Palo Alto Weekly September 18, 2020

Palo Alto

Vol. XLI, Number 50 Q September 18, 2020

Council reverses course: Retail spaces can be turned into offices Page 7

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 Upfront City considers new zoning to spark more housing Page 9 Q Arts Palo Alto welcomes Bay Bridge light artist Page 22 Q Eating Out Mina Makram on opening MisďŹ ts Bakehouse Page 25

different world, safer care “We now know a lot more about the virus and how it’s transmitted.

We are confident that we can deliver great care, without risk of infection, and get back to routine procedures.”

—W. Ray Kim, MD | Chief of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Stanford Medicine

The world is ever-changing. At Stanford Health Care, we’re adapting to safely deliver the same, excellent care you have always relied on. Whether you need primary care or our world-class specialty services—including cancer care, cardiovascular health, neuroscience, and orthopaedics—we’re here for you.

We’re taking every precaution to protect your health: U.S. News & World Report recognizes Stanford Health Care among the top hospitals in the nation. Ranking based on quality and patient safety.

• Testing for COVID-19 before most procedures and to track the health of our workforce • Rigorous standards, including COVID-19 health screenings at entrances, comprehensive PPE use, enhanced air filtration, and application of chemicals and UV light to sanitize spaces • Convenient care, with expanded access to remote video visits and contactless check-in/check-out available through our MyHealth app when visiting our facilities in-person To learn more and book an appointment, visit: stanfordhealthcare.org/resumingcare

Page 2 • September 18, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

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Upfront

Local news, information and analysis

Campuses reopen for high-need students For small groups of Palo Alto students, class is in — in person

by Elena Kadvany

T

he libraries were dark, the cafeterias closed and the hallways were eerily quiet, but small groups of Palo Alto Unified School District students still went back to school in person last week.

The school district reopened several campuses for the first time since March to serve students who have been identified as struggling academically or needing quiet, supportive places to learn, as well as some students with disabilities.

codes for health screenings were posted at the front office.

Each day, the students are provided with breakfast, which they eat outside with their cohorts at picnic tables and benches marked with blue tape to remind them to keep 6 feet apart. The hallways are decorated with illustrated hand-washing reminders and the water fountains are wrapped in plastic.

In one Fletcher Middle School classroom, five students sat quietly at socially distanced desks working on computers with masks and headphones on. Before entering the classroom, each of them had been screened by a nurse who’d asked if they’d been in contact with anyone who’s tested positive for the coronavirus or if they had symptoms themselves. Instead of back-to-school-night flyers, QR

As part of the district’s new PAUSD+ program for high-need students, each middle and high school campus is housing one or two cohorts, with no more than two adults supervising each group.

Fletcher, for example, is currently serving 15 middle school students in two cohorts.

Out of the 91 students whom (continued on page 12)

EDUCATION

Nonprofits step in to aid online education Ravenswood students use learning hubs to stay on track at school

by Elena Kadvany

A Elena Kadvany

Noemi Solorio and her son Jeremy stand outside their RV along El Camino Real in Palo Alto on Sept. 9.

EDUCATION

For homeless kids, distance learning is even harder Students in RVs struggle with shortages of electricity, internet access

W

hen the new school year started, the four Solorio siblings — a kindergartner, sixth-grader, eighth-grader and high school sophomore — sat in a circle in their family’s cramped RV, parked on El Camino Real across the street from the Palo Alto school district’s office, and tried to focus on online school.

But with four computers sharing one hot spot, all of which were provided to the family by the district, the internet

by Elena connection often slowed or disconnected, and they were unable to finish classes. Their mother, Noemi Solorio, doesn’t speak much English but would do her best to make sure her kids were focused and engaged, especially her youngest one, who’s never attended school before.

When buses drive by on El Camino Real, the RV shakes.

Without electricity, charged computer and cell phone batteries are precious commodities.

The family parks in one place as

Kadvany long as they can before a police officer inevitably shows up and leaves them a tow warning notice that gives them 72 hours to move the RV a half mile away or face an expensive citation.

The children in the Solorio family are among a small number of homeless students in Palo Alto Unified — 23, according to the district— whose living situations bring to light deep inequities at play with distance learning. When staff heard two weeks ago of students in RVs who were

struggling to access the internet consistently, even with the district-provided hot spots, they installed wireless access points outside the district office and pointed them toward the motor homes on El Camino Real.

“There are people that need help and they need help in ways most people would be unaware exist in Palo Alto,” Superintendent Don Austin said.

The Solorio family lived in San

t Los Robles-Ronald McNair Academy in East Palo Alto on Wednesday morning, a young boy sat quietly at a desk, writing words in Spanish in a notebook as he watched his teacher lead a dual immersion lesson on Zoom. More than 6 feet away, a girl stood up and stretched her arms over her head, mirroring her teacher on her own iPad screen.

They are among about 76 Ravenswood City School District students who returned to campuses this week in new learning hubs created by the district in partnership with local nonprofits.

Ravenswood has teamed up with the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula, San Francisco 49ers Academy and East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring to offer free, supportive in-person spaces to students to access distance learning. The school district is providing the classrooms, meals and custodial support while the nonprofits are in charge of the programming and responsible for adhering to all local and state public health guidelines. The program is permissible under recently issued state guidance that allows schools to offer in-person instruction for small groups of high-need students.

The hubs were created in response to a district survey that found about 25% of parents need child care during the school day, or

(continued on page 10) (continued on page 14)

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • September 18, 2020 • Page 5

Upfront 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306 (650) 326-8210

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It’s hard for me to see how getting rid of a retail ordinance will try to help retail.

—Eric Filseth, Palo Alto City Council member, on repealing the city’s ‘retail protection’ law. See story on page 7.

Around Town

TREATING THE COVID BLUES ...

As shelter-at-home orders have dramatically increased social interactions in person, one local teenager is looking to help people feel more connected — while also building bridges across generations. Palo Alto High School student Jun Hyuk Kwak’s project, TalkTheGap, brings together young people and senior citizens to exchange stories virtually through an online talk show that launched Aug. 12 and posts new episodes once or twice a week. Some of the episodes feature interviews by Kwak, with an older person who shares advice for younger people.

In the first episode to introduce the series, Kwak, 17, opened up about his own experience with COVID-19. “The thing about being in self-isolation is it’s boring. You don’t get to interact with anyone in your family,” he said, adding his experience with the virus wasn’t as bad as others. One episode featured Michael “Mike” Crow, a cowboy from Texas who has practiced team roping for about 35-40 years, where he learned the importance of a positive attitude and building a strong work ethic.

“Young people are very smart, but still you do have to stay close to your family and remember where you came from.” In an episode posted Tuesday, Bobbie Coleman, 92, describes what it was like being a teenager during World War II. She also offered this piece of advice: “Practice the love that you have in your heart. Together, we can accomplish anything.” To learn more about the project, visit talkthegap.com.

MAKE A WISH ... At a time when the world seems to be facing insurmountable challenges, community groups in Palo Alto and East Palo Alto are coming together to help locals find hope. Officials from both cities and several organizations have partnered to create wishing trees.

The project is based on a concept first introduced in 1996 by artist Yoko Ono, John Lennon’s widow, who was inspired by wishing trees in Japan’s temples. Ono created an exhibit where she set up a tree along with pens, tags and a note for viewers to write a wish for peace and tie it to the tree. Since then, the project has expanded throughout the world. (In 2009, Ono visited

Stanford University where two “Wish Trees”were installed on campus, according to a Stanford Report article.) The current local project, which runs through Oct. 31, follows the same concept.

After October, the wishes will be sent to the Imagine Peace Tower Wishing Well in Videy, Iceland, to join other wishes shared elsewhere in the world. Eight wishing trees are set up locally, including at Cubberley Community Center and the Palo Alto Art Center in Palo Alto and the Ravenswood Family Health Center and Bell Street Park in East Palo Alto. A map of the locations and more information on the project can be found at canopy.org/wishing-trees.

Wishes can also be shared online on Facebook at facebook.com/ groups/wishingtrees or through social media posts that include the hashtag #CommunityWishingTrees.

SWEET GIG ... The Palo Alto City Council fell into familiar political camps on Monday as it was choosing a new member for the Human Relations Commission, which is charged with overseeing issues relating to diversity, inclusiveness, social services and police policies. Council members were selecting between six applicants for a single vacancy on the commission. After none of the candidates secured the needed four votes to get an appointment in the first round of voting, council members found themselves split between Nilofer Chollampat, a clinical research specialist, and Sunita de Tourreil, an entrepreneur whose business, The Chocolate Garage, operated in downtown between 2010 and 2018. As is often the case on commission appointments, council members voted in blocs. Vice Mayor Tom DuBois and council members Eric Filseth and Lydia Kou all supported Chollampat, while Mayor Adrian Fine and council members Alison Cormack, Liz Kniss and Greg Tanaka all voted for Tourreil in the second round of voting, giving her the edge. There was less suspense when it came to appointments to the Public Art Commission, where incumbent Commissioners Nia Taylor and Hsinya Shen garnered six and four votes, respectively, and will stay on until May 31, 2023. Q

Upfront ELECTION 2020

Want to get to know your local candidates?

Plenty of election debates and forums are scheduled Palo Alto Weekly to host City Council debate on Thursday, Sept. 24

by Embarcadero Media staff

P

alo Alto and East Palo Alto voters will not only cast their ballots this fall for the country’s next leader but also for city and school candidates who could make a long-term impact on their communities.

On Thursday, Sept. 24, from 7 to 9 p.m., the Palo Alto Weekly will host a debate of the 10 candidates for Palo Alto City Council, a field that includes two incumbents, four current or former commissioners, one former council member and three first-time contenders. Moderated by the Palo Alto Weekly Editor Jocelyn Dong and City Hall reporter Gennady Sheyner, the virtual event, held on Zoom, will include questions from the public. To submit a question for consideration, email editor@paweekly.com. Register at PaloAltoOnline.com/pacc.

The following Wednesday, Sept.

30, from 7 to 9 p.m., Dong and Weekly education reporter Elena Kadvany, along with student

editors from Gunn and Palo Alto high schools’ publications, will hold a virtual forum with the six candidates for Palo Alto Board of Education. The event is co-sponsored by the Palo Alto Chinese Parents’ Club, Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce, Avenidas, Paly Campanile, Paly Voice and Gunn Oracle. To submit a question for the candidates, email editor@ paweekly.com. Register at PaloAltoOnline.com/PAUSD. Here’s a list of other local election debates and forums taking place virtually in the coming weeks.

Palo Alto City Council • Tuesday, Sept. 22, 7:30-8:30 p.m. Forum with candidate Raven Malone. Hosted by the Southgate Women’s Group. For information, and to view the Southgate Women’s Group videos of other candidates’ interviews, go to southgatewomen.com.

• Tuesday, Sept. 29, 7:30-8:30

p.m. - Forum with candidate Steven Lee. Hosted by the Southgate Women’s Group. For information, go to southgatewomen.com.

• Thursday, Oct. 1, 7-9 p.m. - Forum via Zoom on policing, traffic, housing and development, among other topics. Hosted by Palo Alto Neighborhoods. Moderated by former Councilwoman Hillary Freeman. Event will be broadcast on Cable TV Channel 28 and streamed live at midpenmedia.org.

Those wishing to participate via Zoom can do so by dialing 669900-6833 and entering meeting ID 838 7483 0135. Passcode for the event is 057302. For information, go to paneighborhoods.org.

• Sunday, Oct. 4, 4-5:30 p.m.

Green Transportation Forum hosted by Walk Bike Palo Alto and the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition.

Moderator is Robert Neff, a member of the Palo Alto Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee. Register for virtual forum on patransportforum.eventbrite.com.

Registered attendees will be provided with the Zoom link starting one week before the event.

• Tuesday, Oct. 6, 7-9 p.m. Forum on issues that impact the environment. Moderated by the Rev. Kaloma Smith, chair of the Palo Alto Human Relations Commission. Hosted by 350SV Palo Alto Climate team and cosponsored by 12 local environmental organizations. Register at eventbrite.com by searching for “Palo Alto climate forum.” A link to the webinar will be provided to registrants.

Questions can be sent by email to 350svpaloalto@gmail.com.

• Thursday, Oct. 8, 6-8 p.m. Forum on affordable housing, COVID-19 recovery efforts and calls for racial equality with candidates split between two one-hour sessions on Zoom. Hosted by SV@ Home Action Fund and cosponsored by California YIMBY. Register at bit.ly/3kGYh1j.

• Saturday, Oct. 10, 4-6 p.m.

Forum hosted by the League of

Women Voters of Palo Alto. Register at lwvpaloalto.org. Questions can be sent in advance by noon on Thursday, Oct. 8, through the question submission link on registration confirmation email.

Palo Alto Unified School District Board of Education • Thursday, Sept. 24, 7-8:30 p.m. Forum on Secondary Education (middle and high schools) hosted by the Palo Alto Council of PTAs. Moderated by students from the Palo Alto and Gunn high school speech and debate clubs.

Questions can be sent through noon on Wednesday, Sept. 23, via the Google form at tinyurl.com/ y5rb2ldp • Thursday, Oct. 8, 6:30-8 p.m.

Forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Palo Alto and cosponsored by the Palo Alto Council of PTAs. Register at lwvpaloalto.org. Questions can be sent in advance by noon on Tuesday, Oct. 6, through the submission link on registration confirmation email.

• Saturday, Oct. 17, 3-5 p.m. Forum on Educational Equity and Access: the Achievement Gap and Special Education. Event jointly sponsored by PTA Council of PTAs, Palo Alto Community (continued on page 14)

BUSINESS

To combat vacancies, Palo Alto may repeal ‘retail protection’ law Council spars over proposal to eliminate ordinance that bans ground-level retail spaces from becoming offices

by Gennady Sheyner and Lydia Kou, vehemently opposed the move and suggested that the change could cause long-term damage to the retail community.

The council adopted the law in 2017, following the closure and/ or relocation of several longtime downtown retailers and restaurants — including Fraiche, Zibibbo and Jungle Copy — and the subsequent conversion of their buildings to office use. After passing an emergency ordinance in 2015 to prohibit such conversions, the council moved in 2017 to make the restriction permanent. At that time, Fine, Kniss and Tanaka all opposed the new ordinance.

On Monday night, in a broad discussion that was listed on the council’s agenda as a “verbal update” on the city’s efforts to help businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, the three opponents of the ordinance were joined by Cormack in a vote to reconsider the law.

Proponents of the change argued that the city doesn’t have any real expertise in retail, that some sites are not naturally suited for retail and that property owners should have more flexibility when it comes to uses at a time when the economic shutdown is ravaging the business community.

“I don’t think it’s helping us,” Fine said of the 2017 ordinance.

Fine proposed reversing the 2017 action and limiting the restriction on retail conversions to commercial cores such as downtown and California Avenue.

While the vote doesn’t immediately kill the ordinance, it directs staff to return with an ordinance that would do so, which will be voted on at a later date.

Fine also argued that the city needs to be more flexible when considering the different types of retail businesses and to not micromanage details such as window designs. He cited the example of Sephora, which was planning to set up a beauty supply shop in downtown Palo Alto but had to delay its opening because it wasn’t allowed to cover its windows to prevent products from melting, Fine said.

“I think we need to take a more open attitude toward what retail types are there, whether it’s Sephora or a gym,” Fine said.

While Fine’s motion specified that the removal of the citywide retail-protection ordinance would be temporary, opponents of his proposal argued that the distinction is meaningless because property

Lloyd Lee

W

ith Palo Alto businesses buckling during the economic shutdown, a bitterly divided City Council took an initial step on Monday toward repealing a local law that bars the conversion of ground-floor retail spaces to offices throughout the city.

In a surprising move that followed a long and wide-ranging debate about strategies to support the business community, the council directed staff by a 4-3 vote to return with an ordinance that would eliminate the citywide “retail preservation” ordinance.

If the council moves ahead with the repeal, properties outside Palo Alto’s main commercial areas would be allowed to replace retail operations with offices or other commercial uses.

The controversial proposal was made by Mayor Adrian Fine, a longtime critic of the ordinance, who argued that the law is too geographically broad. His three colleagues who favor more city growth, Alison Cormack, Liz Kniss and Greg Tanaka, all supported the consideration of the repeal. The three council members who are more aligned with “residentialist” philosophies, Vice Mayor Tom DuBois, Eric Filseth

A “For Lease” sign hangs in the former space of Babka by Ayelet, a Jewish bakery, which closed its doors at Town & Country Village before the start of the pandemic. owners would be able to convert to office use and then retain their use in perpetuity. Filseth argued that even a “temporary” suspension would lead to long-lasting results.

“It’s hard for me to see how getting rid of a retail ordinance will try to help retail,” Filseth said.

Kou argued that by reducing the scope of the retail-protection ordinance, the city is effectively allowing property owners to switch from retail to a more lucrative use, which in most cases is offices.

“We’re letting property owners dictate to us what they’re looking for on their site versus what we want our city to become,” Kou said. “I don’t think it’s the right thing to do.”

The council similarly split 4-3 on a proposal by Fine to relax parking rules for businesses when they change use. He pointed to the example of the Palo Alto Baking Company, a California Avenue bakery that shut down at the end

of 2018 and which has not been replaced. The challenge, he said, is that potential retailers are unable to provide the extra parking that is required of them.

“Especially in a year where I don’t think parking is the highest concern, we may be looking at temporarily suspending that,” Fine said.

Other proposals to support the business community proved far less divisive. DuBois suggested exploring ways to greatly enhance COVID-19 testing, providing support for child care and coming up with strategies for holiday shopping in primary commercial areas. The council adopted all three proposals with little debate.

The council also agreed not to move ahead with some of the proposals that have come out from the business community, including reducing minimum wage, decreasing (continued on page 10)

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • September 18, 2020 • Page 7

Upfront COMMUNITY

Erickson: Youth mental health is still a work in progress Retiring head of Youth Community Services takes stock of the city’s progress on empowerment of youth and the remaining challenges

A

fter 21 years working with Youth Community Services, first as a parent volunteer and then for 16 years as the nonprofit organization’s executive director, Leif Erickson has watched Palo Alto’s youth and their relationship to their community evolve.

When he took over the role, he shepherded a movement toward empowering the city’s youth to voice their feelings during the most challenging of times, two suicide clusters that began in 2009. Through volunteer service programs and leadership building,

he and Youth Community Services (YCS) helped the city’s students find meaning and connection in a community where they felt isolated and ignored — feelings they’d reported in the 2010 Developmental Assets Survey, which polled more than 4,000 Palo Alto Unified School District students.

As he retires from his position — former Executive Director of Blossom Birth & Family Mora Oommen stepped into the role on July 1 — Erickson reflected on the changes and challenges facing today’s youth. Those challenges

still run deep, even as the community has made great strides, he said.

The city’s young people are navigating some of the nation’s — and the world’s — most fearsome conundrums: the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of unprecedented climate change, a socially and politically divisive civic landscape and deep questions about racial and economic equality, he said.

But youth are stepping up to attempt to meet the challenges, creating peer leadership groups and reaching out to each other

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Page 8 • September 18, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Courtesy Theodore Mock

by Sue Dremann

Leif Erickson, retiring leader of Youth Community Service, speaks at a luncheon. and finding meaning in working together and in the community through service projects, he said.

Erickson has seen the organization evolve since it was founded 30 years ago.

“There was an increase in concern and focus on youth mental health and wellness” since he took over the leadership, he said.

YCS has also emphasized increased connections between students of different racial, economic and ethnic backgrounds by bringing together Palo Alto, East Palo Alto and Menlo Park students to work collaboratively, he said.

“Service to others is a gateway asset that leads to other positive experiences” and addresses

isolation, depression and anxiety, he said. Through service projects, young people interact with religious and civic organizations, older and younger generations and other groups who provide them with meaningful personal experiences and positive feedback.

One of the most positive changes he’s seen is a greater willingness for adults to listen to youth.

The students’ 2010 Development Assets report card on the community was “kind of a shock.” he said. One of the lowest scores, especially among high school students, was the sense of community values. Many felt ignored (continued on page 13)

Public Agenda A preview of Palo Alto government meetings next week CITY COUNCIL ... The council plans to hear an update from the Expanded Community Advisory Panel on grade separation options, consider changes to the city’s inclusionary-housing regulations and discuss affordability requirements for projects using the “planned home” zone. The virtual meeting will begin at 5 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 21.

Those wishing to participate by Zoom can do so by dialing 669-9006833 and using Meeting ID: 362 027 238.

CITY COUNCIL ... The council plans to meet in a closed session to continue its evaluation of the city manager, city attorney and city clerk.

The virtual meeting will begin at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 22. Those wishing to participate by Zoom can do so by dialing 669-900-6833 and using Meeting ID: 362 027 238.

BOARD OF EDUCATION ... The school board will discuss proposed school reopening dates, safety protocols, attendance, special education and progress on Cubberley Community Center, among other items.

The virtual meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 22. The meeting will be broadcast on Cable TV Channel 28 and midpenmedia. org. Those wishing to participate by Zoom can do so by going to pausd. zoom.us/j/97888498129 or dialing 669-900-6833 and using Meeting ID: 949 9734 6242.

PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION ... The commission plans to approve the park improvement ordinance for Cameron Park; get an update on the Urban Forest master plan; and review the city’s Recreational Summer Camp programs. The virtual meeting will begin at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 22. Those wishing to participate by Zoom can do so by dialing 669-900-6833 and using Meeting ID: 993 0651 2349.

CITY COUNCIL ... The council plans to meet in a closed session to continue its evaluation of the city manager, city attorney and city clerk.

The virtual meeting will begin at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 23. Those wishing to participate by Zoom can do so by dialing 669-900-6833 and using Meeting ID: 362 027 238.

HISTORIC RESOURCES BOARD ... The commission plans to discuss the application by Castilleja School to redevelop its campus and build an underground garage at 1310 Bryant St.; and review a proposed renovation of a single-family home at 359 Embarcadero Road, in the Professorville neighborhood. The virtual meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 24. Those wishing to participate by Zoom can do so by dialing 669-900-6833 and using Meeting ID: 935 2189 4451.

Upfront LAND USE

Palo Alto looks to new zoning tool to relieve housing drought Council considers what type of housing should be required in exchange for zoning concessions

by Gennady Sheyner

P

alo Alto’s elected leaders all agree that the city desperately needs more “affordable housing,” though there is little consensus on what exactly that means and whether it should be the city’s main focus.

For the City Council’s more progrowth members, including Mayor Adrian Fine and council members Liz Kniss and Greg Tanaka, the city’s goal should include everything from subsidized housing to small market-rate units such as the apartments that the city approved for the corner of El Camino Real and Page Mill Road. While the developer is required to designate six of its 57 units for “affordable housing,” these units would target individuals who make 120% of the area’s median income, or about $118,950 for a one-person household.

Those on the more slow-growth side, including Vice Mayor Tom DuBois and Councilwoman Lydia Kou, take a more restrictive view and believe the city should

primarily focus on apartments designated for tenants at lower-income tiers, much like those in the Wilton Court development that is slated to go up at El Camino and Wilton Avenue. All 59 units are designated for residents that make between 30% and 60% of area median income, with those on the highest end making less than $60,000.

The debate about what constitutes “true” affordable housing will take on increased urgency on Monday, when the council considers the rules governing the city’s new planned home zone, which will allow developers to exceed zoning rules on aspects such as height, density and parking in exchange for housing. The council voted in February to introduce the zoning designation as a way to encourage more housing, though it left the details hazy.

The new zone is a descendant of the city’s planned community zone, which was used in the past for both affordable housing projects and for mixed-use developments such

as Edgewood Plaza, Alma Village and the College Terrace Centre.

Unlike the planned community zone, which involves negotiations between the city and the developer over public benefits that the developer has to provide, the planned home zone would specify that the chief public benefit is housing.

The idea, Fine said during the February discussion, is to let staff work with home builders to figure out what they need, whether it’s reduced parking, more height or reduced setbacks.

“I want to be clear, we’re not negotiating things like grocery stores, or park benches or rooftop gardens,” Fine said. “Housing is actually the benefit there.”

Developments under the planned home zone will be allowed to have a commercial component, though the council specified in February that the housing would need to be adequate to offset the demand for residential units from the project’s employees and lower Palo Alto’s jobs-housing imbalance.

Coffee and a Hearing Consult

The council agreed that 20% of the units in proposed developments would need to be affordable housing, which is higher than the city’s normal 15% requirement for new residential developments. The council left unanswered, however, the question of affordability when it comes to the new housing units.

Some on the council, including Kou, argued that setting the limit at the high end of the area’s median income will not produce the type of housing that the city really wants. She proposed in February that these projects be required to provide housing at 50% of the area’s median income level.

Others, including Tanaka, raised concerns that imposing stringent affordability requirements would discourage applicants from coming forward. He also argued that raising the percentage of incomerestricted units could result in fewer proposals.

“If we want to make housing, it has to be economically viable,” Tanaka said. “We can’t expect people to lose money on this.”

While Tanaka wondered in February whether the city’s proposed rules for the planned home zone will actually produce results, Palo Alto has seen some positive signs since then. In June, the council considered a proposal from Sand Hill Property Companyfor a mixed-use development with 187 rental units and a two-story office building at 3300 El Camino Real, on the edge of Stanford Research Park.

The city also received an application for a potential planned home project from the Menlo Park-based developer Acclaimed Companies that includes 119 units, as well as 1,000 square feet of retail and 5,000 square feet of office space at 2951 El Camino Real in the Ventura neighborhood.

A new report from the Department of Planning and Development Services states that despite the pandemic, staff “continues to be approached by developers interested in pursuing housing developments.” For the council, which has consistently failed to meet its annual goal of 300 new housing units per year, this is a welcoming trend. The staff report notes that the city is not on target to meet its Comprehensive Goal of producing between 3,545 and 4,420 new housing units by 2030.

“The lack of housing affordable at all income levels contributes to other impacts experienced in Palo Alto,” the report states.

“These impacts relate to traffic congestion, higher vehicle miles traveled, greater greenhouse gas emissions, and diminished housing opportunities, among other quality of life issues.”

To gain some clarity on the issue of affordability, staff is proposing numerous options for the council’s consideration. Under one proposed option, the 20% requirement would be split among (continued on page 13)

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Upfront

Retail (continued from page 7)

utility rates and opposing Proposition 15, which would create a â&#x20AC;&#x153;split rollâ&#x20AC;? system in which property tax for commercial and industrial sites is based on market value rather than purchase price.

Despite the assertion by some business owners that the proposition would hurt them financially, the City Council endorsed staff recommendation that the city officially support Proposition 15, which allocates some of the property tax revenues to local governments and school districts.

DuBois also vehemently opposed any consideration of lowering the minimum wage, an idea that was brought up by Jim Ellis, managing principal of Ellis Partners, which owns Town & Country Village. DuBois said reducing the wage would be â&#x20AC;&#x153;somewhat immoral right now.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re talking about workers who are on the front lines â&#x20AC;&#x201D; people at grocery stores and these other stores. They should probably be getting combat pay and getting paid more. I just canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see us lowering their wage,â&#x20AC;? DuBois said.

The council largely supported most of the other efforts by staff to support local retail, which includes $10,000 grants to small businesses and the closure of University and California avenues to traffic

as part of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Uplift Local campaign (previously known as Summer Streets). So far, the efforts appear to be having positive, if uneven effects, with some restaurants along the main commercial stretches reporting a healthy uptick in businesses while others, particularly those on side streets, saying that the closures are hurting their business by putting them at a competitive disadvantage.

For Town & Country, the challenge of the pandemic is compounded by the fact that many of its shoppers used to come from Palo Alto High School and Stanford University, institutions that have been more or less shut down for the past six months. Ellis said sales at the shopping center are down this month by 60% to 80% when compared to last year. And while the shopping center went into the pandemic with a vacancy rate of between 6% and 7%, the rate currently stands at 15% and appears to be heading toward 20% to 25%. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important to acknowledge that many of these businesses wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t open,â&#x20AC;? Ellis said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And it isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t because the landlord wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t talk to them and isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t willing to defer, abate or rework their rent.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s because theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been closed for such an extended period of time, and they are really â&#x20AC;&#x201D; even though general retail businesses are open â&#x20AC;&#x201D; unable to receive customers.â&#x20AC;? Q Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com.

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Page 10 â&#x20AC;˘ September 18, 2020 â&#x20AC;˘ Palo Alto Weekly â&#x20AC;˘ www.PaloAltoOnline.com

RVs (continued from page 5)

Jose before arriving in Palo Alto in February, just before the start of the pandemic, Noemi Solorio said in an interview conducted in Spanish. She was working in the food industry at the time. She worked in the afternoons while her husband worked in the mornings so at least one parent could be home with their children throughout the day.

Then shelter in place took effect. Her husband got laid off and her hours were cut. She later lost her job, but her husband found work again. They donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t own the RV thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s become their home but instead pay $700 a month in rent to the owner. She said those early months of the shutdown were â&#x20AC;&#x153;chaosâ&#x20AC;? without the escape of a trip to the park or McDonaldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s.

Solorioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s full-time job is now sitting with her youngest son, Jeremy, while heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on Zoom for school from 8 to 11:30 a.m. He didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t attend preschool, so he hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t had any exposure to school and is having trouble adjusting, particularly with everything happening online. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 5 years old and easily distracted â&#x20AC;&#x201D; by his siblings, by his hunger, by wanting to kiss and hug his mother. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s his first year. He doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know you have to pay attention,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a pandemic. He just wants to play and play and play. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s difficult for me.â&#x20AC;?

Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worried that heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s falling

behind his classmates and that the teacher is progressing to concepts he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re starting to want them to do sentences of two to three words, but how is he supposed to do that if he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know the consonants or letters or sounds? How can the teacher want him to focus on entire words that he does not know?â&#x20AC;? she asked.

Solorio said itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been frustrating to see some of her children get marked absent or penalized when they lose their internet connection and miss class. She said she wishes there was more flexibility and communication with the teachers about their living situation. (She also asked for more compassion from the city about people living in RVs, who she feels are painted with an unfairly broad brush.)

The mother of four compared the foundation laid at the start of a new school year â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and with Jeremy, the start of his K-12 education â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to starting the day with a good breakfast. Without one, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not as well set up for success, she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you start the day badly, it will end badly,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It does worry me.â&#x20AC;?

Last week, Solorioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s two older children, who are 13 and 15 years old, returned to school in person for the first time since March as part of the districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new PAUSD+ program for high-need students. She had mixed feelings about them going. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m happy but nervous. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m happy because due to the situation

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m living in, they were not doing all of their classes completely. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a problem with them. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a problem with the powerâ&#x20AC;? and not being able to charge their computers, she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m nervous because I know the coronavirus is something serious.â&#x20AC;?

As a mother, she said sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d prefer to keep her children home with her where she knows theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re safe and can limit their exposure to the coronavirus. When her husband comes home from work, he disinfects as much as possible and leaves his shoes outside the RV. They canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t help but feel inadequate as parents, Solorio said, and are â&#x20AC;&#x153;fightingâ&#x20AC;? to find a stable home to move into. Last week, the district told them theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d get a second hot spot, a request that takes about a week to process, though the district is prioritizing homeless students. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We feel like bad parents. We want a good roof above our heads,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But at the same time I thank God because I still have a roof for them and theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re healthy.â&#x20AC;?

The school district is planning to pilot an elementary PAUSD+ program at Addison Elementary School but is hoping to be able to fully reopen elementary campuses next month and into early November, assuming Santa Clara County stays in the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s less restrictive â&#x20AC;&#x153;redâ&#x20AC;? tier for two weeks. Q Staff Writer Elena Kadvany can be emailed at ekadvany@ paweekly.com.

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Upfront EDUCATION

Air hugs and weekly testing: Inside one private school’s first day back at school Synapse School in Menlo Park is holding in-person classes outdoors on its campus

by Elena Kadvany

A

Magali Gauthier

t a glance, it looked like a normal first day of school: Kids climbed excitedly on a jungle gym, a teacher led story time, a group of fourth-graders went over classroom expectations for the year.

It was far from normal. All the students and staff had been privately tested for the coronavirus before being allowed to return to campus. Classes were being held under tents in parking lots and in storage spaces converted into outdoor or open-air classrooms.

One teacher led her class remotely from a screen as she quarantined at home after traveling for a family emergency. Kindergarteners, on their first-ever day of in-person school, were learning about “air hugs” and using “airplane arms” to stay 6 feet apart.

Synapse School, a small private school in Menlo Park, is one of 21 San Mateo County schools that have been granted waivers to reopen in person for elementary grades. Wednesday was its first day of the new school year (the restart was delayed by two days because of poor air quality). Only schools with waivers are allowed to reopen until San Mateo County’s COVID-19 metrics are low enough to gain the state’s permission for all schools to reconvene.

Synapse offers a unique look into how one local private school — one with ample resources and a reputation for being scrappy and innovative — has approached reopening, from partnering with Stanford University and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital to provide weekly COVID-19 testing to reconfiguring the campus to educate students outdoors.

“Schools can do this — maybe not this robustly. We’re small.

We have some resources,” Head of School Jim Eagen acknowledged. “If you’re a smaller school and you can think creatively, I do think you can get to a spot where you can open safely.”

Synapse, which was born as a lab school in 2009, offers project-based instruction with a focus on social-emotional learning and neuroscience research (hence the name). Students don’t receive letter grades and are instead assessed on concepts like risk, communication and iteration. Once a year, the entire school is turned into a “living museum” displaying students’ interactive projects based on an annual theme. Tuition ranges from $32,000 for kindergarten to $38,000 for middle school, plus fees.

Elementary students returned

Synapse School kindergarten teacher Paige Carey plays a game with her students on the first day of in-person classes in Menlo Park on Sept. 16. in person this week in a hybrid model. Stable cohorts of eight to 12 kindergarten through fourthgraders are at the Edison Way campus in the morning, then head home for distance learning in the afternoon. Cohorts of the same size of fifth- and sixthgraders who learn remotely in the morning attend in person in the afternoon, after the campus gets a deep clean during lunchtime.

About 80% to 85% of students in these grades have returned; the rest have opted for full distance learning, according to the school.

All students and staff are being tested weekly on campus through what Eagen said is a cutting-edge research partnership. Synapse, which had an existing partnership with Stanford through the school’s Brainwave Learning Center, has teamed up with the university and children’s hospital for a study on COVID-19 diagnostics and the safe reopening of schools. In exchange for a team of researchers and doctors who provide the testing under a tent in a school parking lot every Thursday, Synapse raised money and dipped into the school’s rainy day fund — and “it’s raining really hard right now,” Eagen said — to create a fund that the hospital can use “as they see fit to help reopen schools.”

The testing is led by Yvonne Maldonado, a Stanford pediatric infectious disease professor and the infection control medical director at Packard, and Jason Wang, associate pediatrics professor at the children’s hospital. Both have been consulting with the school on its reopening plans since June, as have medical experts from the University of California at San Francisco.

Students and staff who opt to participate in the study (as well as this newspaper’s reporter and photographer, who were tested before being allowed to visit Synapse) undergo three different

kinds of COVID-19 testing: a nasopharyngeal swab (deep in the nose), lower nasal swab and saliva sample, which are analyzed at the Stanford University Clinical Virology Laboratory. The school promises a 48-hour turnaround for results.

There have been no positive tests yet, Eagen said, but the school has acknowledged that “even with the best control strategies in place, there may be cases in our community.”

Synapse asks students and families to adhere to a set of guidelines that assess the risk levels of various off-campus activities, such as socializing, going for a hike or dining at restaurants.

Testing is just one layer of Synapse’s reopening strategy, which also includes frequent cleaning of spaces, physical distancing, handwashing, upgrading HVAC units and requiring all students and staff to wear masks while on campus. Athletics and field trips have been put on hold and events like back to school night and all-school assemblies will take place online.

The 2-acre campus itself has been transformed to serve students mostly outside based on research that shows the coronavirus doesn’t transmit as easily outdoors, Eagen said. To create outdoor classrooms, the school purchased Wi-Fi hotspots, put down turf on parking lots, purchased large tents and built new desks and whiteboards in a campus makerspace. A multipurpose room has been turned into two first-grade classrooms, with new carpet that has yellow designs that double as social distancing markers. The few classes that are meeting indoors are in spaces with large air flow.

“We took down walls,” Eagen said. “That’s our school’s approach. We’re a very innovative lab school, young and scrappy. Our parents expect that,

actually.”

In one fourth-grade classroom, a converted storage space, students discussed on Wednesday morning norms for both usual and unusual school years: Be kind. Try your best. Be respectful — particularly when considering that some of their peers are now learning in tents without walls where noise travels easily.

Inside the school’s makerspace, a massive warehouse with high ceilings and large doors that can roll up to increase air flow, a group of kindergarten students wore “first day on campus” paper hats as they drew and colored using pens in Ziploc bags designated for individual use.

Eagen said transparent, frequent communication with parents and staff was key to a successful reopening. Synapse hosted weekly Zoom town halls this summer, and he posted weekly video updates, plus a weekly newsletter. He met individually with each of the school’s 60 staff members, either outside from a distance or on Zoom. The staff also met with the school’s medical advisers, COVID-19 task force and board members.

A few non-teaching employees didn’t feel comfortable returning to work in person, Eagen said, while some who did want to come back were asked to stay at home. Art and music specialists, for example, who normally rotate among classes are working from home for their safety and the students’.

Eagen estimated that Synapse will spend close to $2 million from the school’s reserves on reopening, including facilities upgrades, testing and adding staff.

He acknowledged that not all schools are able to reopen in the way that small, well-resourced schools can.

“Smaller schools are going to have an advantage. I do believe that,” he said. “You can be nimble. You can make changes. You can just keep things small.”

But there are less costly approaches that other schools can apply, he said, including better communication, forming partnerships and, practically, repurposing a campus’ outdoor spaces.

“A big district can communicate transparently. They can reach out to experts, whether they’re within their own community, the parent population, or the broader community. They can partner on best practices,” Eagen said. Q Staff Writer Elena Kadvany can be emailed at ekadvany@ paweekly.com.

About the cover: Synapse School teacher Hannah Gallagher looks at her class of third- and fourth-graders in an outdoor classroom in a fenced off courtyard on the Menlo Park campus on Sept.

16. Photo by Magali Gauthier.

Cover design by Douglas Young.

PAUSD (continued from page 5)

the district invited to participate in PAUSD+ districtwide, 33 attended on the first day, according to administrators. By the end of the week there were 44 students enrolled, with more to be added soon, according to the district.

Though the program just started, teachers already said they’re seeing some students whom they hadn’t regularly seen when school started in late August, Fletcher Principal Melissa Howell said.

“We heard from teachers that participation has increased,” she said. “That was our ultimate goal.”

In late August, the California Department of Public Health issued guidance permitting schools to reopen to serve students with “acute” needs, including students with disabilities, English learners, students at higher risk of further learning loss or not participating in distance learning, students at risk of abuse or neglect, foster youth and students who are homeless.

Across town at Cubberley Community Center, another classroom was back in action on Friday morning. Four adult students in the district’s Futures program for postsecondary students with moderate to severe disabilities worked on a range of vocational and tactile activities, with masked aides guiding them.

(Three of the four students wore masks.)

Sydney Abraha, who is blind, worked on separating pom-poms from erasers, sitting under a large, red poster board that was created for her during distance learning. The board is divided into three sections — places, activities and people — with felt cutouts decorated with objects to communicate and guide her day, such as lunch (the top of a plastic fork) and Zoom class (a raised “Z”). She was nearing the lunch hour when she’d make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for herself in a temporary kitchen at Cubberley.

On the other side of the classroom, another student, Joshua Van Riesen, was engrossed in putting erasers on pencils and placing the finished products into a container.

They are among the first special-education students to return to school in person since a district in-person summer program had to close early in July after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that schools in counties being monitored by the state for high coronavirus metrics couldn’t be open in person. Many parents of students with disabilities, worried their children have fallen behind during distance learning, have been clamoring for faceto-face support. Several special education teachers, meanwhile, urged the school board last week (continued on page 13)

Page 12 • September 18, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Upfront

PAUSD (continued from page 12)

Erickson (continued from page 8)

and disrespected, he said.

“The initial response to the suicide cluster was adults talking to adults over the heads of our kids,” he said.

High school students and recent graduates stepped up to express themselves, however, and Erickson sees that trend continuing and evolving today. The city’s youth are now speaking out with strong, informed voices in the local Black Lives Matter movement regarding racial reckoning. No longer in the shadows about issues that matter to them, they’ve moved toward self-empowerment.

“I think about the City Council hearings on the budget and the threat we saw to teen services and the response to teen voices.

So many spoke candidly about their own mental health and the benefit of a changing narrative,” he said.

Many youth programs have helped to create a feeling of connectedness to the community,

Zoning (continued from page 9)

various affordability levels, with the developer being required to provide 5% for each income strata.

Under another option, the city would weigh units based on their affordability level and adjust the number of required units accordingly. Thus, a developer who wants to satisfy the 20% requirement by building housing for the moderate income level would need to produce more such units than a developer who is building units in the low-income tier. The approach, according to staff, recognizes that units in the low, very low and extremely low categories entail more subsidy and a lower return of investment.

“Requiring more units to be deed restricted at the lower income level means greater concessions from the zoning code to home builders will be required,” the reports states.

The option, according to staff,

developmental and socio-emotional needs of the age group.”

Judy Argumedo, the district’s director of academic support programs, said she wasn’t surprised to hear students were more engaged in online learning while back at their schools in a more structured environment.

“I think physically just being on the campus puts you in the mindset: You walk on the campus and you’re expected to be engaged,” she said. “School is such a wraparound, protective service that I don’t think people in general understood everything that school provides — even the building” itself. Q Staff Writer Elena Kadvany can be emailed at ekadvany@ paweekly.com.

which has helped young people to overcome stigmas and to speak openly, he added.

“Young people are leading the way as opposed to the adults,” he said.

But Erickson cautioned against the community becoming complacent. Anxiety and depression are still widespread among students, he said.

“Some experts say that the suicides are still in a state of contagion. The problem is not just deaths; it’s the continuum of attempts, hospitalization and suicidal ideation,” he said. “There’s a very high number of students who report a sense of anxiety and sadness over X-number of weeks.

These are signs that this thing is not over.”

COVID-19 has added another layer to challenge students’ mental health and well-being.

“It’s very tough. We’re seeing more of a sense of anxiety, depression and isolation,” he said.

Youth themselves, however, are taking action. YCS peer leaders have developed a youth-connectedness initiative and created a

video to help students.

The pandemic may also have a silver lining, he said.

“This whole frenzied rush to college — the primacy of getting into a prestigious college — has a whole different meaning now,” he said. The pandemic offers the opportunity to reduce some of the stress and tension youth have experienced.

Parents still represent one of the larger challenges to youth wellness. They still have much work to do to realize it’s OK to not be hyper-focused on success, he said.

The same goes for adult behavior that is racist. Black students have recently spoken in various city- and community-sponsored forums about isolation and discrimination, including during informal social activities.

Erickson said he sees “so many challenges” currently. Everyone — young and old — is facing a need to rebuild relationships amid the coronavirus pandemic and political and cultural assaults on civic culture, he said.

Although Erickson is handing

provides “maximum flexibility to determine how to comply with the inclusionary requirement and, if elected, would tend to generate more low and very-low income units than would otherwise be produced — or a greater number of income-restricted units if a developer chooses units in the moderate or workforce housing range.”

For rental properties, staff is proposing a different approach: requiring developers to provide 10% of their units for very-low income housing (50% of area median income) and paying housing impact fees equivalent to 20% of the city’s requirement. This, according to staff, is equivalent to a 25% inclusionary requirement.

The city would then be able to use the funds to support affordable-housing developments similar to Wilton Court, which received about $10 million in city funding.

“Payment of the housing impact fee will help restore the city’s housing funds, which are

typically used by non-profit, lowincome housing projects,” the report states. “Non-profit housing typically also provides supportive programs that low-income households can use to find jobs, help with school work, connect with social services and other programs; these services are not generally provided in market-rate housing projects.”

According to staff, a hypothetical 100,000-square-foot rental project with 100 units would be required to provide 10 very-low income units and pay about $2 million in fees.

Even with the new zone designation, developers would need to go through the city’s typically lengthy review process to win approval.

This includes a prescreening session with the council, reviews from the Planning and Transportation Commission and the Architectural Review Board and final approval from the council. Q Staff writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com.

Magali Gauthier

to take a more cautious, “conservative” approach, citing their concerns about the health and safety risks.

“It’s best for them to be back,” Futures teacher Coleman Hall said on Friday. The students, despite often having behavioral issues, have been calm since returning to school, he added.

He was busy planning numerous activities that underscore the importance of in-person learning for these students, including grocery shopping, use of public transportation and hiking — all geared toward helping the students become “as independent as

possible,” Hall said.

There are 21 post-secondary students now attending school in person, according to the district.

The school district has not yet announced a date that more special-education students will return in person, but it will be this month, Superintendent Don Austin said. The district is continuing to negotiate working conditions related to special education with the teachers union, with three bargaining sessions in the last week.

All of the in-person programs must adhere to the state Public Health Department’s guidelines, including stable cohorts of 14 or fewer students who stay together for all activities and physical distancing “balanced with

Instructional aid Timothy Yung works with a post-secondary student in the Palo Alto school district’s Futures program at Cubberley Community Center on Sept. 11. over the reins of day-to-day operations to Oommen, he’ll still be on the YCS board of directors, helping to support and guide the organization’s vision for improving the lives of youth and the community through selfless service, he said.

YCS “can continue to build in protecting factors of positive, service-based experiences and positive activities across generations that are an antidote to suicide and depression,” he said. Looking back over the years and the

organization’s accomplishments, he said: “I have so much respect for our community and the way it supports YCS.” Youth Community Services will celebrate its 30th anniversary, honor Erickson and introduce Oommen on Zoom on Thursday, Sept.

24, 5:30-6:30 p.m. Anyone who would like to attend the virtual event can RSVP for the Zoom link at youthcommunityservice.org. Q Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at sdremann@ paweekly.com.

Online This Week

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

Amid pandemic, younger poll workers step up Whether amid a deadly pandemic or catastrophic wildfires, the November general election must go on, and this year, more and more younger citizens are expected to help registered voters participate in their democracy by working at in-person voting centers. (Posted Sept. 16, 5:20 p.m.)

Fire evacuation warnings spark confusion Palo Alto Hills residents are questioning why the Santa Clara County AlertSCC notification system didn’t include their neighborhood when evacuation warnings were issued for the CZU Lightning Complex fires after the city had told them to prepare to evacuate and to expect an official warning. (Posted Sept.16 , 9:53 p.m.)

House fire displaces family A midday blaze that burned a two-story home on Tuesday forced a family of four to flee the building and caused police to evacuate surrounding residences in Palo Alto’s Midtown neighborhood, Battalion Chief Ryan Stoddard said. (Posted Sept. 15, 6:32 p.m.)

Park’s residents-only policy prompts lawsuit A group of civil rights organizations and residents filed a lawsuit against the city of Palo Alto on Tuesday in a bid to repeal a contentious law that bans non-Palo Altans from visiting Foothills Park unless accompanied by a city resident. (Posted Sept. 15, 1:45 p.m.)

City green lights ‘safe parking’ program The Palo Alto City Council approved on Sept. 14 a proposal to use a parking lot at 2000 Geng Road for a “safe parking” program for vehicle dwellers. (Posted Sept. 15, 12:43 a.m.)

Sex crimes reported at two parks Police are looking for a man who they believe is responsible for sex crimes at two Palo Alto parks that happened less than an hour apart on Monday. (Posted Sept.11, 5:56 p.m.)

Want to get news briefs emailed to you every weekday?

Sign up for Express, our daily e-edition.

Go to PaloAltoOnline.com/express to sign up.

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • September 18, 2020 • Page 13

Upfront

Ravenswood (continued from page 5)

CityView A round-up

of Palo Alto government action this week

City Council (Sept. 14)

Safe Parking: The council approved a three-year lease with Santa Clara County to create a “safe parking” program at a city-owned site at 2000 Geng Road.

Yes: Unanimous Retail: The council directed staff to return with options for temporarily suspending the “retail preservation” ordinance in areas outside the city’s commercial core. Yes: Cormack, Fine, Kniss, Tanaka No: DuBois, Filseth, Kou

City Council (Sept. 16)

Evaluations: The council met in a closed session to evaluate the performances of the city manager, the city attorney and city clerk. Action: None

Page 14 • September 18, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Debate (continued from page 7)

Advisory Committee for Special Education, the Latino Parent Network and Parent Advocates for Student Success. For more information, go to ptac.paloaltopta.org.

Questions can be sent by email to paloaltocac@gmail.com.

Magali Gauthier

for about 580 children. Families of about 250 students wanted to sign up for the hubs in the first days they were advertised, according to the district.

In the short term, Ravenswood is hoping to serve 140 students across all of the learning hubs and, in the long term, accommodate more than 200 students, Superintendent Gina Sudaria told the Weekly.

The learning hubs are open during school hours, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Los Robles-McNair and Cesar Chavez Ravenswood Middle School.

“The learning hubs not only help the student, it helps the families be able to carry on and sustain their household,” Sudaria said during a Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula webinar on Wednesday evening. “Students are able to come into a safe place, access WiFi and ... (have) some accountability. There’s an adult in the room who’s there to not only respond to you emotionally as a child but to help academically when you get stuck, making sure you’re on time during the synchronous learning and making sure you’re actually carrying on with the work during that asynchronous work.”

Boys & Girls, for its hub, is overseeing three classrooms of kindergarten and first-grade students at Los Robles-McNair. Each classroom has a stable cohort of no more than 10 students from the same school — Los Robles, Costaño or Belle Haven — and two Boys & Girls employees,

who all volunteered for this particular assignment. The students have their temperatures checked and are screened for COVID-19 symptoms and exposure daily (as were this reporter and photographer when they visited). They sit at socially distanced desks and wear masks. Only one student can go to the bathroom at a time, and they stop at a “sanitation station” to use hand sanitizer when they return to the classroom. The staff use an incentive program to keep the students safe and on track, giving them points for properly wearing masks or staying on task during Zoom classes.

Boys & Girls staff said they were eager to leverage their resources to meet a need in the community as schools remain closed and many students continue to struggle with internet access, having a quiet space to learn or to simply focus on Zoom classes.

The district has distributed more than 1,000 Wi-Fi hotspots and is rushing to purchase more for students on a wait list, according to Sudaria. According to a survey at the start of the school year, nearly 300 families were without a stable internet connection.

The district is also working separately to increase attendance among all students. When the school year started, 72% of students were attending online school, according to the district.

By Sept. 4, that increased to 82%.

At the learning hubs, students have reliable internet, meals throughout the day and adults to step in when they need help, whether to find the right Zoom code to log in to class or to stay

Costaño Elementary School kindergartener Matthias follows schedules on a whiteboard in a classroom at the Boys & Girls Clubs in East Palo Alto on Sept. 16. on task during several hours of online learning. The Boys & Girls reached out to Ravenswood teachers to get each student’s daily schedule, which are written on whiteboards in the classrooms.

Spencer Haar, site leader for the Boys & Girls hub at Los RoblesMcNair, said parents have been “thankful” when dropping their kids off. Parents are not allowed to come on the campuses, a particular disappointment for the parents who wanted to watch their kindergarteners have their first-ever inperson classroom experience.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula also opened three of its own learning hubs this week: one at the nonprofit’s East Palo Alto clubhouse on Pulgas Avenue and two in Redwood City. On Wednesday morning at the East Palo Alto hub, which is next door to Los Robles-McNair, about 17 students of all ages were learning online, sitting at socially distanced tables set up in the parking lot outside the clubhouse.

The children are happy to be around other children, staff said.

One young boy started crying at the end of the day on Tuesday because he didn’t want to leave school.

“It’s nice for them to see other kids,” said Jenny Obiaya, chief program officer for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula. “It can be such an isolating time.”

Boys & Girls hopes its Ravenswood hub will eventually accommodate more students. One barrier for working parents, however, is

transportation. Three sisters who started in the learning hub earlier this week had to drop out, Haar said, because their mother couldn’t pick them up in the afternoons. He said they’re hoping the district can provide transportation to students who need it.

The Ravenswood school board approved last Thursday memorandums of understanding with the three nonprofits. Board member Sharifa Wilson cast the sole “no” vote, citing concerns about whether the nonprofit staff working at the hubs will be regularly tested for the coronavirus.

The district has allocated $750,000 to support the learning hubs from $3 million it received in federal funds to mitigate students’ learning loss. The funds expire at the end of the year, so the district will look to the three nonprofits to pay to continue the hubs if schools remain closed into 2021.

With other organizations managing the hubs, the district will be able to learn from what works and what doesn’t.

“We want to be able to provide direct instruction and bring kids back,” Sudaria said Wednesday.

“We want to do so in a safe way and we think the learning hubs (are) a way to be able to launch and play out what it will be like to have kids on campus.”

The learning hubs are open to any Ravenswood school district student. Families who are interested in applying for a spot at a leaning hub can do so here: https:// sites.google.com/ravenswoodschools.net/reopeningplanning/ learning-hubs Other local nonprofits have stepped in to support Ravenswood students who are struggling with distance learning. East Palo Alto education nonprofit Thiebaut Method started a new online learning program using volunteers to teach Ravenswood students how to use distance technologies, with a list of students waiting to sign up.

All Students Matter, which prepandemic placed volunteers in Ravenswood classrooms to provide support, is now using volunteers to provide one-on-one virtual tutoring to students. Both organizations are looking for more volunteers so they can serve more students. Q Staff Writer Elena Kadvany can be emailed at ekadvany@ paweekly.com.

Ravenswood City School District Board of Trustees • Saturday, Oct. 3, 1-4 p.m. Forum hosted by EPA Neighbors at St. Mark AME Church, 1749 Bay Road, East Palo Alto. More information on registration and access to come.

• Thursday, Oct. 8, 7-8 p.m.

Forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of South San Mateo County over Zoom. More information on registration and access to come.

Santa Clara County Board of Education, Area 1 • Sunday, Oct. 11, 4-5 p.m.

Forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Los AltosMountain View Area. If event registration exceeds 100 attendees, organizers plan to provide a livestream via YouTube. Register information is posted at lwvlamv. org. Attendees can submit a question in advance.

California Senate District 13 • Thursday, Sept. 24, 7-8 p.m.

Forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Los AltosMountain View Area and cosponsored by LWV chapters in Palo Alto, Cupertino-Sunnyvale and South San Mateo County. If event registration exceeds 100 attendees, organizers plan to provide a livestream via YouTube. Registration link at lwvlamv.org.

California Assembly District 24 • Tuesday, Sept. 29, 7:30-8:30 p.m. Forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Palo Alto and cosponsored by LWV chapters in Los Altos-Mountain View Area, Cupertino-Sunnyvale and South San Mateo County. Registration link at lwvlamv.org. Questions can be sent in advance by noon on Sunday, Sept. 27, through the question submission link on registration confirmation email.

U.S. Congressional District 18 • Saturday, Sept. 26, 4-5 p.m. Forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Palo Alto and cosponsored by LWV chapters in Los Altos-Mountain View Area, Southwest Santa Clara Valley and South San Mateo County.

Registration link at lwvlamv.org.

Questions can be sent in advance by noon on Thursday, Sept. 24, through the question submission link on registration confirmation email. Q

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Call 650 473 1500 kerwinassociates.com www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • September 18, 2020 • Page 15

Page 16 • September 18, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • September 18, 2020 • Page 17

Pulse

A weekly compendium of vital statistics

POLICE CALLS Palo Alto

Sept. 10-Sept. 16 Violence related El Camino Real, 8/5, 4:57 a.m.; domestic violence/battery.

Sheridan Avenue, 9/1, 6:35 p.m.; child abuse/physical.

El Camino Real, 9/7, 9:30 a.m.; sex crime/indecent exposure.

Palo Alto Avenue, 9/7, 10:29 a.m.; battery/sexual.

San Antonio Road, 9/9, 9:02 a.m.; elder abuse/physical.

Edgewood Drive, 9/9, 6:35 p.m.;

domestic violence/battery.

University Avemue, 9/9, 9:55 p.m.; battery/felony.

Park Boulevard, 9/13, 6:55 a.m.; domestic violence/battery.

Barron Avenue, 9/13, 8:05 p.m.; simple battery.

El Camino Real, 9/13, 8:31 p.m.; strong arm robbery.

Theft related Checks forgery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Commercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Grand theft attempt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Prowler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Vehicle related Abandoned bicycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Auto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Driving w/ suspended license. . . . . . . . 1 Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Lost/stolen plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Parking/driving violation . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . 2 Vehicle accident/prop damage. . . . . . . 3

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CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 18 (ESHOO V. KUMAR)

PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL

Saturday, September 26 — 4-5 pm

Saturday, October 10 — 4-6 pm

CA ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 24 (BERMAN V. OHTAKI)

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Tuesday, September 29 — 7:30-8:30 pm

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Violence related 1300 block Carlton Ave., 9/13, 5:49 p.m.; spousal abuse.

Theft related Burglary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Commercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Vehicle related Auto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Parking/driving violation . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . 1 Vehicle accident/no injury. . . . . . . . . . . 1 Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Alcohol or drug related Driving under influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Drunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Possession of paraphernalia . . . . . . . . 1 Miscellaneous Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Medical aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . 1 Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Welfare check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

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Spectrum Editorials, letters and opinions

Guest Opinion

Palo Alto Utilities’ dilemma — it’s really ours, too

O

n Sept.11, the 26th consecutive day of the local Spare the Air alerts, I emailed photos of that week’s orange sky to my sister in New Jersey. She wrote back, wryly, “Breathe only when you have to.” Gov. Gavin Newsom made the news that day, standing in a burnt-out forest saying, “This is a climate emergency. ... The data is self-evident. ... we’re going to have to step up our game.”

Isn’t it time we started paying more attention to what’s going on — and making some serious changes? Why are we seemingly so incapable of shifting direction when it’s so clear we must stop burning fossil fuels?

The story of the City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU) and an industry trade association presents a telling example that illustrates this challenge.

Earth Justice, the environmental law group, recently asked CPAU to quit its membership in the American Public Gas Association (APGA). It seems the APGA staff has been speaking at cities and states throughout the country, arguing against plans for electrification.

Those of us concerned about climate change have come to see that electrification — switching to the clean, renewable electricity that CPAU now provides us — is

Letters Contradictions Editor, Last week, during the Planning and Transportation Commission’s discussion related to the environmental impact report for the Castilleja School redevelopment proposal, Commissioner Michael Alcheck, echoing the comments of Castellija’s attorney, stated that the explicit wording of a city ordinance should be ignored in favor of the city’s past practices. The issue at hand was the law that requires that any basement under Castilleja School be under the building’s footprint.

In Alcheck’s view at the hearing, the city’s past interpretation and practice overrides the wording in the municipal code, and therefore, the underground garage is legal.

But in 2015, as a commissioner and arguing privately in regard to his own residential redevelopment proposals, Alcheck advocated the exact opposite. A city ordinance prohibited garages in

by Debbie Mytels one of the best strategies for reducing the have leaked and caused a fire in both Los greenhouse gases that cause global warm- Altos and Campbell. CPAU spends an estiing. “Natural” gas, which is how methane mated $18 million on keeping Palo Alto’s gas was branded decades ago by the fossil fuel system safe — but shouldn’t we stop wasting industry in an attempt to sell us a “cleaner” money on this disintegrating infrastructure product than heating oil or coal, traps up to and put the resources into improving our 80 times more of the sun’s heat within the electrical grid instead?

Recognizing these problems, the Palo Alto atmosphere than does carbon dioxide. But with the boom in fracking, fossil gas now City Council voted last year to ban gas applicontributes one-third of California’s total ances in new home construction, a so-called greenhouse gas emissions. So it’s a major “Reach Code” that reaches beyond the minimum state energy requirements. Some 32 threat to climate stability.

In addition, fossil gas creates two other jurisdictions in California have now passed such Reach Codes. But here’s the problem problems: pollution and a threat to safety.

While burning gas doesn’t make visible with the APGA trade association: Since Palo smoke or a telltale odor, chemists know it’s Alto has adopted cleaner alternatives through a dirty fuel. Harmful by-products like form- electrification, why is our city utility still aldehyde, nitric oxide, acetaldehyde and car- paying $20,000 each year to belong to an bon monoxide are among the indoor air pol- organization that is actively fighting against lutants caused by burning gas. People with our goals?

Our CPAU staff say they benefit from APasthma are especially vulnerable to the emissions from cooking with gas. A 2013 study GA’s industry-level reports on safety and best found that children raised in a home with practices — the typical information a trade a gas stove are 42% more likely to develop association creates. That makes sense, but why won’t CPAU push APGA to stop lobbyasthma than those who don’t.

Sept. 9 — the infamous day of orange ing against electrification? Well, APGA as skies — was precisely the 10-year anniver- an organization was created to support the sary of the San Bruno gas explosion that use of “natural” gas — so of course they are killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. going to fight against banning it. Why would San Bruno was not an accident — it was an they want to put themselves out of business?

But let’s return to those images of the oraccident waiting to happen. Aging gas lines run under all the neighborhoods in Califor- ange sky. Isn’t it time that we all — even an nia — and in Palo Alto, many of these pipes agency created to support the use of fossil gas are more than 70 years ago. We also live in — think about the big picture? Isn’t the goal earthquake country, and the mini-quakes that of CPAU — and APGA — to provide for the happen regularly can shake loose those leaky health and safety (and economic well-being) old pipes. Within the past month, gas lines of the communities they purport to serve?

the front half of a home’s footprint if the majority pattern on a block was of parking structures in the rear. The city’s long-term interpretation and practice was to treat carports the same way as garages, and therefore to disallow Alcheck’s applications for carports in the front of each lot.

Alcheck argued a strictly literal reading of the law, stating that since carports were not explicitly prohibited in the front of the lot, it was legal for him to have his carports in the front.

When it worked in favor of Alcheck’s personal interests, he advocated for a strict reading of the code. But when it benefited a project he had already signaled support for, he spoke in favor of ignoring the clear reading of the code.

With this news of his contradictory and self-centered decisionmaking process, council should finally do what is long overdue: ask for his resignation, and if not received, remove him from the commission.

Fred Balin Columbia Street, Palo Alto

Bravo to Castilleja report Editor, I am writing in response to your article about The Planning and Transportation Commission’s endorsement of Castilleja’s Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR). Bravo to Commissioners Templeton, Hechtman, Lauing and Alcheck for their leadership and commitment to their roles in service of the city of Palo Alto. I am grateful to them for their clarity and commitment to their civic duty.

They are true leaders.

In endorsing the FEIR as thorough and complete, they did exactly what they were charged with doing by the citizens of Palo Alto.

They were also correct that Castilleja is an asset to the city that has benefited countless young women from Palo Alto for generations.

In addition, allowing the school to enroll more students will — by definition — increase opportunity for students from Palo Alto if the all-girls setting is something that feels right for them.

Several of the members of the commission noted that hard work still lies ahead as the conditions of

What we have here is a deeper problem.

It’s a local microcosm of the existential challenge we are facing. CPAU is dealing with a schizophrenic set of goals. On one hand, there’s the goal of reducing greenhouse gasses via electrification — and on the other hand is the goal of providing an essential energy service — and that also means jobs. It’s hard to tell the gas association — and some of the employees who work for CPAU — that their work is destroying the Earth’s climate.

They don’t want to hear that —and our leaders are uncomfortable saying it.

What we need to do instead is reframe the situation. We need to be clear in our priorities.

CPAU can continue to provide energy services — and employment to our gas workers — but we are going to have to shift over to all electric. And Palo Alto’s utilities should tell APGA: “You work for us, and we work for the public. The health of our communities requires shutting off the gas lines. Just as some of our CPAU workers will have to re-train, so APGA will have to change. You can start by helping public gas agencies make plans for electrification, rather than fighting it.”

Perhaps there is also a lesson in this for all of us who are financially comfortable homeowners. When do we start making plans to shift away from fossil gas? This fire season — or the next? Q Debbie Mytels is a Midtown resident who retired last year from a long career at Acterra, but she’s still volunteering with environmental groups to protect Earth’s climate. She can be reached at dmytels@ batnet.com.

approval are reviewed. This is true, and it is long past time to take on that work. Castilleja does appear very serious about enforcement and compliance of this new conditional use permit, which will be a success for the school and for the city.

For those who question the value of Castilleja within our city, have they ever spoken to a graduate to hear the compassion and courage

she takes with her into the world we all share? Even if she isn’t their direct neighbor, she is a person whose voice and impact will change the world for the better. If the school can meet the mitigations, allowing more young women to learn and grow in this setting is a benefit to all cities, ours included.

Heidi Hopper Matadero Avenue, Palo Alto

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

Palo Alto welcomes Bay Bridge light artist for new gallery show

Leo Villareal’s innovative union of art and technology takes center stage in Pace Gallery’s reopening exhibition

BY SHERYL NONNENBERG

I

Courtesy villareal.net

f you have driven across the Bay Bridge, you have seen Leo Villareal’s large-scale, site-specific “The Bay Lights.” Installed in 2013, it consists of 25,000 LED lights installed on the span that continuously change, thanks to a custom software design.

Further down on the Peninsula, Villareal was chosen as part of the public art program at the new Stanford Hospital. His “Buckyball,” from 2019, is sited at the entrance of the complex and offers a non-repeating sequence of colors and patterns in a sculpture of nested spheres.

But Villareal also works in smaller, gallery-scale editions, as can be seen in “Harmony of the Spheres,” his new exhibition at Pace Gallery in Palo Alto that is now on view until Oct. 10.

(The show, which was originally scheduled to be displayed in early spring, was put on hold due to the pandemic.)

There is some irony that Villareal’s small-screen work is on view at a time when our lives are so focused around computer screens, but don’t let that dissuade you from visiting the gallery. This is an art form that must be seen and experienced in person and, after months of online-only art, offers a welcome change. Villareal’s merging of art and technology is always impressive, mesmerizing — and an antidote to the preponderance of politics, anger, negativity and despair that seems to pervade cyberspace at the moment.

“Leo is a beloved figure in the Bay Area, and we are thrilled to

Above: Leo Villareal’s “Detector” was also shown in Pace Gallery of London, 2019. Below: Villareal’s works use LEDs, custom software, electrical hardware and steel. present his work in the gallery,” said Pace President Elizabeth Sullivan.

The exhibition consists of 11 screens of various sizes. As always, the Pace installation team

Courtesy Pace Gallery

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has found a way to present the works in a dramatic and advantageous way. The gallery is sectioned into three zones, with two walls framing the largest piece, “Musica Universalis” in the rear of the gallery space. The walls have been painted a dark gray/ black, an effective and neutral background for the glowing LEDs in each piece. With no labels or sound except for the gentle hum of the monitors, there is an almost sacred, meditative ambience. And since there will be timed admission to the gallery, odds are that visitors will have a quiet and contemplative experience.

Villareal, who holds an undergraduate degree in sculpture from Yale University and a graduate degree from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, found his way to working with light in a serendipitous way.

While attending the Burning Man Festival in 1997, he became lost in the desert. Realizing that a large light affixed to his tent would help him find his way, he created a glowing sculptural form. He began working solely with light but added a crucial component — software

code. In an email interview, he explained, “The epiphany I had was connecting software and light. To add software and code to that and to start to sequence the light was very profound, but it took me many years to get there.”

Eight of the pieces are part of the artist’s “Instance” series and are, according to gallery information, “Singular works, in their digital and physical forms, that become malleable synchronies wherein the possibility of order, however fleeting and subtle, appears visually across the units before gradually dissipating into a chaotic state.”

This translates to a nonstop sequence of patterns and shapes that move, evolve and dance in unpredictable but fascinating ways. Impose upon them what references you like: exploding planets, shooting stars, sun bursts, fireworks or glitter shot from a cannon. The longer you watch, the more things change and yet it is not frenetic or nerve-wracking. As Villareal described it, “My work is very much for humans. It goes beyond the simple combination of software

and LEDs. Through my process, I have found a way to tap into something deeper that elicits a sense of wonder and awe in an audience. It feels primal and elemental.”

The artist has also said that his light work is like a “communal campfire.” You will wish that you could set up a chair and spend a lot of time in front of “Musica Universalis.” It dominates the gallery with its size and the boldness of its transformations. The press release describes this piece as “referencing an ancient philosophical concept that regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies as a form of music which is not audible but rather a harmonic and mathematical exploration of orbital resonance.” Does one need to know that in order to be impressed and captivated by this piece? Definitely not. Relax and enjoy the show.

Pace is open to the public by reservation only, with a limited number per hour. To make a reservation, go to pacegallery.com. Q Freelance writer Sheryl Nonnenberg can be reached at nonnenberg@aol.com.

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www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • September 18, 2020 • Page 23

City Council Candidates Debate Thursday, September 24 from 7 – 9 p.m. via Zoom Featuring the ten candidates running for four seats on the Palo Alto City Council:

Pat Burt

Rebecca Eisenberg

Lydia Kou

Ed Lauing

Steven Lee

Raven Malone

Greer Stone

Greg Tanaka

Cari Templeton

Ajit Varma

PANEL: Jocelyn Dong, Editor, Palo Alto Weekly Gennady Sheyner, Reporter, Palo Alto Weekly

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Palo Alto School Board

CANDIDATES DEBATE Wednesday, September 30 from 7 – 9 p.m. via Zoom Featuring the six candidates running for three seats on the Palo Alto Unified School District Board of Trustees:

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PANEL: Jocelyn Dong Editor, Palo Alto Weekly

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SPONSORED BY: Palo Alto Weekly and Palo Alto Online CO-SPONSORS: Palo Alto Chinese Parents’ Club, Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce, Avenidas, Paly Campanile, Paly Voice, Gunn Oracle.

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How Mina Makram and his Misfits Bakehouse became the source of the Bay Area’s best gluten-free pastries Story by Elena Kadvany | Photos by Magali Gauthier hree years ago, Mina Makram had surgery on both of his hands. Carpal tunnel, the doctor told him, the result of baking too much.

It didn’t slow Makram down.

He spends more time in his Palo Alto bakery than at his home, mixing his secret gluten-free flour blend late at night and experimenting with baked goods that most people assume could never truly taste any good without gluten: bagels, croissants, focaccia, donuts, pita bread. He’s visibly energized by the challenge of accomplishing something that he’s told is impossible.

That’s the driving force behind Misfits Bakehouse on Middlefield Road in Midtown, whose glutenfree baguettes, bagels, cinnamon rolls and cookies have a seriously devoted following — so much so that people donated more than $13,000 for Makram when his first bakery, Ducks and Dragons, fell apart and he had to rebuild.

And they’ve been pre-ordering paleo baklava they’ve never even tried so that he can buy a dough sheeter to produce the baklava at scale. Customer support poured in again when COVID-19 hit.

Makram, who’s on a mission to prove that gluten-free goods can actually taste good and still be good for you, is in the rare position of doing better financially now than before the pandemic.

I talked with Makram for “At the table,” my series of interviews with local chefs and restaurant owners, conducted over a meal. We had socially distanced takeout from his choice: Higuma Japanese Restaurant in Redwood City.

Over salmon nigiri and negihama rolls, Makram told me

Top, Mina Makram, owner of Misfits Bakehouse, puts an egg wash on some rolls before topping them with cheddar cheese in the Midtown Palo Alto bakery’s kitchen. Above, Sesame, poppy seed and “everything” are among the bagels that the bakery makes. the unlikely success story of Misfits Bakehouse. Makram, an Egyptian refugee who graduated from high school at 16 years old, worked as an engineer at General Electric before becoming a selftaught baker determined to overcome the “stigma” of gluten-free bread. He’s not celiac himself but was sorely disappointed by the gluten-free bread he could eat on a low-carb diet he started when he weighed over 400 pounds.

Most of what he makes is also paleo, keto and dairy-free.

We talked about his baking triumphs and failures, the day he became a U.S. citizen, his unusual, transparent approach to social media and why he identifies with the concept of a misfit.

The name of the bakery was in part inspired by Apple’s 1997

“think different” commercial narrated by Steve Jobs, who says: “Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes. ... The ones who see things differently ... Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”

“That resonated a lot with me,” Makram said. “I’m not from the food world. I was actually pretty much rejected by everybody in the food world. I was called stupid. I got kicked out of restaurants. No one wanted to talk to me.

“I wanted to make these types of breads tasty,” he said, “and that sounded like a tall order.”

How did you get into baking?

I worked for GE at the time.

I kind of hit the corporate glass ceiling because I didn’t have a master’s degree or a PhD. Even though I was doing that work anyways, they would not promote me. I got a job with a startup in Mountain View, also in the healthcare field ... things didn’t work out. I got fired. All of a sudden, going from a pretty decent income to zero in the middle of the Bay Area — that was pretty bad. I couldn’t find a job. All I kept hearing was ‘overqualified, overqualified.’ I started (baking) out of boredom — I guess what people are doing now because of COVID. I had never baked, bread especially, at that point. I was like, OK, I know the bread that I like and how it’s supposed to taste like and the texture and

everything, and I know the ingredients I want to use — almond flour, coconut flour, flaxseed, psyllium husk powder. How do I get from this to that? Initially, I had no intention of starting a business. It was just something to fill my time until I got a job.

I would look up (gluten free) recipes online ... they’re terrible.

A lot of them were just so dense and grainy. Nothing tasted good.

It was not really bread. I was like, ‘OK, toss everything out.’ I’m just gonna play. I’m just gonna start throwing stuff together and see what sticks. That’s how I came up with the first recipe for the bread.

It had to be yeasted ... most of the stuff that I came across, they didn’t use yeast. They used baking powder, baking soda, which meant that they had to use apple cider vinegar ... that was one of the things that I really wanted to avoid because apple cider vinegar is fantastic — it has all these health benefits, but it has no business in baked goods. Because if you pull something out of the oven, eat something within 30 minutes (when) it’s still warm, you can’t really taste it. But as soon as it cools down ... you get that nasty aftertaste. I kept on playing around until I just found the right ratio of ingredients. I’m not sure why but I was fascinated with baguettes. That was the first thing I tried to do.

Money was getting very tight ... pretty much almost to zero. I was like, OK, I’ll see how I can get into the farmers market. I checked out the College of San Mateo farmers market. They had a couple of bakeries but they didn’t have any gluten free (ones). At the time, every (continued on page 26)

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Eating Out

Misfits (continued from page 25)

penny I had, I went out and got all the permits. I had a nice road bike; I sold that. I had a nice SLR camera; I sold that as well. Everything went into getting the first round of ingredients, the permits for the market, paying for the commercial kitchen. I forget the saying ... ‘The only way is forward.’ I got the approval for the market and I got all the permits. I was like, ‘Either it works or it’s a bust.’ The first two markets did pretty well. I was able to pay rent. I started building on that.

My first delivery to a grocery store was at Berkeley Bowl. I got there and I give the guy the invoice. I go to the guy purchasing, (asking), ‘How do I get paid?’ He’s like, ‘What are you talking about?

It’s net 30.’ Net 30 means if I give you a product today, we’re not paying you for 30 days. I literally went back to the car and cried. I didn’t have anything. Everything that we were making (covered) a little bit of rent and everything (else went) back into the bakery.

I feel like as a new food business, getting into a store like Berkeley Bowl would feel like you’ve kind of made it.

Right. But the thing is, gluten free has a stigma. It was already a struggle to get into the stores.

It’s automatic: It’s gluten free, you think it’s gonna taste like sawdust or cardboard. So when you go to these buyers and you tell them, ‘I have gluten-free bread,’ they’re like, ‘No, we don’t want it. We don’t want to try it.’ For Berkeley Bowl, I tried to get a meeting with him (the buyer) so many times and nothing. I heard he came in at 6 a.m. I got to the parking lot at 5:30 a.m., slept in my car, and I waited until I saw him in the parking lot and I pounced on him. I’m like, ‘Please try it.’ Any place that we got to, it was because I pestered the hell out of them. It was rough getting into all these stores and even harder to get into restaurants.

It got me jaded at that point. When you hear restaurants (say) ‘We source everything locally; we care about high end ingredients’ — but not when it comes to gluten free.

So at some point did the farmers market take off? I feel like I knew about you from your market following versus seeing your products at grocery stores.

One hundred percent, the farmers markets are what carried me.

The way I looked at (the grocery stores) was to get my name out there. But really what got my name out there, even though I got laughed at a lot by anybody that I spoke with in the food industry, was social media. A lot of people say, ‘we’re all about building a community’ but they don’t really know their community. I didn’t say it but that was my aim. I wanted a strong community around the bakery. I think part of it is I grew up in the tech world. I brought that mentality into the bakery, where I

always recognized that any brand in the tech world that blew up, even if it had bumps in the road and came back even stronger, had this passion from their customers.

Customers were not really customers. They were fans.

Social media was everything. I couldn’t pay for anything. While I’m waiting for bread to come out of the oven, I’m going through Instagram and looking at everybody who posts about anything that’s gluten free, paleo. What hashtags are they using? When I post(ed) something, I would use the hashtags and try to get my stuff out there. I think for the first almost year, it was almost like I’m talking to myself. Finally, it started picking up. I know a lot of people get obsessed with, we have a few thousand followers, and I’m like, that doesn’t matter if you’re not really connecting with them, right? I focused on keeping people involved and engaged. Anybody who would comment on anything, I would respond. Every time I direct message, that’s me.

That’s why when things fell apart with Ducks and Dragons and I decided to go with a GoFundMe campaign, the responses were ridiculous — just the amount of overwhelming love and support. ...

It paid off, that sense of community. And then when COVID hit ... I just literally went on (social media and posted), ‘We’re here, pickups only; we do deliveries; we’re increasing Good Eggs; we’re doing shipping.’ I even reduced the price of shipping. I didn’t say, ‘help help help.’ I was like, ‘We’re here for you.’ Business shot up — the first three, four weeks, by almost 100%. Ninety-five percent of our shipping was outside of the Bay Area. We started getting more customers from states that I’ve never interacted with before, in the Midwest and the south, East Coast, all over Southern California, Oregon, Washington. ... It plateaued down, but we’re still doing better than pre-COVID. On average it’s about 150% better than pre-COVID. In

a way I feel guilty because I know how hard it is. But I’m grateful.

If you look at our social media, it’s very different than any other business. It’s a discussion. I don’t only post about the pretty food. I had someone say, ‘You should get all your food professionally photographed.’ I was like, ‘No.’ I’m not saying my photography is great by any means, but ... it’s what I want.

We’re a real brand. We’re not some big corporate brand. I want to have that homemade feeling no matter how big we get. I don’t want pretty pictures. We’re not trying to be fancy. There is nothing fancy about me. I mean, it’s in the name.

I was pretty open about (the fact that) I was over 500 pounds and went down to 199 and then I gained 130 pounds back and very publicly lost 100 pounds.

That was fully documented on our social media. People can relate to that versus Mister Six-pack or Miss Model. We’re all in this together, whatever reason you’re eating this way.

Was food or baked goods in particular a big thing for you growing up? What role has food played in your life?

Definitely. One of my favorite memories is super early in the morning back in Egypt — in Egypt we don’t call it a bakery. We call them ovens. We would walk through the oven before I went to school and get fresh bread. Later on in life we would go to Safeway ... my parents and I would get a baguette and share it while they’re doing the grocery shopping. I just really enjoy food in general. I never really had the patience to be in the kitchen growing up. Since we got this space, I started doing more Egyptian cooking and would share that with the customers.

(I make an) okra stew with lamb and beef (called bamyiah). Traditionally in Egypt it’s served over rice. Technically, rice is not paleo ... but I made rice and had an option to either get over rice or over pita bread that we make

here. The other one I made was a bone broth (called kawara’a). It’s a pretty famous dish in Egypt. It’s actually made from cow’s feet. It takes about 12 hours (to make). In Egypt, it’s usually served over rice with toasted bread and a special garlic sauce made with ghee. Here I served it as just the broth with the pita bread next to it and garlic sauce already mixed in.

What’s one thing you were really proud of the gluten-free version you created and one thing that’s been really hard to create a version you’re happy to serve?

The OG (original)— the bagel, and the bread. That’s what we started with. Literally I went to the farmers market with four flavors of bagels and two baguettes. I’m always proud of those. ... (Most recently) filo dough. There’s no gluten-free filo dough on the market, let alone grain free or low carb. I was able to make it, by hand, which was painful ... very time consuming, especially

Cheddar rolls are arranged on a tray before going into the oven at Misfits Bakehouse.

Bakers Gerardo Garcia, left, and Fabiola Hernandez prepare rolls at Misfits Bakehouse.

Page 26 • September 18, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

to make it at scale.

The thing that I’m (most) proud of is my flour because that’s the source of everything. That’s what makes us unique. My stuff, I wanted it to look like bread, taste like bread and behave like bread.

The one that never met expectations ... the first version of the tortillas from two years ago. Customers loved it but I got the sense that they’re loving it because it was the only option versus they loved it because it actually tasted good.

Even though I had customers that would order 60, 70 of them at a time, I was not happy with it. I pulled it off. At the time, all I did was I took the bread dough and pressed it and cooked it on the stovetop and that looked like a tortilla but it just didn’t feel right.

I came across a YouTube video of how to make traditional tortillas. I was like, ‘Lets see if my flour can handle that.’ I tried it and it worked. It would poof up and get blistery like regular tortillas. You could drench it with

Eating Out all kinds of sauces and it would not fall apart.

I thought at some point you were trying to make a gluten-free croissant. Did I make that up?

I have two unicorns that I’m chasing: panettone and croissant.

I think I’m closer to the croissant than the panettone. It’s funny how things work. If I did not make the tortillas the way I’m making them right now I would not have been able to make the filo dough.

Now that I know I can make the filo dough, it’s actually not that far of a stretch away from a croissant. The only hang-up with the filo dough right now ... I cannot find a way to be able to produce as much (as I want). The only way is to get a dough sheeter. If I get a dough sheeter, croissants are the next stop.

Why did you and your family leave Egypt?

We’re refugees. I was 16. The plan at the time was: escape from Egypt, go to Canada. We left Egypt and got to Canada in November. It was minus 55 celsius with windchill. We were in a subway station and jokingly — we had never ever played the lottery before. (We said), we’ll buy one ticket and if it hits, we’ll stay. If it doesn’t, we’ll move to the U.S. So we’re here.

I went to DeVry University. I could barely speak any English, had a very heavy accent. At the time the plan was to finish DeVry and try to get into grad school. My dad had a construction company ... that fell apart. My dad took that pretty hard because we had to leave everything in Egypt and start from scratch here. You come to the U.S., you have no credit, it was hard to rent, it was hard to do anything. We got an apartment and that was three quarters of the money (we had). We were practically illegal immigrants. To get legal status as a refugee, it’s pretty much free fall. You go in or nothing at all. As a refugee you can’t

be in your own country and apply ... so you’re here and your tourist visa expires and you just wish and hope that immigration doesn’t show up. At the time an immigration lawyer said you should apply through California; processing times are better there. We came to LA for a couple months to get all the paperwork done, all the interviews — and again, wait. Hurry up and wait. You just never know until you get that letter in the mail saying you got accepted. (It was) stressful. You try not to think about it. I was in school so I made sure to keep myself busy.

In July, you posted on the Misfits Bakehouse Instagram about when you became a U.S. citizen.

Can you tell me about that day and how it felt?

It’s hard to put into words.

There was a lot of nervousness going into that. They tell you, the green card, you have to surrender it. That made me very nervous. I looked around ... and everybody is like ‘Nah, man, we’re not giving up our green card.’ It’s how we show that we’re OK to be here.

It was emotional, but it was exciting. The first thing I did after being sworn in — I walked out and I got a registration to vote. Coming from a country where it doesn’t matter how many times you vote, it doesn’t count, literally, to somewhere where it actually matters — it’s pretty cool. You feel like you can actually make a difference, which is huge. Your voice can be heard.

Why do you identify with the concept of a misfit?

I literally never felt like I fit in anywhere. I liked different music growing up. At GE, I was the youngest by a long shot. I was 20 when I started. I got kicked out of a hospital because they thought I was 14. I saw things differently than most people, even developing recipes. It also happened a lot with my engineering career.

(People would say,) ‘This can’t be

done.’ I would be able to do it. I always felt like I never fit in with the typical definition of whoever I’m usually working with. The famous Steve Jobs quote — that resonated a lot with me. People who are crazy enough to want to change the world that are the ones that do. I’m not from the food world. I was actually pretty much rejected by everybody in the food world. I was called stupid. I got kicked out of restaurants. I wanted to make these types of breads tasty and that sounded like a tall order.

What has been most challenging for you as a small food business owner during the pandemic?

Being able to meet expectations. Part of being heavy on the community side of things is the expectations are, I don’t want to say higher, but they’re different.

The challenge is to keep people engaged and happy and meet their expectations. We’ve had a few missteps where we promised a delivery and didn’t make it because we got overwhelmed and weren’t ready for it. I’m very open with my customers. I’d go on our social media (accounts) and say, ‘I screwed up. We’ll make it up (to you).’

What’s your long-term vision for Misfits Bakehouse?

Literally, I want to be across the country. I never had the idea of being in the Bay Area only, especially since the market segment we’re in is completely underserved. There’s nobody doing it at the scale that I want to do it at at the quality we’re doing it (at). I don’t want to franchise, but I want to have locations across the country and to be able to deliver fresh bread and that experience wherever we are, wherever we go.

the New York City bakery). They looked amazing. I wanted to see if I could make them with my flour.

I adjusted it to work with my flour and it worked. You warm them up and break them and it just melts.

You get that same experience. A lot of the recipes I come up with ... something catches my eye and I’m like, ‘How do I make this?’ I like to challenge myself. I look at how it is with regular flour and see if I can translate that to my flour.

What’s in your flour mix?

Almond flour, coconut flour, psyllium husk, flax seed, tapioca, arrowroot and coconut sugar. I’m the only one that knows the recipe.

It’s like the Coca Cola recipe.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I feel fortunate. I don’t want to say I’m lucky because it discounts the journey but I feel very fortunate because I wouldn’t be here without yes, hard work, but my customers believing in the bakery and supporting it. Even when we screw up, they come back. I feel a sense of actual community. It feels great. Q Staff Writer Elena Kadvany can be emailed at ekadvany@ paweekly.com. Check out her Peninsula Foodist blog at PaloAltoOnline.com/blogs.

Employment The Palo Alto Weekly offers advertising for Employment, as well as Home and Business Services.

If you wish to learn more about these advertising options, please call 650.223.6582 or email digitalads@paweekly.com.

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

Tell me about the ooey gooey chocolate chip cookies.

I came across a YouTube video — I’m self taught, grad school of YouTube. This guy was recreating Levain Bakery cookies (from

Chana Richey speaks with a customer standing outside Misfits Bakehouse in Palo Alto. www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • September 18, 2020 • Page 27

Page 28 • September 18, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • September 18, 2020 • Page 29

2021 EDITION IS COMING

Living Well The Peninsula’s resource guide for seniors and their families Living Well is a comprehensive source of local information with a directory of services offered by not-for-profit organizations and other agencies. Listings will cover subjects from nutrition counseling to financial planning, home care to hospice, recreational activities to computer training and more.

Coming this November Look for your copy of Living Well at over 100 locations throughout the Midpeninsula.

Including:

Be part of Living Well 2021

Community Centers and Town Halls Hospitals and Health Centers Libraries and Senior Centers/Facilities

Contact your advertising rep for more information or call/email Connie Jo Cotton at 650.223.6571 ccotton@paweekly.com

995 Fictitious Name Statement BRUNER’S CHEESECAKE FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No.: FBN667847 The following person (persons) is (are) doing business as: Bruner’s Cheesecake, located at 1249 W Washington Ave. #1, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, Santa Clara County.

This business is owned by: An Individual.

The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is(are): CHRISTOPHER J. BRUNER 1249 W Washington Ave. #1 Sunnyvale, CA 94086 Registrant has not yet begun to transact business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above.

This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Santa Clara County on August 31, 2020.

(PAW Sep. 18, 25; Oct. 2, 9, 2020)

997 All Other Legals NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF: NORMA JEAN KING also known as NORMA JEAN ERICKSON Case No.: 20PR188579 To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of NORMA JEAN KING also known as NORMA JEAN ERICKSON. A Petition for Probate has been filed by: BRIAN CHRISTOPHER KING in the Superior Court of California, County of SANTA CLARA. The Petition for Probate requests that: BRIAN CHRISTOPHER KING be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent.

The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal

representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority.

A HEARING on the petition will be held on 09-30-2020 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: Deborah G. Kramer Radin / Lisa M. Kajani Kramer Radin, LLP 280 Second St., Ste. 100 Los Altos, CA 94022 (650) 941-8600 (PAW Sep. 4, 11, 18, 2020)

Call 650-223-6578 or email asantillan@paweekly.com for legal advertising.

Small businesses, we’re giving away advertising to help you reopen.

Small, independent businesses are the heart and soul of our communities. To help meet the challenges we all face to getting back on our feet, we’ve committed to giving away up to $200,000 in print and online advertising over the next three months.

Our matching grants of up to $2,500 per month enable you to double your advertising at no cost.

Working together, we can start bringing customers and employees back to work.

To learn more and apply, go to EmbarcaderoMediaGroup.com/smallbusinessgrant

Page 30 • September 18, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Across 1 Maggie Gyllenhaal’s brother 5 Tallahassee’s st.

8 Earthy yellow shade 13 Fix text 14 “___ Boot” 15 Weasel out (on) 16 “You’d think Band A would hold up, but it’s flimsy. Band B wins” 19 Like some computer errors 20 Blood type for just over 6% of the U.S. pop.

21 They follow B 22 Unable to work, perhaps 24 CPR pro 26 Comp. storage sites 27 Forever, it seems 31 “Charter” tree 33 Diamond Head locale 35 “Band B wins, since Band A only has a tolerance for booze” 39 Wash against, as the shore 40 Cutesy-___ 41 Four Holy Roman Emperors 43 “Drop Band A on Band B? Band B wins, no contest” 46 1920s design style 47 Suffix for orange or lemon 48 Gaelic tongue 49 “Ben-___” (movie classic) 51 Shaker ___, OH 53 Furthest degree 55 Fertile Crescent locale 57 Golfer Aoki 59 Did some diamond inspecting?

64 “Band B wins, because it’s pointy and doesn’t digest well” 67 Early actress Langtry 68 Dir. opp. WNW 69 “Scientific American Frontiers” host Alan 70 Didn’t dine out 71 “Slippery When ___” (Bon Jovi album)

“Battle of the Alternative Bands” — predictions on who would win. [#464, Apr. 2010] by Matt Jones

Answers on page 27.

Answers on page 27.

72 Spotted Down 1 Constantly napping member of The Wiggles 2 Song from Sarah McLachlan’s “Surfacing” 3 Highland Games garb 4 “At Last” blues singer ___ James 5 Prez on the dime 6 Kitschy ‘70s plug-ins 7 Part of AARP 8 “___ the fields we go ...”

9 “Mad Money” network 10 Job search insider 11 Spurred (on) 12 Hull wreckers

15 Stringy cleaner 17 Footballer Manning 18 “Isn’t that something?”

23 ___ Lobos 25 California/Nevada attraction 27 The whole thing 28 Burrito add-on, for short 29 Fashionable sandal 30 Drive-thru drink with a plastic dome 32 Villainous surname in the Super Mario Bros. series 34 Request to the dealer 36 Manufacturer of electronics for kids 37 What automobile interiors may drown out 38 Geologic time periods 42 Sault ___ Marie Canals

This week’s SUDOKU

www.sudoku.name

44 Candle type 45 He might heal your hamster 49 “Se ___ español” 50 “___ wisely” 52 Reptilian warning 54 Clueless response 56 Obesity drug Orlistat, over the counter 58 Not too many 60 Business degs.

61 Stripper’s fixture 62 “The Neverending Story” author Michael 63 Jimmy of meat products 65 Half of an eternal balance 66 Movie studio filming site © 2010, 2020 Matt Jones

A benefit event for local non-profits supporting kids & families

Half Marathon 10K Run 5K Run & Walk

INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION PaloAltoOnline.com/ moonlight_run PRESENTED BY

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Virtually Oct. 2, 2020 Follow our Baylands routes (or create your own route anywhere) and run between Sept. 18 and Oct. 2.

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

Menlo Park | $3,750,000 Welcome to this cozy 3br/2.5ba home in sought-after West Menlo Park. Charming Carmel-style conveniently close to downtown shops, fine local schools, and community parks and trails. On a corner lot framed by heritage oaks, enter through your own private courtyard to this classic one-level home. Cook's kitchen. Over-sized main suite. "Dual" bedrooms with adjoining bath, one now used as a home office.

Lovinda Beal 650.257.4000 lovinda@cbnorcal.com CalRE #00925698

San Pablo | $419,000 Charming, updated 2 bedroom, 1 bath with family room and updated kitchen combo, remodeled bath and private backyard.

Miriam Porras 408.644.5041 CalRE #02002039 Amelia Middel 650.704.3064 CalRE #01103989

Redwood City | $8,750 Rent Welcome home to your private sanctuary on top of Farm Hill with park-like settings. This beautiful 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom home is immense and has more than enough room for each of your family members or roommates with endless possibilities. This home is a must see! If you or someone you know would like to purchase or sell a home we are here to help. Let's Talk...

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ColdwellBankerHomes.com

guiding you home since 1906

The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification. Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker Realty are independent contractor sales associates, not employees. ©2020 Coldwell Banker. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker and the Coldwell Banker logos are trademarks of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. The Coldwell Banker® System is comprised of company owned offices which are owned by a subsidiary of Realogy Brokerage Group LLC and franchised offices which are independently owned and operated. The Coldwell Banker System fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act.

Page 32 • September 18, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com