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Business license
tax proposed
Page 3
w w w.PaloA ltoOnline.com
Eyewitness
to history
Locals relate personal
experiences of the
Inauguration
page 18
Movies 35
Eating Out 37
Crossword/Sudoku 64
NSports Stanford men emerge from own tennis shadow Page 26
NArts & Entertainment Musical vagabonds return to Palo Alto Page 31
NHome & Real Estate Take a deep breath — indoors Page 41
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Nine years ago, Ka’apeha was in dire need of a new liver. Until they could
find a suitable donor, Ka’apeha’s doctors gave him the next best thing: time.
They did it using a new method of “liver assistance” known as CVVH
(continuous venovenous hemofiltration). The treatment was unconventional
to say the least. But CVVH allowed Ka’apeha to remain stable until a donor
became available (an unprecedented 80 hours). The results were ideal.
Ka’apeha got a healthy new liver and his mom, Averi, got a healthy new
profession. She was so inspired by the care her son received that she
changed her career path. Today she works at Packard Children’s Hospital
as a nurse. And Ka’apeha, well, he spends his time elsewhere.
Visit www.lpch.org for more information.
Page 2ÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊUÊ*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞ
© 2009 Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
Lucile Packard
Children’s Hospital
AT STANFORD
Upfront
Local news, information and analysis
Business tax could be on November ballot
Facing budget shortfalls, Palo Alto ponders
collecting revenue from businesses
by Gennady Sheyner
reating a new tax in the midst With the city facing a $2.6 millionof a recession is never a popu- and-growing fiscal gap in this year’s
lar proposition, even a tax with budget, and a projected gap of $5.3
as appetizing a name as the BLT.
million next year, city officials beBut as business leaders learned lieve most residents would support
Wednesday morning, Palo Alto’s the new tax, which could keep the
long-discussed but never actualized city from cutting services.
plan to institute a business-license
The prospect of a BLT may seem
tax could be on the ballot as early as scary to some business owners, but
this November — whether or not the many were urged Wednesday to
business community approves of it. stop opposing the new tax and to
C
start participating in its enactment.
As City Council member John Barton told a Chamber of Commerce
audience Wednesday, many voters
would see this proposal as a “slam
dunk” and would likely support it.
Because the tax would require approval from only 50 percent of the
voters, the proposal’s passage may
be inevitable, in his estimation.
Business owners ought not to fight
the tax, but rather, clearly communicate their concerns to city officials
between now and November, the
earliest time the proposal could face
the voters, Barton said.
“I encourage you guys to be real
clear, as a business group, about what
it is that’s important to you,” Barton
said. “You’re going to influence it by
being united, by being clear about
what you want, and by participating
in every step of the way.”
But the details remain fuzzy.
Staff and consultants have been
compiling a list of local businesses
over the past few months and surveying surrounding communities
to see what methodologies they use
for taxing their business, said Lalo
Perez, the city’s director of administrative services.
“The goal of staff is to ensure we
don’t put a burden on the business
community,” Perez said.
Just about every city in California has some sort of businesslicense tax, Perez said, with Palo
Alto being a rare exception. Some,
including San Mateo, Menlo Park
and East Palo Alto, base their
taxes on gross receipts and generate $2.9 million, $1.3 million and
$400,000 in revenue per year, respectively.
The average annual tax rates at
(continued on page 8)
EDUCATION
District proposes
two stories
for Garland
Palo Alto school district
is taking into account
earthquake-safety standards
lic hearing for Alma Plaza, at the
Nov. 19 meeting of the Planning and
Transportation Commission. Members of the neighborhood group
“Friends of Alma Plaza” and several
planning commissioners argued at
that time that the room should be
open throughout the day and characterized the proposed time restrictions as a bait-and-switch tactic by
the developer.
McNellis has vehemently denied
any switch, citing early discussions
about the time restrictions on use
of the room due to peak shopping
by Emilie Doolittle
o make room for more classrooms, the Palo Alto Unified
School District is considering
adding two-story buildings to Garland Elementary School before it
re-opens in 2010.
The district staff presented several design concepts for the Garland
campus at a Board of Education
meeting Jan. 13. The elementary
school site, located next to Jordan
Middle School and currently leased
by the private Stratford School,
would be re-opened by the district
in November 2010.
The retrofitted North California
Avenue campus would have a new
library, multipurpose room and 24
classrooms. Construction would begin in June 2010.
“This community is not ready for
two-story buildings,” Superintendent Kevin Skelly said. However,
“The safest place for our kids is in
these two-story buildings. ... There
is a safety element in these buildings that you won’t find in shopping
malls and other buildings.”
The new facilities would have to
adhere to seismic-safety standards
in accordance with the California
Building Code, he noted.
Skelly also said that the district
would like community input regarding design concepts for Garland.
“We want to be good neighbors
with the process,” Skelly said.
Elisa De Martel lives next to
Garland and has four children, one
who attends Stratford School, and
a baby who will attend Garland Elementary.
(continued on page 11)
(continued on page 9)
T
Dana Ullman
Funds needed to keep donkeys ‘out to pasture’
Barron Park neighborhood’s two donkeys, Niner (right) and Perry, graze in their pen at Bol Park last week. Their caretakers are seeking
funds to secure future veterinary care. See story on page 13.
CITY COUNCIL
Battle over Alma Plaza’s
future resumes Monday
City Council to discuss mixed-use project,
community room hours
by Gennady Sheyner
fter 14 public hearings span- milestone Monday night.
ning more than two years,
That’s when the City Council is
John McNellis’ effort to rede- scheduled to discuss and possibly
velop Alma Plaza could hit a crucial decide on the widely debated proj-
A
ect, which includes a grocery store,
37 homes, a commercial building
with 14 below-market-rate apartments, a park and a community
room.
Several issues are expected to
come into play Monday night, including how the South Palo Alto
development in the 3400 block of
Alma Street would be subdivided
and whether the proposed community room could still be considered a
public benefit if it’s closed between
11 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily, as the developer has proposed.
The community room emerged
as a hot-button issue at the last pub-
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The Palo Alto Weekly (ISSN 0199-1159) is
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Tony Ciampi’s vindication
I
t was one of those cases that
turn up on the daily police log
and get a few paragraphs online or in the paper.
Palo Alto police rousted a homeless man who had been living in
his van in a residential neighborhood just south of downtown.
The homeless man, Tony Ciampi, 42, was arrested for assaulting
police officers. It seemed to a be
clear-cut case because if you hit a
cop that’s a crime.
There is no question, according
to police testimony, that Ciampi
fought with three police officers
until he was subdued when one officer used his Taser on Ciampi not
once but twice to subdue him.
The arrest happened last March
15 and the charges against Ciampi
were dismissed by Santa Clara
County Superior Court Judge
Thang Nugyen Barrett in midDecember.
The arrest initially came to the
Weekly’s attention because this
was a “Taser case,” only the second time Palo Alto police had
used an electronic Taser to subdue
someone.
But it wasn’t just a Taser case.
Instead, it was a case about the
Constitutional right that protects
citizens from unlawful searches
by the police.
Judge Barrett sided with the
Constitution.
I’m in court often covering hearings and I talk with police every
day about what’s happening in the
community, so I’m inclined to be
sympathetic to the cops. They have
a tough, thankless job. Most of the
criminal defendants I see in court
deserve to be handcuffed and in
orange jail clothing.
But the Palo Alto police messed
this one up and now the city may
be liable. Ciampi said he is going
to sue.
The March 15 arrest started with
a call from resident Ken Alsman,
which was played in court. Alsman
complained that a man had been
sleeping in a van in front of his
home and made his wife uncomfortable.
Three Palo Alto officers responded. The cops were unable
to coax Ciampi out of his van to
talk to them until one of them pretended to make a radio call for a
tow truck.
Ciampi, according to court tes-
timony, then burst out of his van,
yelled at the officers, and went
back into his van, slamming the
door.
An officer then opened the van
door and another then reached into
the van and pulled Ciampi out of
it, resulting in the melee in which
Ciampi struck all three officers.
The story just gets worse for the
police.
One officer testified that he
thought Ciampi was a drug user because of pock marks on his arms,
which he cited as justification for
pulling Ciampi out of his van.
But Ciampi is an Army veteran
and has been treated at the Palo
Alto VA Hospital for a skin condition that leaves pock mocks on
his arms.
Judge Barrett ruled that the Palo
Alto police violated the Constitutional rights of Ciampi by illegally
enticing him to leave his van in the
first place, which made everything
else they did illegal.
The cops do screw things up
once in a while, and this was one
of those times.
Ron Eadie thought so, too.
He and his wife attended the
court hearings.
“I’ve known Tony for 12 or 15
years,” Eadie said. They’re part of
a group that has morning coffee together in downtown Palo Alto.
“I admire Tony for his character,” Eadie said. “He has friends
who admire him. He’s usually very
quiet.”
Normally, supporters of criminal
defendants are family members,
not retired Navy captains, like
Eadie. He served on a destroyer
escort in the later stages of the
Korean War. He also played in the
1952 Rose Bowl as a member of
Stanford’s football team.
“I’m usually sympathetic to cops
because I come from a family of
cops and firemen in Chicago,”
Eadie said.
“We’re kind of hoping it gets
thrown out,” he added, shortly
before Barrett dismissed charges
against Ciampi.
Now, if Ciampi carries out his
threat to sue, the city will likely
pay for what the officers did March
15. N
Senior Staff Writer Don Kazak
can be e-mailed at dkazak@paweekly.com.
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by Don Kazak
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Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
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STANFORD
(with purchase of
Original Ownership Since 1975
Traffic report: more cars heading to Palo Alto?
Stanford expansions could make bad situation worse, study states
new roof)
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Residential & Commercial
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by Gennady Sheyner
I
n some ways, the new report
examining the traffic impacts
of the two mammoth Stanford
University developments says less
about the projects themselves than
it does about the future of traffic
Palo Alto.
The picture isn’t pretty.
That was the somber conclusion
the Planning and Transportation
Commission reached Wednesday
night during a study session on
a new long-term traffic analysis.
The study is part of the Draft
Environmental Impact Report
(EIR) for the proposed Stanford
Shopping Center and Stanford
University Medical Center expansions. The full EIR is due out this
spring.
The analysis indicates that many
key intersections along roads, such
as El Camino Real, Alma Street
and Middlefield Road, would be
at a “failing” level of service in
2025.
But in most cases, they would
be failing even if neither Stanford
University Medical Center nor the
Stanford Shopping Center expanded. Those sections that are failing
already would become even more
congested, in some cases becoming virtual parking lots, the report
projects.
The commission acknowledged
that adding the two gigantic developments to the formula probably wouldn’t help.
But given the bleak “base projections,” the gigantic projects
wouldn’t create a traffic problem
so much as make a horrible situation more horrible, commissioners
said.
“I’m shocked by the bad data in
this baseline,” Commissioner Arthur Keller said, referring to the
data that assumes neither project
was built.
The traffic-impact analysis
— put together by consultant
AECOM Transportation — studies 63 intersections in Palo Alto
and surrounding communities. It
tries to predict how these intersections would look in 2015 and 2025
and considers the traffic flow if
one, both or neither of the Stanford projects was built.
Specific impacts at each inter(continued on page 11)
Stanford Continuing Studies, the Program in Medieval Studies, the Sarum Seminar,
the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, and the Center for European Studies
present
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Death and the Maiden:
From Chaucer to Pearl Jam
The Cabaret Supper Club
Join us for an intimate evening of dining
each Friday & Saturday, 7pm to 10pm
Live Music and Dancing
Ever since the ancient Greeks told stories about
the abduction of the maiden Persephone by the
god Hades, European cultures have nurtured a
darkly erotic link between death and maidenhood.
This connection between the horror of death and
the allure of virginity was particularly charged
during Chaucer's time when, in the wake of the
Black Death, Europeans first began to cope with
the social, economic, and cultural challenges posed
by large numbers of unmarried women in their midst.
How did Chaucer and his contemporaries imagine the deaths of maidens? How
did the maidens approach death? And in what ways do these themes resonate in
contemporary culture?
Join Judith Bennett , Professor of History, University of Southern California,
as she discusses the deaths of maidens within a cultural history that extends from
ancient Greek myths to contemporary American pop songs.
Thursday, January 29
7:00pm
Pigott Hall (Bldg. 260), Room 113
Stanford University
Free and open to the public
For more information please visit:
continuingstudies.stanford.edu
Super Bowl Party
3UNDAY&EBSTsPM
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Dallas Black Dance Theatre
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Fri., Feb. 6 • 8 p.m.
General Admission, $25;
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Group rates available.
Tickets on sale at
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or www.foothill.edu/fa
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
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Upfront
There is no way to describe how cool
that was. Just, yay.
—Jessica Brooks, a Palo Alto High senior, whose
Twitter message from Washington, D.C., described her
feeling upon seeing President Barack Obama. See story
on page 18.
Around Town
RED MEETS GREEN ... The
phrases “green activism” and
“emergency preparedness”
are rarely uttered in the same
breath. Unless, of course,
you’re in Palo Alto, where the
two subjects remain the surest
ways to get the community’s attention. Now, the green crowd
is teaming up with neighborhood watchdogs to spread the
groups’ collective wealth of
knowledge to the rest of the city.
On Saturday, Jan. 31, the “Red
and Green” campaign — a joint
venture of Acterra, Palo Alto
Neighborhoods, Community
Environmental Action Partnership and the City of Palo Alto
— will send volunteers knocking
on doors in every neighborhood
of the city. Residents wishing to
volunteer are asked to gather at
the Mitchell Park or the Rinconada fire stations between 9 and
10 a.m. to pick up the packets
and have some coffee and bagels. They would then scatter to
every nook and cranny of Palo
Alto to deliver information on
how to become a Block Preparedness Coordinator, sign up
for Community Alert and Notification System (CANS) updates,
reduce carbon footprints and
get a free energy audit. At noon,
volunteers would reassemble
for a barbecue put together by
Palo Alto firefighters. “The goal
is to reach every household with
neighbor-to-neighbor contacts,”
Council member Yoriko Kishimoto said at the Jan. 12 council
meeting.
POOF! ... The release of 14
white doves Monday at King
Plaza in downtown Palo Alto
seemed more like the release of
racing doves than ceremonial
birds. The doves, symbolic of
peace and hope, were released
as part of the afternoon Martin
Luther King Jr. birthday celebration. In a poof and whiffle, the
doves were gone into the sky as
some in the large crowd were
still looking for them. Richard
Hernandez, Oakland-based
purveyor of doves for release,
said sometimes the birds do
that, and some don’t return
even though they are trained to.
“There’s a lot of predators out
there,” he explained, adding that
he’s lost five birds of his 50-bird
flock already this year.
Page 6ÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊUÊ*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞ
NEW FACES ... While the nation’s eyes zeroed in on the
historic transition at the White
House, Palo Alto has been ushering in a few fresh faces into its
own fold. On Jan. 12 — a week
after Peter Drekmeier and Jack
Morton were elected, respectively, mayor and vice mayor by
their City Council colleagues
— the council selected a new
member for the Parks and Recreation Commission and began
interviewing for a new Planning
and Transportation Commission member. The fresh face in
the parks commission will be
Sunny Dykwel, a local Realtor
whose activism resume includes
involvement in Friends of Lytton Plaza, the Palo Alto Black
and White Ball and Destination
Palo Alto. Dykwel, who edged
four other non-incumbent competitors for the board seat, will
take over for Alex Panelli, who
declined a fresh term because
of the time commitment. The
new planning commissioner is
expected to be appointed at
the end of January and will take
the seat formerly held by Paula
Sandas, who resigned Dec. 31,
2008, to become chief executive
officer of the Palo Alto Chamber
of Commerce.
SMOKELESS IN STANFORD ...
A group of Stanford University
students is hoping the beginning
of a new year will help bring the
end of cigarette smoke on campus. Stanford Colleges Against
Cancer has recently launched
an on-line petition drive to create a “smoke-free Stanford.” The
petition had 395 signatures by
the middle of this week. “The
freedom of non-smokers to
move around campus without
exposure to secondhand smoke
is a fundamental right,” the petition states. “Students should be
able to walk from their dorms
to the classroom and around
main campus without holding
their breath or avoiding walkways with cigarette smoke.” At
least one Stanford professor
has sided with the SCAC, the
Stanford Daily reported. “I would
emphasize this is not about
depriving smokers of anything.
This is about allowing people to
breathe clean air,” said Dr. Robert Jackler, professor of otorhinolaryngology. N
Upfront
LAND USE
Public Agenda
Proposed hotel to bring Asian flavor to baylands
PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL ... The City Council plans to hold a
joint study session with the Parks and Recreation Commission. The
council will also consider approval of a site and design review for
Alma Plaza, a mixed-use commercial and residential development
at 3401, 3415 and 3445 Alma St. The study session will begin at 6
p.m. on Monday, Jan. 26. The council’s regular meeting will follow in
the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).
Conference center, plaza and 162 rooms proposed for Ming’s restaurant site
by Gennady Sheyner
I
Courtesy of Stoecker & Northway Architects Inc.
n designing a new four-story
hotel on Embarcadero Road,
architects aimed to blend Asian
design elements with those evoking
the nearby baylands.
The hotel’s rooftop gardens and
pavers on the driveways would reference Japanese parks, while the
building’s muted colors and horizontal feel would provide continuity with the surrounding nature, according to the architects.
Even the project’s layout and entrance locations were determined by
the principles of feng shui, a Chinese philosophy that uses placement
of objects and design elements to
achieve harmony.
But the most conspicuous sign of
the project’s Asian flavor would be
Ming’s restaurant, a popular landmark that now operates, and would
continue to operate, at 1700 Embarcadero Road. The project still has
a row of hurdles to clear, including
a zoning change and approvals by
the local planning commissions and
the City Council. But last week, the
city’s Architectural Review Board
spoke enthusiastically about the
project’s potential to improve the
neighborhood next to the Palo Alto
Airport and the Palo Alto Municipal
Golf Course.
The proposed development
by Vicky Ching and Wu-Chang
Hsiang would also include a plaza,
a bike path and outdoor seating for
Ming’s.
Board member Judith Wasserman
said she was excited about the myriad transportation options the hotel
would provide to its guests.
“You can fly in, you can drive in,
you can bike in, or you can jog by
the baylands,” Wasserman said. “I
just think it’s great.”
Cynthia Munoz, project architect
from local firm Stoecker and Northway Architects, said the principles
of feng shui helped determine the
architect’s decision to place the
main entrance to the building at
East Bayshore Road and away from
the nearby electrical tower owned
by PG&E.
“Owners had actually consulted
with a feng shui expert and the electricity tower at the corner represents
a major ‘fire’ element,” Munoz told
the board. “They were advised to
A view from the southwest corner of the proposed hotel at the site of
Ming’s restaurant in Palo Alto. The current restaurant is to the left
(slightly hidden).
keep the main entry as far away
from it as possible.”
The proposed development would
also include a gym, conference center and small retail area and four
rooftop-garden areas. The hotel
would feature 162 rooms, ranging
from studios to two-bedroom units.
Each room would have kitchen facilities.
Several board members, including
Chair Grace Lee and Wasserman,
also encouraged the architects to
adhere to principals of “horizontality” to maintain continuity with the
baylands. Gerald Mitchell, principal
with Oakland-based Keller Mitchell & Co., said the Oriental and baylands themes are “pretty compatible” with each other.
“Our design concept is basically
dictated by the theme of the hotel,
which is intended to be ‘Oriental atmosphere,’ but that would take place
mostly in roof gardens and interior
spaces,” Mitchell said. “Around the
edges we do plan to reflect a little bit
of the bay plantings but still keep an
Asian flavor.”
The project had been slightly
modified from its original plans.
Most notably, its height was lowered from 56 to 50 feet, based on
earlier feedback from the Planning
and Transportation Commission.
Architectural Review Board members said they were excited about the
project and looked forward to working with the applicant.
“I think using Asian elements in
design is fantastic,” board member
David Solnick said. “I’m optimistic
about the whole project.” N
Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner
can be e-mailed at gsheyner@
paweekly.com.
PALO ALTO ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW BOARD ... The board is
scheduled to consider a major architectural review of 2805 El Camino Real, a two-story, 6,850-square-foot retail building. The board
also plans to conduct a preliminary review of the proposed design
guidelines for the Stanford Shopping Center expansion. The meeting is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 29, in the Council
Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).
MILITARISM and FEMINISM
IN
AFRICA
AMINA MAMA
BARBARA LEE Distinguished Professor of Ethnic Studies at Mills College
Chair of Gender Studies at the African Gender Institute at the University of
Cape Town, South Africa
TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 4:30-6:00PM
Levinthal Hall, Humanities Center
Stanford University
Co-sponsors: African and African American Studies Program,
Michelle R Clayman Institute for Gender Research and
Stanford Humanities Center
Historic Resources Board (Jan. 21)
Planning & Transportation Commission (Jan. 21)
PALO ALTO PLANNING AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION ...
The commission is scheduled to discuss a Planned Community zone
change for 488 West Charleston Ave., a 35-unit affordable-housing
development. The commission is also scheduled to review Zoning
Ordinance amendments to add incentives to encourage the provision
of historic covenants for properties, in exchange for allowing condominium subdivision of two parcels that otherwise would be prohibited
from subdivision. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Wednesday,
Jan. 28, in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).
Distinguished Lecture Series
government action this week
2300 Wellesley Ave. The commission voted to approve a request by the city’s Department of Public Works for the historic rehabilitation of the College Terrace Library
at 2300 Wellesley Ave. Yes: Bernstein, DiCicco, Kohler, Loukianoff, Bunnenberg,
Makinen Absent: Bower.
PALO ALTO BOARD OF EDUCATION ... The board will discuss how
to go about drawing up new boundaries for the district with plans to
reopen Garland Elementary School in 2010. The meeting will begin
at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 27, in the Administration Building (25
Churchill Ave.).
CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES
CityView
A round-up of
PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION ... The commission
is scheduled to elect a new chair and vice chair and discuss the
needs assessment for the 2010-2020 comprehensive plan for the
community service department. The meeting is scheduled for 7
p.m. on Monday, Jan. 26, in the Council Conference Room at City
Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).
ICA
Stanford traffic impact: The commission discussed the traffic impact analysis for
Stanford Shopping Center and Stanford University Medical Center expansion projects. Action: None
*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊU Page 7
Student Camp & Trip Advisors
Palo Alto Historical Association
presents a public program
SUMMER OPPORTUNITIES FAIR
Palo Alto
from Above
SUNDAY February 1, 2009 10 AM – 1 PM
MENLO SCHOOL 50 Valparaiso, Atherton
!""?! !
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Speaker: Ben Hatfield
MEET DIRECTORS FROM
OVERNIGHT CAMPS #8(+0:065(3?#,,5?"7,*0(3:>
Sunday, January 25, 2009
at 2pm
TRIPS0205.?&03+,85,99?&683+=0+,#6;805.
PROGRAMS"(0305.?!(5*/?8:9?(5.;(.,?644;50:>",8<0*,
Lucie Stern Community Center
1305 Middlefield Road
Palo Alto
EDUCATIONAL633,.,(47;9,9$")86(+
68468,05-684(:065*(33
PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL
CIVIC CENTER, 250 HAMILTON AVENUE
BROADCAST LIVE ON KZSU, FM 90.1
CABLECAST LIVE ON GOVERNMENT
ACCESS CHANNEL 26
(TENTATIVE) AGENDA - SPECIAL MEETING COUNCIL CHAMBERS
January 26, 2009 – 6:00 P.M.
1. Joint Meeting of Parks and Recreation Commission (PARC)
and Council Members Regarding Review of Priorities 7:00
PM or as soon as possible thereafter COUNCIL CHAMBERS
2. Adoption of a Resolution Expressing Appreciation to Donald
Dudak Upon His Retirement
3. Approval of Contract with Dell USA LP in the Amount Not to
Exceed $196,911 for the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement
4. Finance Committee Recommendation to Adopt an Ordinance Authorizing the Closing of the Budget for the 2008
Fiscal Year and to Approve 2008 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR)
5. Finance Committee Recommendation to Adopt a Resolution
Approving the Execution of the Agreement for a Long-Term
Assignment of the City's Share of Transfer Capability on the
California-Oregon Transmission Project to Other Members of
the Transmission Agency of Northern California
6. Finance Committee Recommendation to Accept Maze & Associates' Audit of the City of Palo Alto's Financial Statements
as of June 30, 2008 and Management Letter
7. Approval of Amendment No. 1 to Contract No. C08122012
with Rodan Builders, Inc., in the Amount of $39,332 for the
Renovation of the Open Space Maintenance Building at
Foothills Park, Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Project
OS-07003 for a Total Not to Exceed Amount of $272,232; and
Adoption of a Budget Amendment Ordinance for the Fiscal
Year 2009 to Reappropriate $20,000 from CIP OS-00001 and
$19,332 from CIP OS-09001 to CIP Project OS-07003 for a
Total of $39,332
8. Adoption of a Resolution to Authorize the City Manager to
Award and Sign Contracts for Renewable Certificates from
Suppliers to Meet the Needs of the PaloAltoGreen Program
for an Annual Amount Not to Exceed $1,500,000 During Calendar Years 2009 Through 2011
9. Approval of a Contract with Nova Partners in the Amount of
$241,340 for Construction Management Services for a Total
Not to Exceed Amount of $277,540 for the College Terrace
Library and Child Care Center Improvements, Capital Improvement Program Project
PE-05010
10. Approval of an Amendment to Enterprise Fund Contract No.
C07122034 with URS Corporation in the Amount of $111,160
for a Total Not to Exceed Amount of $1,411,160 for Construction Management Services for the Palo Alto, Mountain View/
Moffett Area Recycled Water Pipeline Project, Capital Improvement Program Project WQ-04010
11. Consider Approval of a Site and Design Review for a Mixed
Use Commercial and Residential Project, a Tentative Map to
Subdivide Three Lots Into Separate Parcels and a Record of
Land Use Action for a Project Located at 3401, 3415, 3445
Alma Street (Alma Plaza)
12. Acceptance of Service Efforts and Accomplishments Report
FY 2007-08
Page 8ÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊUÊ*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞ
Business tax
(continued from page 3)
“Make A BRIGHT CHOICE FOR YOUR SUMMER”
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Upfront
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these cities are $311, $419 and $486,
respectively.
Mountain View, meanwhile, bases
its fee on the number of employees
a business has. Its system is set up
to be more of a business registry
than a revenue generator, bringing
in roughly $200,000 a year. The average tax rate there is $45.
Palo Alto has yet to determine
which model it wants to use, Perez
said. But he noted that a city that
wants to use the BLT to generate
revenue would likely consider the
gross-receipts method.
Barton, despite his prediction that
a tax would earn voter support, said
he has mixed feelings about the
BLT. He said he would support the
creation of a new business registry
that could potentially be used as a
marketing tool. Palo Alto is already
a tough city in which to set up shop,
Barton argued, and adding a tax
would only make things harder.
“It is, in my opinion, a tax on
businesses to do business in Palo
Alto,” said Barton, who runs an
architectural firm with a Palo Alto
office. “It is a very hard place to do
business, often for good reasons
and for good outcomes.
“I support the business registry,
but I’m not in favor of the BLT unless it comes with commitment at
the policy level to make it easier to
do business in Palo Alto,” he said.
Meanwhile, city staff and consultants have been gradually winnowing down their unofficial registry of
local businesses. In November, Perez
estimated the number of businesses
in Palo Alto to be around 25,000.
Since then, the consultant and staff
have identified thousands of duplicates and businesses that no longer
exist, Perez said. Current estimates
peg the number of local businesses
at around 9,000, he said.
Staff had also previously discussed using the BLT revenues to
build a new police headquarters.
But given the dire economic forecast, these funds would now likely
be used to close the budget gap
and maintain current services, City
Manager James Keene said.
“It would be inaccurate to assume
that this is being used for the publicsafety building,” Keene said. “It’s
really a matter of how to keep an
array of services the city provides
and how to fund them.”
The City Council’s finance subcommittee is scheduled to discuss the
BLT at its Feb. 3 meeting, he said.
Business owners at Wednesday’s
breakfast expressed concern about
the new tax but stopped short of
outright opposition. Most said they
would support a small fee or a business registry of some sort, as long as
the proposal includes some incentives for businesses.
Developer Roxy Rapp said he
would back the BLT but only if the
city uses the new business registry
to more effectively identify the city’s
retail gaps and development possibilities. But caution, he said, is key.
“The city has to be very careful on how they tax the businesses
downtown, because you can really
hurt us,” he said. “You can only tax
so much.” N
Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner
can be e-mailed at gsheyner@
paweekly.com.
Upfront
Garland school
(continued from page 3)
“All the schools around here are
only one story, so having two-story
buildings will be different,” she
said. “The International School of
the Peninsula is a two-story building and it is a bit bulky.”
Nevertheless, Del Martel concluded that Palo Alto needs more
schools and more classes.
Garland neighbors met with the
architects and representatives of the
district on Jan. 20. The neighbors
were presented with three potential
site plans for Garland.
Neighbor Erin Mershon, who
lives behind the school site, commented on the meeting on a Town
Square post (at www.paloaltoonline.
com). “Two (site designs) consisted
of buildings along the back property
line of our houses, 10 feet from the
fence line,” she said. “One was a
two-story building, the other, a onestory building with vaulted ceilings
much like the normal school rooms
that we have now. Both of these
plans were deemed unacceptable by
neighbors. Neither left enough room
between the current L and the new
building for a fire truck to get onto
the campus and neither took into
account the huge redwood and pine
trees along the back fence.
“The third option was to put a
two-story building where there are
currently portables along the fence
between Garland and Jordan,” Mershon said. “This was the most favorable except for the two houses closest to where this building will be.”
Mershon said that she thinks most
neighbors are in favor of reopening
the school and expanding it with
two-story buildings to provide more
field space for students.
Garland neighbor Karleen Turnbull also supported the reopening
and remodeling of Garland Elementary. “Better schools, better property
values,” she said.
Karleen is not concerned about
having two-story buildings. “More
important to me is the basic design,
the colors to match the landscape
around it,” Turnbull said. “If they
can do a good job of remodeling the
school to fit the neighborhood then
I’ll be happy.”
“My personal preference is that
we have a lot of open space for kids
to run around,” board member Camille Townsend said. “I support
two-story buildings.”
“We have to make sure that if
we have two-story buildings that
we have strong ventilation,” board
member Melissa Caswell said.
With air-conditioning most likely
not an option, Caswell said she was
concerned that second-level classrooms would be too warm and not
conducive to student learning.
A Palo Alto resident addressed
this issue in a Town Square post (at
www.paloaltoonline.com): “Why
would air conditioning not be an
option? It’s a matter of health and
safety. ... Thermostats can be centrally controlled; energy can come
from solar panels.”
The resident added that “13
wrongs” — or a 13th out-of-date
school designed to match the other
12 elementary schools — does not
make a right. N
Staff Writer Emilie Doolittle can
be e-mailed at edoolittle@paweekly.com.
CITY OF PALO ALTO
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
CITY OF PALO ALTO
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that the City Council of the City
of Palo Alto will hold a Public Hearing at the Regular Council
Meeting on Monday, February 9, 2009 at 7:00 p.m., or as near
thereafter as possible, in the Council Chambers, City Hall, 250
Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California to Consider the Approval
of a Vesting Tentative Map and Record of Land Use Action for a
45-unit townhome development at 200 San Antonio Avenue.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that the City Council of the City
of Palo Alto will hold a Public Hearing at the Regular Council
Meeting on Monday, February 9, 2009 at 7:00 p.m., or as near
thereafter as possible, in the Council Chambers, City Hall, 250
Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California to Consider the Approval
of Water Supply Assessment for Stanford Medical Center and
Stanford Shopping Center Expansion Projects
DONNA J. GRIDER
City Clerk
DONNA J. GRIDER
City Clerk
D O W NTO W N
L O S
A L T O S
Unique Shops For Unique Children
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The concerts benefit Music
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Buy your tickets at the store
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*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊU Page 9
Upfront
CRIME
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7089_CCWB_PAW
Page 10ÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊUÊ*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞ
ideo from a security camera,
taken just before the Walgreens fire started on the
night of July 1, 2007, captures the
image of a man climbing to the
roof of the building in downtown
Palo Alto, walking around on the
roof, and then entering the building
through a rooftop door.
Minutes later, the fire that destroyed the building broke out.
The video was shown in federal
court in San Jose Wednesday as part
of the prosecution’s case against
Donald Ray Williams, who has been
charged with setting the fire.
The security camera was on the
roof of a building housing Switch &
Data, an Internet company located
across the alley that runs behind the
former Walgreens.
The video images were taken
shortly before 9 p.m. and show the
man scaling Walgreens. Within 30
minutes, a glow can be seen on the
roof, and within minutes, the fire
was raging, with smoke billowing
across the alley.
The video also shows firefighters arriving in the alley to battle the
blaze.
The man climbing to the roof cannot be identified from the video, in
part because the security camera
was about a half-block away. But
it was clear enough to show he was
initially wearing white pants and a
white shirt when he walked down
the alley toward a rear alcove of the
building and then shed the white
shirt and climbed to the roof.
From the video, it isn’t clear
whether the man was then wearing
a black shirt or whether he was an
African-American man without a
shirt, according to testimony of Gabrielle Solleder, a special agent of
the federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agency. Williams is African American.
Solleder testified that she and Palo
Alto Police Lt. Sandra Brown recovered a white T-shirt from a Dumpster behind the Walgreens building
after the fire and sent it to an ATF
lab for DNA testing.
Solleder also testified that she
took a DNA swab from Williams
five days after the fire. According to
the prosecution, later trial testimony
about the results of the DNA tests
will supposedly link Williams to
the T-shirt, as was reported in news
stories in 2007.
The testimony of two earlier witnesses identified Williams as a suspect.
On Tuesday afternoon, the manager of the bar in the University
Avenue restaurant Pasta? said Williams was the man she saw climb
down from the roof of the Walgreens building late one night, about
a week before the arson fire.
Caylin Campilongo pointed out
Williams in the courtroom, sitting
between his defense attorneys.
Campilongo said the man she saw
“looks like the defendant.”
“He looks like the person you saw,
but you’re not 100 percent certain?”
defense attorney Manuel Araujo
asked Campilongo during crossexamination.
“Correct,” she replied.
She also had testified that she saw
the same man walking on the roofs
of nearby buildings in the same period she saw the man climb down
from the roof of the Walgreens. The
Pasta? restaurant is several stores
down University Avenue from the
former Walgreens, with a rear exit
for employees leading to the alley.
That’s where Campilongo said she
saw Williams.
Last week, Victor Spence, a
homeless man who lives in the alley behind Walgreens and adjacent
stores, said he saw Williams climb
up a pipe to the roof of the building
“eight or 10 times.”
Spence said he called Williams
“Spider-Man” because of his climbing abilities.
Spence also testified that he once
saw Williams leave the Walgreens
building from a ground-floor exit on
the alley, which is locked from the
outside but not from the inside.
Earlier testimony established that
a stairway from the alley door led to
the second floor of the building and
an enclosed walkway, which had a
door to a patio area on part of the
roof that is lower.
Someone climbing to the roof of
the Walgreens building presumably
could have used the door in the enclosed walkway to gain access into
the building.
The fire apparently started in a
suite of second-floor offices above
the Walgreens store and an adjacent
Subway sandwich shop.
Outside court on Wednesday, Federal Public Defender Manuel Araujo
said that there will be no insanity
defense and that he is keeping the
option open of calling an alibi witness.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Fry
made court filings in the case last
November requesting to be notified
if the defense was going to present
an alibi witness or use an insanity
defense.
The prosecution is expected to
finish presenting its case next week,
and the defense will begin calling
its witnesses. Williams’ trial continues on Monday. N
Senior Staff Writer Don
Kazak can be e-mailed at dkazak@
paweekly.com.
Fresh news
delivered daily
Upfront
Alma Plaza
(continued from page 5)
(continued from page 3)
section (including the 34 in Palo
Alto) are listed in a 160-page report, rich with charts, maps and
definitions of such esoteric designations as LOS (Level of Service), TIRE (Traffic Infusion in
Residential Environment) and Average Critical Delay.
In sum, the report concludes that
by 2025 traffic congestion at some
of the major city streets would be
unbearable even if neither project
existed.
Keller and Commissioner Susan
Fineberg expressed skepticism
over the study’s numbers.
Keller questioned its projection
that traffic at certain portions of
El Camino Real would more than
double in 17 years from its current
level and greatly outpace traffic
growth at other parts of the city.
The study uses a model that assumes a 1.6 percent compound
annual growth in traffic and then
disburses the added traffic to the
channels it perceives as the most
convenient ones.
“I frankly am skeptical as to
whether the people in Palo Alto
would allow any development in
Palo Alto if the projections are
that we’d double traffic on El
Camino,” Keller said.
“Seems like everything is based
on that baseline, and I suspect that
baseline.”
Commissioners Karen Holman
and Fineberg also asked staff for
more details on possible mitigations.
A staff report lists several mitigation measures Stanford could
consider, including distributing
transit passes to hospital employees, further expanding the Marguerite shuttle to downtown Palo
Alto and creating a bicycle connection between the medical center and the shopping center.
But Stanford is still working
on its list of proposed mitigations
and the city staff is still putting
together the Environmental Impact Report section dealing with
the subject.
Fineberg said the mitigation
measures proposed by staff fall
far short of what would be expected, giving the alarming traffic projections.
“The list of mitigations we have
doesn’t match the scale of the
common-sense understanding of
impacts,” Fineberg said.
The medical center expansion
includes major renovations to the
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and to Stanford Hospital and
Clinics. The Children’s Hospital would add 104 beds and new
treatment areas, while Stanford
Hospital would install 144 beds
and add 824,000 feet of space.
The Stanford Shopping Center expansion projects include a
new 120-room hotel and 240,000
square feet of retail space.
The City Council is scheduled
to discuss the traffic analysis
for the two Stanford projects on
Feb 2. N
hours at the grocery store.
Earlier in January, McNellis’ representative James Baer sent a letter
to the council, arguing that the community room was always intended
to be open only during off-peak
hours.
“The limited hours of use of the
community room, and its exemptions from any parking requirement, are neither new nor changed
conditions,” Baer said, adding that
the issues had been discussed by the
council in 2007, when it approved
the project’s PC (Planned Community) zoning.
In the zoning ordinance, the council did specify that the community
room should be used for classes
“offered at hours that are not peak
hours” but did not explicitly state
what the hours should be.
The commission in November
voted 5-1 to recommend denial
of McNellis’ tentative subdivision map, rejecting his proposal to
split the property into three parcels
(Commission Chair Daniel Garber
provided the sole “yes” vote).
On Monday, the council is sched-
Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner
can be e-mailed at gsheyner@
paweekly.com.
uled to take up the same question
and McNellis hopes for a different
answer than the planning commission.
McNellis also argued in November that it is necessary for him
to divide the property into three
parcels so that he could get the
financing he needs for the different facets of the project. Planning
commissioners rejected this argument, saying that the project needs
to be in a single parcel to ensure
the continuous ownership they felt
was necessary for proper maintenance.
The council is scheduled to discuss both the tentative map and the
community room hours at its meeting Monday night. If members side
with McNellis, the two-year publichearing process would finally come
to an end, Interim Planning Director
Curtis Williams said.
“If the council approves it, it’s
basically on to the building-permit
stage,” he said. N
Developer Jim Baer is a business
partner with the Weekly on a officebuilding project.
Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner
can be e-mailed at gsheyner@
paweekly.com.
News Digest
Statewide tax-increase vote could rescue schools
Two state tax increases could be on the ballot this spring, if plans
by both the Legislature and the California Teachers Association (CTA)
come to pass, state Senator Joe Simitian told the Weekly Thursday.
An overall budget agreement between state legislators and Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger may be near, Simitian said.
The agreement could mean a statewide special election this spring on
a tax increase targeted at providing relief for hard-hit school districts.
He said the agreement could include sharp budget cuts in many areas
and some kind of tax-increase combination, requiring a two-thirds voter
approval — most likely including a sales-tax hike or expansion.
Simitian will discuss the funding crisis and emerging possibilities Saturday in Palo Alto at an “Education Update” session set for 10 a.m. to
noon at the Palo Alto Unified School District administration building,
25 Churchill Ave. at El Camino Real.
Also, the California Teachers Association (CTA) is considering pushing for a ballot measure that would increase sales taxes by 1 percent,
resulting in approximately $5 billion in increased revenue for schools. N
— Jay Thorwaldson
Residents can ‘scope’ high-speed-rail studies
State and federal transportation officials will host public meetings this
month to discuss the environmental impacts of the proposed high-speed
rail project proposed to run up the Peninsula.
Residents are invited to “public scoping meetings” with officials from
the two agencies on Tuesday, Jan. 27, at San Francisco State University,
Rooms 673-674, 835 Market St., San Francisco; and Thursday, Jan. 29, at
the Santa Clara Convention Center, 5001 Great America Parkway, Rooms
1 and 2, Santa Clara. Both meetings will take place from 3 to 8 p.m. N
— Gennady Sheyner
Traditional methods.
Essential curriculum.
Breathtaking results.
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*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊU Page 11
why
give
blood?
As a result of cystic fibrosis, identical twins Anabel and Isabel
both underwent double-lung transplantation surgeries at Stanford Hospital. Together they used more than 80 units of blood
products. “I’m deeply grateful to our blood donors,” Isabel said.
“I think they exemplify the best in humanity.” Now doing well,
the pair has written a book and enjoy public speaking. “Giving
blood is the best gift you can give someone and it doesn’t cost
a penny,” Anabel said.
Stanford Blood Center has three
convenient donor centers and
holds blood drives daily throughout
the community. Please visit our
Web site to find out what’s most
convenient for you.
Hillview*
3373 Hillview Avenue
Palo Alto
*Location of Café Scientifique, the
event listed below, left.
Campus
780 Welch Road, Suite #100
Palo Alto
Mountain View
515 South Drive, Suite #20
Mountain View
http://bloodcenter.stanford.edu
888-723-7831
Vision,
Strength and
Excellence in
Banking for
50 Years.
Stanford Federal Credit Union, an active
member of the Stanford community and
proud sponsor of Stanford Blood Center.
Thursday, January 29, 7 - 9 p.m.: Join us at Stanford Blood Center’s Hillview Center
for Café Scientifique.
Anabel and Isabel Stenzel, authors, medical professionals, and identical twins, will
discuss their personal accounts of living with cystic fibrosis, a genetic lung disease.
Copies of their book, The Power of Two: A Twin Triumph over Cystic Fibrosis, will be
available for purchase and autographing.
Admission is free and coffee and cookies will be provided.
For more information about our lecture series, Café Scientifique, please visit our Web
site and select “Café Scientifique from the “What’s New?” pull-down menu.
Page 12ÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊUÊ*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞ
www.sfcu.org
Upfront
Neighborhoods
A roundup of neighborhood news edited by Sue Dremann
AROUND
THE BLOCK
IS ANYONE HOME? ... University South Neighborhood
Association President Elaine
Meyer has revised her list of new
housing that has either been
built or is soon to be built in Palo
Alto. Updated on Jan. 6, the site
notes 3,781 housing units that
have been approved. “The City
only counts units both approved
and built during 1997-2010. So
if a project was approved before 1997 but built later, it isn’t
counted. For example, the Alma
Place low-income development
was built in 1998 but approved
before 1997, so its 106 units
are not counted. The City also
doesn’t count a project if it is
approved during 1997-2010 but
will be constructed after 2010.
That means it can approve many
developments now, as long as
the developer agrees not to
build before 2010, and so it isn’t
counted,” she wrote. For more
information, visit http://elaineslist.
blogspot.com or http://elainesneighborspace.blogspot.com.
E. MEADOW/FABIAN WORKSHOP ... The first neighborhood meeting on the Comprehensive Plan Amendment for
East Meadow Circle/Fabian
Way will take place on Jan. 29
from 7 to 9 p.m. at Palo Verde
Elementary School Auditorium,
3450 Louis Road. Information is available by contacting
Roland Rivera, roland.rivera@
cityofpaloalto.org, or visiting the
project website at www.paloaltocompplan2020.org.
BE YOUR OWN COP ... The
Palo Alto Police Department
will hold its next Citizen Police
Academy class Feb. 25 to April
15. Applications are now being
accepted and are downloadable
from the department’s website:
www.papd.org (Community Involvement). More information is
available from Susie Ord: Susie.
Ord@cityofpaloalto.org. N
Send announcements of neighborhood events, meetings and news to
Sue Dremann, Neighborhoods editor, at sdremann@paweekly.com.
Or talk about your neighborhood
news on Town Square at www.
PaloAltoOnline.com.
Dana Ullman
BREAKFAST INAUGURATIONSTYLE ... Barron Park residents
Bob Cool and Susan Borton
launched an early start to the
presidential Inaugural festivities
with a 6:30 a.m. pancake breakfast for 20 or so friends and
neighbors on Jan. 20. Cool,
who owns KICKS Ice Cream
& Cookies in Willow Glen,
San Jose, served First Lady Michelle Obama’s favorite cookie,
orange-zest pecan shortbread.
The Barron Park neighborhood has kept donkeys since 1936.
‘Shrek’ donkeys seek retirement fund
Recession leaves
financial support
in question
by Sue Dremann
P
erry, the Barron Park neighborhood donkey that was
the model for the “Donkey”
character in the Shrek movies, and
his pen mate, Niner, are in need of
cash. And unless a trust fund is set
up, they could face financial hardships in their twilight years, their
handlers said.
The donkeys are aging, and the cost
of care could go up exponentially if
veterinary care is needed, according
to donkey coordinator Bob Frost.
Frost said the donkeys aren’t hurt-
ing so far. Their care costs about
$1,000 a year, and last fiscal year,
which ended June 30, 2008, donations totaled $5,595, according to
Amila Nezirovich, business manager for the nonprofit ACTERRA,
which runs the Donkey Project.
But dwindling donations have
Frost and other donkey handlers
worried for their future.
In the first half of this fiscal year,
donations were one-third of previous
years, totaling $1,979, Nezirovich
said.
In the past, funds were raised in
part through T-shirt and calendar
sales, but both activities have dropped
off as people have aged, Frost said.
The donkeys’ positive net assets are $22,274, accumulated
UNIVERSITY SOUTH
ZipCar could serve
seniors, neighborhood
Channing House plan to reduce parking, traffic
congestion needs 25 participants
by Sue Dremann
C
hanning House wants to collaborate with its neighbors
to bring ZipCar to the community.
Staff at the Palo Alto senior residential community at 850 Webster
St., near downtown, would like the
facility to become a site for the
car-sharing company, but needs 25
people to sign up with ZipCar to
bring the service to the neighborhood, according to Letitia Roddy,
admissions director at Channing
House.
from previous years, according to
Nezirovich.
Frost would like to secure the
donkeys’ future with a boost in
fundraising.
“Five-thousand dollars would put
us in pretty darn good shape,” Frost
said.
Royalties from Perry’s modeling
for “Donkey” in the Shrek movies
didn’t pay off. The donkeys only
received $75 in royalties — barely
enough to keep them in feed for one
month, Inge Harding-Barlow, a caretaker said. She had asked DreamWorks, which produced the movie,
to help set up a trust fund, but that
didn’t materialize, she said.
The three Shrek movies have
grossed more than $2.2 billion
The ZipCar company makes
rentals available to members by
the hour at rates ranging from an
average of $8.33 to $9.25. In San
Francisco, the pay-as-you-go plan
is $9.25 per hour, with a $50 annual fee and $25 application fee.
Stanford University has several
plans at lower “fleet” rates in the
$8-plus range. Gas, insurance and
some mileage is free. Other plans
have lower hourly rates and waive
the annual fee, according to the
company website.
“I thought it would be nice for
residents for an option. They can
do an errand and use a car here
instead of owning cars. We have a
worldwide, not including residuals,
according to the online site Box Office Mojo, a box office database on
the Internet.
Residents don’t blame the donkeys.
“He didn’t have a good agent.
They didn’t invite him to the cast
party and didn’t give him credit at
the end of the movies,” longtime
caretaker Doug Moran said, tonguein-cheek, of Perry.
Donkeys can live to be 30 years
old in captivity; Perry (Pericles) is
14 years old and Niner (Miner 49er)
is now 24. Although they are currently in good health, their veterinary expenses could be formidable
(continued on page 14)
transportation van for people here,
but a lot of people could give up
their extra car and we could reduce
congestion in the neighborhood.
We want to free up neighborhood
parking spaces. ... Instead of 20
cars we would only have two on
the streets,” she said.
Residents wouldn’t have to carry
insurance or pay for registration or
car repairs either, she said.
Roddy’s received a few responses
to her Jan. 16 e-mail to the community, she said.
Carl Otto, president of the residents’ council at Channing House,
(continued on page 14)
*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊU Page 13
POST’S
16TH
Upfront
ANNUAL WALLACE STEGNER LECTURE SERIES
ZipCar
(continued from page 13)
Stegner at 100
Celebrating the Centennial of Wallace Stegner’s Birth
series sponsors
Craig Childs
Ambassador Bill and
Mrs. Jean Lane
Thursday, February 19
Ed Begley, Jr.
lecture sponsors
Noble and Lorraine
Hancock
Sand Hill Advisors
Paul and Antje
Newhagen
Thursday, May 21
media sponsor
Jim & Jamie Dutcher
“Living with Wolves”
Thursday, April 30
said he has been interested in ZipCar for some time. He and his wife
plan to join.
“I wouldn’t have the upkeep of the
vehicle,” he said, as one of ZipCar’s
chief attractions.
Bill Pugh, a Forest Avenue resident, is already a member of ZipCar, using a site located at Stanford
University. Pugh rides his bike to
Google on most days, but when he
needs a car for business, he must
bike to Stanford to pick up the car.
That’s sometimes inconvenient —
especially when his family is involved, he said.
“I have to ride my bike to Stanford to get the car, then drive home
to pick up the kids,” he said, adding that Channing House would be
more convenient.
Car-sharing companies have not
been successful in Palo Alto yet.
Donkey
Lectures begin at 8 p.m. at the
Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts
500 Castro Street, Mountain View, CA
(continued from page 13)
Series subscriptions:
Single tickets:
(650) 854-7696
(650) 903-6000
All proceeds benefit POST’s land-saving work.
Wallace and Mary Stegner at Jasper Ridge © Leo Holub
Peninsula Open Space Trust
222 High Street, Palo Alto, California 94301
(650) 854-7696 www.openspacetrust.org
AB/<4=@2
:7D3:G /@BA
as they age, Frost said.
Niner, the bigger of the two, is
thinner now, and his tan coat has
taken on a gray hue. In certain
light, his eyes have the opacity
of old age. Frost has boosted his
feed with more oats to help keep
the weight on, but Perry, a miniature donkey, has grown a pot belly,
the result of hogging the rich feed,
Frost said.
Inside a donkey’s mind, there is
performing arts season
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Visit
Lively Arts
online for an
exclusive video
feature on STREB
plus info on
more great
performances!
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Page 14ÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊUÊ*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞ
In 2002, both Flexcar and City
CarShare vied for business in the
city. Flexcar took over for a Caltrain research project that launched
in 2001.
CarShare began offering memberships in the summer of 2002. There
were various locations throughout
the city where members could pick
up shared vehicles, mostly Honda
Civics.
By 2003, both companies had quietly pulled out of Palo Alto. Lance
Ayrault, the president and CEO of
Flexcar, cited the city’s lack of population density and residents’ reluctance to give up personal vehicles.
City CarShare tried to sustain
its site on the Stanford campus but
ended the service in 2004 citing low
membership, the company’s director
of marketing told the Stanford Daily
at the time. He questioned whether
the car-share model is sustainable in
a suburban setting.
City Councilwoman Yoriko
Kishimoto speculated that previous
car-sharing attempts were ahead of
their time.
“I guess that, to succeed, such
a program needs anchor tenants,
which Channing House will provide. I think it’s time to try again —
and at City Hall as well — anywhere
where there are groups of people at
businesses,” she said.
Car sharing is a “great way to
reduce the amount of parking. It’s
great for below-market-rate housing,
especially for closer-to-transit housing,” she said.
ZipCar offers 20 models of cars,
from Prius hybrids to BMWs, pickups and Jettas. Stanford University
uses ZipCar and the Mini is popular
with students, according to the company website.
“Ideally, we would have hybrid
cars to reduce our ‘carbon footprint,’” Roddy said. N
only one motivation according to
Frost: food.
On a recent Friday afternoon,
Perry greeted a visitor with large,
soft brown eyes and a hearty appetite. He nibbled at a scarf and handbag, gently tugging with curiosity.
He was once a used as an animal
companion for polo ponies brought
to Stanford from New York and was
given away when he wasn’t needed
anymore.
Niner, a wild donkey who was
captured in a Southwestern desert
as part of a burro-reduction program when he was young, was nurtured by a Los Altos Hills family.
His affinity for humans made him
difficult to photograph and sketch
for the Shrek movie because he kept
coming to people, Frost said.
“They couldn’t make up their
minds which donkey to use,” Harding-Barlow said. “But there was
a guy there with $750 handmade
boots on, and Niner wanted to chew
on them, so he became persona non
grata,” she said.
The ebb and flow of interest in the
donkeys is generational, according
to Frost. At some point, kids stop
being fans of the donkeys as they
grow older and the lull threatens the
stability of their care, as time and
money dwindle. But as people come
back to the area and settle in with
their own children or new people
move in, interest again climbs, Frost
said.
WATCH ONLINE
Staff Writer Sue Dremann can
be e-mailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.
www.PaloAltoOnline.com
You can see footage of donkeys
Perry and Niner at www.youtube.com/
watch?v=e0pGL78Mi5s.
The donkeys have always been a
constant, however. Donkeys, in one
form or another, have been a part
of the community since 1936, when
they were part of the Bol family
property.
And Perry and Niner take part in
the community as well. They lead
the annual holiday donkey parade
and appear at fundraisers at nearby
Barron Park Elementary School,
Frost said. Each year, kindergarteners take a field trip to their paddock.
And sometimes, the donkeys even
show up at school — and they behave themselves.
“Perry can go into a classroom
and not knock over a single desk,”
Harding-Barlow said. N
The Palo Alto Donkey Project
is accepting contributions through
ACTERRA, 3921 East Bayshore
Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303-4303.
The check must be made out to “ACTERRA-Palo Alto Donkey Fund.”
Further information is available
from Bob Frost, 493-8272 or bobfrost34@yahoo.com.
Staff Writer Sue Dremann can
be e-mailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.
Pulse
A weekly compendium
of vital statistics
POLICE CALLS
Palo Alto
Jan. 13-20
Violence related
Arson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Child abuse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Domestic violence/battery . . . . . . . . . . .2
Family violence/misc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Suicide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Theft related
Commercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Vehicle related
Abandoned auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Auto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Driving with suspended license . . . . . . .3
Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Misc. traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . .8
Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . .7
Vehicle impound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Alcohol or drug related
Drunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Possession of paraphernalia. . . . . . . . . .1
Miscellaneous
Animal call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Disturbing/annoying phone calls . . . . . .1
Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Los property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Noise ordinance violation . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Other/misc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Outside investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Penal code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .2
Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Warrant/other agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
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This space donated as community service by the Palo Alto Weekly
Announcing...
2009 GIRLS’ SOFTBALL SIGN-UPS
on-line registration.
Its fast, easy, and convenient
to register online. 2008 SIGN UP
was our best season yet TODAY!
... and 2009 will be even
better. Don’t miss all the
fun, teamwork, and
exciting games.
Questions?
Please call our info line:
Info line: 650-361-0743
L AGES 5 to 15
L Everyone plays.
L Skills clinics ... all levels/
beginners welcome.
L Post season traveling teams/
tournaments.
L Special events/fun for all.
L Serving Palo Alto, Menlo Park,
LAH, EPA, Portola
Valley.
e-mail: registration@paloaltogirlssoftball.org
www.paloaltogirlssoftball.org
affiliated with Amateur Softball Association
Please see our web site for more information about our league
and how you can register on-line for the 2009 season.
Answers to this week’s puzzles, which can be found on page 64
Menlo Park
Jan. 16-20
Violence related
Assault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Domestic violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Theft related
Commercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Forgery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Robbery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Vehicle related
Aps referral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Auto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Cancelled case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Driving without license . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Medical evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Prohibited weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Suspended/revoked license . . . . . . . . . .4
Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Vehicle accident/minor. injury . . . . . . . . .1
Vehicle accident/no injury. . . . . . . . . . . .1
Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Alcohol or drug related
Drug activity arrest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Drunk driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Narcotics registrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Miscellaneous
Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Found property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
General information case . . . . . . . . . . . .2
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It is with great
sadness that John F.
Gifford passed away
unexpectedly on his
birthday, January 11,
2009, at his family
home in Hawaii. After
spending a beautiful
sunset with his wife,
Rhodine, he suffered
a fatal heart attack.
Jack was born
on January 11, 1941, in Torrance, California.
He attended Phineas Banning High School in
Wilmington, California, where he met and married
his high school sweetheart, Rhodine, at the age
of eighteen. He attended UCLA on a baseball
scholarship. Jack received a Bachelors degree in
Electrical Engineering in 1963 from the University
of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He started
his career in the semiconductor industry in 1964
with Fairchild Semiconductor where he later
became the company’s first Director of Analog
Products. In 1968, Jack co-founded Advanced
Micro Devices and remained Vice President of
Marketing & Planning, until he left to become
Senior Vice President, then President/CEO, of
Intersil, Inc. Jack is considered to be one of the
“founding fathers” of the analog industry.
Jack retired as Chairman, Chief Executive
Officer and President of Maxim Integrated
Products, Inc in early 2007. A founder of Maxim,
Jack served as Chairman since 1991, after
serving as the company’s President since its
incorporation in April 1983. At the end of fiscal
year 2007, Maxim had over 10,000 employees
and reported revenues of $2.01 billion.
Jack’s agricultural upbringing and avid interest
in technology led him into a variety of other
business activities. He is founder and President
of J. Leal Farms and founder and President of
Enslie Industries. In 1990, he was elected to the
UCLA Baseball Hall of Fame. Other inductees
include Jackie Robinson, Dr. Bobby Brown,
Kenny Washington, Mike Gallego, Tim Leary,
Todd Zeile and Don Slaught. He considers this
honor a highlight of his career.
Jack was nominated for National Entrepreneur
of the Year by Arthur Young in 1988.
In 1992, Jack was named the 1991 Alumnus
of the Year of the UCLA College of Engineering.
He was the Commencement Speaker at the
1992 UCLA College of Engineering graduation
ceremonies. In 2001, Jack was named CEO of
the Year by Electronic Business Magazine. In
2004, Jack was the oldest baseball player to
participate in the NBC World Series (August 2004
was the 70th anniversary of the series). In 2005,
Jack was named America’s Best Semiconductor
Industry CEO by Institutional Investor Magazine.
In 2007, Jack was the Commencement Speaker
at the University of Hawaii graduation ceremonies
and received The Degree of Doctor of Humane
Letters, honoris causa. In 2008, Jack was a
recipient of the Special Service Award from the
Santa Clara County, Hot Stove Baseball Society,
for his support of college baseball. He was also
a board member of the Stanford Cardio-Vascular
Institute.
Active in numerous scholastic and charitable
activities involving children and education, Jack
contributed to the University of California Hall
of Science Lower Education Program, The Betty
Kanuha Foundation and is a co-founder of the
East Palo Alto Education and Tennis Foundation
(EPATT). His background in science and athletics
has convinced him that youth exposed to athletics
will succeed in life if education is properly
emphasized. This led him to establish Hawai`i’s
Kalaeiki Baseball Youth Clinic. Some 350 Hawai`i
youth, free of charge, attend the four-day clinic
annually, featuring volunteer coaches from the
major leagues and eight Division I universities,
including UCLA, Stanford and Hawai`i. The
overall aim of these efforts is to focus youth on
the value of Math and English education in lower
income area schools in Hawaii and in California.
Recently, Jack sponsored the building of
the Jack Gifford Baseball Training Facility at
UCLA. This is a 10,500 square foot, state-of-theart baseball training facility, modeled after the
Stanford facility. He was so proud of this facility
and how it would contribute to the UCLA baseball
program. It is scheduled to be dedicated on
February 6, 2009.
Jack was an amazing husband, father and
grandfather. His family always came first and
foremost in his life. Jack greatly enjoyed spending
time with his grandchildren. He was an active
participant in their lives and was their biggest
fan. Jack was so proud of each and every one of
them. Words cannot describe how sorely he will
be missed.
Jack is survived by his wife, Rhodine of 49
years. Rhodine was his best friend, confidant
and love of his life. He had three wonderful
daughters and their husbands, Laural and Kevin
Lynch, Tracy and Cameron Jones, and Jacquelyn
and Rick Disney. He also leaves behind eleven
adoring grandchildren, Matthew, Claudia, David,
Zachary, Travis, Shelby, Kezia, Jack, Annika,
Malia and Luke.
A beautiful traditional Hawaiian memorial
service, held for his many local island friends,
took place outdoors on the Mauna Kea grounds
in Hawaii, on Wednesday, January 14, 2009. A
local memorial service for friends and family is
planned for Thursday, January 22, 2009 at 1:45
PM at the Stanford Memorial Church in Palo Alto,
California. A reception will follow at the Sharon
Heights Country Club, in Menlo Park.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests
considering a donation to one of the following
organizations, which Jack supported:
The Gifford Foundation – Provides college
scholarships to deserving students
The Kalaeiki Baseball Youth Clinic in
Kailua-Kona– Provides free baseball instruction
to children.
East Palo Alto Tennis & Tutorial
(E.P.A.T.T.) – Promotes leadership, discipline,
hard work and excellence to youth. It enriches
the academic, athletic and social skills of its
participants.
All donations should be sent to the address
below:
c/o Candy Flett
2440 Sand Hill Road, Suite 400
Menlo Park, CA 94025
PA I D
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O B I T UA RY
Transitions
Births, marriages and deaths
Deaths
Raymond M. Jacobson
Raymond Jacobson, 92, a former
resident of Palo Alto, died Jan. 6 in
San Francisco.
He.was born in Provo, Utah.
He attended Brigham Young
University and Stanford School
of Business. He served in the U.S.
Navy during World War II. The
family lived in Palo Alto during
his long career with H. S. Crocker,
1947-1980. He retired from being
executive vice president to enjoy
tennis and grandchildren, moving
to the Sequoias in San Francisco.
He is remembered by his loved
ones for reaching out to people and
doing what he could to make their
lives better; family and friends
were his greatest joy. He was a
longtime member of a congregational church in Palo Alto.
He is survived by his wife of 62
years, Patricia Jacobson of San
Francisco; his four children, Janette, Marc, Todd and Leila; their
spouses; and seven grandchildren.
A “celebration of life” memorial will be held at 1:30 p.m. Feb.
21 at The Unitarian Church, 1187
Franklin St., San Francisco.
Memorial contributions may be
made to the nonprofit Transitional
Program, 436 College Ave., Palo
Alto.
Bradley Nicholas
Johnson
Bradley Johnson, 31, a resident
of Palo Alto, died Jan. 14.
He was born in Stanford, raised
in Sunnyvale and graduated from
Homestead High School in Cupertino. He attended De Anza College, working at Big Five Sporting
Goods during that time.
He worked for many years for
the Palo Alto Library, primarily
at the College Terrace branch. He
also worked at the Stanford Theatre on University Avenue. He
was previously employed by the
Aquarius Theater.
He was a dedicated and prolific
musician, writing songs, singing
and playing guitar with his band
The Variable Stars (www.mypace.
com/variablestars). The band released an album in 2006 and had
recently embarked on a new recording project.
A proud Scorpio, he also enjoyed
acting and screenwriting (co-writing and appearing in several independent films) and was a devoted
member of his church.
Loved ones recall his creativity,
his sense of humor and his kindness.
He is survived by his parents,
Bert and Betty Johnson of Sunnyvale; brother, Brian Johnson of
Santa Cruz; and many friends.
A memorial service will be held
Friday, Jan. 30, at 1 p.m. at Abundant Life Christian Fellowship
Church, 2440 Leghorn St., Mountain View.
In lieu of flowers, donations can
be made to Abundant Life Christian Fellowship or NAMI, 307 Orchard City Drive, Suite 205 Campbell, CA. 95008-2948.
Felix Danford Lion
Reverend Felix Danford Lion,
94, a former minister for the Palo
Alto Unitarian Church, died Nov.
29 in Victoria, B.C., Canada.
He was born in Massachusetts.
He graduated from the University
of Chicago, Meadville Theological
Seminary, and received an honor-
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!5'534*!.5!29
Yesterday Again
Looking at posed beach photos thinking
We all wanted to hold that moment, but none could.
Our smiles embraced the camera, our eyes betrayed us,
Now I’m caught up with the whisper of seagulls,
The hum of small planes,
The feel of sand, the smell of ocean.
I thought it was yesterday again.
A redbird arouses a need to run for cantaloupe sees,
“Can’t be a cardinal, dear,
You’re back in California,” my mind said.
I thought it was yesterday again.
Something itches my throat, my eyes tear too easily.
I turn to talk with you.
No one is there.
I thought it was yesterday again.
Today I’ll weed my garden and roam aimlessly awhile,
Do small chores and wish it was yesterday again.
E. Chenoweth
Mom...You are missed more than words can express...We celebrate
you everyday...You are so loved! Your Baby - Lala
PA I D
M E M O R I A L
ary doctorate degree from Starr
King School for the Ministry.
He was a Unitarian minister for
congregations in Massachusetts,
New York, Canada and Palo Alto.
From 1949 to 1972 he was the
minister at the Palo Alto Unitarian Church, and in that period the
church grew from 45 members to
hundreds. It fostered offshoot fellowships in Sunnyvale, San Mateo
and Redwood City. In 1957 he led
the plan to build the current Unitarian Church in Palo Alto.
He was also a human rights activist. In the summer of 1964 in
Mississippi, he worked as a member of the NAACP and with the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee to help register black
voters. Later he participated in the
freedom marches in Selma, Ala.,
and Washington, DC. In the 1980s
and 1990s he continued his activism by participating in protests
against the Clayoquot Forest clearcutting in British Columbia and the
American invasion of Iraq.
He served on a number of committees and boards during the
1950s and 1960s in Palo Alto. He
was on the executive board of the
Palo Alto branch of the NAACP,
secretary and president of the
Palo Alto Ministerial Association,
board member on the Palo Alto
Human Relations Commission, on
the board of the Housing Corporation of Palo Alto and others.
He became a Canadian citizen in
1993, though he retained dual citizenship in the U.S. His passions
were skiing, mountain climbing,
swimming, reading, gardening
and music. He was active in five
gardening groups over the past
five years. His life-long passion
for music was realized by playing
the trumpet for various jazz bands
and orchestras. He played locally
in Palo Alto with The Unicorns
Dance Band.
He survived by his wife of 65
years, Eva; his three children, David, Ingrid and Roger; and three
grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held
at 2 p.m., Feb. 7, at the Unitar-
ian Universalist Church, 505 E.
Charleston Road, Palo Alto.
In lieu of flowers, donations may
be made to the donor’s favorite
charity or to the Piano Renovation
Fund at the Unitarian Church of
Palo Alto.
Emil Ozimec
Emil “Oz” Matthew Ozimec, 92,
a resident of Palo Alto, died in his
home Jan. 6.
He was born in Gary, Ind., and
was raised in Cleveland, Ohio.
He served in the Army as a First
Lt. Tank Unit Commander of the
763rd Battalion from 1942 to 1945.
He was awarded the Bronze Star
and Philippines Liberation Medal.
After the war, he moved to San
Francisco and worked for Duart
Manufacturing, retiring in 1984.
He was a member of Sons in Retirement, Branch 5, and Palo Alto
Senior Men’s Golf Club.
He is survived by several nieces
and extended family and friends.
At his request, no service will be
held and arrangements have been
made with the Neptune Society.
Donations may be made to Pathways Hospice, 585 North May
Ave. Sunnyvale, CA, 94085 or
Stanford Comprehensive Cancer
Center, 800 Welch Road, Room
280, Stanford Medical Center,
Stanford, CA, 94305-5796.
Rixford Snyder
Rixford Snyder, 100, a former
dean of undergraduate admission
and history professor at Stanford
University, died Jan. 8 of heart
Palo Alto Children’s Theatre Presents
A fantasy
adventure that’s
fun for the
whole family!
failure.
He was dubbed the “Dean of
Danube” for the 24 Austrian boat
tours he organized and led for
alumni over the years.
He received bachelor’s, master’s
and doctoral degrees from Stanford and was a history instructor
from 1937 to 1943, when he joined
the Navy during World War II.
He returned to Stanford in 1946
as an associate professor of history and taught until 1948, when
Stanford President Wallace Sterling chose him to be the director of
admission. That position became
dean of undergraduate admission
in 1964, and he stayed at that post
for another five years.
While teaching, he compiled the
textbook “Readings in Western
Civilization” with fellow history
Oriental Rug
THE
PHANTOM
TOLLBOOTH
Professor George Knoles, which
became required reading for Stanford students.
Snyder then created the alumni
travel/study program in 1969.
He also traveled with alumni to
England, Africa, Japan, Alaska
and the Caribbean, according to a
friend, Darien Walker.
He was a supporter of Stanford
athletics and has a scholarship in
his name at the university’s Athletic Department.
He had also served as a president
of the Rotary Club.
His spouse, Elliot Snyder died
four years ago at 94. The couple
did not have children but are survived by two nieces.
A memorial service for is scheduled for 4 p.m. Feb. 4 in Memorial
Church.
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By Susan Nanus, based on the book by Norton Juster
Performances:
s
li
Digitopo
Dictionopol
is
Fri Jan 23 at 7:30pm,
Sat Jan 24 at 2:30
& 7:30pm,
Thu Jan 29 at 4:30pm,
Fri Jan 30 at 7:30pm,
Sat Jan 31 at 2:30pm
Tickets:
$10 Adult, $5 Child
Box Office: (650) 463-4970, Tue-Sat, 1:30-5pm
Ephesus Gallery
1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, CA 94301
Fine Oriental Rugs
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The Phantom Tollbooth is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.
Ad funded by the Friends of the Palo Alto Children’s Theatre
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(5'(!24(520(!2%3
Hugh Arthur Phares, better known as “Uncle Hughie” to all his friends and
patients, passed away on January 1, 2009. Hugh was a well known dentist in Palo
Alto, where he practiced for over 50 years. Born in Berkeley, CA on January 5,
1922, he grew up in Brooklyn, San Diego and Long Beach. He attended San Jose
State and the University of California for undergraduate as well as dental school.
In 1944 Hugh joined the Navy, and at age 22, became their youngest practicing
dentist. He served in the South Pacific and later as a Captain in the Navy Dental
Corps.
Hugh began practicing dentistry in Palo Alto, where he met Barbara Lee
Nelson. They were married for 52 years before she passed away in 2002. Next
to his family, his greatest love was fishing and the outdoors. Hugh loved sharing
stories and fishing tips with his patients, friends and family. Always an optimist,
he was interested in the lives of others and could always be relied upon for a great
joke, a warm smile and a mean chocolate cake.
Hugh is survived by his two daughters, Ann Phares and Polly Phares
Armstrong, and his son-in-law, John Armstrong. We will miss his wicked sense of
humor, uncanny ability to remember every joke ever told and his love of Palo Alto
and the Bay Area. Everyone who knew Hugh felt blessed by his friendship, love
and support. The world will remain a better place for his being here and he will be
remembered as one of the great role models when it comes to living life.
Following his wishes, there will be no memorial. Donations in Hugh’s name
may be made to Canopy, 3921 East Bayshore Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303 (www.
canopy.org). Hugh was passionate about trees and our urban forests and wanted
to make sure Palo Alto was forever known for its beautiful, tree-lined streets and
parks.
PA I D
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O B I T UA RY
Joan Von Gehr
passed away peacefully
in her sleep on January
14, 2009 at the age of 66
after a lengthy battle with
ovarian cancer. She will
always be remembered
for her sense of humor;
caring nature; brilliant
bridge play; love of good
food, beautiful flowers
(especially irises), books
and movies; and especially her way with words. Her
creative, customized poems and answering machine
messages (“leave a message for Joan at the sound of
the tone”) were legendary.
Joan was born on February 19, 1942, in Philadelphia
to Julius and Jeanette Comroe. She later moved to
Hillsborough, CA as a teenager and attended Stanford
University where she met her future husband, George
Von Gehr. They married in 1965, were together for
15 years and had two children, Karla and David. Joan
worked for several years as an elementary school teacher
before deciding to stay home to raise her kids. When the
kids got older, Joan worked part-time as a Language
Arts teacher, ran a successful summer drama program
out of her home and helped out several teachers by
grading papers. She moved into her home in Atherton
in 1973 and lived her final 36 years there.
Joan fought her cancer with great courage. After
surviving two previous bouts with breast cancer, she was
diagnosed with Primary Peritoneal cancer in November,
2004 and lived longer than many expected. Despite
sometimes feeling weak from her cancer treatments,
she continued to travel, play bridge and other games
(favorites included Password and Catchphrase), eat
out with friends and go to movies up until her final
days. Joan even found the energy to care for her
beloved mother, Jeanette, until she passed in February,
2008. Joan was a creative, funny, loyal, loving mother
and friend who touched so many of our lives. She
is survived by her children, Karla Von Gehr of San
Francisco and David Von Gehr of Seattle.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to two
organizations that she loved and supported: The Lucille
Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University in
Palo Alto and Pets in Need in Redwood City, an animal
shelter where she found her beloved dogs Muffin,
Jessie and Cody.
PA I D
O B I T UA RY
*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊU Page 17
Inauguration
Whitney Dafoe
Millions of people crowded the National Mall to witness the Inauguration of Barack Obama as president of the United States. Below, a woman cheers for Obama.
Reflections on the Inauguration
Former Palo Alto Online director meets cross-section of America during historic event
by Lisa Van Dusen
I
Page 18ÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊUÊ*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞ
to stay. I decided that instant. I had gone to high
school in Washington, D.C., and have a high
concentration of friends and relatives there. So
two days later I booked a flight for $359 to New
York and back from D.C. to SFO.
When I arrived in New York, the anticipation
of the Inauguration was palpable. The elaborate
descriptions of Inaugural logistics and festivities eclipsed even the drama of the US Airways
plane gliding into the Hudson less than 24 hours
before.
We rode the train to Washington and when
we all poured out of the train in Union Station,
the energy was electric. We ran into two fellow
Palo Altans (one being developer Jim Baer) and
a college friend who is a journalist in D.C. Actors Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon walked
by with their family. It gave a sense of a huge
yet intimate event.
Until the week before the Inauguration, the
only tickets we had were of the travel variety.
But luck was on our side. My travel mate decided she wanted to attend one of the regional
balls and suggested we act on the ball e-mails
we had both received that day. Then the luckiest stroke of all: A friend and fellow campaign
volunteer offered us swearing-in tickets at the
last minute. Wow.
Wading through the Inaugural “merch” stands
outside Union Station and through the sea of
fresh arrivals fueled me with the energy we
would need to navigate the logistical and emotional landscape of the next 36 hours. There
were many stunning middle-aged black women in fur coats, bundled up babies in strollers,
blind people, young people that looked like D.C.
staffer types, a man with more dreadlocks than
I had ever seen.
We headed to Cleveland Park on the Metro to
connect with our kind hostess who had about six
house guests. Another Palo Altan, who was staying around the corner in her childhood home,
had kindly picked up our Western Ball tickets.
We drove off to a party at a friend’s house, where
a video of the Lincoln Memorial concert was on
TV. Champagne flowed. Our hostess was wear-
— Lisa Van Dusen
Whitney Dafoe
didn’t decide to attend the Inauguration
until New Year’s Eve. I had worked on the
Obama campaign all year, starting with
phone banking for the California primary and
ending with canvassing in Longmont, Colo.,
the week before the election. When I returned
home Nov. 5, I envisioned myself celebrating
the Inauguration in Palo Alto with friends, back
to “normal life.”
But after the campaign was over and all that
was left was the pile of Obama-related e-mails
and my Obama shrine of memorabilia, I felt a
persistent pull. The logistics of planning such a
trip seemed daunting, though, and I was told by
Congresswoman Anna Eshoo’s office that they
had too many requests for their Inauguration
ticket lottery when I sent in my name.
Then on New Year’s Eve, I learned that my
good friend was planning to meet up with her
college-student daughter and “just go” to the
Inauguration, with no tickets to anything. And
she had an extra train ticket from New York to
Washington, D.C. And we would have a place
The moment had
actually arrived.
I was standing in
Barack Obama’s
presence and
could actually
see him on the
podium.
Inauguration
Whitney Dafoe
Clockwise from top left, crowds
climbed statues to get a better
view; even children felt the
excitement of the Inauguration;
the Presidential motorcade
passes by.
Watch it online
A video snippet of President Barack
Obama’s Inauguration speech, as taken
by Lisa Van Dusen during the ceremony, is posted at Palo Alto Online.
ing a skirt made of Obama lawn signs. I met an
ambassador to somewhere and the daughter of
one of our son’s former teachers.
Courtesy of Lisa Van Dusen
There was a
joy that was so
penetrating, it
was as if it had
gone through
all of our cells
and we were all
infused with it.
That night, my inaugural outfit was ready for
my 5:30 a.m. alarm: long underwear, fleecelined boots, down coat, hat, gloves, foot- and
hand-warmers, scarf. We had nuts, cheese sticks
and apple slices in our pockets, along with cell
phones, cameras, ID, map and tickets to the
standing area of the Yellow Section 15. (It was
fortunate I’d sliced the apples; whole apples
were forbidden by security.)
We walked down the hill to the subway at
about 6:30 a.m., yogurt and granola in our bellies, and used the Metro tickets we had purchased the day before without a hitch. (We even
got seats on the Metro.) The crowds swelled and
then emptied as people got off at different stops,
depending on their chosen destinations. We
found our way to the Yellow Gate and waited in
line at about 7:15. Only 4 hours and 15 minutes
to go!
Then — as would be the case throughout
the day — the bonding started with complete
strangers. For some reason, the groups in front
of us and behind us were both from Maine,
though they didn’t know each other. I turned out
to know people in common with each group. I
felt a tinge of sadness when we suddenly parted
to go through security.
Then came more waiting, more people from
Maine, Jeff and Heidi from Chicago who were
expecting their second child, identical twins who
were videotaping the ceremony, a young female
State Department staff person and a lobbyist for
AT&T named Bob who had met with Barack
Obama at length when Obama was an Illinois
state senator. Bob said he was utterly impressed
with Obama’s decision-making process.
We started to feel like a group, a pod, of about
12 people. Some people ended up talking more
with the person they met there than the person
they had come with. Everyone was really nice,
sharing food, their cell phones, happy to duck
to allow better views for those behind them. It
Whitney Dafoe
Whitney Dafoe
Below, Lisa Van Dusen (right)
and her friend, Holly Meyers,
on Inauguration Day.
was like people were your friends, and you were
accountable to them and they to you.
In Yellow Section 15, populated with a lot of
campaign volunteers like us, people broke into
call and response: “Fired Up?” “Ready to Go.”
“Fired up?” “Ready to Go.”
We listened as the San Francisco Girls and
Boys Chorus sang. Time floated by. Electronic
transmission of texts and voicemails kept coming in unpredictable clumps from friends and
relatives on the mall and far away. “What section are you in?” “I am in the masses.” “Change
of plans.” “Amazing day.”
A leafless tree obscured our view of our Jumbotron, but we were fortunate to have a good
sightline, albeit distant, of the podium in front
of the Capitol building. Then came Yo-Yo Ma
and Itzhak Perlman’s Copland arrangement,
Aretha Franklin, the parade of dignitaries including Sen. Edward Kennedy, the invocation,
Feinstein (I thought of the movie “Milk” and
the historic moment when she delivered the
news about Mayor Moscone and Milk when I
(continued on page 22)
— Lisa Van Dusen
Dana Ullman
Michelle Obama passes by in the
Presidential motorcade.
*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊU Page 19
special feature
fer. Women have a higher
risk—another phenomenon not well understood.
Obesity and inactivity
also increase the odds for
developing arthritis.
A community health education series from Stanford Hospital & Clinics
– Arthritis patient Laura Guglielmoni
Guglielmoni never forgot that one
day it was likely the arthritis would
damage her joints so much that rePage 20 • January 23, 2009 • Palo Alto Weekly
Collaboration creates unique
treatment protocols
Stanford also has the advantage of
a cross-disciplinary group of physicians who treat arthritis with stateof-the-art programs that combine
surgery, customized therapies and
sophisticated new medications for
pain and disease control. Surgery
is sometimes the only option, but
Stanford’s arthritis patients are also
involved in advanced clinical trials
focusing on cellular disease control
and the growth of cartilage
and bone.
The team has also created a
unique protocol for joint replacement based on evidence
that the right kind of multimodal pain management—
before, during, and after
surgery—has an important
impact on success. The
challenge is to reduce pain
without interfering with
the activity crucial to quick
recovery. Maloney replaced
both Guglielmoni’s knees
and her recovery was rapid.
“A week and a half after surgery, I was able to stand up
by myself,” she said. At 33,
she is a young woman given
back a real life.
Norbert von der Groeben
“I was in an elevator and I
couldn’t straighten my knees.
‘This is a problem,’ I thought. ‘I
really need to get this fixed.’ ‘’
Sometimes, even little girls need quiet time. Now, when her four-year-old daughter, Brianna, is up and running,
Laura Guglielmoni can keep up.
Doing laundry is no longer a painful exercise. Laura Guglielmoni is
now able to do her part of the daily chores.
More than 50 million Americans currently face a daily
encounter with what arthri-
tis does—that’s more than one in
five of us. It is the leading cause of
disability in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. As the Baby
Boomer generation continues to
age, case counts will rise. Arthritis
appears in more than 100 forms;
what triggers it is not thoroughly
understood. But the end result is
the same: joints fail, producing an
impact as comprehensive as what
Guglielmoni endures or perhaps one
that’s just a bit of stiffness when getting up in the morning.
“A week and a half after
surgery, I was able to stand up
by myself.”
– Arthritis patient Laura Guglielmoni
Age raises arthritis risk
Guglielmoni’s rheumatoid arthritis
is the second most common variety.
It strikes without respect to age and
involves a permanent misfire of the
immune system. Osteoarthritis is
the type of arthritis that many more
of us will come to know. Trauma or
excessive use will sometimes be the
cause, but generally it will appear
after years of typical wear and tear.
Reaching a certain age increases
the likelihood of osteoarthritis by
substantial amounts: More than half
of us 65 or older are likely to suf-
Guglielmoni’s knees are
definitely built to last.
Maloney can now offer paWith two new knees, Laura Guglielmoni can join her daughter in a
tients replacement joints
spontaneous game of funny walks at their neighborhood park.
made of stronger, longerlasting materials that
remove the worry that if they don’t
to do more than a mechanical fix.
baby their new joints, the joints will
Traditionally, most therapies have
fail. “We’re doing patients younger
been aimed at pain reduction, said
and they’re able to be more active,”
Mark Genovese, a Stanford immuMaloney said.
nologist. But those remedies didn’t
impact the disease’s progress. Now,
Another key development in treatseveral medications are available
ment, Maloney added, has been the
that disrupt the cellular activity
coordination of more sophisticated
that drives arthritis. Genovese and
and targeted pain management with
another Stanford physician, William H. Robinson, have figured out
improved physical therapy and exera way to predict—at an 80 percent
cise as part of a successful recovery.
positive rate—which patients will
SHC’s Pain Management Center is
respond to which medications.
a leader in the development of pain
Clinical trials are underway at
treatment specific to arthritis surStanford, Genovese said, with ingery and long-term management.
novative biologic stimulants to reThe active collaboration among
generate the cartilage in damaged
Stanford orthopaedists, pain specialjoints and significantly reduce the
ists, immunologists, and even biomesigns of arthritis and reduce the
chanical engineers is building an exdisability it causes.
ponentially more effective treatment
strategy against arthritis.
“If you sit around and say,
‘Poor me,’ you’ll never get
anything done. I keep moving
and keep active.”
At the new Stanford Medicine Outpatient Center in Redwood City,
patients with musculoskeletal problems will find, all within a few steps,
a time-saving cluster of resources.
Orthopaedic surgeons, spine specialists, physical and rehabilitative therapists, and pain specialists are all at
hand. The imaging necessary for diagnoses is also available in the same
building. And, if surgery is required,
the Outpatient Center has eight operating rooms and the Boswell Joint
Replacement Center.
The next big thing, Maloney said,
“is identifying arthritis earlier in its
process. There is no good marker for
osteoarthritis. You don’t see it until
it is symptomatic and there is already significant joint destruction.”
What excites Maloney and his colleagues is their growing ability
Patients who are treated earlier,
said Genovese, have a chance at a
– Arthritis patient Laura Guglielmoni
• Stay active. Muscles are the joints’ support system, keeping them in
proper position to do their work. Without regular exercise, muscles
shrink, leaving the joints more vulnerable and speeding up their wear
and tear. Consult your doctor about what kind of exercise is appropriate
for you.
• Maintain a healthy weight—extra weight stresses joints.
• If you have joint replacement surgery, make sure you follow your
doctor’s orders about rehabilitative exercise.
• Managing arthritis pain includes a variety of methods: acupuncture,
massage, mindfulness training and the right combination of
medications. The Stanford Health Library is open to the public and offers
many resources as well as free lectures. The Stanford Pain Management
Center also has information about how to combine various therapies.
• Physicians now understand that a cross-disciplinary treatment plan is
the most effective. Your surgeon or rheumatologist might recommend
that you consult with a physical therapist, psychologist, dietitian or pain
specialist.
For more information, contact Stanford Hospital & Clinics at
(650) 723-4000 or the Stanford Health Library. It has three locations:
Stanford Shopping Center, (650) 725-8400; Stanford Hospital, (650) 7258100; Stanford Comprehensive Cancer Center, 875 Blake Wilbur Dr.,
(650) 736-7157.
To learn more about joint replacement surgery, the Immunology
and Rheumatology Clinic and the Pain Management Center, visit
www.stanfordhospital.com.
The Arthritis Foundation also has in-depth information: www.arthritis.org.
better outcome and
may be able
to avoid joint
replacement.
Staying active is a powerful preventive. “If you
sit around
and say,
‘Poor me,’
you’ll never
get anything
done,” Guglielmoni said.
“I keep moving and keep
active.”
Norbert von der Groeben
She had to stop playing softball. She
liked to run, but she could no longer
do that either. She was only able to
attend school part-time and had to
finish her studies from home. After
extensive physical therapy and with
the right medication, she finally
returned to a somewhat normal routine, but with new goals. “I knew I
would never be a fighter pilot,” she
joked, but she did determine to “get
in and out of college as fast as possible, get a job and start saving money” for a future that was more problematic than before her diagnosis.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in
accounting and found full-time work.
She married and had a daughter.
Her physician recommended that
she go to Stanford Hospital & Clinics to see Dr. William J. Maloney,
Chair of the Department of Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine. The size
of Maloney’s team and its resources
have made the Hospital one of the
few facilities able to do multiple
joint replacements in one surgery—
and Guglielmoni did not want to go
through two surgeries.
HOW TO LIVE WITH ARTHRITIS:
Reversing damage
in the works
Norbert von der Groeben
Guglielmoni had already seen the
effect of arthritis on her aunt, whose
hands had been stiffened and swollen by the same condition. Yet her
aunt had found a way to can all her
own fruit and vegetables and to
raise three children. That example,
Guglielmoni said, “made me more
determined not to let the arthritis
slow me down much.”
Rheumatoid arthritis disrupts the immune system, affecting the
membranes of every joint in the body. Other immune system illnesses,
like Lupus erythematosus, can also produce arthritis.
Norbert von der Groeben
Treatment Advances
Reduce Its Impact
placement would be her only option.
About a year ago, the arthritis in her
knees became so painful that she
could not climb even a short flight
of stairs, making the trip to work on
BART difficult. She couldn’t pick up
her then three-year-old daughter or
get down on the floor to play with
her, because she wouldn’t have been
able to get back up again. Bit by bit,
her ability to live her life was falling
away. On the day she found herself
standing in an elevator unable to
straighten her knees, she said to
herself, “I need to get this fixed.”
The two major forms of arthritis affect joints for different reasons.
Osteoarthritis, the most common diagnosis, usually appears with age,
but can also arise after an injury to the bones of our joints. The cartilage
that cushions those bones breaks down, and the joint becomes painful
to use. Knees, hips, hands and shoulders, the joints we use the most, are
typically the first to be made painful by osteoarthritis.
Decades ago, people with
arthritis tended to reduce
their activities. But, said
Maloney, “the Boomers
are not the same as their
parents. They are not content to sit at home.” People
aren’t getting arthritis
any earlier, he said, “but
they’re less willing to live
with the disability.”
Arthritis No Longer
Unstoppable:
Laura Guglielmoni was still a teenager when doctors diagnosed her
with rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic
autoimmune system disorder that, in
its most obvious symptom, inflames
the body’s joints until they are too
painful and distorted to move. Guglielmoni felt its full force. Getting
out of bed was painful and exhausting. She couldn’t stand long enough
to take even a short shower.
ABOUT ARTHRITIS:
Dr. William J. Maloney, Chair of the Department of Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine, uses joint
replacements like this one, made with materials that support vigorous activity and last longer.
Stanford Hospital & Clinics is known worldwide for advanced treatment of complex disorders in areas such as cardiac care, cancer
treatment, neurosciences, surgery, and organ transplants. Consistently ranked among “America’s Best Hospitals” by U.S. News
& World Report, Stanford Hospital & Clinics is internationally recognized for translating medical breakthroughs into the care of
patients. The Hospital is part of the Stanford University Medical Center, along with the Stanford University School of Medicine and
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford.
Palo Alto Weekly • January 23, 2009 • Page 21
Inauguration
Of tweets and blogs
Whitney Dafoe
Locals use tech to share Inauguration experience
with friends in Silicon Valley
E
ven as eyes were glued to TV screens Tuesday morning for the Inauguration of President Barack Obama, Bay Area residents who were in
Washington, D.C., sent dispatches home of their experiences.
Twitter, a texting website, appeared the most reliable technology, as students from Palo Alto High School uploaded messages of 140 characters or
fewer about what they were seeing and doing moment by moment. Other
people tried to blog on websites, running into some problems when the volume of cell phone calls in D.C. periodically prevented them from getting on
the Internet.
Here are a few of their reflections as they happened:
“The world awaits Obama’s speech and expectations couldn’t be higher
judging by the people I talked to today from Texas, Indiana and Utah.”
— Warren Slocum, chief election officer, San Mateo County, 5 p.m. day
before Inauguration
We couldn’t see
them directly, but
we shared the thrill
and power of being
there together.
— Lisa Van Dusen
“It’s 5:15 am and I feel like a kid on Christmas eve. I can’t sleep waiting for
this historic day to begin. Longtime residents of Washington, D.C., said they
haven’t seen anything like this before. It’s Obama fever here.”
— Jennifer Jackson, community activist, East Palo Alto, Inauguration
Day
Above and below, people awoke
early and stayed up late on
Inauguration Day.
“Best thing ever: ‘Don’t know what time it is? Then it’s Obama time! Get
ur Obama watches here!’”
—Jess Brooks, Palo Alto High senior, about 10:50 a.m. Inauguration
Day, waiting for parade to start
“Totally not expecting that! Oh wow! He was right there and there is no
way to describe how cool that was. Just, yay.”
— Jess Brooks, 4:15 p.m. Inauguration Day
Newstands at Penn Station showed “Obama fever.”
(continued from page 19)
Round
ar-
Ad
on
s
Ye
“Why so many tears of joy? Expressions of disbelief?
Over and over again across the country you heard black people say, ‘I
thought, “Not in my lifetime I would ever see this day.”’
Let me give you a little insight why. Even in sports black men were great
athletes but not thought to be quarterback material because you had to think
on your feet. Now we have a black man thinking for the whole country.
As I watched President Obama take the oath of office, I felt a chill go
through my body, felt a joy that is unexplainable and hope for the future.
A black man finally been given a chance to lead and not follow. In my
lifetime. Thank you, Jesus.”
— Jennifer Jackson, community activist, East Palo Alto, day after
Inauguration
missi
Whitney Dafoe
Courtesy of Lisa Van Dusen
“Huge lines at Metro with waits of an hour or more.”
— Warren Slocum, 7 a.m., Inauguration Day
was newly in San Francisco), and finally complete
quiet in the midst of the almost 2 million people.
The moment had actually arrived. I was standing
in Barack Obama’s presence and could actually
see him on the podium.
D
uring the speech, there was a feeling of
hanging on his every word. Though people
cheered at various parts, we could always
hear what he was saying. We were in rapt attention. It was like we were there holding him, supporting him, making the space for him to speak.
And then, his speech was over. Obama was
actually our president! And somehow, we all felt
better. The state-department staff person initiated
a group hug. Then when the poem began, many
started wandering away down the Mall. We moved
up to the front of our section and listened intently
to the poem and to the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery’s
benediction. From the poem to the benediction, it
was dreamy and magical to me. It felt as though
things were opening up, and people moved as if
part of a flow.
Then came what was the high point of the whole
experience for me: wandering down the Mall toward the Washington Monument to meet our
friends at a designated location for lunch. People
all around us were jubilant. There was a joy that
was so penetrating, it was as if it had gone through
Does your student think outside of the box?
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all of our cells and we were all infused with it.
We paused at a Jumbotron, met a gentleman from
Ghana and his family (who worked in Providence and
lived in New Bedford) and together we watched the now
former President George Bush and wife Laura board
the helicopter after the Obamas graciously said goodbye. The helicopter roared overhead. We embraced and
took pictures together before departing. I did not want
to leave these strangers with whom we had shared this
poignant moment.
People were climbing on statues, dancing on the
National Mall Reflecting Pool ice, waving their flags,
selling their buttons. Everyone (except the people
who couldn’t find their “people”) was smiling. People
were hugging strangers. I felt like I was floating down
the Mall. We randomly went up to people to swap
picture-taking and stories — where they were from,
what brought them there: Bonnie, a middle-aged white
woman from Chicago, had worked on the campaign for
many weeks in Benton Harbor, Mich., and drove down
to Chicago when the polls closed, arriving at Grant Park
as people were leaving. She decided right then to give
herself a trip to the Inauguration for her 60th birthday.
Evelyn, an older African-American woman from Baltimore, said she couldn’t have been any other place that
day. It was very cold outside and, as they say, warm in
my heart.
We bought copies of the Inaugural edition of the
Washington Post, moved slowly in the crowds on 18th
Street near Pennsylvania Avenue. The streets were filled
with used hand-warmers and tired people. We took the
Metro back “home” for a respite and tea before dressing
and heading out to the ball, which would start at 8 p.m.
The Western Ball — like most of the regional balls —
was at the Washington Convention Center. The balls had
staggered start times to allow the Obamas to visit them
all. We were glad ours started early.
There were all kinds of people there from Seattle,
L.A., Texas, D.C., Atlanta, the Bay Area and all kinds
of gowns and formal wear. It was a huge event, but we
all talked to each other without hesitation. Marc Anthony performed, J Lo came and sang, Joe and Jill Biden
danced on the stage and then finally, at about 11:30 p.m.,
President and Mrs. Obama joined our ball and embraced
as they swirled elegantly on the stage. We couldn’t see
them directly, but we shared the thrill and power of being there together.
As we waited for the Metro, a young woman said she
had found four ball tickets in the subway. She felt lucky.
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Packed like sardines, we all headed home exhausted,
happy and hopeful. When I reached home, it was 1:30
a.m., and I too felt so lucky to have been part of it all.
Watching the news Wednesday and seeing what
President Obama’s been doing, I can’t believe it. I’m
pinching myself. I don’t think he thinks Washington
is the center of the universe. He appreciates what can
happen throughout the country to remake America. We
as ordinary citizens were empowered. It was true in the
campaign, it was true in the Inauguration and I fully
expect it to be true in the implementation phase.
As I continue to reflect on the Inauguration and what
it means for our country, there are parts of President
Obama’s speech that have stayed with me, parts that
when I heard them created a sensation that moved
through me.
I felt hope, confidence and relief at his mix of realism,
hope and certitude when he said: “Today I say to you
that the challenges we face are real. They are serious
and they are many. They will not be met easily or in
a short span of time. But know this, America — they
will be met.”
And when he talked about picking ourselves up and
beginning the work of remaking America, I felt, “OK,
yes, that is what it is time to do. The wait is over. It’s a
relief, but also a steeling up. We need to act, and that
means me, too. I have a responsibility.”
When he spoke of being a friend of each nation and
“every man, woman and child who seeks a future of
peace and dignity,” the part that resonated with me was
the idea that we are open to everyone but that we do
have some immutable standards.
The day after the Inauguration, I realized that I’d had
a much smoother experience than a lot of people. My
cousin’s son ended up stuck in the “tunnel of doom”
with purple-ticket holders who never made it to their
section. My brother-in-law hit a road block, and I met
an older black man and his daughter who took refuge
in the Smithsonian where it was warm and watched the
ceremony on TV. I met a Seattle group at the Western
Ball whose friend got the flu so badly she went to the
emergency room the night before and couldn’t make it
to the swearing in.
Some of them felt really badly to have “missed it” but
really, they didn’t “miss it.” They were all there, part
of this momentous event as were all the people who
watched it on TV, whether in the United States or Australia or Kenya. All part of that immense gathering of
humanity, knit together at that historic moment. N
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NOTICE OF A PUBLIC MEETING
of the City of Palo Alto
Architectural Review Board (ARB)
Please be advised that Thursday, February 5, 2009, the ARB shall
conduct a public hearing at 8:30 AM in the Council Chambers, 1st
Floor, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California. Any interested
persons may appear and be heard.
3408 Hillview Ave, [08PLN-00378]: Request by Bud Kobza
on behalf of Pollock Realty Corp. for Preliminary ARB review of a
new three story commercial office/research building with parking at
the ground level. Environmental Review: Categorically exempt from
the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
due to the fact that the application is for preliminary review and is
not a project under CEQA. Zone District: RP-5 (D).
4249 EL CAMINO REAL [08PLN-00288] ELKS LODGE:
Request by Premiere Properties, on behalf of the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks (BPOE), for Major Architectural Review
for the construction of a new two-story Elks Lodge, approximately
37,500 square feet in size, 126 surface parking spaces and associated site improvements on a 2.82-acre site in the RM-30 zoning
district.
Environmental Assessment: An addendum to a Mitigated Negative Declaration has been adopted in accordance with
the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requirements
The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with
disabilities. To request accommodations to access City facilities,
services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn
more about the City’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), please contact the City’s ADA Coordinator
at 650.329.2550 (voice) or by e-mailing ada@cityofpaloalto.org.
Amy French
Manager of Current Planning
Dana Ullman
Crowds wandered the National Mall the day before the Inauguration.
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Editorial
Redefining America’s
hopes and challenges
Unprecedented outpouring of hope and commitment
emerges with President Obama’s inauguration
— with echoes of the 1963 civil rights march
T
he significance of the estimated 2 million Americans who flocked
to Washington this week to witness (as closely as possible) the
inauguration of President Barack Obama will be the source of
analysis and interpretation for years, perhaps decades.
But beyond doubt and analysis, the response to the inauguration
was an outpouring of joy, hope and commitment to change America
for the better that is unprecedented in our nation’s history, and rare in
the history of the world.
The symbolism in many ways outweighed the substance of the
event. The freezing temperatures failed to chill the warmth of hearts
and calm excitement that completely silenced the crowd during the
speech.
The impact of the day rose above race, but to countless thousands
of black Americans who attended or watched, often tearfully, the
significance was simply the inauguration of America’s “first black
president” — a misnomer vestige of earlier days when anyone with
any minority heritage was classed as the minority race rather than the
correct “mixed race.”
Many persons of all racial or ethnic backgrounds also choked up,
thinking of long-held beliefs that a mixed-race president would never
be elected “in my lifetime.”
But the inauguration is a literal fulfillment of the long-ago dream
of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whose “I have a dream” speech in
the same square 45 years earlier inspired so many to push for equality
in a non-violent but determined, irrepressible movement that resulted
in the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
President Obama downplayed race in his speech — much of which
he reportedly wrote himself. He instead gave to America a clear
vision statement of our nation’s potential and what we must now do
to overcome the deep crises we face economically, educationally and
environmentally. It was a vision, an outline — details to follow.
He was gentle on his predecessor, President George W. Bush, and
emphasized the importance of bipartisan, pragmatic approaches to the
crises we face as a nation, a people. These must not be empty words
as they have been so often in past inaugurations.
Yet President Obama, in a litany of implicit criticisms, made it
clear that a change of direction is at hand on virtually every front —
from international relations and the war on terrorism to the doorsteps
of our homes, too many of which are threatened with foreclosure in
our shattered national economy.
He gave notice that access to health care — the most personal of
all America’s crises other than loss of jobs and family incomes — is
on the Obama Administration’s agenda.
But he cautioned that change takes time and will not be easy.
He said all Americans must work together to rebuild America’s
sense of hope for our homeland and America’s position of strength
and leadership in the world — moral strength, not just military. He
pledged renewed respect for domestic civil liberties as well as a firm
response to terrorists.
This inauguration has a personal meaning for the thousands of
Palo Altans and others from Silicon Valley and Stanford who traveled
across the country during the presidential campaign to work for
Obama’s election victory.
Only the most naive will believe that we have moved beyond
partisan politics, or that all Americans will buy into the new
directions outlined Tuesday.
There will be bitter battles ahead on many fronts — which also is
“the American way” of democracy.
But after what seems like a much-too-long period of wrongdirection, ideology-dominated, too-secretive leadership we are
honored to join those who feel that we are at last heading in more
positive, more open and more effective directions.
Once again, America’s citizens have shown that they can exercise
good judgment and take forceful action, once they clearly perceive
the problems that need to be solved. No one can state that more
eloquently than our new president:
“Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which we meet
them may be new, but those values upon which our success depends
— honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and
curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things
are true.
“They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our
history.”
Page 24ÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊUÊ*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞ
Spectrum
Editorials, letters and opinions
Virtual bathroom wall
Editor,
Thank you to Weekly reporter
Emilie Doolittle for her excellent
reporting on the growing phenomenon of rumors, gossip and adolescent social aggression online.
Her story certainly helped explain
why Rachel Simmons, the founder
of the respected Girls Leadership
Institute, calls the Internet, “This
generation’s bathroom wall.”
At a standing-room-only PTA
community event in Los Altos
earlier this month, Simmons offered clear, essential guidelines
for girls and parents about what is
OK and not OK to say online and
face-to-face.
As your coverage so clearly
demonstrates, all parents and
teenagers need to understand the
wide-ranging impacts of these
globally powerful new socialcommunication tools.
Thanks to the Midpenninsula
Media Center, the Los Altos PTA
Council and Palo Alto PTA Council volunteers, Andrew and Carol
Mellows, Simmons’ compelling
presentation for girls and parents
will be broadcast on Palo Alto’s
local cable access channels 27 and
28 numerous times the rest of this
month and throughout February.
If you don’t have cable, you can
also watch live streaming of the
program. Go to www.communitymediacenter.org to get the exact
dates and times to watch on cable
or online.
Simmons also discussed cyberbullying and so-called “relational
aggression,” when people use
friendships for power and to hurt
others. In addition, she had compelling advice on what some call
“indirect aggression,” when every
comment is followed by the disclaimer, “Just kidding” or “I didn’t
mean it, no offense.” Her talk also
covered what parents and schools
need to do to help any student being bullied.
Palo Alto High School PTA
hosted a free educational program
called “Facebook, Social Networks & The Online Lifestyle”
Jan. 22.
Carrie Manley and Wendy
Kandasamy
Palo Alto PTA Council Parent
Education co-chairs
Too much Facebook
Editor,
The Palo Alto High School Library follows district guidelines,
which allow limited personal use
of computers on campus. The Acceptable Use Policy from the student handbook is posted at each
terminal and states: Limited personal use of appropriate websites
and content is permitted during
free periods. However, that privilege may be revoked for students
who do not act responsibly.
The Library is the only open lab
on campus and students use it to
complete assignments and conduct research.
During busy periods we often
do not have enough computers for
the students who need them. When
necessary we remind students that
overuse of Facebook and other
personal-use sites will result in
poor grades and increased stress
when assignments aren’t completed on time.
Time management is a life skill
and we take seriously our responsibility to educate students about
the negative academic consequences of too much Facebook
and not enough homework.
Rachel Kellerman
Palo Alto High School
Librarian
Embarcadero Road
Palo Alto
Secretary’s tax lapse
Editor,
As an avid supporter of Obama
and an enthusiastic cheerleader of
his unprecedented administration,
I am forced to air my distress, not
just disappointment, at the Treasury Secretary candidate’s tax returns lapses and the Obama team’s
dismissal of them as “Honest mistakes.”
Really? Give me a break. Those
of us who have worked with the
United Nations and World Bank
agencies know fully well how
clearly the contract states that we
are individually responsible to pay
our tax dues on whatever we earn
to our governments.
The “ignorance “about Social
Security dues is another feeble
comeback.
Most of us would be in the slammer for equivalent or lesser mistakes.
Neera Sohoni
Carolina Lane
Atherton
YOUR TURN
The Palo Alto Weekly encourages comments on our coverage or on
issues of local interest.
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Day 2009?
Submit letters to the editor of up to 250 words to letters@paweekly.com
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Check out Town Square!
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ask questions, read the Editor’s blog or just stay up on what people are
talking about around town!
Guest Opinion:
Sixty-five years of progress in civil rights
by Robert C. Smithwick
efore World War
II, integration of
races was a virtually unknown concept. “Negroes,” as
they were then known,
had a distinct role in
life. In the working
world, they were the
“cooks and bottlewashers” and janitors
and similar jobs.
As I look back on that period now, I realize that one simple incident provided my
wife, Aileen, and me a stunning insight into
the issue of race and civil rights. The evils of
discrimination were finally being recognized,
albeit slowly, by the military services. As I
recall, the U.S. Navy was perhaps the last of
the services to begin the long process toward
integration.
I had just graduated from the University
of Illinois College of Dentistry. While still a
dental student I had enlisted in the U.S. Naval
Reserve as an ensign under the V-12 program,
which permitted me to complete my studies
and get my DDS degree before being called
to active duty.
Upon graduation, we V-12-ers were promoted from ensign, to Lt., jg, DC. USNR. On
the same day I received orders to report for
duty to Great Lakes Naval Training Center, a
few miles north of Chicago on Lake Michigan.
Great Lakes was the largest navy training base in the United States. It consisted of
25 independent “camps,” each with its own
B
administration, recruits, dormitories, classrooms and medical-dental clinics.
Black recruits were assigned to the one
“Negro” camp.
When I reported for duty with a dozen or so
other officers, we were asked if anyone would
volunteer to be assigned to the Negro clinic,
#1909. Of the dozen or so new officers, I was
the only one to volunteer.
This was the peak of World War II, both
in Europe and in the Pacific. About 25,000
Navy recruits from all over the United States
came in the “front door” of Great Lakes every day to begin training, and 25,000 newly
trained sailors left Great Lakes with orders
for duty in all parts of the world.
It was March 1944 when the first “Negro”
to be commissioned in the U.S. Navy reported
for duty, as I learned later. He was also newly
commissioned as a Lt. jg, and he was, as expected, assigned to my clinic, as this was the
“Negro” clinic, after all. No surprise there.
I became acquainted with Paul and noticed
that he was largely ignored by the staff.
Therefore, I took it upon myself to mentor
him as he needed or requested. We became
friends. I learned he was also newly married,
as were Aileen and I. One day I invited him
and his bride to our two-room apartment, off
base, for dinner.
At first our new friends were clearly uncomfortable with the idea. But they finally
accepted my invitation and we had a nice
family dinner, as Aileen was a great cook.
After a few weeks, I got orders to report to
the Twelfth Naval District in San Francisco,
for duty aboard the USS Montrose, an attack transport/auxiliary hospital ship in the
When I reported for duty
with a dozen or so other
officers, we were asked if
anyone would volunteer
to be assigned to the
Negro clinic, #1909.
Pacific. I soon discovered that my friend,
my “colored” friend, also received orders to
San Diego about the same time, and we both
had two weeks to travel before reporting for
duty.
When I learned that they were also traveling to the West Coast, I suggested we drive
west together in our two cars. They had never
been to the West Coast and Aileen and I were
slightly familiar with the East-to-West highway system and the cities and towns through
which we would be traveling.
Without any thought or discussion, he said
simply, “Thanks so much for the suggestion,
but we can’t do that.”
But Aileen and I persisted. Finally he
said:
“No, we really can’t do that, as much as we
would like to. Let me explain our problem.”
He continued somewhat hesitantly:
“You see, few hotels will accept negroes. I
always carry a list of those that do, but many
are off the main highways and hard to find.
If we were to travel with you, we would drive
into an unknown or unfamiliar town or city
for the night. You and Aileen could check into
any hotel or motel, but Alyse and I couldn’t.
We would have to find a room in the ‘colored’
part of town, if it had one — and many towns
do not.
“Therefore, unless we plan very carefully
in advance, we may not be able to find any
facility that would accept us, except perhaps
in the largest cities where there is a distinct
‘colored’ town.
“We couldn’t eat at the same restaurants as
you or at the same lunch counters.
“Even now, when we travel overland by
ourselves, we have to be very careful to plan
our itinerary well in advance to include overnight stops in cities or towns where there are
known hotels and restaurants that accept Negroes. Many times we have had to spend the
night in our cars or in some instances with
Negro families, often strangers, along our
route, or with families to which we have been
referred.”
That was the incident that opened my eyes
— wide — to the issue of overt discrimination in America through the eyes of a young,
black professional couple.
We both left for California the same day. I
regret that we lost touch and had no further
contact with them — and now, within a lifetime, we will have a ‘Negro’ president.
Welcome, President Obama. N
Robert C. “Bob” Smithwick was the chair
of the citizens’ committee that recommended formation of the Foothill Community
College District, later Foothill-De Anza
district, in the late 1950s, and was subsequently elected as the first board chair. He
is a resident of Los Altos Hills. He can be
e-mailed at rsmithwick@neopolitans.net.
Streetwise
What blogs do you read regularly?
Asked at Town & Country Village Interviews by Lillian Bixler. Photographs by Veronica Weber.
Todd Laurence
Joe Sawyer
Benoit Collignon
Paige Parsons
Holly Joseph
Software Salesman
East Greenwich Place, Palo Alto
“I’m going to start blogging a little
bit more on topics that are directly
related to software sales, but my wife
and even my daughter are much more
into the blogging sphere.”
Lawyer
East Bayshore Road, Palo Alto
“Basically blogs of people that I know.”
Student
Park Boulevard, Palo Alto
“I have a blog about my backcountry
trips where I put pictures and reports
of sports, backpacking, camping and
skiing. I get a considerable amount of
views but not many comments.”
Music Photographer
Georgia Avenue, Palo Alto
“I read too many blogs, probably 20 a
day. I read Brooklynvegan, Pitchforkmedia, Stereogum, Aquariumdrunkard
and Gorillavsbear to find out who has
new music coming out”
Talent Scout
Juniper Lane, Palo Alto
“The type of blogs I read are kind of
bipolar. I read two kinds blogs: I read
the Sartorialist, Garancedore and
Fabsugar and then for my job I read
tech blogs like Techcrunch, Valleywag,
Layoffblog, Siliconalley.”
*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊU Page 25
Sports
Shorts
Out of
its own
shadow
Stanford men’s tennis
returning as contender
for national honors
Sophomore Alex Clayton is one of many top young players on the Stanford men’s tennis team hoping to return
the program to national prominence once again following a few down seasons.
Keith Peters
ON THE AIR
Friday
Prep basketball: Woodside girls at
Menlo-Atherton, 6:15 p.m., KCEA (89.1
FM), followed by boys’ game at 7:45
p.m.
Saturday
Men’s basketball: Oregon St. at
Stanford, 7 p.m.; Comcast Sports Net
Bay Area. (40); KTRB (860 AM); KZSU
(90.1 FM)
Women’s basketball: Stanford at Oregon St., 7 p.m., KZSU (90.1 FM)
Thursday
Men’s basketball: Stanford at USC,
7:30 p.m.; Fox Sports Net (Prime Ticket);
KTRB (860 AM)
Women’s basketball: USC at Stanford, 7 p.m.; KZSU (90.1 FM)
SPORTS ONLINE
For expanded daily coverage of college
and prep sports, please see our new site
at www.PASportsOnline.com
by Rick Eymer
tanford men’s tennis coach
John Whitlinger can be forgiven for the enthusiasm he’s
showing regarding this year’s dual
meet season, which begins Friday with a scheduled home match
against St. Mary’s at 1:30 p.m.
He’s not quite ready to crown this
group the best that ever played at
Stanford. The 1998 team that went
28-0, won an NCAA and dominated the national scene like no other
squad before it gets that honor. Still,
Whitlinger is certainly willing to
speak highly of his current players,
who open the year ranked 12th as
a team.
“It’s a talented team but we have
to go out and prove it,” Whitlinger
said. “It’s been a few years but we’re
back in the (national) conversation.
People are talking about our recent
recruiting classes. This is as deep a
team that we’ve had here.”
The women’s team was scheduled to open its season on Thursday
against visiting UC Davis, also with
hopes of returning to the national
spotlight. The Cardinal is ranked
fifth in preseason polls.
Sophomore Alex Clayton returns
as the men’s team’s top player. He
ended last year in the semifinals of
the NCAA singles tournament, losing to eventual (two-time) champion
Somdev Devvarman, who turned
pro and is currently ranked 155th in
the world. He owns a pair of ITF
titles and nearly $100,000 in career
earnings.
Clayton, the reigning ITA Newcomer of the Year, has already
shown he’s no fluke. He won the
ITA Regional championship in the
fall and reached the title match of
the Sherwood Cup on Monday, losing to fifth-ranked Robert Farah of
USC.
Perhaps his biggest competition for top of the singles ladder
will come from freshman Bradley
Klahn, who won 10 of 12 matches
in the fall, losing only to Farah and
Clayton.
S
David Gonzales/Stanford Photo
YOUTH VOLLEYBALL . . . The
Palo Alto Elite Volleyball Club
demonstrated the local area’s
growing base of volleyball talent in
the Northern California Volleyball
Association’s California Kickoff
tournament last weekend. Under
the direction of Katie Goldhahn,
a Stanford grad and former member of the Cardinal women’s team,
the Palo Alto Elite VC had various
levels of success in the event. The
18U Blue team, featuring Palo Alto
High’s Kristen Dauler, Lauren
Hammerson, Cassie Prioleau,
Greta Sohn and Daron Willison,
climbed up from a No. 31 seed
to finish 15th in the NCVA’s Club
Division, winning the silver division. The 16U White team, featuring Palo Altans Allsion Bieber,
Laura Rose, Amber Ugarte,
Michell Williams, Erika Chang
and Galen Hartwell finished ninth
in the Club Division after an initial
bottom seed of 55. The girls are
from Castilleja Gunn and Paly.
The 15U Blue team, competing in
the most difficult “open” division
with the top 16U teams in Northern California, finished 12th out of
all 15U teams for 31st in the 16U
age group. The 15U Blue team
features locals from Paly, Menlo
Atherton, Los Altos High, and Sacred Heart Prep: including Amelia
Alvarez, Sam and Paige Borso;
Sarah Collins, Maddy Dahm,
Jackie Koenig, Caroline Martin,
Taylor McCreery, Ashley Shin,
Sara Altman and Layla Memar.
The 14U Blue team finished 11th
in the club division with a roster of
Anna McGarrigle, Mika Munch,
Sophia Bono, Molly Goodspeed,
Pauli King, Nira Krasnow, Seliena Loera, Molly McAdam,
Emily Rose, Annie Susco, Sarah
Varghese, and Sasha Robinson.
The 14U White team finished 20th
in the same division with Diana
Vandenburg, Rubi Alcazar, Michelle Friedlander, Francesca
Gencarella, Emily Grose, Nitika
Johri, Claire Neylan, Savannah
and Haley Owens, Michaela
Koval, Chandler Gardiner and
Zoe Weisner.
STANFORD TENNIS
Stanford sophomore Hilary Barte, like Alex Clayton on the men’s team, has her sights set on getting the Cardinal women back to the national championship match following a two-year absence.
(continued on page 30)
Projected revenues loss has Stanford sports facing cutbacks
by Janie McCauley
T
he Stanford athletic department is considered one of the
finest in the nation and the
success of its overall program in unparalleled. Yet, even Stanford isn’t
immune to the current economic
crisis.
In fact, Stanford’s athletic department is projecting a $5 million loss
in revenue over the next three years
and is considering cutting staff and
eliminating some sports teams.
The school is expected to decide
Page 26 • January 23, 2009 • Palo Alto Weekly
in the next 30 to 60 days on staff
cuts, a Stanford employee familiar
with the budget issues told the AP
on condition of anonymity because
the person is not authorized to discuss the shortfall.
The person also said Tuesday it
wasn’t clear which teams, if any,
would be considered for elimination — and it likely wouldn’t be
until next season so at the earliest
in the fall.
“That’s the last thing they want
to consider. They don’t want it to
affect student-athletes,” the person
said, noting another department
was looking to eliminate 50 positions from a staff of about 140. “We
do have some serious budget problems. We’re looking at other ways
(to save).”
Reducing travel costs also was being discussed.
Stanford has 35 sports teams (most
in the nation) — 19 for women, 15
for men and one coed squad.
Last year, the university captured
its 14th consecutive Division I U.S.
Sports Academy Directors’ Cup, a
recognition presented each year to
the best overall programs for each
athletic division in the country.
Stanford scored points in 24 of
its sports but could only count the
maximum 10 each on the men’s and
women’s sides — earning 12 topfive finishes. The Cardinal won an
NCAA title in women’s cross country; placed second in women’s volleyball, women’s basketball, men’s
(continued on page 30)
Sports
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FOOD TO GO • DELIVERY
Both teams lead their
respective leagues along
with Priory, Gunn girls
by Keith Peters
he Sacred Heart Prep boys’
soccer team had the luxury
of sitting back for a week and
watch the rest of the West Bay Athletic League beat up on itself. The
result is that the Gators are still atop
the league standings.
The biggest move of the week
was made by Harker, which topped
Priory on Wednesday, 3-1, to inch
closer to Sacred Heart Prep. Only
two points separates the two with
Menlo dropping to third at 4-1-3 (15
points) after settling for a scoreless
deadlock with King’s Academy this
week.
Thus, the WBAL race is apparently coming down to four teams —
Sacred Heart Prep, Harker, Menlo
and Priory (3-3-2). Any one of the
top three teams can win the league
title with Priory having an outside
shot, at best.
With that said, the league title is
for Sacred Heart Prep to lose at this
point. The Gators, while only 7-7
overall, are in charge heading into
Friday’s scheduled match at Priory
to open the second half of league
play at 3 p.m. The Gators will finish
the season at Harker (Feb. 6) and at
home against Menlo (Feb. 9).
Beating those contending teams
at the end of the season is most important, just as important as last
Friday’s 3-2 victory over the host
Knights.
While SHP coach Matt Dodge has
used various tools over the years to
motivate his team — a few years
ago he promised his players they
could shave his head if they won
the Central Coast Section Division
III title, and the Gators did — no
such motivation was needed against
Menlo. The Gators, after all, were
facing the Knights for the first time
ever in boys’ soccer and first place
in the WBAL was on the line.
“Intensity-wise, we were up for
it,” Dodge said.
After a scoreless first half, Sacred
Heart Prep exploded for three goals
in the first five minutes of the second half and held on for a very big
victory.
Sacred Heart prep senior Ben
Taylor scored two goals with Victor Ojeda adding one. Both players
added an assist. Menlo charged back
from a 3-0 deficit with Vikram Padval and Charles Le Moullac scoring.
Joe Pinsker assisted on both goals.
In the SCVAL De Anza Division,
Palo Alto strengthened its hold on
first place with a 2-0 victory over
visiting Monta Vista on Wednesday.
The Vikings improved to 6-0-1 in
league (19 points) and 14-1-2 overall
while the Matadors fell to 2-5-1 in
league.
Following a scoreless first half,
Paly finally got on the board on
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PALO ALTO
GRAND PRIX
SHP’s defense that included goalie Max Polkinhorne (center) and Jeff
Wagstaffe, held off Jon Melgar (19) and his Menlo teammates.
an overlapping run by John Christopherson (assist), who then crossed
the ball to Greg Stewart for the goal
with 8:30 elapsed. Paly made it 2-0
when Spencer Sims scored on an assist from Adam Zernik.
Paly visits rival Gunn on Friday
at 5:30 p.m.
Despite battling to a 2-2 deadlock
with host Milpitas, Gunn didn’t lose
much ground in the De Anza Division race on Wednesday. The Titans
(4-2-1, 7-5-3) still hold on to third
place and a three-point lead over
fourth-place Milpitas in the race for
the league’s three automatic CCS
berths. Seniors Ryan Wood and
Sean Parshad scored for the Titans.
Girls soccer
The Priory regained first place
in the WBAL (Foothill Division)
with a solid 3-0 victory over visiting King’s Academy on Wednesday.
The Panthers improved to 6-1 in
league (18 points) and inched ahead
of Sacred Heart Prep (5-0-1 for 16
points) in the standings.
Adriana Cortes, who was sick
when Priory lost to SHP last week,
returned in better health and hit a
great through ball to Sarah Montgomery, who then crossed it on the
ground to Alex Schnabel for a onetouch finish and 1-0 lead. Montgomery scored in the second half while
the third goal came from a hard
header by Lauren Allen on a corner kick served in by Zoe Ciupitu.
Senior keeper Dani Boross and the
defense recorded their fifth shutout
in league play while improving to
10-4-1 overall.
Sacred Heart Prep took over first
place, but just for one day, with a
3-0 blanking of King’s Academy
on Tuesday. The Gators (8-3-3 overall), grabbed a 2-0 halftime lead
on goals by Abby Dahlkemper and
Lizzy Weisman, with Dahlkemper
assisting on the second goal. In the
second half, senior Kira Abe scored
off an assist from Weisman.
In the SCVAL El Camino Division, Gunn strengthened its hold on
first place with a solid 4-1 victory
over visiting Milpitas on Wednesday
evening. Gunn improved to 5-0-2 in
league (7-5-3 overall).
The Titans got on the scoreboard
in the 16th minute when Megan
Clendenin’s free kick was cleared
directly to Melissa Sun, who made
a strike from 25 yards out. Gunn
struck again in the 20th minute with
Libby Burch crossing to Kelly McKenna inside the penalty area where
she finish for a 2-0 lead. In the 33rd
minute, Erin Robinson delivered a
cross to Taylor Gardiner for a third
goal.
In the SCVAL De Anza Division,
Palo Alto’s problems continued on a
muddy grass field on Wednesday as
the Vikings dropped further in the
race following a disappointing 5-1
loss to host Monta Vista. The Vikings (2-3-2, 6-5-4) now have given
up 10 goals in back-to-back losses
on grass fields. ■
ROAD RACE SERIES
JOIN US FOR A FOURTH
SEASON IN 2009!
FEBRUARY 28
MARCH 22
City of
Palo Alto
Recreation
Presents
24th Annual
Palo Alto Weekly
September 12, 2008
OCTOBER 2
SPRING OR FALL
TBA
OCTOBER 24
NOVEMBER 15
For more information go to:
www.paloaltogp.org
Palo Alto Weekly • January 23, 2009 • Page 27
Sports
Eastside Prep girls lose more than a rare league hoop game
Defending CCS Division V champion has one of its top players quit before team loses its first league basketball game since 1999
by Keith Peters
t was bound to happen sometime,
that the Eastside Prep girls’ basketball team would finally lose
a league game after over 11 straight
unbeaten seasons and 78 consecutive league victories. But, not like
this.
With star scorers Felicia Anderson and Ahjalee Harvey out of the
lineup, the Panthers lost their first
league game in 12 years, 47-37 to
host Mercy-San Francisco on Tuesday.
The loss also cost Eastside Prep
(2-1, 11-6) a share of first place in the
West Bay Athletic League (Foothill
Division). Pinewood, which routed
Mercy-SF last Friday, 55-30, now
owns sole possession of the division
lead. Mercy-SF, meanwhile, moved
into a tie for second.
Anderson, a junior who is one of
the top players in the Central Coast
Section, quit the team earlier in
the week. No reason was given for
why she left her teammates shorthanded.
Harvey, a talented sophomore
who also ranks among the top players in the section, was held out of
the game by coach Donovan Blythe
due to an injury.
“Ahjalee was hurt,” said Chris
Bischof, Eastside Prep’s athletic director. “She sprained her ankle in
Friday’s game and Donovan didn’t
want to risk her getting hurt more.”
I
With Anderson gone, the defending CCS Division V champion
Panthers are down to seven players.
Only six suited up for the MercySF game. Without Harvey and Anderson, who were averaging nearly
a combined 40 points a game, the
offensive load fell on sophomore Takara Burse. The transfer from Notre
Dame-Belmont scored 14 points,
but was the only Eastside player in
double figures.
The Panthers will visit Pinewood
(3-0, 13-4) on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.,
for a game in which Pinewood now
has to be considered the favorite.
Castilleja (2-2, 10-4) moved back
into the championship picture with
a 68-42 thumping of visiting Notre
Dame-San Jose on Tuesday night.
The Gators used a 17-2 run to start
the game and coasted from there.
Castilleja scored season highs of
23 first-quarter points and 44 points
in the opening half. Senior Ericka
von Kaeppler finished with a game
high of 25 points, scoring 20 in the
opening half. Sophomore Natasha
von Kaeppler tossed in 17 points,
including her first-ever three-pointer. Ericka pulled down 10 rebounds
while Natasha had 11 boards. Both
also had four assists as the Gators
dished out a season high of 20.
Junior Eve Zelinger added 19,
leaving her two points shy of becoming the first player in WBAL
history with 500 career points. She
also had 14 rebounds and 11 assists,
recording the second triple-double
of her career and the third such feat
in school history. The 11 assists is a
school record, breaking the previous
mark of 10 she shared with Lindsay
Taylor.
Castilleja played host to Menlo
on Thursday night in a nonleague
game. The Gators’ task was to stop
Jackie Shepard.
Shepard poured in a school-record 41 points to lead the Knights
to a resounding 61-26 victory over
host Harker in a West Bay Athletic
League (Skyline Division) game
Wednesday. The senior, who scored
57 points in two games last week,
made 17 of 29 shots from the field
while breaking the previous school
record held by McDonald’s AllAmerican Rometra Craig (who finished her career at Mitty).
Shepard had 24 points by halftime
and finished with a team-leading
seven rebounds as the Knights improved to 3-0 in league (14-5 overall).
Menlo, which has won six straight
and eight of its past nine games, will
host ICA on Tuesday (6:15 p.m.) in a
showdown for first place.
In the SCVAL De Anza Division,
Palo Alto accomplished a couple
of important things with its 49-40
victory over visiting Lynbrook on
Wednesday night. The Vikings (2-2,
4-8) avenged a season-ending loss
to Lynbrook in the CCS Division
II playoffs and moved into a tie for
third place.
Paly will have to be at its very best
the next two games, hosting Gunn
(4-0, 16-0) on Friday at 6:15 p.m.
and then welcoming second-place
Wilcox (3-1) next Wednesday.
The Vikings played hard against
Lynbrook and were rewarded for
their hustle and determination, doing a good job on the boards while
taking care of the ball on offense.
Taylor Lovely knocked down a trio
of three-points and led the victory
with 13 points. She made two threepointers in the fourth quarter to help
seal the victory. Olivia Garcia added
10 points. Paly’s defensive effort,
however, carried the day as it limited Lynbrook’s potent three-point
shooters to just four baskets from
beyond the stripe.
In nonleague action, Gabby Micek
poured in 25 points as Sacred Heart
Prep snapped a three-game losing streak by rolling over visiting
Menlo-Atherton, 49-31, Wednesday
night. The Gators (8-9), who are battling for a berth into the CCS Division IV playoffs this season, took a
positive step forward by limiting the
Bears (8-10) to just 10 second-half
points. Bryn Aitken-Young added
12 points.
first place in the SCVAL De Anza
Division with a solid 56-31 victory over host Los Altos on Tuesday
night. The Titans improved to 4-0
in league (15-4 overall) heading into
Friday’s showdown with host Palo
Alto at 7:45 p.m.
The Vikings (3-1, 10-6) fell out
of a share of first place last week
with a 60-56 overtime loss to Los
Altos. If comparative scores are
any indication, Gunn stands a good
chance of beating the rival Vikings
and ending a 10-game losing streak
to Paly.
The Titans will be riding a fourgame winning streak following the
win at Los Altos. One advantage
Gunn had was height and the Titans
exploited that early as 6-foot-8 Gus
Brennan scored the first basket of
the game, followed by inside points
from 6-3 Kyle Perricone and 6-4
Stephan Castro that put Gunn up
10-0 five minutes into the game.
Perricone led the Titans with 14
points while Brennan added 12 and
Castro tallied 11.
The WBAL race remains tight
following victories by the top three
teams on Tuesday night.
In San Jose, Sacred Heart Prep
(5-0, 10-5) maintained a share of
first place with a 52-40 victory over
host King’s Academy. The Gators
trailed by four after one quarter
Boys basketball
Gunn strengthened its hold on
(continued on page 29)
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* previous winner
To see video interviews of the Athletes of the Week, go to www.PASportsOnline.com
Prep basketball
(continued from page 28)
and by 21-18 at halftime, but rallied
in the third quarter to finally pull
ahead and win its ninth straight.
Senior guard Ryan Sakowski paced
the Gators with 21 points while Alek
Konopnicki added nine.
Sacred Heart Prep faces stiff challenges in its next two games, starting
with Harker (5-0, 15-2) on Friday in
the Gators’ gym at 6:30 p.m. Harker
routed Crystal Springs on Tuesday,
55-28.
After Friday’s game, Sacred Heart
Prep will travel a few hundred yards
to face neighborhood rival Menlo on
Tuesday at 7:45 p.m. The Knights
(4-1, 11-3) are in second place and
are coming off a 56-42 thumping of
host Eastside Prep (2-3, 9-6).
Menlo held the Panthers to just 12
points in the first half while forging a 27-12 lead at intermission. The
Knights had a height advantage with
6-7 Will Tashman scoring 17 points
and adding seven rebounds. Tashman has scored 74 points in the past
four games.
Fellow senior Alex Smith played
in his third game since returning
from a sprained ankle and contrib-
uted 14 points and seven rebounds.
Jerry Rice Jr. added 10 points.
Taylor Johns led Eastside with 12
points but scoring leader Ivan Prema was nearly shut out by the tough
Menlo defense and finished with
a season-low one point. Eastside’s
other top scorers also were shackled. Joe Mataele had just four points,
as did DJ Williams.
In nonleague action, MenloAtherton tuned up for an important
PAL South Division showdown with
visiting Woodside on Friday night
by toppling Terra Nova, 60-50, in
a nonleague game Wednesday. The
Bears improved to 13-6 by winning
for the fifth time in the past six
games.
Menlo-Atherton started slowly
and trailed at the half, 26-24, but senior guard Peter Defilipps sparked
the Bears in the second half and
finished with 14 points. Jeff Keller
came off the bench for 12 points and
five assists while senior forward
Sam Knapp continued his consistency with 12 points, eight rebounds,
four steals and four assists. Nils Gilbertson and Jeff Bell combined for
another 17 points.
The Bears will put their 2-0 mark
on the line against Woodside on Friday at 7:45 p.m.■
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Palo Alto Weekly • January 23, 2009 • Page 29
Sports
Stanford tennis
(continued from page 26)
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Page 30 • January 23, 2009 • Palo Alto Weekly
Today’s news,
sports & hot picks
Budget cuts
(continued from page 26)
gymnastics and men’s golf; third in
baseball, men’s and women’s swimming, women’s gymnastics and
women’s water polo; and fifth in
women’s indoor track and field and
women’s tennis.
The women’s basketball team
reached the Final Four for the first
time in 11 years and lost in the
NCAA title game to two-time defending champion Tennessee.
In December, Stanford announced
Keith Peters
David Gonzales/Stanford Photo
Freshman Bradley Klahn already has made an impact on the Stanford
men’s team with a No. 16 national ranking in the fall.
A superb showing from the doubles team of junior Richard Wire
and senior Blake Muller in winning the Sherwood Cup title over
the nation’s second-ranked team,
combined with two-time Pac-10
champion Matt Bruch, only adds to
Whitlinger’s excitement.
“We have gone to the Sherwood
Cup the past few years and not done
well,” he said. “One of the goals
this year was to get a good start. I’m
proud of how they performed overall and the guys feel good about it.
It’s part of the process of the year.”
Klahn’s fall success earned him the
No. 16 ranking in the first ITA singles
poll while Clayton was at 33rd. Clayton finished last year as the fourthranked player and likely will move up
as he continues to play more matches.
Wire (66th) is also ranked.
Bruch, who has been dealing with
injuries the past three years, needs
to play the rust off his game but
he should do just fine, along with
returning starters Clayton, Wire,
Muller, and sophomores Gregory
Hirshman and Ted Kelly.
“I like the experience our guys
have and I like the talent of the
sophomores and freshmen,” Whitlinger said. “It’s a good blend and
practices have been going well. The
chemistry is good.”
Bruch could be the key for the
Cardinal as the season progresses.
He finished playing No. 2 singles
despite a number of injuries and has
had success in the past.
“I hope he’s injury-free for his
last five months as a college tennis
player,” Whitlinger said. “I hope he
has a nice, clean run.”
Senior Jeff Zeller, the team’s cocaptain with Clayton, junior Paul
Morrissey and junior Kevin Kaiser
add depth to the roster.
Klahn is joined by fellow freshmen Ryan Thacher, who is just returning from an injury, and Sacred
Heart Prep grad Jamie Hutter, who
split his first two collegiate matches
and will miss the majority of the
season with an injury.
“He may not be a factor this year,”
Whitlinger said of Hutter. “But he’s
doing fine and he can play good
doubles. It’s always nice to have a
local guy on the team and he’s had
good results at Sacred Heart. It’s a
matter of getting healthy.”
Stanford is looking for its first
national title since 2000, when the
school completed a 28-year run that
included 17 national titles and four
national runnerups.
With three consecutive highly rated recruiting classes (with another
schedule to arrived in the fall), the
prospects of playing championshipcaliber tennis are good. This is a
team that can set its sights as high
as it would like.
“There are a lot of great teams
out there,” warned Whitlinger, in
his fifth season as head coach after
assisting the legendary Dick Gould
for 18 years. “We can put a lineup
out there Friday and who knows if
it will be the same at the end of the
year. The guys are interchangeable
and capable of playing any position.
Someone has to play No. 3 and No.
4. The only guy who is really happy
is the top player. That’s what you like
to see though; that they all desire to
be the best. What I like the most is
they want to win the (NCAA) team
event.”
No team has repeated as NCAA
champion since Stanford completed
a four-year run in 1998 with what
many consider to be the best team
ever assembled on The Farm.
This year’s group still has a lot
to prove, but it’s a team worthy of
seeking the highest level.
The Stanford women’s team has
won five national titles in the past
Junior Lindsay Burdette is back
for another title shot.
eight years, but none since 2006.
The Cardinal was national runnerups in 2007 and was beaten by Baylor in last year’s quarterfinals.
There’ are some similarities with
the men’s team. Like Clayton, sophomore Hilary Barte was named last
year’s ITA Newcomer of the Year
after a remarkable run that ended
in the second round of the singles
tournament.
Barte reached the finals of the
NCTC Classic at Indian Wells on
Sunday before losing to the nation’s
top-ranked player.
The women can also claim their
own Clayton. Alex’s younger sister
Courtney Clayton is a part of (like
the men) a highly regarded recruiting class that also includes Logan
Hansen and Veronica Li.
Barte is joined by returning starters Lindsay Burdette, a junior, sophomore Carolyn McVeigh and senior
Jessica Nguyen.
Senior Isamarie Perez and sophomore Jennifer Yen add depth.
The veteran coaching staff of
head coach Lele Forood and assistant Frankie Brennan also got a little
more experienced with the addition
of volunteer assistant Frank Brennan, who happened to have presided
over 10 NCAA titles before giving
way to Forood in 2001 after 21 years
as the Cardinal head coach.
Barte has a 9-3 record on the season (39-11 career), with all three
losses to nationally-ranked opponents, two of them in three sets.
Burdette (58-23), Nguyen (67-23)
and McVeigh (35-14) also add impressive career marks.
Stanford returns to action a week
from Friday when Colorado visits as
part of the ITA Indoor Team qualifying tournament.■
senior administrators, including
the president and provost, would
take salary cuts in the wake of the
economic downturn. Provost John
Etchemendy and President John
Hennessy volunteered to reduce
their salaries by 10 percent.
University spokeswoman Lisa
Lapin said at the time the salary
cuts affected about 15 to 20 positions with salaries that start around
$250,000. She said Hennessy made
about $700,000.■
Janie McCauley works for The Associated Press.
Arts & Entertainment
A weekly guide to music, theater, art, movies and more, edited by Rebecca Wallace
Wilson Graham
Dana Ullman
The musical vagabonds of Four Shillings Short return to Palo Alto
by Rebecca Wallace
he bardic tradition is alive and well
in a Dodge van with 363,000 miles
on it. The valiant steed is on its second engine and fourth transmission, but it
keeps carrying Christy Martin and Aodh
Óg Ó Tuama around the country to play
their proudly eccentric blend of Celtic,
folk and world music.
Known on stage as the band Four Shillings Short, Martin and Ó Tuama met at a
concert in Palo Alto in 1995 and knew after a week that they’d get married. They’ve
been making music and living a vagabond
life together ever since, and they still con-
T
Dana Ullman
Two for the road
Clockwise from left: Christy Martin and Aodh Óg Ó Tuama pose with Martin’s sitar; a bowed psaltery; Martin playing a hammered dulcimer.
sider Palo Alto the closest thing they have
to a home base.
The pair is now back “home” after two
years of performing around the country,
with upcoming gigs lined up at the Bus
Barn Theatre and other Peninsula spots.
Then in March, it’s off to the Rockies, the
Pacific Northwest and of course Ireland.
¯ ¯ Ó Tuama is
Aodh Óg (pronounced a-yog)
a native of Cork; Irish is his first language,
and his English is lilting.
What’s it like to be almost constantly on
the road? “It’s like a fantasy life,” Martin
says. They photograph bison in Yellowstone and goats in Glendalough, explore
backroads and castles. And they almost
always stay with friends.
At the moment, the twosome is in a resplendent 1895 Palo Alto Victorian with
antique radios and surprising staircases.
The kitchen feels like a grand wood-paneled ship, with broad windows letting in
a swath of sun. Behind the dining room,
steps appear out of nowhere, spiraling into
the basement.
Martin and Ó Tuama used to live in a
small cottage on this large plot of Homer
Avenue land — until the dot-com boom
boosted their rent from $1,000 to $1,500
(continued on next page)
*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊU Page 31
Arts & Entertainment
Four Shillings
(continued from previous page)
Dana Ullman
in one day. It seemed like a good
time to hit the road. The couple’s
friends in the big Victorian offered
to let them stay rent-free whenever
they were in town, and the offer still
holds today. In return, Martin and
Ó Tuama make the meals. They say
their Indian dishes make it a good
deal.
They’re also perpetually cooking
up a salmagundi of global sounds,
which means many ingredients. Ó
Tuama estimates that they bring 25
instruments on stage at each gig.
On this warm afternoon, Martin and Ó Tuama bounce back and
forth between the dining room and
the bedroom they stay in, happily
bringing out instrument after instrument to show to visitors. There are
wooden and tin whistles, low-F and
low-D whistles. Martin crouches
low on the floor to play a hammered
dulcimer, and in a box Ó Tuama
finds a triangle he carried around
for 25 years before playing.
Four Shillings Short’s repertoire
is often Indian-flavored — the musicians’ 2003 CD is called “From
Ragas to Riches.” Martin holds up
an elegant sitar, pointing out its 20
strings in two layers. She’s been
playing Indian music since she was
15 and once lived in an ashram.
In the liner notes for the pair’s
most recent release, the 2007 “Attitude and Gratitude,” they say Celtic
and Indian music have many similarities, including the drone heard in
several instruments, and the “feeling and emotion expressed in welldeveloped melodies.”
Other world flavors are woven
throughout the Four Shillings Short
sound. Martin brings in a charango
(a Brazilian relative of the lute), and
Ó Tuama plays a white gemshorn
like an upside-down shofar, creating
a watery music.
“It’s a cow’s horn, but these used
to be made from goat horns from
the Bavarian Alps,” he says.
When Martin and Ó Tuama have
time between concerts, they like to
make gratis presentations at schools,
supplementing weakened music programs by speaking and performing.
It’s possible many of these children
have never seen anyone play the
wooden spoons.
Hearing a Four Shillings Short recording can also be an unusual experience for even seasoned listeners.
Aodh Óg Ó Tuama plays the
crumhorn, a German Renaissance
instrument.
In 1999, John O’Reagan wrote about
the band’s 1998 CD “The Boggy
Spew” in the U.K.’s Rock’n’Reel
magazine, saying, “Eclecticism is
the name of the game where ethnic
folk idioms are freely mixed and
matched and the result is a wondrously diverse and exciting work.”
The “Attitude and Gratitude” CD
is an intriguing mix characteristic
of the band, although there’s more
sadness than is usually heard from
the duo. The recording was made in
a difficult year in which Ó Tuama’s
father, the poet and playwright Sean
Ó Tuama, passed away. Its first song,
“The Stolen Child,” also grieves the
loss of a family friend and features
haunting whistle melodies.
“Raga Bhairavi” follows, and
then “House of White,” a dark,
political song that Martin wrote in
2003 after reading Michael Moore’s
Bush-critical book “Dude, Where’s
My Country?” and learning of the
death of Rachel Corrie, an American activist killed by an Israeli army
bulldozer in Gaza.
Martin’s lyrics include this first
verse:
“They came one day on the darkest night
The thieves broke into the House
of White
They stole our rights and destroyed our votes
They changed the words and destroyed our hopes”
The CD also has lighter songs,
including the traditional American
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Page 32ÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊUÊ*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞ
“Moonshiner,” about which the
duo writes, “On the road we’ve enjoyed some great moonshine and
it’s always a pleasure to taste the
stuff.” And “Rosa das Rosas/Green
Grow the Rushes” is a 12th-century
melody along with Robert Burns’
“famous song of love for all things
feminine.”
Traditional Irish tunes on the CD
include “When the Cock Crows”
and “Delahunty’s Hornpipe.”
Since that CD came out in 2007,
Martin and Ó Tuama say their new
music is more hopeful, with emphases on activism and poetry. They’re
especially optimistic about one raga
they’ve started playing that is said
to bring rain.
“It flooded Chicago when we
played it,” Ó Tuama says with a
twinkle in his eye.
The duo has also introduced more
spoken poetry into their concerts.
One new song they play on bowed
psaltery is based on the poem “A
Slave’s Lament” by Robert Burns,
about the slaves being brought to
America.
They’re also in the process of recording a new CD, filled with a variety of styles and guest musicians,
including Martin’s sister Susannah,
a jazz singer; and guitarist Herschel
Yatovitz. Also joining in is cellist
Kris Yenney, a familiar face on local stages and one of the many musicians who have played with Four
Shillings Short over the years.
The band was originally composed of Ó Tuama and Ernest
Kinsolving, who started singing
medieval and Renaissance music
together. They were then joined
by Karl Franzen and added folk
music from Ireland and the British Isles to the repertoire. In 1985,
Four Shillings Short began playing
every month at St. Michael’s Alley
restaurant in Palo Alto.
Over the years, the roster of musicians changed many times before
Four Shillings Short became the
current steady duo. Another thing
that’s undergone a transformation
in that time is communication.
Once, Four Shillings Short musicians mailed out postcards and
booked gigs on pay phones. Now
Martin and Ó Tuama have 30,000
people on their e-mail list and tangle with their ISPs.
“It’s hard keeping up with technology,” Martin says.
Ó Tuama chimes in, a trifle bemused: “All we want is to play music. And have a bicycle ride.” N
Info: Four Shillings Short is playing a 7:30 p.m. show on Tuesday,
Feb. 10, at the Bus Barn Theatre,
97 Hillview Ave., Los Altos; the
cover is $10. Go to www.busbarn.org or call 650-941-0551.
On Saturday, March 14, the
band plays at a St. Patrick’s dinner and concert held from 6 to 9
p.m. at St. Albert the Great Catholic Church at 1095 Channing
Ave. in Palo Alto. Reservations
are requested; call 650-321-6179.
For information on other upcoming gigs, go to www.fourshillingsshort.com or call 650-2741100.
Arts & Entertainment
HOUSING
DISCRIMINATION
ARE YOU A VICTIM?
Mark Kitaoka
Call Project Sentinel, a non-profit agency
(888) F-A-I-R-H-O-U-s-i-n-g
(888) 324-7468
Lily Garland (played by Rebecca Dines, left) has a moment with train passenger Matthew Clark (Gerry Hiken) as Oscar Jaffe (Dan Hiatt) watches.
are no doubt intended to be satires
of show-business types encountered
by the play’s authors, but while it
seems the audience is supposed to
TheatreWorks production fails to tickle the funny bone
find them loveably self-centered and
overdramatic, I found them simply
by Karla Kane
dull and one-note. Are we really
ike the high-pitched whistle
supposed to root for these two to
of a fast-moving train, TheTHEATER REVIEW
earn more fame and fortune or care
atreWorks’ newest production,
if they once again become lovers?
“Twentieth Century,” barrels onto Clark, who spends his time plaster- Unfortunately, I couldn’t have cared
the stage with energy and noise to ing the train windows with “repent” less.
spare.
stickers, is a religious nut who ofThe costumes, by Fumiko
The play, by Ben Hecht and Charles fers to financially back the produc- Bielefeldt, are lovely and the ‘30sMacArthur, made its Broadway de- tion — provided, of course, that he style fashion-page illustrations inbut in 1932, followed by a 1950s re- can play Jesus Christ. Other bit play- cluded in the program are a nice
vival and a 1970s musical version. In ers include a doctor-cum-playwright touch. The set design, by Andre
2004, it was revived and adapted by and his mistress, and Garland’s beef- Bechert, is also pleasing. It conveys
Ken Ludwig; TheatreWorks presents cake agent, plus Jaffe’s two loyal as- the movement of the train through
this version.
sistants, the sensible Ida Webb and clever sliding compartments and im“Twentieth Century” is named for crass Owen O’Mally.
ages of twinkly night scenes scrollthe luxury locomotive in which the
“Twentieth Century” is billed as ing past the windows. The lighting
action is set. Chugging along on an the quintessential ‘30s screwball is effective, with some particularly
overnight journey from Chicago to comedy, and the TheatreWorks standout moments, such as brightNew York City in 1930s glamour, production certainly tries its best to ening the lights on Garland as she
the train contains a small cast of reach an appropriate level of zani- recalls basking in the glow of Jaffe’s
wacky passengers.
ness. “Zany and comedic” in this productions. Snippets of period
Washed-up Broadway producer case seem to be translated as “loud songs set the mood well.
Oscar Jaffe has just produced his and shrill,” with performers shoutIf there were one word to describe
third straight flop while archenemy ing or whining practically every line. the play, it would be “belabored.” All
Max Jacobs is flush with success. The problem is, the play itself is not the actors are trying their hardest to
Jaffe knows that a reunion with his very funny. Jokes about the Bible, create an atmosphere of screwball
former protégée — and paramour — suicide, show-biz folks and sex are sizzle but the result is more frantic
Lily Garland (née Mildred Plotka) thrown in a mile a minute but most intensity than frothy fun. It’s a disapis just what he needs to reclaim his failed to tickle my funny bone.
pointment, especially compared to
crown as king of the Great White
Dan Hiatt is not particularly mem- TheatreWorks’ 2005 production of
Way.
orable as the pompous, egotistical another 1930s-set Ludwig comedy,
But Garland has left Broadway for Jaffe. Rebecca Dines as the vain the sparkling “Shakespeare in HolHollywood stardom, even recently and oft-shrieking Garland is pure lywood.”
winning an Academy Award. She’s ham and stereotypical diva. Dines
For what it’s worth, the audience
vowed to never again work with Jaffe is a TheatreWorks regular and usu- around me seemed to eat “Twentieth
and is planning on signing a contract ally quite good, but as Garland she Century” up, laughing uproariously
with Jacobs as soon as she gets to grated on my nerves.
at every joke, whereas I left with
NYC. The ever-scheming Jaffe arThe supporting cast fares better. a massive headache. Maybe I just
ranges to get the train compartment Edward Sarafian is excellent in the didn’t get it. N
next to Garland so he might woo (or small but memorable role of the
trick if necessary) her back to him train conductor, delivering several
What: “Twentieth Century,” a
during the course of the ride. He laugh-out-loud lines with deadpan
Ken Ludwig-adapted play prepromises her the starring role of a perfection. As Christian fundamensented by TheatreWorks
lifetime — the only problem? He has talist/loony-bin escapee Clark, GerWhere: Mountain View Center
no idea what role or play that might ry Hiken is also charming, giggling
for the Performing Arts, 500
be yet.
mischievously and turning bright
Castro St.
Jaffe gets a brainstorm thanks red on occasion.
When: Through Feb. 8, with
to some other passengers, a troupe
When a plot focuses on the reconperformances Tuesday through
of German actors who perform the ciliation of two lead characters, the
Sunday
Christian Passion play. Garland is fact that said characters are repugCost: Tickets are $23-61.
lured in by Jaffe’s offer of the part of nant and uninteresting makes caring
Info: Go to www.theatreworks.
Mary Magdalene in a grand Broad- about their fate difficult. Jaffe and
org or call the box office at
way spectacle. Another passenger, Garland are conceited, deceitful,
650-903-6000.
pharmaceutical honcho Matthew over-privileged and obnoxious. They
A shrill ‘Century’
L
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Get Connected!
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Call (650) 289-5405 or visit
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Arts & Entertainment
Sign up today www.PaloAltoOnline.com
Worth a Look
cert called “Influenza
Italiana” (referring to
“infectious Italian Baroque style”) at First
Lutheran Church at 800
Homer Ave. Through
violin, cello, viola da
gamba, harpsichord
and voice, the group explores Italy-influenced
German music in the
17th and 18th centuries.
Tickets are $25; go to
www.sfems.org.
Tomorrow, Jan. 24,
Palo Alto Performances
Soprano Rita Lilly
Series presents an 8 p.m.
concert in the city’s Art Center at 1313 Newell Road.
Pianists Josephine Gandolfi, LaDoris Cordell, Deanne
Tucker and Jefferson Williams — together with soprano
Yolanda Rhodes — will perform works by Brahms, Debussy, Gershwin and William Grant Still. Tickets are
$14/$12. Call 650-463-4940.
The Trio Jubilee marks its 10th anniversary on Sunday,
Jan. 25, with a 4 p.m. concert of music by Beethoven,
Piazzolla and Schumann. Pianist Su Mi Park, violinist
Claudia Bloom and cellist Thomas Shoebotham play at
the First Congregational Church at 1985 Louis Road.
Tickets are $15/$10; call 650-327-2019.
Also on Sunday, the California Bach Society comes
to All Saints’ Church at 555 Waverley St. for a 4 p.m.
concert. Soloists include soprano Rita Lilly, and the program includes Monteverdi pieces and an “arias by request” session. Tickets are $30 at the door; go to www.
calbach.org.
Theater
‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’
January 23, 2009
To all interested parties:
On Monday, January 12, 2009 the Palo Alto City Council voted to
create a Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF) to evaluate and recommend
alternatives to address Palo Alto’s composting needs. Interested parties would submit an application and supplemental questionnaire to
the City Clerk’s office by Thursday, February 5, 2009. The application packet can be obtained on the City Clerk’s webpage at http://
www.city.palo-alto.ca.us/depts/clk/default.asp. The Task Force would
be determined by Council and would convene for approximately 6
months. The BRTF would focus on:
Alternative solutions or technology, and evaluate the following:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Short Term Improvements
Environmental Impacts
Economic Impacts
Permitting
Prospective Locations
Energy Generation
Let’s get ready to rumble. “Who’s Afraid of Virginia
Woolf?” — the Edward Albee classic of marital warfare
and drink — is opening at the Lucie Stern Theatre.
First produced in 1962, “Woolf” was honored as Best
Play at the 1963 Tony Awards. Many also saw the 1966
film, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton as
the battling couple Martha and George. In 2005, the
play was back on Broadway with Kathleen Turner and
Bill Irwin.
Closer to home, Palo Alto Players takes on the classic
starting with a preview tonight at 8 p.m. Opening night
is Saturday, Jan. 24, and the show runs through Feb. 8.
Diane Tasca, artistic director of The Pear Avenue
Theatre, plays Martha. Kevin Kirby, a Weekly theater
reviewer, is George. Liza Zassenhaus and Patrick Engler
play Honey and Nick, the couple who get drawn into
the fray.
The Lucie Stern is at 1305 Middlefield Road in Palo
Alto; tickets are $20-$31. Go to www.paloaltoplayers.
org or call 650-329-0891.
Music
Classical concerts
Peter Drekmeier
Mayor, City of Palo Alto
This weekend is a busy one in Palo Alto for concerts
of classical music.
Tonight at 8, the Ensemble Mirable performs a con-
A Guide to the Spiritual Community
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UCC
We Invite You to Learn and Worship with Us.
£™nxʜՈÃÊ,œ>`]Ê*>œÊÌœÊUÊ­Èxä®ÊnxȇÈÈÈÓÊUÊÜÜÜ°vVV«>°œÀ}Ê
-՘`>ÞÊ7œÀň«Ê>˜`Ê-՘`>ÞÊ-V…œœÊ>ÌÊ£ä\ääÊ>°“°
Come to Sunday Bible Study 9 AM,
Interim Pastor Dick Spencer’s
Biblically based Sermons and
Worship Service 10:30 AM
This Sunday: "Things I Didn't Learn in Seminary"
Rev. Clyde Dodder, Minister Emeritus
An Open and Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ
Stanford Memorial Church
University Public Worship
Sunday, January 25, 10:00 am
Multi-faith Celebration
Honoring the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The Drum Major Instinct”
All are
welcome.
Information:
650-723-1762
Aleta Hayes, Lecturer in Contemporary Dance
and Performance, will offer a tribute to Dr. King
through the spoken word and dance.
Music featuring the Stanford Memorial Church Choir,
under the direction of Gregory Wait.
http://religiouslife.stanford.edu
Los Altos
Lutheran
Church
ELCA
www.fpcmv.org
1667 Miramonte (Cuesta at Miramonte) 650.968.4473
Pastor David K. Bonde
Outreach Pastor
Gary Berkland
9:00 am Worship
10:30 am Education
Nursery Care Provided
Alpha Courses
650-948-3012
460 S. El Monte Ave., Los Altos
www.losaltoslutheran.org
Worship with us this Sunday...
INSPIRATIONS
A resource for special events and ongoing religious services.
To inquire about or make space reservations for Inspirations, please contact
Blanca Yoc at 326-8210 x221 or email byoc@paweekly.com
“A LAYING ON OF HANDS TO LEAD US INTO HOPE”
THE REV. W. ROBERT (ROB) MARTIN III
11 am in the Sanctuary
or
8:45 - 9:15 am - Contemplative Service in the Sanctuary
8:45 - 9:15 am - Child-friendly Worship in the Chapel
www.fprespa.org
Page 34ÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊUÊ*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞ
• 1140 Cowper Street •
650.325.5659
Movies
GET THE HEAT,
CHOOSE YOUR REBATE
Movie reviews by Jeanne Aufmuth, Tyler Hanley and Susan Tavernetti
OPENINGS
Waltz with Bashir
---(CineArts) Israeli writer-director Ari Folman has created a
fascinating, haunting animated
feature about the shock-and-awe
inflicted on the human psyche
by the horrors of war. The 2008
Cannes Film Festival hit and Israel’s official submission to the
foreign-language category of the
81st Academy Awards unspools
like a fever dream — in hallucinatory images and vivid hues —
that can’t be shaken from waking
life. Folman joins arms with the
great anti-war filmmakers of cinema history to pronounce that war
is hell.
And animation isn’t just for kids
anymore.
A pack of snarling black dogs,
yellow eyes glaring, bounds towards the camera like beasts from
hell — an opening image that conveys the recurring nightmare of a
former Israeli soldier who recounts
the frightening dream to Folman,
in a bar, in the middle of the night.
The army buddies conclude that
the persistent nightmare must be
connected to their Lebanon War
experience. Since Folman seems
to have repressed his own memories of the 1982 invasion, he sets
out to discover the truth by talking with other veterans who had
served with him.
The eight eyewitnesses chase the
ghosts of memory, adding to the
steadily growing flow of information about the attack on Beirut and
subsequent Sabra and Shatila refugee camp massacres committed by
the Lebanese Christian Phalangists. Are the accounts reportage
or fantasy? Sociological exposé or
psychosis? One of the many layers
of the film addresses the timeless
question: What is truth?
Rarely does a movie raise so
many complex issues in such a
short time. The only female in a
major role, Professor Zahava Solomon (voiced by herself), brings
psychological expertise to the
philosophical introspection about
truth and memory. The post-traumatic stress expert discusses the
disassociative disorder that protected the psyches of the Israeli
soldiers but also blinded them,
making them complicit in the killing of Palestinian civilians. Representing Israel’s collective amnesia, Folman and his friends must
sift through their memory banks
of historical fact and fancy to acknowledge their wartime roles and
reclaim their lives.
Truth may be elusive, but palpable are the 20-plus years of posttraumatic stress and pain suffered
by Boaz Rein Buskila (acted and
voiced by Mickey Leon), Ori Sivan (himself), Roni Dayg (himself), Carmi Cnaa’n (acted and
voiced by Yehezkel Lazarov),
Shmuel Frenkel (himself), Ron
Ben Yisahi (himself), Dror Harzi
(himself) and Folman (himself).
Their interviews are illustrated in
simple, stark images that give way
to the stylized flashbacks of their
memories. The different animation styles separate current reality
from the remembered past, as the
former soldiers dredge up dreadful
recollections.
A key scene gives the film its
title and political context. As
though in a trance, Frenkel grabs
a machine gun and rushes into a
street, dancing amidst the gunfire
while crazily firing his weapon.
The poster of Bashir Gemayel,
the Lebanese president whose assassination triggered the loyalist
Phalangist militia’s anti-Muslim
attacks, looms over the Israeli soldier’s insane behavior.
But dodging bullets, while
spraying gunfire everywhere, is
not dancing. Instead of madly
waltzing with Bashir, Folman
urges individuals and nations to
stop gliding into warfare and say
“never again” — not in 3/4 time
but for all time.
Don’t miss one of the most powerful, thought-provoking movies
of the year.
Rated: R for some disturbing
images of atrocities, strong violence, brief nudity and a scene of
graphic sexual content. In Hebrew
with English subtitles. 1 hour. 27
minutes.
— Susan Tavernetti
Che -(Aquarius) Marxist. Soldier.
Physician. “Brains of the Revolution.” At 36 years of age, Ernesto
“Che” Guevara was already an
icon. Director Steven Soderbergh’s
ambitious saga treats the Argentinean legend that fought alongside Cuban exile Fidel Castro with
reverence. Unfortunately, feelings
of deep respect don’t necessarily
make for good drama.
Sprawling and undisciplined, the
presentation unspools in two parts
with an intermission. Each part
mirrors the other. “Che, Part 1” (2
hours, 9 minutes) opens silently
with a map of Cuba, highlighting the areas that the guerrillas
will take during their late-1950s
armed struggle against the Batista
regime.
Benicio Del Toro gives an extraordinary performance as the
asthmatic intellectual who becomes the respected Comandante.
Introduced in cinematic shorthand
— a black-and-white shot of his
military boots, followed by smoke
curling upward from his Cuban cigar — Del Toro bears an authoritative presence and gives voice to
Guevara’s professed love of humanity, justice and truth. Bits and
pieces of the man will emerge: his
willingness to fight to the death
for his beliefs, commitment to literacy and education, espousing of
Marxist-Lenin ideology and quick
wit. But he could just as readily be
on the path to sainthood instead of
the Cuban campaign in the Sierra
Maestra.
Although basing the material
on Guevara’s memoir “Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War,” screenwriter Peter Buchman (“Jurassic Park III” and
“Eragon”) fails to give Del Toro
the substance that he deserves.
He emerges as a man defined by
action snippets. The jittery narrative jumps from an introspective
1964 interview to meeting Castro
(Mexican star Demián Bichir) for
the first time in 1955, and provides
flashes of a fiery Che addressing
the United Nations and archival
footage of Havana. The intriguing
overview eventually settles into
the story of 87 revolutionaries on
board a ship to Cuba in 1956. Only
a dozen of them will live to see the
success of their movement.
Unbearable tension is a hallmark of war movies. Not here.
Soderbergh places the viewer in
the guerrilla encampments, where
walking and waiting and tending
the wounded take place. Clearly
the life of the revolutionary was
difficult to endure — and replicating it makes for dull watching.
Yet “Che, Part 1” is the one to
catch. The second part (2 hours, 8
minutes) feels like “Che Redux”
gone bad — only with a map of
Bolivia, strange casting choices
(German Franka Potente of “The
Bourne Identity” plays Latina revolutionary Tania and Matt Damon
surfaces briefly as a German) and
seemingly interminable fighting
and fleeing through Bolivia (captured by the run-and-gun camera
of Soderbergh, credited as Peter
Andrews).
By the time Day 341, October
1967, flashes on the screen, you’ll
feel as hungry and tired as the
characters. Whereas the first half
chronicles Guevara’s rise, the second records the defeats that end in
the village of La Higuera and his
execution. Oddly, the biopic never
reveals why Guevara was called
“Che” or when the iconic photograph was taken.
The definitive film on Ernesto
“Che” Guevara has yet to be
made.
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Rated: R for some violence. In
English and Spanish with English
subtitles. 4 hours. 18 minutes.
— Susan Tavernetti
To view the trailers for “Waltz with
Bashir” and “Che” go to Palo Alto
Online at www.PaloAltoOnline.com
NOW PLAYING
CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES
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Movies
NOW PLAYING
The following is a sampling of movies
recently reviewed in the Weekly:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
---1/2
(Century 16, Century 20) A child is born
looking like an old man. But Benjamin appears to grow younger over the years. His
meeting with young Daisy (Elle Fanning) has
a profound effect on his life. Benjamin and
the adult Daisy (Cate Blanchett) inexplicably
meet halfway on the age spectrum — on
her way to the golden years and his to
youth — a joyous and profoundly sad state
of affairs. Rated: PG-13 for brief violence,
sexual content and language. 2 hours, 47
minutes. — J.A. (Reviewed Dec. 26, 2008)
Defiance --1/2
(Century 16, Century 20) In 1941, three
brothers started a Jewish community in
a Poland forest to flee the Nazis. Daniel
Craig plays confident leader Tuvia Bielski,
who takes to the woods with his brothers,
Zus (Liev Schreiber) and Asael (Jamie Bell),
after the murder of their parents. Tuvia focuses on the community and survival while
Zus joins the resistance. Asael, meanwhile,
thinks more about love than vengeance.
“Defiance” is an extraordinary story — if
you can trudge through. Rated: R for violence and language. 2 hours, 16 minutes.
— T.H. (Reviewed Jan. 16, 2009)
Gran Torino -1/2
(Century 16, Century 20) Clint Eastwood
stars as cantankerous Korean War vet Walt
Kowalski. Walt lives alone, surrounded by
Hmong families who keep to themselves.
Until a neighborhood teen named Thao
(Bee Vang) attempts to steal Walt’s prized
1972 Gran Torino. Walt puts Thao to work,
grudgingly offering advice on testosterone
and tools. A father-figure relationship blossoms (groan). Overall, a poorly acted and
cliched melodrama. Rated: R for language
and violence. 1 hour, 56 minutes. — J.A.
(Reviewed Dec. 26, 2008)
Milk ---1/2
(CineArts, Century 20) Performances are
king in this poignant homage to late great
San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk.
Sean Penn has a field day portraying the
first openly gay man elected to office in the
U.S. After several misfires Harvey makes a
name for himself, chumming around with
liberal mayor George Moscone (Victor Garber). The rest is history — a painful chapter
in American politics. Rated: R for language,
sexuality and mature themes. 2 hours, 7
minutes. — J.A. (Reviewed Dec. 5, 2008)
SCREEN GEMS AND LAKESHORE ENTERTAINMENT PRESENT AEXECUTIVE
LAKESHORE ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH SKETCH FILMS “UNDERWORLD: RIPRODUCED
SE OF THE LYCANS” MICHAEL SHEEN BILL NIGHY RHONA MITRA
STEVEN MACKINTOSH KEVIN GREVIOUX MUSICBY PAUL HASLINGER PRODUCERS
SKIP WILLIAMSON HENRY WINTERSTERN JAMES MCQUAIDE ERIC REISTORYD BETH DEPATIE BY TOM ROSENBERG GARY LUCCHESI LEN WISEMAN RICHARD WRIGHT
BASED ON CHARACTERS
CREATED BY KEVIN GREVIOUX AND LEN WISEMAN & DANNY MCBRIDE BY LEN WISEMAN & ROBERT ORR AND DANNY MCBRIDE
SCREENPLAY
DIRECTED
BY DANNY MCBRIDE AND DIRK BLACKMAN & HOWARD MCCAIN
BY PATRICK TATOPOULOS
Revolutionary Road ---1/2
(Guild, Century 20) Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio are April and Frank Wheeler,
a 1950s golden couple who suddenly find
the luster lost from their white-picket-fence
union. Through a series of deft flashbacks,
director Sam Mendes builds a story of
suburban ennui compounded by two kids
and dead-end jobs. The build-up gains
slow momentum, but once “Road” finds
its rhythm it’s devastating. Rated: R for
language and nudity. 1 hour, 59 minutes.
— J.A. (Reviewed Jan. 9, 2009)
STARTS FRIDAY, JANUARY 23
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WINNER
GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD
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Milk
1:30, 4:25, 7:20
Fri/Sat Add 10:15
Waltz with Bashir
2:00, 4:30, 7:00
Fri/Sat Add 9:30
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
BESTNATIONAL
PICTURE
OF THE YEAR
SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS
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UTTERLY RIVETING.
HIGHEST RATING!
A STARTLINGLY COMPELLING
PIECE Hank
OF Sartin,
FILMMAKING.
Time Out Chicago
–Jonathan Curiel, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
BRILLIANT. A MASTERPIECE.
“A MILESTONE WORK THAT WILL INSPIRE AWE!”
Charles Mudede, The Stranger
A MESMERIZING,
FULLY IMMERSIVE
CINEMATIC
EXPERIENCE.
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
ONE OF THE YEAR’S BEST FILMS!
NEW YORK MAGAZINE
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON POST
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TIME OUT NEW YORK
David Edelstein
Stephen King
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John Anderson
Lou Lumenick
Melissa Anderson
& David Fear
EPIC!
BENICIO DEL TORO GIVES A
HEROIC
PERFORMANCE.
Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
OFFICIAL ISRAEL ENTRY
ACADEMY AWARDS ®
WALTZAN ARI
WITH
BASHIR
FOLMAN FILM
SOUNDTRACK AVAILABLE ON
VIEW THE TRAILER AT WWW.WALTZWITHBASHIRMOVIE.COM
AWARD
Bedtime Stories (PG)
(Not Reviewed)
Bride Wars (PG)
(Not Reviewed)
Che (R) --
The Curious Case of
Benjamin Button
(PG-13) ---1/2
Defiance (R) --1/2
Doubt (PG-13) ---
Frost/Nixon (R) ----
The Goonies (PG)
(Not Reviewed)
Gran Torino (R) -1/2
Hotel for Dogs (PG)
(Not Reviewed)
Century 16: 10:15 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Thu. also at 4:40
p.m. Century 20: 12:15, 2:45, 5:15, 7:45 & 10:15 p.m.
Century 16: 12:40, 2:55, 5:15, 7:40 & 10 p.m.
Century 20: 12:05, 2:40, 4:55, 7:10 & 9:25 p.m.
Aquarius: 12:45 & 6:45 p.m.
Century 16: 12:50, 4:35 & 8:05 p.m. Century 20: 11:45
a.m.; 3:15, 6:45 & 10:10 p.m.
Century 16: 12:45, 3:50, 7 & 10:05 p.m. Century 20: 1,
4:10, 7:15 & 10:20 p.m.
entury 16: 1:35, 4:10, 7:10 & 9:40 p.m. Sat. also at 10:30
C
a.m.
Century 16: 12:35, 3:40, 6:45 & 9:35 p.m. Century 20:
12:55, 3:55, 7:05 & 10:05 p.m. Sat. also at 10:30 a.m.
Century 16: Fri. at 10:30 p.m.
Century 16: 1:15, 4:05, 6:55 & 10:10 p.m. Sat. also at
10:10 a.m. Century 20: 1:10, 4, 6:50 & 9:35 p.m. Sat. also
at 10:25 a.m.
Century 16: Fri.-Sun. & Tue.-Thu. at 12:20, 2:45, 5:20,
7:45 & 10:10 p.m. Mon. at 12:15, 2:45, 5:20, 7:45 & 10:10
p.m. Century 20: 12:15, 2:40, 5:05, 7:30 & 9:55 p.m.
Century 16: 1:20, 4:15, 7:20 & 9:50 p.m. Sat. also at 10:40
a.m. Century 20: 11:40 a.m.; 2:15, 4:50, 7:25 & 10 p.m.
Century 16: 12:40, 3:05, 5:30, 7:55 & 10:20 p.m. Century
20: Noon, 2:35, 5, 7:20 & 9:50 p.m.
Inkheart (PG)
(Not Reviewed)
Last Chance Harvey
(PG-13)
(Not Reviewed)
Mad Max Beyond
Century 16: Sat. at 10:30 p.m.
Thunderdome (PG-13)
(Not Reviewed)
Marley & Me (PG)
Century 16: 12:55, 3:55, 6:50 & 9:30 p.m.
(Not Reviewed)
Century 20: 11:25 a.m.; 2, 4:40, 7:30 & 10:10 p.m.
Metropolitan Opera: Century 16: Sat. at 10 a.m. Century 20: Sat. at 10 a.m.
Orfeo ed Euridice
(Not Rated) (Not Reviewed)
entury 20: 1:05, 4:05, 6:55 & 9:45 p.m. Sat. also at
Milk (R) ---
C
10:15 a.m. Palo Alto Square: Fri.-Sat. & Mon.-Tue. at 1:30,
4:25 & 7:20 p.m. Fri. & Sat. also at 10:15 a.m.
My Bloody Valentine Century 16: 12:30, 3, 5:30 & 8 p.m. Sun.-Thu. also at
(R) (Not Reviewed)
10:30 p.m. Century 20: 12:10, 2:50, 5:20, 8:05 & 10:30
p.m.
Notorious (R)
Century 16: 1, 3:45, 7:05 & 9:55 p.m. Century 20: 1:20,
(Not Reviewed)
4:30, 7:35 & 10:35 p.m. Sat. also at 10:30 a.m.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Century 16: 12:30, 2:50, 5:10, 7:30 & 9:45 p.m.
(PG) (Not Reviewed)
Century 20: 11:30 a.m.; 1:45, 4:15, 7 & 9:20 p.m.
Revolutionary Road
Century 20: 11:40 a.m.; 2:25, 5:10, 7:55 & 10:40 p.m.
Guild: Fri.-Sun. at 1, 4, 7 & 9:45 p.m. Mon.-Thu. at 2, 5 &
(R) ---1/2
8 p.m.
Slumdog Millionaire
Century 20: 11:15 a.m.; 2, 4:50, 7:40 & 10:30 p.m.
(R) ----
Aquarius: 1:15, 4:15, 7:15 & 10 p.m.
The Unborn (PG-13)
Century 20: 12:35, 3, 5:30, 8:10 & 10:40 p.m. Sat. also at
(Not Reviewed)
10:20 a.m.
Underworld: Rise of
Century 16: Fri. at 12:15, 2:40, 5, 7:35 & 10:10 p.m. Sat.
the Lycans (R)
& Mon.-Thu at 12:15, 2:40, 5, 7:35 & 10:05 p.m. Sun. at
(Not Reviewed)
12:20, 2:45, 5:20, 7:45 & 10:10 p.m.
Valkryie (PG-13) ---1/2 Century 16: 7:25 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Thu. also at 1:55 p.m.
Century 20: 2:20, 5:05, 7:50 & 10:35 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Thu.
also at 11:35 a.m.
Waltz with Bashir
Palo Alto Square: 2, 4:30 & 7 p.m. Fri. & Sat. also at 9:30
(R) ----
p.m.
entury 16: 1:50, 4:25, 7:45 & 10:25 p.m. Sat. also at 11
The Wrestler (R) --- C
a.m. Century 20: 11:55 a.m.; 2:30, 5:10, 7:50 & 10:25 p.m.
( Skip it (( Some redeeming qualities ((( A good bet (((( Outstanding
Aquarius: 430 Emerson St., Palo Alto (266-9260)
Century Cinema 16: 1500 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View
(800-326-3264)
Century 20 Downtown: 825 Middlefield Road, Redwood City
(800-326-3264)
®
WINNER
BENICIO DEL TORO
CHE
A REVOLUTIONARY LIFE
FROM THE ACADEMY AWARD®
WINNING DIRECTOR OF
WWW.SONYCLASSICS.COM
CINÉARTS@PALO ALTO SQUARE
STARTS FRIDAY,
3000 El Camino Real, Palo Alto
RD
(650) 493-3456
JANUARY 23
Page 36ÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊUÊ*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞ
ACADEMY
MOVIE TIMES
TRAFFIC AND ERIN BROCKOVICH
CinéArts at Palo Alto Square: 3000 El Camino Real, Palo Alto (493-3456)
Guild: 949 El Camino Real, Menlo Park (266-9260)
Internet address: For show times, plot synopses, trailers and more information
about films playing, go to Palo Alto Online at http://www.PaloAltoOnline.com/
SPECIAL ROADSHOW EDITION ONE WEEK ONLY
STARTS FRIDAY,
JANUARY 23RD
ON THE WEB: The most up-to-date movie listings at www.PaloAltoOnline.com
Eating Out
e c r e d i t fo r a g r e at i d e a !
Go on...tak
There WILL be
CHAMPAGNE!
for purchase
Michelle Le
RESTAURANT REVIEW
In one of the well-priced combos at Tina’s Kusina, chicken adobo is
paired with pork menudo.
Go for the combo
Filipino food is plentiful, affordable and delicious
at Tina’s Kusina
Michelle Le
by Andrew MacLeod Doerschuk
Restaurant owner Tina Thompson serves regular customer Mike
O’Dell beef/pork sinigang soup to go with his kalbi rib with rice.
T
ina’s Kusina means “Tina’s
Kitchen,” of course, and the
restaurant’s Tagalog name
aptly reflects the lyrical personality and Filipino heritage of its
owner, Tina Thompson.
Inside her downtown establishment, hand-painted vines climb the
walls and potted plants punctuate
an L-shaped seating area. On the
other side of a display case, Thompson herself hustles about preparing
hearty dishes — mostly stews and
meat recipes she lifted from sisters
and cookbooks and toyed with over
a matter of decades. When the place
isn’t busy, she might come out front
and chat a little.
Although this is the first time
she’s served the public directly,
Thompson has a background in the
culinary industry, having managed
the cafeteria at Onizuka Air Force
Base at the foot of Moffett Field for
three-and-a-half years. But when
the State Department decided in
2005 to gradually decommission
the air station, Thompson’s busi-
ness started to suffer. She finally
abandoned the franchise and began
hunting for other opportunities.
A year and a half ago, when the
short-lived Kauai BBQ Grill shut
its doors at the corner of Dana and
Hope streets, Thompson moved
in and started cooking. Funny —
Tina’s is a block from Mountain
View’s restaurant row and across
the street from the busy dance club
Alberto’s, yet it feels like a quiet
area where neighboring businesses
close up shop at five o’clock.
Thompson’s eclectic menu is divided into four sections: pan-Asian
plates such as chicken teriyaki;
American classics such as fried
chicken; a handful of sandwiches;
and Filipino favorites. The Filipino
dishes are offered as combinations that run $4.50 for one, $5.99
for two and $6.99 for a choice of
three small entrées. Served with
two scoops of sticky white rice and
a big mound of steamed broccoli,
cauliflower and carrot slices, these
Filipino combos offer some of the
best bargains I’ve seen downtown
for lunch or dinner.
We dove into the delicious chicken adobo, which fell off the bone.
While this dish is traditionally prepared dry, Thompson prepares hers
in soy sauce, garlic and vinegar,
creating a tangy, salty-sweet concoction that soaks nicely into rice.
The slow-cooked beef afritada was
equally tender, with its red pepper
strips, potato chunks and carrot
slices swimming alongside chunks
of beef in an earthy tomato gravy.
Our BBQ pork ribs were boiled
until tender, and served on the bone
with a minimum amount of sauce,
prompting the juicy pork flavor to
play a leading role. But their thin
coat of sauce was tangy, employing
sweet Filipino ketchup for its base.
Other dishes couldn’t have been
more fundamental. The fried tilapia
was a thin fillet with a crunchy egg
batter and fluffy white fish. Served
with only sliced lemon, it was dry
to the touch and beautiful in its simplicity. The kalua pork was served
off the bone, falling apart and very
juicy. It tasted smoky, fresh and
satisfying.
We weren’t crazy about Tina’s
chicken curry. Its yellow coconut
sauce was far too mild and the curry taste was muted. (In truth, everything we tried at Tina’s Kusina was
mild, but in every other case the
flavors remained rich and robust.)
I admit we could have made greater
use of the selection of sauces and
spices, which was so extensive it
required its own table. Next time,
perhaps.
Tina’s Kusina is a non-alcoholic
establishment, which might turn off
a few diners. But here’s the kicker:
Three of us feasted on all of the
items above, then couldn’t finish an
enormous portion of gooey homemade brownie bites ($4), and paid
a grand total of $25.54. You almost
can’t cook food at home this inexpensively.
So who cares if they don’t serve
beer? Visit a bar if you must. But
for three adults to eat so well for
around $25, a cup of tea with such
a delicious dinner seems downright
civilized. N
Special a la carte &
4 course pre fixe
at $48 per person
Call for more
information and
reservations
Valentine’s Day
at MacArthur Park Restaurant
27 University Avenue ■ Palo Alto ■ (650) 321-9990
www.macarthurparkpaloalto.com
St. Simon
Parish School
All Are Welcome
Catholic
Schools Week
OPEN
HOUSE
January 25th
10:00am - 1:00pm
Visit Grades K-8
Strong Catholic Values
K-8 with All-Day Kindergarten
Excellent Academic Program
Extensive Extracurricular Offerings
Extended Care from 7am to 6pm
Meet Faculty and
Administrators
Saint
S imon
Parish
School
1840 Grant Road
Los Altos
www.stsimon.com
For information:
Call 650.968.9952 x43 or Email admissions@stsimon.org
Yellow Cab of Palo Alto
CALL
O F24/7
S AN J OSE
E //P
P ALO -ACENTER/BROKER
LTO s 24-H OUR C ALL C ENTE
ENTER
T R
1)3, + 2+ 0)1,.
0++
Tina’s Kusina
698 W Dana St.
Mountain View
650-254-1788
Hours: Weekdays: 11 a.m.
to 8 p.m. Sat.-Sun.: 10 a.m.
to 4 p.m.
Reservations
Credit cards
Lot Parking
Alcohol
Banquet
Catering
Outdoor
seating
Takeout
Noise level:
Low
Highchairs
Wheelchair
Bathroom
Cleanliness:
Good
access
1 5 4 ( #'&&&&&&&
650-321-1234
%$"! !"#
408-777-7777
1 )3, ) +/1
0+*,1 )0*
licensed call-center with over subscribing . Taxicab services provided by licensed
A
taxicab
operators.
Checker
Cab
self-employed
Yellow
is a brokerfor
taxicab fare
opportunities.
*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊU Page 37
PIZZA
Pizza My Heart 327-9400
220 University Ave., Palo Alto
Range: $1.50-16.50
Restaurant
of the week
Pizza Chicago 424-9400
4115 El Camino Real, Palo Alto
This IS the best pizza in town
Spot A Pizza 324-3131
115 Hamilton Ave, Palo Alto
AMERICAN
Armadillo Willy’s 941-2922
1031 N. San Antonio Rd., Los Altos
Range: $5.00-13.00
Hobee’s 856-6124
4224 El Camino Real, Palo Alto
Also at Town & Country Village,
Palo Alto 327-4111
BURMESE
Green Elephant Gourmet
(650) 494-7391
Burmese & Chinese Cuisine
3950 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto
(Charleston Shopping Center)
Dine-In, Take-Out, Local Delivery-Catering
CHINESE
CHINESE
Su Hong—Menlo Park
Dining Phone: 323–6852
To Go: 322–4631
Jade Palace (650) 321-9388
151 S. California Ave, E101
(in Palo Alto Central)
Open 7 days a week
ˆ˜iÃiÊ>ÕÌiÊ
ՈȘiÊUÊ>˜µÕiÌÃÊUʈ“Ê-ՓÊ
8 years in a row!
Dinner Mon-Thurs 5-10pm; Fri-Sat 5-11pm;
Darbar Indian Cuisine 321-6688
129 Lytton, Downtown Palo Alto
Available for private luncheons
Lunch Buffet M-F; Open 7 days
Lounge open nightly
Janta Indian Restaurant 462-5903
Happy Hour Mon-Fri 4-6 pm
369 Lytton Ave., Downtown Palo Alto
Lunch Buffet M-F; Organic Veggies
SEAFOOD
ITALIAN
Cook’s Seafood 325-0604
Spalti Ristorante 327-9390
WE DELIVER
PALO ALTO
115 Hamilton Ave
Palo Alto
650.324.3131
Palo Alto, Menlo
Atherton,
Atherton
751 El Camino Real, Menlo Park
Seafood Dinners from
LOS ALTOS
ݵՈÈÌiʜœ`ÊUÊ"ÕÌ`œœÀʈ˜ˆ˜}
$5.95 to $9.95
JAPANESE & SUSHI
THAI
Fuki Sushi 494-9383
Thaiphoon Restaurant 323-7700
133 Main Street
San Antonio & Main
Street
650.947-SPOT
Los Altos,
Los Altos Hills,
Mountain View
4119 El Camino Real, Palo Alto
Open 7 days a Week
543 Emerson St., Palo Alto
Full Bar, Outdoor Seating
Uzumaki Sushi 322-2828
451 California Ave, Palo Alto
Sushi Bar
MEXICAN
www.thaiphoonrestaurant.com
2006 Best Thai Restaurant in Palo Alto
Indochine 853-1238
Thai & Vietnamese Cuisine
www.indochinethai.com
Fiesta Del Mar 965-9354
1006 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View
New Tung Kee Noodle House
520 Showers Dr., MV in San Antonio Ctr.
Voted MV Voice Best ‘01, ‘02, ‘03 & ‘04
Prices start at $3.75 See Coupon
947-8888
735 Villa Street, Mountain View
Page 38ÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊUÊ*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞ
Trader Vic's 849-9800
Sun 4:30 - 9:30pm
Ming’s 856-7700
1700 Embarcadero East, Palo Alto
www.mings.com
Peking Duck 856-3338
2310 El Camino Real, Palo Alto
We also deliver.
POLYNESIAN
4269 El Camino Real, Palo Alto
INDIAN
Japanese Restaurant
Jing Jing 328-6885
443 Emerson St., Palo Alto
Authentic Szechwan, Hunan
Food To Go, Delivery
www.jingjinggourmet.com
www.spotpizza.com
Winner, Palo Alto Weekly “Best Of”
417 California Ave, Palo Alto
Chef Chu’s (650) 948-2696
1067 N. San Antonio Road
on the corner of El Camino, Los Altos
2002 Zagat: “Gold Standard in
Fresh Chinese Cuisine.”
Voted Best Pizza in Palo Alto
Mexican Cuisine & Cantina
Fiesta Del Mar Too 967-3525
Open Weeknites to 11pm,
Weekends to 12pm
2710 Middlefield Rd, Palo Alto
Midtown Shopping Center
STEAKHOUSE
Sundance the Steakhouse 321-6798
1921 El Camino Real, Palo Alto
Palo Alto Sol 328-8840
Lunch: Mon-Fri 11:30 am-2:00pm
408 California Ave, Palo Alto
Dinner: Mon-Thu 5:00-10:00pm
Õ}iʓi˜ÕÊUʜ“iÃÌޏiÊ,iVˆ«iÃÊ
Fri-Sat 5:00-10:30pm, Sun 5:00-9:00pm
www.sundancethesteakhouse.com
Search a complete
listing of local
restaurant
reviews by location
or type of food on
PaloAltoOnline.com
Now Open
. . . Experience the unique fusion of
Explosive Kettlebell Techniques and
Fluid Yoga Movements . . .
. . . Where deep self awareness, fluid movement
and confident strength converge . . .
Studio located at 609B Cowper
408-930-7262
www.YogaMindWarriorBody.com
PUBLIC MEETING:
SEALE PARK RESTROOM
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT
PROJECT
January 27, 2009, at 7 PM.
Friends Meeting Hall
957 Colorado Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94304
Now submit
your
calendar
listings
online!
Simply log on to
www.PaloAltoOnline.
com/calendar and
fill out our online
form. If you have a
question, please call
the calendar editor,
Karla Kane at (650)
326-8210 ext 236.
Do not leave listing
information on
voicemail.
Winter Sale
up to
7O%Off
Selected
Merchandise
Monday - Saturday
10 a.m. - 6 p.m
HOURS:
Monday - Saturday
Dec 7th - 21st
10 a.m.
- 6 p.m.
Sunday 12 noon - 5 p.m
Delicious Food At Delicious Prices!
' !! ! "*
(
)$"($ but same great quality
)#%" "#
PA L E R M O
The City of Palo Alto is seeking public input on a
Potential public restroom at Seale Park.
I TA L I A N R E S TA U R A N T
)#!% &
www.PaloAltoOnline.com
1010 El Camino Real Suite 140 Menlo Park
650.322.2157 www.palermomenlopark.com
If it’s useful and local, it’s on Palo Alto Online!
Located behind Cafe Borrone and around the corner from Kepler’s Books
For more information, call (650) 617-3127
City of Palo Alto Public Works Department
!"##$ #
*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊU Page 39
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Page 40ÊUÊ>˜Õ>ÀÞÊÓÎ]ÊÓää™ÊUÊ*>œÊÌœÊ7iiŽÞ