A revolution on wheels

Zero to 60 in about four seconds. For the car enthusiast, that’s shorthand for fast, extremely fast. And it calls to mind the venerated symbols of the sports car culture - high-performance V-8s, living on the edge, freedom and fun.

But when you consider the electric car, visions of exuberant, high-speed driving are largely missing. Instead, the electric car typically evokes a practical, no-nonsense driving routine, sacrificing fun for function. It resonates with those wanting to reduce global warming through zero emissions and find a way to wean America from oil. The need for speed is satisfied elsewhere.

SPLASH to lead design of community pool

Los Altos city councilmembers Aug. 29 appointed the local citizens group SPLASH to lead the design phase for the Rosita Park pool project.

The decision marks a significant victory for local pool champions who have been working with the city to organize a design team since Covington Pool was demolished in February 2001. The Los Altos School District shut down the pool due to renovations on Covington school.

School districts unite against redistricting

Superintendents and school board members from the three area districts that would be affected by a new Los Altos Hills K-8 district issued a joint statement Aug. 30 saying a new district is not needed.

Representatives of Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District, Los Altos School District and Palo Alto Unified School District discussed their concerns about the Hills City Council’s effort and said in a press release afterward:

Council looks ahead to soccer field, parks and rec building

A parks and recreation building, a playing field and park and a pilot undergrounding project are on the horizon for Los Altos Hills. The town council convened Aug. 24 to assess its accomplishments in recent years and to set goals for the months to come.

The town has Little League fields but no soccer field, a lack the council plans to address. Councilman Craig Jones proposed a “suburban-style park” with a playing field for sports such as soccer and lacrosse, playground equipment and a lawn and picnic area. The council outlined a target of spending nearly $5 million to acquire and develop a 2- to 3-acre plot of land. Funding could come from sale of the town’s Story Hill Lane property, public and private funds, town reserves or the possible tax rebate that would come with approval of Assembly Bill 117.

City addresses San Antonio safety issues in a flash

The city of Los Altos is moving forward with a high-tech plan for improving traffic safety along the busiest intersections on San Antonio Road.

City traffic engineer Tom Ho said last week that he is finishing a request for proposal involving plans for solar-powered, wireless systems that flash lights along the crosswalk lines with the touch of a button. The technology is targeted for intersections at Pepper Drive, Hawthorne and Hillview avenues, and Angela Drive/Mt. Hamilton Avenue.

News Briefs

Open space district to name new director
The board of directors of the Los Altos-based Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District has been one member short since the recent resignation of Deane Little, representative of Mountain View and Los Altos.
The board voted unanimously Aug. 24 to appoint a director to the vacant […]

City council invokes code on city clerk

Following the recommendation of Mayor Ron Packard and Councilwoman Val Carpenter the Los Altos City Council voted to invoke a state government code that allows the council to appoint the city clerk. Currently, the city manager appoints the city clerk, now Susan Kitchens, who is considered part of the city staff. The council appoints the two other members of its staff - the city manager and the city attorney - through the code.

Packard, a former mayor of Mountain View, said the city councils in Palo Alto, Mountain View and San Jose appoint their city clerks. In his experience, he said, city councils work far more closely with city clerks than do city managers, “even though their respective functions are completely different.”

Issue of mountain lions just won’t go away in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills

Like much of California, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills are mountain lion habitat, and every year residents get a fresh reminder of that fact. A lion was killed in Morgan Hill two weeks ago. Closer to home, a Los Altos resident looked into his backyard in July to see a juvenile lion scrambling out of his pool.

In Los Altos Hills, residents debate to what extent the lions present an actionable threat. Concerns about residents’ rights, and safety often conflict with the community’s stated wish to preserve a natural setting.

Editorial

San Antonio Road continues to be a dangerous street to cross. Although there are plans to make the thoroughfare safer, the street and its intersections are no different today than the day a crossing pedestrian was hit and killed by a passing motorist in April 2005.

We’ve used this space in the past to ask whether a simple coat of white paint, perhaps adding the word “Crosswalk,” as in other communities, would help matters. We’re still asking.

Letters to the Editor

Clarification of hot lunch guidelines
I’d like to add a little detail to the interpretation of Senate Bill 12, which limits fat and sugar in school hot lunches.
The 175-calorie limitation, noted in the article, is designed to limit calories for snacks at elementary schools. This is not an issue in Los Altos […]

Invest in children - invest in a teacher

Other than good parents at home, the single biggest indicator of a child’s success in school and in life is a quality teacher in the classroom.

So what is Silicon Valley doing to support teachers? A lot, but not nearly enough.

Robert Burgess, 77, career Navy man, journalist and spark behind SPARC

Robert Edward Burgess of Los Altos, who spent 30 years in the Naval Reserve and a had a 40-year civilian career in journalism, died Aug. 24. He was 77.

Mr. Burgess was born May 2, 1929, in San Francisco. His father, from England, and his mother, from New Zealand, had decided on their honeymoon to settle in San Francisco.

Norris Gregory, 78, personable pharmacist lived life to its fullest

Pharmacists once took time to talk to customers and sometimes knew more about patients than their doctors did. Norris Gregory was one such “old-school” pharmacist.

The longtime Peninsula pharmacist died Aug. 13 in his sleep at home in Los Altos. He was four days shy of his 79th birthday.

Obituary Notices

MAXIMO FERNANDEZ LEEDS March 16, 1925 - August 12, 2006
Max Leeds was born in Barcelona, Spain. When the Spanish Civil War started in 1936, the family left Spain and for the next three years stayed with family and friends in France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Switzerland. Max attended schools in all of these […]

Weddings & Engagements

Jacalyn Price and Wayne Pollock
Jacalyn Price and Wayne Pollock were married May 28 at Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel in Philadelphia. Dinner and dancing followed at the Ritz-Carlton.
The bride is the daughter of Lori and Harry Price of Los Altos Hills. She graduated from Los Altos High School and received her bachelor’s […]

Clef Hangers delight in holding attention of audiences

Los Altos resident Margo Harris wanted to stay active in her retirement years. On a friend’s suggestion she joined the Peninsula Clef Hangers, a 30-member women’s chorus that sings for seniors in Bay Area retirement homes and convalescent hospitals.

Harris expected to add music as a new activity to her life, but she didn’t count on the experience evoking such an emotional response - both in the audience and within herself.

The McKenzie legacy: One orchard, two Los Altos parks

Note: The following account will be added to the Los Altos History Museum’s “Family Tree,” a structure with touch-activated computer displays of stories and photos describing people and institutions important in Los Altos history. The Family Tree is designed to allow additions like this, and visitors are encouraged to suggest other topics to the museum staff.

Los Altos presently has 12 parks. Two of them, Mc- Kenzie Park and Heritage Oaks Park, are unique because they came from a single property ownership - that of Michael McKenzie, one of the pioneer orchardists in southern Los Altos. Between these two parks lies winding Altos Oaks Drive, another piece of his former orchard that became one of the city’s premier medical office locations.

FUHSD superintendent fired after e-mail

After a lengthy closed session Aug. 22, the Fremont Union High School District board of trustees voted 3-2 to fire Superintendent Stephen Rowley.

Former Deputy Superintendent Polly Bove will serve as acting Superintendent of the district.

Los Altos schools fare well in standardized testing

Newly released Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) and updated Academic Performance Index (API) results for Los Altos area schools show that Los Altos schools are ranked top in the state and reached their pre-set goals. For more information and a grade-by-grade breakdown of scores, visit http://star.cde.ca.gov for STAR results and www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap for API results.

LASD steps up to writing

Los Altos School District teachers will begin using the Step Up to Writing program this year to give kindergartners to 6th-graders consistent, progressive training in good writing.

Step Up to Writing, a pilot program in some schools last year, uses a step-by-step approach to the writing process.

Educational foundations get to work

Back to school means back to fundraising for Mountain View and Los Altos educational foundations.

The Los Altos Educational Foundation (LAEF), which serves the Los Altos School District, and the Mountain View-Los Altos High School Foundation, which serves schools in the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District, aim to meet financial goals to provide essential programs for the districts.

Schools Briefs

Castro encourages literacy in classroom
Remember your favorite game? Your favorite sport? By sharing simple stories of your childhood “favorites” with a Castro Elementary School third-grader on Tuesday mornings this fall, you can help that student improve his or her writing and English language skills - and his or her long-term chances for success.
[…]

Schools

They haven’t played a real match yet - that comes Thursday - but the girls on the Los Altos High volleyball team have already made it clear to their new coach what they want to accomplish this season.

“What’s been brought to my attention is how bad the girls want to go to CCS and perform well,” Christine Matteucci said. “They know they have to improve to get there, and they’re focusing on that.”

Bailey helps lead club team to sixth place at JOs

When Alex Bailey looked around the pool at the other 14-and-under boys chosen to represent the Stanford Water Polo Club at the Junior Olympics, he realized his most important role would be as a leader.

“It was a young team - four of the starters were eighth-graders and the rest were seventh-graders,” said the Los Altos resident, among the oldest members of the squad. “Me and Conner Still put the team on our shoulders and showed them the game, and they stepped up for us.”

Foothill men’s water polo team needs new players to stay afloat

Hired late and with little time to recruit, Steve Hanson may not have a team to coach this fall in his first season heading up the Foothill College men’s water polo program.

“The season isn’t lost, but we’re under the gun to get something going,” said Hanson, hired in July to replace Nathan Resch. “We need to find more players.”

Financial factors hit extremes along with the weather

The weather in Los Altos is mild, and it feels a little cooler than normal. It’s a good time to crank up the Investor’s Report again after a summer break. July brought the heat out, and it seemed like the entire West Coast suffered in brutal 105-118 degree heat for more than a week.

The financial markets rolled around, and several components hit extremes along with the weather. A barrel of oil neared the $80 level during one of the international crises. Honestly, I can’t remember which one. As of this writing, the black, gooey stuff is trading just below $70 - but remember it’s up from around $35 a barrel a couple of years ago.

Become.com helps online shoppers beget good prices and info

Michael Yang is on a mission. He wants to make it easy for shoppers to find information about products. And he wants shoppers to use his Web site to do it.

Yang, a Los Altos Hills resident, is founder, president and CEO of Become.com, a search engine for shopping that helps people find product information and prices. What’s driving him is his belief that general search engines don’t go far enough to provide useful information that shoppers need in an easy-to-use, organized format.

Knitting author at Full Thread Ahead

Internationally popular knitting enthusiast and author Stephanie Pearl-McPhee will visit Full Thread Ahead in Los Altos Saturday. This is her only Northern California appearance, and she will sign books for a limited number of people.

She has written three books, and her most recent is “Knitting Rules” (Storey Publishing, 2006).

Business Briefs

HGTV shines spotlight on Los Altos company
Home and Garden Television (HGTV) featured Los Altos-based FreeHand Systems Inc.’s latest product recently.
“I Want That! Tech Toys,” an HGTV program that promotes the latest high-tech home entertainment products, computers, home security systems and other gadgets, showcased the digital music company’s MusicPad Pro.
The MusicPad […]

Perfected vs. new

In a community as trendy as Los Altos, we can always count on seeing the newest cars in the Village parking lots almost as soon as they appear on the dealers’ lots. This seems especially true with redesigned models that manufacturers bring to market about every five years.

If you’re thinking about buying a particular model of car, and you learn that a completely new version of it will be hitting the market in less than six months, what is your best strategy? Should you rush out and try to snare one of the last examples of the old design, or should you wait until the redesigned version is available?

Portable navigation aid worth considering

Automobile navigation systems have been one of the most interesting new technologies introduced in the last 10 years. Continued improvement has brought them to the point that they are genuinely useful today.

They are still quite expensive, usually adding $1,500 or more to the price of a new car, and they are permanently mounted on the dashboard. To address these problems, electronics firms have developed portable systems.

Warm air conditioner may be evidence of defect

Q: My vehicle’s air-conditioning is not keeping the interior as cool as it did last year. Should I just have more refrigerant put into the system?

A: No. There are many reasons other than lack of coolant that could explain why the air conditioner may not be working correctly.

Slower driving boosts gas mileage

Last month, we discussed how proper vehicle maintenance can improve gas mileage. In this article, we’ll delve into driving techniques that will further boost fuel economy.

First of all, though, I would like to thank Mr. Rorden of Los Altos, who sent an e-mail to suggest that, when ordering a new car, a person should select the base engine rather a more powerful optional engine. He makes a good point.

Late summer adventure close to home

In a shady glen, nestled among woods in the Santa Cruz Mountains, a troupe of players are performing Shakespeare this September.

Three local lovers of the Bard founded Shady Shakespeare in 1999 with $1,000 and a dream of outdoor Shakespeare. Seven years later, Shady Shakespeare has a permanent seasonal venue at Sanborn-Skyline County Park, a cast of regular players and weekly audiences that number in the hundreds. The free shows, scheduled Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings at 7, alternate in repertory style. This season, whose theme is “Love vs. Fate,” features alternating performances of “Romeo and Juliet” and “The Taming of the Shrew.”

‘Butterfly’ revival stands test of time

The sheer magnitude of a true-life mistaken identity between a French spy and a Chinese opera singer originally ignited the idea for David Henry Hwang’s Tony award-winning play “M. Butterfly,” TheatreWorks’ latest offering.

Now, more than 25 years after “M. Butterfly” premiered, the play still manages to crack open audience expectations through its sweeping reflections on gender stereotypes and characterizations of East versus West.

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