Serving Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, and Woodside for 44 years.
Editor & Publisher Tom Gibboney
Editorial Managing Editor Richard Hine News Editor Renee Batti Lifestyles Editor Jane Knoerle Senior Correspondents Marion Softky, Marjorie Mader Staff Writers Dave Boyce, Sandy Brundage Contributors Barbara Wood, Kate Daly, Katie Blankenberg Special Sections Editors Carol Blitzer, Sue Dremann Photographer Michelle Le
Design & Production Design Director Raul Perez Designers Linda Atilano, Gary Vennarucci
Advertising Vice President Sales & Marketing Walter Kupiec Display Advertising Sales Heather Hanye Real Estate Manager Neal Fine Real Estate and Advertising Coordinator Diane Martin Published every Wednesday at 3525 Alameda De Las Pulgas, Menlo Park, Ca 94025 Newsroom: (650) 223-6525 Newsroom Fax: (650) 223-7525 Advertising: (650) 854-2626 Advertising Fax: (650) 854-3650 e-mail news and photos with captions to: Editor@AlmanacNews.com e-mail letters to: letters@AlmanacNews.com The Almanac, established in September, 1965, is delivered each week to residents of Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley and Woodside and adjacent unincorporated areas of southern San Mateo County. The Almanac is qualified by decree of the Superior Court of San Mateo County to publish public notices of a governmental and legal nature, as stated in Decree No. 147530, issued November 9, 1969. Subscriptions are $60 for one year and $100 for two years.
N WHAT’S YOUR VIEW? All views must include a home address and contact phone number. Published letters will also appear on the web site, www.TheAlmanacOnline.com, and occasionally on the Town Square forum.
TOWN SQUARE FORUM Post your views on the Town Square forum at www.TheAlmanacOnline.com EMAIL your views to: letters@almanacnews.com and note this it is a letter to the editor in the subject line. MAIL or deliver to: Editor at the Almanac, 3525 Alameda de las Pulgas, Menlo Park, CA 94025.
Ideas, thoughts and opinions about
local issues from people in our community. Edited by Tom Gibboney.
Is third time a charm for Stanford trail?
I
t is rare when a town or county refuses a $10 million offer to build a bike/pedestrian trail, but that has happened on a project proposed for a busy stretch of Alpine Road between Sand Hill Road and Portola Valley. The trail offer began as part of a Stanford agreement with Santa Clara County to build two trails near the northern and southern boundaries of Stanford property in return for a general use permit to develop 5 million square feet of space ED ITORI AL on the Stanford campus. To The opinion of The Almanac settle a dispute about where the trails would be built, Stanford offered $8 million to San Mateo County to build a trail on Alpine Road. Stanford recently completed a trail south of Page Mill Road. Now, after accruing interest for several years, the $8 million has grown to more than $10 million, but the offer to build the trail expires at the end of this year. San Mateo County supervisors, who oversee the road, have turned the money down twice at the request of residents of Stanford Weekend Acres, a group of homeowners on Alpine Road who say they already have trouble getting into and out of their neighborhood and would have more problems if they had to cross a much wider trail as Stanford proposed a few years ago. The trail idea came back to the supervisors last week, and despite the prior controversy, might have a chance of approval depending on a survey of residents who live nearby. With two new supervisors, the prospect of the trail gaining enough votes has improved, in part because conditions have changed. While some residents who testified before the board last week remain adamantly opposed, others believe the current
bike path is dangerous and should be repaired. In their opinion, the county needs to at least take a final look at improving the trail near their homes before turning down $10 million. “If the county doesn’t use the Stanford money to repair the trail, it will have to spend its own money to repair it,” said Noel Hirst, who said she used to ride her bike in the area but stopped due to the trail’s safety problems. Early versions of the trail upgrade were elaborate and included cutting into a hillside on southbound Alpine to make enough room for an up to 12-foot-wide trail for bikes and pedestrians. And despite lengthy negotiations to make it acceptable to residents of Stanford Weekend Acres, talks broke down. This time around, however, another scenario has surfaced that might allow San Mateo County to design a trail that would be more amenable to neighbors and still greatly improve safety along Alpine Road. This could happen due to the stipulation that requires the county to use the money by year’s end or give it to Santa Clara County for recreational use. Santa Clara Supervisor Liz Kniss, whose representative attended the July 26 meeting, said she will attempt to get her colleagues to endorse a plan that would place the $10 million in a regional recreation fund that would cover both counties. Such a fund would give San Mateo County the opportunity to apply for funding to improve the bike/pedestrian trail according to its own specifications, hopefully with a design much more acceptable to the neighbors at Stanford Weekend Acres. If such a deal can be arranged, it could improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians along this busy corridor without creating any more roadblocks for residents. In this case, a less elaborate trail is the best solution. It would cost less money and still be able to link up with Portola Valley’s trail, which will make the entire section much safer for everyone.
L ETT E RS Our readers write
Keeping Atherton’s trash bins in their place Editor: I am delighted that the Atherton Town Council has passed an ordinance regarding trash bins. I cannot tell you how many times I have lodged a complaint against neighbors who roll their bins out four days before collection and leave them out a day or two afterward. Yes, it’s a shame that it came to this, but when repeated polite requests are ignored, the town needs to do more than just send out a “pretty please” letter. We are not talking about households that will be away from home on the collection day and need to put the bins out a few days early and/or retrieve them a few days late; we are talking about the habitual offenders who seem to think that the curbside is a
CALL the Viewpoint desk at 223-6507.
18 N The Almanac N August 3, 2011
See LETTERS, next page
Menlo Park Historical Association
Our Regional Heritage This service station was a fixture on El Camino Real in 1940, soon after the state widened the two-lane gravel road to four lanes. The project pushed back many buildings on the west side of the street but the Menlo Theater, later called the Guild, was too substantial to be moved, so its spacious lobby was sliced away by workers to accommodate the highway.