Palo Alto Weekly July 31, 2020

Palo Alto

Vol. XLI, Number 43 Q July 31, 2020

City silent in debate over Black Lives Matter mural Page 5

w w w. P a l o A l t o O n l i n e.c o m

Read up-to-the-minute news on PaloAltoOnline.com Q News Private schools apply for waivers for in-person classes Page 5 Q Arts When jazz royalty came to Palo Alto High Page 21 Q Eating Out BaumĂŠ pivots from ďŹ ne-dining to takeout Page 24

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.

U.S. News & World Report recognizes Stanford Health Care among the top hospitals in the nation. Ranking based on quality and patient safety.

• 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 31, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

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www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 31, 2020 • Page 3

EMBARCADERO MEDIA AND YOUTH COMMUNITY SERVICE (YCS) PRESENT

“Youth Rising Up: Can Gen Z Lead on Social Change?”

A conversation with young adults on racial justice, protest and advocacy.

Thursday, August 6 • 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.

Presented virtually on Zoom Registration required at EmbarcaderoMediaGroup.com/youth-forum PANELISTS Shown above from top left

Ayinde Bomar Olukotun 2020 graduate of Menlo School and incoming freshman at Pomona College, where he will be studying Public Policy. One of the organizers of the Palo Alto Community Protest on June 6th.

Divya Ganesan Rising senior at Castilleja School and former president of the Palo Alto Youth Council. Cofounder of Real Talk, a student-led group engaging high schoolers in civil discourse and engagement.

Spearheaded a #2020ready campaign to engage Palo Alto youth voters.

Cleo Goodwin 2018 Gunn High School graduate. Transferring to North Carolina Central for the upcoming year

MODERATOR after attending De Anza College and studying communications following high school. Was a speaker at Palo Alto’s Juneteenth event.

Hele’ine Grewe Rising senior at Menlo-Atherton High School; daughter of a Black father and Tongan mother and active in various social justice and environmental campaigns and organizations. Raised in East Palo Alto and the eldest of four children. Works part time as a Census worker and a graphic designer.

Makayla Miller 2020 graduate of Palo Alto High School and currently a student at Louisiana State University.

Organizer and speaker at Palo Alto’s Juneteenth march and Menlo Park’s Black LGBTQIA Lives Matter rally and march. Former president of Black Scholars United at Paly.

Julie Lythcott-Haims Former corporate lawyer, former Stanford dean of freshmen and undergraduate advising, and bestselling author of the anti-helicopter parenting manifesto “How to Raise an Adult.”

Her second book is the award-winning prose poetry memoir “Real American,” which illustrates her experience as a Black and biracial person in white spaces. A third book, “Your Turn: How to Be an Adult,” will be published in April 2021. BA from Stanford, JD from Harvard, and MFA in Writing from California College of the Arts. Serves on the boards of Foundation for a College Education, Global Citizen Year, and Common Sense Media.

ONLINE

Page 4 • July 31, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Upfront

Local news, information and analysis

Council to tackle Foothills Park controversy Palo Alto leaders could decide Monday whether to open 1,400-acre park to nonresidents

by Sue Dremann thorny issue that has 1,400-acre Foothills Park.

Spurred by a renewed push for created controversy for decades is about to get racial and socioeconomic equity a hearing on Aug. 3 before the amid the recent Black Lives MatPalo Alto City Council: whether ter protests, advocates for opening the city should launch a pilot the park to all say its exclusivity program to allow non-Palo Alto is a relic, the product of an antiresidents access to the exclusive quated mindset.

A

Emotions are running high on both sides of the debate. Parks and Recreation Commissioner Ryan McCauley — who helped create the proposal that the council will consider Monday for a one-year pilot program to expand park access — resigned in frustration on June 23 after the council postponed its discussion of Foothills until after its July break.

A group of local residents,

including former Councilwoman LaDoris Cordell, have formed a group, Parks for All, and launched a website to lobby for opening up the park. They also recruited more than 100 faith and community leaders to sign a letter that urges the repeal of the city ordinance that makes it a misdemeanor offense for nonresidents to enter the park.

On the other side are people

like Roger Smith, co-founder and director of the fundraising group Friends of the Palo Alto Parks, who has said that opening the park to more visitors would increase costs for maintenance — costs the budget-strapped city can’t currently pay for. In a July 24 op-ed in the Palo Alto Weekly, he argued that now is not the time (continued on page 12)

PUBLIC ART

Portrait in mural sparks ire Image of fugitive creates controversy

by Lloyd Lee

T

(continued on page 10)

(continued on page 9)

Courtesy Ashok Srinivasan.

apply for a waiver, saying they felt confident that with more resources, smaller student populations and already detailed plans for how to safely reopen that they can and should bring their youngest students back for face-to-face instruction. They also have spent ample time — and money —to prepare their campuses for students’ safe return to school.

Local schools that have confirmed they are seeking a waiver include Bowman School, Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School, Emerson School and Silicon Valley International School in Palo

he Black Lives Matter street mural painted on Hamilton Avenue in front of Palo Alto City Hall on June 30 had barely dried before it became the center of a controversy that has some calling for the removal of one of its images.

What was intended to be a local effort to bring awareness to systemic racism and police brutality soon sparked a debate over whether Joanne Chesimard, better known as Assata Shakur, was an appropriate figure for the Black Lives Matter movement and mural.

Earlier this month, an Indianapolis lobbying group called the National Police Association started an effort to have Chesimard’s portrait removed from the second “E” in the mural, which Oakland muralist Cece Caprio painted with approval from the Palo Alto Public Art Program. (The police association has no known ties with police departments. Several news organizations, including the Baltimore Sun and IndyStar, have made inquiries into the organization’s identity and legitimacy.)

Caprio was one of 16 artists selected to paint a block letter in the nearly 245-foot-long and 17-foottall mural that spells out “Black Lives Matter.”

Chesimard was a civil rights activist in the Black Liberation Army who escaped prison and fled to Cuba after being convicted of killing a New Jersey State

Starry night The comet Neowise, officially known as C2020/F3, was recently captured from the Palo Alto Baylands. The comet can be viewed at the crack of dawn and early evening.

EDUCATION

Schools seek waiver so kids can return to campus Amid pressure from parents, local private elementary schools are asking county for permission to reopen in person

M

ore than 80 local schools have contacted the Santa Clara County Office of Emergency Operations about filing a waiver to reopen their elementary campuses in person in the fall, including

by Elena Kadvany several on the Midpeninsula.

The waiver option — mentioned briefly in a press release sent by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office following his July 17 announcement that schools in counties being monitored by the state

cannot not physically reopen, throwing many schools’ plans into disarray — allows schools to seek an exception from their local county health officer.

Several local private elementary schools moved quickly to

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 31, 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) Chief Visual Journalist Magali Gauthier (223-6530) Editorial Assistant/Intern Coordinator Lloyd Lee (223-6526)

D E L E O N R E A LT Y, I N C .

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—Winter Dellenbach, Palo Alto resident, on limiting access to Foothills Park to 1,000 residents and nonresidents a day. See story on page 5.

Around Town Local 1319, Palo Alto Professional Firefighters

OUR T EAM IS IN MOT ION FOR YOU

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

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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?

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Page 6 â&#x20AC;˘ July 31, 2020 â&#x20AC;˘ Palo Alto Weekly â&#x20AC;˘ www.PaloAltoOnline.com

UP FOR THE CHALLENGE ...

The Palo Alto Fire Departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Engine 365 crew returned on Wednesday evening, July 29, after nine days in Lassen County as part of an out-of-county team tapped to help extinguish the Hog Fire, which has burned 9,564 acres since July 18. The wildland blaze, located in the northeast section of the state about 70 miles west of the state border with Nevada, was 85% contained as of Thursday morning and the cause was under investigation, according to Cal Fire.

The local four-person crew, which normally reports to Station 5 on Arastradero Road, included two firefighters who have previously been sent to wildfires. The two other firefighters, one of whom is a probationary firefighter, were taking on the job for the first time through the fire department. They were part of the Contra Costa County Strike Team XCC 2025C. Over the past week, the crew has faced thunderstorms, lightning, hail, heavy rain and strong wind gusts of more than 50 mph.

The men have worked hard and maintained good spirits during their 24-hour shifts, said Battalion Chief Ryan Stoddard, who added that none of the local crew members were injured. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve also stayed busy laying out miles of hose lines to help attack the fire from the ground. The crew also took extra precautions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cal Fire, the lead agency on the fire, have modified base camps by creating pods to ensure strike teams, (groups of 21 people) donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mix with one another, according to Stoddard. Engine 365, which had little service in Lassen County, planned to debrief with the Palo Alto Fire Department to ensure all their needs are met upon their return, he said.

HOUSING GETS A BOOST...

East Palo Alto has won a $2 million award from the California

Department of Housing and Community Development to get more granny unit projects off the ground. The city applied for the funding in collaboration with the East Palo Alto Community Alliance and Neighborhood Development Organization (better known as EPA Can Do).

The city and nonprofit plan to use the funds to issue loans of no more than $100,000 to construct, reconstruct, repair and rehabilitate accessory dwelling units at households that fall at or below 80% of the area median income. An estimated 20 or more households are expected to be assisted through the funds. The city and EPA Can Do worked with the Second Unit Working Group and Second Unit and AntiDisplacement Task Force on the application for the funds. The grant builds on other city efforts to make the permitting process for granny units more efficient.

EXTRA SUPPORT ... From now through Aug. 17, Midpeninsula nonprofits can apply for a grant of up to $100,000 from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Community Fund, which has assisted more than 70 organizations serving the Belle Haven, East Palo Alto, North Fair Oaks and Redwood City communities since its launch in 2017. The private philanthropic organization, founded by Palo Alto residents Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, is looking to help groups providing basic needs, such as housing, food, education, job skills training and emerging issues as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Redwood Citybased organization also is looking to support organizations impacted by structural racism and inequities. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Local nonprofits have long led the fight to make sure that all members of our community have the opportunity and resources they need to thrive,â&#x20AC;? Cristina Huezo, CZIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s director of community, said in an announcement. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Now more than ever, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re proud to partner with these organizations, and are grateful for their tireless commitment to our community.â&#x20AC;?

Applications will be accepted online or by paper. To learn more about the fund and requirements, visit chanzuckerberg.com/ community/fund. Q

Upfront COMMUNITY

In experiment, Town Square forum limited to registered users

S

tarting Aug. 1, participation in Palo Alto Online’s popular Town Square discussion forum will be limited to those who register on the site with their name and email address.

The change is an experiment to determine if requiring registration will lead to a more welcoming environment for those interested in respectful discussions of local issues, according to Publisher Bill Johnson.

“In spite of the large numbers of people who enjoy engaging in meaningful discussion on Town Square, we know that there are many others who stay away because they view it as an inhospitable place too often dominated by rude posters who belittle others and their motives,” Johnson

said. “Town Square wasn’t intended as a place exclusively for the thick-skinned. The actions of these problematic posters have demanded increasing amounts of our staff’s time to moderate, edit and sometimes delete disrespectful comments that seem intended to antagonize or manipulate public opinion with false or misleading information.”

Johnson said that the volume of commenting has soared since the shelter-in-place orders were made in mid-March, fueled by deep divisions over the handling of the pandemic response and, more recently, on protests and advocacy relating to racial injustice and police reform.

“We are constantly evaluating how to make Town Square a

safer place for all posters and to keep out those who attack others, make repetitive comments and side-track discussions.” Johnson said. “With an expected highly charged election season ahead of us, it seemed like the right time to implement new requirements.”

Becoming a registered user requires a person to register their name and email address with Palo Alto Online. Although posters are encouraged to use their name when they post comments, they may choose to use a screen name instead. But the registration requirement will create some accountability and a way for Palo Alto Online moderators to contact the poster.

Currently, all users are asked to abide by the site’s terms of use

COMMUNITY

Panel discussion to be held on Generation Z and racial justice Aug. 6 conversation will be moderated by former Stanford dean

F

ive young adults who’ve led recent efforts to bring about social change along the Midpeninsula will share their perspectives on racial justice and advocacy in a virtual panel discussion on Thursday, Aug. 6, from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Moderated by former Stanford University Dean of Freshmen and Undergraduate Advising Julie Lythcott-Haims, “Youth Rising Up: Can Gen Z Lead on Social Change?” will feature Ayinde

Bomar Olukotun, Divya Ganesan, Cleo Goodwin, Hele’ine Grewe and Makayla Miller. The free, public event is being presented by Embarcadero Media and the nonprofit Youth Community Service (YCS).

Olukotun, a 2020 graduate of Menlo School, was one of the organizers of a Palo Alto community protest on June 6. An incoming freshman at Pomona College, he will be studying public policy.

Ganesan is a rising senior at Castilleja School and former president of the Palo Alto Youth Council. She co-founded Real Talk, a student-led group engaging high school students in civil discourse and engagement, and also spearheaded a #2020ready campaign to engage Palo Alto youth voters.

Goodwin graduated from Gunn High School in 2018 and was a speaker at Palo Alto’s Juneteenth rally and march in

Photo illustration by Kristin Brown

Three-month trial aimed at improving tone and dialogue

Starting Aug. 1, participation in Palo Alto Online’s popular Town Square discussion forum will be limited to those who register on the site with their name and email address.

— but not all people do.

“There is no perfect way to weed out posters who are hellbent on being snarky or disrespectful,” Johnson said. “But at a time when emotions are high and so much polarization exists in politics, we hope this step will move Town Square closer to a place where constructive

dialogue and debate can occur.”

Palo Alto Online readers will be asked to help evaluate the registration requirement after the Nov. 3 election.

Registration for Town Square can be accomplished by going to the upper left corner of the Palo Alto Online home page. Q — Palo Alto Weekly staff

downtown Palo Alto. After attending De Anza College and studying communications, Goodwin will be transferring to North Carolina Central for the upcoming academic year.

Hele’ine Grewe is a rising senior at Menlo-Atherton High School who also works parttime for the U.S. Census and as a graphic designer. The daughter of a Black father and Tongan mother, Grewe has been active in various social justice and environmental campaigns and organizations.

Raised in East Palo Alto, she is the eldest of four children.

Makayla Miller, a recent graduate of Palo Alto High School, co-organized and spoke at Palo Alto’s Juneteenth march and Menlo Park’s Black LGBTQIA Lives Matter rally and march.

The former president of Black

Scholars United at Paly, she’s currently a student at Louisiana State University.

Lythcott-Haims is a former corporate lawyer and author of the anti-helicopter parenting manifesto “How to Raise an Adult.” Her second book is the award-winning prose poetry memoir “Real American,” which illustrates her experience as a Black and biracial person in white spaces. A third book, “Your Turn: How to Be an Adult,” will be published in April 2021. She serves on the boards of Foundation for a College Education, Global Citizen Year and Common Sense Media.

Registration is required to attend the event, which will be hosted on Zoom. Go to EmbarcaderoMediaGroup.com/ youth-forum to reserve a spot. Q — Embarcadero Media staff

Public Agenda A preview of Palo Alto government meetings next week CITY COUNCIL ... The council plans to consider the Parks and Recreation Commission’s proposed pilot program to increase access to Foothills Park for nonresidents; discuss the Plan Bay Area 2050 Draft Blueprint and the Regional Housing Needs Allocation Process; and discuss the potential placement of the Caltrain sales tax meaure on the Nov. 3 ballot. The virtual meeting will begin at 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 3. The meeting will be broadcast on Cable TV Channel 26, at youtube.com/c/cityofpaloalto, and midpenmedia.org. Those wishing to participate by Zoom can do so by dialing 669-900-6833 and using Meeting ID: 362 027 238.

From top left row: Ayinde Olukotun, Divya Ganesan, Cleo Goodwin, Hele’ine Grewe, Makayla Miller and Julie Lythcott-Haims will participate in a virtual panel discussion on Generation Z and racial justice on Aug. 6.

UTILITIES ADVISORY COMMISSION ... The commission plans to observe and discuss a presentation by Professor Richard Luthy on “One Water Resource Approach;” discuss the Fiber Network Expansion Project; and provide an update on the Activities to Facilitate Distributed Energy Resource Adoption and Integration plan. The virtual meeting will begin at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 5. The meeting will be broadcast on Cable TV Channel 26, at youtube.com/c/cityofpaloalto, and midpenmedia.org. Those wishing to participate by Zoom can do so by dialing 669-900-6833 and using Meeting ID: 966 9129 7246.

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 31, 2020 • Page 7

Upfront

News Digest Castilleja offers new alternative in EIR A new alternative that seeks to reduce traffic impacts of Castilleja School’s proposed expansion is included in a much-anticipated final environmental impact report released Wednesday evening by the city of Palo Alto.

The final environmental impact report (EIR), released this week, documents a new project alternative proposed by Castilleja, required mitigation measures and responses to comments received while the draft environmental impact report circulated for public review last year.

The yearslong, divisive project has driven a wedge between the private all-girls school and residents in the surrounding neighborhood.

But school administrators on Thursday said they’re hopeful the new alternative Castilleja proposed to address neighbor concerns — reducing the size of an underground parking garage, retaining two homes on Emerson Street and creating three drop-off and pickup locations to ease traffic — provides a path forward for the project. With certain mitigation requirements, the alternative would reduce both land-use and traffic impacts, the final EIR states.

Neighbors, meanwhile, were concerned that they were seeing this proposed alternative for the first time and hadn’t had an opportunity to review and comment on it before a series of public hearings begin in August to continue the review process.

The project has several more hurdles to clear before reaching the City Council, including reviews by the Architectural Review Board, Planning and Transportation Commission and Historic Resources Board, which will provide recommendations to the council. Q —Elena Kadvany

Head of Menlo Church steps down John Ortberg, the senior pastor of Menlo Church, is stepping down from his role at the evangelical Presbyterian church that sits prominently in downtown Menlo Park, following community outcry after the church’s board learned that he had allowed his son to continue to work with youth for more than a year after learning that his son was sexually attracted to children.

Menlo Church attracts about 6,000 weekly congregants across six Bay Area campuses, and on its website brands itself as a family-friendly faith community, but it faced a reckoning as details emerged regarding troubling revelations in late 2019 and early 2020. Ortberg, who has led the church for 17 years, was put on a leave of absence this winter, and later reinstated. On Wednesday morning, the church announced that its governing board unanimously accepted Ortberg’s resignation, according to a statement on the church’s website.

His last day will be Sunday, Aug. 2, when he is expected to address the congregation.

The church board plans to hire an interim pastor to serve in a transitional role during the search for a new senior pastor, according to the statement, and in the interim, Eugene Lee will continue as executive pastor. Q —Kate Bradshaw

Atherton dad sentenced in admissions scam Manuel Henriquez, the former CEO of a Palo Alto-based venture capital firm, was sentenced Wednesday to six months in prison for paying more than $500,000 in a national admissions scam that involved more than 50 parents, sports staff and test proctors, federal prosecutors said. He helped his daughters get admitted to college by ensuring they did well on college entrance exams five times.

Henriquez, 56, of Atherton pleaded guilty last year to a charge of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and honest services mail and wire fraud, plus an additional charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He founded Hercules Capital and stepped down as CEO when federal indictments in the college admissions scandal were announced in March 2019.

The indictments claimed the parents paid large sums of money to education consultant Rick Singer, who used the funds to bribe universities into guaranteeing their children admission. The funds were disguised as donations to Singer’s fake nonprofit organization, The Key Worldwide Foundation.

The Atherton resident also paid $400,000 to help one of his daughters become a tennis recruit at Georgetown University despite her having no competitive experience in the sport, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

In addition to the prison sentence, Gorton ordered Henriquez to perform 200 hours of community service while under two years of supervised release and to pay a $200,000 fine. Q —Jamey Padojino Page 8 • July 31, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Upfront

Mural (continued from page 5)

and organization,” said Kimberly McNair, a postdoctoral research fellow for Stanford University’s African and African American Studies department.

Reciting the quote “has been a tradition in the movement for seven years now and happens locally, nationally and globally. That quoted stanza ... is called ‘Assata,’” she said. “I’ve even heard ‘Assata’ repeated at non-Black Lives Matter network actions by other Black activist organizations.”

The city of Palo Alto has refused to answer the specific question about whether the “E” should be repainted, referring only to a July 9 blog post that the city does not intend to remove or expedite the removal of the temporary mural.

The Palo Alto Police Department also declined to comment.

Meanwhile, the debate over the mural has continued online.

“Black lives matter,” one Weekly reader commented on a July 9 Palo Alto Online article about the mural. “But anyone, Black or otherwise, who murders in cold blood should not be celebrated or memorialized in any way. These artists are stupid if they think reasonable citizens will support their cause while they defend Joanne Chesimard. As if there is a lack of heroes and champions of civil rights and social justice to honor.”

One reader called the mural “a slap in the face to law enforcement — a taxpayer-funded art

Elena Kadvany

Police trooper in the 1970s. Decades later, she became the first woman to be added to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list.

“For law enforcement required to enter the building (referring to the Palo Alto police headquarters inside City Hall) is there any description other than a hostile work environment?” the association asked in its online petition seeking the removal of Chesimard’s image.

“Stop trying to decide our right way of putting our message up,” said Kenan Moos, 21, after a July 16 press conference that was held in front of City Hall to defend the mural. “No matter what we’ve done, they’ve been mad. We silently kneel at games, they get mad. Peacefully march, they get mad. We call them out in their public meetings, they get mad.”

For some protesters and activists, Chesimard’s conviction is evidence of a flawed and racist criminal justice system that bungled a case involving a Black person. Using Chesimard’s likeness for a Black Lives Matter mural is wholly appropriate, they say.

Speakers at the press conference said Chesimard’s role in the death of the state trooper remains disputed. Chesimard, who reportedly lives in Cuba where she was given political asylum, never

held the gun that killed the state trooper, they said. Forensic analysis showed no evidence of gun powder residue on Chesimard’s fingers, and her fingerprints were not found on guns at the scene.

In addition, Caprio and the speakers believed Chesimard never stood a chance against a fair trial because she faced an all-white jury. ( The Guardian reported that there was sufficient evidence that the trial was unfair, with at least two jurors expressing prejudice before the trial began.)

“Her life was destroyed by the criminal justice system,” social activist J.T. Faraji said after the press conference. “She literally had to leave family, friends, everything. Why? Because of a racist system that feared her — that feared liberation, that feared equality, that feared righteousness. Who better to put on the mural than Assata Shakur?”

On the day the mural was painted, Caprio said she used Chesimard’s portrait because she is an “amazing, radical Black Panther who is brilliant, intelligent and shared so much wisdom that is still very much relevant for us today.” Below the image, Caprio painted a quote from Chesimard’s “To My People” letter that is commonly recited in Black Lives Matter marches: “We must love each other and support each other.”

“Shakur is very important to the Black Lives Matter movement

The Black Lives Matter street mural outside Palo Alto City Hall has generated controversy after the lobbying group National Police Association launched an effort to have a portrait of fugitive Joanne Chesimard (better known as Assata Shakur) removed from the second “E” in the mural. project that glorifies a cop-killer and endorses acts of crime and violence.”

Caprio, Moos and Kiyoshi Taylor, a Los Altos resident who also spoke at the conference, were asked if they support the killing

of cops. Their answers were the same.

“I don’t support the taking of lives, period,” Moos said. Q Editorial Assistant Lloyd Lee can be emailed at llee@ paweekly.com.

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Upfront

Waiver (continued from page 5)

Magali Gauthier

Alto, Pinewood School in Los Altos and the German International School of Silicon Valley in Mountain View.

“Our size allows flexibility in keeping staff and students safe using the guidelines provided by local and state authorities,” Bowman Head of School MaryBeth Ricks said. “It’s important to stress that we’re going to be extremely responsible ... but we’re going to try every avenue to get especially the younger ones in person and not give up hope that we can be granted the waiver.”

Before Newsom’s announcement, Bowman had already brought some students back to school for a summer session with numerous precautions. Students were in stable cohorts of 12; students and staff had their temperatures and symptoms checked daily; all students older than first grade were required to wear masks all day; and all staff gathering areas were closed. A new volunteer task force, made up of Bowman parents who work in the medical field, advised Ricks on best practices for reopening.

“Everybody’s been positive about” reopening schools in person, Ricks said of the parentadvisers, “based on our very, very strict plans.”

Bowman is now developing

three different contingency plans for the first day of school on Sept.

1: full distance learning, a hybrid model if the waiver is approved and a third plan if the waiver is approved but not for all elementary grade levels.

In the spring, Bowman teachers were available in online classrooms to work with students from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on school days.

Virtual learning proved especially difficult for younger students, who are less tech-savvy and thus required more parent supervision, Ricks said.

Other private schools are applying for the waiver to keep their options open — especially as concrete details about how the waiver will work remain scarce — but are not sure that they would use it if approved.

“We do not know if we want to open at all,” said Angie Bergeson, Silicon Valley International School’s head of school. “We want to stay as safe as possible.

We wouldn’t want to go against county health guidelines even if we could with a waiver.”

But the majority of the private bilingual school’s families want face-to-face instruction, Bergeson said. In June, only 10% of families said they prefer online learning. Parents have been urging the school to apply for a waiver, Bergeson said.

“Independent schools have parent communities that are really pressuring schools to reopen. It’s

The Silicon Valley International School Cohn campus on Laura Lane in Palo Alto is among the local private schools seeking a waiver for in-person instruction this fall. putting independent schools in a particular bind knowing that they can apply for a waiver,” Bergeson said.

Parent Raphael Michel, cochair of Silicon Valley International School’s board of directors, hopes his children, a rising thirdgrader and rising sixth-grader, will be able to safely attend school in person in the fall — more for their emotional development than academic, he said.

“You can get a good knowledge transfer in some conversation moderated by a well-trained educator on a video session but ... all of that learning through playing they get when they’re in the same classroom, when they have those in-person interactions, when

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they’re on the playground — that social emotional development is at risk of being diminished,” Michel said.

He said parents would “scratch their heads” if Silicon Valley International School obtained a waiver and decided not to use it, but they are placing their trust in the school’s leadership to make the safest decision for students.

Silicon Valley International also created an advisory council, including parents and outside experts, to whom Bergeson said she’ll turn if the school obtains a reopening waiver.

For now, the school has decided to offer only online learning for the first six weeks of school, regardless if its waiver is granted or if Santa Clara County gets off the state watch list. The school pushed the start of school later by two weeks to allow time for students to come to campus to pick up supplies, safely meet their teachers and prepare for distance learning.

“We need to now control the situation and be able to say we know what we’re doing. One of the hardest things about this for schools is this not knowing,” Bergeson said. “Actually making the decision to do distance learning is the most effective and efficient for us to start school, but of course it’s really crushing for independent schools to say that to their communities ... They’re paying tuition and they’re wondering when their kindergartner starts distance learning, what is that going to look like?”

Kathrin Röschel, principal of the German International School of Silicon Valley in Mountain View, said she plans to apply for the waiver but “only will use it when safety measures allow.”

“We miss our students. We strongly believe in in-person instruction and the social component in learning, but we were also extremely successful with our distance-learning program in spring and will not put the health of our students, teachers

and community in jeopardy,” she wrote in an email.

The waivers, if granted, could further exacerbate inequities between public and private schools during the pandemic. Public schools must make the request “in consultation” with their labor unions, parents and communitybased organizations, according to Newsom’s office, while private schools can be more nimble.

Palo Alto Unified Superintendent Don Austin said at a school board meeting this week that the district does not plan to apply for a waiver to reopen its elementary schools, despite the urging of several parent speakers.

“If waivers were the preferred path to reopen schools, we wouldn’t have needed waivers.

They would have just said, ‘It’s fine to go open your elementary schools.’ They didn’t,” Austin said. “The idea of going around that process, through all the reasons that led to us being closed ... did not make sense for our district.”

Private school leaders said they have heard little about how the waiver process will work or how long it will take. Some have been or are waiting to be assigned a liaison from the county’s Office of Emergency Operations.

The office, meanwhile, has received little guidance from the state on how to evaluate waivers — only the publicly available Cal OSHA and California Department of Public Health guidelines for reopening schools, according to a county public information officer. Newsom’s office said local health officials reviewing applications must “consider local data and consult with the California Department of Public Health.”

“The county is still in the planning stages about how next to proceed about reviewing applications,” the spokesperson said.

At Silicon Valley International School, which offers Mandarin Chinese-English and FrenchEnglish programs, teachers are trying to think creatively about how to offer effective language instruction in this new era.

Ideas have included virtual dinners with teachers in Mandarin or French and asking older students to play online games with younger students in the language they’re studying. Even in person, masks will make it difficult to teach language, Bergeson said.

The reopening dilemma feels like “you’re choosing between being punched in the stomach and punched in the face,” Bergeson said. “The situation is really quite difficult for schools to make everybody happy.” Q Staff writer Elena Kadvany can be emailed at ekadvany@ paweekly.com.

Sign up today at PaloAltoOnline.com/express Page 10 • July 31, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

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www.PaloAltoOnline.com â&#x20AC;¢ Palo Alto Weekly â&#x20AC;¢ July 31, 2020 â&#x20AC;¢ Page 11

Upfront FOOTHILLS PARK

What the pilot program proposes Palo Alto’s parks commission recommended a one-year plan to expand access to Foothills Park Veronica Weber/File Photo

Deer graze at Las Trampas Valley in Palo Alto’s Foothills Park. The Parks and Recreation Commission has proposed opening up the park to nonresidents for a one-year pilot program, but some residents are worried that giving more people access will damage plant and animal habitats and frighten wildlife away.

Foothills Park (continued from page 5)

to make a decision about opening the park, given the pressing financial and staffing issues facing the city because of the pandemic.

Besides the financial considerations, opponents of opening the park to all assert that doing so would inflict damage on the fragile ecosystem. Residents such as Shani Kleinhaus, who is an environmental advocate for the nonprofit Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, argue that Foothills is a special place that has remained so because access is limited. Opening this unspoiled gem to all is an act that would take away from the very qualities that make it special, they say.

On Tuesday night, during a Parks and Recreation Commission meeting about Foothills, Kleinhaus said that she is used to taking frequent hikes in the park. The expansive open space preserve offers opportunities to find bird species as varied as the red-pompadoured, pileated woodpecker, the second largest woodpecker in the U.S.; the belted kingfisher; majestic golden and bald eagles and colorful Western

bluebirds and lazuli buntings.

But on a recent visit, she said she encountered plastic bags of dog waste along the trails and loud music blaring from picnickers’ boomboxes in the verdant lower meadow. Deer by the dozen usually frequent this spot to graze, but not when humans create a racket.

These problems, while perhaps not new, have been increasing steadily during the COVID-19 outbreak, Kleinhaus, who was speaking on her own behalf and not the Audubon, said, as residents seek outdoor spaces as relief from the county health officer’s stay-at-home order.

Based on what she has seen, Kleinhaus, who was speaking on her own behalf and not for the Audubon, told the commissioners she worries giving more people access will damage plant and animal habitats and frighten wildlife away.

“I really don’t care who is there and I never have,” she said. It’s the number of people and their behaviors that make a difference to the environment, she added.

The city should take the park opening to the voters to decide, she said, and perform an environmental-impact study.

Resident Winter Dellenbach

CityView A round-up

of Palo Alto government action this week

City Council

The council did not meet this week.

Parks and Recreation Commission (July 28) Foothills Park: The commissioners listened to a panel discussion with five experts related to potentially opening Foothills Park to nonresidents.

Action: None

Council Appointed Officers Committee (July 28)

Auditor: The committee interviewed candidate firms that would take over functions of the city’s auditor position and the department’s staff. Committee members chose three out of four firms to move forward to interview before the full City Council.

Yes: Unanimous.

Board of Education (July 28)

Conceptual designs: The board approved conceptual designs and other aspects of renovation projects at Walter Hays and Escondido elementary schools.

Yes: Unanimous Reopening: The board discussed plans for reopening schools in the fall.

Action: None

Page 12 • July 31, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

told the commissioners she also doesn’t care if the visitors are from Palo Alto or other cities but is concerned about moving ahead with a change at this time.

The city had a $40 million budget shortfall that forced the closure of libraries and curtailment of other city services. If opening the park will require added costs for security, registration and infrastructure improvements, now is not the time, she said.

Tracing the roots of the restriction

B

ounded by Portola Valley, Los Altos Hills, PearsonArastradero Preserve and Los Trancos Open Space Preserve, Foothills Park offers spectacular vistas of the Bay Area and 15 miles of trails through rugged chaparral, fields, streams and woodlands.

A checklist of flora and fauna on the iNaturalist website shows that at least 574 different types of plants, spiders, butterflies, moths, birds, amphibians, fish, reptiles and mammals frequent the park.

Videos show an elusive bobcat slinking across a remote trail; a flock of wild turkeys pecking in a field; and purple, spotted checker lilies during a spring wildflower jaunt.

The city purchased 1,294 acres of the land from Dr. Russel Lee, founder of the Palo Alto Medical Clinic, and his wife, Dorothy, in 1958 on the condition that it would be preserved as open space.

The council put the $1.3 million purchase on a ballot in 1959, with 62% of voters supporting the purchase.

The council also asked the neighboring cities of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills to share the cost. Those cities declined, so Palo Alto restricted access to Palo Alto residents and their guests, Greg Betts, former director of the city’s Community Services Department, told the Weekly in 2013.

Daren Anderson, division manager of the city’s Open Space, Parks and Golf, told the commissioners on Tuesday there was another reason for the exclusivity, however. Residents who feared Foothills would become a regional park formed Citizens for

On Monday, Aug. 3, the Palo Alto City Council will discuss a pilot program for opening up access to Foothills Park to people who do not reside in Palo Alto. Here’s what’s been proposed.

• By purchasing a permit, nonresidents could enter Foothills Park. Up to 50 vehicles or bicycles with permits would be allowed per day.

• Permits would cost $6 each. Reservations would be made online.

• Residents would continue to have free access to the park.

• The city could adjust the quantity of permits sold per day in response to visitor numbers.

• The park’s existing limit of 1,000 visitors at a time would continue.

• The pilot program would last for one year.

• Reservation of group spaces would be restricted to residents.

• The penalty for entering the park by the front gate would be downgraded to an infraction (from the current misdemeanor) for people who aren’t residents, city employees or guests of residents or employees.

• The city’s student field trip policy would be formalized to include nonresident students.

• The city would assess the quantitative and qualitative impacts to the park’s ecology, infrastructure and maintenance at the end of the pilot program.

Source: City of Palo Alto Good Governance to challenge a proposed plan. They filed a lawsuit against the council, which the California Supreme Court rejected, Anderson said, quoting a 1980 Stanford Daily article.

To appease the citizens group, the council voted to limit access to Palo Alto residents only. They followed up with an ordinance making it a misdemeanor to enter the park illegally, a violation that carried a $50 fine. The city formally dedicated the park in June 1965.

That decision wasn’t the end of the debate. In 1974, the American Civil Liberties Union considered suing the city over the residency restriction, according to a story that year in the Stanford Daily.

Larry Sleizer, then-chairman of the Midpeninsula chapter of the ACLU, told the Stanford Daily: “The effect of the original decision has prevented Blacks from East Palo Alto and students from using the park.”

The city allowed its employees who don’t reside in Palo Alto and their families to use the park, he argued, so it should be open to the public.

“Discrimination against nonresidents is unlawful,” he said.

The threats of a lawsuit haven’t abated: Cordell recently sent the city a letter warning of a lawsuit if the council doesn’t immediately agree to stop enforcing its ban on nonresidents.

Similar discrimination claims have been upheld by courts. In a case that is similar to Palo Alto’s, a 2001 lawsuit, “Leydon v. Town of Greenwich,” the Connecticut Supreme Court found the municipality violated the plaintiff’s First Amendment rights when it restricted access to a 147-acre municipal park to only its residents and their guests.

In a 2001 analysis of the case, legal scholar James C. Kozlowski,

an associate professor at George Mason University School of Sport, Recreation and Tourism Management, noted the Connecticut state appeals court first ruled the ordinance violated a general legal principle that “municipal parks are deemed to be held in trust for the benefit of the general public and not solely for the use of residents of the municipality.”

The state’s Supreme Court affirmed the decision, finding that a municipal park is a constitutionally protected public forum, much like a sidewalk or town plaza.

Even if a nonresident can find a town resident to accompany him or her to the park, “the mere fact that he or she is required to do so places more than an incidental burden on the nonresident’s expressive and associational rights,” Kozlowski wrote.

Legal threats notwithstanding, the city did in 2005 open access of Foothills Park to nonresidents, though not by the front gate. That year, Santa Clara County and the California Coastal Conservancy together gave the city $2 million to help Palo Alto purchase 13 acres of private land from the Midpeninsula Open Space Trust to complete Pearson-Arastradero Preserve.

Palo Alto agreed as part of that deal to open a trail through Foothills Park to all visitors, regardless of residency. The trail links part of the Bay-to-Ridge Trail to Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve. Nonresidents who can hike through can visit Foothills Park.

How much can the park handle?

I

f the park is opened to all, would Foothills become overly burdened by the newcomers? Parks and Recreation Commissioner David Moss, who supports the pilot program that would allow nonresidents in 50

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 31, 2020 • Page 13

Upfront

Foothills Park (continued from page 12)

cars or bicycles a day to access the park, expressed concern that there could be a great interest in visiting the park if the number of entrants isn’t controlled.

“You know the power of social media.

The minute this gets out, social media will take it and run with it,” he said.

But the city’s estimates of current park attendance cast some doubt that there would be a rush on Foothills Park. Anderson said the city hasn’t reached its 1,000-personsat-a-time limit in more than 20 years.

Likewise, rangers have only given out one administrative citation — the equivalent of a parking ticket — and no citations for misdemeanor illegal entry into the park in about the same time frame.

The 1,000-person cap isn’t necessarily tied to concerns about human wear-andtear on the park either. It’s based on the number of available parking spaces and an estimate that each vehicle would carry 2.5 occupants, which gets close to the 1,000-person figure, Anderson said.

Foothills had a 2,000-person cap when it opened in 1965; that number was revised down to the current number in the 1990s, he said. But park usage has actually declined.

Approximately 292,000 visitors came in 1969; that figure peaked at about 372,000 in the early 1970s. It declined thereafter and through the 1990s. From 2002 to 2019, the park has averaged 152,000 visitors per year, he said, a figure that is based on rangers’ periodic counts of vehicles in the park.

The number of nonresident visitors has also been modest. Between 2015 and 2019, about 3,100 nonresident vehicles were

turned away, Anderson said. (The front gate is only staffed by rangers on weekends, however, so the exact number of nonresidents coming to the park is hard to know.)

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a turnaround, however: a 136% increase in resident-visitors on weekends for the month of June, compared to 2019 and a 7% decrease on weekdays during the same time period, he said.

Five experts invited by the Parks and Recreation Commission to weigh in on the potential impacts and benefits of expanding park access argued on Tuesday that damage to the park isn’t due to who comes to visit but rather how those people behave.

Taylor Peterson, director of biological analysis with MIG, an environmental consulting firm that has worked with the city in various parks, including Foothills, said increased usage doesn’t have to mean the park environment will decline. Impacts are not only quantitative; they are, perhaps more importantly, qualitative. Two people who make a lot of noise at a picnic site can create more problems than five people who walk quietly on a trail, for example.

Lester Hendrie, a former Foothills Park supervising ranger who worked at the preserve for 30 years, said the length of time a person spends doing an activity also affects the environment — preventing, for example, wildlife from returning to a grazing site.

Peterson recommended the city undertake a baseline study to understand the existing conditions within the park and its current usage, then monitor the space regularly so that any problems can be quickly addressed.

“Spend the time and money to do this right. Have a program of adaptive management so you can reverse issues right away. I

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think you could open (the park) to nonresidents and still keep a nice preserve. I don’t think where somebody comes from impacts the park,” she said.

Nonprofit groups and volunteers have been on the front lines of maintaining the park. Ironically, the majority of their work involves repairing damage done by invasive, nonnative plants, not people, according to panelist Alex Von Feldt, executive director of Grassroots Ecology.

Seeds from these plant species, including the highly invasive stinkwort, travel on the tires of construction vehicles working on private developments outside the park and even come in on visitors’ shoes.

Grassroots Ecology, which maintains a native plant nursery at the park, has managed hundreds of young volunteers who revegetate areas of the park with native plants, Von Feldt said. But while they’ve benefited the park, saving the city hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, many of these same volunteers — those who do not live in Palo Alto — feel their enthusiasm wane when they find out they can’t use the park.

They start out saying, “This is amazing,” Von Feldt said, but when they realize they’re doing work on a preserve they can’t return to, “it takes the air out of it.”

Stanford University Professor Nicole M. Ardoin, a director of the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources at Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences, studies the interaction of people and the environment. People are more likely to partner in environmental projects if they have access to Foothills, she told the commission.

And isn’t that what a public open space should strive to instill? Von Feldt and others asked.

When people come to love a place, they want to preserve it, to make it better than when they left and to invest in more open space because they understand its value, she said.

Von Feldt also argued that the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 epidemic makes now the right time to open Foothills Park; it would help alleviate some of the strain on Palo Alto’s other large open space areas: the Pearson-Arastradero Preserve and Palo Alto Baylands.

Pearson-Arastradero Preserve is experiencing a huge influx of visitors as people have sought open areas where they can keep their social distance. The park has had to hire more security personnel to handle the traffic and parking issues, Von Feldt said.

“We believe opening Foothills Park will have an overall positive effect. We need our wide, open public spaces now more than ever, and this would be a really great time to do it,” she said.

The decision facing the council

I

f Palo Alto were to lift the park’s residency restriction, access wouldn’t need to be an all-or-nothing affair. The council could continue to restrict the number of people it allows into the park, as the pilot program proposal recommends. The council could also address environmental concerns by placing limits on people’s activities.

Hendrie warned that consideration should be given to the additional burdens that more visitors would place on park rangers: more staffing of the entrance; more garbage and restroom cleanup; more patrols; more upkeep.

He urged the city to go slowly with whatever plan it decides upon.

Smith cautioned that the city will need to fund additional staff, the improvement of infrastructure, such as restrooms, and to maintain habitats.

City Councilwoman Lydia Kou, who is the council liaison to the Parks and Recreation Commission, likewise said that further discussion must also include the funding for infrastructure and staffing to ensure the quality of the environment is maintained.

Considering the city’s nearly $40 million budget shrinkage this year, that could be a difficult prospect, she said.

Dellenbach, the Palo Alto resident, summed up what many on the commission and expert panel seemed to agree on.

“I’ve heard a litany of mitigations that would need to be made to protect the wildlife and plants,” she said.

“I think the 1,000-person-a-day (limit) should stay in place,” she said. “It’s vital.

The wildlife and vegetation come first before human beings.”

The City Council meeting will be held virtually on Zoom on Monday, Aug. 3, and can be viewed at Zoom.us (meeting ID 362 027 238) or by calling 669-900-6833. The Foothills Park item is scheduled to be discussed at around 7 p.m. Q Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.

Take the survey.

Watch the panel.

Councilwoman Lydia Kou is surveying residents about Foothills Park access in advance of Monday’s council meeting. To take the survey, go to tinyurl.com/KouFoothills. Also, a video of the panel discussion hosted by the Parks and Recreation Commission on July 28 will be posted at tinyurl.com/ParksAndRecPA or midpenmedia.org.

About the cover: The front entrance to Foothills Park sits at 3300 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto. Photo by Magali Gauthier.

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Pulse

Janet Wright Barrett

Former City Councilman Grant Spaeth dies at 88

October 30, 1932 – July 20, 2020

by Lloyd Lee

G

rant Spaeth, a former Palo Alto city councilman and p a s t president of the United States Golf Association, died from complications of Parkinson’s disease on July 28. He was 88 years old.

Born June 27, 1932, in Oxford, England, Spaeth came to Palo Alto when his father, Carl Spaeth, was appointed dean of Stanford University’s Law School in 1946.

As an undergraduate at Stanford University, he played for an NCAA championship winning golf team in 1953. He then pursued a law degree at Harvard University and went on to cofound the law firm of Spaeth, Blase, Valentine & Klein, where he practiced business law. During his time as a lawyer, he also served on the Palo Alto City

Council from 1967 to 1971.

“The council at that point was very split,” said Larry Klein, a former Palo Alto mayor who worked with Spaeth at the firm for about a decade. “(In the) classic Palo Alto debate between who wanted to see more development versus less development, Grant was down the middle.”

Speath also served on the boards of Avenidas and the Los Altos Library Endowment and as the deputy secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services during a part of the Jimmy Carter administration.

But his many appointments never eclipsed his passion for golf: He served as the United States Golf Association’s president from 1990 to 1991 and helped establish the U.S. MidAmateur and U.S. Women’s MidAmateur championships and the USGA’s Regional Affairs department, according to the association. In 2011, he was inducted into the Northern California Golf

Association Hall of Fame.

Spaeth is survived by his wife, Lori Spaeth, of Los Altos; sister Laurie Spaeth of Palo Alto; two children, Charlie Spaeth of Oakland and Shelly Spaeth of Los Altos; and stepson Steven Travis of Greenbrae. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Judy Bolender Spaeth, who died of pancreatic cancer in 1965. Q

POLICE CALLS

Theft related Commercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Shoplifting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Alcohol or drug related Driving under influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Drunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Possession of paraphernalia . . . . . . . 5 Sale of drugs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Palo Alto July 23-July 29 Violence related Loma Verde Place, 7/1, 8 a.m.; child abuse/physical.

San Antonio Road, 7/1, 11:53 p.m.; sexual battery.

Bryant Street, 7/23, 11:01 a.m.; elder abuse/physical.

Alma Street, 7/24, 3:39 p.m.; simple battery.

Curtner Avenue, 7/26, 12:24 p.m.; domestic violence/battery.

Seale Avenue, 7/27, 7:06 a.m.; assault w/ deadly weapon.

El Camino Real, 7/27, 8 a.m.; domestic violence/battery.

OBITUARIES A list of local residents who died recently: Hubert Nyser, a longtime Palo Alto resident, died on May 8. Janet Lorene Wright Barrett, 87, a former Palo Alto Unified School District teacher, died on July 20.

To read the full obituaries, leave remembrances and post photos, go to Lasting Memories at PaloAltoOnline.com/obituaries. Q

Miscellaneous Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Misc. penal code violation . . . . . . . . . . 2 Missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Other/misc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Outside investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Psychiatric subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . 2 Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Warrant/other agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Vehicle related Auto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Driving w/ suspended license. . . . . . . . 3 Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Vehicle accident/major injury . . . . . . . . 1 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . 3 Vehicle accident/prop damage. . . . . . . 2 Vehicle impound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

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Janet Lorene Wright Barrett, age 87, passed away on Monday, July 20, 2020 at Kobacker House in Columbus Ohio. Janet was born on October 30, 1932 in Columbus to the late Fred and Belinda Lorene Wright. Also preceding her in death was her beloved husband Raymond Barrett. Janet graduated from the Columbus School for Girls in 1950 and attended Denison University. She relocated to Palo Alto, California with her first husband Donald Cope, and completed her undergraduate studies at U.C. Berkeley in 1954. She received her teaching certification from San Jose State University and began teaching as a Special Ed. teacher in the Palo Alto Unified School District. Ultimately, she received her MA in Special Education from Santa Clara University in 1980. Janet spent her teaching career as a valued member of the Palo Alto Unified School District. She loved teaching, especially teaching reading. She particularly enjoyed working with the most needy and challenging students. Janet continued to teach, and mentor other teachers until the age of 75. Janet enjoyed hiking and backpacking in the High Sierra, and in later years, traveling the world with her beloved Ray. Jan and Ray loved the San Francisco Symphony and Opera and were devoted subscribers for many years. They just loved laughing and being together for 35 years. Janet will be deeply missed by her loving daughters, Lori Cope (Dave) Curran; Lisa Cope (David) Cohn; loving son, Douglas Cope; first cousin Richard (Louesa) Foster; brother Fred Wright; her six grandchildren, Alex Cohn; Kristina Reynolds; Jeremy Cohn; William Cope; Rachel Cope; Susanna Cohn; and two great-grandchildren Liam and Olivia Cope. Donations may be made in her honor to Room To Read, Sierra Club Bay Area Chapter, or Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford.

Memories and messages may be entered on her Tribute Wall at https://www.schoedinger.com/obituaries/Janet-Barrett-3/#!/ Obituary

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www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 31, 2020 • Page 15

Page 16 • July 31, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 31, 2020 • Page 17

W ? NDER

what to do with Household Hazardous Waste (HHW)?

Drop It Off at the HHW Station Hours •

Every Saturday: 9 – 11 AM

•

First Friday of the month: 3 – 5 PM

Guidelines •

15 gallons or 125 pounds of HHW per visit (in no larger than 5-gallon containers)

•

Must be a Palo Alto resident (bring your driver’s license or vehicle registration)

•

Before visiting, check our website to confirm hours and current guidelines related to COVID-19

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

Page 18 • July 31, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

HHW Station Location 2501 Embarcadero Way Palo Alto, CA 94303

VISIT THE HHW REUSE ZONE Visitors can take up to five usable household products per visit, such as paint, cleaners and unused motor oil. Items are free of charge.

Residency in Palo Alto is not required to use the HHW Reuse Zone.

Due to COVID-19, please check our website before visiting to confirm that access to this area is available.

Spectrum Editorials, letters and opinions

An Alternative View

Going stir crazy — but still wearing my mask

S

ay goodbye to asking your neighbors over for a drink or a barbecue any time soon — such activities could be prohibited for quite awhile because of the rising coronavirus rates statewide and in Santa Clara County.

Is it a wise move by the government, or is it just a mean ban on socializing with our friends and family?

During our stay-at-home period, I’ve been very conscientious about avoiding contact with others, mostly because I know I have less immunity to the virus than when I was 30 or 40, and because this is a ghastly, painful disease that I just don’t want to suffer through. I wear masks when I am near others, and we haven’t had a single person socially come in our home or backyard.

Yes, every once in a while (like Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays), I either go stir crazy or figuratively climb the walls.

Some of my friends have entertained in their backyards, telling me they “make all the food, everyone wears masks, and we socially distance ourselves when together.”

I think they are just trying to make themselves feel virtuous.

Two Saturdays ago, for the first time in four months, my husband and I went over

Letters Desegregate Foothills Park Editor, I’m responding to Roger Smith’s “Now’s not the time for full Foothills Park discussion” in the Weekly. I disagree — now is exactly the time to have this discussion. Mr. Smith’s reasoning reminds me of the arguments Southerners (and others) made 50 years ago against desegregating their schools. Wait, you say, where did segregation come into this discussion? Well, the way I see it, racism is at the core of this issue. Our racism.

I recall a discussion of this issue at a city council meeting 20 or so years ago; one of the speakers complained about misconduct by nonresidents at other city parks. At Rinconada Park, she had observed some nonresidents behaving badly, and some other nonresidents were out at the baylands playing mariachi music too loud. I was listening

by Diana to visit a friend whose wife recently died.

He was starving for company, too. We had a delightful, fun time and intended to observe all the rules.

We came with our masks on, did not walk through his ho and sat on the patio with a pleasant breeze blowing. He served us wine.

I haven’t yet figured out how to drink red wine through my mask. I couldn’t quite get the liquid into my mouth. So off the mask came. Back on after the first sip, then off, then on, then a “hell with this” response on my part.

He served takeout pizza and a salad. Although we were sitting 8 feet apart, we all had to pull our chairs to the table to eat off plates. Our social distance collapsed to 2 feet.

By the end of dinner, and starting on my second glass of wine, my mask stayed around my neck. Then we talked about food, travel and the election and the virus for more than an hour.

When I came home, I realized that I certainly didn’t properly distance myself all evening long.

That’s why I support the county’s ban, which may expand to other counties, because as well intentioned as we may be, social distancing is near impossible when you eat or drink with another person. In fact, under the county’s mandatory directive for outdoor dining, meeting friends or family from another household for outdoor dining is prohibited. It states: “Everyone sharing a table must be from the same household.”

to the meeting on KZSU, so I could not see this speaker nor speak in response, but I wanted to ask her: “How did you determine these were nonresidents?” I doubt she had checked their IDs. Were they, perhaps, the wrong color for Palo Alto residents? I didn’t (and don’t) think the racism was too well veiled there.

At a time of national reckoning about race, it’s time for us to desegregate Foothills Park. It’s a simple measure that can send a message of inclusiveness.

Mark Lawrence Marion Avenue, Palo Alto

On the death penalty Editor, In response to your question, “What do you think of the district attorney’s criminal justice reforms?”

I applaud the district attorney’s brave decision. Earlier in my life, I supported the death penalty, as I believed it was the truest form of penalty for brazen acts and a way to honor victims for their loss. Then, I read about

Diamond I agree with this measure because I don’t want more people dying.

The federal government certainly has not helped in clarifying any rules about how best to avoid contaminating others — only “wash your hands.” But there’s not a national wear-a-mask requirement or even consistent rules on how many people can be together at the same time.

County responses are completely uncoordinated. Two weeks ago, I could eat indoors in a Menlo Park restaurant but only outdoors in Palo Alto. I could get my hair cut in some nearby cities, but not Palo Alto until Monday, July 13, and then

by Wednesday, July 15, hair salons were closed again. Last Tuesday the rule was I could get a haircut or pedicure outside.

As we all know, this virus knows no city, county or even country boundaries, so just because a pedicure is available in one city doesn’t mean that salon is protected from the virus while a mile away another salon is not.

Bars should be closed because people drink and talk at bars and sit next to each other, and there’s no way we can protect ourselves from one another.

One of my grandsons had the coronavirus, which he picked up at a newly opened bar in “college town” — luckily a very mild case. As he was getting better, he said, “Now I can go to a bar because I have immunity from that virus.” I replied, “For two weeks, the doctors say.”

I also think the virus continues to spread

the amazingly high error rate, the disproportionate application of the death penalty on people of color and the number of people convicted and executed who later were determined to be innocent.

One life lost in error is one too many, and since the law cannot thus be applied with 100% accuracy it’s a penalty that should be abolished.

My two cents.

Ian Temple Stone Lane, Palo Alto

Foothills is not urgent Editor, I read the guest opinion from Roger Smith on July 24 titled “Now’s not the time for full Foothills Park discussion.” I agree with Mr. Smith. I am an incoming seventh-grader and am trying to stay informed on the many topics that worry adults right now. For example, I have listened to school board meetings where parents and teachers were upset and fearful about COVID-19. I also have been following the reports about protests

because many think if they feel OK, then they don’t have to worry, without ever realizing they can be carriers — silently spreading the virus among us. That’s why we have to wear masks, to protect ourselves, but more importantly, to protect all those around us. NBC reported recently that doctors think 51% of the new virus victims are the result of being exposed to people who didn’t know they transmitted the disease.

Americans, I think, tend to take things less seriously than people in Europe.

America has soaring death rates — the fourth-highest in the world — but we don’t seem really alarmed. One 25-year-old on Memorial Day said, “I just want to party all weekend and see my friends and go to bars because I am tired of this coronavirus.”

With that attitude, the virus will continue to spread.

We have no real solution yet to ridding this country of the virus, except by a yetundiscovered vaccine. But polls so far show that only 50% of the population said they would get a vaccine.

The only temporary solution is wearing a mask. So wear a mask. Don’t harm others.

If we get California under control, maybe we can be a model for other states to do likewise. Q Diana Diamond is a longtime Palo Alto journalist, editor and author of the blog “An Alternative View,” which can be found at PaloAltoOnline.com/blogs.

You can email her at DianaLDiamond@ gmail.com.

and racial tensions in our city and state, as well as in other cities and states. It seems to me to be a good idea that the city council focus on ways to help our city through the current situation instead of creating opportunities for people to “explode.” As Mr. Smith said, “The front gate at the preserve has not been manned

during the last 10 years due to budget cuts ... so, maybe the city council can just leave the Foothill Parks issue alone until these bigger problems are solved? I am not saying the Foothills Park issue is not important — just that it is maybe not urgent right now.

Jacob Wiener Bryant Street, Palo Alto

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

Should shelter-in-place orders be the same in all counties statewide?

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.

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 31, 2020 • Page 19

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Arts & Entertainment A weekly guide to music, theater, art, culture, books and more, edited by Karla Kane

When jazz royalty came to Paly Release of live album from Thelonious Monk’s 1968 Palo Alto High School concert, set for July 31, now on hold

by Yoshi Kato

The cover art for Thelonious Monk’s “Palo Alto” album, recorded live at Palo Alto High School in 1968.

S

an Francisco and Hackensack, New Jersey, are two locations immortalized by the late jazz pianist/composer/innovator Thelonious Monk. Palo Alto could have joined that elite list with the release of Monk’s live “Palo Alto” album, which was originally supposed to come out Friday, July 31, on Impulse! Records. Unfortunately for jazz fans, a dispute between Monk’s previous label and his estate has left the release indefinitely delayed as of this week.

The source of the recording is a concert produced by Palo Alto native Danny Scher back in 1968. The music, performed by the working quartet of Monk, tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse, double bassist Larry Gales and drummer Ben Riley, is magical.

“They were on the road for years, and they were just a great band,” said Zev Feldman, a co-producer of the album.

The backstory for both the live event — and the subsequent album — is both charming and inspirational.

Now a music industry veteran of renown, at the time of the Monk concert, Scher was 16 and an ambitious Palo Alto High School student who had already presented performances at his school by pianist/composer Vince Guaraldi (“Linus & Lucy”) and vocalist Jon Hendricks (formerly of Lambert, Hendricks & Ross) as well as vibraphonist/bandleader Cal Tjader.

Scher already had two de facto mentors at the time: the late Herb Wong, jazz scholar/educator/producer and a longtime Menlo Park resident, and Darlene Chan, founder and inaugural director of the Berkeley Jazz Festival.

“And I said to one of them, ‘You know, my two idols are Monk and Duke (Ellington),” Scher recalled, by phone from his home in the East Bay. “And they said, ‘Why don’t you call Monk? He’s coming to town.’” (Scher would present Ellington in concert in collaboration with the California Youth Symphony, in which he was the principal timpanist and percussionist, soon after.)

Scher contacted Jules Colomby, Monk’s manager, and secured a contract for an afternoon concert at Palo Alto High School while the bandleader was in San Francisco for a run at the Jazz Workshop club in North Beach. He enlisted the services of his older brother Les, whose love of jazz was his own gateway to the American art form, to serve as the band’s driver.

the florist from whom he’d buy flowers for his mother’s birthday.

“So if no one shows up, at least there’s enough money to pay Monk,” he explained. A physical copy of the program was set to be included in the CD and vinyl versions of the release, and its cover was also featured on a mug in the online Monk Store.

The forward-thinking upperclassman also reckoned it would be wise to expand his potential audience beyond the city limits.

“I get posters made by the high-school graphics arts department, and I’m putting them up in East Palo Alto. And the police are telling me, ‘Hey, kid! You better get out of here. It’s not safe for you,’” he recalled. “This is a few months after

The backstory for both the live event — and the subsequent album — is both charming and inspirational.

“The ticket price was $2 for general admission and $1.50 for students. And even then, that was really cheap,” Scher said.

Worried about having an empty house — or, in his case, school auditorium — he knew he had to diversify his offerings.

He created a concert program and sold advertising slots to local businesses such as Dana Morgan’s Music Store, the local travel agency his parents patronized, and

Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy got shot, and there was a lot of tension between Palo Alto and East Palo Alto,” he said. “And I told them, ‘You know what?

I’m going to be in bigger trouble if the show doesn’t do well.’”

Some potential audience members were skeptical that Monk would actually show up to play at a high school not known for its diverse student body. So Scher told

them to just come to campus and buy a ticket when they saw Monk enter the venue. As Les Scher drove into the Paly parking lot with the top of Larry Gales’ contrabass sticking out of a rear window, “everyone who was waiting lines up and buys their ticket, and the show is great,’’ Scher said.

One of the school’s janitors offered to record the concert in exchange for the honor of tuning the piano Monk would be playing. Scher has held onto the cassette tape, which he got digitized at the now-closed Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, and had been negotiating with T.S. Monk, Thelonious’ son and the manager of his father’s estate, about its release. They came to an agreement on Monk’s Centenary in 2017 — 10 days before the 49th anniversary of the concert.

With his concert-promoting instincts already honed in his mid-teens, Scher would go on to rise to the rank of vice president at Bill Graham Presents. In addition to developing and launching the Shoreline Amphitheatre, he also created and produced the New Orleans by the Bay festival at that Mountain View venue before retiring in 1999 after 24 years with BGP and would go on to co-found DanSun Productions.

“I’ve produced thousands of concerts,” Scher mused. “Who would’ve thought something I did 52 years ago, when I was in high school, would get this much publicity? ... But I suppose it’s nice to have a feel-good story, especially given the times.”

But the fairytale ending has been suspended — for now, at least. (continued on page 22)

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 31, 2020 • Page 21

Arts & Entertainment

Promoter Danny Scher looks back on his local music legacy

I

f youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been to an event at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re already familiar with Danny Scherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s music-industry legacy.

During nearly a quarter century at Bill Graham Presents, he booked such historic venues as Winterland and beloved events like Day on the Green. He also led the way

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by Yoshi Kato to other venues being built, including Cal Expo in Sacramento.

But jazz was the first love for Scher, whose family lived in Midtown and then on University Avenue in Palo Alto. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I love Duke Ellington to this day. And I started out also listening to Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie,â&#x20AC;? he

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said in a recent phone interview from his East Bay home. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So I was just a kid into jazz â&#x20AC;&#x201D; really not into rock â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; roll until much later.â&#x20AC;?

Scher took up drums while attending Herbert Hoover Elementary School. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I still play,â&#x20AC;? he noted. As a fledgling instrumentalist, he led his own traditional jazz style Dukes of Dixie group and was principal percussionist in the California Youth Symphony. His education was thoroughly Palo Alto-based, going from Jordan Middle School to Palo Alto High School to Stanford University for both his undergraduate degree and later MBA. While the late rock â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; roll legend Bill Graham famously

Thelonious Monk (continued from page 21)

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;I received word that there was a dispute between the estate and Monkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s previous label,â&#x20AC;? Scher said during a phone conversation on Monday, July 27. So the

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Page 22 â&#x20AC;˘ July 31, 2020 â&#x20AC;˘ Palo Alto Weekly â&#x20AC;˘ www.PaloAltoOnline.com

release has been taken off of the schedule indefinitely â&#x20AC;&#x153;due to circumstances beyond the labelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s control,â&#x20AC;? according to a statement by Impulse! Records. Coproducer Feldman was unable to provide any further information at this time. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not saying itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s delayed.

Weekly file photo

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I was just a kid into jazzâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

took note of Scher while he was promoting concerts at Stanford as a student, it was at Paly when he got his first taste of the thrill of bring- Danny Scher ing a live show to fruition. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The first concert I did was when I was a junior, with Vince Guaraldi and Jon Hendricks,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Herb Wong, the late jazz titan and longtime Menlo Park resident whom he had befriended, gave him Guaraldiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s phone number. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So I called him and said I wanted to do a concert with him at my high school,â&#x20AC;? Scher recounted. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And he said, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Have you ever done a concert before?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; I said, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;No, but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been to a lot.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; And he said, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Come on up to my house, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll give you a little lesson in how to produce a concert.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?

Arriving at the pianistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house in Marin County, he met the composer now best known for his beloved musical work on â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Peanutsâ&#x20AC;? animated specials.

Guaraldi explained the importance of a concise press release to promote a show and also gave him some promotional photos of himself to use. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And then he says, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a box of paper moustaches so you can hand these out, and people can look like me,â&#x20AC;? Scher recalled, with a chuckle. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was looking at the high school yearbook entry of that Vince Guaraldi concert, and there he is: Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no stage. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just playing on the basketball court,â&#x20AC;? he added. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s playing a regular upright piano, so I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know about baby grands, either. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is the first concert I did, and I really didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what I was doing. But at the time, I remember telling myself, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;You know what? This is what I want to do. I want to be a concert promoter.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? Q Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re saying weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll let you know if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s being released, not when,â&#x20AC;?

Scher said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve held onto this recording for 50 years. So I can hold onto it for another two or three decades.â&#x20AC;? Q Freelance writer Yoshi Kato can be emailed at yoshiyoungblood@icloud.com.

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Keith Kanady Broker Associate 408.316.1666 keith.kanady@compass.com DRE 00953975 Compass is a real estate broker licensed by the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. License Number 01527235. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only and 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 psBsOaObs Wp aBMO Bp sd BKKtoBK| dT Bb| MOpKoWlsWdbà __ aOBptoOaObsp and square footage are approximate.

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 31, 2020 • Page 23

Eating Out From dumpling deliveries to a Michelin meal to go Restaurants get creative to weather the coronavirus shutdown

by Elena Kadvany

A

midst the hardships of the pandemic, local restaurants are finding new ways to reach diners. San Francisco’s China Live is launching delivery of its food on the Peninsula, and the upscale, Michelinstarred Baumé is offering takeout for the first time. At Town & Country Village, meanwhile, Mayfield Bakery & Cafe has closed down for good.

Read on for the latest news from the local dining scene.

China Live to open Palo Alto ghost kitchen Starting Aug. 1, China Live in San Francisco will be delivering its sheng jian bao, Dungeness crab handrolls and Dutch Crunch pork buns locally from ghost kitchens throughout the Peninsula.

The owners of China Live have partnered with Virtual Kitchen Co. to expand its delivery reach into 10 new cities, including Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Belmont, Daly City and San Jose. Virtual Kitchen Co, founded by former Uber executives, provides ghost kitchens and services for restaurants to launch delivery in new areas without the costly overhead of opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant.

George Chen and Cindy Wong-Chen opened China Live in 2017 in a 30,000 square-foot Chinatown building with multiple restaurants, bars and a marketplace with imported Chinese products. The days when the massive operation would serve 1,000 people a day ended with the shutdown in March, George Chen said.

“With this uncertainty, we never know when we’re going to be able to get back to real revenues,” Chen said in an interview.

“We have to expand our geographical footprint.”

For the last several months, he’s been working closely with Virtual Kitchen Co. to develop a menu of China Live’s greatest hits that would also travel well. He said they conducted focus groups and tested deliveries anonymously, ordering food from China Live and from the ghost kitchens and comparing the quality.

Most of the food is prepped in China Live’s kitchens in Chinatown, but it’s finished by Virtual Kitchen Co. cooks, Chen said. He described the company as a partner that understands food — especially Virtual Kitchen Co.’s main chef, who Chen said worked at Chez Panisse in Berkeley for more than a decade.

“They know food,” Chen said. “They’re not just private equity, venture, technology type people. That was very important for us.”

Chen described China Live’s food as modern but not fusion, drawing heavily on seasonal ingredients. Impossible Foods’ plantbased meat also shows up in some dumpling.

The China Live “Signatures” menu, which will be available on the Peninsula, features eight dishes, including the restaurant’s popular pan-fried sheng jian bao, Sichuan wonton dumplings, vegetarian long potstickers,

slow-roasted Kurobuta pork loin char siu and vegetable lo mein. The menu will change seasonally and to “meet local neighborhood preferences,” the China Live website states.

People will also be able to order China Live condiments and sauces, such as chili bean sauce and chili crisp.

Mayfield Bakery & Cafe permanently closes The owners of Mayfield Bakery & Cafe in Palo Alto, unable to sustain the business due to the coronavirus shutdown, have closed the Town & Country Village restaurant for good.

“Like many restaurants throughout the area and across the country, the impact of the COVID-19 virus and the subsequent shelterin-place orders have reduced revenues to an

Above: Chef Bruno Chemel uses a blowtorch on one of the desserts served at Baumé in April 2015. The Palo Alto Michelin-starred restaurant, which temporarily closed in March, began serving takeout this week. Photo by Veronica Weber.

Top: A selection of China Live dishes that will be available for delivery on the Peninsula starting Aug. 1. Courtesy China Live/Virtual Kitchen Co.

Page 24 • July 31, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

unsustainable level,” Tim Stannard, founding partner of Bacchus Management Group, which owns Mayfield, said in a statement. “I would like to share a heartfelt thank you to all of our team members, as well as our loyal guests, for 11 wonderful years.”

Signs announcing the closure appeared in the restaurant’s windows this week. On Tuesday afternoon, Mayfield’s dining room sat empty while a man filled a moving truck with carts of baking trays and other items from the next-door bakery.

Bacchus Management Group, which also owns The Village Pub and The Village Bakery in Woodside and Selby’s in Redwood City, opened Mayfield in 2009. The restaurant was known for both its farm-to-table fare and the bakery’s fresh-baked bread, pastries and desserts.

Mayfield temporarily closed after the Bay Area’s shelter-in-place order took effect but soon became a pickup location for Bacchus Management’s “family meals” program, ready-to-eat takeout meals whose proceeds went to support the restaurant group’s employees. Mayfield later offered its own menu for takeout and delivery and reopened for outdoor dining in June.

Jim Ellis of Ellis Partners, which owns Town & Country, said Bacchus Management communicated to him that the cost of doing business in Palo Alto — including utility rates, minimum wage and labor requirements — compounded by the shutdown and ongoing lack of indoor dining made it impossible for the full-service restaurant to stay open.

He said they were not currently paying rent on the 5,300-square-foot space and were in discussions to extend rent abatement.

“We were informed that that just wouldn’t solve the problem for them. Not having to pay rent basically didn’t close the gap enough for them to justify continuing the operation,” Ellis said.

He described the closure as a “huge loss” for the shopping center.

Ellis said he hopes the space will be occupied by another restaurant and bakery but is “fearful” about how long it will take to find

Eating Out

Restaurants (continued from page 24)

an operator willing and able to afford the prominent corner space with a large indoor dining room.

Ellis urged local residents to make a concerted effort to eat and shop local.

“To be completely honest, I think that the communities all over the Bay Area are really going to have to make a conscious effort to give their local businesses business,” he said. “They need the community support and the customer support to survive this period.”

Two Michelin stars, to go Baumé, the two-Michelin-star French restaurant on California Avenue in Palo Alto, celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. Chefowner Bruno Chemel likely didn’t anticipate that 2020 would also be the year his intimate, high-end restaurant would have to offer takeout.

Baumé which has been closed since shelter in place began in March, will reopen on Tuesday, July 28, for to-go only. The menu is significantly simplified and less expensive: $98 for a fourcourse menu instead of upwards of $400 for eight courses with wine pairings.

The menu, which will change monthly, is starting with corn soup with vadouvan marshmallows, ribeye steak with grilled zucchini and potato gratin, warm goat cheese

with croutons and honey and a strawberry-apricot chiboust sponge cake with cassis gel for dessert.

“I took my time developing this option to ensure that it would reflect the high standards that have come to define Baumé,” Chemel said in an announcement, which in a sign of the times included a photo of the French chef, sitting in the darkened dining room wearing a mask.

Chemel opened the windowless, two-room Baumé at 201 California Ave. in 2010 after a very public dust-up at Chez TJ, when the Mountain View restaurant lost a Michelin star under his leadership in the kitchen. He started his own venture to prove his critics wrong and quickly earned one, then two stars at Baumé, a rating he’s maintained every year since 2011.

Chemel now runs the restaurant with only one other employee, his wife Christie. (He claims Baumé is the only restaurant in the world that has two Michelin stars and a two person staff.)

The Baumé takeout menu is available Tuesday through Saturday from 4-8 p.m. Customers can place preorders on Tock and pick up the meals ready to eat with no cooking required. A select list of wine bottles will also be available for an additional cost. Q Staff Writer Elena Kadvany can be emailed at ekadvany@ paweekly.com. Read her Peninsula Foodist blog at PaloAltoOnline.com/blogs.

Answers to this week’s puzzles, which can be found on page 31.

995 Fictitious Name Statement 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) 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: 154-24-024 T.S. No.: 2020-1450 NOTICE OF TRUSTEE'S SALE YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED 11/1/2018. 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 PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LAWYER. Will sell at a public auction sale to the highest bidder, payable at the time of sale inlawful money of the United States, by a cashier's check drawn on a state of national bank, check drawn by a state or federal credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan association, or savings association, or savings bank specified in Section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state will be held by the duly appointed trustee as shown below, of all right, title, and interest conveyed to and now held by the trustee in the hereinafter described property under and pursuant to a Deed of Trust described below. The sale will be made, but without covenant or warranty, express or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to pay the remaining principal sum of the note(s) secured by the Deed of Trust, with interest and late charges thereon, as provided in the note(s), advances, under the terms of the Deed of Trust, interest thereon, fees, charges, and expenses of the Trustee for the total amount (at the time of the initial publication of the Notice of Sale) reasonably estimated to be set forth below. The amount may be greater on the day of sale. Trustor:WRP PROPERTIES, LLC, A CALIFORNIA LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY Duly Appointed Trustee: S.B.S. TRUST DEED NETWORK, A CALIFORNIA CORPORATION Deed of Trust recorded 11/9/2018, as Instrument No. 24062183 in book XX, page, XX of Official Records in the office of the Recorder of Santa Clara County, California. Date of Sale: 8/21/2020 at 10:00 AM Place of Sale: AT THE GATED NORTH MARKET STREET ENTRANCE OF THE SUPERIOR COURTHOUSE, 191 N. FIRST STREET, SAN JOSE, CA Amount of unpaid balance and other reasonable estimated charges: $2,332,118.73 Street Address or other common designation of real property: 1555 MERCY STREET MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA 94041 A.P.N.: 154-24-024. The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the street address or other common designation, if any, shown above.

If no street address or other common designation is shown, directions to the

location of the property may be obtained by sending a written request to the beneficiary within 10 days of the date of first publication of this Notice of Sale. 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 FOR SALES INFORMATION, PLEASE CALL (855)9869342, or visit this Internet Web site www. superiordefault.com using the file number assigned to this case 2020-1450. 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: 7/17/2020.

S.B.S. TRUST DEED NETWORK, A CALIFORNIA CORPORATION. 31194 La Baya Drive, Suite 106, Westlake Village, California, 91362 (818)991-4600. By: Colleen Irby, Trustee Sale Officer. WE ARE ATTEMPTING TO COLLECT A DEBT, AND ANY INFORMATION WE OBTAIN WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE. (7/31/20, 8/7/20, 8/14/20 TS# 2020-1450 SDI-19089) NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF: MATHILDA G. SCHEUER, a.k.a MATHILDA GROEDEL SCHEUER, a.k.a TILLIE SCHEUER Case No.: 20PR188446 To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of MATHILDA G. SCHEUER, a.k.a MATHILDA GROEDEL SCHEUER, a.k.a TILLIE SCHEUER. A Petition for Probate has been filed by: LEE SCHEUER in the Superior Court of California, County of SANTA CLARA. The Petition for Probate requests that: LEE SCHEUER be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent.

The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate.

The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court.

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 September 14, 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: Tisa M. Pedersen, Esq., Thoits Law, A professional Corporation 400 Main St., Ste. 250, Los Altos, CA 94022 (650) 327-4200 (PAW July 31; Aug. 7, 14, 2020) NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF: ANNE KNIGHT Case No.: 20PR188011 To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of ANNE KNIGHT. A Petition for Probate has been filed by: BENJAMIN KNIGHT in the Superior Court of California, County of SANTA CLARA. The Petition for Probate requests that: BENJAMIN KNIGHT be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent.

The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate.

The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court.

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 September 2, 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: Dan G. Berris 333 W Santa Clara Street #700, San Jose, CA 95113 (408) 280-0535 (PAW July 31; Aug. 7, 14, 2020)

Call Alicia Santillan at 650-223-6578 or email asantillan@paweekly.com for legal advertising. www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 31, 2020 • Page 25

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Across 1 “Groovy” relative 4 Bitter-tasting 9 With celerity 13 Citrus beverage suffix 14 “Awesomesauce” 15 Set of principles 17 Censored hearty meat entree?

19 Clue options 20 Heavy metal’s Motley ___ 21 Censored mugful for Harry Potter?

23 Prepare for a sale, maybe 25 Domain of a bunch of Ottos, for short 26 Tango requirement?

27 Hundreds of wks.

28 Brief calm 32 Biblical peak 34 Outdoor eating areas 36 They precede Xennials 37 Poker player’s censored post-hand challenge?

41 Protagonist of Netflix’s “Never Have I Ever” (or a Hindu goddess) 42 Detestable 43 Medicine show bottleful 46 Went 9-Across 47 Start of many California city names 50 “The Family Circus” cartoonist Keane 51 Classical opening 53 Potable, so to speak 55 Clearly inflamed, but censored?

60 Toe the line 61 Soap that’s evidently 0.56% impure 62 Unable to escape censorship?

64 Receive at the door 65 Boxer Fury 66 Pastrami sandwich bread 67 Filmdom’s suave bloodsucker, for short 68 Introduce yourself 69 Brit. reference work

“Censor-y Overload” — just can’t say what’s happening. by Matt Jones

This week’s SUDOKU

Answers on page 25.

Answers on page 25.

Down 1 Pale imitation 2 Passionate fan 3 Fine specimens 4 Teensy invader 5 Salad with bacon and egg 6 Waltz violinist Andre with PBS specials 7 “Colors” rapper 8 Profoundness 9 Oscar winner for playing Cyrano de Bergerac in 1950 10 Basic travel path 11 Closet-organizing device 12 Dance in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” 16 $100 bills, slangily

18 It has a bed and a floor 22 Period of importance 24 Garbage bag brand 29 Pac-12 athlete 30 Long ride to the dance 31 Laundry piles 33 Kindling-making tools 34 Paris’s Rue de la ___ 35 Barber’s cut 37 No longer worried 38 Villainous sort 39 Name of anonymity 40 Melville sailor Billy 41 Litter 44 Lined up

www.sudoku.name

45 British singer-songwriter Chris 47 Defensive specialist in volleyball 48 Cyclops feature 49 Did some videoconferencing, maybe 52 Passing remarks?

54 Hold up 56 Operatic solo 57 “Shepherd Moons” Grammy winner 58 Online crafts marketplace 59 Christopher Robin’s “silly old bear” 63 Ending for pepper

© 2020 Matt Jones

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www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • July 31, 2020 • Page 31

HERE FOR GOOD. COASTAL // LOS ALTOS // LOS GATOS // PALO ALTO // WILLOW GLEN Page 32 • July 31, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com