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N S TA F F EDITOR & PUBLISHER Tom Gibboney (223-6507) EDITORIAL Managing Editor Andrea Gemmet (223-6537) Staff Writers Daniel DeBolt (223-6536) Nick Veronin (223-6535) Photographer Michelle Le (223-6530) Contributors Dale Bentson, Angela Hey, Sheila Himmel, Ruth Schecter DESIGN & PRODUCTION Design Director Shannon Corey (223-6560) Assistant Design Director Lili Cao (223-6562) Designers Linda Atilano, Rosanna Leung, Paul Llewellyn, Scott Peterson, Kameron Sawyer ADVERTISING Vice President Sales and Marketing Tom Zahiralis (223-6570) Advertising Representatives Adam Carter (223-6573) Real Estate Account Executive Rosemary Lewkowitz (223-6585) 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 t 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. Š2013 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 Town Square at MountainViewOnline.com Email
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â– EDITORIAL â– YOUR LETTERS â– GUEST OPINIONS
N EDITORIAL
N GUEST OPINION
THE OPINION OF THE VOICE
VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY
Call for Inks to join Mayors Against Guns
Council does right thing on tie vote
T
he city is in the midst of a growth spurt driven by Google and the other high-tech companies that have followed them here. The epicenter of this growth is the North Bayshore area, home to Google and not much else as the company continues to gobble up office space in its massive expansion. But as more and more employees commute into this beehive of Google offices, the morning and evening commutes are approaching the worst in the Bay Area. The company offers executive bus service from San Francisco and other Peninsula locations, but it has done little to stem the tide of workers coming and going every weekday. In 2010 during consideration of the city’s new comprehensive plan, the company made a concerted effort to win approval to build housing in North Bayshore, which they said would give workers homes near their job. But the idea was squelched by council members who feared some biotech companies would not locate near housing, and that once established, homeowners there could use fears of increased traffic to block new commercial development. In the end the council nixed housing in the North Bayshore, and later decided to order staff to produce a new precise plan for the area by late 2014, It was this scenario that the owners of the Century Theaters confronted before the City Council last week when they attempted to skirt the precise plan process and rush forward with the first phase of a project to build a new, slightly smaller theater at 64,000 square feet, along with an 88,000-square-foot familyoriented fitness resort on the 15.35-acre site at the entrance to North Bayshore. A second phase would add a hotel, parking structures and office space on the site, which does not include the popular Sports Page, Sunny Bowl, Cheryl Burke Dance studios and Laser Quest, as well as other small businesses around the theater. But even after a spokeswoman for property owner SyWest pressured the council to approve the project, saying the theater operators “...are in business and they need to make a decision,� three members of the council refused to go along and due to the absence of member Mike Kasperzak, approval failed on a 3-3 tie. It was a good decision and showed that at least some members of the council refuse to be intimidated by a development request that attempts to bend the rules. Jack Siegel was joined by members Ronit Bryant and John McAlister in voting no. “I’ve seen windows of opportunity come and come and go and go. Developers say, ‘If you don’t allow us to do it now, it’s not going to happen.’ I have a hard time with that,� Siegel said. “I think negotiations are always possible. ...This is so critical, such a critical piece of property. We really need to take the time to do it right.� Situated at the gateway to North Bayshore, this property is indeed one of the most visible and critical in all of Mountain View. So even if the property owner has to wait 12 months, it will not cause the site to degenerate and lose its earning potential. If not a movie theater, another use will surface that could beckon after-hours visitors to one of the city’s busiest neighborhoods.
â– Mountain View Voice â– MountainViewOnline.com â– September 27, 2013
By Josh Lee
T
he recent shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., reminds us of the threat of gun violence in our daily lives. Innocent people were shot at work, accounting for 12 of the 30,000 Americans who die from gun violence each year. They leave behind 30,000 families who wonder how their loss could have been prevented. As our elected representative, Mayor John Inks has the responsibility to take action to prevent gun violence on behalf of Mountain View residents.
I call on Mayor Inks to join the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition. Mayor Spitaleri in Sunnyvale and Mayor Scharff in Palo Alto stood with their constituents and joined the coalition, whose members believe “that we can do more to stop criminals from getting guns while also protecting the rights of citizens to freely own them.� Mayor Inks’ refusal to join, as reported in the Voice, is based on a fundamental misinterpretation of the coalition. His assertion that the group “advocates heavier Continued on next page
N LETTERS VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY
MAYOR INKS DECLINES TO JOIN COALITION I found the Voice article about Mayor Inks’ decision to decline a request to join a coalition of mayors wanting gun law reforms very disturbing. Further, after living in Mountain View for 21 years, I don’t believe his decision represents the ‘voice’ of the majority of our residents that he was elected to represent. I don’t understand how anyone with compassion and common sense could object to the current basic gun control legislation that so many of our elected officials are trying to make into law — better back-
ground checks, better tracking of gun ownership, a ban on lethal military style weapons, a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines — how is this not just common sense? What purpose would any citizen of any city have for owning such weaponry? Citizens will still have “the right to bear arms,� just not those “arms.� My thanks to the Voice for letting the community know about Mr. Inks’ choice to decline in joining our neighboring cities on this effort to make our communities more safe. Shame on you, Mr. Mayor. You’ve lost my vote. Claudia Davis Ortega Avenue