Palo Alto Weekly 02.12.2010 - Section 1

Palo Alto

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Alternatives open for high-speed rail Page 3

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Page 17

Spectrum 12

Title Pages 14

Eating Out 27

Movies 30

Puzzles 52

N Arts Talisman sings soulful stories a cappella

Page 22

N Sports Stanford hosts Cal in Big Splash

Page 32

N Home Orchids: extraordinary and elegant

Page 37

Perinatal Diagnostic Center

Packard Children’s Hospital

Obstetric Anesthesia

Center for Fetal Health

Stanford School of Medicine

TOGETHER WHAT DREW US HERE AS DOCTORS, DRAWS US BACK AS PATIENTS.

www.lpch.org

Obstetricians Karen Shin and Mary Parman spend their days caring for pregnant patients and delivering babies. Now that each doctor is pregnant with her first child, the choice of where to deliver is clear: right here where they deliver their patients’ babies, at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.

“At Packard, every specialist you could ever need is available within minutes, around the clock. When you’ve seen how successfully the physicians, staff and nurses work, especially in unpredictable situations, you instinctively want that level of care for you and your baby.”

To learn more about the services we provide to expectant mothers and babies, visit lpch.org

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Upfront

Local news, information and analysis

Tunnels still possible in Palo Alto, rail officials say New ‘alternatives analysis’ will evaluate underground, elevated options for high-speed rail

marized their progress on the design of the controversial system at a hearing in Palo Alto Tuesday afternoon. More than 150 people turned out for the meeting, many of them concerned and skeptical about the proposed line.

The meeting was scheduled to give the community a sneak peak at an “alternatives analysis” for the Bay Area segment of the 800-mile line. The document, which will include details about various design

by Gennady Sheyner nderground tunnels, elevated tracks and even “stacked trains” running through Palo Alto are all options still on the table for the California High-Speed Rail Authority, the agency charged with building a $42.6 billion high-speedrail line between San Francisco and

U

Los Angeles.

The agency also plans to consider a “hybrid” option that would end the high-speed train line in San Jose and allow passengers to switch to Caltrain for trips further north, rail officials said Tuesday.

Rail-authority officials sum-

options for high-speed rail on the Peninsula, is currently scheduled for release March 4.

On Tuesday, Dominic Spaethling, a regional manager for the rail authority, said the agency’s analysis is considering belowgrade, at-grade and above-grade options for the system in the Palo Alto area. These include the popular but costly tunneling option and the locally reviled elevated-tracks option, which could involve a wall

built along the Caltrain corridor.

Spaethling, who is in charge of the San Francisco-to-San Jose segment, said the width of the Caltrain right-of-way changes at different locations throughout Palo Alto. The authority’s analysis is considering a range of design options to accommodate these widths, he said.

“There are spots in Palo Alto where the (right of way) is 100 feet (continued on page 7)

CIVIL RIGHTS

Cop’s Facebook comments anger rights groups

Veronica Weber

East Palo Alto police detective advocated beating and killing open-carrying gun advocates

by Sue Dremann

C

COMMUNITY

Palo Alto man’s valuables returned — after 11 years State’s lost-and-found holding $5 billion in ‘dormant’ property

by Sue Dremann

W

The status? “Abandoned.”

Since 1959, a law allows the state to take the content of dormant accounts from banks, to avoid continuing service fees and charges, according to Garin Casaleggio, a spokesman for the California State Controller.

In 80 percent of cases, owners of unclaimed accounts were not told their valuables were sent to the state, even though by law they should have been, he said.

Neglected checking and savings accounts, IRAs and retirement plans, certificates of deposit (CDs) and safe-deposit boxes are turned over to the state after three years, according to the controller’s website. Some forms of valuables can be taken within a year.

In Lee’s case, the box hadn’t been accessed since 1998. He opened the account at Great Western Bank, which was sold to Washington Mutual and recently was sold to JP Morgan Chase, he said.

Tom Kelly, a spokesman for Chase Bank, said account re-

Veronica Weber

hen Victor Lee went to the Chase Bank on Homer Avenue in Palo Alto last month, he expected the valuables in his safe-deposit box were safe and readily available.

But Lee got a surprise: His safedeposit box was gone and there was no record the bank ever had it. Gone were his mother’s diamond earrings and the gold coins he had collected, along with other belongings.

“There was no record. It was gone. I was never notified of anything. There was no record of the account — no name, address, Social Security number,” the architect said.

Lee, and thousands of unsuspecting people like him, didn’t realize the bank won’t keep inactive accounts open in perpetuity. The years might pass quickly for busy account holders, but at the banks, the clock is ticking. In 2001, three years after Lee locked his box for safekeeping, the bank turned his valuables over to the state.

Victor Lee holds up the 3K diamond earring given to him by his mother and stored in a security deposit box, and shows seven Krugerrand coins from South Africa that were placed in the box. The box was sent to the state because it was considered an inactive account. After five weeks, Lee got the coins and earring back. cords are generally kept for seven years, so it isn’t unusual that records of Lee’s account would be expunged.

But 2007 reforms by current State Controller John Chiang have added more consumer protections, Casaleggio said.

If the owner has other active accounts, banks can’t close the dormant account. This was done largely to protect IRAs and time deposit accounts that continue to

accrue interest, he said. The State Controller’s Office can now contact owners to let them know their property is about to be taken by the state, something not permitted for 20 years.

Since 2007, approximately 3.2 million notices have been sent — 1.27 million warning owners their property was about to be sent to the state and 1.89 million notify(continued on page 6)

omments allegedly made by an East Palo Alto detective on his Facebook page that advocated beating and potentially killing members of a pro-gun-rights group have sparked a debate about the right to publicly bear arms.

Rod Tuason, an East Palo Alto detective, allegedly posted comments in response to a friend’s post that progun Open Carry members should display their unloaded weapons in cities such as Oakland, Richmond and East Palo Alto — and not limit themselves to “hoity-toity” cities.

The comments from Tuason’s page, which were copied and reposted on an online forum called “Calguns.net,” suggested beating the gun carriers to the ground and shooting them if they made “a furtive movement.”

“Haha we had one guy last week try to do it! He got proned out and reminded where he was at and that turds will jack him for his gun in a heartbeat!” the post read, commenting on an incident in which an Open Carry member was removed from the Mi Pueblo Food Center in East Palo Alto Jan. 27.

“We gave him a real quick reminder how things will go bad real quick!” he added.

In response to a friend’s post, Tuason continued: “Sounds like you had someone practicing their 2nd amendment rights last night!

Should’ve pulled the AR out and prone them all out! And if one of them made a furtive movement ...

2 weeks off!!!” The final comment implied being placed on administrative leave following a shooting (continued on page 7)

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450 CAMBRIDGE AVE, PALO ALTO, CA 94306 (650) 326-8210 PUBLISHER William S. Johnson EDITORIAL Jay Thorwaldson, Editor Jocelyn Dong, Managing 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 Chris Kenrick, Gennady Sheyner, Staff Writers Sue Dremann, Staff Writer, Special Sections Editor Karla Kane, Editorial Assistant Veronica Weber, Staff Photographer Jeanne Aufmuth, Dale Bentson, Colin Becht, Peter Canavese, Kit Davey, Iris Harrell, Sheila Himmel, Kevin Kirby, Jack McKinnon, Renata Polt, Jeanie Forte Smith, Susan Tavernetti, Robert Taylor, Contributors Martin Sanchez, Mike Lata, Editorial Interns DESIGN Shannon Corey, Design Director Raul Perez, Assistant Design Director Linda Atilano, Diane Haas, Scott Peterson, Paul Llewellyn, Senior Designers Laura Don, Gary Vennarucci, Designers PRODUCTION Jennifer Lindberg, Production Manager Dorothy Hassett, Blanca Yoc, Sales & Production Coordinators ADVERTISING Walter Kupiec, Vice President, Sales & Marketing Judie Block, Esmeralda Flores, Janice Hoogner, Gary Whitman, Display Advertising Sales Neil Fine, Rosemary Lewkowitz, Real Estate Advertising Sales David Cirner, Irene Schwartz, Inside Advertising Sales Cathy Norfleet, Display Advertising Sales Asst.

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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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For the Ultimate 3TYLING 3ALON Experience

We’re attempting to close the barn door after the horses have left.

—Arthur Keller, Palo Alto planning commissioner, about the city’s effort to discourage new housing around East Meadow Circle. See story on page 5.

Around Town HOT POTATO ... Palo Alto’s Compost Blue Ribbon Task Force was created last year to help city officials answer a politically sensitive question: What to do with Palo Alto compost when the city’s current landfill closes in 2012? The committee met between March and September and submitted its final report in October. The report urged the city to build an anaerobicdigesting plant near Palo Alto Airport — a recommendation that took the airport community by surprise. The City Council thanked the task force in October but after hearing from the airport community rejected any plan that would negatively impact the airport. The debate is expected to resume next month, but some task force members are already grumbling about the circuitous route the council chose to take toward a major decision. According to a new survey, members of the citizen task force thought the decision-making process was far from ideal. “It was a political compromise that led the task force to deliver a less than optimal recommendation,” one member wrote. “We could have been much more effective if the council had not punted this hot potato to the task force but rather solved the land-use issue and then asked for the task force to work on evaluating the merits of the materials-handling options,” another one opined. “Council didn’t seem to know specifically what it was after,” a third one concluded. One member, when asked for “suggestions for improvements,” responded with, “Don’t use task forces to postpone difficult political decisions.”

HOUSES FOR HAITI ... Visitors to Haiti in the next few years might be greeted with rows of eggshaped, woodpaneled, steelribbed houses if Palo Alto architect Joe Bellomo has his way. Bellomo, whose sleek new “BikeArc”

stations are now on display in Lytton Plaza, just finished building a similarly styled “modular house prototype” that he hopes to bring to the earthquake-ravaged country. This “HouseArc” shares the bike racks’ elliptical shape and minimalist construction, which, Bellomo believes, would make it ideal for tropical countries. It could also be shipped in boxes and quickly assembled, he said. Bellomo, who has designed garages, bike stations and buildings throughout Palo Alto, said he hopes to eventually ship 1,000 of the new houses to Haiti. But first, he plans to ship the system to Hawaii to test it for “hurricane load forces.” More images of the HouseArc are available at www. bikearc.com/houseArc.html.

100-YEAR-OLD BOYS ... Dozens of Boy Scouts joined the Palo Alto City Council this week in commemorating the 100th birthday of Boy Scouts of America. Members of the seven Palo Alto Boy Scout troops led the audience in a Pledge of Allegiance before posing for photos with the council. Mayor Pat Burt read a special proclamation praising the Boy Scouts of America for its mission to “prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of Scout Oath and Law” and lauding the Pacific Skyline Council, which serves about 8,500 youths on the Peninsula.

Boy Scouts of America was founded on Feb. 8, 1910. The first Boy Scout troop in Palo Alto was established in 1912. N

Upfront TECHNOLOGY

The Silicon Valley strategy Palo Altan Christopher Radin hopes technology marketing can help stabilize Afghanistan

by Sue Dremann

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strategists?

By applying the tools of Silicon Valley marketing to the problems of instability and war, he said recently.

“The kinds of things you do to develop high-technology products are similar to the kinds of things you do for economic development,” said Radin, who writes for “The Long War Journal,” a nonprofit website dedicated to reporting and analysis of the “Global War on Terror.”

Radin writes on the Afghanistan National Security Force, which is integral to stabilizing the country and withdrawal of U.S. troops. His 2008 map of areas of rising violence in Afghanistan appeared in the February 2009 Brookings Institute Afghanistan Index on reconstruction and security in post-Sept. 11 Afghanistan. He has been interviewed

by Public Radio International and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

Radin has had a lifelong interest in politics, international affairs and

PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL

Veronic Weber

alo Alto resident Christopher Radin has never set foot in war-torn Afghanistan, nor has he ever served in the military.

The closest he’s gotten to war is as an avid strategy enthusiast playing “Diplomacy” and other board games.

But on Feb. 18 at Tufts University near Boston, Mass., the Silicon Valley product-marketing manager will join 25 experts and policy makers to discuss political settlement and the role of military operations in Afghanistan.

He will speak on a panel beside Ali Jalali, former interior minister of Afghanistan, Noor-Ul-Haq Olomi, chairman of the Armed Services Committee of the Afghan National Assembly, and others at the nation’s oldest graduate school of international relations, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

How did the former Intel Corporation engineer with a master’s degree in chemical engineering go from his laptop to hobnobbing with international policymakers and military

Chris Radin is taking Silicon Valley technology marketing know-how — in which he records areas of rising violence against Afghanis and members of the U.S. military — to a panel discussion of political settlement and the role of the military in Afghanistan. the military, he said. And although the two are oceans apart, he sees parallels between the rebuilding of (continued on page 8)

CIVIC CENTER, 250 HAMILTON AVENUE BROADCAST LIVE ON KZSU, FM 90.1 CABLECAST LIVE ON GOVERNMENT ACCESS CHANNEL 26 (TENTATIVE) AGENDA –– COUNCIL CHAMBERS DUE TO PRESIDENTS’ DAY HOLIDAY THE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2010 HAS BEEN CANCELLED STANDING COMMITTEE MEETINGS The High Speed Rail Committee Meeting will be held at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 The Finance Committee Meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 regarding 1) Long Range Financial Forecast and 2) Auditor’s Office Quarterly Report as of December 31, 2009

LAND USE

Less housing, more businesses for East Meadow Circle?

NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING of the City of Palo Alto Historic Resources Board

New ‘concept plan’ for growing neighborhood also includes highway overpass, bike path

A

bustling business park, a fresh crop of stores, a new overpass above U.S. Highway 101 and a bike path along Adobe Creek are all part of Palo Alto’s latest vision for a neighborhood in the city’s southeast corner.

The traditionally industrial neighborhood around East Meadow Circle has witnessed an explosion of housing units over the past decade, prompting city officials to revise the zoning code and to create a new “concept plan” for the area.

The concept plan, which was unveiled to the city’s Planning and Transportation Commission Wednesday night, is part of the city’s revision of its Comprehensive Plan — the city’s land-use bible.

The East Meadow Circle neighborhood is one of two areas scheduled for an extreme makeover. The area around California Avenue, which includes Fry’s Electronics south of Oregon Expressway, is facing a similar re-evaluation.

Both areas have seen major changes in the past decade.

Around East Meadow Circle, major new housing developments, which include Echelon, Vantage and Altaire, brought more than 500 units to the neighborhoods, frustrating nearby residents and prompting city officials to look for new ways to restrict housing.

“We’re attempting to close the

by Gennady Sheyner barn door after the horses have left, in case there are any more horses out there,” Commissioner Arthur Keller said Wednesday, referring to the city’s effort to discourage new residential developments in the area.

The concept plan for the area — which includes Fabian Way and portions of San Antonio Road and Charleston Road near the Mountain View border in addition to East Meadow Circle — was created over the past year with input from area residents and businesses.

It seeks to bring new research facilities to East Meadow Circle and new stores, including possibly a supermarket, to Charleston Road.

It also envisions a new overpass spanning U.S. Highway 101 that would give residents better access to the baylands. City staff and residents are also pushing for a new pedestrian and bicycle path along Adobe Creek.

The commission supported the bulk of the staff recommendations, though members split over some components of the plan.

Commissioners Samir Tuma and Lee Lippert both said they’d like to see much more retail in the area.

Planning commissioners Keller and Eduardo Martinez supported staff’s proposal for economic revitalization and argued that the new plan should specifically restrict ad-

ditional housing.

“We have to take housing off the table,” Martinez said. “You can’t have research parks next door to apartment buildings.”

Property owners and neighborhood residents also said they would support an effort to revitalize East Meadow Circle and restrict housing, though a few cautioned against changing the zoning just yet.

Developer Jim Baer said many of the buildings in the East Meadow Circle area were built about half a century ago and have been degraded by age. He praised the new concept plan as an “exceptional document.”

But he also asked the commission to refrain from making any specific changes to the city’s density regulations at this time.

Boris Foelsch, a resident of the Palo Verde neighborhood, said he and his neighbors support the city’s effort to improve bike and pedestrian access in the area. He also said residents feel new jobs should take precedence over new housing around East Meadow Circle.

The commission will have at least one more public review of the concept plan, which the city plans to integrate into the Comprehensive Plan. The plan is scheduled to be completed in 2012. N Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be e-mailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com.

Please be advised the Historic Resources Board shall conduct a meeting at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, March 3, 2010 in the Civic Center, Council Chambers, 1st Floor, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California. Any interested persons may appear and be heard on these items.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: February 3, 2010 NEW BUSINESS Public Hearings 1. 300 Homer Avenue (Roth Building): Request by the Department of Planning and Community Environment on behalf of the City of Palo Alto, for Historic Resources Board review and recommendation to the City Council authorizing staff to send a letter of support for the nomination of the Category 2 Roth Building to the National Register of Historic Places.

2. 535 Ramona Street [09PLN-00291]: Request by Cody Anderson Wasney Architects for Historic Resources Board review and recommendation regarding a proposed historic rehabilitation of a Historic Inventory Category 1 building that is located in the National Register Ramona Street Architectural District. The proposed rehabilitation plan includes the preservation and rehabilitation of the character-defining decorative features of the street-facing façade and the interior courtyard, new traditional stained wood windows and doors at the exterior first floor, the provision of a new handicap ramp with decorative open railing, a new courtyard fountain, waterproofing of the courtyard structural slab and installation of a decorative tile courtyard floor, and new awnings. An approved historic rehabilitation plan would generate a floor area bonus of 2,500 square feet that would be used in the City’s Transferable Development Rights (TDR) program. Zone District: CD-C(GF)(P).

OTHER BUSINESS 3. Discussion of potential topics for the Joint City Council-HRB annual meeting.

Questions. If interested parties have any questions regarding the above applications, please contact the Planning Division at (650) 329-2441. The files relating to these items are available for inspection weekdays between the hours of 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM and 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM and staff reports will be available for inspection at 2:00 PM the Friday preceding the hearing.

The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn more about the City’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), please contact the City’s ADA Coordinator at 650.329.2550 (voice) or by e-mailing ada@cityofpaloalto.org.

Steven Turner, Advance Planning Manager

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Upfront

Valuables

SPORTS

(continued from page 3)

Blogging the Olympics Palo Alto Online will host commentary from 1976 Olympic gold medalist John Naber ohn Naber, a 1973 Woodside at the Games.

High graduate, won four gold “The Olympic Games are difmedals and one silferent because many ver at the 1976 Olymvisitors come to watch pic Games in Montreal the event, and they in swimming. He was don’t really care who inducted into the U.S. wins. They just want to Olympic and Bay Area witness excellence. The Sports halls of fame applause for the winner and was twice elected is almost universal and president of the U.S. always genuine,� Naber Olympians (America’s said this week.

Olympic Alumni As“Since my Olympic sociation). success in Montreal, I John Naber Starting Feb. 14, cannot hear the ‘StarNaber will be attendSpangled Banner’ withing the 2010 Winter Games in out being reminded of the pride Vancouver, Canada, and posting and patriotism I felt on that day.� his observations and impressions Naber has written an inspion a blog on www.PaloAltoOn- rational book, “Awaken the line.com.

Olympian Within: Stories from He will be traveling to Seattle America’s Greatest Olympic Mofirst to pick up Olympic teammate tivators,� which is available at Wendy Boglioli and her husband www.JohnNaber.com. N — Palo Alto Weekly staff before joining thousands of fans

J

A Guide to the Spiritual Community First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto Sunday School for all ages – 9:00 a.m.

Sunday Services – 10:25 a.m. “The children in our midst, the mission at our doorstep, a place of hospitality and grace�

625 Hamilton Ave, Palo Alto

(650) 323-6167 s WWW &IRST0ALO!LTO COM FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UCC

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This Sunday: Love, Exciting and New...

Rev. David Howell Preaching

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ROAD RACE SERIES

Sunday, February 14th, 10:00 am

“God and Global Warming: Who Are We and How Shall We Live?�

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Information: 650-723-1762

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We Invite You to Learn and Worship with Us.

FPCMV welcomes our new Pastor Timothy R. Boyer.

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INSPIRATIONS

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MAY 9

SEPTEMBER 24

Corrections OCTOBER 23

NOVEMBER 14

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ing owners their property is in possession of the state, according to the controller’s office.

Property seized isn’t only from banks. Property can include everything from refunds from electric companies to insurance and wages, he said.

The state currently has more than $5 billion in unclaimed property and 8 million accounts.

Chiang’s office has sought legislation to lengthen the dormancy period to five years. He is pursuing restoration of interest paid on claims, imposition of strict penalties on institutions that fail to notify customers of unclaimed property they are holding and allowance of the state to keep property having no commercial value for seven years instead of 18 months, so owners can claim family heirlooms such as photos.

Legislation to require banks to tell customers of the three-year dormancy rule when they open accounts was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The state keeps all seized possessions in a vault in Sacramento, but at some point, it can be sold. Proceeds from auctioned property are converted into cash and if a claimant comes forward, they are reimbursed. Since Chiang took office in 2006, no auctions have taken place, Casaleggio said.

The average “payout� in terms of property value is $1,000, according to Casaleggio. Last fiscal year, from July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2009, the state received $488.6 million and returned 215,000 properties worth $209 million, he said.

To keep accounts from being sent to the state, Casaleggio suggested going into the bank once a year to keep the account active. If bank notices have stopped coming, a customer should contact the institution to let them know he or she wants to keep the account active.

Lee said he went online to http:// scoweb.sco.ca.gov/UCP/ to begin the process of getting his belongings back, which can take up to 180 days. (Residents can also call 800992-4647, Casaleggio said.)

Lee filed a notarized claim. After about a month, the state found the contents of his box, but officials said they did not know what was in it.

Lee waited.

Earlier this week, after several anxious days he received a parcel — containing all of his valuables.

He laughed when asked if he would trust ever having a safe-deposit box again. “I think so, but I think I have to remember to use it again occasionally,� he said. N Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be e-mailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.

Human Relations Commissioner Ray Bacchetti was inaccurately identified as vice chair of the commission in a Feb. 1 story. Daryl Savage and Olana Khan are the commission’s chair and vice chair, respectively. The Weekly regrets the error. To request a correction, contact Managing Editor Jocelyn Dong at 650326-8210, jdong@paweekly.com or P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302.

Upfront

High-speed rail (continued from page 3)

and there are spots where it’s 60 feet,” Spaethling said. “We’re looking at a variety of solutions that can accommodate these widths.”

Tim Cobb, whose firm HNTB is performing engineering work for the Peninsula segment, said the alternatives analysis is also considering stacking train tracks in sets of two. This could entail keeping the two existing Caltrain tracks in their current alignment and building two new high-speed-rail tracks either above or below them. This appears to be a particularly viable option at areas where the right-of-ways are narrow, such as Churchill Avenue, rail officials said.

The design of the line became a hot topic in Palo Alto last year when residents learned that the system might entail a wall along the Caltrain tracks with trains running along its top. Rail officials didn’t say Tuesday which of the alternatives is currently the most viable but emphasized that all remain possible.

Spaethling said the authority will also consider investigating what he called a “hybrid” model. This could entail having passengers switch

Gun advocates (continued from page 3)

incident.

More than 500 outraged posters on the pro-gun Calguns.net forum commented on Tuason’s remarks.

Many vowed to flood East Palo Alto with protest letters and to march through the city.

“Saying that you will enjoy the shooting of an innocent and use a pretext — ‘furtive motions’ — to justify the slaying, is an indication of sociopathy. ... He has a badge and a gun, he is aware that his position as a police officer makes it possible for him to justify acts of homicide under certain situations. ... Such individuals should be dealt with harshly,” a Peninsula resident wrote.

Tuason could not be reached for comment. He is a Calguns member, however, according to Gene Hoffman, president and CEO of the Calguns Foundation, a civil-defense and civil-litigation group dedicated to protecting Second Amendment rights.

Tuason has apologized in the online forum to its members, he said.

Hoffman said he thinks Tuason’s comments are sad and were made in jest.

“As a public servant, they were out of line, quite frankly,” he said.

Donald Kilmer, a San Jose family law and civil rights attorney who has represented law-enforcement officers and as well as prosecuted police misconduct cases, said that Tuason may have jeopardized his career with his comments.

If the detective were to be involved in a shooting, and his motives were to be questioned, his past comments could lead people to believe he acted intentionally instead of accidentally.

Kilmer cited the recent case of BART officer Johannes Mehserle,

FIFTY-FOURTH SEASON 2009-10

from a high-speed train to Caltrain or having the high-speed trains proceed on existing Caltrain tracks at lower speeds.

These options will not be included in the new alternatives analysis, but would be considered in a later document, he said.

The authority is also planning to release a revised environmental review for the San Francisco-to-San Jose segment in March or April, Spaethling said. The authority completed the report in 2008 but had to decertify it after a Sacramento Superior Court judge ordered revisions.

Palo Alto resident Nadia Naik, co-founder of the group Californians Advocating Responsible Rail Design, encouraged attendees to review carefully both the alternatives analysis and the revised environmental report and to send comments to the authority.

She also suggested that the alternatives analysis may be premature, given that the environmentalimpacts document supporting the analysis hasn’t been officially approved.

“We’re picking out curtains before the bank has approved the mortgage on our property,” Naik said.

Earlier this week, a coalition of nonprofit groups threatened to bring a new lawsuit against the high-

speed-rail project after learning that the Authority based its ridership forecasts on a model that didn’t go through a peer review.

The findings were first reported

by Californians Advocating Responsible Rail Design based on a Jan. 29, 2010, memo from Cambridge Systematics, the rail agency’s consultant.

However, rail officials said Wednesday that the memo with information about ridership projections contained a “typographical error” that made the model seem implausible.

The information included a wrong “frequency coefficient,” a technical term used in determining ridership, rail authority Deputy Director Jeffrey Barker said Wednesday.

The rail authority also acknowledged that the model used to project ridership numbers never went through a peer review.

Spaethling and Cobb are scheduled to present the alternatives analysis for the Bay Area segment of the line at the March 4 meeting of the authority Board of Directors. Rail officials are also planning to hold public meetings on the new analysis in late March and early April. N

who shot and killed a man in a station last year and later claimed he thought he was firing his Taser.

“If the BART officer said on his Facebook page, ‘I can’t wait to plug one of these little punks,’ then he could be charged with murder. You never know what would happen if a few weeks from now this East Palo Alto officer is involved in a shooting,” he said.

Tuason’s comments are exactly why the Unloaded Open Carry (UOC) movement is a bad idea, Kilmer said.

On the street, where police officers face constant danger from criminals, an officer won’t know the good guys from the bad guys walking around with a gun on the hip.

“A police officer can’t get immune to that,” he said.

East Palo Alto Police spokesman Capt. Carl Estelle agreed.

“We have over 1,200 ShotSpotter activations a year,” he said, referring to a city-wide system that detects when a gun has fired. “We just got a conviction of a cop killer (Alberto Alvarez) who committed a cold-blooded murder of a police officer. To carry guns in East Palo Alto just might not be the smartest thing to do even though under the Second Amendment they can, with some conditions.

“That’s not a threat to anybody — we don’t mean it as a threat. We have to be careful about anybody carrying a weapon out there. Our officers don’t have the time and convenience to assume that a gun is unloaded or that they are Open Carry members,” he said.

But Estelle also said police officers are held to a higher standard than the general populace in terms of their behavior.

“Off-duty behavior can affect and reflect on the department. We have to behave a certain way on or off

duty. We are held to different standards,” he said.

Carrying an unloaded handgun in a holster is not illegal in California, according to police and gun advocates.

Hoffman said the state’s law for licensing of concealed weapons has caused pent-up frustration in California.

The state is one of the few remaining where issuing concealed-weapon permits is not mandatory, he said. In many major cities, including Philadelphia, Detroit, Seattle, Portland, Reno and Las Vegas, people can carry unloaded weapons openly or concealed weapons with a permit.

In the old days, open-carry was considered the noble way to carry a gun.

“I’ve never seen an actual bad guy carry a gun openly. It’s a very rare occurrence. Most gang members you find are hiding a gun concealed under their belt,” he said.

Tuason remains on duty and is not expected to be placed on administrative leave during the course of the investigation, which Estelle said would be thorough and efficient.

But the department is being cautious not to trample on the officer’s First Amendment rights, Estelle said.

“The First Amendment applies to everyone but a police officer? The officer has the same rights as other individuals. We just have to be careful not to violate Second Amendment rights,” he said. N Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be e-mailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.

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Upfront

News Digest PAUSD faces $3.7 million in proposed budget cuts Palo Alto school board members voiced concern Tuesday over a slate of 25 proposed cuts for 2010-11 totaling $3.7 million that would boost the size of ninth-grade English classes, among numerous other impacts.

Cuts recommended by Superintendent Kevin Skelly included “incremental” class-size increases in elementary and middle schools as well as high schools. But board members expressed particular concern about the high school freshman English classes.

“Our first value is academic excellence, and writing is very important,” board member Dana Tom said. “If anything, I would hope to maintain and enhance that critical skill.”

Other budget-reduction proposals included saving $600,000 by boosting kindergarten- through third-grade class size to 22, and fourth- and fifth-grade class size to 24.

“Incremental” increases to sixth-grade classes, bringing them to 26, would yield another $240,000.

Board members asked for more information on the impact of proposed cuts to principals’ discretionary budgets, from $105 per student to $70 per student. Part of that reduction would be made up by donations from the education foundation Palo Alto Partners in Education (PiE).

Skelly indicated he would be able to answer some questions at the next board meeting, Feb. 23, when members may also be asked to vote on the cuts.

The district is trying to plug a projected $7.6 million deficit in its roughly $154 million operating budget for 2010-11. Besides the $3.7 million in cuts, Skelly hopes to make up the gap by using $2.1 million in general fund surplus and $1.8 million in revenue from a proposed increase in the parcel tax. N — Chris Kenrick

‘Evil killer’ sentenced to death Convicted cop-killer Alberto Alvarez showed little emotion in a packed Redwood City courtroom Monday morning as a judge handed him a death sentence for the Jan. 7, 2006, murder of East Palo Alto police Officer Richard May. Surrounded by four sheriff’s deputies, Alvarez, 26, looked squarely at San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Craig L. Parsons as the sentence was read, biting his lower lip and raising his eyes toward the ceiling only once as the weight of the sentence appeared to sink in.

It took Parsons an hour to spell out his reasons for imposing the sentence. He called the officer’s murder “particularly savage and brutal.”

“There was no moral justification ... for the defendant’s conduct,” Parsons said, rejecting defense arguments that Alvarez shot the officer under duress.

Jurors had voted to recommend the death penalty for Alvarez on Dec. 22, having convicted the drug dealer and former gang member of first-degree murder with special circumstances on Nov. 25, just before Thanksgiving.

Alvarez shot and killed May during a gun battle in a residential Weeks Street driveway. May had pursued Alvarez after being dispatched to the nearby Villa Taqueria to investigate a fight in which Alvarez was involved.

Alvarez faces 25 to 30 years on California’s death row before all of his appeals are exhausted prior to execution. An appeal is automatic under state law. N — Sue Dremann

Hotel guests to pay for Palo Alto tourism efforts Seeking to save some cash and “get out of the hotel business,” Palo Alto officials agreed Monday night to end the city’s funding of the tourism program “Destination Palo Alto.” Instead, local hotels will pay for efforts to attract visitors to the city through a regional “Tourism Business Improvement District.”

The move, which the City Council touted as a perfect transition for the city’s 2-year-old visitorship effort, would save the city between $60,000 and $120,000 in the current fiscal year, ending June 30.

Hotels will now add anywhere from 15 cents to $1 to a guest’s hotel bill to pay for “Destination Palo Alto” activities.

Council members lauded the $240,000-a-year “Destination Palo Alto” program as a huge success and an important boost to the city’s ongoing effort to attract more visitors.

Both Destination Palo Alto and the San Mateo County Tourism Business Improvement District are operated by the San Mateo/Silicon Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau. In December, the bureau sent the city a letter recommending a switch from Destination Palo Alto to participation in the regional effort.

Some of the city’s largest hotels — including the Westin, Sheraton and Dinah’s Court — have already expressed support, according to a city staff report.

The council is scheduled to formally approve a resolution to join the San Mateo County Tourism Business Improvement District at its March 8 meeting. N — Gennady Sheyner LET’S DISCUSS: Read the latest local news headlines and talk about the issues at Town Square at www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Page 8ÊUÊ iLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£Ó]ÊÓä£äÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii Þ

Afghanistan (continued from page 5)

Afghanistan and Silicon Valley, he said.

Both situations have competitors: In Silicon Valley, the competition is other companies and global trade. In Afghanistan, it is war lords and the Taliban, he said.

Both scenarios also must satisfy people: In Silicon Valley, one’s customers must be satisfied; in Afghanistan, it’s the residents, he said.

But Silicon Valley is a land of abundant resources; Afghanistan is wracked by poverty, limited natural resources and war.

Getting control over the country through military means costs so much money the government can’t get ahead economically, he said.

“The Afghan government can afford to fund the security forces by about $9 billion over a 10-year period but it would cost $20 to $50 billion to fight the war over that time period. That’s an enormous amount of money in a country where the GDP is $13 billion. They can’t pay for it all. That leaves the U.S. and NATO footing the bill,” he said.

Creating a strong national force while freeing up enough money to develop an economy is a tricky proposition, but that’s at the heart of the Tufts conference, he said.

Economic and educational opportunities and infrastructure building must be developed in tandem to draw in insurgents who want to disarm. At some point, a tipping point draws down the need for overwhelming military force and frees up more money for government and economic growth, he said.

Radin applies risk analysis and the high-tech iterative process — executing a plan, using a team to quickly assess what parts are going wrong and adapting quickly to move a plan forward, he said.

Each step in a plan, from putting in wells to growing cash crops and building medical clinics, would be weighted in light of how it could create substantial change that could lower security needs, he said.

“I may change my plan completely tomorrow because I have learned something new and need to develop a different approach. You have to have a team to monitor very well” and adapt quickly, he said.

That approach differs from usual military thinking, which is more long term and plans in five- or 10year increments, he said.

Radin shares his Midtown home with wife Pamela, a legal analyst who has worked with nonprofits and community neighborhood associations in Palo Alto and has been involved in transportation and park issues in south Palo Alto.

Even one Silicon Valley engineer sitting at his laptop can make a huge difference in helping to solve an intractable global problem, he said.

With Silicon Valley’s enormous pool of talent and resources, Radin hopes his example will lead others to apply the knowledge of the valley to help solve world problems, he said.

“Just because you’re 8,000 miles away doesn’t mean they really can’t make a change,” he said. N Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be e-mailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.

Upfront COURTS

State high court rejects Stanford trails lawsuit Ruling clears way for construction of southern trail, but northern Alpine Road alignment still stalled

by Jay Thorwaldson

S

tanford University can proceed with building a new trail link to the foothills along Page Mill Road, according to a state Supreme Court ruling issued Thursday.

The ruling rejects claims in a lawsuit filed by the Midpeninsula-based Committee for Green Foothills that Stanford and Santa Clara County missed a crucial deadline in starting work on two trails on the south and north boundaries of Stanford lands.

The trails are required as mitigation for a “general use permit” grant-

ed to Stanford by Santa Clara County for a long-term expansion of Stanford campus and housing buildings.

“Absolutely, for sure, full speed ahead,” Larry Horton, Stanford senior associate vice president for public affairs, said Thursday when asked if the ruling means that work on the southern trail will commence.

The trail is actually a bike lane that follows Page Mill and a trail that veers off at Deer Creek Road and winds up over a steep parcel of (continued on page 10)

Online This Week

These and other news stories were posted on Palo Alto Online throughout the week. For longer versions, go to www.PaloAltoOnline.com/news or click on “News” in the left, green column.

Lego scenes shown in Palo Alto stolen in Fremont The elaborate Lego creations displayed at Palo Alto’s Museum of American Heritage last month were stolen from a locked truck in Fremont the night after the exhibit was taken home, Feb. 3. Fremont police are asking for help in finding them. (Posted Feb. 10 at 10:11 p.m.)

Police arrest gang members in East Palo Alto East Palo Alto police and officers from surrounding jurisdictions seized six guns and arrested two known gang members and one of their associates Tuesday as part of an ongoing operation to take firearms off city streets. (Posted Feb. 10 at 9:59 a.m.)

Closing the ‘digital divide’ east of Bayshore A decade ago East Palo Alto embarked on an effort to “close the digital divide” that was separating less-affluent communities and minority cultures from the Online Age. (Posted Feb. 10 at 9:02 a.m.)

PiE raises $2.9 million for Palo Alto schools Parent volunteers have raised a record-breaking $2.9 million to provide help to Palo Alto’s 17 cash-strapped public schools, the foundation Partners in Education (PiE) announced Tuesday. (Posted Feb. 10 at 8:48 a.m.)

Safeway clerk sentenced for dealing drugs Cayetano Figueroa-Fernandez, a 32-year-old stock clerk at the Safeway supermarket on El Camino Real in Menlo Park, was sentenced to eight months in San Mateo County jail on Monday (Feb. 8) after pleading no-contest to two felony counts of selling methamphetamines to an undercover informant in the store parking lot in May 2009, prosecutors said. (Posted Feb. 10 at 8:19 a.m.)

Two injured in East Palo Alto shooting Two male victims were injured in a shooting in East Palo Alto on Saturday night, police said Monday. (Posted Feb. 8 at 10:29 p.m.)

Hunger crisis hits local counties, survey shows One in four people are at risk for hunger in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, according to a report to be released by the nationwide hunger-relief charity “Feeding America” in mid-March. (Posted Feb. 8 at 9:17 a.m.)

Expert: Treat junk food like cigarettes America will solve its obesity problem when eating junk food becomes as socially unacceptable as smoking cigarettes. That was the message of David Kessler, former chief of the Food and Drug Administration, who famously took on the tobacco industry when he was commissioner in the 1990s. (Posted Feb. 5 at 9:55 a.m.)

Five Atherton homes hit by daytime burglars A home was burglarized Thursday (Feb. 4), the latest in a string of bold daytime burglaries in Atherton over the past week. (Posted Feb. 5 at 8:43 a.m.)

Palo Alto police launch texting tip line A new anonymous tip line that allows police to receive cell phone text messages and e-mail communications from the public was launched Thursday, Palo Alto Police announced. (Posted Feb. 5 at 9:49 a.m.) *> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ iLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£Ó]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 9

Upfront

Trails lawsuit (continued from page 9)

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land along the site of a horse-pasturing operation.

The Supreme Court overturned an appeals court ruling that a key deadline had been missed.

The Committee for Green Foothills lawsuit actually challenged only the northern trail alignment. But the university maintained both trails were linked as part of the same county requirement and that Stanford could not proceed with the southern trail until the lawsuit was resolved.

Horton said start of construction on the southern trail will depend on weather conditions this spring.

Meanwhile, the northern trail has been stalled due to a refusal by San Mateo County to accept a multimillion-dollar offer by Stanford to rebuild parts of Alpine Road to make way for a paved pedestrian/ bike path link instead of a trail along Los Trancos Creek.

Brian Schmidt, legislative advocate for the Committee for Green Foothills, said Thursday he is disappointed in the ruling, but that

San Mateo County’s position still remains as a challenge to the alignment proposed by Stanford. “The end of litigation means that San Mateo County’s previous decision and any potential change of mind will ultimately decide the trail issue,� he said. “If San Mateo County continues to reject the sidewalk

expansion, Stanford must provide an equivalent amount of money to Santa Clara County Parks Department to mitigate for impacts caused by the massive new development permitted on campus since 2000.�

Schmidt said he understands San Mateo County will take up the alignment question again later this year. N

CityView A round-up of

Palo Alto government action this week

Public Art Commission (Feb. 4)

Palo Alto buses: The commission discussed a proposal by former Mayor Jim Burch to consider putting art on Palo Alto’s shuttle buses. The commission had questions about the types of art that could be used on buses and agreed to discuss the subject further with Burch. Action: None Social networks: The commission discussed increasing public awareness of the city’s art collection through the city’s website and social-networking tools. Action: None

City Council (Feb. 8)

Destination Palo Alto: The council voted to direct staff to end the city’s current “Destination Palo Alto� funding with the San Mateo County/Silicon Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau and to pursue joining the San Mateo County Tourism Business Improvement District. Yes: Unanimous El Camino Real: The council voted to support grant-funded improvements to the intersection of El Camino Real and Stanford Avenue, which include a wider pedestrian island, larger sidewalks and elimination of the pork-chop islands. Yes: Unanimous

Board of Education (Feb. 9)

2010-11 budget: The board discussed a list of 25 budget cuts proposed by the superintendent, including “incremental� increases to class size. The $3.7 million in cuts will help bridge a $7.6 million anticipated budget gap, with the rest made up by a general-fund surplus and a proposed parcel-tax increase. The board is expected to vote on some or all of the cuts Feb. 23. Action: None

City Council High-Speed Rail Committee (Feb. 9) Alternatives analysis: The committee heard a presentation from High-Speed Rail Authority officials about the alternatives analysis for the San Francisco-to-San Jose segment of the high-speed-rail line. Rail-authority consultants said they are considering a stacked alignment for Caltrain and high-speed rail in Palo Alto, with two tracks on each level. Deep tunnels and elevated trains are also options still under consideration. The document is scheduled for a March 4 release. Action: None

City Council Policy & Services Committee (Feb. 9) Committee work plan: The committee discussed the process for organizing the City Council’s 2010 priorities, as stated at last month’s council retreat. The committee also discussed its plans to work on rollover items from last year. Action: None

Planning & Transportation Commission (Feb. 10) East Meadow Circle: The commission discussed the concept plan for the East Meadow Circle/Fabian Way area. The plan is part of the city’s ongoing update to its Comprehensive Plan. Commissioners were generally in favor of greater intensity in commercial and retail uses in the concept-plan area. They also encouraged restrictions on new housing around East Meadow Circle. Action: None

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PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL FINANCE COMMITTEE ... The committee plans to discuss the update to the city’s long-term financial forecast for the years 2010-20, and to discuss a quarterly report from the city auditor. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 16, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

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PALO ALTO ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW BOARD ... The board is scheduled to review the proposed design for the Mitchell Park Library and Community Center, 4000 Middlefield Road. The meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 18, in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

PALO ALTO PUBLIC ART COMMISSION ... The commission plans to discuss a new fountain for the area near the California Avenue Caltrain station and the ongoing streetscape improvements on California Avenue, and to talk about public art at the Mitchell Park Library and Community Center. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 18, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

Transitions Deaths

Harry Lewenstein Harry Lewenstein, 83, a retired electronics industry marketing executive, died Feb. 3 of complications from treatment for a bone marrow cancer.

A memorial gathering was held last week at the Hyatt Classic Residences in Palo Alto, where he and his wife of 54 years, Marion, have lived since 2005. Lewenstein had moved to Palo Alto in 1964.

Born in Grand Rapids, Minn., Lewenstein grew up in the small town of Marble on Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range, where his father was a storekeeper. Lewenstein served as an electronics technician in the U.S. Navy at the end of World War II, before graduating from the University of Minnesota with a BSEE in 1949.

In 1951, he began work for Lenkurt Electric (later part of General Telephone and Electronics) in San Carlos as a technical editor. From 1960 to 1967, he worked as advertising manager at Hewlett-Packard in Palo Alto.

In 1967, he joined Farinon Electric, a microwave-manufacturing company (later purchased by Harris Corporation). He served as vice-president of marketing and corporate secretary for Farinon before “retiring� in 1978.

For the next 15 years, he worked as a marketing consultant, mostly for the American Electronics Association where he developed a method for establishing the size of the American electronics industry, according to his family.

He was one of the original shareholders in the Palo Alto Weekly’s parent company, Embarcadero Media, and served on the company’s board of directors for many years.

In 1997, during a post-second-retirement bicycle tour in Portugal, he fell and broke his neck. He was a quadriplegic for the rest of his life. He published the story of his life as a disabled person online and in the Palo Alto Weekly. His family says that many people considered him an inspiration.

He is survived by his wife, Marion; daughter, Bailey Merman; son, Bruce; and three grandchildren. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the Paralyzed Veterans of America’s Bay Area & Western Chapter, 3801 Miranda Ave., MC 816, Palo Alto, CA 94304.

Anita Ventura Mozley Anita Ventura Mozley, 81, founding curator of photography at the Stanford University Museum of Art and a resident of Menlo Park, died Jan. 23.

She was born in Washington, D.C., to Mario and Juanita Ventura, and grew up in Rochester, NY. In 1950, she earned a degree in art with honors, from Northwestern University; she also was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

She served as managing editor and West Coast correspondent for Arts Magazine from 1955 to 1964. With sculptor Sidney Geist, she produced an alternative arts newsletter, Scrap, from 1960 to 1962.

Moving to San Francisco in 1962, she worked at the Maritime Museum and married physicist Robert Mozley before joining the Stanford Museum in 1970.

She was named curator of photography in 1971, and the following year organized her most significant exhibition, “Eadweard Muybridge: The Stanford Years, 1872-1882.�

After her retirement in 1986, she again took up drawing and painting, and exhibited in California and at shows near her summer home at Southport, Maine.

A memorial service for John Berwald, a former Palo Alto City Council member and longtime resident of Palo Alto who died Wednesday night after a long period of failing health, has been set for 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Albert the Great Catholic Church, 1095 Channing Ave., Palo Alto.

Answers to this week’s puzzles, which can be found on page 52

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She passed away quietly on January 19, 2010 due to heart failure. Born in Auckland, New Zealand and made Palo Alto her home for the past 60 years. She is survived by her son Patrick Costello, daughter Ann Marie Palmer, granddaughters Angelica Costello, Victoria Costello and greatgranddaughter Keira Gainer.

Predeceased by her husband John Patrick Costello and son Martin Joseph Costello.

Mom was always ready for conversation over a cup of tea.

She will be laid to rest at Alta Mesa Cemetery in Palo Alto California on 2/11/10. Arrangements handled by Spangler Mortuary of Los Altos, California.

In lieu of flowers, donations to your favorite charity in her honor would be appreciated.

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Her husband of 32 years, a physicist at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, died in 1999. She is survived by her stepson, Peter Mozley of Soccoro, N.M.; and three nieces.

Contributions may be made to the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST), 222 High St., Palo Alto, CA 94301, or The Smile Train, 41 Madison Ave., 28th Floor, New York, NY 10010.

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Bill passed away 01/29/2010. He was born in Long Beach, California. He served in the US Army Armored Forces in Europe, 19421946, World War Two as a Private First Class. He married Eleanor, his wife of 63 years, and moved to Palo Alto, CA in 1946, where he ďŹ nished his BS degree from Stanford University also in 1946.

He completed his MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 1956.

He had a long career with Southern PaciďŹ c Transportation Company from 1947 to 1982. He began as a ticket agent and worked his way up to a special assistant in the executive department in San Francisco. Bill enjoyed memberships in the Stanford University Alumni Association, Stanford Business

School, Theta Xi Fraternity, Palo Alto Masonic Lodge F & AM # 346, Scottish Rite-San Jose Bodies, SIRS-Branch 51 Palo Alto, Menlo Country Club and Barbershop Peninsulaires. He served as director of Southern PaciďŹ c Retired Executives Club, San Jose Society of Model Engineers, Santa Fe Modelers Association and Union PaciďŹ c Historical Society. Bill was involved in many committees and activities with The Sequoias Retirement Community in Portola Valley, his last residence.

He is survived by his wife Eleanor, daughter Lynne Gums (husband Jerry), son Norman Settle (wife Nancy), grandson Tom Hamilton (wife Meghan) and great grandchildren Jack and Emma Hamilton, granddaughter Katie Shaffer (husband Ethan). He is preceded in death by his parents Dr. and Mrs. Francis B. Settle of Long Beach, CA. The family has chosen not to have a public service. In lieu of owers, memorial gifts can be made to any charity of your choice.

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Editorial

Heed warnings on Silicon Valley’s future New ‘Index of Silicon Valley’ shows disturbing signs of economic erosion and huge challenges to recovering area’s historic economic/technical leadership

A

conference in San Jose today is laying out some hard facts to several hundred government and business leaders.

The key message in this year’s “Index of Silicon Valley” is that the Valley’s future may be in trouble and there is no easy way back to its historic position of being a world leader in technological leadership.

As the Weekly’s cover story this week shows, the bad news has many facets in the Index, an annual product of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Leadership Network organization. A big factor is that other economies, such as India and China, are now competing aggressively for a bigger slice of the world economic pie — and are wooing back the best and brightest of the foreign students who came to America to study, and stayed.

Even “cleantech” as a new era in Silicon Valley hasn’t surged in terms of jobs or economic impact, as many had hoped. In fact, federal stimulus dollars in this important new industry are going elsewhere, to Alabama or Texas and other places that have lobbied for them with a unified voice of political, business, education and community leaders.

All is not gloom. The Valley has tremendous resources and world connections, and it remains a vital source of innovative endeavor and links to venture capital. The bottom-line warning is that the leadership of the Valley and California must realize they can’t rest on past successes in this hard new world of international competition.

We must not allow our educational system to erode further, or our environmental and traffic problems to get worse, or our infrastructure to decay. These are huge problems that need a unified approach of many elements in our society, including divided political leaders, if we are to remain a player in the world economy.

This is not a new warning.

The Joint Venture conference provides us clear, urgent handwriting on the wall. It is up to us to heed the message and demand better cohesion and focus of our local, county and state leaders instead of blame games and political posturing for shortterm gain, as they deal with our future.

‘Destination PA’ — A success or not?

“D

eclare victory and move on!” was the key message of the Palo Alto City Council Monday night relating to the city’s “Destination Palo Alto” tourism-attraction program.

The council was almost giddy as it leapt at the opportunity to let go of the $240,000-a-year program. Council members praised the program and wished it well in a new configuration free of city financial involvement.

The mood was a far cry from last November, when council members lambasted the effort for having inadequate “metrics” and being less than effectual. Their criticisms were so targeted that Anne Le Clair, president and CEO of the San Mateo County/ Silicon Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau (which oversees the “Destination” program), quipped Monday night that she had considered wearing a bullet-proof vest to the meeting.

The “pilot” program was costing the city more than it was producing in terms of additional hotel-tax (officially “transientoccupancy tax”) revenues directly credited to it — although the dismal economy makes a fair analysis difficult if not impossible.

In addition, Le Clair told the council, Palo Alto meetings and questions were taking up a disproportionate amount of her staff’s time, distracting from the real work of drumming up more meetings and conferences for the area. There’s got to be a “Palo Alto Process” joke in there someplace.

Yet all’s well that ends well: The council opted to end the “Destination Palo Alto” contract and begin a process to fund the program by a modest add-on to hotel bills — thus saving Palo Alto up to $120,000 in this year’s tight city budget.

The city’s “Destination” website will still be online, and a local committee will continue to meet, so the program won’t disappear, it will merely become free of city-government oversight.

It’s been a circuitous route for a program championed by former City Manager Frank Benest as a way to boost city tax revenues. But severing financial ties with the city and aligning directly with the hotels is a good move and will, one hopes, allow Destination Palo Alto eventually to return strong benefits to the city.

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Spectrum Editorials, letters and opinions

Youth forum Editor, On Saturday, Feb. 6, the Palo Alto Youth Collaborative organized a Youth Forum to give teenagers the chance to share their thoughts on ways to promote youth well-being in our community.

Before the start, organizers were understandably nervous as to whether any kids would actually show up, especially on a Saturday afternoon, with the skies finally clearing after so much rain. They put up balloons, they put up their colorful banner, “Youth Forum, Be Heard,” and they waited to see if anyone would come.

The youth and adult organizers need not have worried. As the 2 p.m. start time neared, teenagers on their own or in small groups of two and three, rode their bikes or walked up to our Palo Alto City Hall to take part. Before long, the City Council chambers was filled with nearly 100 teenagers willing to give their time and many talents to helping themselves, their peers and our entire community.

It was an incredible start to an important process, now widening to everyone.

On Feb. 27 and again on April 3, all Palo Alto residents and business owners are invited to come hear directly from our Palo Alto teens about the many ways we can all support youth well-being.

Kudos to the many student leaders from the Palo Alto Youth Council, YMCA Youth in Government and Youth Community Service Fellows for organizing this Youth Forum series.

Credit and appreciation also go to the adults who have supported this much-needed process: Rob deGeus and Adam Howard from City of Palo Alto Recreation Department; Linda Lenoir from Palo Alto Unified School District; Scott Glissmeyer and Danny Koba from YMCA; Becky Beacom from the Palo Alto Medical Foundation; and Alicia Gregory and Leif Erickson from Youth Community Service.

As a way of thanking teens for taking the lead in supporting youth well-being, a number of fine local businesses did their part on Saturday by donating raffle prizes.

Special thanks to DS/Newman Salon, Butterfly Life, Nature’s Alley Florist Shop, DiPietro Todd Salon, Village Stationers, Accent Arts, The Counter Custom Built Burgers, Culture Organic Frozen Yogurt and YMCA. There can be no doubt that the last year has been a hard one for many Palo Alto youth and families. But for me last Saturday was a welcome break from uncertainty and sadness.

As teens poured into City Hall, I whispered, with gratitude, to a few of the organizers, “If you build it,

they will come.”

To every young person who did come to City Hall last Saturday:Tthank you. To every adult, please come Feb. 27 and April 3, 2 to 5 p.m. to the Mitchell Park Community Center, to hear what our kids have to say.

Carrie Manley Palo Alto

No liquor license Editor, One of the Palo Alto City Council’s top priorities for 2010 is “youth well-being.”

The youth well-being in the Barron Park neighborhood will be severely undermined if Walgreens, located on Maybell and El Camino Real, starts selling alcohol.

The youths in this neighborhood are clearly an at-risk population, manifest by a string of suicides by youth from Gunn High School and Terman Middle School.

These schools, including Briones Elementary School, are in close vicinity to Walgreens.

The youths from these schools seem to treat Walgreens like it’s a community center. They congregate there, chat, eat snacks, skateboard,

bike and visit on a daily basis before and after school. Walgreens is part of the Barron Park residential neighborhood.

The railroad crossing, where security stands guard, is also in near proximity to Walgreens.

Just weeks ago, Walgreens was the hub of a drug-related offense, where police were dispatched. Just last year, police descended upon Walgreens’ area because of a gang related shooting originating from an apartment complex a block away.

Youths are clearly at high risk in this neighborhood. Knowing this, how can we as a community allow escalation of the risk to our youth by this Walgreens obtaining a liquor license?

Providing opportunity and access, albeit indirectly, to a stressedout and desperate youth population, hanging out at Walgreens, clearly subverts our city’s priority to elevate “youth well-being.”

A crisis center at Walgreens seems more appropriate at this time than an alcoholic-beverage selection.

Jennifer Fryhling Barron Park Palo Alto

YOUR TURN The Palo Alto Weekly encourages comments on our coverage or on issues of local interest.

What do you think? Do you think Silicon Valley can maintain it’s leadership position as an “innovation economy”?

Submit letters to the editor of up to 250 words to letters@paweekly.com.

Include your name, address and daytime phone number so we can reach you.

We reserve the right to edit contributions for length, objectionable content, libel and factual errors known to us. Anonymous letters will generally not be accepted.

You can also participate in our popular interactive online forum, Town Square, at our community website at www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Read blogs, discuss issues, ask questions or express opinions with you neighbors any time, day or night.

Submitting a letter to the editor or guest opinion constitutes a granting of permission to the Palo Alto Weekly and Embarcadero Publishing Co. to also publish it online, including in our online archives and as a post on Town Square.

For more information contact Editor Jay Thorwaldson or Online Editor Tyler Hanley at editor@paweekly.com or 650-326-8210.

Check out Town Square!

Hundreds of local topics are being discussed by local residents on Town Square, a reader forum sponsored by the Weekly on our community website at www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Post your own comments, ask questions, read the Editor’s blog or just stay up on what people are talking about around town!

Guest Opinion

Winter Games in Vancouver will be spectacular

by John Naber Before every Olympic Games people predict disaster. They say Olympic tickets will be unavailable, accommodations will be grossly unaffordable, transportation will be so challenging that athletes and visitors may not make it to their events on time.

I like hearing those comments, because such “gloom and doom” predictions make it much easier for the rest of us to find what we need.

As the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver get underway, I will be traveling to Seattle to pick up an Olympic teammate (Wendy Boglioli) and her husband, and the three of us will join thousands of visitors in search of a great time.

Just last week I found affordable, convenient housing on Craigslist. When the expected crowds do not appear, ticket brokers will be trying to “offload” their extra seats at bargain prices. Friendly locals will open doors and share surplus opportunities with the visitors, all in the name of international harmony. I expect that opportunities for fun in the snow cannot be far behind.

It’s been 34 years since I represented the United States, Woodside High School and Menlo Park’s Ladera Oaks Aquatic Club at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. As wonderful as that experience was, I doubt that I could have imagined how much grander the Olympic Games would become since those days.

I am no longer a competitive athlete, but I still consider myself an ardent Olympics fan.

That’s one of the reasons I made my travel plans to attend the upcoming Winter Games in Vancouver, and it is also one of the reasons I have been invited to send back my thoughts and reports in the form of an online “blog” on my impressions of what takes place in Canada this month to the Weekly’s community website: www.PaloAltoOnline.com.

My love affair with the Olympic Games began long before I started competitive swimming. On a Mediterranean cruise in 1966 my family visited Olympia, Greece, to learn about the Ancient Olympic Games.

The tour guide told us about the tunnel entry to the stadium, which was in reality a “Hall of Shame” filled with statues carved in the likeness of athletes who were caught cheating. The cost of the statue was billed to the athlete’s home town. The threat of such shame and disgrace surely reduced much of the temptation to cheat. At age 10 I fell in love with the concept of a sporting program where ethics and character were as important as victory — long before I discovered my talents in the swimming pool.

To this day, each Olympic Games Opening Ceremony includes an “Athlete’s Oath” to sportsmanship and fair play. I’d like to see such an oath delivered by the competitors before the start of the Super Bowl and the World Series.

In my experience, Olympians prize healthy competition and personal progress above victory at all costs. The Olympic motto, “Citius, Altius, Fortius” translates to “Swifter, Higher, Stronger,” not “Swiftest, Highest, Strongest.”

I believe the goal of the Olympic Games is

to encourage the devoted, not just to honor the excellent.

Whenever I watch mainstream professional sports with their multi-millionaire, 7-foot-tall centers and 380-pound linemen, I am impressed by the competitors’ athleticism, but I find it hard to relate to them as individuals.

When I watch Olympic competition, I see ordinary-shaped young men and women who, with little more than help from their moms and dads, have found a way to be the finest performers on the planet in their chosen fields.

Olympic Champions are not extraordinary people. They are ordinary people who have found a way to achieve extraordinary results in the area of life that matters most to them.

In the next few weeks, America’s finest athletes will make their way to Vancouver and nearbyski resorts to prove themselves to be the best in the world at something. Just the thought of that accomplishment fills me with anticipation, because I may very well see someone do something that has never been done before.

The “Flying Tomato” Shawn White has prepared a special trick for us. Apolo Anton Ono will try to earn more Olympic Winter Games medals than any American in history.

Lindsey Vonn is so good on skis that people are already referring to these Games as the “Vonn-couver Olympics.”

Another Lindsey (Jacobellis) has been establishing her dominance in the snowboardcross event where she earned a silver medal last time. The prior two times Canada has hosted the Olympic Games (in 1976 and 1988) athletes from the host country were unable to win a single gold medal. I look forward to

the celebrations when that string gets broken, as much as I fear the local sadness if Canada does not with the men’s hockey tournament.

The needle of human drama is off the scale.

I also appreciate how everyone is always so well behaved. Most sporting events feature two teams and two separate groups of fans, where half the spectators go home disappointed, and jeers are as likely heard as cheers.

The Olympic Games are different because many visitors come to watch the event, and they don’t really care who wins. They just want to witness excellence. The applause for the winner is almost universal and always genuine.

And if a fellow countryman or woman wins gold, the entire nation rejoices. Since my Olympic success in Montreal, I cannot hear the Star Spangled Banner without being reminded of the pride and patriotism I felt on that day. If an American is fortunate enough to earn gold while I am in attendance, I know that they’ll be playing “my song” before the end of the day. N At the 1976 Olympic Games, in Montreal, John Naber (Woodside High, 1973) won four gold and one silver medals in swimming. He was inducted into the U.S. Olympic and Bay Area Sports Halls of Fame, and was twice elected president of the U.S. Olympians (America’s Olympic Alumni Association).

His book, “Awaken the Olympian Within,” is available at www.JohnNaber.com. He will be filing regular blog reports from Vancouver on www.PaloAltoOnline.com. He can be e-mailed at John@JohnNaber.com.

Streetwise

What are your Valentine’s Day plans?

Asked around California Avenue. Interviews by Mike Lata. Photographs by Vivian Wong

Carol Winitsky

Patsy Dodd

Valerie Voigt

Bob Dreyer

Ray Clay

“I’m just going to improvise.”

“My plans are to go to Alice’s Restaurant for a Valentine’s Day dinner.”

“I’m going to a convention and we’re going to have neo-pagan religious sessions. Besides religion, folklore, cultural issues and lots of parties will take place.”

“I’m working on something secret for my wife.”

“I have a lady friend but she lives across the hills and I don’t have a car so Valentine’s Day will be a quirky alone day.”

West Bayshore Road, Palo Alto Retired Psychologist

Page Mill Road, Palo Alto Waitress

Emerson Street, Palo Alto Writer

Princeton Road, Menlo Park TransCella CEO

Almaden Blvd., Palo Alto Unemployed

*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ iLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£Ó]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 13

The Bowman program builds confidence, creativity and academic excellence.

Title Pages A monthly section on local books and authors,

edited by Carol Blitzer

Lower School - Grades K - 5 Middle School - Grades 6 - 8 Individualized, self-directed program Rich international & cultural studies Proven, Montessori approach State-of-the-art facility Low student-teacher ratio

www.bowmanschool.org 4000 Terman Drive l Palo Alto, CA l Tel: 650-813-9131

Wednesday, February 17, 2010, 6:30 PM Escondido Elementary School 890 Escondido Road Stanford, CA 94305 The City of Palo Alto invites public input on planned streetscape improvements designed to further enhance the California Avenue area, from El Camino Real to the CalTrain Depot.

Don Feria

Join the community discussion on the California Avenue Streetscape Improvements Project, Phase II Historian Edith Gelles, author of “Abigail and John,” pauses with her dog Shadow in their Palo Alto home.

Passion

AND POWER

Meeting hosted by City of Palo Alto Public Works (650) 329-2151

City of Palo Alto ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a Draft Mitigated Negative Declaration has been prepared by the Palo Alto Department of Planning and Community Environment for the project listed below. In accordance with A.B. 886, this document will be available for review and comment during a minimum 20-day inspection period beginning February 12, 2010 through March 10, 2010 during the hours of 8:00 A.M. to 12:00 noon and 1:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. at the Development Center, 285 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California.

This item will be considered at a public hearing by the Planning and Transportation Commission on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 7:00 P.M. in the Palo Alto City Council Chambers on the first floor of the Civic Center, located at 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California.

805 Los Trancos Road [04IPT-2217]: Request by Mark Conroe on behalf of Langenskiold Family Trust for Site and Design Review of an 11,184 square foot single family home at 805 Los Trancos Road. Environmental Assessment: An Initial Study has been completed and a Draft Mitigated Negative Declaration has been prepared in accordance with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requirements. Zone District: Open Space (OS). ### Curtis Williams, Director of Planning and Community Environment In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, listening assistive devices are available in the Council Chambers and Council Conference Room. Sign language interpreters will be provided upon request with 72 hours advance notice.

Page 14ÊUÊ iLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£Ó]ÊÓä£äÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii Þ

Historian looks at public impact on private lives of Abigail and John Adams

“Abigail and John: Portrait of a Marriage,” by Edith B. Gelles; HarperCollins Publishers; 339 pp.; $26.99

by Charlotte Muse hen the ambitious young Massachusetts lawyer John Adams first noticed Abigail Smith, she was only 15 years old — 10 years his junior — and he was still in love with a woman who’d married someone else. But he continued to tag along to the Smith parsonage with his close friend Richard Cranch, who was courting Abigail’s older sister, until gradually, the witty, intelligent, high-spirited yet sensible Abigail drew his attention.

Slowly at first, then with deepening ardor, the young couple began the dance of courtship. When at last John Adams married Abigail Smith, the two made one of the most remarkable and heartwrenching love matches in American history.

Through her compelling joint biography, “Abigail and John,” Palo Alto historian Edith Gelles brings us into 18th-century colonial America, where the Adams’ stories unfolded and the nation it-

W

self was formed.

Gelles, who was trained as a colonialist at Cornell, Yale and U.C. Irvine, can be said to have lived with the Adamses for nearly 40 years. In the 1970s, she began looking for a way to write the history of women during the colonial era and became interested in Abigail Adams. Many of her letters had been preserved, with their wealth of detail and emotional immediacy.

Gelles wrote a full chronological biography of Abigail, but, she said, it turned out to be about John. The public events of the time obscured the private world of women. For this newest book, however, Gelles hit upon the idea of writing a biography of both concurrently, so that we see both great historical events and their impact on private life.

John and Abigail, descendants of Puritan stock, believed in service and sacrifice for a greater good. Almost from the beginning of their marriage, after they moved into their small house in Braintree where John set up his law practice in the front room, there were long separations. When Abigail gave birth to their first child in the bedroom above the parlor, John, wait-

ing anxiously below, tried to distract himself by writing a pamphlet extolling the wisdom of his Puritan forebears, and drawing distinctions between their American vision of government and that of the mother country’s.

The new little Abigail, called Nabby, was born safely, and John Adams’ pamphlet gained him praise and the beginning of fame.

He was often asked to travel and to speak.

“It seems lonesome here, for My Good Man is in Boston,” Abigail wrote to her sister, in a lament that would become all too familiar as events progressed.

The country was becoming more and more discontented under British rule. In 1765, the courts were closed. Because of Britain’s mounting debt, George Grenville, the prime minister, proposed to tax the colonies. When Parliament levied a stamp tax on all paper goods used (continued on page 16)

Notice of a Special Public Meeting of the Palo Alto Planning & Transportation Commision

NO WORRIES.

Please be advised the Planning and Transportation Commission (P&TC) shall conduct a Special Meeting at 4:30 PM, Wednesday, February 24, 2010 in the Civic Center, Council Chambers, 1st Floor, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California. Any interested persons may appear and be heard on these items.

Carefree living at The Forum Retirement Community.

Staff reports for agendized items are available via the City’s main website at www.cityofpaloalto.org. and also at the Planning Division Front Desk, 5th Floor, City Hall, after 2:00 PM on the Friday preceding the meeting date.

Copies will be made available at the Development Center should City Hall be closed on the 9/80 Friday.

NEW BUSINESS. Study Session 1. Study Session to provide early input on the City’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Plan for Fiscal Year 2011-15.

2. Discussion of Issues for the March 3, 2010 Joint Meeting with Council regarding the Comprehensive Plan

Ask about our high-level amenities and low monthly fees.

Call today to schedule a personal tour. 650-944-0190.

3. Review of the Comprehensive Plan Natural Environment Element Policies and Programs APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Meetings of January 13 and 27, 2010.

NEXT MEETING: Regular Meeting of March 10, 2010

Now is the time to relax and enjoy life. As a resident-owned community, The Forum offers unique equity ownership and continuing care that allows you to plan for a secure future. You can retire in style with luxury living in a vibrant, carefree environment at The Forum. No worries.

Questions. Any questions regarding the above applications, please contact the Planning Department at (650) 329-2440. The files relating to these items are available for inspection weekdays between the hours of 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. This public meeting is televised live on Government Access Channel 26.

ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn more about the City’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), please contact the City’s ADA Coordinator at 650.329.2550 (voice) or by e-mailing ada@cityofpaloalto.org.

www.theforum-seniorliving.com RCFE# 435200344 COA# 174 A Smoke Free Community

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*** Curtis Williams, Director of Planning and Community Environment

23500 Cristo Rey Drive Cupertino, CA 95014 650-944-0100

Judges

Call for Entries

VERONICA WEBER

Veronica Weber, a Los Angeles native, first began working at the Palo Alto Weekly in 2006 as a photography intern. Following the internship, she was a photographer for The Almanac in Menlo Park. She is currently the Weekly staff photographer responsible for covering daily assignments and producing video and multimedia projects for PaloAltoOnline.com. She has a BA in Journalism from San Francisco State University and currently resides in San Francisco.

19th Annual Palo Alto Weekly Photo Contest

Categories and Prizes U PENINSULA PEOPLE

UÊ Ê*

ADULT

1st Place – $250 Cash, $100 Gift Certificate to University Art, and a One-year Membership to Palo Alto Art Center 2nd Place – $200 Cash, $100 Gift Certificate to Jungle Digital 3rd Place – $100 Cash, $100 Gift Certificate to Bear Images

ADULT

1st Place – $250 Cash, $100 Gift Certificate to University Art, and a One-year Membership to Palo Alto Art Center 2nd Place – $200 Cash, $100 Gift Certificate to Jungle Digital 3rd Place – $100 Cash, $100 Gift Certificate to Bear Images

1st Place - $100 Cash 2nd Place - $50 Gift Certificate to University Art 3rd Place - $25 Gift Certificate to University Art

YOUTH

1st Place - $100 Cash 2nd Place - $50 Gift Certificate to University Art 3rd Place - $25 Gift Certificate to University Art

U VIEWS BEYOND THE PENINSULA ADULT

1st Place – $250 Cash, $100 Gift Certificate to University Art, and a One-year Membership to Palo Alto Art Center 2nd Place – $200 Cash, $100 Gift Certificate to Jungle Digital 3rd Place – $100 Cash, $100 Gift Certificate to Bear Images

YOUTH

*Any image of people or places shot outside the Peninsula

1st Place - $100 Cash 2nd Place - $50 Gift Certificate to University Art 3rd Place - $25 Gift Certificate to University Art

ANGELA BUENNING FILO

-1 Ê -

*Los Altos north to San Francisco

YOUTH

*Los Altos north to San Francisco

Angela Buenning Filo photographs landscapes in transition, most recently focusing on Silicon Valley and Bangalore, India. Her photographs have been exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the San Jose Museum of Art and will be on view later this year in the new terminal of the San Jose Airport.

DAVID HIBBARD

ENTRY DEADLINE: April 2, 2010, 5:30pm Entry Form and Rules available at:

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For more information call 650.223.6508 or e-mail photocontest@paweekly.com

David Hibbard, a Menlo Park resident, has photographed natural landscapes and wild places most of his life. He is represented by Modernbook Gallery in Palo Alto. He is the author of, "Natural Gestures," published by Edition One Studios last year.

BRIGITTE CARNOCHAN

In November-December, Moderbook Gallery in Palo Alto will be exhibiting Brigitte's new photographic series "Floating World". Her series "Imagining Then: A Family Story 194147" was recently featured in Color Magazine.

She teaches regularly through the Stanford Continuing Studies Program.

www.PaloAltoOnline.com

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Title Pages

Book Talk

MEET THE AUTHORS ... Palo Alto author Joan Bigwood will read from her first novel, “Coopted,� a book “about love, friendship and the transforming effect of life at a co-op preschool,� as part of the Meet the Authors series at Avenidas, 450 Bryant St., Palo Alto, on Tuesday, Feb. 16, at 2 p.m. For information, call 650-289-5400 or visit www.avenidas.org. Bigwood (aka Joanie King) will also appear at Books Inc., 855 El Camino Real (Town & Country), Palo Alto, on Friday, Feb. 19, at 7 p.m.

SILICON VALLEY READS ...

Palo Alto City Library is participating in Silicon Valley Reads, where readers throughout Santa Clara County will be reading and discussing the same book — Michel Pollan’s “In Defense of Food: an Eater’s Manifesto� — during February.

The book, which topped the New York Times bestseller list for six weeks in 2008, deals with what’s wrong with the American diet. The library is planning three free programs: showing of the film “The Botany of Desire�

(Saturday, Feb. 13, 3 p.m., Palo Alto Art Center Auditorium, 1313 Newell Road); P and T Puppet Theatre performing “Goldielocks and the Three Teddybears,� with the bears expounding on good food choices (Saturday, Feb. 20, 3 p.m., Mitchell Park Community Center, 3800 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto); and John Jeavons discussing Grow Biointensive mini-farming (Friday, March 12, 7 p.m., Palo Alto Art Center Auditorium).

Abigail and John wor ldwide bic ycling vac ations

(continued from page 14)

As part of our celebration of 80

February 25th, 2010 A wine and hors d’oeuvres evening with Trek Travel

years in business Palo Alto Bicycles would like to invite you to our ďŹ rst in a year long series of events

Please be our guest for an evening of wonderful wines and food from around the world and an extraordinary presentation by Trek Travel. The evening’s festivities will culminate with a drawing for a FREE TREK TRAVEL Trip (Three days/Two nights) for Two to the Napa Wine Country Space is limited Reservations Required Sign up on our website www.paloaltobicycles.com or call 650-328-7411

171 University Ave, Palo Alto Page 16ĂŠUĂŠ iLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£Ó]ÊÓä£äÊUĂŠ*>Â?ÂœĂŠ Â?ĂŒÂœĂŠ7iiÂŽÂ?Ăž

within the colonies, John Adams was galvanized. His law practice was directly affected, and his livelihood threatened. Gradually, as Gelles shows us, John was drawn into public service. More and more often, he left Abigail and their family, which grew to five children who survived to adulthood, alone. “Abigail didn’t do ‘poor me,’ �

Gelles said. She had convictions of her own about the country’s need for independence and the importance of John’s role in bringing it about. Together, she and John wove a kind of family myth of John’s indispensability to the revolution.

In the meantime, she raided his library, and taught herself from its books. They kept up a daily — sometimes twice daily — correspondence, in which each offers advice and counsel to the other, as well as love and complaints and news.

As the war began, John grew even busier. He was elected delegate to the First Continental Congress, and to the Second. He rarely went home at all. Abigail was left to raise the children, provide the income, pay the bills, manage the farm and see to all the details those

LOCAL ANGLES ... Coming to Kepler’s in February are local authors: Jon Reider, “Admission Matters: What Students and Parents Need to Know About Getting into College� (second edition), the book that demystifies the college-application process (Wednesday, Feb. 24, 7:30 p.m.); and Eric Puchner, a former Wallace Stegner Fellow and current Stanford University lecturer, “Model Home: A Novel,� which takes a family from its charmed life in the 1980s to its rudely interrupted California dream played out in an abandoned real-estate development in the desert (Wednesday, March 3, 7:30 p.m.).

AUTHOR, AUTHOR ... Upcoming author talks at Kepler’s include: Heather Brewer, “The Chronicles of Vladimir Rod: 11th Grade Burns� (Friday, Feb. 12, 7 p.m.); Steven Amsterdam, “Things We Didn’t See Coming�

(Thursday, Feb. 18, 7:30 p.m.); Kelli Stanley, “City of Dragons: A San Francisco Mystery� (Saturday, Feb. 20, 2 p.m.); Zachary Mason, “The Lost Books of the Odyssey: A Novel� (Tuesday, Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m.); Adam Haslett, “Union Atlantic: A Novel�

(Thursday, Feb. 25, 7:30 p.m.).

At Books Inc., 301 Castro St., Mountain View, upcoming authors include Lisa See, “Shanghai Girls� (Tuesday, Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m.). N

Items for Book Talk may be sent to Associate Editor Carol Blitzer, Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 93202 or e-mailed to cblitzer@paweekly.com by the last Friday of the month.

responsibilities entailed. When she gave birth to a stillborn daughter, he did not return. When her mother died, and a good many others he knew, in a dysentery epidemic, he did not come. Abigail coped, and accepted her situation.

They loved one another. They were committed patriots, not plaster saints. Their lives included extraordinary sorrows and extraordinary successes, which brought them across the ocean to the courts of the old world, and to the pinnacle of power, the presidency, in the new. They regretted their separations, but each time reunited with gratitude and lack of rancor.

Edith Gelles, in clear, masterly prose, lets us see their lives. She gets out of the way of her characters, allowing them to tell their own stories wherever possible. The book is exciting. Abigail and John were those rare people who faced so much life that they themselves became fully alive. They are worthy subjects of such a fine biographer.

To write her book, Gelles read their letters on microfilm over a period of 10 years and copied portions of them by hand. “They went into my hand, into my brain,� and finally, she said, “into my heart.� N

Cover Story

File/Robert Bradshaw

Yearly measure of area’s health, wealth shows ‘region at risk’

by Chris Kenrick ith rising competition from Bangalore to Beijing, Silicon Valley’s dominance as the world’s innovation hub is “at risk as never before,� a local think tank has concluded.

In an exhaustive study of the region’s economy and health, Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network said the rise of countries such as China and India, coupled with California’s legislative gridlock, is “draining the lifeblood of funding and foreign talent from Silicon Valley.� “Silicon Valley’s innovation engine has driven the region’s prosperity for 60 years, but at the moment we’re stalled,� Joint Venture CEO Russell Hancock stated in the group’s 16th annual Index of Silicon Valley. “What’s hard to say is whether we’re stuck in neutral, which

W

30

has happened before, or whether it’s time now for a complete overhaul.�

This year’s index is co-sponsored by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

The 72-page index analyzes scores of barometers of the region’s health, from the number of global patent collaborations and industry-by-industry venture investment to the English language proficiency of third graders in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. The report can be found online at www.jointventure.org or www.siliconvalleycf.org.

s 2EAL PER CAPITA INCOME HAS FALLEN LOCALLY THOUGH IT REMAINS far higher than state or national averages. s 3ILICON 6ALLEY S hECONOMIC ENGINE HAS COOLEDv BY MANY measures such as patents, venture-capital investment and office vacancies. s $RIVEN BY FOREIGN IMMIGRATION THE 6ALLEY S POPULATION CONTINUED TO GROW IN BUT AT A SLOWER PACE THAN BEFORE

Key findings include:

s (OUSING PRICES ARE DOWN

s 3ILICON 6ALLEY LOST JOBS BETWEEN AND

leaving 11 percent of the workforce unemployed, about a point above the national unemployment average.

s ( IGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATES ARE UP SLIGHTLY BUT THE proportion of graduates meeting entrance requirements for the University of California or the California State University systems has dipped below 50 percent. s 3ILICON 6ALLEY DRIVERS ARE DRIVING LESS AND SHIFTING TO cleaner-running vehicles.

$27.7

s #OMPARED TO OTHER REGIONS 6ALLEY TAXPAYERS STILL CONTRIBUTE a disproportionately high share of personal income tax revenue to the state, though the share has fallen.

Venture Capital Investment

25

s 4HE NUMBER OF hGREEN JOBSv HAS INCREASED BUT STILL REPRESENTS a small fraction of the Valley’s overall economy.

Billions of dollars invested in Silicon Valley

s .EARLY HALF THE RESIDENTS OF 3ANTA #LARA AND 3AN -ATEO COUNTIES ˆ PERCENT ˆ DO NOT SPEAK %NGLISH AT HOME

20

(continued on page 18)

15

$11.5 10

$6.4

$6.1

2002

2003

$7.2

$6.8

$8.2

$8.7

$8.0 $5.2

5 0 2000

2001

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Data Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers/National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree™ Report, Data: Thomson Reuters. Analysis: Collaborative Economics

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Cover Story Income Distribution Distribution of households by income ranges Santa Clara & San Mateo counties

California

United States

100%

13%

19% 36%

80%

21%

28%

44% 46%

60%

45%

46% 43% 44%

40%

38%

20%

0

20%

18%

2002

2008 $35,000 - $99,000

Less than $35,000

35%

29%

2002

2008

41%

34%

2002

2008

$100,000 or more Data Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey. Analysis: Collaborative Economics

Valley residents hurting, but better off than others By most measures, the Valley workers earn, and contribute, more

T

he Valley’s unemployment rate of 11 percent stands above that of the state and nation.

But by nearly every other economic measure, Silicon Valley’s skilled workforce is considerably better off than California’s or the nation’s as a whole.

Median household income in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties is $87,000 — 69 percent higher than that of the U.S. and 44 percent higher than that of California.

Forty-four percent of Valley households earn $100,000 or more — a far larger proportion than in the state or nation as a whole.

And the proportion of area households earning $35,000 or less has dropped to 18 percent from 20 percent since 2002.

With higher incomes come more taxes.

Silicon Valley is a solid contributor to state coffers.

While representing only 7 percent of the state’s population, the region contributed 16 percent of total state revenues from personal income tax in 2008. The region’s share of state tax revenue reached a high in 2000, accounting for 24 percent of state tax revenue, according to the Index.

Despite relatively high incomes, local

Foreign Students 20%

Percentage of degrees in science & engeneering conferred to temporary nonpermanent residents

households have not escaped the ravages of the recession.

“Evidence of increasing pressure on the region’s households can be observed in rising personal bankruptcy rates and residents receiving food stamps,” the report said.

Yet bankruptcy rates, at 2.6 per 1,000 residents, were significantly lower in the Valley than in California as a whole, where they were 4.5 per 1,000.

And while the Valley had 5,400 home foreclosures in 2009, the Palo Alto area was relatively unscathed. Cities with the

least amount of foreclosure activity relative to population size included Palo Alto, Los Altos, Atherton and Portola Valley.

Food-stamp usage, at 4 percent of Valley residents, was half that of statewide usage.

The recession’s silver lining for many families has come in housing costs.

Average rents declined 6 percent from 2008 to 2009 — the first drop since 2005.

And last year, 54 percent of first-time home buyers could afford to buy a medianpriced single-family home, up from just 22 percent in 2007. N —Chris Kenrick

High School Graduation Rate of graduation and share of graduates who meet UC/CSU requirements 100%

86%

85%

81%

80%

80%

15% 60%

Silicon Valley 10%

52%

47% 36%

40%

California United States

20%

34% 21%

12%

19%

10%

0 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Note: Data are based on first major and include bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees. Data for 1999 is not available. Data source: National Center for Educational Statistics, IPEDS. Anaylsis: Collaborative Economics

Silicon Valley (continued from page 17)

s /F THE NON %NGLISH TONGUES !SIAN OR Pacific Islander languages top the list at 43 percent, with Spanish at 39 percent.

F

oreign-born talent, particularly in science and engineering, has been a linchpin of the Valley’s success in past decades, but that dynamic is at risk, Hancock believes.

Page 18ÊUÊ iLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£Ó]ÊÓä£äÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii Þ

Fully 60 percent of the Valley’s science and engineering workforce was born outside of the United States, mostly in India, China and Korea, according to the Index.

But “some who have lived and worked here for years are beginning to ‘go home,’” observes Tom Friel, retired board chair of the executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles.

“This is a troubling trend, exacerbated by our dysfunctional national immigration policy agenda, and if not addressed will have significant negative impact on our future as a region.”

Silicon Valley Graduation rates Dropout rates

California Percentage of graduates who meet UC/CSU requirements

Data source: California Department of Education. Analysis: Collaborative Economics

In addition, the percentage of foreign-born students earning science and engineering degrees in Silicon Valley has declined since 2003, dropping from 18 percent to 16.6 percent in 2007. The influx was hit first by tightened restrictions under Homeland Security after Sept. 11, Hancock said.

Friel stressed the importance of supporting education and training for the local population, U.S.-born and immigrant alike, and do-

ing whatever possible to keep the region attractive to talent from around the world.

At the same time, he said, “I don’t think it’s realistic or healthy to continue to rely on such a large inflow of engineering and science talent from abroad, particularly from Asia. This inflow has been the source of much of the Valley’s historic edge in innovation, but con(continued on page 20)

Cover Story

Commitment To Excellence

Disturbing trends darken Silicon Valley outlook

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This creates an odd paradox of “companies thriving, doing well on the stock market, but the head count is not growing,� Hancock said. “This has never happened before.�

As for Silicon Valley being the “innovation economy,� the belief may be right, but there are disturbing signs in that area also, Hancock said.

Applications for new patents are down slightly for the second year in a row, and are down nationwide as well. “Venture capital is our ‘secret sauce,’ but that is down for the third

year in a row. “Something is going on. Venture capital hasn’t made money in about 10 years,� industry-wide, he said.

Initial public offerings shriveled to one in 2009 and two in 2008, he said, adding quickly that that may change: “Word is that a bunch of people are putting (IPO) papers together for 2010.�

One trend is that today’s young entrepreneurs “don’t need an IPO to have a life-changing event,� such as a multi-million-dollar buy-out.

Hancock said there are positive signs, however. (continued on page 21)

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R

uss Hancock doesn’t make predictions.

But as CEO of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, Hancock doesn’t like what this year’s “Index of Silicon Valley� portends for the valley’s potential recovery from the current economic hole.

Key findings indicate the valley may not be able to regain its worldwide reputation as “the epicenter of innovation,� Hancock said in an interview with the Weekly.

He said the Index — to be discussed Friday (Feb. 12) at a conference in San Jose — shows disturbing signs of weakness in core areas that have made Silicon Valley a byword in technological innovation for decades. “Two years ago we said, ‘There’s bad weather out there, but we may be OK,’� Hancock said of past Index findings. “Last year we said, ‘No, it’s hit.’ The storm winds hit and had gale force. “This year it’s not entirely clear that we will be the world’s perceived epicenter of innovation,� Hancock said.

Not only has the valley lost 90,000 jobs between the second quarter of 2008 and 2009, pushing employment back to 2005 levels “when we just climbed out of the dot.com thing,� but it now has 11 percent unemployment compared to the 10 percent national average.

In addition to that possibly shortterm statistic, there has been a serious erosion of the middle-income population. Despite an overall average income that is 50 percent higher than the national average, the median per-capita income is $87,000, meaning there is a growing “hourglass economy,� Hancock said.

More than 44 percent of adults make more than $100,000, twice the national average of 22 percent. But a large number of people make less than $35,000 a year, even though that category shrank by 2 percent in recent years, he said.

Yet the middle-income range shrank by 6 percent between 2002 and 2008, Hancock said. “We’re losing the middle class, like Manhattan.�

The implications of the shrinkage are far-ranging, he said. “Fewer people are carrying health insurance, which they typically get from their employers. But employers want contract workers, or the so-called ‘consultant,’ which often means they don’t have a full-time job.�

And one in four firms have no employees, with one person or partners doing home-based work.

Firms are increasingly reducing their employee counts by “networking outside the region, mostly outside the country — to India, China,

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Cover Story

Silicon Valley (continued from page 18)

ditions for these immigrants, support for their education, financing for their business ideas have improved in their home countries and declined here.”

Even as attracting and retaining top talent remains important to the region, California’s investment in higher education is declining.

While the total number of science and engineering degrees has leveled off, the percentage conferred to foreign students has been sliding in both the state and nation as a whole, the report notes.

“California state policy has become a hindrance to our innovation potential, not only because of our failure to invest but also because our government is not addressing important problems,” Hancock said.

Friel added, “Many in the region, including some in our local and state leadership, somehow have come to believe that we occupy this position of leading economic region by divine right rather than hard work, prudent investment and sound policy.

“Nothing could be more wrong or more dangerous for our future in my view than this sense of entitlement and complacency.

“What we have been able to do historically, other countries and regions can also do and are beginning to show that they can and will.”

T

We invite you to experience our

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As you tour our spacious apartments enjoy the view from the balcony or patio.

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We offer independent and assisted living options with six levels of care available.

he 90,000 Silicon Valley jobs lost between 2008 and 2009 involve nearly all sectors, from information products and services to life sciences, community infrastructure and manufacturing, according to the Index.

So-called “green” (environmental) business establishments and jobs showed a significant increase but still represent just 14,000 jobs in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties — about the same number as in the medical-device industry.

“Silicon Valley’s economic and innovation engine has cooled off,” the report said, citing dips in patents and venture investment and a spike in office vacancies — the highest since 1998.

“The level of investment continues to decline, and venture capitalists generally have not realized

significant returns for the past decade.

“Investment is shifting away from software and semiconductors and into biotechnology, energy, medical devices and media.”

Silicon Valley venture-capital investment in clean technology dropped to $1.2 billion last year after peaking at $1.9 billion in 2008.

The bulk of those investments were in energy generation (41 percent) and energy efficiency (26 percent).

But patent registrations in green technology in the Valley are growing.

From 2006 to 2008 more than 100 green-tech patents were registered from the region. The Valley accounts for an increasing percentage of green patents nationwide.

And the region “has continued to generate new companies and attract existing companies,” the report said.

Between 2007 and 2008, Silicon Valley had a net gain of some 9,500 businesses of all kinds.

In terms of environmental habits, Valley residents are driving less and shifting to cleaner-running vehicles.

Per-capita fuel consumption has dropped 13 percent since 2000, far greater than the 2 percent statewide decline. Last year, Valley residents consumed 50 gallons of fuel fewer per person than other Californians.

W

hen it comes to preparing Silicon Valley’s workforce of the future, the picture is

mixed.

The percentage of eighth-graders enrolled in Algebra 2 is slightly higher in Silicon Valley than in the state as a whole and, of those tested, 72 percent scored at the advanced level.

On the other hand, fewer Silicon Valley students are graduating from high school with a college-prep curriculum under their belts.

The region’s dropout rate is only 10 percent — about half the statewide rate — but only 47 percent of high school graduates in 200708 met entrance requirements for the University of California or the California State University systems.

That’s 5 percent lower than the previous year.

At the same time, state generalfund spending on higher education dropped 17 percent in 2008, and to-

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Cover Story

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tal spending per student dropped 19 percent, the report notes.

“In order for the region to flourish, its companies need to be able to attract top talent to the region,” Hancock said.

“If talent inflows from abroad become less reliable, the region will depend more on the development of domestic talent, which will require the strong commitment of public leaders largely outside the region to invest in education and training.”

Despite the problems, Friel and others said they are optimistic that the historic resilience of the Valley remains strong.

“The challenges we face are significant, but none of them are unsolvable,” Friel said.

“No other region in the world has a better opportunity for success.

We have faced big challenges in the past and met them. Our challenge is to do it again.” N Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can be e-mailed at ckenrick@paweekly.com.

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TALK ABOUT IT

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Share your opinions on Town Square, the community’s discussion forum, on Palo Alto Online.

Disturbing trends (continued from page 19)

“We still have amazing assets,” he said, citing strong global connections to other growing economies; high numbers of scientists and engineers still residing and working in the valley; and a historic pace of innovation going back more than 60 years, from defense to space to the Internet.

Nationally there is much buzz about so-called “cleantech” industries such as solar or wind power and other renewable energy sources, or new ways to conserve energy and reduce pollution, the Index reports.

But a close look at federal spending or investment indicates much of it is going elsewhere than to Silicon Valley, such as to Huntsville, Ala., and other places.

The reason Silicon Valley may not be getting its full share is not favoritism or social-engineering as much as because the other areas have aligned their interest groups into a cohesive single voice of government policymakers, business leaders, educators and community organizations.

Silicon Valley, while it has strong legislative leadership, is “scattered” into separate groups, Hancock said, citing another longstanding tradition of valley history. N Weekly Editor Jay Thorwaldson can be e-mailed at jthorwaldson@ paweekly.com.

ARBOR FREE CLINIC A program of Stanford School of Medicine

STANFORD MEDICINE IN THE COMMUNITY

Stanford Hospital & Clinics thanks the 50 Stanford physicians and 65 medical students per quarter who volunteer at Arbor Free Clinic for their commitment to community service.

The Arbor Free Clinic fills an important role in our community by providing health services and medications free of charge to uninsured patients in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.

Patients are accepted on a walk-in basis every Sunday from 10 am – 2 pm. The Clinic is located at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Menlo Park Division. For more information, visit http://arbor.stanford.edu

WATCH IT ONLINE

www.PaloAltoOnline.com A video of Russell Hancock discussing the report is posted on Palo Alto Online.

About the cover: The San Jose

Visit us at: http://stanfordmedicine.org

skyline sparkles on a clear day in January 2009. Photo by Michael from San Jose, California, USA.

*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ iLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£Ó]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 21

Arts & Entertainment A weekly guide to music, theater, art, movies and more, edited by Rebecca Wallace

VOICES UPLIFTED

story by Rebecca Wallace photographs by Vivian Wong

The Talisman ensemble celebrates 20 years of soulful storytelling through a cappella world music

I

nterview a few members of the Stanford University world-music a cappella group Talisman, and you hear the word “soulful” a lot. The student singers say they feel a profound connection with the songs, many of which come from the apartheid era in South Africa.

Interestingly, their passion for the music sometimes leads them to wonder whether they should be singing it.

“We grapple with this: Do we have the right to sing these songs? We weren’t there. We can’t know what they went through,” freshman Mia Divecha says at a recent rehearsal.

“But,” she adds, “we’re acknowledging their history.”

The history and stories behind the songs are what draws many of the singers to choose the group. Stanford vocalists have plenty of options; as at many colleges, there are numerous a cappella ensembles on campus. But while other groups may focus on pop songs or Christian or South Asian music, Talisman’s repertoire of mostly music from Africa and the African diaspora gives the group a different niche.

Songs like “Soweto Blues” drew in Scott Frank, a Stanford senior and the ensemble’s musical director. He describes a vivid version sung by the late South African singer and activist Miriam Makeba, saying that the song recalls the 1976 deaths of hundreds of South African schoolchildren who were protesting a law forbidding them from learning in their local dialects.

“When we sing that song, it’s a hard step to take,” he says. “But we need to respect these stories. ... When you put your soul into this conversation that happens through music, it really changes you.”

Overall, Frank says of Talisman: “We don’t think of it as a cappella. Our mission is the subject matter.” He turns less serious, adding with a smirk, “And it attracts the best singers on campus.”

Talisman draws alumni back, too. About

100 former members are expected to join the 23 current singers at Memorial Auditorium on Feb. 15, when the ensemble holds a 20th-anniversary concert. Graduates will sing in groups from the various years and then together with the current students, with songs including the traditional spiritual “Soon Ah Will Be Done”; “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” often called the African-American national anthem; and “Babethandaza,” Talisman’s signature opening piece, sung in Zulu.

A big part of being in Talisman is learning how to sing in various African languages. Singers study hard to stay

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true to the pronunciation, and often there is someone in the group who has studied a language and can help.

Before rehearsal, senior Shantelle Williams, Talisman’s assistant director, demonstrates the clicks she’s learned to make while singing in Zulu. “I sing best in English,” she says, grinning, “but I also like Xhosa, a South African language.

It has soft vowels. It’s just soothing to listen to.”

Williams, a self-described “proud alto,” joined as a freshman after hearing Talisman on a visit to the campus before she started college. “I thought, ‘If

Clockwise from top: Talisman singers at a recent rehearsal; Anna Rasmussen consults her sheet music; vocalists add some soul to “Hosanna”; Talisman singer and business manager Will Tarpeh calls for better diction.

I wasn’t convinced about coming to Stanford, I was now,’” she recalls. “They sounded like one voice, one soulful voice.”

Williams grew up singing and appreciates that in Talisman she gets to use a jazzy, expressionistic style. Solos are typically descants, sung above the choir, giving the soloist freedom to express individuality and emotion.

A Talisman song with special meaning to Williams is “Wanting Memories,” written

by Ysaye Maria Barnwell of the African-American a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock. It’s about grieving for a loved one, learning to focus on the beautiful memories rather than the pain.

Williams worked on that song with Talisman shortly after her father died. In one rehearsal, she was in tears, and other members sympathetically told her she should go home. But she stayed, saying that was where she wanted to be.

Also memorable to Williams were the two trips she made to South Africa with Talisman.

With a wide smile, she recalls singing “Be Like Him,” a piece with a gospel flavor, in Zulu in a retirement home there. Suddenly one woman got up, and then the room was filled with elderly people dancing. Several told Talisman how amazed they were that the students had come so far, across an ocean, “to sing our songs in our language,” Williams says.

During the last two decades, Talisman has made several trips to Capetown, performing in schools, churches, senior homes, music centers and other venues in partnership with the Amy Biehl Foundation. The foundation was named after a Stanford graduate killed by South African township violence in 1993.

Talisman performed at Biehl’s memorial service.

Over the years, other meaningful highlights have included performances at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and at the White House, Talisman founder Joseph Pigato said. Bill Clinton heard the singers on campus during daughter Chelsea’s freshman orientation, and invited them to sing at the White House Christmas party.

Pigato, who now lives in San Francisco after stints in India and Singapore, founded Talisman as a Stanford sophomore in 1990. He had a choral background and wanted to keep singing, but found the a cappella scene too pop-oriented.

“I wanted a group that was open to singing folk songs from around the world. They just have a lot of meaning,” he said in an interview. “Great melodies, harmonies, rhythms.”

It wasn’t always easy getting a new group to thrive, especially when Talisman was competing for singers with more established groups, Pigato said. He recalled long nights of auditions and callbacks, and being disappointed when top singers opted for other ensembles. In fact, Talisman nearly disbanded in 1993.

“That’s just a problem of being a new group. But then you get enough good people, and then success breeds success,” he said.

In 1997, Talisman won the National Championship of Collegiate A Cappella and performed at Carnegie Hall. A 10-year anniversary concert in 2000 drew more than 100 alumni, and this year the group releases its eighth album, a two-disc album called “Twenty.”

These days, the group is gearing up for the anniversary concert. On a recent evening, the singers gather in the lounge at Lagunita Court, where a large piano awaits Frank’s starting note. The singers warm up, their tones echoing off the high wooden ceiling. Then they prepare to launch into “One

By One,” a resistance song in Xhosa. Williams translates the lyrics, which read in part: “Hold on tightly, my people. Do not lose your strength. Do not get weary.”

It’s pulsing music, with changing dynamics; there are sections of energetic clapping, and slow, almost mournful parts. Singers hum, then sing out. Soloists trade off as the music moves in swells.

Divecha beams at another singer across the circle from her, then sings with her eyes closed.

Frank then runs some miniauditions, in which various singers try out different solo lines and duets. Williams stands out, her voice round and poignant.

She gives each word its time and place, and listeners can feel the truth even if they don’t understand the language. There’s a pause afterward, and Frank says simply, “That’s beautiful.” N

What: “Sankofa,” a 20thanniversary concert put on by members and alumni of the Stanford a cappella group Talisman Where: Memorial Auditorium, Stanford University When: 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15 Cost: Tickets are $8-$26. A $43 VIP ticket includes the album “Twenty.”

Info: Go to stanfordtalisman.org. Videos of the group performing can be seen on Facebook under Stanford Talisman.

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Another Stanford a cappella ensemble is holding a concert this month — with quite a different flavor. At 8 p.m. tonight, Feb. 12, the co-ed group Mixed Company puts on its 24th annual “Love Sucks” show, with songs and skits taking a lighter and rather raunchy look at Valentine’s Day. The free show is aimed mainly at Stanford undergrads, but is open to the public. It’s at Toyon Hall on campus; more info is at www.mixedco.com/events/. Recommended for ages 14 and up.

The people depicted in this brochure are models and are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Arts & Entertainment

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The Newpoli musicians, who play southern Italian folk music, include singers Carmen Marsico (center-left) and Angela Rossi (center-right). by people who maybe didn’t read music,� Marsico said. “We wanted that tradition.�

Newpoli has now performed in a Newpoli brings the spirited tarantellas and villanellas variety of venues, including clubs and lounges; the Boston Public Liof southern Italian folk music to Stanford brary; and the Diacetum Festival in

by Rebecca Wallace Diacceto-Firenze, Italy. The group released its first album, “Neworn in Italy, Angela Rossi and “And you hear the classical in- poli,� in 2008. Songs include the Carmen Marsico came to the fluences,� Rossi added. “In the vil- high-spirited “Pizzica,� the lullabyStates to study at Berklee lanella (a Neapolitan part song), lyrical “La Serpe a Carolina,� and College of Music in Boston. The you hear something really close to “Tarantella Del Gargano,� which two singers were both drawn to that the madrigal. There’s the Middle showcases the sweet sounds of the very American sound, jazz.

Ages, Renaissance influence in the flute.

Life sometimes spins us in music. It’s a really raw street sound, Throughout the music, the songs circles, though. After meeting at and then a beat later on you hear are fueled by Rossi’s and Marsico’s Berklee, the women attended an this classical, very nice melodic strong, bright voices, which carry international folk festival held by sound — sometimes both in the both soulful emotion and powerful the college. They found one coun- same song.� belting. It’s a style of singing that try wasn’t represented: Italy.

Overall, Newpoli’s repertoire must be expertly supported by the Rossi and Marsico thought of the spans from the 1200s to the 1800s, diaphragm, Rossi said. “If it’s done Neapolitan tarantellas and other with a range of musical styles, re- properly, you can go for hours.â€? vivacious songs and dances they gions and dialects, and lots of tamIn 2006 and 2008, the Newpoli grew up knowing. Their musical bourines. A Boston Herald writer musicians also had a special honor: impulses turned back toward their once praised the group’s sound as They got to be on Italian televihomeland. a “fresh spin on Italian folk tunes.â€? sion. “We decided to present Italy,â€? Newpoli performs many types of Rossi had invited a journalist Rossi said. tarantella, a term that refers both to from Rai International to a conTogether with double bass player the spirited, twirling dance and the cert in Cambridge, and the netBjĂśrn WennĂĽs, Rossi and Marsico music that accompanies it. Rossi work ended up featuring the group founded the Newpoli ensemble in and Marsico especially like the twice. With their families watching 2003 to focus on southern Italian type of tarantella from the Puglia back home, Rossi and Marsico perfolk music. While they still sing region, called the pizzica or “bite.â€? formed with the band in Massachujazz with other bands, Rossi and An old legend linked to the tar- setts, presenting Italy to Italy. N Marisco have been performing, antella had people whirling frantitouring and recording with the cally to cure the bite of a tarantula What: The Newpoli ensemble Boston-based Newpoli ever since. by sweating out the poisons. At performs southern Italian folk On Feb. 17, Newpoli will present Newpoli concerts, the singers do music.

Italy to a Stanford University au- the dance on stage just for fun.

Where: Campbell Recital Hall, dience with a concert in Campbell “It’s very high-impact. Lots of Stanford University Recital Hall. jumping,� Marsico said. “There are When: Wednesday, Feb. 17, The band’s other members, all basically two or three basic steps from 8:15 to 10 p.m. graduates of either Berklee or the around which evolves the whole Cost: Free New England Conservatory, are: dance. Once you learn, you can Info: For more about the conpercussionist/vocalist Fabio Piroz- dance on your own, in groups or cert, call 650-736-8169. The zolo; bass player Kendall Eddy; in couples.� band’s website is www.new percussionist Michael Daillak; Building Newpoli’s repertoire polimusic.com. accordionist Roberto Cassan; vio- has involved some research, as linist Megumi Sasaki; and flutist southern Italian folk music isn’t Geni Skendo. (Rossi and Marsico always the best known nowadays, also play the castanets.) It’s a mix especially in America. The musiYour typical Valentine’s Day of musicians representing not only cians have dug up old recordings, celebration may not involve Italy but also Albania, Japan, Swe- done library research and called planting wetlands seeds, trying den and the United States. relatives in Italy. Versions of folk English country dancing, or takThe blend is apropos, since songs that were put into classicaling in some Brahms. But maybe southern Italian folk music is itself music settings were easier to find, it should. For a round-up of some a fusion. “It’s really passionate. It’s but the musicians wanted to make local options, go to www.PaloAl like listening to a little bit of Af- sure they weren’t missing the flair toOnline.com and click on this rican music, a little bit of Middle and feeling of songs sung in the week’s Weekly, then on the story Eastern music,� Marsico said in a streets. titled “Beyond Bouquets.� phone interview from Boston. “The music that we do was done

Songs of the south

B

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Eating Out

Vivian Wong

RESTAURANT REVIEW

A glass of red wine accompanies the Howie’s fennel sausage and broccoli raab pizza.

The new pie in town Howie’s Artisan Pizza nestles into Town & Country

by Sheila Himmel

W

hen the big red splat hits your eye, that’s Howie’s Artisan Pizza. Otherwise, it’s hard to tell from its neighbors, all those all-glass fronts and lowhanging roofs on the El Camino Real end of Town & Country Village in Palo Alto.

Even when you get closer, make sure you’ve found the door, not the wall. One chilly night, the front door was sticking in the open position. Owner Howard Bulka kept coming out from the kitchen to close it.

Bulka did not have door duty in his previous job. He was executive chef at MarchĂŠ in Menlo Park since it opened in 2001, having apprenticed with French master chefs Paul Bocuse and Alain Chapel. General manager and wine buyer Lisa Robins also comes from MarchĂŠ.

And now for something completely different in Palo Alto: a very satisfying three-course dinner for two, including a bottle of wine, under $60. And pizza left over for breakfast.

Howie’s Artisan Pizza employs a brick-lined, gas-fired oven, visible at the end of a long bar leading into the kitchen. The bar is a great place to nurse a slice of pizza and a glass of wine. There are 18 wellselected wines by the glass, from $4 to $9.50.

The 42-seat dining room gets partial privacy with sliding dividers. On the down side, the child next to us found the sliders irresistible, adding to the odd acoustics. Even with a carpeted floor, Howie’s gets noisy. Open since Nov. 17, it’s already become a place for Palo Alto families to run into each other.

Non-pizza eaters could easily make a meal of appetizers.

Eight prawns ($9) were perfectly cooked, bathed in rich tomato-garlic sauce and served with crunchy garlic bread. Eggplant pillows ($7) are excellent but cold. Just so you know. Thin-sliced pillowcases of eggplant have been cooked sometime earlier, rolled around light but creamy house-made ricotta, served in a pool of olive oil blended with parsley, capers, chili flakes and shallots.

One beautifully dressed Caesar salad ($8) is easily enough for two. Crisp hearts of romaine are rough-cut and tossed with garlic croutons and loads of Parmesan.

The mixed greens ($7) feature lively vinaigrette. For an entrĂŠe salad, add herb-roasted chicken breast ($3).

The variety and depth of dressings and sauces are unusual for a pizza place, but Artisan is Howie’s middle name. All pizzas are 14 inches in diameter. The options are eight combinations, do-it-yourself, or half this and half that. One side with tomato sauce, the other without; no problem, no extra charge.

We ordered half-bianco, halffennel sausage, drawing on the four basic food groups. Bianco is a symphony of five cheeses, spiked with green onion and hot chili.

Howie’s mild house-made fennel sausage goes well with broccoli raab. Also known as rapini and rabe, this underappreciated vegetable has a slightly bitter, nutty flavor. As cookbook author Mark Bittman wrote last year in the New York Times, “Broccoli rabe can take whatever you throw at it and still shine.�

The half-and-half pizza could have taken one minute longer in the oven, but the crust held up to all of its smoky, creamy, toothy toppings. It’s a medium-thin crust with puffy edges. Next time, we got takeout, and the crust was nicely charred. That’s the deal with artisan food. It’s a little different each time.

This one was a basic cheese and tomato pie ($13) with pancetta ($2), cubed and superbly crispy.

Takeout is tricky. You don’t want pizza or hot sandwiches to wait too long. By the time we got the grinder sandwich ($8) home, its toasted torpedo roll had drowned in oil and vinegar.

Howie’s commendably reasonable wines recently featured Perfecta Sauvignon blanc at $12 a bottle. We often don’t think of white wine with pizza, and we should.

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Eating Out (continued from previous page)

tastes good even with garlic.

Service was very attentive, up to the point when we’d finished our dinner and wanted to order dessert.

Wave. No notice. Wave, and so on.

Dessert is definitely worth waiting for, but not this long.

In palate-cleansing vanilla and peppermint, a Matterhorn of softserve ice cream ($4) can be topped with house-made butterscotch, superb hot fudge or candied orange/ toasted almond ($1). The ice cream at Howie’s Artisan comes from the local, organic Straus Family Creamery. Naturally. N

Howie’s Artisan Pizza Town and Country Village 855 El Camino Real, Palo Alto 650-327-4992 www.howiesartisanpizza. com Hours: Daily 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m.

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ShopTalk

by Daryl Savage

GONE: SAUERBRATEN & SPAETZLE ... Elbe Restaurant, which may have been Palo Alto’s only German restaurant, closed last month. Tucked into the Alma Street curve (“The Circle�) at 117 University Ave., Elbe shared a kitchen with its neighbor, Rudy’s Pub. As a result of the closure, Rudy’s has expanded to include the old Elbe space and has promised to offer a sampling of German food on its Friday menu, even though Rudy’s seems an unlikely venue to offer spaetzle and sauerbraten. Elbe’s demise also brings back memories of the old Black Forest, the German restaurant on First Street in Los Altos, a popular place in the 1980s and 1990s.

ALSO GONE: BLUE CHALK CAFE ... This month’s big surprise was the closing of Blue Chalk Cafe. A mainstay at 630 Ramona St. in Palo Alto for 17 years, the cafe has now left the two-story Birge Clark building gated and dark. Word on the street is that Blue Chalk was no match for the new Old Pro less

than a block away. “It couldn’t compete. Old Pro’s got better food, a better vibe and more TVs,� said a Lytton Avenue resident who made the Old Pro his preferred hangout after a major renovation in 2003.

FOOD HOPSCOTCH ... Meanwhile, a few new restaurants are descending on downtown Palo Alto. The first newcomer is Crepevine, set to open March 9 in the former spot of Madison & Fifth at 367 University Ave. “We love the space. It’s beautiful,�

Crepevine co-owner Maher Fakhouri said of the existing restaurant. So much will stay the same in the 2,600-square-foot space, including the furniture.

Fahkouri owns seven other Crepevines, all in the Bay Area. “We’re a family business. We own and operate. It’s three brothers and 500 cousins,� he said. Fakhouri believes what sets his business apart are the prices and portions. “Nobody has ever finished a salad at Crepevine.

We serve big portions,� he said.

Madison & Fifth closed in De-

DINNER BY THE MOVIES AT SHORELINE’S

Pizzeria Venti day s e n i t ble valen a l i a v ons a i t a v r rese

cember after a three-year run.

Also, Cafe Baklava is taking over the former Bistro d’Asie at 455 Emerson St. The Mediterranean restaurant, which has been a popular Castro Street destination in Mountain View, will unveil its second restaurant for a scheduled March opening.

And Walgreens is scheduled to open in March, with the hope that it will bring new life to the restaurants and boutiques on Bryant Street and along University Avenue.

ANOTHER STEP FOR VANS ...

Vans will be the newest shoe store on University Avenue.

It plans to soon take over the storefront at 222 University Ave., the former location of Wolf Camera. But this move represents more than just a shoe store coming to Palo Alto, according to Susan Barnes, Palo Alto’s economic development manager. “It’s a hopeful sign.

Retail is coming back to the downtown area and we’re seeing a younger demographic. Look at Black Diamond, American Apparel and the upcoming move of Gamestop,� she said.

NEW BOUTIQUE HOTEL ... A new 43-room boutique hotel is taking shape at 425 High St. in Palo Alto, following a renovation.

The location of Hotel Keen is the former low-income residential

Palo Alto Hotel. Keen owner Perry Patel is trying to capture the 25- to 45-year-old traveler. “The clean, upscale design targets that customer. We’ve designed a young, hip boutique that’s fun,�

Patel said. “Before you make that proposal to a VC, you might want to write something down.

So we’ve included whiteboards in every room.� Patel also owns the Cabana Hotel on El Camino Real in Palo Alto. The anticipated opening is May 2010. And the answer was a simple “No� when asked if the hotel was named after Palo Alto City Manager Jim Keene.

WHEN TIMES ARE TOUGH ...

It pays to be resourceful. Take Rick’s Rather Rich ice cream parlor in Palo Alto’s Charleston Shopping Center, the home of the “hot milk shake.� Even in the best of times, sales are traditionally slow during winter months for most ice cream shops. “That’s why we have the hot milkshake,� said Rick’s manager, Alfredo Alves. Served in a 12ounce coffee cup, it’s the only hot drink Rick’s serves and was invented by a former employee of the ice cream shop, according to Alves. The most-ordered flavors? Eggnog and pumpkin during the holidays; chocolate and coffee at other times.

Another resourceful entrepre(continued on next page)

The History Spaghetti a la Puttanesca Spaghetti a la Puttanesca (Ladies of the Eveningâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spaghetti) is a spicy and somewhat 8&19> 9&1.&3 5&89& ).8- 9-&9 (:1.3&7> *=5*798 7*,&7) &8 '*.3, .3;*39*) &'4:9 >*&78 &,4 salty 9alian pasta dish that culinary *=5*7ts regard as being invent Both Sicily and Naples claim it as the birthplace however the origin of the name seems to be most uncertain. To understand the Neapolitan claim, accordin according to Chef Diane Seed, one 43* 2:89 (438.)*7 9-* 8 <-*3 '749-*18 .3 9&1> <*7* 89&9* 4<3*) "-*> <*7* 034<3 must consider the 1950s when brothel8 .3 9&ly were state own as case chiuse or â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;closed housesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; because the shutters had to be ke kept permanently closed to avoid offending the sensibilities of neighbors or innocent passer passers-by. Conscientious 9&1.&3 -4:8*<.;*8 :8:&11y 9&1.&3 -4:8*<.;*8 :8:&11> 8-45 &9 9-* 14(&1 2&70*9 *;*7> )&> 94 ':> +7*8- +44) ':9 9-* shop at the local market every day to bu â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;civil i il servantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122; were only l allowed ll d one dday per weekk ffor shopping, h i and their time was valuable. Their specialty became a sauce made quickly from odds and ends in the larder.

This is also known as spaghetti alla buona donna - or â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;good womanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spaghettiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; - which (&3 '* 2.81*&).3, .+ 43* .8 349 +&2.1.&7 <.9- 9-* .743.( .38:19 @A ,1.4 ) :3& ':43& )433& - son of a good woman. No matter the racy nature of its name, this full ďŹ&#x201A;avored dish has been made is so many versions as to be indistinguishable from its origins. We bring the original and the best recipe to you now. Please note the redness on my face is only slight embarrassment for the name. This too, shall passâ&#x20AC;Ś after we eat!

From our kitchen to yours.

Buon appetito!

Chef Marco Salvi, Executive Chef

Spaghetti alla Puttanesca con Salmone C 9&'1*854438 4+ 41.;* 4.1 CC (14;* 4+ ,&71.( (-455*) CC &3(-4;> A 11*98 7.38*) dried and chopped C 4? (&3 .25479*) 9&1.&3 51:2 tomatoes, crushed with their juices C 9&'1*85443 (&5*78

1390 Pear Ave., Mountain View (650) 254-1120 www.mvpizzeriaventi.com

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Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday

C ,&*99& 47 0&1&2&9& 41.;*8 5.99*) a or kalamata olives pitted C 9*&85443 4+ 47*,&34 C .3(- (7:8-*) 7*) 5*55*7 C +7*8-1> ,74:3) '1&(0 5*55*7 94 9&89* C 54:3) !5&,-*99. .3,:.3. 47 Bucatini pasta C 5.*(*8 4+ ,7.11*) 8&1243 4? *&(-

To cook: Heat olive oil in a large sautĂŠ pan over medium high heat. Add garlic and anchovy; cook until garlic is lightly browned. Crush tomatoes and add with juices. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, then reduce to a simmer. Add capers, olives, oregano, black pepper, and 1/2 cup of water. Cook at a simmer for 20 minutes. While the sauce is cooking bring a pot of generously salted water to a boil. Add the Linguini and cook uncovered over high heat until al dente. Drain pasta, toss with sauce, top with grilled salmon piece and serve.

Serves 4

Eating Out (continued from previous page)

neur is Ron Linsangan. The Rojoz wraps owner, who moved to Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Charleston Plaza from Town & Country Shopping Center last November, is offering the $6 weekend breakfast, cooked outside and made to order. For the price, customers get a build-your-own-omelet with sausage links on the side. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a money-maker, he says, but it gets him outside to talk to people and â&#x20AC;&#x153;do PR.â&#x20AC;?

Heard a rumor about your favorite store or business moving out, or in? Daryl Savage will check it out. She can be e-mailed at shoptalk@paweekly.com.

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AWARD NOMINATIONS 2â&#x20AC;&#x153;ONEACADEMY OF THE BEST PICTURES OF THE YEAR.â&#x20AC;? ÂŽ

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Movies OPENINGS

Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day --1/2

(Century 16, Century 20) Celebrated director Garry Marshall assembles an impressive A-list cast for this mediocre romantic comedy about everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favorite â&#x20AC;&#x201D; or most reviled â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Hallmark holiday.

Varied characters and storylines weave together on Feb. 14 in the city of angels. Ashton Kutcher headlines as flower-shop owner Reed Bennett, a heart-onhis-sleeve fellow eager to wed his ambivalent girlfriend (Jessica Alba). Reedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best friend is sensitive elementary-school teacher Julia Fitzpatrick (Jennifer Garner), who is being romanced by a two-timing doctor (Patrick Dempsey).

Juliaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gal pal, Kara (Jessica Biel), is a neurotic PR exec whose prized client is a near-retirement pro quarterback (Eric Dane) with a blockbuster secret â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and sports reporter Kelvin Moore (Jamie Foxx) is eager for the scoop. Other fringe dynamics include a pair of airplane passengers (Julia Roberts and Bradley Cooper) getting to know each other on a 14-hour flight; a nauseatingly chipper set of high-school sweethearts (Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner); beentogether-forever couple Edgar (Hector Elizondo) and Estelle (Shirley MacLaine); and young lovers Jason (Topher Grace) and Liz (Anne Hathaway).

George Lopez (as one of Reedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s employees) and Queen Latifah (as Lizâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s boss) help with the laugh factor. Confused by the cornucopia ensemble? Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not alone. The biggest problem with â&#x20AC;&#x153;Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dayâ&#x20AC;? is that the big-name cast is distracting, and it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t allow the audience to get very attached to any one character.

Some of the actors fare better than others. Kutcher and Garner shine (albeit with the meatiest roles), while Hathaway serves up the best performance.

Country singer Swift is more irritating than endearing, and her scenes with real-life boyfriend Lautner scream â&#x20AC;&#x153;vanity project.â&#x20AC;? The relationship between Edgar and Estelle is touching, but MacLaine is looking far too mannequin-esque these days. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s almost unsettling.

Still, the script is sporadically clever and thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plenty of V-Day cheer to make even the grumpiest loners crack a smile. This is a decent date movie â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not great, but not terrible. And it will likely be a long time before we see this many recognizable actors together again in one film.

Geared more toward women than men, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dayâ&#x20AC;? is harmless romantic fare. But with a cast that reads like the Vogue Oscar party guest list, it should have been canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t-miss cinema instead of standard Hollywood schmaltz.

Rated PG-13 for some sexual material and brief partial nudity. 1 hour, 30 minutes.

itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a real head-scratcher when one so conspicuously pointless as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Saint John of Las Vegasâ&#x20AC;? makes it into anything like wide release. Chalk it up to famous executive producers Spike Lee, Stanley Tucci and Steve Buscemi, the last of whom leads a solid indieland cast through an underachieving comedy of awkwardness.

Buscemiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unique brand of seedy striving â&#x20AC;&#x201D; honed in such films as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Reservoir Dogsâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ghost Worldâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; gives some juice to writer-director Hue Rhodesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; debut feature, but what Rhodes has in mind remains obscure by the end of a slack 85 minutes, aside from the observation that people are greedy, if not psychotic, jerks. The starting point is Danteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Inferno,â&#x20AC;? with Buscemiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s John Alighieri (get it?) navigating circles of hell positioned between once-and-future hell Las Vegas and Albuquerque, N.M., where he fled after losing all of his money to a nasty gambling addiction.

Employed by a car insurance outfit, John remains quiveringly compelled to place bets, mostly by way of a (fictional) lotto favored by gas stations. Though he swore off Vegas, John finds himself drawn back to its vicinity when offered a potential promotion to fraud investigator. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s partnered with the intimidatingly self-assured Virgil (Romany Malco of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weedsâ&#x20AC;?), who plays by his own rules as the pair investigate a claim filed by a wheelchair-bound stripper named Tasty D Lite (Emmanuelle Chriqui).

Very few of the quirky incidents on the road trip get any traction. Though intended to be humorous, the set pieces mostly flop and add up to nothing much. Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bland narration rolls around some platitudes about luck and fate, but the point seems only to be that the universe is chaotic and that games of chance favor the house. Hardly a news flash, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s explored through only dimly amusing vignettes like an encounter with a dude named Lou Cifer or a nonstarter involving a nocturnal nudist cowboy (Tim Blake Nelson of â&#x20AC;&#x153;O Brother Where Art Thou,â&#x20AC;? a presumable inspiration for Rhodes). A weirdly arresting exception to the rule is a darkly comic sequence involving a carnival employee (John Cho) indefinitely cursed to hellfire.

Buscemi and Malco give finely tuned performances, as does Peter Dinklage as John and Virgilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s boss, but theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re operating above the level of the script, demonstrating that a good actor proves his worth never more so than when heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s improving his material.

Faring less well is comedian-actor Sarah Silverman.

As Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unstable, looking-for-love co-worker, Silverman canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make her poorly scripted role credible, and she comes out merely seeming demeaned. Better luck next time.

Rated R for language and some nudity. One hour, 25 minutes.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Tyler Hanley

Saint John of Las Vegas -1/2

(Palo Alto Square) Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so difficult to get a movie from conception to the big screen these days that

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TENNANT STATION STADIUM 11 CALL THEATRE OR CHECK DIRECTORY FOR SHOWTIMES

Avatar --(Century 16, Century 20) James Cameronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plot focuses on Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a disabled ex-Marine lying in a VA hospital. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tapped to replace his late twin brother in a corporationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s avatar program, which mixes human DNA with that of the native Naâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;vi population living on Pandora, the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mining colony.

The â&#x20AC;&#x153;dumb grunt,â&#x20AC;? who has no avatar training, must quickly learn how to manage his remotely controlled, 10-foot-tall body in a hostile environment. The payoff?

The jarhead gets his legs back. Things

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Peter Canavese To view the trailers for â&#x20AC;&#x153;Saint John of Las Vegasâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dayâ&#x20AC;? go to Palo Alto Online at www.Palo AltoOnline.com

get more complicated when the avatar team headed by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) realizes that science and peaceful diplomacy are only part of its mission. rated PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking. Occasionally in the fictional Naâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;vi language with English subtitles. 2 hours, 42 minutes. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; S.T. (Reviewed Dec. 18, 2009) Crazy Heart --(CineArts, Century 20) Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one reason â&#x20AC;&#x153;Crazy Heartâ&#x20AC;? is a must-see: Jeff Bridges.

Bridges plays Bad Blake, a faded countrywestern music star relegated to playing dives. He treats his chronic weariness with drinking, defensive pleasantries and one-

night stands. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to face up to the disappointments that have brought him here, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easier to blame someone else â&#x20AC;&#x201D; his manager, perhaps, or his onetime friend and colleague Billy Sweet (Colin Farrell), currently living the music-star life that has slipped from Badâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fingers.

Traveling America in his beat-up â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;78 Chevy truck, Bad would rather be left alone to anesthetize himself before, during and after gigs, but he agrees to an interview with a hopeful music journalist named Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Bad seduces her and realizes that, for the first time in a long time, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not interested in leaving his conquest behind. Rated R for language and brief sexuality. One hour, 51 minutes. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; P.C. (Reviewed Jan. 8, 2010)

MOVIE TIMES At press time, all of the Century 16 show times (except for â&#x20AC;&#x153;Percy Jacksonâ&#x20AC;?) were availably only through Tuesday.

A Single Man (R) ((((

Aquarius: 5:30 & 8:30 p.m. Fri.-Mon. also at 2:30 p.m.

Avatar (PG-13) (((

Century 16: 11:55 a.m.; 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7, 9 & 10:25 p.m. Century 20: Fri.-Tue. at 11:20 a.m.; 12:35, 1:35, 2:50, 4:05, 5:30, 6:30, 8:05, 9:05 & 10 p.m.

The Blind Side (PG-13) (( Century 20: 12:40, 3:40, 6:35 & 9:30 p.m.

Celine: Through the Eyes Century 20: Wed. & Thu. at 7:30 p.m. of the World (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Crazy Heart (R) (((

Century 20: 11:25 a.m.; 2, 4:35, 7:20 & 9:55 p.m. Palo Alto Square: 2, 4:40 & 7:15 p.m. Fri.-Sun. also at 9:55 p.m.

Dear John (PG-13) ((

Century 16: 12:10, 2:45, 5:20, 8 & 10:35 p.m. Century 20: 11:15 a.m.; 12:30, 1:45, 3, 4:25, 5:35, 7, 8:10 & 9:50 p.m.

Edge of Darkness (R) ((( Century 16: 5:15, 7:55 & 10:35 p.m. Century 20: 11:35 a.m.; 2:15, 5, 7:40 & 10:30 p.m.

From Paris with Love

(R) ((

Century 16: 12:25, 3, 5:25, 7:50 & 10:10 p.m. Century 20: 11:55 a.m.; 2:20, 4:50, 7:15, 9:40 & 10:35 p.m.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Complicated (R) ((( Century 16: 1 & 6:50 p.m. Century 20: 11:15 a.m.; 4:10 & 9:10 p.m.

The Last Station (R) ((1/2

Guild: 3:15, 6 & 8:45 p.m. Fri.-Mon. also at 12:30 p.m.

Legion (R) (Not Reviewed) Century 20: 10:45 p.m.

Percy Jackson & the Century 16: Wed. & Thurs. 11:30 a.m.; 2:15, 5, 7:45 & 10:30 p.m. Fri.-Tue. also at 12:50, 3:35, 6:20 & Olympians: The Lightning 9:10 p.m. Century 20: 11 a.m.; 12:25, 1:50, 3:15, 4:40, 6:10, 7:30, 9 & 10:20 p.m.

Thief (PG) (Not Reviewed) Saint John of Las Vegas (R) (1/2

Palo Alto Square: 2:30 p.m. Fri.-Wed. also at 5 & 7:20 p.m. Fri.-Sun. also at 9:15 p.m.

Sherlock Holmes (PG-13) (((1/2

Century 16: 10:20 p.m.

The Spy Next Door (PG) (Not Reviewed)

Century 20: 1:55 & 6:50 p.m.

Tooth Fairy (PG) (Not Reviewed)

Century 16: 11:50 a.m.; 2:15, 4:50, 7:25 & 9:50 p.m. Century 20: 12:15, 2:45, 5:15 & 8 p.m.

Up in the Air (R) (((1/2

Century 16: Noon, 2:35, 5:05, 7:40 & 10:15 p.m. Century 20: 11:50 a.m.; 2:25, 5:10, 7:50 & 10:25 p.m.

Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day (PG-13) ((1/2

Century 16: 11:35 a.m.; 12:35, 1:35, 2:30, 3:40, 4:35, 5:35, 6:35, 7:30, 8:25 & 9:25 p.m. Century 20: 11:10 a.m.; 12:05, 1, 2, 3, 3:50, 4:55, 5:55, 6:45, 7:45, 8:50, 9:45 & 10:35 p.m.

When in Rome (PG-13) 1/2

Century 16: 12:20 & 2:40 p.m. Century 20: 12:50, 3:05, 5:25, 7:55 & 10:10 p.m.

The White Ribbon (R) ((((

Aquarius: 4:30 & 8 p.m. Fri.-Mon. also at 1 p.m.

The Wolfman (R) (Not Reviewed)

Century 16: 11:40 a.m.; 12:30, 1:20, 2:10, 3:05, 3:55, 4:45, 5:40, 6:30, 7:15, 8:10, 9:05, 9:55 & 10:40 p.m. Century 20: 11:40 a.m.; 12:45, 2:10, 3:10, 4:35, 5:35, 7:05, 8:05, 9:35 & 10:40 p.m.

The Young Victoria (PG) (((1/2

Century 16: 4:10 & 9:45 p.m.

( Skip it (( Some redeeming qualities ((( A good bet (((( Outstanding Aquarius: 430 Emerson St., Palo Alto (266-9260) Century Cinema 16: 1500 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View (800-326-3264) Century 20 Downtown: 825 Middlefield Road, Redwood City (800-326-3264) CinĂŠArts at Palo Alto Square: 3000 El Camino Real, Palo Alto (493-3456)

Dear John -(Century 16, Century 20) John (Channing Tatum) is one hunky dude: broad chest, good head of dark hair. And Savannah (Amanda Seyfried), with her little round gerbil face and enormous turquoise eyes, is certainly a cutie. During a two-week spring break â&#x20AC;&#x201D; hers from college, his from the army â&#x20AC;&#x201D; they meet and fall in love on the beach near Charleston. But what they have in common besides their good looks (sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a horse-country rich girl, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the bad-boy son of a reclusive coin collector) is a mystery. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dear Johnâ&#x20AC;? is a sweet enough romance-cum-war story, though its cloying score and the numbing nobility of all its characters are off-putting. The plot had enough complications to hold my interest. Rated PG-13 for some sensuality and violence. One hour, 48 minutes. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; P.C. (Reviewed Feb. 5, 2010) Edge of Darkness --(Century 16, Century 20) The violent shooting death of Thomas Cravenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (Mel Gibson) 24-year-old daughter, Emma (Bojana Novakovic), ignites the story. Resolute and eager for answers, Craven begins questioning those who knew her best, often using brutal techniques to withdraw the truth. Cravenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prodding eventually leads to Emmaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clandestine work at a weapons-manufacturing corporation and its seedy president, Jack Bennett (Danny Huston). As Craven gets closer to discovering the real reason behind Emmaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s death, he develops a surprising mutual respect with British-born â&#x20AC;&#x153;problem solverâ&#x20AC;?

Darius Jedburgh (Ray Winstone) while poisonous adversaries and government conspiracies surround him. Rated R for strong bloody violence and language. 1 hour, 48 minutes. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; T.H. (Reviewed Jan. 29, 2010) From Paris with Love -(Century 16, Century 20) Jonathan Rhys

Guild: 949 El Camino Real, Menlo Park (266-9260) Internet address: For show times, plot synopses, trailers and more information about films playing, go to Palo Alto Online at http://www.PaloAltoOnline.com/

Myers plays James Reece, an aide to the U.S. ambassador and an aspiring CIA operative. At last given his chance at a mission, Reece is partnered with brusque agency superstar Charlie Wax (John Travolta). A seemingly screw-loose cannon, Wax proves heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crazy like a fox as the odd couple descends into a terrorist conspiracy. After a vain attempt to drum up a rooting interest in Reece, Morel and screenwriter Adi Hasak open the floodgates to a rush of action and â&#x20AC;&#x153;buddy copâ&#x20AC;? banter. A predictable mid-film plot twist provides fodder for a stupid climax, the purported â&#x20AC;&#x153;payoffâ&#x20AC;? for Reeceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;character

developmentâ&#x20AC;? as he proves heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s learned his â&#x20AC;&#x153;training dayâ&#x20AC;? lesson. Rated R for strong bloody violence throughout, drug content, pervasive language and brief sexuality. One hour, 32 minutes. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; P.C. (Reviewed Feb. 5, 2010) The Last Station --1/2 (Guild) The film opens in 1910, with Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer) more or less happily ensconced at his family estate Yasnaya Polyana. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s irritably aware of the contradiction represented by this piece of private property, a notion he has publicly renounced. With his career

as a novelist already history, Tolstoy has become the spiritual leader of a social movement that captures the imagination of many a youth and in equal proportion threatens those invested in the social order. His wife, Countess Sofya (Helen Mirren) falls in the latter camp. Since her husband seems likely, in death, to relinquish his estate â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and the rights to his works â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to a common good, jealous socialite Sofya maintains a thick, rich lather around her husband and his trusted associate Vladimir Chertkov (Paul Giamatti).

Rated R for a scene of sexuality/nudity.

One hour, 52 minutes. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; P.C. (Reviewed Feb. 5, 2010) Up in the Air ---1/2 (Century 16, Century 20) George Clooney is professional downsizer Ryan Bingham, a â&#x20AC;&#x153;transition specialistâ&#x20AC;? with an arsenal of platitudes for doing a companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dirty work. Ryan meets his match in Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), a sexy mileage junkie equally as turned on by elite status and sleekly wheeled luggage. Theirs is a match made in heaven â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and hour-long intervals in Omaha and Wichita. Ryanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cocoon threatens to rupture when savvy supervisor Craig Gregory (Jason Bateman) hires wet-behind-the-ears consultant Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) to eviscerate 85 percent of the travel budget. Ryan and Natalie set off on a series of test firings to prove their points. His that the proper sack requires face-to-face commitment; hers that a disembodied computer presence is just as effective. Let the games begin!

Rated R for language and sexual content.

1 hour, 49 minutes. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; J.A. (Reviewed Dec. 11, 2009) When in Rome 1/2 (Century 16, Century 20) Come, play the cliche-counting game with me! â&#x20AC;&#x153;When in Romeâ&#x20AC;? stars Kristen Bell as Beth, a workaholic New Yorker whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unlucky in love. When she zips to Rome for her sisterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wedding, she reaches new lows of embarrassment. At the same wedding is Nick (Josh Duhamel), the hunky best man. Their boozy flirtation takes a bad turn, leaving distraught Beth soaking in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Fontana Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Amore.â&#x20AC;? There, she purloins four of the coins wishful lovers have tossed, setting in motion a painfully unfunny comedy of stalking. You see, by plucking out the coins, she has magically made herself the object of the wishersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; love mania. They follow her back to New York to make her â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and us â&#x20AC;&#x201D; miserable.

Rated PG-13 for suggestive content. One hour, 31 minutes. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; P.C. (Reviewed Jan. 29, 2010) The White Ribbon ---(Aquarius) Malicious incidents occur in a small northern German village before the outbreak of World War I. A deliberately

placed tripwire causes a doctor on horseback to take a terrible tumble. The baronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s young son, kidnapped and tortured, barely survives. Who does things like that?

The narrator of Michael Hanekeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disturbing meditation on the spiritual, moral and economic climate of this seeming Village of the Damned asks that question. So will you. For generations, the remote village has operated as a patriarchal system with a ruling class. Violence breeds mistrust and fear â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and increasingly repressive rule. What turns an ideal into ideology?

This film raises intriguing questions that will linger long after the lights come up.

Rated: R for some disturbing content involving violence and sexuality. In German, Italian, Polish and Latin with English subtitles. 2 hours, 24 minutes. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; S.T. (Reviewed Jan. 29, 2010)

Fri/Sat/Sun ONLY 2/12-2/14 Saint John of Las Vegas - 2:30, 5:00, 7:20, 9:25 Crazy Heart - 2:00, 4:40, 7:15, 9:55 Mon thru Weds 2/14-2/17 Saint John of Las Vegas - 2:30, 5:00, 7:20 Crazy Heart - 2:00, 4:40, 7:15 Thurs ONLY 2/18 Saint John of Las Vegas - 2:30 Crazy Heart - 2:00, 4:40, 7:15

Discover the

FRENCH FILM CLUB OF PALO ALTO at # " + & ! && %' &,

# " + & ! && %' &, PALO ALTO ART CENTER 1313 Newell Road

' *

Save the date ## & #$ $" February 19th #( $" Doors open at 7:00pm

Movie at 7:30pm

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Le Beau Mariageâ&#x20AC;? ' â&#x20AC;&#x153;A !! $ # Good Marriageâ&#x20AC;?

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1982 ďŹ lm by Eric Rohmer & # " ( with Beatrice Romand

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" !% ' $! " # # " $ # # Thamila Mezbah ))) !" !' # $ !# ! # #

Award: CĂŠsar â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Best Writing Established in 1977, the French Film Club is an independent non-profit Organization, open to the public.

For full program and archives, go to:

frenchfilmclubofpaloalto.org

â&#x20AC;&#x153;THE MOST OVERWHELMINGLY ROMANTICâ&#x20AC;&#x153; .â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?MOVIE SINCE â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;THE NOTEBOOK.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;A true blue American love story.â&#x20AC;?

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CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES SORRY, NO PASSES ACCEPTED FOR THIS ENGAGEMENT

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31 ") X*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160; Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160; iLĂ&#x20AC;Ă&#x2022;>Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x201C;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;ä£äĂ&#x160;U " 10" FRI Page 2/12

Sports Shorts

BOYS’ PREP BASKETBALL

SHP gets into the spirit

AWARD FINALIST . . . Coming out of Palo Alto High in 2006, Jeremy Lin did not receive a single scholarship offer from a Division I basketball school. For some reason, it was believed Lin couldn’t play at the next level. Lin wound up going to Harvard and, as they say, the rest is history. On Monday, Lin was named one of 11 finalists for the coveted Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s top point guard. Lin is recently coming off a weekend in which he averaged 19.0 points, 5.0 assists, 4.5 steals, 4.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game as he once again filled the box score in impressive style. The other Cousy Award finalists are: Matt Bouldin (Gonzaga), Sherron Collins (Kansas), Devan Downey (South Carolina), Trevon Hughes (Wisconsin), Kalin Lucas (Michigan State), Ronald Moore (Siena), Scottie Reynolds (Villanova), Jon Scheyer (Duke), Greivis Vasquez (Maryland), and heavily favored freshman John Wall (Kentucky), who’s already being projected as perhaps the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft after this season.

Friday Women’s basketball: Stanford at Washington, 7 p.m.; KZSU (90.1 FM) Men’s volleyball: UCLA at Stanford, 7 p.m.; KZSU (90.1 FM)

Saturday Men’s basketball: Washington at Stanford, 5 p.m.; Comcast Sports Net Bay Area; XTRA Sports (860 AM); KZSU (90.1 FM) Men’s volleyball: UC Irvine at Stanford, 7 p.m.; KZSU (90.1 FM)

Sunday Women’s basketball: Stanford at Washington St., noon; KZSU (90.1 FM)

SPORTS ONLINE For expanded daily coverage of college and prep sports, please see our new site at www.PASportsOnline.com

Sacred Heart Prep’s Reed McConnell had his hands full with Pinewood’s Aaron Daines (25), but the Gators were able to pull away in the second half for a 59-48 victory on Tuesday to remain atop the WBAL standings.

(continued on page 34)

Stanford seniors get a final chance to make another big splash in swim dual against Cal

by Rick Eymer

S

tanford women’s swimming coach Lea Maurer sees a lot of Jenny Thompson in senior Julia Smit. Maurer should know; she swam with the most-decorated female swimmer in Olympic history when both were at Stanford.

Smit, an Olympian in her own right and world recordholder to boot, embodies many of the same characteristics that made Thompson so successful.

“The best way I can explain it is telling a story about accountability,” Maurer said Wednesday as the fourth-ranked Cardinal (4-0, 8-0) prepared for its final dual meet of the regular season, a Senior Day extravaganza with visiting California at 1 p.m. Saturday in the annual Big Splash.

“We were swimming on a relay team together and after I finished my leg I looked up at the clock,” Maurer said. “It was my first American record and I glanced up for maybe

Page 32ÊUÊ iLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£Ó]ÊÓä£äÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii Þ

three seconds. Jenny starts yelling at me, ‘get up and cheer!’ We just set a record and she was still focused on the team effort.

“There’s no question Jenny carried the banner for Stanford relays,” Maurer said. “She always got the job done. Julia is part of my first recruiting class and she has definitely carried the banner for us since her freshman year. She’s accountable every Monday morning at 6 a.m. after a hard weekend or when others might want to give in; her attitude emboldens the rest of the team not to give in.”

Smit is easily the most-honored Stanford swimmer since Thompson, and has rewritten the school’s record books like no other.

Smit currently leads the nation with the fastest times in the 200 IM (1:55.45) and 400 IM (4:03.31), while junior Kelsey Ditto sets the pace in the 1650 free (9:46.80).

Smit, fellow senior and Olympian Elaine Breeden and seven others

will be swimming in a college dual meet for the last time.

“It’s gotten more interesting than I remember it being,” said Maurer, who never lost to Cal as a swimmer and is 3-1 against the Bears as a coach. “It was more of a qualifying meet for the NCAA and we’d look toward the Pac-10 championships. It will be an intense battle and I understand more than 80 parents, family and friends will be in attendance.”

Junior Kate Dwelley, one of the tri-captains with Smit and Breeden, said the week leading up to the Cal meet is exciting not only because of the natural rivalry but because “it means the beginning of the championship season,” she said. “We definitely want to be beat Cal and carry that into the Pac-10 and the NCAA. When we get to Cal, we know it’s almost there.”

Dwelley, one of Stanford’s top swimmers who generally is over(continued on page 33)

Keith Peters

ON THE AIR

by Keith Peters his has been Spirit Week at Sacred Heart Prep, when everything shuts down and students take part in competitions among the classes.

For Sacred Heart Prep boys’ basketball coach Tony Martinelli, Spirit Week is more of a Hell Week.

“The kids lose their minds,” Martinelli said as he summed up the activities leading up to, and including, Spirit Week. “The whole week, there’s nothing getting done — except the kids concentrating on their competitions. They wear themselves out . . . it’s like this every year.”

Martinelli, in his sixth year at the school, said it’s just another element of being a coach at Sacred Heart Prep.

“When the schedule comes out each year, I always look at who we’re playing during this week. If we’re at home, it’s not too bad. If we’re on the road, it’s a little bit of an adventure.”

The Gators will be at home on Friday night to play Eastside Prep at 6:30 p.m. A handful of the players are battling various illnesses that Martinelli believes can be traced to the Spirit Week activities.

Illnesses aside, the SHP players have to be ready and on guard. They come into the game riding an eightgame winning streak and leading the West Bay Athletic League with a 10-1 record (16-5 overall). While only three games remain in the

T

Keith Peters

COLLEGE HONORS . . . UC Davis freshman Katie Yamamura from Gunn High has been named Gymnast of the Week in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. This marks the second such award for Yamamura, who scored a career-high 38.825 to win the individual all-around in Friday’s conference dual against Seattle Pacific. Stanford junior Tim Gentry, meanwhile, was named the MPSF Gymnast of the Week for the men after leading the Cardinal at the Winter Cup Challenge in Las Vegas over the weekend. Gentry earned a spot on the U.S. Senior National team last weekend after placing fifth in the all-around. Stanford freshman Ashley Morgan earned her first Pac-10 Conference Gymnast of the Week honor for her performance in the Cardinal’s quad meet victories Sunday at Burnham Pavilion. Competing in the all-around for the first time as a collegian, Morgan set four collegiate career bests and won two events on the way to capturing a third, the all-around title.

Gators overcome week of crazy activities to stay atop WBAL

Stanford swim coach Lea Maurer has plenty to cheer about.

Palo Alto girls gain measure of hoop revenge with a big upset Pinewood and Eastside Prep, meanwhile, remain tied for first place in the West Bay Athletic League (Foothill Division) following big victories

by Keith Peters

tempt with her rebounding. he Palo Alto girls’ basketball Victoria Shih, Lauren Mah and team had lost four of its past Stephanie Allen also were singled five and was about to face out by coach Scott Peters for their first-place Mountain defensive effort and View in a SCVAL ability to break MounDe Anza Division tain View’s press in game. It was not the the late going. Paly formula for a sucjunior Katerina Petercessful outcome. son tipped in a missed But, this has been free throw with 4.2 such an up-andseconds to play to predown season for vent the Spartans from the Vikings that it getting off a potential was only a matter of game-tying shot. time before the team In the West Bay Athrebounded. That letic League (Foothill time came Tuesday Division), senior Felinight. cia Anderson knocked In perhaps the bigdown seven threegest surprise of the pointers and scored a week, host Palo Alto season-high 30 points shocked first-place on Senior Night and Mountain View, freshman Hashima 40-37, to tighten Carothers grabbed 11 an already close rebounds as Eastside division race. The Prep remained tied for Spartans (7-3, 14-8) first place with a 66still own first place, 51 victory over visitbut Wilcox (6-4), ing Menlo on Tuesday Lynbrook (5-4) and night.

Monta Vista (5-4) Emilee Osagiede The Panthers (8-1, are close behind.

19-4) raced to a 19-8 Paly (4-5, 11-8) moved up, but only first-quarter lead before the Knights three games remain in the regular (3-6, 12-10) made a game of it. season.

Menlo, however, had to foul in the The Vikings’ defense was the key, late going in an attempt to catch up, making up for the team’s 6-of-19 with Eastside scoring 10 points from shooting from the free-throw line. the foul line in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore Emilee Osagiede led Ahjalee Harvey added 15 points the way with 10 points while hold- and six assists while Carothers ing off the Spartans’ comeback at- chipped in with 12 and Ausjerae

T

Swimming

Holland tallied nine for the Panthers. Freshman Drew Edelman had another big double-double of 24 points and 12 rebounds while Whitney Hooper added 12 points and Jasmine Williams had nine.

In Los Altos Hills, Pinewood stayed in a first-place tie with Eastside Prep following a 73-40 romp over visiting Sacred Heart Prep on Senior Night for the Panthers. Junior guard Miranda Seto, who played at SHP her freshman yet, scored 12 of her 23 points in the third quarter to pace Pinewood (8-1, 18-5). Hailie Eackles added 15 points and seven rebounds while Emily Liang added 14 points. Kelsey Morehead had seven rebounds and six assists to go with her five points while SHP (0-9, 7-15) was led by freshman Melissa Holland’s 14 points.

On Wednesday, Castilleja won its 10th consecutive Senior Night as the Gators took care of visiting Mercy-San Francisco in a WBAL (Foothill Division) game, 56-39, avenging a two-point loss to the Skippers late last month. The victory moved Castilleja (4-5, 16-7) into a tie with Mercy-SF (4-5, 18-5) for second place.

As was the case in the previous meeting, Castilleja dominated early. Junior Natasha von Kaeppler scored four points early to become the fourth Castilleja player in school history to score 1,000 career points.

She finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds to go along with seven blocked shots and three steals.

Eve Zelinger followed up with a

“It’s a lot of fun,” she said. “When social reasons.

I came in as a freshman, Julia and “It’s a lot better fit here,” she said. (continued from page 32) Elaine took me under their wing and “I’m happier outside the pool.”

I learned a lot from them. It’s my Ditto gives Stanford depth in the shadowed by her fellow captains. turn to implement those things. Be- distance races, although she acThat’s just fine with her. fore the 200 free at USC, Julia took knowledges that she’d rather do the “I like to be a little under the ra- me aside and told me the (medley) 50 free. dar,” she said. “I like being the un- relay ‘took a lot out of me. I need “I’ve just always been a distance derdog and surprising people.” your help here.’ “ swimmer,” she said. “I do enjoy the Dwelley is a valuable member of Ditto transferred to Stanford this longer races where you get into a Stanford’s relay teams as year from Georrhythm and can almost well as being a top-notch gia and it didn’t loose yourself. I like the performer in the freestyle. take her long to feeling of a longer race.”

She may have even blown get caught up in The Stanford women her cover by winning the the rivalry with have won eight NCAA 200 free over USC sophoCal. titles, but none since 1998 more Katinka Hosszu last “ D ep end i ng when Olympian Misty weekend in addition to on the meet, I Hyman was on the team. winning both the 50 free might have a The Cardinal has never and 100 free events. time in mind or finished lower than sixth Dwelley’s 200 free time a different race in the 29-year history of of 1:46.19 set the Mc- Kate Dwelley strategy,” she Julia Smit the NCAA meet, and that Donald’s Stadium pool said. “Against happened only once. In 23 record. Hosszu held the previous Cal, the goal is to win. I don’t care of those 29 years, Stanford has finmark. Hosszu is a two-time Olym- what my time is as long as I hit the ished among the top three. pian from Hungary and was a gold wall first. It’s the one meet I have Emotions will run high Saturday medalist at the World Champion- been looking forward to, especially as Stanford salutes its seniors. ships. since they are the defending national “I’ll try not to get too sad,” MauCal’s Sara Isakovic, an Olympic champions.” rer said. “We try to stay focused on silver medalist from Slovakia, ranks Ditto originally chose Georgia the present. We can worry about second nationally in the 200 free and an academic scholarship over everything else when the 400 free with a 1:44.95.

Stanford and an athletic scholarship. relay is over in March.”

Training has just entered its Dwelley could be competing She had been accepted at Stanford, against Palo Alto grad Liv Jensen in but was attracted to Georgia be- “purgatory” period, when swimboth the 50 free and 100 free. For- cause of its national prominence in mers are beginning to taper and mer Vikings’ star Colleen Fotsch the sport. The Bulldogs have won start resting for the bigger meets swims the 100 fly and 100 back for four national titles and are favored down the line.

“Your body starts to feel different the Bears. to win No. 5 this year. They have “Kate had a breakthrough meet finished second or better in eight of and you can get nervous about how you’re feeling,” Maurer said. “But at USC,” Maurer said. “She’s really the past nine seasons. grown into her captain’s shoes and Ditto, a native of Austin, Texas, the enthusiasm of this meet is palshe’s been asked to lead.” has earned one of the 891 All-Amer- pable and generates its own energy.

We’re confident as a dual-meet team Dwelley, one of four juniors, em- ican honors in Georgia history. braces her role as a leader. After all, Her decision to transfer to Stan- and the goal is to carry that into the he said, she learned from Smit. ford was based on academic and championship season.” N

feat of her own as she connected on a three-point field goal to become the first player in WBAL history to score 700 career league points. That shot gave Castilleja a 15-6 firstquarter advantage.

Unlike the previous matchup, the Gators’ dominance lasted the entire first half as Castilleja had what appeared to be a comfortable 29-14 halftime advantage — thanks to Zelinger and von Kaeppler, who accounted for all of the Gators’ 14 second-quarter points. In the third period, Mercy came roaring back as Castilleja’s shooting went cold. The Skippers closed the gap to six as

they hit a jumper to beat the thirdquarter buzzer.

A three-pointer by Mercy in the opening seconds of the fourth made it one-possession game, but Castilleja eventually found its offense again by outscoring the Skippers, 19-5, to finish the game. Zelinger tallied 18 points to give her 1,800 in her career. She also had three steals and two blocks.

In the PAL Bay Division, host Menlo-Atherton couldn’t handle first-place Terra Nova and dropped a 62-50 decision on Tuesday night.

Victoria Fakalata led the Bears (4-5, 9-14) with 19 points. N

PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT Notice is hereby given that proposals will be received from previously prequalified contractors by the Palo Alto Unified School District for the: Palo Alto High School Baseball/Softball Multi-Use Field Improvements Contract No. PMU-1 DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK: The work includes, but is not necessarily limited to: Removal of existing playfields and associated structures. Construction of a new Multiuse field and Associated Structures in its place. Contractor shall reference the bidding documents for the full description of work.

There will be a mandatory pre-bid conference and site visit at 11:00 a.m. on February 25, 2010 beginning at the District Facilities Office at 25 Churchill Ave, Building D, Palo Alto, California.

Bid Submission: Proposals must be received at the District Facilities Office Building D, 25 Churchill Ave, Palo Alto CA no later than 1:00 p.m. on March 16, 2010.

PREVAILING WAGE LAWS: The successful Bidder must comply with all prevailing wage laws applicable to the Project, and related requirements contained in the Contract Documents.

Palo Alto Unified School District will maintain a Labor Compliance Program (LCP) for the duration of this project.

In bidding this project, the contractor warrants he/she is aware and will follow the Public Works Chapter of the California Labor Code comprised of labor code sections 1720 – 1861. A copy of the Districts LCP is available for review at 25 Churchill Avenue, Building D, Palo Alto, CA 94306.

1.

A pre-job conference shall be conducted with the contractor or subcontractors to discuss federal and state labor law requirements applicable to the contract.

2.

Project contractors and subcontractors shall maintain and furnish to the District, at a designated time, a certified copy of each payroll with a statement of compliance signed under penalty of perjury.

3.

The District shall review and, if appropriate, audit payroll records to verify compliance with the Public Works Chapter of the Labor Code.

4.

The District shall withhold contract payments if payroll records are delinquent or inadequate.

5.

The District shall withhold contract payments as described in the LCP, including applicable penalties when the District and Labor Commissioner establish that underpayment of other violations has occurred.

Beginning Monday February 15, 2010, by appointment, bidders may examine Plans and Specifications at Facilities Office, 25 Churchill Ave Building D, Palo Alto, California 94306. Bidders may purchase copies of Plans and Specifications at Peninsula Digital Imaging, 599 Fairchild Drive, Mountain View, CA 94043, Phone Number (650) 967-1966 upon payment of $200 per set with the check made out to Palo Alto Unified School District.

All questions can be addressed to: Palo Alto Unified School District 25 Churchill Avenue, Building D Palo Alto, CA 94306-1099 Attn: Heidi Rank Phone: (650) 833-4205 Fax: (650) 327-3588 E-mail: hrank@pausd.org *> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ iLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£Ó]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 33

Sports

Boys’ basketball (continued from page 32)

Keith Peters

Spencer Rosekrans of Sacred Heart Prep (right) ended up winning this battle for the loose ball with Pinewood’s Dante Fraioli.

NOTICE OF VACANCY ON THE LIBRARY ADVISORY COMMISSION FOR ONE UNEXPIRED TERM ENDING JANUARY 31, 2011 (Term of Mashruwala) NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City Council is seeking applications for the Library Advisory Commission from persons interested in serving in one unexpired term ending January 31, 2011.

Eligibility Requirements: The Library Advisory Commission is composed of seven members who shall be appointed by and shall serve at the pleasure of the City Council, but who shall not be Council Members, officers or employees of the City of Palo Alto. Each member of the Commission shall have a demonstrated interest in public library matters. All members of the Commission shall at all times be residents of the City of Palo Alto. Regular meetings will be held at 7 p.m. on the fourth Thursday the month, at least one month per quarter.

Purpose and Duties: The purpose of the Library Advisory Commission shall be to advise the City Council on matters relating to the Palo Alto City Library, excluding daily administrative operations. The Commission shall have the following duties: 1.

Advise the City Council on planning and policy matters pertaining to: a) the goals of and the services provided by the Palo Alto City Library; b) the future delivery of the services by the Palo Alto City Library; c) the City Manager’s recommendations pertaining to the disposition of major gifts of money, personal property and real property to the City to be used for library purposes; d) the construction and renovation of capital facilities of the Palo Alto City Library; and e) joint action projects with other public or private information entities, including libraries.

2.

Review state legislative proposals that may affect the operation of the Palo Alto City Library.

3.

Review the City Manager’s proposed budget for capital improvements and operations relating to the Palo Alto City Library, and thereafter forward any comments to one or more of the applicable committees of the Council.

4.

Provide advice upon such other matters as the City Council may from time to time assign.

5.

Receive community input concerning the Palo Alto City Library.

6.

Review and comment on fund-raising efforts on behalf of the Palo Alto City Library.

The Library Advisory Commission shall not have the power or authority to cause the expenditure of City funds or to bind the City to any written or implied contract.

Appointment information and application forms are available in the City Clerk‘s Office, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto (Phone: 650-329-2571) or may be obtained on the website at http://www.cityofpaloalto.org.

Deadline for receipt of applications in the City Clerk‘s Office is 5:30 p.m., Monday, March 8, 2010.

PALO ALTO RESIDENCY IS A REQUIREMENT

DONNA J. GRIDER City Clerk

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regular season, there is no room to slip up. The Gators’ lead is only one game over second-place Harker (9-2, 17-4).

After Friday’s games, Sacred Heart will host Crystal Springs (2-9) and King’s Academy (5-6) to wrap things up.

“It kind of keeps it in our hands,” Martinelli said of the impending title. “With three games left at home, it’s a good situation. We haven’t won a league title since 2006, so the guys are focusing on taking that next step.”

Sacred Heart took a big step toward the title by beating host Pinewood on Tuesday, 59-48. The Panthers came in just a game back of SHP, were playing at home and still smarting from a bad loss to the Gators last month.

“I knew Pinewood was good and our health situation had me on edge,” Martinelli said. “And playing in their gym is never easy. We didn’t win there last year.”

The other problem was that junior Reed McConnell, the team’s leading scorer, was sick with a sinus infection.

“But, he knew how important the game was,” Martinelli said. “Just having him on the floor meant Pinewood had to pay attention to him.”

McConnell scored just two points in the first half and finished with nine, but made four free throws during an 8-0 run to close out the game and the Panthers (8-3, 15-5), who fell to third place.

Sacred Heart trailed at halftime, 28-24, and was still down at 35-30 before Martinelli made a lineup change that clicked. With reserves Zach Watterson, Pat McNamara and Cal Baloff on the floor with starters Colin Terndrup and Will McConnell, the Gators’ fullcourt press began to work and the game changed quickly.

The Gators went on a 14-0 run as Baloff scored seven of his 10 points. One three-point play came when he drove to the basket and, realizing he was going to get fouled, turned his back and flipped a two-handed shot over his head. The ball went in and Baloff made the free throw for a 40-35 lead.

Martinelli said the group that made the difference had never played together before.

“We’ve never even put that team on the floor in practice,” Ty Cobb (44) Martinelli explained.

It says what a different team we can be.”

It also says the Gators are as deep as they are tall, with eight players standing 6-foot-2 or taller.

Most important, Martinelli apparently can go to his bench and put together various combinations that will work.

Another team in a similar situation is Palo Alto. The Vikings, too, can control their own destiny in the SCVAL De Anza Division race after rolling over visiting Los Altos on

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

Kelsey Morehead

Will & Reed McConnell

Pinewood School

Sacred Heart Prep

The junior guard scored 43 points, had eight assists, seven steals and six rebounds, despite being sick, to help the Panthers win three basketball games and remain tied for first place in the WBAL Foothill Division.

The junior twins combined for 51 points and 11 rebounds in addition to a handful of blocked shots and assists while sparking the Gators to a pair of basketball victories to keep them in first place in the WBAL.

Honorable mention Felicia Anderson Eastside Prep basketball

Massiel Castellanos Priory soccer

Hailie Eackles* Pinewood basketball

Ahjalee Harvey* Eastside Prep basketball

Miranda Seto Pinewood basketball

Maeve Stewart Palo Alto soccer

Joseph Bolous Sacred Heart Prep soccer

Ty Cobb Sacred Heart Prep basketball

Riley Fallon Sacred Heart Prep soccer

Reed Foster Menlo-Atherton basketball

Jeff Keller* Menlo-Atherton basketball

Max Lippe* Pinewood basketball * previous winner

To see video interviews of the Athletes of the Week, go to www.PASportsOnline.com

Wednesday night, 62-51.

The Vikings improved to 8-1 in league (15-6 overall) and remained in first place after securing their eighth straight win.

The third-place Eagles fell to 6-4 (15-7). Paly received a big boost from Homestead, which handed secondplace Los Gatos (7-3, 18-4) a 65-64 defeat.

It was the second time the Mustangs have beaten the Wildcats this season.

With only three games remaining in the regular season, the Vikings can clinch no worse than a tie for the division title by beating host Homestead on Friday night (7 p.m.).

Should that happen, Palo Alto can claim the title outright next Wednesday by beating visiting Fremont (7 p.m.). If Paly continues to play as it did in the first half of Wednesday’s game, it’s a done deal.

“The defense was outstanding in the first half as was the passing and shooting (seven made 3’s),” said Paly coach Bob Roehl, whose team held Los Altos to just 14 points in the first two periods. “Kevin Brown’s

defense and rebounding ignited the fast break, which created the scoring opportunities.”

Brown also scored 16 points to pace Paly while Brendan Rider added 13 and Max Schmarzo had 12, all coming on three-pointers. Los Altos made a great comeback behind Spencer Wells, who scored 16 for the game and nine in the fourth quarter when Los Altos outscored Paly 23-10. The Vikings, however, held a 40-14 halftime lead, thanks to their hot shooting that resulted in a 26-2 run at one point as the Eagles missed nine straight shots in the second quarter.

In other highlights this week: In the PAL Bay Division, MenloAtherton followed up its shocking one-point win over previously unbeaten Burlingame last Friday with a 45-34 win over visiting Terra Nova on Wednesday. The Bears (5-4, 1310) won their third straight as Nils Gilbertson scored 17 points and Jeff Keller added 16.

In the WBAL, Menlo School moved into a tie for fourth place in the WBAL with a 55-51 victory over host Eastside Prep on Tuesday. The Knights (5-6, 7-14) got a career-high 30 points from 6-foot-6 junior Richard Harris, who also grabbed 11 rebounds in his standout effort. N

WBCA Pink Zone Breast Cancer Awareness Night

®

In it to win.

Beating cancer.

Join us at the Stanford Women’s Basketball game Thursday, February 18, 2010.

Wear pink and get a $4 General Admission Ticket.

Stanford vs. Oregon

Thursday, February 18, 2010 | Maples Pavilion, Stanford, CA | 7:00pm PST

The WBCA Pink Zone initiative is a global, unified effort for the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond.

Stanford Cancer Center | cancer.stanford.edu | 877.668.7535 Discount not available for pre-sale. Discount ticket offer can be purchased on game day at the Maples Pavilion Ticket Office starting at 6pm. Discount offer good for one person wearing pink.

No refunds for tickets previously purchased. The $4 price is the group rate (regular $10 adults, $5 kids). Tickets are GA (General Admission) and can be purchased at the box office.

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