Upfront
Local news, information and analysis
Undisclosed meetings, private funds cloud downtown debate Negotiations between City of Palo Alto and John Arrillaga leave sparse paper trail by Gennady Sheyner n July 2011, just weeks after Palo Alto approved the mammoth expansion of the Stanford University Medical Center — the largest development in the city’s history — city officials learned about another giant project, this one nearby in downtown Palo Alto.
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John Arrillaga, a billionaire philanthropist who made his fortune building commercial complexes throughout Silicon Valley, called Deputy City Manager Steve Emslie to relay his latest ambition — to build a glitzy office complex on the conspicuous but largely neglected
area next to the downtown Caltrain station. Emslie, who had worked with Arrillaga in the past, agreed to hear him out. They arranged a meeting at City Hall with Planning Director Curtis Williams, Emslie said. The concept Arrillaga unveiled at the first meeting on what is now known as 27 University Ave. bore little resemblance to the project that residents would see in March 2012, when the plan first became public.
In its original iteration, it included two sleek and sprawling oval office buildings with slanted rooflines and glassy facades — a marriage of flying saucers and silicon chips. The renderings, which the Weekly obtained through a Public Records Act request, also show wide strips of pavement surrounding the two eight-story buildings, each of which rises well above 100 feet. The modest green plazas surrounding the new buildings are nearly swallowed
by the gray of asphalt. About the only thing that hasn’t changed between July 2011 and November 2012 is the buildings’ location. Emslie said in an interview this week that Arrillaga’s intention always was to build the complexes at 27 University, a site currently occupied by the MacArthur Park restaurant. “He said, ‘I’d like to build this in (continued on page 6)
CRIME
Burglary victim speaks out Precautions did not keep ‘athletic’ thieves from entering Palo Alto home
under the new standards that’s being developed by a state-led consortium called Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, Young said. It’s been 15 years since California last adopted new standards for math and English. The existing standards match the Common Core standards “in their level of rigor and call for high expectations for all students,” state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said. But the new standards “provide for additional skills and knowledge necessary in a global economy and technology-rich workplace,” he said. “For example, under the Common
Sue Dremann urglars who struck a Palo Alto home Wednesday, Nov. 28, apparently adhered to the old Postal Service adage about rain not keeping them from their appointed rounds — nor did locked windows and gates. Now, the victim is speaking out to let people know they must remain vigilant if the crooks are to be caught. A burglar or burglars struck the home in the 1600 block of University Avenue in the Crescent Park neighborhood at the height of Wednesday’s morning downpour, according to Palo Alto police Officer Marco Estrada. To gain entry, the burglar or burglars reached over a 6-foot-high side gate and fiddled with a lock until it opened, according to the resident, who detailed the burglary to the Weekly Thursday morning. The burglars smashed a kitchen window and leapt up to enter (the window is higher than a usual firststory level). Jewelry and electronics of an undisclosed value were stolen. “It took someone with athleticism,” the resident said. She said the aggressiveness of the break-in surprised her, both because the family had taken recommended precautions by locking their double-paned windows and gate and because the theft occurred at the height of a major storm. “People think the bad weather will keep them away — I did — but the rain is not a deterrent. It was pouring during that period. The house was empty for only two
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Veronica Weber
Laughin’ in the rain Janet Liu, left, and Julienne Keong huddle together under an umbrella while walking down University Avenue in Palo Alto in the midst of a downpour on Wednesday, the first of three storms expected to hit the Bay Area by Sunday.
EDUCATION
Schools prep for new standards Out with the STAR test, in with new metrics when national standards take effect in 2014 by Chris Kenrick
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alifornia schools will revamp their standardized tests in 2014, replacing the California Standards Test (STAR) with a new exam to assess students under the soon-to-be implemented “Common Core State Standards.” The new standards — set to take effect in all but a handful of states
by the 2014-15 school year — are a push by the nation’s governors and state school chiefs to align diverse curricula across the nation with the knowledge and skills they say are needed for success in college and the workplace. In Palo Alto, teachers, principals and administrators have been dis-
cussing what the new standards will mean locally since last spring. “A lot is left up to the school districts — there isn’t exactly one way to do this, and we want to listen to teacher insights,” said Charles Young, Palo Alto’s associate superintendent for educational services. The Common Core State Standards do not dictate specific curriculum, though they do recommend types of books that could be suitable for various grade levels, Young said. “We’re digging into them, learning them and seeing how these can help us improve a system that’s already really strong,” he said. At an upcoming meeting of principals, JLS Principal Sharon Ofek will give a presentation on testing
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