Palo Alto
Vol. XLI, Number 40 Q July 10, 2020
Black Lives Matter mural image rankles police group Page 7
w w w. P a l o A l t o O n l i n e.c o m
After state, county butt heads, t t ll l f outdoor td di i restaurateurs gett all-clear for dining Page 5
Read up-to-the-minute news on PaloAltoOnline.com Q Economy Hair salons, barbers brace for rocky reopening Q Arts Pear Theatre premieres on-demand vignettes Q Eating Out Fine dining during a pandemic
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on your list of safe places to go “Stanford Medicine is probably one of the safest places you can be. We are taking every precaution.” —Mary Hawn, MD | Chair of the Department of Surgery, Stanford Medicine At Stanford Health Care, we are raising standards at our locations throughout the Bay Area to create a safe environment for our patients and staff. • Employees are tested for COVID-19 using methods developed by Stanford Medicine.
• Waiting rooms and clinics are arranged for physical distancing.
• Every individual entering our facilities is given a mask and screened for symptoms of COVID-19. Those with symptoms are directed to a separate waiting area.
• A restricted visitor policy and expanded access to video visits limit the number of people passing through.
• Appointment check-in is available through the MyHealth app, reducing patient queues and use of shared devices. • Medical teams have sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE), including gowns, gloves, and masks.
• Patients are tested before all procedures and surgeries and when visiting the emergency room. • Enhanced cleaning measures are in place, utilizing chemicals and UV light. • Specialized filtration systems eliminate the circulation of airborne contaminants.
We are prepared to provide healthcare through this crisis, with safe in-person care and convenient video visits.
To learn more about how we are adapting care, visit: stanfordhealthcare.org/resumingcare Page 2 • July 10, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com
SILICO N VALLE Y H O M ES
1500 Cowper St, Palo Alto Offered at $22,995,000 Michael Dreyfus · 650.485.3476 Lic. #01121795 Noelle Queen · 650.427.9211 Lic. #01917593
471 Nevada Ave, Palo Alto Offered at $6,988,000 Samia Cullen · 650.384.4392 Lic. #01180821
569 Maybell Ave, Palo Alto Offered at $5,295,000 Michael Dreyfus · 650.485.3476 Lic. #01121795 Noelle Queen · 650.427.9211 Lic. #01917593
567 Maybell Ave, Palo Alto Price reduced to $4,995,000 Michael Dreyfus · 650.485.3476 Lic. #01121795 Noelle Queen · 650.427.9211 Lic. #01917593
1540 Walnut Dr, Palo Alto Offered at $3,495,000 Michael Dreyfus · 650.485.3476 Lic. #01121795 Noelle Queen · 650.427.9211 Lic. #01917593
12 Peter Coutts Circle, Stanford Offered at $1,149,000 Chris Iverson · 650.450.0450 Lic. #01708130
654 Creek Dr, Menlo Park Offered at $3,798,000 Penelope Huang · 650.281.8028 Lic. #01023392
2091 Camino Al Lago, Menlo Park Offered at $2,198,000 Kockos Group · 650.430.5524 Lic. # 01928141
174 Vista Verde Way, Portola Valley Offered at $3,285,000 Mary Jo McCarthy 650.400.6364 Lic. #01354295
715 Bean Hollow Rd, Pescadero Offered at $3,750,000 Jakki Harlan · 650.465.2180 Lic. #01407129
80 Gresham Ln, Atherton 286 Willowbrook Dr, Portola Valley Offered at $4,825,000 Offered at $4,295,000 Penelope Huang · 650.281.8028 Omar Kinaan · 650.776.2828 Lic. #01023392 Lic. #01723115
Virtual Home Tours See some of our premier listings from the comfort of your own home through 3D virtual reality and high definition video.
Palo Alto Office 728 Emerson St 650.644.3474
Menlo Park Office 640 Oak Grove Ave 650.847.1141
Los Altos Office 195 S. San Antonio Rd 650.941.4300
goldengatesir.com/HD Woodside Office 2989 Woodside Rd 650.851.6600
Redwood City Office 555 Middlefield Rd 650.577.3700
goldengatesir.com/VR Burlingame Office San Carlos Office 1250 San Carlos Ave 101 401 Primrose Ave, St. J 650.865.3000 650.597.1800
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www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 10, 2020 • Page 3
FREE COMPOST Garden-Ready and Available for Pickup in Palo Alto
Need more compost than you can make? Don’t have time to make your own? Pick up free compost at the new Compost Giveaway Station! Pick-Up Location
Guidelines
Eleanor Pardee Community Garden 851 Center Road, Palo Alto
•
Palo Alto residents only
•
Bring your own shovel and containers to put compost in
•
Only one car is allowed at the compost pile at a time
•
Pickup limited to 96 gallons per week
•
Drive carefully – gardeners and pedestrians enjoy the garden and are in the area
Hours •
Tuesday – Sunday: 9 AM – 4 PM
•
Monday: CLOSED
Availability Compost is delivered weekly and available while supplies last.
e SMaRT Station also has free compost available for Palo Alto residents. Learn more at www.cityofpaloalto.org/compost
FREE MULCH Free mulch is available at Rinconada and Mitchell Park sandbag stations during park hours. There is no limit on quantity, but if you would like seven cubic yards or more of material, please contact Public Works — Urban Forestry at (650) 496-5953. You will need to bring your own shovel and containers. Mulch is delivered weekly and available while supplies last.
For more information, visit
www.cityofpaloalto.org/compost zerowaste@cityofpaloalto.org (650) 496-5910
Page 4 • July 10, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com
Upfront
Local news, information and analysis
After weekend turmoil, county’s reopening plan gets state’s OK State and county health orders clashed, throwing outdoor dining into limbo by Gennady Sheyner
S
anta Clara County received the go-ahead from the state on Monday night to proceed with its plan to further reopen the economy — a welcome relief after a weekend of confusion in which the state told
south county restaurants that outdoor dining wasn’t allowed and Palo Alto police warned the city’s eateries that the same directives could happen here. Palo Alto restaurants have been serving their patrons at outdoor
tables since June 5, when a county public health order took effect that allowed such activity. The city even closed California Avenue and, later, University Avenue to traffic in order for tables to be placed on those streets to give restaurants more space. So it came as a shock when agents from the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control visited several businesses in
Gilroy and Morgan Hill over the holiday weekend to tell them that the state does not allow outdoor dining, according to a report from The Mercury News. Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a Monday news briefing that state agents made 5,987 in-person visits over the weekend to bars and restaurants in counties on the state’s “monitoring list,” with visits generally targeting parts of the state
with known violators and establishments about which the state has received complaints. Palo Alto Police Lt. Kara Apple emailed city restaurant owners on July 4 to warn them of the state’s enforcement activity. “The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is visiting all restaurants with ABC licenses. (continued on page 11)
HOUSING
State’s housing goals spur local anxieties City could see its housing allocation more than double under new regional mandates by Gennady Sheyner
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Magali Gauthier
Gina Hampton cuts Kathy Berra’s hair at DJ’s Hair Design Inc. in Menlo Park on July 8.
ECONOMY
For hair salons and barbershops that haven’t gone out of business, it’s a rocky road to recovery Shop owners face uncertainty in a business that can’t physically distance by Lloyd Lee
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a Migliore Salon in Menlo Park used to be booked full of regular clients up to an entire year in advance and it closed at 5 p.m. most days. But since reopening June 22, owner Showa Sahle and two other hair stylists have been accepting customers from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. just to make ends meet. Many of her regular customers are understandably afraid to
return during a pandemic, she said. The extended hours have helped the stylists serve around 10 clients each, with 15-minute breaks between appointments in order to properly disinfect the tools and the station and grab a quick breath of fresh air outside before putting their masks back on. To create an added atmosphere
of safety, Sahle’s salon also conducts temperature checks and each client is given a basket containing a mask and a clean gown. With hair cuts allowed under San Mateo County’s June 17 revised public health order but still prohibited elsewhere, the experiences of salon and barbershop owners could foreshadow the future of Santa Clara County stylists, who will be allowed to
reopen on July 13. From interviews with operators in both regions, it’s clear the hair service industry is facing a long road to recovery in a pandemic that thrives in close contact and indoor spaces. For the past several weeks, Sahle has been taking clients from all over the Bay Area
fter falling woefully short of their own housing goals, Palo Alto city leaders are bracing for a daunting new assignment: a state mandate that may force them to plan for more than 5,000 residential units by 2031. Like other cities across the state, Palo Alto is preparing to receive in the coming months its latest mandate from the Association of Bay Area Governments and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the two regional planning agencies that are in the midst of crafting a long-term growth strategy called Plan Bay Area 2050. The two agencies are also charged with administering the Regional Housing Needs Allocation process, which assigns each city a certain number of housing units at various income levels for which to plan. To date, Palo Alto has fallen well short of the regional goals. In the current cycle, which runs from 2015 to 2022, the city was assigned 1,988 housing units. By the end of 2019, it had only approved 554 units, of which 420 were in the “above moderate” income category. And while Palo Alto City Council members often talk about the need to address the shortage of affordable housing, the city has only produced
(continued on page 12) (continued on page 9)
www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 10, 2020 • Page 5
Upfront 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306 (650) 326-8210
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
PUBLISHER William S. Johnson (223-6505) EDITORIAL Editor Jocelyn Dong (223-6514) Associate Editor Linda Taaffe (223-6511) Sports Editor Rick Eymer (223-6516) Arts & Entertainment Editor Karla Kane (223-6517) Home & Real Estate Editor Heather Zimmerman (223-6515) Express & Digital Editor Jamey Padojino (223-6524) Staff Writers Sue Dremann (223-6518), Elena Kadvany (223-6519), Gennady Sheyner (223-6513)
I think it’s a red herring to get the community worked up. —Michael Alcheck, Planning and Transportation commissioner, on recent criticisms of the state’s new housing goals. See story on page 5.
Chief Visual Journalist Magali Gauthier (223-6530) Editorial Assistant/Intern Coordinator Lloyd Lee (223-6526) Contributors Chrissi Angeles, Mike Berry, Carol Blitzer, Peter Canavese, Edward Gerard Fike, Yoshi Kato, Chris Kenrick, Jack McKinnon, Sheryl Nonnenberg, John Orr, Monica Schreiber, Jay Thorwaldson ADVERTISING Vice President Sales & Marketing Tom Zahiralis (223-6570) Multimedia Advertising Sales Tiffany Birch (223-6573), Elaine Clark (223-6572), Connie Jo Cotton (223-6571) Real Estate Advertising Sales Neal Fine (223-6583), Rosemary Lewkowitz (223-6585) Legal Advertising Alicia Santillan (223-6578) ADVERTISING SERVICES Advertising Services Manager Kevin Legarda (223-6597) Sales & Production Coordinators Diane Martin (223-6584), Nico Navarrete (223-6582) DESIGN Design & Production Manager Kristin Brown (223-6562) Senior Designers Linda Atilano, Paul Llewellyn Designers Kevin Legnon, Amy Levine, Douglas Young BUSINESS Assistant Business Manager Gwen Fischer (223-6575) Business Associates Jennifer Lindberg (223-6542), Suzanne Ogawa (223-6543) ADMINISTRATION Courier Ruben Espinoza EMBARCADERO MEDIA President William S. Johnson (223-6505) Vice President Michael I. Naar (223-6540) Vice President & CFO Peter Beller (223-6545) Vice President Sales & Marketing Tom Zahiralis (223-6570) Director, Information Technology & Webmaster Frank A. Bravo (223-6551) Director of Marketing and Audience Development Emily Freeman (223-6560)
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Major Accounts Sales Manager Connie Jo Cotton (223-6571) Circulation Assistant Alicia Santillan Computer System Associates Chris Planessi, Mike Schmidt 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 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. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Palo Alto Weekly, 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306. Š2020 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 Our email addresses are: editor@paweekly.com, letters@paweekly.com, digitalads@paweekly.com, ads@paweekly.com Missed delivery or start/stop your paper? Email circulation@paweekly.com. You may also subscribe online at PaloAltoOnline.com. Subscriptions are $120/yr.
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Page 6 â&#x20AC;˘ July 10, 2020 â&#x20AC;˘ Palo Alto Weekly â&#x20AC;˘ www.PaloAltoOnline.com
Around Town GONE IN A FLASH ... Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s newest public mural came and went so quickly that you probably missed it. The one-word message was painted in large yellow letters on Page Mill Road, in front of the Foothills Park entrance: Desegregate. About a dozen activists, some from Palo Alto (who, as such, can visit Foothills Park whenever they want under the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;residentsonlyâ&#x20AC;? policy at the open space preserve) and some from other cities (and, as such, would be prohibited from entering the park, unless accompanying a Palo Alto resident), met under the full moon on Sunday night to write the message along Page Mill Road. Most were teenagers; two were from the activist organization Raging Grannies, according to Vara Ramakrishnan, one of the organizers of the activity. But the groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work proved to be a fleeting gesture in a decades-long debate over Foothills Park access. By 7 a.m. on Monday, a city employee was on scene using a power hose to erase the message. Before long, it was gone. Ramakrishnanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 17-year-old daughter, Anjali Ramanathan, believes the â&#x20AC;&#x153;residents onlyâ&#x20AC;? policy at Foothills Park is closely tied to racist practices of the past â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including redlining and blockbusting â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that have made it historically difficult for Black and brown people to buy homes in Palo Alto. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I wanted white folks to think about it, next time they go to Foothills Park and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see any Black or brown faces around,â&#x20AC;? Ramanathan said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;That does mean something. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not an accident.â&#x20AC;? The issue of opening up Foothills Park to the greater public has been a point of contention in Palo Alto for decades, with the debate over the issue flickering on and off every few years. Opponents of removing the policy have consistently argued that limiting access to the park is necessary to protect the pristine natural landscape in the 1,400-acre preserve.
MEMORIAL FINDS ONLINE HOME ... This week, the National AIDS Memorial launched a new website that shows all 48,000 panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt online. The platform has a search bar that allows users to look for a square based on a name or block number. Local groups are among the contributors of the quilt, which is filled with stories of people who have died of AIDS. Among them are staff members and clients of the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Medical Center. Their square featured stitches that formed a clown releasing balloons into the air and candles. A square from East Palo Alto, titled â&#x20AC;&#x153;Free At Last,â&#x20AC;? includes the message â&#x20AC;&#x153;Unite in Love and Remembrance.â&#x20AC;? At its center is a series of flags with 72 names, each accompanied with a red ribbon, which symbolizes AIDS awareness, from the Stanford University Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Alumni Club dated May 25, 1995. The square also includes a poem titled â&#x20AC;&#x153;Fly Freeâ&#x20AC;? by Janet Childs that in part reads â&#x20AC;&#x153;Fly free, my friend, fly free / Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll hold your memory / With the love from our hearts.â&#x20AC;? To view the quilt, visit AIDSMemorial.org. CHANGE OF HANDS ... Youth Community Service, a nonprofit founded 30 years ago to provide volunteer opportunities to students in Palo Alto, East Palo Alto and Menlo Park, named Mora Oommen as its new executive director on July 1. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As we face both a global health pandemic and a national reckoning of structural racial injustices, our youth will be leading the way in shaping and imagining the world anew. As the executive director, I am honored to learn and grow with them,â&#x20AC;? Oommen wrote in a statement. She previously served as executive director for Blossom Birth & Family, a center supporting new and expecting families, from 2008 to 2017. Leif Erickson, who led YCS for the past 16 years, will stay involved with the nonprofit as a member of the board of directors. Q
Upfront BUSINESS
Tech companies, research institutes cash in on federal loan program Major recipients of coronavirus-sparked aid include SETI Institute, Menlo College by Gennady Sheyner, Kevin Forestieri and Lloyd Lee were Izzy’s Brooklyn Bagels, a Palo Alto eatery that got a loan of between $150,000 and $350,000, and Adara Inc., a marketing company on East Meadow Circle that specializes in traveler data and received a sum in the $2 million to $5 million range. The list also includes the car dealer Magnussen’s Imports (between $1 million and $2 million) in Palo Alto and Ellison Towing in Mountain View ($350,000 to $1 million). The SETI Institute, a Mountain View-based organization dedicated to searching for extraterrestrial life, also received a loan. Bill Diamond, president and CEO of SETI Institute, said the amount was $2.4 million. Many of the institute’s scientists work in research labs in NASA Ames Research
Magali Gauthier
Menlo College, a private school in Atherton, received a federal loan between $2 million and $5 million.
Center in Mountain View, which has been shut down since midMarch, he said in an email. “For these scientists, the inability to access labs means the inability to do much of their research, which in turn impacts their income and the indirect costs that support Institute administrative and facilities expenses,” Diamond wrote. “As such, PPP funds have been used to maintain these researchers on full salary, where laboratory time has been replaced by proposal writing for new and continued research.” Diamond also said that the loan funds allowed the Institute to continue to lease its headquarters in Mountain View. Without the loan, he wrote, the Institute would have undertaken “significant layoffs of both research and administrative staff. “In our case the PPP funds precisely fulfilled the purpose they were intended for,” he said, adding that the Institute expects to pay back as much as 20% of the loan that has not been used. Other research groups also benefited from the business program. Institute of the Future, a nonprofit based in downtown Palo Alto, received between $1 million and $2 million, while Palo Alto Veterans Institute for Research got a loan between $2 million and $5 million. The Fogarty Institute, a medical research hub located at
Magali Gauthier
R
esearch institutes, tech companies and hotels were among Midpeninsula’s biggest beneficiaries of the federal Paycheck Protection Program, with some recipients getting loans of more than $5 million, according to data released this week by the U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. Department of Treasury. While ostensibly targeting small businesses, the program also provided millions of dollars to large foundations, research firms and nonprofit groups focusing on health care and education, the data shows. The list does not include specific loan amounts but reveals the range in the loan amount. Among the diverse recipients
Nicole Taylor, left, president and CEO of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, chats with Melissa Daar Carvajal, executive VP of marketing and communications, in her office in Mountain View on May 23. El Camino Hospital, got between $150,000 and $350,000. Local developers were also on the receiving end of the aid program. Spieker Companies, a property manager that focuses on multifamily housing, received between $1 million and $2 million. Sand Hill Property Company, a major commercial and residential developer with various properties in Stanford Research Park, was funded between $350,000 and $1 million, as was Hohbach-Lewin, an engineering design firm based on Sheridan Avenue. In at least one local case, the federal data was incorrect. It stated that the Silicon Valley Community Foundation received a loan of between $2 million and $5 million, but in a statement, the foundation said that its loan was $259,756 and was for the nonprofit Raising A Reader. The foundation offers administrative support to Raising A Reader, which provides literacy and parental engagement programs. The foundation applied for a loan on
Raising A Reader’s behalf. In explaining the discrepancy, the foundation stated that the bank determined that it was eligible for a loan of more than $2 million, based on the foundation’s budget. The local hotel industry, which has been decimated by the economic shutdown, received a boost from the federal program. Pacific Hotel Development Venture, whose Palo Alto hotels include Sheraton Palo Alto, The Westin and The Clement Palo Alto, received between $2 million and $5 million. The parent companies of Dinah’s Garden Hotel and Crowne Plaza Palo Alto received between $1 million and $2 million each. In Palo Alto, the largest loan went to Enjoy Technology, which specializes in mobile retail and which also received a loan of between $5 million and $10 million. Numerous education and media companies in the Midpeninsula (continued on page 8)
RACIAL JUSTICE
Artists block street to guard new Black Lives Matter mural Group plans to stay until the city applies protective coating, negotiates an agreement over image of convicted police killer by Sue Dremann
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parked three cars on the mural, one each at either end and one in the middle. Motorists were still able to drive in the right-hand lanes, which are not covered by the artwork. Some of the artists, concerned the latex-paint mural might wear away, had wanted the city to paint a protective layer over the artwork. City Manager Ed Shikada said on June 30 that the city hadn’t decided whether it will coat the paintings. Artist Matthew Basirico, who painted the letter “R,” called Mayor Adrian Fine Wednesday about the coating. He said Fine asked him to email him, but Basirico said he doesn’t want to engage in an email exchange. “I plan to be out here until we
negotiate putting the protective barrier down,” he said. Basirico said he also strategically parked his car on top of the “E” in “Matter,” an artwork that has generated controversy because it contains a depiction of Joanne Chesimard. The National Police Association has asked the city to remove the image of Chesimard, who escaped prison in 1979 while serving time for the 1973 killing of a New Jersey State Police trooper, according to a petition by the police association. Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur, was a member of the Black Liberation Army in the 1970s, a group that killed 13 police officers. She and two others opened fire on two troopers
Sue Dremann
group of demonstrators has parked cars on top of the new Black Lives Matter mural on Hamilton Avenue in Palo Alto, guarding it against both the elements and cars amid concerns that the image of a convicted police killer could be erased, they said Wednesday. The artists and their allies noticed on Wednesday morning that the city had taken down street barricades that had kept traffic off of the mural, which spells out the words “Black Lives Matter” in block letters filled with colorful designs and memorials to the struggle of Black people in America. Tire tracks had already begun to streak the mural by Wednesday evening. About 10 demonstrators
Artist Matthew Basirico protects the Black Lives Matter painting from cars on Hamilton Avenue on Wednesday evening. during a traffic stop. One of the troopers died and the other survived the gun battle. Chesimard was later captured and convicted of first-degree murder and multiple other felonies. She was granted political asylum in Cuba after escaping from prison. She remains on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, the association said. “If it is not possible to imagine putting a 17-foot-tall mural
of nurse Richard Speck (a mass murderer) in front of a hospital or putting a 17-foot-tall mural of Dan White, who assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, in front of a mayor’s house, the atrocity of the celebration of a fugitive convicted cop killer in front of Palo Alto’s City Hall is (continued on page 10)
www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 10, 2020 • Page 7
Upfront
News Digest
ELECTION 2020
Palo Alto native, graduate announces bid for school board
Stanford cuts nearly a dozen sports teams After the 2020-21 season, Stanford University will no longer have varsity fencing, field hockey, synchronized swimming or wrestling teams. They are among the 11 varsity sports the university is eliminating to save money in the face of a growing deficit in the athletics budget and looming broader campus cuts due to the pandemic. Stanford announced the decision on Wednesday first over Zoom to the more than 200 student-athletes and 22 coaches from the affected teams: men’s and women’s fencing, field hockey, lightweight rowing, men’s rowing, co-ed and women’s sailing, squash, synchronized swimming, men’s volleyball and wrestling. The teams will be able to compete for a final time this year — if athletic events are allowed. Twenty staff members will lose their jobs as a result of the cuts. In an open letter, President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Provost Persis Drell and Director of Athletics Bernard Muir called the decision “heartbreaking” but necessary. The board and athletics executive team unanimously supported the decision, according to the university. Stanford currently offers 36 varsity sports, more than nearly every other Division I college in the country, the university said. This is no longer sustainable, Tessier-Lavigne, Drell and Muir wrote, particularly in light of a structural deficit in the athletics department that predated the coronavirus shutdown. Without cutting the 11 sports, Stanford forecasted a “best-case scenario” of a $25-million deficit for athletics in 2021, including the effects of COVID-19, and a cumulative shortfall of nearly $70 million over the next three years. Q —Elena Kadvany
School board backs plan for new year The Palo Alto Unified Board of Education gave the green light on July 3 to the district’s plan for reopening schools this fall with some tweaks, including requests to plan for more in-person time for sixth-graders and to consider later start times for middle and high school students. The board unanimously approved a plan that will bring elementary students back to schools in person while middle and high school students will primarily learn at home, with some options to gather in-person for small group activities on their campuses. The secondary-schools proposal is a departure from the district’s initial plan to have groups of middle and high school students alternate coming to school in person two days a week. The board members asked staff to return in two weeks with a plan that would allow sixth-graders to be on campus for “significant, ongoing academic instruction,” which they hope would help ease their transition into middle school. The district released before Friday’s meeting a proposal for in-person sixth-grade orientation: two days during which groups of 12 students would meet their classmates and teachers in person and familiarize themselves with their new schools. The district is asking elementary school families to decide whether they want their individual children to learn remotely or in person this fall by July 17, a looming deadline about which several parents expressed anxieties. Q —Elena Kadvany
Woman arrested for daughter’s 1993 homicide Twenty-seven years after a 3-year-old girl was found unresponsive in her family’s East Palo Alto home, investigators have arrested her mother in connection with the homicide, the Police Department announced on Wednesday. Yolanda Ortega, who was 27 years old at the time, fled to Mexico with her husband prior to the San Mateo County Coroner Office’s determination of the child’s cause of death. Paramedics were dispatched to the family home in the 2300 block of Ralmar Avenue in East Palo Alto on June 28, 1993, at around 11:55 a.m. The child was transported to Stanford Hospital where she died at 12:43 p.m., police said. San Mateo County Deputy District Attorney Trisha Povah, who is handling the case, said Ortega will be charged with one count each of murder and child abuse causing great bodily injury or death for the homicide of Yoani Sanchez. The Coroner’s Office determined she died from blunt-force trauma. Ortega faces 25 years to life in prison. The Marshals Service Fugitive Apprehension Team located Ortega, now 54 years old, on July 7 at about 5:30 p.m. after she entered a shopping center parking lot in Oxnard, a city in Ventura County about 70 miles west of Los Angeles. Q —Sue Dremann LET’S DISCUSS: Read the latest local news headlines and talk about the issues at Town Square at PaloAltoOnline.com/square
Page 8 • July 10, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com
Three seats will be open on Board of Education in November
K
atie Causey, a Palo Alto native, Palo Alto Unified graduate and nonprofit employee, announced on Tuesday that she’s running for a seat on the school board in November, becoming the first candidate in the race. In her announcement, Causey described herself as a role model for current students who’s focused on student empowerment, Katie Causey mental health and diversity. Three seats will be up for grabs when the terms of board President Todd Collins and members Jennifer DiBrienza and Melissa Baten Caswell expire. Baten Caswell said Tuesday that she is not running for re-election in Palo Alto but is campaigning for the Area 1 seat on the Santa Clara County Board of Education. Neither Collins nor DiBrienza have announced whether they plan to seek re-election. Causey attended Ohlone Elementary School and JLS Middle School. She graduated from Palo Alto High School in 2012. The seed to run for local office was planted when Causey was a freshman at Paly, she said, in the wake of student deaths by suicide. “I know many alumni from that period who have had ongoing conversations about potentially running to highlight mental health and civic engagement,” Causey wrote in an email. She said she started watching local school board meetings
PPP loans (continued from page 7)
also benefited from the loan program. Khan Academy, a nonprofit that offers online courses and was already running on a budget deficit pre-COVID-19, received a loan of between $2 million and $5 million, while German International School of Silicon Valley got between $1 million and $2 million. “(During the COVID crisis) our deficit got larger and the fundraising environment got that much more uncertain,” said Salman Khan, founder of Khan Academy. “The PPP funds helped narrow our deficit” and helped the nonprofit to retain its 180 employees across the U.S. Menlo College, a private school in Atherton, also received a loan between $2 million and $5 million. Embarcadero Media, the
by Elena Kadvany as a college student at George Washington University, where she studied inequality and discrimination in communities and schools through a degree in women’s studies. She started writing down ideas she wanted to see implemented in her own school district, she said. In 2017, she was accepted to Emily’s List’s Run To Win program, which recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office. In response to the coronavirus shutdown, Causey and her campaign team organized a list of local alumni to whom current students can reach out for support. While there are informal alumni Facebook groups and an official Paly alumni association, she said she hopes the list is a step toward creating a formal alumni-student mentorship program in the school district. “This is a fantastic opportunity for students weighing decisions about their post-high-school careers to talk to recent grads about what navigating stress, networking and higher education looks like right now,” she said. “Students can directly see how professional growth doesn’t look one way and isn’t a straightforward path.” Last year, Causey advocated in a guest opinion piece published by this news organization for lowering the voting age for Palo Alto school board elections. “When I was a freshman at Paly, this district faced one of its most difficult times when multiple students died by suicide, but in response, so many hardworking community members stepped up to help students,” she wrote. “If I
had been given the opportunity to help decide which of those community members were elected to the Board of Education, not only would I have been connected to more adults in the community offering help, but I would have felt a greater sense of control over decision making during a time when so much of student life felt out of control.” If elected, Causey said she would prioritize diversity in curriculum, hiring and training. The district should focus on strengthening its support for vulnerable students — particularly during the pandemic, her campaign website states. She also wants to prevent the current school shutdowns from exacerbating social isolation and substance abuse among students. “No one gets left behind in a crisis,” she writes on her website. Causey identifies as bisexual and believes that, if elected, she could possibly be the first member of the LGBT+ community to hold this office. Causey is a member of the League of Women Voters, through which she’s worked on issues including sustainability, school meal plans and gun legislation, according to her LinkedIn page. She was also a campaign adviser and director of fundraising for school board Vice President Shounak Dharap’s campaign in 2018. She recently was a chair at the Junior League of San Francisco, a nonprofit women’s organization that promotes volunteering. Q Staff Writer Elena Kadvany can be emailed at ekadvany@ paweekly.com.
parent company of Palo Alto Online, Mountain View Voice and The Almanac, got a loan of $675,000. The program also assisted numerous local restaurants, big and small. The British Bankers Club in Menlo Park received a loan of between $2 million and $5 million, while Asian Box, which has locations in Town & Country Village in Palo Alto and on Castro Street in Mountain View, received between $1 million and $2 million. Three companies sharing the same P.O. box in Palo Alto and headed by Conrad Freeman, who owns 16 McDonald’s franchises along the Midpeninsula, also benefited from the federal program: Con-Lee Restaurants, named after Conrad and his wife, Lee Ann Freeman, got a loan of between $2 million and $5 million; Freeman Management received $150,000 to $350,000;
and Con & Con Inc. received $350,000 to $1 million. Palo Alto restaurants Fuki Sushi, Sundance Steakhouse and Protégé all received between $350,000 to $1 million each, and Jin Sho, Café Pro Bono and Taro, each got between $150,000 to $350,000. According to the Treasury Department, the data covers nearly 75% of the loan dollars approved under the $660-billion program that federal lawmakers approved in March in response to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic shutdown. It only provides names of companies that have received loans of greater than $150,000 according to the department’s news release. Q To view the list of PPP recipients, go to tinyurl.com/PPPMidpen2020. Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com.
Upfront ELECTION 2020
Gunn High teacher joins race for City Council County Human Relations Commissioner Greer Stone known for supporting social-justice issues, opposing Senate Bill 50 by Gennady Sheyner
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developments (SB 50 was ultimately defeated in the state Senate). In March 2019, he co-wrote an opinion piece with former Mayor Pat Burt opposing SB 50, which they argued would “usurp local democracy and eliminate singlefamily neighborhoods.” He also debated now-Mayor Adrian Fine, a supporter of SB 50, in an episode of “Behind the Headlines,” the Palo Alto Weekly’s webcast. Stone’s Tuesday announcement means that he will be vying with Burt, and possibly Fine, for one of the four council seats that will be up for grabs. Fine and council members Lydia Kou and Greg Tanaka are all concluding their first council terms and are eligible to run again. Kou is seeking another four-year term, while Fine and Tanaka have yet to publicly declare their intentions. Councilwoman Liz Kniss will term out this year. Planning and Transportation Commission Chair Cari Templeton and Planning Commissioner Ed Lauing also are seeking seats, as is attorney Rebecca Eisenberg, who has been a vocal critic of
the City Council’s recent budget decisions. Stone also ran for a council seat in 2016 and was politically aligned with the council’s “residentialists,” who tended to support slow-growth policies. That group included Vice Mayor Tom DuBois, Councilman Eric Filseth and former Mayor Karen Holman, current president of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District board of directors, all of whom are supporting Stone’s current bid for a council seat. Stone told this news organization Tuesday that he is running because he believes the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic crisis and the national outcry over racial equality have created “a unique opportunity to have what many commentators are labeling a ‘great reset.’” “I really think Palo Alto has reached an inflection point at this moment in time, which is both caused by a pandemic and social unrest across the nation,” Stone said. The crisis, he said, creates an opportunity to rethink the challenges
Housing
believe the city should request a delay. During the Planning and Transportation Commission’s discussion on Wednesday of the new regional allocations, Schmid argued that the numbers are based on a “jobs driven” forecast that disproportionately impacts already jobs-rich cities like Palo Alto. While the numbers roughly double the number of housing units across the Bay Area, Schmid noted that Palo Alto’s allocations could triple under the methodology that ABAG is considering. “These numbers are based on a jobs-driven forecast in already jobs-rich areas and will cost billions of dollars in subsidies in Palo Alto alone, along with a likely loss of control of neighborhood zoning,” Schmid said. Other residents joined his call to slow down the process. Terry Holzemer said he found it “regrettable” and “shameful” that the process is moving toward the July 10 deadline with few opportunities for the public to weigh in. “This is a major plan that not only affects one area of the city, but all areas of the city,” Holzemer said. Others, however, argued that the numbers should be higher. Kelsey Banes, executive director of Peninsula for Everyone, a housing advocacy group, said she was hoping that the number assigned by the state housing department for the region would be between 600,000 and 1 million.
“We think a number this low is planning to fail, and planning to continue on in a housing crisis,” Banes said. “We know we need to build more inclusive housing in our region if we’re going to address our climate emergency and if we’re going to dismantle our structure of segregation.” The commission did not support delaying the process, noting that the decision to appeal the Bay Area allocation should come from ABAG, not individual cities. While commissioners agreed that Palo Alto needs to plan for — and build — more housing, they disagreed about the consequences that the city may face if it falls short of the regional targets. Commissioner Bart Hechtman said he is not fearful about the prospect of the state taking away local zoning powers. He noted that the state mandate could benefit developers who want to build a project in Palo Alto by providing them with a streamlined approval process. “That would be a good problem to have — developers coming here and wanting to build in the city. ... If the RHNA numbers spur that activity in our market, I think that’s a good thing,” Hechtman said. Commissioner Michael Alcheck said that he believes it is “moot to lose sleep over this number,” noting that the city has repeatedly fallen well short of its allocation numbers and has not suffered any significant consequences.
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43 units in the “very low” income category since 2015. In the “low” and “moderate” categories, the city has approved 65 and 26 units, respectively. Palo Alto leaders don’t yet know exactly how many units they’ll have to plan for in the next cycle, but all signs suggest the number could double or triple. Last month, the state Department of Housing and Community Development assigned to the entire Bay Area an allocation of 441,176 residential units, spread across all income categories. The regional agencies are still finalizing the methodology for assigning housing numbers to cities, but using a projected growth rate of 16% in each city, Palo Alto’s planning staff are estimating that the city will get an allocation of at least 4,475 units, based on the city’s share of the region’s households. Under certain scenarios, the city’s share could be as high as 6,532, according to staff. Some residents have argued that the Bay Area numbers are far too high and have urged the city to appeal the 441,176 figure that the state had assigned to ABAG and MTC. The regional agencies have until July 10 to challenge the number and have not indicated that they plan to do so. Former Palo Alto Vice Mayor Greg Schmid is among those who
reflect that reality,” Stone wrote in the opinion piece. “Let’s recognize the moral and practical implications of poverty and resolve to evolve these temporary solutions into permanent ones.” Stone said that, if elected, his priorities would be producing affordable housing, traffic mitigation, economic recovery and creating a closer “governmentcommunity partnership.” He also rejects the notion that his opposition to SB 50 makes him, in any way, anti-housing. The bill, he said, would have been “horrible for affordable housing production for Palo Alto and across the state of California.” He disagrees with those that hold that the city needs to create much more market-rate housing, which is necessary to subsidize the affordable units. Stone argues that simply upzoning would increase land costs and make housing even more unaffordable. This is why the state bill generated such opposition from humanrights groups and from advocates for low-income housing, he said. Stone also faced criticism from several residents for his testimony at a February 2019 sentencing hearing of his half-brother, Michael Airo, a teacher who was convicted of sexually abusing his ex-girlfriend’s daughter. At the sentencing hearing, Stone described Airo as a “good person” (continued on page 12)
Magali Gauthier
reer Stone, a Gunn High School history teacher and former chair of the Palo Alto’s Human Relations Commission, has joined the increasingly crowded race for a seat on the City Council. Stone currently serves as vice chair of the Santa Clara County Human Relations Commission and leads the commission’s Justice Greer Stone Review Committee, an ad hoc group charged with recommending police reform initiatives to the county Board of Supervisors. During his years on the city’s Human Relations Commission, he advocated for expanding social programs and services, including ones pertaining to mental health and veterans. Over the past year, Stone emerged as a fierce critic of Senate Bill 50, which would have increased height limits and eased density restrictions for housing
that have frustrated the city for decades, including traffic and housing. He believes telework, which has become widespread during the pandemic, should be emphasized as a critical strategy for managing traffic. Santa Clara County has a task force that is focusing on encouraging telework, Stone said, and Palo Alto should participate. A successful switch to telework would also help Palo Alto meet its housing challenges. If fewer offices are needed, some of the existing commercial spaces could be converted to residential space. He said he would support looking at policies that would make it easier for properties to switch from commercial to residential zoning. Stone also penned an opinion piece in April urging city leaders to address the disproportionate impact that the pandemic has had on Black and Latino residents, who are more likely to be working in “essential” jobs during the pandemic and who are less likely to have easy access to affordable health care. He also urged city leaders to address homelessness during the pandemic by designating “safe parking” locations throughout the city for vehicle dwellers and by making public land available for temporary shelters. “Let’s finally acknowledge that social determinants of race and ethnicity play critical roles in equity and design our housing, health care and other policies to
After years of sluggish housing production, Palo Alto may be required to plan for more than 5,000 new units in the next RHNA cycle. “I think it’s a red herring to get the community worked up about the allocation and the fear ... because it just hasn’t played out,” Alcheck said. But others pointed to recent state efforts to add some teeth to the housing allocation process and restrict cities’ abilities to reject housing proposals. Even though the most ambitious of these efforts, Senate Bill 50, fizzled earlier this year, other bills have already been approved or will likely win passage in the near future. Commissioner Ed Lauing said he believes the state will pass new laws so that allocations will be enforced. “There’s no question, these things put local control in question,” Lauing said. Vice Chair Giselle Roohparvar
said the city needs to do more to actually address the barriers to housing construction. She pointed to bills like Senate Bill 35, a 2017 law that streamlines housing construction, and the numerous efforts to spur the creation of more accessory-dwelling units. “You can say you want housing all you want, but you’ve got to put your money where your mouth is and make it happen. ... What we really need to do is drill down into the nuts and bolts and make the changes that are needed in order to attract the type of housing and the type of diversity and community that we want to see in this city,” Roohparvar said. Q Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com.
www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 10, 2020 • Page 9
Upfront
Mural
Online This Week
(continued from page 7)
These and other news stories were posted on Palo Alto Online throughout the week. For longer versions, go to www.PaloAlto Online.com/news.
Significant rise in COVID cases San Mateo County health officials on Tuesday reported that the two days with the highest totals of new COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began occurred in the last couple of weeks, according to a press release. (Posted July 9, 9:17a.m.)
Parcel tax renewal on fall ballot The Palo Alto school board decided Tuesday night to place a parcel tax renewal on the November ballot, partially out of concern that the measure might not pass the first time. (Posted July 8, 9:33 a.m.)
School board member seeks county seat After 13 years as a Palo Alto Unified School District board member, Melissa Baten Caswell is moving on — she confirmed Tuesday that she’s seeking a seat on the Santa Clara County Board of Education in November. (Posted July 8, 9:22 a.m.)
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equally reprehensible. For law enforcement required to enter the building, is there any description other than a hostile work environment?” the association wrote. The artist who painted the mural, CeCe Carpio of Oakland, was not at Wednesday night’s demonstration. Basirico said he has spoken with her and she doesn’t want anything changed while she tries to negotiate with Shikada. Fine said he was disappointed to learn about the inclusion of Joanne Chesimard in the mural. “In no way does the city condone or support violence. But I’m also not interested in removing her image. Part of this process is allowing new voices to speak up, and that may be uncomfortable, but that’s one of the great things about art,” he said. Carpio, a disaster worker by day and a painter, said in an email that as a woman of color, an artist, a muralist, and as a cultural worker, she reclaims public spaces and creates largerthan-life images to tell stories of collective experience. “In our current time, when the Black Lives Matter movement continues to be on the rise, I feel it is imperative that we participate and show solidarity with our Black communities.
The fight for Black liberation has paved ways for us to be here. It is our responsibility to continue to defend Black Lives and support Black resistance,” she said. “As a resident of Oakland with its rich history of this movement, birthing the Black Panther Party, it is important to me to share this history with young people like my niece because its legacies give us hope today. The Black Panther Party created over 65 survival programs including the breakfast and lunch program for school children, free health clinics and sickle cell anemia testing. They advocated for health care, affordable housing and participated in political elections. Their demands still ring true for us all. Demands that continue to be made by movements across the world.” Carpio felt it was important to represent the “words and wisdom” of Chesimard, who she said has been a political refugee since 1979. The mural contains a quote from Chesimard that reads, “We must love each other and support each other,” Carpio said. “Assata was a target of policing and COINTELPRO, and is still a target of the policing and the U.S. government. They see her involvement with the Black Liberation movement as a threat to the status quo. Just as they see the movement to defend Black lives as a threat to racial
capitalism and white supremacy,” she said. Shikada could not be immediately reached for comment. Meghan Horrigan-Taylor, the city’s chief communications officer, said in an emailed statement Wednesday night that the mural is “one aspect of a larger city dialogue taking place on race and equity and connects to the city’s thoughtful conversations on the role of policing.” “The mural is temporary,” Horrigan-Taylor said. “In no way does the mural take away from the value we have in our police officers who serve our community every day. Temporary art is a means of expression on difficult issues and the Black Lives Matter mural is thought-provoking and is inspiring conversation.” From the beginning, the city’s intent that the mural would be a temporary installation was communicated to the artists and the broader community, she said. Q Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at sdremann@ paweekly.com.
LET’S DISCUSS: Read the latest local news headlines and talk about the issues at Town Square at PaloAltoOnline.com
EAT, SHOP & CELEBRATE SUMMER IN PALO ALTO We look forward to seeing you out on California Ave and on University Ave and throughout the Downtown core this summer!
Visit today with your family! For more go to www.cityofpaloalto.org/summerstreets Page 10 • July 10, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com
Upfront
Reopening (continued from page 5)
Lloyd Lee
ABC is telling businesses to stop outdoor dining; that is, to stop both food and beverage service at outdoor tables,” she wrote. “Staff does not have much information, and we are actively working to gather more information about these activities.” (In the end, ABC agents did not come to Palo Alto.) The unexpected clash between the state and the county arose because the state’s public health order does not allow outdoor dining in counties that have not met all the coronavirus and COVID-response “metrics” for readiness, a necessary prerequisite for receiving the state clearance to reopen further. State guidelines require counties that want to reopen more quickly to submit “variance attestation” forms, confirming that they have met the state’s readiness criteria. Some counties, including San Mateo and San Francisco, have submitted these forms and are allowed to move more speedily on reopening businesses. Santa Clara County last week was on the state’s monitoring list for not having met the readiness criteria. “Santa Clara County issued a local order opening outdoor dining (on June 5), but the county does not yet have an approved attestation from the state to open indoor or outdoor dining,” the state Department of Public Health stated in a response to this news organization on Monday. County leaders, for their part, argued that because the state had not explicitly banned outdoor dining, and because other parts of the state have been allowing outdoor dining without seeking variances, they had assumed such a variance was not needed. On Monday morning, Santa Clara County Deputy County
Diners eat outside on University Avenue in Palo Alto. Executive David Campos said that the direction from the state on outdoor dining was creating confusion for some businesses. “What we want them to know is, as far as the county of Santa Clara is concerned, we believe that outdoor dining is allowed under our order and that is consistent with the state order,” Campos said. Not only did the state send enforcement agents to the southern part of the county over the weekend, it also informed the county on July 4 that it was denying the newest health order that county Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody had issued on July 2, which would allow hair salons, gyms and other businesses to reopen on July 13. The state’s denial of the July 2 order seemed to catch just about all local and county leaders by surprise, given that it was the first instance since the shutdown took effect on March 17 in which the state explicitly rejected an order from the county’s health officer. While county officials acknowledged last week that the order would require approval from the state, they expressed optimism that the approval would be forthcoming. In her request for a variance, Cody acknowledged that the
percentage change in the county’s COVID-19 cases and the absolute number of patients “do not explicitly meet” the state’s metric for readiness. But she noted that the total number of patients “remains quite low given the size of the county and total number of available hospital beds.” “Indeed, overall hospitalization rates are lower than in other counties across the state at the time they were granted a variance,” Cody wrote. “Our total number of hospitalized patients also remains much lower than in many other urban counties.” Despite the weekend’s tension, Cody announced at a Tuesday news briefing that the county worked “closely with the California Department of Public Health
over the weekend to make sure we met the metrics and met the criteria, and ultimately we were approved.” According to the state Department of Public Health, the county submitted a complete attestation, which was posted on the site late in the day on Monday. “If we want to continue outdoor dining, with this variance we can continue to allow outdoor dining as well as some other sectors and activities,” Cody said. “We can enable them to come online.” Cody’s new order, which is now set to take effect on July 13, as originally scheduled, represents a shift toward “risk-reduction thinking,” she said. Rather than focusing on specific business sectors, the order provides a set of universal rules and principles for all businesses to follow. These include moving operations to outdoor spaces, requiring physical distancing and limiting the duration of contacts between people. The July 2 order includes a set of rules that all businesses must follow during the pandemic. These include allowing telework when possible and imposing density restrictions, with no more than one employee per 250 square feet of gross floor area. The order underscores the existing requirement for always wearing a face covering when indoors in a place of business. And it prohibits businesses and activities where adhering to these
principles is not feasible, including indoor dining and swimming, concerts and nightclubs. “We know that this pandemic has been with us for a while. We know this pandemic will be with us for a while longer,” Cody said Tuesday. “And at the end of the day, Mother Nature is in charge and we must adapt.” County Executive Jeff Smith emphasized that the state’s decision to grant the variance does not mean that the county is doing better in regard to COVID-19. The situation, he said, is in fact getting worse. “The reason we have applied for the variance is because we realized that the success of dealing with the virus in the longterm depends on individual responsibility, not based on sectors that are open,” Smith said. “Rather than having a focus on which businesses are open and having a focus on asking businesses to enforce distancing, this order focuses on personal responsibility.” Q Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com. About the cover: Diners eat at Local Union 271 restaurant, which served around 40 people during the lunch hour, on June 27. Photo by Lloyd Lee.
Public Agenda A preview of Palo Alto government meetings next week CITY COUNCIL ... The council is not scheduled to meet this week. BOARD OF EDUCATION ... The school board will hear an update on the district’s plan for reopening schools in the fall. The virtual meeting will begin at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, July 14. The meeting will be broadcast on Cable TV Channel 28 and midpenmedia.org. Those wishing to participate by Zoom can do so by going to pausd.zoom. us/j/97888498129 or dialing 669-900-6833 and using Meeting ID: 949 9734 6242. ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW BOARD ... The board plans to discuss proposed revisions to the facade of Lytton Gardens, a senior-housing facility at 656 Lytton Ave. The virtual meetings will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 16. Those wishing to participate by Zoom can do so by dialing 669-900-6833 and using Meeting ID: 937 9255 2500. PUBLIC ART COMMISSION ... The commission plans to discuss best practices to advance cultural racial equity in public art; consider approving funding for temporary art by Susan O’Malley at the Palo Alto Art Center; and discuss future council discussions pertaining to the commission, including the reduction of commission members and the public art budget. The virtual meetings will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 16. Those wishing to participate by Zoom can do so by dialing 669900-6833 and using Meeting ID: 984 4270 6881.
genpeds.stanfordchildrens.org www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 10, 2020 • Page 11
Upfront
Hair (continued from page 5)
CityView A round-up
of Palo Alto government action this week
City Council
The council did not meet this week.
Board of Education (July 7)
Parcel tax: The board waived its two-meeting rule and approved a resolution to place a parcel tax on the November 3 ballot. Yes: Unanimous Right At School contract: The board waived its two-meeting rule and approved a contract with child care provider Right At School, removing an automatic renewal clause. Yes: Unanimous
Planning and Transportation Commission (July 8) Traffic analysis: The commission discussed the city’s shift from Level of Service (LOS) to Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) in analyzing projects for CEQA compliance, in accordance with state law. Action: None Housing: The commission discussed the Regional Housing Needs Allocation process and Plan Bay Area 2050. Action: None
Wireless Telecomm Facility “CCL00038” Interested persons are invited to comment on the following wireless telecommunications facility named “CCL00038” located at 2570 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, Santa *SHYH *V\U[` *( HUK ZWLJPÄJHSS` VU WV[LU[PHS LќLJ[Z [V historic properties located at or near this facility, if any. ;OL ZP[L JVUZPZ[Z VM H WYVWVZLK HU[LUUH TVKPÄJH[PVU VU the building’s rooftop. Comments regarding potential effects to historic properties should be submitted by email to KerryWilloughby@AceEnvironmentalLLC.com. Address: 9976 Peak Lookout St., Las Vegas, NV 89178, (702) 614-4431. This notice is provided in accordance with the regulations of the FCC 47 CFR Part 1, Subpart I and Appendices B and C. Page 12 • July 10, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com
Lloyd Lee
— Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, San Jose, San Francisco — and in one instance, Los Angeles. And she could use all of them. Besides a small loan through the Paycheck Protection Program, one of only ways La Migliore survived the shutdown was through a GoFundMe fundraiser, which netted $11,863. Sahle did not receive unemployment loans or any relief for the shop’s rent. Her employees also either have hourly wages or work on commission. “We’re trying to help everybody,” Sahle said. “And we’re trying to protect ourselves financially so we can pay our bills.” Down the block on Santa Cruz Avenue, Erik Mollegaart, owner of DJ’s Hair Design, said most people seem ecstatic to get their hair cut after four months of sheltering in place. Inside DJ’s this week, masked clients sat in partitioned stations as they got their hair cut or colored. But, like Sahle, Mollegaart is extending his hours, opening his doors as early as 6 a.m. and closing them as late as 9 p.m to take in as many customers as he once did before the pandemic. The owner said he also gave the keys to his stylists so they can work when he’s not around and started to operate DJ’s on Sundays.
“I’m a Viking,” said Mollegaart, 68, who is from Copenhagen. “Those are tough old birds, and I’m one of them.” Not all salons can use the extended hours, however. Diane Pham, owner of Diane’s Salon in Portola Valley, said business is slow. And at Hair Mill on Chestnut Avenue, a barbershop that sits between La Migliore and DJ’s, owner David Klemish stood outside a shop that was full of empty vintage barber chairs by 1 p.m., with no appointments scheduled for the rest of the day. “Everybody cut their own hair so they don’t need me until it grows out,” Klemish said. “Business is about 95% down. I just think no one wants to go out.” Klemish opened Hair Mills in 1974. Before the pandemic, Hair Mill was a “full house,” he said, with four barbers providing haircuts and facial shaves. Now, per county health order, shaves are not allowed. And after one barber retired and another moved to Arizona, the barbershop soon became a solo operation for Klemish. DJ’s and La Migliore experienced a similar fate. Mollegaart said three stylists retired, while Sahle said two stylists didn’t return for work. La Migliore is hiring, but applicants are failing to show up for interviews, Sahle said. “It’s exhausting,” she said. “We’re trying to hire, but people don’t seem to want to work.” As a small operation, Klemish
Urban Style Barber Shop has remained closed since Santa Clara County’s shelter-in-place order went into effect March 17. Shop owner Vincente Alcaraz said he plans to reopen on July 21. said he’ll be fine on his own. After this slump, in about three to four weeks, he predicts business will be close to normal again, during which he used to cut an average of 10 customers’ hair per day, “easy.” Why the optimistic prediction? “Hair grows half an inch a month,” he laughed.
‘Too little, too late’ In Palo Alto’s Midtown shopping center, Vincente Alcaraz, the new owner of Urban Style Barber Shop, is getting ready to reopen the 7-year-old business. “I believe we’ll do well,” Alcaraz said. “But we will need some help. I need to look for barbers, I need to fill up the chairs — I haven’t been working and my wife hasn’t been working (but) I have a mortgage, I have bills and I have kids.” Alcaraz said he plans to reopen Urban Style on July 21, a week after Santa Clara County’s new order goes into effect, to make sure his shop’s social-distancing protocols are approved by the county before he starts booking appointments. The Hayward resident bought the barber shop from Kathy and Terry Parks, who had been the proud proprietors since 2013 and served everyone from JLS Middle School and Gunn High School students to
Council (continued from page 9)
and a “caretaker.” His testimony as a character witness attracted a rebuke from Michele Dauber, a Stanford University law professor, and her husband, Ken Dauber, a member of the Palo Alto Board of Education, who told San Jose Inside in May 2019 that Stone’s statements did not show adequate concern for the victim and took issue with his characterization of Airo, who was ordered to serve 15 years in state prison. Michele Dauber told San Jose Inside that Stone’s testimony
Stanford University and San Francisco 49ers football players. But after the countywide shutdown on March 17, the couple quickly realized they couldn’t come up with the space’s $3,200-per-month rent without any customers or without any help from the federal or local government. (In May, the city of Palo Alto launched a relief fund program that started with $500,000. Kathy said they did not qualify.) The landlord offered some help, but by then, Kathy said, it was “too little, too late.” “When we had a completely profitable business going after seven years of being opened, why would we go into debt for this?” she asked. On May 1, the Parks family moved to Oregon, where Terry’s side of the family currently resides. The couple plans to open a new barber shop near their Portland home under the same name. Alcaraz, who had been an Urban Style barber for six years, said he purchased the Palo Alto shop to maintain its legacy, its clientele and his and two other barbers’ jobs. But even he has trepidation. “It’s a scary time, because this is our livelihood,” Alcaraz said. “This is what we do.” At least one local salon wasn’t saved by the grace of resilient new owners, kind landlords or community fundraisers.
Near the end of June, Alisa Barnhart closed Mountain View’s Allure Salon, which opened in 2005 and, according to Barnhart, operated with around 40-60 independent contractors. Without any income from the shop, Barnhart said there was no way to meet the space’s monthly rent of $14,228. If Allure reopened, the salon could only run at 50% capacity under the county’s health order. And if Barnhart wanted to run the salon outside of normal business hours — for example, to accept more clients like DJ’s or La Migliore Salon — there was another $100 attached for every hour the building is used outside of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The landlord was willing to help, she said, but only if she signed a new lease that came with a 3% increase in rent. “The bottom line is, small business owners were not taken care of,” she said. “PPP loans, all of that, were not going to help.” Like all salon owners interviewed in this story, Barnhart said she was running a profitable business before the pandemic. For now, Barnhart does not have any plans to reopen another salon. “It just all happened so quick,” she said. “I can’t personally open another shop now.” Q Editorial Assistant Lloyd Lee can be emailed at llee@ paweekly.com.
should have disqualified him from the California Democratic Party convention. When asked about the criticism, Stone said he tried his best to answer questions as honestly as possible. He called the episode a “deeply painful one” for everyone involved. “Best I can say, I testified truthfully to the character of my brother as I’ve always known him,” Stone told this news organization. “My duty was not only as a family member but also as part of the litigation process, which calls for character witnesses.” A former attorney, Stone said he is excited to work on the city’s
effort to pursue police reforms. An important first step, he said, is firming up use-of-force policies to make them more aligned with the national 8 Can’t Wait campaign’s platform. In some cases, it could mean changing the wording from “should” to “shall” — a change that may seem minor but that can have profound consequences. Stone said that he plans to run a “very positive, issues-based campaign.” “I think that’s something we almost lost the ability to do in the United States of late,” Stone said. Q Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com.
Pulse A weekly compendium of vital statistics
POLICE CALLS Palo Alto
July 1-July 7 Attempted suicide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Child abuse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Domestic violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Rape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Sex crime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Theft related Checks forgery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Commercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Vehicle related Attempted theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . 3 Auto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Driving w/ suspended license. . . . . . . . 1 Lost/stolen plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Alcohol or drug related Driving under influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Drunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Possession of paraphernalia . . . . . . . . 1 Under influence of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Miscellaneous Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Internet hacking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Psychiatric subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . 2 Warrant/other agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Menlo Park July 1-July 7
Violence related Robbery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Sexual battery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Theft related Burglary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Vehicle related Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Driving w/ suspended license. . . . . . . . 1 Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . 1 Vehicle accident/no injury. . . . . . . . . . . 3 Alcohol or drug related Drunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Miscellaneous Animal cruelty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Coroner case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Mental evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Misc. penal code violation . . . . . . . . . . 1
Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . 1 Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
VIOLENT CRIMES Palo Alto East Charleston Road, 6/26, 12:08 p.m.; sexual assault/rape. Ross Road, 6/30, 8:11 p.m.; child abuse/ physical. Woodland Avenue/University Avenue, 7/2, 10:04 a.m.; child abuse/physical. Alma Street, 7/3, 2:22 p.m.; attempted adult suicide. Lytton Avenue, 7/4, 7:58 p.m.; sex crime. 855 El Camino Real, 7/6, 10:30 p.m.; domestic violence.
Menlo Park 500 block El Camino Real, 7/1, 9:47 a.m.; robbery. 1300 block El Camino Real, 7/2, 5:26 p.m.; battery. 700 block Santa Cruz Avenue, 7/3, 12:27 p.m.; sexual battery. Hollyburne Avenue/Pierce Road, 7/4, 2:26 p.m.; robbery.
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November 23, 1934 – June 10, 2020
Elva June Gould, 91, has passed away. June, as she was known by family and friends, was born in Australia, then immigrated to the U.S. in 1949. Seven years later, June married Richard K. Gould and together they opened Dick’s Drive-Inn in Palo Alto. Soon they added three more children to the four June had from her first marriage. Their Ramona Circle Eichler was often filled with friends and neighbors who were drawn there in large part due to June’s terrific sense of humor, her endless generosity and her amazing cooking skills. In 1974, June and Richard moved to Oregon where they lived until Richard passed in 2014. Since then June had lived with family in Mountain View. June was preceded in death by husband Richard K. Gould, and a son, James A. Gould. She is survived by daughters Leah Costa, Deborah Glerum (Costa), Margaret Mannwieler (Costa) and Susan Terry (Gould), and sons Michael Costa and Richard E. Gould. June will be laid to rest with her late husband at California Central Coast Veterans Cemetery in Seaside, California.
A list of local residents who died recently: M a rjor i e “Je r r y” Smallwood, 85, educator and recipient of the Avenidas Lifetimes of Achievement award, died on June 10. To read the full obituaries, leave remembrances and post photos, go to Lasting Memories at PaloAltoOnline.com/ obituaries. Q
Sec.106 of the Programmatic Agreement, T-Mobile West, LLC plans to upgrade an existing telecommunications facility at 101 Alma Street Palo Alto, CA 94301. Please direct comments to Gavin L. at 818-8984866 regarding site SF04340A.
Marjorie (Jerry) Smallwood
Elva June Gould
OBITUARIES
PUBLIC NOTICE - In accordance with
26
On June 10, 2020, with nearly all the members of her immediate family gathered around her, Marjorie (Jerry) Smallwood finally succumbed to Lewy Body Disease after a long and courageous fight. Jerry was born in Montclair, New Jersey on November 23, 1934. She graduated from Montclair High School in 1952, and from Smith College in 1956, where she majored in childhood education. This marked the beginning of a lifelong devotion to educating children and generally improving their situation. Her first job out of college was teaching third grade in Needham, MA. While living with friends in Boston she met Richard (Dick) Smallwood on a blind date. They were married 8 months later to begin 61 years of living and working together. They raised three children and embarked on major interests in tennis, hiking, traveling, running, bridge, backpacking, and tandem touring. Jerry followed her interests in childhood education by devoting serious amounts of time working as a: third grade teaching aid, curriculum developer for Environmental Volunteers, and leader of Palo Alto girls’ softball. In 1984 she had an idea ahead of its time. She founded Pursuit of Excellence (POE), a scholarship program to provide financial support and mentoring to first generation, low-income, local high school students. Under her excellent guidance and mentoring along with generous donations from friends, the program grew steadily and exists today. She, along with Dick, won the 2016 Avenidas Lifetimes of Achievement award for their work on POE. During the summer she could frequently be found in her sunny kitchen, catching up with one of her scholarship students, providing support and figuring out what they needed to be successful. Her fondest memories were of time spent at Saltaire, Fire Island, where she enjoyed time with all generations of the family every summer of her life for 55 years. Known for her ready smile and quick wit, Jerry was the glue that held her family together. We will miss her. She is preceded in death by her daughter, Lee, her parents, Donald and Marjorie Hopkins, her brother, Nathaniel Hopkins, and her sister, Carol Brown. She is survived by her husband, Dick, her three children, Scott (Carol Ann), Carol (Jim) Mullin, and Bradley and seven grandchildren. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be directed to the peninsula Pursuit of Excellence Scholarship Program. Link: www.poescholarships.org A memorial service will be held when larger gatherings are allowed in Palo Alto. PAID
OBITUARY
www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 10, 2020 • Page 13
Spectrum Editorials, letters and opinions
Guest Opinion
Open streets to save Palo Alto by Ross Mayfield
H
ow a community comes together in a crisis defines how it thrives in better times. I’ve had the good for t u ne of volu nt e e r i ng with Frontline Foods, which helps save restaurants and their jobs and feeds the front lines impacted by the crisis. Inspired by my wife and working with Palo Alto restaurants, I have come to realize how essential they are to my hometown. Over 50% of restaurants may not survive the crisis, according to a San Francisco restaurant association. Twenty-five percent of the currently unemployed come from the restaurant industry. Most had to lay off 95% of their staff, while the industry trend of aggregators like DoorDash takes an untenable 30% cut into their margin. The industry employs the most minority managers, and for nineout-of-10, it is their first job. These are good jobs for many, and surely better than the gig economy’s pathway to poverty. The trend toward remote work accelerated years into weeks under the coronavirus publichealth orders. Employers are shifting to remote work, at least
with a hybrid model, because it saves costs, can be more productive and preferred by many knowledge workers. You may feel this is a temporary shift, say through the end of the year, but it is likely that half of all office space may go unused -- not just for distancing sake but also to save businesses costly overhead. And the ripple effects for local tax revenue from commercial and residential real estate, and more, will not be cured with a vaccine. Retail was already shifting to Amazon and Instacart. Small retailers were not prepared for pickup or delivery, as their differentiation was goods best experienced in person. It’s uncertain what the future holds for Stanford Shopping Center, a major source of tax revenue, when 25% of malls may close, according to Coresight Research, an advisory and research firm. With the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) expiring, we’ll see a wave of closures and unemployment. There is no V-shaped recovery. As we’ve seen in states with low cases and rapid opening, people only gradually return to in-person spending. If as a community we don’t rapidly act to help retailers survive, they will not. I commend the city of Palo Alto for the Summer Streets
Letters
neighbors and local businesses to reopen carefully and successfully. We can do this. Penny Ellson El Capitan Place, Palo Alto
The simple acts Editor, I read this today from Yehudah Mrisky, a professor at Brandeis University: “Social distancing is a quiet life-giving kind of solidarity, taking a step back to literally give breathing space to others, people you don’t know and will never meet, but whose lives depend on you.” As COVID-19 cases in some U.S. states skyrocket, while other countries reopen much more safely, the simple acts of wearing a mask and keeping one’s distance seem to me an expression of love and the best kind of patriotism. This thought makes putting on my mask feel more like a trifling inconvenience than an onerous annoyance. Let’s cooperate with friends,
Racism in Palo Alto Editor, I was extremely saddened to read of the appalling racism and police brutality experienced by highly respected residents Loretta Green and former Superior Court Judge LaDoris Cordell in a “liberal and progressive” city like Palo Alto. It is apparent that the Palo Alto Police Department perceive Black people to be the “enemy and intruders, guilty until proven innocent.” I was appalled these model citizens were humiliated on multiple occasions based on their skin color. At a minimum, the Palo Alto Police Department and the city of
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program to enable outdoor dining and retail, through closing University and California avenues to cars and enabling parklets. Cal Ave, by all accounts, is a safe success. The owner of Terun restaurant increased revenue and was able to hire back 95% of his staff. University followed on June 26, initially with a three-day closure. A fistful of property owners has been against the programs, and seeing a lack of data to inform decisions, I manually surveyed 50 Palo Alto downtown restaurants and retailers on the week-over-week revenue effect of opening the streets. As covered in the Palo Alto Weekly, we found a 24% increase overall — 30% for all restaurants and 38% for restaurants on University. Now, it is an open street everyday through Aug. 2.
What we can do to save our downtowns Keep gathering data on revenue, parking and traffic. Traffic (currently 50% of pre-COVID levels downtown) and parking went from being a top issue to a non-issue. As I’ve suggested above, it will likely never return to previous levels. But we need to be respectful to downtown businesses and residents and monitor changes through phases of opening. Palo Alto should offer a collective apology to these unfortunate victims. The police should be tightly vetted and trigger-happy “John Wayne types” should get the boot. Every effort should be made to atone for the sins of the past and ensure that all residents are treated with the utmost respect. A society should always be judged on how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. African Americans continue to suffer disproportionately from the pandemic, systemic racism and gut-wrenching police brutality. These appalling crimes have been exposed time and time again, and it is heartening to finally see white Americans protesting alongside Black citizens and Asian Americans to demand change. Jagjit Singh Stuart Court, Los Altos
Permit parklets for two years. Converting parking spaces into safe outdoor dining areas can help restaurants survive, even if they aren’t on University or California avenues. They increased revenue in Palo Alto for those who invested in them. Parklets cost $10,000 or more, however, and with restaurants at the brink of death, it’s hard to justify the investment without some assurances that it will remain in place for a reasonable amount of time. Investing in a parklet that may have to be removed with a 30-day notice is one way to die. The city is exploring a lower-cost option like the plastic barriers at Town & Country Village, but the jury is out on those. Menlo Park subsidized permanent parklets with up to $40,000. While some Palo Alto restaurants are advocating and holding out for that, it’s not likely here. The city has funds available for crisis response like this, but major forces are causing a budget crisis. Also subsidizing them may mean picking winners and losers. The solution is for the city to grant parklet permits for two years, with rapid approval. This incentivizes restaurants to invest in a quality parklet, with greater return, and time to amortize the expense.
Extend the program though year-end for University and Cal Ave. This allows consumers to establish the new demand pattern for Downtown and Cal Ave. The more time allowed, the more likely businesses will invest in quality furniture, design the experience, and staff their needs, providing needed employment. Promote the program and refine the experience. Rebrand the Summer Streets program into something more inviting, like Open Streets. Promote it through paid advertising like neighboring cities are doing. Enable citizens to help shape the public space and experience. For example, volunteers got their street performer friends to come play downtown June 2628, creating a great atmosphere that helped nearby restaurants. Engage the city arts program like they did with volunteers for the Black Lives Matter mural. Create wayfinding art projects that point to restaurants, retail and parks on or just off the street. Enable restaurants and retailers to post signage in the public space in allotted areas. Please help encourage the city to take these steps quickly, and come enjoy the Open Streets. Q Ross Mayfield is a resident of the P r o fe s s o r v i l l e neighborhood and can be found at @ross on Twitter.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? The Palo Alto Weekly encourages comments on our coverage or on issues of local interest.
Should the image of Black Liberation Army member Joanne Chesimard, a convicted police killer, be removed from the Black Lives Matter mural? 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 Editorial Assistant Lloyd Lee at llee@paweekly. com or 650-223-6526 or Editor Jocelyn Dong at editor@paweekly.com.
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www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 10, 2020 • Page 17
Arts & Entertainment A weekly guide to music, theater, art, culture, books and more, edited by Karla Kane
Juliet Green (left) plays a bride-to-be hoping to learn wedding cake tips from Betsy Kruse Craig’s vlogger character in this screenshot from a “Take the Cake” episode of Pear Theatre’s “This Street and The Next.” Courtesy The Pear Theatre.
Pear’s ‘hybrid theater piece’ reflects on relationships and current events by Karla Kane
heater companies have been hit especially hard by COVID-19, with much programming truncated, postponed, or canceled altogether. Mountain View’s Pear Theatre, though, has an in-house secret weapon: The Pear Playwrights Guild. Thanks to the active group of writers creating original content, and the enthusiasm and experience of new Artistic Director Sinjin Jones, the Pear has come up with a new, innovative production to, as Gov. Gavin Newsom might put it, “meet the moment.” “This Street and The Next,” streaming online through at least late July, is what the Pear describes as a “choose your own adventure, hybrid theater piece.” Made up of vignettes written by members of the Playwrights Guild, inspired by the current COVID-19 crisis and all the chaos of spring and summer 2020, the show is a series of short videos which have a suggested viewing order but can be switched up, according to the viewers’ preferences. “Now is a more important time than ever to be giving art to people,” Jones said in a recent interview. “And necessity breeds ingenuity.” Once it became clear that the Pear would not be able to do its planned June production of the musical “Side by Side,” Jones turned to the Playwrights Guild to come up with something different: A filmed, digital series of interwoven tales inspired and informed by the present reality. Seven writers and Jones, along with the cast members, launched very quickly into a six-week devising process,
T
Derek Bernard coming up with stories and characters that are “responsive to the COVID-19 situation but really speak to the strength of the human spirit,” Jones said. With his background in devised theater (the method by which theater is created collectively) as well as independent film, Jones took charge of proposing a basic structure, directed the pieces and served as editor of the project that turned out to be “many small stories that explore this idea of what relationships mean, and the value of those who are closest to us in a time of need,” he said. The tales in “This Street and The Next” represent a variety of perspectives, from a woman determined to hold her dream wedding (quarantine be damned), to a couple trying to have a first date via Zoom, to a monologue from Mother Nature herself and a surprisingly poignant narrative from an adopted shelter cat. Playwright Leah Halper worked on the “Take the Cake” storyline, about a woman (played by former Pear Artistic Director and frequent star Betsy Kruse Craig) who becomes a successful food
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vlogger during the pandemic, at the expense of her relationship with her husband. Halper worked in collaboration with Kruse Craig and Jones to develop the character and plot, taking inspiration from Kruse Craig’s own kitchen (and dog) and using her relationship to food and cooking to help inform her writing. “You can work your whole life as a playwright and not get a chance to work on a devised play,” Halper mused. “I totally jumped at this chance. It’s maybe a oncein-a-lifetime opportunity to work with other playwrights, this incredibly talented director and to involve the actors in really interesting ways. How could you pass it up?” While the creation of the show was in progress, George Floyd was killed by police and Black Lives Matter protests erupted across the country. “As a person of color myself, it was important to me to in some ways address that,” Jones said. “In a couple of the pieces there are some acknowledgments that those current events really shake up the story.” Halper and Jones decided to have Kruse Craig’s character undergo some hard realizations about her own white privilege. “My vlogger had to confront the reality of this movement and the way in which her every day wasn’t going to be able to go forward with her ignoring it,” Halper said. Halper appreciates the increased amount of space Jones has given to the Playwrights Guild, and the way he’s leading the Pear thus far. “He really sees the writers as integral to the Pear. That makes the
Amy Marie Haven Pear a more interesting place,” she said. “The really big theaters are closed; it’s the smaller ones that have been so creative. I think he’s doing an amazing job.” Because the summer production was originally planned to be a musical, Jones still felt it was important to include music in “This Street and The Next.” Keeping with the DIY ethos, musicians Derek Bernard and Drew Weber were tapped to create an original soundtrack. Bernard, a San Francisco-based musician and voice/guitar/ukulele teacher, said he has some experience in improv, including coming up with musicals on the spot, but has never done something quite like this, so he saw the Pear project as a fun challenge. He and Weber let the music evolve naturally, as befitting a devised piece, with some vignettes boasting full songs and others incidental music, revising as the show and its themes took shape. One of the most memorable vignettes is “#Roadtrip,” in which an Instagrammer, played by Amy Marie Haven, drives across the country and records new songs
she’s written in response to her travels. “It’s not really a ‘musical,’” per se, but music suffuses the thing,” Bernard said. The project is an ambitious next step up from the theater company’s last venture, which was to film and stream the annual “Pear Slices” production of original oneacts from the Playwrights Guild. The technical results, including trying to use Zoom backgrounds as set design, were mixed. “We learned a lot from ‘Pear Slices’ in terms of what works and what doesn’t,” Jones said, noting that while the ‘Slices’ were written with live staging in mind, everything about “This Street and The Next” was deliberately planned to utilize shelter-in-place conditions. Jones said that he doesn’t expect the Pear to be back doing fully live performances before January, and that the health and safety of both patrons and performers is most important. With that in mind, he and his team will be considering more fully digital content, as well as filming live performances with tiny-to-no audiences, then streaming the recording. While “tech never quite works exactly the way it should,” Jones said with a laugh, “I am really excited to deliver something to the Pear audience that is new and unique, simple but beautiful, about the huge scope of experiences people might have.” Q “This Street and The Next” runs through July 26. $15 ($30 to access backstage pass special materials and behind-the-scenes extras). More information at thepear.org. Email Karla Kane at kkane@ almanacnews.com
Answers to this week’s puzzles, which can be found on page 31.
995 Fictitious Name Statement PALO ALTO WEEKLY PALOALTOONLINE.COM MOUNTAIN VIEW VOICE MV-VOICE.COM FOGSTER.COM EMBARCADERO MEDIA TRI-VALLEY MEDIA THE ALMANAC ALMANACNEWS.COM PLEASANTON WEEKLY PLEASANTONWEEKLY.COM THE SIX FIFTY THESIXFIFTY.COM FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No.: 666014 The following person (persons) is (are) doing business as: 1.) Palo Alto Weekly, 2.) Paloaltoonline.com, 3.) Mountain View Voice, 4.) MV-voice.com, 5.) Fogster.com, 6.) Embarcadero Media, 7.) Tri-Valley Media, 8.) The Almanac, 9.) Almanacnews.com, 10.) Pleasanton Weekly, 11.) Pleasantonweekly.com, 12.) The Six Fifty, 13.) Thesixfifty.com, located at 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by: A Corporation. The name and residence address of the owner(s)/registrant(s) is(are): EMBARCADERO MEDIA 450 Cambridge Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94306 Registrant/Owner began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 2/15/2009. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Santa Clara County on June 12, 2020. (PAW June 19, 26; July 3, 10, 2020)
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COUNTRY INN MOTEL FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No.: FBN666279 The following person (persons) is (are) doing business as: Country Inn Motel, located at 4345 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94306, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by: A Corporation. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is(are): CESANO, INC. 2310 Webster Street Palo Alto, CA 94301 Registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 09/23/1953. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Santa Clara County on June 24, 2020. (PAW July 10, 17, 24, 31, 2020)
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DAVE’S BODY SHOP FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No.: FBN665988 The following person (persons) is (are) doing business as: Dave’s Body Shop, located at 2145 Old Middlefield Way, Mountain View, CA 94043, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by: An Individual. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is(are): LIEM SON PHAM 2091 Plymouth St Mountain View, CA 94043 Registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 9/12/98. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Santa Clara County on June 11, 2020. (PAW July 10, 17, 24, 31, 2020)
997 All Other Legals APN: 003-52-063 TS No: CA08000907-191 TO No: 191196919-CA-VOI NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE (The above statement is made pursuant to CA Civil Code Section 2923.3(d)(1). The Summary will be provided to Trustor(s) and/or vested owner(s) only, pursuant to CA Civil Code Section 2923.3(d) (2).) YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED June 11, 2007. UNLESS YOU TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDINGS AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LAWYER. On August 26, 2020 at 10:00 AM, at the gated North Market Street entrance to the County Courthouse, 191 North Market Street, San Jose, CA 95113, MTC Financial Inc. dba Trustee Corps, as the duly Appointed Trustee, under and pursuant to the power of sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust recorded on June 19, 2007 as Instrument No. 19474645, of official records in the Office of the Recorder of Santa Clara County, California, executed by DENISE WON CHOI, AN UNMARRIED WOMAN, as Trustor(s), in favor of FINANCIAL FREEDOM SENIOR
FUNDING CORPORATION, A SUBSIDIARY OF INDYMAC BANK, F.S.B. as Beneficiary, WILL SELL AT PUBLIC AUCTION TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER, in lawful money of the United States, all payable at the time of sale, that certain property situated in said County, California describing the land therein as: AS MORE FULLY DESCRIBED IN SAID DEED OF TRUST The property heretofore described is being sold “as is”. The street address and other common designation, if any, of the real property described above is purported to be: 976 EL CAJON WAY, PALO ALTO, CA 94303 The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the street address and other common designation, if any, shown herein. Said sale will be made without covenant or warranty, express or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to pay the remaining principal sum of the Note(s) secured by said Deed of Trust, with interest thereon, as provided in said Note(s), advances if any, under the terms of the Deed of Trust, estimated fees, charges and expenses of the Trustee and of the trusts created by said Deed of Trust. The total amount of the unpaid balance of the obligations secured by the property to be sold and reasonable estimated costs, expenses and advances at the time of the initial publication of this Notice of Trustee’s Sale is estimated to be $924,321.68 (Estimated). However, prepayment premiums, accrued interest and advances will increase this figure prior to sale. Beneficiary’s bid at said sale may include all or part of said amount. In addition to cash, the Trustee will accept a cashier’s check drawn on a state or national bank, a check drawn by a state or federal credit union or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan association, savings association or savings bank specified in Section 5102 of the California Financial Code and authorized to do business in California, or other such funds as may be acceptable to the Trustee. In the event tender other than cash is accepted, the Trustee may withhold the issuance of the Trustee’s Deed Upon Sale until funds become available to the payee or endorsee as a matter of right. The property offered for sale excludes all funds held on account by the property receiver, if applicable. If the Trustee is unable to convey title for any reason, the successful bidder’s sole and exclusive remedy shall be the return of monies paid to the Trustee and the successful bidder shall have no further recourse. Notice to Potential Bidders If you are considering bidding on this property lien, you should understand that there are risks involved in bidding at a Trustee auction. You will be bidding on a lien, not on the property itself. Placing the highest bid at a Trustee auction does not automatically entitle you to free and clear ownership of the property. You should also be aware that the lien being auctioned off may be a junior lien. If you are the highest bidder at the auction, you are or may be responsible for paying off all liens senior to the lien being auctioned off, before you can receive clear title to the property. You are encouraged to investigate the existence, priority, and size of outstanding liens that may exist on this property by contacting the county recorder’s office or a title insurance company, either of which may charge you a fee for this information. If you consult either of these resources, you should be aware that the same Lender may hold more than one mortgage or Deed of Trust on the property. Notice to Property Owner The sale date shown on this Notice of Sale may be postponed one or more times by the Mortgagee, Beneficiary, Trustee, or a court, pursuant to Section 2924g of the California Civil Code. The law requires that information about Trustee Sale postponements be made available to you and to the public, as a courtesy to those not present at the sale. If you wish to learn whether your sale date has been postponed, and, if applicable, the rescheduled time and date for the sale of this property, you may call In Source Logic at 702-659-7766 for information regarding the Trustee’s Sale or visit the Internet Web site address listed below for information regarding the sale of this property, using the file number assigned to this case, CA08000907-19-1. Information about postponements that are very short in duration or that occur close in time to the scheduled sale may not immediately be reflected in the telephone information or on the Internet Web site. The best way to verify postponement information is to attend the scheduled sale. Date: 06/24/2020 MTC Financial Inc. dba Trustee Corps TS No. CA08000907-19-1 17100 Gillette Ave Irvine, CA 92614 Phone: 949-252-8300 TDD: 866660-4288 Myron Ravelo, Authorized Signatory SALE INFORMATION CAN BE OBTAINED ON LINE AT www.insourcelogic.com FOR AUTOMATED SALES INFORMATION PLEASE CALL: In Source Logic AT 702-659-7766 Trustee Corps may be acting as a debt collector attempting to collect a debt. Any information obtained may be used for that purpose. Order Number 72095, Pub Dates: 07/10/2020, 07/17/2020, 07/24/2020, PALO ALTO WEEKLY
be made of the assets described below. The names and business address of the Seller(s) is/are: Chefs Creations Inc. 388 Main Street, Los Altos, CA 94022 The location in California of the Chief Executive Office of the seller is: same as above As listed by the seller, all other business names and addresses used by the seller within three years before the date such list was sent or delivered to the buyer are: None The names and business address of the Buyer(s) is/are: Moss Piglet, Inc. 3305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, CA 94306 The assets to be sold are described in general as: All stock in trade, furniture, fixtures, equipment and other property And are located at: 388 Main Street, Los Altos, CA 94022 The business name used by the Seller(s) at those locations is: Aldo Los Altos The anticipated date of the bulk sale is: July 28, 2020 At the office of Old Republic Title Company @ 1000 Burnett Avenue, Suite 400, Concord, CA 94520. The bulk sale IS subject to California Uniform Commercial Code Section 6106.2. If so subject, the name and address of the person with whom claims may be filed is as follows: Old Republic Title Company @ 1000 Burnett Avenue, Suite 400, Concord, CA 94520 or E-Fax to 925-265-9040 or Fax 925-363-2276. The last day for filing claims shall be July 27, 2020 which is the business day before the sale date specified herein. Dated: 6/26/2020 Buyer(s): Moss Piglet, Inc. /S/ By: Mila Zelkha, President /S/ By: Ryan Morris, Vice-President 7/10/20 CNS-3376876# PALO ALTO WEEKLY
NOTICE TO CREDITORS OF BULK SALE (U.C.C. §6104, 6105) ESCROW #: 0126014360-PC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN to creditors of the within named seller that a bulk sale is about to
Call Alicia Santillan at 650-223-6578 or email asantillan@ paweekly.com for assistance with your legal advertising needs.
NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF: ROBERT WAYNE RENFRO Case No.: 20PR188335 To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of ROBERT WAYNE RENFRO. A Petition for Probate has been filed by: Public Administrator of the County of Santa Clara in the Superior Court of California, County of SANTA CLARA. The Petition for Probate requests that: Public Administrator of the County of Santa Clara be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A HEARING on the petition will be held on August 27, 2020 at 9:01 a.m. in Dept.: 13 of the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, located at 191 N. First St., San Jose, CA, 95113. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or a contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined in section 58 (b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for Petitioner: Mark A. Gonzalez, Lead Deputy County Counsel 373 West Julian Street, Suite 300 San Jose, CA 95110 (408) 758-4217 (PAW July 10, 17, 24, 2020)
www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 10, 2020 • Page 19
Fine dining during the pandemic Inside a dinner service at the reopened Village Pub Story by Elena Kadvany hen Village Pub servers, line cooks and dishwashers clock in to work these days, they immediately have their temperature taken. They sign a form that states in English and Spanish: “I certify that I am in good health and have had my temperature checked and recorded accurately at the beginning of my workday.” They deposit the pen they used into a sleek silver container labeled “used pens,” put on a mask, and start their shift. The Village Pub in Woodside reopened for both indoor and outdoor dining in June. While many of the signature touches of the 19-year-old Michelin-starred restaurant returned — the staff still uses handheld irons to steam wrinkles out of white tablecloths before setting the tables, caviar is still on the menu and service is paramount — much has changed in the age of COVID-19. Diners can order on their smartphones from a digital QR code or physical menu, and the latter is sanitized after every use. The menu was scaled down from 60 dishes to just 15, which are now offered in a $75 per person pre-fixe model to reduce the time waiters spend at tables. Customers can only take their masks off when seated, and employees keep them on at all times. Only one employee is allowed at a table at a time unless it’s to drop off dishes and leave. The overarching goal, said Tim Stannard, founder of Bacchus Management Group, which operates The Village Pub, is to minimize the amount of interaction between employees and diners — a counterintuitive “180 degrees from our natural inclination, which is to spend as much time as we can (with customers).”
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Reconfiguring The Village Pub’s elegant dining room to allow for at least 6 feet of distance between tables meant operating at 50% capacity. The restaurant quickly secured the necessary permits to build an outdoor patio — which cost $50,000 — that makes up for the lost tables. On Monday evening, every table on the patio was full while a scarce number of parties sat inside. Stannard said the split between outdoor and indoor seating requests is about 70/30. Plenty of people still want the traditional dine-in experience, he said. When
Photos by Magali Gauthier Bacchus was discussing whether to resume indoor dining, they talked to staff, investors and customers. There was a “pressure — not a pressure,” he corrected himself, “but interest,” from the community in reopening the dining room. It’s sold out nearly every night since reopening, Stannard said. But the new outdoor deck is keeping The Village Pub afloat. Without it, the revenue from the dining room wouldn’t be enough to keep the restaurant open, Stannard said. He’s not sure what will happen come winter, when even in temperate
Northern California, diners’ appetite for sitting outdoors might wane. For Melody Mitchell, a head waiter who’s worked for Bacchus Management Group for 19 years, the biggest change is the black mask she must wear throughout dinner service. She has to smile with her eyes and talk clearly and slowly to diners. “Health and sanitation is the new hospitality,” she said. The Village Pub front-of-house staff are on the front lines, forced into a new role of (continued on page 21)
Above: A masked cook in the kitchen works the grill at The Village Pub as customers eat in the dining room on July 6. Top: A masked server brings out plates of food to customers eating at The Village Pub’s new outdoor patio, which cost $50,000 to construct.
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Eating Out
Fine dining (continued from page 20)
explaining and enforcing constantly shifting health regulations. They said they’re constantly reminding diners who forget to put their mask on when they arrive or go to the bathroom — most of whom comply respectfully, but some, less so. The restaurant has extra masks for any diners who arrive without one. On Monday evening, two parties who had mistakenly made indoor reservations refused to be seated inside. One man, out for his first restaurant meal since the shutdown started, was shocked that The Village Pub’s dining room was open and said he thought indoor dining was still prohibited throughout California. (San Mateo County allowed restaurants to reopen dining rooms in June, though neighboring counties haven’t yet.) The staff quickly set a makeshift table outside the front door for the man and his two dining companions. The other party decided to leave, telling the general manager that their “assumption” was that only outdoor dining was allowed. Customers have been more “casual” than the restaurant staff when it comes to health restrictions, Stannard said. Many are eager for a return to dining normalcy. But Stannard said that’s the right balance in the service industry, adding: “I’d rather have us be stringent and conservative.” Inside the kitchen, a line of maskedand-gloved cooks prepped green beans, piped gougères and threw hamburger patties on the open-fire grill for a takeout order. Stannard and Chef de Cuisine Jake Burkhardt briefly pulled their masks
down to taste a new vegan dish, using disposable, single-use plastic spoons. The Village Pub cut the kitchen staff in half to allow for social distancing — which in reality is nearly impossible as servers come in and out to grab plated dishes or to drop finished plates off for the dishwasher, who wore a face shield as well as a mask. The pandemic forced a major shift for The Village Pub, an upscale restaurant that places high value on the experience of dining in, into takeout. Pre-coronavirus, to-go orders generated less than 2% of sales for the restaurant, Stannard said. Now, delivery accounts for about 30% of sales — a number that’s held since the restaurant reopened for indoor and outdoor dining. How does a restaurant translate the Michelin-starred experience into takeout? The Village Pub sends to-go orders out with amuse bouche (the complimentary small dishes you’d get at the start of a meal in person) and plating instructions for every dish, as detailed as spooning saffron risotto into an oval shape onto a plate before topping it with sorrel-roasted chicken. On Monday evening at The Village Pub, the sun set over the foothills and string lights turned on over the picturesque outdoor patio. One couple lingered at an outdoor table for nearly three hours, celebrating a birthday. Throughout the night, unmasked diners enjoyed plates of truffle-topped tagliatelle and lobster thermidor as the wheels of the restaurant’s new system turned smoothly, invisible to them. Q Staff Writer Elena Kadvany can be emailed at ekadvany@paweekly.com
A bottle of hand sanitizer sits on a shelf in The Village Pub kitchen.
EAT, SHOP & CELEBRATE SUMMER IN PALO ALTO We look forward to seeing you out on California Ave and on University Ave and throughout the Downtown core this summer!
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DO YOU WANT TO
RECOGNIZE A LOCAL HERO?
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hether they're grocery shopping for a neighbor or volunteering for a nonprofit, you can spread the joy and support our journalism efforts by giving them a shoutout in the Palo Alto Weekly. For $199, we'll design a quarter-page announcement featuring your Local Hero. Just visit the Google form at the address below and include a 50-word description and an optional photo. And a huge "thank you" to all the good neighbors in Palo Alto doing their best to shelter in place.
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Across 1 Movie in a case, e.g. 4 $, at a currency exchange 7 Web traffic goal 13 Sign up for 15 “Insecure” star Issa 16 Wear 17 Boss of all mischievous sprites? 19 Singer Grande 20 Jazz singer Laine 21 How a typesetter turns a president into a resident? 23 “What’s this now?” 24 Nebraska’s largest city 26 Cross-country hauler 27 Reduce in rank 29 “Miracle Workers” network 32 Racket 33 Fanged movie creature, for short 34 Largest country bordering the Mediterranean 38 Expensive version of an East Asian board game? 41 Narrowest possible election margin 42 Neighbor of Tex. 45 NHL division 48 Numerical prefix 49 The last world capital, alphabetically 51 Dove sounds 53 Roster listing 56 YouTube interrupters 57 Removing the word before “and behold”? 60 Voting rights org. 62 Certain book page size 63 Good publicity for characters like Grimace, Amethyst, and Twilight Sparkle? 66 Late WWE wrestler Dusty 67 Charlemagne’s domain, briefly 68 “It must have been something ___” 69 “___ Rides Again” (classic western) 70 “Then what?” 71 Vulpine critter
LOCAL HERO
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Greer Stone Greer Stone serves our community in multiple roles. He teaches Social Studies at Gunn, fights for social justice as the Vice Chair of the Santa Clara County Human Rights Commission, and cares for his neighbors as a Block Preparedness Coordinator. During this pandemic, he has delivered groceries/prescriptions for the at-risk, organized community Zoom meetings to promote emotional well-being, wrote an inspiring guest opinion for the Palo Alto Weekly, all while continuing to teach our children. Submitted by: Arthur Keller
“Sugar Free”-- let’s do away with that sugary suffix. by Matt Jones
This week’s SUDOKU
Answers on page 19.
Answers on page 19.
Down 1 Turntablists, familiarly 2 Receipt 3 One with a mission 4 Geller who claims to be telepathic 5 “The Metamorphosis” character Gregor 6 Profundity 7 Coffeehouse order 8 Innocent fun 9 Harvard and Princeton, e.g. 10 Came to a close 11 Video game company with a famous cheat code 12 Fasten securely, perhaps 14 “Born,” in some announcements 18 Ginseng or ginger, e.g.
SAM
22 Like video games for the 13-19 set 23 Like almost all primes 25 Sparse 28 Dos times dos times dos 30 Piece of cake 31 Papal topic 35 Devoted 36 Day-___ 37 Stunned 39 Doc for head colds 40 Vegetable part that can be served in a salad (as opposed to a gumbo) 43 Paved the way for 44 Sit-up targets 45 International agreement 46 “Well said”
www.sudoku.name
47 State gambling games 50 High-priority notation 52 City, in Germany 54 A as in “Aristotle” 55 Lament 58 Bon ___ (“Holocene” band) 59 Prone to butting in 61 151, in Roman numerals 64 Color meaning “stop” internationally 65 Dinosaur in the “Toy Story” movies
©2020 Jonesin’ Crosswords (jonesincrosswords@gmail.com)
www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 10, 2020 • Page 31
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Rankings provided courtesy of Real Trends, The Thousand list of individual agents by total sales volume in 2018. Compass is a real estate broker licensed by the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. License NumJOo à __ aBsOoWB_ loOpObsOM VOoOWb Wp WbsObMOM Tdo WbTdoaBsWdbB_ ltoldpOp db_| BbM Wp KdalW_OM Toda pdtoKOp MOOaOM oO_WBJ_O Jts VBp bds JOOb yOoW OMà VBbUOp Wb loWKOÛ KdbMWsWdbÛ pB_O do zWsVMoBzB_ aB| JO aBMO zWsVdts bdsWKOà !d statement is made as to accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footage are approximate.
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