Upfront Ecole internationale de la PĂŠninsule
Ě˝ ࣑ ੢ á„‘ á‹• ओ PRE-SCHOOL Outstanding fullday program.
LANGUAGE Longest running bilingual immersion school in the area. Experienced native-speaking faculty.
ACADEMICS Established English curriculum. Rigorous program in a nurturing environment. Low student-to-teacher ratio.
PUBLISHER William S. Johnson
WHEN IT’S YOUR CHILD, EXPERIENCE MATTERS. TEACHING MANDARIN CHINESE IMMERSION FOR 15 YEARS. A LEADER IN FRENCH IMMERSION IN PALO ALTO. ACCEPTING PRE-SCHOOL APPLICATIONS.
RSVP FOR A TOUR! PRE-SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE NOVEMBER 10, 2012
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF THE PENINSULA 7%" 777 )340 /2' s 0(/.%
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 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, Blanca Yoc, Sales & Production Coordinators ADVERTISING Tom Zahiralis, Vice President Sales & Advertising Samantha Mejia, Shop Product Manager Adam Carter, Elaine Clark, Janice Hoogner, Wendy Suzuki, 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. EXPRESS, ONLINE AND VIDEO SERVICES Rachel Palmer, Online Operations Coordinator BUSINESS Susie Ochoa, Payroll & Benefits Elena Dineva, Mary McDonald, Claire McGibeny, Cathy Stringari, Business Associates
Bring a friend for appetizers and wine! Join Xceed Financial for Success is an Inside Job, a free seminar by author Beth Buelow that challenges traditional assumptions about introverts vs. extroverts. If you’re an introvert, you’ll learn how to position perceived liabilities as assets. If you’re an extrovert, you’ll learn to draw on your “inner introvert� to sharpen your listening and networking skills. Attend and receive a copy of Buelow’s book, Insight: reflections on the gifts of being an introvert. Wednesday, October 17, 2012 Networking open forum: 5:30 p.m. Seminar: 5:45 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Xceed Financial Credit Union 601 Showers Drive, Mountain View, CA 94040 Seating is limited. RSVP by October 12 at www.xfcu.org/lifeworks or contact Matt Butler at 650.691.6501 or mbutler@xfcu.org.
ADMINISTRATION Doris Taylor, Receptionist 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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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
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450 CAMBRIDGE AVE, PALO ALTO, CA 94306 (650) 326-8210
It must have exploded. — Daniel Peters, a Palo Alto resident, on how part of a train ended up crashing into his car. See story on page 12.
Around Town NAME THAT LIBRARY ... As Palo Alto plows forth with its bondfunded renovation of local libraries, city officials are looking far beyond brick-and-mortar fixes. In the case of the Main Library, which is set to be expanded and renovated next year, the city is also considering a name change. The frontrunner so far is “Rinconada Library.� That was the recommendation the city’s Library Advisory Commission issued at its last meeting on Sept. 27. The recommendation followed a suggestion from the City Council that the name “Main Library� is too vague and meaningless, particularly given that the Newell Road library isn’t even the city’s largest (that distinction goes to the Mitchell Park Library, which is currently getting rebuilt from scratch). Commissioner Bob Moss advocated the name Rinconada Library at the meeting as a safe option given its location on a centrally located campus that also includes Rinconada Park, the Palo Alto Arts Center and the Junior Museum and Zoo. The city is, in fact, currently putting together a master plan for the Rinconada campus with the goal of improving connections and circulation. Moss said calling the library “Rinconada Library� would be the simplest solution though urged the city to wait until the library is renovated before making the switch. The name change would still have to get approved by the council before it becomes final. NO THEFT HERE ... For a brief time, Barron Park neighborhood residents were incensed. A 4-footlong wood sign at Cornelis Bol Park had disappeared, sawed off at both posts during the Sept. 29 weekend, residents reported. The sign on Laguna Avenue featured a large, colorful portrait of the park’s first and now deceased donkey, Mickey. It had been a park fixture for nearly 20 years, according to a longtime resident. Upon inquiring of city workers, the resident said that Erin Perez from the city’s Community Services Department merely said a replacement sign would be made. As it turns out, while thefts have been plaguing other parts of town, the apparent Bol Park vandalism turned out this week to be something else: none other than city maintenance. “The same sign will be returned soon, after a little
sprucing up,� City of Palo Alto spokeswoman Linda Clerkson said in an email to the Weekly. RIPE FOR GROWTH ... Higher buildings. Denser developments. More foot traffic. Economic vitality. That’s Palo Alto’s vision for the neighborhood around California Avenue — a vision that took another step forward at last week’s Planning and Transportation Commission meeting. The commission agreed at its Oct. 3 meeting to rezone four adjacent parcels on the 400 block of Page Mill Road from residential to commercial. The parcels, which currently house single-family residences, would be rezoned to allow construction of a taller mixed-use building that will likely include major office space. The commission voted 6-0, with Arthur Keller absent, to support the rezoning proposal by architect John Northway. At its Oct. 3 discussion, commissioners agreed that the Page Mill sites aren’t suitable for residential developments. But they also stressed that much work still needs to be done before Northway’s proposed development gets the green light. Commissioner Michael Alcheck noted that the developer will have to demonstrate that the project would not have adverse parking impacts or burden neighboring properties with risks of toxins being emitted during construction. “The next step in the process is one that will be most difficult — figuring out how to make this work,� Alcheck said. THE SUPREMES ... Obamacare, voting requirements, same-sex marriage and Anthony Kennedy’s interesting role on the Supreme Court were just a few of the many topics that bubbled up during this week’s discussion between Stanford University professor and constitutional lawyer Pamela Karlan and Jeffrey Toobin, the legal-affairs reporter for the New Yorker and CNN. During a Tuesday night chat at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco, Toobin and Karlan broke down the current state of the Supreme Court, where four of the nine members are currently in their 70s, and parsed the ideological differences between the conservatives on the court. Kennedy, Toobin argued, isn’t the “moderate� most people think he is but “an extremist with unpredictable enthusiasm.� N