Palo Alto
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Are book donations going to charity? Page 3
w w w.PaloA ltoOnline.com
The many worlds of
George Marcus Palo Alto’s real-estate titan hopes to save University of California page 15
2011
Vote for Best Of Palo Alto
Pulse 10
Spectrum 12
N Arts
Movies 25
Puzzles 50
Celebrating four decades of all that jazz N Sports Another banner year at Stanford N Home Airtight, energy-efďŹ cient home wins praise
Page 21 Page 30 Page 33
On June 26
th
You’re Invited! Celebrate the 20th Birthday of Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
Join us for a community celebration Sunday, June 26, 10 am – 4 pm Location: Intersection of Quarry + Welch Roads, Palo Alto, CA There will be fun for all ages, featuring more than 75 interactive booths, musical performances, storytelling, face painting, local food favorites, cupcakes and more. We’ve helped so many children celebrate their birthdays. Now we invite you and your family to help us celebrate ours. More information at anniversary.lpch.org.
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Upfront
Local news, information and analysis
New districts to shift Senate power on Peninsula Palo Alto would keep its representatives but could lose political clout by Gennady Sheyner
T
he map of state Sen. Joe Simitian’s district currently resembles a rabbit gazing at the sky, its brain positioned somewhere
around Los Altos. The rabbit’s body is a spacious blob stretching along the ocean and encompassing a generous
swath of Santa Clara County and smaller chunks of San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties. Two ears sprout from its head, one pointing northward and encompassing Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton and Redwood City and another one pointing east and stretching through Santa Clara County and toward San Jose.
The seemingly random design of the district is far from unusual in California, where redistricting has always been the purview of the political party in power. But now, a redistricting proposal, released by the nonpartisan California Citizens Redistricting Commission, aims to kill the rabbit and every other district map that resembles a picture
in a Rorschach exam and replace them with boring, amorphous blobs — which is what the 11th District will become if the commission’s recommendations are approved in August. Under the commission’s plan, the map of Simitian’s 11th District (continued on page 9)
COMMUNITY
Residents cry foul over book bins Charity book bins operated by for-profit company irk library group and residents
albeit with many eraser marks,� the claim said. The parents said they raised questions with the teacher when their then second-grade daughter could not do simple math problems at home, despite the high scores on classroom tests and even standardized tests. But the teacher, according to the claim, “feigned insult and refused any further discussion,� saying the girl was “doing fine in math� and “doing all the work herself.� Only when the child entered fourth grade last fall and got a new teacher was it learned that her “math, writing and reading skills were well below grade level after all.�
by Sue Dremann ew book-donation bins that have popped up around Palo Alto and surrounding cities purporting to be for charity are really making money for a for-profit company, the nonprofit Friends of the Palo Alto Library claimed this week. Critics of the blue, metal bins said the company, Thrift Recycling Management LLC, is preying on the kindness of residents who donate books believing the reading materials are going to a nonprofit cause. Instead, the company is using a nonprofit organization, Reading Tree, as a front and is making millions of dollars from the donations, they said. The Reading Tree, based in West Jordan, Utah, distributes children’s books to libraries, schools and places such as Boys and Girls clubs in local low-income neighborhoods. Thrift Recycling Management LLC, located in Lakewood, Wash., manages the bins and book collections. The company is a commercial fundraiser — a business that collects a fee or a portion of profits from the sale of the books in exchange for managing the collection and transport of materials for a nonprofit organization, its officials said. On Staunton Avenue in Palo Alto’s College Terrace neighborhood, a blue bin labeled “Books for Charity� is located under a small tree adjacent to a parking lot. An 8 1/2 by 11 label describes where the donations will go: to needy schools in the area. “Unusable books are recycled ... or sold by our recycling partners in part to pay for our programs and in part to pay for services in connection with our book collection efforts,� the Reading
(continued on page 8)
(continued on page 5)
N
Kimihiro Hoshino
Dog days of summer ‌ finally Dog sitter Chris Dutschmann takes a company of canines for a walk at Mitchell Park in Palo Alto on Wednesday.
EDUCATION
School district accused of testing fraud Parents say teacher filled in child’s answers to conceal deficits by Chris Kenrick
A
family is accusing the Palo Alto Unified School District of testing fraud, claiming their daughter’s teacher for two years filled in answers on her tests to conceal her learning disabilities and need for extra help. The girl, who just finished fourth
grade at an undisclosed Palo Alto elementary school, remains “far behind her peers� due to the actions of her second- and third-grade teacher — the same person both years, according to a claim filed May 20 in Santa Clara County Superior Court. The claim seeks $550,000 from the district.
School district officials were offsite at a leadership-training course in Cupertino Thursday and not immediately available to comment. “It was and is apparent that the test scores were fraudulently manufactured in order to provide the appearance that (the student) was learning the material and did not have a learning disability or need additional supports,� the legal complaint said. The girl started first grade in Palo Alto in 2007 showing “significant reading and learning deficits� but improved somewhat with extra assistance, the claim said. She remained “significantly behind in math, reading and writing� when she entered second grade but “started to exhibit perfect scores,
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Upfront
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EDITORIAL Jocelyn Dong, Editor Carol Blitzer, Associate Editor Keith Peters, Sports Editor Tyler Hanley, Express™ and Online Editor Rebecca Wallace, Arts & Entertainment Editor Rick Eymer, Assistant Sports Editor Tom Gibboney, Spectrum Editor Chris Kenrick, Gennady Sheyner, Staff Writers Sue Dremann, Staff Writer, Special Sections Editor Karla Kane, Editorial Assistant Veronica Weber, Staff Photographer Dale Bentson, Colin Becht, Peter Canavese, Kit Davey, Iris Harrell, Sheila Himmel, Chad Jones, Kevin Kirby, Jack McKinnon, Jeanie K. Smith, Susan Tavernetti, Robert Taylor, Contributors Aaron Guggenheim, Kareem Yasin, Jeff Carr Editorial Interns Leslie Shen, Arts & Entertainment Intern DESIGN Shannon Corey, Design Director Raul Perez, Assistant Design Director Linda Atilano, Diane Haas, Scott Peterson, Paul Llewellyn, Senior Designers Gary Vennarucci, Designer PRODUCTION Jennifer Lindberg, Production Manager Dorothy Hassett, Samantha Mejia, Blanca Yoc, Sales & Production Coordinators ADVERTISING Walter Kupiec, Vice President, Sales & Marketing Judie Block, Esmeralda Flores, Janice Hoogner, Gary Whitman, Display Advertising Sales Neil Fine, Rosemary Lewkowitz, Real Estate Advertising Sales David Cirner, Irene Schwartz, Inside Advertising Sales Cathy Norfleet, Display Advertising Sales Asst. Diane Martin, Real Estate Advertising Assistants Alicia Santillan, Classified Administrative Asst. EXPRESS, ONLINE AND VIDEO SERVICES Rachel Palmer, Online Operations Coordinator Rachel Hatch, Multimedia Product Manager BUSINESS Penelope Ng, Payroll & Benefits Manager Elena Dineva, Mary McDonald, Susie Ochoa, Cathy Stringari, Doris Taylor, Business Associates ADMINISTRATION Amy Renalds, Assistant to the Publisher & Promotions Director Janice Covolo, Receptionist Ruben Espinoza, Courier EMBARCADERO MEDIA William S. Johnson, President Michael I. Naar, Vice President & CFO Walter Kupiec, Vice President, Sales & Marketing Frank A. Bravo, Director, Information Technology & Webmaster Connie Jo Cotton, Major Accounts Sales Manager Bob Lampkin, Director, Circulation & Mailing Services Alicia Santillan, Circulation Assistants Chris Planessi, Chip Poedjosoedarmo, Computer System Associates The Palo Alto Weekly (ISSN 0199-1159) is published every Friday by Embarcadero Media, 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306, (650) 3268210. Periodicals postage paid at Palo Alto, CA and additional mailing offices. Adjudicated a newspaper of general circulation for Santa Clara County. The Palo Alto Weekly is delivered free to homes in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, East Palo Alto, to faculty and staff households on the Stanford campus and to portions of Los Altos Hills. If you are not currently receiving the paper, you may request free delivery by calling 326-8210. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302. Copyright Š2011 by Embarcadero Media. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. Printed by SFOP, Redwood City. The Palo Alto Weekly is available on the Internet via Palo Alto Online at: www.PaloAltoOnline.com Our e-mail addresses are: editor@paweekly.com, letters@paweekly.com, ads@paweekly.com. Missed delivery or start/stop your paper? Call 650 326-8210, or e-mail circulation@paweekly. com. You may also subscribe online at www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Subscriptions are $60/yr.
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
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450 CAMBRIDGE AVE, PALO ALTO, CA 94306 (650) 326-8210
“It may be hurting us more than we know.� — Jerry Stone, Friends of the Palo Alto Library book-sale manager, on efforts by a Washington company to collect donated books in Palo Alto. See story on page 3.
Around Town TOWNIES IN GOWNS ... Marching in Stanford University’s “Pomp and Circumstance� procession Sunday were a handful of townies. Palo Alto Mayor Sid Espinosa, City Council members Pat Burt, Greg Scharff and Nancy Shepherd, school district Superintendent Kevin Skelly and U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, along with elected officials from Los Altos Hills, Menlo Park, Redwood City and Mountain View. Stanford has a long, neighborly tradition of inviting local officials to share the commencement stage, said the university’s Director of Community Relations Jean McCown, herself a former mayor of Palo Alto. Officials gathered at the Sunken Diamond to put on their robes and sip coffee when Mexico President Felipe Calderon came over to say hello to everybody, McCown said. “Everybody got to meet him; he was very gracious,� McCown said. Such are the perks of local public service — some reward, perhaps, for reading hundreds of pages of City Council packets each week and debating the mind-numbing nuances of municipal waste, street repair and utility budgets into the wee hours. CHASING VIRGINIA ... Palo Alto officials have no shortage of reasons for equipping the City Council with iPads. There’s the green argument (fewer paper reports), the other green argument (less money spent on paper reports), and now there’s the pride argument. City Manager James Keene told the City Council’s Policy and Services Committee on Tuesday night that he was a bit disturbed when he met with the city manager of Williamsburg, Va., about a year ago and learned that Williamsburg’s council members all have iPads. “I was a little bit, obviously, competitively disturbed that Williamsburg, Va., which was a colonial town, is ahead of Palo Alto.� The committee apparently shared his anxiety and voted unanimously to support Keene’s proposal to equip every council member with an iPad and to purchase data plans for every member rather than have them depend on the free Wi-Fi in the Council Chambers. City Clerk Donna Grider, who used her iPad as part of her presentation to the committee, said many cities have already embraced the devices, though some council members still have questions about adjusting to the new format. Keene said the transition is easier if members are “willing to be adaptive.�
As an example, he said he doesn’t get a newspaper delivered to his house anymore, even though he has traditionally enjoyed going to his driveway and getting the paper. “I’m fine with it,� he said, in describing his adjustment from the newspaper. “But it depends upon your attitude.� TEEN WISDOM ... Held on an aircraft carrier in the bay, Palo Alto High School’s grad night party featured a motion-simulator ride and a machine that produced fresh doughnuts for party-goers, graduate Pierre Bourbonnais reported to the Board of Education Tuesday. Tidbits such as those are among the facts gleaned by school board members from their non-voting student representatives, which Bourbonnais has been for the past year. The Berkeley-bound Bourbonnais and his Gunn High School counterpart, American University-bound Sophie Keller, said their goodbyes Tuesday, with gifts and accolades from board members for contributing the student perspective in evening meetings. Asked what she’s been doing since Gunn’s graduation festivities, Keller undoubtedly spoke for many classmates when she responded: “I’ve slept a lot, just trying to recuperate.� DUMPED ... It’s been a long and difficult slog, filled with policy shifts, community schisms and big, smelly loads of garbage, but Palo Alto’s park lovers will finally have something to cheer about later this summer, probably by the end of July. That’s when the city’s landfill will be full and the operation in the Baylands is scheduled to shut down after more than 70 years of existence. To mark the occasion, the city will be gradually opening sections of the park to the public, starting with a 36-acre portion on July 1. Another 10 acres are slated to become public parkland in December. The rest will be opened in 2013. The landfill site has been marred in controversy for the past two years, with factions of environmentalists at odds over whether the city should install a waste-to-energy facility at Byxbee Park (the impacts of such a facility are still being studied). But the debate focuses on a small portion — about 10 acres — of the sprawling park and will not keep the city from planting native grasses and building trails at the newly opened sections, a process that’s slated to begin this fall. N
Upfront EDUCATION
School district to take back Garland
★ 27 YEARS AND STILL GOING STRONG ★
Amid ‘surprising’ growth, Palo Alto scrambles for elementary space
A place where horses and humans can come together to learn and beneďŹ t from each other.
by Chris Kenrick
2011 Horsemanship Camps
ith booming enrollment in Palo Alto elementary schools, the Board of Education has voted to take back the old Garland Elementary School site to make way for more classrooms. The school district is scrambling for more elementary space. New classrooms are under construction — or in the pipeline — at Ohlone, Fairmeadow and Duveneck schools. Superintendent Kevin Skelly has said the district must be ready to handle as many as 568 additional K-5 students in the next five years — the size of a large elementary school. The “surprisingly high� elementary enrollment bump last fall astonished even demographers, who said it exceeded projections based on previously reliable indicators such as local birth data, new housing and existing housing turnover rates. Skelly has speculated it’s at least partly driven by a “flight to quality� as other California school districts endure significant budget cuts. As one of the 10 percent of California school districts funded under the so-called “basic aid� formula, Palo Alto relies on the state and federal governments for less than 10 percent of its revenue, with 72 percent coming from local property taxes. But unlike the 90 percent of California districts largely funded on a per-pupil basis, Palo Alto does not get significant revenue based on
enrollment, so increased headcount means less to spend per student. The Garland campus, at 870 N. California Ave. — made surplus decades ago by the school district after enrollment declines — has been leased for the past six years to Stratford Schools, Inc., which runs a preschool-through-fifth-grade program there. The school board Tuesday voted 5-0 to serve the three years’ notice required under the lease, meaning Stratford will have to vacate by June 30, 2014. Elementary growth projections gave them little choice but to take back Garland, board members said. “What’s really driving this is that we’ve seen enrollment growth through thick and thin — seemingly independent of economic conditions and seemingly independent of housing turnover,� board member Dana Tom said. “I feel we don’t have much choice at this point (but to take back Garland). We need to be able to deal with the growth we expect will continue.� Board members thanked a Stratford representative for the school being a model tenant and said they would like to rent to the company again if other space becomes available. Officials cited a variety of possible uses for Garland’s 24 classrooms, including as a neighborhood elementary school, an alternative program such as language immer-
sion or as a site for preschool and the Young Fives program currently housed at Greendell, adjacent to the Cubberley Community Center at 4000 Middlefield Road. The last possibility would free up Greendell to become a neighborhood school in a part of the city that has experienced a high level of growth. Beyond the 24 classrooms at Garland — not likely to be available until fall of 2015 at the earliest — current or pending construction at Ohlone and Fairmeadow elementary schools will provide a net gain of seven new classrooms, with an additional three classrooms expected in planned renovations to Duveneck Elementary School. Tuesdays’ vote was a vindication of sorts for school board member Barb Mitchell, who was the lone voice advocating to take back Garland nearly two years ago. At the time, the board majority backed off on taking back the campus amid concerns about the recession and informal reports of stalling enrollment. But Mitchell, predicting enrollment growth would be at the high end, vowed to “shave my head� if the district managed to comfortably accommodate the new children without re-opening Garland as early as 2012. N Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can be emailed at ckenrick@paweekly. com.
Book bins
McMullin, who was in management at Savers, Inc., a for-profit thrift store that also partners with nonprofit groups, said he noticed that countless used books were being thrown into landfills. McMullin’s wife is a special-education preschool teacher who came across many students and families in need of books. Thrift Recycling started Reading Tree as a nonprofit group to distribute the books, he said. “It was an internal idea that became formalized. It has its own independent board, its own finances and its own building. It operates separately,� he said. His son, Jeff McMullin, is still on the board but receives no pay, he said. A 2009 income-tax exemption form filed by Reading Tree showed the nonprofit places more than 1 million books in more than 140 organizations. It received $10,669,333 in contributions and grants and its expenses totaled roughly $3.6 million. Jeff McMullin is listed as president and signed the return. The relationship between Reading Tree and Thrift Recycling has attracted the attention of the Oregon Department of Justice, which began investigating Reading Tree’s relationship with Thrift Recycling last month, said Tony Green, Oregon Department of Justice spokesman.
The investigation is based on complaints regarding the lack of clarity on the bins’ label, he said. Tyler Hincy, Thrift Recycling’s director of business development, said the business model for Thrift Recycling isn’t any different from other organizations, such as the Salvation Army and Goodwill Industries or for-profit groups that take merchandise in the name of cancer, he said. The Friends of the Palo Alto Library, which has been investigating Thrift Recycling and Reading Tree, runs its own book sales to raise funds for city libraries. Jim Schmidt, the Friends’ president, said his group has contributed $2 million in the past 10 years. He worries that any donations to the blue bins will effectively take money away from the local library system. It is still too early to tell if donations to Reading Tree will impact the Friends’ sales efforts, said booksale manager Jerry Stone. Hincy didn’t think so, since Reading Tree’s focus is on schools and Thrift Recycling sells mostly technical books no one wants at library book sales. But Stone isn’t so sure. “It may be hurting us more than we know,� he said. N Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be e-mailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.
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(continued from page 3)
Tree sign notes. It does not specify Thrift Recycling Management. “The two don’t seem to be able to exist without the other,� said Barron Park resident Winter Dellenbach, who takes exception to the implication that the bins are operated by a charity. Thrift Recycling is one of the largest online sellers of recycled media and consumer goods, according to the company’s website. Founded in 2004, the company generated $27 million in revenue in the 2010 fiscal year, according to a press release. CEO Phil McMullin said about 25 percent of the collected books go to the libraries and schools, with 50 percent being sold for pulp. The money from pulped materials goes back to Reading Tree, he said. Thrift Recycling resells about 25 percent of the books as its fee for managing the bins and collecting and transporting the books, he said. The company culls mostly technical books, which have the greatest value, for resale on such online retailers as Amazon, eBay, Alibris and Barnes and Noble, he said. “We don’t pretend to be a nonprofit. We see ourselves as being in the business of the professional fundraiser,� he added.
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Upfront
CityView A round-up of
Palo Alto government action this week
Human Relations Commission (June 9) The meeting was cancelled because of a lack of quorum.
Board of Education (June 13)
Facilities: The board voted to serve three years’ notice to Stratford Schools, Inc., the tenant at the old Garland Elementary School, to terminate the lease as of June 30, 2014. Action: Unanimous
City Council (June 13) Some Has To Step Up... “We feed the hungry, help those that are in crisis and educate our clients so they can be part of the solution. I want to say Thank You to Presidio Bank for being there when we needed them the most.� –Sandra Scherer, Executive Director
Join our sales team! Are you an outgoing person who cares about our community and is looking for a fast-paced job working with an amazingly talented group of colleagues? The Palo Alto Weekly and Embarcadero Media are seeking smart, articulate and dedicated individuals who are looking for a dynamic and family-friendly work environment of people committed to producing outstanding journalism and effective marketing for local businesses. You will join our staff of journalists, designers, web programmers and sales people in our “greenâ€? building in the California Ave. business district. As a Multimedia Sales Representative, you will contact and work with local businesses to generate sales and expand their brand identity. You will support their future success using opportunities available through our various marketing platforms: newspapers and special publications, Palo Alto Online, Shop Palo Alto and Express, our daily e-mail digest. The ideal candidate is a self-starter who loves working on a team to beat sales goals and possesses strong verbal, written, persuasive and listening interpersonal skills and can provide exceptional customer service. While previous sales experience is a plus, we will train you if you otherwise have all the right skills and motivation. And while our preference is full-time, we like to be exible when we can and are willing to consider 30 hour-per-week schedules. You should: UĂŠĂŠ1˜`iĂ€ĂƒĂŒ>˜`ĂŠĂŒÂ…>ĂŒĂŠĂŒÂ…iĂŠĂƒ>Â?iĂƒĂŠÂŤĂ€ÂœViĂƒĂƒĂŠÂˆĂƒĂŠÂ“ÂœĂ€iĂŠĂŒÂ…>Â˜ĂŠĂŒ>Žˆ˜}ĂŠÂœĂ€`iĂ€Ăƒ ĂŠ UĂŠĂŠ iĂŠ>Â˜ĂŠ>VĂŒÂˆĂ›iĂŠĂ•ĂƒiĂ€ĂŠÂœvĂŠĂŒÂ…iĂŠ7iLĂŠ>˜`ĂŠĂƒÂœVˆ>Â?ʓi`ˆ>ĂŠĂƒÂˆĂŒiĂƒ ĂŠ UĂŠĂŠ iĂŠ>LÂ?iĂŠĂŒÂœĂŠivviVĂŒÂˆĂ›iÂ?Þʓ>˜>}iĂŠ>ĂŠ}iÂœ}Ă€>ÂŤÂ…ÂˆVĂŠĂŒiĂ€Ă€ÂˆĂŒÂœĂ€ĂžĂŠÂœvĂŠ>VĂŒÂˆĂ›iĂŠ>VVÂœĂ•Â˜ĂŒĂƒĂŠĂœÂ…ÂˆÂ?iĂŠ canvassing for new clients ĂŠ UĂŠĂŠ ˜Â?ÂœĂžĂŠĂœÂœĂ€ÂŽÂˆÂ˜}ĂŠĂœÂˆĂŒÂ…ĂŠÂœĂ•Ă€ĂŠ`iĂƒÂˆ}Â˜ĂŠĂŒi>Â“ĂŠĂŒÂœĂŠĂŒĂ€>Â˜ĂƒÂ?>ĂŒiĂŠVĂ•ĂƒĂŒÂœÂ“iÀʓ>ÀŽiĂŒÂˆÂ˜}ĂŠÂœLÂ?iVĂŒÂˆĂ›iĂƒĂŠ into creative and effective multimedia advertising campaigns ĂŠ UĂŠĂŠ >Ă›iĂŠĂŒÂ…iĂŠ>LˆÂ?ÂˆĂŒĂžĂŠĂŒÂœĂŠĂ•Â˜`iĂ€ĂƒĂŒ>˜`ĂŠ>˜`ĂŠÂˆÂ˜ĂŒiÀÀiĂŒĂŠÂ“>ÀŽiĂŒÂˆÂ˜}ĂŠ`>ĂŒ>ĂŠĂŒÂœĂŠivviVĂŒÂˆĂ›iÂ?ÞÊ overcome client objections ĂŠ UĂŠĂŠ iĂŠÂ…Âˆ}Â…Â?ĂžĂŠÂœĂ€}>Â˜ÂˆĂ˘i`]ʓ>˜>}iĂŠĂŒÂˆÂ“iĂŠĂœiÂ?Â?ĂŠ>˜`ĂŠi˜Â?ÂœĂžĂŠĂœÂœĂ€ÂŽÂˆÂ˜}ĂŠÂˆÂ˜ĂŠ>ĂŠ`i>`Â?ˆ˜i‡`Ă€ÂˆĂ›iÂ˜ĂŠ environment ĂŠ UĂŠĂŠ*ÂœĂƒĂƒiĂƒĂƒĂŠ}œœ`ĂŠVÂœÂ“ÂŤĂ•ĂŒiĂ€ĂŠĂƒÂŽÂˆÂ?Â?Ăƒ]ĂŠÂˆÂ˜VÂ?Ă•`ˆ˜}ĂŠ>ĂŠÂŤĂ€ÂœwVˆi˜VĂžĂŠÂˆÂ˜ĂŠ ˆVĂ€ÂœĂƒÂœvĂŒĂŠ7ÂœĂ€`]ĂŠ Ă?ViÂ?ĂŠ and CRM systems ĂŠ UĂŠĂŠ iĂŠ>LÂ?iĂŠĂŒÂœĂŠ>`>ÂŤĂŒĂŠĂƒ>Â?iĂƒĂŠ>ÂŤÂŤĂ€Âœ>VÂ…iĂƒĂŠ>˜`ĂŠLiÂ…>Ă›ÂˆÂœĂ€ĂƒĂŠÂˆÂ˜ĂŠĂ€iĂƒÂŤÂœÂ˜ĂƒiĂŠĂŒÂœĂŠVÂ…>˜}ˆ˜}ĂŠĂƒÂˆĂŒĂ•>ĂŒÂˆÂœÂ˜Ăƒ
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Budget: The council held a public hearing on the proposed fiscal year 2012 budget and a proposed increase to the city’s water and wastewater rates. Action: None El Camino Park: The council supported plans to add amenities to El Camino Park, including a synthetic turf, improved lighting and a new pathway. Yes: Burt, Espinosa, Holman, Klein, Scharff, Schmid, Shepherd, Yeh No: Price El Camino Park: The council also voted to integrate a dog run into the park design. Yes: Burt, Espinosa, Klein, Price, Scharff, Schmid, Shepherd, No: Holman, Yeh
Board of Education (June 13)
Student health: The board heard a presentation from five middle- and high-school principals about an array of policies to promote students feelings of “connecteness� with school. Action: None Special education: The board heard a presentation on the status of the district’s Special Education program, which serves 10 percent of students. Action: None Parent focus groups: The board heard a presentation on focus groups convened with randomly selected parents in May to voice their views on school issues. Action: None Facilities: The board heard a presentation on a proposal to reduce the number of seats in Palo Alto High School’s planned new Performing Arts Center from 600 to 466 due to cost issues. Action: None
Policy and Services Committee (June 14)
iPads: The committee discussed purchasing iPads for the City Council and switching from paper to electronic staff reports. Yes: Unanimous Economic strategy: The committee discussed the city’s proposed Economic Strategic Plan Update. Action: None
Historic Resources Board (June 15)
370 Addison Ave.: The board approved a proposal by Martin Bernstein on behalf of Christopher and Linda Forrester for alterations to a Professorville home. Yes: Bower, Bunnenberg, Kohler, Makinen, Smithwick Absent: Di Cicco Recused: Bernstein 668 Ramona St.: The board approved a request by the Pacific Art League of Palo Alto for rehabilitation and upgrade of an existing building. Yes: Bernstein, Bower, Bunnenberg, Kohler, Makinen, Smithwick Absent: Di Cicco
Architectural Review Board (June 16)
4301 El Camino Real: The board approved minor changes to the design of an approved hotel at the site of Palo Alto Bowl, 4301 and 4329 El Camino Real. The board added conditions relating to changes in sidewalks, paving and lighting. Yes: Lew, Malone Pritchard, Wasserman, Young Absent: Lee
Public Agenda A preview of Palo Alto government meetings next week CITY COUNCIL ... The council plans to discuss the El Camino Real Bus Rapid Transit Project. The council also plans to consider a possible repeal or amendment to the binding-arbitration provision in the City Charter, to adopt the fiscal year 2012 budget and to approve an average 12.5 percent increase to water rates. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. on Monday, June 20, in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.). PLANNING AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION ... The commission plans to continue its discussion of 711 El Camino Real, a proposal by Clement Chen for a planned community (PC) zone to enable a 44-room hotel across the street from the Westin and Sheraton hotels. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 22, in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.). RAIL COMMITTEE ... The committee plans to hear a presentation on the economic impacts of Caltrain’s electrification and high-speed rail in Palo Alto. The committee also plans to consider the city’s position on the Environmental Impact Report for Caltrain electrification. The meeting will begin at 8 a.m. on Thursday, June 23, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.). INFRASTRUCTURE COMMISSION ... The commission plans to continue its discussion of the city’s infrastructure backlog and ways to pay for the items on the list. The meeting will begin at 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 23, in the Lucie Stern Community Room (1305 Middlefield Road). LIBRARY ADVISORY COMMISSION ... The commission plans to hear an update on the Main Library and Art Center site integration project, discuss the Library Group Study Room policy, and consider a report on the waiting periods for holds. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 23, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.). PUBLIC ART COMMISSION ... The commission plans to see a presentation about projects at the Regional Water Quality Control Plant and the recycling center, consider purchasing art by Davis Bottini and dedicate funds for finalists in the Art Center and Main Library “percent for art� project. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 23, in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).
Upfront
Online This Week
COMMUNITY
Burmese icon Aung San Suu Kyi to speak to local alliance
These and other news stories were posted on Palo Alto Online throughout the week. For longer versions, go to www.PaloAltoOnline.com/news or click on “News� in the left, green column.
Plea in fatal infant shooting case deferred A 17-year-old teen accused of fatally shooting an infant in East Palo Alto on June 5 did not enter a plea during a court appearance Wednesday (June 15). The baby’s mother, Ivonne Garcia Lopez, was present in the courtroom and wept quietly and held a photograph of her son, Izack Jesus Jimenez Garcia. (Posted June 15 at 5:55 p.m.)
Alma Plaza construction gets underway Alma Plaza, a south Palo Alto development that earned the City Council’s approval more than two years ago, hit a milestone this week when the city issued building permits that will allow construction to begin. (Posted June 15 at 9:54 a.m.)
Attempted robbery leads to high-speed chase A man suspected of an attempted armed robbery at Sears in Mountain View was arrested after he flipped his car during a high-speed chase Tuesday evening, police said. (Posted June 15 at 11:48 a.m.)
Fatal Dumbarton crash victim was from Palo Alto A Palo Alto man has been identified as the victim of a fatal crash on the Dumbarton Bridge on Tuesday (June 14), according to the Alameda County coroner’s bureau. (Posted June 14 at 11:45 p.m.)
Revamped creek-bridge planned for Highway 101 A proposed replacement bridge over San Francisquito Creek and U.S. Highway 101 between University Avenue and Embarcadero Road will be discussed at a community meeting on Wednesday (June 15). (Posted June 13 at 5:13 p.m.)
Grads: Solve poverty, global warming with science Mexico President Felipe Calderon Sunday urged Stanford University graduates to use “the best tools and most advanced knowledge� to fight poverty and climate change. In its 120th commencement ceremony, the university conferred 4,941 undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Message from Nobel laureate headlines annual celebration by Jeff Carr
T
he Burmese American Women’s Alliance (BAWA) holds an event every year in honor of Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday, known also as Women of Burma Day. This year, however, features a first: contact from Suu Kyi herself. A personal video message from the Burmese democracy icon will be the highlight of BAWA’s annual event this Saturday, June 18, from 6 to 10 p.m. at the First Congregational Church (FCCPA) of Palo Alto, located at 1985 Louis Road. While the holiday will be celebrated by the Burmese community worldwide, Suu Kyi’s message will be tailored directly to attendees in Palo Alto. “I don’t know that anybody else has that,� BAWA Secretary Yasmin Vanya said. In addition to the video message, the event will feature entertainment by Burmese-American singer Jimmy Lashio, as well as poetry readings and other cultural performances. It’s the Burmese cuisine, however,
including mohinga, which draws in many, and originally hooked Vanya herself. “One morning I wanted to have mohinga, and I ended up an activist,� she said. The Burmese American Women’s Alliance, founded in 1999, is a nonprofit organization with a mission to support the struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma. Vanya conceded that the focus is more on the country than on women’s issues, and that the organization actually has members of both sexes. Its activities are centered on raising funds and sending relief assistance to Burmese communities all over the world, as well as promoting Burmese social and cultural traditions within Burmese American communities. The focus on Suu Kyi stems from the political side. Suu Kyi is best known as the general secretary of the National League for Democracy, which won a landslide victory in Burma’s 1990 election. However, the results were not acknowledged
by the ruling junta, and in the time since, she has spent 15 years under house arrest. Facing pressure from various local and international groups, including BAWA, Suu Kyi was released in November 2010, and now spends her time encouraging activists and reaching out to junta leaders, calling for reconciliation and dialogue. According to BAWA, the junta has been unresponsive, and continues its human rights violations and oppression. “We call on people who love peace and justice to support Burma’s cause, and come out and learn about this brave lady, Aung San Suu Kyi, and celebrate with us. She is free but Burma is not,� Mabel Tun, BAWA president, said. “We want to build peace and friendships in honor of her as she symbolizes peace, nonviolent struggle and love for all people.� Vanya put it more simply: “People from Burma need more attention.� (continued on next page)
(Posted June 12 at 4:07 p.m.)
Thieves hit Duveneck Elementary School Thieves who entered through an open window at Duveneck Elementary School took computers, digital cameras and thumb drives worth approximately $6,200, a Palo Alto police spokesman said. (Posted June 11 at 9:42 p.m.)
Guilty plead in Palo Alto VA credit-card fraud ring An Oakland woman who was part of a credit-card theft ring that preyed on Palo Alto Veterans Hospital workers, Stanford Hospital and Palo Alto Medical Foundation employees pleaded guilty to three felony counts on Wednesday, June 8, in U.S. District Court in San Jose. (Posted June 10 at 3:48 p.m.)
Doctor linked to suicide denied conviction reduction A Colorado physician who was convicted of illegally supplying prescription drugs that led to a depressed Stanford University student’s suicide will not receive a reduced conviction, San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Lisa Novak has ruled. (Posted June 10 at 10:57 a.m.)
Ravenswood may cut entire library staff Peering into a future of hard times, trustees of East Palo Alto’s Ravenswood City School District Thursday voted to slash the staff that provides computer services to children and teachers, among other positions. (Posted June 10 at 9:52 a.m.)
Gunmen rob Palo Alto convenience store Two masked gunmen robbed a convenience store in south Palo Alto Thursday evening, prompting a police manhunt. (Posted June 10 at 7:14 a.m.)
Castilleja student wins Congressional Art Competition A painting called “Peacemaker,� by Castilleja School junior Saloni Kalkat, will hang in the U.S. Capitol for a year after taking first place in the 14th Congressional Art Competition. (Posted June 9 at 2:25 p.m.)
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PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL CIVIC CENTER, 250 HAMILTON AVENUE BROADCAST LIVE ON KZSU, FM 90.1 CABLECAST LIVE ON GOVERNMENT ACCESS CHANNEL 26 THIS IS A SUMMARY OF COUNCIL AGENDA ITEMS. THE AGENDA WITH COMPLETE TITLES INCLUDING LEGAL DOCUMENTATION CAN BE VIEWED AT THE BELOW WEBPAGE: http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/knowzone/agendas/council.asp (TENTATIVE) AGENDA-SPECIAL MEETING COUNCIL CHAMBERS JUNE 20, 2011 - 6:00 PM STUDY SESSION 1. El Camino Real Bus Rapid Transit Project (PLNG) SPECIAL ORDERS OF THE DAY 2. Proclamation Recognizing the 80th Anniversary of Gleim the Jeweler 3. Selection of Candidates to be interviewed for the Planning and Transportation Commission for one term ending on July 31, 2015. CONSENT CALENDAR 4. Approval of a Resolution Determining the Proposed Calculation of the Appropriations Limit for Fiscal Year 2011. (ASD) 5. Adoption of a Resolution Approving an Agreement between the Northern California Power Agency and the Cities of Alameda, Palo Alto and Santa Clara for Electric Transmission, Generation and Regulatory Consulting Services (UTL) 6. Electric Overhead Rebuild Project 1 (UTL) 7. Approval of a Utilities Enterprise Fund Contract with Dresser, Inc. for Supplying Regulating Equip. for Rebuilding of Gas Receiving Stations 1, 2, 3 and 4 (UTL) 8. Approval Of Software Consulting Service Contract Amendment with Sierra Infosys, Inc. for the SAP Basis Support of SAP Industry-SpeciďŹ c Solution for Utilities, SAP Financials, Customer Relationship Management System, Business Intelligence System and Utilities Customer Electronic Services (ASD) 9. Adoption of a Resolution Approving the Reorganization of an Approximately .65 Acre Territory Designated “Major Institution/University Landsâ€? Located in the County of Santa Clara and Second Reading for the Adoption of Two Ordinances: (1) Amendment of Title 18 of the PAMC to add a new Chapter 18.36 (Hospital District), adding Section 8.10.95 (Tree Removal in HD Zone) to Chapter 8.10 (Tree Preservation and Management Regulations) of Title 8 (Trees and Vegetation) and amending Section 16.20.160(a)(1) (Special Purpose Signs) of Chapter 16.20 (Signs) of Title 16 (Building Regulations) and amending Section 18.08.010 (Designation of General Districts) and Section 18.08.040 to Chapter 18.08 (Designation and Establishment of Districts) and (2) Approval of a Development Agreement Between the City of Palo Alto and Stanford Hospital and Clinics; Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford; and the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University 10. Annual Adoption of the City’s Investment Policy (ASD) ACTION ITEMS 11. PUBLIC HEARING: Approval of an Ordinance Adopting the Fiscal Year 2012 Budget, including the Fiscal Year 2012 Capital Improvement Program, and Changes to the Municipal Fee Schedule; Adoption of Five Resolutions: (1) Amending Utility Rate Schedules for a Storm Drain Rate Increase; (2) Amending Utility Rate Schedules for Fiber Optic Rate Increases; (3) Amending Utility Rate Schedules for Wastewater Rate Increases pursuant to Proposition 218; (4) Amending Utility Rate Schedules for Water Rate Increases; (5) Amending the 2010-2011 Compensation Plan for the Management and Professional Personnel and Council Appointees; and Adoption of an Ordinance Amending Chapter 2.08 to Create a New Department of Information Technology (Continued from June 13, 2011) 12. Policy & Services Committee Recommendation regarding stafďŹ ng exibility 13. From the Policy & Services Committee: Binding Interest Arbitration (HR) 14. Approve Attached Resolutions for the Master License Agreement and Exhibits for Wireless Antenna Facilities and to Amend Utility Rate Schedule E-16 (UTL)
(TENTATIVE) AGENDA-REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY MEETINGCOUNCIL CHAMBERS JUNE 20, 2011 - 8:00 PM 1.
Adoption of the Resolution of the Redevelopment Agency Adopting the Budget for Fiscal Year 2012
STANDING COMMITTEE MEETINGS The City Council Rail Committee Meeting will be held on Thursday, June 23, 2011, at 8:00 a.m.
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Palo Alto’s bustling El Camino Park will soon be equipped with a new synthetic turf, a granite pathway and a dog park as part of a $1.4 million park-improvement effort the City Council endorsed this week. The park, which is near the northern boundary of the city between El Camino Real and Alma Street, across from the Stanford Shopping Center, is already scheduled to become a major construction site in the coming months as the city prepares to install a 2.5 million gallon reservoir underground. That bond-funded project is now in the final stage of design. To take advantage of this period of disruption, the council approved adding a host of new amenities to the park. The improvements, which would be funded by park development-impact fees, will also include new picnic tables, improved lighting at the soccer field and a new decomposed granite pathway. The council voted 8-1, with Gail Price dissenting, to support the proposed upgrades. The improvements are intended to address what Daren Anderson, a recreation manager in the Community Services Department, called a “critical lack of field space for soccer, softball and lacrosse in Palo Alto.� The city performed a study in 2002 that showed that the city’s current supply of playing space falls far short of demand. Council members were also excited about adding a dog park to a section of the city that currently doesn’t have one. The city’s existing dog parks are to the south, in Mitchell, Hoover and Greer parks. Under the proposed timeline, construction of the reservoir and the new amenities would take place largely in 2012 and early 2013 and the park would be reopened to the public in May 2013. N — Gennady Sheyner
Water rates climb despite lower usage Water usage may be plummeting in the Palo Alto and other cities that draw their supply from the Hetch Hetchy system, but water bills are flowing in the opposite direction. The drop in water usage may please conservationists, but it creates a difficult dilemma for city officials across the region, said Councilman Larry Klein, who represents Palo Alto on the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency. The agency, which comprises 26 cities and towns, buys its water from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), which gets most of its supply from the Hetch Hetchy. Klein said water usage in the SFPUC system dropped from about 175 million gallons per day in 2006 to about 140 million gallons per day in the current year — the lowest level since 1992. As a result, water agencies that were previously concerned about meeting the area’s water demand are now worried about how to keep the water system financially sustainable. The SFPUC is in the midst of a $4.6 billion effort to upgrade the aged reservoirs and pumping stations in the Hetch Hetchy system. The effort has prompted the commission to increase the wholesale price of water by about 37 percent. In Palo Alto, this will likely result in a 12.5 percent increase to the average water bill. The council on Monday briefly discussed the proposed water increase, which is due to take effect in July, and will likely approve it next week as part of its approval of the 2012 budget. N — Gennady Sheyner
Parents happy with report on emotional health Palo Alto parents who have pushed schools to pay more attention to student social-emotional health said they are pleased with progress reported by school principals. In a presentation on “student connectedness� to the Board of Education Tuesday night, five principals described an array of practices they use — for example, striking up conversations with students eating lunch alone — to foster tighter bonds at school. “We make it a point to talk to students,� Palo Alto High School Principal Phil Winston told the board. “There’s nothing more beautiful than asking someone how they’re doing.� Superintendent Kevin Skelly said the efforts for better “connectedness� — which became a priority following a string of student suicides two years ago — represents “complicated and enduring work� for the district. For example, 89 percent of Gunn High School students rated themselves “connected� or “strongly connected� at school in a 2008 survey. But that leaves 11 percent potentially falling through the cracks — a worry for parents and administrators, particularly after the suicides. Board members will discuss possible “focus goals� for 2011-12 in their annual two-day retreat, open to the public, scheduled for June 27 and 28. N — Chris Kenrick LET’S DISCUSS: Read the latest local news headlines and talk about the issues at Town Square at PaloAltoOnline.com
Testing fraud (continued from page 3)
Her “parents were told she was a ‘low-achieving’ child and that ‘we are in the tail end of being able to fix this,’� the court document said. As late as last December, the district refused the parents’ request to administer an assessment of the girl, citing her good performance on second-grade standardized testing and other past tests, the complaint said. More recently, the district did assess the student and found her eligible for special education in the category of “other health impaired� — one of 14 possible categories under federal special-education law. “They’ve come around to recognizing she’s eligible, but she had two wasted years because the teacher was otherwise hiding her eligibility,� said San Jose lawyer David H. Tollner, who is representing the family. Tollner, formerly executive director of the Pacific Autism Center for Education in Sunnyvale, specializes in special-education law. “I’ve seen cases like this where teachers will cover deficits in students so they don’t have to assess them and provide various other special education supports, but this is an extreme case, clearly,� Tollner said. “This is actual standardized testing that’s been erased and teacher responses put in where the student clearly didn’t know the information, but the parents were led to believe the student was on the right track.� The family is seeking $500,000 in damages for emotional distress, and another $50,000 for compensatory education, according to the complaint, a redacted version of which was provided by the school district. N Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can be emailed at ckenrick@paweekly. com.
Burmese icon
(continued from previous page)
Having fled her home country more than 20 years ago, following in her brother’s footsteps, Vanya has returned home only once, in 2002. She fears that now, due to her activism, she is not likely to be granted a visa. She also has numerous connections to Suu Kyi and her family. Saturday’s event is free and open to the public, but donations will be accepted in order to benefit three Rangoon HIV/AIDS shelters run by Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy Social Welfare project. The event is co-sponsored by the Peace and Justice Committee of First Congregational Church and many of its partners. More information is available at www.bawalliance.org. N Editorial Intern Jeff Carr can be emailed at editor@paweekly.com.
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Upfront
Senate districts (continued from page 3)
would resemble a parallelogram with a slightly elongated bottom left corner. Its northern border would start at Brisbane, and its southern border would extend diagonally from the ocean to Sunnyvale. The proposed district would also swallow up various cities that previously fell between the rabbit’s ears (Mountain View and Sunnyvale) or stood just above its body (Portola Valley, Woodside, Half Moon Bay). Meanwhile, cities just west of San Jose, which currently fall in the right ear of the topographical bunny, and those that make up the rabbit’s tail in the southeast section of the district would switch to another district. Aptos, near the shore of Monterey Bay, would no longer have to share the same district as San Carlos. Simitian this week said the new map could create some anxiety for residents in northern Santa Clara County, the part of the county that includes his hometown of Palo Alto. The county (which currently makes up about 60 percent of the district) would become a minority in the Senate district, and the political center of gravity would shift to San Mateo County. “It’s understandable that people in Sunnyvale will say, ‘What do we have in common with Brisbane?’� Simitian said. “But when the districts are this big and when they cover that much ground, each district will have more disparate communities.� These concerns are typical whenever districts get redesigned and counties are forced to share a district, he said. He noted that under the current setup, he represents Capitola in Santa Cruz County but not Mountain View, which is five minutes away from his house. He responded to concerns from his Santa Cruz constituents by opening an office in their county. Other state Assembly, state Senate and Congressional districts on the Peninsula are also slated for major redesigns. Assemblyman Rich Gordon, whose 21st District currently resembles the receiver of a 20th-century telephone, would see his turf become more geographically compact even as it spreads east to swallow up Mountain View and Sunnyvale. The district would lose the cities that currently stand on its fringes, including Redwood City in the north and Los Gatos in the south. Gordon, who took office last year, told the Weekly the proposed maps make “geographic sense.� He also said he does not presume that the drafts released last week would be the ones the commission ultimately adopts. “Under these tentative maps, Los Altos and parts of San Jose would no longer be in my district in the future, but I have to represent those areas during this term of office, and I will continue to represent that area and do that work,� Gordon said. “When it comes time to campaign, I will be campaigning in some new communities, but I wouldn’t pre-
sume that I’ll be representing those communities.� Analysts say the shifts in districts, while visually dramatic, are expected to have little political effect on the politicians and their constituents on the Peninsula. Unlike in southern California, where Republican Reps. David Dreier and Elton Gallegly now find themselves battling for political survival in increasingly Democratic districts, the changes in the Bay Area promise to be more subtle, said Jim Ross, a political consultant who specializes in state elections. Several cities in San Mateo County, including East Palo Alto and Menlo Park, would shift from Rep. Anna Eshoo’s 14th District in the U.S. Congress to Rep. Jackie Speier’s 12th District. This, however, is unlikely to cause a huge stir for the residents in either district, Ross said. “The Bay Area’s congressional delegation is pretty solid,� Ross said. “It’s not like they’re going from one party to another. They’re all Democratic and relatively progressive.� Impacts could be more substantive in the reshuffling of state Senate districts. San Francisco, which is currently split between two districts (Mark Leno’s in the north and east and Leland Yee’s in the west) would be reduced to one senator — a move that Ross says could cost the city some political clout. But this could also spell good news for residents in many sections of San Mateo County, who will no longer have to vie with San Francisco for the attention of their senator. “San Mateo County and, in general, the South Bay will get more specific representation than it had in the past because the San Francisco seat currently held by Leland Yee moves south,� Ross said. “That nexus of power moves south.� The upshot is that some Peninsula voters who are currently represented by Democrats in the state Assembly, state Senate and the U.S. Congress could find themselves represented next year by a different set of Democrats. Voters in Palo Alto, meanwhile, should see few concrete impacts other than the fact that their district maps would lose those creative shapes that it took decades of gerrymandering to achieve. Their representatives would remain the same, Ross noted.
Proposed 11th Senate District boundaries SAN FRANCISCO Brisbane
Daly City Colma
South San Francisco
Proposed 11th Senate District boundaries
San Bruno Pacifica Foster City San Mateo SAN MATEO Half Moon Bay
ALAMEDA
Redwood City Belmont San Carlos Menlo Park East Atherton Palo Alto Woodside
Stanford
Portola Valley
Palo Alto Mountain View
Sunnyvale Los Altos Los Altos Loyola Hills
Santa Clara
San Jose
SANTA CLARA
Cupertino Campbell Saratoga Monte Sereno
San Jose
Los Gatos Lexington Hills Boulder Creek
SANTA CRUZ Ben Lomond
Current 11th Senate District boundaries
The redistricting process is being closely watched around the country, where district lines continue to get drawn up by politicians. The 14member commission, which was approved by California voters in 2008, has held 23 public hearings on the subject and is scheduled to vote on the final map on Aug. 15. Ross called the commission’s work a “real public process� and praised the group for its transparency. Simitian agreed. “If you look at the first set of draft maps, they followed the rules, exercised common sense and kept it as apolitical as it was possible to do,� Simitian said. “I give them high marks.� N Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com.
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City of Palo Alto Blood Drive Friday, July 1 | 8:30 am - 3:00 pm
2 6 4 3 8 9 1 7 5
8 4 5 6 9 1 3 2 7
6 2 1 7 3 8 5 9 4
9 3 7 2 5 4 8 1 6
Violence related Armed robbery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Domestic violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Strong-arm robbery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Theft related Commercial burglary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Residential burglary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Shoplifting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle related Abandoned bicycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Auto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Driving w/ suspended license. . . . . . . . .2 Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Misc. traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . .7 Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . .8 Vehicle impound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Alcohol or drug related Drunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Drunken driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Miscellaneous Coroner case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Misc. penal code violation . . . . . . . . . . .1 Other/misc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Public urination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .4 Town ordinance violation . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Warrant/other agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Menlo Park June 6-14 Violence related Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Theft related Check forgery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Commercial burglary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Credit card forgery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle related Auto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Bicycle recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Driving w/ suspended license . . . . . . . . .5 Lost/stolen plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Vehicle accident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle accident/injury . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . .2 Vehicle accident/no injury. . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Alcohol or drug related Drunken driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Narcotics registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Sale of drugs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Miscellaneous Animal call. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Coroner case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Misc. penal code violation . . . . . . . . . . .3 Missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Other/misc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Probation violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Property for destruction . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .2 Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Atherton June 7-13 Violence related Assault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Theft related Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle related Parking problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Suspicious vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Ticket sign-off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Traffic detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Traffic hazard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Vehicle accident/no details . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle accident/no injury. . . . . . . . . . . .3 Vehicle code violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Alcohol or drug related Driving under influence of drug/alcohol .4 Narcotics offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Miscellaneous Animal call. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Building/perimeter check . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Civil matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Construction site check . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Disturbance noise/fight. . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Disturbing/annoying phone calls. . . . . . .2 Fire call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Juvenile problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Medical aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Pedestrian check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Special detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .5 Suspicious person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Town ordinance violation . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Tree down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Welfare check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Palo Alto
Answers to this week’s puzzles, which can be found on page 50
5 8 3 1 4 7 2 6 9
June 8-14
VIOLENT CRIMES
Location: Council Chambers Each donor will receive a free AMC movie ticket. Prize drawing for AMC movie prize pack.
1 7 9 5 2 6 4 8 3
Palo Alto
7 5 6 4 1 2 9 3 8
3 9 2 8 6 5 7 4 1
Free. Fun. Only about Palo Alto. C R O S S W O R D S Visit www.paloaltoonline.com/puzzle
4 1 8 9 7 3 6 5 2
600 block San Antonio Avenue, 6/8, 10:11 p.m.; robbery/armed. Unlisted block Ventura Avenue, 6/8, 10:43 p.m.; robbery/strong arm. Unlisted block San Antonio Road, 6/9, 1:49 a.m.; robbery/armed. Unlisted block Arastradero Road 6/10, 9:29 a.m.; domestic violence/battery. Unlisted block Colorado Avenue, 6/10, 12:10 p.m.; domestic violence/battery. 300 block California Avenue, 6/11, 2:08 a.m.; robbery/strong arm.
Menlo Park 300 block Middlefield Road, 6/9, 12:06 a.m.; battery.
Atherton Unlisted block Oakwood Boulevard, 6/7, 6:01 p.m.; assault simple/battery.
1
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VOTE BY JULY 3 PaloAltoOnline.com
Transitions Raymond F. Halloran
Raymond F. (Hap) Halloran, 89, a resident of Menlo Park, died June 7, 2011. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Feb. 4, 1922. He developed an early fascination for airplanes and, after Pearl Harbor, joined the Army Air Force. He shipped out to the Pacific Theater in 1944 as a B-29 navigator. He was shot down over Tokyo and was a prisoner of war in Japan until he was liberated in 1945. After the war he returned to his hometown and went to work for the Rock Island Railroad. After transferring to Detroit and changing from railroads to the trucking business, he met Donna Carolyn Peterman and they were married in 1953. In 1958 he took a job with Consolidated Freightways (CF). In 1973 he was named executive vice president and became the company’s top sales and marketing officer. After battling Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for 40 years, he began making “reconciliation trips� to Japan, meeting the pilot who had shot him down in the war and making many Japanese friends. He also spoke to groups throughout the U.S. as a proponent of peace and forgiveness. He traveled with CBS-TV to Tokyo in 1995 for a special on the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII and in that year alone did 30 TV interviews and appeared in 12 docu-
mentaries on the war. In 2001 he was inducted into the American Combat Airman Hall of Fame. At the time of his death he was being cared for by the staff at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Menlo Park and is survived by his immediate family, sons Dan and Tim and daughter Peggy. Their mother Donna died in 1991. Hap will be interred in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
Eugene Tupper Eugene Tupper, 85, a former resident of Palo Alto, died April 23 after a brief illness. He was born in San Francisco in 1925 and raised in Palo Alto by his mother and grandparents. He attended Palo Alto High School, served in the U.S. Army during World War II, then studied photojournalism at San Jose State University, where he met his wife, Catherine. The couple raised their family in Los Altos. He worked as a photographer for the Palo Alto Times from 1948 until his retirement in 1981. There, according to a 1981 article, he was the newspaper employee best known by the public, and he photographed many celebrities including Harry
IN MEMORIAM
Sullivan S. Marsden, Petroleum Engineering June 3, 1922 - April 26, 2011 Sullivan S. Marsden, Ph.D., a retired Stanford professor, died April 26, 2011, after a brief illness. He is survived by four children and seven grandchildren. He was 88. He received his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Stanford in 1944 and his Ph.D. from Stanford in Physical Chemistry 1948. In 1957 he joined the faculty of the Petroleum Engineering Department where he served until 1992. In addition to his commitments to research, teaching and consulting, his interests included travel, wine making and philanthropy. His interest in travel started as a youth when he explored the country near his home in St. Louis by bicycle, followed by hitchhiking trips as far as Maine and California in his high school years, thus escaping the hot St. Louis summers. During 1945, he worked on the Manhattan project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. His interest in hiking took him on numerous Sierra Club trips with his children, and later in life led him to backpack the 2,650 mile PaciďŹ c Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada, logging almost 200 miles a summer from 1980 to 1994. Always respectful of academic accomplishments, his primary philanthropic interest was funding academic prizes for students at Stanford and many other universities in the U.S. He loved good wine (which he often made himself and shared with friends). Services will be at the Stanford Memorial Chapel Sunday, June 19, 2011 at 1:00 PM, followed by a reception at the Faculty Club from 2:00 PM to 4:30 PM. In lieu of owers the family would be grateful for any donations to the Stanford Energy Resources Engineering Department (formerly the Petroleum Engineering Department). Questions and communications are welcome and may be directed to Lee Marsden at LeeMarsdenLaw@ gmail.com. PA I D
OBITUARY
S. Truman, Eleanor Roosevelt, the Beatles and Willie Mays, among many others. He also covered the Pebble Beach golf tournament, many Stanford University sporting events and did private photography work up and down the Peninsula. After retirement he moved to Lodi, where he enjoyed golf, boating and trailer-travel trips with his wife and friends. He is survived by his wife, Catherine Tupper of Lodi; daughter Linda Spalinger of Boulder Creek; and son Craig Tupper and his wife Wendy of Yamhill, Ore. The family requests that memorial donations be made to a local hospice organization.
Memorial Services A memorial service for Weyi Tony Wang will be held Sunday, June 19, at 10:30 a.m. at 980 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto.
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Roberta Prior Wheeler October 7, 1922 - May 26, 2011 Bobbie died Thursday, May 26, 2011 at her home surrounded by her family, after 6 weeks of hospice care. She is survived by her husband of 67 years, Roderick Wheeler, daughters Rebecca Ann Wheeler of Mountain View and Caroline Wheeler of Mendocino, son in law Craig Ritchey, grandchildren Jed and Ginny Ritchey, David and Janelle Ritchey and great granddaughters Nancy Sue and Haley Ritchey. Bobbie endured 10 long years of ovarian cancer treatment with a remarkably positive attitude that allowed her to enjoy many additional milestones, including becoming great grandmother to delightful twin girls, now 5 years old, and the wedding of her grandson, David. Bobbie was the only child of Leland Stanford Prior, Jr. and Dorothy Martha Davis who were married in Santa Cruz. She was born on October 7, 1922 in Berkeley, and grew up in the Bay Area attending Palo Alto schools. She had a lifelong interest in tap dancing and was known for her special “tap sound.â€? In 1936 she entered Paly High. She was strong in academics, well-liked and was voted prettiest and sweetest. In her senior year, served as secretary to the Board of Commissioners. In 1940, Bobbie entered U. C. Berkeley, an event recognized with a photograph and story in the San Francisco press because she was a direct descendant of the university founder. She joined Kappa Kappa Gamma and later became rush chairman. As a freshman, she was one of 5 candidates for “Big Game Queen.â€? She earned an honorary certiďŹ cate in biochemistry. After 3 years at Berkeley, accepted a wedding proposal from her high school sweetheart Rod. They were married on January 1, 1944, in Stanford Chapel with honeymoon in Carmel. After a prolonged bout with tuberculosis, she raised 3 daughters, Nancy Prior Ritchey (born 1945 and pre-deceased in 1995), Rebecca Ann Wheeler (1952) of Mountain View, and Caroline Wheeler (1958) of Mendocino. Becky said her mom was warm, nurturing, fun, interested in life and took a keen interest in other people. Becky and Bobbie
had an especially close relationship, and enjoyed many activities together: tennis, Zumba dancing, and traveling. After her children were grown, Bobbie trained for and worked 9 years as a medical assistant at Stanford University Hospital and Palo Alto Medical Foundation. Actively involved in many organizations: P.E.O., Garden Club, Gamble Garden and American Cancer Society. Also interested in sports, including tennis, golf, jazzercise and classes at Ross Road YMCA. Was a charter member of Foothills Tennis and Swim Club, her 3.0 tennis team won a national championship in Tucson, Arizona, when Bobbie was 73. Also fond of bridge, reading, gardening, home decorating and was an excellent cook. Enjoyed many luncheons with groups of former high school friends. On mother’s side, was a 7th California generation ancestor of Pablo Cota, who worked with Father Junipero Serra on El Camino Real missions. Her ancestor Samuel Hopkins Willey was a leader and chaplain in the ďŹ rst California state capital in Monterey in 1849 and later president of U. C. Berkeley. On her father’s side, was a 4th generation descendant of James Knight Prior who arrived in San Francisco penniless at an early age selling household products on street. Eventually started a successful plumbing and heating business which installed San Jose’s ďŹ rst gas street lights. He built a summer mansion in 1887 on 30 acres of MiddleďŹ eld Road opposite Flood Park. Bobbie’s grandfather inherited 15 acres of this land and built a large residence designed by Birge Clark. The school district later condemned about 7 acres and constructed current Encinal School on the property. Bobbie’s father inherited remaining land and built a residence at end of new Prior Lane. A celebration of Bobbie’s life will be held on Tuesday, June 28 at 2:00 p.m. at First Congregational church (Louis and Embarcadero Road in Palo Alto) followed by a reception at Foothills Tennis and Swimming Club (3351 Miranda Avenue, Palo Alto). In lieu of owers, the family suggests a gift to Palo Alto Garden Club or American Cancer Society. PA I D
O B I T UA RY
*>Â?ÂœĂŠ Â?ĂŒÂœĂŠ7iiÂŽÂ?ÞÊUĂŠ Ă•Â˜i棂]ÊÓ䣣ÊU Page 11
Editorial
Achilles’ Heel in city’s 2012 budget Spending plan is based on shaky expectations for police, fire unions
C
ity Manager James Keene has creatively balanced the $146 million budget for 2012 by squeezing $1 million from departmental expenditures, including $300,000 by shrinking six Public Works divisions into three, and by betting that the city will receive $4.3 million in voluntary givebacks from the police and fire unions. The City Council will take a final look and is expected to approve the budget at its Monday meeting. While the city manager is absolutely correct to push hard on public-safety expenditures, which account for 56 percent of the city’s total personnel costs, if the unions stare him (and the council) down in this macho exercise, the only alternative will be for significant layoffs in both departments that ultimately may prove to be very unpopular with residents. Palo Alto Professional Firefighters Local 1319 has already reached impasse in its contract talks and is headed to binding arbitration, which could be completed this fall. The contract with the police union expires at the end of June, but city officials believe an arrangement can be made to avoid an impasse. But if neither union agrees to contribute its share of the $4.3 million in givebacks expected of them, acting Public Safety Director Dennis Burns predicts some dire consequences that will hit both departments with very substantial cuts. For example, after dropping 31 positions since Fiscal Year 2003, to save its $2 million share of the 2012 budget the Police Department would face losing another 11 sworn officers, reducing the total to 80 from 91. Detectives, traffic officers and patrol officers would be lost if such a cut were implemented. And if the firefighters union does not accept $2.3 million in cuts, the Fire Department could be forced to drop one engine company and three firefighters, which would push the department below the contentious 29-firefighter-minimum-staffing-level called for in the contract. Burns said if staffing levels reached 25 at any time, the city would begin to “brown out� or temporarily close selected fire stations. Under the other option the city would drop an engine company and a rescue company, cutting staff from 108 to 90 positions. Whether this “toe-to-toe� bargaining will pay off won’t be known until this fall, when arbitration proceedings with the firefighters union are completed. The police union may reach a deal with the city, although there is no certainty at the moment. Without significant concessions from the public-safety unions this year, the city will be looking at a major structural budget deficit in upcoming years, including $6 million to $7 million shortfalls in 2013 and 2014. If that occurs, the city will be forced to look at even more layoffs and service cuts. One way the council could gain more control of its budget is to place a measure on the fall ballot asking voters to rescind the binding arbitration provision for public-safety unions in the city’s charter. We were disappointed to see the Policy and Services Committee deadlock 2-2 on the ballot question, but the full council will address the issue this Monday, along with the budget. Binding arbitration is the roadblock for bringing control of public-safety staffing back to the council and the city manager’s office, where it belongs. When it can cost the city $150,000 or more a year in salary and benefits to support one firefighter or policeman, it makes no sense to handcuff city managers with this provision in the charter. The public-safety issue overshadows the city manager’s excellent work in other areas of this year’s budget, where costs have remained in check, in contrast to the public-safety expenditures, which have nearly doubled from about $33 million in 2000 to more than $60 million today. Overall, the proposed budget is forecasting a 3.4 percent revenue increase, a 3 percent expense increase, while producing a tiny $131,000 surplus. This balancing act comes in spite of the rising costs of personnel benefits, which jumped $4.3 million this year, including $2.5 million more for pensions, $700,000 more for health care and $1.1 million more in retiree medical benefits. The city’s reserves of $27 million are 18 percent of the proposed budget of $146 million. Overall this is a relatively easy budget year for Palo Alto, if the public-safety unions support the city manager’s proposed givebacks. If not, there will be more pain down the road when it looks like layoffs will be the only answer.
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Spectrum Editorials, letters and opinions
Drekmeier responds Editor, David Bubenik’s letter last week suggests that he has not read the updated feasibility study for an anaerobic digester in Palo Alto. For months project opponents have been quoting stale figures, and they lobbied to discontinue the study before more accurate financials could be determined. Well, the updated figures are now available, and they show that anaerobic digestion could save our community $30 million or more over the first 20 years. After that, the facility would be paid off, and the savings would be even greater. Opponents of anaerobic digestion have insisted that the facility should pay astronomical land rent, hoping that such a scenario would make it economically unappealing. However, it’s up to City Council how much rent, if any, would be charged. And if we did charge ourselves rent, it would only shift funds from the Refuse Fund to the General Fund, which pays for our police, fire, parks and community services. Opponents have attempted to scare people into opposing the anaerobic digester by claiming it would increase refuse rates. At the same time they have lobbied for the above-mentioned transfer of funds from the Refuse Fund to the General Fund in the form of rent. Whose side are they on? People can view the updated feasibility study at www.cityofpaloalto.org/civica/filebank/blobdload. asp?BlobID=27590 and information about the Palo Alto Green Energy and Compost Initiative at www.pagreenenergy.org. Peter Drekmeier Fulton Street Palo Alto
Stop water pumping Editor, For several months now the screened property on the northeast side of the 2100 block of Bryant Street has been discharging water through a four-inch pipe in the gutter into a drain on the corner of Bryant Street and North California Avenue. Obviously this water is being pumped from the ground for some misguided process. The unconscionable depletion of groundwater from precious aquifers that belong, not to the property owners, but to the neighborhood and the City of Palo Alto is a process that must be stopped immediately. Why this process has been allowed to take place — especially for such an extended period — is beyond the comprehension of any thinking individual.
The City of Palo Alto should do whatever is in its power to police this situation now — before tragic consequences occur. Barry Z. Rose Colorado Avenue Palo Alto
Project could harm kids Editor, Stanford has begun building its new children’s hospital and with it a nine-level parking structure fewer than 60-feet from our day care center (CCLC Arboretum, 215 Quarry Road). Stanford has already issued warnings to their physicians that construction of the new hospital will result in dust and noise pollution that could negatively impact patient health and encouraged patients to be kept indoors. They have closed off wings of their current hospital to prevent endangering patients and evacuated offices in proximity to construction. However, when it comes to building next to a day care, Stanford has little regard for the safety or health of our children. In addition to demolishing playgrounds, they’ve told our day care to try to
“keep the windows closed� and to “encourage indoor play� as much as possible. As a parent and physician, “keeping windows closed� and “encouraging indoor play� is not an effective strategy to prevent exposure to toxic construction materials like lead and asbestos. CCLC Arboretum has little to offer unfortunately, as they just lease the land that Stanford owns. Many of the day care staff are outraged, frustrated, and heartbroken over Stanford’s unwillingness to find a workable compromise. Many are contemplating leaving. Our loving day care community, which many of us think of as an extended family, is being torn apart. It truly seems odd that a building permit for such a large-scale project would be granted in proximity to a day care. Up to this point, the voices of the parents have fallen on deaf ears. Several meetings with Stanford and the construction company have all been met with: “This is a billion dollar project that will go forward. Let’s do the best we can.� (continued on next page)
YOUR TURN The Palo Alto Weekly encourages comments on our coverage or on issues of local interest.
What do you think? Is the 2012 City of Palo Alto budget based on realistic expectations? Submit letters to the editor of up to 250 words to letters@paweekly.com. Include your name, address and daytime phone number so we can reach you. We reserve the right to edit contributions for length, objectionable content, libel and factual errors known to us. Anonymous letters will generally not be accepted. You can also participate in our popular interactive online forum, Town Square, at our community website at www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Read blogs, discuss issues, ask questions or express opinions with you neighbors any time, day or night. Submitting a letter to the editor or guest opinion constitutes a granting of permission to the Palo Alto Weekly and Embarcadero Media to also publish it online, including in our online archives and as a post on Town Square. For more information contact Editor Jocelyn Dong or Online Editor Tyler Hanley at editor@paweekly.com or 650-326-8210.
Check out Town Square! Hundreds of local topics are being discussed by local residents on Town Square, a reader forum sponsored by the Weekly on our community website at www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Post your own comments, ASK QUESTIONS READ THE %DITOR S BLOG OR JUST STAY UP ON WHAT PEOPLE ARE talking about around town!
Guest Opinion
A strong rebuttal on radiation concerns
Letters (continued from previous page)
On an issue as important as our children’s health, “doing the best we can� is not good electromagnetic radiation (on a 24/7 basis), enough. Stanford is acting irresponsibly, especially WE SHOULD HAVE SEEN AT LEAST CASES OF THE for a hospital purported to advocate for the purported syndrome. In the field as a whole, health of children. We must do better. there should have been hundreds. No such Peter Jun cases are known. Cedar Avenue Yes, there was a recent report of a WHO Menlo Park committee, widely cited in the press, in which the phrase appeared that the use of cell phones as a contributing cause of can- Saltworks and climate cer cannot be absolutely ruled out. Those %DITOR
familiar with the rules of scientific evidence It might seem unlikely to some folks, but know that to rule out an effect with certainty I think the Saltworks project would have an is impossible and that scientists and scien- impact on local climate due to loss of Bay tific committees often use such phrases to surface water. cover themselves, just in case. But the fact We recently moved from a house in a Palo that something cannot be ruled out does not Alto’s Adobe Meadow neighborhood, where mean that it exists. Yet this is often the im- neither air conditioners nor foam roofs were pression created by uncritical reporting. common. Now in a Mountain View neighborIt must be pointed out that if the health ef- hood, Monta Loma, those are common and fects of low energy radiation were as dramat- we can feel why. ic as those of high energy X-rays, they would At 3.3 miles from the Bay shore (previoushave become obvious long ago. This is not to ly 2.3), it is hotter in the summer and colder say that more subtle effects don’t exist. But in the winter. to establish their existence will require very Raymond R. White carefully controlled studies over a period of Whitney Drive many years. In the meantime it remains one Mountain View of the many unknowns with which we have to live. It pays to be prudent and careful and to remember that the excess of anything can be harmful. But to politicize issues that cannot be resolved in our time and to live in fear of the unknown is not helpful. Oleg Jardetzky, M.D., Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Pharmacology and Director Emeritus, Stanford Magnetic Resonance Sign up today at Laboratory at the Stanford University www.PaloAltoOnline.com School of Medicine.
Stanford professor debunks concerns about wireless emissions By Oleg Jardetzky t is very unfortunate that the Palo Alto Weekly, which many of us respect as a responsible newspaper, would publish a guest opinion June 3 (Molly Rose, “There really are dangers from wireless emissions�) that could cause alarm and instill fear in the community, but could not stand up to any serious scientific scrutiny. I do not disagree with Ms. Rose’s opinion that blanket assurances of instrument manufacturers about absolute safety of electromagnetic radiation and the rulings of national and international regulatory agencies should be taken with a grain of salt. Nor with her view that we are dealing with an area in which there are many unanswered questions. But the issue she is raising is not new and those of us who have worked with radiation have dealt with safety concerns for decades. Having introduced into biological research the application of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, which uses and emanates radiofrequency radiation sometimes at a high level and maintained a laboratory focused on this method for nearly five decades, I have lived through a number of formal and informal committees evaluating effects of magnetic fields and electromagnetic radiation on living systems. Some of the reported effects
I
turned out to be real, others did not. There are now hundreds of laboratories world-wide involved in the use of this methodology, not to speak of other fields, such as high energy physics and communication technology, in which radiation is ever present. All of the workers in this field have had to consider safety for their own sake and the sake of coworkers for whom they are responsible. Anyone familiar with the state of our knowledge in this field has to point out that: s 4HE ASSERTION THAT IS THE HEADLINE OF THE cited article: “There really are dangers from wireless emissions� cannot be supported by any existing scientific evidence. s h4HE %LECTROMAGNETIC (YPERSENSITIVITY 3YNDROME %(3 DOES EXIST IS WELL DOCUMENTED IN %UROPE v IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE AND s .EITHER IS THE ASSERTION THAT hIT AFFECTS percent of the population...� To be sure anyone, any physician, can propose a new diagnosis and publish arguments to support it, in the hope that time will prove him right, as in the case of scurvy and diphtheria. But to assert that the proposed syndrome exists at this time as a well-documented medical diagnosis recognized as such by the medical profession or even the most knowledgeable part of it, is seriously misleading. )F THE CITED PERCENT ESTIMATE WERE ANYwhere near true, in our laboratory alone, in which over the years more then 300 individuals have been exposed for long periods of time to sometimes high levels of
Streetwise
What are your plans for the summer? Asked on California Avenue, Palo Alto. Interviews and photographs by Kareem Yasin and Jeff Carr.
Kylie Hurbitz
Human Resources Park Boulevard, Palo Alto “I’m moving to New York, so that’ll take up most of my time. First, though, I’m going to Napa and trying to enjoy the time I have left here.�
Lucia Areias
Real Estate Appraiser El Camino Real, Palo Alto “All I do is work. Maybe I’ll try to fit in a ‘staycation’ so I can be at home.�
Mike Sokolsky
Engineer Alma Street, Palo Alto “I’m going to be traveling through Europe — especially Scandinavia. The nightlife is great in Stockholm and in the summer the sun stays up until midnight.�
Rick Abbey
Neuropsychologist Ross Road, Palo Alto “Mainly I’ll be working, but I’ll be traveling back to Texas to be with family as well.�
Jani Greving
Yoga Instructor Gailen Avenue, Palo Alto “I live in India for the rest of the year but my husband and I come back and spend two months here every summer. We still have a house here, and our kids are here, so we’ll be spending time with them and enjoying the beautiful weather.�
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Cover Story
The many worlds of
George Marcus by Gennady Sheyner
PALO ALTO’S REAL-ESTATE TITAN HOPES TO SAVE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Veronica Weber
A
s University of California regents settled into their seats in a spacious auditorium on the second floor of a University of California San Francisco building in November, campus police clad in riot gear gathered outside to watch a scattering of students and workers gel into a protest movement. The protesters marched past clusters of police officers and toward the parking lot entrance of the Mission Bay campus, where they held signs and chanted slogans opposing the employee furloughs and tuition increases on the regents’ agenda (“Whose university? Our University,� “No justice, no peace,� “Shame on you!�). By midmorning, the orderly protest began to bubble with excitement and rage. One student reportedly stole a baton from a police officer in the parking garage, prompting a group of officers to set up barriers and push back the protesters. As students pulled out their cameras to snap photos of campus police charging into their midst, officers fought back with pepper spray. Before the end of the day, 13 students were arrested. Upstairs, the mood was more congenial but no less contentious. Dozens of UC students from campuses throughout the state pleaded with the regents not to raise tuitions by 8 percent, as proposed. After they spoke, UC President Mark Yudof addressed the regents and discussed the need to increase these fees. George Marcus, a Palo Alto-based developer who is now in the final year of his 12-year term on the regent board, said he strongly considered voting against the tuition increase when the meeting began. But after he heard Yudof lay out his case that the hike is needed to maintain the quality of the UC system, Marcus joined the board majority in voting to raise the fees. “I was really on the fence,� Marcus said in a recent interview. “I told the president and the chair that I’d probably vote against it unless they made a very compelling argument that this $100 million (the amount that would be raised from the tuition increases) out of a $20 billion budget is really necessary.� Marcus has never been shy about going his own way, defying expectations and bringing forth new ideas. As a regent, a top Democratic donor, the board chair at Marcus & Millichap and the Essex Property Trust, a member of Real Estate Roundtable (an industry lobbying group), and a cofounder of the National Hellenic Society, Marcus belongs to more exclusive clubs and boards than most people can name. At the same time, his companies’ success was based largely on his ability to defy the oldboy network that made up the commercial real estate world in the first half of the 20th century and bring a more systematic and analytical approach to the table. Marcus is a passionate Democrat, whose circle of friends includes Bill Clinton, Nan-
cy Pelosi and Jerry Brown. But he also calls the state the UC system’s most “unreliable partner� and believes it is the duty of the individual to give back to the institution from which he or she has benefited. His alma mater, San Francisco State University, named him in 1999 its Alumnus of the Millenium (to the possible chagrin of actor Jeffrey Tambor, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and writer Anne Rice). So it was in this spirit that Marcus spoke out during a particularly bleak meeting in January and asked all alumni to help get the UC system out of the budget mess. With state funding shrinking and costs of employee compensation and benefits rising, Yudof told the board on Jan. 20 that the university system could soon be forced to turn away eligible applicants. Regents reacted with a mixture of sadness and disappointment, with one member quoted in the media comparing himself to a “passenger on the Titanic.� Marcus then offered his own idea for keeping the university system thriving: Let’s ask the university’s million-plus alumni to help out. He proposed starting a “Save UC� endowment fund and offered on the spot to kick-start the fund with a $100,000 contribution. The regents are now awaiting a report on the new fund. “We have a million alumni and many of them are just resting on the laurels of the non-taxpayers and not doing as much as they could,� Marcus told the Weekly in a recent interview. “A $1,000 from each alumnus would be $1 billion. We’d never even have to talk to the state again.� The idea was brought forth at a time of particular anxiety for the UC system’s current student population. With California’s revenues plummeting and budget cuts the Legislature’s order of the day, the university system could see its share of state funds diminish by about $1 billion, almost a third of the state’s total funding. Over the last two years, as the UC’s endowment shriveled and its obligation to employees increased, the regents and Yudof responded with budget cuts and tuition increases. In July 2009, regents raised student tuition by 32 percent. The UC administration also instituted a wide range of cost-cutting measures, including employee furloughs and staff layoffs. Protests at regents meetings have become a common sight. Though Marcus has supported the costcutting efforts, his independent streak has emerged every now and then. In July 2010, when the board discussed creating an online undergraduate degree program, most regents expressed enthusiasm about the initiative. Marcus was more skeptical. According to the meeting minutes, he said he was concerned that online instruction, while “fashionable,� needs to be approached like any other pilot project, with close monitor-
‘You can talk to George in 1971 or 1972 and then talk to him in 2011 — he’s never varied from the things he was saying then. Thank God they made sense.’ — William Millichap co-chair, Marcus & Millichap Company
(continued on page 18)
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A community health education series from Stanford Hospital & Clinics
Pulled Back from the Brink: Spine Neurosurgery Comes to Rescue When Injury Threatens Spinal Cord coming for him gave him barely enough time register what was about to happen. “I knew I was about to be thrown, and when you know you’re going to be underwater for a while, you take a deep breath,� he said. “I’ve done that in bodysurfing a thousand times.�
Ryan had played serious contact sports college football and rugby and playground basketball. “I beat my body up quite a bit,� he said. Nearing 50, and veteran of three Iron Man competitions, he was still strong, “but internally my body was breaking down.�
A Surreal Vision
Ryan had followed his youthful interest in the mechanics of the body and trained in biomechanics and athletic training. He was also coaching a high school track team in Santa Cruz. He was married, the father of two. In January 2009, with a third child about to be born, he and his mother-in-law decided to take the kids to the beach and give his wife Sara a bit of a break. It was a warm Sunday afternoon and Ryan asked his son if he’d like to see his dad do some boogie-boarding. Ryan paddled out into the waves and prepared. The wave he saw
As the wave flipped him down onto the ocean floor, he took a hit against it so hard that he didn’t really know what had happened. “I took a second to check and that’s when I knew I couldn’t feel my body. It was surreal. I was looking up and could see the sun through the water and I thought, ‘This is it.’ I started thinking that if I lived, I would be a quadriplegic and a big burden to my family. I started thinking about Christopher Reeve and another friend who broke his neck.� Somehow, he got his face up out of the water and took a huge gulp of air and someone saw him—a surfer who had been a lifeguard ran to grab Ryan and haul him up onto the beach. “My little girl was there, crying, “ Ryan said, “and I called my wife as they were loading me into the ambulance and told her, ‘It’s going to be all right.’ Later, she told me she’d been thinking, ‘The baby can’t come until he’s back.’� Norbert von der Groeben
Ryan, a lifelong athlete who’d completed two Ironman competitions, is still physically active golfing, swimming and cycling. Now, he’s added martial arts to a routine that keeps him active without stress on his spine. Page 16ĂŠUĂŠ Ă•Â˜i棂]ÊÓ䣣ÊUĂŠ*>Â?ÂœĂŠ Â?ĂŒÂœĂŠ7iiÂŽÂ?Ăž
Three days later, Ryan was at his wife’s side as she gave birth to their second daughter, Charlotte, at a hospital in Santa Cruz. And, he could
stand to cut her umbilical cord, as he had done for the couple’s other children. The only reason he could do that, Ryan said, is because of what happened for him at Stanford Hospital & Clinics, under the care of Jon Park, MD, Director of Stanford’s Comprehensive Spine Neurosurgery.
Norbert von der Groeben
Matthew Ryan had been an athlete all his life before a big Pacific Ocean wave slammed him under water with a violent shock. “Ironically, I’d been backing off. I’d already stopped doing contact sports,� he said. “I was just doing a little bit of bike riding and swimming and golf.�
After Matthew Ryan took a tumble from a boogie board and fractured vertebrae high in his spine, Stanford spine neurosurgeon Jon Park spent seven hours putting things back together. Later, “he told me I’d been very, very hurt and that I was very, very lucky.�
The Best in the World “He came in to see me in the ICU and I could tell right away he was extremely bright and well-educated. He had a great bedside manner, very personal and very professional at the same time,� Ryan said. “Here I am, I don’t know what’s going on, how badly damaged I was going to be, but I’d been told he was the best in the world. I just gave myself to him and said, ‘Do everything that you do and I’m good with that.’�
For seven hours, Park carefully maneuvered through Ryan’s vertebrae, first going in through the front-facing side of Ryan’s neck to reset the dislocated vertebrae. Then, he turned Ryan over and made an incision to get directly at the spine to pick out fragments of cartilage, finishing off the surgery by putting a protective cage around the injured vertebrae. The cage is made out of titanium, a metal noted for its strength and light weight. Park told Ryan later he was very surprised that the sixth vertebrae had not gone right through
“I was looking up and could see the sun through the water and I thought, ‘This is it.’� – Matthew Ryan, patient, Stanford Hospital & Clinics What Park saw in the CT and MRI images was a mess. Ryan had multiple fractures of his spine at the sixth and seventh vertebrae, leading down from his skull. One of the damaged vertebrae was pushing the other one out of position and both were pushing against Ryan’s spinal cord. The images also tracked nerve activity and found abnormal spinal cord signals at higher vertebrae and a cord compression at the sixth. The ligaments supporting the muscles around those sixth and seventh vertebrae were also injured and pushing them out of place.
For decades, Ryan has coached young athletes, using his kno they do well without injury.
special feature
A Pain in Your Back t Nine out of 10 people in the United States will experience low back pain at least once during their lives. It’s the most common reason people go to the doctor or miss work. t Most back pain resolves itself with nonsurgical treatment and self-care. t Many forms of nonsurgical therapies, such as physical therapy, can help, especially in the short term. t While a small minority of chronic back pain patients have a physical abnormality, like a large bone spur, scoliosis or significant disc degeneration, many people will have no obvious anatomic cause for the pain. t Spinal stenosis, the most common surgical need in the United States for people over 50, can often be treated with physical therapy or by using a cane before surgery is required.
t The vast majority of back pain patients do not need surgery, said Stefan Mindea, MD, Director of Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery in Stanford’s Comprehensive Spine Neurosurgery program. “Back surgery does not work if you are not the right candidate,� he said. t A comprehensive care team can include a spine neurosurgeon, pain anesthesiologist, rehabilitation psychiatrist, and a neuropsychiatrist to manage surgical and nonsurgical disorders of the spine and peripheral nerves. t Injuries like Matt Ryan’s require specialized trauma care that may involve spine reconstruction. Source: Stanford Health Library For more information about spinal conditions and comprehensive neurospine care at Stanford, visit stanfordhospital.org/neurospine or phone 650. 723.6469.
Join us at stanfordhospital.org/socialmedia. Watch the new Stanford Hospital Health Notes television show on Comcast: channel 28 on Mondays at 8:30 p.m., Tuesdays at 3:30 p.m. and Fridays at 8:30 a.m.; channel 30 Saturdays at 10:30 p.m. It can also be viewed at youtube.com/stanfordhospital.
the cord, which would have left Ryan without feeling or the ability to move his body below his neck.
Ryan had multiple fractures of his spine at the sixth and seventh vertebrae, leading down from his skull. One of the damaged vertebrae was pushing the other one out of position and both were pushing against Ryan’s spinal cord. In a seven-hour surgery, Stanford spine neurosurgeon Jon Park reset the dislocated vertebrae, picked out cartilage fragments and placed a titanium cage around the vertebrae to stabilize Ryan’s spine.
Park is modest about the surgery he did on Ryan. “Knowing I have made a difference for someone is what rewards me at the end of the day,� he said.
Tricky territory He is very serious about the complex geometry of the spine and the spinal cord. “The spine is a joint,� Park said, “and when you’re treating a joint you have to be very careful it’s a mechanical area, not like a liver or an appendix.�
“The spine is a joint and when you’re treating a joint, you have to be careful. It’s not like a liver or an appendix.� – Jon Park, MD, Director, Stanford Hospital Comprehensive Spine Neurosurgery
Park, who also directs Stanford’s Spine Research Laboratory, heads a
The Stanford spine neurosurgery team’s research includes work on artificial disc technologies, regenerative spinal technologies, radiosurgery for spinal cancers and degenerative spine disease. Surgery on the spine has improved in many important ways, Park said. What has had the greatest impact are those diagnostic and treatment techniques that mean large incision Norbert von der Groeben
owledge of biomechanics and athletic training to make sure
team that includes Stefan Mindea, MD, Director of Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery and Larry Shuer, MD, a professor of neurosurgery at the Stanford School of Medicine. Shuer is also past president of the California Association of Neurological Surgeons.
surgery is not necessarily required to care for spinal trauma, disease and deformities. Minimally invasive procedures, sometimes accomplished through incisions as small as 1 centimeter, are now possible, guided by video and robotic instrumentation developed especially to work in the spine. Stanford’s neurosurgery spine physicians have been pioneers in such minimally invasive techniques. Research has also found alternatives to major surgery, Park said. “Many spine problems we can treat without surgical intervention – like degenerative disc disease. We can selectively choose an area and do a minimally invasive procedure or something non-invasive that will improve a patient’s condition. Putting in hardware is an end stage treatment.�
A few hours later, Ryan’s mother-inlaw called. Sara Ryan was in labor. Ryan asked if he could leave. Park said yes, and off Ryan went. His wife’s physicians, who knew what had happened to him, were so surprised to see him arrive that they all came over to exclaim over him. “She’s saying, ‘Excuse me, I’m giving birth here!’ But I stood up, shuffled over and cut the cord and little Charlotte came into the world.�
Norbert von der Groeben
“What he also saw was a lot of instability that wasn’t part of my neck fracture, from earlier injuries,� Ryan said. “It also helped that I have a very long neck so he could move things around to put in the titanium cage to stabilize everything.�
In Ryan’s case, it made sense. And it was so effective that he was up and about, although moving slowly, the day after the surgery when Park came to talk with him again. “He told me I’d been very, very hurt and that I was very, very lucky.�
Ryan, a physical therapist, is back at his job with no signs of the injury that nearly took his life or the surgery that saved it.
Stanford Hospital & Clinics is known worldwide for advanced treatment of complex disorders in areas such as cardiovascular care, cancer treatment, neurosciences, surgery, and organ transplants. Consistently ranked among the top institutions in the U.S. News & World Report annual list of “America’s Best Hospitals,â€? Stanford Hospital & Clinics is internationally recognized for translating medical breakthroughs into the care of patients. It is part of the Stanford University Medical Center, along with the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. For more information, visit stanfordmedicine.org. *>Â?ÂœĂŠ Â?ĂŒÂœĂŠ7iiÂŽÂ?ÞÊUĂŠ Ă•Â˜i棂]ÊÓ䣣ÊU Page 17
Cover Story
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George Marcus (continued from page 15)
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ing of data. He stressed the need for the regents to have “facts� available to them, rather than just opinions. His non-conformist streak isn’t restricted to the regents board. Marcus attributes the success of his real -estate ventures largely to his ability to change the informal (and, in his eyes, ineffective) culture that permeated the world of commercial real estate half a century ago. He championed a new approach based on extensive research, firm positions on prices and exclusive arrangements between his company’s brokers and property sellers. The flagship company, which Marcus founded in 1971, now has seven subsidiaries. Marcus is also founder and board chair of Essex Property Trust, a real-estate investment trust that became publicly traded in 1994. Essex focuses on apartment buildings in supply-constrained markets. Marcus’ interests and influences extend well beyond this real-estate empire. Anyone who has earned a UC degree over the past decade, enjoyed a spanakotiropita (a Greek phyllo pastry filled with greens and cheese) at his Evvia Estiatorio restaurant in downtown Palo Alto, or sat on a bench in the city’s Heritage Park (a bench that according to an engraving was made possible through a generous donation from SummerHill homes, a Marcus & Millichap subsidiary) has benefited from the boundless energy of George Marcus. If the flurry of activity takes its toll on Marcus, he doesn’t show it. Both socially and politically, he is the life of the party. His appearances in the media often read like celebrity sightings for Democratic congress members or presidential aspirants. His home in Los Altos Hills is occasionally mentioned in stories about the latest Democratic fundraising gala he and his wife, Judy, are hosting. In conversations, he is gregarious and energetic, switching fluidly between myriad topics. “He reads a lot, he knows a lot and has more facts and figures than you
can imagine, and he comes up with all sorts of crazy stuff to talk about,� said Keith Guericke, Marcus’ longtime friend and CEO of Essex Property Trust. “He’s a very interesting guy. He doesn’t turn into a dishrag after five in the afternoon.� William Millichap, whose friendship and business partnership with Marcus stretches back 40 years, agreed. “He has so many balls in the air at one time, I don’t know how he does it,� Millichap said in a recent interview.
T
o some UC watchdogs and critics, Marcus is one of several regents (along with Richard Blum, Russell Gould and Bonnie Reiss) who epitomize the board’s rich, corporate mentality. A recent eightpart series by Spot.Us detailed the clubby and highly political history of the regents board and highlighted the board’s recent shift toward investing the university’s endowment and retirement funds in private equities. The series focuses on regents Richard Blum and Paul Wachter, both financiers with strong political ties (Blum is married to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein while Wachter was business partner of former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger). It alleged, using various case studies, that these regents pursued investments in funds that benefited their own business interests. The criticism of the board as an elite millionaires club is far from new. The series cites a 1974 Los Angeles Times investigation titled, “UC Regents: An Elite Club that Runs a Vast University,� which characterized the group as wealthy, well-connected mandarins who “drive fine cars and own boats and airplanes� and whose background in education is limited, if not nonexistent. Accusations of the regents board as too “elitist� continue to hold during times of austerity. Students facing tuition increases and union workers facing layoffs and furloughs frequently hold signs accusing the regents board of being out of touch with the masses. Assemblyman Leland Yee played the class card earlier this year, when he joined a rally to
oppose the appointment of David Crane, a former financial adviser to Schwarzenegger, to the regent’s board. Robert Meister, a UC Santa Cruz professor and president of the Council of UC Faculty Associations, said in a statement that Crane is “just one more multi-millionaire who made his fortune in investment banking — just like current Regents Richard Blum, Russell Gould, Hadi Makarechian, Leslie Tang Schilling, George Marcus and Bonnie Reiss. “The UC Regents are supposed to represent the people of California, not just the multi-millionaire investment bankers of California.� But Marcus in some ways defies expectations. The eight-part Spot.Us series only mentions Marcus when describing his opposition to the board’s increasing shift to privateequity investments. In March 2010, he likened the board’s riskier ventures to “gambling in Las Vegas,� the series notes. His personal story reads much closer to the up-by-the-bootstraps tale of Bill Clinton than to that of a born-rich tycoon like Donald Trump. In fact, members of the National Hellenic Society (which Marcus co-founded in 2008) might be amused to learn that the man who owns two Greek restaurants (in addition to Evvia, Marcus also owns Kokkari Estiatorio in downtown San Francisco) and who helped fund the Modern Greek Studies program at San Francisco State spent his childhood doing what most young immigrants do — striving to shed his ethnic identity and assimilate into American culture. Born George Moutsanas in Euboe, Greece, during World War II, Marcus was 4 when his family moved to the United States in what he called a “typical economic immigration story.� His family settled in San Francisco’s blue-collar Potrero Hill neighborhood, where his top priority was fitting in. “I wanted to be more American than Americans so I integrated rapidly,� Marcus said. He developed a keen interest in business at a young age and enrolled in San Francisco State University,
Cover Story where he majored in economics and earned a bachelor’s degree in two and a half years. Though he is now a passionate advocate of higher education, his own college experience was marked by a desire to leave classes behind and enter the workforce. Marcus said first job out of college didn’t pan out as planned. He joined Bank of America where he worked with a group studying consumer behavior and potential locations for new bank branches. Marcus said his boss at the time was an alcoholic who forced all nine members of the group to leave the company within a year. He called his Bank of America experience an “unlucky draw.� In the late 1960s, Marcus settled his focus on real estate. After a brief stint working for a homebuilder, he joined Grubb & Ellis, where his job was selling investment properties. Marcus was immediately struck by the chummy, informal atmosphere in the real estate industry and decided that there was a better way to do business. “Real estate was almost a fraternity club,� Marcus said. “Your uncle or your father or someone in the community knew you and your family and you sat at some real estate office and they told you they want to sell this building or that building and you brought them some offers.� “There wasn’t an analysis or appraisal, really. There wasn’t exclusive representation, really. There wasn’t coordination of the sale by the company, really.� Marcus said he approached the company’s co-founder, Hal Ellis, with some ideas for changing the way the company conducts its business. His ideas received little traction and Marcus decided to quit and start his own company.
“We believed the company takes a position at the price,� Marcus said. “It was highly irregular, highly unusual, very, very different.� “It would’ve been so easy to follow into the norm of what everyone else was doing,� Millichap said. “George wouldn’t let us do it.� After the growing pains of the first year, the company began to gradually expand. In 1972, it had about five
perior to status quo. Both Millichap and Guericke said they joined forces with Marcus in the 1970s because of his energy and vision. Guericke, a certified public accountant who became the company’s comptroller in 1977 before ascending to CEO of Essex Property, said he still remembers his interview with Marcus. Though he had other offers from more established companies,
to go to more established San Francisco real-estate companies but I went with him instead.� Guericke said one principle that has always guided Essex is focusing on supply-constrained markets. In the late-1970s, the company strayed from its usual markets and invested in properties in Arizona and Texas, which promised higher returns on investments. These investments taught
Marcus says his top priority as a regent is preserving the quality of the UC system and retaining the best and the brightest researchers and students. employees. The following year, it hired a few more. The year after that, the company opened its San Francisco office. It also opened offices in Sacramento in 1974 and in Houston in 1976. In the mid- and late 1970s, Marcus’ companies strayed outside the usual markets in bustling West Coast communities and invested in properties in Arizona and Texas. Marcus knew how make a persuasive case for why his system is su-
he said he was inspired by Marcus’ drive. “I sat down and talked to my wife and said, ‘This guy seems like an absolute go-getter,’� Guericke said. “Even though it was a lesser known company, I thought we ought to hook up with him because I felt we could go somewhere. “That was my impression — he was smart, energetic, focused. That’s why I had a couple of opportunities
the companies an important lesson that they follow to this day: focus on places where competition is unlikely to materialize. “We learned that new supply can be absolute killer from the standpoint of successful investments,� Guericke said. While shaping the company’s vision, Marcus also faced a more practical challenge: retaining the company’s top talent. He responded by
starting subsidiaries and putting the company’s top brokers and executives in charge of these new entities. When the brokerage’s general counsel Roger Swanson proposed in the mid-1970s that the company launch a homebuilding business (which became SummerHill), he earned Marcus’ approval even though his experience with homes was limited at the time to painting homes on weekends as a UCLA college student. Similarly, as Millichap established himself as a top broker and Guericke proved his talent as a comptroller, Marcus knew the time had come to give them leadership positions. “I realized that if I blocked the growth of executives who are extremely talented, I could lose them,� Marcus said. Though Marcus & Millichap has a presence throughout the country (last week it announced closing a sale on a $16.1 million medical office building in Johnson City, Tenn.), its partners and subsidiaries tend to focus on supply-constrained markets on the West Coast. SummerHill Homes focuses on luxury homes in (continued on next page)
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hen George Marcus opened his brokerage business in 1971, business was tough. William Millichap, who joined the business in July of that year, said the type of system Marcus had envisioned did not yet exist. There were no clients to call and no success stories to study. The company didn’t close its first deal until December. The fledgling brokerage business tried to do something rare: enter into exclusive-listing agreements with sellers. The basic concept that Marcus championed was “representing the client and having something that’s more than a free-for-all marketing,� Millichap said. “The business then was being conducted largely on an open basis,� Millichap said. “If someone wanted to sell a building, they’d leak the word out to selected brokers. There were no commitments by anybody to do anything. “Properties weren’t marketed very efficiently. That’s what George saw. He saw that when you make a commitment to a seller, the ability to market a property was much greater.� Marcus set up a commission system that encouraged the company’s brokers to get exclusive listings. Though brokers were still allowed to work with open listings, the commission for these would be lower. The company also took firm positions on the price of buildings and discouraged clients from taking offers that fell below its estimate.
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arcus’ experiences in overseeing a broad, multi-branched organization, investing funds and retaining top talent could prove particularly useful now that the UC system is facing its deepest budget crisis yet. Last month, Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled a revised budget that projects the types of cuts California would have to make if voters don’t approve extensions of temporary taxes. This “all-cuts� scenario includes reducing state funding for the UC system by $1 billion (out of a total of about $3 billion). Before Brown announced this revised budget, the regents had been bracing for a $500 million cut. Yudof responded to Brown’s announcement with a statement, calling the all-cuts budget a “retreat by the state from its historic support of higher public education in California.� He also said the proposed cuts would likely force the UC system to raise the tuition by another 32 percent. “A cut of this magnitude would be unconscionable — to the university, its student and families, and to the state that it has served for nearly a century and a half,� Yudof said. Marcus called the latest budget proposal “horrific.� “We’re just praying that it doesn’t happen,� Marcus said. “We have to lay plans for it and do what it takes, both in cuts and in tuition increases.� Marcus says his top priority as a regent is preserving the quality of the UC system and retaining the best and the brightest researchers
Veronica Weber
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the Bay Area. Its recent projects include the Enclave at Waverley Park, a 53-home development in Mountain View (starting price: $1.7 million); the Redwood Gate community in Palo Alto, at a site previously owned by the Elks Lodge; and 32-home Lane Woods community in Menlo Park. In the early 2000s, SummerHill also built close to 100 homes in the South of Forest Area in downtown Palo Alto, former site of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. More recently, SummerHill sought Palo Alto’s permission for a 23home development on San Antonio Road but saw its proposal rejected by the City Council, which felt the site doesn’t have enough amenities to justify new housing. The Great Recession and its aftermath have created new risks for real estate investors, but business continues to be brisk for Marcus & Millichap and its subsidiaries. In a recent news release, the company boasts of completing 4,302 transactions in 2010, “the highest of any commercial real estate brokerage firm.� And while Essex Property Trust has seen its stock plummet from a high of roughly $140 a share in mid 2006 to about $55 in late 2008, it has climbed back and is currently hovering above the $130 mark. Guericke attributed the success of Essex to the company’s strategy of focusing on supply-constrained markets and its discipline in pursuing this strategy. Millichap also gave Marcus credit for sticking to his guns even when straying from the core business was tempting.
William Millichap has worked with George Marcus since 1971.
‘He has so many balls in the air at one time, I don’t know how he does it.’ — William Millichap and students. At a meeting in July 2010, when his committee discussed the topic of student admissions, he asked whether the UC system is still identifying and recruiting the best students in the nation. When told that top students now increasingly choose private universities over the UC system, Marcus called this trend “unacceptable.� “I’m the regent that, if there’s something you can brand me for (and all us have an issue or two or three), it’s maintaining quality,� Marcus said in an interview. “Maintaining quality to me is providing whatever resources, non-financial as well as financial, are necessary to retain and recruit the best faculty.� He hopes UC alumni will recognize the value of their education and help become part of the solution through the “Save UC� fund. The all-cuts proposal, which was unveiled about six months after Marcus called for a $1,000-a-person fund, only added to the sense of urgency. “It would be $1 billion,� Marcus said. “You’d get enough from the endowment funds to relax.� Marcus said his own history of giving — to San Francisco State, to the Democratic Party, and to charities such as the William Clinton Foundation (to which he contributed more than $250,000 dollars, according to a New York Times investigation) — was prompted by his simple proposition that “it’s really everyone before you that you owe your success to.� In a recent interview, he called himself the “luckiest recipient of what the United States is and what Bay Area is.� Marcus said his ties to the Democratic Party were heavily inspired by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and other party leaders in the first half of the 20th century — leaders who Marcus said made it possible for immigrants like his father to succeed in this country. While he regularly donates money to leading Democrats and Democratic causes, he said he neither expects nor requires the re-
cipients of his money to owe him any favors or to immediately return his calls. (Recipients of Marcus’ contributions apparently have similar expectations. The fact that Marcus was Palo Alto’s top donor to Jerry Brown’s latest gubernatorial campaign didn’t stop Brown from issuing the all-cuts budget that slashes UC funds by $1 billion.) “It isn’t a requirement of mine to be able to access them,� Marcus said. “All the hullabaloo about how you give money and you get your way — that’s baloney. “The politicians I support would never do that — they’re principled beyond belief.� Brown’s victory notwithstanding, Marcus was dismayed by the country’s direction after the 2010 election, which saw the Republicans wrest the majority of the U.S. House of Representatives from the Democrats. He criticized the Republican leadership for its “belligerent misrepresentation� of various issues, most notably President Barack Obama’s health care reforms. “If you lie often enough and loud enough, people will believe some of this garbage about ‘death panels’ and ridiculous things like that,� Marcus said. “How can you characterize something that’s attempting to insure people who aren’t insured as evil and bad? But that’s just part of this notion that government is bad and whatever it does is bad, too.� His views on the American government are shaped both by his status as an immigrant and his frequent trips to other parts of the world. A year ago, he went to Poland to learn about the country’s Jewish culture and the $140 million museum that is being built to honor the contributions of the Jewish population. Last month, he came back from a trip to West Africa that put America’s governmental woes in perspective. The boat trip started in Ghana and included visits to the Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Senegal before winding to Morocco, Spain and Canary Islands. Along the way, he learned about the region’s poverty, low literacy rates, history of tribal hatred and frequent military coups. He said the trip was “fascinating� and instructive. It taught him that by comparison with the political instability in Africa, “we have no problems here.� “I’m a believer that we have a unique system here and that experience will continue to show that it’s the best form of government,� Marcus said. N Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com.
Read the report To read the eight-part investigative Spot.Us series on the UC Regents’ investing strategies, go to http://spot.us, search under “The regent investor’s club� and click on the “published� tab. The Weekly helped fund the series.
About the cover: George Marcus portrait by Veronica Weber
Arts & Entertainment A weekly guide to music, theater, art, movies and more, edited by
jazz Four decades of
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Rebecca Wallace
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“I was looking for a way to enrich my own
has served as a platform for jazz
jazz education, and wanted to surround
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perform in a collaborative environment. The festival, and the Stanford Jazz
different techniques,� says Nadel, who plays the saxophone.
Workshop from which it evolved, were
“With the workshop, we’ve created a
STANFORD FESTIVAL CELEBRATES
both founded in 1972 by Jim Nadel, who
performance space as well as a forum for
COLLABORATION AND MENTORSHIP
serves as artistic and executive director.
the exchange of information and ideas.� (continued on page 24)
Veronica Weber
by Kareem Yasin
Stanford Jazz Festival founder Jim Nadel in Stanford’s Campbell Recital Hall.
Songs for the
Clarinet and saxophone player Anat Cohen is slated to perform at Stanford Jazz on July 2.
outdoors
Free al fresco concerts in Palo Alto include World Music Day, Twilight series by Rebecca Wallace
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orld Music Day is coming back to Palo Alto for the third year on June 19. This time, the dance floor’s a lot bigger. During the free outdoor music festival, musicians of many genres play on sidewalks, corners and plazas in the University Avenue area. Now the city has decided to make more room on the street, too. “For the last two years, numerous attendees have requested that the city close University Avenue for this event,� Palo Alto Mayor Sid Espinosa said in a press re-
lease. Sidewalks, it seems, will not be as packed as in years past. The event is from 3 to 7:30 p.m. on Father’s Day, with the main drag closed between Cowper and High streets from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. About 50 acts are set to play as part of an international tradition. The outdoor Fete de la Musique festival started in France in 1982 (continued on page 22)
Scott Amendola is performing at both Stanford Shopping Center’s free Summerfest and the Stanford Jazz Festival. *>Â?ÂœĂŠ Â?ĂŒÂœĂŠ7iiÂŽÂ?ÞÊUĂŠ Ă•Â˜i棂]ÊÓ䣣ÊU Page 21
Arts & Entertainment
Fizzy and funny Palo Alto Players take on Coward’s classic ‘Blithe Spirit’ by Karla Kane sultry ex-spouse swooping in to stir up trouble would be awkward for any relationship, but if said ex is returning from beyond the grave, things can get even more complicated. A meddlesome ghost wreaking domestic havoc on an affluent British couple is the focus of Noel Coward’s 1941 supernatural drawing-room comedy “Blithe Spirit,� currently being performed by Palo Alto Players. Ruth and Charles are a well-to-do, seemingly happily wed pair, married for five years. It’s the second marriage for both, and a portrait of Charles’ firecracker of a first wife, the late Elvira, still hangs over the mantle, though she died seven years prior. Pragmatic Ruth claims not to be jealous of Elvira’s apparently considerable charms. Naturally, the lady doth protest too much. Charles, a novelist, invites the village eccentric, Madame Arcati, over one evening to perform a seance so that he can get ideas for a character in his next book. Snobbish Ruth and Charles, along with their guests Dr. and Mrs. Bradman, find the whole thing terribly amusing, mocking and making snide remarks behind the medium’s back. Madame Arcati earnestly conducts the seance, complete with trance and contact “on the other side,� but seemingly nothing happens. It soon becomes evident, however, that the seance was indeed a success. The ritual summons the specter of Elvira (complete with sparkling skin and shimmering gown), whom only Charles (and the audience) can see and hear. Shenanigans and comedic misunderstandings quickly ensue. At first Ruth suspects Charles of trying to trick her, then of him having lost his marbles. But she soon becomes convinced of — and annoyed by — the ectoplasmic Elvira’s presence. Alluring and bubbly Elvira is on a mission, to win back her husband at any cost, and her presence grows increasingly sinister. And while she insists it was Charles who summoned her back, making him an “astral bigamist,� he swears he did not. And if he didn’t, who did? The plot thickens. “Blithe Spirit� is silly and fluffy, but sometimes that is exactly what
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Outdoor
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and spread to other countries; Palo Alto Human Relations Commissioner Claude Ezran started the local version in 2009. Here, World Music Day is now organized by the Palo Alto Recreation Foundation, and attracted some 10,000 attendees last year, according to the city. Sponsors include the Palo Alto Weekly. Musicians set to perform this year include: Singing Wood Marimba, playing music from Zimbabwe; BuffaloChip, with acoustic roots music; the tenor banjo/accordion singing duo Plink and Plunk; The Altos
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From left, Nicole Martin (Elvira), Debi Durst (Madame Arcati) and Michael Sally (Charles).
THEATER REVIEW one wants from a night at the theater. I’m an incurable Anglophile, and a sucker for a fun ghost story, as well as for Coward’s crisp, witty and elegant writing. The show takes a light-hearted approach to death and the afterlife, with the characters just unsympathetic enough for viewers to feel they deserve whatever cosmic mishaps they get themselves into. The Palo Alto Players cast members all do a good job in their roles. Freya Shipley’s Ruth is the right amount of shrill and snooty, so that the audience doesn’t feel too sorry for her. Nicole Martin’s Elvira is suitably saucy, although her attempt at a British accent is sketchy at best. Michael Sally’s leading man Charles is likeable, though the character takes a bitter turn toward the end. The standout is veteran comedienne Debi Durst’s Madame Arcati, who absolutely steals every scene she’s in. It’s a hammed up, scenery-chewing character, and Durst is so wonderful that the over-the-top tone is just right. While the rest of the characters are rather frivolous and catty, Madame Arcati, though cartoonish, is full of heart: blustering, preposterous and exuberant. I wanted to be her, or hang out with her for the day, or at the very least borrow her wardrobe (kudos to designer Mary Cravens for that).
Brass quintet; country singer Hannah Allison; opera singer Catherine Vincenti; Alex Nee, playing indie folk, reggae and punk; rock/pop musician Johnny Law; blues musician Mike Annuzzi; and Chinese pop musician Weimin Ding. For more, go to pamusicday.org. The City of Palo Alto’s other big free summer music event is its Twilight Concert Series. Shows are scheduled from July 2 through Aug. 20, at city parks and on California Avenue, starting at 6:30 p.m. on Saturdays. This year’s lineup is: the Travis Air Force Base Band of the Golden West, July 2, Rinconada Park; Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums playing jump blues, swing and jazz, July 9, Califor-
Patrick Klein’s cozy, English home circa 1940s set, is well done, and full of hokey yet clever haunted surprises. The lighting is excellent, indicating the frequent changes from evening to daylight to dark-and-stormy night. A pleasing soundtrack of jazzy tunes from the 1920s to the ‘40s keeps toes tapping in between scenes, including Coward’s own beautiful “London Pride,� a personal favorite. The play was apparently cut down from its original three acts to two in its modern incarnation, and I wonder if a bit may have been lost in the rearranging. The conclusion seemed a bit rushed, and I was somewhat confused (not to say too much, for fear of spoilers) as to the exact significance of the ditzy maid, Edith (hilariously performed with screwball aplomb by Breigh Zack) with regards to the psychic goings-on. All in all, “Blithe Spirit� is a fizzy, funny, high-spirited evening’s entertainment. N What: “Blithe Spirit,� a Noel Coward comedy presented by Palo Alto Players Where: Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto When: Through June 26, with shows at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sundays Cost: Tickets are $16.80-$32. Info: Go to paplayers.org or call 650-329-0891.
nia Avenue; ‘70s rock band Moonalice, July 16, Rinconada Park, 777 Embarcadero Road; Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble Pellejo Seco, July 30, Rinconada Park; Celtic folk rock band Tempest, Aug. 6, Mitchell Park, 600 E. Meadow Drive; Beatles cover band The Sun , Aug. 13, Mitchell Park; and various Bay Area teen bands, Aug. 20, Mitchell Park. Details are at cityofpaloalto.org. Also in Palo Alto is the free Summerfest at Stanford Shopping Center. The nonprofit SFJAZZ brings acts to Clock Tower Plaza near Neiman Marcus on Thursdays from 6 to 7:30 p.m., through Aug. 18. (continued on page 23)
Arts & Entertainment
Major art donation planned for Stanford University plans to build Anderson Gallery to house 121 works given by Atherton couple by Rebecca Wallace veritable arts district is burgeoning at Stanford University, with a new building slated to be built to house a major donation of 20th-century American art. Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson and Mary Patricia Anderson Pence have announced that they’re donating 121 works by 86 artists including Jackson Pollock, Richard Diebenkorn, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko. The university plans to open the Anderson Gallery in late 2014, near the Cantor Arts Center, the under-construction Bing Concert Hall and the planned McMurtry Building for Art and Art History on campus, said Lisa Lapin, assistant vice president for university communications. She described the art collection “as one of the most valuable and significant to be donated to any university.� Of the new gallery, she said: “The site plans are still being worked out. We need to retain an architect and do a design, so we don’t know the cost yet.� Harry and Mary Margaret, who live in Atherton and are known as “Hunk� and “Moo,� have been assembling their collection for almost 50 years, Lapin said. It contains work by a variety of modern and contemporary artists, representing such movements as abstract expressionism, California funk art and Bay Area figurative art. Works slated to be donated — indoor sculpture and paintings — include the 1947 painting “Lucifer� by Jackson Pollock; Wayne Thiebaud’s 1962 oil “Candy Counter�; the 1973 painting “Ocean Park #60� by Richard Diebenkorn; and the 1985 painting “Before, Again IV� by Joan Mitchell. “The Andersons’ contribution is historic and their desire to share this remarkable collection with the world reflects their philosophy that art can inspire all of us,� Stanford President John Hennessy said in a press release. In the same release, Harry and Mary Margaret were quoted as saying, “Throughout our adult lives, we have always been closely associated
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Harry W. Anderson and Mary Margaret Anderson flank their daughter Mary Patricia Anderson Pence. with colleges and universities, and in making this gift to Stanford we anticipate the students, the public and the entire art community will have the opportunity to fully engage the collection.� The Andersons described the donated pieces as the core of their collection. Some will come from the array that has been exhibited for years at the Quadrus office complex off Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park.
The couple have been collecting art since the mid-1960s, starting with such early modernists as Picasso and Matisse and then concentrating on post-World War II American art. They have lent their works to special exhibitions at the Cantor Arts Center, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and other museums. For more about the Anderson Collection, go to aacollection.com. N
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UCC 1985 Louis Road, Palo Alto • (650) 856-6662 • www.fccpa.org Sunday Worship and Sunday School at 10:00 a.m.
This Sunday: Terrible Parenting Tips Rev. David Howell preaching
An Open and Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ
(continued from page 22)
The series features the Stanford Jazz Workshop Faculty All-Stars on June 23. Other performers include the jazzfunk-soul quartet Times 4 on July 21 and the French Gypsy jazz ensemble Le Jazz Hot Quartet on Aug. 18. Go to sfjazz.org/sfjazz-summerfest. Palo Alto’s Town & Country Village shopping center at 855 El Camino Real has a free outdoor series as well. Weekly shows on Wednesdays from 6 to 8 p.m. start with the Jules Broussard Band — romantic ballads, jazz and Big Band — on July 6 and end with the rock tribute band Double Take on July 27. Go to tandcvillage.com. N
INSPIRATIONS
A resource for special events and ongoing religious services. To inquire about or make space reservations for Inspirations, please contact Blanca Yoc at 223-6596 or email byoc@paweekly.com
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Arts & Entertainment
Jazz
(continued from page 21)
Throughout the summer, the Stanford campus is host to a variety of jazz performances, while a jazz workshop with separate programs for young people and adults runs in parallel for three weeks starting in mid-July. Budding musicians have the opportunity to interact with and learn from leading players during the day, and attend public performances at night. The festival truly began to expand its reach in the 1980s following a performance by Dizzy Gillespie, famous for his work in modern jazz and bebop. The event was national news, causing the festival to double in size, with the Internet later broadening its scope even farther. “Suddenly, we had students coming from outside the United States, beginning with one musician from Sri Lanka,� Nadel recalls. In 1994, the festival produced a reunion between saxophonist Joe Henderson and pianist Horace Silver, two jazz luminaries and longtime collaborators who had not seen each other in 15 years. That moment in Dinkelspiel Auditorium, captured in a photograph on Nadel’s office wall, speaks volumes about the festival’s mission and legacy. “The workshop satisfies a need among musicians for exchange and collaboration,� Nadel says. “And it’s been nurtured by an expression of love for this music by many great musicians, who keep coming back.� This year, the festival will open with
a solo piano performance on June 24 by New Orleans-based composer Allen Toussaint. Other performers will demonstrate the origins and reach of jazz, including Brazil’s Milton Nascimento, whom Nadel describes as “the Paul McCartney of Brazilian jazz.� Tel Aviv-based clarinet and saxophone player Anat Cohen will perform in a quartet, while the Afro-Cuban variety of jazz will be represented by two groups, John Calloway and the Latin Collective, and the Yosvany Terry Quartet. “Cuba is important because a lot of the rhythms we celebrate today were nurtured there,� Nadel says. He explains that the sounds that gave birth to modern jazz originated in Africa, following the trade routes to make their way through Cuba to New Orleans. Since then, Afro-Cuban jazz has evolved a little differently and begun employing more clave-based rhythms. “Jazz is a music that celebrates individual self-expression,� Nadel says. “There is not just one way to approach or learn how to play jazz. Some play it intellectually, while others play much more from the heart.� Last year at the festival, one returning student gave what Nadel describes as one of the event’s finest-ever performances. “Joshua Redman, one of the great young saxophonists of our time, performed in a wonderful trio with Eric Harland and Reuben Rogers,� recalls Nadel. “Josh was here as a student in the ‘80s, and I’ve heard him play so many times before. But that evening
was the best I’ve ever heard him. “He’d spent time interacting with the students, and for whatever reason, it was a great night for him.� As Redman demonstrates, the idea of mentorship — and the potential for alumni to return as established artists — is central to the festival. Along with the jazz camp and residency programs, six promising college-age musicians are selected every two years from around the country to serve as mentors, simultaneously gaining an opportunity for intense interaction with professionals as well as learning how to teach. At the end of their paid two-year residency, the mentors perform at their own show. “These are some of the most brilliant young players in the world,� Nadel says. “You’ll be hearing a lot from them one day.� N What: The 40th annual Stanford Jazz Festival and Workshop, with concerts and camp Where: Public performances are in Dinkelspiel Auditorium and Campbell Recital Hall, Stanford University. When: The main festival schedule runs June 24 through Aug. 6. Free special events include a concert with the the S.F. Bourbon Kings and others from 2 to 6 p.m. June 18 at Whole Foods Market, 774 Emerson St., Palo Alto. Cost: Most concert tickets range from $24 to $65 for general admission and $14 to $35 for students. Info: Go to stanfordjazz.org or call 650725-ARTS.
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Movies OPENINGS Beginners ---
(continued on next page)
An American in Paris (1951)
Stanford Theatre: Sat.-Mon. at 7:30 p.m. Sat. & Sun. also at 3:05 p.m.
The Art of Getting By (PG-13) (Not Reviewed)
Century 16: 12:40, 2:50, 5, 7:40 & 10:10 p.m. Fri.Sun. also at 10:20 a.m. Century 20: 11:10 a.m.; 1:25, 3:35, 5:45, 7:55 & 10:10 p.m.
Beginners (R) ((( Bridesmaids (R) (((1/2
Cars 2 (G) (Not Reviewed)
Century 16: Thu. at midnight. In 3D also at midnight. Century 20: Thu. at midnight. In 3D also at midnight.
Daddy Long Legs (1955)
Stanford Theatre: Sat.-Mon. at 5:10 & 9:35 p.m.
DCT 2011 Tour Premiere (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed)
Century 16: Mon. at 6:30 p.m. Century 20: Mon. at 6:30 p.m.
Dudamel: Let the Children Play Century 16: Thu. at 7 p.m. (PG) (Not Reviewed) 7 p.m. Green Lantern (PG-13) ((1/2
Don Pasquale (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed)
at 6:30 p.m. Palo Alto Square: Wed. at 6:30 p.m.
Midnight in Paris (PG-13) (((1/2
Century 20: 11:45 a.m.; 2:20, 4:45, 7:05 & 9:30 p.m. Guild Theatre: 2, 4:30, 7:15 & 9:55 p.m.
Mr. Popper’s Penguins (PG) (Not Reviewed)
Century 16: 11 a.m.; 12:30, 1:30, 3:20, 4:20, 6:10, 7, 8:50 & 9:50 p.m. Fri.-Sun. also at 10 a.m. Century 20: 10:50 a.m.; 12:05, 1:20, 2:35, 3:50, 5:05, 6:20, 7:35, 8:55 & 10:05 p.m.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (PG-13) ((1/2
Century 16: Noon & 3:25 p.m. Fri.-Tue. & Thu. also at 7:05 & 10:15 p.m. Century 20: 12:50 p.m. Fri.Tue. & Thu. also at 4:10, 7:15 & 10:20 p.m.
Road to Rio (1947)
Stanford Theatre: Fri. at 7:30 p.m.
Road to Utopia (1946)
Stanford Theatre: Fri. at 5:50 & 9:20 p.m.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (R) (Not Reviewed)
Guild Theatre: Sat. at midnight.
Aquarius Theatre: 1:45, 4:15, 7:10 & 9:30 p.m. Century 16: Fri.-Sun. at 10:10 a.m.; 1:10, 4:05, 7:35 & 10:25 p.m. Mon.-Thu. at 12:35, 4:05, 7:35 & 10:25 p.m. Century 20: Fri.-Sat., Tue. & Wed. at 11 a.m.; 12:25, 1:55, 3:25, 4:55, 6:30, 7:50, 9:25 & 10:45 p.m. Sun. at 11 a.m.; 1:55, 4:55, 6:30, 7:50, 9:25 & 10:45 p.m. Mon. & Thu. at 11 a.m.; 12:25, 1:55, 3:15, 4:55, 7:50 & 10:45 p.m.
Song of the Open Road (1944) Stanford Theatre: Wed.-Thu. at 5:45 & 9:05 p.m. Stephen Sondheim’s Company Century 16: Sun. at noon. Century 20: Sun. at (PG-13) (Not Reviewed) noon. Palo Alto Square: Sun. at 12:30 p.m. Super 8 (PG-13) ((1/2
Century 16: Fri.-Sun. at 10, 10:50 & 11:30 a.m.; 12:50, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30, 4:30, 5:30, 6:30, 7:30, 8:40, 9:30 & 10:30 p.m. Mon.-Thu. at 11 & 11:35 a.m.; 12:30, 1:40, 2:30, 3:30, 4:30, 5:30, 6:30, 7:30, 8:40, 9:30 & 10:30 p.m. Thu. also at 11:20 p.m. Century 20: 10:25 & 11:20 a.m.; 12:15, 1:05, 2:10, 3:05, 4, 5, 5:55, 7:45, 8:40 & 10:30 p.m. Fri.-Mon. & Wed.-Thu. also at 6:55 & 9:45 p.m.
Century 20: Thu. at
Century 16: Fri.-Sun. at 10:30 a.m.; 1:30, 2, 4:30, 7:30, 8 & 10:30 p.m. In 3D at 10 & 11 a.m.; 1, 4, 5, 7 & 9:55 p.m. Fri. & Sat. in 3D also at 10:50 p.m. Mon.Thu. at 2, 4:30, 7:30, 8 & 10:30 p.m. Mon. & Tue. also at 1. Wed. & Thu. also at noon. Century 20: 10:30 a.m.; 12:35, 1:10, 3:15, 3:55, 6, 6:40, 8:50 & 9:30 p.m. In 3D at 11 a.m. and 12, 1:45, 2:40, 4:30, 5:20, 7:20, 8, 10:10 & 10:45 p.m.
Thor (PG-13) (((
Century 16: In 3D Fri.-Wed. at 10:05 p.m. Thu. at 10:10 p.m.
Three Smart Girls (1936)
Stanford Theatre: Wed.-Thu. at 7:30 p.m.
The Hangover Part II (R) ((
Century 16: Fri.-Wed. at 11:10 a.m.; 2:05, 4:40 & 7:30 p.m. Thu. at 11:10 a.m.; 1:50 & 4:20 p.m. Century 20: 12:10, 2:45, 5:25, 8 & 10:40 p.m.
The Tree of Life (PG-13) (((( Palo Alto Square: 1:15, 2:45, 4:15 & 7:15 p.m. Fri.Tue. & Thu. also at 5:45 p.m. Fri.-Sun. also at 8:45 p.m. Fri.-Sat. also at 10:15 p.m.
Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer (PG) (
Century 16: 11:20 a.m.; 1:40 & 4:10 p.m. Fri.-Sun. & ed.-Thu. also at 6:40 & 9 p.m. Century 20: Fri.W Mon. & Wed.-Thu. at 11:30 a.m.; 2, 4:40, 7 & 9:20 p.m. Tue. at 11:30 a.m.; 2 & 4:15 p.m.
The Trip (Not Rated)
Kung Fu Panda 2 (PG) ((1/2
Century 16: 2:35 & 7:15 p.m. Fri.-Sun. also at 10 a.m. In 3D at 12:15, 4:55 & 9:55 p.m. Century 20: 10:35 a.m.; 12:55, 3:20, 5:40, 8:05 & 10:25 p.m. In 3D at 11:25 a.m.; 1:50, 4:15, 6:35 & 9 p.m.
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition (PG-13) (Not Reviewed)
Century 16: Tue. at 7 p.m. Century 20: Tue. at 7 p.m.
The Metropolitan Opera:
Century 16: Wed. at 6:30 p.m. Century 20: Wed.
& " ! $ " ! " % ! #"
Aquarius Theatre: 2:15, 4:45, 7:30 & 9:55 p.m.
(((
X-Men: First Class (PG-13) (((1/2
Century 16: Fri.-Sun. at 10:40 a.m.; 1, 1:50, 4, 4:50, 7:10, 7:50, 10:20 & 10:50 p.m. Fri.-Sat. also at 10 a.m. & 10:50 p.m. Mon.-Thu. at noon, 1, 4, 4:50, 7:10, 7:50 & 10:20 p.m. Thu. also at 10:55 p.m. Century 20: 10:25 & 11:55 a.m.; 1:25, 2:55, 4:25, 6, 7:30, 9:10 & 10:40 p.m.
Internet address: For show times, plot synopses, trailers, theater addresses and more information about films playing, go to PaloAltoOnline.com.
FUNNY, TOUCHING AND ALTOGETHER EXTRAORDINARY!� “
PETER TRAVERS, ROLLING STONE
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(Aquarius) The word “tweeâ€? aptly describes the tone of writer-director Mike Mills’ “Beginners,â€? but it’s only half the story. A domestic dramedy that also puts an unexpected spin on the romantic comedy, this genre-bender gives Christopher Plummer a plum role that could well bring him Oscar attention. As its title implies, “Beginnersâ€? is a tale of two late bloomers: neurotic illustrator Oliver (Ewan McGregor) and his father, Hal (Plummer), a retired art restorer who, at 75, announced that he was gay. The past tense applies because the film’s opening scene finds Oliver in mourning for Hal, who died of cancer four years after his coming out. Scenes about Hal’s venturesome new life, his illness and Oliver’s attempts to cope with both unfold in flashback, as do scenes of Oliver’s childhood during the 44-year marriage of Hal and his curiously accepting wife, Georgia (Mary Page Keller). Meanwhile, in the present, a grieving Oliver fearfully, tentatively embarks on a relationship with French-born actress Anna (MĂŠlanie Laurent). “It’s embarrassing,â€? he grumbles. “I’m 38 and falling for a girl again. It’s like I lost the instructions or never had them.â€? The picture insistently juxtaposes Oliver’s toe-dipping with Hal’s cannonball, which continues to send ripples through Oliver’s life. “I don’t want to just be theoretically gay,â€? Hal says. “I want to do something about it.â€? Plummer hits all the right notes in the highs of liberation and discovery, and the death-sentence low that Hal cannot entirely deny but refuses to wallow in. McGregor’s finely tuned sensitivity and understatement provide the underpinning to both the comedy and drama: He’s a stalwart listener and a master reactor. Adding a frisson of credibility to the story is that Mills essentially lived it. Himself an illustrator turned filmmaker, Mills went through the same life-and-death issues with his father. As in Mills’ undervalued debut “Thumbsucker,â€? “Beginnersâ€? exploits Mills’ illustrative instincts and quirky sensibility. Here’s where the “tweeâ€? comes in: DIY-style scene transitions and deadpan montages contrasting Hal’s cultural context of the 1950s with Oliver’s nextgenerational experience; the young lovers’ “meet cute,â€? made absurd by Halloween costumes and Anna’s laryngitis; scenes of extra-rink roller-skating and artsy-fartsy “taggingâ€?; and Oliver’s Jack Russell terrier Arthur, inherited from Dad. The Snoopy to Oliver’s defeatist Charlie Brown, Arthur speaks to his master in subtitled telepathy. There’s genuine poignancy in Oliver’s struggles to accept life on its own terms, and his father’s willfully
MOVIE TIMES
EWAN McGREGOR CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER MÉLANIE LAURENT WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY MIKE MILLS
BEGINNING FRIDAY, JUNE 17
Landmark Theatres !% " %# $ $" 430 Emerson St 650/266-9260 $ $" " $ "( " " # % " $ # &$ #
# $ ## # " # % $ % # $
%# "# 57 #/5;903-8 $-<9 "# ;09/ =5:7 ) 95 '
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Movies (continued from previous page)
relaxed last-chance gusto (though Anna is given her own daddy issues, sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perhaps necessarily underdeveloped). Millsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; confidently â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;
free narrative style has an appealing gentleness, and since he effectively cuts the whimsy with melancholy, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Beginnersâ&#x20AC;? gets a clean bill of health: Its case of the cutes isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
YOU MAY LAUGH SO HARD THAT LIQUID WILL COME OUT OF YOUR NOSE . I SPEAK FROM EXPERIENCE .â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122;
- Richard Corliss, TIME MAGAZINE
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;THE
ONLY THING THATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MADE ME LAUGH AT THE MOVIES THIS YEAR.
COOGAN AND BRYDON ARE MIMICS OF EXTREME VIRTUOSITY.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122;
- Anthony Lane, THE NEW YORKER
Eat, drink and try not to kill each other.
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STARTS FRIDAY, JUNE 17TH LANDMARK THEATRES
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430 EMERSON STREET (650) 266-92600 PALO ALTO
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LANDMARK THEATRES CLAY 2261 FILLMORE STREET (415) 267-4893 SAN FRANCISCO
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terminal. Rated R for language and some sexual content. One hour, 45 minutes. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Peter Canavese
The Trip ---
(Aquarius) Anglophiles, rejoice: The broody foodie comedy â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Tripâ&#x20AC;? reunites the delectable pair of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, reallife actor-comic friends who play versions of themselves to highly amusing and oddly wistful effect. Director Michael Winterbottom has trimmed down his 2010 BBCproduced Britcom to feature length, which admittedly makes the film version of â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Tripâ&#x20AC;? a compromise from the start. Most wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t notice the missing hour. Though the film is unapologetically insular and can be awkwardly episodic (since it was, in fact, six episodes), its specificity and shagginess contribute to its offkilter appeal. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Tripâ&#x20AC;? operates on a simple premise. Contracted by The Observer to review upscale eateries in Eng-
landâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Lake District and Yorkshire Dales, Steve (Coogan) despairs when his girlfriend begs off. But he rings up Rob (Brydon), parsimoniously proposing a 60-40 split of the jobâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pay in compensation for Robâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time, observations and company. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the first salvo in a series of tonguein-cheek (or are they confessional?) attacks on Cooganâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ego, which would be all-consuming were it not for his self-doubting neuroses. Brydon likewise submits himself to amusing self-satire; he paints himself as a pathologically needy entertainer who canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t or wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t turn off his performance instincts even long enough to get through a meal. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s good news for the audience, as it gives Brydon license to let loose with his many celebrity impressions. The filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most brazenly entertaining scene is a â&#x20AC;&#x153;Michael Caine-off,â&#x20AC;? with Brydon and Coogan hilariously arguing over the precise intonations for a pitch-perfect impression of the star (stick around for dueling James Bonds). The show mostly relies upon the tit-for-tat, friendly but wary oneupmanship between Steve and Rob,
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and the actors donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t disappoint. As comics, they have an understanding that everythingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fair game, and a mutual willingness and talent for riffing, whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a consideration of the oddities of martial wake-up calls (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Gentlemen, to bed, for we ride at dawn! Or nine-thirty-ishâ&#x20AC;?) or a deconstruction of ABBAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Winner Takes It All.â&#x20AC;? Winterbottom makes time for glimpses into Steveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s private dark places, as his relationship unravels and his career continues to stagnate. And between the many hoity-toity meals to be simultaneously enjoyed and mocked, Steve and Rob make ticklishly reflective tourist stops to the old stomping grounds of Coleridge (Greta Hall) and Wordsworth (Dove Cottage). But the best moments simply let Steve and Rob go at each other, playfully or scabrously (usually both). Steveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best defense is a good offense, proven in a brilliantly funny-sad cemetery visit that finds him prematurely â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and a bit eagerly â&#x20AC;&#x201D; eulogizing his friend with a practiced passive aggression. As Woody Allenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s output long ago proved, anhedonia is fertile ground for comedy, and â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Tripâ&#x20AC;? covers as much of that ground as possible in its six-day journey of celebrity insecurity. Not rated. One hour, 47 minutes.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;
THE CINEMATIC ACHIEVEMENT OF THE YEAR.â&#x20AC;? MICK LASALLE
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;&#x2122;THE TREE OF LIFEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Peter Canavese
To read Tyler Hanleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s review of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Green Lanternâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; he gave the comic-book movie 2.5 stars â&#x20AC;&#x201D; go to PaloAltoOnline. com/movies.
EVOKES THE WONDERMENT OF LIFEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S EXPERIENCE.â&#x20AC;? ROGER EBERT
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
Fri & Sat 6/17-6/18 Sun ONLY 6/19
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The Tree of Life 2:45, 5:45
Weds ONLY 6/22
The Tree of Life 1:15, 4:15, 7:15 The Tree of Life 2:45
Thurs 6/23
The Tree of Life 1:15, 4:15, 7:15 The Tree of Life 2:45, 5:45
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PIZZA Pizza Chicago 424-9400 4115 El Camino Real, Palo Alto This IS the best pizza in town
of the week
Spot A Pizza 324-3131 115 Hamilton Ave, Palo Alto Voted Best Pizza in Palo Alto www.spotpizza.com
POLYNESIAN AMERICAN
CHINESE
Armadillo Willyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 941-2922
Su Hong â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Menlo Park Dining Phone: 323â&#x20AC;&#x201C;6852 To Go: 322â&#x20AC;&#x201C;4631 Winner, Menlo Almanac â&#x20AC;&#x153;Best Ofâ&#x20AC;? 8 years in a row!
Trader Vicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 849-9800 4269 El Camino Real, Palo Alto Dinner Mon-Thurs 5-10pm; Fri-Sat 5-11pm; Sun 4:30 - 9:30pm Available for private luncheons Lounge open nightly Happy Hour Mon-Fri 4-6 pm
INDIAN
SEAFOOD
Darbar Indian Cuisine 321-6688 129 Lytton, Downtown Palo Alto Lunch Buffet M-F; Open 7 days
Cookâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Seafood 325-0604 751 El Camino Real, Menlo Park Seafood Dinners from $6.95 to $10.95
1031 N. San Antonio Rd., Los Altos Range: $5.00-13.00
Hobeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 856-6124 4224 El Camino Real, Palo Alto Also at Town & Country Village, Palo Alto 327-4111
Burmese Green Elephant Gourmet (650) 494-7391 Burmese & Chinese Cuisine 3950 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto (Charleston Shopping Center)
Janta Indian Restaurant 462-5903 369 Lytton Ave., Downtown Palo Alto Lunch Buffet M-F; Organic Veggies
ITALIAN
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CHINESE
Spalti Ristorante 327-9390 417 California Ave, Palo Alto Ă?ÂľĂ&#x2022;Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x192;Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x152;iĂ&#x160; Â&#x153;Â&#x153;`Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;"Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x152;`Â&#x153;Â&#x153;Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x160; Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;} www.spalti.com
Chef Chuâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (650) 948-2696 1067 N. San Antonio Road on the corner of El Camino, Los Altos 2010 Best Chinese MV Voice & PA Weekly
Jing Jing 328-6885 443 Emerson St., Palo Alto
JAPANESE & SUSHI Fuki Sushi 494-9383 4119 El Camino Real, Palo Alto Open 7 days a Week
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Mingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 856-7700 1700 Embarcadero East, Palo Alto www.mings.com
New Tung Kee Noodle House 520 Showers Dr., MV in San Antonio Ctr. Voted MV Voice Best â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;01, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;02, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;03 & â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;04 Prices start at $4.75 947-8888
THAI Thaiphoon Restaurant 323-7700 543 Emerson St., Palo Alto Full Bar, Outdoor Seating www.thaiphoonrestaurant.com Best Thai Restaurant in Palo Alto 5 Years in a Row, 2006-2010
408 California Ave. Palo Alto 328-8840
MEXICAN
Authentic Szechwan, Hunan Food To Go, Delivery
Scottâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Seafood 323-1555 #1 Town & Country Village, Palo Alto Open 7 days a week serving breakfast, lunch and dinner Happy Hour 7 days a week 4-7 pm Full Bar, Banquets, Outdoor Seating www.scottsseafoodpa.com
Lunch Monday-Friday 11 AM - 2 PM Dinner Monday-Sunday 5 PM - 9 PM
Palo Alto Sol 328-8840 408 California Ave, Palo Alto Ă&#x2022;}iĂ&#x160;Â&#x201C;iÂ&#x2DC;Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160; Â&#x153;Â&#x201C;iĂ&#x192;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x17E;Â?iĂ&#x160;,iVÂ&#x2C6;ÂŤiĂ&#x192; Oaxacan Kitchen Mobile 321-8003 2010 Best Mexican We have hit the Road! Follow Us twitter.com/oaxacankitchen Become a Fan facebook.com/oaxacankitchenmobile Find Us www.OaxacanKitchenMobile.com
Siam Orchid 325-1994 496 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto Organic Thai Free Delivery to Palo Alto/Stanford/Menlo Park Order online at www.siamorchidpa.com
STEAKHOUSE Sundance the Steakhouse 321-6798 1921 El Camino Real, Palo Alto Lunch: Mon-Fri 11:30 am-2:00pm Dinner: Mon-Thu 5:00-10:00pm Fri-Sat 5:00-10:30pm, Sun 5:00-9:00pm www.sundancethesteakhouse.com
Search a complete listing of local restaurant reviews by location or type of food on PaloAltoOnline.com
*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160; Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160; Ă&#x2022;Â&#x2DC;iĂ&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x2021;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;䣣Ă&#x160;U Page 27
THREE-PEAT! BEST EYEWEAR! TO W
BUILDING THE BEST
E E
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AL
5LFNV,FH&UHDP FRP
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PA L
KL
BEST OF 2009
2010
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)32 BEST OF
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7KDQNV 3DOR $OWR 1805 El Camino Real, Palo Alto (Between Park & Leland) s WWW LUXPALOALTO COM
We think youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re the best too!
650 493-6553 _ 0LGGOHÂżHOG 5RDG 3DOR $OWR
PALO ALTO Scan to watch video
369 CALIFORNIA AVE
Go to PaloAltoOnline.com and Vote! â&#x20AC;&#x153;A burger, a bull, beer & a ball game â&#x20AC;&#x201D; yeah, baby!â&#x20AC;? Fresh, hand tossed, artisan pizza- too! See you atâ&#x20AC;Ś
The 2010
BEST Bar & BEST Sports Bar
541 Ramona Ave., Palo Alto s WWW OLDPROPA COM
Cardoza-Bungey Travel 10 Time Winner Best Travel Agency Thank you! 2010
Call us for your Next Vacation. Find out why weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Best.
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650-325-5600
www.cardoza.com
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CTS#1007564-10
THANK YOU ART
GALLERY
COFFEEHOUSE
for voting for us in the past and please Vote for us again!
s "EST #OFFEE (OUSE s "EST /UTDOOR $INING s "EST 3OLO $INING
Sun-Mon 7am - 5pm Tues-Sat 7am - 11pm
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1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park 650.327.0830 www.CafeBorrone.com
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BLACK EYED PEAS (FOOD & DRINK) Best Bagels Best Bakery/Desserts Best Breakfast Best Burger Best Burrito Best Cocktail/Martini Best Deli/Sandwiches Best Grocery Store Best Happy Hour Best Ice Cream/Gelato Best Milkshake Best New Food/Drink Establishment Best Pizza Best Produce Best Salad Best Seafood Best Takeout Best Yogurt (SERVICES) Best Auto Care Best Chiropractors Best Day Spa Best Dentist Best Dry Cleaner Best Fitness Classes Best Frame Shop Best Gym Best Hair Salon Best Hotel Best Manicure/Pedicure Best Massage Best Menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Haircut Best Orthodontist
Best Plumber Best Shoe Repair Best Skin Care Best Travel Agency Best Value Hotel/Motel Best Veterinarian Best Yoga
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS (RESTAURANTS) Best Ambiance Best Bar/Lounge Best California Cuisine Best Chinese Restaurant Best Coffee House Best Dining With Kids Best French Restaurant Best Fusion Restaurant Best Indian Restaurant Best Italian Restaurant Best Latin American Cuisine Best Meal Under $20 Best Mediterranean Restaurant Best Mexican Restaurant Best New Restaurant Best Outdoor Dining Best Restaurant to Splurge Best Romantic Restaurant Best Solo Dining Best Sports Bar Best Steak Best Sunday Brunch Best Sushi/Japanese Restaurant Best Thai Restaurant Best Vegetarian/Vegan Cuisine Best Wine Bar
BEST HOTEL! BEST SUNDAY BRUNCH! Best Salon Best Menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Salon
2007 2008 2009 2010
Let us match you with the perfect stylist!
Stanford Shopping Center 650.324.2007
4290 El Camino Real, Palo Alto 650-628-0145 www.cabanapaloalto.com
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La Bodeguita Customers are the Best.
463 S. CALIFORNIA AVENUE, PALO ALTO 650-326-7762 | WWW.LABODEGUITA.COM
If itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s creative, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s HERE!
In this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Best Of we serenade the businesses that make Palo Alto groovy -- the rockinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; restaurants, retailers and services in or around town.
CUSTOM FRAMING GIFTS ART SUPPLIES JOURNALS KIDSTUFF PHOTO FRAMES & MUCH MUCH MORE!
2011
Tune in and vote by July 3 HALL OF FAME: Businesses who win their categories ďŹ ve years in a row are inducted into the Hall of Fame for three years. This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hall of Fame Super Stars are:
FIRST YEAR Mediterranean Restaurant - Evvia Milkshake - PA Creamery Fountain & Grill Steak - Sundance the Steakhouse Thai Food â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Thaiphoon
SECOND YEAR Bagels - Izzyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dining with Kids - PA Creamery Fountain & Grill Dry Cleaners - Charleston Cleaners Flowers - Michaelaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
2267 Hamilton Ave. 650-328-3500 UniverstiyArt.com
Ice Cream - Rickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ice Cream Massage - Watercourse Way Mexican - Palo Alto Sol Pizza - Applewood Pizza Restaurant to Splurge - Evvia Romantic Restaurant - St. Michaelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Alley Solo Dining - Cafe Borrone Sporting Goods/Apparel - REI Veterinarian - Adobe Animal Hospital
THIRD YEAR Home Furnishings - IKEA Manicure/Pedicure - La Belle
BEST NEW BUSINESS! BEST PET STORE! Thanks for your votes! Town & Country Village Next to the UPS Store
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(650)353-3750 s www.touleh.com
RETURNING TO THE BALLOT Indian - Darbar Produce - Whole Foods Market Sushi/Japanese - Fuki Sushi Vietnamese â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Tamarine
best steakhouse hall of fame!
JOHNNY CASH (RETAIL SHOPPING) Best Beauty Supply Best Bike Shop Best Bookstore Best Boutique Best Eyewear Best Florist Best Furniture Store Best Gift Shop Best Green Business Best Hardware Store Best Home Furnishings and Decor Best Jewelry Store Best Menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Apparel Best New Retail Business Best Nursery/Garden Supply Best Pet Store
Best Pharmacy Best Shoe Store Best Sporting Goods and Apparel Best Stationery Store Best Toy Store Best Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Apparel
NIRVANA (FUN STUFF) Best Art Gallery Best Live Music Venue Best Live Entertainment Best Palo Alto Park Best Place for a Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Party Best Place for a Kids Playdate Best Place to Enjoy the Outdoors Best WiFi Hot Spot
2010
1921 El Camino Real Palo Alto 650.321.6798
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Two ways to vote! Vote online at www.PaloAltoOnline.com/ best_of â&#x20AC;&#x201D; OR â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Scan the QR Code and vote with your mobile phone! *>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160; Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160; Ă&#x2022;Â&#x2DC;iĂ&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x2021;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;䣣Ă&#x160;U Page 29
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STANFORD SPORTS 2010-11
A banner year with two NCAA titles Menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gymnastics and womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s water polo keeps Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impressive win streak intact by Rick Eymer
The Stanford womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s water polo team provided the school with its 101st NCAA team championship following a win over Cal.
or the past 35 school years, at least one Stanford University athletic team has won an NCAA title. On Friday, the Cardinal will add its 17th consecutive Directorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cup to its trophy case. In both cases, Stanford has set a precedent that will be difficult to duplicate. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve all been special, of course, and the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gymnasticsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
F
national championship just made it all the more spectacular this school year while attaining the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 100th NCAA title. The Cardinal womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s water polo championship team (No. 101 for those counting) put the finishing touches on this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highly successful season. Points yet uncounted (continued on next page)
SWIMMING
It will be a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Trialsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; run for Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tosky by Keith Peters his weekend is all about next year for Palo Alto High senior swim standout Jasmine Tosky. What Tosky does at the annual Santa Clara International Grand Prix could go a long way in determining how she does at next summerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s U.S. Olympic Trials. For Tosky, nothing is more important than the Olympic Trials, the final step before the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Tosky will get a feel of what the
T
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Olympic Trials is all about in Santa Clara as she competes in the same pool with more than 15 U.S. Olympics â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including Olympic gold medalists Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin, Ryan Lochte, Rebecca Soni and Brendan Hansen. The high-powered meet, which runs Thursday through Sunday at the George F. Haines International Swim Center, is the final stop of the seven-meet 2010-2011 USA Swim(continued on page 32)
Veronica Weber
COACHING CORNER . . . Palo Alto Knights Youth Football is seeking experienced head and assistant football coaches for the 2011 season. Contact: Mike Piha 269-6100 or mike@ in2change.com.
The Stanford menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gymnastics team provided an historic performance when it captured the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 100th NCAA team championship this past season to assure that Stanford would have at least one national crown for the 35th straight year. The title also helped the school wrap up a 17th straight Directorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cup title.
Aaron Juarez
ON THE COURT . . . Men and women at least 18 years of age who want the chance to earn free tickets to one of the premier professional womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tennis tournaments on the West Coast, can become a volunteer at the Bank of the West Classic, July 23-31 at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium at Stanford University. Volunteer positions are currently available in several areas including transportation, ushers, guest services, hospitality, and tournament administration. For more information please go to www.bankofthewestclassic.com and click on â&#x20AC;&#x153;Volunteersâ&#x20AC;? to apply online.
Jeff Mills
STATE RANKINGS . . . Palo Alto High has been playing baseball since 1897, a period of 114 years. During that time the Vikings have won five section titles and one unofficial state title. Now, they have something else to add to that history. For the first time in program history, Palo Alto has been ranked No. 1 in the state. That honor arrived late last week when Cal-Hi Sports made the Vikings its No. 1 team in Division II. Palo Alto finished off a 28-9 season, the second-most victories in school history, with a Central Coast Section Division I title following a 5-4 victory over San Benito last month. Paly also bounced perennial favorite Mitty in the semifinals. Palo Alto did need some help to get the No. 1 ranking. Former No. 1 Alameda and No. 2 Clayton Valley both lost to unranked Campolindo in the North Coast Section playoffs and Helix beat No. 3 La Costa Canyon in the San Diego Section. That opened the door for the Vikings. Paly was the state team of the year in baseball in 1899, 1904 and 1908. This seasonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CCS title was the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first. The Vikings previously won four NCS crowns, the last one coming in 1927. The No. 1 ranking in Division I also moved the Vikings to No. 14 in the final state top 25 rankings. Buchanan of Clovis (30-2) was the No. 1 overall team and No. 1 in Division I. Paly was the No. 2-ranked Northern California team, trailing only No. 10 James Logan of Union City (24-4), and only one of four Bay Area teams in the final top 25. The Vikings finished ahead of No. 15 Mitty (26-6) and No. 17 St. Francis (25-6). In the Division IV final rankings, five-time CCS champ Menlo School (26-5) earned the No. 2 spot behind No. 1 Escalon (28-3). Several of the Escalon players were on the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s football team that won the Division III state bowl title in December.
Palo Alto High senior Jasmine Tosky will take on some of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best swimmers at the Santa Clara International Grand Prix.
from the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s track and field teams and the softball and baseball teams are icing on the cake in the case of the Directorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cup. Stanford accumulated 1,387 1/2 points by June 2ndâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s standings. By that time, only Ohio State and North Carolina retained mathematical possibilities to the crown. Those chances were erased with a pair of top-10 finishes in track and field and berths in each the softball and baseball Super Regional. The Cardinal accepted the good, the bad and everything between along the way to its never-ending search for athletic achievement. There were quite a few â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;almost championshipsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; along the way as well as disappointments, tragedies and adversity. Teammates rallied around each other in the face of seemingly unbearable sadness and pain. They also celebrated emotional comebacks, great performances and the joy only those who have been together and worked hard for each other can feel. Individuals like gymnast Allyse Ishino, swimmer Austin Staab, basketball player Josh Owens and footballâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Andrew Phillips were forced to face life-changing circumstances. Their stories may not become common knowledge but you know they worked through difficult times and had the support of their teammates. Any competitor who has had to miss significant time due to injury, illness or personal loss understands what it means to feel helpless, frustrated and/or alienated. There is, however, strength in numbers. Andrew Luck knows all about numbers, both in personnel and in production. The redshirt junior quarterback threw for 3,338 yards and a school record 32 touchdowns in a year that ended with an Orange Bowl championship, a school record 12 victories and untold accolades. Stepfan Taylor rushed for 1,137 yards and scored 15 touchdowns. In any other year he would have been the major star. Two-way player Owen Marecic, linebacker Shayne Skov, utility James McGillicuddy, defensive backs Michael Thomas, Delano
Howell, Richard Sherman and wide receiver Ryan Whalen all added their unique personalities to a closely-knit team that scored a school record 524 points and allowed 226. Luck finished second in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy. Horning Award winner Marecic received enough votes to finish 10th. Chase Beeler was a first-team AllAmerican. Sione Fua, Whalen and Marecic were invited to play in allstar games. Whalen, Sherman, Fua and Marecic were drafted by the NFL. Coach Jim Harbaugh was hired by the San Francisco 49ers. The Stanford football team kicked in 80 points toward the Directorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cup, a number matched by the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cross-country team, which placed fourth in the nation. Chris Derrick and Jacob Riley finished fifth and sixth individually. The womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cross-country team added 51 points for its 13th place finish, accomplished without top runner Kathy Kroeger, and the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s field hockey team, with two-time All-American Xanthe Travlos, added 25 points to the total after qualifying for the NCAA tournament. The womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s soccer team had another tremendous year, finishing second in the nation and adding 90 points. Christen Press earned national Player of the Year honors, a year after former teammate and current U.S. National Team member Kelley Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Hara won the same award. Through the fall season Stanford had reached the equivalent of three Final Fours. No other Division I school could claim that distinction. Imagine if the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s soccer and water polo teams would have repeated the previous yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success. Bobby Warshaw left the soccer program as a three-time first team all-Pac-10 pick. He was drafted in the first round of the MLS. Ryan Thomas went in the MLS supplemental draft. The menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s water polo team reached the championship match of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament before losing, 8-7, in sudden death. Jeffrey Schwimer, Jacob Smith and Sage Wright were all named second team All-Americans. Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s volleyball
John Todd/stanfordphoto.com
The Stanford football team won a school-record 12 games, topped by big victory over Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
Matt Ersted/stanfordphoto.com
(continued from previous page)
Richard C. Ersted/stanfordphoto.com
Stanford review
Stanford senior Christen Press was the national player of the year in womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s soccer. team also had its season ended by USC but not before the Cardinal added 73 points to the Directorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cup total. Stanford All-Americans Alix Klineman, Cassidy Lichtman and Gabi Ailes left their marks in the history books and on the program. Coach John Dunning continued to make a case for his Hall of Fame career while earning induction honors into the AVCA Hall of Fame. With football and womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s volleyball added in the final fall totals, Stanford took over first place in the Directorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cup standings and never looked back. The Stanford womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s squash team finished sixth in the nation, matching its best finish at the Howe Cup. Pamela Chua, Kyla Sherwood and Serena Fagan all won their final matches. The winter season brought more success, with the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gymnastics team leading the way. Alex Buscaglia added an individual NCAA title in the horizontal bar, one of six Cardinal gymnasts to earn AllAmerican honors with Tim Gentry, Josh Dixon, Eddie Penev, Cameron Forman and Chris Turner. Menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s swimming and womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basketball each finished third, womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s swimming was fourth, and the indoor track and field teams earned points. Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gymnastics, fencing and wrestling also contributed. Seniors Kayla Pedersen and Jeanette Pohlen led the Cardinal women to the brink of a national championship, ending Connecticutâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s record winning streak en route. Staab was a national champion for the Stanford menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s swim team setting a pool record in the 200 IM. He also helped the 200 free relay team, which included Alex Coville, Jake Allen and Aaron Wayne, set an American record. Bobby Bollier finished second in each the 500 free and 200 fly and Chad La Tourette was second in the 1,650 free. Kate Dwelley and Maya DiRado each recorded a second-place finish for the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s swim team. Elliott Heath won the NCAA 3,000 indoor title and Stanford was
Stanford junior Ashley Hansen was the national player of the year in softball.
eighth in the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s meet and 15th in the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s meet. Katerina Stefandi was the national runnerup in the pole vault. Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 11th place finish at the NCAA wrestling championships was the highest in program history. Junior Nick Amuchastegui became just the second Cardinal wrestler ever to reach the NCAA finals in any weight class. The Stanford fencing program had a big weekend at the NCAA Championships, placing 10th overall. Turner Caldwell, Max Murphy and Francesca Bassa earned AllAmerican honors. The Stanford synchronized swimming team finished second in the nation, with the duet of Maria Koroleva and Olivia Morgan earning the gold medal. Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spring teams are traditionally its strongest and it was no different this year. Seniors Amber Oland and Kim Krueger led the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s water polo team to its national title along with U.S. national team members Melissa Seidemann and Annika Dries, with Dries earning the Peter J. Cutino Award as the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top female collegian. The womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tennis team had its remarkable 12-year home winning streak snapped at 184 by Florida in one of the most intense, grueling finals in NCAA tennis history. The second-place Cardinal has now lost exactly two home matches since 1995. Stacey Tan reached the finals of the NCAA singles tournament, no small feat considering she played at No. 4 singles most of the year. Nicole Gibbs reached the semifinals. Hilary Barte and Mallory Burdette won the NCAA doubles title and were named ITA National Doubles Team of the Year. The menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tennis team reached the national quarterfinals and the doubles team of Bradley Klahn and Ryan Thacher reached the NCAA finals. Leslie Foard was named first team All-American and Lauren Schmidt was named to the third team for Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lacrosse team, which reached the NCAA tourna-
ment. The Cardinal set program records for wins (16) and highest national ranking (No. 6). The womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s golf team qualified for the NCAA championships, finishing 23rd. Sally Watson was Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top golfer. The menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s golf team just missed qualifying for the finals. Andrew Yun was named a first team AllAmerican. The menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s volleyball team missed a chance to defend its national title as Kawika Shoji and Brad Lawson were named first team All-Americans. The menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rowing team had a national fifth-place performance and a 12th place finish overall. Stanford sailors competed in the nationals, finishing among the top 15. Hannah Burroughs was named All-American. The menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s outdoor track and field team finished sixth nationally, with Derrick, Riley, Ben Johnson, Amaechi Morton and JT Sullivan earning first team All-American recognition. The womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team finished eighth, led by All-Americans Kroeger, Stephanie Marcy, Eda Karesin, Stedfanidi and Whitney Liehr. The womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rowing team finished second nationally as Elle Logan, Erika Roddy and Anna Dawson were honored as first team All-American, while Grace Luczak was selected to the second team. The womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s softball team reached a Super Regional in NCAA play and Ashley Hansen was named the National Player of the Year. The Cardinal baseball team also reached a Super Regional, with Brian Ragira being named to the freshmen All-American team. Drafted players included Chris Reed, Jordan Pries, Brent Mooneyham, Scott Snodgress, Zach Jones and Danny Sandbrink. The final tally for Stanford athletic teams was two national titles, four national runnerups, and five others among the Final Four. Oh yeah, count that 17th Directorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cup too. N
*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160; Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160; Ă&#x2022;Â&#x2DC;iĂ&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x2021;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;䣣Ă&#x160;U Page 31
Sports
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LITTLE LEAGUE
All Out finishes on a roll
The Aesthetics Research Center is conducting a research study of a new medical device. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re looking for women, age 30-70, with forehead wrinkles. FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Palo Alto city champ wins 20 of its final 21 games and title
The Aesthetics Research Center 525 Chesapeake Drive, Redwood City
by James Huber
Francis Palmer, MD Facial Plastic Surgeon, Principal Investigator
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7/24 Ruth Daviesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Blues Night with Special Guest Robben Ford 7/26 Edmar Castaneda Trio 7/27 Victor Lin presents the Music of The Beatles 7/28 Yosvany Terry Quartet 7/30 Tribute to Electric Miles featuring Wallace Roney 8/3 Taylor Eigsti Quartet with Tillery: featuring Rebecca Martin, Gretchen Parlato, and Becca Stevens 8/5 SJW All-Star Jam Session 8/6 George Cables Trio and Madeline Eastman See the full lineup at www.stanfordjazz.org
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ealthy Pets put up a fight, but it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t long before All Out asserted itself as the dominant team in Palo Alto Little League. All Out rode its powerful offense and the pitching of lefthander Griffy Byer to a 10-2 victory in the championship game of the Palo Alto Little League City Tournament last Saturday at Middlefield Ballpark. All Out dominated the competition in the city tournament, winning all five of its games and outscoring its opponents by a combined score of 44-16. After a slow start to the season, All Out won 20 of its last 21 games. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Winning the tournament has been our goal all year,â&#x20AC;? said All Out infielder Miles Tention. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We knew that we were the best team, but we just had to go out there and prove it.â&#x20AC;? After seeing Healthy Pets cut its lead to one run, All Out put the game out of reach with a six-run fourth inning. Byer and first baseman Pete Snodgrass both hit runscoring singles and later were driven in by consecutive two-run doubles from third baseman David Clarke and second baseman Niko Lillios. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The bottom of the lineup was key,â&#x20AC;? said All Out manager Alex Byer, who won his first city title after being in the finals four of the past six years. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Miles Tention was great and Jeffrey Heidenreichâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bunt was a pivotal play in the game because it set the table for the big hitters.â&#x20AC;? In addition to getting on base all four times and driving in three runs,
H
Swimming
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ming Grand Prix Series. Tosky will swim an aggressive schedule that could include eight races. If she made one of the three evening races in each event, Tosky could swim 16 times -- not including any relays for her Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics team. On Friday, sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll have the 100 free, 200 breast and 100 fly. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s seeded the highest in the 100 fly (11th) with a best of 59.43. Christine Magnuson, a 2008 Olympian, leads the field in 57.32. On Saturday, Tosky has the 400 IM and 200 free, where she is seeded ninth (4:43.90) and eighth (1:58.54), respectively. Elizabeth Beisel is No. 1 in the IM (4:34.04) while Allison Schmidt tops the 200 free (1:56.10. On Sunday, Tosky is scheduled for the 200 fly, 100 breast and 200 IM. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s seeded No. 6 in the
Jim Shorin
Participate in a medical research study Free Investigational Procedure Compensation for time and travel
Pete Snodgrass (left) and winning pitcher Griffy Byer check out their championships trophies after winning the Palo Alto city title. Griffy Byer kept the Healthy Pets lineup off balance all game long with a slew of curveballs and changeups. â&#x20AC;&#x153;All I wanted to do was throw junk to the big hitters and strike out the guys I knew I could easily get by,â&#x20AC;? Byer said. Byer pitched a complete game, striking out seven batters while only surrendering one walk. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He pitched the game of a lifetime,â&#x20AC;? Alex Byer said of his son. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worked so hard for this and this season heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really learned how to utilize his off-speed pitches.â&#x20AC;? It was a fitting end to the season for All Outâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s talented 12-year olds, many of whom have been playing together for multiple seasons. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have six incredible 12-year olds that have been with us for a long time,â&#x20AC;? Alex Byer said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They work hard every practice and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m so incredibly proud of them.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Playing with Jeff (Heidenreich), Miles (Tention), Charlie (Racz), Pete (Snodgrass) and Griffy (Byer) has been so much fun,â&#x20AC;? said catcher Alec Olmstead, who had three hits
and three runs scored on the day. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been playing together for so long and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re all really good friends.â&#x20AC;? The All Out playersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; careers are not done yet, with Middlefield Ballpark hosting the District 52 Majors 11-12 all-star tournament starting June 24. In other city tournaments: Peak Performance won its third straight Alpine/West Menlo championship with a 10-4 victory over Home Field Advantage at Ford Field in Portola Valley. Harrison Armsby hit a three-run homer in the third. He added a two-run double in the fourth to finish with five RBI. In the Menlo-Atherton finale at Burgess Park on Saturday, Left Bank captured the title with a 3-1 victory over Sharon Heights Shell. Connor Nathan and Bret Rodrigues combined to limit Sharon Heights Shell to just four hits while striking out 13. Peak Performance and Left Bank will face off for the Menlo Park City Championship on Friday at Burgess Park at 6 p.m. N
fly (2:09.28), 36th in the breast (1:12.44) and 12th in the 200 IM (2:13.02). NCAA champ Katinka Hosszu of Hungary heads the fly (2:06.71), Soni tops the 100 breast (1:04.93) and Australian Emily Seebohm is the No. 1 seed in the IM (2:09.93). The meet marks the return to competition for two-time Olympian Hansen, who will compete in both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes. The field also features U.S. Olympic medalists Amanda Beard, Eric Shanteau, Dana Vollmer plus Stanford grads and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;08 Olympians Julia Smit and Elaine Breeden. Current Stanford swimmers like Miya DiRado, Samantha Woodward, Felicia Lee, Andi Murez, Elizabeth Webb, Andi Taylor, Alex Coville, Matt Thompson, and Bobby Bollier will be joined by Cardinal grads Phillip Morrison, Elizabeth Smith, Kate Dwelley and Eugene Godsoe, among others. Incoming Stanford freshman Maddy Schaefer from PASA and
Gunn senior Rachael Acker will test Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best in the sprints along with Cal standouts Liv Jensen and Colleen Fotsch from Palo Alto. Sacred Heart Prep standouts Tom Kremer and Ally Howe, the swimmers of the year in the West Bay Athletic League this past spring, also will be busy. The womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 100 back and 100 breast will provide great matchups that include world recordholders. In the back, Olympic gold medalist Coughlin will face rising teenagers Seebohm and Franklin plus and current world recordholder Gemma Spofforth of England. In the 100 breast, world recordholder Jessica Hardy (1:04.45) will face Soni, who holds the American record in the 200 breast. For those Phelpsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; followers, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll swim the 100 free and 100 fly on Friday, the 200 back on Saturday and the 200 fly on Sunday. Prelims from Friday through Sunday will start at 9 a.m. Finals those days begin at 5 p.m. N