Noise, lights from El Camino projects annoy residents in nearby neighborhood

The seclusion and safety of a dead-end street attracted Sue Bewley to Ray Avenue 30 years ago. These days, the Los Altos resident must keep her windows and curtains shut to buffer the noise and bright lights from the 156-room hotel that abuts her side yard.

Bewley says the neighborhood has been far from quiet since the city approved the construction of the 9,600-square-foot Rambus building and Marriott Residence Inn behind her neighborhood along El Camino Real, over the past two years.

Mixed use on the rise

Sharing living space with shops, offices and restaurants isn’t something many would expect to find in a quaint town like Los Altos where residents take pride in the community’s rural character.

Take a closer look - the city is poised to review its third major mixed-use project in the past two years, which combines housing with office and retail space at the corner of First Street and Edith Avenue. The project will update the main post office and add nearly 16,000 square feet of office space, a park and 20 condominiums, including two below-market-rate units, and a 158-space, multilevel parking structure to downtown. A hotel with street-level shops is planned for the other end of First at the corner of Main Street. At the south end of town near Loyola Corners, developers have broken ground on a project that combines office space with housing.

MV protesters seek to maintain anti-war momentum

Nearly 30 anti-war demonstrators crowded the steps of Mountain View City Hall last week to protest the U.S. attacks on Iraq, in one of several recent local stands against the war.

The March 20 gathering, made up of both Mountain View and Los Altos residents, was one of the latest in a recent surge of local demonstrations, showing that strong anti-war sentiment isn’t just resonating from the larger Bay Area cities.

No spam? No kidding

As one of the founders of WebTV Networks and a chief executive at Microsoft, Los Altos resident Phil Goldman has led a stellar high-tech life. But he may be headed to even greater heights if his latest innovation meets with the expected public acclaim.

Mailblocks, Goldman’s new company, has him talking about a revolution in e-mail. He makes the bold claim that his program eliminates spam, the dreaded unsolicited, unwanted e-mail. That’s right, eliminate. No fine print, no exceptions.

Simitian’s cell phone ban clears first hurdle

Holding a phone while driving could end up costing California motorists a $20 penalty under a new cell phone ban drafted by Assemblyman Joe Simitian that cleared its first legal victory this month.

The Assembly Transportation Committee gave Simitian’s bill the green light March 3 with a 14-to-five vote after defeating the ban twice by a single vote in 2001 and 2002.

Hospital to submit general bond to voters this November

The El Camino Hospital Board of Directors is getting closer to considering financing for the new hospital addition.

At last week’s regular meeting, Marla Gularte, chief financial officer, presented the most recent financials for approval.

Crisis spurs call for finance reform

Davis, while still finding money to renovate San Quentin prison, is proposing $128 million be slashed from the 59 basic aid districts in California. These districts, which include the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District, get a measly $120 per student but get to keep property tax revenues. This has greatly helped districts in affluent areas.

However, Davis’ proposal, as it stands, would probably force the Mountain View-Los Altos district into receivership because the proposed takeaway of approximately $12 million for next year amounts to 33 percent of the district’s annual $32 million budget. That leaves $20 million. Given that $10 million goes for straight operating costs such as utilities, $10 million remains for salaries - typically 83 percent of the budget.

LETTERS OF MARCH 19, 2003

much older

OBITUARIES FOR THE WEEK OF MARCH 26

of Mtn. View, CA at rest in Stanford, March 17, 2003. Husband of Marilynn Dawn Nelson of Mtn. View. Father of Lori Crow and husband Bill Crow. Brother of Nancy Gleseke, Edgar Bruce Nelson, and the late Herbert Nelson. A native of Oak Park, Illinois. Age 80. A Contract Manager.

Arrangements under the direction of the Los Altos Chapel of Spangler Mortuaries.

Weddings

Send your wedding, engagement or anniversary announcements to Richard Billings at the Los Altos Town Crier, 138 Main St., Los Altos 94022.

Photos are welcome. If you want your photo returned, include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. For more information, call 948-9000, ext. 318, or e-mail

LA residents beat the grind to make some wine

There’s an old saying among winemakers, “To make a small fortune, you must first have a big fortune.”

In the case of Los Altos residents Jon and Jan Brosseau, owners of Brosseau Vineyards in Monterey County, “big fortune” had less to do with money than with a rich family bond.

Annual Community Prayer Breakfast set for April 18

Keynote speakers for the ninth annual Community Prayer Breakfast have been announced by the event’s steering committee. They are Kim Oden, volleyball coach at St. Francis High School, and Tom Gutshall, chairman of the board of CityTeam Ministries.

The event is scheduled 7 a.m., April 18, at Hyatt Rickeys in Palo Alto.

Former Los Altos resident thumbs nose at Breathe Right strips

You see them all the time: athletes and weekend warriors sporting adhesive strips on their noses. Professional athletes, such as football great Jerry Rice, do television commercials for Breathe Right® rnasal strips, claiming the pieces of adhesive worn across the bridge of the nose help them breathe easier, run faster and play better.

Are the claims true? Maybe not, said Gregory Boggs, a former Los Altos resident, Mountain View High School graduate and student researcher at Willamette University in Salem, Ore.

Bullis Charter School facing opposition

The Bullis Charter School effort is facing some opposition. With the Los Altos School District’s acceptance of the charter, March 17, also came the district’s statement that the Bullis-Purissima School site in Los Altos Hills will not be available for use by the charter school.

Some Bullis parents have been working to start a charter school, since the district’s Feb. 10 decision to close the K-6 school in Los Altos Hills, begining with the 2003-04 school year.

Eagles set their sights high

Some coaches pause to ponder such a question. Sandy Wihtol, however, was quick to answer when asked about his expectations for this year’s Los Altos High baseball team.

“Without a doubt, it’s to get back to CCS for the third year in a row,” Wihtol said. “It’s kind of expected in this program.”

Spartans are pitcher-perfect

For Matt Means, perfection was no more. For the Mountain View High baseball team, it was business as usual.

Sporting a perfect 0.00 earned-run average through his first 13 innings of the season, Means gave up his first earned run last Saturday afternoon. It was only a slight blemish, as the Spartans rode his dominant pitching to shut down host Monta Vista 5-1. The win improved Mountain View to 8-0, 4-0 in the SCVAL El Camino Division.

Local auto repair shops merge for better service

Warren McCord Motorsports and Dean’s Automotive (formerly Dean’s Foreign Car), which were in Mountain View for more than 30 years, recently merged. The new company is called Dean’s Automotive, Inc.

“We both had a growing business for years and shared customers on foreign and American cars,” McCord said. “When he decided to sell we sat down and talked about it.”

Classic family living

Gregory Naumann and his twin brothers, Michael and Bradley, sit in the kitchen playing Yu Gi Oh! cards while they wait for their mother to drive them to Pinewood School. Their father, Alan, plans to work at home this morning and checks in with his San Jose office while their mother Masami wipes the kitchen granite before they leave for school. That’s a typical early morning in the life of the Naumann family of Los Altos Hills.

Their 7,900-square-foot home was built for family living, and the Naumann family members take full advantage of it. It has five bedrooms, four full and two half baths, on 1.5 acres.