Back into the game FALL REAL ESTATE | P.24
OCTOBER 15, 2010 VOLUME 18, NO. 41
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MountainViewOnline.com
Google deals a no-go if Jabbari wins council seat? By Daniel DeBolt
years on the council, Jabbari he election of a Google said. employee to the City There’s a long list of caveats, Council could mean no however, and non-management new lucrative deals between the Google employees on Google’s internet giant and the city for his payroll more than three years are first two years in office, thanks among those mostly unaffected to a state law designed to prevent by the law. The law calls them conflicts of interest. “remotely interested” rather Google employee and council than “financially interested.” A candidate Aaron Jabbari told “remotely interested” council the Voice Thursday that he member would not block conwould have to consider resigning tracts with Google. from either Google or the City Jabbari would be “remotely Council if a contract were pro- interested” if he had worked posed between at Google for Google and more than three That would leave years, but the the city for just about anything, has me with the choice 21-year-old including an only worked office building of resigning from the at Google for development or a year. The city land lease. council or my job.’ three-year law Agreements was apparentwith Google AARON JABBARI, COUNCIL CANDIDATE ly designed to bring in $5.3 keep companies million in land from hiring lease revenue for the city’s gener- politicians to do their bidding al fund as Google’s headquarters on City Councils. sits on city property. The city’s “The spirit of the law is basifinance director, Patty Kong, cally to prevent a company from said another $11.85 million is stacking the council in their received in property taxes from favor,” Jabbari said. But JabGoogle. bari thinks that any “reasonable The city would be blocked observer” would see that he isn’t from approving several new trying to represent only Google’s office buildings that Google interests. has proposed but put on hold in recent years, whether Jabbari Similar story in Palo Alto abstained from the decision Similar problems occurred in or not, under California state Palo Alto when Stanford Unicode section 1090. It prohibits versity vice provost LaDoris Hazthe City Council from making zard Cordell was elected to the “contracts” with the employ- Palo Alto City Council in 2003. ers of council members under The Palo Alto city manager’s certain circumstances. The law office reported that a change is designed to make sure coun- in the law would be required in cil members are acting in the order to continue working with public’s benefit rather than their Stanford on agreements such as own. fire services, transportation ser“That would leave me with vices or even sharing the costs of the choice of resigning from the a new stoplight. council or my job,” if a contract “The Attorney General has between Google and the city was See SECTION 1090, page 9 proposed within his first two
T
MICHELLE LE
Isaac Herrera turned his life around by taking a swing a cop — in a boxing ring.
The penitent pugilist LOCAL YOUTH TURNS HIS LIFE AROUND IN THE BOXING RING By Nick Veronin
I
saac Herrera used to be a trouble-maker. The 18-yearold Mountain View native ran with a rough crowd, was mixed up with drugs and violence, and had flunked out
of Los Altos High School. But then he decided to turn his life around. So, he took a swing at a cop. It may seem like an illogical first step for someone trying to get back on track, but it makes perfect sense to Ron Cooper, a
school resource officer with the Mountain View Police Department. Cooper is the founder and leader of the Mountain View Police Activities League’s boxSee BOXING, page 9
Schwarzenegger vetoes rail ‘accountability’ stick By Gennady Sheyner
W
ith a stroke of his lineveto pen, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Monday killed a budget provision that would have forced the California High-Speed Rail Authority to improve its business plan and strengthen its outreach efforts by Feb. 1 or have about a quarter of its annual budget withheld.
INSIDE
Schwarzenegger’s veto deals a blow to efforts by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, and other state legislators to hold the rail authority accountable after a sequence of audits revealed a myriad of flaws in the agency’s revenue and ridership plans. “While the Administration supports these reporting requirements, making the (budget) appropriation contingent upon
receipt and approval of this report by the Legislature could result in project delays, jeopardize the Authority’s ability to meet already tight federal deadlines and result in increased state costs,” Schwarzenegger wrote in his veto message. The “penalty” provision for missing the Feb. 1 deadline See HSR, page 10
GOINGS ON 22 | MARKETPLACE 26 | MOVIES 21 | REAL ESTATE 29 | VIEWPOINT 17