Palo Alto Weekly 08.31.2012 - Section 1

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Palo Alto to favor bikes over cars Page 3

Stanford season opens with new challenge PAGE 22

Pulse 13

Transitions 14

Eating Out 18

Shop Talk 19

Movies 20

Puzzles 41

N News Dinah’s Poolside Grill: end of an era? Page 3 N Arts What makes a picky eater?

Page 15

N Home How to maximize fruit-tree harvest

Page 29

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Upfront

Local news, information and analysis

Bikes climb to the top of Palo Alto’s transportation vision City’s revised Transportation Element emphasizes improvements to city’s bike network, Caltrain corridor

by Gennady Sheyner

A

s parking shortages and traffic congestion continue to rile Palo Alto residents, city planners are steadily shifting their transportation priorities to encourage more biking, walking and transit use.

The city is in the final stage of rewriting its Transportation Element, a major component of its official landuse bible, the Comprehensive Plan.

The revised document, which lays out the city’s transportation goals, policies and programs, received

the blessing of the city’s Planning and Transportation Commission Wednesday night. The commission also voted 6-0, with Alex Panelli absent, to extend the planning horizon for the document from 2020 to 2025.

The revised Transportation Element, like the existing one that the city adopted in 1998, stresses the need to look beyond cars. The vision statement of the existing document already commits the city to

emphasizing “alternatives to the automobile, including walking, bicycling, public transit, and car and van pooling.”

The revised document takes this commitment a step further and adds a host of specific programs, including one that calls for the city to create a “transportation demand management” (TDM) program for city workers to encourage them to forego single-occupancy vehicles in favor of other commuting op-

tions. This TDM program would include as its elements transit passes, commuter checks, car sharing, carpooling, bicycling and walking.

The new Transportation Element also contains a vision statement that is both more concise and more specific than the one currently in place. The revised element purports to “maintain and promote a (continued on page 8)

BUSINESS

Dinah’s Poolside Grill may change hands 40-year-old Palo Alto icon could lose longtime management

by Eric Van Susteren

F

Michelle Le

Florence Detlor, 101, smiles after writing “Flo thanx” on Facebook’s wall during her tour of the campus in Menlo Park on Aug. 22.

SENIORS

Facebook’s (almost) oldest user keeps the conversation polite Menlo Park woman meets Zuckerberg, tours social network’s new campus

by Nick Veronin

A

t a little over a century in age, Menlo Park resident Florence Detlor is one of Facebook’s oldest users. The distinction, which she pays little mind, has earned her a tour of the social-networking company’s massive headquarters and a meet-

and-greet with the company’s billionaire founder, who at 28 years old is 73 years her junior.

“I was very impressed,” Detlor said, referring to Mark Zuckerberg. “He was very pleasant and official. Very nice.”

Shortly after noon on Aug. 22,

Detlor toured the Facebook campus along with a group of officials from Little House in Menlo Park, the Peninsula Volunteers-run senior activity center, of which she is a member. In fact, it was at Little House where the 101-year-old Detlor learned the ropes of the popu-

lar social-networking site, and it was through Little House that this trip was organized.

Every month Little House offers interactive Facebook classes for seniors to learn how to use the site, post pictures, add friends and play social games. The lessons are taught by a Facebook employee who volunteers.

Officials from the social-networking giant originally thought Detlor was the oldest Facebook user. But after her visit last week, and the surrounding publicity, the grandson of a 102-year-old woman notified the company of his grandmother’s status as Facebook’s oldest user, the website Today.com (continued on page 7)

or 10 years, Walt Hays and his group of friends have been coming to Dinah’s Poolside Grill in south Palo Alto early in the morning each week. Most of them order bacon and eggs, and all of them suffer the playful pranks of their longtime server, Carlos Ochoa.

“It’s very convenient and pleasant, and we like the atmosphere,” he said of the restaurant. “Carlos jokes around with us in Spanish ... or if one us comes in late, he’ll refer to him as Mr. Late or something like that.”

But this ritual may soon change for the group. The restaurant’s future is uncertain, as longtime restaurant operator Sharon Magnuson’s tenure appears to be coming to an end.

A legal battle between Magnuson and the restaurant’s property owner, Dinah’s Garden Hotel, could result in the restaurant changing hands within a month, she told the Weekly.

Eric Magnuson, the corporate officer for Dinah’s Poolside Grill, said the hotel’s owner, Julie Handley, unexpectedly sent the restaurant a 30day notice at the end of June to vacate the El Camino Real property.

But Handley told the Weekly that the restaurant would not be closed for good.

“We don’t have an exact date yet, but Dinah’s Poolside Grill will be closing for a short time and then reopening,” she said. “It will have a similar menu and the same comfortable, homey atmosphere we’ve had for years.”

Magnuson, Sharon’s son, said (continued on page 8)

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Upfront

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EDITORIAL Jocelyn Dong, Editor Carol Blitzer, Associate Editor Keith Peters, Sports Editor Tyler Hanley, Express™ and Online Editor Rebecca Wallace, Arts & Entertainment Editor Rick Eymer, Assistant Sports Editor Tom Gibboney, Spectrum Editor Sue Dremann, Chris Kenrick, Gennady Sheyner, Staff Writers Eric Van Susteren, Editorial Assistant, Internship Coordinator Veronica Weber, Staff Photographer Colin Becht, Dale F. Bentson, Peter Canavese, Kit Davey, Iris Harrell, Sheila Himmel, Chad Jones, Karla Kane, Kevin Kirby, Jack McKinnon, Jeanie K. Smith, Susan Tavernetti, Contributors Maytal Mark, Dean McArdle, Editorial Interns DESIGN Shannon Corey, Design Director Linda Atilano, Diane Haas, Scott Peterson, Paul Llewellyn, Senior Designers Lili Cao, Rosanna Leung, Designer PRODUCTION Jennifer Lindberg, Production Manager Dorothy Hassett, Samantha Mejia, Blanca Yoc, Sales & Production Coordinators ADVERTISING Tom Zahiralis, Vice President Sales & Advertising Adam Carter, Elaine Clark, Janice Hoogner, Brent Triantos, Display Advertising Sales Neal Fine, Carolyn Oliver, Rosemary Lewkowitz, Real Estate Advertising Sales David Cirner, Irene Schwartz, Inside Advertising Sales Diane Martin, Real Estate Advertising Asst.

Alicia Santillan, Classified Administrative Asst.

Wendy Suzuki, Advertising Sales Intern EXPRESS, ONLINE AND VIDEO SERVICES Rachel Palmer, Online Operations Coordinator Rachel Hatch, Multimedia Product Manager BUSINESS Susie Ochoa, Payroll & Benefits Elena Dineva, Mary McDonald, Claire McGibeny, Cathy Stringari, Business Associates ADMINISTRATION Janice Covolo, Doris Taylor, Receptionists Ruben Espinoza, Courier EMBARCADERO MEDIA William S. Johnson, President Michael I. Naar, Vice President & CFO Tom Zahiralis, Vice President Sales & Advertising Frank A. Bravo, Director, Information Technology & Webmaster Connie Jo Cotton, Major Accounts Sales Manager Bob Lampkin, Director, Circulation & Mailing Services Alicia Santillan, Circulation Assistant Chris Planessi, Chip Poedjosoedarmo, Computer System Associates The Palo Alto Weekly (ISSN 0199-1159) is published every Friday by Embarcadero Media, 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306, (650) 326-8210. Periodicals postage paid at Palo Alto, CA and additional mailing offices. Adjudicated a newspaper of general circulation for Santa Clara County. The Palo Alto Weekly is delivered free to homes in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, East Palo Alto, to faculty and staff households on the Stanford campus and to portions of Los Altos Hills. If you are not currently receiving the paper, you may request free delivery by calling 326-8210. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302. Copyright ©2012 by Embarcadero Media.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

‘‘

‘‘

450 CAMBRIDGE AVE, PALO ALTO, CA 94306 (650) 326-8210

Un-friend!

— Florence Detlor, a 101-year-old Menlo Park resident and Facebook user, on what she does when someone posts negative, strange or overtly partisan comments on her Facebook news feed. See story page 3.

Around Town ARRIVALS ... Palo Alto’s newest high-level planner received a pleasant surprise at his first meeting of the city’s Planning and Transportation Commission. Just minutes after Assistant Director Aaron Aknin was introduced to the commission Wednesday night, he received an unexpected visit from another planning body — the San Bruno Planning Commission.

Aknin had spent 10 years in San Bruno’s Planning Department, the past five as communitydevelopment director. The San Bruno commission came south to present Aknin with a special proclamation. “Aaron left very quickly,” San Bruno Planning Commissioner Perry Petersen said. “As it turns out, there was not a planning commission meeting for us to make a presentation like this.”

Petersen said the commission has very much enjoyed working with Aknin and, in the proclamation, praised him for “exemplary service” and for acting “extremely professionally” in his decade in San Bruno. Aknin thanked his former commission for the recognition, calling the members’ visit “one of the cooler surprises I’ve ever had.” Aknin’s wasn’t the only new face at Wednesday’s meeting. Its newest commissioner, Michael Alcheck, made his debut.

The commission also unanimously elected Mark Michael as its a new vice chair, a post formerly held by Susan Fineberg. The City Council voted last month not to reappoint Fineberg to a fresh term. Commissioner Arthur Keller alluded to that decision and said he was voting for a new vice chair “with mixed emotions.” Like his colleagues, he lauded Michael for his background in corporate governance, which members agreed could help him facilitate efficient operations. In its sole overture to tradition, the commission also voted unanimously to keep Eduardo Martinez as its chair for another year.

DEPARTURES ... While Palo Alto’s planning officials welcome the department’s new assistant director, the Office of City Attorney is preparing for a departure of one of its veteran attorneys. Assistant City Attorney Don Larkin, who specializes in land-use issues and who has been a fixture at Planning

and Transportation Commission meetings during his seven years with the city, has accepted a new job at the Santa Clara County Office of the County Counsel.

Larkin, who briefly served as the city’s acting city attorney after the 2011 departure of Gary Baum, said his last day in Palo Alto would be Aug. 31. City Attorney Molly Stump said the department is now recruiting for Larkin’s replacement. “Don’s service here was distinguished,” Stump said.

“He did wonderful things for the city.”

WHAT ARE THEY THINKING? ...

That’s the question Palo Alto’s elected leaders are asking these days as they prepare to ask voters to approve a bond measure in 2014. The city has a laundry list of pricey infrastructure needs, with a new public-safety building heading the list, and council members have been scrambling over the past year to find ways to pay for these items. Earlier this year, they agreed not to rush into a bond measure in the current election season. Instead, they decided to spend the next two years coming up with a proposal they can send to the voters for possible approval in 2014. Such proposals haven’t always been a hit with the electorate. While voters had overwhelmingly supported recent bonds to pay for school and library improvements, they soundly rejected the city’s 2009 proposal to raise revenues through a new business-license tax. To craft a winning measure, the city is looking to enlist a professional polling and public-opinion-research service. Last week, the city released a request for proposals for a company that would spend the next two years helping the city identify the level of community support for infrastructure projects, the level of “tax threshold” the community is willing to support, optimal election timing and “effective themes/messages,” according to a report from the office of City Manager James Keene.

The city plans to award a contract in late October. Meanwhile, the City Council plans to consider at its Sept. 18 meeting a schedule for placing a possible bond measure on the November 2014 ballot. N

Upfront HEALTH

LAND USE

East Palo Alto’s health challenges greater than county’s

Proposed location for commercial building to replace homes on Page Mill Road

High rates of chronic diseases and a lower life expectancy are linked to residents’ poverty, officials say

(continued on page 12)

CRIME

Assault may be second in Palo Alto by the same man, police say

by Sue Dremann

P

olice believe a serial sex offender may be roaming Palo Alto. For the second time in a week a man who is described as East Indian and about 30 years old has groped a woman in a public space.

On Wednesday, Aug. 29, at about 12:13 p.m., a woman in her 30s was walking in the parking lot of Stanford Shopping Center at 180 El Camino Real when the man grabbed one of her breasts, Palo Alto police stated in a press release.

The woman was on the sidewalk of Orchard Lane between Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus. The unknown man stepped out in front of her from between two parked cars and grabbed her breast over her clothing. The man then ran away and was last seen in a parking lot along Welch Road, police said.

The victim immediately called 9-1-1 from her cell phone. Officers and detectives from the Palo Alto

Police Department, assisted by deputies from the Stanford Department of Public Safety, conducted an extensive search but could not find the man. The victim was not injured, police said.

The assailant was wearing a yellow hooded sweatshirt with the hood up over his head. The victim said he was about 5 feet 9 inches tall with a medium build.

A similar sexual battery was reported Aug. 20 on Fulton Street.

The victim, a woman in her 20s, was standing next to her vehicle and taking out her car keys when she was grabbed from behind.

The man reached under her dress and grabbed her buttocks. He ran east on Hamilton Avenue, police said.

Detectives are investigating the cases and believe the same man might be responsible for both crimes. Patrol officers and plain-

Courtesy Palo Alto P.D.

Sexual battery reported at Stanford Shopping Center Palo Alto police released these sketches of a man wanted in connection with a sexual battery that was reported Aug. 29 at Stanford Shopping Center and Aug. 20 on Fulton Street in Palo Alto. The man is described as East Indian, about 30 years old, and about 5 feet 9 inches tall with a medium build. clothes detectives are on the lookout for the man, police said.

Palo Alto police have listed a series of personal safety and crimeprevention tips on the City of Palo Alto website at cityofpaloalto.org/ StopCrime.

The department urges awareness and reporting suspicious behavior immediately by calling 9-1-1.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the 24-hour dispatch center at 650329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent by text message or voice mail to 650-383-8984. N

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gets out to exercise, she said.

Then, there is crime.

“In 2010, East Palo Alto’s violent crime rate was nearly 80 percent higher than the state of California overall,” East Palo Alto police Chief Ronald Davis and two co-authors wrote in a paper entitled “Using Public Health Strategies to Reduce Violence in ‘Hot Spots’ in East Palo Alto, California.” The paper was published in early August in a U.S. Department of Justice journal.

A map published with the article shows 5,200 shooting incidents between January 2009 and October 2011, dozens of which occurred around neighborhood schools and public facilities.

“East Palo Alto is approximately 2.5 square miles, and this map suggests that there are few places within the city’s borders where shootings do not occur,” wrote the authors, who also included Brad Jacobson of the San Mateo County Health System.

San Mateo County has also identified that East Palo Alto’s lower educational level and incomes correlate with the disparity.

“Research consistently shows that low-income people with less than a high school education and people of color have higher rates of illness and live shorter lives,” a 2010 study, Get Healthy San Mateo County, noted.

Relatively fewer East Palo Alto

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by Sue Dremann the county average.

Buada said economic disparity strikes residents at the most fundamental level — nourishment — and that has led to disproportionately high levels of chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and obesity.

A staggering 67.1 percent of residents living in Ravenswood’s service area are obese or overweight.

Buada blames the lack of access to quality foods but also a lack of education and the persistence of some unhealthy cultural values.

“Food is not affordable. Until recently, East Palo Alto was a food desert,” she said.

The opening of Mi Pueblo supermarket in November 2009 — the city’s first grocery store in more than 30 years — has improved access to fresh fruits and vegetables, but Buada said the balance of food people are eating is still processed carbohydrates.

For some residents, sweet drinks and candy offered to children are culturally valued. They confer that a person is well off enough to afford sweets, she said.

“It says, ‘I can do better than water,’” she added.

Residents can’t afford to go to the gym or to buy bicycles or helmets, she said. Choices such as walking or running are difficult for many families when parents work two or three jobs to make ends meet. Television becomes the babysitter, and no one

Gr an tA ve

ast Palo Alto’s poorest residents and the city’s population in general live with far greater health problems than San Mateo County’s as a whole, according to a county study and a recent assessment by the Ravenswood Family Health Center in East Palo Alto.

Residents in East Palo Alto, East Menlo Park and North Fair Oaks — areas served by Ravenswood Family Health — have nearly twice the rates of hypertension (42.8 percent) than other California residents, according to Ravenswood. The comparison was based on the 2009 California Health Interview Survey, the nation’s largest state health survey.

People also die younger. The average lifespan of an East Palo Alto resident is 61.9 years (the figure doesn’t include deaths due to crime or accidents), more than 13 years less than that of county residents, according to a 2010 comparative health profile by Get Healthy San Mateo County, a San Mateo County Health System initiative.

The chief culprit is poverty, Ravenswood CEO Luisa Buada said.

About 45 percent of residents have incomes that are 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Ninety-six percent of Ravenswood’s 10,000 patients live at or below the federal poverty level, which is an annual income of $23,050, she said.

The city’s unemployment rate, at 16.8 percent, is more than double

As hS t

Page Mill Road could see commercial influx Palo Alto considers rezoning residential site, seeks neighbors’ input

by Gennady Sheyner

T

he bustling block of Page Mill The City Council is scheduled to Road just east of El Camino discuss the application Sept. 10.

Real looks like an unlikely Meanwhile, Northway’s firm is place for quiet single-family homes, planning its own commercial dewith its high traffic volume, a scat- velopment on the Page Mill block, tering of shops such as the AT&T on the site that currently houses the store and Kelly Moore Paint Store four residences. The city’s Planning and the towering AOL office build- and Transportation Commission ing just a stone’s throw away. considered the request for a zone But the largely commercial block change Wednesday night, Aug. does include four single-story hous- 29, and largely supported the zone es, which, in a hint of zoning irony, change. Commissioners expressed stand out precisely because of their concern, however, about the lack of nondescript nature. Unlike other neighborhood outreach and voted properties in the area, the four par- 6-0, with Alex Panelli absent, to cels at 423, 433, 441 and 451 Page delay any decisions about potential Mill Road are currently zoned for zoning changes until October. residential use, a Northway said designation city the new develplanners view as opment will be a odd given the sur- ‘Having these single- “multi-use type rounding area. building,” family lots sitting in of Now, plans are though he noted afoot to change that. a major commercial that “it hasn’t The owner of the thoroughfare is an been taken too four residential parfar yet” because unusual situation.’ cels, Norm Schwab, the zone change —Curtis Williams, hasn’t been made and local architect planning director, yet. He said that John Northway of City of Palo Alto after considerStoecker and Northway Architects ing various pohave asked the city tential zoning to rezone the pocket of residential designations, the applicants felt that properties to “service commercial,” Service Commercial (CS) would be a change that would allow construc- “the best zone to use for the busition of another dense office devel- ness plan being developed.” opment in an area that has seen an “You don’t want to spend too influx of them in recent years. In ad- much money designing a building dition to the AOL building at Park until you know you have a zone it Boulevard and Page Mill, the city is can fit into,” Northway said. also preparing for a major proposal City Planner Russ Reich said the from developer Jay Paul. zone would allow a development That proposal will include a re- with a height limit of 35 feet. Request for a “planned community” or ich said that while the city typically PC zone change, allowing the devel- doesn’t support converting residenoper to exceed Palo Alto’s zoning tial land, it is making an exception regulations in exchange for a negoti- with this one because of location on ated set of “public benefits,” which a busy arterial roadway and its proxthe council hopes will include a new police headquarters. (continued on page 12) ÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V ÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ Õ}ÕÃÌÊΣ]ÊÓä£ÓÊU Page 5

Upfront EDUCATION

Startup schools for ‘gifted’ emerge as state cuts public funding New groups embrace definitions for ‘giftedness’ that go beyond IQ

by Chris Kenrick

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s public schools reduce extra services for gifted children following state funding cuts, a few startup private schools and support networks have emerged locally with a broader definition of “gifted.”

Helios New School, launched in a home with a handful of students five years ago, now leases a colorful corner of Palo Alto’s Oshman Family Jewish Community Center with a K-5 enrollment of 35 children.

Synapse School in Menlo Park offers a similar program for children K-8.

Both schools say they use a “qualitative assessment” of giftedness in children that goes beyond the traditional IQ definition.

Another group, the one-year-old Gifted Support Center, offers assessments, support and community for gifted children and their parents, many of whom resort to home schooling after finding their children are bored or do not fit well in regular classrooms, according to support center director Ann Smith.

The broader definition of giftedness — encompassing characteristics such as reasoning, energy level, attention span, moral sensitivity and “excitability” — has gained ground with some local parents at the same time that public schools generally have pulled back on special offerings for gifted children.

Strapped for funds, the California Legislature in 2008 loosened restrictions on the state’s Gifted and Talented Education program, allowing school districts to keep the funds but redirect them to other educational needs.

As a result, the Palo Alto school district suspended the program it once had of identifying gifted children — beginning in spring of third grade — through standardized test scores and checklists of multiple intelligences and indicators of giftedness.

Once identified, children in Palo Alto’s GATE program were supposed to be offered “differentiated instruction” and extended curriculum within their regular classes.

“The district remains committed to serving the individual needs of high achieving and gifted students regardless of GATE identification,” according to the district’s website.

Superintendent Kevin Skelly noted, “In a place like Palo Alto we have an extraordinary number of gifted kids.”

Palo Alto public-school families seeking greater academic challenge are directed to a long list of enrichment opportunities, from Stanford University’s Education Program for Gifted Youth to a variety of math and robotics competitions and spelling bees.

But private educators who em-

brace the qualitative definition of giftedness say gifted kids frequently have social, emotional and other needs that go unmet in the mainstream classroom.

“We’re not talking about high ability across the board,” said Anne Beneventi, a founder and current codirector of Helios New School.

“They often have asynchronous development and sometimes they can have a learning disability. What our kids have in common is they need more depth and complexity and need it connected to something (like a project or theme) instead of it being just based on skills.”

‘What our kids have in common is they need more depth and complexity and need it connected to something (like a project or theme) instead of it being just based on skills.’

—Anne Beneventi, co-founder, Helios New School

Helios organizes children loosely by age but forms ability groupings in subjects like math, where some students are working far above grade level.

The father of one Helios firstgrader said his son was fascinated with physics and science and could read 200-page books in preschool but had the social skills of any preschooler.

“It’s not like we were trying to make our kid out to be super-smart or anything like that, but he certainly was different and showed a lot of signs that, in hindsight, were pretty clear,” said the Palo Alto resident, who asked not to be identified.

“Here you had a 3-year-old who wanted to talk about the Period Table of the Elements, and he’d go to talk to other kids about it and they’d say, ‘What’s wrong with you?’

“He didn’t have the social skills to navigate that. He was aware that his interests were different and that led to him feeling isolated and not fitting in. And that makes it very challenging as you go through your early development.”

Beneventi introduced the family to another, who had a child with a similar interest in science.

“On the first play date it was eyeopening for (the other mother) be-

cause she’d never seen her son engage like that,” the Helios parent said.

“You had 4-and-a-half-year-old kids who were playing just like 4-and-a-half-year-old kids but happened to be making jokes about chemistry. Neither had ever had a peer to engage with on that level.”

Though the other child does not attend Helios, the two boys still play together regularly, the father said.

Palo Alto resident Ivonne Mena King, mother of another Helios firstgrader, said she and her husband chose the school for kindergarten for their child after touring private and public schools.

“One of the many things that sets Helios apart is that children are encouraged to be scientists in all aspects,” King said.

“They are not taught to merely sit still and absorb information. For a variety of subjects, the class last year conducted hands-on group or individual experiments.

“Another aspect of Helios that my son loves is exploration. A few times a week, the children are encouraged to explore a subject of their own choosing,” King said.

Ann Smith of the Gifted Support Center got introduced to the field when one of her three children began having temper tantrums after kindergarten in a traditional school.

“We had some educational testing done, and it was recommended that we home-school her or put her in a school for gifted children,” Smith said.

“At that time I said, ‘What’s a gifted child?’ I would have thought Einstein. That’s how the path began for our family.”

The family tried home-schooling for awhile, and the child now attends Odyssey School, an independent middle school for gifted students in San Mateo.

The 45-year-old, pre-K-8 Nueva School in Hillsborough is the most widely recognized school for gifted children on the Peninsula, but Smith said the school has a limited number of spots and some families are looking for an option closer to home.

“Giftedness, the way it makes the most sense to me, is a way of experiencing and perceiving the world that includes heightened sensitivity, intensities, advanced cognitive abilities — a way of perceiving things a bit upside of the way normal people experience it,” she said.

“Our society tends not to like the word. It’s viewed as elitist. The prevailing notion is ‘If these children are so smart, they’ll be just fine on their own.’

“That’s a shame because all children need help to reach their potential.” N Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can be emailed at ckenrick@paweekly. com.

Upfront

Timothy Roper

VIDEO: A canvas made of concrete Artist Lawrence Viariseo works on an Italian street painting of Steve Jobs, which was sponsored by the Palo Alto Weekly. Dozens of artists demonstrated their Italian-street-painting skills in downtown Palo Alto Aug. 25 and 26 during the 31st annual Palo Alto Festival of the Arts. Watch the video by Sierra Duren on www.PaloAltoOnline.com.

Facebook

(continued from page 3)

reported Thursday.

Detlor’s own interest in signing up for Facebook was piqued by her family. She recalled how family members would often talk about using the site, occasionally suggesting that Detlor give it a try.

The idea was not all that farfetched. While Detlor admits she isn’t highly tech-savvy, she is far from computer-illiterate. The centenarian got her first personal computer in 1999 around the time Zuckerberg was entering his freshman year of high school.

Detlor’s Facebook timeline indicates that she joined Facebook on Aug. 19, 2009. However, she says she has been using the site for only one year. Her first picture post is a shared photo, originally uploaded by her niece on Detlor’s 100th birthday.

Detlor was born in Canada and moved to Los Angeles shortly thereafter. “Not a moment too soon, I believe,� she said.

From L.A. she moved north to Menlo Park. She remembers the exact date she first moved into the home she still lives in to this day: Dec. 9, 1955. She loves her “beautiful Menlo Park,� she said, even if she doesn’t “like the way they run it sometimes.�

That’s about the most political Detlor gets, at least on Facebook.

She said she likes to limit her social wall feed to polite discourse and pleasant small talk.

Scrolling through her feed there are earnest questions, such as, “Is a garage sale a good way to shop?�

There are also positive proclamations that also serve as a call to discuss positive experiences had in church: “I heard a thought-provoking sermon this morning. I can work on that all week.� An Aug. 5 post from Detlor reads: “Isn’t it good that we don’t have to face politics on Facebook???�

It may be surprising for the more experienced Facebook user that Detlor is able to avoid politics within Facebook, but the truth is she is fairly discerning when it comes to “friending.� “I just want (the conversation) to be meaningful,� she said, “and to give back a message that is meaningful.� When she sees posts that are negative, strange or overtly partisan, she has found a simple solution. “Un-friend!� she exclaimed, from her wheelchair, as she sat in a meeting space deep within the labyrinthine Facebook campus.

According to a Little House employee, the Facebook class is a big hit. “The ability to be able to connect and reconnect with long-lost friends, engage with them, keep up with their family and kids and just be able to link up with their families� is what makes the course so popular, according to Kwesi Wilson, marketing and communications coordinator.

Wilson said that the class has grown in popularity, largely through word of mouth, as Little House members tell their peers about how much they have enjoyed using the site. “They pick it up quickly,� he said. “It’s really easy to use. And as soon as they start clicking and get in there, start uploading pictures, they’re in.�

Wilson pointed to a recent USA Today article featuring Detlor that explores the use of social networks by senior citizens. That article, “Facebook 101: Seniors learn to use the social network,� cites a recent Pew study that indicates all social network users older than 50 use the technology predominantly to stay in touch with family.

Wilson said he uses it for staying up to speed with his family living in Ghana.

The article also cites another recent Pew study that found 33 percent of senior citizens on the Web used social-media sites in 2011.

That’s up from 13 percent just two years prior.

Loneliness may be a significant driver behind this uptick in social media use by the elderly, Wilson speculated. “What (the seniors) find is that they’re able to keep in touch with their children, their friends, so (they) virtually are keeping in touch with everyone,� he said.

Detlor said her friends would benefit from the contact they could experience through Facebook but also noted that many of her friends have passed away.

This fact may shed some light on why she isn’t all that shy about engaging with complete strangers online so long as they remain polite, of course. N Editor’s note: Before Florence Detlor’s visit to Facebook, she had about 40 friends on her page. After the visit, she had more than 3,000.

Nick Veronin is a staff writer with the Mountain View Voice, the Weekly’s sister paper. He can be emailed at nveronin@mv-voice. com.

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Upfront CITY HALL

Palo Alto looks to trim managers’ benefits City to require greater pension, health care contributions from 202 managers and professionals

by Gennady Sheyner

W

hile Gov. Jerry Brown and Sacramento legislators scramble to contain pension expenses for state employees, Palo Alto is swiftly proceeding with its own set of pension reforms, the latest of which the City Council is scheduled to adopt Tuesday night, Sept. 4.

The city’s proposal targets a group of 202 managers and professionals, the only major employee group that is not represented by a union. If the council were to approve the compensation plan for this group through a resolution, its benefit reductions would mirror those that have been accepted by the city’s labor unions.

The management group has seen a major shift in personnel in recent years, as the city has undertaken a concerted campaign to trim employee benefits and require greater contributions from employees toward their health care. Dozens of managers have already retired and, according to a new report from the city’s Human Resources Department, many more are expected to do so in the coming years.

Nearly half of the managers’ group — which does not include utilities and police department managers, who have their own labor associations — are eligible to retire within the coming five years, according to Sandra Blanch, assistant director of the Human Services Department.

Now, as the city prepares to usher in a wave of managers, it is also looking to change the rules to promote more innovation, even at the expense of stability. The goal is to function more like a private company, with more flexibility and greater contributions from employees toward pension and health care expenses.

“It is no longer a workable paradigm to provide steady employment with a generous pension and health benefits in return for narrowly focused jobs that are carried out with pleasant and courteous service,” Blanch wrote in a new report. “Dynamic times call for a workforce choosing to serve the city in order to better their community and to bring city services up to date with current good practices found in businesses and social institutions around the world.”

Pension and health care expenses have been taking up an increasing share of the city’s General Fund budget over the past decade. While benefits made up about 50 percent of salary in 2010, that ratio went up to 62 percent in 2012.

Among the most dramatic changes will be requiring managers to pay the full amount of the “employee” contribution to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, either 7 percent or 8 percent depending on the retirement formula the employee is enrolled in. Currently, employees pay 2 percent of the employee contribution and the city picks up the balance, according to Blanch.

The city expects the increased employeepaid pension contributions to save the city $271,932 per year. Employees will also now have to contribute 10 percent toward their health care plans, with the city picking up the balance (historically, the city had picked up the entire bill). The new contributions toward medical care are projected to save the city about $109,000 per year.

The proposed compensation plan is consistent with similar reforms that most other labor unions have accepted, with varying

degrees of resistance, since 2009. Since then, workers represented by the city’s largest labor union, the Service Employees International Union, Local 521, have agreed to increased medical contributions and accepted a second, less lucrative pension tier for new employees.

The city’s firefighters and police officers have also agreed in the past year to accept a different pension tier for new employees and increased medical contributions.

In exchange for decreased benefits, the city is offering managers and professionals a salary increase of 3 percent in the new compensation plan. All newly hired managers and newly promoted department heads, assistant directors and other high-level managers will also now have “at-will” status, which means the city can fire them or ask them to resign any time, with or without cause.

In the new report, Blanch notes that managers have already made a series of contributions to help the city save money. These include scrapping a bonus program for managers, accepting a multi-year salary freeze and agreeing to pay for the health care premiums of active workers and future retirees.

In addition to signing off the compensation plan for managers, the council is also scheduled to approve on Tuesday the city’s response to a July report from the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury. The grand jury recommended a host of pension reforms, including increasing the retirement age for employees; requiring workers to pay maximum employee contributions toward pension plans; and transitioning from “defined benefit” plans, in which pension payments are constant and guaranteed, to “defined contributions” plans.

The Grand Jury report concluded that “until significant modifications are enacted, there is no doubt that the escalating cost of providing benefits at the current level is interfering with the delivery of essential city services and the ultimate cost to the taxpayers is an unbearable burden.” It alludes to several cities, including Vallejo and Stockton, that had been pushed to bankruptcy by staggering benefit obligations (San Bernadino had joined this group after the report came out), and cited San Jose, which had to reduce police and fire staffing levels and close libraries because of the rising employee costs.

Even with the recent reforms, Palo Alto officials have consistently returned to the need to do more to limit the city’s pension and health care obligations. In July, four council members — Vice Mayor Greg Scharff, Councilwoman Karen Holman and Councilmen Greg Schmid and Pat Burt — submitted a memo calling for a broad community discussion centered on ways to cut employee benefits, which now make up 27 percent of the city’s General Fund expenditures.

The memo states that in recent years “the cost of employee benefits and pensions has risen dramatically for the City of Palo Alto, reducing the funds available for our community’s necessary and valued services and infrastructure.”

The council is tentatively scheduled to discuss this memo and consider future reforms at its Sept. 18 meeting. N Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@paweekly.com.

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Patrons at Dinah’s Poolside Grill have lunch outside by the pool on Friday, Aug. 24.

Dinah’s

(continued from page 3)

they are attempting to prevent the closure with a lawsuit against the hotel and Handley, the restaurant’s landlord.

He said the restaurant’s lawsuit is based on an agreement made between his father, Bruce Magnuson, the former owner of the restaurant who died in 2006, and Raymond Handley, the previous owner of the hotel who died in 2009. Raymond Handley was Julie Handley’s father.

Magnuson said Raymond Handley had told Bruce Magnuson that the restaurant would have a “lifelong lease” at Dinah’s Garden Hotel.

“We did a huge favor for original owner of hotel by serving dinner at major loss for 15 years, and because we made such a huge sacrifice he thanked us by saying, ‘You’ll always have a place here,’” Magnuson said.

But Dinah’s Hotel proceeded to file an unlawful detainer action, a special court proceeding to legally evict a person or business, on July 24 against Sharon Magnuson and her company, Create Your Own Omelette Inc. Julie Handley would not comment on this agreement, on any details of the lawsuits or on whether there are plans to change the restaurant’s ownership.

Both cases are still listed as open, according to the Santa Clara County Superior Court.

Bikes

(continued from page 3)

sustainable network of safe, accessible and efficient transportation and parking solutions for all users and modes.” But it also specifically commits to promoting “alternatives to single-occupant greenhouse-gas emitting vehicles” and to implementing the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, a broad document that calls for a wide variety of bike-friendly projects. These include bike boulevards, trails and a new bike bridge spanning U.S. Highway 101 at Adobe Creek.

Chief Transportation Official Jaime Rodriguez told the commission Wednesday that one of the most ambitious goals of the revised Transportation Element is to reduce the city’s greenhouse-gas emissions by 15 percent by the year 2020.

“It’s extremely aggressive, but it’s definitely a goal that represents the type of innovation Palo Alto is known for,” Rodriguez said.

The revised element also formalizes the

Bruce Magnuson started Dinah’s Poolside Grill in 1972, behind Dinah’s Garden Hotel, and continued to operate until he became ill in 2002, at which point his wife took over, she said.

Raymond Handley built what was then Dinah’s Motor Inn in 1957 directly behind Dinah’s Shack, a restaurant founded in 1929

by Charles McMonagle and his wife, Hazel.

Dinah’s Shack, which closed in 1989, was a favorite hangout for many Palo Altans and Stanford students, including President John F. Kennedy when he was at Stanford Business School in 1940, according to the book “Palo Alto Remembered,” a history of the city written by Matt Bowling.

Handley replaced Dinah’s Shack with Polynesian-themed Trader Vic’s in 2001. Trader Vic’s closed in the beginning of August and will be replaced by upscale seafood restaurant The Sea. Julie Handley did not comment on whether there was a connection between the recent changes in the two restaurant locations.

Sharon Magnuson said she didn’t know what the fate of the restaurant staff, some of whom have worked there for years, would be.

But for her, she said, “This is my livelihood; this is how I make my house payments and live. I’m not real hirable at 70. I don’t know what I’m going to do.” N Editorial Assistant Eric Van Susteren can be emailed at ericvansusteren@paweekly. com. city’s recent trend of encouraging dense development near major transit stations — a trend that was exemplified by the council’s recent approval of the four-story Lytton Gateway building near the downtown Caltrain station. The transportation document specifically calls for the city to “locate denser development near transit corridors and near multi-modal transit stations.”

Other new policies that seek to curb driving include reviewing the Zoning Code to identify ways to encourage facilities supporting alternative-fuel vehicles; providing incentives for public-private transportation partnerships such as car-sharing companies; and supporting the development of “bicycle parking and service infrastructure such as bicycle stations, valet bicycle parking, and bicycle sharing programs.”

The revision also includes a host of new policies relating to the Caltrain corridor.

Many of these were informed by a recent report from a citizen task force that surveyed and analyzed the corridor and came up with a community “vision” for improving it. In (continued on next page)

Upfront IMMIGRATION

Young immigrants seek reprieve through new Obama program More than 400 people attended Sunday workshop on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program

by Sue Dremann

J

nity Legal Services. A second workshop is planned for Oct. 20 or 21.

The organization’s staff hopes that the correct information will get out to people. Some advocacy groups have told people they won’t need attorneys, but that could jeopardize some applicants’ chances, Shugall said. Many people do not understand the potential pitfalls they could encounter.

Before the applications were even released, there were cases of fraud, with some notaries and attorneys telling people that for a hefty fee they could receive the application before others, Shugall said.

An East Palo Alto mother who attended Sunday’s workshop said she knows people solicited by private attorneys for as much as $8,000 to help fill out the paperwork, although she has not been approached. She and her daughter have spent 11/2 months gathering the supporting paperwork they need to apply.

The daughter, who was 2 years old at the time of immigration, is a senior in high school and wants to attend a four-year college.

Adriana Gonzalez, consul in charge of legal protection for the Mexican consulate in San Francisco, said scams are common. The consulate is trying to make sure its citizens are not victims of fraud. At a table on Sunday, consulate workers distributed information on obtaining passports, birth records and information from valid websites.

“There have been many impostors, even impostor web pages,” she said. She cautioned people to avoid websites with Web links that require money. Applicants are also confused about where to send their applications, she said. Many people do not realize that California residents must send the information to

keeping with that report’s recommendations, the city’s transportation plan calls for making it easier for people to go east and west, across the train tracks, using various forms of transportation. It also formalizes the city’s opposition to constructing elevated rail tracks and shrinking the number of lanes on Alma Street.

But while bicycles and Caltrain have a stronger presence in the revised Transportation Element, the document also includes new policies that would impact drivers. These include consideration of changing High Street from a one-way to a two-way street between Lytton and Channing avenues as part of a broader effort to create an “efficient roadway network for all users.” Another new policy calls for evaluating converting Lytton and Hamilton avenues to one-way streets.

The revision still has to be approved by the City Council before it becomes official. But while

commissioners had several small quibbles (Chair Eduardo Martinez, for example, didn’t like the way the chapters were organized), they generally lauded the programs and policies embedded in the finished product, which was crafted over the past year by planning staff, Commissioner Arthur Keller and former Vice Chair Susan Fineberg.

“I really think this element is not only quite good but excellent,” Commissioner Samir Tuma said.

“There’s an awful lot of thought and detail going on here, and it’s reflective of some of the more exciting programs out there and the work that we’re doing.”

Martinez concurred and praised the document’s content.

“This is probably the one area of work that’s received more scrutiny, more new ideas, more envisioning than anything else we’ve undertaken,” he said.

The commission also supported the staff proposal to extend

Sue Dremann

ose recalled the day his parents bundled him up for the move to California from Mexico. A powerfully built man in his early 20s, he still views the move as traumatic.

“They lied to me,” he said, his voice wavering slightly. “They didn’t say we were coming here. They said, ‘We are going to the north. We are coming to the other side.’”

The result of that move, more than 15 years ago now, was his appearance on Sunday, Aug. 26, at an immigration clinic in Menlo Park, seeking ways to stay in the country where he’s spent most of his life.

“Jose,” who did not want to give his real name, was one of more than 400 people seeking advice and help with filling out applications for President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The program began in June and temporarily stems deportation of undocumented immigrants ages 16 to 30 who were brought to the country as children.

People whose applications are accepted would be granted a two-year “reprieve” and could obtain work permits and apply for financial aid for schooling. The program could affect more than 1 million young people who would have qualified for the failed Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, according to some federal estimates.

To be eligible, immigrants must prove they arrived in the U.S. before they turned 16, have lived in the country for five years or more and be in school or have served in the military. They also cannot have been convicted of some crimes.

Sunday’s event was so popular, people were turned away, said Ilyce Shugall, supervising immigration attorney for the nonprofit Commu-

College student Patricia Hernandez, 24, filled out an application for the new federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on Sunday, Aug. 26. More than 400 people attended an informational workshop sponsored by Community Legal Services at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Menlo Park.

Phoenix, Ariz.

The consulate will be open to assist the public on Sept. 9 by appointment, she said.

One of the concerns some immigrants and their advocates have about Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is whether the information they provide will be used against them.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has said it doesn’t intend to disclose the information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which handles deportations. But there is nothing statutory within the program that protects people, Shugall said, and that concerns her. A change of administration could negate the entire program or could potentially change how the information might be used, she added.

the document’s planning horizon from 2020 to 2025, though several members said they were concerned about the prospect of the document becoming obsolete before the new horizon is reached.

Mark Michael, who earlier in the meeting was elected vice chair by his colleagues, noted that many of the ideas that went into the revised document were included with the horizon of 2020 in mind.

The commission ultimately agreed to extend the horizon to 2025 but stipulated that the city should review the document in 2020 to see if everything in it is still relevant. N Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ pawekly.com.

TALK ABOUT IT

www.PaloAltoOnline.com What do you think about the city’s emphasis on making Palo Alto more bike friendly?

Several applicants said they are aware of those possibilities.

Johana M. and her father came to the workshop from Newark in the East Bay. Her father said the program would allow her to get a driver’s license and attend college.

“As parents, that is what we want for our child,” he said, declining to give his name.

Johana said acceptance into the deferment program would allow her to apply for financial scholarships.

She wants to attend a four-year university and to major in criminal justice, she said.

But the process has many loopholes

for the government to reject candidates, and she was seeking time with the attorneys so she will answer the questions accurately, she said.

“Some things are so specific, you have to get it right,” she said.

At first she feared how the application information would be used, she said, but the pull of a good education has tempered that concern.

“It’s worth the risk,” she said.

Patricia Hernandez, 24, said she did not fear that her application would be used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport her.

The process is also fairly straightforward for people who have a good paper trail, she said.

“Luckily, my mom saved everything,” she said.

Hernandez is an architecture major studying in San Diego. Her parents brought her to the U.S. from Mexico when she was 5 years old.

It would be unfair to deport her and other students to Mexico, she said.

“I was raised with the culture here and adapted here. I have no family there and I barely know the (Spanish) language. There are a lot of contributions I can make here,” she said.

Looking back at the throng of people gathered in knots around volunteers who handed out applications in Spanish and English, she said she did not mind waiting. If her application is accepted, she will have the same opportunities as her classmates. For all of her years of hard work in school, she will finally be able to have a work permit, she said.

Hernandez said she is grateful to Obama.

“It was an amazing thing that he did,” she said. N Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.

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. This document will be available for review and comment during a minimum 20-day inspection period beginning August 31, 2012 through September 19, 2012 during the hours of 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. at the Development Center, 285 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California.

This project is tentatively scheduled for consideration by the Architectural Review Board at a public hearing on Thursday, September 20, 2012 at 8:30 A.M. in the Palo Alto City Council Chambers on the first floor of the Civic Center, located at 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California.

135 Hamilton Avenue [12PLN-00463]: Request by Keenan Lovewell Ventures, on behalf of Hamilton and High LLC, for Architectural Review and Variance request for a new four-story mixed-use building on an existing vacant lot (approximately 20,000 square feet of commercial area, two residential units, and below grade garage). The Variance request is for a five-foot ten-inch encroachment into the 7’ Special Setback on Hamilton Avenue for a length of approximately 84 feet. Zone: CD-C(P).

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.

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Upfront

Avenidas presents the 9th Annual

Family Caregiver Conference Saturday, September 15, 9 am - 3 pm Mountain View, CA Topics will include: Forgiving yourself Long-term care costs Safe medication use Dementia care challenges Avoiding burnout Help for hoarding Free tours of Avenidas Rose Kleiner Center at 3 pm!

Corrections The Aug. 17 edition’s Best Of section stated in the caption for Massage Therapy Center that Lucia Miracchi is on the left.

Karen Buehler is actually the person on the left; Lucia Miracchi is on the right. Also in that issue, the text for Village Cheese House misidentified one of the co-owners as Sarah and stated that the owners are married. The co-owner’s name is Lindsay, and the owners are business partners, not spouses. To request a correction, contact Editor Jocelyn Dong at 650-223-6514, jdong@paweekly.com or P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302.

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.

Woman arrested for assault with deadly weapon A Redwood City woman who allegedly chased two men with a broken bottle at the University Avenue Caltrain station in Palo Alto was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon early Wednesday morning, Aug. 29. (Posted Aug. 29 at 5:33 p.m.)

Bill to curb texting behind the wheel moves ahead A proposal by state Sen. Joe Simitian to raise fines for drivers who text while behind the wheel passed through the state Senate Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 28, and now heads to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk. (Posted Aug. 28 at 9:56 a.m.)

Arson suspect’s mental state being assessed Damon Luce, the 50-year-old man who was charged with five arson fires at the Pearson-Arastradero Preserve in Palo Alto, will be assessed for his mental competency, a judge ruled Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 28.

Register at Avenidas.org or call (650) 289-5435.

(Posted Aug. 29 at 9:46 a.m.)

Los Altos woman calls con man’s bluff Resources and programs for positive aging

Sept. 28 7pm

A Los Altos woman wants her peers in Palo Alto and elsewhere to be wary of anyone calling and claiming to be from the Social Security Administration after she received a call from a con man. (Posted Aug. 29 at 8:52 a.m.)

Red-light camera bill coasts through state Senate A bill authored by Sen. Joe Simitian that would add restrictions to red-light cameras cruised through the state Senate Monday, Aug. 27, en route to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk. (Posted Aug. 28 at 9:25 a.m.)

Los Altos police arrest two for June burglary Los Altos police announced they have arrested two people for a June 23 burglary in Los Altos Hills in which burglars stole a car and credit cards, which were later used to purchase $30,000 in goods, including a rental car. (Posted Aug. 28 at 9:05 a.m.)

Paly sophomores play games to break the ice Sophomores at Palo Alto High School — more than 500 of them — spent the morning of Monday, Aug. 27, playing team-building games as part of the school’s guidance-counseling program. (Posted Aug. 27 at 4:50 p.m.)

Crab poachers caught in the claw of the law More than a dozen people were cited for crab poaching Wednesday night, Aug. 22, on the San Mateo County coast, according to the sheriff’s office. (Posted Aug. 25 at 11:03 a.m.)

Residents oppose restaurant liquor license In another round of preserving what residents say is the safety and quiet of their neighborhood, Barron Park residents are again opposing a liquor license application by a Palo Alto restaurant along El Camino Real. (Posted Aug. 26 at 8:14 a.m.)

Trader Joe’s employee helps teen, called ‘hero’ Nick Marcus was just doing his job at Trader Joe’s at Town and Country Shopping Center in Palo Alto when a phone call turned him into a hero on Friday morning, Aug. 24. (Posted Aug. 24 at 4:13 p.m.)

New law: Landlords need to disclose foreclosures If an apartment or home for rent is in danger of foreclosure, wouldbe renters could soon have the right to be told about it before signing a lease. (Posted Aug. 24 at 12:49 p.m.)

Frank Gehry redesigns Facebook’s west campus Frank Gehry is to architecture as Mark Zuckerberg is to social media: A star. The famous architect, known for award-winning designs described at times as “a collision of parts” is now gracing Menlo Park with his expertise. (Posted Aug. 24 at 12:44 p.m.)

Dumbarton Bridge to close Labor Day weekend The Dumbarton Bridge will be closed to all traffic during Labor Day weekend for seismic retrofit work, from Friday, Aug. 31, at 10 p.m. to Tuesday, Sept. 4, at 5 a.m. (Posted Aug. 24 at 12:01 p.m.)

Support Palo Alto Weekly’s print and online coverage of our community.

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Upfront

COMMUNITY TALK: PROSTATE CANCER

News Digest Veronica Weber

Police arrest suspect following manhunt Thursday Palo Alto police captured a man after a nearly three-hour, yardto-yard search in downtown Palo Alto on Thursday afternoon, Aug. 30. The man, who had fled from police after a traffic stop and then attempted a carjacking, emerged from a side yard wearing only his boxer shorts after apparently discarding his clothing, according to a witness.

Palo Alto police scoured the Downtown North neighborhood starting at about 12:30 p.m., according to the police department.

Officers set up a perimeter and searched yards for a 6-foot-tall, black man wearing blue pants and a white shirt. Witnesses said the man appeared to be about 35-to-40 years old, with a shaved head.

While being chased by officers, the suspect apparently tried to carjack a resident to aid in his escape, but that was unsuccessful, police reported. Unconfirmed eyewitness reports said the man tried to steal a construction vehicle.

At some point, he crashed one of the vehicles he was driving into several cars.

Police searched all of the backyards in the perimeter of Waverley Street, Hawthorne Avenue and Bryant Street.

The man was arrested at approximately 3:23 p.m. in the 200 block of Waverley between Hawthorne and Everett avenues.

At the Weekly’s press time, it was unknown why police initially stopped the man. For additional coverage of this incident and to see photos of the arrest, go to PaloAltoOnline.com. N — Palo Alto Weekly staff

Sketch released in Valencia Market armed robbery Palo Alto police have released a sketch of a man wanted in connection with an armed robbery Saturday, Aug. 25, at Valencia Market in Palo Alto.

The man, armed with a black, semiautomatic handgun, held up proprietors of the market at 3487 El Camino Real shortly before 8:40 p.m., fleeing the shop with cash from the register, Palo Alto police reported Sunday, Aug. 26.

There were no customers inside at the time, and no one was injured in the robbery, the police stated in a press release.

Officers responded to the 9-1-1 call but were unable to find the gunman. He may have gotten into a newer, shiny, black vehicle parked in the alley to the rear of the business.

The robber was described by the shop owners as a Hispanic male in his forties, about 5 feet 7 inches tall and about 220 pounds, wearing a light blue, button-up, long-sleeve shirt with dark blue jeans and a plain black baseball cap.

In June 2011, the market — then known as Eli’s Market — was similarly robbed of cash at gunpoint.

Police are asking that anyone with information about this incident call the department’s 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to 650-383-8984. N — Palo Alto Weekly staff

Palo Alto makes bid for bike-bridge funds Palo Alto’s vision of a curvy, elegant bike bridge spanning U.S. Highway 101 at Adobe Creek remains up in the air, with coveted grant funding far from guaranteed.

Last Tuesday, Aug. 28, the Parks and Recreation Commission voted to submit a letter to Santa Clara County in support of the city’s request for a $4 million grant that would help fund the bridge. The grant allocation, which was first proposed by Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss in May, would rely on a pool of funds that Stanford University had promised about a decade ago, when it was seeking a permit to increase campus development. The General Use Permit approved by the county specifies that these funds can only be used for recreational opportunities that mitigate the campus development.

The Board of Supervisors is set to hold a public hearing on Oct. 9 to consider which projects to fund.

The council is scheduled to discuss the city’s grant application on Sept. 4. N — Gennady Sheyner

Stanford Cancer Center invites you to come learn more about prostate cancer, including: r

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Stanford’s prostate cancer experts will provide information and answer your questions.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 t 9:30AM – 11:00AM Sheraton Palo Alto (Reception Room) 625 El Camino Real r Palo Alto, CA HOSPITALS

RSVP at: stanfordhospital.org/prostatehealth This event is free and open to the public. Breakfast will be served. Please register, seating is limited.

NATIONAL CANCER

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Upfront

Health challenges (continued from page 5)

residents have health insurance, and overcrowding in homes and outright homelessness have contributed to the health gulf.

The problems extend to the city’s children. East Palo Alto is a city of 28,155 residents. Those under the age of 19 years make up a greater percentage of the population than the county average — 35.1 percent compared to 24.3 percent.

Yet East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park kids are hospitalized for asthma at almost double the county rate,

according to Ravenswood.

But while the rates for childhood asthma, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases are high, programs being initiated by Ravenswood, the San Mateo County Health System and the East Palo Alto Police Department are working to close the gap.

More early-intervention programs, close tracking of patients, and health, food and exercise programs are offering services that residents in other communities might often take for granted.

The police are working to create fitness-improvement training (FIT) zones in two of the city’s most crime-ridden neighborhoods, with

PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL CIVIC CENTER, 250 HAMILTON AVENUE BROADCAST LIVE ON KZSU, FM 90.1 CABLECAST LIVE ON GOVERNMENT ACCESS CHANNEL 26 ******************************************** THIS IS A SUMMARY OF COUNCIL AGENDA ITEMS. THE AGENDA WITH COMPLETE TITLES INCLUDING LEGAL DOCUMENTATION CAN BE VIEWED AT THE BELOW WEBPAGE: http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/knowzone/agendas/council.asp

(TENTATIVE) AGENDA - SPECIAL MEETING COUNCIL CHAMBERS September 4, 2012 -- 6:00pm CLOSED SESSION 1. Labor SPECIAL ORDERS OF THE DAY 2. Proclamation for the Rotary Project Volunteers for Greer Park 3. Proclamation September as Emergency Preparedness Month 4. Proclamation Suicide Prevention Week CONSENT CALENDAR 5. Resolution Expressing Appreciation to Arlene Demore upon her Retirement.

6. Approval and Authorization of the City Manager to Execute a Contract with Three Phase Line Construction in a Total Not to Exceed the Amount of $607,997 for the Electric Undergrounding Rebuild and Reconductor Project on the City’s Electric Distribution System 7. City Response to the Adopted Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) for the 2014-2022 Cycle.

8. Resolution Approving and Authorizing the Execution of the State of California Department of Community Services and Development 2012-2014 Direct Payment Program Agreement No. 12Y-1418 in Conjunction with the Department of Community Service Home Energy Assistance Program.

9. Ambulance Billing Contract Agreement for Palo Alto Fire Department.

10. Extend the term of Rail Shuttle Bus Administration Approval of Contract Amendment No. 19 to the Contract with the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board for Rail Shuttle Bus Administration to Extend the Term for one year and add $52,000.

11. Approval of York Services Contract for Workers Compensation.

12. Request for Council to Cancel the Regular Council Meeting of September 17, 2012 and Call a Special Council Meeting on Tuesday, September 18, 2012.

13. Approval of Purchase Order with Leader Industries in an Amount Not to Exceed $393,267 for the Purchase of Two Ambulances (Scheduled Vehicle and Equipment Replacement Capital Improvement Program VR-13000).

14. Adoption of Funding Agreement with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority for 2010 Measure B Vehicle Registration Fee Local Road Improvement and Repair Program.

15. City of Palo Alto’s 2012-2013 Officers Ballot Vote for Peninsula Division League of California Cities.

16. Second Reading: Adoption of Massage Ordinance (1st Reading, 7-23-12 8-0 Scharff Absent) 17. Second Reading: Adoption of Ordinance Approving and Adopting a Plan for Improvements to Cogswell Plaza (1st Reading, July 23, 2012 – 8-0 Scharff Absent) ACTION ITEMS 18. Consideration of a Vote of Support for the Revote “Revote High Speed Rail Initiative.

19. Request Authorization to Submit a Grant Proposal to the County of Santa Clara - Alternative Recreation Mitigation Program for the Stanford Campus to Bay Trail Program.

20. Respond to Grand Jury Report on Pension and Benefits.

21. Council Direction on League Resolutions for Voting Delegate.

22. Adoption of Two Resolutions: (1) Adopting a Compensation Plan for Management and Professional Personnel and Council Appointees and Rescinding Resolution Nos. XXX and (2) Amending Section 1701 of the Merit System Rules and Regulations to Incorporate the 2011-2013 Compensation Plan for Management and Professional Personnel and Council Appointees.

STANDING COMMITTEE MEETING The Finance Committee meeting for Tuesday, September 4, 2012 has been cancelled.

Page 12ÊUÊ Õ}ÕÃÌÊΣ]ÊÓä£ÓÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V

officers joining residents in outdoor activities on the streets and in parks.

Roads would be temporarily closed to increase safety during walking, jogging and bike-riding events, according to Davis’ report. Ravenswood staff would also come into the fitness zones to increase talk with people about health and local medical services.

Police are also making home visits to parolees and gang members through Operation Ceasefire, asking them to abandon crime in exchange for services such as job counseling, medical and dental care and drug and mental health counseling. Davis has said that medical care was cited as one of the greatest needs among persons police have contacted.

In June, Ravenswood received a $7.3 million grant from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Service to improve preventive care for chronic-disease patients. Programs include self-management classes and patient skill-building to manage

mental health issues such as depression and anxiety.

Two months ago the center hired a pharmacist through a Kaiser Permanente grant to help patients with complex medical regimens manage medication. Due to the inability to read and understand instructions, patients are not following medication directions, harming rather than improving their health.

The services are having positive results since 2008, according to Ravenswood. Diabetic patients who manage their blood-glucose levels to targeted levels have risen to 66.6 percent. One-third more women receive timely Pap tests, and pregnant women who began prenatal care in the first trimester soared from 47 percent to 77.6 percent. The number of babies born weighing less than 5 pounds 8 ounces has dropped by half from 4.16 percent. N Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.

CityView A round-up of

Palo Alto government action this week

City Council Regional Housing Mandate Committee (Aug. 28)

Housing: The committee approved a letter to the Association of Bay Area Governments expressing the city’s concerns about the Adopted Regional Housing Needs Allocation for the 2014-2022 cycle. Yes: Unanimous

Parks and Recreation Commission (Aug. 28)

Lytton Plaza: The commission approved a proposal to restrict amplified sound at Lytton Plaza to specific times of the day and to allow musicians to purchase permits to play music at the plaza. Yes: Ashlund, Crommie, Hetterly, Lauing, Markevitch, Walsh Absent: Losch Bike bridge: The commission discussed proposed alignments for a new bike bridge over Highway 101 and approved a letter to Santa Clara County requesting $4 million in grant funds for the bridge. Yes: Crommie, Hetterly, Lauing, Markevitch, Walsh No:Ashlund Absent: Losch

Planning & Transportation Commission (Aug. 29)

Transportation: The commission discussed and approved changes to the Transportation Element in the city’s Comprehensive Plan. The commission also voted to extend the planning horizon for the Transportation Element from 2020 to 2025. Yes: Alcheck, Keller, Martinez, Michael, Tanaka, Tuma Absent: Panelli Page Mill Road: The commission discussed a proposal by Stoecker and Northway Architects to rezone four residential parcels on the 400 block of Page Mill Road to service commercial (CS) and directed the applicants to perform more neighborhood outreach. Yes: Alcheck, Keller, Martinez, Michael, Tanaka, Tuma Absent: Panelli

Public Agenda A preview of Palo Alto government meetings next week CITY COUNCIL ... The council plans to meet in closed session to discuss the status of labor negotiations with the Utilities Management and Professional Association of Palo Alto. The council then plans to discuss a request to submit a grant proposal to Santa Clara County for the “Stanford and Palo Alto Trail Program,” which includes a new bike bridge over Highway 101. The council also plans to consider a response to the Grand Jury Report on pension and other post-employment benefits and approve a new compensation plan for management and professionals. The closed session will begin at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 4. Regular meeting will follow in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

BOARD OF EDUCATION ... The board will hear a report on Palo Alto student performance on the California Standards Test. The board will discuss an update on the state and school district budget. The board will vote on authorizing a search for a site to open a fourth middle school, guidelines for a community advisory panel on the future of Cubberley Community Center and whether to endorse state ballot Propositions 30 and 38. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 4, in the boardroom of school district headquarters (25 Churchill Ave.).

Page Mill Road (continued from page 5)

imity to public transit.

The commission agreed that a zone change could be suitable. But Vice Chair Mark Michael was one of several commissioners who urged the developers to get the neighborhood involved in the project before proceeding. He and his colleagues seemed puzzled by the fact that not a single neighbor attended the meeting centering on a zone change that could significantly impact the block.

“Doing outreach upfront helps promote a more successful project,” Michael said, channeling the sentiments of his colleagues.

Commissioner Samir Tuma agreed with staff and the applicants that the single-family homes in this area “have never really made much sense” from a zoning perspective and said he was “generally supportive of the idea of that changing to something else.”

But Tuma was particularly adamant about the need to get neighbors involved in the process. He rejected the assertion from Northway that the commission is dragging the process out by requiring the developers to perform outreach before concrete plans for the commercial project are in place. Tuma also alluded to a proposal in 2008 to build a fivestory hotel on the block, a proposal that the city ultimately shot down after community criticism about the project being too massive and too dense. Though the residential sites are flanked by commercial developments, they also abut single-family residences on Pepper Avenue to the rear.

“We’ve had projects in this area before where the neighbors, once they found out about them, were very engaged,” Tuma said. “Which leads me to believe that they don’t know (about this).”

Even so, the commission was sympathetic to the zone-change request, which city planners have also recommended.

“It’s a unique site,” Planning Director Curtis Williams said Wednesday. “Having these singlefamily lots sitting in a major commercial thoroughfare is an unusual situation.”

He noted that the city’s new planning guidelines, including the concept plan for California Avenue, all encourage dense multi-use developments in this area because of its proximity to the California Avenue Caltrain station.

“The California Avenue plan will ultimately recommend something more intense in nature on these parcels,” Williams said. N Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ pawekly.com.

UTILITIES ADVISORY COMMISSION... The commission plans to discuss the city’s electric undergrounding policy; consider a recommendation that the council adopt a resolution approving a policy for purchase of energy from potential green waste-toenergy facilities; and consider a power purchase agreement with Brannon Solar. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 5, in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW BOARD... The board plans to discuss 180 El Camino Real, a request for a new three-story retail development at the Bloomingdale’s site at the Stanford Shopping Center. The meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 6, in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

Sept. 28 7pm

Pulse

Gerry Schloss

A weekly compendium of vital statistics

POLICE CALLS Palo Alto Aug. 22-28 Violence related Armed robbery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Assault w/a deadly weapon . . . . . . . . . .1 Domestic violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Theft related Commercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Counterfeiting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Vehicle related Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Driving w/suspended license . . . . . . . . .8 Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Misc. traffic violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . 11 Vehicle impound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Alcohol or drug related Drinking in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Drunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Possession of paraphernalia. . . . . . . . . .1 Miscellaneous Animal call. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Muni. code violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Prowler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .2 Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Warrant/other agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Menlo Park Aug. 22-29 Theft related Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Vehicle related Abandoned auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Driving w/suspended license . . . . . . . . .1 Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . . .

2 Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . .7 Vehicle tampering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Alcohol or drug related Drug activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Drunk driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Drunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Miscellaneous Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Disturbing/annoying phone calls. . . . . . .1 Info case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Medical aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Other/misc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Pedestrian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Atherton Aug. 22-28 Violence related Assault and battery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Theft related Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle related Abandoned auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Parking/driving violation . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Suspicious vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . .2 Vehicle code violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Miscellaneous Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Disturbing/annoying phone calls. . . . . . .1 Fire call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Hazard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Juvenile problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Medical aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Pedestrian check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Probation violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .3 Suspicious person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Town ordinance violation . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Warrant/other agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Watermain break. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

VIOLENT CRIMES Palo Alto Unlisted block Coastland Drive, 8/22, 8:36 p.m.; domestic violence/battery.

3400 block El Camino Real, 8/25, 8:42 p.m.; armed robbery.

Unlisted block Ventura Avenue, 8/25, 8:42 a.m.; domestic violence/battery.

Unlisted block Greer Road, 8/26, 12:54 p.m.; family violence/battery.

00 block University Avenue, 8/28, 12:16 a.m.; assault w/a deadly weapon.

Atherton Unlisted block El Camino Real, 8/25, 1:12 p.m.; assault and battery.

Gert (“Gerryâ€?) Schloss passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, at 90 years of age in his Atherton home on Saturday Aug 18. A Jewish native of Hanover, Germany, he and his immediate family ed to the U.S. in 1939. Arriving here with nothing, he was always grateful for the opportunity his new home provided. Gerry met Joan Gastineau, his wife of 67 years, in San Francisco, and they both served in the navy during WWII. They later had 3 sons and built a successful textile business. Gerry loved his wife

& family, ying, playing tennis from his youth into his 90’s, international travel, a great sense of humor, and a close circle of dear friends. He is survived by his wife, sons Jeff (Melody), Ron and Bob, his sister Inge Lehman Schloss, his grandchildren Nathanael, Micah (Nicole), and Gabriel, his great granddaughter Grace, and numerous nieces and nephews.

The family will host a celebration of his life at 4:30 pm on Sept 15th ( his birthday) at the Menlo Circus Club.

Contributions in his name can be made to Pathways Hospice Care or another charity.

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Transitions

Richard G. Brewer

December 8, 1928 – July 22, 2012 Richard G. Brewer died at his home in Palo Alto on July 22, 2012. He was born in Los Angeles, California on December 8, 1928.

He attended Hollywood High School and received a B.S. from Caltech, in Pasadena. He received a Ph. D. in physical chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. He was passionate about life and conveyed his enthusiasm to those around him. From an early age he backpacked in the Sierras and knew both the Eastern and Western sides. His idol was John Muir. While working at Glacier Point Hotel in Yosemite, Dick Brewer learned folk dancing.

He became particularly adept in Greek and Yugoslav dancing. He loved Italy and in his later years studied Italian very seriously and could read and speak it well. He loved magnolia trees and planted many varieties in his backyard. Then he would photograph them when blooming time came.

One of his very great inspirations was classical music. It nourished and comforted him.

Richard Brewer worked as an IBM Fellow in the Almaden Research Lab and was also a consulting professor in Applied Physics at Stanford University. He made significant contributions to atomic physics, laser

spectroscopy and quantum optics, research which resulted in about 150 publications.

He was known for elegant and precise experiments and did theory as well. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1980, and received many awards including the Michelson Gold Medal from the Franklin Institute in 1979 and the Charles Townes Silver Medal from the Optical Society of America in 2000. In 1994, Dick was given the Distinguished Alumni Award from Caltech.

One of his great joys was establishing the Brewer Prize at Caltech in 1997, which helps Freshman Physics students do research with Faculty members from their very first year in college.

Richard was a unique and independent thinker with a twinkle in his eye and enormous energy. He will be sorely missed by his wife of 57 years, Lillian, his two daughters Cathy and Emily, and his son Laurence, and his daughter-in-law Anna.

Contributions in his memory may be made to the Brewer Prize at Caltech, Attn. Joe Boeke, 1200 E. California Blvd., MC-5-32, Pasadena, CA 91125 PA I D

Henry Howard Jones

OBITUARY

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Dr. Henry Howard Jones, whose career in the radiology department at Stanford University School of Medicine spanned 58 years, died at his home Aug. 11 with his wife, Peggy, and family nearby.

Born June 9, 1917, in Altoona, Penn., he was the only surviving child of Henry O. Jones, a urologist, and Euphemia Heilman Jones. He graduated from Haverford College in 1939 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and attended the graduate chemistry program at Harvard for a year. In 1943 he received his medical degree from Yale University, with a specialty in radiology. He put in long days of work then often headed down to New York City to catch the late shows at jazz clubs.

He served from 1946-48 as an instructor at the U.S. Army School of Roentgenology in San Antonio, Texas. He also served as head of radiology in Bad Constadt, Germany, the orthopedic center for the army of occupation. In 1948 he was hired by his former Yale professor, Henry S. Kaplan, and came to California to join the radiology department at Stanford.

In 1952 he married Margaret (“Peggy”) Crusius, an energetic young woman with a private pediatric practice, whom he had met during his internship at Metropolitan Hospital in New York City. Her long career as a pediatrician with the Santa Clara County well-baby and immunization clinics paralleled his career at Stanford. First in Sausalito and then in a home on the Stanford campus, they raised three children: Virginia (born 1952), Henry C. (1954) and Keasley (1957).

He was a founding member of Physicians for Social Responsibility and in 1994 he received the organization’s Broad Street Pump Award.

He was also the first chief of the radiology service at the Palo Alto Veterans Administration Hospital, a Stanford teaching hospital.

His professional life was synonymous with the Department of Radiology at Stanford, where he served from 1948 to 2006. He left a legacy of more than 2,000 case studies (currently being digitized) from his decades of diagnosing and treating patients with bone and soft tissue tumors.

Into his 80s he started most days by riding his bicycle to the Stanford Hospital, wearing his trademark

tweed jacket and brown wingtips, a sheaf of notes to himself clipped to his necktie. He particularly enjoyed his role as a teacher of diagnostic radiology, for which he was awarded the medical school’s Henry J. Kaiser Award for Excellence in Teaching.

For many years he played drums in a Dixieland jazz band with friends.

Across many decades, he and Peggy were fans of the Stanford basketball, football and Lively Arts programs.

They also enjoyed the Stanford Sierra Camp for many years when their children were young.

A particular highlight of his life was the 1968-69 sabbatical year that the family spent in Paris. He and Peggy traveled widely in Europe, as well as to South America, Asia and Australia. Stateside, the family made summer pilgrimages to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland and celebrated his and Peggy’s 50th anniversary (2002) with family and grandchildren in Hawaii.

He is survived by his wife, Peggy Jones of Stanford; daughter, Virginia Jones of Castro Valley; sons, Henry C. Jones of Eugene, Ore., and Keasley Jones of Berkeley; daughter-in-law, Autumn Stephens; two grandchildren.

A memorial service for friends, family and colleagues, open to all, will be held at Stanford Memorial Church on Thursday, Sept. 20, at 4 p.m., with a reception on campus to follow. For information about parking, or shuttle bus between parking, church and the reception site, contact the church at 650-723-1762. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Stanford Medical School. N

Memorial Service The Hettig Family will hold a celebration of life for David William Hettig, who died June 29 at the age of 70. The celebration will be Saturday, Sept.

8, at 1:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 505 E. Charleston Road, Palo Alto.

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

Daniella Sanchez

Stephanie Lucianovic in her Menlo Park kitchen, where the longtime picky eater has even learned to love okra.

You are what you (won’t) eat Local author delves into the roots of picky eating

by Andrea Gemmet

N

obody wants to be a picky eater.

Though their frustrated parents might think otherwise, picky eaters would love to be able to tuck into a plate of food with enthusiasm instead of facing it with knotted stomachs, tearful protests and gagging.

Stephanie Lucianovic knows what it’s like.

For years, mealtimes were a torment for the Menlo Park resident, who choked down vegetables under duress, detested fish and didn’t dare eat a peach. Now a food writer and culinary-school graduate, she delves into the evolving science of taste in her new book, “Suffering Succotash: A Picky Eater’s Quest To Understand Why We Hate the Foods We Hate.”

She’s set to read from her book at Books Inc. in Palo Alto on Sept. 27 — and has vowed to convert audience members into okra lovers with one of her own recipes.

That’s right, okra.

Not too long ago, okra was on the list of things the adult Lucianovic still couldn’t bear to eat. As she recounts in her book, finding okra on the menu when she had dinner at a friend’s house set off a silent wave of panic.

While feigning interest in the recipe, “my brain chanted, Slimy okra, bad okra, evil okra, GAG!” she wrote.

“Every picky eater — former or current — has been in this situation. Every adult picky eater knows that dinner parties are their personal hell.”

Fortunately for Lucianovic, her friend’s okra was a tasty revelation. Using the same recipe, she cooked it every night for a month.

She knows she’s taking a risk bringing a dish to an author event, she says.

“My friend warned me never to bring food,” Lucianovic says. “I told Books Inc. that’s what I want to do, and they’re fine with it. I make farro salad with okra in it, and I want to get

people to try it.”

Lucianovic’s book — part memoir, part popular science — explores current research as well as the many unknowns behind how people experience food differently, and also comes with recipes for such dishes as roasted cauliflower and sauteed greens. For the author, expanding her palate had a lot to do with finding the right way to cook the things that she’s always hated.

“I won’t eat broccoli steamed or stir-fried; I only eat it roasted,” she says. “Legumes can be weird. I eat lentils because they’re small and I can make a cold salad and drown them in a lemony vinaigrette.”

While some foods, vegetables in particular, require work in order to be palatable to her, she does have one firm rule: Smothering something in cheese sauce doesn’t count.

“I want to like the flavor,” she explains. “I add lots of ingredients I like, then slowly pull

back, because my brain has accepted that I like butternut squash.”

Discovering that there are genetic differences that make some people experience flavors differently led Lucianovic to contact researchers at Cornell University and Monell Chemical Sense Center in Philadelphia, as well as Palo Alto dietitian Karen Ross. When she first heard about supertasters, Lucianovic says, she had high hopes that genetics were to blame for her dinner-table torments.

So-called supertasters make up about 25 percent of the population, and are highly sensitive to a bitter chemical compound found in (continued on page 17)

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Arts & Entertainment

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A C U LT U R A L C O M M U N I T Y C E L E B R AT I O N

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Rebecca Dines plays a photojournalist trying to rebuild her life after being injured in a bombing in the Middle East.

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onald Margulies is one of America’s most successful contemporary playwrights, having won the Pulitzer Prize for “Dinner with Friends� and won numerous awards and accolades for other plays including “Brooklyn Boy,� “Collected Stories� and “Sight Unseen.� TheatreWorks gives his most recent work, “Time Stands Still,� a beautifully staged and acted production. It’s perhaps his most serious and challenging play yet, one that leaves us with more questions than answers.

At opening, Sarah (Rebecca Dines), a successful conflict photojournalist, is brought home from a hospital overseas, escorted by longterm boyfriend James (Mark Anderson Phillips), a well-known war reporter. Sarah has suffered serious injuries in a Middle East bombing, and as we watch her begin to rebuild her life, we learn that James was emotionally injured by another incident. Both are clearly reeling, and lean on each other for support as they mend their bodies, hearts and minds.

Enter Richard (Rolf Saxon), their editor and friend, who introduces

THEATER REVIEW his newest girlfriend, much-younger Mandy (Sarah Moser), a perky and upbeat event planner. Mandy’s vivacity and joy contrast mightily with the more somber perspectives of Sarah and James, affected as they are by the dark scenes of war they witness and record. When Mandy questions the passivity of photographers, Sarah defends her tribe with an impassioned speech about the mission of photojournalists — they can reveal injustice and horror, but they can’t step in to “fix� what they see.

Once raised, however, the question continues to haunt and confront both James and Sarah, making them wonder about continuing to pursue such a dangerous and demanding career: To what end? With what, if any, effect? It also becomes the basis for conflict in their relationship, throwing into relief the different directions life is taking each of them.

How they find their paths, both individually and together, becomes the driving arc of the play.

While challenging and intriguing us in many ways, Margulies deliber-

ately withholds neat resolutions, providing instead a kind of fodder for discussion and debate. Sarah’s choice at the end may feel predictable, but there are gaps in the unfolding of how she gets there, leaving us to ponder some big questions on our own.

Four superb actors deliver compelling work in this sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking work.

Dines and Phillips spar deftly as (continued on next page)

What: “Time Stands Still,� by Donald Margulies, presented by TheatreWorks Where: Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St. When: Through Sept. 16, with shows at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 8 p.m.

Thursday through Saturday; 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays; and 7 p.m. Sundays Cost: Tickets are $27-$73.

Info: Go to theatreworks.org or call 650-463-1960.

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Arts & Entertainment

Picky eating (continued from page 15)

some foods. A less-sensitive segment of the population can’t even detect some types of bitter flavors After she subjected herself to a variety of tests, genetic testing definitively ruled out her being a supertaster. In the process, Lucianovic did gain insight into the combination of factors, whether childhood trauma, genes or psychology, that create picky eaters. She writes about the physiological effects of stress on the digestion that cause “delayed gastric emptying” — the sensation of food sitting like a lump in your stomach, causing discomfort and nausea. She interviewed dentists and a sword swallower about overcoming an overactive gag reflex.

“I wish I could have told more about the gag reflex,” she says.

“There’s just not much on how it works and how it’s controlled.”

For Lucianovic, keeping herself from gagging helped her get through a dessert of poached peaches and avoid embarrassing herself in front of her future in-laws.

For other picky eaters, textures or smells can make or break a meal.

Most toddlers spend some time as fussy eaters, a well-known developmental phase that freaks out parents, but that most outgrow.

While picky children are often thought of as being rebellious or spoiled or going through a difficult phase, finicky adults face the stigma of being thought immature, unsophisticated or high-maintenance.

Lucianovic describes herself as a polite, eager-to-please middle child who didn’t want to offend. She simply couldn’t make herself eat food she found abhorrent.

“It’s not like people really understand,” she says. “You can’t help (food) preferences, any more than you can help what music you like. No one gets into a knock-down, drag-out fight over liking Miley Cyrus.”

Lucianovic said she wanted to go out to restaurants without worrying that she couldn’t stomach some of the things on her dish, and eat at friends’ houses without offending them by refusing part of a meal.

So she set out to overcome her picky ways, inadvertently using a technique neuroscientists call “pattern reset.” Stealing a bite or two of food off the plate of her decidedly non-picky husband helped open her up to new foods, she writes. The positive associations overwrote the negative ones.

Her interest in food blossomed to the point that she enrolled in cu-

TheatreWorks

(continued from previous page)

longtime lovers and friends, fleshing out their characters believably and with precision. Their engagement with the emotional demands of the text keeps us engaged, in spite of some perilously long pauses.

Saxon has the professional-editor demeanor to a T, with just the right touch of emotional involvement.

Newcomer Moser is delightfully ditzy, providing much of the play’s humor, and yet can get movingly serious when required.

linary school, started a food blog, and became a food writer and editor. The picky eater had somehow morphed into a foodie, “annoying diners around me by taking dark and blurry photos of every single meal I ate out.”

She even had a stint in the prep kitchen for a season of Jacques Pepin’s public-television series “Fast Food My Way.” “I worked in the back kitchen and was terrified the whole time — not of him; he was sweet and nice,” Lucianovic says. “We’d ask how he wanted (ingredients) prepared, and he’d show us how he wanted things done. Every morning was like a mini cooking class with Jacques Pepin.”

But while she grew to love peaches and broccoli, and happily eats fish, there are still some things she can’t stand to eat, and has no interest in learning to love: like bananas and raisins, or the titular frozen succotash she endured as a child.

She now considers herself a “picky foodie,” and has written a blog entry for the Washington Post enumerating the many reasons that bananas are evil. She’s also discovered that KQED Forum host Michael Krasny is a fellow picky eater.

“You can bond with someone over raisin-hate,” she says.

Lucianovic says she was lucky to find an editor who embraced the topic, as a lot of them didn’t understand why anyone would want to read a book about picky eaters. “One editor wanted it to be about why we love the foods we love. I said ‘picky’ has to be in the title.”

While she did a lot of research into the topic, she says parents with serious concerns about their children’s nutrition need to consult a pediatrician or dietitian and not rely on her book.

“I can’t tell you how many people have come to me and said, ‘I didn’t think anyone would write about how I felt,’ “ she says.

“The most important thing for me is that I want people to feel that they’re not alone. When (picky eating) gets carried into adulthood is when it gets really lonely. It affects social interactions, makes them stressful. ... They’re not doing it to be annoying or childish or difficult.” N Info: Stephanie Lucianovic is set to speak about her book, “Suffering Succotash: A Picky Eater’s Quest To Understand Why We Hate the Foods We Hate,” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 27, at Books Inc. in the Town & Country Village, 855 El Camino Real in Palo Alto. Go to booksinc.net.

The Brooklyn-loft set design by Erik Flatmo is impressive in both detail and height, imparting an epic feel to the action. But the actors occasionally look a little lost in the space, and the cavernous design swallows vocal projection. Michael Palumbo’s lighting enhances the action and mood and adds a nice touch for a Brooklyn rainstorm.

Despite my quibbles with the pacing and the play’s ending, the production is well worth seeing, for both the timely and timeless questions it addresses. It may not give answers, but it definitely makes you think. N

Worth a Look

at the door on Saturday and $20/$30 on Sunday. Go to digitalmediafestival.com or call 650-223-0300.

Art

‘Gender Specific’ Smith Andersen Editions is saluting local women artists this fall with “Gender Specific: Take It or Leave It,” a show of work by 30 creative types, most of them from the Bay Area. “The main purpose ... is to ac-

“The Kin,” a 2011 mixed-media piece made on a vintage album cover, is one of Kathryn Dunlevie’s works on exhibit at Smith Andersen Editions.

Arts

Mountain View Art & Wine Festival No matter how much you adore your new Prius, don’t try to take it for a cruise down Castro Street in Mountain View this weekend. The downtown thoroughfare will be closed to cars for the annual Mountain View Art & Wine Festival, which is now in its 41st year.

From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, downtown will be filled with artists and craftmakers, home and garden exhibits, performing musicians, food vendors, carnival rides and, of course, visitors milling about drinking mojitos and microbrews. The usual crowd includes hundreds of artists showing and selling their visions in ceramics, glass, wood, jewelry and so on.

For a slight change of pace, visitors can wander over to the community stage, where people will be demonstrating Bikram yoga, hula-hooping, Zumba and Scottish dance.

To read all the details on the event (and to get public-transit info; parking is often tight), go to miramarevents.com/mountainview.

Music Family concert

knowledge the often understated role of women in art,” a press release reads.

Smith Andersen is a place for prints, and the exhibition features monoprints, along with paintings and mixed-media works. Photograph mash-ups on vintage album covers? Kathryn Dunlevie is showing those.

Edible jewelry? Sure. Abarna Nathan will exhibit her pieces, and talk about them at the reception on Sept.

8, which is scheduled from 3 to 7 p.m.

The gallery is also planning other special events with exhibit artists. Inez Storer will lead a mixed-media workshop on Sept. 29 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Kathryn Kain teaches a workshop on Xerox-transfer monotype, on Oct. 20 from 10 to 4.

The show will be up Sept. 8 through Oct. 31 at 440 Pepper Ave. in Palo Alto. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and by appointment. Go to smithandersen.com or call 650327-7762.

Two pianists, two pianos, one married couple and one family concert.

That’s the plan for a free Sept. 6 program in Tateuchi Hall at the Community School of Music and Arts. Married couple Klara Frei and Temirzhan Yerzhanov will perform two bright pieces with their roots in dance rhythms: Gavrilin’s “Sketches” suite for four hands and Ravel’s “La Valse” for two pianos.

To make the concert more educational, the pianists will also describe the pieces and how they call to mind Russian history and Vienna balls, the pair said in a press release. They’ll also talk about how a simple piano duo can evoke an entire orchestra.

Yerzhanov comes from Kazakhstan and is a graduate of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, where his wife, a native of Kyrgyzstan, also studied.

The two live in the Bay Area and frequently perform together.

The concert begins at 7 p.m. at 230 San Antonio Circle in Mountain View. For more information, go to arts4all.org or call 650-917-6800, extension 305.

Festival Digital Media Festival

Lecture

Kepler’s Books harks back to its counter-culture days this weekend with film screenings and talks about Silicon Valley’s history in both technology and music.

The Digital Media Festival is planned for this Saturday from noon to 6:30 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4:30 p.m. at 1010 El Camino Real in Menlo Park.

The schedule includes screenings of Eric Christensen’s documentary “Trips Festival,” Len Dell’Amico’s doc “Welcome to Dopeland,” Chris Felver’s “Ferlinghetti” and Dudley Murphy’s “Saint Louis Blues.”

Stanford University professor Fred Turner, the author of “From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network and the Rise of Digital Utopianism,” will give the keynote speech at 2 p.m. on Saturday. At 3 p.m., Turner will join Dell’Amico, Christensen, Felver, Grateful Dead archivist Nicholas Meriwether, and music historian Buffalo Benford in a panel discussion about the decades of music and technology in the Valley.

At noon on Sunday, movie writer and producer Julian Phillips will give a talk about adapting books for film, and about how new media have changed the process.

Admission to the festival is $40 in advance and $50

Reilly. Sydney Reilly. Doesn’t exactly have the same ring, does it?

But the talented Mr. Reilly lived quite an interesting life just the same. He was said to be a notorious spy for more than one country in the teens and ‘20s, and 60 years after his death (by a Soviet bullet) he was the hero of a fictional TV miniseries, “Reilly, Ace of Spies.” Most famously, Reilly is also said to be the inspiration, or at least one of them, for Ian Fleming’s James Bond.

On Sept. 6, Edward “Bruce” Held, the director of the Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence at the U.S. Department of Energy, will give a free talk in Menlo Park on Reilly. The lecture is to be called “The Real James Bond: Sydney Reilly and the Origins of Modern Espionage.”

An espionage historian, Held is also a former clandestine-operations officer in the Central Intelligence Agency, serving in Latin America, Asia and Africa.

The talk will be at 4:15 p.m. in the Kavli Auditorium at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park. Go to events.stanford. edu or call 650-926-8537.

‘The Real James Bond’

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Eating Out RESTAURANT REVIEW

New kid on the block La Boulange, freshly acquired by Starbucks, joins the Palo Alto cafe scene

by Dale F. Bentson

T Sierra Duren

La Boulange’s new University Avenue location has an inviting street-side patio.

PENINSULA

Discover the best places to eat this week!

AMERICAN

CHINESE

Armadillo Willy’s

Chef Chu’s

941-2922 1031 N. San Antonio Road, Los Altos www.armadillowillys.com

948-2696 1067 N. San Antonio Road www.chefchu.com

Cheese Steak Shop

Ming’s

326-1628 2305-B El Camino Real, Palo Alto www.cheesesteakpaloalto.com

856-7700 1700 Embarcadero East, Palo Alto www.mings.com

The Old Pro

New Tung Kee Noodle House

326-1446 541 Ramona Street, Palo Alto www.oldpropa.com

947-8888 520 Showers Drive, Mountain View www.shopmountainview.com/luunoodlemv

STEAKHOUSE

INDIAN

Sundance the Steakhouse

Janta Indian Restaurant

321-6798 1921 El Camino Real, Palo Alto www.sundancethesteakhouse.com

462-5903 369 Lytton Ave. www.jantaindianrestaurant.com

Read and post reviews, explore restaurant menus, get hours and directions and more at ShopPaloAlto, ShopMenloPark and ShopMountainView

he $100 million baby has landed in downtown Palo Alto.

Born in San Francisco in 1996, La Boulange was the brainchild of Pascal Rigo, a French-American restaurateur with an eye for both high-quality product and bottomline results.

About a month after the Bay Area chain opened its outlet on University Avenue, Starbucks bought La Boulange — for enough money to keep a moderate-sized country in coffee and pastries for a year. Now, according to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, La Boulange products will be sold in Starbucks’ thousands of stores.

Good for Starbucks and fabulous for the bakery. But what does it mean for us?

Well, excellent pastries, good soups and sandwiches and an inviting patio, for starters. Is this retail outlet different than other choices downtown? Yes and no, but I can attest to the superior quality of La Boulange’s pastries. I’ve been a customer for years in its San Francisco shops and am extremely partial to its lemon bars ($3) and other delights.

La Boulange’s European-styled pastries, not as unusual now as they were a decade ago, are crunchy, crispy, flaky, buttery and not overly sweet. There are savory tarts as well: cauliflower, vegetable, potato and onion, to name a few. The macarons, in an array of flavors, are melt-in-the-mouth delicious. Daily sweet pastries and desserts might include stone-fruit tarts, vanilla Napoleons and vanilla Tropezienne (creamy custard with vanilla bean and orange blossom extract.)

While pastry and tart selections migrate with the seasons, the menu board for salads and sandwiches

remains fairly constant. Soup-andsalad combos are available for $7.50, and soup du jour and French onion soups are $3 per cup, $5 per bowl. Both the hot tomato and the cold creamy gazpacho were fullflavored and fresh-tasting on my recent visits.

The half-dozen salad options were priced $8 to $10 and came with house-made organic bread. I was slightly disappointed with the La Boulange salad ($8.50). It was one egg over not-so-easy, lardons, croutons and frisée. It’s a variation of the classic salad Lyonnais. The overcooked egg was hidden at the bottom of the bowl, with no soft yolk to fork over the greens and croutons, and the lardons were scarce. In all, a salad that needs retooling, presentation-wise and quality-wise.

On the other hand, the Provençal BLT sandwich ($8.75) burst with flavor. The bacon, lettuce, tomato and goat cheese were housed between slices of toasted ciabatta that had been slathered with aioli.

The hearty, creamy mushroomroasted-chicken open-faced sandwich ($9.25) included chives and caramelized onion in the mushroom sauce. It was filling with bold flavors, but reminded me more of an autumn dish than a summery one.

There were 15 warm sandwich choices, all of which came with a choice of greens, chips, quinoa salad or Boulange potatoes (strongly rosemary-flavored). There were cold sandwiches as well: including prosciutto and Swiss, goat cheese and tomato, and apple and brie.

There’s a kids’ menu as well as brunch, and beer and wine are now available. There is a lot going on in a small space.

The University Avenue location

Thaiphoon 323-7700 543 Emerson Ave, Palo Alto www.ThaiphoonRestaurant.com

Sierra Duren

powered by

The cafe currently serves Equator Coffees from San Rafael, but since it’s been bought by Starbucks that may change.

Page 18ÊUÊ Õ}ÕÃÌÊΣ]ÊÓä£ÓÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V

Eating Out is not a bakery, though; it’s an assembly outlet. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, since the product is trucked down Highway 101 from South San Francisco daily. This allows for a greater selection of delicacies that wouldn’t be feasible to manufacture in a prime location.

This spot at 150 University Ave. most recently housed Facebook. La Boulange has spiffed up the courtyard into an inviting street-side patio, partially shaded, with tables and awnings. There is comfortable indoor seating as well. In total, space for about 100 patrons at any time.

Currently, La Boulange serves the highly regarded Equator Coffees

from San Rafael, but that’s unlikely it will continue into the future. Starbucks, love it or not, says it plans to keep the La Boulange identity and, ideally, the very-high-quality products it manufactures. This will be a formidable problem as the scale of manufacturing balloons in the future.

Coffee/pastry/sandwich shops inspire fierce loyalty. The new kid on the block will attract its adherents.

Without a big jump in our population, someone in the vicinity is bound to forfeit market share. We will watch the University Avenue corridor for developments. Good luck to all. N

La Boulange 150 University Ave., Palo Alto 650-323-3332 laboulangebakery.com Hours: Daily 7 a.m.-7 p.m.

Reservations

Credit cards Lot Parking Alcohol

Banquet

Takeout Highchairs Wheelchair access

Catering Outdoor seating Noise level: Low Bathroom Cleanliness: Excellent

Shop Talk

NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING of the Palo Alto Planning &Transportation Commission Please be advised the Planning and Transportation Commission (P&TC) shall conduct a public meeting at 6:00 PM, Wednesday, September 12, 2012 in the Council Chambers, Ground Floor, Civic Center, Palo Alto, California. Any interested persons may appear and be heard on these items.

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.

Capital Improvement Project (CIP): Discussion of Changes to the CIP Document

2.

Transportation Citywide Survey: Transportation staff will be presenting the citywide Transportation Survey to the Planning and Transportation Commission at a study session on September 12th. The purpose of the survey is to collect comprehensive data on travel and transportation patterns in Palo Alto. The survey will gather trip related information such as mode of transportation, duration, distance, purpose and also demographic and geographic data for analysis purposes.

This surveywill be conducted on a yearly basis and will be used to quantify travel behavior and analyze changes in travel characteristics over time.

3.

San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority (JPA) Initial Flood Protection Project: Request by City of Palo Alto Public Works Engineering for Study Session review of preliminary plans for 1% (100-year) flood protection improvements, riparian corridor enhancements, and recreational opportunities along San Francisquito Creek between Highway 101 and San Francisco Bay and review of the Draft Environmental Impact Report prepared by the JPA (public comment period on the EIR runs July 30 through September 13 and document may be viewed at www.sfcjpa.org).

by Daryl Savage

ESTRELLITA STRUGGLING ... Russell Clark is not going down without a fight. As the 33-year owner of Estrellita Restaurant at 971 N. San Antonio Road in Los Altos, he has spent the majority of his life working in his Mexican eatery. His family opened the restaurant in 1958, and it has grown into a labor of love for Clark, a Mountain View resident born in a far southern region of Mexico. Now it could all crumble. “The building was sold and the new owner increased the rent by 50 percent last April,” he said. “It came as a real shock.” But Clark is trying to hang on. “I had to reduce our staff,” he said. As a result, Clark serves as the greeter, the waiter, the bartender and the cashier on several nights each week. “Times are really tough. Sales are way down.

It’s a drastic situation. I fell behind in my rent. ... So two weeks ago, I reached out to my customers. I wrote to them asking them to please consider coming here for lunch or dinner.

I sent out nearly 1,000 postcards,” he said. Clark’s actions had an impact.

As he spoke, he was visibly moved.

“People came. Business is up. I am so touched and so gratified by the response from this community,” he said. Although the future of Estrellita is still uncertain, Clark remains hopeful.

BEAUTY BOOM IN MIDTOWN ...

There is no reason for anyone to have a bad hair day in Midtown Palo Alto.

With the recent opening of two new hair salons, there are now a total of five salons, all on Middlefield Road, and all within one block of each other. SoHo Salon, which opened in mid-August, is the newest entry, tucked into a 500-square-foot space in a building at 2799 Middlefield Road. Owner Kim Keyak, who has been in hair design for 22 years, specializes in coloring and Japanese hair straightening, and says she does not view the nearby salons as competition. “I have my own clientele and I give individual attention to my customers.” The other newcomer, appropriately named Midtown Hair Studio, is at 2786 Middlefield Road and owned by veteran hair stylist

Dziem (pronounced Zim) Le, a Palo Alto resident. “I had always dreamed of having my own business, so when this opportunity came up, my dream came true,” she said, adding, “You need competition to survive.” In addition to offering hair cutting and color, Le’s salon provides nail, makeup and waxing services. These two salons join the remaining three: Classy Salon, Monica Foster and TL’s Hair Salon.

Meanwhile another Palo Alto hair salon, which offers a blow-dry for a flat $35, is expanding. “We’re more than doubling our space,” said Halo Blow Dry Bar owner Rosemary Camposano. The 2-year-old blow-dry bar in Town & Country Village is moving from its current spot facing Embar-

cadero Road to the interior of the shopping center in the former location of Williams Cutlery. “People were squashing into our tiny 450-squarefoot spot,” Camposano said. The move is scheduled for Dec. 1. Camposano has two other Halo shops, in Menlo Park and Burlingame, with three more in the works in the next few months. The success of the Palo Alto store, the first Halo, has not surprised Camposano, she said. “This is a huge, growing market.”

Heard a rumor about your favorite store or business moving out, or in, down the block or across town? Daryl Savage will check it out. Email shoptalk@ paweekly.com.

Back by Popular Demand...

Historic Walking Tours of Palo Alto Palo Alto Stanford Heritage (PAST), as part of its commitment to support the preservation of historic architecture of the greater Palo Alto-Stanford area through education, is again offering walking tours in Palo Alto.

NEW BUSINESS. Public Hearing 4.

Comprehensive Plan Amendment: Review of Vision Statement, Goals, Policies and Programs of the Natural Environment Element

Questions. For any questions regarding the above items, please contact the Planning Department at (650) 329-2441. The files relating to these items are available for inspection weekdays between the hours of 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. This publicmeeting 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. *** Curtis Williams, Director of Planning and Community Environment

Beginning on September 8th and continuing on two more consecutive Saturdays, interested parties are invited to join these docent led tours. The tours will include identifying architectural points of interest as well as colorful tales of some of its early residents.

Tours begin at 10:30.

September 8th – Professorville meet at Addison/Bryant September 15th - Downtown Palo Alto

Sept. 28

meet at City Hall September 22nd- Historic Homer Avenue meet at Homer/Cowper

Register online at PaloAltoOnline.com/moonlight_run ÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V ÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ Õ}ÕÃÌÊΣ]ÊÓä£ÓÊU Page 19

Movies MOVIE TIMES

All showtimes are for Friday through Sunday only unless otherwise noted. For other times, as well as reviews and trailers, go to PaloAltoOnline.com/movies.

2 for 1 - Moonrise Kingdom (((1/2/To Rome with Love (R) (( Century 16: 12:10, 2:40, 4:50 & 7:35 p.m. Century 20: 11:10 a.m.; 1:30, 3:35, 6 & 8:05 p.m.

2016: Obama’s America (PG) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: 11:35 a.m.; 2:10, 4:25, 7:15 & 9:40 p.m. Century 20: Noon, 2:30, 4:55, 7:20 & 9:40 p.m.

The Apparition (PG-13) (Not Reviewed) Century 20: 12:20, 5:15 & 10:05 p.m.

Beasts of the Southern Wild (PG-13) (((( Guild Theatre: 1, 3:30, 6 & 8:30 p.m.

The Bourne Legacy (PG-13) (( Century 16: Noon, 3:30, 7 & 10:05 p.m. Century 20: 1:10, 4:20, 7:25 & 10:25 p.m.

Brave (PG) (((1/2 Century 16: 11 a.m.; 1:35 & 4:05 p.m.

The Campaign (R) ((1/2 Century 16: 11:15 a.m.; 1:50, 4:40, 7:20 & 9:55 p.m. Century 20: 12:30, 3, 5:30, 7:55 & 10:35 p.m.

Celeste and Jesse Forever (R) ((1/2 Century 16: 11:40 a.m.; 2:20, 4:50, 7:25 & 9:45 p.m.

The Dark Knight Rises (PG-13) (((( Century 16: 11 a.m.; 2:30, 6:30 & 10 p.m. Century 20: 12:55, 4:40 & 8:30 p.m.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (PG) (( Century 20: 11:30 a.m.; 1:50, 4:15 & 6:45 p.m.

Doctor Zhivago (1965) (PG-13) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: Thu. at 2 & 7 p.m. Century 20: Thu. at 2 & 7 p.m.

The Expendables 2 (R) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: 11 a.m.; 1:30, 4:10, 7:10 & 9:45 p.m. Century 20: 12:35, 3:05, 5:35, 8:10 & 10:45 p.m.

Hit and Run (R) (( Century 16: 11:25 a.m.; 1:55, 4:30, 7:30 & 10:10 p.m. Century 20: 2:45 & 7:40 p.m.

Hope Springs (PG-13) ((( Century 16: 11:20 a.m.; 1:55, 4:20, 7:10 & 9:50 p.m. Century 20: 11:20 a.m.; 1:45, 4:10, 6:50 & 9:20 p.m.

Ice Age: Continental Drift (PG) (Not Reviewed) Century 20: 11:35 a.m. & 4:25 p.m.; In 3D at 1:55, 7 & 9:20 p.m.

The Intouchables (R) (( Aquarius Theatre: 3:15, 6 & 8:45 p.m. Century 20: 11:45 a.m.; 2:25, 5:05, 7:45 & 10:25 p.m.

Lawless (R) ((( Century 16: 11 a.m.; 1:35, 4:10, 7:30 & 10:30 p.m. Century 20: 11:25 a.m.; 12:45, 2, 3:20, 4:35, 5:55, 7:15, 8:40 & 10:10 p.m.

Marvel’s The Avengers (PG-13) (((( Century 16: 6:40 & 9:50 p.m.

Moonrise Kingdom (PG-13) (((1/2 Century 20: 10:30 p.m.

The Odd Life of Timothy Green (PG) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: 11:10 a.m.; 1:40, 4:10, 6:40 & 9:10 p.m. Century 20: 12:15, 2:50, 5:20, 7:50 & 10:20 p.m.

The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure (G) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: 11 a.m.; 1:10, 3:20, 5:30, 7:40 & 9:50 p.m. Century 20: 11:30 a.m.; 1:40, 3:50, 6 & 8:10 p.m.

ParaNorman (PG) ((1/2 Century 16: 1:50 & 6:50 p.m.; In 3D at 11:30 a.m.; 4:15 & 9:10 p.m. Century 20: 11:15 a.m. & 4 p.m.; In 3D at 1:35, 6:55 & 9:15 p.m.

The Possession (PG-13) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: 11 a.m.; 1:15, 3:30, 5:45, 8:10 & 10:35 p.m. Century 20: 12:30, 2:55, 5:40, 8 & 10:40 p.m.

Premium Rush (PG-13) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: 11:50 a.m.; 2:25, 5, 7:40 & 10:15 p.m. Century 20: 11:40 a.m.; 1, 2:15, 3:30, 4:35, 5:50, 7:05, 8:15, 9:25 & 10:35 p.m.

The Quiet Man (1952) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Stanford Theatre: Sat.-Tue. at 7:30 p.m.; Sat. & Sun. also at 3:35 p.m.

Robot & Frank (PG-13) ((( Century 20: 11:50 a.m.; 2:20, 4:45, 7:10 & 9:30 p.m. Palo Alto Square: 2, 5 & 7:25 p.m.; Fri.-Sun. also at 9:45 p.m.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (R) (Not Reviewed) Guild Theatre: Sat. at midnight.

OPENINGS Lawless --(Century 16, Century 20) Down where the willows weep, in rural Virginia, three brothers made names for themselves as moonshiners. Their story comes back to life in “Lawless,” a fact-based crime drama that’s as tough-minded as they come.

“Lawless” derives from “The Wettest County in the World,” Matt Bondurant’s “novel based on a true story.” Bondurant’s grandfather Jack, here played by Shia LaBeouf, was a Prohibition-era bootlegger, running liquor around the county, one car-length ahead of opportunistic rivals and federal agents. The screen Jack has an inferiority complex: Treated like the runt of the litter by brothers Forrest (Tom Hardy) and Howard (Jason Clarke), immature Jack lets his eagerness to prove his worth inform his every decision.

Forrest believes the Bondurants to be “indestructible,” and indeed they take incredible lickings and keep on ticking, time and time again. Obviously, nothing lasts forever, and the crime family’s insistence on invincibility only gives the story a greater sense of dread, compounded by the arrival of creepy interloper Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce), a special agent from Chicago. Also on the scene: mobster Floyd Banner (Gary Oldman), a big-timer Jack idolizes and aims to impress.

Though a distinctly American story, “Lawless” is stocked up with Australian talent: director John Hillcoat, screenwriter Nick Cave (better known as a rocker), and actors Pearce and Clarke. They apply an anthropologist’s curiosity that yields gritty texture and period details. As shot by Benoit Delhomme, the Tommy guns, running boards and “whites only” signs don’t seem like toys for Hollywood playtime, but rather the genuine trappings of 1931 Franklin County.

On the face of it, “Lawless” may seem like nothing more than an artfully rendered tale of turpitude, and perhaps it isn’t. But to some degree, the pointlessness is the point. As Jack explains in voice-over, there’s something “indifferent” about the universe that allowed these events to unfold, and references to “war” easily imply a correspondence to the pointless “War on Drugs” and modern Prohibition. It’s also a story of men immune to Depression, as they break the law with impunity (criminals and “lawmen” alike).

This material is right in the wheelhouse of Hillcoat, who favors dusty, brutal tales like “The Road” and “The Proposition.” Never blinking, Hillcoat proves equally adept at dealing out swift brutality and lively marginalia. The picture is smartly cast, particularly in the supremely centered Hardy, powder-keg Oldman and florid Pearce.

Jessica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska also come to play, as uneasy potential mates to the brothers. But Hillcoat keeps the focus on an ages-old masculine code of survival at any cost and prideful protection of reputation and, by extension, legacy. In recounting “the Great Franklin County Moonshine Conspiracy,” “Lawless” does not lack for local color and local legend.

Sleepwalk with Me --1/2

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexuality/nudity. One hour, 56 minutes.

Not rated. One hour, 30 minutes.

— Peter Canavese

Ruby Sparks (R) (((1/2 Palo Alto Square: 1:45, 4:30 & 7:15 p.m.; Fri.-Sun. also at 9:50 p.m.

Seventh Heaven (1927) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Stanford Theatre: Fri. at 7:30 p.m.

Sitting Pretty (1948) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Stanford Theatre: Sat.-Tue. at 5:55 & 9:50 p.m.

Sleepwalk With Me (Not Rated) ((1/2 Aquarius Theatre: 2:15, 4:30, 7 & 9:15 p.m.

Sparkle (PG-13) (Not Reviewed) Century 20: 10:20 p.m.

To Rome With Love (R) (( Century 16: 9:40 p.m.

Total Recall (PG-13) (Not Reviewed) Century 20: 9:05 p.m.

( Skip it (( Some redeeming qualities ((( A good bet (((( Outstanding

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(Aquarius) In association with WBEZ Chicago, it’s this American life: Mike Birbiglia’s. The comedian brings his best-known story to the big screen in “Sleepwalk with Me,” an indie comedy-drama cowritten and co-produced by “This American Life” host Ira Glass.

That Birbiglia has already told this story before — on “This American Life,” in his one-man off-Broadway show, and a best-selling non-fiction book — is part of the problem. Film isn’t the best medium for this story (at least as directed by Birbiglia and written by the comedian and his brother Joe, Seth Barrish and Glass), and the preferable versions, as verbalized by Birbiglia the raconteur, have been on the market for some time.

Nevertheless, “Sleepwalk with Me” gets by on its humble charms as it tells the story of aspiring standup comic Matt Pandamiglio (Birbiglia, natch) and his struggles with commitment and REM behavior disorder. Matt has somehow sustained a relationship of eight years with girlfriend Abby (Lauren Ambrose), but he’s pushing his luck by dodging the question he ought to be popping, and his late-breaking upward mobility as a comic increasingly keeps the couple apart.

There’s also that little matter of the sleep disorder, which understandably distresses Abby as Matt wanders about the bedroom in the wee hours, pantomiming his dreams and doing himself physical harm. A classic avoider, Matt consistently blows off a sleep study just as he postpones taking his relationship to the next level. In a series of narrative asides, Matt confesses, with hindsight, his failings, shaking his head at his past self and offering, “To be a comedian, you have to be a little bit delusional.”

Matt’s hapless clambering in the comedy world, a painful ascent that’s realistically slow, is the film’s most convincingly portrayed aspect and presents the most intriguing dilemma. As a veteran comic (Marc Maron) teaches Matt, if he’s to have a breakthrough, he’s going to have to stop mere shucking and jiving and actually start telling some hard truths about his life: That’s where the good material lives.

But once Matt goes there, he has an act he doesn’t feel comfortable letting Abby hear. It’s OK for audiences to laugh at his existential horrors, but there’s only so much truth he’s willing to admit to his girlfriend. That Matt so consistently blocks Abby out highlights another of the film’s issues: Because it resolutely sticks to Matt’s point of view, Abby comes off as something of a punching bag. Though her puzzling behavior does get a funny-sad payoff of sorts, we still exit the story wishing we were given a chance to know her more fully.

At the bottom line, Birbiglia’s film version of “Sleepwalk with Me” may be a bit fitful and tentative, but the story remains resonant, with its hiddenin-plain-sight metaphor of drifting unconsciously through life.

— Peter Canavese NOW PLAYING The following is a sampling of movies recently reviewed in the Weekly: Beasts of the Southern Wild ---(Guild) Independent filmmaking doesn’t come any better than this. Newcomer Quvenzhane Wallis delivers a riveting performance as the child trying to make sense of her world on the wrong side of a southern Louisiana levee. She and her ailing father (Dwight Henry) struggle to stay afloat in The Bathtub, a floodplain populated with odd characters and littered with ramshackle housing — a hurri-

cane away from disaster. The community refuses to be displaced. Director Zeitlin’s gift is the ability to pack social commentary within a unique voice and look. He and co-writer Lucy Alibar address the difficulties of preserving a people and their culture in post-Katrina Louisiana.

The imagery has a haunting quality, especially once the characters become unmoored. “Beasts of the Southern Wild” is a must-see movie of rare vision. And the defiant brown eyes of Quvenzhane Wallis burn with a warrior spirit you won’t soon forget. Rated PG-13 for language, child imperilment, brief sensuality, disturbing images and thematic material. 1 hour, 33

minutes. — S.T. (Reviewed July 13, 2012) The Bourne Legacy -(Century 16, Century 20) Meet the new Bourne, same as the old Bourne. That’s the impression left by “The Bourne Legacy,” a would-be franchise refresher in which Jeremy Renner grabs the baton from Matt Damon. Everything in this film you’ve seen before, whether it be recycled from the “Bourne” trilogy or even Joe Wright’s “Hanna,” fer gosh sakes.

What is this movie about? A chemically enhanced super soldier (Renner) discovers his masters have turned on him. Cross tracks down Marta Shearing

Movies (Rachel Weisz), the only surviving doctor who used to maintain him; now she too has been targeted. Renner and Weisz are as solid as one might respectively expect, but the film doesn’t make us care much about them, or say anything more pointed about the state of American covert affairs than “We are morally indefensible and absolutely necessary.�

Instead, the film expends acres of talk on military doublespeak and technobabble.

As Scott Glenn’s CIA director confesses early on, “I’ve kind of lost my perspective on what’s possible.� Just remember, kids, you’re not paranoid if they’re really out to get you ... or your movie dollars.

Rated PG-13 for violence and action. Two hours, 15 minutes. — P.C. (Reviewed Aug. 10, 2012) Celeste and Jesse Forever --1/2 (Century 16) Till now, the premier divorce comedies have been to some degree mean-spirited, from “His Girl Friday� to “War of the Roses.� But screenwriters Rashida Jones and Will McCormack have devised a kinder, gentler divorce comedy in “Celeste and Jesse Forever.�A “rom com� that plays off of or squirms out of the cliches, the film stars Jones and Andy Samberg as the title characters, high school sweethearts who got married but eventually hit a wall. Now six months separated and heading for a divorce, their relationship is, ironically, stronger than ever — as inseparable best friends.

But unresolved romantic feelings have lingered, consciously for Jesse and perhaps unconsciously for Celeste. Even at a slim 91 minutes, the picture feels padded with too much material that’s dead on arrival.. Samberg decently holds up his end of the hipster duet, and McCormack puts in a nice supporting turn as a friend of Jesse’s, but it’s Jones who easily walks off with the movie, flimsy though it may be. Rated R for language, sexual content and drug use. One hour, 32 minutes.— P.C. (Reviewed Aug. 17, 2012)

Hit and Run -(Century 16, Century 20) Gearheads unite! Others disperse. To paraphrase the archetypal patrolman, there’s nothing to see here in “Hit and Run,� a chase comedy from Dax Shepard.Nothing, that is, but a lot of yee-haw stunt driving, much of it performed by the movie’s real star: a black 1967 Lincoln Continental convertible.

Wheelman Charlie, a member of the federal Witness Protection Program, takes his girlfriend of one year, Annie (Kristen Bell) to L.A. for a job interview she has only hours to get to. Tipped-off ex-con (Bradley Cooper) seeking revenge on Charlie. Yee-haw, and so forth. The film isn’t lacking in shaggy charm, and it’s clearly a labor of love for Shepard and his real-life life partner Bell. Depending on how much you like Shepard you may well like “Hit and Run.� But don’t expect much more than drifting and abrupt turns, both with the cars and the plot. Rated R for pervasive language including sexual references, graphic nudity, some violence and drug content. One hour, 40 minutes. — P.C. (Reviewed Aug. 24, 2012)

Hope Springs --(Century 16, Century 20) “I want a real marriage again.� With those words in the dramedy “Hope Springs,� Meryl Streep’s housewife throws the gauntlet before her husband of 31 years, played by Tommy Lee Jones. Streep’s Kay Soames ropes her husband Arnold into a weeklong program run by “You Can Have the Marriage You Want� author Dr. Bernard Feld

(Steve Carell). The master class in acting put on by Streep and the particularly pitch-perfect Jones is the big draw here.

While Carell, like his character, expertly facilitates, the leads put themselves under the microscope, finding fascinating rhythms in their give-and-takes, and speaking volumes with body language. “Hope Springs� turns out to be a different kind of mainstream movie, wielding star power to turn a giant, unsparing mirror on its target audience: in this case, baby boomers in stale marriages. There’s a riveting intensity and a sense of privilege to the way the movie takes us into squirmy private moments and focuses nearly every scene on the sometimes funny, more often sad dynamic between the two leads. A handful of comic flourishes lean toward jokiness at odds with the film’s greater scheme, of dramatic cultivated awkwardness between two people facing hard truths. Also, one might well wish for a chink in the armor of Carell’s tooperfect shrink. But the commitment to character and performance is enough to give “Hope� a try. Rated PG-13 for mature thematic content involving sexuality. One hour, 40 minutes. — P.C. (Reviewed Aug. 10, 2012)

ParaNorman --1/2 (Century 16, Century 20) Norman sees dead people, but he doesn’t tremble like Haley Joel Osment of “The Sixth Sense.�

Instead, the 11-year-old greets the deceased like old friends in directors Sam Fell and Chris Butler’s stop-motion animated comedy. There’s much to applaud in the charming first act that develops the characters and establishes the smalltownship setting with incredible detail.

Norman Babcock (voiced by Kodi SmitMcPhee of “Let Me In�) is a sensitive soul, branded as the local freak and bullied at middle school. Aardman veteran Fell and first-time screenwriter Butler (storyboard supervisor of “Coraline�) excel at creating a delightful character piece. But once the plot unleashes the walking dead, the brain of the screenplay seems half-eaten by zombies. The story spins into a protracted and all-too-familiar chase scene.

Drawing parallels between the 18thcentury witchhunts and the bullying of today’s “freaks,� the message becomes murky. The notion that fear breeds bullying, as well as mob violence, seems simplistic and clouds the real theme of forgiveness. Wonderful stop-motion and immersive 3-D techniques can’t stop a misconceived concept from running amok. Rated PG for scary action and images, thematic elements, rude humor and language. 1 hour, 36 minutes. — S.T. (Reviewed Aug. 17, 2012)

IRRESISTIBLE...CHARMING, PLAYFUL AND SLY...

“ to counterbalance the poignancy of his fading days. Though the audience may be tempted to humanize the robot (Peter Sarsgaard), the film excels most as a showcase for the still-crafty, supremely human Langella. Whether being grumpy or sly or existentially fretful, Langella makes a great case for the power of the screen to be a looking glass. Rated PG13 for language. One hour, 30 minutes. — P.C. (Reviewed Aug. 24, 2012)

Ruby Sparks ---1/2 (Palo Alto Square) “Ruby Sparks� is the brainchild of Zoe Kazan, who wrote the screenplay and plays the title role ... of a brainchild. Ruby is the perfect woman for young, frustrated novelist Calvin Weir-Fields (Paul Dano). He knows this because he wrote her on his typewriter to break through his writer’s block. Ruby literally comes to life and once Calvin takes the magical-realist leap and accepts that Ruby isn’t going anywhere, he starts enjoying life with the girl of his dreams. “Ruby Sparks� makes an entertaining admonishment for anyone navigating the tricky terrain between initial attraction and a lasting relationship, a lesson in seeing the real person behind the exterior that attracts us. There’s plenty of quirky humor. Dayton and Faris also get serious comic mileage from Calvin’s life-loving mother (Annette Bening) and stepfather (Antonio Banderas), joyous contrasts to Calvin’s fretfulness. But “Ruby Sparks� proves it’s something special by being unafraid to follow its premise to a dark place, the dream turning into a nightmare. In a time of mind-numbing rom coms, “Ruby Sparks� uses fantasy to get real about modern romance. Rated R for language including sexual references, and for some drug use. One hour, 44 minutes.— P.C. (Reviewed Aug. 3, 2012)

“

- Kenneth Turan, LOS ANGELES TIMES

FRANK LANGELLA JAMES MARSDEN LIV TYLER and SUSAN SARANDON Directed By

NOW PLAYING

JAKE SCHREIER

CINÉARTS@PALO ALTO SQUARE CENTURY 20 DOWNTOWN REDWOOD CITY 825 Middlefield Rd, Redwood City 3000 El Camino Real, Palo Alto (800) FANDANGO (800) FANDANGO

FACEBOOK.COM/ROBOTANDFRANK

TWITTER.COM/ROBOTANDFRANK

FOR ANYONE WHO HAS EVER HAD TO BREAK UP WITH THEIR BEST FRIEND

-David Lewis, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

CELESTE AND JESSE FOREVER RASHIDA JONES & WILL M CORMACK LEE TOLAND KRIEGER WRITTEN BY

C

DIRECTED BY

WWW.SONYCLASSICS.COM

Century Theatres at Palo Alto Square

NOW PLAYING

CENTURY CINEMAS 16 1500 North Shoreline Blvd, Mountain View (800) FANDANGO

VIEW THE TRAILER AT WWW.CELESTEANDJESSE.COM

Fri thru Sun 8/31-9/2 Robot & Frank - 2:00, 5:00, 7:25, 9:45 Ruby Sparks - 1:45, 4:30, 7:15, 9:50 Mon thru Thurs 9/3-9/6 Robot & Frank - 2:00, 5:00, 7:25 Ruby Sparks - 1:45, 4:30, 7:15

Sign up today at www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Tickets and Showtimes available at cinemark.com

Robot & Frank --(Palo Alto Square) In “Robot & Frank,� a robot helps a fading old man to see life, and himself, more clearly. The robot is a gift from son (James Marsden) to father (Frank Langella), intended to troubleshoot the dementia of retired “second-story man� Frank. Frank’s initial reaction — “You’re going to leave me with this death machine?� — turns to opportunism when he realizes that the robot isn’t programmed to be law-abiding or moralistic: Its only concern is Frank’s mental and physical health. And so Frank makes the case that the best way to keep his mind active isn’t the gardening the robot proposes, but planning burglaries.

The film operates on a humble scale, with small gestures of futurism and an uncluttered visual and narrative style. There’s a deftly handled subplot involving the local librarian (Susan Sarandon), who takes an interest in Frank. And there’s some good humor in the robot/Frank relationship

THEATER ADDRESSES 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) Guild: 949 El Camino Real, Menlo Park (266-9260) Stanford: 221 University Ave., Palo Alto (324-3700) Internet address: For show times, plot synopses, trailers and more information about films playing, go to PaloAltoOnline.com/movies

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Sports Shorts

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Rising to the challenge

A WINNER . . . The Palo Alto Knights opened the 2012 American Youth Football season on the road last Sunday with all five teams playing the always strong Sacramento Raiders.

The Knights managed just one victory on the day. The three-time defending NorCal champion Jr. Midgets (11-13 years old) picked up that victory by defeating the Raiders, 14-12. Palo Alto is ranked No. 11 in the nation in the 2012 AYF Preseason Power Rankings for Division I. Palo Alto took the opening kickoff and drove 68 yards, scoring on a three-yard run by Logan Johnson with Luca Zaharias adding the two-point PAT. The Knights’ offense continued to move the ball on the ground with strong running from Ben Cleasby and Jordan Schilling.

It was Schilling scoring the Knights’ second touchdown on a 13-yard run for a 14-0 lead. With the Knights threatening to score with 56 seconds left in the first half, a pass by Johnson pass was intercepted in the end zone and returned 100 yards for a Raiders’ touchdown.

The Knights played solid defense after that and held the Raiders to 46 yards of total offense until 1:36 was left in the game. That’s when the Raiders broke a 43-yard run to come within two points before the Knights shut down the extra-point attempt. The Palo Alto Jr. Midgets return 21 players from their 2011 Pee Wee team that won the NorCal championship and earned a berth to the AYF National Championships in Orlando, Fla. Also on Sunday, the Knights’ Cadets (7-9) lost in a close battle, 16-13, while the Jr. Pee Wee’s, Tiny Mites and Midgets also dropped their openers.

All five Palo Alto teams will return to action on Saturday against the Oakland Dynamites at Oakland Tech High, starting at 8 a.m.

ON THE AIR Friday

Saturday Women’s soccer: USA U-20 vs. Costa Rica in World Cup, 11:30 a.m.; NBC

On the cover: Stanford senior Stepfan Taylor will be carrying much of the offensive load for the Cardinal this season. Photo by Jim Shorin/Stanfordphoto.com

O

Stanford senior running back Stepfan Taylor (33) may have to elevate his game even more than he did last season, now that All-American quarterback Andrew Luck has moved on to the NFL. Taylor rushed for 1,330 yards in 2011.

n a football team, there are vocal leaders and there are guys who just shut up and play, preferring to lead by example.

In his first three seasons at Stanford, running back Stepfan Taylor has been the latter. This year, however, the preseason All-American is looking to make some noise.

In his time on the Farm, Taylor has operated in the shadows of Heisman candidates. As a freshman he backed up runner-up Toby Gerhart, and the past two years he’s been the quiet force doing the groundwork while two-time runner-up Andrew Luck drew national attention.

With Luck gone to the National Football League, this year’s Stanford offense rests on Taylor’s sturdy shoulders. For the senior, that means not only racking up rushing yards, but also becoming a team leader.

“I’m going to lead in my own way,” Taylor said in a Monday morning press conference leading up to Friday’s season opener in Stanford Stadium against visiting San Jose State at 7 p.m. “I need to be a little more vocal. Not necessarily all rahrah type vocal, but when there are things that need to be addressed, I’ll have them addressed.”

Taylor’s teammates recognize his role as a leader on this year’s squad, electing him as a co-captain along with senior linebacker Chase Thomas and senior center Sam Schwartz(continued on page 25)

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

With Luck gone, a new era gets under way for Stanford Nunes takes over at quarterback while offensive line has new look heading into Friday’s season opener against SJS

by Rick Eymer

T

he quarterback comparisons will be inevitable and Josh Nunes knows all he can do it play his game. The redshirt junior replaces Andrew Luck as Stanford’s leading man this season and will take the first snap when the Cardinal opens its football season Friday night with a home game against San Jose State at 7 p.m.

Nunes (6-4, 225) is merely one of several new starters on the offensive side of the ball. Just as important as replacing Luck is filling the shoes of the five other graduates who also signed NFL contracts.

For that reason alone, expectations are more subdued. There’s little talk of a national championship, for instance. After all, no one can

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expect the Cardinal (11-2 last year) to repeat last season’s record-setting 561 total points or 489.3 total offensive yards per game.

“I feel good with 90 percent of what we’ll put out on the field,” Stanford coach Davis Shaw said.

“We’ll have to see about the rest.”

It’s the 10 percent that will determine whether the Cardinal is in the running for a major bowl game or just looking to become bowl-eligible come November.

The defense, an often over-looked part of the Stanford’s success last year, is in better shape, particularly with the return of linebacker Shayne Skov (6-3, 242), who, last year, was lost for the season with a knee injury (continued on next page)

Don Feria/stanfordphoto.com

College football: San Jose State at Stanford, 7 p.m.; Pac-12 Networks; KNBR (1050 AM); KZSU (90.1 FM)

by Dean McArdle

Don Feria/stanfordphoto.com

OAKS’ NOTES . . . The Mark Speckman era at Menlo College kicked off with a bang on Saturday, as the Oaks scored three second-half touchdowns and came away with a 28-13 nonconference victory over the University of British Columbia in Canada. Menlo trailed 13-7 midway through the third, but found a way to rattle off three rushing touchdowns, including two in the fourth quarter, to score the game’s final 21 points. The Oaks (1-0) travel to perennial NCAA DIII powerhouse Linfield College on Saturday for a 12:30 p.m. kickoff. Menlo has never beaten the Wildcats and is winless in 13 chances all-time. That could change after an impressive ground attack was the story in Speckman’s coaching debut for the Oaks, who racked up 230 yards and four TDs.

With Luck gone, Taylor takes over for the Cardinal

Redshirt junior Josh Nunes (left) will take over for NFL No. 1 pick Andrew Luck, one of many changes to the Stanford lineup.

Sta nfor d Foot ba ll 201 2 Outlook

(continued from previous page)

F

_______________________ Chase Thomas contemplated entering the NFL Draft after last season, but felt he needed to improve to increase his value. Thomas said he has done so, adding 10 pounds to 245, getting stronger in the weight room, and becoming more flexible. “(Sports performance coach Shannon) Turley emphasizes stretching and being functional more than any other coach probably out there,” Thomas said.

“He’s a technician when it comes to injury prevention. He’s a huge flexibility guy.”

Another result of that emphasis?

Yoga classes. _______________________ Many underclassmen will have their first opportunities to make an impact in game situations. When evaluating their performances, what is Shaw looking for?

“How they handle adversity,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing.

“Hand the ball to the running back, and everybody’s blocked so he walks into the end zone -- that tells me nothing. What happens when he gets hit in the backfield?

What happens when he makes a mistake? What happens when a tackle gets beat? All that stuff is important. When a young receiver catches the ball and gets hit hard, what happens on the next play?

That’s what tells you about young guys. It’s not important what happens to you, it’s how you respond to what happens to you.” _______________________ Stanford and San Jose State annually meet in the Bill Walsh Legacy Game. The title honors Walsh, a three-time Super Bowl champion coach of the San Francisco 49ers, who played at San Jose State and had two successful stints as Stanford’s coach.

Shaw, who played for Walsh at Stanford, took time to talk about Walsh to his team this week. One of the lessons came from Walsh’s amateur boxing career.

“He always talked about beating the opponent to the punch,” Shaw said. _______________________ Nunes said he learned a lot from being an understudy to Luck. Primary was Luck’s extensive preparation.

“Maybe it was just the fact that I’d always try to be early in the film room, and whenever I came in early, he was always there before me,” Nunes said.

Another lesson: the importance of sleep.

“The guy got almost 10 hours of sleep every night,” Nunes said.

“You have to do everything to get physically prepared.”

David Kiefer is a member of the Stanford Sports Information staff

Don Feria/stanfordphoto.com

by David Kiefer or a team that must replace top NFL Draft pick Andrew Luck at quarterback, there may be just as much fascination with another position — left tackle.

The success of Stanford’s 2012 recruiting class, ranked No. 5 in the nation, was largely judged as such by the collection of superstar offensive linemen. Two of those freshmen, Andrus Peat and Kyle Murphy, are competing for that starting left tackle spot for Friday’s opener against visiting San Jose State at 7 p.m.

Regardless of whether either makes the start, each has been promised a significant amount of playing time, head coach David Shaw said.

Shaw said the starting assignment would be determined late in the week. If either is determined to be ready to start, third-year sophomore David Yankey will remain at his left guard position.

If there were some reservations, Yankey would shift to left tackle and Khalil Wilkes would start at left guard.

“We’ve seen tremendous growth in both Andrus Peat and Kyle Murphy,” Shaw said. “The challenge is to make sure one of those young guys is ready. There’s no question about the physical tools.

It’s can we get the consistent play at that position?

“If I’m not comfortable with one of the young guys, I’ll go with the old guy. But I’m comfortable in the progress so far. I think the entire freshman class is special.

We have the luxury of hopefully putting those guys on the shelf for a year, but some of these guys are ready to play.”

Peat is 6-foot-7 and 308 pounds.

Murphy is 6-7, 280.

New starting quarterback Josh Nunes, who won the job over Brett Nottingham, described his first impression: “They’re huge.”

“I definitely feel comfortable with whoever’s over there,” he said. _______________________ Another top recruit, running back Barry Sanders, is being considered for a redshirt year, but that decision won’t be made just yet.

“We’ll see how it goes,” Shaw said. “We’re very healthy at running back. So, how much will he be able to play? Is it worth playing a minimal amount to burn a redshirt year? But, you never know what will happen a couple of games into the season.

“There’s no hesitation about him with the ball in his hands. It’s all the other things we ask our backs to do. Is he physically ready and mentally ready for all that? We’ll see.”

in the third week.

Stanford will have to replace five defensive starters, but those who do step in, for the most part, have plenty of experience.

“We still have special guys,” Shaw said. “Our combination of linebackers; I’d love to see a group anyone says is better.”

The Cardinal will play its first game without Skov, who will sit out a game for a violation of team rules, an alleged DUI incident.

Nunes is where the talk begins.

He’s had minimal playing experience during his first two years, appearing in four games. Even at that, he takes more college experience into his first start than Luck.

“I feel excited and ready to go,” Nunes said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been hit in a real game.”

Like Luck, Nunes also said he enjoys the first contact of the game.

During his freshmen season, former coach Jim Harbaugh would sometimes allow the defense to go after him on the practice field.

“Harbaugh would yell, ‘OK quarterback live,’ and the defensive line would perk up and run back in for a a few plays,” Nunes said. “I got to know Chase Thomas quite well.”

Nunes received a text message from Luck after Shaw announced him as the starting quarterback: “Congratulations, now it’s time to get to work.”

It’s also time for guys like senior right guard Kevin Danser (6-6, 298), who takes over for All-American David DeCastro, and whomever takes over at left tackle for Jonathan Martin.

Danser, who grew up in Saratoga and rooted for his older brother Chris, who played at San Jose State, will be making his first collegiate start.

“Being consistent every day is the biggest thing I am working on,” Danser said. “David is such a great player, I’d watch him on film and wonder ‘Wow, how can I ever do that?’”

Left tackle will be manned, whether as the starter or otherwise, by a pair of true freshmen in Andrus Peat (6-7, 308) and/or Kyle Murphy (6-7, 280). If Shaw feels neither is ready, he’ll go with veteran guard David Yankey (6-5, 301).

“I have seen tremendous growth from Andrus and Kyle,” Shaw said.

“We’ll see how much one or both are ready to help. Who takes the snap on the first play is not important. I’d love to keep David at guard, where he at his best. If for some reason neither freshman is ready, I’m not worried about David.”

Peat and Murphy are both considered two of the better overall recruits in the nation.

“They could both be dominant by the end of this year,” Shaw said.

“The entire freshmen class is special and this is the best group of freshmen linemen I’ve seen.”

Center Graham Shuler is part of that class and is considered the best at his position (in the nation)

by Shaw, even though senior Sam Schwartzstein (6-3, 292) will Stanford’s starting center with redshirt

Senior linebacker Chase Thomas contemplated entering the NFL Draft after last season, but felt he needed to increase his value. sophomore Connor McFadden (6-3, 284) as the backup..

Senior Drew Terrell (5-11, 180) and sophomore Ty Montgomery (6-2, 212) step into starting roles as wide receivers, taking over for Griff Whalen and Chris Owusu. Terrell and Montgomery, the team’s best kick returner, have seen action in the past.

“For the last two years Drew has been our best blocking receiver,” Shaw said.

Tight end Coby Fleener joined Luck with the Indianapolis Colts and will be replaced at Stanford by the experienced Levine Toilolo (6-8, 285) or Zach Ertz (6-6, 252). They combined to catch 10 touchdown passes last year.

Schwartzstein and Cameron Fleming (6-6, 314) join Yankey to give the front four some stability and should help the running game remain as one of the team’s strength.

Senior Stepfan Taylor (5-11, 215) has quietly put together an impressive career at Stanford and could set the school’s career rushing record. Fullback Ryan Hewitt (6-4, 248) is the team’s leading returning receiver.

Jordan Williamson (5-11, 192) and Daniel Zychlinksi (6-3, 208) return to handle kicking and punting duties, respectively.

Skov and outside linebacker Chase Thomas (6-4, 248) are the heart and soul of the Stanford defense and both are expected to be top choices in next year’s NFL draft.

“The defense has grown over the last couple years,” Thomas said.

“This year we’re really at the top and playing faster.”

With the injury to Skov came opportunity for inside linebackers Jarek Lancaster (6-1, 242) and A.J. Tarpley (6-2, 238), part of the talented group of linebackers that

also includes Trent Murphy (6-6, 261), Palo Alto grad Kevin Anderson (6-4, 250) and James Vaughters (6-2, 246).

Terrence Stephens (6-2, 305) and Ben Gardner (6-4, 275) return to the defensive line and will be joined by the experienced group of Henry Anderson (6-6, 278), Josh Mauro (6-6, 277) and David Parry (6-2, 300).

Terrence Brown (6-1, 178) is the lone returning starter in the defensive backfield, but there’s plenty of depth there, as well, with Ed Reynolds (6-2, 207), Jordan Richards (5-11, 208) and Barry Browning (6-1, 182).

Former running back Usua Amanam (5-10, 176) will be utilized as a nickel back.

Hewitt (ankle) and senior fullback Geoff Meinken (6-4, 252) are both out for San Jose State. Meinken is expected to return mid season while Hewitt is likely to miss one more game.

In addition to Anderson, other locals at Stanford include MenloAtherton grad Sam Knapp (6-3, 208) and Sacred Heart Prep grads Chris Gaertner (6-1, 182) and Brian Moran (6-7, 309). N

STANFORD FOOTBALL Date Friday Sept. 8 Sept. 15 Sept. 27 Oct. 6 Oct. 13 Oct. 20 Oct. 27 Nov. 3 Nov. 10 Nov. 17 Nov. 24 Nov. 30

Opponent Time vs. San Jose St. 7 p.m. vs. Duke 7:30 p.m. vs. USC 4:30 p.m. at Washington 6 p.m. vs. Arizona TBA at Notre Dame 12:30 p.m. at California TBA vs. Washington St. TBA at Colorado TBA vs. Oregon St. TBA at Oregon TBA at UCLA TBA Pac-12 Championship TBA

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Sports

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Palo Alto City Council will hold a public hearing at a special Council meeting on Tuesday, September 18, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. or as soon as possible thereafter in the Council Chambers, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, to Consider the Adoption of a Resolution Amending the Transportation Element of the Comprehensive Plan To Incorporate Certain Findings of the Palo Alto Rail Corridor Study and Approval of a Negative Declaration.

Donna J. Grider, MMC City Clerk

Goals not quite as high After back-to-back state titles, Palo Alto readjusts its focus

by Keith Peters he first ball has yet to be served in the 2012 girls’ prep volleyball season by Palo Alto, but the Vikings already are listed No. 5 in the nation in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 rankings. That’s heady stuff, but not realistic.

Palo Alto did finish the 2011 season ranked, by MaxPreps, as the No. 1 team in the nation. That came on the heels of the Vikings winning their second straight CIF Division I state championship to cap a remarkable two-year run that saw Palo Alto go 77-4.

While the Vikings begin their new season on Tuesday by hosting Notre Dame-Belmont in a nonleague match at 6:30 p.m., their 21-match win streak to finish the 2011 campaign is just a reminder of where Paly has been, rather than where it is going.

“The MaxPreps ranking is more of an homage to our program’s history than it is a realistic assessment of where we should be placed in comparison to the best teams in the country,” said Paly coach Dave Winn. “As I’ve always maintained, the only ranking that really matters to us is the one we give ourselves at the end of the season. That ranking is based on our effort and rate of improvement.

“You can’t always control the outcomes, but we’ve certainly benefited from some outstanding contributions from our recently graduated seniors to give us a lot more wins than losses the past two years. But, this season is different.”

The Vikings lost eight seniors off a 36-3 squad that upended Loyola Marymount in five sets in the state finale to cap the ‘11 season. Those seniors also helped lead the way the year before when Paly went 41-1 and

T

Athena

Athena Award Nomination for a woman who has attained and personified the highest level of professional excellence in business and the community.

Nomination Deadline: Friday, September 21, 2012

Luncheon: Wednesday, November 7, 2012 Hosted by: Media Sponsors: Nomination form: PaloAltoChamber.com Thanks to Our Annual Event Sponsors

harrington design

¢

Palo Alto

High Holy Days 5773 with Keddem Congregation Everyone is welcome to attend our High Holy Day services at no charge, as space permits. Advance reservations required.

Keddem is a community-led, Reconstructionist Jewish congregation, passionately committed to infusing tradition with new meaning.

Elisheva Salamo, Rabbi Reserve online at www.Keddem.org 650-494-6400 hhd_reservations@Keddem.org

Main services in the Cultural Center (Theater) of the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto.

Rosh Hashanah Sun, Sept 16, 7:30 pm Evening Service Mon, Sept 17, 9:30 am 1st Day Morning Service 9:45 am Junior Congregation; 10 am Young Children’s Celebration Tues, Sept 18, 9:30 am 2nd Day at Kehillah Jewish HS

Yom Kippur Tues, Sept 25, 7 pm Kol Nidrey (and food drive) Wed, Sept 26, 9:30 am Morning Service 9:45 am Junior Congregation; 10 am Young Children’s Celebration 5 pm Mincha, Yizkor, Ne’ilah

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Kyle Terada

2012

Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce ¢ 400 Mitchell Lane 650.324.3121 ¢ PaloAltoChamber.com

GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALL

Four-year veteran Shelby Knowles is one of only two seniors on the Palo Alto girls’ volleyball team this season. captured its first-ever state crown.

No team in the 100-plus years of Palo Alto High athletics ever produced such a remarkable two-year effort.

The state title gave Winn a record of 200-36 for his six years with the Vikings. He’ll begin his seventh without graduated starters Melanie Wade, Maddie Kuppe, Kimmy Whitson, Caroline Martin and Jackie Koenig — mainstays on the Vikings’ special two-year run. Wade, now a freshman at Washington, was the MVP of the state championship match. Martin and Kuppe were named to the All-Championship Team.

“The 2011 Paly squad is a a oncein-a-few-decades kind of team,” Winn said at the conclusion of last season. “They all truly know how to leave it all out on the court and give everything for their teammates.

We had 16 on the roster and even though only eight or nine saw some regular court time, they all cheered for each other no matter what. They get what it means to put team goals ahead of personal agendas. And that’s why we were able to achieve great things.”

But, as they say, that was then and this is now.

“We have new leadership in place, starting with our two senior captains (Shelby Knowles and Sophia Bono) and a whole host of new people on varsity who are going to need to find their place,” said Winn.

Knowles and Bono are the only two seniors on the team that includes seven juniors — headed by returning outside hitter Becca Raffel.

“It’s sort of like we were three years ago when Shelby was just a frosh on a team that was mostly dominated by sophs and juniors,” Winn said. “It’s likely that it will take us a while to settle on a consistent lineup and figure out which people can play the various roles we need. That might mean we take a few hits early on in the season, but we need to invest in learning at a much higher priority. That said, we are not sacrificing our yearly goal of trying to win league and make a

push to get to the CCS finals.”

One thing Winn has done to make the season goals more achievable is adjust his schedule. Gone is the prestigious Mitty Tournament, where Paly suffered two of its three losses last season. The only other loss was to St. Francis, also off the schedule. The Vikings also are bypassing Saturday’s annual Milpitas Spikefest I tournament while adding nonleague matches against Leland, Castilleja and King’s Academy.

“I’d say that this year will be the toughest challenge for us in my tenure at Paly in order to do that (win league and CCS), given our turnover and given the competition,” Winn said. “But, my squad is hungry to make its own mark and they’re working hard in practice to come up to speed.”

Three other teams that advanced deep into the postseason last year are gearing up for the new season, as well.

Menlo-Atherton, which lost to Paly in the NorCal Division I finals and finished 31-7 (a school record for single-season victories) after going 14-0 in the PAL Bay Division, will open its season Tuesday at Sacred Heart Prep at 6:30 p.m.

The Bears lost head coach Jen Wilson, who has been replaced by Ron Whitmill, a veteran with more than 12 years of coaching experience at both the club and college levels Leading the way for the Bears will be 6-foot-1 senior outside hitter Ali Spindt, who is on the Under Armour High School All-American Watch List. Other key returnees include senior Mele Moimoi, Katelyn Doherty and junior Pauli King.

Sacred Heart Prep reached the the NorCal Division IV semifinals last season before falling to top-seeded Union Mine, finishing 24-8 under coach Damien Hardy. The Gators, who opened the season Thursday against Mills and will compete in the Milpitas Spikefest I on Saturday, return eight players (all seniors). Among that veteran group is 6-footer Ellie Shannon, Helen Gan(continued on page 26)

Sta nfor d Foot ba ll 201 2

LEARN

Stepfan Taylor

New Semester Starts September 8

For students who do not speak Mandarin at home

(continued from page 25)

Weekly at Jordan School (Wed or Sat), Fairmeadow School (Wed), Laurel School (Tues and Fri), Oak Knoll School (Thurs), Encinal School (Wed) Contact: Phyllis (650) 917-7907 for details

Hwa Shin Chinese School Established in 1995 750 N. California Ave., Palo Alto

www.hwashinschool.org

Don Feria/stanfordphoto.com

stein.

“That was a great honor,” Taylor said of being named co-captain.

“Because I know I don’t really talk much, I’m not really a vocal leader, so to have them vote me as a captain, I really appreciated that, and I will do whatever it takes to represent this team in the right way.”

While Taylor may not say much during the game, his teammates have taken notice of the work he puts in on and off the field. The Stanford coaching staff told Taylor that he has “field credibility,” and that his teammates will follow his lead.

First-year starting quarterback Josh Nunes pointed to Taylor as a model for him to mold his game after, when he recently spoke to the media. Nunes noted Taylor’s work ethic and the back’s serious approach to practice as some of his laudable qualities.

“Stepfan isn’t the most boisterous guy, but he is one of those guys that brings his lunch pail everyday,” Nunes said. “He really studies the playbook hard, and is a guy who leads by example.”

Taylor’s subdued demeanor is echoed in the way he has quietly put up prodigious numbers the past two seasons. In 2010, Taylor racked up 1,137 yards on the ground, which was then the second best single- season rushing total in Stanford history behind Gerhart’s 1,871 in 2009.

Then in 2011, Taylor climbed even closer to the man he backed up as a freshman, rushing for 1,330 yards on 242 attempts.

“Back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons,” Nunes said of Taylor. “He is as good as anyone in the country.”

For a guy who has played second fiddle to Heisman hopefuls for three seasons, Taylor is also knocking on the door of some of Stanford’s loftiest career records.

The senior is currently fourth in career rushing yards with 2,770.

However, Taylor is only 1,263 yards shy of Darrin Nelson’s record total of 4,033. If Taylor can match his rushing numbers from last season, he will easily take over the throne as Stanford’s all-time rushing leader.

He currently trails Nelson, Gerhart

Senior Stepfan Taylor is only 1,263 yards shy of Darrin Nelson’s all-time Stanford career rushing record of 4,033 yards.

(3,522) and Brad Muster (2,940).

Along with rushing yards, Taylor is also bearing down on the career rushing touchdowns record. After posting 15 rushing touchdowns as a sophomore, he followed it up by finding the end zone on 10 carries in 2011. Throw in two scores from his freshman campaign and Taylor’s 30 rushing touchdowns ranks him sixth all-time. Tommy Vardell is No. 2 with 37.

It would take his best scoring year yet, though, to match Gerhart’s record 44 rushing TDs, but with a first-year quarterback under center, Taylor will likely see an increased load this season.

While Taylor said he recognized that more eyes will be on him now that Luck is gone, he emphasized that

THE STANFORD RECORD BOOK Career rushing 4,033 — Darrin Nelson (1977-78, 80-81) 3,522 — Toby Gerhart (2006-09) 2,940 — Brad Muster (1984-87) 2,770 — Stepfan Taylor (2009-) Single season 1,871 — Toby Gerhart (2009) 1,330 — Stepfan Taylor (2011) 1,137 — Stepfan Taylor (2010) 1,136 — Toby Gerhart (2008) 1,084 — Tommy Vardell (1991) Career touchdowns 44 — Toby Gerhart (2006-09) 40 — Darrin Nelson (1977-81) 37 — Tommy Vardell (1988-91) 33 — Brad Muster (1984-87) 31 — Vincent White (1979-82) 30 — Stepfan Taylor (2009-) 30 — Ken Margerum (1977-80)

Stepfan Taylor

you won’t see a change in his game just to chase the record books.

“I didn’t even know I was close before I started hearing about it (records),”Taylor said. “I’m just trying to go out here and play my best game, and those records out there, if I get ‘em I get ‘em, but I’m not going to try to pad my stats to hurt the team.”

Some of the all-time marks Taylor is chasing belong to his former teammate and current Vikings’ running back Gerhart. Taylor expressed his appreciation for the knowledge he gained under Gerhart’s tutelage, knowledge that helped him transform his game.

“A lot of it is a credit to him (Gerhart), he helped me when I was young. I was grateful to have him freshman year.” Taylor said. “When I came out of high school I was just running, and he taught me how to read defenses and to be patient behind the line.”

Three years after emerging from under Gerhart’s wing, Taylor is the lynchpin of a nationally touted offense, and now the student has become the teacher. As a senior and captain, Taylor is now in the role to take over as mentor to the other running backs.

Although, teammates may have been looking at Taylor to model their game even before this year.

“Stepfan is a great teammate to have,” former Stanford running back and current minor league baseball player Tyler Gaffney said.

“As a running back he always does the right assignment, putting pressure on the other backs to the same.

He is a goofball off the field, but he knows when to turn the switch and get real serious for football.” N

Good for Business. Good for You. Good for the Community. ÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V ÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ Õ}ÕÃÌÊΣ]ÊÓä£ÓÊU Page 25

Sports

Palo Alto’s Chryst gets offer from USC; Gunn’s Robinson is out of U-17 World Cup

by Keith Peters alo Alto junior quarterback Keller Chryst won’t make his 2012 debut until next week, but the college football world already is taking note — with the first of likely many offers already in.

The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Chryst, already regarded as one of the top propects in the West in the Class of 2014, has received his first college offer — from a Pacific-12 Conference school.

Chryst attended USC’s Rising Stars Camp at the end of June and he received an offer, said his father, Geep.

According to Brandon Hoffman of Rivals.com, Keller Chryst was the top underclass quarterback at the Oakland Elite 11 in May and,

P

following USC’s Rising Stars Camp, he toured the campus and met with the coaches and received a verbal offer. “The staff could not have been more impressive,� his father told Hoffman.

Chryst is the first quarterback that USC has offered in the Class of 2014, and he’s coming off a 2011 sophomore season where he threw for 2,165 yards (112 of 223) and 28 touchdowns with 11 interceptions while helping Palo Alto compile a 10-3 record (6-1 in the SCVAL De Anza Division).

Time to run again Gunn High junior Sarah Robinson won’t have to pack her bags and miss school next month when the

U.S. U-17 Women’s National Team heads off to the 2012 U-17 Women’s World Cup, which begins September 22 in Azerbaijan.

Robinson, a starting center midfielder, will miss the tournament due to a medical issue.

Robinson, who has been a standout cross-country runner for Gunn, started four of the five games at the 2011 CONCACAF Women’s U17 Championship. She played 248 of the 270 minutes from the three pool play matches.

Despite her medical situation, Robinson is planning on running for the Titans this fall. She is the defending SCVAL El Camino Divisiion and Central Coast Section Division I champion and finished third in the CIF State Meet. N

Volleyball

(continued from page 24)

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non, 6-1 Payton Smith, Cammie Merten, Jojo Kurtzman and Sonia Abuel-Saud, who suffered a seasonending injury in 2011.

Matching SHP’s postseason finish last season was Priory, which went 26-7 after falling to No. 1 seed Branson in the NorCal Division V semifinals. An 11-1 finish in the West Bay Athletic League (Skyline Division) earned the Panthers a move up to the WBAL Foothill Division.

Dustin Moore, who guided Priory to the CIF Division V state title in 2000, is back to coach the Panthers after an 11-year hiatus. Most of that time was spent as associate head coach of the Santa Clara University women’s volleyball team.

Moore has 10 returning players, including standouts in senior middle blocker Brianna Willhite and junior outside hitter Marine Hall Poirier.

Seniors Elizabeth Oliphant, Clara Johnson and Stephanie Brugger provide veteran experience while Emily Tonogai and Stephanie Swan battle for the key setter position along with junior transfer Riley Gallivan. “I am looking forward to the challenge of competing in the Foothill Division,� said Moore. “I think it will be a good experience for the girls and my hope is that it will prepare us for the postseason.�

The 2012 season also marks the resumption of the sister showdowns between Castilleja coach Tracie (Hubbard) Meskell and Menlo coach Atlee Hubbard in the WBAL Foothill Division. Both teams could meet as early as Saturday, as both are entered in the Spikefest I tournament.

Castilleja went 20-15 last season and captured the CCS Division V title. The Gators return seven players, including Lucy Tashman and Hannah Hsieh — the team’s only seniors. Jennifer DiSanto is back after a standout sophomore season, as is sophomore Sarah Rose.

Menlo is even better off, personnel-wise, after losing only one senior (Natalie Roy) off a team that went 24-8 and reached the CCS Division IV semifinals. Returnees include senior Emma Thygesen, Alexandra Ko; juniors Morgan Dressel, Melis-

Menlo School senior Emma Thygesen is back to help the Knights improve upon their 24-8 record from last season. sa Cairo and Maddy Frappier plus sophomore Elisa Merten.

Hubbard will miss 6-3 senior Drew Edelman, who accepted a scholarship offer this summer to play basketball at USC next year. “We talked and she made a decision to fully commit to basketball year round,� Hubbard said. “Makes sense. She was injured all last season so we basically have the same team minus Natalie Roy. Our team is looking great so far and more experienced, which is nice considering our youngest player is now one sophomore (Merten) and she

shows a lot of maturity at her age . . . I’m really excited to see how well we can execute the things we have worked on this preseason.�

At Gunn, the Titans need to bounce back from their 1-11 season in the tough SCVAL De Anza Division despite qualifying for the CCS Division I playoffs. Coach Kevin Hwang has eight returning players, including 6-3 Lena Latour and 6-1 Meghan Mahoney, plus veteran Erica Johnston. He’ll need to incorporate seven new players into the mix in hopes of challenging the top teams this season. N

Sports

Stanford fills final two head coaching vacancies I

by Rick Eymer t has been a busy few weeks for new Stanford Athletic Director Bernard Muir, who added two new head coaches to his staff with recent hires.

Muir filled the vacant head coach job for women’s swimming by naming Cal men’s assistant Greg Meehan to that position on Monday. Before that, Muir reached into his connections at Georgetown and hired the Hoyas’ Chris Miltenberg as Stanford’s new director of track and field and men’s cross country.

“We are excited to welcome Greg Meehan to the Stanford family as our new women’s swimming and diving head coach,” Muir said.

“Greg brings a wealth of experience from his previous coaching stints at Princeton, UCLA, Pacific and most recently at Cal. He has excelled at coaching student-athletes not only in academic settings but also in the highest level of the sport while producing NCAA champions and Olympians.”

Regarded as one of the top assistants in the country, Meehan takes over a Cardinal program that has earned nine national titles and most recently finished fourth at the 2012 NCAA Championships.

No stranger to success on the pool deck, Meehan most recently helped lead the Cal men’s swimming and diving program to back-to-back national titles.

“It is with great excitement and humility that I accept the position of head women’s swimming coach at Stanford,” Meehan said. “I would like to thank Mr. Muir and Mr. (Earl) Koberlein for their trust in me to lead this incredibly storied program. They have presented my family and I with an amazing opportunity to work with some of the best and brightest student-athletes in the world. I look forward to getting to know the team very soon, and working with them through the opportunities and challenges that each season presents.”

Meehan replaces former Stanford head coach Lea Maurer, who stepped back from her coaching career earlier this summer to devote more time to her family.

Maurer, a former Stanford AllAmerican, coached the Cardinal to back-to-back Pac-10 championships in 2010 and 2011. In each of her seven seasons on the Farm, Mauer guided Stanford to finishes of fifthplace or better at the NCAA Championships.

Meehan, who recently complete his fifth season with the Golden Bears, was promoted to Cal’s associate head men’s swimming and diving coach last September. In Meehan’s four seasons with Cal, the program produced a pair of NCAA championships (2011, 2012) and a runner-up finish in 2010.

Prior to joining Durden’s staff in April 2008, Meehan was the head coach for both the men’s and women’s programs at the University of the Pacific.

Sharing the pool with Meehan will be Ted Knapp, who assumed the head coaching duties for the men’s swimming and diving program in July.

Knapp spent the previous 28 years as an assistant at Stanford under veteran Skip Kenney before being named as Kenney’s replacement.

With the 2012 collegiate crosscountry season opening this weekend, Stanford finally got its new coach in Miltenberg. He replaces Edrick Floreal, who previously held both jobs before leaving this summer for Kentucky.

Miltenberg comes from Georgetown, where he was the associate head coach for track and field and the head women’s cross-country coach. He led the Hoyas to the 2011 NCAA title in women’s cross country and was named the USTFCCCA National Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year.

“We are thrilled to have Chris join us at Stanford,” said Muir. “He will be an excellent contributor and leader for a tremendous group of studentathletes. He is very well thought of and recommended by many. He has had great success at Georgetown

and we expect similar results here at Stanford.”

Miltenberg comes with outstanding credentials from his five seasons at Georgetown. He has coached 36 All-Americans in track and field, including individual NCAA champion at 3,000 meters, Emily Infeld, and two NCAA runner-up finishes.

Miltenburg also led the Georgetown women to the 2012 Big East indoor track title.

“I’d really like to thank Bernard Muir, Patrick Dunkley and Joe Karlgaard for the opportunity to come to Stanford,” said Miltenberg. “This is a great opportunity for my family and we couldn’t be more excited.

Stanford has an incredible tradition of excellence that I hope to build on, while at the same time beginning a new chapter and looking for ways to improve and get better. I am deeply humbled and honored to be coming to Stanford, but more than anything I am fired up to get started.”

Under the guidance of Miltenberg,

Georgetown has finished in the top 10 of the USTFCCA Terry Crawford Program of the Year each of the last two seasons. He is a three-time MidAtlantic Assistant Coach of the Year for women’s track and field and had six of his athletes compete at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials.

Women’s soccer Nationally No. 4-ranked Stanford renews a bi-coastal rivalry when the Cardinal (2-1) plays host to No. 7 Boston College (3-0) on Friday at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium at 4 p.m.

The teams have met in the past three NCAA tournaments.

The Cardinal is hoping to bounce back from its first loss of the season.

Stanford was ranked No. 1 in the NSCAA/Continental Tire Coachesí Poll going into the Penn State Invitational, but experienced mixed results in Happy Valley.

On Friday, Mariah Nogueira headed in the winning goal in the 88th minute to give Stanford a 3-2 victory

over No. 6 Penn State in a dramatic contest that featured a Nittany Lion lead, a Stanford comeback and a late Penn State penalty kick to tie.

On Sunday, Stanford finished the tournament with a 1-0 loss to unranked West Virginia, which scored on a 20-yard shot in the 83rd minute.

The loss ended Stanfordís 25-match winning streak, 28-match unbeaten streak, and 64-match regular-season unbeaten streak.

“My reaction is that soccer can be a cruel sport at times,” Stanford coach Paul Ratcliffe said. “West Virginia had a good game plan, and we lacked energy and creativity.”

After beating a pair of nationally ranked teams to open the season, the Cardinal lost to an unranked opponent, its first setback since losing to Notre Dame in December of 2010 at the NCAA championship. UCLA was the last team to beat Stanford in the regular season in 2008. N Stanford Sports Information contributed

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