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Tunneling dropped as Midpeninsula rail option Covered trenches also ruled out as design options for Palo Alto and neighboring communities by Gennady Sheyner
D
eep tunnels and covered trenches have been dropped as alternatives for the Palo Alto/Midpeninsula portion of the state’s high-speed-line under the latest plan from the California High Speed Rail Authority, officials dis-
closed Thursday. The agency dropped the tunnel and cut-and-cover alternatives despite heavy lobbying on their behalf by Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Mountain View and other Midpeninsula cities.
A short tunnel under San Francisquito Creek is a possibility, the report indicates — which would facilitate flood-control planning and possibly remove threats to the root system of the landmark El Palo Alto redwood tree. The authority board discussed design options for the San Francisco-to-San Jose segment of the line at its meeting yesterday in San Francisco.
A new staff report lists just two design options for the Peninsula segment: one relies on at-grade and aerial structures and another includes tunnels at several portions of the segment. Tunneling is still an option for a stretch in San Francisco, in the Burlingame/Millbrae area and in Santa Clara. But in Palo Alto, where city leaders and residents have long clamored for an underground tunnel, deep
tunnels and covered trenches now appear to be off the table. The only design options recommended by staff engineers are at-grade trains, aerial viaducts and open trenches, according to a staff summary made public at the meeting. According to the Supplemental Alternative Analysis, the coveredtrench alternative in the Palo Alto (continued on page 6)
COMMUNITY
Philanthropist, Sunset publisher Bill Lane dies Longtime environmentalist, former ambassador dies following an illness by Palo Alto Weekly staff
F Veronica Weber
Going to the dogs Shasta, a white Afghan hound, romps with a fellow canine at the Mitchell Park dog park last week.
GOVERNMENT
Palo Altans to vote on elections, firefighter staffing City Council places both measures on November ballot, avoids binding-arbitration repeal for now by Gennady Sheyner
P
alo Alto voters will decide in November whether the city should freeze staffing levels in the Fire Department and switch to even-numbered years for local elections, but they will not have a chance to repeal the binding-arbitration provision from the City Charter. The City Council voted 5-4 on Monday night to place a measure on the November ballot that would switch the city’s elections from odd years to even years. The election-year issue will be one of two measures on the November ballot. The other ballot measure, pushed by the local
firefighters union, would require the city to hold an election any time the council wants to close a fire station or change staffing levels in the Fire Department. The proposal to reconsider Palo Alto’s election years split the council before eking out a bare majority of support. The switch from odd to even years was proposed by Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss, a former Palo Alto mayor who promoted it as a way to both save the city $200,000 every other year and to raise voter turnout. “There’s no question the voter turn-
out is better in even years,” Kniss told the council Monday. Council members Karen Holman and Greg Scharff were the most fervent supporters of asking the voters to consider the election-year change this November — a proposal would add a year to each council member’s term. Holman said making the switch to even years would help council candidates get the attention of the city’s voters, which she said is often difficult in odd-numbered years. Scharff said most communities already have even-year elections and that Palo Alto should join them and, in doing so, raise its voter participation. “We’re saving money and increasing voter participation,” Scharff said. “It seems to me those are two positive goals.” Gail Price, Yiaway Yeh and Nancy Shepherd joined Holman and Scharff in supporting the ballot measure. Mayor Pat Burt, Vice Mayor Sid Espinosa and Councilmen Greg Schmid (continued on page 8)
ormer Sunset magazine publisher and philanthropist Bill Lane died Saturday following a rich life of community dedication and leadership. Lane died at Stanford Hospital following an illness and surrounded by family members. Lane, who was U.S. ambassador to Japan and Australia in the Ford and Reagan administrations, celebrated his 90th birthday last November. He was also a co-founder of the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford University. He graduated from Stanford in 1942. Lane died of respiratory failure at Stanford Hospital at 7:30 p.m. Saturday following a week in a coma related to bleeding in the brain, or subdural hematoma. Family members were with him, according to a spokesperson. Among numerous other community activities, Lane was a founder the Town of Portola Valley in 1964, and he served as its first mayor — but only for about 20 minutes, saying he had other things to do. He and his wife, Jean, had a home there for 54 years. He and his brother, Mel Lane, who died in 2007 at 85, were copublishers of Sunset Magazine for more than 30 years. The magazine initially was purchased by their father, Laurence Lane, during the Depression when it was a shaky publication, and both brothers sold it door-to-door during the Depression years. Following his graduation from Stanford, he served as a naval lieutenant during the balance of the war, including as a gunnery officer on a troop transport. Both he and his brother were avid environmentalists, contributing heavily to local and national envi-
ronmental organizations and causes. Lane was an active supporter of Peninsula Open Space Trust, as well as of national parks and Bill Lane conser vation causes around the country, according to Audrey Rust, POST chief executive. “He was really a remarkable man who put his efforts into his belief system. He was a conservationist of great stature,” she said. Lane was a renowned philanthropist and fundraiser, who first gave then asked others to contribute to a broad variety of causes. POST’s environmentally themed Wallace Stegner lecture series was underwritten by Bill and Jean Lane, and he attended almost every lecture for 15 years, Rust said. He also served on the board at Colonial Williamsburg and funded environmental internships at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural. In 1984 he set a record of sorts for raising more than $1 million in about six weeks to restore the Stanford Barn (now the Red Barn Equestrian Center), as well as raising funds to repair Memorial Church and Quad’s History Corner after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. He was enormously generous to Stanford University, endowing the Bill Lane Center for the American West in 2005 with a $5 million gift. More recently, the Lanes gave (continued on page 6)
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