7JFXQPJOU N EDITORIAL
THE OPINION OF THE VOICE Founding Editor, Kate Wakerly
N S TA F F Editor & Publisher Tom Gibboney
Editorial Managing Editor Andrea Gemmet Staff Writers Daniel DeBolt, Nick Veronin Intern Anna Li Photographer Michelle Le Contributors Dale Bentson, Angela Hey, Sheila Himmel, Jennifer Pence, Ruth Schecter, Alissa Stallings
Design & Production Design Director Raul Perez Designers Linda Atilano, Lili Cao, Shannon Corey, Diane Haas, Paul Llewellyn, Scott Peterson
Advertising Vice President Sales and Marketing Tom Zahiralis Advertising Representatives Judie Block, Brent Triantos Real Estate Account Executive Rosemary Lewkowitz Real Estate Advertising Coordinator Samantha Mejia Published every Friday at 450 Cambridge Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94306 (650) 964-6300 fax (650) 964-0294 Email news and photos to: editor@MV-Voice.com Email letters to: letters@MV-Voice.com News/Editorial Department (650) 964-6300 fax (650) 964-0294 Display Advertising Sales (650) 964-6300 Classified Advertising Sales s fax (650) 326-0155 Email Classified ads@MV-Voice.com Email Circulation circulation@MV-Voice.com The Voice is published weekly by Embarcadero Media Co. and distributed free to residences and businesses in Mountain View. If you are not currently receiving the paper, you may request free delivery by calling 964-6300. Subscriptions for $60 per year, $100 per 2 years are welcome. Copyright ©2012 by Embarcadero Media Company. All rights reserved. Member, Mountain View Chamber of Commerce
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.MountainViewOnline.com, and occasionally on the Town Square forum.
TOWN SQUARE FORUM Post your views on the Town Square forum at www.MountainViewOnline.com EMAIL your views to letters@MV-Voice.com. Indicate if it is a letter to be published. MAIL to: Editor Mountain View Voice, P.O. Box 405 Mountain View, CA 94042-0405 CALL the Viewpoint desk at 223-6507
City ends stand-off with Hacker Dojo
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hanks to an 11th hour deal, the city and Hacker Dojo appear to at least have a path to the necessary permits for the cooperative space for programmers to operate. Facing a Jan. 31 deadline set by the city to install a list of major improvements or face being red-tagged and closing its doors, Dojo organizers have wisely decided to attempt to raise funds for numerous upgrades at the 140 S. Whisman warehouse that serves as a haven for budding technology-driven entrepreneurs who need an inexpensive place to do their work. The Dojo is close to the ideal home for these programmers, given its Mountain View location and reasonable price — $100 a month. Some 300 members call the Dojo their home base, where they work on their own computers and occasionally attend classes. But the good vibes at the Dojo just about came to an end earlier this week when it appeared that the directors could not find a way to meet the city’s deadline for installing a fire alarm, fire sprinklers, accessible restrooms and other improvements that could cost more than $200,000. Without the necessary funds on hand, the Dojo’s future looked bleak. Then on Monday, an agreement was announced that gives the Dojo until early March when an administrative law judge will decide if enough progress toward correcting the code violations has been made. With work progressing on installing a fire alarm, City Attorney Jannie Quinn said the city felt the Dojo was “acting in good faith,” which was enough to pull back the Tuesday deadline to close the operation. Katy Levinson, a Dojo director, was optimistic, saying the group began a drive on Monday to raise the $250,000 needed to install the remaining improvements that will give the Dojo a clean bill of health from the city. Despite the tug-of-war with the Dojo, the city and the programmers finally were able to reach a compromise and develop a plan to save the facility, which is highly popular and is filling a real need in Mountain View. In addition, when it installs sprinklers and American Disabilities Act-compliant restrooms, the Dojo will be able to seek a permit to be an assembly space and hold large events. Currently, it is an office space, which allowed only 49 participants at any event, a serious handicap for the Dojo. If they can obtain the proper permits, the cooperative will be able to host large conferences and classes which will help them stay afloat financially. It appears that the Dojo’s directors were not wellversed in the city’s permitting process, which in many cases are based on national or state codes and cannot be changed, even if the city officials wanted to. Perhaps the lesson learned here is that there are some rules even hackers have to follow.
■ EDITORIAL ■ YOUR LETTERS ■ GUEST OPINIONS
N LETTERS
VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY
EL CAMINO BUS LANE CLAIM DISPUTED In your Jan. 20 article, “El Camino bus lanes nixed by council,” Valley Transportation Authority planning manager Kevin Connolly is reported saying that the time it would take to get from Santa Clara to Mountain View would be reduced by only one minute with dedicated bus lanes in the middle of the street. Under questioning from Los Altos City Council member Jarett Fishpaw at the Jan. 24 meeting, Connolly said the claim is based on the assumption that many drivers would divert to other roads like Foothill or Central Expressway to avoid congestion on El Camino. In fact, losing one lane on El Camino would reduce auto capacity by 950 cars. The VTA must use the same spin doctor as the High-Speed Rail Authority. Pat Marriott Los Altos
CITY DROPPED THE BALL ON SHORELINE GOLF In response to Christine Crosby’s letter regarding the Shoreline Golf Links published Jan. 20: While I understand and share Ms. Crosby’s concern about wild bird habitat, she provides no evidence for her assertion that “it is a matter of survival.” To the contrary, the substantial number of Canada geese that make Shoreline their year-round home, and
the coots that take up residence at Shoreline, are not endangered. Their instincts have dictated that they need not fly farther south for the winter. Perhaps global warming is the culprit. While the geese foul the course with their excrement, the coots cause more damage. They use their sharp beaks to pull up the grass by the roots. Several years ago Shoreline implemented an abatement program that was partially successful at discouraging the birds. This year, the city spent a great deal of money filling in several of the ponds but did not continue the abatement program. Consequently, the birds simply relocated to the remaining two large ponds and multiplied. The course is in the worst shape ever; it is not playable at any price, let alone as the most expensive municipal course in the South Bay. This is the fault of the greens keeper and the course manager. All the other golf courses along the South Bay have managed to limit the damage from migratory birds. The Shoreline Golf Links is a public resource that is doubly valuable — as an important recreational opportunity for thousands of residents from all over the Bay Area and as open space along the Bay. What it is not, and never has been, is a dedicated wildlife refuge. We golfers can only hope that the new course manager will do a better job balancing course condition with nature than the city has done in its stewardship. Bill Adler Hedgerow Court
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FEBRUARY 3, 2012 ■ MOUNTAIN VIEW VOICE ■
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