Official program IN THIS ISSUE MAY 13, 2011 VOLUME 19, NO. 17
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INSIDE: WEEKEND | PAGE 19
MountainViewOnline.com
A big push for more cell towers in city ogy is known as 4G or LTE, which stands for “Long Term EvoluT&T is proposing a slew of tion.” new cell phone towers in Mountain View city planner Mountain View in order Noah Downing said he had heard to provide high speed 4G connec- from 15 neighbors expressing tions to the city’s mobile internet concerns about the less-thanusers. appealing look of the structure, Three of the towers are expected the possible health impacts of the to be approved by Mountain tower’s radiation and how it could View’s zoning administrator, affect their property values. including one at a church on A staff member of a church Sierra Vista Avenue, another at that shares the building, Calan office building at San Antonio vary Chapel Mountain View, shopping center and a site next said his church was not included to hundreds of in the decision to homes at Whispursue the towman Station. He could not ‘There’s a real er. “There’s a real say whether his density of mobile density of mobile church supported users in this area,” it. said Lane Kassel- users in this area.’ Neighbors man, spokesperwere similarly LANE KASSELMAN OF AT&T son for AT&T, concerned about about the church a proposal for a site, which is surWiMax antenna rounded by two-story apartments on top of the First Presbyterian and condos. “People have shifted Church across town at Miramonfrom being mobile with their te and Cuesta streets last Novemphone to using them in their ber. The City Council eventually apartments.” The cell tower is approved the tower after approval necessary “to meet the demands by the city’s zoning administrator of people in this area.” was appealed by neighbors. The Mountain View Hispanic Complaints that many weren’t Seventh Day Adventist Church at notified of the proposal at First 342 Sierra Vista Ave. is in negotia- Presbyterian have led the city to tions with AT&T over how much expand its notification efforts to it will cost the phone company to include all residents within 500 use the site. There already are six feet of proposed cell towers, up cellular antennas hidden on the from 300 feet previously. building. Mountain View zoning adminTo hide the new antennas, istrator Peter Gilli was also set to AT&T would build a 42-foot high decide on two other proposed structure 5 feet from the front of AT&T 4G cell antenna installathe church building. The symbol tions after the Voice went to press. for the Seventh Day Adventist One could be built at 364 FerguChurch would go on top. Nine son Dr., a Cisco server farm surantennas would be arranged in a rounded by a growing Whisman circle for 360-degree coverage. neighborhood of row homes and Kasselman said the tower could town houses. The other could go eventually provide a data con- atop 2570 West El Camino Real, nection faster than many DSL an office building at San Antonio services — a rate of 100 megabits shopping center. See mv-voice. of data per second. The technol- com for follow up reports. By Daniel DeBolt
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VERONICA WEBER
Tatiana Kaneva and partner Vlad Lekhtsikau rehearse a scene for an upcoming performance by Mountain View’s Firebird Dance Studio. Firebird dancers will perform at this Sunday’s Russian-American Fair in Palo Alto. For more photos and a story, see Page 15.
Google gets deal on latest city lease WIDE GAP IN COST OF SIDE-BY-SIDE LOTS ON CHARLESTON EAST By Daniel DeBolt
G
oogle may have gotten a bargain for its lease of 9 acres of city property for 53 years by paying for it all at once with $30 million, but city officials say they made the most of a down real estate market
with a “win-win” deal. The deal is best illustrated in relation to a lease agreement the city made with Google for a virtually identical piece of land in 2007. In 2007 Google leased the northern 9.2 acres of the city’s vacant “Charleston East” based on an appraised value of $40 a square foot,
said Ellis Berns, Mountain View’s economic development director. But when Google leased the southern 9.4 acres of Charleston East in April, Berns said the value of the land dropped to $24 a square foot. The result is two much differSee GOOGLE, page 13
Elementary school district to drop Title I By Nick Veronin
T
he Mountain View Whisman School District has decided not to accept Title I federal funding next year. Taking the money would put certain district schools between a rock and a hard place — requiring them to meet unrealistic standards or else
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face unfair penalties, said Superintendent Craig Goldman. “Basically schools are penalized for having a large percentage of low-income kids if they choose to accept federal money to help those kids,” Goldman said, explaining the Catch-22 of Title I funding. Five schools in the district currently accept Title I funds —
Landels, Castro, Monta Loma, Theuerkauf and Crittenden. By giving up Title I, the district will lose $450,000, about 1 percent of its operating budget. Though it may not sound like much, it is still money, Goldman said. “But in light of the alternatives, it’s the right See TITLE 1, page 13
GOINGS ON 24 | MARKETPLACE 25 | MOVIES 22 | REAL ESTATE 27 | VIEWPOINT 18
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