14th Annual FREE ADMISSION
Official program guide inside MAY 7, 2010 VOLUME 18, NO. 18
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INSIDE: IN BUSINESS | PAGE 25
MountainViewOnline.com
City asks unions for $1 million cut FEE HIKES ALSO KEY TO CLOSING BIG BUDGET GAP By Daniel DeBolt
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HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL Saint Francis student Justin Lai, above, danced his way to a prom date on Wednesday, April 28. Lai gathered his friends and staged a musical invitation that re-enacted a scene from the movie “500 Days of Summer. The object of his prom proposal, Michelle Arra, pictured with the bouquet, said yes. PHOTOS BY JAMES TENSUAN
ountain View’s budget outlook is rosier than expected, but city officials will be less likely to worry about service cuts and layoffs if unions agree to at least $1 million in concessions and a workable plan for fee increases is created. City manager Kevin Duggan reported “good news” in Tuesday’s City Council budget study session. Better-than-expected tax revenue projections have decreased the city’s general fund deficit estimate from $5 million to $4.3 million for 2010-2011. City officials now hope to make only $1.3 million worth of significant cuts to services instead of the $2 million in cuts previously needed. But that hope rests on ongoing negotiations with the city’s four unions over the next few weeks to save $1 million by slowing down increases to pay and benefits, along with $1 million in new revenue from various fee increases for
High speed muddle at rail meeting RESIDENTS ATTEMPT TO VISUALIZE NEW TRAINS, NEW TRACKS By Daniel DeBolt
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n a meeting Monday night about the consequences of highspeed rail in Mountain View, local residents found themselves mulling the sort of questions usually left to those with degrees in transportation design. “Can you photo-shop some pictures for us?” said one attendee as many tried to visualize the various alternatives for the grade-separated train crossings required in Mountain View at Castro Street and
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Rengstorff Avenue. is being considered for downtown The city-organized meeting was and the two additional train tracks intended to educate the public, could turn the Caltrain corriwho came to hear dor into an aerial the California platform, trench N INSIDE High Speed Rail or shallow tunnel. Authority offiIn small groups, HSR State audit P.14 cials speak in the residents made crowded Senior their preferences Center ballroom about the various known about those options, though challenges, options and scenarios little was said about the possible that could play out in Mountain train station. View. In the effort to build the high “People don’t want the aerial or speed train line from San Francisco at-grade options,” for running the to Los Angeles, a major rail station tracks, concluded one group at
the end of the meeting. “We want the whole thing to be invisible, really.” Most attendees cheered and applauded the remark. But the solution, as some found, isn’t that simple. Stevens Creek and Permanente Creek are major obstacles for the trench or shallow tunnel options, which may also be prohibitively expensive. Rail authority officials said a deep tunnel that could go underneath the creeks is not being studied in Mountain View. See HSR, page 8
GOINGS ON 22 | MARKETPLACE 32 | MOVIES 20 | REAL ESTATE 35 | VIEWPOINT 15
city services. Thankfully, council members don’t have to bet on another $1 million in less painful cuts called “operational efficiencies,” some of which are already in effect. The City Council has to approve a city budget in June. Mountain View Firefighters Association president John Miguel said his union has already agreed to a cut in pay raises worth $1 million over the next two years in order to avoid layoffs and cuts See COUNCIL, page 6
Sunnyvale man ID’d as Caltrain victim By Jay Thorwaldson and Martin Sanchez
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Sunnyvale man who stepped off a Mountain View train platform into the path of a speeding Caltrain commuter at 5:08 p.m. Monday, May 3, has been identified as Christian Edward Archibald, 31, according to the Santa Clara County Medical ExaminerCoroner’s Office. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office would not confirm if he is the same Christian Edward Archibald 31, of Sunnyvale, who was to be arraigned Tuesday, May 4 on one charge of lewd and lascivious behavior on a child under 14. He allegedly molested a 5-year-old boy in a Milipitas Walmart on March 20, District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Amy Cornell said. Cornell said the accused man See FATAL, page 7