In a fix · • Additional +/- 3,705 sq.ft. includes: detached 3-car garage, 837, attached 1-car garage 339, cover loggia, 1867, balcony/terrace, 591, covered breezeway, 71. • Sweeping

w w w.Pa l oA l t oOn l i n e .c om

Dog flu strikes Palo Alto area

Page 5

Pulse 11 Spectrum 12 Transitions 14 Movies 30 Home 35 Puzzles 43

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Vol. XXXIX, Number 18 February 2, 2018Palo Alto

INSIDE THIS ISSUEISSUE

Rising construction costs create high anxiety for city of Palo Alto

Page 24

In a fix

Arts Songwriter, playwright Stew takes on messy heroes Page 29

Seniors VA studies connect exercise and the brain Page 31

Sports M-A favored in CCS girls wrestling tournament Page 45

Page 2 • February 2, 2018 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

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Palo Alto school board members directed staff on Tuesday to begin talks

with Santa Clara County about a collaborative proposal to build affordable housing for teachers in Palo Alto, with some cau-tion about the project’s financial feasibility.

Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian proposed last week, with the unanimous support of his colleagues, that a piece of county-owned land at 231 Grant Ave. be developed into 60 to 120 units of affordable housing for lo-cal teachers. He has stressed that the project would require “in-novative” funding partnerships, and is looking to the Palo Alto school district as well as Moun-tain View Whisman, Mountain View Los Altos, Los Altos and the Foothill-De Anza Commu-nity College districts and local cities as potential partners.

While most Palo Alto board members signaled their support for the idea of adding more hous-ing for teachers in an increasingly expensive market, some ques-tioned how school districts would actually help pay for a develop-ment. The Palo Alto district was advised by attorneys not to issue a bond for teacher housing, which might technically not be consid-ered school facilities, staff said.

“The happy case is that con-struction costs would produce, in the presence of free land, a financial situation that wouldn’t require much in the way of con-tributions in addition to that,” said board President Ken Daub-er. “Otherwise it’s going to be hard to see how we can make

significant contributions.”Simitian has estimated that

construction of a multifamily complex could cost $500,000 to $600,000 per unit.

Board members agreed to send a letter of support, as other school districts have done, but opted not to include wording about shar-ing costs.

Leadership from other districts and teachers’ unions, including Palo Alto, have already penned letters of support that describe the economic hardships teachers face as part of the “missing middle” — making too much to qualify for low-income housing but not enough to afford to rent or pur-chase homes in the city they work in. In Palo Alto, the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment was $3,080 at the end of 2017, accord-ing to ApartmentList.com.

Simitian argues that the pro-posed housing will help districts that are struggling to retain and attract teachers.

The “vast majority” of Palo Alto Unified teachers cannot live in the city, Palo Alto Educators Association Teri Baldwin wrote in a letter to the Board of Super-visors, and their often long com-mute “takes a toll on our teach-ers’ quality of life and decreases the value of their salaries.”

At a town hall meeting at Gunn High School last week, teachers described living with parents, in-laws or multiple roommates to afford to stay in the area, and increasingly long commutes that prevent them from attend-ing events or connecting with

(continued on page 9)

S eeking to significantly ramp up housing production, city of Palo

Alto planners are preparing to advance a package of zoning changes in the coming months with the goal of adopting them by the end of this year.

The proposed zoning revision is a central component of the city’s new Housing Work Plan, which the city’s Department of Planning and Community Environment released this week and the City Council is scheduled to discuss on Feb. 5.

The plan aims to address one of the council’s top priorities — the city’s severe housing shortage — and help the council reach the housing goals of its recently updated Comprehensive Plan.

As the work plan makes clear, meeting these goals and addressing the housing crisis will require dramatic action — including a roughly three-fold increase in housing production, when compared to recent years’.

One proposal would add new incentives for developers of high-density housing in areas served by public transit, including limited exceptions to the citywide 50-foot height limit. Other changes on the table for near-term implementation include: density bonuses for developments that offer 100 percent affordable housing; new incentives for residential development on properties that are identified in

the city’s Housing Element; and a requirement that developers with residential projects offer a “minimum density” of eight units per acre in districts zoned RM-15 (multi-family residential). Today, these districts only have a maximum density of 15 units per acre.

City planners are also exploring zoning changes to promote

UpfrontLocal news, information and analysis

Palo Alto’s new Housing Work Plan proposes host of new programs

by Gennady Sheyner

To spur housing, city looks to ‘go big’ on zone changes


Vet Tech Anna Yanushkevich, right, and Tonia Duran, a vet tech in training, pet Coco, a golden-doodle, after Coco received the dog-flu vaccine at Mid-Peninsula Animal Hospital on Jan. 30.

Ve

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HEALTH

Two forms of canine influ-enza have rapidly spread up the San Francisco peninsula

in the last few weeks, prompting dog owners to pack veterinary offices for vaccinations against the highly contagious virus and cancel dog-care and play-dates.

Cases of canine H3N2 (which is NOT the same as the human strain) and H3N8 viruses began appearing in San Jose in early January and spread to Palo Alto and southern San Mateo County about three weeks ago, veterinarians said. Dogs develop similar symptoms to humans, including fever, cough, sneez-ing, lethargy, diminished appe-tite and nasal and eye discharge.

Surprisingly, dogs can be sick for up to three weeks. In about

90 percent of cases the symp-toms are mild, but 10 percent of cases can be severe or progress to pneumonia or death.

The disease has spread with surprising swiftness.

“It was in south San Jose one week and the next week it was on our doorstep,” said Dr. Ja-net Lowery, co-owner of Mid-Peninsula Animal Hospital in Menlo Park. Her hospital has had four to five confirmed cases through DNA testing, she said.

The disease is concerning because both strains are new in dogs, who have no immunity against them, she said.

The H3N8 virus originated in horses and has been known to infect them for at least 40 years, according to the U.S. Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention. In 2004, it mutated and jumped to dogs, initially infecting grey-hounds. Scientists believe it spread among dogs in kennels and shelters.

The canine H3N2 virus, which is currently the most prevalent in the Bay Area, initially infected birds and was first detected in dogs in South Korea, China and Thailand in 2007, according to the CDC. An outbreak in Chica-go in April 2015 sickened more than 1,000 dogs and killed five.

Many local dog owners are heeding veterinarians’ warnings to get their pets vaccinated and to refrain from frequenting dog parks, groomers, and day-care

Dog owners rush to get pets vaccinatedVeterinary hospitals, dog-care facilities hit by spread of virus

by Sue Dremann


School board weighs in on teacher housing

Proposed project would build 60 to 120 units in Palo Altoby Elena Kadvany

EDUCATION


QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Around TownLIQUID ASSETS ... Armed with paperwork, a Double Gulp cup from 7-Eleven and a handful of sugar packets, local dentist Ken Horowitz came to City Hall on Monday to make a fresh pitch for a soda tax. Palo Alto, he told the City Council, should follow the examples of Berkeley, Albany, Oakland and San Francisco and move ahead with such a tax, which would be levied on distributors and fund nutrition programs and dental subsidies for low-income residents. To make his pitch more vivid, Horowitz brought the council 17 packets of sugar: the amount that he said it takes to make 20 fluid ounces of Coca-Cola (alas, he couldn’t get a hold of the 50 packets necessary to demonstrate what it takes to fill a Double Gulp). Over the past month, Horowitz has been researching other ordinances, crunching numbers and lobbying the council to take up the cause. Horowitz said that not a single dentist in Palo Alto takes Denti-Cal (the dental program for low-income residents under Medi-Cal) because the subsidies dentists receive are generally lower than the cost of providing service. The revenues from the new sugar-beverage tax, he said, can remedy this by providing stipends to those who accept the insurance. “We can do a lot of good in the area of tooth decay,” Horowitz told the council on Jan. 22, when he first introduced his proposal. This week, he renewed his pitch and asked the council to produce a “colleagues’ memo” that would pave the way for placing the tax on the November ballot. Horowitz proposed taxing sugary beverages at a rate of 1 cent per fluid ounce, as Albany and Berkeley do.

MOST IMPROVED ... Palo Alto redeemed itself in the American Lung Association’s “State of Tobacco Control” report this year by jumping from failing grades to the top class of municipalities with policies aimed at preventing and reducing tobacco use. The city’s overall tobacco grade jumped from a D to an A. It turned its F in the category of “smoke-free housing” (which covers apartments, condominiums and common areas) into an A through a series of smoking restrictions, including a December 2016 ban on smoking at multi-unit residences.

Under the same law, landlords and condominium sellers were required to provide tenants and buyers written notices of the smoking ban. The city also earned an A grade in the category “reducing sales of tobacco products” — an improvement that can be attributed to the council’s recent the adoption of a tobacco-sellers registry administered by Santa Clara County. Palo Also addressed five of six challenges in the “Emerging Issues” category, losing a point for not minimizing the pack size of cigars. While smoking rates are declining statewide, tobacco use continues to be the “leading cause of preventable death and disease, killing nearly 40,000 Californians each year,” Vanessa Marvin, vice president of of public policy and advocacy for the association’s California division, said in a press release.

SPEAKING OUT ... Stanford University alumna and singer K.Flay, otherwise known as Kristine Flaherty didn’t walk away with a Grammy at Sunday’s award show in New York City, but took time after the annual event to acknowledge the inequality many women face in their careers. The 32-year-old was nominated for best engineered non-classical album for her latest record “Every Where Is Some Where,” released in April; and best rock song for “Blood In The Cut.” She was among the female nominees interviewed by music online magazine Pitchfork who weighed in on the continuing conversation surrounding sexual misconduct, a subject of widespread media attention in recent months across multiple industries. Flaherty became involved in the issue through the Time’s Up movement, a celebrity-backed initiative launched this month in Hollywood against sexual misconduct. “On a day-to-day basis, I don’t experience this (harassment) because I built my team. I picked them with intention, to say, ‘I want to have people of color and women included even if means I have to look harder or it’s a less conventional search process,’” she said. “And I think it’s honestly a fundamental cultural shift inside major label buildings about why and how people should advance, or even be let in. I think it is a top-down change.”

If we stayed home that long, we’d all go crazy.

—Suzanne Attenborough, dog owner, on the advice to keep one’s canines away from other dogs for a month after getting the first flu shot. See story on page 5.

450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306

(650) 326-8210

The Palo Alto Weekly (ISSN 0199-1159) is published every Friday by Embarcadero Media, 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306, (650) 326-8210. Periodicals postage paid at Palo Alto, CA and additional mailing offices. Adjudicated a newspaper of general circulation for Santa Clara County. The Palo Alto Weekly is delivered free to homes in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, East Palo Alto, to faculty and staff households on the Stanford campus and to portions of Los Altos Hills. If you are not currently receiving the paper, you may request free delivery by calling 326-8210. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302. ©2016 by Embarcadero Media. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. The Palo Alto Weekly is available on the Internet via Palo Alto Online at: www.PaloAltoOnline.com

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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 Elizabeth Lorenz (223-6534)

Assistant Sports Editor Glenn Reeves (223-6521)

Spectrum Editor Renee Batti (223-6528)

Express & Digital Editor Jamey Padojino (223-6524)

Staff Writers Sue Dremann (223-6518), Elena Kadvany (223-6519), Gennady Sheyner (223-6513)

Staff Photographer/Videographer Veronica Weber (223-6520)

Editorial Assistant/Intern Coordinator Christine Lee (223-6526)

Editorial Interns Marley Arechiga, Fiona Kelliher, Sarah Klearman

Contributors Chrissi Angeles, Dale F. Bentson, Mike Berry, Carol Blitzer, Peter Canavese, Yoshi Kato, Chris Kenrick, Jack McKinnon, Alissa Merksamer, Sheryl Nonnenberg, Kaila Prins, Ruth Schechter, Jay Thorwaldson

ADVERTISING

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

Multimedia Advertising Sales Adam Carter (223-6573), Elaine Clark (223-6572), Connie Jo Cotton (223-6571), V.K. Moudgalya (223-6586), Caitlin Wolf (223-6508)

Real Estate Advertising Sales Neal Fine (223-6583), Rosemary Lewkowitz (223-6585)

Legal Advertising Alicia Santillan (223-6578)

ADVERTISING SERVICES

Advertising Services Lead Blanca Yoc (223-6596)

Sales & Production Coordinators Diane Martin (223-6584), Toni Villa (223-6582)

DESIGN

Design & Production Manager Kristin Brown (223-6562)

Senior Designers Linda Atilano, Paul Llewellyn

Designers Rosanna Kuruppu, Talia Nakhjiri, Doug Young

EXPRESS, ONLINE AND VIDEO SERVICES

Online Operations Coordinator Kevin Legarda (223-6597)

BUSINESS

Payroll & Benefits Zach Allen (223-6544)

Business Associates Cherie Chen (223-6543), Suzanne Ogawa (223-6541)

ADMINISTRATION

Courier Ruben Espinoza

EMBARCADERO MEDIA

President William S. Johnson (223-6505)

Vice President Michael I. Naar (223-6540)

Vice President & CFO Peter Beller (223-6545)

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

Director, Information Technology & Webmaster Frank A. Bravo (223-6551)

Marketing & Creative Director Shannon Corey (223-6560)

Major Accounts Sales Manager Connie Jo Cotton (223-6571)

Director, Circulation & Mailing Services Tatjana Pitts (223-6557)

Circulation Assistant Alicia Santillan

Computer System Associates Ryan Dowd, Chris Planessi

Upfront

Date: Wednesday February 7, 2018

Time: 5:00PM - 7:00 PM

Location: Palo Alto Elks Lodge

4249 El Camino Real

Palo Alto, CA 94306

FEES/ADMISSION:Free for Member

$10 for Non-Member

Four City Chamber Expo

Sponsored by:

Last year we had a Tri-City Expo, this year we have a Quad-City Expo! This is a collaboration with Los Altos, Mountain View

and Sunnyvale. The goal of the Four Chamber Expo is to provide exhibitors with a cost-effective venue to create new

business introductions, as well as attract fresh clients.

In addition to business exhibits, the Four Chamber Expo will offer raffle prizes, hors d’oeuvres and beverages.

The Four City Chamber Expo is open to the public.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETINGS AND PUBLIC HEARING ON THE CITY

OF PALO ALTO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM

The City of Palo Alto Human Relations Commission Se-lection Committee will hold a Public Meeting on Feb-ruary 15, 2018 to review CDBG funding applications submitted for Fiscal Year 2018-2019. The Selection Com-mittee members will collectively review, discuss, and make a recommendation for each application. The Public Meeting will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. in the Council Confer-ence Room, Ground Floor, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California.

The City of Palo Alto Human Relations Commission (HRC) will hold a Public Hearing on March 8, 2018 to review the proposed CDBG funding allocations recom-mended by the Selection Committee. The HRC will make recommendations to the City of Palo Alto Finance Committee. The Public Hearing will be held at 7:00 p.m., or as soon as possible thereafter, in the Community Room, 1st Floor, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California.

Upcoming Public Hearings for the CDBG program at meetings of the City of Palo Alto Finance Committee and the Palo Alto City Council will be announced soon.

ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against in-dividuals with disabilities. To request accommodations to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn more about the City’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), please contact the City’s ADA Coordinator at 650.329.2550 (voice) or by emailing [email protected].


Upfront

T he Palo Alto school board approved on Tuesday a set of requests for Stanford

University to consider in its gen-eral use permit (GUP) application, including land for a new elemen-tary school and more on-campus housing to accommodate the uni-versity’s population growth.

The letter, which will be sent to Santa Clara County as part of a public comment period on the GUP’s draft environmental-impact report, asks that Stanford move a potential school site identified in its plan to a different location on the northeast side of campus.

A new neighborhood school is necessary to accommodate a planned influx in Stanford faculty and staff and prevent further traf-fic problems, according to the dis-trict. The two Palo Alto Unified elementary schools that currently serve Stanford students, Escon-dido and Nixon, are at capacity. To have new students attend Palo Alto Unified campuses farther away would increase traffic at peak hours, the letter states.

Opening a new school on the university’s campus “is the only solution that preserves reasonable school-enrollment size and avoids the very poor alternatives either making enrollment at Escon-dido/Nixon larger or dispensing with the value of a neighborhood school and creating an unaccept-able travel burden for parents and students,” the letter states.

Stanford has proposed build-ing 2.275 million net new square feet of academic buildings, 3,150 housing units and 40,000 net new square feet of child care centers between 2018 and 2035. Of the planned housing, 1,700 are for un-dergraduates students, 900 units are for graduates (mostly singles or couples) and 550 for faculty and staff, according to the university.

The letter argues that more on-campus housing will be necessary to prevent Stanford from purchas-ing residential properties in Palo Alto to lease to faculty and staff — properties that would be tax-exempt. This would have a “nega-tive impact” on the school district,

which relies heavily on property tax revenue, the letter states.

“The university should be re-quired to provide additional on-site housing to accommodate the full population increase,” the let-ter states.

The board also requests that Stanford commit to not seeking exemptions for new developments under the new general use permit that would house students attend-ing Palo Alto Unified schools.

The board is asking Stanford to more directly consider the impact of its proposed expansion on the district. If the university realizes more than 550 family housing units will be necessary to accom-modate growth, for example, the district requests that school capac-ity be a “formal part of the discus-sion and consideration.”

The board approved the letter 4-0, with board President Ken Dauber, whose wife is employed by Stanford, recusing himself.

Staff Writer Elena Kadvany can be emailed at [email protected].

Board seeks new school, more campus housing in Stanford growth plan

Members ask university to consider impact of proposed expansion on districtby Elena Kadvany

EDUCATION

CITY COUNCIL ... The council plans to meet for its annual retreat to discuss the latest National Citizen Survey and adopt its 2018 priorities and performance indicators. The retreat will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3, at Mitchell Park Community Center, 3700 Middlefield Road.

CITY COUNCIL ... The council plans to meet in a closed session to discuss the status of its labor negotiations with various labor unions. The council will then review the proposed Housing Work Plan; consider modifications to the Evergreen Park-Mayfield Residential Preferential Parking program; and discuss next steps for funding the city’s contribution for the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo reconstruction project. The closed session will begin at 6 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 5. The regular meeting will immediately follow in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 250 Hamilton Ave.

COUNCIL FINANCE COMMITTEE ... The committee plans to meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 6, in the Community Meeting Room at City Hall, 250 Hamilton Ave. The agenda wasn’t available by press deadline.

BOARD OF EDUCATION ... The school board is tentatively scheduled to meet for a retreat from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 6, at the district office, 25 Churchill Ave. The agenda wasn’t available by press deadline.

UTILITIES ADVISORY COMMISSION ... The commission plans to meet at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 7, in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 250 Hamilton Ave. The agenda wasn’t available by press deadline.

HISTORIC RESOURCES BOARD ... The board is scheduled to meet for its annual retreat, in which it plans to discuss the Certified Local Government Annual Report, the year-end board assessment, CEQA reviews and other topics. The retreat will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 8, in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 250 Hamilton Ave.

HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION ... The commission plans to meet at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 8, in the Community Meeting Room at City Hall, 250 Hamilton Ave. The agenda wasn’t available by press deadline.

Public AgendaA preview of Palo Alto government meetings next week


and boarding facilities until the pet has received the two-part vaccination and its body has cre-ated immunity — in all, a period of more than a month.

But staying away from shared spaces can be difficult for some owners and pets.

“If we stayed home that long, we’d all go crazy,” dog owner Suzanne Attenborough said at Mitchell Park on Tuesday. On the warm, sunny afternoon, canines shared saliva-covered balls and water dishes and romped together on the grass. Attenborough’s dogs, 6-year-old Wendell, a mellow golden retriever, and Kimberly, an 8-year-old white Labrador retriev-er, had only had their first shots.

Cheyenne, a 2 1/2-year-old yel-low Labrador retriever, chased one of the dozen soggy tennis balls strewn around the play area. His owner, Mary Ann Cusenza, said he has had his shots, but he has not completed the entire waiting period.

“I was quite worried about it,” Cusenza said of the flu.

Still, she weighed the risk of not waiting out the last two weeks after the booster shot versus not exercis-ing or socializing her pet. She and the other dog owners said they feel fairly safe at the Mitchell Park dog run because they all know each oth-er, and everyone is responsible about

not bringing sick pets to the park.Still, dog flu concerns are put-

ting a damper on play time.“It’s a gorgeous day and at 4:30,

it’s prime time, but it’s under-populated here. We have six dogs here; normally we have 25 to 30,” said Jo Ann Mandinach, who was at the park with her frisky black poodle, 11-year-old Rico.

Mandinach said she hasn’t taken Rico for his flu vaccinations despite the warnings. She doesn’t get a flu shot for herself and doesn’t get the flu. Her partner, who does get the shot, still gets sick. Rico is a healthy dog despite his age, so she isn’t con-cerned that he would become very ill if he did catch the virus.

But veterinarians said the virus can spread when dogs sniff each other, nuzzle, lick or share water, food and toys — even when dogs seem healthy.

“Canine influenza has some of the highest degree of virus shedding prior to when dogs show symptoms. The fact that they can be contagious prior to showing clinical symptoms is a bit scary,” Mid-Peninsula Ani-mal Hospital’s Lowery said.

Humans can spread the disease to pets if they have come in con-tact with a dog who has the illness. Dog flu can contaminate clothing, shoes and other objects. The virus stays live for 24 to 48 hours.

The disease is significantly affecting veterinary clinics and hospitals, where veterinarians and staff must wear surgical caps,

gowns, booties and gloves. Each time they see a new pet, the doctor and staff must discard the paper coverings and disinfect the exam room with bleach, Lowery said.

Pet clinics are being inundated with calls and are busy with vac-cination appointments.

Mid-Peninsula has so far held five vaccination clinics, and they are booked for every 10 minutes, she said.

Dr. Brennen McKenzie, a vet-erinarian at Adobe Animal Hospi-tal in Los Altos, said the hospital’s Los Gatos office has had drive-by vaccine clinics where pets are met and examined in the client’s vehicle before given an injection.

At the Los Altos office, dogs won’t get in the door without a parking-lot exam. Sick animals can be treated in an isolated room or housed in a quarantined area if they are hospitalized, he said.

Adobe Hospital has confirmed 13 cases with lab tests.

“But there are more we think that are unconfirmed because their owners have declined to have the lab tests done. I know for sure of four cases that have required hospitalization, with some having pneumonia. They are mostly older dogs and puppies,” he said.

Alpine Animal Hospital in Mountain View has also seen cases, some of which have been confirmed by testing and others in which own-ers declined to do lab tests.

“We’ve had quite a few cases

coming in but no fatalities,” man-ager Stephanie Zeman said.

Tammy Steely, practice man-ager at Animal Hospital of Palo Alto, said the hospital has not had any cases of dog flu. But they have had an overwhelming num-ber of calls from concerned dog owners — more than 15 per day since the outbreak.

Worries over dog flu have af-fected other dog-related services. Animal Hospital of Palo Alto has a boarding facility, which has seen a decline in bookings since the outbreak, Steely said. No dogs are allowed unless they have had all of the injections.

Ashley Erens, assistant manag-er at dog day care facility A Dog’s Life in Palo Alto, said they have at least five cancellations each day.

“They are not coming in until the dogs have had both rounds of the shots,” she said.

A case confirmed Tuesday il-lustrates the need for vigilance, she noted. A dog had visited the facility after having its first shot, but he still came down with in-fluenza. He was two days from receiving the booster, she said.

“We have been cleaning every minute of the day with bleach and other cleaning supplies. We have been dousing the whole facility since early to mid-January,” she said. “We’ve emailed all of the par-ents so they can be hyper-vigilant, and we’ve deep cleaned the one room where that dog was.”

Dog grooming facilities are also seeing some deferred business.

“No two ways about it. In the last couple of weeks we have had some cancellations,” said groomer Carol O’Connell of Alexander’s

Grooming Salon in Palo Alto.“We haven’t had any instances

of dog flu. We can only hope people are honest and realistic with their dogs,” she said. “We are hoping it will come and go very quickly. We are using lots of disinfectant.”

O’Connell said the last commu-nicable dog disease she saw to rival canine influenza was decades ago when canine parvovirus broke out.

Parvovirus appeared in 1978, causing a widespread epidemic in dogs of all ages because, like ca-nine influenza, it was a new virus that no dogs had been exposed to before, according to the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.

Most flu viruses are species-specific and therefore aren’t a threat to other animals or humans, veterinarians said. But H3N2 dog flu virus has been reported to in-fect cats, which so far have devel-oped mild symptoms. There isn’t a vaccine for felines, however.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, because the influenza virus constantly mu-tates, it is possible canine influen-za could change to infect humans, although that is not the case now. Human infections with new influ-enza viruses (such as avian and swine flu), against which the hu-man population has little immuni-ty, are concerning, the CDC noted. They could create a pandemic, so the CDC is monitoring both canine influenza viruses and other animal influenza closely. But researchers think dog flu poses a low threat to people, according to the CDC.

Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at [email protected].

Upfront

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Dog flu(continued from page 5)

City Council (Jan. 29)Finance: The council accepted the Fiscal Year 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and approved various planning amendments. Yes: UnanimousSouthgate: The council approved the expansion of the Southgate Residential Preferential Parking program to include the west side of El Camino Real and directed staff to seek approval from Caltrans for the change. Yes: UnanimousADU: The council approved revisions to the city’s ordinance on accessory dwelling units to ensure compliance with state law. Yes: DuBois, Filseth, Fine, Kniss, Kou, Scharff, Tanaka, Wolbach No: Holman

Board of Education (Jan. 30)Dyslexia: The board waived its two-meeting rule and approved a resolution in support of educators and families in addressing the needs of students with dyslexia. Yes: UnanimousStanford GUP: The board approved a comment letter in response to Stanford University’s General Use Permit (GUP) application. Yes: Baten Caswell, Collins, DiBrienza, Godfrey Recused: DauberTeacher housing: The board directed staff to engage with county staff on a proposal to build teacher housing in Palo Alto and to write a letter expressing support for doing so. Yes: Baten Caswell, DiBrienza, Dauber, Godfrey Abstain: CollinsGoals:The board heard updates from staff on progress on the district’s 2017-18 goals. Action: None

Planning and Transportation Commission (Jan. 31)Workforce district: The commission approved an ordinance creating a “workforce housing combining district.” Yes: Alcheck, Gardias, Lauing, Monk, Riggs, Waldfogel No: Summa2755 El Camino Real: The commission recommended approving a proposed 57-unit housing complex at 2755 El Camino Real. Yes: Alcheck, Gardias, Lauing, Monk, Riggs, Waldfogel Recused: Summa

Architectural Review Board (Feb. 1)620 Emerson St: The board considered a proposal to demolish a single-story building and construct a two-story 4,256-square-foot commercial building for the expansion of Nobu Restaurant and voted to continue the item to a future date. Yes: Unanimous

CityViewA round-up of Palo Alto government action this week


students after school.Data provided by the school

district shows that the number of teachers living in Palo Alto and neighboring cities has dropped slightly over the last three years.

In the 2015-16 school year, just 21 percent of Palo Alto Uni-fied’s 898 teachers lived in the city, down to 19 percent in 2016-17 and the same percentage this year. The total number of teach-ers employed has not changed significantly over those years.

Three years ago, about 32 per-cent of teachers lived in cities within roughly seven miles of Palo Alto, from Mountain View to Redwood City. That number dropped to 30 percent last year and 29 percent this year.

Data provided by Palo Alto Uni-fied in May 2016 showed that 70 percent of district teachers would earn salaries in excess of $100,000 for the 2016-17 school year. The county’s median income, accord-ing to U.S. Department of Hous-ing and Urban Development, is $74,200 for a single person and $113,349 for a family of four.

On Tuesday, board member Terry Godfrey urged staff to ap-proach this as a regional problem and to better understand where the most need is, which she said might not be in Palo Alto. She noted a Mountain View Whisman School District survey found that over one-third of employees there were paying more than 30 percent of their paycheck on housing costs.

“If we’re looking at a regional solution I’d rather partner with the other districts to figure out what the needs are ... (and) how we can best serve the students in the region versus just ourselves,” she said.

Board member Todd Collins offered a potential alternative, which he said he has also floated to Simitian’s office: The county could “ground lease” the property to the Palo Alto school district, which could then build its own housing project there.

Even if the project was built as proposed, units would be split amongst multiple districts, mean-ing the impact on one district’s needs could be small, Dauber noted. He suggested the district view the proposal as a catalyst to spur “our own thinking and ef-forts” rather than a “solution to the problem.”

“If we really are serious about

addressing teacher housing in the district then we need to look at things like where in the district do we have land here we can build,” Dauber said.

The board ultimately voted 4-0, with Collins abstaining, to direct staff to engage with the county on the issue.

County staff plan to return to Simitian and the Board of Super-visors with a financing plan no later than May, with the goal of having a partner or partners se-lected no later than August.

Simitian said he’s asking school districts to embrace tak-ing an “off-the-shelf approach” to a regional problem.

“This isn’t anything any one of us can do by ourselves, but if we all do our part, I think we can do something,” he told a full room of teachers, school leadership and housing advocates at the town hall meeting last week.

Staff Writer Elena Kadvany can be emailed at [email protected].

Upfront

Teacher(continued from page 5) Teachers live farther away now

More teachers live in San Jose and the East Bay than 10 years agoCities of residence % in 2007-08 % in 2017-18

Palo Alto area (Mountain View through Redwood City) 61.7 52.8

South Bay area (Sunnyvale through Los Gatos) 11.3 10.8

Midpeninsula area (San Carlos through Burlingame) 8.6 9.7

San Jose 6.5 12

San Francisco 5.8 4.1

East Bay (Fremont through Concord) 1.5 4.7

Other 4.6 5.9

Note: In 2007, 812 teachers were employed by Palo Alto Unified School District. In 2017-18, 898 teachers are working for the district. Source: Palo Alto Unified

CorrectionThe Jan. 26 story “Ravenswood in crisis” incorrectly described the Ravenswood school district’s negative ending bal-ances of $3.3 million in 2018-19 and $10 million in 2019-2020 in the district’s general fund, as estimated by the San Ma-teo County Office of Education. They are not “deficits” but rather “negative ending balances.” To request a clarification or correction, contact Editor Jocelyn Dong at [email protected], 650-326-8210 or P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto 94302.

‘If we’re looking at a regional solution I’d rather partner with the other districts to figure out what the needs are.’— Terry Godfrey, board member,

Palo Alto Unified


high-density multi-family housing in the downtown area, including a new “Pedestrian and Transit Oriented Development (PTOD) district” around University Avenue, according to the work plan. They are considering allowing housing at Stanford Shopping Center and along the El Camino Real frontage of the Stanford Research Park. And they are looking to create a new zoning district that would allow a mix of retail and residential space — but no office.

“The intent of these changes would be to encourage a mix of land uses that contributes to the vitality and walkability of commercial centers and transit corridors,” the plan states.

Many of the ideas in the work plan are a direct response to a memo that was penned last year by Councilman Adrian Fine, co-signed by Mayor Liz Kniss and Councilman Cory Wolbach, and unanimously endorsed last November by the council. The memo makes a case for more aggressive action to address the region’s housing crisis, which “causes significant economic, social and environmental harm.”

“While Palo Alto may never be a truly affordable place to live, the City Council has an obligation to current and future residents to explore policies that expand housing choices for people of different incomes, generations and needs,” states the memo, which then directs staff to come up with the plan for pursuing housing initiatives.

The new Housing Work Plan makes clear that reaching the council’s current housing targets will require a host of ambitious initiatives, including zoning reforms, direct subsidies by the city and partnership with other agencies and organization. The

city will need to “go big” on the zoning changes, the plan states, if it is to “increase Palo Alto’s rate of housing production in a meaningful way and see the amount of new housing envisioned as part of the recent Comprehensive Plan update.”

Between 1970 and 2010, the city permitted new housing at an average rate of about 160 units per year, according to the plan. But between 2011 and 2014, the rate dipped to just 64. Since then, the numbers have fluctuated dramatically. In 2015, the city permitted 246 net new housing units; in 2016, just 18. Last year, 80 units were permitted, according to the plan.

If the city were to stay on its current course, it would fall well short both of its own goals — as articulated in the new Comprehensive Plan — and of regional targets. The Regional Housing Needs Allocation calls for the city to develop 1,988 units at varying levels of affordability between 2015 and 2030. Meanwhile, the city’s updated Comprehensive Plan calls for policies that would result in a production of 3,545 to 4,420 new units between 2015 and 2030 — an annual rate of between 230 and 290 units.

It doesn’t help that the city is already playing catchup. Between 2015 and 2017, the city only permitted 118 units per year — well short of the mark. This means that to meet its mid-range Comprehensive Plan projections, it would need to ramp up production to about 303 units per year between 2018 and 2030.

The work plan also includes a host of new programs focused on below-market-rate housing. To encourage such housing, city planners are considering a zone change that would offer developers incentives such as reduced parking requirements, r e d u c e d l a n d s c a p i n g requirements and smaller fees,

according to the work plan.Currently, about 8.25 percent

of the city’s roughly 28,000 housing units are deed-restricted as below-market-rate housing, the plan states. Given the city’s sky-high housing costs, the plan makes a case for significantly boosting this number. It notes that the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Palo Alto was $3,500 in November 2017, while the median sale price for a single-family home was $3 million, according to Zillow.

“This contributes to both housing insecurity and overcrowding, as residents are forced to spend more and more to pay their rent/mortgage and find themselves living in smaller spaces with more roommates or family members,” the plan states. “These issues can affect income restricted and special needs populations, such as the elderly and disabled, more than the others, and the number of such households in Palo Alto has been increasing over time.”

The city has already taken some steps to stimulate more housing. Last year, the council voted to relax restrictions for building accessory-dwelling units, in some cases going beyond the requirements of new state laws designed to achieve the same objective. It also contributed funds to preserve the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park and signaled its intent to move ahead with a new “concept area plan” for a portion of the Ventura neighborhood that includes Fry’s Electronics. The commercial campus anchored by Fry’s is widely seen as one of the city’s most underdeveloped areas. As such, the council sees it as particularly promising for housing.

The next 12 months promise far more action on the housing front. In addition to moving ahead with the new zoning ordinance, staff is preparing to look at increasing the city’s “inclusionary (below-market-rate) requirements” for

new developments from 15 percent to 20 percent (which means 20 percent of the units in new developments would have to be comprised of affordable housing).

The council also signaled its commitment to addressing the housing crisis when it united behind the Fine memo last November. Newly elected Mayor Liz Kniss is particularly passionate about

the topic. Minutes after getting promoted to the mayor’s chair on Jan. 9, Kniss told the assembled crowd that the city is “way behind on providing housing” and emphasized the need to do more.

“Its beholden on us — on our integrity — to do that,” Kniss said.

Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at [email protected].

Upfront

Housing(continued from page 5)

1. Completion of ongoing projects and initiatives aimed to pro-duce more affordable and workforce housing.

2. Revision of zoning ordinances to encourage more diverse housing in appropriate locations.

3. Preparation of economic analyses needed to consider boost-ing inclusionary requirement of new developments from 15 percent to 20 percent; applying inclusionary requirement to new rental housing; and requiring fees or replacement housing if existing homes are eliminated.

4. Use of city’s affordable-housing funds to stimulate rehabilita-tion and development of new affordable housing.

5. Partnerships with agencies and organizations to assist under-served residents and to consider use of public land for afford-able housing.

Source: city of Palo Alto

Five elements of Palo Alto’s new Housing Work Plan

For implementation in 2018-19

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The city of Palo Alto is seeking to spur housing development with help from a new Housing Work Plan.

Surge in flu cases packs local hospitals Hospitals throughout Santa Clara County are grappling with an

unusually lethal flu season that has led to hospitalizations rivaling those of the 2009 “swine flu” pandemic. County health officials strongly recommend that anyone who hasn’t gotten a flu shot yet to get vaccinated. (Posted Feb. 1, 9:24 a.m.)

Plan for ‘car-light’ housing on wins supportA plan to build a 57-unit apartment building at one of Palo Al-

to’s most congested intersections received a big boost Wednesday night, when the city’s Planning and Transportation Commission signaled its support. (Posted Feb. 1, 12:25 a.m.)

Survey details residents’ hopes, frustrationsDespite widespread frustration about housing options and traf-

fic congestion, Palo Alto residents generally get good vibes when asked about their quality of life, a new survey shows. (Posted Jan. 31, 9:12 a.m.)

Palo Alto to challenge Edgewood Plaza rulingPalo Alto plans to appeal a court ruling that invalidated the

city’s fines against Sand Hill Property Company for failing to maintain an operational grocery store at Edgewood Plaza. (Posted Jan. 30, 2:16 a.m.)

Ford acquires Palo Alto startup AutonomicFord Motor Company announced Thursday that it has bought

Autonomic Technologies Inc. as part of its effort to develop self-driving ride services aimed at improving traffic and transportation nationwide. (Posted Jan. 26, 4:25 p.m.)

Palo Altan pleads ‘no contest’ to murder chargeA former Gunn High School student has pleaded no contest to

second-degree murder in the 2013 killing of an East Palo Alto man, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said Thursday. (Posted Jan. 25, 5:35 p.m.)

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

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

Go to www.PaloAltoOnline.com to sign up.


PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL

CIVIC CENTER, 250 HAMILTON AVENUEBROADCAST LIVE ON KZSU, FM 90.1

CABLECAST LIVE ON GOVERNMENT ACCESS CHANNEL 26*****************************************

THIS IS A SUMMARY OF COUNCIL AGENDA ITEMS. THE AGENDA WITH COMPLETE TITLES INCLUDING LEGAL

DOCUMENTATION CAN BE VIEWED AT THE BELOW WEBPAGE:http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/gov/agendas/default.aspAGENDA–REGULAR MEETING–COUNCIL CHAMBERS

FEBRUARY 05, 2018 AT 6:00 PMClosed Session1. CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS, Employee Organizations: Utilities Management and

Professional Association of Palo Alto; Service Employees International Union, Local 521; Palo Alto Peace

Consent Calendar2.

Municipal Code to Reduce the Posted Speed Limit Near Private Schools

Action Items

Continued From January 29, 2018

STANDING COMMITTEE MEETINGS

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Stanford IRB, Stanford University, 3000 El Camino Real, Five Palo Alto Square, 4th Floor, Palo Alto, CA 94306.)

POLICE CALLS Palo AltoJan. 24-Jan. 30Violence relatedAssault w/deadly weapon. . . . . . . . . . . . 1Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Domestic violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Strong arm robbery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Theft relatedChecks forgery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Commercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Shoplifting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Vehicle relatedAbandoned bicycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Auto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Driving with suspended license . . . . . . . 8Driving without a license. . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Lost/stolen plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Misc. traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Vehicle accident, minor injury . . . . . . . . . 7Vehicle accident, property damage . . . . 9Vehicle impound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Alcohol or drug relatedDrinking in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Driving under the influence . . . . . . . . . . . 1Drunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Possession of paraphernalia . . . . . . . . . 2Sale of drugs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1MiscellaneousAnimal Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Casualty/fall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Misc. penal code violation . . . . . . . . . . 15Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Parking violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Possession of stolen property . . . . . . . . 1Psychiatric subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Sick and cared for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . . 3Unattended death. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Vehicle stored . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Warrant/other agency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Menlo ParkJan. 24-Jan. 30Violence relatedAssault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Theft relatedFraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Theft undefined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Vehicle relatedAuto burglary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

PulseA weekly compendium of vital statistics

Auto tampering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Driving with suspended license . . . . . . . 2Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Vehicle accident, minor injury . . . . . . . . . 2Vehicle accident, no injury . . . . . . . . . . . 2Vehicle accident, property damage . . . . 1Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Alcohol or drug relatedDrunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Possession of paraphernalia . . . . . . . . . 3MiscellaneousAdult protective services . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Domestic disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Graffiti abatement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Info case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . . 1Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Welfare check. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Warrant/other agency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

VIOLENT CRIMES Palo AltoWelch Road, 1/24, 2:17 a.m.; domestic violence.El Camino Real, 1/24, 4:20 p.m.; strong arm robbery.200 block University Avenue, 1/25, 8:08 a.m.; battery.Olive Avenue, 1/27, 9:19 p.m.; domestic violence.Urban Lane, 1/27, 9:25 p.m.; battery.200 block University Avenue, 1/28, 2:16 a.m.; battery.Park block California Avenue, 1/28, 8:53 p.m.; assault with a deadly weapon.

Menlo ParkPierce Road/Almanor Avenue, 1/28, 1:51 a.m.; assault.

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Volunteers have fought stinkwortEditor,

I was generally pleased to see Sue Dremann’s story on stink-wort. It is indeed an unpleasant and pervasive pest. However, the picture of a field of stinkwort at Rancho San Antonio was surpris-ing, not to say distressing.

Several volunteers, not to men-tion Midpeninsula Regional Open Space staff, have in fact done an excellent job at removing stink-wort at Rancho San Antonio. I have never seen the area in the photo, so I can only assume it is hidden somewhere off out of the way. I can assure you that I, or any of half a dozen other volunteers, would have attacked it ruthlessly had we known about it.

Had you been watching Mid-peninsula preserves over the course of the last year or two, you would have seen dramatic improvement in stinkwort re-duction. It is a continuing effort, but stinkwort is by no means out of control in Midpeninsula preserves.

Dave HoodFife Avenue, Palo Alto

Bikes at risk under Caltrain planEditor,

As a San Francisco resident who commutes to Palo Alto via bike on Caltrain, I want to express my concern that the proposed electrified car layout may en-courage bike theft. To maximize space for bikes, Caltrain bike cars require bikes to be stacked against each other and unlocked, allowing riders to board and dis-embark at will. Thus it is essential that car layouts include seats — and enough seats — from which cyclists can monitor their bikes. This issue is dear to me because I was the victim of a bike theft on Caltrain last year on an occasion where there were not enough open seats in the bike car. While other measures like surveillance cam-eras may act as a mild deterrent and forensic tool, they are no sub-stitute for guarding one’s property personally.

I also want to encourage Cal-train to ensure that all future car layouts hold 96 bikes per train. Any number less than this is in-sufficient to keep up with future demand, especially as cultural and environmental changes make biking a more attractive option for the Bay Area’s rapidly grow-ing population.

Ted Lechterman25th Street, San Francisco

Stanford’s expansion Editor,

As 40 year resident of College Terrace and retired Palo Alto em-ployee, I’m voicing my concern over the massive growth — seem-ingly without end — on the Stan-ford University campus and sur-rounding community. When my father moved here, Stanford was a university mostly known in Cali-fornia. It is now a big, successful business with an internationally known “brand.”

Stanford is not what it was. It has become a mega-developer with tentacles all over the town and the region. It is more like an octopus than a university. The academic part of the university is not promoting the unlimited greed and development that has taken it over. Have you driven around the campus lately? It is unrecogniz-able since the money makers, the expansionists, have taken it over. Only the name remains the same.

Just try to ride or walk through Escondido Village, the growth there is huge! Residents on Williams Street daily feel the parking impact as Stanford students park their cars for days, weeks ... walking or pull-ing a bike out of the car and riding to campus, as there is no long-term affordable parking available.

I also believe the environmen-tal-impact report needs to provide alternative housing for everyone who will be supporting incremen-tal developments and address the existing externalizing of Stanford’s

housing shortages in surrounding communities, which has had rip-pling, damaging effects.

Palo Alto and the Menlo Park area already experience too many negative impacts of Stanford’s growth. College Terrace is sur-rounded by an overgrowth of dense Stanford housing as well as an increasingly a large number of Stanford-owned homes in the Ter-race that stand empty!

Janette HercegWilliams Street, Palo Alto

Need new, not recycled mayorEditor,

I use to work for a Palo Alto newspaper but have never written a letter to the editor, but for some reason when I saw we had a new mayor I had to laugh because I thought it should have said we have a recycled mayor.

When are the voters in Palo Alto going to stop settling for the same people over and over! We need a change to get this town going in the right direction: new ideas, fresh ideas.

Just as a side comment, I did not want parking stickers and have not gotten one because I still would not be able to park on our street, College Avenue. We recently had one car with a sticker parked in front of our house for four weeks, never moved.

Donna BlissCollege Avenue, Palo Alto

SpectrumEditorials, letters and opinions

With PCs, it’s complicatedLegal stand-off on Edgewood Plaza is another reason

why ‘planned community’ zone shouldn’t exist

W hat a mess. A carefully negotiated deal, made in 2012, offered a developer the right to build 10 homes at Edge-wood Plaza on the condition that it maintain an operat-

ing grocery store in perpetuity as the anchor tenant on the remain-ing commercial portion of the site.

It was the type of deal that had been encouraged by Palo Alto’s zoning code through what is called a planned community (PC) zone. In exchange for negotiated “community benefits,” the City Council could grant a property owner more development rights than would otherwise be permitted under the normal zoning, and, in theory at least, residents of the city would benefit enough to warrant the special exception and additional impacts.

Over the years, this PC zoning process has been repeatedly abused by developers who have managed to find a way to either negate or minimize the so-called public benefit, leaving them with a substantially more profitable development and the public short-changed. Until the council finally decided in 2015 to stop, at least temporarily, doing PC agreements, they were the preferred ap-proach by most developers and infuriated residents, who saw them as harmful, lopsided deals.

There were never any independent economic analyses to quan-tify the financial benefits to the developer of these arrangements and ensure they were appropriately shared with the city, nor was there any policy about what the public benefits should be to war-rant these zoning exceptions. Each case was negotiated between the developer and city staff, as happened with the Sand Hill Property Company for the property at Edgewood Plaza, located on Embar-cadero Road just west of the freeway.

The city thought it had secured a sure-fire and popular commu-nity benefit: the return of a neighborhood grocery store. Sand Hill guaranteed it would maintain a grocery store as a condition for be-ing granted the additional development rights, or so it was thought.

Sand Hill landed The Fresh Market as a tenant and all seemed copacetic — until the grocery chain suddenly decided to pull out of Palo Alto in March 2015, less than two years after opening, leaving the 21,000-square-foot empty again. The Fresh Market apparently continued paying rent to Sand Hill, as obligated under its lease.

Sand Hill has been so opaque about its dealings and agreement with The Fresh Market that it is unknown if it sought to buy out the lease, was holding The Fresh Market to the terms of the lease to put the burden on it to find a new grocery tenant, or if the lease agreement contained provisions covering the closure of the market.

But as the space stood empty and neighborhood resentment mounted, in October 2015 the city began imposing $500 a day fines on Sand Hill for violating the development agreement, later increasing them to $5,000 a day. Sand Hill eventually stopped paying and challenged the city’s right to levy the fines. An ad-ministrative law judge ruled in favor of the city in April, but Sand Hill then filed suit in Superior Court, and on Dec. 15, just as a new grocery operator was opening “The Market at Edgewood,” Judge Peter Kirwan ruled the city improperly imposed the fines because the wording in the development agreement with Sand Hill wasn’t clear enough that it required the developer to ensure the continued operation of a grocery store rather than simply that the use be restricted to a grocery store.

On Monday, in closed session, the City Council voted 7-2, with Mayor Liz Kniss and Councilman Greg Tanaka dissenting, to appeal the ruling to the state Court of Appeals. It also rejected a settlement offer by Sand Hill that would have reduced the fines to a fraction of what the city has levied. The total amount at stake is more than $1 million.

Whether the city is likely to prevail on appeal is impossible to know, but one can assume that the council was advised in closed session by its attorneys it had a strong case and that filing an appeal would put pressure on Sand Hill to settle.

While we have strongly opposed the use of planned community zoning because of how it distorts the zoning and lacks transpar-ency, we support the council’s appeal of Kirwan’s decision. We have no sympathy for Sand Hill Property, which made a calculated business decision to risk having to pay fines if it could not maintain a grocery tenant. It freely concluded that obtaining permission to build the houses on the site was so valuable that it was worth possible problems of sustaining a grocer in the space. If it didn’t negotiate protective language in its lease with The Fresh Market, that’s not the city’s problem.

Sand Hill is an active developer in the region and will undoubt-edly be seeking approvals of future projects in Palo Alto. It would be smart for the company to settle this dispute at a price that pro-vides substantial compensation to the city for Sand Hill’s failure to meet its commitment under the development agreement, and at a price that makes it easy for the city to drop its appeal.

Editorial

Letters

The Palo Alto Weekly encourages comments on our coverage or on issues of local interest.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

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

Has the dog flu affected your family?


Would you change anything about downtown Palo Alto?Asked on University Avenue in Palo Alto. Question, interviews and photographs by Sarah Klearman.

Sabine WiemmerExecutive AssistantBenton Street, Santa Clara

“Parking. ... That’s something I would

have to say I’d change right now.”

Kelsey KienitzCashierHelen Court, Palo Alto

“I’d want free, unlimited parking.”

Diogo DelgadoSoftware EngineerWildwood Lane, Palo Alto

“More housing would be amazing

— or mix first-floor retail and put

housing on top.”

Karen WhiteRetiredRamona Street, Palo Alto

“I would add more upscale

restaurants, and more shopping,

more shoe stores — and fewer tech

businesses.”

Kendall SchroepferEngineerPark Court, Santa Clara

“I can’t think of anything off the top

of my head. It’s a great place to be.”

O f course, it had to be. We were

overdue. Progress and change had finally penetrated my small, dual-named corner of Palo Alto. For more than half a century our wide street remained cul-de-sac quiet, enjoyed by bicyclists, school kids and sev-eral disappointed short-cut seekers.

Until now. As home prices climb out of sight while inventory goes to zero, non-de-script neighborhoods citywide undergo a reverse renaissance. From modest updates every few years, recent swift teardowns and huge build-outs signal the inevitable and inescapable dislocation to come.

First, it was a corner house that sold and got a total style makeover. The home was quickly sold again and the new construc-tion completely gutted and expanded with little leftover land on its smallish lot. We watched, wondered, then shrugged and mostly approved. Upgrades and young families are good for home prices and great for school taxes.

Soon after, however, an ominous look-ing fence went up three houses down from mine — that tall, green mesh surround

that screams “major construction.” After a few days’ sightings of an emptying garage each time I went by, a driveway storage pod joined the fence and silently announced a proposed large add-on.

“Seven hundred feet, but only in front, according to Zillow,” my daughter report-ed. “I’m not sure about the back.”

In my neck of the “woods” (plus stuc-co), residents of these aging Eichler spin-offs (originally slapped up for returning World War II vets) have created the leg-end over the last 50 years that our one-story, flat-roofed, window-walled, Frank Lloyd Wright wannabe’s constitute “his-tory” and are worthy of preservation akin to the Old North Church or Monticello.

And as “Our Town” now debates back-yard granny units and sky-rise apartment complexes, I sadly recall the crafty activ-ist who lived a block away 40 years ago and initiated the grassroots putsch that ultimately squashed any unsuspecting, upwardly mobile homeowner in the area. Although over so much time, a few ersatz villas and hodge-podge fixes have person-alized my street, to date, I enjoy the only second-story on the block.

Yes, at this point I must confess that I am the small-potatoes traitor who inspired the current avidly pro or rabidly anti “neighborhood overlay,” the injunction against building up. Whether a few hous-es or a few streets, these no-second-story

groups have sunk into vocal villains or soared to “save our neighborhood” status. They champion the low-rise character and tract-home aesthetic, and they adamantly resist the maxi-mansion mania of the new Silicon Valley.

In the late ’70s, our own no-big-deal aim was to move our two sons from their closet-sized bedroom with its locker-room miasma to an upstairs space.

“Not a master suite?” queried our more modern friends.

“We were actually thinking about brick-ing the kids in if we could,” we shot back, “but that’s probably against the law, so a mini-attic’s the best we could do.”

We planned a partial second floor with minimal square footage that neither im-pacted the next door neighbors nor re-stricted their views. At the mandated planning commission hearing, several nearby homeowners attended and agreed that our add-up was welcome, unobtrusive and wouldn’t block anyone’s panorama of power poles. They also decided it was def-initely a plus for property values.

The proposed three-month building timeline stretched out to a year as the soon-to-be-parodied Palo Alto Process kicked in. Outdated but entrenched rules killed our pleasing upper-level plan for wood beams designed to match the existing ar-chitecture. The city inspector straightened the lovely spiral staircase, suggested a

flight ending in the middle of the dining room table and lowered the landings so much that to this day I crouch like Qua-simodo every time I do the laundry.

Daily, it seems, our endearing but en-dangered Crackerbox Corners slides from that 1970s semi-remodel into super-restructuring. Another small property nearby sports our street’s very first depth-defying basement. We all marveled that the huge, lethal-looking shovel somehow managed to fit on the lot.

Yes, most of us did think things would stay pretty much the same forever. We were once the young newlyweds on the street, embarking on careers and families in a uni-versity-oriented area. We could have it all, two or three kids and an easily affordable mortgage. Add block parties and walking-distance schools. The Middle Class Ameri-can Dream lived — right on my block.

Whatever happens next, turrets or tents, better get used to it. With a burgeoning population and growing gridlock, we’ll happily opt to stay home more. And as the entire area moves from family affordable to financially stratospheric, the cost of a single-family home may prove to be the only thing upwardly mobile, especially if neighborhood bans on full second stories hold fast for a long, long time to come.

Evelyn Preston is a former Palo Alto teacher and a 25-year investment adviser who now writes.

Guest Opinion

Streetwise

Of house and home — Palo Alto styleby Evelyn Preston

Check out Town Square!Hundreds of local topics are being discussed by local residents on Town Square, a reader forum sponsored by the Weekly at PaloAltoOnline.com/square. Post your own comments, ask questions or just stay up on what people are talking about around town!


TransitionsBob Berka died in Portola

Valley at The Sequoia Skilled Nursing Facility of aspiration pneumonia on September 29, 2017. He was born on July 15, 1927 in San Francisco, but lived most of his early life in Lodi, then in Santa Rosa where he graduated from high school.

In June 1945 he enlisted in the navy and was sent to Guam where he edited the base newspaper. After his discharge, he enrolled at Stanford, majored in journalism and met his wife, Paula Minard. They were married in 1951.

Bob’s first job was editor of Western Advertising Magazine in San Francisco. Then he commuted from Palo Alto to Oakland to work in Safeway’s market research department. For the remainder of his working years, he owned Merchandising Systems, Inc., a company manufacturing store fixtures.

He and his wife and their two young children moved to Los Altos where Paula and Bob remained for thirty years. He joined the Rotary Club, and in the late 1980’s worked on the club’s Aids Project, which resulted in a film, sent to Rotarians throughout the world, educating people about the disease and helping those who were suffering from aids.

Among the many other causes he supported were: Business Executives Move for Vietnam Peace, Zero Population Growth, The California Native Plant Society, Planning and Conservation League, California State Parks Association and Yosemite Natural History Association.

An enthusiastic hiker and backpacker, Bob trekked for miles in the Yosemite high country and climbed Mount Whitney and Mount Lassen. In 1995 he, his wife and a small group of old friends hiked for three weeks in the Swiss Alps. After retirement he and Paula toured the major countries in Europe where they occasionally became lost walking big city streets and out in the countryside. They also travelled to Caribbean islands and to Peru where Bob climbed Machu Picchu. In Brazil they walked miles on beaches and over streets in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

Several years after they moved to Menlo Park in 1989, Bob transferred from the Los Altos to the Rotary Club of Menlo Park and coordinated a student exchange program with a sister club in Japan. He visited the club in Kashihara and also travelled to Kyoto to see the famous historical gardens.

Other post-retirement activities included working as a garden volunteer, later as a docent at Filoli. At home he planted a vegetable garden and experimented doing what he called “frugal gardening” using cuttings and seeds when plants went dormant. He also enjoyed jazz and symphony concerts, opera, plays in Ashland. Not only an avid reader, but a writer, he wrote a biography of Luther Burbank, returning periodically to Santa Rosa to do research in the Burbank archives. He wrote the last draft several months before his death.

Bob will always be remembered as a man who was devoted to his family and loyal to his friends. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his son, Chris Berka and his wife, Rebecca Akers, of Portola Valley; his daughter, Alison Berka, and her husband Michael Abraham of Tiburon; his grandchildren: Caitlin, Haley and Kyle Berka; Max, Rachel and Sam Abrahams. He was predeceased by his brother, Donald.

A private celebration of Bob’s life has been held in a state park where he lies covered by colorful autumn leaves, where he senses the gentle rains of winter filter through redwoods, where he will feel shafts of summer sunlight warm the earth he loved, and where he waits for the eternal cycle again.

P A I D O B I T U A R Y

Robert Berka

Faith Terry Witte passed away January 15, 2018, from complications of a stroke. She leaves her husband, Steve Witte, children Keegan Witte (Camy) and Brittany Neal (Brent), sisters Celeste Johnson, and Colette Bettencourt (Mark), and grandchildren Carrigan (7), Kedrick (5), and Alika (2).

Faith Terry Heckler was born October 10, 1957 in Camden, New Jersey. The family moved to California around 1960, settling in the Greenmeadow neighborhood. Faith attended Ohlones Elementary, Wilbur Junior High, and Cubberley and Gunn High Schools, graduating in 1975.

Faith and her future husband, Steve Witte, crossed paths throughout their school years. Finally at age 17, Steve asked Faith out while walking her home from the Greenmeadow pool, launching a long and happy life together. They were married on December 15, 1979, and welcomed the births of their two children, Keegan Craig, on February 28, 1983, and Brittany Aspen on August 5, 1985. Faith and Steve raised their children in San Jose, but eventually returned to Greenmeadow.

Faith’s career in banking encompassed a broad range of positions: she started as a teller and worked her way up, serving as Merchant Vault Manager at Bank of America, Manager of New Accounts at Eureka Bank, and a branch manager in several locations for both Citibank and Union Bank.

Faith loved sailing, camping, backpacking, gardening, cooking, and interior design. Nothing gave Faith greater joy than time spent with family and friends. Faith radiated pride in her children and delight in her grandchildren. She will be deeply missed by so many whose lives she touched.

A Gathering in Remembrance of Faith will be held at 2:00pm on February 18, 2018 at the Lucie Stern Community Center, Palo Alto. Please consider a charitable donation in Faith’s honor or a contribution to a legacy fund for the benefit of her grandchildren: https://www.gofundme.com/faithwitte

P A I D O B I T U A R Y

Faith Terry WitteOctober 10, 1957 – January 15, 2018

A celebration of life for Jean Lane

(March 28, 1930 - November 18, 2017) will be

held on Saturday, February 10, 2018 at 11 am at

Valley Presbyterian Church, 945 Portola Road,

Portola Valley, CA. There will be additional

parking available at Christ Church, 815 Portola

Road, Portola Valley, CA. A reception will

immediately follow the service at the Portola

Valley Town Center. P A I D O B I T U A R Y

Jean Lane

Baby BooksFamily Photo Books

Family TreesLet us help you gather up your photos and assemble them into a beautifully designed

and professionally bound book that preserves your family memories, both old and new.

Genealogy | Elder Interviews

Dion Desktop Publications(408) 396-0026 • [email protected]

www.diondesktop.com

Peter TaberPeter Taber, longtime co-owner

of Hobee’s California Restau-rants and former Palo Alto resi-dent, died in his Los Altos home on Jan. 30 after a yearlong battle with melanoma. He was 63.

He died sur-rounded by his husband of 28 years, Edward Fike, and their Jack Russell terrier, Sydney.

Born on Jan. 12, 1955 in Ho-nolulu, Hawaii to Paul and Mary Taber, he spent his childhood and teenage years learning about the restaurant in-dustry from his father, who owned several Waikiki restaurants, such as the Green Turtle and Hofbrau. Although he relocated to the Bay Area in his late teens, he visited Hawaii frequently.

After graduating from Burl-ingame High School, he studied music composition at the Berk-lee College of Music in Boston for two years. After his father founded Hobee’s Restaurant in 1974, however, he realized his true passion was in food and hospitality and joined the family business. He served as president of the company for two decades and grew Hobee’s from one small restaurant to 13 company-owned and franchised locations. He also formulated some of Hobee’s sig-nature dishes, such as the blue-berry coffeecake.

At a Thanksgiving dinner in 1989, he met Fike, who was studying at Santa Clara Univer-sity, and the two immediately shared an “intense, wonderful” connection, Fike recalled this week. They met for dinner the following night and got mar-ried on Dec. 25, 2013 in Hawaii. Taber often referred to this day as the “happiest day of his life.” The couple went on many trips around the world and cultivated many lasting friendships.

After his retirement from Hobee’s, he pursued his creative work through landscape design and watercolor painting. He won several commendations for his paintings and volunteered with the Santa Clara Valley Water-color Society. Throughout his life, he also donated more than $100,000 in food and gift cer-tificates through Hobee’s com-munity donations program to lo-cal nonprofits and served on the board of Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce for seven years. He also volunteered with Narcotics Anonymous as he battled and overcame addiction in his own life. He regularly aided and men-tored those who struggle with drug addiction.

He is also survived by his sister, Connie Taber Durant of Hono-lulu, Hawaii; niece, Alex Fuentes of Pearl City, Hawaii. A private service will be held, with details forthcoming. Memorial contribu-tions can be made to Cancer Com-mons at 5050 El Camino Real Suite 215, Los Altos, CA 94022.


Cover page to come

Volume shown in millions of dollars. Source: TrendGraphix, January 1 through December 31, 2017. Displaying the top 5 brokerages in Palo Alto based on closed sales volume.APR.COM | PALO ALTO 578 UNIVERSITY AVENUE 650.323.1111

THE CITY IS PALO ALTO

THE LEADER ISALAIN PINEL


Square footage, acreage, and other information herein, has been received from one or more of a variety of different sources. Such information has not been verified by Alain Pinel Realtors. If important to buyers, buyers should conduct their own investigation.

APR.COMPalo Alto 650.323.1111 | Los Altos 650.941.1111

APR WINTER CAMPAIGN

Derk [email protected]

Breathtaking Birge Clark estate property in Crescent Park featuring a totally restored residence on an ex-pansive 24k SF parcel. www.CrescentParkEstate.com

PALO ALTO CALL FOR PRICE

Grace C. [email protected]

High ceilings, Bay and hill views. Contemporary, open floor plan with 7bd, 9ba plus office and au pair suite. Elevator, 9478sf of living area, 3 car garage.

PALO ALTO $9,000,000

Private and serene 6BR/6.5BA situated on one of the largest parcels in the City. 7,500sf+ of living space overlooks Palo Alto Hills. Minutes to freeways.


Sold in 8 days! Captivating circa 1915 Craftsman style home in the heart of Old Palo Alto. Spectacular 13,500+/- sf lot with English gardens.


Sold with 2 all cash offers! Unique 20,000+/- sq.ft. lot in Old Palo Alto with 4 charming 2/1 bungalows, detached garage and yard.

PALO ALTO $12,200,000

Stefan Walker650.209.1516

[email protected] Stunning European villa, sweeping Valley & Bay views. Resort-inspired grounds take full advantage of the gorgeous setting.

LOS ALTOS HILLS $7,995,000

Build your dream home! Outstanding 15.5k sf parcel in Crescent Park. Existing 3BR/2Ba home with rental income, out of the flood zone. A rare find!


Lynn Wilson Roberts

650.255.6987lwr@

wilsonroberts.com

5 Bedroom/4.5 Bathrroms. Beautiful home in desirable Portola Valley. Spectacularly renovated, extremely private, with awe-inspiring views.

PORTOLA VALLEY $6,598,000

COMING SOON

COMING SOON

COMING SOON

SOLD

SOLDSOLD

Pam Page650.400.5061

[email protected]

Nadr Essabhoy650.248.5898

[email protected]

Derk Brill650.543.1117

[email protected]


Sherry [email protected]




APR WINTER CAMPAIGN

Ling [email protected]

Exquisite custom built home with resort-like grounds & sweeping Bay views. A truly enchanting Silicon Valley retreat. Represented buyers.


Grace C. [email protected]

Quality built newer custom home spacious and light-filled interior. Nearly 4900 sf, 7bd, 5.5ba, large entertainment, peaceful backyard.


Community Center / Downtown area Oasis. Elegant home, pool house, pool and beautiful mature garden on rarely available 10,000 sf lot. Represented buyer.


Samia [email protected]

Style and innate charm define this craftsman style home. Elegance and modern flair throughout the 5 bedrooms and 4.5 baths home.


New construction just blocks to Downtown Los Altos. Gardner Bullis Elementary. 5 BD, 5.5BA; ~ 4,289 SqFt, theatre w/ 12 foot screen.


Beautifully remodeled 5bd, 3.5 ba with 4,795 sf on a quiet, tree lined street in prime West Atherton neighborhood.

ATHERTON $5,988,000

Style & elegance in desirable Community Center! Spacious 6 bd/5 ba floor plan features high ceilings, hardwood floors & designer fixtures.


Lynn Wilson Roberts

650.255.6987lwr@

wilsonroberts.com

4 Bedroom/3.5 Bathrooms. Enchanting Midtown home on oversized lot. Completely renovated by celebrated designed, Karen Salveson.


COMING SOON

COMING SOON

COMING SOON

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD SOLD

John Forsyth James650.218.4337

[email protected]

Dana van Hulsen650.248.3950

[email protected]

Greg Celotti 650.740.1580

[email protected]

Candi Athens650.504.2824

[email protected]

Supriya Gavande [email protected]

Dana van [email protected]

Christy Giuliacci650.380.5989

[email protected]

Sherry Bucolo650.207.9909

[email protected]




APR WINTER CAMPAIGN

Desirable Leland Manor Home situated on a 9600 sq ft lot with 5 bedrooms, 3 baths and 2 car garage.


Newly constructed 5BR/4.5BA Mediterranean on a spacious 8,256 lot, with additional detached living space in an outstanding Midtown/South PA location.


Generated 7 all cash offers and sold in 3 days for the highest price per square foot in Green Gables in 2017!


Angie [email protected]

Create Your Dream Home Here! Outstanding opportunity to remodel or build, more than 1/2 acre situated in a private setting with amazing Bay views.

LOS ALTOS $3,825,000

Umang Sanchorawala

[email protected]

Charming Tudor on Christmas Tree Lane one of the most coveted streets in PA. 4 Beds, an office, & 3 Baths, 2,467 sf, 7,500 sf lot. Represented buyer.


Jenny Teng650.245.4490

[email protected] Completely updated charming Country English home. Five bedrooms including 1 guest bedroom downstairs. Convenient location close to schools, parks and shops.


Michael Johnston

[email protected]

4-bedroom, 3.5-bath residence, approx. 3,040 sf interior, 10,825 sf lot. Great room opens to back yard. Formal living and dining rooms.

MENLO PARK $3,850,000

Gorgeous conceptual design for a 6BD/6.5BA home with total of 10,576 SqFt including garage. Lot size 1.2 acre (52,335 SqFt); PA schools.


Arti [email protected]

Leika Kejriwal [email protected]

SOLD SOLD




Carol [email protected]

COMING SOONSOLD

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD

John Forsyth James650.218.4337

[email protected]

Lynn Wilson Roberts650.288.6987

[email protected]




APR WINTER CAMPAIGN

Pamela Rummage [email protected]

Located in the Woodside Glens, nestled in a woodsy setting this 4 Br 3.5 baths.

WOODSIDE $3,700,000

Erika [email protected]

This lovely and well-maintained 5bd/3ba home enjoys an excellent floor plan with abundant amenities situated at the end of a very quiet cul-de-sac.

LOS ALTOS CALL FOR PRICE

Alan [email protected]

This is the lot adjacent to 846 Lytton Avenue. 7500 sf, currently has a 4 car garage with no home on it. Can be sold together with home or separate. Great opportunity.


North Los Altos, Updated home on a court location with an oversized lot, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and a 2 car garage.


Jane [email protected]

Green Acres house in a ~9478 sqft lot 4 br/3 ba~1957 sqft living space. Top schools, convenient, quiet and private.


Alan Dunckel650.400.0327

[email protected] a 6bd, 2.5ba home on a 7500 sf lot. Amazing Downtown/Crescent Park location. Ready to build your dream home. Will be on the market in mid-March.


Erika Ameri650.269.8211

[email protected] opportunity to purchase this well maintained home in the highly desirable Green Acres neighborhood. Move in and enjoy your own new dream home!


Ray Hogue 650.964.3722

[email protected] One-of-a-kind Mediterranean estate. Beautiful 4bd and 5 ba; gourmet kitchen, outdoor cooking & entertaining area; Two 2 car garages + large workshop.

REDWOOD CITY $3,498,000

SOLD

SOLD SOLD

COMING SOON

COMING SOON

COMING SOON

COMING SOON






APR WINTER CAMPAIGN

Desiree Docktor [email protected]

Wonderful home located in desirable Midtown neighborhood. Spacious home features 5 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and 2 car garage. Excellent Palo Alto schools.


Denise [email protected]

Beautifully remodeled 4 bedroom, 2 bath Eichler, with walls of windows, radiant heated floors, skylights and an open floor plan. Sold w/ multiple offers.


Shelly [email protected]

Coming soon in north Palo Alto, updated 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, with top rated school.


Erika [email protected]

Very charming 3bd/2.5ba College Terrace home sold over asking w/multiple offers due to my negotiating skills. Call me today if you want the same!


Barbara Williams

[email protected]

This inviting home balances classic details with many updates for a setting that is move-in ready or an excellent foundation for your own vision.


Excellent cul-da-sac location in Green Gables features a 1,879sf 3BR/2BA Eichler home on an expansive 8,976sf lot. Close to schools and shopping.


Gorgeous Palo Alto modern contemporary home in a tranquil and private setting close to Midtown shopping. Sold with multiple offers.


Pamela Rummage Culp

[email protected]

New listing located in a lovely wooded setting with stunning Bay views from the living areas. 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths make this a versatile home.

PORTOLA VALLEY $2,995,000

Supriya Gavande 650.556.3890

[email protected]


[email protected]

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD SOLD

SOLDCOMING SOON

COMING SOON

Derk Brill650.543.1117

[email protected]




APR WINTER CAMPAIGN

Charles [email protected]

Updated 3bd/2.5ba with a lovely kitchen, master suite, and private garden. Perfect location near Stanford, shops and commute routes. Represented buyers.


Sophie [email protected]

Ideal location in midtown. Walking distance to Mitchell Park library. Lovingly maintained 4 bedroom home. Ease and comfort with a dash of uniqueness.


Andrea Schultz [email protected]

Charming home in desirable Green Gables neighbor-hood. 4bd, 2ba, with gourmet kitchen. Beautifully updated. Private park-like backyard.


Affordable elegance in Old Palo Alto! Updated 3BR/2BA home features vaulted ceilings and open floorplan in a private and secure location.


Supriya Gavande

[email protected]

A Midtown masterpiece! Artful blend of modern and traditional features. Represented buyer sold with multiple offers. Call for more details.


Elegant picture perfect home in an excellent North Los Altos location, close to the Village and Downtown. Represented buyer.

LOS ALTOS CALL FOR PRICE

Expanded and updated 3 BR home in prime Willows location. Spacious chef’s kitchen and open floor plan are ideal for entertaining. Bonus 4th room.


Gaze at the western hills through the trees from this stylish contemporary home on 1 acre on a secluded cul-de-sac.

LOS ALTOS HILLS CALL FOR PRICE

Supriya Gavande 650.556.3890

[email protected]


[email protected]

Charlene Chang650-543-1108

[email protected]

Harry Chang650-543-1061

[email protected]

Janie Barman 650.759.1182.

[email protected]

John Barman650.380.8440

[email protected]

SOLD SOLD

SOLD

SOLD SOLD

COMING SOON

COMING SOON





APR WINTER CAMPAIGN

Andrea [email protected]

Urban living at its finest. Built in 2015, 2bd, 2ba plus an office/ bonus room. High end finishes and attention to detail. Ideally located in the heart of downtown Los Altos.


Isabelle [email protected]

Only 8 days on the market! Beautiful three-bedroom, two-bath, updated home in the Willows sold over the asking price with multiple offers.


Pamela Rummage [email protected]

Gorgeous 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom Tudor-Style home, located just away from shopping and dining on Lincoln Avenue.

SAN JOSE $2,288,888

Denise [email protected]

Delightful and well-maintained 4 bedroom, 2 bath home in Midtown close to schools, Community Center and local parks.


Shari Ornstein650.814.6682

[email protected] to Stanford Eligible Only! 4 bd /2ba, one level home with family room on lovely large lot in cul-de sac.

STANFORD CALL FOR PRICE

Sought after Emerald Hills home showcasing 4bd/3.5ba 3600 sq ft interior living space and 7140 sq ft lot.


Supriya Gavande

[email protected]

Wonderful Green Gables home in ideal community location. Represented buyer. Sold with multiple offers. Call for more details.


Shelly Roberson

[email protected]

Experience luxury living at its finest in this downtown 2 bedroom 2 bath condo at The Hamilton.


Michele Harkov650.773.1332

[email protected]

Liz Rhodes650.722.3000

[email protected]

SOLD SOLD

SOLD

COMING SOON

COMING SOON

COMING SOON




APR WINTER CAMPAIGN

Spacious 4 bed, 2 ba single level home with 1,950 sf on a 6,650 sf lot and excellent schools.

FOSTER CITY CALL FOR PRICE

Gorgeous 3 bed, 2 ba home on a quiet street, great neighborhood and walking distance to a park.

SAN MATEO CALL FOR PRICE

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Groundbreaking ceremonies typically precede con-struction, but by the time

Palo Alto City Council members and staff lined up in front of the Rinconada Fire Station on Tuesday morning, half the building had al-ready been reduced to rubble.

Not that anyone was complain-ing. Though demolition of the 1948 fire station was scheduled for the following day, the sunny weather was too good to pass up, and city officials were eager to get the proj-ect started. Everyone understood that when it comes to construction, time is literally money.

Moments before the ceremonial

shovels pierced the soil, City Man-ager James Keene acknowledged that the city’s production had been scooped by actual work.

“This is nothing more than a false Hollywood-set façade right now because the whole back of the building has already been demol-ished,” Keene told the assembled crowd. “Let’s keep the sched-ule and get it on time and under budget.”

For Palo Alto’s council, which has named “infrastructure” one of its official priorities for the past five years (and may do so again at its retreat on Saturday), the Rinco-nada groundbreaking was a critical milestone. Reconstruction of the station is the first project of nine in the city’s infrastructure plan to make the leap from conception to construction.

Others are expected to follow in quick succession. According to a Public Works Department schedule, eight projects — includ-ing the new bike bridge over U.S. Highway 101 and new parking ga-rages near California Avenue and on Hamilton Avenue — will head into construction either this year or in 2019. (Ironically, the only item that is not eyed for construction until 2020 is the one deemed most urgent: the public-safety building.)

In the spring, Palo Alto will be-gin fresh upgrades to the Charles-ton/Arastradero Corridor; in the summer it will launch the next phase of the bike-boulevard plan; and in the fall, the city plans to

break ground on the 636-space California Avenue area garage, which will replace a city-owned parking lot at 350 Sherman Ave.

In January 2019, construction is set to begin on the U.S. High-way 101 bridge, a project that city leaders hope to see completed by the middle of 2020. That spring, construction of the new downtown garage on a parking lot at Ham-ilton Avenue and Waverley Street is scheduled to start. Later in the year, crews will launch the next phase of improvements at the Bay-lands’ Byxbee Park, which include a “network of white oyster shell-lined trails with wooden viewing platforms” and also break ground on replacing the Mitchell Park fire station.

Yet for all the big plans, the path forward isn’t exactly clear. The construction climate around Silicon Valley continues to sizzle, driving up costs and straining the supply of available labor, two fac-tors that have forced Palo Alto to scale back its dreams. The 101 bike bridge, initially envisioned as “iconic,” is now just a bridge. Even after it was stripped of most bells and whistles, the project’s $16-million price tag is well above the roughly $10 million the council was eying in 2015, when it held a design competition for the project.

A 7.7-acre piece of land next to Foothills Park that the city cere-moniously dedicated as “parkland” in 2012 will likely be opened to the public this year. Two years ago,

council members debated ways to improve the site, whether by add-ing picnic amenities or restoring the riparian habitat in Buckeye Creek, which flows through the parcel. Now, given a lack of fund-ing, staff is recommending open-ing the undeveloped site as is, with no amenities.

Even a major Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo renovation —

perhaps the city’s most popular infrastructure project to break ground this year — is facing bud-getary uncertainty. Despite a suc-cessful $25 million fundraising drive by the nonprofit Friends of the Junior Museum, the zoo proj-ect hinges in part on a $4 million contribution from the city, which is responsible for redesigning the parking lot and creating a new bike path for the Rinconada Park attraction. And while the project has enough funding to get started, more money will be needed fur-ther down the line to furnish the zoo with a variety of interactive

features, including an insectarium, a butterfly exhibit, a touch tide pool tank and — most notably — a “Tree House” feature, which is in-tended to offer visitors a two-story zoo experience and allow them to “explore the tree canopy and have up-close encounters with the birds and animals that live there,” ac-cording to a Community Services Department report. These features were removed from the renovation design in 2016, when the project was scaled back because of rising costs.

The city and the Friends group are “seeking grants and looking for fundraising opportunities” in hopes of bringing the $1.2 million Tree House back in the next phase of the zoo’s expansion. The council will consider on Feb. 5 a recom-mendation from staff to withdraw $2.3 million from the city’s in-frastructure reserve to help with near-term improvements, as well as to direct staff to come up with a strategy for finding the city’s $3.9 million share of the project.

The degree to which costs have escalated is striking. The collec-tive price tag has gone from $136.6 million in 2014 to $235.8 million today, according to Assistant Pub-lic Works Director Brad Eggleston. Even with the local economy humming along and tax revenues on the rise, Palo Alto is facing a $56 million funding gap for its top nine infrastructure projects. The California Avenue garage, which in 2014 came with a $9.6 million

A construction worker carries lumber inside Avenidas, the senior-services nonprofit at 450 Bryant St., Palo Alto, which is undergoing renovation. With construction booming throughout the Bay Area, labor is scarce. In a fix

Why are costs rising?

Palo Alto faces $56 million shortfall

in building nine infrastructure projects

Construction costs have spiked. Three projects’ scopes have expanded. Design costs have increased.

Source: City of Palo Alto

Rising costs create high anxiety over Palo Alto’s infrastructure plans

by Gennady Sheyner photos by Veronica Weber

‘We want to fast-track construction.

The escalation we’re seeing in the market is extreme.’

—Matt Raschke, senior engineer, city of Palo Alto


Cover Story

price tag — now stands at a gaping $40.4 million. The public-safety building, once viewed as a $57 million project, is now expected to cost $91 million.

The construction market isn’t the only driver of these rising costs. The council’s decision last year to increase the size of the California Avenue garage (and to include two underground basements) inflated the price tag by millions. So did the city’s decision to build a public-safety building on a constrained Sherman Avenue parking lot, re-quiring two underground levels for operations. Yet the market is playing the biggest role, account-ing for a 58 percent escalation in costs between 2012 and 2021 for the police building, Eggleston told the council last week. Every month of delay on the California Avenue garage and public-safety building is adding about $350,000 to the cost, Eggleston said.

The $56 million funding gap, if anything, greatly understates the problem. It does not take into ac-count the many projects that the council wants to pursue but that were not included on the 2014 infrastructure list, including the renovation of Cubberley Commu-nity Center; an upgraded animal shelter; and the implementation of the newly approved parks master plan. All are currently unfunded and, with every passing month, the challenge to make them happen is growing.

Furthermore, projects in the in-frastructure plan comprise just a small fraction of the city’s $600 million capital-improvement pro-gram for the years 2018-2022 — a voluminous list that includes replacing water mains, burying electricity wires in underground trenches, installing traffic signals and dozens of other mostly thank-less municipal tasks. Here, too, the city is seeing costs spike to unex-pected heights.

Consider Upgrade Downtown, Palo Alto’s effort to replace 50-year-old water and gas mains under University Avenue, install fiber conduits in an underground trench and implement an assort-ment of street improvements. The project is scheduled to kick off in

April and cascade, block-by-block, down University and along Down-town North neighborhood streets over the following 12 months.

Last August, the city went out to bid on what engineers estimated to be a $12.4 million project. Seven firms attended the city’s pre-bid meeting, according to a Utilities Department report; zero of them submitted bids.

With no takers, city officials reached out to all contractors who had participated in the pre-bid meeting to see if any of them could get the job done. Only one — Ranger Pipelines, Inc. — was deemed capable of meeting the city’s schedule and project re-quirements, the report states. Even though the Ranger quote for the project was $16.4 million — well beyond the city engineer’s estimate — city staff deemed it appropriate and recommended the contract. The high price, the report notes, can be “attributed to the booming construction industry in the San Francisco Bay Area where local contractors have been unable to keep up and are more selective on project bids.”

Some members of the City Council took issue with this pro-cess and the result it netted. On Monday night, Greg Tanaka and Karen Holman both voted against the Ranger contract — a rare oc-currence for a utility replacement project. Both argued that the city can do better.

“I think we should go out and re-bid this thing and make sure we get more bidders, and get competitive bidders,” Tanaka said, moments before the council voted 7-2 to ap-prove the contract.

There’s no guarantee that an-other round of bidding would draw more interest. Even some of the city’s routine projects are strug-gling to attract bids these days. On Feb. 5, for example, the council is scheduled to approve a $2.3 mil-lion contract to upgrade the electri-cal and mechanical systems at the Children’s Theatre in the Lucie Stern Community Center. As part of procurement process, it reached out to 375 bidders; only two sub-mitted bids, according to a staff report. (Fortunately for the city,

the $2.3 million bid is within the project’s budget.)

Ed Shikada, the general man-ager of City of Palo Alto Utilities as well as assistant city manager, said the low number of bids is a recurring problem.

“We’ve tried to find ways of packaging contracts to maximize the number of bidders,” Shikada said. “It’s definitely an ongoing issue.”

Best-laid plans

Palo Alto planted the seeds for today’s infrastructure boom in 2010, when Silicon

Valley was still shaking off the dust from a global economic down-turn. That was the year the City Council appointed a 17-member citizens committee and directed it to identify the city’s most pressing needs, as well as possible funding sources. Known as the Infrastruc-ture Blue Ribbon Commission, the group met for about a year and in 2011 released a report identifying an infrastructure backlog of about $500 million. The group also high-lighted high-priority items that

need to be constructed as soon as possible — with the public-safety building on top of the list.

Echoing prior studies, the infra-structure report called the existing police headquarters at City Hall “unsafe and vulnerable” and rec-ommended the city move expedi-tiously ahead with a new public-safety building — a structure that would house the Police Depart-ment, the city’s Office of Emer-gency Services, the Emergency Operations Center (the city’s “situ-ation room” during disasters) and Fire Department administration.

“Public safety should be a top priority for any city but — in terms of proper facilities — that priority has for many years been danger-ously deferred in Palo Alto,” the 2011 report states.

The report also identified Fire Stations 3 and 4 as in urgent need of significant upgrades, the report found. Each is more than 50 years old, fails to meet earthquake codes and is “increasingly inadequate as engines have grown in size.”

“Demands for hazardous-mate-rials processing, equipment stor-age and safety conditions for the

personnel housed there have also grown, and the role of these sta-tions in emergency preparation and response has increased,” the report states.

Some of the report’s recommen-dations have fallen by the wayside. The council never formed a per-manent Infrastructure Commis-sion to monitor progress; nor did it commit $6 million in annual funding for infrastructure repairs or issue a bond to pay for the new public-safety facilities. The com-mission’s recommendation that the city upgrade its Municipal Servic-es Center — a sprawling complex of vital utility and public works functions on East Bayshore Road — also largely fell off the list.

The commission’s report did, however, spur action: The council upped its annual spending on street repairs from $1.8 million in 2010 to more than $5 million in subse-quent years (as a result, the city’s street conditions are the best in the county). It also approved in 2014 the infrastructure-projects plan and proposed a hotel-tax increase


Traffic moves along Arastradero Road in Palo Alto, which will see additional improvements under a city infrastructure plan.

The former International Telephone and Telegraph building still remains in the marshland at the Palo Alto Baylands, and the city is planning to restore it.

Five of nine top infrastructure projects’ costs exceed the initial estimates*

1009080706050403020100

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* Estimates for the remaining four projects — Bike/Pedestrian Planimplementation, Fire Stations 3 and 4 replacements, and Byxbee Parkimprovements — are within $1 million of initial estimates.


COSTS: INITIAL vs. CURRENT ESTIMATES


Cover Story

to fund it — a measure that vot-ers approved later that year. Some of the items in the plan were con-sistent with infrastructure com-mission’s recommendations: the public-safety building and the two fire stations. Others were added to sweeten the deal for voters on the hotel-tax measure: hence the new garages, the Highway 101 over-pass, improvements to Byxbee Park and new bike boulevards.

Eggleston told the council last week that at the time when the commission deliberated, the con-struction climate was coming off of a slowdown, which made today’s situation impossible to foresee.

Faced with rising costs, city leaders have opted to scale back some projects, such as the bike bridge and the Junior Museum and Zoo. But for others, they’ve opted to stick with the plan, higher price tags notwithstanding.

Last week, the council consid-ered a staff recommendation to reduce the scope of the California Avenue area garage, which had grown in order to satisfy demands from area residents and merchants. Originally envisioned as a struc-ture that would create 158 new spaces, the garage was revised last year to also include two basement levels, more than doubling the new parking spaces. Last week, Egg-leston made a case for eliminating

one basement level — a move that would trim between $6 million and $8 million. But with business owners and residents framing the recommendation as a “betrayal,” the council voted 8-1, with Coun-cilman Adrian Fine dissenting, to stick with the larger structure.

In staying the course on the ga-rage, the council figured it could offset some of the additional costs with revenues from park-ing permits. For other projects, including the police building and

the bike bridge, such an option does not exist, which means the council will either have to “value engineer” these projects to re-duce costs or draw funds from the General Fund, which pays for most basic city services aside from utilities. Occupancy taxes from two Marriott hotels on San Antonio Road, whose plans the city recently approved, should help. According to city staff, these and other hotels are expect-ed to bring in about $4.9 million

in additional annual revenue.In recent meetings, council

members have repeatedly voiced discomfort at the rising costs but have largely endorsed staff’s ap-proach of trying to move as fast as possible, before the prices get even higher.

“In general, the experience shows that because you can’t time it, the best strategy is to push out projects as quickly as possible,” Shikada told the Weekly.

That strategy recognizes that,

even should the construction mar-ket slow down and costs drop as a result of an economic downturn, so would the city’s resources. As the experience of 2009 shows, Palo Alto leaders don’t talk about “iconic” bridges or six-story park-ing structures when they’re laying off 10 percent of City Hall’s work-force or putting popular services like animal services on the chop-ping block.

“If the bottom comes out of the economy, there will be tremendous pressure to spend those (infrastruc-ture) funds on operating expenses, on today’s needs,” Shikada said.

The need for speed

Palo Alto is a leader in many fields. Moving fast on public projects isn’t one of them.

The term “Palo Alto process” has become synonymous over the decades with bureaucratic en-tanglements, endless revisions and escalating costs. In the past, it’s been the bane of developers, archi-tects and home renovators (in one notable 2010 case, a homeowner spent more than $500,000 on stud-ies and permit fees before winning the city’s approval to demolish and replace his one-story home in Pro-fessorville.). Now the city increas-ingly finds itself in the applicant’s chair, the process is starting to cause heartburn at City Hall.

The tension between Palo Alto’s two competing imperatives — to move fast and review thoroughly

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Infrastructure(continued from page 25)

Palo Alto City Council members Lydia Kou, far left, Mayor Liz Kniss, left, and Greg Scharff, far right, stand with Fire Chief Eric Nickel, third from left, and fellow firefighters as they ceremoniously break ground on the replacement fire station at Embarcadero and Newell roads.


Cover Story

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Palo Alto’s big push on infrastructure comes at a time of economic prosper-

ity, with sales-tax receipts on the rise and new hotels bringing with them the promise of growing tax revenues in the years to come.

Yet when it comes to costs, the timing for the city could hardly be worse.

Today, the Bay Area is boom-ing, with commercial construc-tion leading the way. According to the 2017 Silicon Valley Index, produced by the nonprofit Joint Venture Silicon Valley, the re-gion produced more than 5 mil-lion square feet of office space in 2016, more than in any other year since 2001.

Nationwide, construction costs have escalated by about 3.3 percent over the past year, according to an index compiled by Engineering News-Record, an industry publication. Lo-cally, the climate is consider-ably hotter. Over the past year, San Francisco has been among the nation’s leaders in construc-tion inflation, according to the 2017 International Construc-tion Market Survey by the firm Turner and Townsend. In 2016, San Francisco experienced cost inflation of 4.2 percent, second only to Seattle’s 5 percent (New York City was third, with 3.5 percent). The report’s forecast showed San Francisco catching up to Seattle in 2017, with each

experiencing a cost inflation of 5 percent.

The escalation in cost is driven by a confluence of large projects, public and private, that have cre-ated a labor shortage, said Bill Russell, pre-construction man-ager with Vance Brown Builders, a Palo Alto construction com-pany that in last year completed the new Palo Alto High School gym and is now working on the Junior Museum and Zoo renova-tion and the reconstruction of the nonprofit senior-services agency Avenidas on Bryant Street.

On the private-project side, Russell said, are companies like Google and Apple adding or ex-panding their campuses. On the public side are giant regional projects such as the city and county of San Francisco’s new wastewater treatment plant; the ongoing renovation of San Fran-cisco Airport, where a new Unit-ed terminal is under construc-tion; and upgrades to BART.

Add up all the demand, Rus-sell said, and there’s just not enough labor to go around.

“Generally, the labor side of construction is going to go wherever there’s work available,” Russell said. “I think you have a situation where both the public and the private side are busy, and they’re probably reaching the limit of what’s available.”

Public projects are particularly vulnerable to the fluctuations of

the economic cycle, Russell said. A company like Google, he said, can cancel a project within a few months through an internal deci-sion. But public entities like the city of Palo Alto, the county of Santa Clara or the state of Cali-fornia generally have a far lon-ger planning process, from the time they go out to sell bonds or raise taxes to the time the project seeks bids.

“There is more risk in the public side that you’re going to hit the wrong part of the cycle,” Russell said.

As costs have gone up, the imperative to “value engineer” projects has risen. Russell point-ed to the substantial redesign of the Junior Museum and Zoo project, which was downsized from a two- to a one-story build-ing. That, Russell said, was a di-rect response to the overall cost of the building.

“If something the developer thought was going to cost $10 million now costs $15 million, they may choose not to move forward or to wait until they have a tenant signed up, so a lot of our (construction) business gets more difficult because timing is less certain.”

That’s not to say, however, that builders are complaining about the current market conditions.

“We would rather be in this market than in 2008,” Russell said.

A region that’s boomingPrivate and public construction projects compete for labor

by Gennady Sheyner

— was palpable at the Jan. 18 meeting of the Architectural Re-view Board, which was reviewing the new California Avenue garage. The meeting got off to a good start. After panning the preliminary de-sign at a prior review, board mem-bers on Jan. 18 agreed that the garage plan had come a long way. Early in the hearing, board mem-bers lauded the project and two members, Peter Baltay and Alex Lew, said they could support it.

City staff stressed the urgency of moving the project forward.

“We want to break ground on this in October,” Matt Raschke, se-nior engineer at Public Works, told the board. “We want to fast-track

construction. The escalation we’re seeing in the market is extreme.”

The board had some quibbles about the landscaping plan, the ga-rage’s potential noise problems and — most notably — the proposed stairway in the garage, which some members argued needed to be re-fined. Assistant Planning Director Jonathan Lait said these concerns could be addressed by approving the project and adding conditions that these items return at a later date for a subcommittee review.

“All things considered, from staff perspective, we are very mindful not only of the costs to other applicants who have to go through the process, but the city

also has an expense that it’s incur-ring that has potentially broader implications,” Lait said. “As we spend more money for building the public-parking structure, there’s fewer funds for other projects we want to advance.”

The board, however, refused to be rushed. Board member Robert Gooyer said he felt like the board was “being bulldozed to make a decision today.” He also argued that the city’s engineers could move ahead with most of their con-struction documents while leaving some details “purposely vague.” In the end, the board voted unani-mously to continue the review on March 1.

“I know it’s difficult,” board Chair Wynne Furth told staff after the vote. “It’s a great project. Sorry we couldn’t give you everything you want.”

David Bower, who attended the meeting, was not amused. A City Hall veteran, Bower chairs the city’s Historic Resources Board and knows a thing or two about reviewing complex development proposals. He also served on the Infrastructure Blue Ribbon Com-mission, where he was part of a subcommittee that explored options for a new public-safety building. After hearing the Jan.


$235.8 millionEstimated cost for the nine projects

$30 millionContingency funds that

could be allocated

$149.8 millionAmount currently

budgeted for the projects$56 millionCity’s shortfall

By the numbersCity of Palo Alto’s top infrastructure projects



18 discussion, Bower told the Weekly he was struck by the lack of urgency from the board, which effectively ignored staff’s budget concerns and Lait’s recommenda-tion to move ahead.

“How can a board ignore $200,000 to $700,000 in added costs for no benefit?” Bower said. “That’s what I find very, very dis-tressing — because we don’t get that money back. I feel strongly this is not good stewardship of the responsibility the board has.”

One way to improve the process would be to have the council pro-vide better direction to the archi-tecture board, Bower said. When a board fails to represent the best interests of the community, the council needs to step in. One way to do that would be to have a coun-cil member serve as a liaison to the architectural board (the Historic Resources Board is one of several local boards that has a council liaison).

The council, for its part, is also recognizing that fulfilling the city’s infrastructure goals may re-quire a more hands-on approach from members. Mayor Liz Kniss said during the Jan. 22 council meeting that she was concerned about the prospect of incurring more than $300,000 monthly in extra costs because of delays to California Avenue area garage and

the public-safety building (because the city plans to start constructing the public-safety building once the garage is built, to minimize park-ing loss, any delay to the former project necessarily delays the lat-ter). For that reason, she and other council members rejected a pro-posal from Tanaka to revise the garage proposal to add mechanical lifts. Such a move, she said, would add months to the architectural re-view and potentially add between $1 million and $2 million to the project’s cost.

“We do not move with great speed,” Kniss said.

In approving the garage, coun-cil did agree to add one unusual provision. It explicitly authorized staff to return to the council for ad-ditional direction if the Architec-tural Review Board (ARB) makes recommendations that drive up project costs. Councilman Greg Scharff, who added the provision, said the move will allow the coun-cil to weigh the board’s aesthetic considerations against economic realities.

“I think the ARB does a good job, and their mission is to make sure we have the most attrac-tive buildings out there and use the most attractive materials,” Scharff said. “On the other hand, their mission is not to look at cost savings. The council needs to look at that.”

Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at [email protected].

Cover Story

Stanford Continuing Studies presents

Thursday, February 8 • 7:30 pmBuilding 370, Room 370 • Main Quad

Stanford University • Free and open to the public

Stanford Writers in Conversation: An Evening with Carol Edgarian

For more info:continuingstudies.stanford.edu

Please join us for a special evening with Carol Edgarian (Stanford ’84), author of the novels Rise the

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Over the course of the evening, Edgarian will discuss her own writing process and share her personal

insights of contemporary trends in literary magazines and publishing. Avid readers and aspiring

writers alike will gain fresh ideas about the art of fiction and on literature’s role in the information

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Carol Edgarian Sara Houghteling

Give your opinion on this topic and read those of others on Town Square, the community discussion forum at PaloAltoOnline.com/square. Also, read all about the city’s plans at infrastructure.cityofpaloalto.org.

THERE’S MORE ONLINEPaloAltoOnline.com

Crews work to demolish the fire station at Embarcadero and Newell roads in Palo Alto this week. Replacing the station is a top infrastructure project for the city.

Infrastructure(continued from page 27)

About the cover: Brandon Donchak, left, Mark Perez, right, and fellow construction workers from Granite Construction remove asphalt at the corner of East Meadow and Ross Road, where a roundabout will be installed as part of a traffic project for the city of Palo Alto. Photo by Veronica Weber.

Palo Alto City Manager Jim Keene talks on Jan. 30 about the fire station that will be rebuilt at the corner of Embarcadero Road and Newell Road.


by Karla Kane

T here’s no simple way to de-fine the work of Stew. As a rock-and-pop songwriter

(under the name Stew and with his band The Negro Problem) and playwright, his discography is full of beautiful melodies, distinctive vocals and, most of all, the incisive and humorous lyrics that give him such a memorable voice in both the pop-music and theater worlds. His songs can be gentle and acoustic, edgily aggressive or jazzily caba-ret-like — sometimes, somehow, all at the same time.

Stew, the moniker of Los Angeles born-and-raised artist Mark Stew-art, is probably best known as the creator of the semi-autobiograph-ical musical “Passing Strange,” which won a Tony Award for Best Book in 2008. Some readers may recall that “Passing Strange” has local ties, as Stew and his col-laborators workshopped the show during a Stanford Institute for Cre-ativity in the Arts residency back in 2006. He’s also taught songwriting courses at the university.

Stew is returning to Stanford this weekend for three performances of “Notes of a Native Song,” inspired by the work of noted novelist and social critic James Baldwin. Bald-win, an icon of the civil rights and LGBTQ rights movements, is a hero of Stew’s, but don’t expect “Notes of a Native Song” to be a straight-forward tribute.

“It’s what we call a narrative concert. It’s really about the effect an artist can have on a person’s life and how his life is this really cool

example of how sensitive you can be to the world, how you can use your alienation in your art and how you can change your mind,” Stew said. “Baldwin was always chang-ing his mind and always thinking things and always arguing with people. I like that.”

The show presents Baldwin as a “rock ‘n’ roll figure,” he said, liken-ing him to Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones.

“There are these noble black nov-elists we all put on stone pedestals,” he continued, mimicking a serious, scholarly tone, “but Baldwin was just this wonderfully messy human being. We don’t treat him like a god; we treat him with an irrever-ence. Sometimes we have this blind fawning over those we claim as our heroes, and we don’t want them to be messy, when the very thing we’re celebrating them for is their messi-ness. The reason they changed our lives is because they’re so messy.”

The show was originally com-missioned by Harlem Stage for an audience that included members of Baldwin’s family and legend-ary writer Toni Morrison, and its “punk-rock, confrontational” take was not universally beloved by those who may have been expect-ing a more traditional tribute.

“We tend to want our heroes to be clean and antiseptic — well, no. My heroes are f---ed. My heroes like to do weird things in their beds. ... My heroes do drugs. My heroes, they do all kinds of things that you, Mr. Per-son out there reading, may not like, and I’m proud of them,” he said.

Never one to shy away from

poking fun at either himself or others, Stew’s song “Klown Wit Da Nuclear Code,” which was re-leased last summer and covers the election of Donald Trump, is nev-ertheless, he said, a departure from his usual style.

“I don’t really like writing topi-cal songs because they get dated quickly, and I didn’t want to add to all the Trump static,” he said. It was written at the behest of filmmaker and friend Spike Lee (who turned the final Broadway performance of “Passing Strange” into a feature film). “He sent me a text that just said, ‘A clown’s got the nuclear code,’” Stew said. Lee wanted him to write a song on that subject, which was later used in conjunction with his new television show, “She’s Gotta Have It.”

“I resisted for a pretty long time, but he just kept texting me: ‘A clown’s got the nuclear code.’ Everyday it would show up on my phone.”

Finally, Stew gave in and wrote the scathing track, which describes Trump, among other things, as an “unreal estate orange agent.”

“It was the hardest thing I ever had to write,” he said, adding that, for the world’s sake, he hopes it’s one that doesn’t stand the test of time. “That’s the song you hope you don’t have to sing again.”

He’s gearing up for two new re-cord releases — the soundtrack to “Notes of a Native Song” as well as “The Total Bent,” another musi-cal — and will perform at Lincoln Center in New York on Feb. 7. In the meantime, “Passing Strange”

lives on as communities across the country embark on their own pro-ductions. Though that show origi-nally featured Stew as a narrator commenting on the experiences of his younger self, he said the project has a life of its own that’s not de-pendent on his presence in the cast.

“It’s really not as personal as people think. We always call it ‘autobiographical fiction,’” he said. “So many people have told me how they relate to it that I can’t feel like I own it.” He recalled running into a man in the subway who told him that he’d taken his ex-wife to see the play so that she could finally under-stand him. The two then rekindled their romance. Stew was profound-ly touched by the encounter.

“That’s way better than a Tony Award,” he said.

And despite that Tony, Stew is not a big fan of traditional theater.

“Not at all. I don’t go to it. I don’t appreciate a well-made play. I’m a simpleton,” he said, laughing. “I like theater in Berlin, like where they’re doing Shakespeare but then a guy comes out playing a Velvet Under-ground song on acoustic guitar, or there’s blood and people scream-ing, nudity — I’m the heterosexual who’s really into full frontal male nudity. But I’d much rather see a Tuesday night rock band.”

Rock music, too, he conceded, “is a branch of theater. Everything, actually, is theater. I do respect what theater is about.”

Any interview with Stew would be remiss not to mention his musical soulmate and frequent collaborator, Heidi Rodewald, whose infectious

bass guitar lines and sweet har-monies are essential to The Negro Problem’s sound and who’s been Stew’s co-composer throughout his career. Though they’re no longer romantically involved, their fruitful songwriting partnership continues.

“You just get lucky if you find that person who’s there through thick and thin — and it hasn’t all been pretty, by any means,” he said, reflecting on their bond. The key to collaboration, as he tells his songwriting students, is not to find someone who loves your music but rather “someone who gets your music.” He and Rodewald, he said, grew up listening to the same L.A. radio stations and shared a mutual love of ‘70s soul and hard-edged punk. And despite the fact that they’re now based in Brooklyn, their music retains a distinctly West Coast vibe. It’s one of the reasons they’re looking forward to their up-coming Stanford shows.

“We’re thrilled just to be in Cali-fornia,” he said. “Even though it’s not my home-home anymore, it’s my spiritual home.”

Arts & Entertainment Editor Karla Kane can be emailed at [email protected].

What: “Notes of a Native Song” by Stew and The Negro Problem.Where: Bing Studio, 327 Lasuen St., Stanford. When: Friday, Feb. 2, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 3, at 2:30 and 8 p.m.Cost: $15/students; $45-55 general admission.Info: Go to live.stanford.edu.


1/2 (Century 16 and 20)

The days when movie Westerns were “Cowboys & Indians” writ large are long gone. Westerns grew up a bit, empathizing with Native Americans even if they remained in support of the white leading charac-ters. The genre may be on life sup-port, given a general lack of popu-larity with the American public and abroad, but filmmakers still feel the pull to put their mark on the genre. That explains “Hostiles,” writer-director Scott Cooper’s handsome, well-acted but somewhat clodhop-ping modern Western.

At its best, “Hostiles” works as a contrived but effective parable of the American West, its painful legacy and small measures of re-demption. In 1892, Army Capt. Jo-seph J. Blocker (a resonant Chris-tian Bale) gets an order he literally can’t refuse, try as he might. He and a small group of soldiers are to escort ailing native Chief Yellow Hawk (the great Wes Studi) from New Mexico’s Fort Berringer back to his Montana homeland to die with dignity. Blocker’s career has been spent in brutal conflict with Native American tribes, including

the Comanches of Yellow Hawk. Friends have died at Yellow Hawk’s hands, and Blocker seeks every alternative, including the of-fer of a “let’s settle this like men” knife fight.

But no, we’re in for a classic Western journey across a danger-ous physical landscape, as well as the comparably harsh psychic ter-rain of scarred men. Yellow Hawk stoically endures his physical pain and the hatred of his escorts, keep-ing a watchful eye for his own sake and that of his attendant family members. But our focus mostly remains on the white people and Blocker’s struggle to reach empa-thy for a community much more wronged than his own by the war both have fought.

Rosamund Pike plays Rosalie Quaid, a widow left suicidal by the murder of her husband and young child. The killers were Coman-che, setting up added tension since Rosalie also gets an escort from Blocker and his party. Rosalie plays double duty as a plot device, since she also allows for romantic tension with Blocker. Another foil arrives in the form of Ben Foster’s Ser-geant Charles Wills, once a friend

and colleague of Blocker, now a criminal being transported. Willis advocates for his own release and the victimization of the Coman-ches, all the while insisting Blocker is no better than him.

But of course he is better. We know this because others keep telling him he’s a good man, he’s a fine man, as he stares back uncon-vinced. The story’s true purpose is to morally educate and redeem him, which occurs predictably and accompanied by action that forges the new Blocker in fire. “Hostiles” gives the white people of the time more credit than they’re due, with no fewer than three formerly big-oted white characters making grand, sympathetic gestures to the Comanches.

If “Hostiles” proves ham-handed in story, Masanobu Takayanagi’s beautiful location cinematography helps to compensate, as does an interesting grab bag of character actors supporting the leads: Adam Beach and Q’orianka Kilcher as Studi’s family; Rory Cochrane, Jesse Plemons, Stephen Lang and current Best Actor nominee Timo-thee Chalamet as soldiers; and Scott Wilson and Bill Camp as additional antagonists to Blocker. There’s one other thing going for “Hostiles”: If you’re in the mood to see a Western on the big screen, it’s the only game in town.

Rated R for strong violence and language. Two hours, 14 minutes.

— Peter Canavese

MoviesOPENINGS

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HERSHEY FELDER / COURTESY HERSHEY FELDER PRESENTS

HERSHEY FELDER

Music by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Written and Performed by Hershey Felder

Directed by Trevor Hay

Action Items:1. PUBLIC HEARING: Recommendation to the City Council

to Adopt an Ordinance Creating Palo Alto Municipal Code (PAMC) Title 18 (Zoning), Chapter 18.30(J)

streamed online at http://midpenmedia.org/category/

CITY OF PALO ALTOPLANNING AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING

250 HAMILTON AVENUE, COUNCIL CHAMBERS

FEBRUARY 14, 2018 AT 6:00PM

THE BEST PICTURE OF THE YEARLOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION GOTHAM AWARDS

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12 Strong (R) Century 16: Fri. - Sun. Century 20: Fri. - Sun.Bolshoi Ballet: Lady of the Camellias (Not Rated) Century 20: SundayCall Me by Your Name (R) Century 20: Fri. - Sun. Palo Alto Square: Fri. - Sun.Coco (PG) 1/2 Century 16: Fri. - Sun. Century 20: Fri. - Sun.The Commuter (PG-13) Century 16: Fri. - Sun. Century 20: Fri. - Sun.Darkest Hour (PG-13) Century 16: Fri. - Sun. Century 20: Fri. - Sun.Den of Thieves (R) Century 20: Fri. - Sun.The Greatest Showman (PG) Century 16: Fri. - Sun. Century 20: Fri. - Sun.Horse Feathers (1932) () Stanford Theatre: 7:30 p.m., Friday; 4:45 & 7:30 p.m., Sat. - Sun.Hostiles (R) Century 16: Fri. - Sun. Century 20: Fri. - Sun.I, Tonya (R) Century 16: Fri. - Sun. Century 20: Fri. - Sun.International House (1933) (Not Rated) Stanford Theatre: 6:10 & 8:55 p.m., Fri. - Sun.Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (PG-13) Century 16: Fri. - Sun. Century 20: Fri. - Sun.

Lady Bird (R) 1/2 Aquarius Theatre: Fri. - Sun. Century 20: Fri. - Sun.Maze Runner: The Death Cure (PG-13) Century 16: Fri. - Sun. Century 20: Fri. - Sun.Molly’s Game (R) Century 20: Fri. - Sun.Paddington 2 (PG) Century 16: Fri. - Sun. Century 20: Fri. - Sun.Padmaavat (Not Rated) Century 16: Fri. - Sun.Phantom Thread (R) 1/2 Century 20: Fri. - Sun. Guild Theatre: Fri. - Sun.The Post (PG-13) 1/2 Century 16: Fri. - Sun. Century 20: Fri. - Sun.The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (R) Guild Theatre: SaturdayThe Shape of Water (R) Century 20: Fri. - Sun. Palo Alto Square: Fri. - Sun.Star Wars: The Last Jedi (PG-13) 1/2 Century 16: Fri. - Sun. Century 20: Fri. - Sun.Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (R) 1/2 Aquarius Theatre: Fri. - Sun. Century 20: Fri. - Sun.Winchester (PG-13) Century 16: Fri. - Sun. Century 20: Fri. - Sun.

Skip it Some redeeming qualities A good bet Outstanding

Aquarius: 430 Emerson St., Palo Alto (For recorded listings: 327-3241)

tinyurl.com Aquariuspa Century Cinema 16: 1500 N. Shoreline Blvd.,

Mountain View tinyurl.com/Century16 Century 20 Downtown: 825 Middlefield Road,

Redwood City tinyurl.com/Century20

CineArts at Palo Alto Square: 3000 El Camino Real, Palo Alto (For information: 493-0128)

tinyurl.com/Pasquare Guild: 949 El Camino Real, Menlo Park (For recorded

listings: 566-8367) tinyurl.com/Guildmp Stanford Theatre: 221 University Ave., Palo Alto

(For recorded listings: 324-3700) Stanfordtheatre.org

Find trailers, star ratings and reviews on the web at PaloAltoOnline.com/movies

MOVIES NOW SHOWING

Cowboys and Indians‘Hostiles’ clumsily corrects classic Western themes


FEBRUARY 2018

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• 7 day concierge service, 24 hours staff

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“The quality of your life is our focus”

“ Can exercise help your brain?” asks a postcard re-cently mailed to 8,000 Palo

Alto area residents from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The mass mailing was to solicit local 65- to 89-year-old subjects for Exert, a national study inves-tigating whether certain types of exercise can improve memory and thinking skills in people with mild memory loss.

With earlier studies suggesting a link between physical activity and reduced risk of cognitive de-cline, researchers are investigating whether different forms of exercise can stave off Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia in the fast-grow-ing population of older Americans.

“Until we have more effective treatments for these disorders, what we’re really looking at is pre-vention,” said research psycholo-gist Jennifer Kaci Fairchild, the local coordinator for Exert, which is underway in 14 locations across the United States. Fairchild is a “geropsychologist” whose work focuses on older adults at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System and Stanford University.

“People are living longer than ever before, and age is the single greatest risk factor for Alzheim-er’s disease,” she said, adding that one in three people older than 85 will have Alzheimer’s when they die. “We’re looking at ways to pre-vent or delay Alzheimer’s — de-veloping it at 95 is very different

than developing it at 65.”While exercise has been demon-

strated to help prevent and manage many chronic illnesses, it’s only in the past decade that researchers have started to understand its ef-fects on the brain, Fairchild said.

“It’s one of the areas that holds the greatest promise in terms of having benefits cognitively in late life,” she said. “Having a physi-cally active lifestyle is just a piece of the puzzle — you have to have a cognitively active lifestyle and be socially connected — but it’s a hugely important piece.”

Participants in the Exert study — which is still recruiting mem-bers and is not limited to vet-erans — will get an 18-month

membership to the YMCA and 12 months of personal training. They’ll be randomly assigned ei-ther to an aerobic training group or to a group that focuses on stretch-ing, balance and range of motion and then be expected to complete the assigned exercise program four times a week for 18 months.

During the first year, a trainer will supervise two of the four weekly sessions. In the final six months, participants will be ex-pected to come to the Y to com-plete their exercise programs on their own.

The study will assess 300 people nationally, 21 of them in the Palo Alto area, Fairchild said. Among the local subjects is 90-year-old Henry Goetz of Mountain View, who began the exercise regimen in July.

“What’s good about this is I have to meet with a trainer and I make a commitment that I’m going to


Exercise and the brainStudies at Palo Alto VA investigate

the connection by Chris Kenrick

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Wearing wrist weights, Richard Whittington does shoulder presses during his aquatic aerobic exercise class at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System on Jan. 22. The VA’s Water-Vet study uses vigorous aerobic class three days per week over eight months to help vets improve their cognitive agility.

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Heather Taylor, site study coordinator for the Water-Vet study, leads veterans, from left, Richard Whittington, Dean Kwarta, Godfrey Watson, Verne Shrewsbury and David Hanabusa, in a round of sprints during their aquatic aerobic workout at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System.

Give blood for life!b l oodcen t e r. s t a n f o rd . edu

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see her twice a week,” Goetz said. “There’s a tendency to stay with it because you don’t want to disappoint her. You feel a little bit of responsibility to make sure you do it. I’m not sure if I had to do this all on my own I’d be able to continue, but making a commitment to somebody else makes sure you do it.”

In a separate study, Fairchild is assessing whether water aerobics and explicit cognitive training can improve memory, concentration and decision-making in older veterans who are beginning to experience memory prob-lems. The “Water-Vet Study” was conceived as a way to include older veterans whose ar-thritis, pain or joint issues make it hard for them to exercise in a gym.

“(Participants) say that when they get in the water the pain just goes away, and they’re able to get their heart rate up and keep it up for longer,” Fairchild said. “We have guys with walkers jumping into the pool next to guys who run half marathons, and they’re able to exercise together.”

Water-Vet participant Dean Kwarta, a Viet-nam-era Navy pilot, commuted from his San Jose home to the Palo Alto VA Aquatic Cen-ter three mornings a week for eight months. Previously sedentary and with arthritis in his ankles, Kwarta said he found the exercise so beneficial he’s continued on his own with water aerobics five days a week at a YMCA near his home.

“I see the benefits of exercise, and it defi-nitely changed my eating habits, too,” he said. “In the process I ended up losing 30 pounds, so that actually motivated me to continue on.”

Kwarta, who retired from HP in 2012, also noticed positive results on the social side.

“This is the first time I’ve hung around with military guys in probably 30 or 40 years,” he said. “It’s sort of like getting a second wind. I was in the retirement phase, just becoming more and more sedentary, and this gave me an opportunity to get re-involved with soci-ety, essentially.”

In yet another exercise-related project, Fairchild is targeting people who take care of veterans with traumatic brain injury or dementia to determine whether physical exercise and other training can improve

Exercise(continued from page 31)

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Veterans Godfrey Watson, top right, Verne Shrewsbury, bottom center, and Richard Whittington, left, do a side stretch following their cardiac workout.



Complete schedule or info about Avenidas events, call 650-289-5400

Home is where the heart is!

So who says you have to leave your home just

because you’ve gotten older? Avenidas Village can help you stay active, safe and connected in the home

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Learn more at a free Coffee Chat:

Thursday, March 8 @ 2pmTuesday, April 17 @ 10amThursday, May 10 @ 2pmRSVP to (650) 289-5405

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Living Well FEBRUARY 2018 Calendar of Events

Feb 1Movie: “Beatriz at Dinner” 1:30-4pm, Avenidas @ CCC. $0/$2 includes popcorn. Get ticket at front desk.

Feb 2Wine Appreciation: Wines from the NorCal Coast: Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot & Zinfandel 3-4:30pm, Avenidas @ CCC. Pre-registration required. Call 650-289-5400 to register. $12/$15

Feb 5Caregiver Support Group 11:30am-1pm – every Monday @ Sunrise Palo Alto, 2701 El Camino Real, Palo Alto. Call Paula 650-289-5438 for more info. Drop-in, free.

Armchair Travel – Destination: Cambodia, Part 2 1:30-2:30pm, Avenidas @ CCC. Call 650-289-5400 to pre-register. Free

Feb 6Avenidas Walkers 10am – every Tuesday. Call

650-387-5256 for trailhead info or to schedule. Free.

Feb 7Reiki appts available Avenidas @ CCC. Call 650-289-5400 to schedule. $30/$35

Feb 8Avenidas Hikers 10am – every Thursday. Call 650-575-6291 for trailhead info or to schedule. Free.

Feb 9Tech Talk with Dr. Manjula Waldron: “The Impact of Tech on Values and Morales” 11am-12:30pm, Avenidas @ CCC. Pre-registration required. Call 650-289-5400. Free.

Feb 12UNA Film Festival “Sing Your Song” 3-4:30pm @ Channing House. Drop-in, free.

Feb 13Avenidas Village Coffee Chat 10am, Avenidas @ CCC. RSVP required. Call 650-289-5405.

Feb 14Caregiver Support Group 11:30am-1pm – every Wednesday @ Sunrise Palo Alto, 2701 El Camino Real, Palo Alto. Call Paula 650-289-5438 for more info. Drop-in, free.

Feb 15Movie: “The Last Face” 1:30-4pm, Avenidas @ CCC. $0/$2 includes popcorn. Get ticket at front desk.

Feb 16Tuina 10-11am, every Friday, Avenidas @ CCC. Drop-in, free.

Feb 19Avenidas closed

Feb 20Lotus Dance Fitness 3:30-4:30pm, Avenidas @ CCC. Free.

Feb 21Blood Pressure Screening 9:30-10:30am, Senior Friendship Day @ CCC, Building M. Drop-in, free.

Feb 22Workshop: iPad for the Complete Beginner 2-4pm @ Channing House. Space is limited. RSVP required. Call 650-289-5400. $10/$20.

Book Club: “The Vinegar Girl” by Anne Tyler, 2:30-4pm, Avenidas @ CCC. Drop-in, free.

Feb 23Presentation: “Why Social Media?” 11am-12:30pm, Avenidas @ CCC. Registration required. Call 650-289-5400, $0/$10.

Feb 26Senior Adult Legal Assistance appts available for Santa Clara County residents age 60+. Call 650-289-5400 for appt. Free.

Feb 27Massage appts available Call 650-289-5400. $35/$45 for 30 min.

Feb 28Mindfulness Meditation 2:30-3:30pm, every Wednesday, Avenidas @ CCC. Drop-in, free.

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caregivers’ health and well-being.“At the VA we’re faced with a

new type of caregiver — the care-givers for the traumatic brain inju-ries coming back from the recent conflicts,” she said. “They’re going to be caring for someone for 20, 30, 40 years. How can we help them be the best caregiver they can be?”

More information about the Ex-ert study is available at exertstudy.org or by calling 650-493-5000, ext. 65992. Information about the Water-Vet study is available by call-ing 650-493-5000, ext. 68957, and about the caregiver study by calling 650-493-5000, ext. 65992.

Contributing Writer Chris Kenrick can be emailed at [email protected].

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Stanford Continuing Studies presents

Saturday, February 10 • 7:30 pmScience Teaching & Learning Center AuditoriumStanford University • Free and open to the public

Beethoven’s Revolution: The Musical Odyssey from His First String Quartet to His Last

For more info:continuingstudies.stanford.edu/events

In the quarter century between 1801, when a young, brash Beethoven wrote his first string

quartet (Op. 18 No. 4) to 1826, when he penned his last (Op. 135), the course of music history

had been changed by the now completely deaf and isolated genius. Between live performances

of these two amazing quartets, we will discuss and illustrate Beethoven’s musical and spiritual

development and how the force of his compositions steered the evolution of classical music

from Haydn and Mozart toward Brahms, Mahler, and the 21st century.

This program is hosted by the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra’s music director, Ben Simon,

featuring the SFCO All-Stars: Kay Stern and Hrabba Atladottir, violins; Ben Simon, viola;

and Eric Gaenslen, cello.

ROBOT COMPANIONS? ... Engineer, design researcher and novelist Manjula Waldron will speak to the question “ Living with Smart Robots: Fact or Fiction?” in a discussion with futurist Richard Adler on Friday, Feb. 9, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The free event will be held at Avenidas in Room I-2 of Cubberley Community Center, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. The two will explore questions such as: Can new technologies really help with the problems of aging? What would it be like to live with a smart robot? Can robots provide companionship? Pre-registration is required. Go to Avenidas.org.

CARING AND COPING Mark Lukach, author of “My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward,” will speak Sunday, Feb. 11, at 3 p.m. at Palo Alto’s Rinconada Library, 1213 Newell

Road. Cosponsored by Friends of the Palo Alto Library, the talk is part of Silicon Valley Reads, which is focusing on “caring, coping and compassion” as the reading and discussion themes for 2018. Go to siliconvalleyreads.org.

“SING YOUR SONG” ... The life of singer, songwriter, actor and social activist Harry Belafonte is featured in a 2011 documentary “Sing Your Song,” which will be shown Monday, Feb. 12, at 3 p.m. at Channing House, 850 Webster St., Palo Alto. The event is sponsored by the United Nations Association Film Festival. Free and open to the community.

Items for Senior Focus may be emailed to Palo Alto Weekly Contributing Writer Chris Kenrick at [email protected].

Senior FocusLiving Well

Exercise(continued from page 32)


OPEN HOME GUIDE 42Also online at PaloAltoOnline.comHome & Real Estate

CAMELLIAS GALORE ... The San Francisco Peninsula Camellia Society will hold its annual flower show and sale on Saturday, Feb. 17, and Sunday Feb. 18, at 1400 Roosevelt Ave. in Redwood City. The sale will be held Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a show from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday the hours will be 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Go to camelliasfpcs.org for more information.

RITZY ZIP CODES ... According to Forbes Magazine, the town of Atherton (94027) tops the list of most expensive ZIP codes in 2017 among 500 surveyed in the United States by Altos Research of Sunnyvale. Atherton’s median price was $4.95 million. Also in the top 10 was Los Altos Hills (3rd) and Palo Alto (4th). Portola Valley was 32nd and Menlo Park was 74th. Just for some perspective, Beverly Hills 90210 was 8th, Hillsborough was 11th, and Tiburon was 41st.

GOING NATIVE GARDEN TOUR ... Save the date: April 7, 2018 will be the northern Santa Clara County Going Native Garden Tour sponsored by the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the California Native Plant Society in association with UCCE Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County. The event will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Go to gngt.org/GNGT/HomeRO.php to register for this free event.

STOP JUNK MAIL ... Is your home recycling bin inundated with “mixed paper” from junk mail? By stopping the mail you don’t want, you can not only save yourself time but conserve natural resources. According to Zero Waste Palo Alto, each year, more than 100 million trees’ worth of bulk mail arrives in American mailboxes. When making donations, ordering items through the mail, or subscribing to a publication, include a note that instructs the organization not to lend, sell or trade your name to other mailing lists. For more information visit cityofpaloalto.org/junkmail, email [email protected], or call 650-496-5910.

Home Front

Send notices of news and events related to real estate, interior design, home improvement and gardening to Home Front, Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302, or email [email protected]. Deadline is one week before publication.

A weekly guide to home, garden and real estate news, edited by Elizabeth Lorenz

There are more real estate features online. Go to PaloAltoOnline.com/real_estate.

READ MORE ONLINEPaloAltoOnline.com

Despite the po-l it ica l

surprises and uncer ta inty that marked this past year, 2017 looked much like 2016 with re-spect to housing in Silicon Val-ley: There continued to be limited inventory on the market, which caused home prices to continue to appreciate at a rapid pace.

In 2018, I believe demand will continue to outstrip sup-ply, causing additional appre-ciation in the housing market while continuing to see limited inventory due to geographical and political constraints. I ex-pect the 2017 federal tax cuts to have a negligible impact on the housing market as supply and demand will remain the promi-nent story of 2018.

The available supply of Sili-con Valley single-family homes looks like it will continue to be extremely low throughout 2018. This past December, the num-ber of homes for sale in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties was less than half of what it was in December 2016. This trend held true across all months of 2017 when compared to 2016. The main drivers of this limited supply are geographical and po-litical constraints.

Bounded by San Francisco Bay on the east and the Santa Cruz Mountains to the west, Silicon Valley, and more acutely the Midpeninsula, has very lim-ited land on which to expand. With limited political support for building vertically (higher density, multistory housing) in many Silicon Valley and Penin-sula communities, I expect this long-term trend to continue.

I predict the market will

remain highly competitive, with multiple offers on most properties throughout 2018. I am already seeing the effects of suppressed inventory as we begin the new year with more than 10 offers on several properties being sold where I was the buyer’s agent.

This trend will likely lead to new pricing thresholds set across Silicon Valley (more than a dozen Palo Alto homes were sold for $1 million over their asking prices in 2017). We will also likely see the price per square foot of homes climb to new historical peaks. For home sellers there is a silver lining: This means it is still an ideal market and time to sell.

Demand showed no sign of slowing in 2017, and I expect that trend to continue into 2018. According to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, between 2011 and 2015, the nine Bay Area counties added 501,000 jobs but only 65,000 new homes. The imbalance is even more exaggerated on the Peninsula, where only one hous-ing unit was built for every 15 jobs created. As companies and technology continue to grow and expand in the Silicon Val-ley, the demand for housing will be robust throughout 2018.

Demand will continue to be the greatest near the area’s big-gest employers and best schools.

Already this year, I have seen increased demand in Palo Alto. This builds on what I saw last year, as homebuyers are willing to pay a premium for locations close to where the top tech com-panies and jobs are centered. I have seen this trend continue into this new year, and I expect this demand to only become moreso as the year evolves.

While the tax cuts recently passed by Congress were not welcome news to many Cali-fornians, especially those liv-ing in Silicon Valley, I believe this will have a relatively mut-ed effect on the local housing market. For instance, Apple re-cently announced it will repatri-ate billions of dollars into the U.S. and increase its investment here, which will likely offset any softening due to the cap of mortgage and property tax deductions. To this end, I have seen only continued growth in demand thus far in 2018, sup-porting the notion that the new tax law will have limited impact while demand continues to out-strip supply.

Hadar Guibara is a Silicon Valley Realtor with Sereno Group Palo Alto. She can be emailed at [email protected]. Her comments here or elsewhere concerning the new tax bill should not be taken as tax advice.

It looks like demand will continue to outstrip supply as geography limits where new homes can be built on the Midpeninsula.

Ph

oto

illustra

tion

Real Estate Matters

Dwindling supply combined with hot demand should make 2018 market highly competitive

by Hadar Guibara


Home & Real Estate

Arthur SharifSilicon Valley’s longest serving Sotheby’s International Realty Agent

Presents

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Arthur Sharif and Associates

[email protected]

www.SVLuxRE.com DRE#: 01481940

#1 Silicon Valley AgentSotheby’s International Realty

2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017

Serving Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Atherton, Woodside, Portola Valley,

Los Altos Hills, & exceptional properties throughout the Peninsula

HOME SALESHome sales are provided by California REsource, a real estate information company that obtains the information from the County Recorder’s Office. In-formation is recorded from the deeds after the close of escrow and published within four to six weeks.

Atherton 57 North Gate J. Farhangui to X. Chen for $4,260,000 on 12/26/17; built 1927, 2bd, 910 sq.ft.; previous sale 10/30/2015, $1,700,000

East Palo Alto1826 Clarke Avenue Oleary Trust to Kannan Trust for $700,000 on 12/18/17; built 1952, 2bd, 1,130 sq.ft.; previous sale 08/19/1988, $173,000

Los Altos1486 Country Club Drive Kiehle Trust to Chiu Prop-erties for $3,825,000 on 01/11/18; built 1956, 3bd, 2,182 sq.ft.; previous sale 07/1970, $61,5001832 Granger Avenue Aidala Trust to A. Dubey for $3,225,000 on 01/16/18; built 1954, 3bd, 2,566 sq.ft.

Los Altos Hills12030 Elsie Way V. Recurve to F. Gong for $9,000,000 on 01/09/18; built 2016, 6bd, 7,682 sq.ft.; previous sale 10/21/2011, $2,150,00012321 Gigli Court M. & C. Bateman to S. & A. Mar-kosian for $4,500,000 on 01/12/18; built 1900, 5bd, 4,061 sq.ft.

Menlo Park823 14th Avenue S. Matsuoka to A. Navarro-Mar-tinez for $1,150,000 on 12/22/17; built 1950, 2bd, 880 sq.ft.; previous sale 09/10/2002, $435,0001312 Carlton Avenue T. Gonzalez-Rendon to M. Cohen for $1,175,000 on 12/18/17; built 1949, 2bd, 1,160 sq.ft.; previous sale 12/21/2012, $475,000407 Laurel Avenue S. Sandadi to M. Benisch for $3,600,000 on 12/28/17; built 1939, 2bd, 1,400 sq.ft.; previous sale 06/14/2016, $2,000,000256 Marmona Drive Pracht Trust to G. & S. Diamos for $2,600,000 on 12/21/17; built 1948, 3bd, 1,500 sq.ft.; previous sale 05/15/2014, $1,810,0002160 Mills Avenue Silva Trust to Jalali Trust for $2,110,000 on 12/22/17; built 1954, 2bd, 1,350 sq.ft.165 O’Keefe Street #9 K. & M. Fredrick to D. Wheeler for $725,000.00 on 12/28/17; built 1983, 2bd, 1,182 sq.ft.; previous sale 10/22/2015, $650,000523 Palmer Lane D. Frazee to W. Guo for $3,400,000 on 12/28/17; built 2008, 4bd, 2,954 sq.ft.; previous sale 06/12/2008, $2,050,00015 Riordan Place G. & J. Parker to J. Chow for $4,080,000 on 12/22/17; built 1998, 6bd, 3,430 sq.ft.; previous sale 09/30/1998, $1,518,5002140 Santa Cruz Avenue #8103 Quinn Trust to Dorval Trust for $910,000 on 12/21/17; built 1978, 2bd, 1,140 sq.ft.; previous sale 11/09/2005, $485,0001057 Sonoma Avenue S. Davis to S. Huang for $1,550,000 on 12/22/17; built 1950, 2bd, 1,090 sq.ft.; previous sale 09/22/2003, $625,0001671 Stone Pine Lane Survivors Trust to J. Pelavin for $2,200,000 on 12/28/17; built 1973, 3bd, 2,560 sq.ft.; previous sale 11/25/2014, $2,000,000364 Willow Road J. Schoemaker to O. Revueltas for $700,000 on 12/18/17; built 1942, 2bd, 1,120 sq.ft.; previous sale 04/21/1971, $22,500

Mountain View178 Athena Court MV Urban Village Homes to A. Puri for $1,778,000 on 01/16/18; built 2016, 3bd, 1,664 sq.ft.180 Athena Court MV Urban Village Homes to K & YCS for $1,778,000 on 01/11/18; built 2016, 3bd, 1,664 sq.ft.218 Athena Court MV Urban Village Homes to J. Zhou for $1,755,000 on 01/12/18; built 2016, 3bd, 1,526 sq.ft.3913 Degree Lane Pulte Home to Y. Li for $1,440,500 on 01/12/18

321 Easy Street #8 C. & M. Froelich to M. Singhal for $1,010,000 on 01/09/18; built 1979, 2bd, 962 sq.ft.; previous sale 12/08/2006, $465,000302 Monroe Drive C. & R. Miller to Q. Zhao for $2,825,000 on 01/16/18; built 1988, 5bd, 3,043 sq.ft.; previous sale 10/24/1997, $589,000203 Mountain View Avenue G. McNelly to J. Jo-seph for $1,850,000 on 01/16/18; built 1997, 3bd, 1,521 sq.ft.; previous sale 07/16/1997, $370,0003100 Pyramid Way Pulte Home to S. Ved for $1,819,000 on 01/11/183106 Pyramid Way Pulte Home to J. & P. Xie for $1,649,000 on 01/09/183108 Pyramid Way Pulte Home to S. Yagnyamurthy for $1,617,500 on 01/09/183112 Pyramid Way Pulte Home to J. Reck for $1,761,500 on 01/08/183200 Pyramid Way Pulte Home to D. Mak for $1,757,500 on 01/11/183202 Pyramid Way Pulte Home to S. Jain for $1,553,500 on 01/11/183206 Pyramid Way Pulte Home to S. Atreya for $1,686,500.00 on 01/11/183216 Pyramid Way Pulte Home to A. & C. Lin for $1,603,500 on 01/08/181778 Rock Street Q. Gao to Y. Liu for $1,250,000.00 on 01/12/18; built 1955, 3bd, 1,500 sq.ft.; previous sale 10/29/2007, $650,000285 Santa Rosa Avenue C. Ulpindo to A. Danelon for $1,750,000 on 01/12/18; built 1963, 1,428 sq.ft.; previous sale 01/14/2016, $1,500,000243 Sierra Vista Avenue R. & G. Knopman to D. & J. Vogel for $1,810,000 on 01/10/18; built 1979, 3bd, 1,595 sq.ft.; previous sale 08/28/1998, $380,0001766 Wagner Avenue J. & H. Leonard to Modern Day Homebuyers for $1,520,000 on 01/10/18; built 1950, 3bd, 1,353 sq.ft.; previous sale 03/1973, $23,0001101 West El Camino Real #113 El Camino Real Limited to J. Zhang for $1,050,000 on 01/12/18; built 2017, 2bd, 1,150 sq.ft.1101 West El Camino Real #315 El Camino Real Limited to A. Pinto for $1,125,000 on 01/10/18; built 2017, 2bd, 1,199 sq.ft.1101 West El Camino Real #410 El Camino Real Limited to J. Thompson for $1,250,000 on 01/11/18; built 2017, 2bd, 1,182 sq.ft.1101 West El Camino Real #413 El Camino Real Limited to Song Trust for $1,074,000 on 01/11/18; built 2017, 2bd, 1,150 sq.ft.1101 West El Camino Real #418 El Camino Real Limited to C. Clark for $1,391,000.00 on 01/12/18; built 2017, 2bd, 1247 sq.ft.500 West Middlefield Road #181 Banko Trust to Z. Ge for $750,000 on 01/16/18; built 1971, 1bd, 720 sq.ft.; previous sale 11/06/1997, $140,000

Palo Alto183 Bryant Street F. Vallaeys to Five Trust for $2,888,000 on 01/09/18; built 1981, 4bd, 2,538 sq.ft.; previous sale 09/23/2004, $1,250,000928 Dennis Drive Huang Trust to P. & Y. Chen for $2,250,000 on 01/10/18; built 1954, 3bd, 1,120 sq.ft.2870 Kipling Street Carothers Trust to R. Han for $3,100,000 on 01/08/18; built 1948, 3bd, 1,086 sq.ft.; previous sale 05/19/1993, $395,0004276 Los Palos Avenue Morgan Trust to Y. Xiong for $3,690,000 on 01/10/18; built 1950, 4bd, 1,957 sq.ft.2221 Louis Road Louis Road Limited to Lucky-Home for $4,100,000 on 01/12/18; built 1950, 4bd, 2,243 sq.ft.; previous sale 01/10/2018, $3,100,000471 Nevada Avenue Dwan Trust to David Ellington Limited for $6,500,000 on 01/11/18; built 2000, 5bd, 4,132 sq.ft.1176 Palo Alto Avenue N. George to Ling & Zhu Trust for $4,000,000 on 01/08/18; built 1950, 3bd, 2,261 sq.ft.; previous sale 08/29/2014, $3,375,000444 Tennessee Lane Schill Trust to X. Chen for $2,440,000.00 on 01/11/18; built 1951, 3bd, 1,476 sq.ft.

Atherton Total sales reported: 1Sales price: $4,260,000

East Palo AltoTotal sales reported: 1Sales price: $700,000

Los AltosTotal sales reported: 2Lowest sales price: $3,225,000Highest sales price: $3,825,000Average sales price: $3,525,000

Los Altos HillsTotal sales reported: 2Lowest sales price: $4,500,000Highest sales price: $9,000,000Average sales price: $6,750,000

Menlo Park Total sales reported: 12Lowest sales price: $700,000Highest sales price: $4,080,000Average sales price: $2,016,667

Mountain ViewTotal sales reported: 25Lowest sales price: $750,000Highest sales price: $2,825,000Average sales price: $1,554,180

Palo Alto Total sales reported: 8Lowest sales price: $2,250,000Highest sales price: $6,500,000Average sales price: $3,621,000

Source: California REsource

SALES AT A GLANCE


728 Emerson Street, Palo Alto, CA 94301 · dreyfus.group · goldengatesir.com · Each Office is Independently Owned and Operated.

THE DREYFUS GROUP

RECENT LISTINGS

BOLSA POINT, PESCADERO · Offered at $29,000,000

CAÑADA ROAD, WOODSIDE · Offered at $13,500,000JOSSELYN LANE, WOODSIDE · Offered at $11,998,000

COAST ROAD, SANTA CRUZ · Offered at $35,000,000

135 WILLOWBROOK DRIVE, PORTOLA VALLEY · Offered at $6,550,000 WOODSIDE VINEYARD ESTATE · Offered at $34,600,000

The Dreyfus Group

Michael Dreyfus650.485.3476

[email protected]

CalBRE 01121795

Noelle Queen650.485.3476

[email protected]

CalBRE 01917593

OPEN HOUSE SATURDAY 1:30–4:30PM


Square footage, acreage, and other information herein, has been received from one or more of a variety of different sources.Such information has not been verified by Alain Pinel Realtors®. If important to buyers, buyers should conduct their own investigation.

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180 Magnolia Drive | 5bd/7+baMary & Brent Gullixson | 650.888.0860

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12501 Zappettini Court | 6bd/7.5baKathy Bridgman | 650.209.1589

License # 01189798OPEN SATURDAY 1:30-4:30

LOMA MAR $8,888,000

8140 Pescadero Creek Road | LandQ. Grimm/D. Chesler | 650.400.7879

License # 01405453 | 00675583BY APPOINTMENT


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1245 N. Lemon Avenue | 3bd/3baMichele Musy | 650.323.3033

License # 00561303BY APPOINTMENT


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License # 01189798OPEN SAT 1:30-4:30 & SUN 11:00-2:00


1959 Camino a los Cerros | 3bd/3baJanise Taylor | 650.302.2083



629 Glenbrook Drive | 3bd/3baErika Ameri | 650.269.8211


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348 Ramona Road | 4bd/2.5baPamela Rummage Culp | 415.640.3293



627 16th Avenue | 4bd/4baKeri Nicholas | 650.533.7373



144 Lowell Avenue | 3bd/2baDerk Brill | 650.543.1117



3190 Berryessa Street | 3bd/3.5baTom Correia | 650.823.5441



100 1st Street #102 | 2bd/2baAndrea Schultz | 650.575.3632



343 Lowell Street | 3bd/3baLoren Dakin | 650.714.8662

License # 01030193OPEN SATURDAY 2:00-4:00


1120 17th Avenue | 3bd/2baSuzie Soden | 650.315.8922

License # 01968975OPEN SAT & SUN 1:30-4:30


Pacific Union Real Estate 361 Lytton Avenue, Suite 200Palo Alto, CA 94301

Pacific Union Real Estate is pleased to welcomeGwen Wang

Gwen WangRealtor®650 260 4936415 225 [email protected] www.GwenWang.comLicense # 01393647


Pacific Union Real Estate 361 Lytton Avenue, Suite 200Palo Alto, CA 94301

If all Real Estate Companies are the same, why are our results so different? It’s our People.

Pacific Union proudly welcomes Ciana Megan Tierney to our Silicon Valley Team

Ciana Megan TierneyLuxury Property Specialist650 954 [email protected] # 01339212


A FRESH APPROACH

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JUDY CITRON • [email protected] • JudyCitron.com

License # 01825569

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• Premier Old Palo Alto location with neighboring estate properties

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Square footage, acreage, and other information herein, has been received from one or more of a variety of different sources. Such information has not been verified by Alain Pinel Realtors®. If important to buyers, buyers should conduct their own investigation. ©Marketing Designs, Inc. 650.802.0888 marketingdesigns.net

OPEN SATURDAY & SUNDAY, February 3 & 4, 2:00 – 4:00pm

Offered at $10,495,000 | www.650Lowell.comFor a private showing or more information, please contact Judy Citron.


Your Realtor & You2018 Silicon Valley REALTORS® Leadership Takes Oath of Office

The Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS®

(SILVAR) 2018 leadership was installed Jan. 25 at

Palo Alto Hills Golf & Country Club. California

Association of REALTORS® (C.A.R.) 2013

President Don Faught administered the oath of

office to SILVAR 2018 President Bill Moody and

the 2018 officers and board directors. C.A.R.

2005 President Jim Hamilton served as master of

ceremonies. Board Director Jeff Bell led everyone

in the Pledge of Allegiance, and SILVAR

treasurer and C.A.R. Director for Life Phyllis

Carmichael delivered the inspiration message.

SILVAR's 2018 officers include Moody, a

REALTOR® with the Referral Realty, Cupertino;

Alan Barbic, a REALTOR® with Sereno

Group, Los Gatos, President-elect; and Phyllis

Carmichael, a REALTOR® with Coldwell Banker

Residential Brokerage, Los Altos, Treasurer.

Joining SILVAR's lead officers are Denise Welsh

(Alain Pinel Realtors), Past President; Karen

Trolan (Alain Pinel Realtors), Region 9 Chair;

Leannah Hunt (Sereno Group), NAR Director;

Jasmine Lee (Intero Real Estate Services),

Menlo Park-Atherton District; Penelope Huang

(Dreyfus Sotheby's International Realty), Palo

Alto District; David Casas (Intero Real Estate

Services), Los Altos-Mountain View District; Jeff

Bell (Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage),

Cupertino-Sunnyvale District; Ryan Nunnally

(Keller Williams Bay Area Estates), Los Gatos-

Saratoga District; and Mark Burns (Referral

Realty), Joanne Fraser (Alain Pinel Realtors),

Katherine Frey (Katherine Frey Real Estate),

Mary Kay Groth (Sereno Group), Lynn Wilson

Roberts (Alain Pinel Realtors), and Mark Wong

(Alain Pinel Realtors), Directors At-large.

Moody is a native of Silicon Valley and a U.S.

veteran, having served in Vietnam from 1966

to 1968. He is a graduate of the former Ellwood

P. Cubberley High School in Palo Alto and

San Jose State. Moody has been a REALTOR®

since 2002 and has served as chair of SILVAR's

Cupertino-Sunnyvale District and as a

California Association of REALTORS® Region 9

director. His goal as president of SILVAR is to see

that members follow the National Association of

REALTORS® Code of Ethics and Civility.

The 2017 Appreciation Awards were presented

by 2017 President Denise Welsh and Executive

Officer Paul Cardus to Chris Isaacson (Coldwell

Banker), 2017 REALTOR® of the Year; Darrell

Monda (TourFactory), 2017 Affiliate of the

Year; Leannah Hunt (Sereno Group), Spirit of

SILVAR; and Susan Tilling (Coldwell Banker),

President’s Award.

This year’s installation sponsors were

MLSListings Inc., DeLeon Realty, Cupertino-

Sunnyvale District, Los Gatos-Saratoga District,

Los Altos-Mountain View District, Referral

Realty – Moise Nahouraii, Sereno Group, Supra,

Alain Pinel Realtors Los Gatos - Jeff Barnett and

TourFactory - Darrell Monda.

***

Information provided in this column is presented by the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS®. Send questions to Rose Meily at [email protected].

650.543.8500www.deleonrealty.com

®

650.543.8500 | www.deleonrealty.com | DeLeon Realty CalBRE #01903224

The DeLeon Difference®

Broker Associate15 Years of Proven Resultsm: [email protected]# 01399145

2017-201 8

PALO ALTO WEEKLY OPEN HOMES

ATHERTON5 Bedrooms 40 Selby Ln $4,900,000Sat/Sun Coldwell Banker 324-4456157 Watkins Ave $5,988,000Sat/Sun 1-4 Coldwell Banker 324-4456

BELMONT3 Bedrooms - Condo400 Davey Glen Rd #4705 $938,000Sat 1:30-4:30 Coldwell Banker 324-4456

MENLO PARK2 Bedrooms 440 6th Ave $998,000Sat/Sun 1-4 Coldwell Banker 324-4456

5 Bedrooms 625 Hobart St $5,800,000Sat 1-3 Coldwell Banker 324-4456

PORTOLA VALLEY6 Bedrooms 135 Willowbrook Dr $6,550,000Sat 1:30-4:30 Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty 644-3474

REDWOOD CITY2 Bedrooms - Townhome29 Alverno Ct $1,699,000Sat 1-4 Pacific Union International 314-7200

5 Bedrooms 718 Canyon Rd $3,195,000Sat/Sun 1-4 Coldwell Banker 851-2666

SUNNYVALE4 Bedrooms 1736 Kimberly Dr $1,998,000Sat 1-4/Sun 11-2 Intero Real Estate 947-4700

UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL TIMES ARE 1:30-4:30 PM

• Interactive maps• Homes for sale• Open house dates and times• Virtual tours and photos

• Prior sales info• Neighborhood guides• Area real estate links • and so much more.

Our comprehensive online guide to the Midpeninsula real estate market has all the resources a home buyer, agent or local resident could ever want and it’s all in one easy-to-use, local site!

Explore area real estate through your favorite local website:TheAlmanacOnline.com

MountainViewOnline.com PaloAltoOnline.com

And click on “real estate” in the navigation bar.

Agents: You’ll want to explore our unique online advertising opportunities.

PaloAltoOnline.comTheAlmanacOnline.com MountainViewOnline.com

We cover Midpeninsula real estate like nobody else.

one online destination that lets you fully explore:


BulletinBoard

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INDEX BULLETIN BOARD 100-155

FOR SALE 200-270

KIDS STUFF 330-390

MIND & BODY 400-499

JOBS 500-560

BUSINESS SERVICES 600-699

HOME SERVICES 700-799

FOR RENT/ FOR SALE REAL ESTATE 801-899

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Across

1 ___ Lama (Tibetan leader)

6 Some football linemen, briefly

9 “The Destroyer,” in Hinduism

13 Oak-to-be

14 Slip up

15 McGregor in a hyped 2017 boxing match

16 “Super Freak” singer

18 The Mad Hatter’s guest

19 Commotion

20 Roths, for short? (abbr.)

21 “King Lear” daughter

22 Tree with an extract that purportedly helps memory

25 Sea of ___ (Biblical location)

28 Word before bump or boom

29 It’s a sign

30 Actor Benicio del ___ of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”

31 Daily ___ (political blog since 2002)

34 Worth a “meh” response

39 D&D game runners, for short

40 Quicker than quick

41 Participate in a poll

42 Letters over 0 on older touchtones

43 Stretchy shirt of sorts

46 He was assassinated on the Ides of March

50 ___ to arms

51 Winter ride

52 Diddley and Derek, for two

55 Bete ___ (nemesis)

56 Jokers, usually (or what the circled letters represent)

58 Not yet burning

59 Gator or Power follower

60 Constellation with a “belt”

61 Catch on clothing

62 “___ Kommissar” (1983 pop hit)

63 Jury members

Down

1 Irish comedian ___ ” Briain

2 Hydrochloric ___

3 In ___ parentis (legal doctrine)

4 Boat with a pair of bears

5 Monopoly board words near “Just visiting”

6 2011’s “Arthur,” e.g.

7 Duane Allman’s brother

8 Near-grads, for short

9 Without help

10 “The Princess Bride” character ___ Montoya

11 Word knowledge, briefly

12 Scene of action

15 Arctic herd

17 Actress Hathaway of “The Princess Diaries”

22 “I Just Wanna Stop” singer ___ Vannelli

23 Wind section member

24 Surname of two brothers behind a root beer brand

25 Beyond passable

26 Radio band letters

27 Microscope piece

30 Cough syrup amt.

31 Shape of a pretzel (but not a pretzel stick)

32 Septa- plus one

33 Dissipate slowly

35 Juliet’s surname

36 Medical suffixes

37 Drug bust participant

38 At any point

42 Offshore drilling structure

43 Half of a headliner at the Rio in Las Vegas

44 Like cheaper textbooks

45 The rougher interrogator, in procedurals

46 Roman god with two faces

47 Home of the Huskies, for short

48 Boxer Ali

49 Stage whisper, perhaps

52 Cheese that goes with red wine

53 Quality of some cheeses

54 Some bank acct. data

56 Stack of cash

57 “___ you for real?”

©2018 Jonesin’ Crosswords ([email protected])

“The Jokers”—and the ones seen with them. Matt Jones

Answers on page 44. Answers on page 44. www.sudoku.name

This week’s SUDOKU

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LegalNotices

995 Fictitious Name StatementHI CARE BROKER MORGAN HILL REAL ESTATE FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No.: FBN637629 The following person (persons) is (are) doing business as: 1.) Hi Care Broker, 2.) Morgan Hill Real Estate, located at 16910 Sorrel Way, Morgan Hill, CA 95037, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by: A Corporation. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is(are): DIRESTA CONSULTING GROUP INC. 16910 Sorrel Way Morgan Hill, CA 95037 Registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 08/28/2008. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Santa Clara County on January 10, 2018. (PAW Jan. 19, 26; Feb. 2, 9, 2018)

MONICA FOSTER FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No.: FBN637747 The following person (persons) is (are) doing business as: Monica Foster, located at 2699 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, CA 94306, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by: A Corporation. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is(are): MF SALON INC. 345 Sheridan Ave. Ste., #405 Palo Alto, CA 94306 Registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 01/01/2018. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Santa Clara County on January 12, 2018. (PAW Jan. 26; Feb. 2, 9, 16, 2018)

J & J DESIGN FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No.: FBN638076 The following person (persons) is (are) doing business as: J & J Design, located at 1072 Tanland Dr. Apt. 212, Palo Alto, CA 94303, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by: An Individual. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is(are): JINGJING SHI 1072 Tanland Dr. Apt. 212 Palo Alto, CA 94303 Registrant began transacting business

under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on N/A. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Santa Clara County on January 24, 2018. (PAW Feb. 2, 9, 16, 23, 2018)

997 All Other LegalsNOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF: SUSAN L.S. DONDERSHINE Case No.: 18PR182679 To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of SUSAN L.S. DONDERSHINE, SUSAN LOIS STEIGER, SUSAN L. DONDERSHINE. A Petition for Probate has been filed by: STEPHEN D. DONDERSHINE in the Superior Court of California, County of SANTA CLARA. The Petition for Probate requests that: STEPHEN D. DONDERSHINE 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 April 2, 2018 at 9:00 a.m. in Dept.: 12 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: Peter S. Stern, Esq. 350 Cambridge Avenue, Suite 330 Palo Alto, CA 94306 (650) 326-2282 (PAW Feb. 2, 9, 16, 2018)

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Menlo-Atherton enters Friday’s Central Coast Section tournament at Overfelt High in San Jose as the top-ranked girls wrestling team and defending champions. Championship matches are scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday.

SportsShorts Sports

Local sports news and schedules, edited by Rick Eymer

READ MORE ONLINEwww.PASportsOnline.com

For expanded daily coverage of college and prep sports, visit www.PASportsOnline.com

FridayCollege women’s basketball:

Stanford at Oregon State, 6 p.m., Pac-12 Networks

SaturdayCollege men’s basketball: Oregon

at Stanford, 2 p.m. KTVUSunday

College women’s basketball: Stanford at Oregon, noon, ESPN2

ON THE AIR

THE CARDINAL IS IN … Stanford grad Chris Derrick announced on Twitter early Wednesday that he has withdrawn from Saturday’s USATF Cross Country Championships at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Fla. because of a hamstring problem. Derrick, a 14-time All-American while at Stanford, won three straight U.S. cross country titles between 2013-15 and has competed in the IAAF World Championships … Olympic gold medalist, world record holder and Stanford sophomore Katie Ledecky, who won individual four events and led No. 3 Stanford to a pair of dual meet victories last weekend, was named Pac-12 Women’s Swimmer of the Week on Wednesday … Olympic gold medalist and Stanford freshman Aria Fischer was named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation/Kap7 Newcomer of the Week on Tuesday. Fischer was Stanford’s second-leading scorer at the Cal Cup.

ALUMNI NEWS … Gunn grad Caroline Anderson and Sacred Heart Prep Maddy Johnston will be in town with Michigan (5-4), competing in the Stanford Invitational Saturday and Sunday. Anderson, a senior with the Wolverines, became the first player in program history to record at least 200 assists earlier in the season. She has 11 thus far this season. Anderson ranks fourth all-time with 354 career points. In 100 career games she has 148 goals to go with 206 assists. Meanwhile, Sacred Heart Prep grads Layla Waters and Maddie Pendolino are preparing to play each other at the inaugural Arizona State Cross Conference Challenge in Tempe on Friday. Waters recorded her first points for the Sun Devils on two assists against Cal Baptist. Pendolino, a freshman at Princeton, will be making her collegiate debut against Arizona State. Menlo-Atherton High grad Becca Dorst will also be making her head coaching debut with the Tigers. Dorst found herself the interim head coach three weeks before the season began when long-time coach Luis Nicolao bolted for Navy, his alma mater … In related news, Olympic gold medalists and Stanford grads Melissa Seidemann and Jamie Neushul are assistant coaches at UC Irvine, where Natalie Seidemann is a senior.

by Rick Eymer

E arl Koberlein could be seen at just about every event, big and small, at Stanford

over the past three-plus decades. He always had a smile and a warm greeting for one and all.

Koberlein, who was named Menlo School’s Director of Athletics this week, likely won’t be changing too much when he officially takes over duties on May 29.

K o b e r l e i n has a long, dis-tinguished his-tory with the local athletic scene and has years of expe-rience as an athletic admin-istrator at most every level.

“I couldn’t be more thankful for my experience at Stanford Uni-versity,” Koberlein said. “I would like to thank all the phenomenal coaches, student-athletes and staff that I have had the pleasure to work with and learn from over the past 25 years. The experience has truly shaped who I am today. The commitment to excellence in both academics and athletics is a noble pursuit that I cherish and am totally committed to, and I wouldn’t leave Stanford for an institution that didn’t share simi-lar goals of academic and athletic excellence.’’

He also has established ties with Menlo in the form of Keith Larsen and John Paye, the Knights’ boys and girls basketball coaches, respectively.

Larsen worked with Koberlein on the Stanford coaching staff and Paye was a teammate for three years.

Koberlein has been serving as Stanford’s senior associate ath-letic director for intercollegiate sports since 2006 and has been working at Stanford since 1993. He played basketball at Stanford between 1982-86.

“Earl will serve the coaches and students well, and with tremen-dous passion and integrity,” said Bernard Muir, Stanford Direc-tor of Athletics. “Earl is a highly qualified, seasoned administrator who prioritizes student-athlete welfare and genuinely cares about providing the best possible student-athlete experience.”

Koberlein takes over from fel-low Stanford grad Kris Weems, who is an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors G-League

The Menlo-Atherton girls wrestling program has the feel of a budding dynasty.

With four wrestlers seeded No. 1 in their respective divisions, the Bears are favored to repeat as Central Coast Section champions.

The girls head to the two-day CCS tournament at Overfelt High beginning Friday with opening rounds beginning at 5 p.m. The championship round is slated for Saturday at 6 p.m.

F o l a s h a d e Akinola, Abby Ericson, Angie Bautista and team captain Lauren Mc-Donnell are each seeded first in their weight classes. No other school has more two No. 1 seeds.

“Over the past two years since our team formed, we’ve signifi-cantly developed our skills, both individually and as a group,” Mc-Donnell said. “We’re very aligned as a team now and really looking forward to seeing what we can ac-complish at CCS.”

There are three other seeded M-A wrestlers and one alter-nate. Paolo Ramirez, who placed last year, is seeded third at 131. Anna Smith, who finished third last year, is seeded fourth at 116.

Lievienna Lie is seeded fifth at 235 and Evelyn Calhoon is the alternate at 121, or essentially the seventh seed.

Akinola, fully recovered from an injury, was a champion at 160 last year and will be attempting to win the 189 division this year.

Menlo-Atherton is the defend-ing CCS girls champion and will likely battle Terra Nova for this year’s crown.

Erickson, second at 189 last year, is the top seed at 170. Mc-Donnell, third last year, is the top seed at 137. Bautista is the top seed at 126. Lauren Fuller will also compete.

Philip Hoang, who exclusively coaches the girls this year, has led a meteoric rise in the program. From one wrestler, the graduated Chelsea Wilson, has beget Bear Nation.

“With so many of us ranked, it becomes more of a collabora-tion, a real team sport,” McDon-nell said. “We can say ‘this is how many points you can con-tribute’ and how that adds up to, hopefully, defending our CCS championship.”

The current juniors are pio-neers. Many of them came to M-A to participate in other sports but a dynamic, in-school recruiting process changed minds and then championed a healthy growth over the past few years.

After winning their first CCS

title, the Bears remain hungry for more.

“We’ve been thinking about CCS since the beginning of the season but now there’s more talk of it,” McDonnell said. “There’s more of a focus.”

There’s also a mindset of achieving something together, a mindset fostered from the top down. The administrative support has helped move the program for-ward to where it has become a source of pride.

Wilson took home M-A’s first girls state wrestling title last year at 106 and the Bears were eighth as a team (out of 152 schools that scored at least one point). The current group would like nothing better than to follow her lead and take it to the next level.

Akinola, McDonnell, Ericson and Smith also advanced to the state meet. Akinola lost in the championship semifinal round and eventually finished fifth, Er-icson also lost in the semis and placed sixth. McDonnell and Smith each win 1-2.

Palo Alto, 54th in state, and Gunn, 115th, are also writing their own histories. Paly’s Sara Aguilar, now a freshman at Menlo College, was a CCS champion last year and placed fourth at state.

Masako Perez, seeded fourth at 131, and Aishah Maas, the

Stanford administrator

transfers to MenloKoberlein named

Director of Athletics for the Knights

M-A’s girls wrestling program on the risePalo Alto, Gunn also have seeded wrestlers for CCS

by Rick Eymer

CCS GIRLS WRESTLING

(continued on page 47)(continued on page 46)

Folashade Akinola

Earl Koberlein

Rick B

ale

SPORTS


by Glenn Reeves

Gunn scored 18 points in the four-minute overtime pe-riod, more than it scored in

any of the eight-minute regulation quarters, and pulled away to beat visiting Lynbrook 59-48 in a Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division game Wednesday.

The win was important for Gunn (10-9, 7-1). A Lynbrook victory would have resulted in a tie for first place. Instead, the Titans hold a two-game lead with four games remaining.

“It’s really an important win,’’ said Gunn point guard Eli Russo, who helped along the overtime out-burst with 11 of his 15 points. “We had goals set before the season of

making CCS and going far in CCS. We’re committed to that goal. To have a high seed we need to win the El Camino league.’’

The Titans, on a four-game win-ning streak, can take a step closer to that goal when they travel to play at Fremont at 8 p.m. Friday.

In the SCVAL De Anza Division, Palo Alto holds a two-game lead over Los Gatos with five games left on the regular-season schedule.

The Vikings (17-2, 7-0) won their 15th straight Wednesday, earning a 63-41 victory over host Los Altos. They host Wilcox at 7:45 p.m.

In the West Bay Athletic League, Menlo School (17-1, 9-0) took an 11-game winning streak

and a one-game advantage into Thursday night’s rival game with visiting Sacred Heart (10-9, 8-1). Priory (12-7, 5-4) is in third place.

In the Peninsula Athletic League South Division. Menlo-Atherton (12-8, 5-3) beat Capuchino 71-43 Wednesday to remain in third place behind Sequoia and Mills. The Bears host Carlmont at 7:45 p.m. Friday.

For a while, Gunn’s hold on first place looked tenuous.

Lynbrook (10-10, 5-3) had an 18-16 lead at halftime and got hot in the third quarter, scoring on seven of eight possessions in one stretch to open its lead to nine at 37-28.

Brendan Mora, who led Gunn with 17 points, responded with two free throws and a 3-pointer to bring Gunn closer at 37-33 by the end of the quarter.

The Titans needed Lynbrook to cool off and got their wish as the Vikings went eight consecutive possessions without scoring and managed only four points in the fourth quarter.

The only problem was that Gunn was having difficulty getting the ball to drop through the hoop as well. The Titans, with a height advantage on the front line, ral-lied by scoring all three of their fourth-quarter field goals on offen-sive rebounds off second or third shots, two by Evan Dray and one by Mora.

Two free throws by Will Roth gave Gunn a 41-40 lead with 1:39 left, Gunn’s first lead since being up 14-12 in the second quarter. Lyn-brook tied it on a foul shot by An-drew Destin with 17 seconds left.

Gunn jumped all over the Vi-kings in overtime. Russo scored on a drive, Dray on a three-point play and Russo on another drive to make it 48-41 with 2:31 left. Lyn-brook was forced to foul and Gunn went 10 of 14 at the line in the extra period to stay comfortably ahead.

“That was a tough one,’’ Gunn coach Brandynn Williams said. “Any Given Sunday, you never know what you’re getting with high school kids. I’m thankful we found a way to win.’’

Palo Alto’s Max Dorward led all scorers with 20 points in the win over the Eagles. He also grabbed seven rebounds and had four assists.

Spencer Ro-jahn scored 12 points, including a pair of 3-point-ers. Bryant Jefferson added 11 points.

Eric DeBrine scored 20 points and Sacred Heart Prep beat host Pinewood 52-35 in a WBAL con-test Thursday, setting up a show-down for a share of first place on Thursday at Menlo at 7:30 p.m.

DeBrine, Yianni Gardner, Ryan Von Thaden and Jack Moe each hit a 3-pointer for the Gators (10-9, 8-1), who are above .500 for the first time all season.

Cache Fields scored 19 points to lead Pinewood (10-8, 4-5), which hosts Crystal Springs Uplands at 5 p.m. Friday.

Girls basketball Pinewood (18-1, 6-0) and East-

side Prep (16-4, 5-1) are two of the top teams in the Central Coast Sec-tion regardless of division and the two will meet Friday night in Los Altos Hills for a 7 p.m. West Bay Athletic League Foothill Division game Friday.

Pinewood brings a 14-game wining streak to the contest and Eastside has won 12 of 13, with the lone loss to Pinewood, which has won 48 consecutive regular-season games in league play, a streak that dates to a Feb. 5, 2013

loss to Eastside.Carly McLanahan scored 22

points, which included six 3-point-ers, and Greer Hoyem added 19 as Menlo-Atherton maintained its un-beaten status in the Peninsula Ath-letic League’s South Division with a 67-33 win over host Capuchino on Wednesday.

Oron Estes and Erica Fischer combined for another 15 points for the Bears (14-6, 8-0), who host Carlmont at 6:15 p.m. Friday. It’s M-A’s final home game and the team will honor its seniors.

M-A extended its PAL South Di-vision winning streak to 41, which dates to 2015.

SCVAL De Anza Division leader Palo Alto (13-5, 7-0) hosts second-place Wilcox (14-6, 6-2) at 6:15 p.m. Friday in an important game.

In the WBAL Skyline Division, Castilleja rallied from a deficit to beat Mercy-Burlingame, 48-47, at the College of San Mateo.

Niki Chen and Sammy Wong each scored 13 points for the Ga-tors (8-11, 4-3), who outscored Mercy, 11-4, in the fourth quar-ter. Anna DeVitis and Jordan Yau combined for another 15 points.

Castilleja travels to Harker for a 6:30 p.m. game Thursday.

Girls soccer Palo Alto

(10-2-1, 6-0-1) is in excellent shape in the SCVAL De Anza Division. The Vikings beat visiting Los Altos 4-0 W e d n e s d a y with Ally Sch-eve recording two assists and Ve-nus Sandoval adding a goal and an assist.

Paly, which travels to play Santa Clara at 6 p.m. Friday, controls its own destiny. The most important league game of the season will be Feb. 14 against Mountain View (15-1, 7-1).

Gunn (7-5-3, 6-2) hosts Fremont (10-2-3, 6-0-1) at 5:30 p.m. Friday in a match that will likely deter-mine the SCVAL El Camino Di-vision title. The Titans are coming off a 3-1 victory over Lynbrook.

Menlo (4-8-2, 3-1-1) has a chance to move into a first-place tie with Notre Dame-Belmont (10-3-1, 4-1-1) in the WBAL Foothill Division when the two teams meet in Belmont at 2:45 p.m. Friday.

Sacred Heart Prep (4-10-1, 3-2-1) can also move up with a win against visiting The King’s Acad-emy on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Sports

PREP ROUNDUP

alternate at 126, are ready to forge ahead.

Gunn’s Ruby Robinson wrestled in the state meet and it could be time for Kayla Lin, seeded fifth at 121, and Julia Laws, seeded sixth at 126, to take the baton.

The Vikings also have future

stars like Al-exandra Lee, LJ Varga, Zoe W o n g - V a n Hauren and Ashley Wang.

The Titans have a bright fu-ture with Emily Milner, Natalie Cai, Lola Rob-inson and Alejandra Arrelin.

Girls wrestling(continued from page 45)

Gunn gets key boys basketball win over Lynbrook

Paly boys and girls, Pinewood girls and Menlo boys all in first place

Max Dorward

Ally Scheve

Da

vid

Hicke

y

Paul Jackson III (10) scores for SCVAL Foothill-leading Palo Alto while Eli Russo (33) helped Gunn take a two-game lead in the SCVAL El Camino Division.

Masako Perez (right) wrestles Julia Laws

Bu

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arcia

Kayla Lin

Bu

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arcia


ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

Hannah AshbyCastilleja soccer

Ariella BeakPinewood soccer

Hannah Jump*Pinewood basketball

Carly LeongPalo Alto basketball

Claire MoleyPalo Alto soccer

Kayla Tahaafe*Eastside Prep basketball

Emmanuel Ajanaku-MakunPriory basketball

Gabe DiVitisWoodside basketball

Jonny EprahimianMenlo soccer

Yianni GardnerSacred Heart Prep basketball

Spencer RojahnPalo Alto basketball

Isaiah SaamsEastside Prep basketball

*Previous winner

Honorable mention

Greer HoyemMENLO-ATHERTON

BASKETBALL

The senior scored 50 points in three Peninsula Athletic League games last week, including 15 in a key win over Aragon, to help keep the Bears undefeated in league play. In two of those games, Hoyem was the lone player to score in double figures.

Thomas BrownMENLO BASKETBALL

The senior scored 22 points in each of his last three games, all West Bay Athletic contests, and the Knights remain unbeaten in league play. The key win was against Priory. Brown averaged 13 points a game before breaking loose last week.

Watch video interviews of the Athletes of the Week, go to PASportsOnline.com

STEVE GRAY CalRE #01498634

650.743.7702 | [email protected]

What is Your Home Really Worth?

Introducing technology

assisted and

local Realtor

influenced home

valuations with

on-point accuracy.

For a video visit:www.HelpRealtor.com

On Thursday February 8, 2018, 8:30 AM – 10:30 AM, in the Palo Alto Council Chambers, Ground Floor, Civic Center, 250 Hamilton Avenue, the HRB will conduct its annual retreat to discuss the following potential topics:

Training

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM, Hoover Girl Scout House site at 1120 Hopkins Ave.

Amy French

with disabilities. To request an accommodation for this

NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETINGof the City of Palo Alto

Historic Resources Board

packages will be received by the Palo Alto

Package No. 18-001 for General Contractors

Package No. 18-002 for MEP Contractors

DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK: The PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICTrequired by AB 1565 to bid on upcoming projects. Projects will

updated Questionnaire to note any changes to Parts 1 through

Bid Submission:

2:00 p.m. on Friday, March 2, 2018.

below.

team in Santa Cruz. Weems played basketball at Stanford when Koberlein was an assistant administrator with the program.

“Among this powerful group, Earl stood out in his proven abil-ity to mentor and support coaches and in his deep and proven con-nection to students,” Menlo Head of School Than Healy said. “Earl is someone who recognizes the power of athletics to teach char-acter, and his experiences at Stan-ford have enabled him to develop a program to support this goal for our students.”

At Stanford, his responsibilities included overseeing the men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s soccer, men’s and women’s water polo, wrestling, lacrosse and softball programs.

Koberlein oversaw sports medi-cine, sports performance, sports nutrition and sport psychology. Koberlein has served on the NCAA Men’s Soccer committee and has served as an NCAA site representa-tive for numerous NCAA Baseball Championships. Koberlein also served as a member and chair of the NCAA’s Olympic Sport Liaison Committee from 2011-14.

Koberlein graduated from Stan-ford with a degree in psychology in 1987 and went on to play pro-fessional basketball in Australia. He earned a master’s in sport management from USF in 1994.

“I will work hard to provide an outstanding student-athlete experience for the Menlo student-athletes,” Koberlein said. “It took a special place to pull me away from Stanford, and Menlo is an exciting opportunity for me to positively impact the lives of many young student-athletes. I look forward to getting to work at Menlo and helping transform young lives.”

Administrator(continued from page 45)

Sports


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COLDWELLBANKERHOMES.COM

Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage are independent contractor agents and are not employees of the Company. The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification. ©2018 Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Owned by a subsidiary of NRT LLC. Coldwell Banker and the Coldwell Banker Logo are registered service marks owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. CalRE# #01908304

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In a fix · • Additional +/- 3,705 sq.ft. includes: detached 3-car garage, 837, attached 1-car garage 339, cover loggia, 1867, balcony/terrace, 591, covered breezeway, 71. • Sweeping