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Menlo Park eyes tobacco ordinance Portola Valley school board Should Menlo Park ban smoking in apartment and condominium units? In parks and gardens? Everywhere within city limits? Those are some of the questions Menlo Park’s City Council will take up in a study session at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27. The meeting will be held in the council chambers, in the Civic Center complex between Laurel and Alma streets. The council will also discuss the prospect of adopting a licensing requirement for tobacco retailers, after El Concilio of San Mateo County lobbied it to do so. Menlo Park resident Barbara
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Franklin has been stumping for a ban on smoking in multi-unit residences in the city for almost a year; the council is taking up the issue at her request.
Look! Another clothing boutique No, you didn’t mistakenly pick up an old copy of The Almanac. It seems a new clothing boutique is opening every month in Menlo Park, and you can add another to the list. A new retail clothing shop, Look,
picks Woodside Priory dean as new member of board
held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Oct. 23 to celebrate its opening at 642 Santa Cruz Ave. It’s different from other boutiques that have opened recently in one respect: It will sell men’s clothes, along with women’s. The Chamber of Commerce describes the styles offered as “casual� and “trendy.� For those of you still keeping score at home, this is (by our count) the seventh new clothing retailer to open since late spring in the downtown area. No fewer than 11 downtown shops now sell women’s clothing.
By Andrea Gemmet Almanac Staff Writer
S
cott Parker, the dean of students at Woodside Priory private school, is the newest board member for the Portola Valley School District. At the school board’s Oct. 21 meeting, Mr. Parker was unanimously selected from a pool of three applicants. “This was a hard choice. There were three really good candidates,� said Superintendent Anne Campbell. The other applicants were Maren Christensen, a school volunteer and a president of the Ormondale Parent-Teacher Organization, and Robert Brownell, a venture capitalist and first-year resident of Portola Valley. Portola Valley has a vacancy on the school board because only two candidates filed to run for the three available seats up for election on November 3. The election was cancelled due to the lack of a contest, and the school board opted to seek applicants to fill the third open seat for a four-year term.
Portola Valley: Redesign of Ford Field on council agenda rendering, go to tinyurl.com/ ygu3poy. The council meets at 7:30 p.m. at the Historic Schoolhouse at 765 Portola Road. The council also will consider forming an ad hoc committee to come up with a plan for the six acres of open space known as the “Springdown parcel,� just south
of Town Center. The committee will examine questions such as whether to allow benches or tables, or a demonstration organic garden? The council will be seeking volunteers from the general public and the town’s standing committees.
Harvest Fest Saturday at Allied Arts
Wu (Chinese brush painting), Joy Lily (hand-painted scarves) and Cyndee Netwick (decorated gourds). Tickets are $20 for adults and $5 for children. An adult ticket includes an inscribed glass, three beer tastings and a bratwurst or frankfurter. Lunch will be available at Cafe Primavera, the new Allied Arts guild restaurant. Proceeds will benefit the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and
The Portola Valley Town Council will hear a presentation on a redesign of the facilities surrounding the baseball diamond at Ford Field at the corner of Alpine Road and Westridge Drive. Proposed changes include a paved parking lot, bathrooms and a snack shack. To see a
Bratwurst, beer and holiday crafts will be featured at the Allied Arts Guild’s first Harvest Fest on Saturday, Oct. 31, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The new event is taking the place of Pumpkin Day and Creative Arts Day. Gary and Jena Breitbard and the Pacific Coast Ragtime Orchestra will provide live entertainment during the day. Children’s activi-
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ties will include musical story time with the Menlo Park Library and a special craft area. Among the artisans taking part in Harvest Fest are Larry Cazes (glass), Marcie Maffei (pottery), Neil Mindel (prints and jewelry), Linda Logan (watercolors), Lillian
the Friends of Allied Arts. Allied Arts Guild is located at 75 Arbor Road in Menlo Park. For more information, call 325-2450.
St. Raymond School wins trivia contest Students at St. Raymond School in Menlo Park won this
Mr. Parker has been with Woodside Priory since 2000, serving as a teacher and department chair prior to becoming dean of students. He earned a master’s degree in theological studies from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Montana State University. He has a child at Ormondale, and another in preschool, said Ms. Campbell. “He was the best fit for the board because of his Ormondale connection,� she said, explaining that the other board members have older children in Corte Madera, the district’s grade 4-8 school, and they liked the idea of a member who could represent the families of K-3 students at Ormondale. Mr. Parker, along with incumbents Ray Villareal and Bill Youstra, will be seated on the board on Dec. 4, when their terms in office will officially start. Ms. Campbell said. Incumbent Donald Collat, the board president, chose not to run for another term on the school board. A
year’s annual trivia contest and scavenger hunt sponsored by Serra High School in San Mateo. Thirty St. Raymond students, grades 5 through 8, and two teachers, Sister Ann McGowan and Patrick Sullivan, took part in the six-day event. The Serra trivia hunt, held Oct. 14-19, originated 25 years ago. St. Raymond has taken part in the hunt for the past five years, coming in second several times.
Halloween parade, trick-or-treating in Menlo Park on Saturday
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1001 El Camino Real, Menlo Park (650) 324-3486 989 El Camino Real, Menlo Park (650) 328-1556 • 227 First Street, Los Altos (650) 941-9222
Menlo Park’s annual Halloween costume parade will take place at 11:45 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 31. The parade starts at Burgess Recreation Center, 700 Alma St. in Menlo Park, and continues to Fremont Park, corner of University and Santa Cruz Avenues. After the parade, children may trick or treat from 1 to 3 p.m. in downtown Menlo Park stores that display trick-or-treat signs on their doors. There will be a magic show and crafts at Fremont Park. The parade is sponsored by the city of Menlo Park Community Services Department and the Menlo Park Chamber of Commerce. For more information, call 330-2200.