Off and running

For the past two years, by 9 a.m. nearly every Saturday morning the parking plaza off State Street behind Main Street Cafe & Books is filled with a wide variety of older cars of every shape, age, body style and description. Yet this is just the tip of the iceberg of classic car ownership in Los Altos. Who are the people who drive these cars and how did this phenomenon get started in this little Peninsula town?

To answer the question, we talked to Paul Averill, a Thunderbird collector and one of the regulars around the table in the Chat Room at the back of the cafe most Saturday mornings. According to Averill, classic cars have been a big hobby in Los Altos for as far back as he can remember.

LAH committee recommends Westwind shakeup

Citing a need to improve operations at historic Westwind Barn, a Los Altos Hills City Council ad hoc committee has recommended severing ties with a group that has run barn programs the past 28 years.

Councilman Craig Jones described Friends of Westwind’s governance as “dysfunctional and inconsistent with the use of public funds” when he reported to the city council last Thursday the findings of the committee that also included Mayor Breene Kerr, and residents Valerie Metcalf, Steve Johnson and Susan Lam.

Scammer pleads no contest to charges in 2003 charity ripoff

The former San Francisco Stingrayz coach who rooked at least 27 Los Altos business owners in a 2003 charity fund-raising scam pleaded no contest last week to charges of grand theft, false impersonation, burglary and fraud.

Terry L. Burton, 42, turned himself in June 30 in Solano County and immediately posted $50,000 bail. He faces a maximum of one year in county jail. If he repays the $8,000-$10,000 he stole by his April 6 sentencing date, he will serve only 10 months.

Police Blotter

Theft
March 6, 8:07 a.m., 175 Lyell St.: grand theft
Burglary
March 6, 8:40 a.m., 2310 Homestead Road: commercial, cold
March 6, 10:46 a.m., 616 Spargur Drive: attempt
March 6, 1:50 a.m., 101 Second St.: residential, cold
Brandishing
March 6, 8:40 a.m., 201 Almond Ave., Los Altos High School
Investigation
Continuing […]

Creekside residents tell water district to put a plug in it

Homeowners in Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and nearby cities are worried they will lose rights to their land if water district officials win approval for an ordinance that would affect creekside property in five watersheds, including the local 98-square-mile Lower Peninsula Watershed.

Officials of the 1,300-square-mile Santa Clara Valley Water District are concerned about the future of 700 miles of creeks and rivers, along which are 38,000 parcels. The district owns 23 percent of those, and homeowners own 19 percent. In a public hearing last week, district CEO Stan Williams called the ownership of land along the valley’s streams “fragmented” and “ridiculous.”

Los Altos man implicated in armed robberies

A Los Altos resident who graduated from Mountain View High School and, according to his resume, the United States Military Academy at West Point implicated himself in two recent armed robberies when police found him with a large number of prescription painkillers last week.

Los Altos Police Agent Mark Laranjo’s team made a medical check on Sargent M. Binkley, 31, of 305 Quinnhill Ave., at 10:15 p.m. March 6 at his family’s request. They reported that Binkley “appeared to be all right,” Officer Paul Epley said.

Editorial

Back in 1989, a group of Los Altos-area churches and the Community Services Agency (CSA) took it upon themselves to address the homeless problem by giving “unhoused” local residents food and temporary shelter.

The program was supposed to be a short-term solution. As many as 15 local churches took monthly turns providing a portion of their facilities to house the homeless. Buoyed by grant money and caring volunteers, Alpha Omega ended up lasting 16 years.

Letters to the Editor

Proud of all the good news
Recently, my niece’s son sent me a letter as a school assignment. In the letter was a cutout of a cheerful boy called “Flat Stanley” because he represented his two-dimensional world.
Each student sent a Stanley to a friend and each friend in turn would send Stanley […]

My unlocked drawer

Some challenges have to be met head on. I faced one yesterday - a desk drawer that remained tightly shut despite at least three years of finger-bending attempts. I know - I should have asked Howard for help or pried it open myself. Each time, however, I had no sense of urgency, shrugged and forgot that darned drawer.

Yesterday, I decided to work at that stubborn piece of wood. After all, that’s what a drawer is. If it has a mind, it may be punishing me for years of neglect. I thought only teenagers and mothers did that. (Kidding.)

Engagement & Anniversary

Lisa Raffetto and Marc Sidel
Lisa Raffetto and Marc Sidel have announced their engagement to be married June 3 at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Los Altos.
A reception will follow at Palo Alto Hills Country Club.
The bride-to-be is the daughter of Michael and Nora Raffetto of Los Altos Hills. She graduated […]

Noteworthies

Gallery 9, 143 Main St., Los Altos has scheduled an exhibit of new paintings by Gene Zukowsky March 28 to April 29.

Zukowsky, a Palo Alto resident, works in a representational style, specializing in landscapes from various locations.

The end of Alpha Omega: Celebrating 16 years of service

Local church and community members said goodbye to the Alpha Omega homeless shelter program in a ceremony last week at the Los Altos United Methodist Church.

After 16 years of service, the temporary shelter program, which rotated monthly among local churches, will transition toward a wider-reaching regional model to aid Santa Clara County’s estimated 7,600 homeless.

Volunteer relief workers from Los Altos witness Katrina devastation firsthand

Six months after hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast region, cleanup efforts are still challenged by the magnitude of the devastation. On Feb. 18, local volunteers traveled to Biloxi, Miss., to witness the efforts firsthand, and provide what rebuilding help they could.

For one week, the 30 missionaries from Los Altos United Methodist Church, in partnership with the ministry organization CORE (Christians Organized for Relief Efforts), were at ground zero.

Stanford scholars: Hurricane Katrina did not raise awareness of poverty

Contrary to a popular notion reported in news coverage of Hurricane Katrina, the 2005 Gulf Coast disaster did not reveal to most Americans that widespread poverty and inequality are the nation’s “dirty little secret.”

Rather, most Americans were aware of these problems before they were highlighted by the devastation of Katrina, according to a new study by Stanford sociologists. As a result, the event did not become a watershed in the debate over poverty, as some pundits had forecast. In fact, awareness of poverty and inequality actually decreased among some groups of Americans after Katrina, suggesting that some people may have reacted negatively to news coverage by what they claimed to be a “liberally biased media,” according to the study, “Did Katrina Recalibrate Attitudes Toward Poverty and Inequality? A Test of the ‘Dirty Little Secret’ Hypothesis.”

Calendar

Today
Los Altos Parks, Arts and Recreation Commission, 7 p.m., city hall, 1 N. San Antonio Road.
Community Health Awareness Council, 3:30 p.m., 711 Church St., Mountain View.
Mountain View Planning Commission, 7:30 p.m., city hall, 500 Castro St.
Thursday
Los Altos Hills City Council, 6 p.m., town hall, 26379 Fremont Road.
Los Altos […]

‘Fit for Life’ fashion show benefits breast health project

The Community for Breast Health Project (CBHP) has scheduled its first fashion show and dinner fund-raiser April 1 at the Pacific Athletic Club, Redwood Shores. Honorary co-chairs Courteney Cox and David Arquette will join co-chairwoman Judy Marcus of Los Altos Hills to headline the event.

“Our theme, ‘Fit for Life,’ recognizes CBHP’s mission to provide support, guidance and information to all those affected by breast cancer,” Marcus said.

Behind the music: A quiet talent stands apart

Soaring accolades and concert hall audiences have not visibly fazed 15-year-old Los Altos Hills resident Kenric Tam, already a respected pianist in the Bay Area. His modest demeanor - precocious and unassuming - belies a long resume of awards. Tam will perform a complex solo piece at the Flint Center in Cupertino March 26.

“I just like learning new pieces - I find the music very satisfying emotionally,” Tam said.

Library, Woman’s Day sponsor story contest

Library, Woman’s Day sponsor story contest

The Los Altos library, the American Library Association and Woman’s Day magazine want to know how the library has changed people’s lives. Community members who have stories to tell can e-mail them to womansday@ala.org by May 10. Four of the stories will be published in an upcoming issue of Woman’s Day. The story must be 700 words or less.

Residents dive into watershed education

The Regional Water Quality Control Plant at Palo Alto and non-profit Save the Bay - the oldest and largest membership organization working to protect and restore the bay - launched the Clean Bay Campaign March 1 to raise public awareness of water quality and restoration of the Baylands.

Representatives from the area communities, including Jocelyn Orr and Linda DeMichiel from the Los Altos Environmental Committee, took an informational canoe tour from the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve through the affected area that graphically demonstrated the need to reduce the amount of pollutants entering the bay.

LAHS grad says trek to top of the world dedicated as small step toward peace

Not long ago, it seemed like a pipe dream. But now, Lance Trumbull nearly has Mount Everest in his grasp.

The 37-year-old Los Altos High graduate who grew up in Los Altos now has the all-important major sponsor needed for his Everest Peace Project to become a reality.

Open space group makes some progress in fight to preserve Cuesta Annex in MV

Though there are no farmers to tend the prune orchard at Cuesta Annex, some community members in Mountain View have made themselves stewards of the undeveloped tract. Since 2001, Save Open Space Mountain View has led an effort to preserve the 12-acre parcel from encroaching residential development.

“It’s a small reminder of the past of Santa Clara County,” said Bob Schick, a founding member of Save Open Space. “It shows what we once had as a collective community.”

Library offers online resources

Los Altos library cardholders now have around-the-clock access to eBooks, Web sites handpicked by librarians and subscription databases to make it easier to find information on art, business and investing, entertainment, genealogy, health and any number of other topics.

New features include the ability to search by title or subject for thousands of popular magazines, scholarly journals and newspapers.

St. Patrick’s concert features traditional Celtic music

Foothills Congregational Church, 461 Orange Ave. in Los Altos, has scheduled a St. Patrick’s Celtic music concert 2 p.m. Sunday.

The concert will feature traditional music from Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man performed vocally by Barbary Grant and Aimie Aul, with accompaniment on the Irish harp, fretted dulcimer, piano and flute.

Schools

Rome has won out over Mountain View for Matt Neely, a city councilman and assistant principal at Mountain View High School. Neely accepted a job as principal with the American Overseas School of Rome and plans to move there with his wife, Erica, in July.

The Italian school houses a diverse community of students ranging from children of well-off locals to United Nations workers, State Department employees and American military personnel. The student body in a given year represents as many as 55 countries. Examining privilege and talking about it has already been a priority for Neely at Mountain View High, and he said he plans to continue that in Rome.

Los Altos High School robotics shoots, scores at regional tournament

The Los Altos High School robotics team staged an amazing comeback in competition, bringing home a second-place trophy and two auxiliary awards at the Pacific Northwest Regional, sponsored by FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology).

The team earned the Delphi Driving Tomorrow’s Technology Award for innovative engineering and the Autodesk Visualization Award for achievement in animation.

Schools Briefs

Everything Einstein
Foothill College instructor Andrew Fraknoi is scheduled to teach Physics 12, “Physics for Poets: Everything You Wanted to Know about Einstein’s Work but Were Afraid to Ask,” 6-8:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays from April 11 to June 22.
The approach is nonmathematical, with humor, analogies and demonstrations. No background in science […]

MVLA district considers calendar changes

For the second time in three years, the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District Teachers Association (DTA) is considering a calendar change. Under the proposal, which would take effect in the 2007-2008 school year, classes would begin Aug. 20 instead of Aug. 24.

Todd Wangsness, DTA president, said the proposed change addresses the inequity in the length of the two semesters. In the current system, the first semester is significantly shorter than the second. The new calendar reduces the difference to ten days.

Los Altos student wins Lions competition

Ian Wurman of Los Altos High won the first-tier prize of $50 in the Palo Alto Lions Club speaking competition. Wurman will advance to compete with other area students in tier two at the Lions regional level.

Other competitors included Naveen Kollipaya and Cindy Ramatchadirane from Los Altos High and Gil Thompson from Gunn High.

Noteworthies

Almond Elementary School has scheduled a celebration honoring Molly Hammerstrom, a teacher who retired last year after 18 years of service, 3 p.m. Thursday in the Almond multipurpose room. Students, families and friends are invited to attend. For more information, call Rae Lee Hansen at 968-8811 or e-mail rl@vitamail.com.

Solomon Wang of Los Altos has been named to the George Fox University Dean’s List for the 2005 fall semester.

Panthers face familiar foe in state final

The state Division V girls basketball championship game will feature the same teams as last year, and Pinewood School hopes the outcome is similar as well.

The Panthers will again face Pacific Hills, whom they routed 61-39 a year ago. The title game is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Arco Arena in Sacramento.

Productivity and global competition thwart inflation

U.S. employment showed growth in almost all sectors of the economy last month, as 243,000 nonfarm jobs were created.

In January the unemployment rate hit a four-year low. Employed workers benefited from an hourly wage increase of 3.5 percent since last year. As I have mentioned before, two decades ago unemployment below 6 percent was considered full employment because of the transient nature of that part of the work force. The current reading of 4.8 percent indicates an economy running on all cylinders.

What’s the deal with LiveDeal?

For those who haven’t yet found their niche on popular Web sites such as eBay or Craigslist, a relatively new online classifieds site promises to fill a gap. LiveDeal, said its founder and CEO Rajesh Navar, is now connecting locals more easily and effectively with the goods they want.

A member of the original eBay search team and fresh from the MBA program at Stanford, the 37-year-old Navar, who lives in Los Altos, observed a common ritual: Graduates and students leaving campus for the summer were frantically seeking ways to get rid of their furniture, cars and other hard-to-ship items. Incoming students were rushing out to buy such items. His observation stirred an idea in the young entrepreneur: Was there a better way to connect the two groups?

Business

Many companies review their employees’ performances. Some do “focals,” some do board reviews, others do ranking and rating, and still others do comprehensive evaluations that may encompass a “360″ evaluation from subordinates, peers and managers. Even smaller companies use performance reviews as factors in determining raises, bonuses or reductions in salary, hours or benefits.

Though necessary, some employers may find reviews hard because of the following dilemmas:

‘Cat’ no bombshell but fun, fluffy read

This is as cozy as a mystery can be. The deaths happen off-camera to people we don’t know and are of little consequence except to showcase the talents of a remarkable cat.

“The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell,” by Lilian Jackson Braun (Putnam 2006), is the 28th book in the “Cat Who” series.

Books Brief

Read-aloud at main library
Librarians are scheduled to read California Young Reader Medal Award Nominee books aloud 3:30 p.m. today in the Los Altos Library Program Room. Children ages 5 and up are invited to listen and vote for their favorite picture book. Refreshments will be served.
The main library is located […]

Monterey celebrates its varied history

Monterey is well known for its scenery and golf, whale watching, jack cheese, strolling along the wharf or Cannery Row - and history. Its history is showcased this year by a series of commemorative activities. Monterey is the most historic city in the Western United States and it has the facts to prove it.

Sebastián Vizcaino landed in Monterey in 1602 and claimed California for Spain - almost 20 years before the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock. Monterey was California’s first capital, it became the capital of Upper and Lower California under Spanish rule in 1774. It has the best selection of original historical buildings west of Williamsburg, most on their original sites. Commodore John Drake Sloat landed in Monterey harbor in 1846, an act that led to California, Nevada, Utah and parts of Arizona and Wyoming eventually becoming part of the United States. Argentine brigands sacked the city in 1818 and Richard Henry Dana extolled the “pretty” city in his adventure, “Two Years Before the Mast,” in 1835. Monterey was the site for California’s first newspaper, theater, fort and American schoolhouse.

Wired over WiFi

Residents of Mountain View will enjoy free citywide wireless Internet access by June, thanks to Google. The Mountain View-based company is installing more than 300 “radios,” or access points, for a WiFi mesh network, mounted on lampposts and traffic signals owned by the city.

WiFi (”Wireless Fidelity”) refers to a popular type of local area network that allows people with computers and other devices to roam freely while accessing the Internet, without the use of cables or wires. Until recently, WiFi had been limited to small “hot spots” where computers could connect to each other and the Internet, such as home networks or Internet cafes.

MV chamber director leaving with business on upward swing

When Carol Olson arrived at the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce in 1996, the city was in the midst of unprecedented economic growth. Silicon Valley was booming, and most businesses were so overwhelmed with customers that few employers had time to participate in chamber events.

“And then things changed,” said the chamber’s current president and CEO.

Datebook

Datebook items are run on a space-available basis for entertainment, non-profit events, low-cost classes and groups of wide interest in our circulation area. The deadline is noon Tuesday for the next week’s paper. Notices must be typed and include a contact name and phone number. Items may be submitted via e-mail (peteb@latc.com); fax (948-6647) or post (138 Main St., Los Altos, CA 94022).

THEATER