Upfront
GOAL $250,000 As of Dec. 14 317 donors $177,172
See who’s already contributed to the Holiday Fund on page 12
with matching funds
Donate online at www.PaloAltoOnline.com
Local news, information and analysis
Report: Higher tax, new bond needed to fund city repairs Task force lays out plan for fixing up Palo Alto’s crumbling infrastructure by Gennady Sheyner alo Alto should raise its sales tax, terminate its Cubberley Community Center lease and devote almost a quarter of its annual budget to repairing and replacing the city’s dilapidated infrastructure, a specially appointed commission recommends in a highly anticipated
P
report released Thursday. The Infrastructure Blue Ribbon Commission, which the City Council appointed in May 2010 to address Palo Alto’s mounting infrastructure problems, offers in its report a broad range of recommendations, some aimed at raising funds for the needed
repairs and others seeking to improve the city’s oversight of its crumbling streets, parks and facilities. Its boldest and potentially most controversial recommendations include: ending the lease of Cubberley on Middlefield Road, raising the sales tax threeeighths of a cent and dedicating 23 percent of General Fund revenue to infrastructure every year. Only a supermajority of six council members could reduce infrastructure funding below 23 percent in any given year,
the commission recommends. (Infrastructure expenditures have accounted for about 19 percent of the general fund in recent years.) The 170-page report, titled “Palo Alto’s Infrastructure: Catching Up, Keeping Up, and Moving Ahead,” is a major milestone for the council, which made “infrastructure” one of its official priorities for 2011. Though the subject rarely rouses the passions of the citizenry, city officials have taken a keen interest
in the topic in recent years, with a particular focus on replacing the city’s small and outdated police headquarters. Previous estimates had pegged costs of the city’s infrastructurerepair backlog at roughly $500 million. Ray Bacchetti, who co-chaired the commission along with former Mayor Leland Levy, said one of the (continued on page 7)
LAND USE
Sale of Palo Alto post office prompts nostalgia, uncertainty Historic building could be used for another public facility or rezoned for commercial use by Gennady Sheyner
W Kelsey Kienitz
Strollin’ on Christmas Tree Lane Snowflake lights dangle from the bushes along Christmas Tree Lane in Palo Alto, located on Fulton Street between Embarcadero Road and Seale Avenue. The lights and decorations will be up through the end of the year.
EDUCATION
Student journalists explore happiness at Gunn After surveying classmates, seniors ponder the meaning of a B minus by Chris Kenrick
H
ow does Gunn High School rate on the student happiness scale? If you ask seniors Amrita Moitra and Jean Wang, they’d give it a B minus. Moitra and Wang aren’t guessing wildly; they surveyed their fellow Titans, 436 of whom — or 23 percent — responded. They published their findings — illustrated with yellow smiley or frowning faces — in the Dec. 12 issue of Gunn’s student newspaper, “The Oracle.” “Contrary to popular belief, a Bminus rating in happiness is a de-
cent grade,” the two wrote. “In fact, it is above average.” In an online survey, Wang and Moitra asked Gunn students to rate their school in a range of categories including facilities, social life, food, clubs, support, sunny days, school graduation rate and stress. The highest grade — A plus — went to “sunny days” and “graduation rate.” The lowest — a D — went to “stress.” “Food” came in only slightly ahead of “stress,” earning a D plus. Gunn’s “social opportunities” got a C plus, and the school’s overall happiness grade worked out to the
B minus. The results weren’t a huge surprise to Moitra and Wang. “We expected ‘stress’ to get a low grade,” Wang said. But the pair said they were puzzled that the rating for “supportiveness” — a B minus — wasn’t better. “We have a lot of programs, and I felt that people would feel more supported,” said Moitra, adding that she personally feels well-supported at Gunn. “I thought that grade would’ve been higher.” Although more than half the respondents gave Gunn high marks for (continued on page 11)
hen Palo Alto’s downtown post office opened in 1932 on Hamilton Avenue, it was like no other post office in the nation. Designed by local architect Birge Clark, the building showcased all the notable features of the Spanish Colonial Revival style that Clark helped popularize in the second and third decades of the 20th century — a smooth, stucco exterior, copious arches and tiled roof. But while the design looked like it would fit right at home in Palo Alto, where there are nearly a hundred Birge Clark buildings, it seemed a bit too Spanish (or at least too Californian) for the U.S. Postal Service. When Clark went to Washington, D.C., to present his blueprints, the postmaster general — looking for something more traditional and “stately” — ridiculed his design, according to an account from the Palo Alto History Project. Clark’s associate Joseph Ehrlich recalled that the postmaster pushed away the blueprints and said: “Don’t you know what a U.S. post office looks like?” Minutes later, however, Clark told him that President Herbert Hoover, an old friend with whom he’d had breakfast, already gave the go-ahead, and the postmaster relented. When the post office at 380 Hamilton Ave. opened, it became the first building to be designed specifically for this use, said Palo Alto Historian Steve Staiger. “It’s a beautiful building. The federal government wasn’t used to doing buildings like that,” Staiger said. “It was the first post office that was purposefully built to be a post office. The previous post offices in town had been always rental buildings.” After eight decades of fulfilling the role for which it was designed, the building is now poised for major change. As the Weekly first reported on PaloAltoOnline.com last Friday,
the U.S. Postal Service plans to sell the building next year and move its operations to a smaller facility in a location to be determined. James Wigdel, spokesman for the postal service, said the building is about twice as large as necessary. The building’s sale is part of a nationwide effort the cash-strapped agency is undertaking to cope with years of multi-billion dollar deficits. It also plans to sell its buildings in Menlo Park and Half Moon Bay and move operations to smaller branches. Wigdel told the Weekly all the services of Hamilton Avenue office would continue in the new branch. But several residents who were patronizing the downtown post office this week said they were disappointed about the proposed change, which could significantly transform one of Palo Alto’s best-known downtown icons. Resident Shannon Griscom, who was downtown Tuesday afternoon, called the building “an architectural treasure” and lamented the fact that future residents will not get to experience the building performing the function for which it was designed. She said she was saddened by the U.S. Postal Service’s decision. “This is the type of building that makes people appreciate a place like Palo Alto,” Griscom said. “It feels like we’re selling our history.” At the same time, the sale creates new opportunities for developers and city officials in a choice downtown location just a block from City Hall. The site is zoned PF (public facility). This means the new site will either continue to house a public facility or get rezoned to accommodate other uses, Planning and Community Environment Director Curtis Williams said. In either event, the buyer of the property would (continued on page 9)
*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ iVi LiÀÊÓÎ]ÊÓ䣣ÊU Page 3