Upfront QUOTE OF THE WEEK
450 Cambridge Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94306 (650) 326-8210
EDITORIAL Editor Jocelyn Dong (223-6514) Associate Editor Carol Blitzer (223-6511) Sports Editor Keith Peters (223-6516) Express & Online Editor Tyler Hanley (223-6519) Arts & Entertainment Editor Rebecca Wallace (223-6517) Assistant Sports Editor Rick Eymer (223-6521) Spectrum Editor Tom Gibboney (223-6507) Staff Writers Sue Dremann (223-6518), Chris Kenrick (223-6512), Gennady Sheyner (223-6513) Editorial Assistant, Internship Coordinator Eric Van Susteren (223-6515) Staff Photographer Veronica Weber (223-6520) Contributors 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 Editorial Interns Rebecca Duran, Ranjini Raghunath ADVERTISING Vice President Sales & Advertising Tom Zahiralis (223-6570) Multimedia Advertising Sales Adam Carter (223-6574), Elaine Clark (223-6572), Janice Hoogner (223-6576), Wendy Suzuki 2236569), Brent Triantos (223-6577), Real Estate Advertising Sales Neal Fine (223-6583), Carolyn Oliver (223-6581), Rosemary Lewkowitz (223-6585) Inside Advertising Sales David Cirner (223-6579), Irene Schwartz (223-6580) Real Estate Advertising Assistant Diane Martin (223-6584) Legal Advertising Alicia Santillan (223-6578) ADVERTISING SERVICES Advertising Services Manager Jennifer Lindberg (223-6595) Sales & Production Coordinators Dorothy Hassett (223-6597), Blanca Yoc (223-6596) DESIGN Design Director Shannon Corey (223-6560) Senior Designers Linda Atilano, Diane Haas, Scott Peterson, Paul Llewellyn Designers Lili Cao, Rosanna Leung EXPRESS, ONLINE AND VIDEO SERVICES Online Operations Coordinator Rachel Palmer (223-6588) BUSINESS Payroll & Benefits Susie Ochoa (223-6546) Business Associates Elena Dineva (223-6542), Mary McDonald (223-6543), Claire McGibeny (223-6546), Cathy Stringari (223-6544) ADMINISTRATION Receptionist Doris Taylor Courier Ruben Espinoza EMBARCADERO MEDIA President William S. Johnson (223-6505) Vice President & CFO Michael I. Naar (223-6540) Vice President Sales & Advertising Tom Zahiralis (223-6570) Director, Information Technology & Webmaster Frank A. Bravo (223-6551) Major Accounts Sales Manager Connie Jo Cotton (223-6571) Director, Circulation & Mailing Services Bob Lampkin (223-6557) Circulation Assistant Alicia Santillan Computer System Associates Chris Planessi, Chip Poedjosoedarmo
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 3268210. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302. Š2013 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
LAUNCH EVENT &EBRUARY 2012
Lux Eyewear 1805 El Camino Real s 0ALO !LTO s WWW LUXPALOALTO COM Page 4ĂŠUĂŠĂŠ iLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£x]ÊÓä£ÎÊUĂŠ*>Â?ÂœĂŠ Â?ĂŒÂœĂŠ7iiÂŽÂ?ÞÊUĂŠĂœĂœĂœÂ°*>Â?Âœ Â?ĂŒÂœ"˜Â?ˆ˜i°Vœ“
Our email addresses are: editor@paweekly.com, letters@paweekly.com, digitalads@paweekly.com, ads@paweekly.com Missed delivery or start/stop your paper? Call 650 223-6557, or email circulation@paweekly.com. You may also subscribe online at www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Subscriptions are $60/yr.
SUBSCRIBE! Support your local newspaper by becoming a paid subscriber. $60 per year. $100 for two years. Name: _________________________________ Address: ________________________________ City/Zip: ________________________________ Mail to: Palo Alto Weekly, 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto CA 94306
‘‘
‘‘
PUBLISHER William S. Johnson (223-6505)
I blew it. — Kevin Skelly, Palo Alto school district superintendent, on his failure to provide the school board with a federal report on a mishandled bullying case. See story on page 3.
Around Town LANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES ... Palo Alto’s elected officials have a hearty appetite for grantfunded transportation projects, particularly ones that involve bikes and pedestrians. But this week, the council agreed that the latest staff proposal for a grant application goes a few steps too far. The city is applying for One Bay Area Government, a grant program administered by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. But rather than seeking funds for one or two projects, city planners suggested 10, arguing that the more projects you apply for, the more likely you are to receive regional funds. Some projects are old standbys, such as the proposed bicycle and pedestrian bridge over U.S. Highway 101, the Magical Bridge playground at Mitchell Park and enhancements to Arastradero and Charleston roads. Others are new and controversial, including a plan to build a parking structure near the downtown transit mall and a new proposal to reduce lanes on Birch Street. The latter proposal proved particularly irksome for the City Council, with several members noting that the project had not even been vetted by any local board or commission (not to mention, the council). Chief Transportation Official Jaime Rodriguez took the position that when it comes to grant proposals, the more the merrier. “It’s kind of like playing the lottery,� Rodriguez told the council. “If you don’t submit a ticket, you’re not going to win.� Councilman Larry Klein disagreed and said the city would pay a price in reputation for pursuing projects that have not yet been reviewed. “We have a lot more at stake than just the money that we’re likely to get here,� Klein said. “We’re being bedazzled by some of the big dollars that aren’t going to occur. ... We’re going to get a lot of blowback.� After a long discussion, the council voted unanimously to scrap the Birch Street proposal from the application. They then voted 5-4, with Mayor Greg Scharff, Vice Mayor Nancy Shepherd and Councilwomen Liz Kniss and Gail Price dissenting, to scuttle the parking-garage project from the grant proposal as well. A GYM BY THE BAY ... It began as a regional effort to calm the floodprone San Francisquito Creek. Along the way, it also turned into a way to completely reconfigure and strengthen the Baylands feel of the Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course. Then the City Council stretched the project further by adding three
athletic fields to the golf course proposal. Now, in the latest twist for the flood-control project, city officials are considering a new gymnasium by the Baylands. While the gym plan is tentative and completely unfunded, the city plans to evaluate it in the upcoming environmental analysis for the golf course renovation. The city’s Planning and Transportation Commission, which learned about the gym proposal Wednesday night, had some hesitation about the proposed facility, though it agreed that the environmental-impact report would detail its pros and cons. “As soon as I saw mention of gymnasium, I felt uncomfortable,� Commissioner Alex Panelli said. “It doesn’t seem to be a particularly compatible use.� HILL’S BILLS ... California’s highspeed rail project may have left the station last year, when the state Legislature approved funding for the first segment by a single vote, but Palo Alto officials still have plenty of concerns about the locally unpopular project. The city is now working with its newest representative, Sen. Jerry Hill, to clean up the funding bill. One concern is ensuring the funding allocated for Caltrain’s electrification actually gets delivered. Another is making sure the project remains in the Caltrain right of way. According to the city’s lobbyist, John Garamendi Jr., Hill has been meeting with officials from the California High-Speed Rail Authority, Caltrain and the Legislature to discuss a new bill that would alleviate some of the Peninsula’s anxieties. The bill, in Garamendi’s estimation, is no slam dunk. After approving the first phase of construction by a single vote, legislators are far from anxious to revisit this highly controversial topic, Garamendi told the council’s Rail Committee on Wednesday. Given the political climate, the committee agreed not to ask for too much and to get behind Hill’s proposed legislation. The law would ensure Caltrain’s electrification funds but would create a new “hurdle� for the rail authority, should it decide to move from a two-track system to the deeply unpopular fourtrack one that had been proposed earlier. Under Hill’s bill, the agency would need a unanimous vote from both the rail authority’s board and Caltrain’s to even study this alternative. Councilman Larry Klein characterized the clean-up bill as a limited step but one worth taking. “This isn’t where the real battle is going to be fought,� Klein said. “We’re getting something beyond what we had before. This is a skirmish.� N