Talk of new LAH school district among the year's biggest stories
By Town Crier Staff Report,
 Clockwise from top, 2006 stories included major Los Altos fires, redistricting, a gay pride parade, police purchase of Taser equipment and eucalytus cutting in the Hills. |
The year 2006 saw a slew of important stories that are certain to have deep, lasting impact for Los Altos and Los Altos Hills residents.
Los Altos announced another increase in sewer rates, and residents likely will be paying increases for years to come. El Camino Hospital finally settled a legal challenge to its 2003 voter-approved bonds for its rebuilding project, but not before losing millions in construction delays. And in perhaps the year’s biggest story, the Los Altos Hills City Council led a bid to form an independent town school district - a bid that holds financial repercussions for surrounding districts as the debate heads for a fateful Jan. 25 decision with the county school district organization committee.
Some stories didn’t impact schools or pocketbooks yet made big headlines, such as the controversy over a Los Altos City Council move not to issue proclamations pertaining to sexual orientation - an action that seemed in response to previous Los Altos High School student requests for a Gay Pride Day. Reaction, mostly from outside Los Altos, was fierce, leading to a gay pride parade downtown and the council eventually rescinding its action, leaving the choice of proclamations to the mayor.
What follows is a month-by-month recap of some of the community’s most notable stories.
January
• The new year began with a freak accident that resulted in tragedy. A falling eucalyptus branch killed Redwood City cyclist Dan Plummer in Los Altos Hills during the high winds of a winter storm Jan. 1. His death set in motion the city council’s consideration of a townwide eucalyptus ban.
• El Camino Hospital announced controversial plans to phase out its subacute unit by 2009. The 44 long-term patients in the unit must find new hospitals and the 41 certified nursing assistants who care for them must find new jobs by the time the new hospital facility opens in two years.
• The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office cleared the city of Los Altos of allegations from a former Los Altos sewer worker that thousands of gallons of sewage had overflowed into Adobe Creek at least four times within the last several years.
• Los Altos began the first leg of its pedestrian safety plan, studying at which San Antonio Road intersections to place flashing yellow pedestrian warning lights. A pedestrian fatality on the road in 2005 spurred increased interest in the safety improvements.
• Foothill College President Bernadine Chuck Fong, who served for 12 years, announced she would step down from her post at the end of the school year. Interim President Penny Patz replaced her July 1.
February
• Health-code violations closed Westwind Barn, forcing the relocation of its two live-in employees, Gregorio Rodriguez and Ignacio “Nacho” Carransa and Carransa’s family of four. CSG Consultants, a contractor hired by Los Altos Hills City Planner Carl Cahill, had notified the town of numerous health and safety violations at the barn, including a lack of functioning smoke detectors and heating systems in both residential units.
• Pinewood School put the Winbigler estate, a 7-acre property on Campo Vista Lane in Los Altos Hills, on the market for $15.5 million. The land had not been on the open market since Donald and Mary Elizabeth Winbigler purchased it in 1946. The property is one of the few remaining undeveloped parcels in Los Altos Hills that could be developed into a “megahome.”
• Los Altos Hills City Manager Maureen Cassingham abruptly resigned from her job following a closed-session performance review. The council unanimously appointed City Planner Carl Cahill to replace Cassingham.
• The “pumpkin patch” on Grant Road was acquired by developer SummerHill Homes and prezoned by the city of Mountain View for single-family home development.
• The majority of the Los Altos City Council passed a policy deflecting local teens’ annual petition for a Gay Pride Day. A three-member council majority changed wording to avoid consideration of proclamations based on controversial issues such as sexual orientation.
• Los Altos resident and Bellarmine College Preparatory student Thomas Reyneri died in a snowboarding accident at Squaw Valley ski resort. The 16-year-old died Feb. 24 after veering off a popular ski trail.
March
• Citing a need to improve operations at Westwind Barn, a Los Altos Hills City Council ad hoc committee recommended severing ties with Friends of Westwind Barn, the group that has run barn programs the past 28 years. Mounting internal problems, including staffing issues, health-code violations and an impending lawsuit, drew negative publicity to the barn in recent months.
• The Los Altos Hills City Council unanimously voted to form a new school district for grades K-8, withdrawing the town’s students from Los Altos, Mountain View and Palo Alto public schools. A new school district would form only if approved by the county and a majority of residents.
April
• The Mountain View Day Worker Center celebrated its 10th anniversary and received a $75,000 grant from the San Mateo-based Peninsula Community Foundation for its center operations. A 24-member advisory committee, primarily comprising concerned Los Altos leaders, continues to meet to discuss the future of the center and secure a permanent location.
• Officials estimated that the Los Altos School District could lose up to $3.5 million and the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District $3.7 million as negotiations began with the Los Altos Hills City Council on its plan to seek its own K-8 district to bring a public school back to the town.
• Alleged wages and hours violations at Westwind Barn were filed by barn ranch hands with the state labor commission this winter. The two workers were pursuing back payment for overtime wages.
• Los Altos city staff announced that the monthly sewer service charge for single-family homes would rise by $2.75 per home in 2007 to increase system revenue by $500,000.
• After eight years of adversarial discussions over the site and size of a community pool, the Los Altos City Council approved one pool at the Rosita site at its April 25 meeting. The council voted 3-2 to adopt the Community Swimming Pool Task Force recommendation for one 25-yard-by-25-meter competition pool, including a water feature/wading pool.
May
• A Los Altos resident spoke of his devastation after a fire destroyed his family home on the 100 block of Higgins Avenue. Homeowner Barrett McGrath said, “The main thing is that all the family are OK.”
• Residents on Verano Drive in Los Altos, intent on maintaining their backyard privacy, urged the city council to consider extending a current single-story zoning ordinance to include their Solana Drive neighbors.
• In a bid to gain more funding for town infrastructure projects, the Los Altos Hills Finance Committee proposed chartering the town. Committee member Jim Lai said that changing the town’s legal status could lead to more money for such projects as utilities undergrounding and sewer upgrades.
June
• The Santa Clara County Superior Court ruled in favor of Friends of Griffin House, which protested the demolition of the historic Griffin House on the Foothill College campus. The group had sued the Foothill-De Anza Community College District in August 2005.
• Hundreds marched in a parade through downtown Los Altos to celebrate gay pride. The event was the culmination of months of heated wrangling that began when the Los Altos City Council prohibited future requests for a city-endorsed Gay Pride Day in February.
July
• After a six-month nationwide search, the El Camino Hospital Board of Directors announced Kenneth D. Graham as the new hospital CEO. The 58-year-old executive was president and CEO of Overlake Hospital Medical Center in Bellevue, Wash.
• The Los Altos City Council voted unanimously to add $90,000 to the budget for an emergency service coordinator position. As of the end of the year, the position had not been filled. Council members approved Police Chief Bob Lacey’s request for 38 electronic restraint devices known as Tasers.
• Due to changes in federal and state law this year, the Los Altos School District adopted its first food and wellness policy. The wellness policy sets goals for physical activity and nutrition education, and guidelines for all food and beverages served on campus.
• Los Altos City Council members approved a $23.7 million budget for fiscal year 2006-2007. Council members voted to change a city financial policy to provide that half the utility user tax revenue would be budgeted each year for capital improvement projects.
• The Los Altos Hills City Council approved a solar-power ordinance, offering a development bonus of up to 500 square feet to homeowners who install roof-mounted solar panels on new homes or remodels.
• The Los Altos Hills City Council unanimously approved the introduction of a eucalyptus policy, mandating gradual removal of the trees, in the town’s landscaping ordinance. The ordinance requires homeowners doing construction or remodeling totaling 1,200 feet or more to remove all eucalyptus trees on their property within 150 feet of roadways or structures.
• Two local non-profits, Community Foundation Silicon Valley and the Peninsula Community Foundation, announced plans to merge, becoming one of the largest community foundations in the nation. The new organization, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, has more than $1.5 billion in assets, comparable to some of the nation’s oldest and most established community foundations.
• Los Altos Mayor Ron Packard recommended that the council rescind the controversial restriction that prohibited city proclamations based on sexual orientation. Packard said he was particularly swayed by some emotionally charged student comments made at a July 11 meeting in favor of city-declared Gay Pride Day.
August
• El Camino Hospital unveiled a medical office building in a grand-opening ceremony honoring longtime donors. Melchor Pavilion, a three-story, 66,000-foot structure primarily housing medical offices, was named for Norma and Jack Melchor in honor of their contributions to the hospital.
• The Los Altos Planning Commission voted 4-3 to approve a MetroPCS plan to erect a wireless antenna and conceal it within a cross atop the parish center at St. William Church. In the end, despite a flurry of health concerns offered by opponents, commissioners were constrained by federal guidelines that require a decision based solely on design criteria. The city council rejected the proposal.
• El Camino Hospital raised rates across-the-board by 7 percent. Now a one-night stay in the critical care unit costs $8,334. The hospital board approved the overall increase, which impacts almost all hospital services, July 12, and it went into effect retroactively July 1.
• The first big break in an unsolved murder that began 28 years ago in Los Altos came from Loveland, Colo. A police SWAT team - joined by investigators from Santa Clara County - arrested Loveland resident Scott Schultz Aug. 23 for the 1978 murder of Laura Beyerly of Los Altos.
• Fox News journalist Steve Centanni, a Los Altos High School graduate, and freelance cameraman Olaf Wiig, kidnapped Aug. 14 and held captive by an Islamic group in the Gaza Strip, were released unharmed. They met with the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority and Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, who had called for their captors to free them.
September
• Mountain View Farmlands Group, a local citizens group, scheduled a community event Sept. 30 to raise awareness for a proposal to set aside 5 acres for an organic farm on the last remaining farmland in Mountain View, Grant Road Farm. SummerHill Homes of Palo Alto negotiated the purchase of the privately owned property for an estimated $29 million. The group hoped to persuade the Mountain View City Council and the developer that a 5-acre, year-round organic farm could be a profitable business and was a necessary part of the community and the Bay Area at large.
• The city of Los Altos moved forward with a high-tech plan for improving traffic safety along the busiest intersections on San Antonio Road. The proposal involved 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.
• The coffers of Los Altos Hills are set to swell this year, and for many years to come, thanks to the success of Assembly Bill 117, which will redirect nearly $400,000 to the city every year. The state Senate passed the bill and the governor signed it.
• Los Altos’ new Whole Foods Market opened Sept. 13. Located at 4800 El Camino Real, the store opened with a bread-breaking ceremony attended by Los Altos Mayor Ron Packard and Mountain View Mayor Nick Galiotto. The 55,000-square-foot store includes nearly 300 parking spaces in an underground garage.
• The annual fee for a downtown parking permit was raised from $12 a year to $36, a recommendation endorsed by the Los Altos Village Association and city staff and approved by the city council Sept. 12.
October
• The Los Altos School District Board of Trustees voted 3-2 not to place Bullis Charter School at any K-6 LASD school site where sharing of facilities, such as a library and a multipurpose room, would be necessary. No alternate site was chosen. The vote ended any chance Bullis Charter School had of being located at the Bullis-Purissima campus in Los Altos Hills.
• The El Camino Hospital Board of Directors unanimously passed a motion at its board meeting to issue $148 million in general obligation bonds to finance part of the construction of its $480 million hospital, which will include the seismic upgrades mandated by the state. Voters approved the bonds under Measure D in 2003.
• Hidden Villa leaders announced the reinstatement of the nature preserve’s 12-day overnight summer program. Citing budget shortfalls, Hidden Villa canceled the popular program in April.
A group of former camp counselors and community donors rallied to save the camp, raising nearly $160,000 to keep the program afloat. Board Chairman Lee Price said the budget for next year is “basically balanced,” with the shortfall reduced.
November
• Los Altans voted to renew Los Altos School District’s annual $597 parcel tax to “Keep Los Altos Schools Strong.” The measure passed with 77.86 percent support from the community.
• Los Altos Hills residents re-elected Dean Warshawsky (2,160, 36.8 percent) and Breene Kerr (1,942, 33.1 percent) to four-year terms on the city council. Challenger John Vidovich came up short (1,770, 30.1 percent).
• Los Altos City Councilman Kurt Colehower announced his resignation from the council to pursue a senior position in a global technology company. Colehower resigned after serving one year of his four-year term. In an effort to save money, the city council decided to forgo a special election and began a month-long appointment process.
Los Altos City Councilmembers unanimously approved a final lease agreement with the Los Altos Community Foundation for operation and maintenance of the Neutra Cottage, a 980-square-foot house transplanted to city land in November 2005.
The agreement capped a year in which foundation board members and city officials wrangled, waited and watched to secure a final lease agreement and define how renovations should proceed.
December
• The Los Altos City Council appointed Lou Becker, former council member from 1995-2003, to fill the seat left vacant due to Colehower’s resignation. Becker was selected from among three finalists.
• The Santa Clara County Committee on School District Organization heard arguments for and against redistricting for the first time. The county committee is the agency with jurisdiction over the issue.
More than 150 opponents and proponents of the redistricting bid argued their positions at a Dec. 7 meeting. The county committee, which has the power to move forward or dismiss the redistricting proposal introduced by the Los Altos Hills City Council, deferred any decision until its next meeting, scheduled Jan. 25. Committee members heard nearly five hours of arguments from redistricting supporters and representatives from the affected Los Altos, Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School and Palo Alto Unified school districts.
