Menlo School opens Creative Arts and Design Center | Section 2
T H E H O M E TOW N N E W S PA P E R F O R M E N L O PA R K , AT H E R TO N , P O R TO L A VA L L E Y A N D WO O D S I D E
SEPTEMBER 12, 2012
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Portola Valley to honor Martin Litton’s life of activism
Environmental champion PAGE 5
Portola Valley to honor Martin Litton’s life of acti
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The experienced expatriate Author offers advice on living abroad in the golden years
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dozen years ago, Karen McCann never could have imagined her future self casually eating pig cheeks and lamb tongue while sipping a cold beer. Once a faithful vegetarian, Ms. McCann, who grew up in Menlo Park and Atherton, found that moving to Spain changed much more than her diet. Her new book, “Dancing in the Fountain,� is full of the expatriate situations that start as challenges and become chances for growth: ordering in a restaurant, making friends, learning the language, bringing pets overseas. “I experimented with being a slightly different person,� Ms. McCann said in a recent interview at a Philz Coffee in Palo Alto. “I think the person I am now is much more interesting.� She still considers the Menlo Park Library her “library of origin,� where she was an avid reader as a child and teenager. When her book was published, she sent one of the first copies to the library. “It’s a tiny token of my appreciation for the countless hours of pleasure and inspiration I found there,� she wrote on her blog. Later, she worked as a journalist for a long time in a small town outside Cleveland. She found the dramatic move across the Atlantic to Spain to be a welcome change of pace. “Living in Ohio ... in a community that is more about stability than innovation, it was very easy to get settled and enjoy the feeling of getting deeper and deeper into things,� she said. “Living abroad is all about trying new things.� She and her husband, Rich, were vacationing for the fourth time in Seville when they sat down at a cafe and decided to spend a full year in the city. Both were retired and did consulting in their spare time. Little did they know this “sort of a sabbatical,� as Rich had called it, would become a permanent move to the city they have now
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“One of the great things about living abroad is that you can’t take anything for granted,� says author Karen McCann.
called home for seven or eight years. “One of the great things about living abroad is that you can’t take anything for granted,� she said. “You are never on automatic pilot. Even now ... at any second someone could turn and say something to me that even though I have a fair mastery of the language, I will have no idea what they are saying.� Language aside, her book often emphasizes what she calls “mentally unpacking your bags,� an idea she compares to the Buddhist practice “be here now.� “What people do in any new place is naturally compare it to the old one, and a certain amount of that is inevitable and useful,� McCann said. “But there comes a point when you have to
focus on where you are now and start building your life there.� She believes it’s one of the most important ideas in her book. “I see a lot of women and men arrive in Seville, either for business purposes or on impulse and they spend all their time looking at their watch, saying, ‘Back home, it’s three o’clock in the morning, I must be exhausted,’ or furious because it takes so much longer to do your shopping in stores there because the sales clerks think nothing of finishing their conversation with one another for a good 10 minutes,� Ms. McCann said. “But the whole pace of life is different.� See MCCANN, page 6
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A FEW MINUTES WITH MARTIN LITTON Portola Valley to honor a life of activism By Dave Boyce Almanac staff writer
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ere’s a softball question for an environmentalist: With climate change largely absent from the national consciousness, if you could issue royal decrees in your corner of the planet and set an example, what would you order to be done? Noted environmental activist and longtime Portola Valley resident Martin Litton played along one recent morning while sitting in the shade at a Triangle Park picnic table. After a moment, he smiled, shrugged and said he’d take down the Golden Gate Bridge, restore Marin County to its natural state and bring back ferry boats as the means for crossing San Francisco Bay. If the Bay Bridge were to remain, he’d restore passenger train service to its lower deck. “A lot of these people who go back and forth across the Bay Bridge would rather be sitting in a train,” he said. He would also end promotion of the Peninsula as a home for new business ventures. “Let ‘em keep it in New Jersey,” he said. Mr. Litton, a glider pilot for the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II, came to the Peninsula himself in 1954 with his wife Esther to take a job as travel editor for Sunset magazine in Menlo Park. He had acquired a reputation for nature writing with the Los Angeles Times and
as an ardent defender of natural wonders, including the wonders of an untamed Colorado River. He helped prevent dams that would have flooded Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado and parts of the Grand Canyon; the one that flooded Glen Canyon he could not stop. It was his idea to bring wooden dories to the Grand Canyon, and he owned a river-running business there for decades. The town of Portola Valley will be honoring Mr. Litton and his environmental activism on the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 16, at the Blues & Barbecue Festival. The event is at Town Center at 765 Portola Road, and proceeds go to support the purchase and maintenance of open space in town. Mr. Litton’s friend David Brower, founder of Friends of the Earth, recommended him to Sunset, he said. After residing in Menlo Park for a year and Los Altos for four years, the Littons in 1959 moved to a steep four-acre parcel in what is now Portola Valley and built a house on the one spot suitable for construction, a house in which they raised four children and in which Martin and Esther still live. In the 1950s, trains passed through Los Altos, and Mr. Litton is a fan of trains. The transit corridor for Foothill Expressway then accommodated two rights of way: a road and a
State fines hospital $50,000 By Sandy Brundage and Palo Alto Weekly Staff
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enlo Park Surgical Hospital was one of 14 hospitals recently cited by the state after the California Department of Public Health found violations of licensing requirements that “caused, or (were) likely to cause, serious injury or death to patients.” The hospital, a Willow Road facility connected with the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, was fined in a 2009 case of improper equipment set-up for endometrial surgery that led to rupture
of the patient’s bladder, according to the state. According to the health department report, a patient with a history of “pelvic pain endometriosis, right ovarian cyst and possible interstitial cystitis” was admitted for complex endometrial surgery. A bag of fluid to stretch the bladder wall for examination was mistakenly attached to a mechanical pump for a different procedure, rather than hung with no pressure, resulting in rupture of the bladder. The See HOSPITAL, page 10
Almanac photo by Michelle Le
Martin Litton helped prevent the building of dams that would have flooded Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado and parts of the Grand Canyon.
railroad connecting Monterey and Los Gatos to San Francisco. “Something to enjoy looking at,” Mr. Litton said, referring to the steam engines that passed by. Steam engines would be memorable for someone who is 95 years old. “I’m 95 and a half,” Mr. Litton replied when asked if he was 95. The drama of steam engines is long gone, and Mr. Litton is now a fan, at a distance, of the MetroLink, the 20-yearold, 512-mile commuter train service in Los Angeles, where he grew up. “LA has erupted in trains,” he said. “I’d love to go
down there and spend the day on the trains.” Portola Valley has no trains, nor has it electricity transmission towers, due mostly to the efforts of Peninsula residents, including Mr. Litton. Members of “Save our Skyline” went to court and in 1965, beat back a plan by the Atomic Energy Commission to run power lines to feed the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park. “They were going to come right through here,” Mr. Litton said, looking around Triangle Park. “We beat them out of Portola Valley. They would
have really been ruinous here.” Asked his impression of Portola Valley, he described it as “not really a town. We pretend to be.” With no downtown and no grid of streets, “it doesn’t fit the usual concept of a city,” he said. “It’s a scattering of neighborhoods, you might say.” The word “alpine” — as in Alpine Road, the Alpine Inn, the Alpine Hills Tennis & Swimming Club — bugs him. “What in the world does that (word) mean?” he asked. “Some real estate agent’s idea. There’s nothSee LITTON, page 8
County meets on plastic bag ban By Sandy Brundage
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ocal governments are taking steps this fall to turn a proposed ban on plastic bags into reality. The San Mateo County Planning Commission will meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12, to provide feedback before the Board of Supervisors votes on the ordinance next month. Menlo Park and 24 other Peninsula cities may join the county in restricting the use of single-use carryout bags, and San Mateo County has released an environmental
impact report to explore the effects. The ban targets single-use bags, except those used by restaurants and for produce, and would also implement a 10 cent fee for paper bags until Dec. 31, 2014, and then hike the fee to 25 cents per paper bag. Go to tinyurl.com/8us3hle to review the environmental impact report. Comments on the environmental impact report were accepted until Monday, Sept. 10, but residents may also speak about the proposed ban during the Sept. 12
county Planning Commission meeting. If the supervisors approve the ban, the Menlo Park City Council is expected to vote on the ordinance in January, according to staff. The city will host two informational meetings about the ordinance in mid-October and midDecember. The county Planning Commission meeting starts at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12, in the supervisors’ chamber at 400 County Center in Redwood City. A
September 12, 2012 N TheAlmanacOnline.com N The Almanac N 5
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‘10 Casale Marchese Frascati Superiore .................................... Reg. $12.99 ‘10 Sergio Moturra Orvieto.......................................................... Reg. $13.99 ‘11 Garofoli “Macrina� Verdicchio dei Castelli Jesi ................ Reg $13.99 ‘10 Mancini Vermentino di Gallura .......................................... Reg. $15.99 ‘11 Marco Porello Roero Arneis ................................................... Reg. $16.99 ‘11 Stefano Massone Gavi ............................................................ Reg. $17.99 6 N The Almanac N TheAlmanacOnline.com N September 12, 2012
Experienced expatriate MCCANN
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She encourages women of all ages to travel — if not live abroad — and hopes her experiences serve as some practical advice. “I think women living abroad have it easier because culturally we’re more geared to socializing and respecting the fact that we need a social life,� she said. As for older women, “I would say this is a wonderful opportunity to reexamine options and think of that stuff that you’ve always wanted to do, whether it’s travel or painting or whatever.� Her other point of emphasis is the importance of humor in daily expat life. “Rich and I bust up laughing a lot. We are always putting ourselves in situations where we don’t know what to do; we screw up, and the Spanish are really gracious. They will bend over backwards not to embarrass us.� She recalls a time when Spanish friends of hers were telling a story about a recent trip to St. Petersburg. “Rich didn’t catch what they were talking about, and at the very end of the story he goes: ‘St. Petersburg, I hear it’s lovely. Have you ever been there?’ And perfectly graciously they said, ‘As a matter of fact, we just got back from there,’ and told the whole story again much more slowly,� Ms. McCann said. “That’s the Spanish way of doing it.� “The Spanish way� came in more forms than just social etiquette. “My eating changed so radically,� she said. “I arrived as a low-fat, vegetarian person and now I eat everything. I kept getting taken places where people would hand me a plate of meat and there was no way I could refuse it gracefully, and I didn’t want to; I was trying to integrate myself into the culture.� She eventually even came around to “the Spanish love affair with ham,� as she puts it in her book. “Ham is absolutely essential,� she said. “It’s like air, water, ham. It’s everywhere and it’s absolutely marvelous.� Along with the leisurely, latenight meals came the traditional social drinking. “I didn’t use to drink a lot of beer, but ... when it’s that hot that’s all you want,� she said. “You don’t have to drink a lot to be part of the convivial, social evening.� She recalls the night when her Spanish friends convinced Rich and her to prepare them some classic martinis. “It was Rich’s birthday and they had all been asking about
Photo by Christine Ogilvy
Karen McCann, dressed for Seville’s Feria de Abril (April Fair).
them and you can’t find them over there to save your life,� Ms. McCann said. “We had this big martini party and everyone was dying to try them. They take two sips and they are just pie-eyed within half an hour because it’s not (part of) their custom.� In addition to her many Spanish friends, Ms. McCann, who heads a welcome committee at a women’s club, has also established an expat social circle with people of all ages. “In the expat community, because it’s so small, we’re just so excited to meet someone we’re sympathetic with that we put aside the whole issue of generation,� she said. She wrote a book once before, in Ohio, about alternative medicine. Titled “Taking Charge of Your Hospital Stay,� it explained that staying in a hospital is like living in a foreign country. “It’s got its own language, its own rules, its own monetary system; everything,� she said. As for her newest book, she grappled with the content and the structure for some time. She decided to self-publish the book, using a print-on-demand service; customers buy the book on Amazon, which prints a copy only after the order has been placed. Despite being such an advocate of living abroad, she emphasizes that her experiences are only one example of living a fulfilling life in the “golden years.� “It’s about a mental attitude, not a geographical location,� she said. “I know a lot of people who have retired and moved to Florida and decided their goal was to live a life of total ease. I think that’s a perfectly legitimate choice, but I don’t think it’s the inevitable choice. ... The most interesting part of your life may be just beginning.� A
Go to enjoylivingabroad.com for more information about Karen McCann and her book.
R EAL E STATE Q&A
N E W S
by Monica Corman
Best Way To Look For Rentals Dear Monica: I am looking for a rental in the Palo Alto area and would like to know the best way to go about this. Where would I find the best information about available rentals? Lisa N. Dear Lisa: There are a few ways to search for rentals in this area. First, there are a few apartment buildings and complexes that are strictly rental properties. There are usually vacancies at these places and if you rent such a place you don’t have to worry that the owner will decide to sell it and make you move. It is also good to check with your real estate agent to get information about rentals being offered through agents or that agents know about. Most rentals offered through agents are listed
Cyclist injured A bicyclist was injured Aug. 28 on Santa Cruz Avenue near Hillview Middle School in Menlo Park when the occupant of a parked car opened a door as the cyclist was approaching in the bike lane. The cyclist struck the door and sustained non-life-threatening injuries, according to Menlo Park police spokesperson Nicole Acker. The cyclist, who complained of pain, was taken to a hospital. The accident occurred between Hillview Drive and Olive Street during an open house event for the new Hillview Middle School campus.
Sharon Heights residents rally against ‘affordable housing’ site Almanac Staff Writer
C
learly the key to community engagement in Menlo Park is to suggest building “affordable housing� in Sharon Heights, in a park. The city recently held two workshops to solicit feedback on where to place an estimated 1,000 high-density and affordable housing units it must add as part of a lawsuit settlement over Menlo Park’s lack of compliance with state housing law. Of the 32,516 residents counted by the state’s most recent census, about 100 attended the workshops. The number of Sharon Heights residents rising up in outrage over the inclusion of a neighborhood park as a potential housing site, however, appears well on
the way to creating a veritable mountain of feedback — a couple hundred emails were sent to the council in protest — and spawned a petition. The list of 25 potential sites was narrowed by the Housing Element Update Steering Commission after the workshops. Dropped from consideration: seven sites, including parcels in the M2 industrial zone, SRI’s property on Ravenswood Avenue, the Hewlett Foundation’s Sand Hill Road site, and a city-owned lot on Willow Road. The commission added one — the soon-to-be vacant main post office at 3875 Bohannon Drive. Still on the list: Sharon Park, albeit with a suggestion that the 2.67-acre site be limited to highdensity senior housing.
Who lives in BMR homes? The Almanac obtained a list of occupations for those who live in Menlo Park’s below-market-rate units. The city provided the following data: UĂŠĂŠĂŠ`Â“ÂˆÂ˜ÂˆĂƒĂŒĂ€>ĂŒÂˆĂ›iĂŠ assistant UĂŠĂŠĂŠĂ•`ÂˆĂŒÂœĂ€ĂŠ UĂŠĂŠĂŠ >Â˜ÂŽĂŠĂŒiÂ?Â?iÀÊ UĂŠĂŠĂŠ ˆÂ?Â?ˆ˜}ĂŠ>˜>Â?ĂžĂƒĂŒĂŠ UĂŠĂŠĂŠ Ă•ĂƒÂˆÂ˜iĂƒĂƒĂŠÂœĂœÂ˜iĂ€ UĂŠĂŠĂŠ >ÀiÂ˜ĂŒiÀÊ UĂŠĂŠĂŠ …ÕÀVÂ…ĂŠ`ÂˆĂ€iVĂŒÂœĂ€ĂŠ UĂŠĂŠĂŠ Â?iÀŽÊ UĂŠĂŠĂŠ ÂœÂ“ÂŤĂ•ĂŒiÀÊÀiĂƒÂœĂ•Ă€ViĂŠ associate UĂŠĂŠĂŠ ÂœÂ˜ĂƒĂŒĂ€Ă•VĂŒÂˆÂœÂ˜ĂŠ manager
UĂŠĂŠĂŠ iÂ?ÂˆĂ›iÀÞÊVÂœÂœĂ€`ˆ˜>ĂŒÂœĂ€ĂŠ UĂŠĂŠĂŠ iÂ˜ĂŒ>Â?ĂŠĂŒiV…˜ˆVˆ>Â˜ĂŠ UĂŠĂŠĂŠ ÂˆĂ›ÂˆĂƒÂˆÂœÂ˜ĂŠÂ“>˜>}iÀÊ UĂŠĂŠĂŠ ˜}ˆ˜iiÀÊ UĂŠĂŠĂŠ Ă?iVĂ•ĂŒÂˆĂ›iĂŠ administrator UĂŠĂŠĂŠ Ă?iVĂ•ĂŒÂˆĂ›iĂŠVÂ…ivĂŠ UĂŠĂŠĂŠĂžÂ“Â˜>ĂƒĂŒÂˆVĂƒĂŠ instructor UÊÊÊՓ>Â˜ĂŠĂ€iĂƒÂœĂ•Ă€ViĂƒĂŠ assistant UĂŠĂŠĂŠÂœĂ•Ă€Â˜>Â?ÂˆĂƒĂŒĂŠ UĂŠĂŠĂŠÂˆLĂ€>Ă€Âˆ>Â˜ĂŠ
UĂŠĂŠĂŠ" vvˆViĂŠ>ĂƒĂƒÂˆĂƒĂŒ>Â˜ĂŒĂŠ UĂŠĂŠĂŠ*>Ă€>Â?i}>Â?ĂŠ UĂŠĂŠĂŠ*Â…ĂžĂƒÂˆVÂˆĂƒĂŒ UĂŠĂŠĂŠ,i>`ˆ˜}ĂŠĂƒÂŤiVˆ>Â?ÂˆĂƒĂŒĂŠ UĂŠĂŠĂŠ,iViÂŤĂŒÂˆÂœÂ˜ÂˆĂƒĂŒĂŠ UĂŠĂŠĂŠ,iVĂ€i>ĂŒÂˆÂœÂ˜ĂŠ supervisor UĂŠĂŠĂŠ,iĂƒi>Ă€VÂ…ĂŠVÂ…iÂ“ÂˆĂƒĂŒĂŠ UĂŠĂŠĂŠ->Â?iĂƒĂŠ>ĂƒĂƒÂœVˆ>ĂŒiĂŠ UĂŠĂŠĂŠ-œVˆ>Â?ĂŠi`Ă•V>ĂŒÂˆÂœÂ˜ĂŠ director UĂŠĂŠĂŠ/i>VÂ…iĂ€
One of the best sources for rental information in the past has been a popular, free, online posting service. However this online source has lately been plagued by scammers who distort the information or worse, try to get users of the site to give up private information and even money. It has become such a problem in this area that many owners and agents have stopped using this source entirely. If you do visit this website, beware of the information you find. If a rental sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
For answers to any questions you may have on real estate, you may e-mail me at mcorman@apr.com or call 462-1111, Alain Pinel Realtors. I also offer a free market analysis of your property. www.MonicaCorman.com
Photo by Michelle Le/The Almanac
By Sandy Brundage
on the Multiple Listing Service and the information is available on many of the online real estate websites, and in some cases, in local print and online newspapers.
DON’T START FROM SCRATCH
Comments sent to the City Council ranged from impassioned pleas for the park where at least one resident had a first kiss to pointing out the site lies far from any amenities or public transit, to the downright ugly. One anonymous “MP citizen� wrote, “Keep low income trash out of Sharon Heights. Put them in East Menlo Park where they belong. People who don’t have the ability or work ethic to live in a nice neighborhood shouldn’t be given handouts.� The Almanac obtained a breakdown of the occupations of those living in the city’s current 61 below-market-rate (BMR) units, which includes several teachers, a research chemist, an engineer and a physicist. Housing Commissioner Carolyn Clarke, who sits on the steering commission and is running for City Council, said there’s nothing to fear. “There is a misconception that what is called affordable housing is low income housing, and this is not the case.� For example, she said, the test used for applicants to the city’s BMR program determines whether they are fully employed with healthy financial records. “We are talking about people who teach our children, protect See HOUSING, page 9
If your prescription eyeglass lenses are made of plastic, they are vulnerable to scratching. To avoid the tiny scratches that accumulate over time to obscure vision, resist wiping glasses when they are dry. Never use a paper product to wipe, nor should you use a window cleaner or saliva to clean plastic lenses. Instead regularly clean lenses with warm water and a drop of dish detergent. Then, wipe dry with a clean cotton cloth or a microfiber cloth. For impromptu cleanings, carry a small
bottle of lens cleaner and a suitable wiping cloth in your car, purse, or pocket. Avoid leaving eyeglasses lying around unprotected, particularly on a car’s dashboard, where concentrated sunlight and heat can ruin frames. It can be tempting for eyeglass wearers to clean them with any piece of cloth that’s handy — including the bottom of a shirt. In addition to helping you enjoy clear vision, your glasses are an investment. Take them off with two hands, rinse them under water, and use a soft micro-fiber cloth to clean smudges. At MENLO OPTICAL we offer a variety of lenses, including plastic, Trivex, and High-index, and also offer cleaning supplies and protective cases. Please call us at 322-3900, or visit us at 1166 University Drive, on the corner of Oak Grove Avenue and University Drive. P.S. Hair spray or perfume droplets can damage eyeglass lenses’ anti-reflective coatings. Mark Schmidt is an American Board of Opticianry and National Contact Lens Examiners Certified Optician licensed by the Medical Board of California. He can be easily reached at Menlo Optical, 1166 University Drive, Menlo Park. 650-322-3900.
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Almanac photo by Michelle Le
Martin Litton, right, shares laughs with friends Nani Venegas, left, and her husband Michael Powers at “Martinis with Martin” on June 21 at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos. Mr. Powers presented Mr. Litton with photos he took from their past river trips. The event was hosted by the Sequoia ForestKeeper organization to honor Mr. Litton’s accomplishments. Mr. Litton was a glider pilot for the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II.
Litton honored for lifetime of environmental activism LITTON continued from page 5
ing alpine about it. We’re not in the Alps.” One thing that Portola Valley does have in common with the Alps: they’re on the same planet. Whose job is it to save it from climate change? “It’s too late, too late,” Mr. Litton said wearily. “It’s unbelievable that (the debate) has gone the way it has.” What should be done? “Stop multiplying right now,” he said. A big part of the problem, he added, are religions that encourage large families and preach human subjugation of the Earth. How do you reach people not in the environmental choir? “A lot of them aren’t reachable because they don’t care. They don’t feel the problem in their individual lives. “It’s not a popular subject because it’s unpleasant. People don’t want to hear about it (but) who’s kidding who. Global warming is here. The polar ice is breaking up.” The ice that used to appear in his birdbath for three or four
days every winter is also gone, he noted. Begone, HP!
On the royal decrees question, Mr. Litton did note one more that he would have issued before the others: Require HP Corp. to move off the Peninsula. Why? “Because I don’t like David Packard,” he said, then recounted an incident from the early 1960s outside HP corporate offices in Palo Alto. Mr. Litton was a founding member of the then-recently formed Committee for Green Foothills. On this evening, he was parked along the street standing outside his car and photographing HP offices ablaze with interior lights. Mr. Packard, the company’s cofounder, had claimed that keeping lights on, even at night, was more efficient, Mr. Litton said. Mr. Packard drove by Mr. Litton “in his Cadillac” and stopped to ask him who he was and what he was doing, Mr. Litton said. He told him he was with the Committee for Green Foothills and that he was taking pictures of the buildings with
their lights on. According to Mr. Litton, Mr. Packard replied: “I thought you might be one of them stupid bastards.” Asked to comment, Michael S. Malone, Mr. Packard’s biographer, said in an email that it was a “funny story” he hadn’t heard before, recalled Mr. Packard driving an Oldsmobile Toronado, and that the words attributed to Mr. Packard “are his style.” Mr. Malone continued: “The light thing is interesting because I remember that argument about keeping them on. Might be true, as those were some very powerful lights that probably did consume much of their power being turned on. But if justified as engineering, it certainly was a PR mistake.” The incident continued, according to Mr. Litton, whose wife was with him in a separate car. Mr. Packard allegedly took down the license plate numbers of both cars, scaring his wife away in the process, then following her home; she lost him on Portola Valley streets, but Mr. Packard was back in the neighborhood the next morn-
8 N The Almanac N TheAlmanacOnline.com N September 12, 2012
Portola Valley Blues & BBQ Blues & Barbecue, the traditional fall festival to benefit the purchase of open space in Portola Valley, returns to the Town Center at 765 Portola Road on Sunday, Sept. 16, after a hiatus of two years. The day includes a concert, a silent auction, inflatable games and other entertainment for kids, a climbing wall, plenty of food and drink, and recognition of noted environmental activist and longtime resident Martin Litton. The festival opens at 2:30 p.m., with the silent auction starting at 3 p.m. and the concert by the Daniel Castro Band and Acoustic Therapy at 3:30. The recognition of Mr. Litton is set for 5:45 p.m. Tickets are $65 for an individual and $650 for a table for 10 for the package deal that includes appetizers, seating at a table, and the barbecue dinner from Bianchini’s Market in Ladera along with wine and beer. Without the alcoholic beverages and without the table seating, tickets are $35 for adults and $15 for youth aged 12 or younger. If you bring your own picnic food, admission plus appetizers is $20 for adults and $10 for kids. Tickets are available via PayPal. After expenses, revenues from the festival go to the Open Space Acquisition Fund to buy and maintain open space in town. Write to events@portolavalley.net for more information. ing with a car full of “men in fedoras,” Mr. Litton said. “Chasing people through the night in his car doesn’t seem like Packard,” Mr. Malone said. Mr. Packard’s foundation later
provided the initial financial backing for the Monterey Bay Aquarium and its associated marine research institute, and became a major supporter of environmental causes. A
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Summary Reports Summary Real Estate Reports for Week of September for Week of May 7. 10.
Menlo Park protest
Available at
Shaunn Cartwright, left, and Joseph Rosas protested in Menlo Park on Thursday, Sept. 6, over the imprisonment of U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning, who is being held at Fort Leavenworth federal prison in Kansas on accusations of turning over thousands of secret government documents to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks in 2010. About 25 people from Occupy San Jose and Peninsula Direct Action showed up for the two-hour protest at 350 El Camino Real in Menlo Park. The office there is not affiliated with the Democratic Party but established by and for volunteers who support Photo by Michelle Le/The Almanac Democratic Party causes, office manager Mike Aydelott told the Almanac. A spokesman for the Bradley Manning Support Network said similar protests had been planned for “dozens of cities across the U.S.” on the last day of the Democratic National Convention.
PeninsulaSpecialist.com
Reports for: Atherton Woodside Portola Valley Menlo Park
STEVE GRAY offers 30+ years of local knowledge. Born in Menlo Park. Raised in Atherton. A Woodside resident.
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$85 million asked for Woodside estate The 92-acre Flood estate on secluded Greer Road in Woodside, a property that has remained in the same family since 1941, is up for sale. Elizabeth Flood, who bought the property with her husband James, died in April 2011, according to the real estate website of Mary & Brent Gullixson. The asking price for the estate
is $85 million but whatever it sells for, San Mateo County will reap a windfall in tax revenues when the property is reappraised. The valuation in 2011 was $7,944, the Gullixson website says. The estate consists of three parcels, with a main house of 9,000-square-feet, nine bedrooms and eight and a half baths, the website says. The
property includes a lake, a reservoir, a vineyard and a creek as well as a two-bedroom gate house, a three-bedroom caretaker’s house, a pool, a tennis court and a three-stall barn. Among the noted guests was President John F. Kennedy, and the Kingston Trio once played for a debutante ball for one of the couple’s daughters, the website says. A
Celebrating anniversary of Committee for Green Foothills The Committee for Green Foothills is inviting the public to help celebrate its 50th anniversary on Sunday, Sept. 23, with an afternoon gathering at Runnymede Farm at 980 Runnymede Road in Woodside. Rarely open to the public, this
100-acre farm has an extensive collection of sculptures by noteworthy artists such as ceramicist Jun Kaneko and sculptors Viola Frey and Andy Goldsworthy. The four-hour celebration begins at 2:30 p.m. and includes
“scrumptious food” and remarks by American West scholar and author Jon Christensen and author Lynn Stegner. Space is limited and individual tickets begin at $125. Go to tinyurl.com/CGF-777 for more information.
HOUSING
Ohtaki as well as Assemblyman Rich Gordon, D-Menlo Park, are scrutinizing the process. “Affordable housing is a worthy goal, but the degree and how it gets implemented is the problem,” Mr. Ohtaki said. “In terms of degree, these (housing) allocations are driven by the State of California saying the Bay Area will grow by 2,147,000 by 2040 from 7,152,000 in 2010. That’s a very big number, and I don’t think the region or state grew anywhere near that rate over the last 10 years.” Menlo Park is exploring whether secondary units, otherwise known as “granny units” may be counted toward the allocation. That would also save on costs. According to another Peninsula city, Sunnyvale, it costs between $116,000 to $250,000 per unit for cities to subsidize affordable housing. “The State has taken away
our (redevelopment) funds, of which 20 percent went to affordable housing, so just who is going to pay for these units to be built?” Mr. Ohtaki asked. “In effect, cities go through this time-consuming and expensive process to allocate these highly speculative population growth numbers down to re-zoning specific parcels, thereby raising fears in neighborhoods, and yet many of these affordable units may not get built because there’s no funding available.”
continued from page 7
our homes against crime and fire and assist us at our public library when we search for a book. ... They too want to share our delight in living in Menlo Park.” Addressing concerns of Sharon Heights residents who spoke at the Sept. 5 Housing Commission meeting, Ms. Clarke said she’s confident that the city will plan for added units with “the appropriate consideration for each needed zoning change ensuring a healthy balance between housing and maintaining livability standards in Menlo Park” as well as follow its own regulations for infill development. In the meantime, several officials are questioning the way the state calculates housing requirements. Vice Mayor Peter
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WEST BAY SANITARY DISTRICT NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE IS GIVEN that the District Board of West Bay Sanitary District will conduct a Public Hearing on Wednesday evening, September 26, 2012 in conjunction with its regularly scheduled meeting which commences at 7:00 p.m. The location of the meeting is at the District’s offices, 500 Laurel Street, Menlo Park, California 94025. The purpose of the Public Hearing will be to consider a proposed increase in Sewer Connection Fees for all District customers. The proposed rates are as follows:
Connection Fee Dollars District Residential Unit
$5,596.00
Supplementary Connection Fee $763.20
Authority
Total
$1,740.20 $2,376.00
$7,336.20 $7,972.00
$237.30 $324.00
$1,000.50 $1,087.20 (c)
Non-Residential Use Equal or Less than 325 mg/l BOD and/or SS
$25.44/gpd +$7.91 $10.80/gpd +$763.20 +$237.30 $324.00
$33.35 $36.24/gpd +$1,000.50 $1,087.20
Greater than 325 mg/l BOD and/or SS
$25.44/gpd
Total(b)
(a) (b) (c)
Ratio(a)
The connection fee for Authority expansion costs is calculated by multiplying $7.91 $10.80/gpd times the average daily flow in gpd, times the ratio of the highest of the BOD and SS concentrations to 325 mg/l subject to a minimum connection fee $7.91 $10.80/gpd plus $237.30 $324.00 per connection. The total connection fee is the sum of the District and Authority connection fees subject to a minimum connection fee of $33.35 $36.24/gpd plus $1,000.50 $1,087.20 per connection. The connection fee for a supplementary connection(s) to the same building shall be $1,000.50 $1,087.20 per connection. [Amended by General Regulation No.2012-03]
At the Public Hearing, any interested person may address the District Board. Written comments may be submitted at or before the Public Hearing by addressing them to the District Board at the address indicated above. /s/ Phil Scott Phil Scott District Manager Dated: August 22, 2012
The 2013 “Living Well” is coming We are pleased to once again offer our annual publication (now all glossy!) covering the local needs and interests of the 50-plus market.
For infomation on advertising in the 2013 Living Well please contact Connie Jo Cotton Sales Manager ccotton@paweekly.com (650) 326-8210 x5671 or your sales representative or call 650.326-8210. Deadline to advertise is October 2nd..
Firefighters extinguish fire in warehouse Firefighters put out a 2-alarm fire in a commercial warehouse in Menlo Park late Saturday night, Sept. 1, a fire chief said. Fire crews responded just after 11:45 p.m. to the fire at the 5,000-square-foot warehouse of wooden and plastic pallet business Duran Pallets at 3620 Haven Ave., Menlo Park Fire District Chief Harold Schapelhouman said. Fire personnel had to break into the smoke-filled warehouse by cutting holes in the building’s rolling metal doors, the fire chief said. “The good news was that they had a sprinkler system, so that kept the fire in check until we could get the building opened
up,” he said. Once inside, firefighters saw a roughly 10-foot stack of wooden pallets on fire. It took about 20 minutes to get the fire under control, Chief Schapelhouman said. The chief said exposed electrical cords may have sparked the fire, but an investigation into exactly what caused the blaze is ongoing. He said the fire caused an estimated $25,000 in damage to the building. No workers were inside the warehouse at the time of the fire, and no firefighters were injured.
HOSPITAL
case of a nurse who inappropriately removed sutures that anchored a patient’s tracheostomy tube, which later dislodged. The patient was in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit following treatment for a tear in his heart and placement of a stent. A tracheostomy tube was inserted after he developed respiratory failure. Without proper permission or documentation, a nurse removed the sutures in order to clean the area around the tube. After the patient stopped breathing, a doctor noted the tube had dislodged and the sutures were not in place. The patient was revived, but later died. Stanford said the staff member was “re-educated about the policy which states there is a requirement to obtain a physician order prior to carrying out an intervention related to the removal of trach ties.” The hospital said it also educated RNs to changes in its tracheostomy care policy, and followed up with compliance audits through the first quarter of 2011. The 12 other hospitals cited Thursday paid a total of $725,000. They included Kaiser Foundation Hospital in San Francisco, which paid $100,000 in its third administrative penalty, the health department said. Kaiser Foundation Hospital in South San Francisco paid $75,000 in its second administrative penalty. Saint Francis Memorial Hospital and St. Mary’s Medical Center, both in San Francisco, paid $50,000 apiece for their first administrative penalties, according to the health department.
continued from page 5
patient was discharged home with a tube placed in the bladder for urine drainage for two weeks, the report said. “The California Department of Public Health has informed us that we have been issued a $50,000 fine for an incident in 2009 where established surgical policies and procedures were not followed. The patient made a full recovery from the incident,” said hospital spokesperson Jill Antonides, who added that this was the first time the hospital had received an administrative penalty. “We are considering an appeal but have not finalized that decision.” Immediately after the incident in 2009, Menlo Park Surgical Hospital reviewed policies and procedures, re-educated staff members regarding the procedures at issue, and researched options for and later purchased new equipment, according to Ms. Antonides. The staff review was followed up with random observational audits, Menlo Park Surgical Hospital said. “There have been no further incidents since that time, and the staff person involved in the incident is no longer with the organization,” Ms. Antonides said. “We have cooperated fully with the CDPH and have met all deadlines for responding to them through the process, and we remain fully committed to ensuring the safety of our patients and to delivering exceptional health care.” Other cases
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Stanford University Hospital was fined $50,000 for the 2010
— Bay City News Service
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September 12, 2012 N TheAlmanacOnline.com N The Almanac N 11
A community health education series from Stanford Hospital & Clinics
When Vascular Disease Strikes, Surgery May Be Best Choice Stanley Ingerman went along for most of his life pretty much like a lot of other people. He endured the normal childhood diseases—he remembers measles and chickenpox. As an adult, he hit six feet tall and managed to maintain a healthy weight, give or take a few pounds, into his mid-50s. Then one night he woke up with an incredible pain in his right leg.
Ingerman, his doctor said, had developed peripheral artery disease, PAD for short. Like a lot of other people with the condition, he had been a smoker—smoking increases the risk of PAD by two to six times—he was over 60 and the disease’s symptomatic pain was in his legs. The arteries carrying blood to his legs had become clogged with fatty deposits. An estimated 8 million people in the United States suffer from PAD. To treat the condition, Ingerman’s surgery followed the standard procedure: The failed artery in his leg was replaced by a vein from his other leg. With luck, it would last several years. Because he was showing signs of high
What Mell found was that a previous bypass had failed and couldn’t be salvaged. “Generally, when bypass grafts fail after a period of time it’s usually because of the progression of the disease,” Mell said.
Renewed challenge “I was doing everything right,” Ingerman said. But, eight years later, that first fix finally failed when the artery clogged, and Ingerman went through another surgery. In the 18 months that followed, Ingerman’s artery failed three more times and his physicians finally told him he needed to go to Stanford. They had done everything they could.
Norbert von der Groeben
“On a scale of one to 10, it was at least a 7.5,” Ingerman said. “My toes were turning color. There was no blood flow. The pain I was feeling was all the muscles dying. I sat there and cried. I was in the doctor’s office the first thing in the morning.”
He had a confidence that made me very comfortable.”
blood pressure, he was advised to reduce the amount of salt in his diet, to lose some weight and to start exercising regularly. He followed all that advice.
The average person’s body contains about 60,000 miles Stanley Ingerman went along for most of his life pretty much like a lot of other of blood vessels, a people. He endured the normal childhood diseases—he remembers measles and combination of veins, chickenpox.Then one night he woke up with an incredible pain in his right leg. which carry blood to the heart; arteries, which carry blood from away from the functioning artery, Ingerman would heart; capillaries, some thinner than lose his leg. Ingerman had a complia hair, which branch from the artercated vascular condition brought about ies all the way out to our toes and by the previous multiple procedures fingers; and venules, the tiny blood that required intervention that wasn’t vessels that connect to the capillaries necessarily straightforward, Mell said. as the oxygen-depleted blood begins its He would have to find a vein in Ingerjourney back to the heart for recirculaman’s other leg that would be a strong tion. Between 5 to 6 quarts of blood enough to maintain steady blood flow around the system in the average flow; he would also have to maneuver adult. The accumulation of deposits around the scar tissue from the previcalled plaque, clumps of debris called ous surgeries to attach the new vein. clots and inflammation of the vessels (vasculitis) can obstruct blood flow, causing a variety of diseases and raising the risk of stroke and heart attack. “He took a vein from my left leg to replace the clogged artery in my right leg and sewed everything back up,” Inger“Before this surgery, I was
“On a scale of one to 10, it was at least a 7.5. My toes were turning color. There was no blood flow. The pain I was feeling was all the muscles dying.” – Stanley Ingerman, Stanford Hospital & Clinics patient Ingerman arrived at Stanford Hospital on New Year’s Eve and found himself a patient of surgeon Matthew Mell, MD, medical director of Stanford’s Vascular Clinic and Lab. “He had a great bedside manner,” Ingerman said. “He answered every question I asked and made sure there were no doubts in my mind about what was going to happen.
Restored vigor
overweight. I was a couch potato. Now I walk 35 miles a week. I watch the foods I eat and I’m much more aware of what my body feels like from day to day, and of my health.” – Stanley Ingerman, Stanford Hospital & Clinics patient Norbert von der Groeben
Matthew Mell, MD, Medical Director of Stanford’s Vascular Clinic and Lab, became Ingerman’s doctor. “He had a great bedside manner,” Ingerman said. “He answered every question I asked. He had a confidence that made me very comfortable. 12 N The Almanac N TheAlmanacOnline.com N September 12, 2012
Fortunately, in a short-term response, Ingerman’s body had recruited collateral vessels near the collapsed artery to circulate a minimal flow of blood. But the body’s natural response would not be enough to sustain real function for Ingerman’s leg. If Mell could not create a repair that would reach from Ingerman’s groin to below his knee as a substitute for the length of non-
Mell points out the long stretch of artery in Ingerman’s leg w flowed. In the surgery he performed on Ingerman, Mell borr Ingerman’s other leg as a substitute.
special feature
What You Should Know about Your Vascular System t The average adult body contains about 60,000 miles of blood vessels which serve as the transport system for 5 to 6 quarts of blood. As oxygen-rich blood leaves the heart, it travels through the arteries; as it returns, it is borne by veins. t Anything that interrupts the free flow of blood from the heart to the rest of the body can cause problems including limb pain, heart attack and stroke. t Blood vessels can be obstructed by fat, cholesterol, calcium and cellular waste products. The condition is called atherosclerosis. Blood flow can also be blocked by vessels whose lining has become inflamed. t Risk factors for blood vessel blockage include diabetes, smoking, high blood pressure, excess weight, age and family history.
t One in four Americans have some form of cardiovascular disease. Between 12 and 20 percent age 65 and older have peripheral artery disease. More than two-thirds will not have any symptoms. t Symptoms can include pain when walking, as well as aching, cramping, weakness and numbing in the hip, thigh, buttocks or calf. Sores or ulcers on the feet or legs can also be an indication of disease. t Non-surgical treatments include medication to reduce cholesterol, thin blood and control diabetes. Quitting smoking, losing weight and exercising also help. For more information about vascular disease care at Stanford, call 650.725.5227 or visit stanfordhospital.org/vascularcare.
Norbert von der Groeben
Join us at http://stanfordhospital.org/socialmedia. Watch the new Stanford Hospital Health Notes television show on Comcast: channel 28 on Mondays at 8:30 p.m., Tuesdays at 3:30 p.m. and Fridays at 8:30 a.m.; channel 30 Saturdays at 10:30 p.m. It can also be viewed at www.youtube.com/stanfordhospital.
After his surgery, “I was on my feet and walking the next day. That was painful, but it was just for a short time,” Ingerman said. Getting up and moving helped him begin a regimen of walking, one of the best therapeutic treatments for PAD, as well as for recovery from his vascular surgery. Once at home again, “I walked 10 to 15 minutes after every meal in an inside hallway and expanded that by five minutes every day until I got up to half an hour—then I started going outside.”
Norbert von der Groeben
where blood no longer rowed a vein from
As many as 40 percent of people with PAD won’t experience symptoms. For those who do, treatment depends on the length of the blockage. “Some people have a very limited disability because there are so many collateral ways for the blood to get
where it needs to go that symptoms aren’t very severe,” Mell said. Because surgical fixes don’t last forever—as Ingerman’s experience shows—choosing surgery as a treatment means weighing its benefits. In Ingerman’s situation, “his risk of amputation was significantly high if we didn’t do something,” Mell said.
“Going to Stanford—just the reputation of the hospital−was enough to put me at ease.” – Stanley Ingerman, Stanford Hospital & Clinics patient Researchers are investigating substitutes for the veins and arteries physicians now harvest from a patient’s body to replace blocked arteries. Having an alternative—possibly some sort of synthetic tubing—would reduce the technical challenges of this type of vascular surgery and speed recovery, Mell said. “But so far nothing has sur-
passed the long term durability of a patient’s own vein,” he said.
Steadied future Ingerman is much healthier now. “Before this surgery, I was overweight. I was a couch potato. Now I walk 35 miles a week. I watch the foods I eat and I’m much more aware of what my body feels like from day to day, and of my health. I’ve become sensitized to that. This was a wakeup call.” Mell has told him that even doing everything right, he may develop another clogged artery and might need another surgery. But Ingerman was not overly concerned. “Going to Stanford—just the reputation of the hospital—was enough to put me at ease,” he said. With Mell as his doctor, and the success of his most recent surgery, “I’m very calm about things at this point.”
Norbert von der Groeben
man said. “I was on my feet and walking the next day. That was painful, but it was just for a short time.” Getting up and moving helped Ingerman begin a regimen of walking, one of the best therapeutic treatments for PAD as well as for recovery from his vascular surgery. Once at home again, “I walked 10 to 15 minutes after every meal in an inside hallway and expanded that by five minutes every day until I got up to half an hour—then I started going outside.”
Ingerman is much healthier now. “Before this surgery, I was overweight. I was a couch potato. Now I walk 35 miles a week. I watch the foods I eat and I’m much more aware of what my body feels like from day to day, and of my health. I’ve become sensitized to that. This was a wake-up call.”
Stanford Hospital & Clinics is dedicated to providing leading edge and coordinated care to each and every patient. It is internationally renowned for expertise in areas such as cancer treatment, neuroscience, surgery, cardiovascular medicine and organ transplant, as well as for translating medical breakthroughs into patient care. Throughout its history, Stanford has been at the forefront of discovery and innovation, as researchers and clinicians work together to improve health on a global level. Stanford Hospital & Clinics: Healing humanity through science and compassion, one patient at a time. For more information, visit www.stanfordhospital.org.
September 12, 2012 N TheAlmanacOnline.com N The Almanac N 13
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Facebook, payday loans on council agenda The Menlo Park City Council will review at its Sept. 11 meeting the upcoming development agreement process for Facebook’s west campus. Renowned architect Frank Gehry designed a 433,555square-foot building for the Constitution Drive location that is expected to accommodate 2,800 engineers. Also on the Sept. 11 agenda: The council appears to be taking pre-emptive action against payday loan businesses. Although no such business currently exists within the city, staff has asked the council for direction on a possible ban after Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto approached the police department about regulating payday loan and auto title loan businesses, which are known for charging sky-high
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