he attended world championships in France and Argentina. In France, he placed second in individual and first in team. In Argentina, Eagleton and his wife both took first place. Heading into Croatia, Eagleton expects similar results.

Ciera Pasturel

by Benjamin Custer

Competitive archer Alan Eagleton takes aim at his target at the Kings Mountain archery range in Woodside, preparing for the international competition in Croatia next week. “If I’m shooting the way I am right now, I feel like I could be very competitive,” he said. Eagleton often shoots his bow before and after work and on the weekends. He sometimes practices at Palomo Archery in Palo Alto, whose indoor facilities are inviting in colder months. But Eagleton prefers to drive to Woodside to get a respite from the bustle of Silicon Valley, which serves as a “battery recharger” for him. “Because I’m a husband, a father and I have a job, everything is based on how much time I have and being able to share my time with my family,” he said. In addition to time, archery requires Eagleton to invest significant money in equipment, maintenance and travel. Though sponsors have approached him over the years, he has consistently declined. “It would be a job at that point,” he said. “I never want to practice

because I have to practice. I want to practice because I love to practice.” While archery can cost hundreds — even thousands — of dollars as one advances in the sport, it is in some ways sustainable. Eagleton said people who shoot guns need to buy new bullets every day, but he can reuse his arrows hundreds of times. He and his wife turn distant tournaments into vacation opportunities. But for Eagleton, archery is a priceless hobby because it brings generations together. “I still shoot a lot with my uncle who got me started,” he said. “He’s 72. He’s still one of the best in the country. You can have a 6-year-old and a 72-year-old, which we have all the time because his grandson shoots, shooting right next to each other. To me, that’s just awesome.” Q Editorial Intern Benjamin Custer can be emailed at bcuster@paweekly.com.

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • August 15, 2014 • Page 9

Upfront

News Digest Council votes to take over Palo Alto Airport Palo Alto Airport is now Palo Alto’s airport. After nearly seven years of deliberations and negotiations with Santa Clara County, the city on Monday quickly approved a transfer agreement that would put Palo Alto in control of the small Baylands airport. The county has been operating the airport since 1967, under a 50-year lease that was set to expire in June 2017. The City Council’s unanimous vote on Monday night came five days after the county’s Board of Supervisors likewise agreed unanimously to transfer the facility to the city ahead of the lease’s expiration. For the county, which manages two other airports, the transfer means that it is no longer in charge of a facility with a dilapidated runway and a history of losing money. For the city, it is a chance to address what many see as the county’s failure to make the necessary repairs and improvements. The takeover effort has accelerated in the last two years, with the city hiring an airport manager and creating a new enterprise fund for the facility. The city has transferred $1.6 million from the General Fund to the airport fund to date, Airport Manager Andrew Swanson said. City officials estimate that the airport will continue to require subsidies for the next four years before it starts to make money. Q —Gennady Sheyner

Police deny ticket-quota allegations The Palo Alto Police Department is vehemently denying claims made by three anonymous officers in an NBC Bay Area report that there is strong pressure within the department to meet “unofficial” ticketing quotas, which they say has harmed public safety in the city. The three officers — heavily disguised when shown on camera — accuse the department of being more focused on creating a positive public image through bolstering statistics more than on public safety. “You have officers more concerned with writing tickets and keeping stats up than apprehending suspects — for instance, catching residential burglars, patrolling neighborhoods,” one officer says in the report. “At some point, you either have to stop complaining or stand up for what you think is right,” another says. Palo Alto Police Lt. Zach Perron said Wednesday that quotas do not exist within the department. Under both California law and department policy, it is illegal to require officers to meet any sort of arrest or citation quota. The NBC report draws on the results of January 2013 internal survey — administered by the Palo Alto Police Officers’ Association (PAPOA), the union that represents the department’s officers, agents and sergeants — which allegedly showed numerous officers complaining about the department’s “unofficial quota” and “fear or concern about ‘getting in trouble’ with administration.” Perron said the department has not changed its patrol or ticketing strategy in the last few years. In 2012, the department had a total of 8,864 traffic citations and warnings notices; in 2013, 9,939; and through June, 30, 2014, there have been 6,131 total, according to department data. Perron partially attributes the rise in citations to an increase in staffing since 2012. The union’s contract with the city expired June 30, and the two sides are in negotiations. Q —Elena Kadvany

Alaska DA will not bring charges in Stanford case The district attorney in Juneau, Alaska, has announced his office will not be bringing any charges in a sexual-assault case filed this spring by Juneau resident and Stanford University student Leah Francis against another Stanford student. District Attorney James Scott could not be reached for comment Monday, but he told the Juneau Empire newspaper on Friday that there is insufficient evidence to prove Francis was raped by the male Stanford student, her ex-boyfriend, in his home in Alaska over winter break. “There’s absolutely nothing about the screening decision that suggests that Ms. Francis’ genuine feelings of victimization aren’t valid,” Scott told the Juneau Empire. “It’s simply that in order to convince 12 people beyond a reasonable doubt that a sexual assault occurred, I have to be able to prove every element (of the crime). And in this case, I can’t.” Francis, a 21-year-old senior, went public with her story in June after becoming frustrated with what she has described as a delayed and flawed judicial process at Stanford. Francis’ story gained attention nationwide as media reported on the growing debate over colleges’ and universities’ responses to students’ reports of sexual assault. Francis reported the Jan. 1 assault to the university on Jan. 7 and also filed a police report soon after it happened. The case was passed to Scott’s office. Under Alaska law, the standard for determining whether an assault is rape hinges on whether the victim verbally says “no” or does something to indicate strong lack of consent. Q — Elena Kadvany Page 10 • August 15, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

DEVELOPMENT

Ideas clash over controversial zoning process Commissioners, residents advocate eliminating, preserving or radically altering ‘planned community’ zoning

ome people call it “wildcard zoning,” “zoning for sale” or simply “a scam.” Others maintain that it’s a valuable tool for encouraging flexibility and promoting great developments that, for one reason or another, struggle to conform to zoning restrictions. But just about everyone agrees that Palo Alto’s notorious “planned community” (PC) zoning process is flawed and needs to be fixed. On Wednesday night, the Planning and Transportation Commission began what could be a long process to do just that. The commission’s discussion took place about six months after the City Council adopted a moratorium on planned-community zoning proposals, which allow developers to exceed zoning regulations in exchange for “public benefits.” Because city law doesn’t define “public benefits,” the term has come to include everything from public plazas, sculptures and playgrounds to traffic studies, affordable housing and cash contributions. The planning commission highlighted the myriad problems with existing PC zoning in a March 2013 memo, which called the process “the greatest challenge to land-use in Palo Alto today.” The memo, penned by former commission Chairman Eduardo Martinez, current Chairman Mark Michael and Commissioner Michael Alcheck, advocated clarifying what constitutes a “public benefit” and bringing more clarity to the process, which today typically resembles a series of exhausting bartering sessions between council members and developers. The memo predicted that public benefits will become more prevalent as development applications continue to file in. This was before the council voted to adopt a moratorium on PC projects in February, a reaction to last November’s rejection of the latest PC development, a housing project on Maybell Avenue, by voters. On Wednesday, planning commissioners and members of the public offered a variety of suggestions for what reform should look like. Council observer Herb Borock said the zoning process should simply be eliminated. De-

Corrections

by Gennady Sheyner velopment critic Bob Moss proposed that the city limit the magnitude of exemptions that could be sought and specify in which parts of the city they can be pursued. Land-use watchdog Fred Balin said the city should specify in its ordinance that projects be consistent with the city’s land-use bible, the Comprehensive Plan. Many of the PC projects recently approved, including Alma Village and College Terrace Centre, fail this test, Balin said. The Comprehensive Plan, he noted, designates Alma Village as one of the city’s “neighborhood centers.” Its redevelopment as a PC project made the plaza 75 percent residential, Balin said. Commissioner Eric Rosenblum pointed to one of the biggest sources of frustrations with PC zoning: its capacity to surprise.

‘News flash: It was always zoning for sale.’ —Michael Alcheck, planning commissioner, City of Palo Alto “PC zoning is fundamentally out of alignment with a lot of the purpose of zoning,” Rosenblum said. “If the purpose of zoning is to allow predictability in certain areas, the potential of a wildcard at any time undermines that.” Most speakers and all commissioners agreed that the plannedcommunity process, for all its flaws, does have some value. Since the designation came about in 1951, Palo Alto has approved about 100 such projects, many of which were senior- and affordable-housing developments. Some of these were small residential proposals that needed a slight variation from zoning regulations; others accommodated the types of projects the city wanted to encourage. Phyllis Cassel, who spent 13 years on the planning commission and reviewed 26 planned-community projects, argued that the zoning mechanism is a valuable tool because it allows creativity, particularly for small projects. One PC

The Aug. 8 article, “From barnyard to butchershop,” incorrectly stated the size of Belcampo Meat Co.’s farm in Mount Shasta. It is a 20,000-acre farm. In the same edition, a list of local semi-finalists in an “Activating Empathy” grant competition omitted Acknowledge Alliance of Mountain View, which provides social-emotional instruction in schools, including several elementary schools in Palo Alto. To request a correction, contact Editor Jocelyn Dong at 650-223-6514, jdong@paweekly.com or P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302.

project, she noted, is a single house. “We need to continue to have a PC zone,” Cassel said. “Sometimes, we just can’t think ahead of time for the creative uses that are needed.” She added, however, that she doesn’t want to see PC zoning that can be “bought” by developers. Commissioner Alcheck didn’t share Cassel’s concern about developers buying zoning exemptions. Rather, he proposed a radically different idea: Use PC zoning as a way to address the city’s unfunded needs, as identified and prioritized by the City Council. “This argument that it’s ‘zoning for sale’ has no effect on me,” Alcheck said. “News flash: It was always zoning for sale. “Before, in some instances, we were selling unenforced promises that represented completely valueless sacrifices, that’s all.” He referenced Caffe Riace, a plaza that was created as a “public benefit” before being appropriated by the Sheridan Avenue restaurant. “I urge us to view this approach as one that is about achieving true public benefits,” Alcheck said. “At the same time, it allows for redevelopment and also funds preservation. We would be accommodating growth and, at the same time, this approach would stymie atrophy.” Commissioner Carl King didn’t agree with this argument and lobbied against a process in which developers could simply offer money for exceeding regulations. He said he doesn’t see this as a process he would ever support. Others lobbied for more modest changes. Chairman Michael suggested including a definition of “public benefit” in the zoning ordinance. Commissioner Greg Tanaka argued that the city needs to focus on improving enforcement. “We always have to have it,” Tanaka said. “What we should do quickly is fix some of the basic problems: enforcement and financing of enforcement.” Vice Chair Arthur Keller and Commissioner Przemak Gardias both stressed the need for more clarity and transparency. Each said the city should set a “limit of deviation” and explicitly state where in the city such projects would be most likely to win approval and what types of exceptions a developer can request. The commission will continue its discussion of PC-zone reforms on Aug. 27. Q Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@paweekly.com.

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www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • August 15, 2014 • Page 11

Upfront DEVELOPMENT

Plan to replace JJ&F meets with opposition, skepticism Palo Alto officials demand more information about proposed College Terrace Centre market by Gennady Sheyner

proposal for a new grocery store at College Terrace Centre in Palo Alto proved to be a tough sell Monday night, with city officials bemoaning a lack of transparency and demanding more information about lease terms for the new market. By a unanimous vote, a highly skeptical City Council agreed that it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have enough information to determine whether the proposed store, J&A Family Market, would be comparable in quality to JJ&F Market, which operated on the corner of College Avenue and El Camino Real for more than six decades before it was sold in 2010 and then closed in 2013. In sending the proposal back to the drawing board, the council effectively

gave James Smailey, son of developer Patrick Smailey and operator of J&A Family Market, a choice: Give us more details, or weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll ask for another grocer. During a long and occasionally tense discussion Monday, council members criticized the project team for failing to disclose to the city pertinent information. Though Smailey submitted the lease agreement to the city, key information was redacted, including rent amount, the security deposit and the number of parking spaces allotted to the grocery store. It didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t help that Smailey has no prior experience in the industry and that he declined to provide to the city the names of key advisers who would help him

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Page 12 â&#x20AC;˘ August 15, 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ Palo Alto Weekly â&#x20AC;˘ www.PaloAltoOnline.com

operate the store. Though the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s consultant, Sutti Associates, confirmed that Smaileyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s advisers would have â&#x20AC;&#x153;qualified credentials to participate in managing and advising the owners of J&A Family market,â&#x20AC;? this did little to assuage the councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concerns. Councilwoman Karen Holman argued that it would be an â&#x20AC;&#x153;abdication of our responsibilityâ&#x20AC;? to base the approval on a consultantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s judgment. Councilman Larry Klein said that the burden should be on the applicant to demonstrate that the new market would match the quality of JJ&F. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Your insistence on keeping everything confidential makes it impossible for the council ... for us to make that determination,â&#x20AC;? Klein said. The Garcia family, the original owners of JJ&F, left Palo Alto just months after the council approved the College Terrace Centre, a block-long development at 2180 El Camino Real that includes 38,904 square feet of office space, eight units of affordable housing and a new grocery store. The council gave the project the green light â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and approved controversial â&#x20AC;&#x153;planned communityâ&#x20AC;? zoning â&#x20AC;&#x201D; after tense meetings in which development supporters urged city officials to â&#x20AC;&#x153;Save JJ&F.â&#x20AC;? Because preserving a neighborhood supermarket was the chief â&#x20AC;&#x153;public benefitâ&#x20AC;? of the College Terrace Centre, the council stipulated in its approval that the new grocer, if other than John Garcia, would be subject to the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approval. This approval would be granted unless the city finds that the new tenant â&#x20AC;&#x153;is not likely to be comparable in quality of products and service as JJ&F.â&#x20AC;? The council had a hard time on Monday making any such finding. Councilmen Greg Scharff and Pat Burt each questioned the applicant and his attorney, Michael C. Polentz. Scharff asked whether Polentz is willing to provide an unredacted copy of the lease. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The answer is no,â&#x20AC;? Polentz responded. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are not providing it in a public forum.â&#x20AC;?

House rebuilt (continued from page 7)

vacations to do this. It took a lot of coordination to make this thing work,â&#x20AC;? he said. For her part, Jones is ready to move on. She doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to do any more interviews after four years in the spotlight and being the subject, at times, of media misinformation. But Chen said Jones canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait to settle into her home. Sometimes, sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll come and sit in her living

City Council, urged the council to defer the decision to a later date so that the city can do â&#x20AC;&#x153;due diligenceâ&#x20AC;? on Smaileyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proposal. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The community deserves to have another JJ&F type of market,â&#x20AC;? Kou said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The developer agreed to this to get approval for this development. Keep them to it.â&#x20AC;? Doria Summa, who lives in College Terrace, cited the projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rocky history and also urged the council not to approve the proposed grocer. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Unfortunately, the history of the project has been marked by manipulation and a lack of transparency on the part of the applicantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team,â&#x20AC;? Summa said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;and this seems to be continuing.â&#x20AC;? The council also heard from James Smailey, whose background is in construction and property management. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everyone wants to crucify me because I want to take a shot at this and make it work. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to open doors and put all my money and time and effort into it and just walk away,â&#x20AC;? he said. Even as Smailey acknowledged

his lack of grocery-store background, he said he is experienced in providing customer service and is committed to being at the store â&#x20AC;&#x153;seven days a weekâ&#x20AC;? to make it work. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I want to be the greeter. I want it to be a warm and friendly atmosphere â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to have a successful grocery store.â&#x20AC;? He also responded to speakersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; characterization of his proposed store as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;startup.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sorry, but your whole city is based on startups,â&#x20AC;? Smailey said, noting that this is what makes Palo Alto and Silicon Valley what they are. Smaileyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attorneys said the team has been looking for other potential grocers to fill the space. Polentz said the applicants have had â&#x20AC;&#x153;commercial real estate brokers pounding the pavement,â&#x20AC;? looking for established grocers to come forward. â&#x20AC;&#x153;No one has,â&#x20AC;? Polentz said. While the consultant concluded that J&A â&#x20AC;&#x153;has the retail team and strategy to be successful from its opening day and into the future,â&#x20AC;? the council seemed to find it hard to believe. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was very disappointed in the applicantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unwillingness to share the lease terms,â&#x20AC;? Scharff said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m very disappointed that the applicant was unwilling to provide the information about consultants. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have to make a decision based on record. Without the information, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impossible to make the decision.â&#x20AC;? Holman agreed and said she didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t buy Smaileyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;startupâ&#x20AC;? argument. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yes, it is a town of startups,â&#x20AC;? Holman said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But this is not a private venture; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a public benefit. It has very different consequences if it should fail.â&#x20AC;? Klein, who made the motion to require more information from Smaileyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team, said he cannot decide on the basis of the record because â&#x20AC;&#x153;the record is inadequate.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;The applicant has chosen not to provide us with critical information,â&#x20AC;? Klein said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They have chosen to do that, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s their problem.â&#x20AC;? Q

room and just take it all in. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Before November, she didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel she could be in there. But when she saw the walls go up and the windows, she got really excited. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s seen it all come together,â&#x20AC;? Chen said. Once Jones is settled back in, Rebuilding Together Peninsula, Ackley and the volunteers will begin the second phase to restore Jonesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; life. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll raise funds to repair the day care center playhouse and replace the playground equipment. At

a minimum, they must raise $70,000, Ackley said. Chen said they wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t leave until theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve given Jones back everything she lost â&#x20AC;&#x201D; her home and her livelihood. Anyone wishing to help complete the playground and center can send donations to The Jones Fund, c/o Rebuilding Together Peninsula, 841 Kaynyne St., Redwood City, CA 94063. Q Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at sdremann@ paweekly.com.

When questioned by Burt, Polentz maintained that the lease between the building owner and the new grocer has already been submitted to the city attorney, who approved it. He then specified that this was a â&#x20AC;&#x153;form lease,â&#x20AC;? prompting Burt to point out that the form, without actual numbers, is â&#x20AC;&#x153;in anyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mind quite different than conditions of the lease.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;The form and the substance are not the same,â&#x20AC;? Burt said, challenging Polentz. â&#x20AC;&#x153;That starts to undermine credibility tonight.â&#x20AC;? Council members werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the only skeptics. Numerous speakers at the public hearing raised metaphorical flags about the proposal and urged the council not to approve it. Lydia Kou, a Barron Park resident who is running for

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Everyone wants to crucify me.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x201D;James Smailey, operator, proposed J&A Family Market

Upfront TRANSPORTATION

‘Satellite parking’ program inches forward in Palo Alto Despite concerns, City Council approves design contract for new parking area on Embarcadero Road by Gennady Sheyner

proposal in Palo Alto to create a new parking area near the Baylands and shuttle commuters downtown edged ahead Monday night after a reluctant and deeply ambivalent City Council approved a design contract for the experimental “satellite parking” program. By a 5-4 vote, with Pat Burt, Karen Holman, Larry Klein and Greg Schmid dissenting, the council authorized spending $180,000 on a consultant who will study the proposal, which is one of the city’s many strategies for addressing downtown’s shortage of parking. Under the proposal, about 132 parking spaces would be created on the north side of Embarcadero Road, between Faber Place and the Palo Alto Airport driveway. The city had previously also considered adding 68 spaces for commuters in the Baylands Athletic Center parking lot, but staff decided to scrap that idea and focus exclusively on Embarcadero

Road. The new 90-degree parking area would be located on the north side of Embarcadero, which would be reduced from four lanes to two to accommodate the new spaces. The project would also include bike lanes, enhanced transit stops to support shuttles and an enhanced crosswalk to the Baylands. For the council, the effort to bolster parking supply is becoming increasingly urgent. The city plans to unveil a “residentialparking permit program” in the beginning of next year, which would set time limits for downtown commuters on residential streets that currently serve as de facto parking lots during business hours. Downtown residents have been calling on the city for years to start such a program. On Monday night, Downtown North resident Neilson Buchanan provided his latest survey of parking in his neighborhood. It showed every one of the blocks between Alma and Bryant in red, meaning they were completely full.

Yet even as the council acknowledged on Monday the need to increase the city’s parking supply, the majority was skeptical about the Embarcadero shuttle idea. Burt and Klein both suggested moving the discussion to a later date. The council is scheduled to discuss next week a range of technology solutions aimed at making local garages more efficient. The shuttle program should be considered in the context of these solutions, Klein said. “It’s out of sequence for us to be considering this before we hear some of the other things,” Klein said. Holman went a step further and proposed eliminating the program from consideration. “I find it a bit frustrating that we’re spending a lot of time on this concept,” Holman said. “It’s a high cost per space in an environmentally sensitive area.” Several residents offered their own criticism of the Embarcadero Road program. Jeff Levinsky

Water (continued from page 5)

Courtesy City of East Palo Alto

your help.” Dennis Parker, who lives in the Gardens neighborhood of East Palo Alto and was one of many attendees to wear “Permit our Project” buttons to Wednesday’s meeting, echoed her plea. “We are here to put a human face on something that might seem like a engineering project or a wildlife project,” Parker said. “There are human beings here at risk. “We’re here to look you in the eye and let you know that we need help and we need it soon. We need for everyone involved in this thing to move the project forward with a deliberate speed.” In rejecting the project in March, the water board asked for a plethora of information, including “a complete set of technical reports and corresponding data.” It also called for the city to reexamine alternatives that had already been analyzed and discarded, including one that would use land at the Palo Alto Airport. The board also expressed concern about a proposal to lower levees near the marshy Faber Tract, a habitat for two endangered species, the clapper rail and the salt marsh harvest mouse. In its revised application, the creek authority leaves the levees intact in most places and raises them in one section. The Wednesday hearing was designated as a “workshop,” so no vote took place. The only decision that the water board made

East Palo Alto officials declared a local emergency on Jan. 2, 2013, after heavy rains caused minor flooding and a crack in the levee along San Francisquito Creek in East Palo Alto. was to affirm the authority of Executive Officer Bruce Wolfe to make a ruling on the application. The board’s other option was to reserve the approval authority for itself. The vast majority of the meeting was comprised of public testimony and staff presentations from the water board and creek authority. Len Materman, executive director of the creek authority, recapped the project’s long timeline, which traces back to the 1998 flood and included extensive cooperation between the three cities and the gradual winnowing down of design alternatives from nine to one. Action is needed now, Materman told the water board, to ensure funding from the state is not jeopardized and that work is completed between the 2016-17

rain season. Delaying the permit “prolongs the known risk to life and property,” Materman added. Mayors and council members from the three communities also addressed the board. East Palo Alto Councilman Ruben Abrica, who serves on the creek authority’s board of directors, called the permitting process a “nightmarish situation.” “Just like you have a responsibility to protect the waters of the state, I ask: Who protects people from flooding? No one really does. The federal government doesn’t. The state government doesn’t,” Abrica said. The five communities have made a commitment, he said, to protect each other from floods, and they have stuck together over the course of the long planning process.

warned that creating more shuttle stops near residential areas outside downtown might prompt commuters to park their cars in these neighborhoods to catch the shuttles, thereby shifting the parking problem. He also pointed at the $180,000 price tag for the design work and questioned whether this is money well-spent, given that the Embarcadero program is supposed to be an interim solution while the city explores ways to reduce traffic. “It’s probably going to be thousands of dollars per car removed,” Levinsky said. Mary Carlstead urged the council not to look to the Baylands for parking and called Embarcadero a “scenic corridor” that would be affected negatively by the proposal. “Do not destroy the Baylands,” Carlstead said. “Because if you do narrow it down to two lanes, you will ruin the ambiance and the entrance to our Baylands.” The council majority argued

that solutions, however flawed, should be pursued as soon as possible to address the growing parking problem. Mayor Nancy Shepherd called the problem a “puzzle” that the city needs to solve. Councilman Greg Scharff noted that the contract with BFK Engineers wouldn’t commit the city to the program but merely provide information. “People have been complaining that we’re moving too slowly. If we don’t move forward, we are moving too slowly. We need to do something,” he said. Councilman Marc Berman also said he wasn’t too excited about the satellite-parking program, particularly because it does nothing to discourage driving. But he spoke in favor of moving ahead with the study. “This is an imperfect possible solution to a very difficult problem,” Berman said. Q Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@paweekly.com.

“Now we’re poised to really do something, and we’d really appreciate your support,” Abrica said. Among the angriest speakers was Palo Alto City Manager James Keene, who lashed out at water board staff for making the permitting process longer and more difficult than it should have been. He said he was disappointed by the behavior of water board staff, whom he accused of excluding the creek authority from stakeholder meetings; exceeding authority; and “continuing to promote project alternatives that are off the table because they’re not practicable, necessary or possible.” One staff member, he said, has been “acting more like an activist and not a regulator — a citizen and not a professional staff person.” “It’s my belief this project will never be permitted as long as this staff behavior continues on this project,” Keene said. John Doughty, an East Palo Alto community developer, also spoke passionately about his city’s recent flood history. He recalled responding to the flooded homes, including Sims’, in December 2012. He described the experience as “very, very scary.” While acknowledging the board’s concerns, he maintained that the project would enhance rather than harm the environment. “Any statement to say that we didn’t follow the right process or go through a good process over the last decade is frustrating and something we don’t find acceptable as the JPA, as a city, as residents,” he added.

Wednesday’s meeting was a rare opportunity for the board to consider a project that so far has been reviewed exclusively at staff level. After hearing from the speakers, all five board members said they would like to see the project move forward quickly. Several stressed, however, that their responsibility is to make sure the project doesn’t have a negative impact on water quality. “Although we really care about people, and we want everyone to be safe and sound and protected, our mandate is to protect the waters of the state,” board member Newsha Ajami said. “We need to make sure we follow the law and think abut these permits in a way that impacts the waters of the state. That is within our limits.” Board member Jim McGrath also said he didn’t appreciate speakers making the issue “personal” and argued that it’s unfair to blame the delays entirely on environmental issues. Funding, he said, was the big concern for many years. “I’m sure that there will eventually be approval of this board,” McGrath said, adding that he has “an interest in a resolution that is as quick as possible.” Board members Margaret AbeKoga and William Kissinger both concurred. But Chair Terry Young stressed that the board cannot simply approve the project “at any cost.” “I’d love it if all the pieces can fall into place and if he (Executive Officer Bruce Wolfe) can do that at earliest possible date,” Young said. “But we cannot rush to judgment.” Q

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • August 15, 2014 • Page 13

Upfront

Garage (continued from page 5)

parking-space availability. Planners are preparing a “request for proposals” for parking solutions that will include an architectural design of parking guidance systems, according to staff. Another option on the table is what’s known as “access and revenue controls” — a system in which vehicles are time-stamped as they enter garages and information is fed to the parkingguidance system. The control equipment can have either an “active” or a “passive” enforcement mechanism, according to staff. An active system would alert enforcement officers when a citation should be issued for a customer who has stayed in the garage for too long. The council will consider on Monday whether the city should immediately seek proposals for

ÈxÊUÊ{ÈÊUÊÎxÊM I L E S

parking-guidance systems and then later seek proposals for access-and-revenue equipment. An alternative is to pursue both of these technological solutions at the same time, an option that would make the systems better integrated but would delay their implementation by several months, according to staff. Even if all these proposals are adopted, officials believe the city will still need to move ahead with its broad spectrum of parking initiatives, targeting both supply and demand. “Once we shift the balance (of parking) from the neighborhoods to our commercial cores, clearly we won’t have enough capacity in our existing garages,” Keene told the council Monday. In recent months, garages have been filling up, Chief Transportation Official Jaime Rodriguez said this week. For the first time in years, city officials have been receiving complaints from drivers who couldn’t find parking

in downtown garages, including the peripheral Cowper/Webster and Bryant Street garages. This could be partly because the city has been selling more permits to address the problem of underused garages, he said. According to a new report from the Department of Planning and Community Environment, the average occupancy of downtown garages has been creeping up in the summer months, from 56 percent in May, to 65 percent in June, to 81 percent in July. Councilman Greg Scharff argued Monday that much like the Embarcadero Road satellite-parking program, the technological upgrades will at best only provide a partial palliative. “I don’t think there’s any indication that what we discuss next week will solve the issue,” Scharff said. “Technology alone won’t solve it.” Q Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@paweekly.com.

Online This Week

These and other news stories were posted on Palo Alto Online throughout the week. For longer versions, go to www.PaloAlto Online.com/news.

Two Palo Alto men arrested for battery Two Palo Alto men were arrested Wednesday after allegedly assaulting an acquaintance with a large metal flashlight early Sunday morning outside of the victim’s Tasso Street home. Logan Philip Korecky, 20, and Christopher Stadler Snyder, 24, each were arrested on a single felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon. (Posted Aug. 14, 10:57 a.m.)

Chief candidates named in federal lawsuits

Includes Lunch

Two finalists for East Palo Alto’s police chief position are, or have been, the subjects of federal lawsuits, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court Northern District in San Jose. (Posted Aug. 14, 8:59 a.m.)

Stanford professor wins highest math award A Stanford University professor today became the first woman to win the highest honor in mathematics. Maryam Mirzakhani was one of four mathematicians awarded the 2014 Fields Medal at a meeting of the International Mathematics Union in Seoul, South Korea. (Posted Aug. 13, 9:46 a.m.)

East Palo Alto introduces chief candidates After a day of interviews, the City of East Palo Alto gave the community a chance Saturday to meet with the three final candidates for the position of chief of police. (Posted Aug. 10, 3:43 p.m.)

Email indicates Zuckerberg’s offer Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apparently recalled he had once offered to help the real estate developer who is now suing him for failing to give him references and contacts for his business, an email filed in Santa Clara County Superior on Aug. 6 indicates.

SATURDAY

AUGUST ÓÎ www.tourdemenlo.com

Ride Day registration 7-10am @ Menlo-Atherton High School, 555 Middlefield Rd, Atherton Sponsored by

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Mitchell Park Library close to complete Since a new contractor was brought on last February to finish the long-stalled Mitchell Park Library project, a “night and day” difference in work results is bringing an end in sight for the much maligned project, city officials said at press briefing Friday. (Posted Aug. 8, 4:29 p.m.)

City manager leaving for Half Moon Bay Beleaguered East Palo Alto City Manager Magda Gonzalez has found a new job in Half Moon Bay, the city has announced. (Posted Aug. 8, 1:22 p.m.)

Want to get news briefs emailed to you every weekday? Sign up for Express, our daily e-edition. Go to www.PaloAltoOnline.com to sign up.

Page 14 • August 15, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Upfront

Cheating (continued from page 5)

Gunn High School, wrote in a letter to the editor published July 11 in the Palo Alto Weekly. Work on Paly’s new academic honesty policy began more than a year ago, well before the cheating incident in May. Diorio said discussion about the school’s culture in terms of encouraging cheating will be considered as part of a selfassessment Paly will undertake this fall in preparation for renewal of its seven-year accreditation with the Western Association of Schools & Colleges. “We as teachers can say that (‘don’t cheat’) to our kids, but the students just feel there’s so much pressure to go to the elite universities. It’s a shame,” she said. Zhou said certain forms of cheating — such as verbal exchanges of information about contents of a test — are a common practice that’s not even considered cheating by some students. Zhou said in a phone interview that students don’t necessarily share a common understanding of what, exactly, constitutes cheating and that they hear incomplete and inconsistent messaging from the schools. “Before a test teachers will say, ‘We don’t want cheating; we’re all honest here,’ but there’s actually very little discussion about what exactly it is,” Zhou said. “There’s the handbook, but we don’t go over it in school or anything. They try to discourage us from being dishonest, but it’s not a complete discussion.” She suggested that a mandatory online class covering the specifics of academic integrity and penalties for cheating could be helpful for all students, particularly so for English-language learners who are new to the country. More importantly, steps to ease Palo Alto’s high-stakes academic culture — for example, by having teachers coordinate test schedules, as they do in middle school — could make a difference, Zhou said, citing research by Stanford University senior lecturer Denise Clark Pope. “She (Pope) talks about how we have this thing where results are the most important and the means to get there are not as important,” Zhou said. “We’ve got to have perfect test scores and a great transcript, and to get there sometimes the means get a little murky.” Pope, who has extensively researched the culture of highachieving high schools, said studies indicate between 80 percent and 95 percent of high school students admit to some form of cheating. She cites multiple studies, including a 2010 Josephson Institute of Ethics survey of 43,000 public and private high school students in which 59 percent said they’d cheated on a test in the past year and more than 80 percent admitted to having copied another student’s homework. In 2011, David Wangaard and Jason Stephens of the School for Ethical Education surveyed 3,600 high school students and found that 95 percent

reported engaging in some form of cheating during the previous year. The most common forms of cheating are copying another student’s work, allowing another student to copy work, getting questions or answers from another student prior to a test and working collaboratively when asked not to, Pope said. “If you ask students, they’ll say ‘We know it’s wrong to cheat,’” Pope said in an interview. “Everybody knows it’s wrong, but they feel that getting the A is more important, so they compromise their values. “They’ll even say to us, ‘My parents would be really upset to know that I cheated, but they’d be more upset if I didn’t get an A.’ That’s how the kids are perceiving the parents’ value system because of the messages they’re receiving from their families, the schools, the colleges and the system writ large,” Pope said. “They have this sort of continuum, where they’ll say, ‘I know that buying an exam or breaking in and changing grades are really egregious, but if someone just happens to tell me a question on the test, I can live with that.’ It literally is this continuum, where kids will say, ‘I’d never do that, but I’d do that’ — they’re making these granular value choices on a daily basis,” Pope said. How schools teach and assess “has a big impact on cheating,” she said. There’s less motivation to cheat

with project-based learning done in the classroom, where students cannot download answers from the Internet and the teacher can see all the iterations of the work. “More frequent, lower-stakes assessments and performancebased assessments also help,” she said, “and parents need to do the same. They need to explain to the kid that it’s more important to be honest and have integrity, even if that means you’re not going to get as high a grade. Most parents, if you ask them, will say, ‘of course,’ but that’s not necessarily the message they’re sending.” She pointed to Saint Francis High School in Mountain View as a model of a school that has taken steps to “make the honor code part of its culture,” including clearly defining cheating, being transparent about enforcement and discipline and allowing students to learn from their mistakes. Students sign the honor code on all major exams and large assignments, which reinforces the culture, she said. “It starts with education,” Pope said. “When students are aware of the issues and consequences and feel well-supported, many infractions can be prevented and, when it happens, students can learn from their mistake instead of having a fear-based system that results in lying.” Q Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can be emailed at ckenrick@ paweekly.com.

2014 Athena Award Nominations for a woman who has attained and personified the highest level of professionsal excellence in business and the community

and new this year Athena Young Professional Leadership Award for a woman who demonstrates excellence, creativity and initiative in her business or profession

Nomination Deadline: Friday, August 22, 2014 Luncheon: Wednesday, October 22, 2014 Hosted by: Garden Court Hotel Media Sponsor: PA Weekly and PA Online Nomination Form: paloaltochamber.com THANK YOU TO OUR ANNUAL EVENT SPONSORS

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www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • August 15, 2014 • Page 15

Upfront

“It’s the smartest thing we’ve ever done.” – STEVE AND SONNY HURST, BAY AREA

CityView A round-up

of Palo Alto government action this week

City Council (Aug. 11)

Shuttle: The council approved a $180,000 design contract for a new “satellite parking” program on Embarcadero Road. Yes: Berman, Kniss, Price, Scharff, Shepherd No: Burt, Holman, Klein, Schmid Airport: The council approved a transfer agreement shifting operations of the Palo Alto Airport from Santa Clara County to the city. Yes: Unanimous

Council Policy and Services Committee (Aug. 12)

Auditor: The committee discussed possible changes to the Municipal Code to update the role of the city auditor. The committee will continue its discussion on Sept. 9. Action: None

Board of Education (Aug. 12-13)

Annual retreat:The school board met for a two-day retreat to discuss the district’s 2014-15 annual focused goals. Action: None

Planning and Transportation Commission (Aug. 13)

Planned community: The commission discussed possible ways to reform the city’s “planned community” zoning process. It will continue its discussion on Aug. 27. Action: None 405 Curtner Ave.: The commission approved a tentative map for six multi-family residential units. Yes: Unanimous

Public Agenda A preview of Palo Alto government meetings next week

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CITY COUNCIL ... The council plans to hold a joint session with Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian; approve an ordinance dedicating as parkland a 7.7-acre portion next to Foothills Park; discuss new garage technologies; and authorize its delegate to the League of Cities to support a resolution urging a statewide summit to address safety and environmental impacts of marijuana cultivation. The council will then go into a closed session to discuss potential litigation involving federal regulatory water and power cost allocation; consider existing litigation with the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 1319; and discuss potential litigation involving the College Terrace Centre plannedcommunity zone. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 18, in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 250 Hamilton Ave. COUNCIL FINANCE COMMITTEE ... The committee plans to consider Municipal Code changes pertaining to fiscal procedures, the roles of the city auditor and the responsibilities of the Administrative Services Department. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 19, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall, 250 Hamilton Ave. HISTORIC RESOURCES BOARD ... The board plans to discuss 2275 Amherst St., an application by Margaret Wimmer on behalf of Ken DeLeon for alterations and additions to a 1893 residence that is listed on the city’s Historic Inventory in Category 2. The meeting will begin at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 20, in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 250 Hamilton Ave. CITY COUNCIL ... The council plans to meet in a closed session to evaluate the city manager’s performance. The closed session will begin at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 20, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall, 250 Hamilton Ave. ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW BOARD ... The board plans to review 385 Sherman Ave., a proposal to demolish an existing one-story office building and replace it with a 55,566-square-foot building with 103 underground parking spaces. The board will also consider 441 Page Mill Road, a request by Stoecker and Northway Architects on behalf of Norm Schwab for a new three-story, 35-foot-tall building; and 456 University Ave., a proposal to modify the entry courtyard at Varsity Theatre to accommodate a cafe. The meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 21, in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 270 Forest Ave. CITY/SCHOOL LIAISON COMMITTEE ... The committee plans to review the recent school board and council meetings and hear an update on traffic safety near schools. The meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 21, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall, 250 Hamilton Ave.

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Page 16 • August 15, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

PUBLIC ARTS COMMISSION ... The commission plans to discuss new artwork in the city’s collection; allocate funds for the Oliveira sculpture; and discuss the Public Art Master Plan. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 21, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall, 250 Hamilton Ave.

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Pulse

PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL

AND STANDING COMMITTEE CIVIC CENTER, 250 HAMILTON AVENUE BROADCAST LIVE ON KZSU, FM 90.1 CABLECAST LIVE ON GOVERNMENT ACCESS CHANNEL 26 ***************************************** THIS IS A SUMMARY OF COUNCIL AGENDA ITEMS. THE AGENDA WITH COMPLETE TITLES INCLUDING LEGAL DOCUMENTATION CAN BE VIEWED AT THE BELOW WEBPAGE: http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/knowzone/agendas/council.asp

A weekly compendium of vital statistics

POLICE CALLS Palo Alto Aug. 6-12

Violence related Armed robbery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Domestic violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Theft related Counterfeiting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Shoplifting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Vehicle related Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Driving with suspended license . . . . . 10 Driving without license . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Driving without registration . . . . . . . . . . 1 Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Lost/stolen plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . 1 Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . 5 Alcohol or drug related Drinking in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Driving under influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Drunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Possession of paraphernalia . . . . . . . . 1 Miscellaneous Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Misc. penal code violation . . . . . . . . . . 2 Missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Outside investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Parole violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Removed shopping cart . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . 3 Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Warrant/other agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

(TENTATIVE) AGENDA – REGULAR MEETING – COUNCIL CHAMBERS MONDAY, August 18, 2014 - 6:00 PM STUDY SESSION 1 Joint Study Session with Supervisor Simitian CONSENT CALENDAR 2. Approval of a Purchase Order with Peterson Cat in a Not to Exceed Amount of $395,915 for the Purchase of Three Caterpillar Backhoes (Scheduled Vehicle and Equipment Replacement Capital Improvement Program VR-14000 and VR-15000) ( WWYV]HS VM <[PSP[PLZ 7\ISPJ )LULÄ[Z 7YVNYHT *VU[YHJ[ Amendments: Contract No. C11140925 with Ecology Action (RightLights Plus Program) for Additional Funding Up to But Not to Exceed $460,000; Contract No. C11138611A with Synergy Companies (Hospitality Program),for Additional Funding Up to Not to Exceed $150,000; Contract No. C11138611B with Synergy Companies (Residential Energy Assistance Program) for Additional Funding Up to But Not to Exceed $166,000 Contract No. C11140923 with Acterra (Green@Home Program), for Additional Funding Up to But Not to Exceed $60,000 for (KTPUPZ[YH[PVU HUK 0TWSLTLU[H[PVU VM ,ULYN` ,ѝJPLUJ` HUK 3V^ Income Programs, for All Four Contracts Not to Exceed $836,000 to Extend the Term Until June 30, 2015 4. Approval of Agreement with Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board for Rail Shuttle Bus Service Administration to provide Community Shuttle Service on the existing Embarcadero Shuttle Route from July 2014 till June 2015 (PLNG) 5. Approval of a Lease Agreement with SV8 Equinix, a Fiber Interconnection Data Center, in Utilities Fiber, in the Amount Not to Exceed - $100,000 Per Year 6. Adoption of a Budget Amendment Ordinance in the amount of ???? for the Sustainability and Climate Action Plan Contract with KEMA Services ( KVW[PVU VM H 9LZVS\[PVU (JJLW[PUN .YHU[ 6ќLY MYVT [OL -(( MVY Palo Alto Airport Runway and Taxiway Rehabilitation ACTION ITEMS 8. Adoption Of Ordinance Dedicating 7.7 Acres Of Land Deeded To The City By Russell Lee To Become A Part Of Foothills Park And Letter Of Appreciation To The Lee Family 9. Council Approval of the Garage Technology Implementation Plan HUK (\[OVYPaL :[Hќ [V :VSPJP[ )PKZ MVY .HYHNL ;LJOUVSVN` 10. Council Direction to Voting Delegate on League Resolutions at the Annual Conference in September CLOSED SESSION 11. CONFERENCE WITH CITY ATTORNEY/LEGAL COUNSELFederal Regulatory Water and Power Cost Allocation 12. CONFERENCE WITH CITY ATTORNEY/LEGAL COUNSEL- IAFF Unfair Labor Practices 13. CONFERENCE WITH CITY ATTORNEY/LEGAL COUNSELPotential Litigation

Menlo Park Aug. 6-12

Inspirations a guide id tto th the spiritual i it l community FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UCC

1985 Louis Road, Palo Alto • (650) 856-6662 • www.fccpa.org Sunday Worship and Church School at 10 a.m.

This Sunday:

Faithful Fear

Rev. Daniel Ross-Jones Preaching Outdoor Worship in our Courtyard An Open and Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ We celebrate Marriage Equality

The City Council will meet on Wednesday, August 20, 2014 @ 6:00 PM to discuss: 1) Annual Performance Review-City Manager.

STANDING COMMITTEE MEETINGS The Finance Committee will meet on Tuesday, August 19, 2014 at 7:00 P.M. to discuss: 1) Municipal Code Changes regarding Review of Fiscal Procedures and Role of City Auditor, Administrative Services Department’s Roles and Responsibilities, and Lapse of Appropriations, and 2) Recommendations on Microenterprise Assistance Program for Fiscal Year 2015. The City/School Committee will meet on Thursday, August 21, 2014 at ! ( 4 [V KPZJ\ZZ! <WKH[L VU :JOVVS ;YHѝJ :HML[`

Page 18 • August 15, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Violence related Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Child abuse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Theft related Commercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Embezzlement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Vehicle related Abandoned auto. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Driving with suspended license . . . . . . 4 Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Lost/stolen plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . 1 Vehicle accident/no injury. . . . . . . . . . . 2 Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Alcohol or drug related Driving under influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Drug registrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Drunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Possession of paraphernalia . . . . . . . . 2 Under influence of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Miscellaneous Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Info case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Juvenile problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Located missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Mental evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Prohibited weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Resisting arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . 2 Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Welfare check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

VIOLENT CRIMES Palo Alto

Inspirations is a resource for ongoing religious services and special events. To inquire about or to reserve space in Inspirations, please contact Blanca Yoc at 223-6596 or email byoc@paweekly.com

300 block University Ave., 8/6, 11:39 p.m.; robbery/armed. Clark Way, 8/7, 2:17 p.m.; domestic violence/battery. Byron Street, 8/8, 7:34 p.m.; domestic violence/battery. Tanland Drive, 8/8, 10:24 p.m.; family violence/misc.

Menlo Park

100 block Independence Drive, 8/6, 12:39 a.m.; child abuse. Location undisclosed, 8/7, 10:37 a.m.; child abuse. 2800 block Sand Hill Road, 8/7, 11:55 p.m.; battery.

Transitions

Barbara Ferguson Trainer

Barbara Doris Crangle Ferguson Trainer, a longtime resident of Palo Alto, died at her home on July 30, surrounded by her family. She was 92. She was born on April 8, 1922, to William and Doris Crangle in Cleveland, Ohio. She studied sociology at Denison University, where she was a member of the Alpha Phi sorority. After graduating, she dabbled in a few areas before settling on a career in the travel business. She married her first husband, F. Alan Ferguson, in 1952; they were married for 47 years. After living in Portola Valley and Cupertino, they settled down in Palo Alto, where Barbara lived for about 50 years. Following the death of her first husband, she married Richard M. Trainer in 2002. She volunteered with the Allied Arts Guild and Rotary Club and supported the arts through donating to the San Francisco Symphony, TheatreWorks and other organizations. She was a member of the Palo Alto and Sequoia yacht clubs, as well as the Palo Alto and Stanford golf clubs. She played bridge often and participated in a nine-hole golf ladies group. She enjoyed the outdoors, traveling and learning new things, such as tango at age 80. She was predeceased by her sister, Judith Rose, and her two husbands. She is survived by her sister, Marjorie McFarland of St. Louis; her children, Ann Carlino of Anderson, California, Judith Crop of Eagle Creek, Oregon, and Stuart Ferguson of Sunnyvale; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held on Sept. 14 at 11 a.m. at the Sequoia Yacht Club in Redwood City. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Rotary Club of East Palo Alto Bayshore or the Lunstgarden Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research.

Stewart Mitchell Stewart Willard Mitchell, a longtime resident of Los Altos and a dentist in Palo Alto, died on July 21. He was 89. He was born on Nov. 18, 1924, in San Francisco. Growing up he lived in San Bruno and Belmont, and he later graduated from Sequoia High School. He studied briefly at the College of San Mateo before serving in the U.S. Army during World War II with the 163rd Infantry Regiment. He took part in multiple beachhead landings in the Pacific Theater and was honorably discharged in December 1945. Upon his return home he married his high school sweetheart, Jean Arnold, in 1946. He went on to study and graduate from

the dental school at University of California, San Francisco. He then enjoyed a long career as a dentist in Palo Alto. Living for many years in Los Altos, he was a member of the Palo Alto Hills Golf and Country Club and Kiwanis International. He also greatly enjoyed golfing, hunting and fishing. Following Jean’s death in 1990, he met Mary Bailey, whom he married in 1996. They lived to-

Genevieve Gilbert September 17, 1921-July 13, 2014

gether in Lincoln, California, for 12 years. He was predeceased by his first wife, Jean. He is survived by his second wife, Mary; his two sons, Mike (Heidi) Mitchell of Newport Beach, California, and Mark (Lynn) Mitchell of San Carlos; six grandchildren; and four greatgrandchildren. A memorial service was held on July 31 at Central Peninsula Church in Foster City.

Hope Elisabeth Ludeman Gelting May 30, 1964 – June 21, 2014 Born May 30, 1964, she died, after a brave fight with cancer, on June 21, 2014. She graduated from Gunn High School and San Diego State University. She also earned a Master’s Degree. Elisabeth lived for the past 25 years, in Columbia, South Carolina, teaching in Special Education and enjoying her beloved children, Nicholaus and Catherine and her pets. She is survived by her son and daughter in Columbia, her mother, M.C. Carroll of Palo Alto, father F.R. Ludeman of Granite Bay and brothers Richard Ludeman of Portland, Oregon and Matthew Ludeman of San Francisco. Services have been held. PAID

OBITUARY

Sherman Leland Hemstreet Sherman Leland Hemstreet, 90, a 60-year resident of Palo Alto, died August 8, 2014 in Woodside, CA. “Lee” was born in 1923 in Salt Lake City, Utah, son of Sherman Leland Hemstreet, Sr. and Martha Myrtle Donley Hemstreet. Lee’s family relocated to Palo Alto when he was a teenager and he graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1940, later attending San Jose State University. He served in the Navy and trained as an aviation radio repairman. He was stationed on Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific theater during WW2. He met Dorothy Mae Kelley in Chicago in 1944 at a USO dance where she was a hostess, and they married in 1946, returning to California where Lee had secured a job with United Air Lines. He worked for United his entire career, retiring as production planner in 1983. Dorothy and Lee celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in April, 2011. Dorothy passed away in December of that year. Lee was a devoted husband and father of five, grandfather of fourteen, and great-grandfather of ten. He was a member of Wesley United Methodist Church in Palo Alto for 60 years, and enjoyed singing in the choir for many years. He served as church trustee, and was active in the men’s club, especially working on the Christmas tree lot yearly. Lee was active for many years in the Electric Auto Association of Silicon Valley, and converted his classic VW “Beetle” to electric. He is survived by his five children Larry (Susan) Hemstreet, Mary Lou (Fred) Marshall, Dorothy (James) Catlin, Patricia Hemstreet, Carol (Cleve) Dean, cherished grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and extended family. A memorial service will be held Monday, August 18 at 2:00pm at Wesley United Methodist Church, 470 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto. Memorial gifts may be made to Heifer International, 1 World Avenue, Little Rock, AR 72202, www.heifer.org. PAID

OBITUARY

Genevieve Stewart Gilbert died on July 13, 2014, at Topanga Park Assisted Living in Canoga Park, under the care of Faith and Hope Hospice, after a long illness. Prior to that she was a longtime resident of Palo Alto, California. She was born in 1921 in St. Louis, Missouri, and attended Beaumont High School, Harris Teachers College, and Washington University. While at Washington University she met R. Gordon Gilbert, to whom she was married for over 50 years. He proposed on their first date. During World War II they lived in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Los Alamos, New Mexico. After the war they moved to Berkeley, California, so Gordon could attend graduate school at UC Berkeley. At one point they sold all their possessions, including their wedding rings, drove across country, and sailed to Europe on La Liberte for a stay of several months. This was a most memorable trip about which they talked for the rest of their lives. Back in California, Genevieve taught elementary school in El Cerrito. When Gordon began to work at the first linear accelerator at Stanford University (and then the second, SLAC), they moved to Palo Alto, where they had four children: Elizabeth, Stewart, David (Walker) and Allan. She and her husband encouraged Unitarian values and supported Democratic causes. They also encouraged their children to enjoy music, art, and literature. As her children grew older she taught elementary school in the Whitman School District in Mountain View for many years. Genevieve’s three siblings predecease her. She leaves, besides her children and two beloved grandchildren, Sara and Jake, one brother-in-law, two sisters-in-law, and many nieces and nephews. Interment was private. Donations may be made to Palo Alto Unitarian Church or American Civil Liberties Union PAID

OBITUARY

Lorraine Bagby Congdon 1917 – 2014 Lorraine Bagby Congdon age 97, passed away July 25th. Born in Wichita, Kansas to Shirley and Nina Bagby, she moved with her family to California in 1920. She spent her childhood in Seaside, San Francisco and Palo Alto, graduating from Sequoia High School in 1935. After high school, Lorraine worked at Pac Bell for 10 years until she met and married Clarke Jessup Congdon in 1945. They lived and raised their 3 children in Menlo Park. They owned Congdon and Crome Stationers in Palo Alto until 1970 when they sold it and Clarke Jessup died in 1973. For the next ten years Lorraine lovingly took care of her mother. Lorraine lived at Lytton Gardens in Palo Alto for 31 years where she enjoyed and spent many of those years as the Sunshine Lady and unofficial photographer. She also volunteered as a Pink Lady delivering flowers at Stanford Hospital for 2 years, and was a member of the Palo Alto Historical Society. She was a member of The First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto. Lorraine spent many years researching, sharing genealogy and making photo albums for her family. Later in life “Grandma Lorraine” was blessed to be visited by the Corte Madera, Portola Valley students, who wrote wonderful life reports on her life, that her family will always cherish. Lorraine continued to touch all who knew her with her kind sweet nature to the end of her life. Lorraine leaves a large loving family Clarke B. and Judy Congdon of Menlo Park, Sally and Howard Berry of Redding and Nancy and Jerry Whiting of Half Moon Bay, along with 8 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren, and an extended family of nieces and nephews. A funeral has already been held. The family prefers donations to Lytton Gardens. Donations can be sent to: E.S.C. (Episcopal Homes) 2185 N. Calif. Blvd., Walnut Creek, Ca. 94596. Attention: Karen Huff P A I D O B I T U A R Y www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • August 15, 2014 • Page 19

Editorial A long overdue downtown parking initiative Technology will play key role in easing downtown parking mess

hat a difference a week can make. After Monday’s illadvised 5-4 decision to spend $180,000 to conduct studies of a poorly conceived plan to shuttle workers from parking places east of Bayshore Freeway to downtown Palo Alto, the city council will have a chance for redemption. At next Monday’s meeting, the council will consider a proposal for implementing state-of-the-art technology tools that have the potential of revolutionizing the way parking is managed and paid for downtown. The recommendations, based on a study recently completed for the city by a national parking and transportation consulting firm called SP+, include the use of electronic parking sensors that monitor how many spaces are available and where, dynamic signage and smartphone apps that convey that information to drivers, online permit processing, the ability to quickly pay for parking via smartphones, and several innovative and technology-based options for enforcement. After years of tired and repetitive debate over the inefficiency and underutilization of downtown garages and staff resistance to change and innovation, these proposals catapult the discussion to a level worthy of a city whose residents are such intense consumers (and developers) of technology. We hope the City Council endorses this direction with all the enthusiasm they withheld last week when Mayor Nancy Shepherd and council members Greg Scharff, Gail Price, Marc Berman and Liz Kniss voted to move the “satellite” parking concept forward. With the parking technology recommendations being released just two days after that vote, one has to question why the mayor and city manager didn’t make sure the council either dealt with both proposals together or at least knew of the latest proposal while debating the first. Had that happened, we believe at least one of the five supporting the satellite parking concept would have felt safe joining council members Pat Burt, Larry Klein, Greg Schmid and Karen Holman in rejecting it. Councilman Klein raised that exact point, and we hope he makes a motion Monday for the council to reconsider its earlier action. Part of the unspoken problem is that the council and staff are feeling immense pressure to respond to public frustration over the parking problems after years of inaction. The staff is responding to this pressure by serving up multiple strategies and options, which adds more pressure on the council to act merely for the sake of appearances rather than in response to sound ideas. The frustration of both staff and council members was obvious Monday night. Staff was bringing back a plan that the council had earlier asked them to pursue, yet only one council member, Price, expressed any real enthusiasm for it. The four others who supported moving forward with the satellite parking concept were quick to point out their support was only for learning more information, not for the plan itself. Good decisions aren’t made under pressure, and ideally not piecemeal. In the long run, the community is better off taking a bit more time to tackle this problem in a well-thought-out, integrated way. It is great that the council and staff are responding to public demands for action on parking, but it is essential that our goal not be to simply create a list of disconnected “accomplishments” of dubious value. Next Monday night’s discussion on technology’s role in helping to fix our parking problems is another opportunity for the council to weigh the trade-offs of quick action versus a more integrated solution. The consultant recommends moving forward with both a parking guidance system (keeping track of and helping people find available parking spots) and a “revenue and access control” system (the process of controlling access to parking spots based on whether a driver or car has been issued a permit or paid a fee, and tied to how long the car is parked.) By having a single vendor undertake the implementation of these two systems at one time, there is full integration and accountability, compared to phasing the project and potentially using two different vendors. The consultant recommends a complete overhaul of the current system. It urges abandonment of the color zones, which do little more than legitimize employees moving their cars from one zone to another during the day, incentive and variable pricing to obtain full utilization of parking spots, the elimination of burdensome permitting rules and extensive use of online tools. It’s a good and overdue plan, and we hope the council repeals last week’s action and supports the full scope of the consultant and staff’s innovative recommendations.

Page 20 • August 15, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Spectrum Editorials, letters and opinions

Ask the youth Editor, Some questions for the younger folks who want taller buildings and complain that the older generation isn’t paying enough taxes: - Who’s been paying for city services, schools, infrastructure over the last 20 to 50 years, making this the place in which you now want to work and live? - If everyone wants to live in the city where they work, why does Google run buses from San Francisco? - How many new units would be needed to house all current Palo Alto workers? - You say change is inevitable. How long will you work in Palo Alto? Will your company relocate? Go belly up? Will you get a better offer elsewhere? If you change jobs, will you move? - If you have children, will you still want high-density housing or might you want a backyard? Will you need a car when you have doctors’ appointments, soccer games, tutoring, play dates, piano lessons, etc., after school? - What makes you think new housing will be affordable? With land selling at $4 to $5 million per acre and construction costs rising, why would developers build inexpensive housing? - If developers don’t build affordable housing, will you subsidize it for those who truly need it, i.e., those who don’t work in high tech? - Why do you think Palo Alto — or any of the surrounding suburban cities — will still be a great place to live with taller buildings, unending traffic congestion, lack of parking and crowded schools? Before making demands, ask yourself if you have all the answers. Pat Marriott Oakhurst Avenue, Los Altos

This is crazy Editor, So today I was taking the University Avenue exit off 101 going north and then was getting back on 101 from University to go south. I am pretty sure I have been reading nothing but drought, drought, drought. And I am certain we are still in the grips of summer heat and no water. Can anyone tell me how and why the highway exit ramps are being planted with hundreds and hundreds of new 1-gallon plants with the sprinklers (not drip) on full blast watering them in the middle of the day? And not just at this exit: There are numerous areas around that are being planted now. Why? Residents are chastised for using too much wa-

ter, and then we see this going on. Planting in the summer, planting at all, open watering in the summer during midday. Seriously, this is crazy. The plants couldn’t wait till November or December when we might get rain? I’m disgusted ... Deb Conway Bohlman Road, Saratoga

Few community benefits Editor, It’s déjà vu all over again in Palo Alto as we witness yet another example of “planned community” (PC) zoning run amok. At the site of the former JJ&F Market on El Camino Real, the city approved a new development including office space (40,000 square feet), below-market-rate housing units (eight) and a replacement grocery store (8,000 square feet). The advantages for the developer are abundant. Commercial space on prime property near California Avenue will undoubtedly provide substantial rental revenue. Additionally, the proposed operator for the new superette is none other than the developer’s very own son. The benefits for the commu-

nity are not so palpable. The project brings no relief to the existing jobs-versus-housing imbalance as we will gain many more workers than residents and exacerbate traffic and parking concerns. And while we hope the new market will be superior and successful, the odds are diminished in that the grocer nominee appears to have no experience in the industry. At this time when council and staff are considering the future of our city, there is one option that does not need any consideration at all. The time is long past to abandon the PC process — and would-be clones — that allow developers do all the deciding and leave the community to do all the abiding. Jaclyn Schrier Alma Street, Palo Alto

Celebrating diversity Editor, We wish to bring your attention and that of the public’s to California Assembly Bill 1750. AB 1750 would require the state’s Department of Education to commission (continued on page 22)

WHAT DO YOU THINK? The Palo Alto Weekly encourages comments on our coverage or on issues of local interest.

Do you support high-tech monitoring of downtown parking? Submit letters to the editor of up to 300 words to letters@paweekly.com. Submit guest opinions of 1,000 words to editor@paweekly.com. Include your name, address and daytime phone number so we can reach you. We reserve the right to edit contributions for length, objectionable content, libel and factual errors known to us. Anonymous letters will generally not be accepted. Submitting a letter to the editor or guest opinion constitutes a granting of permission to the Palo Alto Weekly and Embarcadero Media to also publish it online, including in our online archives and as a post on Town Square. For more information contact Editor Jocelyn Dong or Editorial Assistant Sam Sciolla at editor@paweekly.com or 650-326-8210.

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Guest Opinion City politics and the debate over traditional vs. modern architecture by Douglas Alton Smith ast fall I conducted an opinion poll to gauge Palo Altans’ preferences for various architectural styles here and internationally. As in similar polls elsewhere, the local public prefers traditional architecture to modern by a margin of at least 3:1. Palo Alto’s monolithic city hall lost by almost 5:1 compared with Pasadena’s stunning Mediterranean Revival city hall. Respondents rated architect Ken Hayes’ modern office-retail building at 101 Forest Ave. an average 4.4 points in aesthetic quality (little better than “nondescript”), while giving the neo-Spanish Colonial building at 265 Lytton Ave. 6.8 points (“pretty good”). More than 80 percent of respondents indicated they prefer California Mission style to modernism downtown. For full results, go to paloaltoarchitecture.info. The survey’s validity will be hard to dispute. Its sample size (currently 960-plus responses) almost equals Gallup’s 1,000 for national opinion polls. While the survey was new, I appealed the city’s approval of two development applications downtown — 240 Hamilton Ave. and 636 Waverley St. Both appeals argued that Hayes’ modernist designs were incompatible with surrounding structures. Survey opinion overwhelmingly supported the appeals: 76.6 percent of respondents indicated that the proposed design of 240 Hamilton is incompatible with

neighboring historic structures; 85 percent indicated incompatibility of the 636 Waverley design with its immediate environment. Nonetheless, both appeals failed. I based them on the Palo Alto Municipal Code: 18.76.020 Architectural Review (d) Findings: Neither the (planning) director, nor the city council on appeal, shall grant architectural review approval, unless it is found that: (1) The design is consistent and compatible with applicable elements of the Palo Alto Comprehensive Plan; (2) The design is compatible with the immediate environment of the site. City planners, ARB and City Council did not adequately follow these statutes. They changed the subject. Furthermore, Section 1.08.010 states, “Any person violating any of the provisions or failing to comply with any mandatory requirements of this code is guilty of a misdemeanor ...” The penalty is “a fine of not more than $1,000.00 or ... imprisonment in the county jail for a period not exceeding six months, or both ...” I think three planners, four ARB members, and six councilors are guilty. Last Oct. 30, designer Richard Elmore and I met Planning Manager Amy French and then-acting director Aaron Aknin to discuss the appeals. When I handed French a copy of the survey results, she pushed it back without looking at it. Aknin showed similar disinterest and skepticism. In his staff report on the Hamilton project, planner Jason Nortz claimed to make affirmative findings to satisfy code. On the requirement of compatibility with applicable elements of the Comprehensive Plan, Nortz opined that “the project incorporates quality design that recognizes the regional

and historical importance of the area ...” Yet he offered no substantive justification; hence it is no finding. As for compatibility with the immediate environment, he found it is “a four-story, 50 foot building that is adjacent to similarly sized buildings.” But in fact it will tower over the two adjacent buildings and looks nothing like them. Nortz failed to fulfill code compatibility requirements, but French and Aknin signed his report anyway. The ARB similarly used its own standards to approve, dodging the compatibility issue, which I pointed out in detail to the City Council in my appeal letter. In the Dec. 9 City Council meeting showdown, Liz Kniss set the stage to kill the appeal with a motion to adopt staff’s recommendation of the application. Larry Klein seconded. Kniss then contrasted Palo Alto with Santa Barbara, stating, “we’ve made some very concerted decisions to have (architectural) diversity.” But who is “we?” Certainly it was not the public’s decision. Klein followed, saying, “We should be saying to the world ... we’re not stuck in some time warp, and that we want to encourage our buildings ... to reflect the time and culture that we presently live in.” Gail Price also thought it is “important that we support a variety of architectural expression.” She claimed that the design has elements consistent with city guidelines, but did not name them. Karen Holman astutely observed that her colleagues had veered from the coderequired debate of compatibility to discuss modern versus traditional style. She pointed out the code’s mention of window treatment as an important compatibility element, and found that Hayes’ window de-

sign, among others, creates no design linkages with buildings across the street. Of all council members, she appeared to have done the most prior study for the debate. Pat Burt re-emphasized that the issue was not style, but whether the design met code-defined compatibility findings, which he could not make. The building materials, especially its use of glass, he found “inappropriate.” Greg Schmid agreed that the application did not fit in with the character of the nearby historic buildings. Nancy Shepherd confessed uncertainty about how compatibility is defined, adding erroneously, “but it’s not defined by the city. I’m not sure if it’s defined in the secretary’s standards, or if it’s just an architectural term or definition, or something that I’m not clear about.” Then-mayor Gregory Scharff stated no rationale for his vote, so I later asked him. Though he had told me earlier that he much prefers Pasadena’s city hall to Palo Alto’s, he said he found the Hayes design compatible with our city hall and thus approved it. The appeal failed when only Holman, Burt and Schmid voted to uphold. At the next council meeting, the appeal of 636 Waverley also died, as only Karen Holman voted to bring it to discussion. In a chance meeting, David Kleiman, developer of the 636 Waverley project, had told me, “You are going to lose.” What does he know about city hall politics that made him so confident? Perhaps in November’s election, Palo Alto voters concerned about unbridled development will remember how the council members voted on this issue. Q Douglas Alton Smith is a music historian who loves beautiful buildings. He is a member of the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art.

Streetwise

What’s your take on Stanford’s new joint majors merging computer science and humanities? Asked outside of Green Library on Stanford campus. Interviews and photos by Benjamin Custer.

Tyler Dickerson

Eutiquio Chapa

Jake Hartley

Daniel Khalessi

Greg Hall

Santa Teresa, Stanford Student

Portola Road, Woodside Business school program manager

Santa Teresa, Stanford Recent graduate

Main Street, Los Altos Recent graduate

Semicircular Road, Redwood City Student

“The fact we haven’t been interacting with the two already is a misstep. They should have been mixed a long time ago.”

“It’s a great program! Building widely used technologies is about addressing human needs.”

“There’s a lot of people who come to this school who are excited about the humanities but tentative about CS. This helps to solve that.”

“A major that doesn’t force students to choose between technical and humanities disciplines is important.”

“I feel like it ... happened before, but this makes it official. ... I find it’s easier to marry CS and creative humanities more than other disciplines.”

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • August 15, 2014 • Page 21

Spectrum

Letters (continued from page 20)

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Page 22 • August 15, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

a report to identify model programs, standards and curricula pertaining to ethnic studies for grades seven to 12. In essence, ethnic studies addresses racial and ethnic concerns in an effective manner. Due to the fact that California has one of the largest and most diverse populations in the country, this sociological study ought to be implemented in California schools. In fact, 43.4 percent of the population and 42 percent of Palo Alto is comprised of minorities, yet we still do not have any formal type of cultural history. For about four decades, individuals like us have pushed for the idea of ethnic studies, but as of now, the school educational system has yet to prominently incorporate this topic. Developing ethnic studies in grades seven to 12 is crucial in creating a classroom environment that is accepting of cultural diversity. In order to do so appropriately, this bill calls for the Instructional Quality Commission to establish the most effective way to implement ethnic studies classes through speaking to experts of ethnic studies, along with educators, researchers and professional associations. We ask the public to support Assembly Bill 1750 as it would be the first step in creating ethnic study classes for schools across California. As of now the bill is pending in the State Senate; to show your support, write to your local state senator or visit us at ethnicstudies4all.weebly.com. Rick Takeuchi El Camino Way, Palo Alto

No harmony here Editor, No wonder our Architectural Review Board members seem so clueless when it comes to approval of buildings of inappropriate styles in our lovely town. Here we get a whole essay from a former member (Guest opinion: “‘Style Wars’ a result of too much, too fast?” Aug. 8) noting that “styles” are not mentioned anywhere in the board’s goals. Maybe not word for word, but when I read their Goal No. 1, where it states that the board’s purpose is to “promote orderly and harmonious development of the city,” that would indeed imply to me that appropriate styles of any new buildings would be paramount in their considerations — even if the word wasn’t specifically mentioned. Where do they get the idea that big boxy, mostly all-glass buildings mix in harmoniously with our post office, the University Art building, the Varsity Theatre and the myriad of other older and attractive buildings that have made downtown Palo Alto generally a city with some matter of character, as opposed to much of Silicon Valley? Bob McIntyre Fulton Street, Palo Alto

Cover Story

fter scattering around the globe for the summer, Palo Alto’s approximately 4,000 high school students return to school Monday, Aug. 18. About 8,600 kindergartners through eighth-graders go back the next day. Below, a sampling of high school students — from three “excited and nervous” freshmen to a more experienced senior — share some of their ideas about approaching the new school year.

>\kk`e^ k_\ dfjk flk f] _`^_ jZ_ffc From ‘make new friends’ to ‘try new things,’ local students share some ideas by Chris Kenrick hoping to turn over a new leaf this fall. “I’ve been struggling in school since, like, first grade,” he said. “I’ve been to lots and lots of meetings, and they’ve narrowed it down, and this year they’re going to give me some extra help. I can’t wait for that because this year might actually be my year to get the grades I really, really want.” His advice for students new to Paly: “Ask for help when you need it. That’s something I never really did. I didn’t know how to ask for help, and I was really self-judging.” Cardenas’ second piece of advice to new students: “Don’t be shy. Be yourself, and don’t try to be someone that you’re not.”

were fireworks in the sky. Great America or one of those places must’ve been having a show. I thought they were very pretty and very loud and very cool.” She attended El Carmelo Elementary School and spent her middle school years at Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School, returning to Gunn for high school. Arriving as a freshman after a three-year absence from public school was “somewhat intimidating,” she recalled. “I don’t think there’s a time in your life when you’re more awkward and self-conscious than when you’re a teenager,” she said. Still, she likes to think of herself as the kind of person who’s willing to “go outside my comfort zone and meet someone new.” And that would be her advice for any new student at Gunn. “People kind of live somewhat sheltered lives at Gunn (and stay with the same groups), but you’d be surprised at how many people are very nice once you go up to them and say ‘hi.’ There’s always time for new friends.” Rotman, who got her driver’s license in April, looks forward to “enjoying the perks of being a senior, getting to do all those fun things like homecoming, going on college tours and grad night.” She least looks forward to making all the preparations to leave home for college. “As much as I’m looking forward to my future, I’m not really looking forward to leaving,” she said. “I like my family; I like my home; I like my city. Palo Alto’s great, and leaving is not necessarily something I really want to do.”

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fter a summer setting up laptop carts and updating software as an intern in the Palo Alto Unified School District’s information technology department, Paly junior Miguelangel Cardenas is looking forward to a fall filled with one of his great passions: football. From an early age he played on Pop Warner and American Youth Football League teams, though a knee fracture forced him to take a few years off in middle school. His freshman year at Paly, he broke his heel during a preseason drill and sat out the season. Sophomore year he played on Paly’s JV team, and this fall, he aims to play varsity. “My mom was a little skeptical at first, but I told her it was my decision,” Cardenas said. “I have a passion for it.” He also thinks football helps him stay disciplined and organize his time. “You have to plan really, really well because football is, like, from 3:55 p.m. until 6 or 7. My mom will pick me up; you take a shower, eat and then do homework and then you’re dead — and that continues every day of the week. “Some would say that forces you to be organized, and some would think the opposite. They would think it’s too timeconsuming, that you don’t have enough time to do anything anymore.” Heading back to school, Cardenas most looks forward to reconnecting with friends whom he missed over the summer. He least looks forward to SATs. “That’s the main stress,” he said. “I have to start preparing. I don’t think the actual test is bad. I’ve heard from friends that preparing for the test is like hell.” Academically, Cardenas — who graduated from Duveneck Elementary School and Jordan Middle School — is

unn is a really good place if you want to study all the time, but that’s not good for you,” incoming senior Maya Rotman said. Rotman avoids the grind of constant homework by committing herself to outside activities, including managing Gunn’s boys wrestling team and being a leader in her synagogue’s youth group. “You could easily spend eight hours on a Saturday working on an essay, but when you have that soccer game or movie night you have to do, it gives you less time to work so you work harder,” she said in an interview over a white Gummi Bear smoothie at Jamba Juice. “If you have less time, you have to put more of yourself into working to get done what you would’ve gotten done in a larger amount of time. “You don’t spend that time on Facebook while you’re writing your essay and wasting time and not really working when you’re working,” she said. One of Rotman’s earliest childhood memories is moving to the United States from her native Israel when she was just shy of 3. “It was the third of July when our plane landed, and there

ncoming Paly junior Andrew Baer loves playing around on the keyboard, arranging songs he’s heard in movies or on video games, especially the action role-playing game Kingdom Hearts. Though he stopped taking lessons years ago, he still plays for fun an hour or two each day — and if it’s late at night he just plugs his headphones into the keyboard so as not to bother his parents. One of his performance opportunities came just two weeks ago, when he played some contemporary pieces by composer Jim Brickman in the lounge of the Palo Alto senior housing complex Stevenson House. “I had played (at Stevenson House) in eighth grade when I was volunteering with JLS for service day, and I thought I might as well go back because I’ve improved, so I sent them an email and they said ‘yes,’” Baer said. “It was a very small crowd. It was very pleasant, and I’d love to go back.” Baer, whose family moved to Palo Alto from Stockton when he was in fourth grade, found his new elementary schools — first Barron Park and then Palo Verde — to his liking. (continued on next page)

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • August 15, 2014 • Page 23

Cover Story (continued from previous page)

Veronica Weber

“I came from a private Christian school, and their programs were very limited because they didn’t have much funding,” he explained. “When I got here I was able to take music classes, and I feel like my overall math and science classes were better and were taught better. The variety of programs they offer in Palo Alto really made a difference for my education.” At Paly, Baer ran cross-country his freshman and sophomore years and plans to continue this year. He and his friends started a Smash Bros. Club, which competes, in face-to-face matches, against other schools in the fighting video game. They plan to invite Gunn students to a tournament this year. “It’s a lot of fun to just meet people and play this game with them,” he said. This fall he’s especially looking forward to making new friends, meeting new teachers and taking Paly’s music-theory class. He least looks forward to “the homework, and having to be up really late all the time.” But, Baer said: “That’s just part of school, so I’m sure it will work out again. I think Paly is a great school and I love it, and I can’t wait to see how this next school year’s going to be.” The secret to managing stress at Paly, he said, “would be to not care so much about what your grades are but just making sure you’re learning and doing what you love. Grades are insignificant when you focus on whatever college works for you and whatever career you want.” He himself is considering music or business. His advice to any student new to Paly is simple: “Do your homework, make new friends and just do what you can to make it as enjoyable as possible because you’re going to be here for four years.”

Parents and kids fill the cafeteria at JLS Middle School during Tasting Day, an event for sampling new school-district menu offerings like quinoa salad, lentil soup, black bean tamales and a salad bar, on Aug. 12.

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ncoming Gunn junior Nandeeka Nayak spent nearly a year and emailed about 30 organizations before settling on a project to earn her Girl Scout Gold Award. She finally executed it this summer, offering a free computer programming camp for 20 low-income middle school students at a charter school in San Jose. The week-long camp in early July allowed Nayak to share her interest in programming, which she had developed even prior to joining Lego League as a seventh grader at JLS Middle School. Lego League, a science and robotics competition for elementary and middle school students, is sponsored by FIRST, a national organization that aims to attract students to science and technology. “I think I’ve always been a little interested in programming because my dad works at Google, and even before that he worked at a startup in programming,” Nayak said. “But I really got interested with FIRST Lego League in seventh and eighth grade, and it just kind of took off.” To help staff the programming camp, Nayak — who has been in the Girl Scouting program since second grade — recruited friends from her troop and her robotics team, the Space Cookies, which is co-sponsored by NASA and the Girl Scouts. The middle school campers learned about user interfaces, conditionals and grids. They built a tic-tac-toe game and also an app that allowed them to draw with their fingers. (continued on next page)

Page 24 • August 15, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

t’s back to school next week for Palo Alto students, and on four of Palo Alto’s 17 campuses — Addison, Fairmeadow and Ohlone elementary schools and Gunn High School — new principals will greet the children and teens. Also new to Palo Alto this fall is Superintendent Glenn “Max” McGee — who officially took the helm of the school district Aug. 1 — as well as about 80 teachers. McGee has said his top priorities will be to “communicate frequently and clearly, ensure all students have ample opportunities and equal access to experience high-quality teaching” and “balance site autonomy with the cohesive focus on district best practices and our shared mission and vision.” In meetings with principals and administrators last week, he used selections from Amanda Ripley’s 2013 best-seller, “The Smartest Kids in the World,” as a starting point for discussion. The book explores how Finland, South Korea and Poland transformed their public school systems to become some of the world’s top performers. After reading selections from the book, principals and others “shared facts, opinions and perceptions of the qualities of exemplary world-class schools and systems,” McGee said in an Aug. 8 memo to the district’s Board of Education. On two Palo Alto campuses, students next week will occupy

major new classroom buildings. After 16 months of construction, Duveneck Elementary School opens a two-story, eight-classroom building for fourth- and fifth-graders as well as a new library for the school. At Palo Alto High School, journalism and photography students will occupy a new, 23,000-square-foot Media Arts Building. The school also opens a new, two-story, 27-classroom building for the

School officials predict increased enrollment this fall. math and social-studies departments. But Paly students also will encounter a construction zone and severely curtailed parking, with work beginning on a new Performing Arts Center on the Embarcadero Road side of campus and — later in the school year — on a new Athletic Center on the Churchill Avenue side of campus. Gunn High School, which opened a new gym as well as a two-story classroom building last year, this fall inaugurates the “Miranda Drop-Off,” a paved driveway that offers

new vehicle access to campus from Miranda Avenue near Arastradero Road. School officials predict increased enrollment this fall but will not conduct an official head count until several weeks into the school year when things settle down. Last year’s count, taken in September on the 14th day of school, was 12,483, including 38 students at a districtrun school at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital as well as 43 students in the Alta Vista and Middle College alternative high school programs. Total enrollment last fall represented an increase of 87 students from the previous year. The ethnic breakdown of Palo Alto students reported last fall was 46.4 percent Caucasian, 39.3 percent Asian, 11 percent Hispanic, 2.8 percent African-American and 0.5 percent “other.” The staggered school start dates next week — Monday for the high schools and Tuesday for the rest — as well as at the beginning of second semester in January 2015, will contribute to more evenly balanced semesters for high school courses. It will also give teachers student-free “work days” when they most need them, district spokeswoman TabithaKappeler Hurley said. “Elementary teachers benefit from the additional workday at the beginning of the year in order to set up classes,” Kappeler-Hurley said. “Having

Cover Story

High school (continued from page 24)

Veronica Weber

Incoming freshmen at Gunn High School play an ice-breaker game in which they have to stand in a circle and recite everyone’s names on Aug. 13. Some members of the group wore animal-print bowler hats.

After running the programming camp, Nayak headed off to Carlton College in Minnesota, where she was a camper herself in a three-week Summer Computer Science Institute for high school students. Looking toward fall, Nayak, a member of Gunn’s swim team, said she’s especially excited about her classes in statistics and chemistry and doing more complicated programming with the Space Cookies. When asked for tips on how she manages the heavy workload, she said: “I don’t waste time. When I come home I just get right to my homework.” Only one time in her first two years of high school did she have to stay up past midnight, she said. “I wake up at 6:15 a.m. so I can do homework in the morning, too, but I generally don’t leave big things — only things I know I can do in 45 minutes or less. I like Gunn, and I’ve had some pretty good teachers,” she said.

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to interning long hours in a Stanford University physics lab. He also volunteered at the Kids Zone of the Palo Alto Family YMCA, where he’s been a member since he was 10. Pondering his return to school as a Gunn junior, Ghosh has pared down his commitments to things he really loves — music, lab work, some clubs and one sport — to make sure he has time to do them well. “Second semester of sophomore year was kind of a struggle, but I came out of it finding out more about how I work, how I can keep myself more organized and how to keep up with myself and not let myself get too out of hand, taking on too much,” Ghosh said in an interview near Stanford’s Varian Physics Building, where he’s interning in a basement lab. He said he got the internship by randomly emailing a postdoctoral student he’d heard sometimes takes high school students. “I’ve fallen in love with research and what they have down there,” he said, enthusiastically describing some of the projects that involve attempting to demonstrate Einstein’s equivalence principle. Ghosh’s earliest memories of Palo Alto come from second grade, when his family moved here from Burlingame and he entered Palo Verde.

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A student at Gunn High School gets ready to have her photo taken during freshman orientation this week. For the six years prior to that, he headed the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, a state-sponsored “teaching and learning laboratory” and boarding school for Illinois students. He replaces Kevin Skelly, who resigned June 30 after serving as superintendent in Palo Alto since 2007. Q Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can be emailed at ckenrick@ paweekly.com.

About the cover: From left, Celine Shaw, Melanie ResendizGarcia, Emely Sandoval and Alana Rufer sit by the bleacher at Titan Gymnasium and compare new student ID cards during freshman orientation at Gunn High School on Aug. 13. Photo by Veronica Weber.

Veronica Weber

Nikki Knauer, left, and friend Masha Krulikov take a look at Krulikov’s newly printed school ID card after they had their school photos taken during freshman orientation at Gunn High School on Aug. 13.

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ikhil Ghosh has had a varied summer — from busking with his trombone in a touristy spot near the ferry in Victoria, British Columbia,

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a workday at the beginning of second semester (Jan. 5) for high school teachers allows first-semester grades to be processed and posted in a more timely way and new semester classes set up in (online platforms) Schoology and Infinite Campus.” McGee comes to Palo Alto from the Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science, a startup private school he led for the past year.

xcited and nervous” are the words Ladaishia Roberts, Alberto Salgado and Elizabeth Tapia use to describe their feelings about the upcoming school year. All entering freshmen at Paly, the three spent most of June together in a “summer bridge” program at Gunn to help kids make the transition to high school. In July, they reconvened for a week at the Foundation for a College Education in East Palo Alto for a “FCE Fundamentals” class. During the school year the three plan to go to FCE regularly after school for college preparation and support. But they must maintain a 3.0 grade point average to stay in the program, they said. “I’m determined to go to Paly, but thinking about going to college I think I need bigger and stronger motivation,” said Tapia, who graduated from Duveneck Elementary School and Jordan Middle School. “I guess as the years go on I’ll find my motivation. “As you get older there’s more people talking to you about college, what’s best for you, so you start getting ideas about what you want to do with your life.” With encouragement from her mother, Tapia said she’s considering some kind of career in the medical field. Roberts, a graduate of Addison Elementary School and Jordan, also mentioned her mother as one of her major motivations for doing her best in school. “The reason I need to graduate is because I know how happy it will make her, so that’s going to be my motivation,” she said. “The other motivation is that I’d be a first-generation (college) graduate, and that would mean a lot to me.” Salgado, who came to Jordan just a year ago after moving to Palo Alto from Redwood City, said he’s heard that Paly is “strict.” “It’s a new chapter in my life — unknown,” Salgado said. “I don’t know much about high school, but I’ve heard you have to work hard.” In high school, Tapia said, “Nobody’s going to help you unless you ask questions, and I’m not really good at that.” But in the summer bridge program all three of them had the opportunity to get a head start by getting to know Paly counselors Crystal Laguna and Charles Taylor. Tapia said she hopes to play volleyball in high school, while Roberts wants to play softball and volleyball. All three said they want to investigate the options for joining one or more of Paly’s many clubs. “But I’m nervous because I have to stay on top of my studies,” Roberts said. “I just had no motivation before, but they told us freshman year will count for college, so I have to do my best.”

“I remember significantly more playtime, like outside recess and stuff,” he said. “Palo Alto’s a pretty outdoorsy place.” During the school year, Ghosh plays with Gunn’s jazz band and wind ensemble and participates in the Youth Community Service/Interact and Model UN clubs. To make enough time for other things, he’s narrowed down his sports commitment to track. One of his most memorable YCS activities, he said, was recruiting Clarence Jones, once an adviser to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and now a scholarin-residence at Stanford, to speak to students participating in a recent Gunn Community Service Day. “He gave us an awesome speech, rousing and really inspiring,” Ghosh said. Ghosh said high school has taught him to organize his time more efficiently, and he’s learned that he works best when he has a “tangible deadline.” Playing musical instruments and sports with friends “really helps to alleviate stress,” he said. To freshmen at Gunn, he advises: “It’s good to bite off more than you can chew, especially freshman year because you’re playing a lower-stakes game. Freshman year is sort of a trial. Don’t be afraid to try new things. Take a big sample, and then narrow it down to things you really enjoy.” To students coming in from overseas, he said: “Gunn has a very international student body, so any international student wouldn’t have a hard time finding a friend, or someone to follow around. And the counselors — or anybody here — are really welcoming,” he said. Q Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can be emailed at ckenrick@paweekly.com.

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • August 15, 2014 • Page 25

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TO U R 1 1 G O R G E O U S M O D E L S | M I D $ 4 0 0 s - $ 8 0 0 s + | T R I LO GY L I F E .C O M | 8 5 5 . 3 2 1 . 3 7 2 3 Wine country living in charming Brentwood A “No Electric Bill Home™” will, on average, produce as much electricity as it consumes on an annual basis. Fees and surcharges may remain. Estimate based on average use by household of 2 with published data from manufacturers, suppliers and others and calculated using software approved by the U.S. Department of Energy. Energy usage not guaranteed and energy production and consumption may vary based on home, orientation, climate and usage of electric appliances. Electricity production via photovoltaic (PV) panels. PV system subject to 20 year prepaid agreement with Solar City. Seller to provide prepayment amount as an inducement to Buyer. Features and specs vary by location, subject to change, not available on all homes and must be on the contract. See Seller for details. Trilogy® is a registered trademark of Shea Homes, Inc., an independent member of the Shea family of companies. Trilogy at The Vineyards is a community by Trilogy Vineyards, LLC., sales by Shea Homes Marketing Company (CalBRE #01378646) and construction by Shea Homes, Inc., (CSLB #672285). Homes at The Vineyards are intended for occupancy by at least one person 55 years of age or older, with certain exceptions for younger persons as provided by law and the governing covenants, conditions and restrictions. This is not an offer of real estate for sale, nor a solicitation of an offer to buy, to residents of any state or province in which registration and other legal requirements have not been fulﬁlled. Void where prohibited. Models are not an indication of racial preference. © 2014 Shea Homes, Inc. All rights reserved.

Page 26 • August 15, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Courtesy of Litquake Palo Alto/Oshman Family JCC

Litquake rocks the local literary scene

Palo Alto author Keith Raffel (A Fine and Dangerous Season) will present an author’s salon at Litquake Palo Alto 2014 on Aug. 17.

Palo Alto festival headlines Marcia Clark, with more than 40 best-selling authors, kids’ events by Sue Dremann ruth may be stranger than fiction but for Marcia Clark, the lead prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson trial, reality, no matter how bizarre, can’t make as compelling a story as crime fiction. Clark, 60, has been a best-selling crime-fiction author for the past seven years. Her fourth novel, “The Competition,” came out in early July. Clark will now headline Litquake Palo Alto 2014, the free summer literary festival taking place in Palo Alto on Sunday, Aug. 17, at the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center. Now in its third year, Litquake Palo Alto has become a moveable feast for readers and writers of all ages and interests, with more than 40 best-selling authors, 10 writers’ salons, writing workshops, author “fireside” readings and events for kids and teens, including a teen poetry slam. This is Clark’s first time at a Litquake event. She will be interviewed by thriller writer Michelle

Gagnon. Amiable, humorous and down to earth, she talked openly during a Monday interview about her writing and the wise-cracking protagonist of her novels, Los Angeles Special Prosecutor Rachel Knight. “She had the life I wish I had. It’s a lot of wishful thinking — she has a hot millionaire boyfriend. There’s a lot of wish fulfillment. But she can’t be perfect. I gave her a lot of my flaws,” Clark said, laughing. She also gave the character her middle name, but Rachel is not Clark, she said. She gave the character that name to ease writing in the first person and to develop more realistic dialogue, she said. The stories’ lead character isn’t modeled on anyone in particular, she said. But the stories are inspired by true crime. “The Competition” came from research on Columbine-massacre shooters Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris and is about the true nature of psychopathic killers. Her first novel, “Guilt by Association,” was inspired by a rape trial in Orange County; “Guilt by Degrees” was sparked by the true story of a crime victim’s rescuer who was left bleeding to death on the sidewalk by bystanders; and “Killer Ambition” was inspired by the death of her youngest son’s best friend, who fell off a mountain top. But no case she has ever tried, no matter how bizarre, is ever interesting enough to tell completely as nonfiction without em-

Courtesy of Claudia Kunin

Crime fiction author Marcia Clark will headline Litquake Palo Alto 2014.

bellishment, she said. “True crime can only take you so far. Generally speaking, those cases are not that intriguing. They don’t have enough twists and turns,” she said. The only true crime case with enough intrigue to hold an audience is Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood,” she said. The case itself — two men killed a farmer and his family in Kansas in 1959 — while brutal, was fairly straightforward and simple, she said. But Capote spent six years interviewing the two killers and getting inside their minds. “If it was a totally fictional account, it would not have been of that much interest,” she said. Clark’s interest in crime fiction harks back to her childhood, when she loved reading “Nancy Drew” books. Listing all of her favorite authors is enough to get out of breath. “I always loved crime stories, but I never had the confidence to go out and do it as a career,” she said. After her 10-year stint with the Los Angeles DA’s office, Clark became a commentator on legal issues in high-profile cases for CNN, MSNBC, NBC and ABC. She wrote “Without a Doubt,” her bestselling book on the O.J. Simpson trial, and she was a consultant for the legal drama “For the People” on the Lifetime network. Clark also started writing scripts. She sold pilots to FX, Lifetime and VH1 networks and developed a comedy for NBC. Scriptwriting taught her how to write dialogue, which led to her first book, she said. For a time, she worked a full day as an attorney and wrote until late at night. She seriously wanted to give writing her best shot, she said.

“You don’t get an unlimited amount of time in life,” she added. As a prosecutor, Clark was confined to what her witnesses would say, and often that wasn’t terribly compelling, she said. “I couldn’t tell them what to say,” she said, although at times she wished she could. But writing is liberating. Her characters can say anything she wants them to say, and live whatever life she breathes into them, she said. And they aren’t maudlin. “I’m not a ‘chick lit’ kind of person,” she said. “I wanted a woman who would be able to take care of herself in a dangerous world.” But the character had to be believable, not a superhero. “In real life, a woman is not going to win in hand-to-hand combat against a man — you’re just not. Give her a gun, and you are going to level the playing field. I wanted her to be able to take care of herself. I didn’t want her to wait for a man to show up and make the arrest,” she said. Clark also didn’t want her character to play into stereotypes. “I wanted to show that women are strong but are good to each other,” she said. Clark is one of many celebrated authors who will appear at Litquake Palo Alto. Others include Kathryn Ma (“The Year She Left Us”), Ellen Sussman (“A Wedding in Provence”), Yangsze Choo (“The Ghost Bride”) and Vikram Chandra, (“Sacred Games,” “Geek Sublime: The Code of Beauty, the Beauty of Code”). Many local authors will also take part. Palo Alto author Keith Raffel (“A Fine and Dangerous Season”) and Nick Taylor, a Menlo Park author, (“The Set-Up Man”) will discuss “Genre Fiction: On the Fringes?” during one

of the writers’ salons. Cartoonists Owen Smith, Tom Toro and Mark Ulricksen will also discuss “The Art of the New Yorker.” Among the salons are “Redefining Mainstream: LGBT Stories”; “Shrinks with Ink: Psychotherapist Authors” and “Suffering and Success in Silicon Valley” with Lee Daniel Kravetz and David Feldman. Workshops include writing oral histories, how writers write and blogging from a Jewish perspective. There’s also plenty to stimulate children and teens. For children, there are readings — author Marcia Goldman, “Lola Goes to Work” — shadow-puppet shows, music and face painting, fairy tales, a Dr. Seuss room, crafts, and a dinosaur book library and dig site. The teen poetry slam for ages 13 to 19 runs from 3 to 5 p.m. After Clark’s appearance, Litquake will close out with the Blues, Booze & Schmooze after party with authors and attendees at 8 p.m. The Gaucho gypsy-jazz sextet will perform, with cocktails served with literary themes. Q Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at sdremann@ paweekly.com. What: Litquake Palo Alto 2014, a literary festival for all ages Where: Oshman Family Jewish Community Center, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto When: Sunday, Aug. 17, 2-8 p.m. Cost: Free. Interview session with author Marcia Clark, $15, includes her latest book. (Registration advised.) Info: Go to paloaltojcc.org/ quick-links/community-events/

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • August 15, 2014 • Page 27

Arts & Entertainment

More than their 15 minutes by Sheryl Nonnenberg

t’s a small exhibition, only 10 works of art, but it carries a big, bold punch that is the hallmark of Pop Art. “Pop Art from the Anderson Collection,” on display at the Cantor Arts Center through Oct. 26, 2015, provides a visual timeline of the Pop movement, from an early (1954) piece by Robert Rauschenberg to a large-scale painting by James Rosenquist from 1983. On loan from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (which is closed for expansion until 2016), the exhibition was coordinated by Cantor Director Connie Wolf and SFMOMA Curator Janet Bishop, with the permission of collectors Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson of Atherton. The 10 pieces, gifted by the Andersons in 1992,

were on permanent display in their own dedicated SFMOMA gallery until the museum’s recent closure. Rauschenberg’s “Collection” presages the Pop predilection for mass media, found materials and collage with a mix of media (oil, paper, fabric wood and metal) on canvas. It is a bright and colorful painting, a cacophony of paint and scraps of paper and fabric, some recognizable and some not. It is a stellar example of what Rauschenberg referred to as his “combine” paintings, which incorporated found objects onto the surface of the painted canvas. Another major player represented is Jasper Johns, with “Land’s End.” Johns was interested in the importance of abstract symbols and often incorporated numbers

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W NDER what to do with leftover paint?

and text into his work. In this work, oil paint in somber shades of blue, black and gray have been applied in strong and dynamic strokes. They serve as background for the subject of the painting, the words “Red, Yellow and Blue,” those allimportant primary colors. The Pop movement broke through the distinctions of “high” and “low” culture and celebrated the everyday object. An early work by Claes Oldenburg (before he began making his trademark soft sculptures) is “Funeral Heart,” constructed of enamel paint, plaster and muslin. It depicts a large heart that seems to emerge from a molded background. A swath of white crosses the heart, much like a ribbon on a funeral wreath, and is speckled with paint drippings. It is a familiar object, rendered in an unsettling manner. The heart is also the subject of Jim Dine’s “Blue Clamp,” perhaps a more traditional rendition of the familiar shape, painted in shades of red and pink, but with the added twist of a C-clamp protruding from its center. Apparently, the artist just liked the color of the clamp (blue) and the notion of adding objects from material culture to the canvas. There are few artists who have developed such an enduring signature style as Robert Indiana. Almost any time you see the configuration of the letters L O V E, whether on canvas or in sculptural form, you are looking at the work of Indiana. In this version, the white letters stand out against a black and orange background, with the O a bit off-kilter, as we all know romance can be. It’s giant, striking signage we can all relate to — and the city of Philadelphia has made it their logo. Pop artists drew their inspiration from a variety of unlikely sources, said Hilarie Faberman, Cantor’s curator of modern art. James Rosenquist, for example, painted billboards professionally before he established his career as

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• First Friday of the month 3pm – 5pm Limitations • 15 gallons or 125 pounds of HHW per visit. • Must be a Palo Alto Resident (driver’s license or vehicle registration) • Empty containers? Put them in your blue recycling cart. Page 28 • August 15, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

“Pop Art from the Anderson Collection” stars at Cantor Arts Center in year-long exhibition

technique for the eccentric Warhol — and as a symbol of the dawning of the information age, where the medium is the message. Although the Cantor Arts Center has works by many of these artists, they are mainly prints that have to be rotated regularly. “The Anderson loans,” Love, 1973, by Robert Indiana (U.S.A., b. 1928). Faberman said, Acrylic on canvas. Collection SFMOMA, gift of “are superlative Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson. quality, among the best examples on the West a Pop artist. Rosenquist’s “Leaky Ride for Coast and the loan enables the Dr. Leaky” is a fascinating mash- Cantor to present an installation up of disparate, unrelated ele- of more than a year’s duration.” The Andersons, who prefer to ments (pencils, nuts and bolts) that be known by their nicknames seem to have a space-age theme. One of the most easily recog- “Hunk” and “Moo,” are wellnized of the Pop artists is Roy known for their collection of Lichtenstein, well-known for his post-World War II American art, appropriation of comic strips and particularly in the areas of the use of benday dots. In “Rouen Abstract Expressionism and the Cathedral Set V,” the artist set Bay Area Figurative School. They his sights a bit higher, recreating are discerning collectors, as this the famous series of paintings by exhibition reflects, often willing Monet. While the great impres- to wait years in order to acquire sionist artist was intent on captur- choice works by top-notch artists. ing the impact of changing light Their gift of 121 major works on the famous landmark, Lichten- from their collection to Stanford stein employs differing dot sizes, University in 2011 was a huge color and black outlines in order coup for the school, which is in to pursue his interest in optical the process of building a separate museum to house the works of art. effects. And, of course, no Pop Art col- Scheduled to open Sept. 21, it will lection would be complete with- join the Cantor Arts Center and out the inclusion of Andy Warhol, the McMurtry Building for the the self-described “machine” of Department of Art and Art Histothe movement. He is represented ry to form the new “arts district” here by an acrylic and silkscreen on campus. “Pop Art from the Anderson self-portrait. The artist appears rather pensive, hand on chin, gaz- Collection” is installed in the ing directly at the viewer. Warhol Cantor’s Friedenrich Gallery, was primarily responsible for the which overlooks the soon-to-open acceptance of silkscreen as an art Anderson Collection at Stanford medium (it had previously been Museum — whetting museumregarded as suitable only for in- goers’ appetites for the main dustrial purposes), and here it cre- course yet to come. Q ates bold areas of color that jump Freelance writer Sheryl out at the viewer. Because it is a Nonnenberg can be emailed mechanical process that removes at nonnenberg@aol.com. She the touch of the artist, while re- worked as associate curator for sulting in a multitude of reproduc- the Anderson Collection from tions, silkscreen was the perfect 1994-1999.

For more information, visit www.cityofpaloalto.org/hazwaste zerowaste@cityofpaloalto.org (650) 496-5910

Arts & Entertainment

A free event for seniors 3rd Annual

Worth a Look

Harel has exhibited in museums and galleries in Israel, San Francisco, San Jose and Napa. A second exhibition, “Containers of Community: Ehren Tool,” honors local veterans and their shared experiences through “war awareness art.” Tool created thousands of wheel-thrown ceramic cups using decals and embossed imagery from objects and images collected from community members that reflect images and symbols of war, violence and the veteran experience. The vessels are arranged and displayed to form art pieces. Tool has given away more than 14,000 cups to members of various communities since 2001. He has exhibited his work at museums throughout California. Both exhibitions run through Sept. 7 at the Palo Alto Art Center, 1313 Newell Road, Palo Alto. The center is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sunday, 1-5 p.m. Admission is free. For information, go to cityofpaloalto. org/artcenter or call 650-329-2366.

Come enjoy: • Tai Chi demonstration • Wellness vendors

The experience of war Two exhibitions at Palo Alto Art Center take different approaches to the war veteran’s experience. “Dana Harel: Between Dreams and Nightmares,” is a solo exhibition by the Redwood City artist and former Israeli soldier. Fifteen mixed-media drawings of half-human, half-animal figures reflect the effects of war on survivors. Haunting and dreamlike, the works hint at the lingering subconscious impacts of the horrors and deprivations of war. Organized by the Laguna Art Museum, the works draw on Harel’s personal relationships to the men in her family and ties to military life. The show is particularly timely in light of the recent Gaza conflict.

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Fifty silver gelatin prints by photographer Doug Menuez, “Fearless Genius: The Digital Revolution in Silicon Valley, 1985-2000,” are on exhibit at the Computer History Museum.

“When I am Gone” is part of the exhibition by Dana Harel at Palo Alto Art Center.

PLUS Food tastings courtesy of

• Live music & dancing

Orson Welles’ 1938 radio production, “The War of the Worlds,” is legendary. A group of actors in a radio studio created the illusion of a Martian invasion, and the result was mass hysteria. Hardened New Yorkers and others on the East Coast surrendered to their imaginations, rumor and paranoia. The Martians were coming! Public reaction to “The War of the Worlds” allegedly prompted military strategies for information warfare and studies on mass hysteria. Now Stanford Repertory Theater is taking the production to the stage. Will audiences also suspend belief? The production is part of Stanford Rep’s Orson Welles summer festival. “The War of the Worlds” runs through Aug. 24, Thursdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $25 general admission and $15 for students, unemployed persons and pensioners. Performances will take place at Nitery Theater, Old Union, 514 Lasuen Mall, Bldg. 590, opposite the Stanford Bookstore. For tickets and information go to repertorytheater. stanford.edu or call 650-725-5838.

Saturday, August 16 9:30 a.m. -1:30 p.m.

Palo Alto Medical Foundation 795 El Camino Real, Palo Alto Hearst Conference Center & Courtyard

SEC

The War of the Worlds

Celebration

P RI VAT E

Theater

Aging

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Frank Chen

Stanford Repertory Theater performers David Arrow, left, Weston Gaylord, Don DeMico and Monica Cappuccini in Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds.”

Successful

Photography Fearless genius

Photographer Doug Menuez spent 15 years documenting the inside world of Silicon Valley engineers, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. His 50 silver gelatin prints, “Fearless Genius: The Digital Revolution in Silicon Valley, 1985-2000,” feature an intimate look into the people who changed the world through technology. The project begins with shadowing Apple cofounder Steve Jobs in 1985 to capture his creative genius and processes and expands to capture the exuberant ideology that made the valley’s movers and shakers put everything on the line to change the world. The exhibition examines the movement from idealism to greed and the dot-com crash. The exhibition runs through Sept. 7 at the Computer History Museum, 1401 N Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View. Hours are Wednesdays-Sundays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. General admission is $15; $12 for students, seniors and active military personnel with valid ID. Children 12 and under are admitted free. For information go tocomputerhistory.org or call 650-810-1010. Q — Sue Dremann

FACE Á FACE TRUNK SHOW Saturday August 16, 2014

2014

1805 El Camino Real, Palo Alto 650.324.3937 www.luxpaloalto.com www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • August 15, 2014 • Page 29

Eating Out by Dale F. Bentson

The next

generation Venerable Hunan Garden segues to Mandarin Roots

Natalia Nazarova

Peking duck with steamed lotus buns, scallions, cucumbers, kumquat preserves and pomegranate hoisin sauce are a specialty at Mandarin Roots. Page 30 • August 15, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

et’s not argue. Some of you might say Mandarin Roots isn’t really a true Chinese restaurant, it’s an AsianCalifornian-fusion restaurant. It is, but the menu and presentation fall predominantly on the west side of the International Date Line, and that’s Mandarin enough for me. The El Camino Real space was Hunan Garden for 15 years until the owner, Simon Yuan, decided to turn the business over to his son, Jarvis. Reopened as of May 31, Jarvis Yuan has remodeled the restaurant, semi-enclosing the patio with a new awning and adding elements that make seating a pleasurable indoor-outdoor affair. Outside, there is a vine-covered brick wall, flowing curtains, flowering plants, comfortable chairs and booths, plus strings of festive party lights overhead. Inside, there is new paint and carpeting, tables, chairs, and a banquette as well as high-definition TVs in the cozy bar. It’s a complete makeover — fresh, contemporary and inviting. Equally inviting is the happy hour Monday through Friday, from 5 to 7 p.m., during which eight delicious items as well as beer, wine, and well cocktails are attractively priced at $5 each. Normally, I don’t sing the praises of happy hour but the appetizers were so tasty and the portions so generous, I would be remiss to not point it out. All happy hour items are also on the regular menu. The San Tung chicken wings ($8) — lightly battered, crispy, meaty wings dressed with a garlichoisin glaze, scallions and “garlic candy” — were about the tastiest wings I’ve had. The garlic candy is made from paper-thin slices of garlic, blanched twice and cooked to translucency in a sweet syrup. Another happy hour selection was a pork belly quesadilla ($8) — scallion flatbread that was wrapped around braised pork belly, mozzarella and gouda cheese, with a flavorful mango-kimchee emulsion. There were also pork potstickers ($9) — fresh and piping hot — as well as salt-andpepper calamari ($9) that was crisp and light. Bahn mi sliders ($9) feature Painted Hills natural beef, smoked gouda and gruyere, Laotian chili aioli and pickled root vegetables, served on tiny steamed buns. The Yuan family didn’t want Jarvis to go into the restaurant business. Growing up, he never worked at Hunan Garden. But it was in his DNA, so he attended the California Culinary Academy, then worked in Asian restaurants both locally and in Southern California. Two years ago he moved back home and refined his style under executive chef Kenny So at Santana Row’s Sino restaurant. Ron Chu is the chef de cuisine at Mandarin Roots. Chu and Yuan met at culinary school. Rounding out the team is General Manager John Ma, who came over from the Straits Cafe restaurant chain. The menu, though, was Yuan’s vision. “Elevated street food,” he calls it. Regular menu items include eye-pleasing and delicious honeyed walnut prawns ($13). The large prawns are capped with candied walnuts and kumquats under a gentle honey mustard glaze. It had a great flavor curve: crunchy, salty and then sweet. The corn fritters ($7) vaguely resemble a honeycomb with clotted roasted corn and

Mandarin Roots 3345 El Camino Real Palo Alto 650-565-8868 www.mandarinroots.com Hours: Lunch: Mon.-Fri. 11 a.m.- 2 p.m. Dinner: Sun.-Wed., 5-9 p.m.; Thurs.-Sat., 5-10 p.m.

Reservations

Parking: lot and valet rear lot

Corkage: $10

Alcohol: full bar

Noise level: moderate

Children

Bathroom cleanliness: excellent

Outdoor dining: patio

Private parties

Credit cards

Catering

Takeout

roasted seaweed, sweet chili sauce accompanied. Fun finger food. Peking duck spring rolls ($9) have five variations using cucumber, scallion, tempura asparagus, pickled shimeji mushrooms and pomegranate hoisin. Main plates ran the gamut from fish to fowl. Sweet-and-sour pork ($14) is the typical crispy battered pork, onions and bell peppers. What distinguished the dish were tiny balls of honeydew and cantaloupe melons that accentuated the pork flavor. The star dish was the Peking duck ($29). Golden-brown and crisp yet succulent, the deeply flavored duck had been split, sliced and arranged on a platter for easy handling. The duck was served with steamed lotus buns, scallions, cucumbers, kumquat preserves and pomegranate hoisin. Diver scallops and prawns ($18) was the least satisfying dish with toy box squash, cauliflower florets, beech mushrooms, baby carrots and golden chives. Pretty presentation, but I counted only two scallops and three prawns. The crispy flounder fillets ($16) were flavorful, crisp and plentiful, but a tad too salty. The Yu Sang eggplant ($9), by the way, made an excellent side dish, both spicy and garlicky. Desserts were worthwhile. The pineapple layer cake ($8) features pineapple pastry cream, a vanilla wafer cookie, charred pineapple and rock sugar caramel with just the right amount of sweetness. Also enjoyable was “coffee and waffles” ($8) with coffee ice cream, vanilla bean, cinnamon strudel and mint créme fraiche. The créme fraiche should have been omitted though. Mandarin Roots also serves specialty cocktails (all $10), which range from the classic Manhattan to a “Pink Paradise” with coconut rum, amaretto, orange and cranberry juice. The wine list was meager but offered a decent enough selection. The restaurant also has about a dozen beers, draft and bottled. Service was very attentive and generally knowledgeable, although on one visit the waiter made repeated trips to the kitchen for answers (better than guessing though). Fusion or not, Mandarin enough or not, the food was decidedly good, the ambiance contemporary and Mandarin Roots is a good choice for larger parties as well as more intimate dining. Q

Eating Out

ShopTalk

5K WALK , 5K & 10K RUN PALO ALTO WEEKLY

MOONLIGHT RUN & WALK

previous tenants were Hyderabad House and Thyme to Eat. Known for its sushi burritos in multiple San Francisco locations, Sushirrito is tentatively looking at a fall opening in Palo Alto.

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

by Daryl Savage

NEW BLOOMIES, MORE MALL SHOPS ... Stanford Shopping Center is expanding in a big way. But the total 1.3 million-square-footage of the center will not increase because the expansion will be done vertically, not horizontally. The most visible project is the demolition of the aging structure that currently houses Bloomingdale’s. Plans call for Bloomingdale’s to move into a slightly smaller, but taller, building, which is currently under construction in a portion of the parking lot facing El Camino Real. The store is planning to close for two days while it relocates into the new structure, retail sources said. The new Bloomingdale’s expects to open Oct. 10. An additional 20 to 30 new shops and five new restaurants will go into the former Bloomingdale’s site. That will bring the total number of shops in the mall to more than 160 stores. Also included in the renovation are increased pedestrian areas and gathering places. “This project will not only transform the Center’s look and feel, but it will make Stanford Shopping Center an even greater part of the community...,” Mall Manager Joshua

Kalkhorst said. The Nike Store will reopen in October. It closed for business on July 27 for renovation, said a source familiar with the construction. And there’s a bit of a bee problem at the entrance to Macy’s Men’s store. A black and white sign in front of some thick shrubs next to the front doors warns shoppers, “Caution Bee Activity.” NEW RESTAURANTS FLOCK TO DOWNTOWN ... A trio of new restaurants in downtown Palo Alto are in various stages of construction. The first out the gate is expected to be Alkymists, a new fusion restaurant at 140 University Ave., which replaced Palo Alto Grill. The next space scheduled to open is Zola, local restaurateur Guillaume Biennaime’s French restaurant. He has gutted the former location of the short-lived Roast Shop, 565 Bryant St., to open his new venture. And Sushirrito Restaurant is taking over the long and narrow 1,300 squarefoot-space at 448 University Ave., which formerly belonged to a string of restaurants — the most recent was Sabrosa Taqueria. Other

GAME OVER FOR RACKET STRINGER ... It’s the end of an era for what could be the tiniest space ever for a business in Palo Alto. Racket Web is calling it quits next month. Owner John Mundorff, whose only job was stringing rackets, has worked out of the 200-square-foot-space for 37 years. “I’m old and tired. My thumbs are sore from doing this for so long,” he said. Mundorff’s shop at 533 Ramona St., was carved out of a portion of Nola’s restaurant. “I was in a spot through an open courtyard, past the hostess station of Nola’s. I imagine the restaurant will just take over the space once I leave,” he said. Mundorff was quick to point out his retirement is not due to greedy landlords, a scenario that has been played out again and again in Palo Alto. “I’ve had minimal rent increases that were spread over time. I was treated like family. Everybody’s been wonderful to me,” he said.

Heard a rumor about your favorite store or business moving out, or in, down the block or across town? Daryl Savage will check it out. Email shoptalk@paweekly.com.

Year of the Horse

Ming’s Celebrates Chinese New Year with Lion Dance Performances Saturday and Sunday, February 1st and 2nd 11:45 am and 1:00 pm Ming’s Chinese Cuisine and Bar

1700 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto tel 650.856.7700 / fax 650.855.9479 / www.mings.com

LIVE MUSIC

The Duet of Kenya Baker & Codany Holiday 1390 Pear Ave., Mountain View (650) 254-1120 www.cucinaventi.com For information on future events, follow us on

11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday - Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday - Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday

Cucina Venti is proud to feature the award winning Kenya Baker Live every Wednesday - Thursday from 5:30-8:30 Kenya has toured as lead guitarist for Grammy winner Joss Stone for four years, performing for celebrities and dignitaries all over the world.

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • August 15, 2014 • Page 31

5K WALK, 5K & 10K RUN

Century Theatres at Palo Alto Square

PALO ALTO WEEKLY

MOONLIGHT RUN & WALK

Fri & Sat 8/15 – 16 Calvary – 2:00, 4:40, 7:15, 9:50 Chef – 1:30, 4:15, 7:00, 9:45

SEPTEMBER 5

Sun – Thurs 8/17 – 8/21 Calvary – 2:00, 4:40, 7:15 Chef – 1:30, 4:15, 7:00

Tickets and Showtimes available at cinemark.com

Movies OPENINGS

For those who want the best for their dog...

Patrick Redmond - Fox Searchlight

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We Welcome Puppies! Brendan Gleeson stars as Father James Lavelle, whose parishioner has vowed to kill him in a week, in “Calvary.”

(650) 464-8733 | www.paloaltopetcare.com Eileen Colin Marcia Hamish Simon Emma Jacki Atkins Firth Gay Harden Linklater McBurney Stone Weaver

“THE SUMMER’S MOST BEGUILING ROMANTIC COMEDY

Colin Firth and Emma Stone Make a Magnetic Pair of Opposites. The Actors are a Pleasure to be Around.” -Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE

“EMMA STONE IS ENTRANCING AND SO IS THE MOVIE AS A WHOLE.

Filled with Flavorsome Performances. The Film’s Most Powerful Magic Lies in its Unquenchable Playfulness. A 97-Minute Séance that

LEAVES YOU GIDDY WITH DELIGHT.” -Joe Morgenstern, WALL STREET JOURNAL

++++

“

(HIGHEST RATING!)

I LOVED IT MADLY.” -Rex Reed, NEW YORK OBSERVER

Magic In The Moonlight Written and Directed by Woody

Allen

WWW.SONYCLASSICS.COM

NOW PLAYING

CENTURY 20 DOWNTOWN REDWOOD CITY LANDMARK GUILD 825 Middleﬁeld Rd, Redwood City 949 El Camino Real, (800) FANDANGO Menlo Park (650) 566-8367

VIEW THE TRAILER AT WWW.MAGICINTHEMOONLIGHTMOVIE.COM

Give blood for life! b l o o d c e n t e r. s t a n f o r d . e d u Page 32 • August 15, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Calvary 000 (Palo Alto Square, Century 20) To believe or not to believe: That is the question of religious faith. And while the Catholic Church, battered by scandal, may be waning, it remains that you can take the man out of Catholicism, but not Catholicism out of the man. Just ask John Michael McDonagh, writer-director of “Calvary.” Set in Ireland (land of the English-born McDonagh’s ancestors), “Calvary” is a tale of fear and helplessness laced with blackest humor. But while puncturing old notions of perfect priests (no Father Flanagan here), the lapsedCatholic McDonagh honors what the profession of the priesthood and New Testament stories can be good for. The resulting mysteryplay-goes-mystery-movie allegory may have a heavy hand, but it also has its finger on the pulse of the struggles facing the Church and the emotional needs of its drifting parishioners. In a typically commanding performance, the great Brendan Gleeson stars as Father James Lavelle, a basically kindly sort who meets a ghastly challenge in the film’s opening moments. Behind the obscuring screen of a confessional, one of Father James’ parishioners “confesses” that he was raped, beginning at the age of 7, by a long-dead priest. To send a message, the parishioner promises to kill Father James in a week’s time. The confessor explains, “I’m going to kill you ‘cause you’re innocent,” as innocent as the wouldbe killer’s deadened inner child. So begin the stations (mercifully reduced to seven) of Father James’ cross. As James slouches towards Calvary, he begins squinting at each parishioner he visits, wondering, “Could this be the man who intends to kill me?” And yet, Father James is there less to interrogate and more to serve

as psychologist and helping hand, despite commonly meeting with resistance, ingratitude and hostility. In his way, Father James is a comfort to everyone, even those who hate him. Yep, he’s willing to die for his parishioners’ sins, and on the way towards a fateful Sunday, he even sustains some conspicuous wounds. The episodic structure can be wearying, but the suspects comprise a fine collection of character actors given gleefully inappropriate things to say, from a stillkicking M. Emmet Walsh (“Blood Simple”) as an American writer to Chris O’Dowd (coming off his Tony-nominated work in “Of Mice and Men”) as a wife-beating butcher, Dylan Moran (who oughta be a household name on these shores as he is at home for “Black Books”) as a misanthropic millionaire to Aidan Gillen (“Game of Thrones”) as a nastily cynical doctor, not to mention that adulterous mechanic from the Ivory Coast (Isaach De Bankolè of “The Limits of Control”). Father James’ own issues include a depressive daughter played by “Flight”’s Kelly Reilly (another mystery: From whence does depression spring, and how can it be banished?) and his own latent anger at the Church’s letdowns and the situation in which he finds himself. As a feature-length grapple with the for-better-andworse Church, “Calvary” speaks loudly and clearly to those of McDonagh’s background, though the noble notion of trying to meet the challenge of Christ to live generously and humbly certainly can transcend religion. The extremities of the language and the violence will immediately turn off many, and McDonagh’s self-reflexively writerly tone (shared with brother Martin) — lines like “He’s a character, huh?” — unnecessarily take us out of

the narrative. Still, “Calvary”’s provocations are productive, adding up to an intriguing defense of the relevance of a good priest in a time when his profession is beleaguered. Rated R for sexual references, language, brief strong violence and some drug use. One hour, 40 minutes. — Peter Canavese

The Giver 00 (Century 16, Century 20) It’s odd to watch a film about the rediscovery of love, faith, passion and color, and for the film to be so by-the-numbers colorless. That’s the case with “The Giver,” adapted from Lois Lowry’s entry-level dystopian science-fiction novel, published in 1993 and widely read in junior high schools. Perhaps young viewers will be more swept up in the story, but more likely they’ll have their first experience of saying, “The book was better.” A la “Ender’s Game,” Hollywood has aged up the novel’s hero from 12 to 16, sexed up the story with more action in the climax (courtesy of “Salt” and “Clear and Present Danger” director Phillip Noyce), and beefed up a supporting role to justify the (unnecessary) casting of a paycheck-cashing Meryl Streep. Otherwise, the particulars remain in place, just listlessly. In the seemingly utopian Community, war, discord, hunger and even inclement weather are things of the past, though the place is a wash of antiseptic sameness policed in approved clothing, daily morning medication and calls for “precision of language.” At the annual Ceremony of Advancement, teen Jonas (25-year-old Brenton Thwaites) wins the respected role of Receiver because he has, according to the Chief Elder (Streep), “all four attributes: intelligence, integrity, courage and the capacity to see beyond.” Jonas will inherit the Community’s memories from the previous Receiver (an extra-gravelly Jeff Bridges) — who accepts his rechristening as “the Giver.” This oral tradition makes for the film’s most interesting sequences, mostly due to the quirky presence of Bridges. All of this unfolds in literal black and white, an admittedly bold move for a widerelease film (though one also clamored for by fans of the book). As he learns the cost of the Community’s peace, Jonas becomes entranced with colorful visions of sledding through snow, music and dance, and emotions including love. Soon, Jonas realizes that he

Movies shares with his mentor a skepticism that the tradeoff was worth it, especially when the lad learns of the more sinister extremes the powers that be will indulge to preserve the peace. In these broad strokes of suppressed emotion and repressed humanity, “The Giver” has primal power as a relevant allegory for all we willfully choose to ignore out of emotional selfpreservation and fearful clinging to luxuriant privilege. Unfortunately, even with Marco Beltrami’s overwrought score, Noyce can’t make convincing

drama of Lowry’s raw material, which first has to establish dullness before stoking fires within its characters. The hero trio of youngsters — also including Odeya Rush as Jonas’ love interest and Cameron Monaghan as their mutual buddy — come off as beautiful but bland. Monaghan at least plays his internal conflict credibly; Thwaites’ inability to do more than pull stricken or joyful faces (and Rush’s to convincingly overcome her torpor) irreparably damages the story’s impact, let down as it is by Michael Mitnick

and Robert B. Weide’s lackluster script. It’s too bad that this junior version of “Fahrenheit 451” turned out drippy, but it’s not entirely witless. The casting of Scientology escapee Katie Holmes as one of the happily brainwashed is, momentarily, almost enough to convince us that “The Giver” has a sense of humor. Rated PG-13 for a mature thematic image and some sci-fi action/violence. One hour, 34 minutes. —Peter Canavese

“An INVENTIVE WHODUNIT With a PITCH-BLACK HEART.” Rodrigo Perez, INDIEWIRE

“One Of The Year’s Most Powerful Films.

BRENDAN GLEESON Is MAGNIFICENT.” Kyle Smith, NEW YORK POST

MOVIE TIMES All showtimes are for Friday – Sunday only unless otherwise noted. For reviews and trailers, go to PaloAltoOnline.com/movies. Movie times are subject to change. Call theaters for the latest. A Most Wanted Man (R) Century 16: 12:55 & 7:15 p.m. Fri & Sat; 7:15 p.m. Sun Century 20: 11:05 a.m., 1:55, 4:45, 7:40 & 10:35 p.m. Boyhood (R) ++++ Aquarius Theatre: 12:15, 1:15, 3:45, 4:45, 7:15 & 8:15 p.m. Century 20: 10:55 a.m. & 7:35 p.m. Calvary (R) Century 20: 11:20 a.m., 1:55, 4:30, 7:10 & 9:45 p.m. Palo Alto Square: 2, 4:40, 7:15 & 9:50 p.m. Fri & Sat; 2, 4:40, 7:15 p.m. Sun Charlie Chan at the Olympics (1937) (Not Rated) Stanford Theatre: 7:30 p.m. Fri Chef (R) Palo Alto Square: 1:30, 4:15, 7 & 9:45 p.m. Fri & Sat; 1:30, 4:15, 7 p.m. Sun Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (PG-13) +++ Century 16: 9:50 a.m., 4:10 & 10:10 p.m. Fri & Sat; 9:50 a.m. & 10:10 p.m. Sun Century 20: 12:40, 3:50, 7 & 10:15 p.m. Elvis: That’s the Way It Is (PG) Century 16: 2 p.m. Sun Century 20: 2 p.m. Sun The Expendables 3 (PG-13) Century 16: 9, 10:30 a.m., noon, 1:30, 3, 4:30, 6:15, 7:30, 9:15, 10:30 & 11:40 p.m.Fri & Sat; 9, 10:30 a.m., noon, 1:30, 3, 4:30, 6:15, 7:30, 9:15 & 10:30 p.m. Sun Century 20: 11:40 a.m., 2:50, 5:50 & 9 p.m.; In X-D 1:15, 4:20, 7:25 & 10:30 p.m. The Four Feathers (1939) (Not Rated) Stanford Theatre: 3:50 & 7:30 p.m. Sat & Sun Get On Up (PG-13)

Century 20: 6:55 & 10:15 p.m.

The Giver (PG-13) Century 16: 9:15, 10:35, 11:50 a.m., 1:10, 2:25, 3:50, 4:55, 6:25, 7:40, 8:55, 10:10 & 11:25 p.m. Fri & Sat; 9:15, 10:35, 11:50 a.m., 1:10, 2:25, 3:50, 4:55, 6:25, 7:40, 8:55 & 10:10 p.m. Sun Century 20: 11:30 a.m., 2, 4:35, 7:15 & 9:55 p.m. Guardians of the Galaxy (PG-13) Century 16: 9:45 a.m., 12:45, 3:45, 7 & 10 p.m. Fri-Sun; also in 3-D 11:15 a.m., 2:15, 5:15, 8:30 & 11:30 p.m. Fri & Sat and 11:15 a.m., 2:15, 5:15 & 8:30 p.m. Sun Century 20: 1:55, 4:50, 7:50 & 10:45 p.m. In 3-D 10:55 a.m., 12:25, 3:25, 6:30 & 9:25 p.m.

Hercules (2014) (PG-13)

Century 20: 2:30 & 5 p.m.

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) (Not Rated) Stanford Theatre: 6 & 9:10 p.m. Fri The Hundred-Foot Journey (PG) ++1/2 Century 16: 10:25 a.m., 1:20, 4:20, 7:20 & 10:15 p.m. Century 20: 10:55 a.m., 1:50, 4:45, 7:45 & 10:40 p.m. Into the Storm (PG-13) +1/2 Century 16: 9:05, 11:25 a.m., 1:50, 4:25, 7:10 & 9:45 p.m. Century 20: 12:05, 2:35, 5, 7:25 & 9:50 p.m. Let’s Be Cops (R) Century 16: 9, 10:25, 11:35 a.m., 1, 2:15, 3:45, 5, 6:20, 7:45, 9, 10:25 & 11:45 p.m. Fri & Sat; 9, 10:25, 11:35 a.m., 1, 2:15, 3:45, 5, 6:20, 7:45, 9 & 10:25 p.m. Sun Century 20: 11:50 a.m., 1:05, 2:30, 3:45, 5:15, 6:30, 8, 9:15 & 10:45 p.m. Lucy (R) +++ Century 16: 10:10 a.m., 12:30, 2:50, 5:10, 7:35 & 9:55 p.m. Century 20: 12:45, 3:10, 5:35, 8:05 & 10:35 p.m. Magic in the Moonlight (PG-13) Century 20: 11:15 a.m., 1:45, 4:25, 7:25 & 10:10 p.m. Guild Theatre: 2:00, 4:30, 7:10 & 9:30 p.m. One More River (1934) Stanford Theatre: 5:55 & 9:35 Sat & Sun Planes: Fire & Rescue (PG) Century 20: 11:45 a.m. & 4:30 p.m. Fri & Sat; 11:45 a.m. & 4:30 p.m. Sun Step Up All In (PG-13) Century 16: 1:35 & 7:05 p.m. Also in 3-D 10:50 a.m., 4:20 & 9:50 p.m. Century 20: 11:25 a.m. & 7:40 p.m.; In 3-D 2:15, 5 & 10:25 p.m.

EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENTS NOW PLAYING PALO ALTO REDWOOD CITY Century SAN JOSE CinéArts at Palo Alto Square Redwood Downtown 20 & XD CinéArts Santana Row (800) FANDANGO #914 (800) FANDANGO #990 (800) FANDANGO #983

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (PG-13) ++ Century 16: 9, 11:35 a.m., 2:10, 4:45, 7:20 & 9:55 p.m. Also in 3-D 10:20 a.m., 12:55, 3:30, 6:10 & 8:45 p.m. Century 20: 12:05, 2:40, 5:15, 7:55 & 10:40 p.m. In 3-D 11:00 a.m., 1:35, 4:05, 6:45, & 9:25 p.m. What If (PG-13) Century 16: 9:10, 11:40 a.m., 2:20, 4:50, 7:25 & 10:05 p.m. Century 20: 11:10 a.m., 1:40, 4:15, 7 & 9:40 p.m.

+ Skip it ++ Some redeeming qualities +++ A good bet ++++ Outstanding

Aquarius: 430 Emerson St., Palo Alto (266-9260) Century Cinema 16: 1500 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View (800-326-3264) Century 20 Downtown: 825 Middlefield Road, Redwood City (800-326-3264)

Guild: 949 El Camino Real, Menlo Park (266-9260) Stanford: 221 University Ave., Palo Alto (324-3700) Internet address: For show times, plot synopses, trailers and more information about films playing, go to PaloAltoOnline.com/movies

CinéArts at Palo Alto Square: 3000 El Camino Real, Palo Alto (493-0128)

ON THE WEB: Up-to-date movie listings at PaloAltoOnline.com

Support coverage of our community. Memberships begin at only 17¢ per day

Join today: SupportLocalJournalism.org/PaloAlto

Enjoy the ride.

Name: Rudi Wever Position: Sales Last Book Read: The Art of Racing in the Rain Last Movie: The Icemen Last Ride: Highway 9, across Skyline Blvd., down Page Mill Rd, and into work.

Mt. Revard

Aix-les-Bains

Favorite Epic Ride: Mt. Revard via Chambery to Aix-les-Bains... amazing! Bike: LeMond Tete de Course

171 University Ave., Palo Alto

650.328.7411

www.paloaltobicycles.com

Hours: Mon. - Fri. 10am - 7pm, Sat. 10am - 6pm, Sun. 11am - 5pm www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • August 15, 2014 • Page 33

30TH ANNUAL

MOONLIGHT RUN & WALK

5K WALK, 5K & 10K RUN FRIDAY

SEPTEMBER 5 7PM AT PALO ALTO BAYLANDS FOR RACE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER, GO TO:

PaloAltoOnline.com/Moonlight_Run A benefit event for local non-profits supporting kids and families

PRESENTED BY

CORPORATE SPONSORS

Page 34 • August 15, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

EVENT SPONSORS

COMMUNITY SPONSORS

Home&Real Estate Home Front

OPEN HOME GUIDE 51 Also online at PaloAltoOnline.com

NEIGHBORHOOD SNAPSHOT

PRESERVING THE HARVEST ... Master Gardener Nancy Grove, who learned canning techniques from her mother, will teach how to preserve the harvest — and make possible holiday and hostess gifts — through water bath and pressure canning, drying, freezing and cold storage. The free workshop is from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Aug. 16, at Lyngso, 19 Seaport Blvd., Redwood City. Information (and registration): lyngsogarden.com

COMPOST BASICS ... City of Palo Alto Utilities will offer a free “Compost Basics Workshop” from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 19, at the Cubberley Community Center, Room H-1, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Information (and pre-registration): 408-918-4640 or Compost@ aem.sccgov.org

(continued on page 37) Send notices of news and events related to real estate, interior design, home improvement and gardening to Home Front, Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302, or email cblitzer@ paweekly.com. Deadline is one week before publication.

Greendell An intersection of young and old, tranquility and activity

Greendell neighborhood homes, such as these on Dake Avenue (above) and Ferne Avenue (below), are almost entirely one-story ranchers. by Benjamin Custer uzzled against San Antonio Avenue in the southern outskirts of Palo Alto sleeps Greendell, a placid neighborhood of ranch-style and Eichler homes. Greendell’s streets and cul-de-sacs, sprawled between Ferne Avenue and Mackay Drive, lie tucked away from traffic yet sit within the environs of commercial areas. “We moved here because of the perfect combination of having space to ourselves in this quiet area, but being within 10 minutes of restaurants and parks and shopping centers,” Neesha Dixit said, who arrived in Greendell with her husband, Nandan, in 2012. The young couple, both Google employees, also enjoys a short commute to work, opting occasionally to bike to work. Such situations are common in Greendell, which has long housed employees of nearby tech companies. Bill Young, a resident since 1962, chose

Veronica Weber

DROP OFF HAZARDOUS STUFF ... Household hazardous waste can be dropped off from 9 a.m. to noon every Saturday, at the Regional Water Quality Control Plant, 2501 Embarcadero Way, Palo Alto. Residents may bring latex and oil-based paints, gasoline, road flares, propane tanks (used for barbecues and camp stoves), household or auto batteries, cooking oil and more. The list of unacceptable items include

The Ottosson family — from left, Linn, 10, Mike, Carl, 8, and Monica — does a family bike ride through their Greendell neighborhood.

Veronica Weber

THIRD THURSDAYS ... Filoli offers docent-led evening walks through its orchards, including on Thursday, Aug. 21, when the site, at 86 Cañada Road, Woodside, is open until 7:30 p.m. Sunset hikes and orchard walks begin at 6 p.m.; reservations are required, but drop-ins will be allowed if there’s space. Walkers are advised to wear sturdy shoes; they will not be allowed to hike without a docent. Admission is $18 for adults, $15 for seniors (65+), $8 for students (5-17), and free for children (4 and younger) and members. Information: filoli. org

Ciera Pasturel

CAMPFIRE TREE WALK ... Bob Roney — aka “Ranger Bob,” an author, park ranger and master nautralist — will give a free talk on the “Trees of Yosemite” from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 16, at the Boy Scout Fire Circle at the Lucie Stern Community Center, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. The talk will be followed by s’mores. Information: Canopy at 650-964-6110, canopy.org or maika@canopy.org

(continued on page 37)

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • August 15, 2014 • Page 35

OPEN HOUSE SAT/SUN 1:30-4:30

Presenting: 447 Lotus Lane, Mountain View

2ŕŤ˝HUHG DW

Nestled in a quiet neighborhood, this gorgeously remodeled 2-story 3bd/2ba townhouse sits on a highly coveted parcel which backs up to the communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;green beltâ&#x20AC;?. Simply open your back courtyard gate and enjoy an expanded backyard of several acres of green grass ďŹ elds, with a playground and pool. This lightďŹ lled â&#x20AC;&#x153;must seeâ&#x20AC;? also boasts hardwood ďŹ&#x201A;oors throughout, high-end appliances, and a 2-car garage. This information was supplied by reliable sources. Sales Associate believes this information to be correct but has not veriďŹ ed this information and assumes no legal responsibility for its accuracy. Buyers should investigate these issues to their own satisfaction. Buyer to verify school availability.

BRIAN CHANCELLOR (650) 303-5511 brianc@serenogroup.com CalBRE# 01174998 Page 36 â&#x20AC;˘ August 15, 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ Palo Alto Weekly â&#x20AC;˘ www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Enjoy the tour at brianchancellor.com

Home & Real Estate

Rent Watch

Can someone collect rent on a prohibited sublease?

edited by Anky van Deursen

I have been renting a three-bedroom home for the last year. My lease has a clause that prohibits subletting, but I can no longer afford the lease because my hours have been sharply reduced at work. Rather than just move out, I rented one of the bedrooms to a “friend” from work. He lived in the room for a month but then moved out without paying the rent we had verbally agreed upon. I have told him I will sue him in small claims court, but he knows I was not allowed to sublet. He tells me that I cannot collect from him because the sublease to him was “illegal.” I really need this money. Am I entitled to collect? If you violated your lease by subletting, you may be in danger of eviction by your landlord. If the subtenant was still there, your landlord could serve a “three-day notice to perform covenant or quit” requiring you to remove the tenant or face eviction. Since the subtenant is now gone, your landlord may have less motivation to begin eviction proceedings that will be expensive for both parties.

However, the rental relationship between you and your subtenant is a separate legal relationship. Although prohibited by your prime lease, the sublet is not unenforceable or illegal in the sense that it violates civil or criminal law. It is more like a breach of contract between you and your landlord, which only your landlord can enforce. Your former subtenant is not entitled to benefit from your breach by living rent-free for a month. Unless you collected some type of deposit, you will need to file a claim against your “friend” in small claims court to collect the rent for one month. Although it doesn’t sound like you had any type of written rental agreement with your “friend” from work, a verbal rental agreement for less than a year is generally enforceable, although you will need to establish the rental amount by your testimony. Even if the judge does not agree with your testimony supporting the amount agreed upon, you can expect the judge to award you the reasonable value of renting a bedroom for a month, because your “friend” benefited by living in your home for a month.

I have lived in my apartment for six years. Just recently, a friend told me that I should have been receiving interest on the $2,000 security deposit I paid when I first moved in. Over all these years, the interest should have added up to a lot of money. Am I

Veronica Weber

Greendell (continued from page 35)

the area because he worked at Space Systems/Loral and wanted to walk or bike to work. Similarly, a job at Lockheed Martin brought Jim Phillips to the neighborhood in 1972. “My wife wanted to live in a really good school district,” Phillips said, “and I wanted to be able to ride my bicycle to work.” Residents once enjoyed the luxury of Greendell Elementary School, a site planted firmly within the community. Though the school has long since closed, the neighborhood sits in close proximity to other schools. “We have no problem with taking the kids to school,” Monica Ottosson said, who, along with her husband and two children, has been a resident for one and a half years. “It takes me about five to 10 minutes to drive them, and we also bike, which takes about 10 minutes.” Greendell derives much of its identity from its Eichler homes,

which sprouted up throughout the area in the mid-1950s. But Greendell was predated by a community of ranch-style homes called Fairfield Estates, a name that faded with transformation. “Nobody recognizes Fairfield Estates,” Warren Storkman said, who has lived in his ranch-style house since 1955, “and we were the first group to be in this part of Palo Alto. We were an isolated tract of homes, and we were able to see Eichler come marching toward us, building his houses and pushing the cows out of the pastures.” While some disagree on the neighborhood’s name, there is consensus that it is peaceful and friendly. Neighbors look out for one another and gather for a block party every Labor Day. Greendell is anchored in an older demographic, which many see as a strength. “Folks who have lived here for a really long time are the ones who shape the community,” Dixit said, “and slow movement has helped new families to understand the culture.”

FACTS

Home Front

CHILDCARE AND PRESCHOOLS: Crescent Park Child Development Center (Peekaboo), 4161 Alma St.; Discovery Children’s House Montessori, 303 Parkside Drive; Palo Alto Infant Toddler Center, 4111 Alma St.

(continued from page 35)

FIRE STATION: No. 4, 3600 Middlefield Road

This house on Ferne Avenue, with its mature tree in the front yard, is typical of the one-story Greendell homes.

too late to sue for the unpaid interest? If you have a written rental agreement, the good news is that you have four years to file a case in small claims or any other court for money owed as a result of your security deposit, for example failure to refund it. If you have a verbal agreement, even if there aren’t many details other than the amount of rent and the amount of the security deposit, you have two years to file a case. However, the bad news is that there is no state law in California requiring a landlord to pay interest on a security deposit. You can still check whether your local jurisdiction has an ordinance requiring interest to be paid on security deposits. Some local rent-control ordinances do require landlords to pay interest. For example, the rent-control ordinance that applies in the city of San Francisco requires that interest be paid yearly. However, if you are not under such a local ordinance, your landlord does not owe interest to you. Q Project Sentinel provides landlord-tenant dispute resolution and fair-housing services in Northern California, including rental-housing mediation programs in Palo Alto, Los Altos and Mountain View. Call 650-856-4062 for dispute resolution or 650-3216291 for fair housing, email info@housing.org or visit www.housing.org.

LIBRARY: Mitchell Park branch, 4050 Middlefield Road LOCATION: between Ferne Avenue, San Antonio Avenue and Mackay Drive NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION: Srini Sankaran, president, Greendell Neighborhood Association, admin@greendell.org; 650-4851335

fireworks and ammunition, infectious wastes and controlled substances. Proof of Palo Alto residency (either a driver’s license or current utility bill) is required. Information: 650-4966980; for a complete list of accepted materials, visit cityofpaloalto.org and search for “hazardous waste” Q

HOME SALES

Home sales are provided by California REsource, a real estate information company that obtains the information from the County Recorder’s Office. Information is recorded from deeds after the close of escrow and published within four to eight weeks.

Atherton

PARKS: Greenmeadow Park (private), 303 Parkside Drive; Mitchell Park, 600 E. Meadow Drive

65 Fairfax Ave. A. Debaubigny to A. Husain for $3,400,000 on 7/3/14; previous sale 12/10, $2,599,000

POST OFFICE: Cambridge, 265 Cambridge Ave.

352 Azalia Drive A. Jones to Esther Eames Limited for $400,000 on 7/7/14 335 Wisteria Drive Working Dirt to E. & A. Perez for $505,000 on 7/8/14; previous sale 1/03, $399,000

PRIVATE SCHOOLS (nearby): Palo Alto Prep School, 4000 Middlefield Road; Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School, 450 and 470 San Antonio Road PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Fairmeadow Elementary School, J.L. Stanford Middle School, Gunn High School SHOPPING: Charleston Shopping Center, The Village at San Antonio

Despite living in an older neighborhood, young families feel right at home. “Our kids have many friends living close by,” Ottosson said. “I feel very good about letting them bike to friends by themselves. ... The security of living in a small community where people know each other makes us feel safe.” Q Editorial Intern Benjamin Custer can be emailed at bcuster@paweekly.com.

East Palo Alto

Los Altos

1932 Alford Ave. Marietta Trust to B. & M. Po for $1,700,000 on 7/24/14 10 Alma Court Burrill Enterprises to C. & A. Ing for $2,660,000 on 7/24/14 1551 Awalt Court Wishner Trust to Quinn Trust for $2,400,000 on 7/23/14 746 Casa Bonita Court Currier Trust to S. Chettiar for $2,670,000 on 7/24/14 607 Covington Road Vu Trust to Kam Trust for $3,550,000 on 7/25/14; previous sale 10/04, $1,205,000 36 Farm Road T. Kim to M. Shraybman for $1,300,000 on 7/23/14; previous sale 1/07, $951,000 1734 Hawkins Drive Malatesta Trust to W. Wing for $1,660,000 on 7/25/14 1093 Los Altos Ave. Sutter Trust to C. Wang for $1,899,000 on 7/24/14 860 Renetta Court Mercer Trust to B. & A. Taylor for $2,250,000 on 7/25/14; previous sale 6/04, $1,557,000 929 Sherwood Ave. Lennar Homes to Melwani Trust for $1,460,000 on 7/25/14; previous sale 4/90, $325,000 1241 Via Huerta Seifert Trust to E. MacDonald for $2,325,000 on 7/23/14; previous sale 11/06, $1,755,000 220 Yerba Santa Ave. P. Hung to R. & T.

Krauss for $3,480,000 on 7/24/14; previous sale 10/00, $1,600,000

Los Altos Hills

26830 Almaden Court Chen Trust to Ramanan-Stauffer Trust for $3,100,000 on 7/23/14

Menlo Park

642 18th Ave. Camuso Trust to J. Chung for $892,000 on 7/3/14 701 Fremont St. K. & E. Ersun to NeeseVentre Trust for $1,735,000 on 7/3/14; previous sale 11/10, $1,060,000 1337 Hoover St. #5 Hickey Trust to 1968 Trust for $692,500 on 7/3/14; previous sale 11/10, $1,080,000 280 Leland Ave. C. Boorman to G. Willman for $2,505,000 on 7/3/14; previous sale 9/08, $2,175,000 2030 Liberty Park Ave. Arnold Trust to K. Oh for $1,501,000 on 7/3/14 1320 Modoc Ave. Modoc Trust to H. Deshays for $622,000 on 7/8/14 431 Vine St. Unger Trust to A. & R. Sivaraman for $1,925,000 on 7/2/14; previous sale 4/93, $488,000

Mountain View

956 Bonita Ave. #9 Realty Investment Group to B. Hexsel for $789,000 on 7/23/14; previous sale 2/01, $300,000 505 Cypress Point Drive #286 T. Welch to J. Hutchinson for $649,000 on 7/24/14; previous sale 9/06, $505,000 505 Cypress Point Drive #45 K. Shea to D. Maahs for $420,000 on 7/25/14; previous sale 11/06, $347,000 331 Geary Way Station 362 Limited to L. & C. Yang for $1,549,000 on 7/24/14 1437 Meadow Lane J. & E. Han to C. & K. Carter for $1,906,000 on 7/23/14; previous sale 5/02, $965,000 100 E. Middlefield Road #6g A. Sengupta to J. Hu for $540,000 on 7/25/14; previous sale 5/06, $475,000 27 Moonbeam Drive #D T. & K. Hricko to J. Wu for $842,000 on 7/25/14; previous sale 3/04, $480,000 1269 Phyllis Ave. A. Stenman to Y. Tang for $1,435,000 on 7/24/14 1115 Rose Ave. Armi Trust to Z. He for $2,005,000 on 7/24/14; previous sale 4/86, $200,000 49 Showers Drive #W213 K. Chisholm to F. Alkhadra for $770,000 on 7/22/14; previous sale 5/09, $511,000

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