Upfront
PUBLISHER William S. Johnson
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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 Sue Dremann, Chris Kenrick, Gennady Sheyner, Staff Writers Eric Van Susteren, Editorial Assistant, Internship Coordinator Veronica Weber, Staff Photographer Colin Becht, Dale F. Bentson, Peter Canavese, Kit Davey, Iris Harrell, Sheila Himmel, Chad Jones, Karla Kane, Kevin Kirby, Jack McKinnon, Jeanie K. Smith, Susan Tavernetti, Contributors Maytal Mark, Dean McArdle, Editorial Interns DESIGN Shannon Corey, Design Director Linda Atilano, Diane Haas, Scott Peterson, Paul Llewellyn, Senior Designers Lili Cao, Rosanna Leung, Designer PRODUCTION Jennifer Lindberg, Production Manager Dorothy Hassett, Samantha Mejia, Blanca Yoc, Sales & Production Coordinators ADVERTISING Tom Zahiralis, Vice President Sales & Advertising Adam Carter, Elaine Clark, Janice Hoogner, Brent Triantos, Display Advertising Sales Neal Fine, Carolyn Oliver, Rosemary Lewkowitz, Real Estate Advertising Sales David Cirner, Irene Schwartz, Inside Advertising Sales Diane Martin, Real Estate Advertising Asst. Alicia Santillan, Classified Administrative Asst. Wendy Suzuki, Advertising Sales Intern EXPRESS, ONLINE AND VIDEO SERVICES Rachel Palmer, Online Operations Coordinator Rachel Hatch, Multimedia Product Manager BUSINESS Susie Ochoa, Payroll & Benefits Elena Dineva, Mary McDonald, Claire McGibeny, Cathy Stringari, Business Associates ADMINISTRATION Janice Covolo, Doris Taylor, Receptionists Ruben Espinoza, Courier EMBARCADERO MEDIA William S. Johnson, President Michael I. Naar, Vice President & CFO Tom Zahiralis, Vice President Sales & Advertising Frank A. Bravo, Director, Information Technology & Webmaster Connie Jo Cotton, Major Accounts Sales Manager Bob Lampkin, Director, Circulation & Mailing Services Alicia Santillan, Circulation Assistant 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) 326-8210. 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 Š2012 by Embarcadero Media. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. The Palo Alto Weekly is available on the Internet via Palo Alto Online at: www.PaloAltoOnline.com Our email addresses are: editor@paweekly.com, letters@paweekly.com, digitalads@paweekly.com. Missed delivery or start/stop your paper? Call 650 326-8210, or email circulation@paweekly. com. You may also subscribe online at www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Subscriptions are $60/yr.
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City/Zip: _______________________________ Mail to: Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610. Palo Alto CA 94302
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
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450 CAMBRIDGE AVE, PALO ALTO, CA 94306 (650) 326-8210
Surrounding cities don’t allow them, so we’d be the magnet.
— Greg Scharff, Palo Alto vice mayor, on why Palo Altans should vote no on Measure C, which would allow medical pot dispensaries in town. See story on page 3.
Around Town HOW SWEDE IT IS ... The Swedish flag will fly high in Palo Alto on Monday night when the City Council celebrates its quarter-century-old relationship with the city of LinkĂśping. The two cities established their relationship in January of 1987 with the goal of fostering “friendship, appreciation, understanding, collaboration and citizen exchanges,â€? according to a special proclamation the council plans to pass Monday. The proclamation lauds LinkĂśping, which was founded in 1320, as an “economic, cultural and educational center in southern Swedenâ€? and states that the people of Palo Alto and its Swedish sibling have “forged a bond of friendship and appreciation for 25 years through many cultural and educational exchanges, the arts, music and collaboration in community affairs.â€? The council will also welcome LinkĂśping’s Mayor Ann-Cathrine Hjerdt and other officials representing the city and from the Neighbors Abroad program. The event will conclude with Palo Alto Mayor Yiaway Yeh proclaiming Sept. 10 through Sept. 14 as the “LinkĂśping, Sweden Week in Palo Alto.â€? PREPARING FOR THE BIG ONE ... Few things rattle the nerves of Palo Alto’s land-use watchdogs like “planned communityâ€? (PC) projects, which allow developers to far exceed the city’s zoning regulations in exchange for “public benefitsâ€? that are often negotiated in real time during council meetings. In recent months, major PC-zoned projects such as the College Terrace Centre on El Camino Real and College Avenue and, more recently, the Lytton Gateway development downtown, earned council approval after months of negotiations over these benefits. On Monday night, the council will get its first look at a highly anticipated PC project proposed by Jay Paul Company, a San Francisco-based commercial developer. Though no details about the project had been publicly released, city officials expect the proposal for 395 Page Mill Road (near AOL’s Silicon Valley headquarters) to be a dense office building. But what gets the city excited is one potential “public benefitâ€? — a new public-safety building. In June, City Manager James Keene mentioned that the tentative proposal includes a new underground garage at Park Boulevard and Olive Avenue. The city’s new police headquarters, which is one of its top infrastructure priorities, would stand on top of that garage. The council was so intrigued by this proposal that they
scheduled a special “prescreening meeting� to consider this proposal. They will not, however, be making any decisions on this proposal Monday night. GOING UNDER ... Palo Alto’s effort to take down its overhead electric lines and to bury them underground began nearly half a century ago and the end remains nowhere in sight. With about 46 percent of the city currently “undergrounded,� Utility Department officials expect that it will take about 70 years to extend the project to the entire city, according to a report that the Utilities Advisory Commission discussed Wednesday night. The city spends about 2 percent of its electric revenues on the undergrounding effort. But is the effort of removing dangling wires worth the cost? That’s the question the city is now trying to answer. According to the report by Senior Resource Planner Nicolas Procos and Engineering Manager Tom Ting, the impact is “primarily based on aesthetic values and is not a critical component of providing electric service to the residents and businesses in Palo Alto.� Thus, they write, changes to the program will be “based on individual considerations and value judgments.� Staff recommended reaching out to the public to determine how badly residents want their electric lines buried. “Due to the very high cost of the conversions, it is preferable to engage the community early in the discussions on policy formulation.� The commission agreed and voted unanimously on Wednesday night to recommend that the City Council appoint a new citizens advisory commission to consider the pros and cons of proceeding with the effort and to think about ways to pay for it. RIDING ALONG ... School commuters in Palo Alto now have a new tool at their disposal. The city this week launched a new online program, “Schoolpool,� which helps parents and students plan their trips, whether by car, bike or foot. The pilot program is sponsored by the city and by Ohlone Elementary School and is powered by the online service, Carpooltoschool.com. In announcing the program, the city touted as an “important option to the City’s Safe Routes to School program,� which encourages biking and walking to school. The city’s Chief Transportation Official Jaime Rodriguez called the new online program “another element of our alternative transportation toolkit.� N