A season of changes

If you think making free throws while blindfolded is tough, try figuring out how the local high school basketball teams will do this season. The safest prediction is that the 2003-04 season will be unpredictable. Several of the area teams have changed coaches and/or divisions and almost all of them have lost star players to graduation. It’s a good bet at least half the 12 teams the Town Crier covers will make the Central Coast Section playoffs (which requires merely a .500 record in league or overall), but any wager on exactly who they will be and how far they will go is like a roll of the dice.

Here’s how the local varsity boys and girls teams shape up for 2003-04:

LA council changes name of Conner Park to Village Park

At the eleventh hour of his second term on the Los Altos City Council, Francis La Poll moved to correct a 1999 council decision that otherwise would have lingered in the archives as a city folly. The council unanimously stripped the name Conner from the park on the corner of San Antonio Road and Edith Avenue Tuesday night.

The name Conner Park has drawn snickers from locals ever since the same five councilmembers named the parcel after the city’s first mayor and founder, A. Watson Conner, only to discover later that he disliked public parks.

Neighbors air concerns over planned church expansion during special county meeting

Traffic concerns appear to have created a flap in the rebuilding of the Los Altos area church that an unknown arsonist torched over a year ago.

Los Altos and Los Altos Hills neighbors surrounding the Antiochian Orthodox Church of the Redeemer at 380 Magdalena Ave. say they are worried the planned church building, which is much larger than the one that burned, will clog nearby streets during church events.

Los Altos could lose significant revenue with recent car tax cut

Los Altos officials are bracing for a possible $1.1 million cut in city revenues as a result of the two-thirds slash in the California Vehicle License Fee that Arnold Schwarzenegger approved during his first day as governor Nov. 17.

Schwarzenegger pledged to replace the funds, but local officials remain skeptical that the state will have the money to fulfill his promise. The vehicle registration fee is a prime source of local government revenue. With the cut, cities could lose as much as $4 billion annually.

City joins fight to stop state from raiding local coffers

Los Altos has joined ranks with other California cities determined to stop the state government from raiding local coffers in order to cover statewide deficits. In a unanimous vote last week, the Los Altos City Council pledged to support a statewide initiative that would give local voters the power to stop Sacramento from diverting city funds from local services.

Campaign organizers say the state Legislature has diverted and delayed as much as $30 billion in property taxes since 1991, taking away local funding essential for the operation of local public safety, parks, libraries and street maintenance programs and forcing cutbacks and increased local taxes.

Auto burglary bumps identity theft as No. 1 crime in Los Altos, according to police stats

Auto burglary has replaced identity theft as the No. 1 problem in Los Altos, Community Service Officer Rodney T. Sayre of the Los Altos Police Department told residents last week during a crime prevention meeting in the Los Altos Youth Center.

A recent rash of thefts from automobiles has raised the level of awareness for that crime. Egan Intermediate, Santa Rita Elementary, St. Simon’s and Pinewood schools and United Methodist Church are among those reporting burglaries. The day of the discussion alone, there were three reported break-ins.

In the wake of the election …

Now that the dust of the campaigns has settled, let us suggest some general goals for our local governing bodies:

To the Los Altos City Council: We expect new members David Casas, Curtis Cole and Ron Packard to infuse new energy into a council that at times, seemed tired and stagnant to us. We expect a get-it-done approach to long unresolved issues such as the fate of the city-owned First and Main site, improving downtown economic conditions, the pool project at Covington School and traffic tieups at major intersections.

LETTERS OF NOVEMBER 26, 2003

The long unresolved issue of placement of a neighborhood pool may need a fresh perspective.

OBITUARIES FOR THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 19, 2003

June 18, 1937-October 31, 2003 - Mr. Brown’s obituary ran in the November 12 issue. In answer to inquiries about donations, we provide the following information. The family suggests the Gastrointestinal Oncology Fund at UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center, specifically for colon cancer research, in care of Cecily Rutz, Box 0428, San Francisco, CA 94123, or the Regents UC, UCDavis Cancer Center, colon cancer research, 4501 X Street,Sacramento, CA 95817.

a resident of Los Altos passed away suddenly on Wednesday, November 5, 2003 in Mountain View, CA. Born May 3, 1917 in San Mateo, CA, Alice and her late husband Shogo Fred Takagi were longtime residents in the area. Growing flowers in the early fifties on Los Altos Avenue in Los Altos (then Santa Rita Avenue) they later moved the business to Sunnyvale, CA, where for the next twenty seven years they successfully operated Takagi Nursery, Inc. growing and shipping chrysanthemums and varieties to New York, Delaware and Washington, D.C. Takagi flowers often seen at the White House. Upon retirement, Alice and Fred moved back to Los Altos in 1984 where they spent many happy years. Loving mother of the late Aki Fred Takagi (Linda), Carol Duryea (Bill) and the late Jerry Takagi. Loving and adored grandmother to Rick Takagi, Julie Takagi, Yamal Duryea, AJ Duryea (Christine), Jahnava Duryea, Amanda Takagi and Jason Takagi. Great grandmother to Delaney Takagi and Alexis Takagi. Alice is survived by loving sisters Anne Winkler and Grace Hayano. Alice has made such an indelible impression on the hearts and lives she touched. She will be remembered for her great energy, her fine sense of humor and passion for life. She will be missed deeply by family, friends and neighbors. Funeral services were held at the Los Altos Chapel of Spangler Mortuaries on November 10, 2003 and burial at Alta Mesa Cemetery in Palo Alto.

Wedding announcements

Send your wedding, engagement or anniversary announcements to Avinell Johnson 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. 335, or e-mail bruceb@latc.com.

Lifetime co-founder discusses his experiences in filmmaking

Robert Kline, executive vice president of 20th Century Television and co-founder of Lifetime Television, spoke to the Morning Forum of Los Altos Nov. 18. Kline is also a professor of film and media at the University of Southern California, and he teaches a course on film for Elderhostel each January.

As a child of the 1960s, he didn’t know what he wanted to do, but he eventually worked as a history teacher and football coach at a Quaker school. In time, he realized that he wasn’t being fulfilled in this role.

Holiday Fund’s Bayshore Christian Ministries helps underprivileged students to succeed

For the past 19 years, Bayshore Christian Ministries in East Palo Alto has lent itself to a principal purpose - “giving underprivileged children a better chance,” said executive director Andy Hartwell.

With eight different afterschool and summer programs, the organization works to help kids living in the area’s low-income neighborhoods break out of the pattern of poverty, welfare and youth delinquency.

Community Homeless Alliance Ministry offers a haven for the working homeless

In a modest church hall behind San Jose State University, a lone volunteer stirs chili beans in a 10-gallon stock pot in between baking two trays of potatoes and grating carrots over a bowl of lettuce large enough to serve 40 of some of the area’s most down on their luck.

He sorts through a mound of grapes before determining that the fruit is rotten and must be tossed out. The pickings are meager tonight, he explains. There’s not a lot to work with. The pantry won’t be replenished from the nearby food bank until the following day. Ron has been staying at the shelter for a month with his wife and 2-year-old son. He helps cook as a way to contribute to the shelter and refrain from being idle.

Charter school may share quarters with Covington School in 2004-2005

The Los Altos School District is considering Covington, Springer and Loyola schools as a possible co-location site for Bullis Charter School next year.

Superintendent Marge Gratiot reported at the Nov. 17 board meeting that the district principals on the administrative council have agreed those schools meet all requirements of Proposition 39 and could share space “fairly easily” with the charter school in 2004-05.

Hills ed group plans school options

The Los Altos Hills Public Education Committee continues to work toward a public school in the Hills.

PEC has decided to narrow its options from the current 10 to four that fit the criteria of a publicly supported, financially sound neighborhood school that provides an excellent education.

Kanter inaugurated as FH-DA chancellor, rails against state for severe budget cuts

Martha Kanter was inaugurated as the fifth chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza College District Nov. 19 in Smithwick Theater at Foothill College.

Kanter served as president of De Anza College for 10 years before being named chancellor in May by the board of trustees following a nationwide search.

Locals only

Coach Shanan Rosenberg is trying to rebuild the Foothill College men’s basketball team the old-fashioned way. With area players.

It’s a concept many of the community colleges in the Bay Area have gotten away from - particularly the successful ones. Rosenberg pointed out that all the top teams in Coast Conference, of which Foothill is a member, have players from outside the Bay Area.

Moore leaps into the hall

The typical high school graduate doesn’t expect to be contacted by his alma mater again - not after 45 years. But Dan Moore is not typical.

Earlier this year, the longtime Los Altos resident received a letter from Laura Tiffin, the athletic director of Oregon’s South Salem High School. To commemorate its 50th year, the school planned to induct Moore into its inaugural Athletic Hall of Fame. Coaches, athletic directors, principals, and members of the community had reviewed records from the school’s first 25 years (1955-79). When a selection committee narrowed the list of nominees to 10, Moore’s name was among them.

Attention Pack Rats: Clutterboy is looking for you

Call them sentimental pack rats. They desperately need more room and can’t bear to part with their stuff.

A pack rat’s garage has boxes of old records, books from grade school, piles of magazines, old calendars, broken tools and toys from children who moved out of the house

Wolff charms crowd at Stanford

Having completed the first leg of an 18-city book tour, Stanford Professor of Creative Writing Tobias Wolff made a stop at Kresge Auditorium Nov. 17 to read from his new novel, “Old School” (Alfred A. Knopf, released Nov. 4).

Four years in the making and heralded by the appearance of chapters in The New Yorker, this work revisits the familiar theme of class begun in Wolff’s memoir “This Boy’s Life,” when teenage Toby forges the transcripts and recommendations necessary for admittance to the prestigious Hill School.

Exotic, elegant addition

The stately looking house seems out of place in this Los Altos neighborhood because it overlooks the neighbors’ rooftops. Time will correct that, because the area is spattered with remodels.

In the late 1980s, Sandy Powell and her husband, Michael Paiza, purchased a 2,500-square-foot home in a quiet neighborhood behind the Los Altos Golf and Country Club, in the Loyola Corners area. Because it is located in the county, building restrictions are more relaxed than city requirements.