Palo Alto Weekly December 15, 2017

Palo Alto

Vol. XXXIX, Number 11

Q

December 15, 2017

Anti-idling ordinance gains momentum Page 5

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Donate to the HOLIDAY FUND page 10

Spectrum 15 Eating Out 22 Movies 23 P Puzzles uzzlles 2 28 8 Q Arts ‘1940ss Radio Hour’ is retro fun Q Home Homes sell for $1M over asking price Q Sports Stanford men make soccer history

Page 21 Page 24 Page 30

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Page 2 • December 15, 2017 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

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Page 4 • December 15, 2017 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Upfront

Local news, information and analysis

Anti-idling proposal steers toward education Palo Alto plan aims to stop drivers from running engines while parked for more than three minutes

by Linda Taaffe

P

alo Alto drivers caught running their engines without going anywhere could be slapped with a fine but will more likely receive a warning under a pending city law aimed at cracking down on vehicle idling.

In a 3-1 vote, the City Council’s Policy and Services Committee on Tuesday night signed off on a draft anti-idling ordinance similar to one in Minneapolis, which focuses more on educating drivers than punishing them.

Under the proposed law, which will go back to the council for final approval, police would issue first-time offenders a warning for idling their vehicles longer than three minutes and could hand out $100 to $150 citations to secondand third-time offenders, respectively, within a calendar year.

While the committee doesn’t expect that police will likely punish motorists, members believe the

proposed law could be a useful tool in changing drivers’ behaviors.

If approved, the ordinance will be tested as a yearlong pilot program, then assessed by the council.

The city’s push to ban idling cars as a way to improve air quality has been well-supported ever since activists from a local Sierra Club chapter pitched the idea earlier this year. On Tuesday, however, the committee found itself pondering

whether to pass a law without any kind of enforcement mechanism after city staff warned that enforcement will be “challenging and of limited effectiveness,” according to a report from the office of City Manager James Keene.

Committee Chair Cory Wolbach, who cast the lone vote against the committee’s proposal, questioned (continued on page 9)

COMMUNITY

Council gives History Museum one more chance Lease of Roth Building extended — with strings attached

by Sue Dremann

T

Veronica Weber

Dr. Haleh Sheikholeslami, medical director of the nonprofit Peninsula Healthcare Connection, receives a hearty hug from Robin Jones, who has been receiving primary care from Sheikholeslami at the Opportunity Center in Palo Alto for the past two years. Jones had been critically injured and was in the hospital for weeks after experiencing domestic violence, and she has undergone many surgeries. “I owe my life to her,” Jones said of Sheikholeslami.

HOLIDAY FUND

Saving lives Peninsula Healthcare Connection brings medical services to homeless and anyone in need

by Sue Dremann

D

arlene Berryessa was just 40 years old when her vision began to blur. She had no idea she had high blood pressure, but she was having a stroke.

Berryessa, now 54, also had diabetes, but she didn’t know that either at the time. She hadn’t seen a doctor because she could not afford one.

“I didn’t have insurance,” said Berryessa, an affable woman with long blond hair cascading below her shoulders.

But under the care of doctors at Peninsula Healthcare Connection, a free medical service in Palo Alto that serves people who are homeless or at-risk

of homelessness, she is now thriving.

“My health is so much better.

I don’t know where I would be without them,” she said.

Peninsula Healthcare Connection is the only state-licensed medical clinic in the immediate area serving homeless and at-risk people. The lion’s share of such services are in San Jose, said Heather Boddie-Russo, clinical director of New Directions, Peninsula Healthcare Connection’s case management program for individuals with complex medical issues and needs of psychological and social concern.

“We’re so grateful for having

the clinic around. It really is the only spot up here,” she said.

The clinic provides primary, preventative and mental health care regardless of a client’s ability to pay.

In 2016, the clinic served clients through 1,218 primary care appointments and 532 psychiatry appointments. Ninety percent of patients are ages 19 to 64; 6 percent are 65 and older and 4 percent are 18 and under, Boddie-Russo said. The clinic has four volunteer primarycare physicians from the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and a part-time paid psychiatrist.

About two months ago, it added (continued on page 13)

he opportunity for the Palo Alto History Museum to inhabit the city-owned historic Roth Building could soon draw to a close if its board of directors can’t come up with $1.75 million

by November of next year, a frustrated Palo Alto City Council decided on Monday night.

The nonprofit history museum, which has languished for a decade as its board of directors has attempted to raise funds, received a one-year extension on its lease-option agreement from the council, but by next November the board must raise half of the still-needed $3.5 million to rehabilitate the Roth Building.

If the group can’t secure $1.75 million by then, the city will discuss leasing the building to another organization, the council decided by an 8-0 vote, with City Councilman Adrian Fine absent.

The city acquired the building and its 0.41-acre site, which formerly housed the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, in April 2000 for $1.9 million. The 1932 building at 300 Homer Ave., which was designed by famed local architect Birge Clark, has sat empty for 17 years. In 2007, the Palo Alto History Museum board of directors approached the city about taking over the building and agreed it would fund the seismic retrofitting and historical rehabilitation.

But 10 years later, the dream of a home for the city’s considerable history, which includes the Ohlone tribe, Spanish land grants, the founding of Stanford University, the inception of Silicon Valley and such notable

residents as basketball star Jeremy Lin and Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia, still remains underfunded. Rehabilitation costs have leaped from about $6 million to $9.2 million. There’s another $10.2 million on top of that will be needed to set up the museum itself, museum board President Rich Green told the council.

He said the group has a renewed fundraising focus and hopes to have the museum building open in time for the city’s 125th anniversary in 2019. So far, the museum board has garnered $5.7 million for the seismic retrofit and historical rehabilitation.

Donations have come from more than 600 families so far, Green said, including a grant from the Peery Foundation.

A roomful of residents also stayed late into the night to voice their support for the history museum. Kimberley Wong, whose ancestors were among the city’s pioneering Chinese families, urged the council to extend the expiring lease and said the museum would be a valuable resource for the community.

But council members expressed doubt the board could pull off such a feat, much less raise more than $10 million to open the museum in such a short span of time, if it hasn’t been successful in the past decade. Mayor Greg Scharff, who said he supports the museum in concept, said the board has only raised $1.4 million from donors. The balance of funds in hand — $4.3 million — has come (continued on page 8)

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 15, 2017 • Page 5

Upfront 450 Cambridge Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94306 (650) 326-8210 PUBLISHER William S. Johnson (223-6505) EDITORIAL

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Editor Jocelyn Dong (223-6514) Associate Editor Linda Taaffe (223-6511) Sports Editor Rick Eymer (223-6516) Arts & Entertainment Editor Karla Kane (223-6517) Home & Real Estate Editor Elizabeth Lorenz (223-6534) Assistant Sports Editor Glenn Reeves (223-6521) Spectrum Editor Renee Batti (223-6528) Express & Digital Editor Jamey Padojino (223-6524) Staff Writers Sue Dremann (223-6518), Elena Kadvany (223-6519), Gennady Sheyner (223-6513) Staff Photographer/Videographer Veronica Weber (223-6520) Editorial Interns Fiona Kelliher

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News Digest Group to advise on schools chief search The Palo Alto school district’s national search for a new superintendent will be slightly different this time around, with the added involvement of community members and staff who will meet the final candidates and serve in an advisory capacity to the Board of Education.

School board members agreed to create an advisory group during a special meeting Tuesday morning with the firm that will oversee the process, Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates.

They settled on the advisory group as a way to balance their desire for public engagement with the need for privacy for candidates who are acting superintendents elsewhere.

School board members will each appoint at least two people to the committee, which will not have any voting power and will meet with finalists confidentially. The board did not decide whether community members and staff would serve together on one committee or in separate groups.

In previous superintendent searches in Palo Alto Unified, firms collected public input through surveys, focus groups and meetings, but community members and staff did not meet any candidate until the very end of the process, when a small group of school representatives and board members would visit the finalist’s school.

The board did not make a decision on the site visit; they plan to discuss it further at their Jan. 16 meeting, then appoint the advisory committee after that. Q — Elena Kadvany

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Page 6 • December 15, 2017 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Council approves pared-down sustainability plan Trying for a leaner, meaner approach to its sustainability goals, the Palo Alto City Council approved a four-pronged revision to its 2018-2020 Sustainability Implementation Plan on Monday night, which will initially focus on reducing carbon dioxide and protecting potable water sources.

By a vote of 8-0, with City Councilman Adrian Fine absent, the council adopted the changes and also directed staff to return in early 2018 with a discussion on fossil-fuel divestment.

The city’s overall goal, which the council unanimously approved in April 2016, is to reduce greenhouse gases by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2030. The 2018-2020 plan presented Monday came out of a more detailed one that city staff had presented on June 5, which included more than 40 new programs and policies.

The narrower plan focuses on four actionable areas — energy, mobility, electric vehicles and water. City staff estimated the plan would enable the city to reduce greenhouse gases to about 40 percent below the 1990 base year by 2020 and by about 54 percent if natural-gas offsets are included. The city’s goal far exceeds California’s reduction goals of 40 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050, staff noted.

About 66 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions in the city are from transportation, Palo Alto’s Chief Transportation Official Joshuah Mello said. The pared-down sustainability plan would reduce the number of people driving solo by providing incentives to change behavior. Staff would also focus on expanding the number of electricvehicle charging stations.

Staff said that emissions from natural gas represent about 25 percent of the city’s remaining carbon footprint. The plan focuses on improving energy efficiency in new and existing buildings.

The overall sustainability plan’s progress will be evaluated every three years beginning in 2020, the council decided. Q — Sue Dremann

Palo Alto prepares to adopt new priorities With 2017 coming to an end, the Palo Alto City Council is preparing to adopt a new list of official priorities for the year ahead.

But even if the council opts to revise the current list — transportation, infrastructure, housing, budget and finance and healthy city/ healthy community — the revisions are unlikely to dramatically alter city staff’s work plans. Despite the council’s desire to limit each priority to a three-year shelf life, recent council meetings suggest that housing, transportation and infrastructure will remain a major focus in 2018.

The council’s process for making priorities calls for an extended period of feedback, from both council members and the community at large, before the city’s official priorities are set at the council’s annual retreat, usually held in January or February.

The city has been soliciting public comments through its Open City Hall website since Nov. 8.

A huge number of comments already posted urged the council to focus on reducing airplane noise. But even if the topic of airplane noise gets elevated on the council’s agenda for the year, City Manager James Keene noted in a report that significant focus will still be required on the existing priorities.

The public feedback on Open City Hall also suggests that the problems of housing and traffic, which have dominated council meetings in 2017, remain high on residents’ priority list. Q — Gennady Sheyner

Upfront TRANSPORTATION

Survey: Mixed results of Middlefield ‘road diet’ Collision rate remains steady, while number of near-misses is on the rise

by Gennady Sheyner

P

alo Alto’s experimental “road diet” on a particularly hazardous segment of north Middlefield Road has so far netted mixed results, with the collision rate staying steady and the number of bicyclists and pedestrians using the street increasing markedly, according to a status report released by the city’s consultants on the project.

The redesign of a section of Middlefield near the border with Menlo Park removed one of two lanes in each direction, created a center turning lane, and installed barriers preventing eastbound drivers on Everett Avenue from turning left on Middlefield. The council unanimously voted to approve the redesign in response to neighbors who argued that the speeding cars outside their homes create a traffic hazard and make it unsafe — and at times, impossible — for them to get out of their driveways.

The changes were implemented as a one-year pilot project over the summer (scheduled to end in June) and, according to the consulting firm Alta Planning + Design, it is receiving support from the public. Surveys from Alta showed the number of

respondents favoring the project went up from 33.3 percent before the redesign to 56.7 percent mid-pilot.

In addition, the percentage of respondents with safety concerns went down from 71.8 percent to 52 percent, even though residents have expressed a “lingering anxiety about safety issues.” Many remain concerned about the lack of attention given by motorists turning onto Middlefield and those avoiding turn-restriction barriers, according to Alta.

The firm also found that while overall traffic at the 12 locations it surveyed dropped by 6.8 percent, streets parallel to Middlefield saw an increase of 30 percent. And during the evening commute hours, drivers are increasingly waiting longer to pass through the Middlefield and Lytton Avenue intersection, from 60 seconds to 92 seconds.

To address this increase, the report states, the city will “re-time traffic signals along the study corridor and coordinate signals during peak periods.”

Alta also found that the number of reported collisions remained flat, with 0.07 collisions per day being reported both before and

during the pilot period. However, the number of observed nearmisses went up significantly during the peak commute hours, going from four before the pilot project to seven after the redesign.

The firm observed traffic conditions on Oct. 4 and 5 and saw two near-collisions between vehicles at the intersection of Middlefield and Hawthorne Avenue.

Five others were observed on Middlefield and Everett. Three of these were between cars; one involved a vehicle and a bicyclist and another involved a vehicle and a pedestrian.

The increase in near-misses, Alta’s report states, “was representative of an increase in hazardous driving behavior observed during review of traffic camera video and reported by residents through the mid-pilot survey.”

“This increase in hazardous behavior may be the result of temporary frustration with the new roadway configuration and may dissipate by the end of the evaluation period as motorists become familiar with the change, or it may require modification of the configuration or additional enforcement after the end-pilot evaluation period.”

Alta also found that the number of bicyclists and pedestrians traveling through the four Middlefield Road intersections during the morning, midday and evening peak hours went up by 29 percent, going from 746 before the redesign (292 bicyclists and 454 pedestrians) to 963 (444 and 519, respectively).

“This increase may be the result of undocumented seasonal fluctuations or an increase in bicyclist and pedestrian comfort along the project corridor,” the report states.

Not everyone, however, is happy about the changes. Residents of nearby senior-housing complexes Webster House and Lytton Gardens have submitted letters to the city voicing concerns about worsening congestion outside their communities.

Judy Creek, on behalf of the Webster House Residents’ Association, wrote a letter to the council arguing that the project has “created serious traffic and pedestrian safety problems on Lytton Avenue from Webster Street to Middlefield Road.” The elimination of lanes, Creek wrote, has greatly reduced the space cars have to wait in line to travel north on Middlefield.

Cars queued up on Lytton now

stretch for more than a block, well past Webster Street, Creek wrote.

She also stated that vehicles trying to turn onto Lytton from Webster “ignore pedestrians in their concentration to get into the queue,” which creates a serious safety issue.

There are other unwanted side effects as well, Creek wrote.

“With the changed traffic pattern on Lytton, our residents now suffer the problem of vehicles idling right outside our windows for extended periods during the day,” Creek wrote. “With this ongoing traffic jam come vehicle fumes, horns honking and radios turned up loud.

“The quality of life of our residents has deteriorated dramatically in the months since this pilot program was started,” she said. Q Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com.

TALK ABOUT IT

PaloAltoOnline.com What experiences have you had driving in the Downtown North area since the Middlefield Road redesign?

Talk about it on Town Square, the community discussion forum at PaloAltoOnline.com/square.

CityView A round-up

of Palo Alto government action this week

City Council (Dec. 11)

Parking programs: The council postponed Evergreen Park and Southgate preferential-parking-programs discussion to Dec. 20 and Jan. 10. Yes: Dubious, Filseth, Holman, Kniss, Kou, Scharff, Tanaka, Wolbach Absent: Fine Bike bridge: The council approved increasing compensation for the U.S. Highway 101 Pedestrian/Bicycle Overpass Project. Yes: DuBois, Filseth, Kniss, Kou, Scharff, Tanaka, Wolbach No: Holman Absent: Fine Police/fire salaries: The council approved an updated salary schedule for the police and fire unions. Yes: DuBois, Filseth, Holman, Kniss, Kou, Scharff, Wolbach No: Tanaka Absent: Fine Sustainability: The council discussed and approved the draft 2018-2020 Sustainability Implementation Plan work program. Yes: DuBois, Filseth, Holman, Kniss, Kou, Scharff, Tanaka. Wolbach Absent: Fine History Museum: The council approved extending the lease-option of the Roth Building by the Palo Alto History Museum. Yes: DuBois, Filseth, Holman, Kniss, Kou, Scharff, Tanaka. Wolbach Absent: Fine

Board of Education (Dec. 12)

Search firm: The board approved a letter of agreement with Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates to conduct its superintendent search. Yes: Unanimous

Policy and Services Committee (Dec. 12)

Taxi meters: The committee approved recommending an ordinance to allow taxicab services to be prearranged by mobile apps and online service similar to rideshare services like Uber and Lyft. Yes: Unanimous Idling ban: The committee approved recommending an ordinance to ban vehicles from idling for more than three minutes. The ban will allow police to issue warnings and citations. Yes: DuBois, Kniss, Kou No: Wolbach

Planning and Transportation Commission (Dec. 13) Veronica Weber

Planning code amendments: The commission discussed and continued action to Jan. 10, 2018. Action: None

Demolition Day Construction crews work this week on demolishing the six-story Brutalist building at 2600 El Camino Real in Palo Alto, former home to Fambrini’s Cafe, DeLeon Realty, Bank of America and other tenants. A four-story office building is planned.

Board Policy Review Committee (Dec. 14)

Policies: The committee discussed policies on bullying, residency, inventories, equipment and school calendar. Action: The residency, inventories and equipment policies will be brought before the full board.

LET’S DISCUSS: Read the latest local news headlines and talk about the issues at Town Square at PaloAltoOnline.com

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 15, 2017 • Page 7

Upfront

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Give them the gift of:

The Palo Alto History Museum board of directors is working to raise funds to rehabilitate the historic Roth building at 300 Homer Ave. and turn it into a museum.

History Museum (continued from page 5)

with help from the city, including $1 million from the city’s coffers, $2.88 million from transferable development rights (TDRs), and from interest earned on that money and from library impact fees,

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according to a city staff report.

When the museum board approached the council in 2014 to help with the funding effort, council members agreed to give the museum $1 million and to designate the Roth Building as a TDR “sender site.” That move allowed the eventual sales of TDRs, which are rights that developers

purchase in exchange for density bonuses for other projects in downtown. In concept, the city markets the development transfers and holds the money for rehabilitating historic projects.

It used the same process to fund rehabilitation of the Sea Scout building in the Palo Alto Baylands (now the EcoCenter), agreeing in 2007 to pay the nonprofit Environmental Volunteers $300,000 for services rendered for the building’s renovation. The city approved the actual sale of transferable development rights for the Sea Scout building in 2016.

Vice Mayor Liz Kniss made a motion to approve the lease extension with the fundraising quota, which Councilwoman Lydia Kou seconded. Kniss said the city doesn’t want to wait any longer while the Roth building continues to decay.

“Our concern is that we have a building that is unused for 18 years. There are parts of it that are just not sturdy anymore,” she said.

As part of the motion, the mayor will create a fundraising auxiliary committee of three council members, who will meet with the museum’s board on a regular basis. Staff will also give a progress report to the council in six months.

To further spur fundraising, the city will use $685,000 in leftover TDR proceeds from the Sea Scouts’ project as a challenge grant for the next year. But this amount cannot count toward the $1.75 million the museum must raise by November 2018.

If all else fails and the museum does not raise the needed money by next November, the city’s future lease of the building to another organization would not necessarily mean the end of the museum, council members said (continued on page 14)

Page 8 • December 15, 2017 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Upfront

Idling

TALK ABOUT IT

PaloAltoOnline.com

(continued from page 5)

Should Palo Alto adopt an anti-idling ordinance that may not be enforced?

See what others are saying, and give your opinion, on Town Square, the discussion forum at PaloAltoOnline. com/square.

File photo/Veronica Weber

the value of passing a law that the city can’t reasonably enforce due to lack of staffing. He suggested adding an anti-idling provision to city code as an educational tool to gauge whether that would be enough to curb behaviors so enforcement wouldn’t be necessary.

Wolbach was curious to see how many drivers would “flip the bird” or ignore police officers, residents or anyone who may say, “Hey, you’ve been idling your car for 10 minutes. Palo Alto has an ordinance against that.”

Vice Mayor Liz Kniss and council members Tom DuBois and Lydia Kou all agreed that having an ordinance that stipulates consequences is good, even if it’s one that might rarely be enforced.

“We should have some form of enforcement even if we rarely use it, just for extreme conditions,” DuBois said.

Kniss, who serves as chair on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s board of directors, initially favored an education program over an ordinance with penalties but changed her position.

“It would be embarrassing to go to the next (board) meeting and tell them we turned down the idling ordinance that has been widely touted as something that might help with air pollution,” Kniss said. “The more I think about it, the more I think that maybe we have an ordinance, and you don’t enforce it. You find other ways to let drivers know they are in violation, just as Minneapolis did, and come back again and look at it after a year and see if it’s something that’s working.”

Keene said he didn’t have a problem with the ordinance as proposed since it is clear that it will be a low-enforcement policy.

“It does put us in a predicament sometimes when a citizen in the community sees we have a problem and we’re not enforcing it,” he said.

“You guys will probably get a call ... saying how unresponsive the city staff is, including the city manager.”

Keene suggested that the city get “more creative” about what it’s trying to accomplish, especially near schools where idling is an issue while parents wait to pick up their children.

He suggested getting students involved in the anti-idling effort through an education campaign.

“We all know from the antismoking program, getting kids to bring stuff home and putting it on the refrigerator about smoking being bad actually does have some impact,” he said.

He suggested having students give out fake tickets to drivers.

“You don’t get a real ticket; you get an embarrassment ticket,” he said. “I would be much more disturbed thinking that kids who wanted to deal with health and this sort of thing were sort of calling me out on this much more than if the (police department) stopped me.”

In August, council members embraced the idea of creating

Students bike to school on Maybell Avenue in Palo Alto, passing a line of cars. an anti-idling law to improve health conditions and help the city reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent come 2030, according to a memo authored by Kniss and

Council members Eric Filseth, Karen Holman and DuBois.

The council members estimated that idling vehicles produce about 6.2 tons of greenhouse-gas

emissions per year. Tour buses, tech shuttles, delivery vehicles and construction vehicles are some of the top culprits.

The pending ordinance lists

about a dozen exceptions. These include instances in which a vehicle has to stay still because of traffic congestion or traffic signals; when the driver has to operate a defroster, heater or air conditioner to prevent a health emergency; when the temperature is cold enough (below 40 degrees) or high enough (above 85 degrees) to warrant heat or cooling; or when a vehicle has mechanical problems.

The law also makes exceptions for emergency-response vehicles, private-security providers and armored vehicles that idle in the course of their business. Q Associate Editor Linda Taaffe can be emailed at ltaaffe@ paweekly.com.

No Car Wash Needed.

Donate Your Car Today!

It’s easy, tax deductible & you’ll save lives!

Visit hssv.org/auto www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 15, 2017 • Page 9

Support our Kids with a gift to the Holiday Fund Last Year’s Grant Recipients 10 Books A Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $7,500 Abilities United. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10,000 Ada’s Café . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Adolescent Counseling Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15,000 All Students Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Bayshore Christian Ministries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Building Futures Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 CASSY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $7,500 Community Legal Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15,000 Community Working Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Downtown Streets Team. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 DreamCatchers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10,000 East Palo Alto Kids Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Family Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $7,500 Foundation for a College Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $7,500 Friends of Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Grace Lutheran Preschool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3,000 Health Connected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2,500 Hidden Villa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Jasper Ridge Farm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 JLS Middle School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Jordan Middle School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Kara. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $7,500 The Learning Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3,000 Marine Science Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Midpeninsula Community Media Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Mural Music & Arts Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Music in the Schools Foundation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 New Creation Home Ministries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 New Voices for Youth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3,000 One East Palo Alto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Palo Alto Art Center Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Palo Alto Community Child Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10,000 Palo Alto Friends Nursery School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3,000 Palo Alto School District Music Department. . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Palo Alto Housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Parents Nursery School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3,000 Peninsula Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Peninsula HealthCare Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Project WeHOPE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15,000 Pursuit of Excellence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Quest Learning Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $7,500 Ravenswood Education Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $7,500 Silicon Valley Urban Debate League . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10,000 St. Francis of Assisi Youth Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 St. Vincent de Paul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $7,000 TheatreWorks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 YMCA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $7,500 Youth Community Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $20,000 Youth Speaks Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $20,000

Non-profits: Grant application & guidelines at www.PaloAltoOnline.com/holiday_fund

E

ach year the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund raises money to support programs serving families and children in the Palo Alto area. Since the Weekly and the Silicon Valley

Community Foundation cover all the administrative costs, every dollar raised goes directly to support community programs through grants to non-profit organizations.

And with the generous support of matching grants from local foundations, including the Packard, Hewlett, Peery and Arrillaga foundations, your tax-deductible gift will be doubled in size. A donation of $100 turns into $200 with the foundation

Give to the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund and your donation is doubled. You give to non-profit groups that work right here in our community.

It’s a great way to ensure that your charitable donations are working at home.

matching gifts.

Whether as an individual, a business or in honor of someone else, help us reach our goal of $350,000 by making a generous contribution to the Holiday Fund.

With your generosity, we can give a major boost to the programs in our community helping kids and families.

CLICK AND GIVE

Donate online at PaloAltoOnline.com/ Pa holiday_fund

Enclosed is a donation of $_______________ Name__________________________________________________________ Business Name __________________________________________________ Address ________________________________________________________ City/State/Zip ___________________________________________________ E-Mail __________________________________________________

Credit Card (MC, VISA, or AMEX)

All donors and their gift amounts will be published in the Palo Alto Weekly unless the boxes below are checked.

__________________________________________Expires _______/_______

T I wish to contribute anonymously.

Phone _________________________________________________________

T Please withhold the amount of my contribution.

Signature ______________________________________________________ I wish to designate my contribution as follows: (select one)

Send coupon and check, if applicable, to:

T In my name as shown above T In the name of business above OR:

T In honor of:

T In memory of:

T As a gift for:

_____________________________________________________________ (Name of person)

Application deadline: January 5, 2018

Page 10 • December 15, 2017 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Please make checks payable to: Silicon Valley Community Foundation

Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund c/o Silicon Valley Community Foundation 2440 West El Camino Real, Suite 300 Mountain View, CA 94040 The Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund is a donor advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization.

A contribution to this fund allows your donation to be tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

Your gift helps local children and families in need In partnership with:

Lawrence Yang & Jennifer Kuan ...................... 1,000

Thank you donors As of Dec. 11, 2017, 230 donors have donated $238,555

Veronica Tincher ........................... * Michael Couch.......................... 250 John & Florine Galen ..................... * Julie & Jon Jerome ........................ * Sally & Abdo Kadifa ............... 1,000 Judith & Warren Goodnow ....... 300 Don & Dee Price.......................... 45 Jan Thomas & Roy Levin ................ *

19 Anonymous .................... $7,885

August Lee King ......................... 30 Steve Fasani .................................. *

New Donors Bill Reller ....................................... * Helene Pier ................................... * Edward Kanazawa .................... 100 Don & Bonnie Miller.................. 100 Boyce & Peggy Nute...................... * Ralph Britton............................. 200 Wendy Sinton ............................... * Mike & Lennie Roberts .............. 150

Emmett Lorey ............................... * Becky Schaefer.............................. * Kathy Morris ................................. * In Honor Of Lucy Berman’s clients ............. 2,500 Kathryn Avery ............................... * Organizations Communications & Power Industries ............................... 500

Patti Yanklowitz & Mark Krasnow . * Janice Bohman.......................... 250 Erika Jurney .............................. 100 Steve & Diane Ciesinski ............. 500 Ron Wolf .................................. 200

Previously Published Donors Roger Warnke........................... 300

Bruce Campbell ........................ 200 Diane & Bob Simoni .................. 200 Dennis Clark ............................. 150 Leif & Sharon Erickson .............. 250 Arden King ................................. 25 Richard Alexander .................. 1,000

Kaaren & John Antoun........... 1,500 Ellen & Tom Ehrlich ................... 400

Janis Ulevich ............................. 100

Richard & Tish Fagin.................. 200

Hamilton Hitchings ................... 250

Chuck & Jean Thompson .......... 100 Dorsey & Katherine Bass ........... 300

Carolyn Reese ........................... 300 Marilyn Sutorius ........................ 300

Organizations Palo Alto Weekly Moonlight Run & Walk .............................. 53,745 Sponsors of Moonlight Run: Palo Alto Medical Foundation ........................................... 5,000 Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Foundation ............ 5,000

Cathy & Howard Kroymann ...... 250

DeLeon Realty ..................... 5,000

Gordon Chamberlain ................ 300

Wealth Architects................ 5,000

Nancy & Joe Huber ................... 100

Denise Savoie & Darrell Duffie ....... *

Facebook ............................ 5,000

Ann & Don Rothblatt ................ 500

Micki & Bob Caredelli.................... *

Lakin Spears........................ 2,000

Felecia Levy ............................... 100

Joan Norton .................................. *

Bank of the West ................ 1,000

Elizabeth Kok ................................ *

Rosalie Shepherd ...................... 100

Peery Foundation ................. 10,000

Carol Bacchetti ............................. *

Diane Moore................................. *

Virginia & Don Fitton .................. 25

Don & Adele Langendorf .......... 200

Ted & Ginny Chu........................... *

Jody Maxmin ................................ *

Judy Ousterhout ........................... *

Gerald & Joyce Barker ................... *

Betty Gerard ............................. 100

Ellen & Mike Turbow ................. 200

Ruth Rosenbaum ...................... 100 Glenn Affleck.............................. 25

Arna & Hersh Shefrin .................... *

Page & Ferrell Sanders............... 100

Judy Kramer.................................. *

Barbara Klein & Stan Schrier.......... *

Laurie Jarrett ................................. *

Dorothy Saxe ................................ *

Anna Olsen ............................... 150

Ellen Place Lillington.................. 200

Lawrence Naiman ..................... 100

Pat & Nancy McGaraghan ......... 250

David & Virginia Pollard............. 150

Steven Feinberg ..................... 5,000

Shirley Ely ................................. 500

Hugh McDevitt ......................... 250

Freddy & Jan Gabus .................. 250

Sallie & Jay Whaley ....................... *

Mandy Lowell ............................... *

Susan & Doug Woodman ......... 150

Nancy & Jim Baer ............................

Bobbie & Jerry Wagger.................. *

Brigid Barton.......................... 1,000

Ann Burrell & Allen Smith ...............

Al & JoAnne Russell .................. 300

Margot Goodman ..................... 100

Robert & Barbara Simpson ............ *

Peter Stern .................................... *

In Memory Of Ando & Barbara MacDonell....... 100

Robyn Crumly ........................... 100

Sally & Craig Nordlund .............. 500

Vic Befera ................................. 100

Joe & Marlene Prendergast ........... *

Jacques & Wanda ..................... 250

John & Mary Schaefer ................... *

Carol & Roy Blitzer ........................ *

Elliot W. Eisner .............................. *

Suzanne & Bert Bell....................... *

Sally O’Neil & Ken Bencala ........ 100

Eric Demant ................................ 50

Carolyn Brennan ........................... *

Chris & Beth Martin ...................... *

Katharine Rogers King .................. *

Drew McCalley & Marilyn Green ........................ 100

Judith Appleby .......................... 300

Lee & Judy Shulman .................. 100

Phil Fernandez & Daniel Sternbergh ...................... *

Boyd Paulson, Jr. .......................... *

Godfrey Family.......................... 100

In Honor Of Elaine Hahn .................................. *

Palantir ............................... 5,000

Sandra & Scott Pearson ............. 500

Ernest J. Moore ......................... 200

Ada’s Café .................................. 50

Sue Kemp ................................. 250

John & Pat Davis ........................... *

Lani Freeman & Stephen Monismith ................ 100

As a Gift For Ned & Judy Lund........................... *

Stanford Federal Credit Union ....................... 5,000

Diane Finkelstein ....................... 150

Jerry & Linda Elkind ....................... *

Jack Sutorius ............................. 300

Judith & Hans Steiner ................ 100

Daniel Cox ................................ 200

Roger Smith .............................. 300

Jim & Alma Phillips .................... 500

Gwen Luce and Family .................. *

Bonnie Berg .................................. *

Janet H. Hermsen...................... 200

Harry & Susan Hartzell .............. 100

Hal & Iris Korol .......................... 250

Arthur Keller ................................. *

Shari & Donald Orstein.............. 300

Barbara Riper ................................ *

Dorothy Kennedy ...................... 200

Phil Hanawalt & Graciela Spivak .................... 1,000

Diane Doolittle .............................. *

Eugene & Mabel Dong .............. 200

Joanne Koltnow ........................ 300

Cynthia Costell ......................... 100

Hal & Carol Louchheim ............. 400

Linda & Steve Boxer ...................... *

Havern Family ........................ 5,000

Andrea Smith............................ 100

Dr. David Zlotnick ...................... 250

William DeBord ...................... 1,000

Teresa Roberts........................ 2,000

Eileen Brennan .......................... 500

Mike & Cathie Foster ................ 500

Kenyon Family .......................... 500

Keith Clarke .............................. 200

Lijun & Jia-Ning Xiang ............... 100

Herbert Fischgrund ................... 200

Art Stauffer............................... 500

Bill Johnson & Terri Lobdell ..... 1,000

Diane Sikic .................................... *

Carol & Mahlon Hubenthal .......... *

Chris Kenrick ......................... 1,000

Tom & Pat Sanders ........................ *

Ruth Hammett .............................. *

Merrill & Lee Newman .............. 250

Florence Kan Ho ........................... *

Braff Family............................... 500

Elaine & Eric Hahn......................... *

Carroll Harrington ..................... 100

Debby Roth............................... 200

Leo & Sylvia Breidenbach .............. *

Greg & Penny Gallo .................. 500

Luca & Mary Cafiero ................. 500

Wendy Max ................................ 50

George & Betsy Young .................. *

Thomas W. & Louise L. Phinney ..... *

Richard Mazze .......................... 100

Stephen & Nancy Levy............... 500

Thomas Rindfleisch ....................... *

David & Mindy Sitzer................. 100

Duncan Matteson ..................... 500

Beth Marer-Garcia ....................... 25

Scott & Jan Kilner...................... 500

Jennifer DiBrienza & Jesse Dorogusker ............................ 250

Jim Lewis ...................................... *

Bob Donald............................... 100

Marcia Katz .............................. 200

Elizabeth Salzer & Richard Baumgartner.................. *

Richard Zuanich ........................ 150

Margo Sensenbrenner................... *

Betsy & George Bechtel............. 100

Margaret Fisher........................... 50

Arrillaga Foundation ............ 10,000 Packard Foundation ............ 25,000 Hewlett Foundation ............. 25,000 Good Bear & Co. Charitable Fund ................................... 5,000

In Memory Of Yoko Nonaka ............................ 100

Alta Mesa Cemetery & Funeral Home .................. 1,800

Our loving parents Albert & Beverly Pellizzari ...................... *

Attorney Susan Dondershine ..... 200

Don & Marie Snow ................... 100

Bleibler Properties ..................... 500

Carol Berkowitz ........................ 200 Bertha Kalson ............................... * Marsha Alper ............................ 250 Ronald Popp ................................. * Yen-Chen & Er-Ying .................. 250 Dr. Nanci Yuan ....................... 1,000 Jim Byrnes ................................ 100 Ruth & Chet Johnson .................... * Bob & Nancy Lobdell ..................... * Pam Grady ................................ 250 Helen Rubin .............................. 500 Tracy & Alan Herrick ...................... * Ken Sletten ................................... * Nate Rosenberg ........................ 150

Donate online at PaloAltoOnline.com/ holiday_fund

Join Us For Christmas Christmas Eve (All services will be about an hour)

3:00 pm Christmas Pageant Service 6:00 & 10:00 pm Christmas Eve Worship with Choir 9:30 pm Carol Sing 330 Ravenswood Ave., Menlo Park (650) 326-2083 www.trinitymenlopark.org

Peninsula Christmas Services Christmas Services

Stanford Memorial Church ST. MARK’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH PALO ALTO CHRISTMAS EVE

V 4:00 pm Children’s Christmas Pageant & Communion V 10:00 pm Festive Choral Christmas Eve Holy Communion beginning with Carols

CHRISTMAS DAY

V 10:00 am Holy Communion with Carols 600 Colorado Ave, Palo Alto (650) 326-3800 www.saint-marks.com

Christmas Eve Saturday, December 24

4:00 pm • 6:00 pm • 9:00 pm Communion, Readings & Carols by Candlelight

Christmas Day Sunday, December 25

10:00 am Communion, Readings & Carols

a place for you!

Sunday, December 24, 2017 - Christmas Eve 4:00 pm Family service (Doors open at 3:00 pm) Please bring new, unwrapped toys which will be given to children in need.

8:00 pm Christmas Eve Festival Communion service (Doors open at 7:00 pm) Owing to the popularity of our Christmas Eve services, saving seats will not be allowed.

Monday, December 25, 2017 - Christmas Day 12:00 am Catholic Christmas Eve Midnight Mass 12:00 pm Catholic Christmas Day Mass More info: https://religiouslife.stanford.edu/christmas

Covenant Presbyterian Church December 9, 2017 December 10, 2017

December 24, 2017

10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Alternative Gift Market 10:30 a.m. Worship An Advent Cantata–Immanuel:

by Donald E. Dillard 4:00 p.m. Chamber Concert The Covenant Brass 10:30 a.m. Worship Contemporary Drama: The Christmas Story Comes to Life 7:00 p.m. Christmas Eve Candlelight Service Rev. Dr. Margaret Boles www.covenantpresbyterian.net 670 E. Meadow Dr., Palo Alto (650) 494-1760

St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Parish, Palo Alto Our Lady of the Rosary, 3233 Cowper Street St. Albert the Great, 1095 Channing Avenue St. Thomas Aquinas, 751 Waverley Street

CHRISTMAS EVE – SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24TH 5:00 pm Family Mass – Our Lady of the Rosary 5:00 pm Family Mass – St. Albert the Great 6:00 pm – St. Thomas Aquinas 7:00 pm – Our Lady of the Rosary (Spanish) Midnight Mass – St. Thomas Aquinas (Latin)

CHRISTMAS DAY – MONDAY, DECEMBER 25TH 7:30 am – St. Thomas Aquinas; 9:00 am – St. Albert the Great; 10:30 am – Our Lady of the Rosary; 10:30 am – St. Thomas Aquinas; 12:00 Noon – St. Thomas Aquinas (Latin)

Page 12 • December 15, 2017 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Christmas Eve at Bethany 5:00 p.m. Family Christmas All children are invited to tell the story of Jesus, as shepherds, angels, wisemen, and the holy family.

Join us between services for wonderful food and Christmas cheer!

7:00 p.m. Classical Music Christmas Join us for a night of excellent music, singing, and proclamation.

We will honor and remember the birth of Jesus in a celebratory and contemplative worship setting.

10:00 p.m. Candlelight Christmas A quiet and contemplative time to listen, sing, and reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ.

BETHANY LUTHERAN CHURCH 1095 CLOUD AVENUE MENLO PARK at the corner of Avy & Cloud

www.bethany-mp.org

Upfront

Holiday Fund

Peninsula Christmas Services let there be light

Christmas Eve at Valley Presbyterian Church 5:00 Family Candlelight Service 10:00 Lessons and Carols Candlelight Service 945 Portola Road Portola Valley valleypreschurch.org 650-851-8282

Christmas Celebration

CHRISTMAS EVE SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24 4pm Family Service with Carols & Pageant 830pm Prelude - Early Wind-Brass Music Featuring - The Whole Noyse pm Candlelight Service with Choir 9 CHRISTMAS DAY MONDAY, DECEMBER 25 10am Eucharist with Carols

A Child is Born Share the Joy ALL SAINTS’ EPISCOPAL CHURCH 555 WAVERLEY STREET, PALO ALTO www.asaints.org

a volunteer cardiologist, she said.

Peninsula Healthcare Connection received a $5,000 Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund grant last year for its medical supplies and laboratory-testing costs. The clinic has an annual budget of roughly $1.4 million for its comprehensive services, which include assessments, medical examinations and treatment, psychiatric services and case management.

Medical supplies, laboratory testing and vaccinations took up $34,000 of the annual budget. The Holiday Fund grant helped pay for diabetes test strips, tuberculosisscreening materials, immunizations and laboratory fees, which help to identify and treat these and other life-threatening diseases.

“The lab fees and immunizations are very expensive,” Boddie-Russo said, noting that vaccines can cost up to $100 apiece. Lab fees last year were estimated to cost $21,500, according to the organization.

“The ability of Peninsula Healthcare Connection to purchase medical supplies and immunizations is dependent on this kind of funding,” Boddie-Russo said.

The clinic administered 270 immunizations last year, she added.

The lab tests are crucial to detecting serious underlying conditions such as those Berryessa has experienced.

Boddie-Russo said the clinic also supplies immunizations, including for pneumonia, flu, shingles, Hepatitis A and B and tuberculosis. TB testing is available to anyone, even if the person isn’t a regular patient.

“Tuberculosis tests are really key, as in October when the county winter shelter opens, you must have it to get in. TB is a concern.

We come across a lot of folks who have it, even if it is not active,” she said. Berryessa said giving homeless people access to flu shots at the clinic has probably saved many lives. Her own mother died from the H1N1 influenza.

Homeless persons often have complex medical and psychological conditions, including chronic disease, addictions to multiple substances and mental health conditions. The clinic also helps clients identify and manage chronic diseases such as heart conditions, diabetes, hypertension and foot problems, which are common among homeless people, she said.

Having a psychiatrist on site helps to identify patients in need of mental health care. The psychiatrist also does emergency psychiatric evaluations, known as 5150s, and directs a patient to a nearby hospital if needed, she said.

Berryessa, who now works cleaning the clinic, said the clinic’s mental health evaluation and treatment is a lifeline for many people.

“The psychiatrist here, he’s the only hookup we’ve got to mental health services. He’s helped to get a lot of us leveled out,” she said.

Peninsula Healthcare Connection

Veronica Weber

(continued from page 5)

Dr. Haleh Sheikholeslami, medical director of the Peninsula Healthcare Connection clinic, checks on Darlene Berryessa, a resident of the Opportunity Center in Palo Alto. Berryessa suffered from a stroke years ago and also is dealing with hypertension and diabetes. has made it possible to receive care at top medical facilities when necessary, Berryessa said.

“Because the doctors are affiliated with the hospitals, they are able to send a referral to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and Stanford Hospital and to specialists for things like endocrinology and neurology. The student volunteers from Stanford Medical School also do rotations,” Berryessa said.

She, her husband and her daughter now have housing through the Opportunity Center. The medical care she’s received just downstairs has helped save her life.

“Everything has been perfect.

They’re amazing. This place has helped so many people,” she said.

Boddie-Russo said the clinic’s

services may become increasingly important. As the housing crisis gets worse, county officials expect more people will be living in their cars or on the street, and they won’t be able to afford health care.

The crisis could also deepen if the U.S. Congress dismantles the Affordable Healthcare Act, she said.

“If ACA does go away, we are more important than ever because we will never turn anyone away,” she said. Q More information about the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund, including how to contribute and a list of people who’ve already donated, can be found on pages 10 and 11. Read additional Holiday Fund stories at PaloAltoOnline.com/holiday_ fund.

Elizabeth Louise Thomas July 31, 1922 – November 13, 2017 Elizabeth (Betty) Louise (Watkins) Thomas passed peacefully to join her Savior in heaven on November 13, 2017, in Palo Alto, California, at the age of 95. She was born July 31, 1922, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to Joanna and James Marshall Watkins. She graduated from UCLA with a BA in Economics in 1943. She was married for 64 years to Clark Lee Thomas who predeceased her in 2012. They raised three daughters and welcomed many friends and missionaries in their home in Menlo Park for almost 50 years. She was active in Peninsula Bible Church, Menlo Presbyterian Church (Menlo Church), Bible Study Fellowship and other women’s ministries, where she was a beloved mentor and friend to many. She is survived by their three daughters, Ann (Jerry) Louise Thomas Powell, Robin (David) Lee Thomas Sweet and Carol (Don, dec.) Elizabeth Thomas Penrose. She adored her eight grandchildren and six great grandchildren, who will miss her very much and will treasure the many memories she and Clark created for them. The family appreciates the wonderful and loving caregivers provided by Canopy Home Care for almost a decade.

A memorial service will be held at 2 pm on December 20, 2017, at Menlo Church, 950 Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park, California. In lieu of flowers, the family prefers that donations be made in Betty’s honor to Schools for Justice (http://schoolsforjustice.org/donate) or Bangkok Christian Hospital (https://donate.globalministries.org/ onlinegiving?donateTarget=The).

PAID

OBITUARY

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 15, 2017 • Page 13

Upfront

Holiday Waste Service Schedule

GreenWaste of Palo Alto is closed on Christmas (December 25) and New Year’s Day (January 1). If your regular collection day falls on or after one of these holidays, your collection day will be moved to the next day. Regular collection schedules will resume the following week.

Public Agenda

DECEMBER SUNDAY Y

MONDAY

TUESDAY TU DAY

WEDNESDAY WED ESDAY

THURSDAY THU SDAY

FR AY FRIDAY

SAT SATURDAY

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 DECEMBER/JANUARY MBER/JANUARY SUNDAY Y

MONDAY

31 1

TUESDAY TU DAY

2

WEDNESDAY WED ESDAY

3

THURSDAY THU SDAY

4

FRIDAY FR AY

SATURDAY SAT

5

6

Questions? Contact ontact GreenWaste of Palo A Alto at (650) 493-4 493-4894 94 • pacustomerservice@greenwaste.com pacustom rservice@gree waste.com

A preview of Palo Alto government meetings for the week Dec.18 BOARD OF EDUCATION ... The school board will vote on a first interim financial report, discuss a district equity plan, discuss a new course proposal and hear a report on the 2016-17 parcel tax, among other items. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 19, at the district office, 25 Churchill Ave. CITY COUNCIL ... The City Council will not meet this week.

PUBLIC ARTS COMMISSION ... The Dec. 21 meeting has been canceled.

History museum

Rhoda Burns Grumet

Alice Fischgrund

August 7, 1941 – December 5, 2017

March 15, 1928 – December 9, 2017 Resident of Palo Alto

Rhoda Burns Grumet, 76 years old, died suddenly and unexpectedly on December 5, 2017 in Palo Alto, California.

Rhoda led a vibrant life with a contagious laugh and was an avid traveler who had her passport and tickets ready to depart on a trip to Morocco this month.

Rhoda was born in Brooklyn New York to Ida (Shore) and James Burns. The oldest of 3 children, Rob (Lynda) Burns and Doug (Ellen) Burns- Rhoda played an active role in arranging family reunions throughout the years to unite cousins on the west and east coasts. Rhoda graduated from Baldwin High School on Long Beach Island and graduated from a Registered Nursing School in Southhampton New York. Rhoda continued her education at University of Pennsylvania and graduated from Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, California. During her studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Rhoda attended a wedding where she met her future husband, F. Carl Grumet M.D. This marriage brought a brother-inlaw George and his wife Barbara Grumet who became known as Rhoda’s “twin sister” from different parents.

Rhoda is survived by 3 daughters: Amy (John) Connolly of Palo Alto, Jill Lauren of Santa Cruz and Nancy (Devin) Prouty of Menlo Park, 9 Grandchildren: Zac and Jeremy Rosenbaum, Abby and Caleb Prouty, Taylor and Sydney Giniezcki and Mark, Elena and Ahna Connolly, a Great Aunt , 2 brothers , 1 brother in law, her “twin sister” and many beloved nieces and nephews.

Rhoda’s professional work included a Pediatric Registered Nurse at Stanford, developing the Recruitment Department of the Stanford Blood Center and Administrative Director Positions at both Stanford Blood Center and Irwin Memorial Blood Bank in San Francisco. Rhoda was a dedicated, dynamic volunteer and served as the President of the Sequoia Chapter of Hadassah, on the Board of the Beth Longwell Foundation, volunteered to assist with AntiHuman Trafficking Programs and volunteered at the American Cancer Society Discovery Shop in Menlo Park. Rhoda’s favorite people included her family and dear friends. Rhoda’s favorite local places included time spent at the beach and near West Cliff in Santa Cruz. Rhoda’s hobbies included cooking, knitting, fly fishing, water skiing with her most recent water skiing trip on her 70th birthday, book club, a mahjong group and spoiling her grandchildren.

Rhoda’s passion for life was contagious. Rhoda was discretely generous with others in need. Memorial donations can be made to: • Sequoia Chapter of Hadassah 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto CA 94303 • American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) (http://www.aipac.org/act/donate) • Beth Longwell Foundation, PO Box 50457, Palo Alto, CA 94303 • American Cancer Society, PO Box 22478 Oklahoma City, OK 73123 • Stomp the Monster, PO Box 521 Marlboro, NJ 07746 • Congregation Beth Am, 26790 Arastradero Rd., Los Altos CA 94022 Memorial services were held at Congregation Beth Am on December 8, 2017.

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Page 14 • December 15, 2017 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

(continued from page 8)

Born in Los Angeles to Karl and Celia Weiss, moved to San Francisco as teenager, attended Lowell High, UC Berkeley and San Francisco State. Acted and danced ballet during that time. Became a social worker for San Mateo County, a librarian at Stanford’s Hoover and Cubberly, SRI and Vidya. Then an energetic volunteer on Palo Alto Disability Task Force, Mediation Task Force for 25 years, Bar Association fee arbitrator, West Bay Opera Guild member among many other activities.

A lifelong Democrat, delegate to State Democratic Convention and California Democratic Council from the Menlo-Atherton Democratic Club.

A great and loving wife, mother and grandmother to husband Herb, daughter Adrienne, and grandchildren Ariana, (husband Marc), and Sam. Lived in England and France, and spent much time in Japan during Herb’s working days. An avid reader, theatergoer, needlepointer. Kept going full speed until slowed down in recent years by Parkinson’s disease.

Memorial donations to Congregation Beth Jacob, Holt Opera Scholarship Fund, Palo Alto Players.

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Susan Dondershine July 2, 1942 – November 2017 Susan was born in Newark New Jersey to a poor but loving family. She died recently after a short illness at the family home in Palo Alto.

She graduated from Weequahic High School in 1959 and had been married for 53 years. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in English from Skidmore College and a Masters Degree in English from City University of New York. She taught high school English in Michigan and White Plains New York. She earned her Law degree from Santa Clara University and practiced criminal law for 29 years. She was a zealous advocate and the first private lawyer to open an office in East Palo Alto. She traveled the world with her husband and especially enjoyed living in Rome for seven months.

She is survived by her husband, Harvey Dondershine MD, of Palo Alto, CA and her son, Stephen Dondershine, of Burlingame, CA. Services were held for Susan on December 7th at Hills of Eternity Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the building fund for Temple Kol Emeth atkolemeth.org PAID

OBITUARY

Monday. The lessee could sublease part of the building to the museum.

Green said the history museum board has already spent an additional $600,000 for architectural, arborist, city and contractor fees.

He worried the council’s decision might harm fundraising if donors feel the city won’t keep its commitment to using the building as a historical museum.

But council members said they have already promised enough. In no uncertain terms, Scharff said the group must raise the $1.75 million by next November in order to hold onto the lease.

Some council members did not fault the museum for the slow pace of raising funds. They noted that it often takes years to generate large sums of money for nonprofit projects.

The history museum does have a new interim director, Laura Bajuk, who has many connections to the local community. Bajuk is a Palo Alto resident who worked in history museums in Los Altos and Los Gatos. In a May interview, she told the Weekly that the nonprofit wants to make the museum into an interactive gathering space, not a stereotypical, stodgy museum where people can’t touch anything.

Last week, Bajuk said the museum board is cultivating relationships with corporations that have historical importance and significant roots in Silicon Valley.

The nonprofit is also planning fundraising parties hosted by residents in the coming months.

At the start of the year, the museum hosted educational events to begin generating buzz about the yet-to-open museum. In March, it held a screening of “Lesson Plan,” a 2010 documentary about an experiment that a Cubberley High School teacher conducted in 1967 at the now-shuttered school.

The educational lesson simulated the rise of fascism during World War II by creating an elite social movement for students. The film event filled the Cubberley Community Center Theater to capacity, Bajuk said. Q Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at sdremann@ paweekly.com.

Spectrum Editorials, letters and opinions

Letters Apology needed Editor, The review of TheatreWorks’ “Around the World in 80 Days” (Weekly, Dec. 8) by Kaila Prins is wildly off the mark. The “stereotypes” were not rude but mildly representative of, well, stereotypes. I defy you to produce a play, movie or whatever that does not portray someone as a stereotype.

I think you came to this play with an agenda: to pick fault at what you see, mistakenly, as “ethnic fetishization.” I did not “cringe” but, rather, was reminded of people in other countries struggling with speaking English and, if one chose, people one could depict in a crude way, if one chose to do so. I chose not to bring any sort of mental baggage to this play.

Your review seems extremely esoteric; almost like a foray into college exegesis. How you came away with your conclusions about ... violence, people of color, hatred ... is bewildering. You seem to have used your review in a highly unfair way to derive “blatant racism,” “savior complex” and the other descriptors in a cultural/ sociological milieu of your construction.

You need to apologize to Theatreworks for your misleading and demeaning review.

Oh, the audience loved it.

Were we all in error?

Jeff Colflesh Placitas Avenue, Menlo Park

Questionable tweet Editor, Stanford University Law Professor Michele Dauber yesterday (Dec. 9) tweeted to advocates of a judicial recall a link to a filthy song concerning convicted Stanford rapist Brock Turner, advocating that Turner should kill himself by jumping off a cliff, along with more lewd references about Turner.

Law professors are charged with the responsibility of preparing their students to be attorneys of high moral character.

Dauber’s lack of these qualities, in my opinion, indicates to me that Stanford ought to dismiss her from their faculty.

Ironically she is leading an effort to recall a sitting judge whom Dauber wants to remove from the bench for similar failings.

Leon G. Campbell Homer Avenue, Palo Alto

This week on Town Square Town Square is an online discussion forum at PaloAltoOnline.com/square Editorial: the risks of secrecy Posted on Dec. 8, 2017 at 11:09 a.m. by Bill Glazier, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood.

Ten years ago, we had a very large controversy concerning individual families making contributions to school PTAs, prior to the establishment of PIE. It became clear district policy that contributions to individual schools were not allowed. This was to prevent one school from having great resources and another having little to none.

This now takes things to the extreme. One school can be made of gold and silver and another falling apart. This is perhaps an extreme, but I doubt there are 13 billionaires willing to build an individual elementary school for Palo Alto. So, you know that Addison, Hays and Duveneck will get their gold-plated school, and everyone will be SOL if this is the new policy. I will admit I was not on the side of PIE

when it was discussed 10 years ago. But given we have made it the policy, and it has proven to work, why would we now revert and let someone do something like this? Do we now need to get Zuckerberg to rebuild Duveneck and Larry Page to rebuild Hays?

We are no different than Menlo or Sacred Heart if this is the case.

For new bike boulevard, it’s not smooth sailing Posted on Dec. 8, 2017 at 6:13 p.m. by Steve Dabrowski, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood.

I have been cycling for over 60 years and have ridden across our fair country east to west and north to south and have never needed a bike lane or painted path to figure out or find my way. This whole approach is just plain nuts. Anyone who can’t manage to ride without all this silly infrastructure designed by the fools on the City Council should leave their bikes at home and take a taxi.

Editorial A ‘force for good’

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n the midst of dozens of donations for $25, $100 or $500 received earlier this month to the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund, one jumped out: an unsolicited and completely unexpected check for $25,000 from a first-time donor.

While the Holiday Fund has other large donors, including the Hewlett, Packard, Peery and Arrillaga foundations and a Palo Alto family that has given $100,000 each of the last six years, each was preceded by proposals or conversations to reassure those contributors their money would be well-spent on important community needs.

In the case of our newest major donor, two Palo Alto residents who both came here to attend Stanford University more than 40 years ago, their expressed motivations perfectly captured our vision when establishing the Holiday Fund 25 years ago.

“We both are particularly interested in directing our resources and energy into highly local giving — looking for ways to help those in our community who have been less fortunate than we to gain opportunity, education, a roof over their heads and the health care they need to survive and hopefully thrive,” they wrote.

“We were paging through the Weekly a few weeks ago, saw a full page piece on this year’s Holiday Fund and the kinds of recipients to which you have contributed in the past and basically just moved immediately to send the contribution your way.

“We’ve been Weekly readers for decades and know and trust the Weekly. We love how you have focused and structured the Holiday Fund. We also know and trust Silicon Valley Community Foundation and like how efficient you and they are at getting funds to work in the community.

“We are thrilled to be able to help and thank you for your efforts to create a meaningful force for good in our community,” they concluded.

The list of organizations the Holiday Fund supported this last year can be found online at PaloAltoOnline.com/holiday_fund and are also listed on page 10. To donate, either go online or use the coupon below.

Along with the thousands of kids and families who ultimately benefit from your gift, we are grateful for your help. Q

Support our Kids with a gift to the Holiday Fund.

Enclosed is a donation of $_______________

WHAT DO YOU THINK? The Palo Alto Weekly encourages comments on our coverage or on issues of local interest.

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We reserve the right to edit contributions for length, objectionable content, libel and factual errors known to us. Anonymous letters will generally not be accepted. Submitting a letter to the editor or guest opinion constitutes a granting of permission to the Palo Alto Weekly and Embarcadero Media to also publish it online, including in our online archives and as a post on Town Square.

For more information contact Editor Jocelyn Dong at editor@paweekly.com or 650-326-8210.

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Please make checks payable to: Silicon Valley Community Foundation Send coupon and check, if applicable, to: Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund c/o Silicon Valley Community Foundation 2440 West El Camino Real, Suite 300 Mountain View, CA 94040 The Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund is a donor advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization. A contribution to this fund allows your donation to be tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 15, 2017 • Page 15

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N

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KeykoPintz.interorealestate.com Page 16 • December 15, 2017 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

• Custom built driveway gate • Spacious Outdoor Living and Entertaining areas • Potting Shed with Separate Outdoor Sink for Gardening Enthusiasts • Close Proximity to downtown Menlo Park, downtown Palo Alto, and Stanford bike bridge • Excellent Menlo Park Schools • Plenty of room to GROW.

Offered at $2,800,000

Cover Story

g n i l o o h c s Home p u s w o r g Families F amilies ffind i d vast educational resources outside of the traditional school system

Robin Bayer sits at a table at home to help daughters Jen and Hilary Bayer with their physics and chemistry homework as both girls get ready to take their SAT subject tests in December.

Story by Elena Kadvany | Photographs by Veronica Weber

I

n many ways, Jen and Hilary Bayer are typical high school seniors. They spent the fall taking SAT subject tests and are thinking about how to best tackle college applications.

They’re studying Spanish, chemistry, physics, music, statistics and history.

But the twin 18-year-old Palo Alto residents have been homeschooled since first grade. They’re learning history by reading Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States” and Spanish from a tutor and the online program Rosetta Stone. Jen Bayer is taking a jazz piano class at De Anza College, and both girls plan to learn more about biology — and leadership — by serving as docents through a Stanford University class at biological preserve Jasper Ridge starting in January.

For many Palo Alto families who opt to home-school their children, the term is a misnomer for what their children’s education looks like. Their experiences disprove the often-held misconception of a parent teaching a child at the kitchen table all day. Today, students learn through classes taken outside of their homes and online, tutors, visits to museums, hikes, travel and pursuit of their interests, whether that be astronomy, history, coding, cooking or Harry Potter.

Annette Fazzino, the mother of two young home-schooled children, describes it as “a-la-carte education.”

Families’ reasons for home schooling are varied. Some parents eschew the structure of public school and want education done

their own way. Others with a child who has a disability or is gifted recognize their child would be better off in a different environment. Other parents want to provide extra support to a child who has fallen behind. Some students are professional musicians, are seriously pursuing athletics or have a serious health issue that takes them away from the classroom.

Parents say home schooling is a child-by-child choice: In some families, a son or daughter is home-schooled while a sibling stays in the public school district.

Some parents also choose to send their children back to traditional school after being at home for a time.

Despite the fact that so many people move to Palo Alto for the public schools and many others take advantage of elite private schools in the area, the city is home to a vibrant yet almost underground community of homeschoolers. The aspects of education that so many parents seek for their children — personalized learning, time for students to follow their passions, real-world application, freedom from the rigidity and stress of high-stakes tests and homework — can be created outside of the walls of traditional classrooms, home-schoolers say.

It’s difficult to pin down local statistics on home schooling.

Not all school districts, including Palo Alto Unified, track or are aware when families leave to home-school.

A 2016 survey conducted by the National Center of Education Statistics found that about 3 percent of students ages 5 through 17

were reported as home-schooled, representing 1.7 million students across the country. This number has steadily grown from when the organization first issued a report on home-schooled students in 1999. In Palo Alto, that percentage would amount to about 350 students.

The Fazzinos

A

nnette Fazzino describes herself as a “reluctant home-schooler.”

“I always thought it was too fringe and too strange for me,” she said.

But events out of her control — the death of her husband in 2012 and the discovery that both her children have a specific health problem — led her out to the fringe, where she is now elated to be.

Fazzino’s 10-year-old son and daughter, Matthew and Julia, attended Walter Hays Elementary School through third grade. Now fifth-graders, last year was their first full year at home.

Fazzino pulled them out of school because of their allergy to a common chemical preservative that’s found in almost everything, from cleaning products and art supplies to cosmetics and even paper. Despite her and the district’s attempts to make school work, both children came home with more and more “flare ups” — rashes on their eyelids, the back of their legs, and on their arms.

At home, Fazzino can more easily control what they’re exposed to — but it doesn’t mean they’re at home learning only from her.

Before this year’s solar eclipse,

for example, they read books about the phenomenon and traveled to Idaho to see it in person.

Instead of reading from a history textbook, they recently met with Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian for a civics lesson.

Like many home-schoolers, they take a variety of courses from online schools such as Khan Academy; Athena’s Advanced Academy, which focuses on gifted children and was started by a group of home-schooling parents; and Outschool, which offers live online classes taught by independent teachers.

Fazzino is able to shape their education to their interests. Julia is into Harry Potter, so she recently took an online class called (continued on page 18)

Ellen Cate, center, helps twins Matthew and Julia Fazzino learn their fractions at their home. Cate, a family friend who herself is home-schooled, tutors the twins once a week. www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 15, 2017 • Page 17

Cover Story

Hilary Bayer, right, adds a protective net over a young live oak tree with Lin Shi, left, Raj Agrawal, right, and Agrawal’s son Jay, as they and fellow volunteers and members of the Magic community plant trees as part of a Stanford University foothills habitat-restoration project.

Home schooling (continued from page 17)

“Symbolism in Harry Potter.”

Last year, Matthew expressed an interest in cooking, so Fazzino found a book on the science of cooking and bought a host of ingredients, and they talked about how heat and different cooking methods transform ingredients.

“You can play off your children’s interests and experience,” Fazzino said, “because frankly, who decided we’re studying ‘X,’ ‘Y,’ (and) ‘Z’ at school? Some things really don’t matter, or there are lots of different ways to learn them.”

Despite Fazzino’s enthusiasm for home schooling now, the decision itself and the transition weren’t easy. Her son adjusted quickly to being at home — at school, he would “get a little lost in the classroom,” Fazzino said, which caused anxiety — but her daughter, who loved “being part of the thick of it” at school, found the transition harder.

Fazzino also worried about the responsibility she was taking on for their education. How would she know she’s doing it right?

“It is a fearful thing,” she said.

“It’s a bold move to say, ‘I’m going to home-school.’ You get kind of funny looks when you say you’re home-schooling. People think it’s fringe ... or they think, ‘What are you, crazy? How do you know what to do?’”

For a single mother like Fazzino, home schooling also is a sacrifice in terms of personal time, she said. Other parents who stay at home to oversee their child’s education said it requires finding a healthy balance for both child and parent.

For her part, Fazzino has been assured by support from a tightknit network of local homeschooling families and the vast number of resources available.

She can list off the programs she wants her children to enroll in but which they haven’t had the time to take advantage of, from Rock-It Science, a Santa Clara nonprofit that offers hands-on science classes in labs (and has a dedicated

home-school program), to Wild Child Free School, an outdoor nature program for home-schooled students.

Local organizations such as the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo, QuantumCamp (which offers laboratory math and science classes in Palo Alto) and Los Altos Hills farm Hidden Villa also offer programs that home-schoolers can take. In addition to after-school classes open to anyone, numerous programs have sprung up that are specifically for home-schoolers.

Older home-schooled students can also take classes and get college credit at local community colleges like De Anza and Foothill College. (Foothill said 70 home-schooled students enrolled this fall. The college recently launched a dedicated homeschooling webpage and held a well-attended open house for students and parents in September.)

“It’s like drinking from a firehose,” Fazzino said.

All home-schoolers are subject to legal regulation in some form in California (see sidebar).

Fazzino, for example, enrolled her kids in Bear Hollow School, a private school run by a friend in Palo Alto. The school files paperwork on the family’s behalf with the state and also helps Fazzino with curriculum, lesson planning and goal-setting.

The biggest misperception about home schooling, Fazzino and other parents say, is that their children lack socialization.

Home-schoolers argue that their children are, in fact, better socialized and more well-rounded because they interact with people of all ages and in different settings, compared to spending most of their time in a classroom with peers and a single adult.

Home-schooled students also spend time with each other. Numerous home-schooling groups in the area organize meetups, park days, field trips and other activities. Extremely active homeschool email lists also span cities and age groups. (Parents say that when they post a question, they almost instantaneously get more responses and suggestions than they even need.) Many families

Page 18 • December 15, 2017 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

also work together to host a class or tutor at their house for groups of students.

Matthew and Julia are also still close with friends from their usual communities: Walter Hays, their neighborhood and church. Spending more time with their mother also has created stronger family bonds, Fazzino said.

She speculated that the internet has vastly expanded the homeschooling landscape, making it easier for more families to try their hand at an alternative form of education.

“I think 20 years ago it probably was harder. It probably truly was fringe,” Fazzino said.

Despite this, she still feels some stigma attached to home schooling. She urged other parents who might be considering at-home education to not be held back by doubts.

“It never hurts to try,” she said.

“It’s exciting to try to light those fires and be the one doing that with your children.”

The Bayers

F

or the Bayers, it was a rich — and unique — home life, combined with public schools’ inflexible schedules, that propelled them to home-school.

The Bayer family is part of Magic, a shared service-learning community in Palo Alto run by resident fellows who have degrees in engineering, biology, history and law.

“In a typical night here, someone may be telling the story of their recent trip to Bhutan or talking about how they built this electric go-cart and made a generator,” the twins’ mother Robin Bayer said. “We thought that was a very rich opportunity for them to learn in.”

When the twins were in first grade at Escondido Elementary School, Bayer questioned whether hours-long school days were the best and healthiest way to learn, particularly when a community of built-in teachers awaited them at home.

Like many other families in

the area, the Bayers enrolled in Ocean Grove, an accredited public charter school that provides credentialed teachers, academic support, stipends and other services to home-schooling families.

Ocean Grove families sign education agreements that map out students’ goals and report their progress to a credentialed educational specialist who visits their home. Parents can decide how much they want the specialist to be involved, from providing actual instruction or grading assignments to a more hands-off monthly check-in.

A family with a penchant for inquiry and self-directed learning, the Bayers opted for the latter. Over the years, the twins and their younger brother, who is now 13 years old and has never attended traditional school, learned from a variety of sources, including Bayer, other adults living in Magic and outside programs. The Magic resident fellows have all been closely involved in their education, which remains a standing agenda item on a weekly meeting with all four adults. Bayer has mostly overseen science and math instruction, while other Magic residents helped with topics like music, history, writing and computer science.

For both girls, the freedom to follow their own interests, at their own pace, has been a hallmark of their education. Hilary Bayer recalled picking out a Singapore Math textbook when she was young and making her way through every single book in the series, simply because she wanted to. Later, she took two online classes from Harvard University, one on the impact of climate change on global human health and another on computer science.

Even family trips to a neighbor’s cabin in the Sierra Nevada turned into learning experiences. Hilary Bayer took photos of flowers, looked them up later and added them to a photo album with labels. They learned how to read topographic maps to navigate

between two lakes that weren’t connected by a trail.

“I remember a lot of fear in my education,” Robin Bayer said.

With a test, “I was nervous and I had to learn it by then. They take the test when they’re ready and take it again if they don’t pass it.”

As the twins have gotten older, Bayer and the other adults’ direct involvement has lessened. Each quarter, the twins write life plans with their short- and long-term goals. Each day, the girls record what they’ve worked on, go over it with an adult in the evening and adjust if necessary to continue working toward their goals. This provides discipline and focus to an unstructured way of learning, their mother said. At a monthly meeting with their Ocean Grove teacher, they also talk about work they’ve completed and show samples, which the teacher documents.

“It’s a real privilege to have this much freedom in your life where you don’t have to be somewhere at a certain time and you don’t have to do what the teacher says,” Bayer said. “You’ve got to earn that.”

The biggest challenge of home schooling, both mother and daughters said, is ironically a function of this freedom: simply staying on track.

“The challenges are letting them find their own way and avoiding panicking by comparing them to their peers, who are in a different environment and many times accountable in different ways,” Bayer said.

While Jen Bayer said she sometimes feels “socially isolated” from people of her own age, she prefers interacting with adults.

When the twins were 14, they thought about going to a high school, but the freedom and flexibility they have outweighed any social appeal, they said.

As seniors, Jen and Hilary Bayer are now facing a different kind of challenge: how to apply to college as home-schoolers, given the numerous requirements.

Though Ocean Grove provides accredited transcripts, the documents don’t fully capture the work

Jen and Hilary Bayer present their project, the Silicon Valley Barcode of Life, a genomics research initiative that collects and stores DNA samples of living things to help scientists study biodiversity around the world and monitor climate change. The project is a subset of the International Barcode of Life.

Cover Story

Getting an education that’s legal State oversight of home-schooling approaches varies considerably

by Elena Kadvany

H Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian talks with Matthew Fazzino about the basics of civics and federal, state and local government during an hour-long visit at his Palo Alto office.

Annette Fazzino regularly arranges field trips to supplement her kids’ education, like this visit with Simitian and an earlier trip to the Tesla factory in Fremont. the twins have done, so they’ve decided to develop their own. For each conventional subject, they’ll describe relevant courses, activities and projects, their overall goals and how they met them.

Stanford, as one example, does not have a separate application for home-schoolers but rather guidelines that ask students to submit a detailed description of how and why their family chose alternative education, how their learning process was organized and what choices they had to make to pursue this form of education.

“We are interested in how you have gone about the learning process, not how many courses you have completed,” states a Stanford admissions webpage on home schooling.

Home-schoolers who want to apply to University of California schools are subject to the same admission requirements as any other student, as long as the courses they’ve taken meet the state’s A-G requirements and they have an official high school transcript and diploma. Students who don’t meet that criteria can still apply to the UCs with SAT and ACT scores, according to a UC admissions webpage.

Other private universities have special programs for homeschooled applicants, said Cynthia Rachel, director of education support services for Ocean Grove.

Brigham Young University, for example, reserves 5 percent of its freshman class for those students, she said.

Unlike their Palo Alto peers, however, the Bayer twins are in no rush to get to college. Jen Bayer wants to study more biology, and Hilary Bayer, calculus. Both want to get further on a Barcode of Life project they’ve been working on for months, using DNA-sequencing data to document biodiversity in the area. So they’ve decided, for now, to defer applying to college until next fall.

As she raised her daughters, Bayer worked to combat the cultural assumption that teenagers need to go straight to college from high school. Home schooling allows them the rare freedom to think about what they want to

do in college and why.

“That’s part of the beauty of it,” Bayer said. “They can take the time to learn what they want to learn and feel prepared.”

The O’Neils

K

atrina O’Neil and her husband are in the midst of their own home-schooling experiment, testing the waters with a son who struggled in traditional school.

Ironically, the family moved to Palo Alto from Mountain View in 2012 for the public schools. They enrolled their son, Krill, at Hoover Elementary School and planned to do the same for their daughter, who was about to be born.

Kindergarten went well, O’Neil said, but on the first day of first grade, Krill started having behavioral problems.

For the next year and a half, Krill struggled in school and at home. He had nightmares and wouldn’t sleep well. He had a hard time making friends. A self-directed learner, he was often bored in class but also had problems with writing, his mother said.

He was eventually diagnosed as gifted but with anxiety and disorders in sleep, developmental coordination (fine-motor skills) and visual processing. The school and a psychologist also suspected he might be on the autism spectrum, but he has not been formally diagnosed, O’Neil said.

Early on, the psychologist advised that they home-school Krill.

It felt like a radical suggestion for two parents who were working full time and had both successfully gone through traditional schooling themselves. Also, Krill himself didn’t want to leave an established structure, O’Neil said.

“Everybody always told him, ‘If you want to grow up and be a real person, you have to go to school and go to university and in order to go to university you have to go to school.’ (The idea) was sort of ingrained by us,” O’Neil said.

They considered local private and alternative options, like The Nueva School in Hillsborough and AltSchool in Palo Alto, but realized that, while these kind of schools might address Krill’s giftedness,

ome-schooling families have several options for complying with California education requirements: enroll in a public charter school or a local school district’s independent study program, if available, or file an affidavit with the state to establish a home private school.

Locally, many families choose free charter school Ocean Grove, which is sponsored by the San Lorenzo Valley School District in Santa Cruz County but also serves students in Santa Clara, San Mateo and other Bay Area counties. Santa Clara County families account for almost half of the school’s more than 2,400 students, said Director of Education Support Services Cynthia Rachel. There are currently 37 students from Palo Alto enrolled at Ocean Grove.

Palo Alto parent Annette Fazzino described Ocean Grove as “home-school in a box.” The school provides structure and accountability through its educational specialists, all credentialed teachers. They monitor students’ academic progress through regularly scheduled in-person meetings. Ocean Grove is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (the same organization that accredits the Palo Alto Unified School District) and can provide official transcripts to students. And like any public school, Ocean Grove is required to administer state tests at the end of the school year.

Ocean Grove also provides families with stipends for curriculum materials or to pay for extracurriculars, from music and language lessons to martial arts instruction and field trips, Rachel said. Each family gets up to $2,000 in instructional funds from the state per year to use at their discretion. This is often a boon for single-income families working to make ends meet while home schooling.

Parents said home-schooling can quickly become expensive as the costs of private tutors and classes pile up.

Ocean Grove is also a popular option for families with special-needs students. The school’s special-education department provides an array of

other elements of school would continue to be challenging.

After about a year and a half, things reached a breaking point, O’Neil said, and home schooling started to seem like the best option. But someone would have to stay home with Krill.

O’Neil told her boss at HP, where she had worked as a software security researcher for more than 13 years, that she would have

services, such as specialized instruction and speech therapy, and like any public school is beholden to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

The number of Ocean Grove students with individualized education plans (IEPs) doubled in the last year alone, Rachel said.

This parallels a rise in overall enrollment at Ocean Grove, which opened in 2005. The school saw an 11 percent enrollment increase last year and has a wait list several hundred students deep, Rachel said.

“Part of it is (people) becoming more aware of the opportunities available,” Rachel said.

Parents who want more control over their children’s education than they can get through a charter school can file a private school affidavit with the California Department of Education. This allows them to operate a private school within their own home, with the freedom to select and provide curricular, instructional and other materials. The affidavit exempts students from the state’s compulsory-education law, which requires that children age 6 through 18 attend a public, fulltime day school.

The Department of Education suggests that students receive instruction in the areas of study required in the state’s public schools, but there is no legally required reporting or testing.

(Parents who want to can pay for their own testing.)

Parents must file the affidavit form annually and maintain certain records, such as attendance and courses of study, according to the HomeSchool Association of California. An online affidavit form asks only for information such as the applicant’s address and the ages and number of students enrolled. Parents designate themselves as school principals.

Jessica Galbraith, a Palo Alto mother of eight who currently home-schools her son William, a seventh-grader, said the affidavit process is relatively easy and the least-restrictive option in California for home schooling.

She started home-schooling her children in Utah, where she to quit. She was instead offered a year-long leave of absence, which she’s currently on.

Several months in, Krill is a happier, healthier learner, his mother said. He likes to immerse himself in a single topic for months — recently, it was Greek mythology and before that, astronomy — and home schooling allows for that, with some guidance from his mother to make

said state regulations are less stringent. (The family moved to Palo Alto nine years ago.)

At home, curriculum can be more progressive and flexible, Galbraith said.

“You can be more forwardthinking. A lot of our educational system is set up for some antiquated philosophies,” she said.

Unlike families in other school districts, those who live in Palo Alto do not have access to any public independent-study program. No Palo Alto district administrators were able to speak to why this is or if the district has ever considered adding such a program.

The Mountain View Whisman, Cupertino Union, San Jose Unified and Fremont Unified school districts all have dedicated programs for home-schoolers.

Mountain View Whisman, a K-8 district, provides homeschooled students with access to curriculum, instructional guidance, enrichment classes and field trips. The program is small, with 11 families currently enrolled, said Chief Human Relations Officer Carmen Ghysels. Enrollment fluctuates from year to year but remains relatively low, she said.

Similarly, the K-8 Cupertino Union School District’s home study program provides families with curriculum, materials and a coordinator who oversees the work they complete at home.

Middle schoolers are also allowed to take one or two classes at one of the district’s campuses and have access to activities like clubs and athletics.

The district launched the program in 1989, said Pam Pell, a credentialed teacher who coordinates the home study program, helping families with lesson planning and meeting with them regularly to evaluate students’ progress.

Cupertino’s program currently has 18 students enrolled.

Pell said she’s seen enrollment decline “considerably” over the years.

“There’s a huge explosion of other programs and charter schools that have opened up over the years, giving families more options,” she said. Q sure he’s making necessary progress. With no set schedule, she can take Krill to science lectures in the evening without worrying about getting up early the next morning for school.

“Somehow we found this happy medium. We do a little bit of everything and just leave a lot of time for his own interests,” she said. (continued on page 20)

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 15, 2017 • Page 19

Cover Story

Home schooling (continued from page 19)

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Krill is enrolled in Ocean Grove. O’Neil is especially appreciative of the special-education services Krill receives — occupational and speech therapy — which she said are more extensive than what the Palo Alto school district offered.

O’Neil is Krill’s primary teacher, overseeing his work in math, English language arts and social studies. They often do that work at a cafe together. Krill’s avid interest in science means she can let him have free reign on that subject. He watches movies, reads books and does his own research, O’Neil said.

He also now has the time to take an online chemistry course in Russian from Moscow State University, meeting both science and language requirements.

O’Neil is from Russia and wants her children to learn the language.

“The flexible schedule allows us to dive deeper into (his) interests and do things we just couldn’t do before just because of the lack of time, or it makes it easier to do them,” O’Neil said.

He’s also more calm, O’Neil said. Being in school for six hours a day was overwhelming and draining for him.

For socialization, Krill goes to Rock-It Science and the Wild Child nature program. He’s finally

on his way to making friends, his mother said — a real measure of the progress he’s made.

O’Neil said that while this is right for her son, home schooling is an incredibly personal decision.

It’s not for everyone — including her own daughter, who still attends Hoover and is thriving.

“I knew home schooling existed a year and a half ago, but I didn’t know what it really meant. Now I know that everyone does it differently,” O’Neil said. “It’s just one term but it means all sorts of different things.”

Looming on the horizon is the decision the family needs to make when O’Neil’s sabbatical ends.

While most home-schooling families have one parent who stays at home, O’Neil knows some with two parents working full time.

“Everything is possible,” she said. “You just have to really, really want it.” Q Staff Writer Elena Kadvany can be emailed at ekadvany@ paweekly.com.

About the cover: Matthew Fazzino works on an online vocabulary lesson with his tutor Ellen Cate at his home in November. Cate, a family friend who herself is home-schooled, has been tutoring the Fazzino twins for the past year and a half.

Photo by Veronica Weber.

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Brigitte Losey plays radio personality Ginger Brooks in Los Altos Stage Company’s “The 1940s Radio Hour.”

by Karla Kane Photos by Richard Mayer

I

f I say my favorite thing about Los Altos Stage Company’s “The 1940s Radio Hour” might be the program, it’s not meant to reflect negatively on the performance itself. To the contrary: It’s a very enjoyable show, and part of what makes it enjoyable is the amount of delightful detail put into the production as a whole, including a fabulous set by Andrew Breithaupt, appealing costumes by Y. Sharon Peng and that marvelous program-within-a-program that imitates the look of a vintage Broadway Playbill and contains “biographies” of the fictional characters on stage, as well as retro ads for Coca Cola and Eskimo Pie. “The 1940s Radio Hour” might not have the most imaginative title but it does pretty much tell you what you can expect: a recreation of a yuletide radio variety show airing in 1942 Manhattan (and to the troops overseas listening via shortwave radios). The show, written by Walton Jones, is a musical in that it incorporates a number of song-and-dance routines. The songs, though, are all jazz and pop standards, such as “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” “Stormy Weather” and “Blues in the Night,” delivered concert-style. It doesn’t have much of a storyline in the traditional sense, either, but rather gives audiences a brief, immersive window into a moment in time and enough insight into the characters to make them

interesting, in addition to pleasant purveyors of classic music.

The show starts before the radio broadcast goes “live,” as doorman Pops (Gary Landis) grumbles, takes racing bets over the station’s payphone and brews unbearably strong coffee; host/boss Clifton Feddington (Ken Boswell) and his right-hand man Lou (John Stephen King) scramble to prepare for the evening’s session and wrangle their employees; while delivery boy Wally (Anthony Stephens) dreams of stardom, if only someone would give him his big break. The talent — singers Johnny Cantone, Ginger

Brooks, Connie Miller, B.J. Gibson, Neal Tilden, Ann Collier and Geneva Lee Browne (Michael Rhone, Brigitte Losey, Michelle Skinner, Nathaniel Rothrock, Aaron Hurley, Elizabeth Claire Lawrence and Nique Eagen) and the band, led by pianist Zelda Keys (Music Director Katie Coleman) and featuring trumpeter Biff Baker (Jacob Jackman) — slowly arrives and the audience starts to glean information about these faces behind the radio microphones.

Alcoholic crooner Johnny fancies himself a peer of Sinatra and boasts about ditching New York

Comedian Neal Tilden (Aaron Hurley, right) longs to become a crooner like Johnny Cantone (Mike Rhone, left).

for Hollywood. B.J. is the youngest brother of musical siblings and keen on continuing the family tradition. Ann is the classy singer with a wholesome persona who has a bit of a history with rakish Johnny.

Neal is the clown who wants a chance to be taken seriously. And so it continues, the various dramas, personality quirks and relationships between the characters promising to spill over into their on-air performances. The pre-broadcast hijinks do start to drag a bit, though, leaving the audience eager to get to the singing and dancing (and it’s a long show for a production that has no intermission).

Eventually, the “on-air” button and “applause” signs light up, and it’s show time. The majority of the rest of the evening’s entertainment is in toe-tapping song form, but the best bits are the advertisements cleverly — and very humorously — worked in amongst the songs and skits, delivered expertly by the cast, as well as the various sound effects provided by Lou. And though most of it isn’t particularly holidays-related, there are a few Christmas tunes and a gleefully silly radio-play version of “A Christmas Carol.”

A few cast members struggled to hit the right notes with their vocal numbers but most of the performances are pretty good, with the reliably-excellent Boswell, the vivacious Losey, and Stephens (who seems to have made a local-theater career out of playing wide-eyed fresh, young fellows) as standouts.

Baker, a veteran of pit orchestras

who, according to his bio, is unaccustomed to acting, does a charming job stepping into the spotlight as the swoon-worthy horn player who’s doing one last broadcast before shipping off with the military. And it’s always a treat having the musicians on stage as part of the action.

The show makes plenty of mentions of the war effort (including Baker’s poignant send-off) and is very rooted in its 1940s setting but never gets too heavy-handed or looks back at the time period with too much historical perspective or self-importance. There are no major character arcs, lessons learned or much plot developed. Instead, it feels like a genuine peek into the era: a warm and funny snapshot of radio’s golden age and a pleasure tuning in to. Q Arts & Entertainment Editor Karla Kane can be emailed at kkane@paweekly.com.

What: “The 1940s Radio Hour.”

Where: Bus Barn Theater, 97 Hillview Ave., Los Altos.

When: Through Dec. 23, Wednesdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 3 p.m.

Cost: $38 general; $20 student.

Info: Go to losaltosstage. org/1940s-radio-hour/.

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www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 15, 2017 • Page 21

From left to right: Former Madera chef Peter Rudolph, Chez TJ chef Jarad Gallagher; Baumé chef Bruno Chemel; Tim Stannard, founding partner of Bacchus Management Group; and Madera chef Reylon Agustin.

Courtesy of Nike Communications

By Elena Kadvany Photos by Michelle Le and Veronica Weber

L

osing its Michelin star in 2015 was a moment of reckoning for Madera in Menlo Park.

No stone went unturned, from purchasing new carpeting, glassware and napkins to refocusing the menu. A new chef de cuisine was hired as the kitchen saw significant turnover and a downturn in business.

“It was a very sobering moment,” said Reylon Agustin, who was executive sous chef at the Rosewood Sand Hill hotel restaurant at the time. “As a resume-builder, you don’t want to be part of the restaurant that lost the star.”

Madera regained its star last year, rejoining an exclusive club. Many chefs see Michelin stars as the most important accolade in the restaurant business — more than one restaurateur interviewed for this article referred to it as the industry’s Oscars.

Chefs say the rating drives them to perform at higher levels and translates into benefits both tangible and intangible for restaurants. But their relationships with the ranking are complex. Michelin holds enormous sway in kitchens — one chef said he thinks about the star “constantly” — while others insist it doesn’t drive their decisions.

Following the most recent Bay Area Michelin stars announcement in October, the Weekly spoke with Peninsula chefs and restaurant owners about the significance of the sought-after stars.

The rating is bestowed on restaurants across the globe each year

by French tire company Michelin, which publishes the restaurant guide. For decades, Michelin only covered European restaurants, but it expanded to the United States with a New York City guide in 2006 and to San Francisco the following year.

Restaurants can earn one, two or three stars based on visits from anonymous Michelin inspectors.

Michelin defines one star as “a very good restaurant in its category.”

Two stars means a restaurant is “worth a detour” and the highest rating is for restaurants “worth a special journey, indicating exceptional cuisine” made from “superlative ingredients.”

Many diners associate the stars with the best in fine-dining, from creative tasting menus to impeccable service.

The inspectors evaluate restaurants using five factors: the quality of the products, the mastery of flavor and cooking techniques, the “personality” of the chef in the cuisine, the dollar value and consistency between visits, said Michelin spokesperson Lauren Davis.

“There isn’t any other entity that chefs pay attention to,” said Jarad Gallagher, executive chef at Chez TJ in Mountain View. As for those who say they don’t care? “They’re full of sh--,” he said.

The star is part of the DNA of Chez TJ, which has a reputation as an incubator for chefs who go on to open their own Michelin-starred restaurants. Chez TJ has had one star since the guide started covering the Bay Area.

The star sets an expectation that is felt throughout the restaurant, Gallagher said.

“If you are producing food that is ... putting the restaurant in jeopardy of gaining a star or losing a star, you’ll hear very quickly,” he said.

“Cooks know how difficult it is to work in Michelin-starred restaurants. Diners have a very high level of expectation. The price point is really high. All of the expectation and pressure follows with that.”

The internationally respected rating brings diners — and dollars — to restaurants. Gallagher calls this the “Michelin millions” effect. He said the star is worth the equivalent of about $1 million of sales in a year at Chez TJ. The star sparked a high-profile dust-up at Chez TJ in 2009, when the restaurant’s rating went down from two to one stars, leading to the very public exit of then-chef Bruno Chemel. Owner George Aviet told the press at the time that

Page 22 • December 15, 2017 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Chemel was simply “incapable of earning two stars.”

Chemel left to open his own French restaurant in Palo Alto, Baumé. He set out to prove his critics wrong and quickly earned one, then two stars there, a rating he’s maintained every year since 2011.

In an interview, Chemel said he has a different perspective on Chez TJ’s rating drop. He saw it as earning his first star, arguing that work done before he had taken over the kitchen belonged to his predecessor. (When the guide comes out, Michelin inspectors are already visiting restaurants for the next year’s ratings.)

‘I don’t think there’s any greater pressure than (what) a chef puts on himself to maintain the star.’

—Peter Rudolph, former executive chef, Madera The star seems at once meaningful and meaningless for Chemel, a native of France who grew up 30 minutes from the Michelin headquarters. His uncle worked for the tire company and his parents often took him to starred-restaurants.

Chemel said he needs no recognition and maintains impossibly high standards solely for himself and his guests. Earning two stars is a “personal reward,” he said.

“I give pressure to myself to make better food and make my customer happy. I don’t really work for the Michelin,” he said.

Yet he’s still aspiring for a third star — a “summit” he might never reach but that motivates him.

Chefs described intense anxiety and pressure leading up the guide’s annual announcement, which is usually made in the fall in the Bay Area. Chefs said they get a hint beforehand — a save-the-date to a Michelin awards party — but it’s no guarantee. Some have heard of chefs

who got the invitation but no star.

If a restaurant earns a star, the executive chef will get a brief call from a representative from the guide.

Peter Rudolph, the former executive chef at Madera, said there’s nothing quite like getting the firstever call from Michelin. He led the restaurant to its first star only a year and a half after opening and back to its star status after losing the rating in 2015. Rudolph has since left Madera.

“I don’t think there’s any greater pressure than (what) a chef puts on himself to maintain the star,” he said.

Despite what chefs describe as the somewhat nebulous nature of Michelin’s criteria, losing the star prompted Madera to come up with a plan for how to address what they thought might be the shortcomings that led to the downgrade.

In addition to cosmetic changes, they re-centered the menu around the restaurant’s wood-fired grill (Madera means “wood” in Spanish) and moved away from techniques like molecular gastronomy, Rudolph said.

Agustin, who took over as executive chef after Rudolph left this year, insists that the Madera team wasn’t “chasing the star,” but rather “chasing our craft.” There’s a house-ofcards-like danger in focusing on an external rating with no clear definition, he said, a sentiment that was echoed by others.

“If we start to focus purely on ‘this is the Michelin star and this is what we have to do to keep it,’ then I think that’s where we start to lose sight, because we think we know what it is but we don’t,” Agustin said.

“Michelin doesn’t tell you, ‘Do this and you’ll get this,” said Gallagher. “You have to come up with the path and the idea and pursue it.”

At The Village Pub in Woodside, the star is important but not integral to the restaurant’s identity, said Tim Stannard, the founding partner of Bacchus Management Group, which owns the one-star restaurant. The company also owns the

one-star Spruce in San Francisco.

He described The Village Pub as a neighborhood restaurant focused more on serving its local diners than an external ranking.

“It’s very important because of what it represents but it doesn’t drive decisions we make,” Stannard said.

“We’re obviously extremely proud to be in the club and we’re very proud that our work is recognized, but we don’t identify ourselves exclusively as a Michelin-star restaurant.”

This doesn’t mean that there aren’t conversations in the kitchen, however, about whether a dish is “Michelin-worthy” or that Stannard doesn’t wince at the thought of losing the star.

The company has debated going after a second star at both Village Pub and Spruce, Stannard said, but ultimately decided it would mean too sharp a departure from their identities as neighborhood restaurants.

But a new Bacchus Management restaurant coming to Redwood City next year will open with the express purpose of getting one star “right out the gate,” Stannard said.

It will be an upscale neighborhood restaurant like The Village Pub but with an emphasis on premium, dry-aged beef.

The restaurant will open to an evolving, more “democratic” Michelin guide, Stannard and others said.

While many diners think of a Michelin-starred restaurant as a white-tablecloth establishment with an extensive — and expensive — tasting menu, the times appear to be changing. This year, the Bay Area’s two-star winners included restaurants like Lazy Bear, a communal dining experience that started as an underground pop-up in San Francisco, and Californios, the first Mexican restaurant in North America to earn two stars.

“It’s much more interesting ways of thinking about food,” Stannard said. “It’s not all gold-rimmed plates and gold faucets.” Q Staff writer Elena Kadvany can be emailed at ekadvany@paweekly.com.

Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Three decades after the Empire’s defeat, a new threat arises in the militant First Order in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”

The best for ‘Last’ Rian Johnson finds “a new hope” with ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ 0001/2 (Century 16 & 20) as Leia Organa, prinSetting aside for the OPENINGS cess and general). On a moment the spaceships and lightsabers and critters, “Star first viewing, it’s hard not to watch Wars” has always been about a “The Last Jedi” without constantly few core ideas: the clash of evil wondering how much more we’ll empire and mobilized do-gooders; get of Fisher. It’s no spoiler to say the existence of a power greater that the filmmakers weren’t lying than ourselves; the wars within when they promised Fisher has and without ourselves; and love a substantial role; in fact, the beand family. George Lucas’ multi- loved Fisher gets to be the film’s billion-dollar franchise also has font of centered wisdom, humor told story after story about it al- and heart.

By contrast, the other characways being darkest (or Dark Sideest) before the dawn. Technically, ters — with the exception of Andy J.J. Abrams’ “Episode VII: The Serkis’ wickedly confident uberForce Awakens” was about all of baddie Snoke — mostly live in self the above as well, but it’s writer- doubt, fear, and desperation. These director Rian Johnson who, with include Rey (Daisy Ridley) and “Episode VIII: The Last Jedi,” Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), better fulfills the promise of Lu- the former tasked with returning cas’ first subtitle: “A New Hope.” the latter, “the last spark of hope,” Johnson, who previously wrote to the scrappy Rebel resistance and directed “Looper” and before it gets snuffed out by the “Brick,” embraces the familiar ob- empowered First Order. Luke, ligations of a “Star Wars” movie you see, is “the last Jedi” knight, while making a strong effort to and he’s determined to keep it trick audiences into sitting on the that way, having been burned by edges of their seats. Though no one personal failure. Will he get his would have wished it, he gets help Yoda on and train Rey? And what in this regard from the untimely explains the cosmic connection of death of Carrie Fisher (who returns Rey, Luke, and the “raw, untamed

power” that is First Order attack dog Kylo Ren (Adam Driver)?

While that trio attends to the space-opera theatrics, the metaphysics and mystery, Rebel fighters Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac, still buddying up with cute droid BB-8), Finn (John Boyega), and welcome new face Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) get up to the usual space dogfights, behindenemy-lines missions and rebel stronghold defenses that keep “Star Wars” in eye-popping action. That’s as specific as I’ll get about the plot, which is best discovered in a movie theater. Suffice it to say that Johnson has happily recruited some bonus high-caliber acting support from Laura Dern and Benicio del Toro, and several familiar faces from previous “Star Wars” installments crop up in supporting roles or cameos.

Johnson sticks with the “Star Wars” house style and seems pleased to have the opportunity to inspire children with this story of overcoming inner conflict to become one’s best self, the key ingredient being hope. The filmmaker injects his own personality and smarts with flippant visual and verbal humor (your mileage may vary) and a pinch of tart political commentary that, in hindsight, functions as a wink to the franchise’s own fiscal haul (one character explains, “There’s only one business in the galaxy that will get you this rich,” and another nods, “War”).

Lucas quickly committed to the notion of rhyming “Star Wars” films, a tactic he used over the course of the original five sequels (in the musical vein, composer John Williams remains at it). Where Abrams’ “The Force Awakens” felt like “A New Hope” re-painted by numbers, Johnson’s “The Last Jedi” rhymes with “The Empire Strikes Back” in subtler ways, allowing for memorable new character dynamics, sights and sounds assembled by a stellar team of motion-picture craftsmen dedicated to honoring the old while staying on the lightsaber’s cutting edge.

Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action and violence. Two hours, 32 minutes.

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Star Wars: The Last Jedi (PG-13) +++1/2 Century 16: Fri. - Sun. Century 20: Fri. - Sun.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (R) Aquarius Theatre: Fri. - Sun. Century 20: Fri. - Sun. Wonder (PG)

Century 16: Fri. - Sun. Century 20: Fri. - Sun.

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

Aquarius: 430 Emerson St., Palo Alto (For recorded listings: 327-3241) tinyurl.com Aquariuspa Century Cinema 16: 1500 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View tinyurl.com/Century16 Century 20 Downtown: 825 Middlefield Road, Redwood City tinyurl.com/Century20

CineArts at Palo Alto Square: 3000 El Camino Real, Palo Alto (For information: 493-0128) tinyurl.com/Pasquare Guild: 949 El Camino Real, Menlo Park (For recorded listings: 566-8367) tinyurl.com/Guildmp Stanford Theatre: 221 University Ave., Palo Alto (For recorded listings: 324-3700) Stanfordtheatre.org

Find trailers, star ratings and reviews on the web at PaloAltoOnline.com/movies

TheatreWorks SILICON VALLEY

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 15, 2017 • Page 23

Home&Real Estate

OPEN HOME GUIDE 27 Also online at PaloAltoOnline.com

A weekly guide to home, garden and real estate news, edited by Elizabeth Lorenz

Home Front WE’RE NOT IMAGINING IT ...

According to a study by housing experts at San Francisco-based ApartmentList.com, an apartment rental marketplace, rents are on the rise. The median two-bedroom rent in Palo Alto is $2,990, up 3.1 percent since the same time last year. In comparison, the national median two-bedroom rent is $1,160, up 2.7 percent.

WINTER SOLSTICE ... Winter doesn’t officially begin until Dec. 21, but you can celebrate the winter solstice early during a special family event at Hidden Villa Farm on Saturday, Dec. 16 from 2 to 4 p.m. Participants will learn what solstice is through stories, games, music, and crafts, including a beeswax candle and a clove pomander and learn the science behind solstice (and why winter happens). Cost is $20 for an adult and one child; $8 for every additional person. Children 2 and younger are free. To register, go to hiddenvilla.org.

PROTECT YOUR EVERGREENS ... It’s easy to assume that if a plant is an evergreen, it’s safe from the elements in the winter — not necessarily. In cold climates, winter wind and sunshine can parch the foliage of even the toughest broadleaf evergreens because the frozen soil prevents water uptake, according to Garden Design magazine. Here are a few tips for shielding your shrubs from winter’s worst. Plant delicate broadleaf evergreens, such as azaleas and rhododendrons, in wind-protected spots. Adding a layer of mulch will also help conserve moisture. Another option is to build a temporary windbreak using stakes and burlap.

Send notices of news and events related to real estate, interior design, home improvement and gardening to Home Front, Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302, or email elorenz@ paweekly.com. Deadline is one week before publication.

READ MORE ONLINE

PaloAltoOnline.com

There are more real estate features at PaloAltoOnline.com/real_estate.

Veronica Weber

PLANT SOME SEEDS ... On Saturday, Dec. 16, and Sunday, Dec. 17, Hidden Villa Farm will host a “Simple Seed Planters” activity at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Learn to make a seed planter using just a few recycled materials and then hunt for wild seeds on the farm. Put your seeds in their new abode and take your planter home to watch them grow. This program is covered by your entrance fee. For more information, go to hiddenvilla.org.

This Palo Alto home on Briarwood Way sold for $1M over asking price, or about 63 percent more than its $1.9M listing.

Feeding

frenzy F

rom San Carlos to Sunnyvale and Palo Alto in between, there has been a frenzy of homebuying this year never seen before: multiple homes selling for $1 million or more over their original asking prices.

According to the Multiple Listing Service, an online home-listing database, at least a dozen Palo Alto homes sold for more than $800,000 over their asking prices in Palo Alto between March 9 and Dec. 7. Of those, seven sold for at least $1 million over. The highest percentage paid was a five-bedroom, 2,086-squarefoot home in Greenmeadow that sold for $3,250,000, or 63 percent over the asking price of $1,998,000.

What’s going on?

Low inventory and a shifting market combined with sales strategies from the dot-com boom are all playing a role these bidding wars, according to local real estate agents.

“It’s a symbol of advancing markets setting new prices in new neighborhoods,” said Michael Dreyfus, Palo Alto District Chair of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors.

He said, in his opinion, the impact of

Page 24 • December 15, 2017 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Bidding pushes homes $1 million above asking prices

international buyers on the local market is slowing, allowing for local buyers, who maybe have a home somewhere else, to take a stab at buying on the Midpeninsula.

Four years ago, “some poor local person

‘It’s a symbol of advancing markets setting new prices in new neighborhoods.’

—Michael Dreyfus, Palo Alto District Chair of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors. was priced out ... by a mainland Chinese buyer” who often effectively said “What’s it gonna take?” to buy a home, and put cash down to close deals quickly. He said international buying has dropped off a bit today, so many of the homes being purchased are by local buyers.

Alain Pinel Realtor Xin Jiang has firsthand experience with the recent bidding wars. “I represented a buyer in a sale that went for $1.1 million over. We had a very tough competitor,” she said. Of the five initial offers, her client’s was third. The top

by Elizabeth Lorenz two, she said, were $500,000 over. “We got a second chance,” she said.

“It’s all hardcore, all dollar dollar,” Jiang said. It’s not, she said, about how sweet the potential buying couple is with their two kids.

Two of the forces at play, she said, and what can motivate buyers, especially when homes on the market are scarce, is how much they love the property or how urgently they want to buy. For example, she said, “The wife is due (to have a baby) and they just want it.”

Tim Kerns, who sells homes in Menlo Park and Atherton for Coldwell Banker, said the frenzy has extended to Menlo Park as well. He said a West Menlo Park home on a 10,000-square-foot lot was offered at $2.3 million and sold after only three days for $500,000 over the asking price with eight offers. Another smaller home on a 7,000-square-foot lot was offered at $1.998 million and sold for $2.45 million (or 23 percent above the asking price) with seven offers.

Jiang said many buyers in the $2 million to $3 million range are from other Bay Area cities like San Ramon, Millbrae or San Mateo and have a home so they have

Home & Real Estate Palo Alto homes sold for at least $800K over asking price Neighborhood: College Terrace

Elizabeth Lorenz

This Harker Avenue home sold for 18 percent over the $5,988,000 asking price.

Street: Princeton Street List price: $1,995,000 Sold price: $2,900,000 Size: 1,404 sf (home); 3,750 sf (lot) Over asking: $905,000/ 45 percent

Neighborhood: Community Center Street: East Greenwich Place List price: $4,495,000 Sold price: $5,610,000 Size: 2,091 sf (home); 14,300 sf (lot) Over asking: $1.115M/ 25 percent

equity to bring to buying another home. “The house somewhere else provides $1 million to $1.5 million equity, then they can borrow $2 million,” she said.

Four local agents interviewed for this article, representing homes up and down the Peninsula, say the prices and subsequent overbidding and final sales often have to do with how a real estate agent prices a home.

With such low inventory, some agents or real estate companies choose to price low to create bidding wars so that buyers feel the fear of scarcity a bit more and are motivated to ‘It’s all hardcore, all bid on the homes. dollar dollar.’

“Palo Alto is so expensive —Realtor Xin Jiang but much of the overbidding has to do with how an agent prices a home. We are seeing prices in Menlo Park, San Carlos and Redwood City go nuts too,” said Judy Citron, an agent with Alain Pinel in Menlo Park. (Citron and the other agents interviewed for this story said they don’t generally practice aggressively low pricing.)

Dreyfus said agents who purposely price homes “aggressively lower” than what the home is worth (a practice called “auctioning”) do so to attract many, many buyers. In the case of many of the dozen homes in question in Palo Alto, there were upwards of 20 bids. For example, one home in Midtown was listed at $2.2 million and received 27 offers. It sold for $3.11 million in an allcash sale.

The more aggressive pricing, he said, originated during the dot-com bubble, where sales were done quickly with no contingencies with “clean” contracts. The practice stuck after the market fell, he said, but things are shifting a bit. He was recently in the East Bay and noticed some real estate agents using language similar to a car dealer, calling their practice “transparent pricing,” where potential buyers can somehow be assured that the price is fair. Q Elizabeth Lorenz is the Home and Real Estate Editor at the Palo Alto Weekly. She can be emailed at elorenz@ embarcaderopublishing.com.

Street: Harker Avenue List price: $5,988,000 Sold price: $7,060,000 Size: 3,218 sf (home); 9,720 sf (lot) Over asking: $1.072M/ 18 percent Street: Lois Lane List price: $2,588,000 Sold price: $3,510,000 Size: 2,200 sf (home); 11,550 (lot) Over asking: $921,112/ 36 percent Street: Hutchinson Avenue List price: $2,895,000 Sold price: $3,765,000 Size: 1,927 sf (home); 6,473 sf (lot) Over asking: $870,000/ 30 percent

Neighborhood: Crescent Park

Elizabeth Lorenz

This Seneca Street home was recently bought for 32 percent over asking and is now being offered for lease.

Street: Seneca Street List price: $4,500,000 Sold price: $5,925,000 Size: 2,014 sf (home); 12,150 sf (lot) Over asking: $1.425M/ 32 percent

Neighborhood: Greenmeadow Street: Briarwood Way List price: $1,998,000 Sold price: $3,250,000 Size: 2,086 sf (home); 7,526 sf (lot) Over asking: $1.252M/ 63 percent

Neighborhood: Midtown Street: Colorado Avenue List price: $2,998,000 Sold price: $3,999,800 Size: 2,579 sf (home); 7,320 (lot) Over asking: $1.001M/ 33 percent Street: Waverley Street List price: $2,195,000 Sold price: $3,110,000 Size: 925 sf (home); 7,000 sf (lot) Over asking: $915,000/ 42 percent Street: Ross Road List price: $3,498,000 Sold price: $4,350,000 Size: 3,100 sf (home); 9,360 sf (lot) Over asking: $852,000/ 24 percent

Neighborhood: Old Palo Alto Street: Waverley Street List price: $2,988,000 Sold price: $3,875,000 Size: 1,962 sf (home); 6,060 (lot) Over asking: $887,000/ 30 percent

Neighborhood: Palo Verde Street: Stone Lane List price: $3,788,000 Sold price: $4,718,000 Size: 3,207 sf (home); 8,775 sf (lot) Over asking: $930,000/ 25 percent Source: Multiple Listing Service

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 15, 2017 • Page 25

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Page 26 • December 15, 2017 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

OPEN HOMES

2017-2 8 01

EXPLORE OUR MAPS, HOMES FOR SALE, OPEN HOMES, VIRTUAL TOURS, PHOTOS, PRIOR SALE INFO, NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDES ON www.PaloAltoOnline.com/real_estate

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• Garden property on deep lot, ideally situated close to sought-after • University Avenue in Downtown Palo Alto. • This property boasts two dwellings. • Wayside single family cottage and two-story building in rear. • Wonderful Build Opportunity or Income Property. Zoned R-2 • Cottage comprises One Bedroom, One Bathroom, Quaint Sun Room.

Approx. 850 sq.ft. • Large Living room, dining area with built-in cabinet and French Doors. • Hardwood oors. • Good sized kitchen with back door leading to private fenced yard. • Rear two-story dwelling comprising two apartments. Approx.1200 sq. ft. • Built in 1980

1954 Old Middlefield Way #C Mountain View, CA 94303

• Unit A: Studio with kitchen, bathroom has shower over tub and good sized living space. • Unit B: Three bedrooms and one bath, shower over tub upstairs. • Kitchen with eat-in area and living room downstairs. • Private back garden area. • All units currently rented and constantly in high demand. • Two-car carport, room for three reserved parking spaces, Laundry facility on site. • Easy walking distance to vibrant University Avenue Shopping and ofďŹ ce area, train station, awardwinning schools and Stanford University.

Offered at $3,495,000

NANCY KOUCHEKEY,

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650.776.8000

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 15, 2017 • Page 27

Marketplace PLACE AN AD ONLINE fogster.com

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INDEX Q BULLETIN

BOARD 100-155 Q FOR SALE 200-270 Q KIDS STUFF 330-390 Q MIND & BODY 400-499 Q J OBS 500-560 Q B USINESS SERVICES 600-699 Q H OME SERVICES 700-799 Q FOR RENT/ FOR SALE REAL ESTATE 801-899 Q P UBLIC/LEGAL NOTICES 995-997 The publisher waives any and all claims or consequential damages due to errors Embarcadero Media cannot assume responsibility for the claims or performance of its advertisers.

Embarcadero Media right to refuse, edit or reclassify any ad solely at its discretion without prior notice.

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go to fogster.com to respond to ads without phone numbers Page 28 • December 15, 2017 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

THE PENINSULA’S FREE CLASSIFIEDS WEBSITE TO RESPOND TO ADS WITHOUT PHONE NUMBERS GO TO WWW.FOGSTER.COM

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C R O S S W O R D S

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 15, 2017 • Page 29

Sports Shorts WATER WORKS . . . Menlo School grad John Wilson and Sacred Heart Prep product Finn Banks were each named second team All-Americans, two of four men’s water polo players from John Hopkins to earn a spot on the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches All-America teams. Wilson graduates as the program’s leader in saves in a game (25), season (373) and career (902).

Banks had a breakout sophomore season, posting career highs in goals (63), assists (23), points (86), drawn ejections (39) and steals (26).

COACHING CHANGE . . . After 14 years as the football coach ay Menlo School, Mark Newton is stepping down. “I’m stepping forward,’’ Newton said, “opening up time to be a new father and pursue other passions in education at Menlo.’’

ON THE AIR Friday College men’s basketball: Denver at Stanford, 7 p.m., Pac-12 Networks

Saturday

Sunday College men’s soccer: NCAA Championship Game, 10 a.m., ESPN2

Monday College women’s basketball: Western Illinois at Stanford, 7 p.m., Stanford Live Stream

Thursday College men’s basketball: Stanford vs. Kansas, 8 p.m., ESPN2

READ MORE ONLINE

www.PASportsOnline.com For expanded daily coverage of college and prep sports, visit www.PASportsOnline.com

Stanford recorded its 12th consecutive postseason shutout, a stretch of 1,214 minutes and 20 seconds, in winning its thiurd straight NCAA title.

Instincts take over in crunch time Werner’s spontaneous play in overtime produces the championship winning goal

by Rick Eymer am Werner wasn’t quite sure how it happened but he knew it did. Stanford won its third consecutive NCAA men’s soccer championship when Werner scored in the second overtime (103rd minute) to give the Cardinal a 1-0 victory over Indiana at Talen Energy Stadium on Sunday.

Just as it seemed another scoring opportunity was thwarted, Werner came up with the defensive play of the season and, moments later, the offensive play of an era.

On a sequence that began with a

S

throw-in deep in Indiana territory, Werner stripped a Hoosiers defender with one touch and stabbed a right-footed shot, between two other defenders, under the crossbar on his next, at 102:03, to give Stanford the first three-year championship run since Bruce Arena-coached Virginia won four straight from 1991-94.

It seemed to be pure adrenaline and then Werner exploded, ripping off his shirt and running around as though he won the richest lottery ever.

Werner was prepared for the moment. It may have seemed like

a stroke of luck but it was the accumulation of tireless preparation and attention to detail.

Good teams get lucky. Great teams create their own luck and find a way.

The victory gives Stanford an unprecedented 115th NCAA team title, moving ahead of UCLA. It also makes Stanford the first Division I school to win national titles in both men’s and women’s soccer in the same season.

That achievement matched the Stanford volleyball teams, when the women won in 1996 and ‘97 and the men’s team won in ‘97.

Stanford (19-2-2) had much of the run of play, outshooting the Hoosiers, 13-5, but with limited clear-cut scoring chances.

The Cardinal defense, however, denied Indiana on the way to earning its 12th consecutive postseason shutout: a stretch of 1,214 minutes and 20 seconds.

Stanford has played two consecutive NCAA tournaments without allowing a goal.

On the winning play, Indiana (18-1-6) had the penalty area wellstocked when Stanford freshman (continued on page 31)

PREP WRESTLING

Paly’s Wang has raised expectations Junior wrestler looking for third tournament title

by Rick Eymer alo Alto junior Andrew Wang will likely be favored to win the 132-pound division of the Lynbrook Wrestling Invitational, which begins Saturday at 9 a.m.

He’s already set a pretty high standard for himself after two tournaments.

Wang dominated the 132-pound division at the Webber Lawson boys wrestling tournament last weekend at Fremont High and Palo Alto finished fourth with 109 1/2 points, ahead of ninth-place Gunn (89) and 13th place MenloAtherton (54).

Wang recorded a pair of

P

Page 30 • December 15, 2017 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

technical falls to open his journey to the title, his second in as many tournaments. He followed with a pin and a major decision before overwhelming Leigh’s Trevor Kaiser, 15-3, in the championship bout.

Wang was previously named Most Outstanding Wrestler at the Peninsula Invitational in Half Moon Bay. Wang finished sixth in the 120-pound division at last year’s Central Coast Section championship and appears determined to surpass that achievement this time around. He won four of his first five matches, two by pins, before finishing 4-3 at the CCS meet.

Courtesy of Leslie Wang

College women’s basketball: UNLV at Stanford, 2 p.m., Stanford Live Stream College women’s volleyball: NCAA championship, 6 p.m., ESPN2

Tony Quinn/isiphotos.com

THE ENVELOPE PLEASE . . .

Stanford swenior midfielder Andi Sullivan is a nominee for the Honda Sport Award for women’s soccer.

Sullivan was recently named firstteam All-America for the third time and All-Pacific Region for the fourth time. Sullivan was announced as TopDrawerSoccer’s Women’s Player of the Year earlier in the week . . .

Stanford running back Bryce Love was named first team All-America by the American Football Coaches Association, cementing his status as a unanimous All-American. Love is Stanford’s 10th unanimous AllAmerican and fifth under coach David Shaw. . . . Stanford’s Nico Corti and Sam Werner were named to the United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-West Region team . . . Stanford sophomores Kathryn Plummer, Morgan Hentz and Jenna Gray earned first team All-America recognition from the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

Sophomore Audriana Fitzmorris and fifth-year senior Merete Lutz were named to the second team and junior Tami Alade is an honorable mention. Plummer was also named ESPN National Player of the Year.

Andrew Wang has won two tournament titles already this year and is looking for a third this weekend.

Vikings’ Calvin Grewal reached the championship match at 126 pounds and both 152-pounder Erick Schubert and 160-pounder Aidan Gans finished third.

Grewel was two-and-done at the CCS meet last year, also at 126 pounds. It looks like he’s used

that as motivation for a more successful ending this time around.

Menlo-Atherton’s Nicholas Ozden recorded a pair of pins and a major decision before losing, in a technical fall, to Evergreen (continued on page 31)

PREP ROUNDUP

Menlo, SHP win tourneys M-A girls win home opener

M

Girls basketball Sacred Heart Prep won The Kings’ Academy tournament, beating Hillsdale, 53-30, in the championship game.

Grace Battles scored 17 points for the Gators (4-1), who host Mountain View at 7:30 p.m.

Friday as part of a boys-girls doubleheader.

Denise Stine and Charlotte Levison were also top producers.

After losing to St. Francis on Saturday, Menlo-Atherton came to beat Silver Creek 66-25 in its home opener Wednesday.

Carly McLanahan scored 22 points on seven 3-pointers and a free throw. Q

Wrestling (continued from page 30)

Valley’s Carlos Jimenez in the 182-pound division.

Grewal lost to Evergreen Valley’s Johnny Rodriguez, 9-5, in the title bout.

Gunn’s Dashiell Lee (182) and M-A’s Miseteni Eke (285) also finished third in their respective divisions.

Gunn’s Philip Doan placed fifth at 132 pounds and Titans’ teammate Max Beard placed sixth at 152. M-A’s Julian Garza earned a consolation third-place finish at 170 pounds. Q

(continued from page 30)

Logan Panchot, whose brother Austin was on the field for Indiana, took a throw-in from the right side. His short throw to Corey Baird toward the corner flag was well-defended.

Baird one-touched the ball back to Panchot, whose back-heel return to Baird allowed him to get around two defenders. Baird turned toward the box and worked a give-and-go to Foster Langsdorf to get around three more.

Baird’s left-footed centering pass from inside the box was intercepted by Indiana’s Griffin Dorsey. Werner was lurking at the top of the box and stepped forward, causing Dorsey to attempt to dribble around him.

Instead, Werner picked Dorsey clean with his right foot. The effort caused Werner to drop his left knee to the turf. He quickly recovered and immediately shot with his right foot from 10 yards.

It seemed to surprise Indiana and the ball split two defenders and sailed over goalkeeper Trey Muse.

“I really need to watch the tape.

I’m not sure what happened,” Werner said. “Cory slipped a ball across the net, they kicked it out and I thought I had a chance.”

Werner, a redshirt junior from chilly (this time of the year) Bozeman, Montana, scored his fifth

goal of the year and first gamewinner of his collegiate career.

“When you watch the game it’s pretty obvious why both teams were there,” Stanford coach Jeremy Gunn said. “Great attacking players who can score goals but wonderful work ethics from both teams to where both teams were willing to work hard defensively.”

The match kicked off in a sunny, crisp 37-degree day on a field lined with snow. Stanford got a good chance from Bryce Marion in the first half after Baird found a seam up the middle, but Muse stretched to his right to get a hand on the low shot.

“Our strategy was not take chances on the back end,” Stanford’s Tomas Hilliard-Arce said.

“We recognized we’d get some long balls and we wanted to stay disciplined.”

In the second half, Langsdorf split two defenders with a ball that Baird took deep into the box before Muse had a point-black save at the top of the six-yard box.

Stanford’s three titles have come in different ways. In 2015, Jordan Morris helped Stanford to a 4-0 domination of Clemson.

Last year, the Cardinal hero was goalkeeper Andrew Epstein in a penalty-kick victory over Wake Forest following a scoreless draw.

Werner became the latest addition to the list of Stanford heroes with his overtime goal. Q

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

Tony Quinn/isiphotos.com

by Glenn Reeves enlo School boys basketball coach Keith Larsen needed two first-quarter timeouts to get his point across. The Knights were on the wrong end of a 13-5 score and things were looking grim.

“I thought we were pretty much done,’’ Larsen said. “I said, ‘guys, I’ve got three timeouts left. Stop dipping your toe in the water. You’ve got to dive in and play some defense,’ “ His team took those words to heart. Menlo (4-0) went on an 11-0 run to close the quarter with a 16-13 lead and went on to a 58-52 victory last week in the championship game of the Burlingame Lions Club Basketball Tournament at Burlingame High.

Menlo broke the game open in the third quarter, outscoring Palo Alto 20-7 to open a 41-28 lead. Riley Woodson scored 10 points that quarter. He finished with 16 points and 16 rebounds and was named the tournament MVP. “I missed some shots I should have made in the first half,’’ Woodson said. “I re-psyched myself at halftime. I told myself I’m just going to go through people, put the ball back up and not worry about anything else.’’

Joe Foley scored 20 points for the Knights.

Stanford soccer

Sam Werner (23) split two defenders to score the game winning goal in overtime.

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Grace Battles

Riley Woodson

SHP BASKETBALL One of two seniors on the team, Battles scored 41 points in three games to help the Gators win The King’s Academy Tournament.

She scored 11 against Aragon in the semifinal round and then produced 17 points in the title game against Hillsdale.

MENLO BASKETBALL The 6-7 senior helped the Knights win the Burlingame Lions Club tournament with 39 points and 44 rebounds in three games. He was named tournament MVP after recording a pair of double-doubles, including 16 points and 13 boards in the title game.

Honorable mention Klara Astrom Pinewood basketball

Anysa Gray Priory soccer

Carly Leong Palo Alto basketball

Diana Morales Menlo-Atherton soccer

Mallory North Menlo basketball

Denise Stine Sacred Heart Prep basketball

Max Dorward Palo Alto basketball

Joe Foley Menlo basketball

Calvin Grewal Palo Alto wrestling

Guy Manor Kehillah Jewish basketball

Nicholas Ozden Menlo-Atherton wrestling

Andrew Wang Palo Alto wrestling *Previous winner

Watch video interviews of the Athletes of the Week, go to PASportsOnline.com

“Crown Castle is proposing to collocate antennas inside of a screen wall at a top height of 31-feet 7-inches on the rooftop of an 18-foot 3-inch building. Associated ground-based equipment will be located within a 13-foot by 20-foot lease area at the following site: 4083 Transport St, Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, CA 94303, 37° 25’ 28.50” N, 122° 5’ 54.02” W. Crown Castle invites comments from any interested party on the impact of the proposed action on any districts, sites, buildings, Z[Y\J[\YLZ VY VIQLJ[Z ZPNUPÄJHU[ PU (TLYPJHU OPZ[VY` archaeology, engineering or culture that are listed or determined eligible for listing in the National 9LNPZ[LY VM /PZ[VYPJ 7SHJLZ HUK VY ZWLJPÄJ YLHZVU [OL WYVWVZLK HJ[PVU TH` OH]L H ZPNUPÄJHU[ PTWHJ[ VU [OL X\HSP[` VM [OL O\THU LU]PYVUTLU[ :WLJPÄJ information regarding the project is available by calling Monica Gambino, 2000 Corporate Drive, Canonsburg, PA 15317, Monica.Gambino@ CrownCastle.com, 724-416-2516 within 30 days of the date of this publication.” www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 15, 2017 • Page 31

TAX SEMINAR

IMPACT OF TAX REFORM ON LOCAL REAL ESTATE Palo Alto Hills Golf & Country Club 3000 Alexis Drive, Palo Alto Saturday, January 6th, 2018 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Please join DeLeon Realty at our Real Estate Tax Seminar to learn about how Trump’s tax plan could impact the local market as well as other important real estate tax issues.

Gain insight from Michael Repka, the managing broker and general counsel of DeLeon Realty.

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Page 32 • December 15, 2017 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Seminar is for prospective clients only.

No outside real estate professionals permitted.