Palo Alto Weekly December 18, 2020

Palo Alto

Vol. XLII, Number 11

Q

December 18, 2020

Foothills Park opens to all as referendum drive fizzles Page 8

w w w. Pa l o A l to O nlin e.c o m

Donate to the HOLIDAY FUND pages 7, 30

Spectrum 17

A&E 21

Eating Out 24

Q Upfront Court orders refunds to gas customers Page 5 Q Holiday Fund Youth prepared for high school challenges Page 7 Q Title Pages Holiday books highlight family bonds Page 27

dependable health care in uncertain times It is as important as ever to get the care you need.

Stanford Health Care is taking every precaution to keep you safe.

To protect your health, we are: • Sanitizing exam rooms after every patient U.S. News & World Report recognizes Stanford Health Care among the top hospitals in the nation. Ranking based on quality and patient safety.

• Testing patients for COVID-19 before most procedures • Screening everyone for COVID-19 risk before entry • Providing and requiring masks for patients and staff • Monitoring employee health, including regular COVID-19 testing Don’t delay your care. Appointments are available at our locations across the Bay Area and remotely by video visit.

To learn more, visit: stanfordhealthcare.org/resumingcare

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

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www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 18, 2020 • Page 3

Diamond B Ranch, Lake County ±1,183.7 acres · $23,000,000 Ranch with 18 acres of planted biodynamic vineyard, traditional three-story log home, newly built hospitality center, four ranch homes, an equestrian center with indoor and outdoor riding arenas, and several barns and outbuildings. A rare opportunity to live safely and independently away from it all. Easily operate the ranch, vineyard and equestrian facilities commercially.

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40 Firethorn Way, Portola Valley · $28,750,000

4-bedroom, 2-bathroom California Colonial Revival style cottage in a premier location.

Spectacular 10,556-square-foot new modern home designed by Swatt | Miers Architects

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Page 4 • December 18, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Michael Dreyfus

Noelle Queen

650.485.3476

650.427.9211

m.dreyfus@ggsir.com

n.queen@ggsir.com

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Lic. #01917593

Each office is independently owned and operated.

Upfront

Local news, information and analysis

VA Palo Alto launches first COVID-19 vaccinations Mass inoculation effort begins with front-line health care workers, at-risk patients

by Kevin Forestieri

H

ospital workers and vulnerable patients at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System were among the first people in the country to receive their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday,

marking a turning point in the fight to control the coronavirus pandemic.

The local VA hospital is one of only 37 facilities run by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to get an early batch of the

long-awaited vaccine, developed by pharmaceutical partners Pfizer and BioNTech and approved just last week. The hospital received 2,925 doses, and the hope is to expend all of it over the next 21 days.

Development of a COVID-19 vaccine has been a linchpin of the public health response to the pandemic, with widespread immunization being the key to preventing the spread of the disease

and easing public health restrictions that have shaken the U.S. economy. Hospital leaders at the Palo Alto VA say the slow churn of patients and staff getting shots Wednesday could very well be the turning point.

“I am ecstatic about this, and I am so honored to play the small part that I’m playing in this,” said Kelly Robertson, the hospital’s chief of pharmacy services. “I

think this is the beginning of hopefully the end of this global pandemic that has been devastating.”

With demand far outstripping the initial supply of the vaccine, federal regulators have tightly controlled who can receive early doses. On Wednesday, the goal was focused narrowly on vaccinating patients with spinal cord (continued on page 32)

UTILITIES

City’s ‘illegal tax’ could lead to $12M refund Judge: Gas customers paid for programs outside of the utilities service

The three council members in the more slow-growth wing protested that proposal, with Vice Mayor Tom DuBois accusing his four colleagues of “ramming through” appointments before new council members are sworn in and council member Eric Filseth likening the move to the recent actions by the President Donald Trump administration to hamstring the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden.

The ugly political tussle culminated in DuBois, Filseth and council member Lydia Kou all

by Gennady Sheyner our years after Palo Alto resident Miriam Green first challenged the city’s policy of transferring revenues from its utilities to fund other city services, Palo Alto is facing a court order requiring it to refund about $12 million that it collected from gas ratepayers.

But the refunds may not reach customers any time soon, with both the city’s and Green’s legal teams are planning to appeal different parts of the decision.

Green’s lawsuit, which the City Council discussed in a closed session on Monday night, alleged that the city illegally instituted a tax on its ratepayers when it raised electric and gas rates in 2012, 2016 and 2018 and transferred revenues from the Utilities Department to the city’s general fund, which pays for basic services such as police, libraries and street repairs.

Since then, Green and the city have each claimed partial victories. Earlier this year, the Santa Clara County Superior Court concluded that the city’s practice of transferring funds from the electric utility to the general fund is legal, while its transfers from the gas utility constituted an “illegal tax” that should be refunded. In October, a Superior Court judge ruled that the refund should total roughly $12 million, though the exact details of how and when

(continued on page 9)

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F

Olivia Treynor

A day at the bay Two hikers and their dogs walk at Byxbee Park in the Palo Alto Baylands on Dec. 17.

CITY COUNCIL

After political slugfest, council backs away from lame-duck appointments City Council will let next year’s members choose their advisers

by Gennady Sheyner

F

acing public criticism and a bitter split in its own ranks, the Palo Alto City Council backed away on Monday from its contentious plan to allow lame-duck council members to appoint new members to the city’s Planning and

Transportation Commission.

Instead, after weeks of procedural maneuvering and political squabbling, the council agreed to defer the planning commission appointments to early next year, thus allowing newly elected council members to participate

in the process. The compromise represents a concession from the four council members on the council’s more pro-growth wing, who had previously advocated for making the appointments on Dec. 14, the council’s final meeting of the year.

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

Upfront

PUBLIC NOTICE - In accordance with Sec.106 of the Programmatic Agreement, T-Mobile West, LLC plans to upgrade an existing telecommunications facility at 2415 University Avenue East Palo Alto, CA 94303. Please direct comments to Gavin L. at 818-898-4866 regarding site SF70319M. 12/11, 12/18/20 CNS-3421323# PALO ALTO WEEKLY

450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306 (650) 326-8210 PUBLISHER William S. Johnson (223-6505) EDITORIAL Editor Jocelyn Dong (223-6514) Associate Editor Linda Taaffe (223-6511) Sports Editor Rick Eymer (223-6516) Arts & Entertainment Editor Karla Kane (223-6517) Home & Real Estate Editor Heather Zimmerman (223-6515) Express & Digital Editor Jamey Padojino (223-6524) Staff Writers Sue Dremann (223-6518), Elena Kadvany (223-6519), Gennady Sheyner (223-6513) Chief Visual Journalist Magali Gauthier (223-6530) Visual Journalist Intern Olivia Treynor Editorial Assistant/Intern Coordinator Lloyd Lee (223-6526) Contributors Chrissi Angeles, Mike Berry, Carol Blitzer, Peter Canavese, Edward Gerard Fike, Yoshi Kato, Chris Kenrick, Jack McKinnon, Sheryl Nonnenberg, John Orr, Monica Schreiber, Jay Thorwaldson

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The Palo Alto Weekly is delivered to homes in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, East Palo Alto, to faculty and staff households on the Stanford campus and to portions of Los Altos Hills. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Palo Alto Weekly, 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306. ©2020 by Embarcadero Media. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. The Palo Alto Weekly is available on the Internet via Palo Alto Online at: www.PaloAltoOnline.com Our email addresses are: editor@paweekly.com, letters@paweekly.com, digitalads@paweekly.com, ads@paweekly.com Missed delivery or start/stop your paper?

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OUR T EAM IS IN MOT ION FOR YOU D E L E O N R E A LT Y, I N C .

Michael Repka | CEO & Managing Broker | DRE #01854880 650.900.7000 | Info@deleonrealty.com www.deleonrealty.com | DRE #01903224 Page 6 • December 18, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Around Town

Vice President Sales & Marketing Tom Zahiralis (223-6570)

Sales & Production Coordinator Diane Martin (223-6584)

CHARLIE PORTER

—Adrian Fine, Palo Alto mayor, on the council’s failed attempt to appoint advisers. See story on page 5.

ADVERTISING

Advertising Services Manager Kevin Legarda (223-6597)

Serving the community for over 30 years!

The rank hypocrisy and bad faith involved in this process truly astounds me.

Courtesy PHS/SPCA

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READY FOR A NEW HOME ...

Nearly seven weeks since he was rescued from a car engine, a 3-month-old male kitten is available for adoption, the Peninsula Humane Society/SPCA announced this week. Named Fluff Fluff, the solid black and neutered cat was found on Oct. 30 in East Palo Alto. “Apparently the poor little thing had been stuck for two days,” said Peninsula Humane Society/ SPCA spokesperson Buffy Martin Tarbox. Police sought the nonprofit’s help in getting Fluff Fluff out of the car. It appeared he ran across the vehicle’s undercarriage and they heard his cries. Over the course of two hours, the rescue team managed to locate the feline with a small endoscope camera and climbed under the car, where they managed to lure him out with tuna. “He was a little thin, but overall healthy and had no injuries,” Tarbox said. “He had no identification, nor did anyone come forward to claim him.” The organization decided to name the cat Fluff Fluff for his fluffy black coat. He had been in a foster home with a volunteer for the organization until he was old enough to be neutered and deemed ready for adoption. The organization described him as “shy but affectionate.” Anyone interested in adopting Fluff Fluff for a fee of $120 can make an appointment to meet him by calling the animal shelter at 650-340-7022.

THIRD TIME’S A CHARM? ...

College Terrace Centre has had a tough time securing and keeping a grocery store at the corner of El Camino Real and Oxford Avenue since 2017. First, there was College Terrace Market, which closed after six months for multiple reasons, including obstacles in putting up adequate signs for the business.

Then, Khoury’s Market came in January 2019 and stuck around for a year. The store owner claimed

unending construction activity hindered business. Now, Real Produce International Market has moved into the space and is set to open its doors on Wednesday, Dec. 23. Can it avoid a short-term run in Palo Alto? The family grocery store has found success at its San Jose location next to Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods Market and Costco.

“Real Produce has ambitious plans to expand our offerings that now include a deli, grab-and-go area, fresh flowers, and a coffee area — and become a ‘Real’ member of the neighborhood for years to come,” store owner and manager Khaled Taffi said in a statement.

The store plans to sell bread baked fresh daily and set up fruits and vegetables outdoors. It also has hired employees who previously worked for area companies such as Facebook, which has stopped running a cafe with employees now working from home.

BLESSINGS ON BLESSINGS ON BLESSINGS ... Five Palo Alto houses of worship are part of The Bay Area Blessing, a group of the more than 65 churches that have joined a music collaboration for Christmas. On Dec. 11, the group debuted a video featuring over 140 faith leaders across more than 25 cities singing “Silent Night” and “O Come Let Us Adore Him.” Over the course of six minutes, viewers see the performers deliver the lyrics in their respective homes, some decorated for the holidays, or virtual backgrounds, such as a photo of a sunset. The local churches that participated were Peninsula Bible Church, Cornerstone Community Church, Crossroads Community Church, Palo Alto First Christian Church and The Highway Church. “We hope to fill people’s homes and hearts with a message of unity, hope and cheer during this holiday season,” organizers said in a press release. The video netted over 57,000 views across multiple online platforms as of noon on Dec. 16. Through the project, the coalition aims to raise funds for Second Harvest Food Bank and HomeFirst, which assists the homeless and those at risk of homelessness. The group has raised nearly $6,000 of its $10,000 goal in the first five days of the campaign. For more information and to watch the video, visit thebayareablessing.com. Q

Upfront HOLIDAY FUND

Despite limitations, DreamCatchers continue to prepare students for high school Nonprofit innovates to give students what they need during pandemic

by Lloyd Lee

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(continued on page 35)

Ring in the

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and others in need. Over the last 27 years, the Holiday Fund has raised and distributed more than $7.6 million to local service organizations.

The Holiday Fund program has also enjoyed annual support from the Packard and Hewlett foundations, the Peery and Arrillaga foundations and several other family foundations. The annual Palo Alto Weekly Moonlight Run, which this year was held virtually, also raises money for the Holiday Fund.

More information about the Holiday Fund can be found on page 30 of this edition. To donate, go to siliconvalleycf. org/paw-holiday-fund. To read articles about the work of funded nonprofit agencies, go to PaloAltoOnline.com/holiday_ fund. Q

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organizations. We want to support these efforts, and the Holiday Fund is a superb way to do that,” the family said.

Since the Weekly and Silicon Valley Community Foundation absorb all the costs of the program, every dollar that is donated is distributed to nonprofit organizations without any overhead or expenses deducted.

“The generosity of this Palo Alto family is astounding, as is their commitment to stepping up to the plate year after year,” Palo Alto Weekly Publisher Bill Johnson said. “We are so grateful for their leadership example and for their confidence in the impact that the Holiday Fund is making.”

This year’s Holiday Fund goal is to raise $400,000 for programs serving kids, families

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arking their 10th year in a row of support of the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund, a Palo Alto family has made a $100,000 donation to assist local nonprofits that serve children, families and individuals in need.

The family, who wishes to remain anonymous, has now gifted $1 million to the Holiday Fund since 2011. The donation is a matching grant, intended to inspire and double the contributions of other donors.

In a statement accompanying the donation, the family stressed their desire to support local causes.

“We grew up in Palo Alto and have always appreciated the extraordinary services provided by the city, the schools and the many community-based

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by Palo Alto Weekly staff

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Donation marks 10th year in a row of support for local families, children in need

can think about what they’re interested in and how to fulfill that interest in high school.

“There are club fairs and different ways to find those resources in high school, but I feel that it’s nice to have someone to talk to and talk over what you like so you don’t have to do all the research on your own,” Lansberg said.

“When there’s a club list of like 300, it’s really hard to get around all of them.”

At the end of the eight-week program, the students can kick off their freshman year with a familiar group of peers they can turn to at school.

“We did a little feedback survey at the end and a lot of them thought that it was really good and that they would recommend it to the next class,” Lansberg said.

“They also thought it would be a

of DreamCatchers’ new summer enrichment programs, including a book club, persuasive essay writing workshops, muralism projects, a journalism program and, with Lansberg’s direction, Project Rise, a program to help rising high school students tailor what their next four years might look like.

The idea behind Project Rise came from Lansberg’s own experience. As the oldest sibling in her family, she had to navigate all the resources at Palo Alto High School on her own or through the help of her neighbors. With her four years of experience, now she’s easily able to guide her little sister and the students she tutors on what to expect when they enter ninth grade.

Project Rise aims to do this with all the rising high school students in DreamCatchers, diving into discussions of the courses and clubs available at school as well as sessions in which they

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Family continues tradition with $100K gift to Holiday Fund

Hector Torres Lozano, a seventh grader at Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School, and his mom, Angelica, participate in an online cooking class.

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HOLIDAY FUND

Courtesy DreamCatchers

dependent on that relationship.”

But, unsurprisingly, the pandemic has posed a new challenge to the organization that works on a model of close, one-on-one facetime. Students can no longer meet with their tutors or peers in-person at Palo Alto High School, where the program is based. And even the outside summer programs, which the nonprofit typically offers by negotiating free or reduced tuition with sponsoring organizations, were canceled this year.

“As time went by, parents were very concerned about the students not socializing enough,” Frederick said. “The other challenge is Zoom fatigue. Most of our students that have dropped out — it’s strictly Zoom fatigue.”

Lansberg can see it at times in Angle, the seventh-grade student she currently tutors.

“It is very hard during the pandemic because it’s not like I can be sitting there with him to read books on a weekly basis,” Lansberg said.

“Sometimes he doesn’t come to a

session because he might forget or has something else going on.”

Along with issues of student retention, the nonprofit’s funding has dropped off as foundations have either refocused their philanthropy toward COVID-19 relief efforts or simply closed up shop due to the pandemic.

“One-third of our funding will close down,” Frederick said.

But those hurdles haven’t stopped DreamCatchers from innovating or people like Lansberg from helping younger students.

The organization has created more resources for its students outside of tutoring and launched its own summer programs that encouraged students to engage more with each other, albeit over their computers.

“One thing we’ve tried to do is really expand our work beyond tutoring,” said Ryan Crowley, a classroom director at DreamCatchers and a senior at Stanford University.

Outside of schoolwork, students are given more opportunities to interact with each other through collaborative online games, such as Kahoot! or skribbl.io, or simply in video chat rooms without the tutors present, to make up for missed social interaction, he said.

And thanks in part to the Palo Alto Weekly’s Holiday Fund grant of $20,000 this year, students also had the chance to try some

CLASSES FOR ADULTS

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eave it to Sarika Lansberg to get middle school kids excited about high school despite it taking place online.

As a senior at Palo Alto High School, she too knows about Zoom fatigue and all the couldhave-beens if it weren’t for a pandemic. But it’s not like Lansberg feels she’s been dealt an empty hand — “It hasn’t been too bad,” she said — and she hopes to help the students at DreamCatchers feel the same way.

“I’ve always been someone who loves kids,” said Lansberg, 17, a volunteer tutor at the nonprofit organization since her freshman year. “I feel like this is something I can do as a high schooler to make a difference.”

DreamCatchers helps lowincome Palo Alto middle school students get ready to succeed in high school through individualized, one-on-one tutoring and enrichment activities in subjects like music, art and journalism, through which students engage with each other in groups. “(The) individualized approach is the best approach,” said Gezel Frederick, interim co-executive director of DreamCatchers. “It’s more focused and students are able to develop a relationship with the tutor, which is so necessary (because) the outcome of the learning is very

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IAL ANNIVE

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A

New Year with

FREE Intro Classes for Adults

Check out free class info at

PAAdultSchool.org/NewYear

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

Upfront OPEN SPACE

As referendum drive falters, Palo Alto opens Foothills Park to all Petition sought to nullify City Council’s vote to remove residents-only restriction at nature preserve

by Gennady Sheyner from collecting signatures in front of stores, schools and other public places.

Beylin said that she had requested that the city allow for electronic signatures or to extend the 30-day deadline to allow the creation of a secured website, but City Attorney Molly Stump said Monday that changing the process for a referendum petition would require a revision of the City Charter, which requires a public vote.

Had the petition advanced, Palo Alto would have suspended its plan to open the park to nonresidents on Dec. 17. The council would have faced the choice of either repealing the ordinance to expand access to the park or sending the issue to the voters in 2022.

The council agreed to repeal the long-standing policy on Foothills Park in response to a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP and a group of residents from Palo Alto and other cities. The suit argued that

the policy of restricting access to Foothills Park is rooted in the city’s history of racial discrimination, which included practices such as redlining, blockbusting and including racially restrictive covenants in deeds. The Foothills Park policy, the suit argues, continues to exclude people who were “denied the right to reside in the city during the era of outright racial exclusion.”

The suit also claimed that the policy violates constitutionally protected rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

While most council members rejected the idea that banning nonresidents constitutes a racist policy, they had determined that the city would be unlikely to prevail in a lawsuit over First Amendment rights. On Nov. 2, they voted 5-2, with council members Lydia Kou and Greg Tanaka dissenting, to repeal the ban and to limit the number of people who can be at Foothills at one time to 750 in the first 90 days after the park opens

File Photo/Veronica Weber

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alo Alto’s scenic and exclusive Foothills Park officially opened up to residents from other cities on Thursday morning after a referendum petition failed to get the needed signatures to maintain the park’s long-standing residentsonly rule.

Palo Alto resident Irina Beylin, who spearheaded a petition, told the Weekly that her group has been unable to get the nearly 2,600 signatures required by Wednesday’s deadline. She and other supporters of the referendum were looking to overturn the City Council’s vote on Nov. 2 to scrap a 1965 law that bars people who live in other cities from entering the 1,400-acre preserve unless accompanied by a Palo Alto resident.

Beylin said the effort was hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic, which made it virtually impossible to gather signatures in person. Recent regional restrictions kept the petition circulators

The city of Palo Alto opened Foothills Park to nonresidents on Dec. 17. (after that, it would revert to its current limit of 1,000 visitors).

The council also requested at the time that staff return to the Parks and Recreation Commission and the council with proposals for fees to be charged at the park, capacity limits and studies on park management and ways to preserve the park’s environmental integrity. In addition, it is preparing to kick off a process for changing its name to Foothills Natural Preserve.

Supporters of expanding access to Foothills Park have long maintained that removing the policy is a fair and decent action, noting that no other California city has policies banning nonresidents from a park. Those in favor of retaining the 1965 policy counter that the access restriction is needed to protect the nature preserve’s sensitive habitat. They also note that at the time that Palo Alto was establishing Foothills Park, other jurisdictions declined to provide funding for the park’s creation.

Prior to the lawsuit, the council was preparing to open Foothills Park to residents outside of Palo Alto on a more limited basis, through a pilot program that would allow up to 50 nonresident permits per day. The council approved that program in August, when it also indicated that it planned to send the issue to the voters in 2022.

By instead repealing the residents-only requirement, the city was able to settle the lawsuit. On Nov. 16, the council officially approved the settlement, which included a court injunction barring the city from reinstituting the ban on non-residents at any time in the future. Had the referendum petition moved ahead, the settlement would have been nullified and the lawsuit would have resumed.

Beylin said that she supported the pilot program that the council approved in August, which would have slowly expanded access with greater buy-in from the broader

public. By its Nov. 16 vote, the council circumvented the democratic process, she maintained.

“The current changes to Foothills Park Ordinance were approved by City Council behind closed doors without input from the public,” the referendum states.

“The measure to open Foothills Park to the general public should be put on the ballot and details should be openly discussed with constituents.”

Beylin said Wednesday that the petition received about 1,200 signatures, close to half of what was needed. Beylin said she was encouraged by the outpouring of support from residents nonetheless. She said many are as concerned as she is about the council’s decision to veer away from its August vote because of a lawsuit.

“People are very involved. They are really motivated. They want what’s best for the city,” Beylin said.

Proponents of expanding access to Foothills are celebrating the policy change. William Freeman, senior counsel at the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, said in a statement that the plaintiffs are “delighted that we could arrive at a constructive settlement with the city that recognizes the fundamental rights of all persons — not just the most privileged — to freedom (of) speech and enjoyment of public land.”

Retired Superior Court judge LaDoris Cordell, a plaintiff in the suit and a former member of the Palo Alto council, said in a statement: “The fact that there weren’t 2,500 Palo Altans willing to sign a referendum petition is great news. It means that, as we come to the close of a very dark year, our community has chosen inclusion over exclusion. I am thrilled to know that the park’s entry restrictions are now a thing of the past.” Q Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com.

Public Agenda A preview of Palo Alto government meetings next week CITY COUNCIL ... The council has no scheduled meetings.

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

Upfront

Lame duck (continued from page 5)

Gennady Sheyner

missing the Nov. 12 meeting in which the council interviewed candidates for the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Architectural Review Board. All three also told the city clerk that they would not be able to attend the Dec. 9 meeting in which the council was scheduled to interview candidates for the planning commission and the Historic Resources Board. Because council member Alison Cormack was also unable to attend that meeting because of a death in the family, the council did not have a quorum and the interviews never took place.

On Monday, the three council members who had hoped to make the appointments before the end of the year chided their three colleagues from the “residentialist” side for missing the Nov. 12 meeting and preventing the Dec. 9 one from taking place.

“As mayor it was extremely embarrassing to interview candidates with only four of us in attendance — including incumbents who have spent years serving the city,” Fine said. “That said, Palo Alto does not need another fight.”

“But by golly, folks, the rank hypocrisy and bad faith involved in this process truly astounds me. It’s really below Palo Alto’s standards. I hope we all reflect on that.”

Council member Alison Cormack also expressed disappointment at the tenor of the conversation. Even though Cormack supported changing the council policy to shift the recruitments to spring, she favored sticking with the existing policy this year and making the appointments in December. After numerous residents spoke out against the rush to make appointments this year, Cormack said that the community is “better than this.”

“We shouldn’t be threatening people’s political futures for complying with our current municipal code and prior practice,” Cormack said. “And our council is better than this. We have council members who have refused to participate in interviews and it was embarrassing for me and I think it’s disrespectful.”

Kou, DuBois and Filseth all pushed back against the suggestion that they had boycotted the Dec. 9 meeting to prevent it from happening. All three told this news organization that they had prior commitments and that they were planning to watch the videos of the interviews before voting on the appointments.

DuBois said that he had work commitments which required meetings with people in different time zones, including teams in Tel Aviv and China. In an email, he called the council majority’s move to make appointments in December a “transparent attempt by outgoing council members in their last meeting to place the

Planning Commission in opposition to the Council rather than advisory to it — this is a huge waste of time and money.”

Kou said that her inability to attend was due in part to the council majority’s decision to schedule a meeting on such short notice.

She told this news organization that she has regular meetings, including commitments to church committees, that in this case prevented her from attending the interviews.

“I’m not embarrassed,” Kou said Monday in response to accusations from Fine and Cormack.

“I have to work and I have other meetings I have to go to — they are standing meetings.”

Fine bristled at that explanation, and by suggestions from Kou and DuBois that the council extend the recruiting period for the Architectural Review Board.

The board has two seats that needed to be filled and the only applicants were the two incumbent members, Grace Lee and Osma Thompson (the council reappointed both by a 6-0 vote, with Kou abstaining).

“Considering we get chastised all the time about doing our work, I find that considerably rich,” Fine said in response to Kou. “And frankly, if you guys want more ARB folks, show up to the interviews, really.”

Like Kou and DuBois, Filseth also said he had another commitment on Dec. 9 and was planning to watch a video of the meeting.

“Council is a part-time job, so most of us have varying levels of other commitments,” Filseth told this news organization in an email. “It’s inevitable that those other commitments regularly compete for our time and schedule. Faced with one of those conflicts this week, I chose the other.

Had the interviews actually proceeded, I’d have watched the videos as I’ve done other times.”

While the council stopped short of throwing out the interview process altogether, Kniss noted that the city’s existing ordinances that govern appointments don’t actually require interviews.

“They may be desirable, but they do not have to be held. ...

And I’m truly disappointed that we couldn’t get a quorum for many of the times we wanted to have interviews, including just last week,” Kniss said.

Several residents strongly criticized the proposals to allow lame-duck members to choose planning commissioners and to potentially forego the interview process before making appointments. Resident Hamilton Hitchings argued that allowing lameduck council members to fill the commission with pro-growth members would, ironically, “hurt the pro-development forces it seeks to benefit.”

“If the PTC is so stacked with pro-development members and lacks meaningful residential representation for the tens of thousands of Palo Alto voters, then it will mean the residents’ concerns will not be able to get worked

The Palo Alto City Council, shown here at its March 23 meeting, agreed this week to delay appointments to the Planning and Transportation Commission. out at the PTC,” Hitchings said.

“Thus, the output of PTC will hit a brick wall when it comes before the City Council.”

Barron Park resident Winter Dellenbach chided the council and city staff for even considering moving ahead with appointments without first interviewing the candidates. This, she said, is both unfair to the applicants and risky for council members, who won’t really know whom they are appointing to important positions.

“Are they articulate, respectful? Do they listen or interrupt?

Are they knowledgeable about what is most important? You only know what they wrote in response to boilerplate questions, yet you are thinking of voting on them tonight with low information, without seeing or interviewing them,” Dellenbach said.

The council’s decision to defer planning commission appointments to next year, when a more residentialist-friendly council is in place, increases the likelihood that the two commissioners whose terms expire this month — Doria Summa and Ed Lauing — will win fresh terms. Summa has been the commission’s most consistent critic of development proposals and its most frequent and vocal dissenter on policy changes that promote more growth. Ed Lauing, who fell just short in his bid for a council seat in November, received an endorsement by the Palo Altans for Sensible Growth, which tends to support members aligned with the residentialist side.

Other residents who had applied for a seat on the planning commission are Kelsey Banes, Doug Burns, Alon Carmeli, Rebecca Eisenberg, Kathy Jordan, Kevin Ma and Jessica Resimini.

The council also moved ahead on Monday with an appointment of one new member to the Parks

and Recreation Commission.

While the process in this case was comparatively drama-free, the vote split along familiar lines.

Fine, Cormack, Kniss and Tanaka all voted for Amanda Brown, making her the newest member of

the commission. DuBois, Filseth and Kou all supported Brent Yamashita. Q Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com.

CityView A round-up

of Palo Alto government action this week

City Council (Dec. 14) Commission: The council voted to delay appointments to the Planning and Transportation Commission until January 2021. Yes: Unanimous Roth Building: The council directed staff to consider various alternative for the Roth Building, including selling the building, partnering with the Palo Alto History Museum to fund the building’s rehabilitation with no public funds, researching a revenue-generating lease and exploring rezoning to make the site economically viable. Yes: Cormack, Filseth, Fine, Kniss, Tanaka No: DuBois, Kou Gun storage: The council directed the city attorney to draft an ordinance creating a safe storage requirement for firearms. Yes: Unanimous

Board of Education (Dec. 15) Election of officers: The board appointed Shounak Dharap as president and Ken Dauber as vice president for 2021. Yes: Unanimous First interim budget: The board waived its two-meeting rule and accepted the first interim budget report. Yes: Unanimous Deputy superintendent of human resources: The board waived its twomeeting rule and unanimously approved the hiring of Trent Bahadursingh as the deputy superintendent of human Resources for the term of Feb. 1, 2021-June 30, 2023. Yes: Unanimous COVID-19 update: The board heard an update on enrollment for elementary school hybrid instruction and reopening the middle and schools in 2021.

Action: None

Council Finance Committee (Dec. 15) Financials: The committee discussed the quarterly financial report for the first quarter of fiscal year 2021. Action: None Ambulance: The committee discussed the Fire Department’s new ambulance subscription service and recommended approving an adjustment to the municipal fee schedule to create the program. Yes: Unanimous

Parks and Recreation Commission (Dec. 15) Ramos Park: The commission discussed the creation of a dog off-leash area pilot program at Ramos Park. Action: None

Architectural Review Board (Dec. 17) Bridge: The board discussed the environmental analysis and proposed design for the replacement of the Pope-Chaucer Bridge. Action: None

LET’S DISCUSS: Read the latest local news headlines and talk about the issues at Town Square at PaloAltoOnline.com/square

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 18, 2020 • Page 9

Upfront

News Digest Peninsula part of regional shutdown

City looks to adopt firearms safe-storage law Gun owners in Palo Alto would be required to keep their firearms safely secured or face penalties under a new law that the City Council is preparing to adopt.

On early Tuesday morning, in its final action of the year, the council endorsed a proposal in a new memo from Mayor Adrian Fine and council member Alison Cormack to create a safe-storage requirement. By a unanimous vote, members directed City Attorney Molly Stump to draft an ordinance establishing the new storage rules.

In backing the requirement, Palo Alto is joining a crowded group of cities and counties throughout the region that have adopted safestorage rules in recent years. San Jose adopted its safe-storage law in 2017, joining cities such as San Francisco and Oakland that have already had such a requirement in place. Redwood City followed suit in April 2019 with an ordinance that bars residents from keeping a firearm in any residence unless they are carrying it, storing it in a locked container or have it disabled with a trigger lock.

Santa Clara County approved a similar requirement in November 2019, when it approved a safe-storage ordinance for the county’s unincorporated areas. In explaining the need for the new law, a report from county staff noted that 39,773 people in the U.S. lost their lives in firearms-related incidents in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those, 486 were due to accidental discharge of weapons.

The report noted that 11% of the injury deaths in Santa Clara County in 2016 were due to firearms. Q —Gennady Sheyner

Council candidate fights election result Webster Lincoln, an East Palo Alto resident who ran an unsuccessful first-time bid for a City Council seat, is accusing Antonio Lopez of electioneering and asking the San Mateo County Superior Court to annul Lopez’s election certification, according to a lawsuit filed Dec. 7.

The suit claims that Lopez violated the state election code by campaigning within 100 feet of a vote center on Nov. 3, while offering residents incentives to vote in the form of free tacos.

“Lopez made a visible display of himself by so loitering and campaigning and audibly disseminated information advocating for his candidacy, and displaying his name, likeness and logo,” the lawsuit states.

Defendants of the suit include Lopez and East Palo Alto City Clerk Walfred Solorzano, the man responsible for certifying the council election results.

Lopez has maintained that he campaigned within legal capacity.

On Election Day, the 26-year-old, first-time candidate hosted an event near the Saint Francis of Assisi Church, one of three locations of voting centers in East Palo Alto, where attendees were given free tacos.

Lopez and a few others publicized the event on social media beforehand, calling it an “Election Day Taquiza” with the caption: “Vote & eat free tacos.”

Responding to several complaints from residents, Solorzano said in previous interviews that he and a few county election officials visited the voting center and found that Lopez was a proper distance away from the vote center. The city staff member also said that he did not see any “quid pro quo” between the candidate and voters. Q —Lloyd Lee Page 10 • December 18, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

(continued from page 5)

it will be made have yet to be worked out.

Even with the recent rulings, Green’s case is unlikely to be fully resolved for months, if not years. Green plans to challenge the determination by the Superior Court that the city’s electric fund transfers were legal, Green’s attorney Prescott Littlefield told the Weekly. And while the city hasn’t made any public statements on the case (Mayor Adrian Fine said there was “no reportable action” after the Monday closed session), its attorneys indicated in court that they plan to appeal the ruling on refunds of gas transfers, said Littlefield, attorney at the firm Kearney Littlefield, LLP. The case revolves around an assertion by Green that Palo Alto’s transfers of money from utilities to the general fund constitute an illegal tax on ratepayers. After challenging the city’s rates in 2016, Green followed suit with another challenge in 2018, though she and the city had agreed to pause the proceedings while the state Supreme Court considered an appeal of the decision in Citizens for Fair REU Rates v. City of Redding.

Just like in Palo Alto, that case involved transfers of money from a city’s municipal utility to the general fund.

Plaintiffs in that case had argued that the Redding Electric Utility had “embedded” the cost of transferring money to the general fund in setting its rates. As such, they argued, the utility rates exceed the actual cost of providing electric service.

The Supreme Court rejected the challenge and, in overturning an Appeals Court decision, concluded that the transfer of funding from utilities to the general fund does not, in fact, constitute a tax. The ruling also created a standard by which to judge the legality of such transfers. In the August 2018 ruling, Justice Carol Corrigan wrote that the key question is “whether the charge imposed on ratepayers exceeds the reasonable costs of providing the relevant service.” The court cited Redding Electric Utility financial projections showing total rate revenues to be lower than the cost of providing electric services.

Palo Alto similarly transfers millions of dollars from its enterprise funds to the general fund every year. In fiscal year 2021, the transfers from various funds total $21.74 million, according to the Administrative Services Department. The city plans to transfer roughly the same amount in the next fiscal year. (A new report from the department states that the transfer amount “does not adjust for current pending litigation.”)

In approving the transfers, council members have in the past characterized them as a return on the city’s investment in its municipal utilities more than

File Photo/Veronica Weber

Calling the human toll of the COVID-19 pandemic “devastating,” San Mateo County announced it would enforce the state’s regional stay-at-home order starting Thursday, Dec. 17, at 11:59 p.m., officials said on Wednesday. The announcement came after the Bay Area’s intensive care unit capacity plunged to 12.9%, which triggered the state’s mandated order.

The order affects 10 counties. Regions around the state must employ the stay-at-home restriction on businesses and activities when ICU capacity drops below 15%. The order aims to reduce the number of hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 infection and to prevent overwhelming the health care system.

Most Bay Area counties fast-tracked the stay-home order on Dec. 4 after Santa Clara County’s ICU capacity dropped below 15%, as a precautionary measure. San Mateo County did not join the early restrictions, however. Under the state guidelines, it must now comply.

The order prohibits private gatherings of any size, except for outdoor church services and political demonstrations. Restaurants must stop offering in-person dining, even outdoors, and can only offer takeout and delivery services. Salons and barbershops must close.

Retail businesses can remain open with 20% capacity. All retail establishments must have entrance metering and can’t have eating or drinking within stores. Nonessential travel, hotels and short-term rentals for leisure are banned. Q — Sue Dremann

Utilities

A lawsuit challenging Palo Alto’s practice of transferring funds from the Utilities Department to its general fund may force the city to refund $12 million to gas customers. a century ago. The amount to be transferred mirrors PG&E rate of return on equity, as approved by the California Public Utilities Commission. The city uses fiveyear financial forecasts for each of its utility funds to determine how much should be transferred from each.

But while the city frames the transfers as a way to get a return on its investment, Littlefield argued that they constitute an illegal tax under Proposition 26, which California voters passed in 2010. The law requires a supermajority vote to approve new taxes and prohibits jurisdictions from characterizing certain types of charges as “fees” rather than taxes.

Proposition 26 makes exceptions for charges that governments impose to pay for a “specific government service” that is provided directly to the payer and that is not provided to those that are not charged. The law specifies, however, that the charge must not “exceed the reasonable costs to the local government of providing the service or product.”

Proposition 26 also places the burden on local governments to prove by a preponderance of evidence that the charge is “no more than necessary to cover the reasonable cost of the governmental activity” and that the manner in which these payments are allocated “bear a fair or reasonable relationship to the payer’s burden on, or benefits received from, the governmental activity.”

“The ultimate goal is for the cities to get in line with the Constitution as it is currently written,” Littlefield said. “If they want to continue to make a profit from utilities, they need to ask ratepayers for explicit permission to do so.”

The ruling in the Green case is unlikely to entirely halt Palo Alto’s historic practice of transferring revenues, though it could prompt the city to adjust its calculations. In considering electric rate transfers, the county Superior Court ruled in January that, just like in Redding, the transfer of taxes from the electric utility to the general fund did not constitute a tax. Rather, the city had

satisfied its burden in showing that the costs associated with the electricity operation were appropriately allocated to ratepayers.

The court also concluded, however, that the city did not meet this burden when it comes to gas rates. Using the Redding standard, the court concluded that the gas rates exceeded the reasonable costs of providing the service. The ruling required the city to exclude general fund transfers from its calculation of “reasonable cost of service,” which is used to justify rates.

Now, the city and Green’s attorneys are engaged in the second phase of the litigation, which will determine when and how the refunds will be issued. A key ruling in this phase was issued on Oct. 27, when county Superior Court Judge Brian Walsh determined that the city should refund about $12 million to gas customers based on rates that they were charged in 2012, 2016 and 2018.

The total includes a $5 million refund to gas customers in 2012, $4.8 million in 2016 and $2.8 million in 2018.

Walsh also rejected in his ruling a suggestion from the city that these refunds be provided as credits to gas customers, rather than as transfers back to the utility from the general fund.

“Here the issue is the city’s improper transfer of funds from the gas utility to its general fund,” Walsh wrote. “Consequently, allowing the city to issue refunds to class members without directing that those refunds be paid from the general funds or another fund containing monies appropriated for the payment of judgments would not remedy the wrong that occurred here. Without this direction the city could presumably recover any credits issued to ratepayers from future ratepayers who should not be required to fund these illegal taxes any more than past ratepayers.”

He also noted that to the extent that a refund from the general fund creates a “hardship” for the city, the utility can provide the refunds through an installment plan. Q Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com.

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www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 18, 2020 • Page 11

Answers to this week’s puzzles, which can be found on page 35.

997 All Other Legals ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOR THE COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA Case No.: 20CV372765 TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner: Aren Leon Zhang filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: Aren Leon Zhang to Aaron Steve Zhang.

THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

NOTICE OF HEARING: January 5, 2021, 8:45 a.m., Room: Probate of the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113.

A copy of this ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE shall be published at least once each week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in the following newspaper of general circulation, printed in this county: PALO ALTO WEEKLY. Date: November 10, 2020 Julie A. Emede JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT (PAW Nov. 27; Dec. 4, 11, 18, 2020)

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF: PATRICIA K. KLEIN Case No.: 20PR188709 To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of PATRICIA K. KLEIN. A Petition for Probate has been filed by: CRAIG O. KLEIN in the Superior Court of California, County of SANTA CLARA. The Petition for Probate requests that: CRAIG O. KLEIN be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent.

The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court.

The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority.

A HEARING on the petition will be held on January 14, 2021 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: Katherine Efting 438 South Murphy Avenue Sunnyvale, CA 94086-6114 (408) 732-3114 (PAW Dec. 11, 18, 25, 2020)

The Palo Alto Weekly is adjudicated to publish in Santa Clara County.

Public Hearing Notices Resolutions • Bid Notices • Lien Sale Trustee’s Sale • Notices of Petition to Administer Estate Deadline is Tuesday at noon. Call Alicia Santillan at 650-223-6578 or email asantillan@paweekly.com for assistance with your legal advertising needs.

Know Before You Go with Transit App Bus crowding info at your fingertips

Some crowding Page 12 • December 18, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

2011-2218

vta.org • 408-321-2300 • TTY 408-321-2330

To Our Stanford Medicine Community For months, we have faced the challenges of living through this pandemic together. And while we have more reasons to hope with each passing day that we will eventually defeat this virus, it is clear the crisis is far from over.

The number of COVID cases in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as much of California, has soared over the past few weeks. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans to avoid large gatherings in an effort to stop the rapid spread of COVID-19. Hospitals across the nation are filling their beds more quickly, and our frontline healthcare workers are facing exhaustion.

This is a dangerous situation to be in, and we need everyone’s help to fix it.

Even with so much uncertainty, the science is clear. We know what works to stop the spread of COVID-19: •

Wear a mask. Masks can save lives, including your own.

•

Wash your hands. Thorough handwashing stops the virus from spreading.

•

Keep your distance. Avoid gatherings and stay 6 feet apart from those you don’t live with.

We know you have heard all of these recommendations before, but they are more important than ever.

Stanford Medicine is here for you, as always, and committed to being a part of the solution.

We remain open even during shelter-in-place and continue to care for patients safely.

We know you are counting on us, and we have mobilized everyone—our care teams, researchers, students, and staff—to rise to this challenge. But we need you to know that we are counting on you, too.

It is your help that will make the difference and determine whether or not we can slow the spread of the virus in the weeks and months ahead. It is your care and thoughtfulness that will save lives and shape the future.

We are here for you and with your help, we will get through this together.

Lloyd Minor, MD Dean, Stanford School of Medicine

David Entwistle President and CEO Stanford Health Care

Paul King President and CEO Stanford Children’s Health

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 18, 2020 • Page 13 P159753_COVID_OpenLetterCommunity_10x13_AD_v8.indd 1

12/16/2020 8:20:17 AM

Margaret Taylor Hanks April 30, 1942 – September 22, 2020 Peg or Peggy, as she was known to all, died peacefully at home September 22, in the company of her loving family and long-term caregiver Tanita Sipa, after a debilitating, decadelong struggle with corticobasal degeneration.

Peg was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania April 30, 1942 to Helen Murdoch Taylor and James Griffin Taylor. She attended Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, where she was admitted to the Latin Honor Society, and then attended Mt Holyoke College, from which she graduated in 1965 with a B.A. in Economics and Sociology. She followed her sister Jean west to Pasadena, where she met her husband Thomas C Hanks. She held several positions at the California Institute of Technology, including one at the Seismological Laboratory where her husband was a graduate student.

They were married in 1968 and moved to Palo Alto in 1975 where their two daughters were born. Peg volunteered in the Palo Alto Unified School District in many different ways and made many friends while doing so. While her children were in attendance at Duveneck School, Peg assisted with classroom functions and was recognized for mastering the computerized library circulation system. With her children, she moved on to volunteer at Jane Lathrop Stanford and David Starr Jordan (now Greene) Middle Schools, Palo Alto High School, and finally the District Office when her children were in college.

She also volunteered at the Stanford Medical School Blood Center. Peg was a long-standing member of the Association of Senior Day Health and the Garden Club of Palo Alto.

Peg is widely known and remembered as the gracious hostess to hundreds of earth scientists across the country and around the world.

Peg is survived by her husband Tom, sister Jean, daughter Molly and son-in law Brian, daughter Julia and son-inlaw Johnny, and granddaughter Jane. We miss her greatly.

A Memorial Service will be held when public-health considerations permit. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to the Association of Senior Day Health, Brain Support Network, the Garden Club of Palo Alto, and Mission Hospice and Health Care (San Mateo).

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OBITUARIES

A weekly compendium of vital statistics POLICE CALLS

Other/misc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Outside investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Psychiatric subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Warrant/other agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Palo Alto Dec. 10- Dec. 11* Violence related Park Boulevard, 12/7, 2:47 p.m.; dependant adult abuse/physical.

Louis Road, 12/8, 1:10 p.m.; sex crime/ lewd & lascivious.

Menlo Park Dec. 9-15

Theft related Commercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Shoplifting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Vehicle related Abandoned bicycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Driving w/ suspended license . . . . . . . 1 Lost/stolen plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Parking/driving violation . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Stolen catalytic converter . . . . . . . . . . 1 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . 1 Vehicle accident/prop damage . . . . . . 3 Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Alcohol or drug related Possession of paraphernalia . . . . . . . . 2 Miscellaneous Found property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Misc. penal code violation . . . . . . . . . . 2

Violence related Santa Cruz Avenue/University Avenue, 12/11, 9:51 a.m.; arson.

500 block El Camino Real, 12/12, 11:37 p.m.; battery.

Theft related Burglary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Vehicle related Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Driving w/ suspended license . . . . . . . 1 Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Parking/driving violation . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Stolen catalytic converter . . . . . . . . . . 1 Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . 1 Vehicle accident/no injury . . . . . . . . . . 1 Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Alcohol or drug related Drunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

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

Miscellaneous Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Found property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Located missing person . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Mental evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Possession of stolen property . . . . . . . 1 Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . 3 Trespassing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Warrant arrest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 *Note: Data for Dec. 12-16 will be included in next week’s Pulse.

O UR T EAM IS IN MOT ION FOR YO U

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

Michael Repka | CEO & Managing Broker | DRE #01854880 650.900.7000 | Info@deleonrealty.com | www.deleonrealty.com | DRE #01903224

Don’t Go It Alone for The Holidays You are not alone. This time of year can normally be very stressful, let alone during a pandemic when we are asked to shelter in place and minimize contact with family and friends.

If you are struggling, you can turn to Avenidas Care Partners (ACP) for help.

Call (650) 289-5438 to request a crisis intervention, an elder care consult, family mediation and emotional support during these challenging times.

Lasting Memories An online directory of obituaries and remembrances.

Search obituaries, submit a memorial, share a photo.

Go to: www.PaloAltoOnline.com/obituaries

A list of local residents who died recently: Maryann Coulson, 96, social worker for Santa Clara County and longtime Palo Alto resident, died on March 24. Ann Marie Hmelar Sheridan, 88, nurse, health educator and Palo Alto resident, died on Nov. 18. Kirstin Lynn Koyama, 59, a Palo Alto resident, died on Dec. 13.

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

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Dr. Saul Wasserman April 22, 1942- December 11, 2020 5 Iyar, 5702 - 25 Kislev, 5781, First day of Chanukah, Resident of Palo Alto Dr. Saul Wasserman’s soul peacefully left this world on Friday, December 11. Born and raised in New York, Saul graduated from Bronx High School of Science and attended Cornell University, where he met his wife, Judith.

They married in 1963, and he attended the University of Chicago Medical School. In 1968, they moved to Palo Alto, where he completed his residency in Psychiatry at Stanford University.

Their daughter, Rachel, was born in 1970.

Saul worked as a beloved and respected child psychiatrist for decades, and co-founded and directed the Child/Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatient Unit at San Jose Hospital. He served on the Stanford Medical School clinical faculty and held various positions in the Regional Organization of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. In addition to his private practice, Saul was the consulting child psychiatrist for the foster care team of Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, and for many local schools. He also served on the Santa Clara County Child Death Review, working to reduce infant and child mortality.

Congregation Beth Am was Saul’s spiritual community. He was involved in the lay minyan, the Jewish book group, weekly Torah study, and he taught classes. Torah study especially was a vibrant source of spiritual and intellectual challenge.

A man of insatiable curiosity and sharp, wide-ranging intellect, Saul was also an accomplished gardener and tropical fish enthusiast. He and Judith shared a passion for experiencing new cultures, and they traveled to over 40 countries. All who knew him admired his patience, wisdom, and kind heart.

Saul was a loving companion to his wife, Judith, for over 50 years. He also adored his children, Rachel & Yehoshua Hershberg; and his grandchildren, Adina & Aviad Torati, Yosef Hershberg, Atara Hershberg, and Sara Hershberg, and visited them often in Israel.

The family requests that those who want to make charitable contributions in Saul’s honor, give to the children’s charity of their choice.

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Dorothy Gravelle April 29, 1925 – November 4, 2020 With her camel turtleneck tucked into pressed khaki trousers and meticulously coiffured brown hair, Dorothy Gallus Gravelle’s tenderness and quiet courage made her a bedrock of strength in the lives of her family and friends. It is with great sadness that her family announce Dorothy passed away November 4th, 2020 suddenly, but peacefully, of complications from a recent illness.

Dorothy graced the lives of family and friends with her rich and storied ninety five-years. She was a treasured wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and aunt; a generous and warmhearted friend to a multitude; a truly kind and gentle soul. She embraced everyone she knew firmly in her arms and in her love. Dorothy was remarkable for her unmatched listening abilities, undivided attention, and unwavering faith, which made those in her company feel heard and cherished.

Dorothy was born in Little Falls, Minnesota in 1925, to Mary and Daniel Gallus. She was the tenth of eleven siblings in a tight-knit, musical family.

Dorothy excelled at mathematics, outscoring everyone in her high school class. At the age of 19, she was recruited for this talent to work as an administrative accountant in a POW camp during WWII. Following the war, she married her lifelong love, Charles “Chuck” Gravelle in 1949. They were married for 57-years, when he preceded her in death in 2006. Dorothy and Chuck moved to Atherton, CA in 1962 where they lived for over 50-years before they moved into the Vi in Palo Alto. They made a life for themselves, textured with hard-work, travel, sports, family fun, and tradition.

Above all, Dorothy was an extraordinary and hands-on mother and grandmother who offered indefatigable interest and support to her children Doug, Steve and Cindra, and grandchildren Kelly, Stephanie and Alex.

“Nana” was their rock, the rose of their lives, and every birthday, holiday, and special occasion always found them gathered around the table.

Dorothy didn’t tell them how to live; she lived and let them learn by watching her do it. They learned the essentials of how to live a good life, from the practical lessons of sewing, ironing,

cooking, good nutrition, and keeping a tidy home, to the larger, more essential lessons of selfesteem and self-confidence. She set the example for choosing the morally right path, being a friend to everyone, helping the less fortunate, and being a giver not a taker. Above all she led with the power of faith as her cornerstone.

In addition to motherhood, Dorothy had many interests and hobbies. She traveled internationally along-side Chuck throughout his career. She explored foreign cities on her own and met up with Chuck in the evening to share her adventures over wine and cheese. She enjoyed golfing at Menlo Country Club and Hawaii, boating at Tahoe and the Delta, bridge and cards, French cooking, art and metalworking, reading, and gardening. Today, the rose garden she planted at her home on Park Lane continues to thrive under the care of its current owners.

Throughout her life, Dorothy was an active member of the Church of the Nativity. Faith, prayer, and solitude were the source of her tungsten-like strength, sustaining her through many losses during her life. Her unwavering hope and confidence that she would be reunited with Chuck, her sons Stephen and Doug, her 10 siblings, and best friend Lucille, brought her comfort to her final day.

Dorothy’s strength, elegance, and generosity live on through her daughter Cynthia Gravelle, grandchildren Kelly Nicholson, Stephanie and Alex Sliwinski, brother in-law Richard and wife Rose Gravelle, nieces and nephews Kathy and Dan Furtado, Mary Liz Perez, Stephanie and Greg Siegel, Mike and Andrea Gravelle, Barbara and Greg Thomas, Pamela Fritz Lott, Mary and Mark Kedrowski, Tom and Patty Meagher, and Marilyn and Phil Prozinski, and 18 grand-nieces and nephews.

We look forward to sharing a celebration of her life when a gathering can be held in her honor.

Donations may be made to “Foothill Auxiliary to Peninsula Family Service,” 24 Second Avenue, San Mateo, California 94401 https://www.peninsulafamilyservice.org/ foothill-auxiliary/ PAID

OBITUARY

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 18, 2020 • Page 15

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

Spectrum Editorials, letters and opinions

This week on Town Square Town Square is an online discussion forum at PaloAltoOnline.com/square In response to ‘Palo Alto looks past harassment allegations, inks new deal with Downtown Streets Team’ Posted Dec. 8 at 8:03 a.m. by Michele Landis Dauber, a resident of Barron Park: “Given the untrue statements made by Owen Byrd, the city council should have told Byrd that it would not approve the contract unless and until it received the redacted report. How could they take his word for it when he was literally making statements right there and then that were contradicted by facts in their possession, such as the state judge’s finding that sexual harassment occurred and that the Downtown Streets Team was not credible.

Renewing this contract now defies all notions of good governance by the council.

This city council is not especially competent. That’s obvious.

One very significant problem is that this council, perhaps due to its own ineptness, has deferred too much power and control to City Manager Ed Shikada. And Shikada apparently could not care less about the serious, substantiated allegations issues of sexual harassment and misconduct at Downtown Streets Team. Shikada put Downtown Streets Team on the consent calendar for a threeyear renewal. There wouldn’t have even been any discussion of all of this unless several members of the community (including myself and incoming council member Pat Burt) had not raised objections last week. It would have just sailed through on consent.

Shikada’s indifference to sexual misconduct at Downtown Streets Team and his poor decision making are the reason Downtown Streets Team has gone from a problem to a scandal. If this is what Shikada thinks is due diligence what else is he ignoring and mishandling?

We need new leadership.”

In response to ‘Opinion: What you need to know about the Foothills Park referendum’ Posted Dec. 9 at 9:58 a.m. by Jerry Underdal, a resident of Barron Park: “There’s an important distinction to be made in the politics of this issue between residentialism and populism, which at this moment in our history is too often drawn on to resist changes that are reasonable and popularly supported but challenge the established order. Council members Eric Filseth and Tom Dubois, both ‘residentialists,’ are doing Palo Alto a service by laying out the argument for why, whether or not you agree with the social justice arguments brought forward in this iteration of the effort to end the residence requirement, it is wise to accept the settlement. With that simple

move, Palo Alto can dramatically change the perception of our wonderful city, both outside our borders and within. Thank you, councilmen.”

In response to ‘Palo Alto struggles to forge a common vision in Ventura’ Posted Dec. 10 at 2:42 p.m. by Mark Dinan, a resident of East Palo Alto: “I’m sure the Sobrato (Organization) can provide lots of affordable housing units if the height limit is raised to 20 stories, parking requirements are limited, and greenspace/ setback requirements are adjusted. Calling for a huge percentage of affordable units while at the same time limiting density simply does not work.”

In response to ‘After political slugfest, council backs away from lame-duck appointments’ Posted Dec. 15 at 1:50 p.m. by Carol Scott, a resident of Evergreen Park: “Good leadership entails creating a shared vision and then working with one’s constituents to figure out, together, the best way to accomplish that vision. What the pro-developer majority on the City Council has done is to state their own ‘vision’ and then try to cram it down everyone’s throat. The council and the city manager, who they hired in a closed door session without a search process, have not even tried to work with the diversity of resident groups — those who agree with them and those who do not — to try to work through the issues and come up with solution that all of us can buy into. As a result, there has been little progress. Then, they are surprised that the voters finally have had enough and voted for a change.

The biggest and latest example of this is the ‘planning’ for the Ventura neighborhood.

A working group that included residents of that neighborhood has labored long and hard to create a plan that would include additional housing but not destroy the neighborhood.

The City Council then engaged a consultant, at great cost, to come up with other plans that did not take the working group’s thinking into account at all. No surprise that there has been opposition.

I hope the new Council appoints a set of thoughtful and balanced Planning and Transportation members who are not affiliated with the real estate developer community that will help the Council work with residents and professional planners to come up with plans that we can all get behind ó and then find developers willing to partner with us to help achieve them. The high-handedness of the outgoing Council majority is hopefully something we can put behind us.”

Letters Chamber of Commerce a community advocate Editor, The Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce is more than a business advocacy organization.

It manages a mix of programs committed to enhancing quality of life in our city through signature events, interactive business resources and advocacy work. The vitality of our community is expressed in the success of our businesses — the lively environment of shops, restaurants, hotels and the wide variety of services and suppliers.

Reflecting upon the current economic and public health crisis, we can all identify with the extraordinary disruptions and its critical demands. The Chamber is no exception. Like all local organizations, the Chamber has adapted to the new “virtual normal.” Our board of directors and staff reconfigured operations to effectively serve all local businesses and community members.

For example, Leadership Palo Alto, a program of the Chamber

Foundation, held its spring classes and Class of 2020 graduation this week virtually. The new Senior Fellows gained sharpened skills, deeper insights and new connections, benefiting the quality of leadership and engagement throughout our community.

The Chamber has been at the forefront of providing resources to businesses struggling during the pandemic, providing free, expertled webinars helping businesses comply with pandemic regulations (“Reboot and Recover”), partnering with the city and residents to support restaurants and retailers with special marketing and takeout promotions, and encouraging residents to “buy local.” To increase the odds of business survival, we advocated for a business roundtable addressing pandemic restrictions, outdoor street dining and parklets, for a county cap on delivery fees and a county business loan fund.

These efforts are your Chamber at work for our community. We’re proud of our efforts as a community advocate to ensure that Palo Alto survives this difficult time and regains its former vitality.

Matt Dolan El Camino Real, Mountain View

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For more information, contact Editorial Assistant Lloyd Lee at llee@paweekly. com or 650-223-6526 or Editor Jocelyn Dong at editor@paweekly.com.

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

LOS ALTOS ALTOS STAGE STAGE COMPANY COMPANY LOS ‘FULLY COMMITTED’ COMMITTED’ TO TO A A ‘FULLY BRILLIANT PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE BRILLIANT

THEATER REVIEW

by John Orr Every one of these voices has its t was more difficult than it should have been to get in, own accent and inflections, and but once there it was worth each is briefly presented physically every effort to see the brilliant by Tachis, with character changes Max Tachis in a livestream of an happening less than a second apart.

Really, a thrilling evening in the actual play from Los Altos Stage theater, even if only over a comCompany.

Tachis is astounding in Becky puter monitor. And well worth the Mode’s funny commentary on ar- $20 price of admission.

Maybe I am not too bright rogant abuse of privilege and elitism, “Fully Committed,” giving (pause to hear the chorus of voices and actions to 40 different agreeing voices), but I had a hard time getting through the Los Alcharacters.

The 1999 play is written against tos Stage pages to get my ticket, the backdrop of celebrity dining in and get to the screening. And pretentious Manhattan restaurants, once I got there, on Saturday with one-percenters calling elite night, it was a blackened screen. eateries and threatening, cajoling Did I miss the show? Did I err and whining to people like Sam, in some way? Had I disabled Jawho handles reservations for such vascript? What? But, eventually, a message at 7:12 p.m., saying an establishment.

Sam is the central character they were trying to fix it, please in what becomes a hurricane of refresh our browsers. There were phone calls that besiege him via at least a few of us waiting, who two outside-line phones, Sam’s used a chat function to wonder personal cell phone, the celeb- what the heck was going on.

Finally the 75-minute show berity chef’s direct line, and a wallmounted intercom connecting to gan, showing a nicely designed the maître d’, the kitchen’s head basement set, overly filled with cook and various other employees. annoying loud ringing telephones.

Tachis enters, and answers: Not for nothing is Tachis one of the San Francisco Bay Area’s “Good morning, reservations, best physical-comedy performers. could you hold, please?” He ofDirector Roneet Aliza Rahamim ten has to refuse callers, saying (who is also Tachis’ wife) pushes “We are fully committed for that him through a grueling, high-ve- weekend.” (He’s not allowed to say locity pace that has him bouncing “fully booked.”)

It’s the beginning of a long, hard from one side of the set to the other to answer the phones, placate the day for the reservations clerk, who chef or beg the maître d’ to accept has been abandoned by his coworker; is heart-broken because another reservation.

Tachis not only takes the calls his lover has left him; is desper— he acts out whoever is on the ate to hear if he has been cast as other end of the line, from Carol Malvolio at Lincoln Center; hates Ann Rosenstein, who is livid be- his job; and has to make a decision cause she had to wait two min- about seeing his family.

It’s a lot. utes on hold; to the maître d’, But once the tech problems were who won’t take Rosenstein’s call “because she is ugly!”; to the resolved, Tachis’ very human and unctuous Bryce, who is calling excellent performance makes it to ensure the vegan menu and the feel like we are in a theater with barring of female wait staff for him, marveling at what he does.

There are three more perforGwyneth Paltrow’s table; to his sweet father, who doesn’t want mances scheduled (Dec. 18 and 19 to ask too much of his son; to his at 7 p.m.; Dec. 20 at 2 p.m.). Don’t brother Steve, who wants him miss this fine show.

More information is available at to come home for the first family Christmas since their mother losaltosstage.org.Q died; to the egocentric chef who Freelance writer John Orr won’t give him Christmas off; and can be emailed at johnorr@ many others. regardingarts.com.

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Max Tachis portrays Sam, who manages reservations for an exclusive Manhattan eatery, along with about 40 other characters that Sam interacts with in “Fully Committed,” a virtual production presented by Los Altos Stage Company.

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Eating Out How San Agus in Palo Alto is crafting a new Mexican cocktail experience Story by Zack Fernandes he vibrant flavors of Mexico City are making their way into your cocktail glass.

At San Agus Cocina Urbana & Cocktails, beverage director Eusebio Pozos has created the Central de Abastos: a cocktail named after Mexico City’s largest market, where vendors sell vegetables, herbs, bread and elote — the iconic Mexican street corn snack. The drink’s connection to the market reaches beyond its name, with flavors from Mexican herbs and liqueurs intended to transport you to the aisles of the market. In fact, San Agus’ entire cocktail menu is composed of drinks designed to take you to Mexico City: There’s the La Merced, named after another one of Mexico City’s markets, and the Xochimilco, which is inspired by a city borough.

Notably absent from the cocktail menu, though, is Mexico’s most significant contribution to the canon of cocktails: the margarita.

“It’s really hard having craft cocktails at a Hispanic restaurant,” Pozos said. “In most people’s heads, the only thing they picture are margaritas.”

Armed with a desire to nudge his customers off the beaten path, San Agus has deliberately omitted the classic cocktail from the menu to

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Photos by Magali Gautier

make room for the diversity of Mexico’s flavors.

“If I put a margarita on the menu, 60% of the cocktails I’m gonna sell are gonna be margaritas,” Pozos explained.

Pozos wants San Agus’ customers to transcend the margarita and explore a much wider range of Mexican spirits through a well-curated bar menu that features everything from celebrated classics to newer, obscure imports. Take destilado de pulque for example: Distilled from the traditional Aztec fermented agave drink pulque, this higher-proof version is difficult to find in the United States, and San Agus carries a version made by Juerte, the first company to import it here. Pozos’ home state of Tlaxcala, a few hours outside of Mexico City, is especially renowned for its pulque, and Pozos remembers how it’s all his father would drink during his childhood. “That (pulque) was the replacement for water,” he said with a chuckle as he described the drink’s ubiquity. “They would drink it and keep working in the farm.”

While most of his customers are unfamiliar with pulque, Pozos says that many of them have been excited by some of the other spirits on offer.

“I was surprised that Palo Alto was

so into mezcal,” he said, while noting that even the most knowledgeable of his customers were likely to find something new to taste at San Agus.

In an effort to support independent producers, Pozos sources from smaller mezcaleros that are not widely distributed, such as Tres Tiempos, who produce small batches of mezcal in the state of Oaxaca. San Agus also carries raicilla and bacanora; more specific versions of mezcal that have received official designations as appellations and are protected and regulated by the Mexican government in the same way that many European countries regulate wine. Pozos is fond of the comparison to wine, often telling new mezcal drinkers that the two are more alike than one would think.

“You have a diversity of agave just like you have a diversity of grapes,” Pozos said, while going on to explain that, like wine, agave spirits can also express terroir, a sense of place that factors heavily into the spirits he chooses to carry.

San Agus also serves a range of spirits not made from agave. Sotol — a distillate made from the desert spoon shrub, rum distilled from sugarcane grown in the hills of Michoacán and whisky made from heritage

Above: Beverage Director Eusebio Pozos uses epazote syrup and Nixta Licor de Elote to recreate the smells of a Mexico City market in the Central de Abastos cocktail at San Agus Cocina Urbana & Cocktails. Left: A selection of cocktails currently featured at San Agus Cocina Urbana & Cocktails in Palo Alto: Xochimilco, top, Central De Abastos, center, and La Merced, bottom.

Page 24 • December 18, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Eating Out Oaxcan corn are all featured on the San Agus spirits list.

In addition to base spirits, San Agus is also exploring Mexican liqueurs that add flavor, texture and complexity to their cocktails. Ancho Reyes, made by infusing neutral cane spirit with ancho chilis from Puebla, adds smokiness and depth to the La Merced cocktail, while Ancho Reyes Verde, made with fresh poblano chilis, adds more of an herbal and spicy kick to the Tepito.

Since Mexican twists on classic cocktails can often feature spiciness, Pozos is keen to expand that narrow view of the country’s influence on cocktails by incorporating liqueurs made with Mexico’s vast varieties of herbs and edible flowers, like D’Aristi Xtabentún liqueur. Produced from the fermented honey of bees that pollinate the xtabentún flower in Yucatán state, Pozos uses the liqueur’s honeyed notes of anise to round out the intense herbal flavor of house-made epazote syrup in the Central de Abasto cocktail. To balance the sweetness and earthiness of maple-tobacco syrup in the Bellas Artes, Pozos uses Granada-Vallet, a Mexican take on classic bitter Italian

liqueurs, made with pomegranate and colored a bright red with natural cochineal dye from Oaxaca.

The most un-Mexican part of San Agus’ beverage menu is its wine selection, which features selections from Argentina, California, France, Italy and Spain but not Mexico.

“It’s getting bigger and bigger,” Pozos said of the wine-producing culture in Mexico.

But after importation and distribution, these small batch wines can end up costing as much as $24 to sell by the glass, and Pozos has to balance his desire to highlight these Mexican wines against the biases of some customers who simply aren’t willing to pay that much for wine from a region they have never tried. Pozos remains hopeful that San Agus will serve Mexican wine one day based on the response from wine enthusiasts to Mexican producers on the menu at San Agus’ sister restaurant, La Viga in Redwood City.

As winter approaches, Pozos is beginning recipe development for the next iteration of San Agus’ cocktail menu, which will be the restaurant’s

third since it opened in May. Pozos takes a seasonal approach to San Agus’ cocktails, incorporating local produce that he feels might work well with Mexican flavors.

As the mercury drops, he says he’ll trade the fall flavors of persimmoninfused gin for a warming mezcalbased ponche, a traditional hot Christmastime Mexican punch sweetened with piloncillo, an unrefined Mexican cane sugar, and spiced with cinnamon.

For more adventurous drinkers, Pozos will include a mezcal cocktail infused with huitlacoche, an edible fungus that grows on corn, often harvested as a culinary delicacy.

“The cocktail looks a little scary,” Pozos said with a chuckle, owing to its color and cloudiness, but nevertheless, he remains confident that San Agus patrons will enjoy it as much as he does. Q San Agus is located at 115 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto; 650-847-1334; sanagus.com. Under the current public health order, San Agus is still open for takeout and delivery.

Zack Fernandes wrote this for TheSixFifty.com, the Weekly’s sister publication.

A drink to be featured on San Agus Cocina Urbana & Cocktails’ upcoming winter cocktail menu is the Corazón de Maíz, made with huitlacoche-infused mezcal espadín, lime juice, Ancho Reyes, Nixta, epazote-serrano syrup and garnished with huitlacoche.

Private School Previews Join us for an

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Meet our campus team and explore Stratford’s balanced and intentionally designed curriculum.

Palo Alto Campus Preschool – Middle School 870 North California Avenue (650) 493-1151

Pre-register online StratfordSchools.com/about-us/events Preschool State License Numbers: 434408056. Copyright © 2020 Stratford Schools, Inc.

A Unique and Unrivaled 1:1 Education Year-Round Enrollment

All classes available one-on-one IN REAL-TIME ONLINE!

• Full-Time Middle/High School, Courses on Demand, & Tutoring • High-quality curriculum UC/CSU approved • Classes on your time, at your pace, and customized for you.

Enroll today at lydianacademy.com Join our community for a Virtual Open House monthly at 10am, check website for dates.

815 El Camino Real, Menlo Park • 650.321.0550 www.lydianacademy.com www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 18, 2020 • Page 25

Wishing You a Safe and Happy Holiday!

Your Home for the Holidays 3803 Nathan Way Palo Alto Showings by Appointment

www.3803Nathan.com 4 bedrooms 3 baths 2 en-suite bedrooms VdaO ÄşÂ&#x2022;Ă&#x203A;Â&#x2DC;Â&#x203A;Â&#x2DC;Â?Ă&#x203A; _ds ÄşÂ&#x161;Ă&#x203A;Â&#x2013;Â&#x201D;Â&#x2013;Â?

Asking $3,350,000

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Arti Miglani . Ă&#x;Â&#x201C;Â&#x201D;Â&#x201D;Â&#x2DC;Â&#x201C;Â&#x201C;Â&#x203A;Â&#x2DC; Â&#x2122;Â&#x2DC;Â&#x201C;Ă Â&#x203A;Â&#x201C;Â&#x2014;Ă Â&#x2122;Â&#x153;Â&#x2014;Â&#x2022; zzzĂ osW WU_BbWĂ Kda osWĹ&#x2019; osW WU_BbWĂ Kda Page 26 â&#x20AC;˘ December 18, 2020 â&#x20AC;˘ Palo Alto Weekly â&#x20AC;˘ www.PaloAltoOnline.com

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Book Talk

Eight heartfelt children’s books to spend time reading while traditional celebrations are on hold

by Chris Saccheri

ids have missed out on a lot this year: in-person school, birthday parties, playdates and sleepovers. And while friends and extended family have been kept at a distance, most immediate family members have been closer than ever (maybe closer than anyone ever wanted). That’s why it seems fitting to focus on books about families as we share some of our favorite children’s books of 2020 for this year’s recommended holiday reading list.

maybe the bear isn’t so bad after all. A sweet, charming story about dealing with an overbearing older sibling.

“Lift” by Minh Lê, illustrated by Dan Santat; Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; $17.99; ages 4-8.

Iris always pushes the elevator button.

Until the day her little brother beats her to the punch. Frustrated, Iris retreats to her room and finds a mysterious, magic button that opens a door to an amazing new world. But is it more fun to go alone or share the adventure?

Lê’s text paired with Santat’s striking comic book-style illustrations lead us through Iris’s journey from jealousy to empathy. Her realization that joy can come from sharing something special makes this book perfect for new big brothers and sisters.

“Twins” by Varian Johnson, illustrated

by Shannon Wright; Graphix; $12.99; ages 8-12.

Twin sisters Francine and Maureen Carter are used to doing everything together. But as they start middle school, Francine yearns to stand out -- choosing a new nickname, new look, and new opportunities--while Maureen just wants to fit in. When they wind up running against each other for class president, the competition threatens to tear them apart.

A sweet, authentic graphic novel about twin sisters facing the challenges of middle school, coming into their own, and learning to accept each other for who they are as individuals. Highly recommended for fans of Raina Telgemeier and anyone looking for graphic novels with Black protagonists.

Graphix

“The Bear in My Family” by Maya Tatsukawa; Dial Books; $17.99; ages 4-8.

You think you have it tough? Try living with a bear! This story’s young narrator can’t understand how his parents don’t see what he sees: The bear is loud, messy, and bossy, yet they still treat it like family. But when he encounters some bullies at the playground and the bear comes to his rescue, he realizes that

“Everyone’s Awake” by Colin Meloy, illustrated by Shawn Harris; Chronicle Books; $17.99; ages 5-8.

This raucous and hilarious bedtime book introduces us to a family that should be sleeping but, instead, is doing everything else: “The dog’s into the eggnog; Mom’s tap dancing to Prince while Dad is on the laptop buying ten-yard bolts of chintz.”

Their activities get wilder and weirder as the night goes on, leading to waged battles and blimps made out of underpants. The vibrant illustrations are full of clever details (see if you can find the frogs on every page) and match perfectly with the clever, rhythmic text. This is a book that demands to be read aloud!

Dial Books

CAN LAND TRULY BE OWNED? ... Simon Winchester, author of the modern-classic bestseller “The Professor and the Madman” will talk about his latest book, “Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World,” with host Angie Coiro during the Kepler Literary Foundation’s “This Is Now” virtual series on Tuesday, Jan. 19.

Winchester’s book looks at how the story of the world is the story of land. Tickets for the webinar are limited and expected to sell out. For more information, go to Keplers.org. Q

A monthly section on local books and authors

Chronicle Books

VIRTUAL HOLIDAY STORYTIMES ... The Palo Alto Library is hosting a series of virtual winter holiday storytime events for families. Storytimes take place at 11 a.m. every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Events feature stories and songs for all ages. For more information about storytimes or other holiday-related library events, go to paloalto. bibliocommons.com/events.

Title Pages

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

HOLIDAY BOOK SHOPPING ...

Local independent booksellers have taken some creative measures during the holiday season to provide customers a personal shopping experience amid ever-changing shelter-inplace restrictions. At Kepler’s Books, the shop recently launched a new open-air bookstore in the plaza outside its main entrance. (Check on-site shopping hours before you go.)

In-store shopping is available during limited hours, and remote shopping is available 24 hours at keplers.com. Have a question?

Email AskKeplers@keplers. com and a staff member will get back to you. Most orders can be delivered or picked up in the plaza within 24 hours. Shoppers also can flip through Kepler’s digital gift guide at keplers.com “Shop All Books.”

Linden Tree Children’s Books in Los Altos is offering private instore shopping by appointment only before and after regular store hours. Up to five people from the same household can shop in the store for 45 minutes. The store also is offering virtual video shopping for customers who would prefer to shop the shelves from their own homes. Staff will arrange a video call during which customers can view books, puzzles, toys and others items in the store via video. Appointments for in-person and video shopping can be made at lindentreebooks. com.

Books Inc. is open for limited in-store browsing and curbside pickup. The independent bookseller also has posted a recommended book catalog that shoppers can flip through online and has a “Great Gift Items” section on its website. For more information, go to booksinc.net.

(continued on page 31)

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 18, 2020 • Page 27

Here come the Holidays

Christmas is Coming All are Welcome to the Celebration SUNDAY EUCHARIST 10AM PST &

CHRISTMAS EVE FAMILY CELEBRATION DECEMBER 24, 5PM PST

AL

O

CHURCH P

555 Waverley Street, Palo Alto (650) 322-4528 ~ ASAINTS.ORG

SAINT LL

S’

A

FACEBOOK.COM/ASAINTSPALOALTO

O A LT

LA COMIDA SPECIAL HOLIDAY LUNCHES Come and support our time-honored annual traditions!

We are serving the lunches differently this year - grab ’n go only - but with the same joy and holiday spirit as ever.

ENJOY 2 SPECIAL LUNCHES* Tuesday, Dec. 22, to cheer in the Holidays Thursday, Dec. 31, to ring in the New Year

Lunch pick up locations and times Stevenson House, 455 East Charleston Road, Palo Alto 11:15 am - 12:15 p.m.

Masonic Center, 461 Florence Street, Palo Alto 11:45 am - 12:15 p.m.

RESERVE YOUR GRAB ’N GO LUNCHES IN PERSON AT EITHER LOCATION OR CALL (650) 322-3742. *$3 suggested contribution for seniors La Comida, a 501(c)(3) organization, is a senior nutrition program. Donations, menu, and volunteer opportunities available at www.lacomida.org.

Thank you for your support and best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year!

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

Here come the Holidays Why go to Los Altos?

Your local Palo Alto Vet Hospital is here to help!

Animal Hospital OF PALO ALTO

4111 El Camino Real, Palo Alto (650) 493-2738 AHOPAVET.COM

• New Facilities • Outdoor Kennels • Dental Care

• Medicine Surgery & Ultrasound

Give your parents a gift that helps them live better in their own home… A Gift Membership in Avenidas Village!

l a c o l Get e for th s y a d i l ho

An easy and affordable way to advertise in print and online for the holidays

Contact your Weekly Sales Rep to learn how you can reach the Palo Alto area market with your holiday message.

650-326-8210

An Avenidas Village membership provides peace of mind for you and a community of support and resources for your loved ones to help them stay independent and secure. They will enjoy joining a network of active seniors sharing resources for handling life’s transitions.

Act now to support the independent path your parents >Ûi V Ãi Ü Ì > «iÀÃ > âi` } vÌ ViÀÌ wV>Ìi° À Ài info or to purchase, visit www.AvenidasVillage.org/gift or call (650) 289-5405 today! Redeem by 12/31/20 to lock in lower 2020 rates.

www.avenidasvillage.org

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

Support our Kids with a gift to the Holiday Fund Last Year’s Grant Recipients 49ers Academy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$20,000 Able Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Acknowledge Alliance (Cleo Eulau) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Ada’s Café . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Adolescent Counseling Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$7,500 All Students Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$15,000 Art in Action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Art of Yoga. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Bayshore Christian Ministries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Big Brothers Big Sisters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Buena Vista Homework Club (Caritas). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,000 CASA of San Mateo County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 CASSY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,000 DreamCatchers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$20,000 East Palo Alto Academy Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$7,500 East Palo Alto Kids Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,000 East Palo Alto Library (formerly Quest) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 East Palo Alto Tennis & Tutoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,000 Ecumenical Hunger Progam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,000 Environmental Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Family Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Fit Kids Foundation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Foundation for a College Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$7,500 Friends of Junior Musuem & Zoo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Health Connected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Heart and Home Collaborative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$15,000 Hidden Villa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Jasper Ridge Farm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Kara. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$7,500 Live in Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Marine Science Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Music in the Schools Foundation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Musikiwest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 New Voices for Youth (Social Good Fund) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$3,000 Nuestra Casa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$7,500 Palo Alto Art Center Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Palo Alto Housing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Palo Alto Music Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Peninsula Bridge Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Peninsula College Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Peninsula Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Ravenswood Education Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$7,500 Rich May Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Rise Together Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,000 Robotics for All. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$3,600 Silicon Valley Bicycle Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Silicon Valley Urban Debate League . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 St. Francis of Assisi Youth Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 TheatreWorks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Vista Center for Blind & Visually Impaired . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 WeHOPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$15,000 YMCA - EPA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,000 YMCA - PA Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Youth Community Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$20,000 Youth Speaks Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,000

Child Care Facility Improvement Grants Gatepath (Abilities United) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 All Five. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,000 Grace Lutheran Preschool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 The Learning Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Palo Alto Community Child Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,000 Palo Alto Friends Nursery School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$6,000 Parents Nursery School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000

E

ach year the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund raises money to support programs serving families and children in the Palo Alto area.

Since the Weekly and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation cover all the administrative costs, every dollar raised goes directly to support community programs through grants to non-profit organizations.

And with the generous support of matching grants from local foundations, including the Packard, Hewlett, Peery and Arrillaga foundations, your taxdeductible gift will be doubled in size.

A donation of $100 turns into $200 with the foundation matching gifts.

Whether as an individual, a business or in honor of someone else, help us reach our goal of $400,000 by making a generous contribution to the Holiday Fund.

With your generosity, we can give a major boost to the programs in our community helping kids and families.

Give to the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund and your donation is doubled. You give to non-profit groups that work right here in our community. It’s a great way to ensure that your charitable donations are working at home.

As of December 15, 269 donors have contributed $186,301 to the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund.

22 Anonymous ..........................................$7,745

Cindy Dillon ......................................................* Helene Pier .......................................................*

New Donors Gerald & Joyce Barker...................................200 Cherie & Robert Donald ...............................250

Fran Codispoti ..............................................250 Deborah Williams & Jean Luc Laminette ....1,000 Nina & Norman Kulgein................................250

Linda & Jerry Elkind ......................................250

Chris Logan ....................................................50

Gwen Luce & Family .........................................*

Roy Levin & Jan Thomson .............................250

Liz Lillard-Bernal..............................................50

Donald Barr ..................................................100

Kay & Don Remsen...........................................*

Ellen Lillington ..............................................400

Barbara Allen................................................100

Peter S. Stern....................................................*

Eugene & Mabel Dong .................................200

Jean & Chuck Thompson ..............................100

Micki & Bob Cardelli .........................................*

Liz Kok .............................................................*

Wendy Sinton...................................................*

Roger V. Smith ..............................................300

Diane Doolittle .................................................*

Scott Pearson ...............................................500

Charles & Barbara Stevens ................................*

Ellmann Family .............................................100

Philip Hanawalt & Graciela Spivak..............2,000

Dr. Labaree and Ms. Churchill .......................100

Virginia Laibl .................................................200

Rick & Eileen Brooks .....................................500

Glenn & Lorna Affleck ......................................*

Gwendolyn Barry ..........................................100

Please consider donating online, which enables your gift to be processed immediately. The secure website is: siliconvalleycf.org/paw-holiday-fund Enclosed is a check for $_______________ Name__________________________________________________________ Business Name __________________________________________________ Address ________________________________________________________ City/State/Zip ___________________________________________________

All donors and their gift amounts will be published in the Palo Alto Weekly unless the boxes below are checked.

Email __________________________________________________________

T I wish to contribute anonymously.

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T Please withhold the amount of my contribution.

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Please make checks payable to: Silicon Valley Community Foundation

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Elizabeth Bechtel .............................. 100 Tom McCalmont ............................ 1,000 Diane Posnak.................................... 200 Mary Ann Sing ................................. 100 Annette Isaacson .............................. 200 Gail Woolley ..................................... 200 Charlene Kon ................................... 250 Peter Rudd.......................................... 50 Amy Crowe ...................................... 200 Diane Sikic ........................................ 400 Graceann Johnson ............................ 100

In Memory Of Beverley Aarts................................... 250 Zoe & Ken Allen ............................... 100 Nate Rosenberg ................................ 250 E Yanosh Alt ....................................... 20 Robert Spinrad ..................................... * Jennie Winsor Payne............................. * Leonard Ely ....................................... 500 Ian Halliday ........................................... * Kathleen Morris .................................... * Samuel Benjamin Kurland................. 300 Manuel & Maria Januario ................... 50 Kaye Kelley & Richard Van Dusen ..... 250 Florence Kan Ho ................................... * Jim & Dottie Mellberg ........................... * Jerry Smallwood ............................ 1,000 Mark Georgia ....................................... *

In Honor Of Deborah Sutorius Hilleary ................. 100 Marie Wolbach ................................... 25 Connor & Grace Missett ....................... * Dr. David Lipson and Ray ...................... * Rich Hlava’s 87th Birthday .................... * Myles, Amara, Leo & Vivi ...................... *

As a Gift For Logan Marsh & Gabby Perez ............ 500

Ann Sonnenberg Interior Design ...... 200

Previously Published Janis Ulevich ..................................... 125 Tess & Eric Byler .................................. 75 Robyn H. Crumly .................................. * Stephanie Klein & Larry Baer................. * Sue Kemp......................................... 250 Judy Kramer ..................................... 150 Barbara Klein ........................................ * Tobye Kaye ........................................... * Michael Kieschnick ........................... 500 Bruce Campbell ................................ 250 Cathy Kroymann .............................. 250 Werner Graf ......................................... * Dorothy Deringer.............................. 250 Amy Crowe ...................................... 500 Gary & Karen Fry .............................. 250 Bill Reller............................................... * Jody Maxmin ........................................ * Martha Shirk ................................. 1,000 Jim & Karen Lewis ................................ * Judith Appleby ................................. 250 Vic Befera ......................................... 100 Ted & Ginny Chu .................................. * Penny & Greg Gallo .......................... 500 Brigid Barton ................................. 5,000 Brigid & Rob Robinson...................... 200 Kaaren & John Antoun .................. 2,000 Harry Hartzell.................................... 250 Susan & Doug Woodman ..................... *

In Memory Of Ray Bacchetti .................................... 200 Norman L. Frazee ................................. * Sandy Sloan...................................... 100 Lee Domenik ........................................ * Millie Fuchs........................................... * David W. Mitchell ................................. * Rudy Schubert .................................... 50 Marie & Don Snow ........................... 200 The Zschokke Family ......................... 100 Alissa Riper Picker ............................. 250 Bertha Kalson ....................................... * Er-Ying and Yen-Chen Yen ............... 250 Mrs. Elsie Yang ................................. 200 Ernest J. Moore .................................... * Tracy & Alan ......................................... * Pam Grady ....................................... 500 Lily & Philip Gottheiner ......................... * Bob Kirkwood ............................... 2,500 Our Loving Parents Albert & Beverly Pellizzari ................................ * Boyd Paulson Jr ............................. 3,000 Edward & Elizabeth Buurma ................. * Leslie Smith .......................................... * August L. King...................................... * Duncan L. Matteson ...................... 1,000 Thomas W. & Louise L. Phinney ............ * Leo & Sylvia Breidenbach ...................... * Emmett Lorey ....................................... * Chet Brown .......................................... *

In Honor Of Fairmeadow Principal Iris Wong ............ * Joe Simitian ...................................... 220

Businesses & Organizations Alta Mesa Cemetery & Funeral Home............................. 2,000 Delores Eberhart, DDS .......................... * Hayes Group Architects ................. 5,000 Palo Alto Business Park ......................... * deLemos Properties .......................... 200 Sponsors of Moonlight Run: Stanford Health Care ................ 10,000 Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Foundation .................... 5,000 Sutter Health/Palo Alto Medical Foundation............................... 5,000 Palantir ....................................... 5,000 Facebook .................................... 5,000 Wealth Architects ....................... 5,000 Chan Zuckerberg Initiative .......... 5,000 Bank of the West ........................ 1,500 A Runner’s Mind ......................... 1,000

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Changes or corrections to listings may be made by contacting Kali Shiloh at kshiloh@paweekly.com.

“The List of Things That Will Not Change” by Rebecca Stead; Wendy Lamb Books; $16.99; ages 8-12.

Bea is no stranger to change: Two years ago, her parents divorced after her father came out as gay. Now her dad and his boyfriend are getting married and Bea is thrilled -- not just because Jesse is fantastic, but because she’ll finally get what she’s always wanted: a sister. But Jesse’s daughter, Sonia, doesn’t share her excitement, and blending these two families may be tougher than Bea imagined.

Stead does a masterful job capturing Bea’s worries and anxiety in a relatable way. An uplifting story about family, love and how change can be exciting and terrifying at the same time.

“Black Brother, Black Brother” by Jewell Parker Rhodes; Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; $16.99; ages 8-12.

A powerful, coming-of-age story about a biracial family where one brother presents as white, the other as Black, and the ways the world treats them differently.

Darker-skinned than his older brother Trey, Donte finds himself on the receiving end of every joke, microaggression, and accusation at their elite private school.

When a bully pushes Donte too far, Donte decides to beat him at his own game: fencing.

Rhodes deftly addresses complex topics like colorism and institutional racism in a way that’s easily accessible to middlegrade readers. (Bonus points for being the rare, middle-grade sports book about fencing!) An essential read for 2020.

“The Time of Green Magic”

by Hilary McKay; Margaret K. McElderry Books; $17.99; ages 8-12.

Abi’s life is turned upsidedown when her father remarries

and she suddenly becomes the middle child in their new, blended family. Sandwiched between sticky-handed Louis and moody teenager Max, Abi retreats into her books as the family moves into an old, ivy-covered house in North London. Before long, magic starts to creep up on them: first, with Abi falling literally into her books and then with a mysterious creature that comforts Louis when his mother is away.

The book is an enchanting blend of realistic fiction and fantasy, but at its heart, this is a story about a family struggling to adapt to a new situation. The parents are stressed and overworked, but trying their best to hold it all together; the kids are fully realized and relatable, but working through their own unique challenges. Any modern family will relate to them.

Greenwillow Books

Businesses & Organizations

Jim & Valerie Stinger ......................... 100 Art & Peggy Stauffer......................... 500 Stuart & Carol Hansen .......................... * Nancy & Jim Baer.................................. * Marilyn, Dale, Rick & Mei Simbeck ....... * Betty W. Gerard .................................. 50 Tom & Nancy Fiene ........................... 150 Diane Finkelstein .............................. 200 Beth & Peter Rosenthal ..................... 500 Susan Benton ....................................... * Carol & Hal Louchheim ......................... * Christina Kenrick ........................... 2,500 Fruchterman Family .......................... 250 Harriet Roeder ............................... 1,000 Carol Hubenthal ............................... 300 Dr. Fatima Malik, MBA.......................... * Roger Warnke .................................. 300 Dena Hill........................................... 500 Keith Clarke.......................................... * Jeanette Kennedy .......................... 1,000 Susie Richardson & Hal Luft .................. * Peter Danner .................................... 200 Chantal Akerib ................................. 500 Alice Fischgrund ............................... 100 Carli Scott......................................... 100 Thomas Rindfleisch ............................... * Jeff Dean .......................................... 345 Sallie & Jay Whaley ............................... * Hoda Epstein .................................... 250

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Charlie Hughes & the Ada’s Team ......... *

(continued from page 27)

Wendy Lamb Books

Carol O’Neill ....................................... 50

Peggy & Boyce Nute ............................. * Roy & Carol Blitzer................................ * Gerald & Donna Silverberg ............... 100 Jan & Freddy Gabus .......................... 250 Hal & Iris Korol...................................... * Sally Hewlett.................................. 3,000 Arthur Keller ..................................... 500 Bruce & Jane Gee ............................. 250 Denise Savoie and Darrell Duffie ........... * Loreto Ponce de Leon ....................... 100 Thomas Ehrlich ................................. 500 Ron Wolf .......................................... 250 Andrea Smith ................................... 100 Bonnie Packer................................... 100 Michael & Gwen Havern................ 5,000 Jan and Scott Kilner .......................... 500 Daniel Cox ........................................ 200 Patrick Burt ....................................... 500 Jocelyn Dong .................................... 100 Carolyn Brennan ................................... * Tom & Patricia Sanders ......................... * Page & Ferrell Sanders ...................... 100 Debby Roth ...................................... 200 Diana Diamond ................................ 300 Dorothy Saxe .................................... 100 Jeanne & Leonard Ware.................... 500 Richard A. Baumgartner & Elizabeth M. Salzer ............................ * Jerry & Bobbie Wagger ......................... * Linda & Steve Boxer .............................. * Nancy & Joe Huber ............................... * Steven Feinberg ............................. 5,000 Jean Wu ........................................ 1,000 Marc Igler & Jennifer Cray ................ 200 Ann & Don Rothblatt........................ 500 Marcia & Michael Katz...................... 200 Diane Moore ........................................ * Amado & Deborah Padilla ................ 250 Pat & Penny Barrett .......................... 100 Robert & Barbara Simpson.................... * John Galen ........................................... * Julie & Jon Jerome ................................ * Leif & Sharon Erickson ...................... 500 Edward Kanazawa ............................ 200 Scott Carlson & Katharine Miller .. 10,000 Stephen & Nancy Levy ...................... 500 Mike & Jean Couch .......................... 250 Karen & Steve Ross ............................... * Katherine & Dorsey Bass ................... 500 Lani Freeman & Stephen Monismith ..... * Harriet & Gerry Berner ...................... 350 Judy Palmer ....................................... 25 Teresa Roberts .................................. 500 Carol Uyeno ....................................... 50 Mark Cairns & Amanda Martin......... 100 Sally & Craig Nordlund ..................... 500 Christine Min Wotipka & Anthony Lising Antonio................. 100 Kathleen Foley-Hughes & Tony Hughes .............................. 1,000 Thayer Gershon .................................. 50 Xiaofan Lin ......................................... 50 John Pavkovich ................................. 400 Cynthia Costell ................................. 100 Richard Zuanich ................................ 150 Neha Choksi ....................................... 40 Braff Family ...................................... 500 Jennie Savage ................................ 1,000 Bill Johnson & Terri Lobdell ............ 1,000 Dawes Family ................................... 250 Mary Lemmon ............................. 20,000 Shirley Ely ...................................... 1,000 Jennifer DiBrienza & Jesse Doroguske ......................... 1,000 Mike & Cathie Foster ..................... 1,000 Lawrence Yang & Jennifer Kuan ....10,000 Richard Johnsson ........................... 5,000 Chris & Anna Saccheri .......................... * Judith & Hans Steiner ....................... 100 Carolyn Caddes ................................ 200 Merrill & Lee Newman ...................... 250 Anne Williams .................................. 200

Holiday reads

Margaret K. McElderry Books

Alan Bennett .................................... 200

Title Pages

Donate online at siliconvalleycf.org/ paw-holiday-fund

“A Whale of the Wild” by Rosanne Parry; Greenwillow Books; $17.99; ages 8-12.

Orcas live in a matriarchal society and young Vega is honing her skills so that one day she will be trusted as the family’s wayfinder. But when a devastating earthquake separates her and her young brother from the rest of their family, she must rely upon her instincts to lead them back home in this dramatic and emotional story.

Based on the author’s own research trips to the Salish Sea, this beautiful book explores family bonds, survival, global warming, and a changing seascape. Perfect for fans of animal stories like Sara Pennypacker’s “Pax” or Parry’s previous book, “A Wolf Called Wander.” Q Chris Saccheri is co-owner of Linden Tree Children’s Books in Los Altos. He can be emailed at csaccheri@ lindentreebooks.com.

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

Upfront PUBLIC HEALTH

Stanford vaccine expert: ‘They do look very safe’ Member of vaccine review panel says the vaccines bring hope but that millions more doses are needed

by Sue Dremann

A

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was the first COVID-19 vaccine to earn FDA approval.

“The supply chain might be an issue,” she said.

Maldonado, who is also a liaison to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, said Wednesday that she expected the CDC’s review of Moderna Inc.’s vaccine on Thursday, Dec. 17, to be more streamlined than it was for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

“If things go well tomorrow,

by Saturday or Sunday we could have the votes from the CDC and allocate the Moderna vaccine for Phase 1B health care workers. Shortly thereafter, in February, first responders and other essential workers could receive the vaccine,” she said.

More vaccines could be in the pipeline in 2021 beyond Pfizer and Moderna, she said. Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine clinical trials, which tested 30,000 people, including at Stanford, will be

completed at the end of this year and could be approved in early 2021.

AstraZeneca’s vaccine is also undergoing trials and could be available in 2021. Two others, by Novavax and Sanofi, are also in process. Technical issues with the Sanofi vaccine could delay the start of its trials until February, she said.

Maldonaldo said that, having extensively reviewed the data on the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the most remarkable thing she noticed is the companies’ transparency about their data.

Based on that data, the vaccines “do look very safe,” she said.

At Stanford, many of Maldonado’s colleagues are excited about the vaccines. They think the vaccines are “an opportunity to really stem this pandemic,” she said. Q Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at sdremann@ paweekly.com.

Quelan To, left, the pharmacist in charge at Santa Clara County’s Public Health Pharmacy, and Jenifer Villanueva, a pharmacy technician, receive the first shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Santa Clara County on Dec. 15.

Vaccine (continued from page 5)

injuries or who live in care homes — along with immunizing staff who work with these extremely vulnerable residents.

Among the first to receive the shot was Dr. Doug Ota, chief of spinal cord injury services at the VA hospital. He said he was confident that the vaccine was both safe and effective and felt he could set an example for others by getting vaccinated early.

Patients with spinal cord injuries are at much higher risk of getting sick or dying from COVID-19, in part because their catastrophic injuries often lead to

7-day rolling average of new daily cases

People hospitalized with COVID-19

% of ICU beds available

In Santa Clara County

In Santa Clara County

In Santa Clara County

600

1200

558

1,086 N/A* 500

1000

25

20 403

24

19 17

400

800

691

600

300

514

200

349

0

10

5

0

0 11/17 11/24 12/1

*Data for the prior week is still preliminary

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

12/8 12/15

11/17 11/24 12/1

12/8 12/15

Source: Santa Clara County Public Health Department

Kristin Brown

12/8 12/15

14

155

100

200

11/17 11/24 12/1

14

15 287 213

400

Courtesy County of Santa Clara

Courtesy © BioNTech SE 2020, all rights reserved

s initial shipments of COVID-19 vaccines arrive throughout the United States this week and in coming weeks, Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a Stanford professor who serves on the Western States review panel for the COVID-19 vaccines, envisions the general population could receive the vaccine by spring or summer.

Under the federal rollout plan, Phase 1A calls for the country’s estimated 20 million health care workers and 3 million residents of long-term-care facilities to be vaccinated; Phase 1B covers essential workers; Phase 1C will cover the roughly 80 million people who are 65 years and older with underlying medical conditions that make them vulnerable for severe illness from the coronavirus.

Maldonado said that while the nation’s current allocation of 100 million doses of the vaccines might seem plentiful, “We do not think that is enough.”

If the nation’s nearly 330 million people are to receive two doses each, which is necessary to reach 94% or 95% immunity, the country would need about three quarters of a billion doses.

Not everyone would want the vaccine, Maldonado noted, but the point is that they should be able to get it should they choose to.

The government is currently in negotiations to purchase more doses. Any hitches that might slow availability of the vaccines would likely be on the manufacturing side.

impaired breathing, Ota said. The muscles required to push air out of the lungs are either paralyzed or cease to work, exacerbating an already dangerous respiratory disease.

Ota said he didn’t see his immunization as a green light to return to normal and that public health precautions are going to remain a reality for some time.

“It’s not a sudden pivot to life completely the way it was before COVID,” he said. “We still need to be protective; we still need to ensure that they didn’t have a concurrent exposure at the time they got their vaccination.”

Also receiving a dose of the vaccine was Karen Hopkins, a coordinator for the hospital’s home care program for spinal injury patients. In normal times, her job takes her inside patients’ homes to check on them, monitor their injuries and keep close tabs on those recently discharged. But over the last nine months, all of that was thrown out the window.

“Since the COVID restrictions started, we have not been able to see any of our patients in the home setting,” Hopkins said.

Telehealth has kept a semblance of home care going this year, but Hopkins said it’s hardly the same thing. She can observe wounds over a video meeting, but it’s hard to get a full assessment unless it’s done in-person. While the vaccine means she could very well return to patients’ homes, Hopkins said it’s uncertain when she’ll get the all-clear.

The first round of vaccines will also be available to Palo Alto (continued on next page)

Upfront PUBLIC HEALTH

Turnaround times for COVID tests are lagging around the state Stanford Health Care reports that equipment failures have slowed process

by Barbara Feder Ostrov/CalMatters

S

even days a week, San Francisco’s public health laboratory operates until midnight. Workers are exhausted, their director says. And still, the COVID-19 specimens keep coming in their little plastic tubes, with test results expected quickly to help manage California’s alarming surge of infections.

The lab was set up earlier in the pandemic to handle 700 COVID-19 specimens each day; now it’s receiving about 2,000, said the lab’s director, Godfred Masinde.

“We’ve been given more than we can handle,” said Masinde, who also is president of the California Association of Public Health Laboratory Directors.

Problems with COVID testing are resurfacing across California as turnaround times for test results climb once again after a summer of frustrating delays. Many labs have been slammed with record numbers of specimens as public health organizations expanded test sites and hours and Californians flocked to get tested before Thanksgiving.

The average turnaround time for test results has risen by 30% from the first week in November to the last week, or from 1.3

(continued from previous page)

VA’s senior care home residents, who are among the most vulnerable to the disease. Santa Clara

days to 1.7 days, according to state public health data.

That may not sound like much, but public health experts say it’s critical for COVID-19 test results to be reported within one to two days because longer delays mean that infected people may unknowingly spread the disease to others before they can isolate at home.

State health officials monitor test turnaround times closely, publicly posting a dashboard that tracks performance of the many commercial, hospital and government labs that collectively process up to 300,000 specimens every day. In the last week of November, 78% of test results were returned within two days on average, compared to 89% in the first week.

“In the middle of our surge, our testing capacity is getting stretched again even though we have doubled our capacity,” said Dr. Erica Pan, former acting state health officer said last week at a UCSF COVID-19 briefing. “Slow testing turnaround is happening again.”

California has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to boost the state’s laboratory capacity, contracting with commercial labs and building a massive new PerkinElmer laboratory in

southern California. That lab, in Valencia, was supposed to help ease the burden on other labs, but it’s still getting up and running. In the last week of November, nearly a third of its tests took three or more days to process and return results, despite the 24- to 48-hour turnaround mandated in its contract.

However, some large commercial labs like Curative, in San Dimas, are managing to keep up with the onslaught of specimens.

Others, including giants LabCorp and Quest, are buckling under the strain. In the first week of November, those two labs returned results for 90% and 72% of their tests, respectively, within two days. But by the end of the month, as their caseloads rose by about onethird, LabCorp was only able to return 37% of its tests within two days; Quest reported only 31% of tests within two days.

Quest declined to discuss its California lab but noted it returns test results nationally within two to three days for all patients and within two days for priority patients. A LabCorp spokesperson said the company is returning COVID-19 test results within the two to four days specified on its website. She said it is seeing

County data shows that COVID-19 cases in skilled nursing facilities make up only 5% of the total cases but account for 44% of the deaths. Those receiving the

inoculation at the Palo Alto facility did so voluntarily through an interest form sent out prior to the arrival of the vaccine.

Photo courtesy Federica Armstrong

Staff members of the VA Palo Alto Health Care System are briefed on coronavirus vaccine procedures and possible side effects before receiving their first injections.

A race against the clock Managing the Pfizer vaccine is difficult and cumbersome to say the least. The vaccine comes in 975-dose pods, often referred to as “pizza boxes,” and must be kept at -70 degrees Celsius. Part of the reason the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System got an early start with the vaccine is that it has specialized freezers able to keep all those doses at a stable temperature. Pharmacy staff have a special alert system in the event the temperature ever falls out of the correct range.

But once it’s time to crack open the freezer, a whole new set of logistical challenges pop up, Robertson said. Pulling out the doses starts a rigid six-hour timer to administer the vaccine to patients, meaning it’s a race to thaw the vaccine, gently shake it, dilute it and draw it into syringes.

Any no-show vaccine recipients must be replaced by another eligible patient, who will be called to come in to ensure none of the

Average test turnaround time Number of days for state’s private, hospital or government labs to return COVID-19 results 3.6 3.4 3.2 3.0 2.8 2.6 2.4 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0

Weeks from May 31 to Nov. 28 Source: California Department of Public Health

a nationwide rise in demand and plans to expand capacity.

Kaiser Permanente’s southern California laboratory, which processed all of its roughly 50,000 COVID-19 tests within two days in the first week of November, saw its caseload more than triple by the end of that month. Its ability to return results declined sharply as a result.

In contrast, the HMO’s Northern California laboratory was not as hard-pressed. The two laboratories serve only Kaiser patients.

“The level of surge we’re

vaccine is wasted.

The rush is so significant that, when the vaccine is transported to the hospital’s facilities in Menlo Park and Livermore, it’s going to need a police escort with the lights flashing to rush through traffic with Robertson on board.

‘I am ecstatic about this. This is the beginning of hopefully the end of this global pandemic.’

— Kelly Robertson, VA Palo Alto’s chief of pharmacy services “This is a logistics nightmare,” she said. “I’ve been here 28 years and I have never dealt with something that has to be so highly, highly coordinated.”

Santa Clara County will receive a grand total of 17,550 doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week, with many hospitals getting their fair share on Friday. Stanford will be receiving 3,900 doses and El Camino Hospital will be receiving

seeing now risks overwhelming the state’s ability to keep up with testing and treatment,” said Lisa Arellanes, a Kaiser Permanente executive who oversees the labs. “That’s why it’s so critical to take action now to slow the spread of the virus, including practicing physical distancing, avoiding travel and gatherings, washing hands and wearing masks.”

Stanford Health Care’s laboratory also has struggled. Although it was able to process (continued on page 34)

975, and both are expected to begin administering the vaccine to frontline health care workers on Saturday.

Though the initial focus is on health care workers, residents of skilled nursing facilities will be offered the vaccine through retail pharmacies Walgreens and CVS beginning the week of Dec. 28, according to county health officials. Larger shipments of a second COVID-19 vaccine developed by Moderna are also expected to be available next Tuesday, following tentative approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The Pfizer vaccine has been deemed safe and effective for people over the age of 16, including those who previously contracted COVID-19. Those who have a history of severe allergic reactions to vaccines or injectable therapies may have an adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine and are asked to stay at the vaccination site for at least 15 minutes for observation. Q Staff Writer Kevin Forestieri reports for the Mountain View Voice, a sister publication of the Weekly. He can be reached at kforestieri@mv-voice.com.

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 18, 2020 • Page 33

Upfront

Turnaround

COVID-19 test turnaround times

(continued from page 33)

Data reported to the state of California, Nov. 29 to Dec. 5 Santa Clara Public Health Lab

Kaiser NorCal

Sutter Health

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center

Stanford Hospital and Clinics

Total tests

1,377

3,087

57,381

25,381

16,840

16,182

Within 1 day

44%

55%

48%

89%

73%

59%

Within 2 days

48%

35%

42%

10%

20%

28%

Within 3-4 days

6%

10%

9%

1%

5%

12%

Within 5 days

2%

0%

1%

0%

1%

0%

Total within 2 days

92%

90%

90%

99%

93%

87%

% change from prior period of 2-day results

0%

14%

24%

0%

42%

34%

Average turnaround time

6.4 days

1.5 days

1.7 days

<1 day

1.3 days

1.3 days

Source: California Department of Public Health

PUBLIC HEALTH

How the vaccine works Drug relies on messenger RNA to get body to produce antibodies

by Sue Dremann

T

Page 34 • December 18, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

scientific standards or the integrity of our vaccine evaluation process.”

Drug trials enrolled 37,586 participants in a randomized, placebo-controlled international study, the majority of whom are U.S. participants.

In all, 18,801 participants received the vaccine and 18,785 received a saline placebo. Researchers followed them for a median of two months after receiving the second dose.

The most commonly reported side effects of the vaccine, which typically lasted several days, were pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain and fever.

“More people experienced these side effects after the second dose than after the first dose, so it is important for vaccination providers and recipients to expect that there may be some side effects after either dose, but even more so after the second dose,” the FDA stated.

The researchers analyzed 36,523 of the study participants who did not have evidence of COVID-19 for seven days after the second dose.

Among these people, 18,198 had received the vaccine and the rest received a placebo.

Only eight participants in the vaccine group developed COVID-19 compared to 162 in the placebo group. Of these 170 cases, one in the vaccine group and three in the placebo group were classified as severe. Q

Nurse Laura Zimmerman receives her first injection of the newly developed coronavirus vaccine at the VA Hospital on Dec. 16.

Federica Armstrong

he Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that launched the first wave of inoculations across the globe uses a small piece of genetic material, called messenger RNA (mRNA), from the coronavirus to help the body protect itself.

This coronavirus mRNA is what instructs cells in the body to make the virus’ distinctive “spike” protein, which then triggers the immune system to react defensively by producing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Pfizer’s vaccine showed a 95% efficacy against the virus. It’s administered as a series of two doses, three weeks apart.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has noted there isn’t data to determine how long the vaccine will provide protection, nor is there evidence that the vaccine prevents transmission of the virus from person to person.

The FDA’s emergency authorization allows its distribution in the U.S. because of the dire emergency health crisis caused by the coronavirus, though it is not a final approval of the vaccine.

Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in the statement: “The vaccine’s known and potential benefits clearly outweigh its known and potential risks. ... Efforts to speed vaccine development have not sacrificed

Federica Armstrong

About the cover: Charles Davis, VA recreational specialist, gives two thumbs up after receiving his first injection of the newly developed coronavirus vaccine at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System on Dec. 16.

Photo by Federica Armstrong.

San Mateo Public Health Lab

Kristin Brown

virtually all of its samples within two days in early November, the lab could only return just over half of samples by the end of the month, according to state public health data.

Dr. Christina Kong, the lab’s medical director, said in a statement that the lab has experienced equipment failures and nationwide shortages of some of the supplies they need to process COVID-19 specimens. The lab is installing a new PerkinElmer system and other automated equipment to speed up its work, Kong said.

The pressure on labs across the state is only expected to intensify.

The long lines to get a COVID-19 test that Californians remember from the summer reappeared just before Thanksgiving as people sought pre-holiday tests, even though the state has worked to expand testing sites and hours.

State health officials say that the sheer number of tests is causing lab turnaround times to climb. They’re pinning their hopes on the new PerkinElmer public health lab, which is expected to handle up to 150,000 tests per day later in 2021, to ameliorate the lags.

But that’s not the only reason.

Labs have had to compete for scarce pipettes and other supplies needed to process tests.

Lab machines, not built to withstand round-the-clock operation, are failing, said San Francisco’s Godfred Masinde. And he’s worried about his people — the microbiologists and technicians who’ve worked overtime and without a real break for months on end, much like the overworked nurses and doctors in California’s hospitals. Masinde needs another two microbiologists, but they’re in short supply and government regulations mean a time-consuming hiring process, he said.

Still, Masinde said his lab is remodeling to accommodate new automated equipment provided by the state, including robots, to help process the evergrowing torrent of test samples.

He’s frustrated by the scramble, citing years of budget cutbacks and consolidation of California’s public health laboratories.

“You can see people are fatigued,” Masinde said. “But we are trying to cope.” Q CalMatters health care coverage is supported by grants from the Blue Shield of California Foundation, The California Health Care Foundation and the California Wellness Foundation.

Email Barbara Feder Ostrov at bfostrov@calmatters.org.

After receiving his first coronavirus vaccine injection, Dr. Jonathon Rose, director of Outpatient Psychology at the VA Palo Alto Spinal Cord Injury Clinic, waits for about 15 minutes to make sure that the vaccine does not provoke any side effects.

Upfront

Experience.

Integrity.

Knowledge.

Courtesy Dreamcatchers

Home has never been more important.

Helping buyers and sellers navigate their real estate needs during these challenging times.

Kevin Bac Itzep, now a ninth-grade Eastside Preparatory School student, celebrates his graduation from Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School and says thanks to DreamCatchers from his porch.

Holiday Fund (continued from page 7)

good idea to have one or two sessions during the year to have a little reunion.”

Frederick said the organization hopes to continue to build robust summer programs in the future, especially ones that will be in-person when the pandemic subsides, by seeking more funding. Lansberg said she hoped that she could expand the Project Rise program to also focus on rising middle school students.

“We know there’s a silent poverty in Palo Alto. That is the truth,” Frederick said. “We only reached out to our middle schoolers,

Across 1 Sluggish 5 Arm gesture done by kids graduating elementary school 8 Hosts in one’s apartment (remember that?)

13 The A in A.D. 14 Public radio host Glass 15 Early online newsgroup system 17 “The Caine Mutiny” novelist 18 ___ squared (circle formula) 19 Act as a go-between 20 Bygone laptop company’s fiscal year division?

23 “Bleh!”

25 “As Seen on TV” knife brand 26 Dinnerware collections 27 “Batman Forever” actor Kilmer 28 “Messenger” material 29 Talent for detail, maybe 32 “Call Me Maybe” singer Carly ___ Jepsen 33 General ballpark 35 It may be educated 37 “How does a company reserve a symbol to trade?” and “How does it differ from NYSE?” 44 Photographer Diane 45 Button alternative 46 Greek M’s 49 Long-running forensic drama with an upcoming reboot 50 Mineral spring 53 Airport posting 54 Catchall abbrs.

56 Largest moon of Saturn 58 Particle accelerator particle 59 “Me shooting 40% at the foul line is just God’s way to say nobody’s perfect,” for instance?

63 Playwright Beckett 64 Suffix for Gator or Power 65 Idaho neighbor 68 Midway through a migraine, e.g.

69 “In the Heights” Tony winner ___-Manuel Miranda

but we know there are problems beyond that.

We know the problem is in high school; we know the problem is in elementary school.

What we want to do is to continue reaching out to even more of that population.” Q

Carolyn Aarts Keddington

The Holiday Fund campaign to raise $400,000 for local nonprofit agencies serving families, kids and individuals in need is now in full swing. For more information about the campaign, go to page 30 of this edition. To donate online, go to siliconvalleycf.org/Paw-holiday-fund.

More information about DreamCatchers is available at dreamcatchersyouth.org.

Editorial Assistant Lloyd Lee can be emailed at llee@paweekly.com.

Realtor® 650.946.8122 carolyn.keddington@compass.com DRE 01490400 Compass is a real estate broker licensed by the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. License Number 01527235. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only and is compiled from sources deemed reliable Jts VBp bds JOOb yOoW OMà VBbUOp Wb loWKOÛ KdbMWsWdbÛ pB_O do zWsVMoBzB_ aB| JO aBMO zWsVdts bdsWKOà !d psBsOaObs Wp aBMO Bp sd accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footage are approximate.

“J’Accuse!” — they’re in there. by Matt Jones

This week’s SUDOKU

Answers on page 12.

Answers on page 12.

www.sudoku.name

11 No divider, they 12 Spanish currency pre-euro 16 Briefly stated 21 Ball club VIP 22 Leicester lineup 23 “Kindergarten Cop” director Reitman 24 Model/actor Delevingne 30 “For real?” response 31 ME zone, in winter 34 Holly Hunter, in “The Piano” 35 Astronaut Grissom 36 “Pretty sneaky, ___” (Connect Four ad line) 38 Storyline progression 39 Many Super Bowl MVPs 40 Capital at over 9,000 feet 41 Like 50/50 odds 42 Alphabet where X is “X-ray”

43 Bridge section 46 Argentine soccer superstar Lionel 47 1960s United Nations secretary general 48 Dish prepared with garlic butter and white wine 50 Google gaming service as of 2019 51 Inventor’s concern 52 “Allergic to Water” singer DiFranco 55 Fledgling pigeon 57 Rome home 60 Royally named liner, briefly 61 Arm bone (connected to the leg bone?)

62 Force to leave 66 Objective 67 Letters on British battleships

70 Adult ___ (Cartoon Network offshoot) 71 Leg bone (connected to the arm bone?)

72 China’s Sun ___-sen 73 Male cats Down 1 Ocelot foot 2 See 4-Down 3 Sonic the Hedgehog’s echidna friend 4 With 2-Down, interviewee for John Lennon retrospectives 5 ___ Dots (cryogenic ice cream brand) 6 “thank u, next” singer Grande 7 Hires competitor 8 Platform for the “Animaniacs” reboot 9 Bhutan’s continent 10 Retailer that filed for bankruptcy in 2018

© 2020 Matt Jones

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