www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Council says ‘whoa’ to

27 UniversityPage 3

Spectrum 14 Eating 26 Movies 28 Holidays 37 Class Guide 48

Vol. XXXIV, Number 11 December 7, 2012

Feature Bringing compassionate care to ailing patients Page 18

Arts Honeybee Trio — a touch of youth at Pops concert Page 20

Home Festive holiday lights without the fretting Page 57

PAC-12 TITLE GETS THE CARDINAL

TO THE ROSE BOWL

PAGE 30

Donate to the HOLIDAY FUND page 22

Free skating at Downtown Ice, December 9, 12–9 p.m.

*

Page 2

F aced with a flurry of criticism of a sweeping proposal to build four office towers and a

theater in downtown Palo Alto, city officials on Tuesday scrapped the idea of bringing the project to the voters in June.

After a discussion that stretched

for more than five hours and fea-tured close to 50 public speakers, the council voted 7-0 early Tuesday morning to reject a staff recommen-dation for a June ballot measure on an ambitious proposal known as 27 University Ave. (Mayor Yiaway Yeh and Councilman Larry Klein

recused themselves because of their spouses’ connections with Stanford University, which would benefit from the project).

The concept, pitched by billion-aire developer John Arrillaga, in-volves building four office towers and a theater near the downtown transit hub; relocating the his-toric building that now houses the MacArthur Park Restaurant; and adding a host of pedestrian- and bike-friendly amenities to the area

around the Caltrain station. Instead, in what Councilman Pat

Burt called a “significant recalibra-tion of the process,” the council voted to continue pursuing a “mas-ter plan” for the central site between Palo Alto and Stanford University and to consider, in addition to the Ar-rillaga proposal, other possible uses for the 4.3 acres. And after hearing extensive criticism from the public about the lack of transparency in the process, the council agreed to hold

at least two community meetings, in addition to the regular public meet-ings involving the various land-use commissions, on the master plan before it’s adopted.

The discussion was dominated by comments from the public. More than 120 residents showed up to the hearing, filling up all the benches in the Council Chambers and occupy-ing many of the folding chairs set up

UpfrontLocal news, information and analysis

Veronica Weber

City proceeds with master plan for 27 University Ave., considers other options for central site

by Gennady Sheyner

A n effort to bolster teen mental health at Gunn High School by harnessing the power of

peer influence has shown success in its first year, according to survey results.

The initiative, called Sources of Strength, is one of several teen well-ness programs at the school, which suffered a devastating string of stu-dent deaths by suicide in 2009.

Surveys of some 1,500 Gunn stu-dents — taken in the fall of 2011 and again in spring of 2012 — indicate about 70 percent of students by the end of the year were aware of men-tal health messages disseminated by

trained fellow students.The 59 students who last fall vol-

unteered to be “peer leaders” were taught to help their friends change their coping practices — by iden-tifying a trusted adult from whom they could seek help, for example — when faced with depression, stress or other problems. Twenty-seven adults on campus also participated in training.

Program leaders aim to instill in a broad range of student social net-works the message that it’s good to seek help for oneself or for a friend facing depression or emotional chal-lenges. The idea is to use the “natu-

ral resources” of positive activities, friends and adult mentors to help kids get through difficult times.

“This isn’t something you can just broadcast to 1,700 students and hope it happens,” said Shashank V. Joshi, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford Uni-versity Medical Center.

“You start with peer leaders and propagate it through social messag-ing. Peer leaders are your agents of change — not the only ones, but im-portant ones.”

Joshi summarized first-year re-

Tapping the power of friendship to boost teen mental health

Gunn’s ‘Sources of Strength’ program reports success after first yearby Chris Kenrick

Palo Alto schools welcome better financial news

Teachers ask for a pay raise as $5.6 million deficit turns into a nearly $4 million surplus

by Chris Kenrick and Pierre Bienaimé

P alo Alto schools face an improved financial picture thanks to last month’s pas-

sage of California Proposition 30 and higher-than-expected property-tax revenue projections.

In a Board of Education meet-ing Tuesday, Dec. 4, members expressed relief at the first good financial news in some time, and teachers reiterated a request they made last June for a pay raise.

Teachers union president Teri Bald-win said teachers have had neither a salary increase nor a cost-of-living adjustment since 2009 — a period in which the Bay Area consumer price index has increased by 7.6 percent.

“In a survey we gave to our teach-ers we asked if anyone worked part-time jobs outside the classroom or summers,” Baldwin said.

“Fifty percent of the teachers that responded said they worked in the summer, and a very large majority of those stated it was to ‘make ends meet.’ Forty-three percent said they worked a part-time job during the school year.”

Baldwin said the teachers’ com-ments included: “Need more mon-ey to support my three children,” “It is necessary to afford to live in the Bay Area,” and “It is a finan-cial necessity.”

The improved financial picture for Palo Alto schools includes $5.4 million in state revenue due to pas-sage of Proposition 30, Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax initiative. The school district had conservatively assumed failure of Proposition 30 in its 2012-13 budget, which the board ap-proved in June.

The good news also includes an additional $3.2 million in anticipat-ed revenue from growth in property taxes based on the latest estimates of a 4.21 percent increase over last year

— up from the budgeted 2 percent.School district Chief Business Of-

ficer Cathy Mak now projects the dis-trict’s 2012-13 income at $169 million and expenses at $165.3 million.

Combined with other smaller developments, the Proposition 30 passage and higher property tax estimates have turned what was a $5.6 million deficit into a surplus of about $4 million, Mak said.

The funds will be allocated ac-cording to directions the Board of Education attached to its June bud-get in the event more revenue be-came available: toward eliminating the district’s deficit; toward program needs; toward employee costs and toward professional development.

In addition to remarks by Bald-win, a physical education teacher asked for smaller class sizes and for-mer teachers union president Triona Gogarty reiterated the need for an employee pay increase.

Gogarty said she personally knows of teachers who have moved either farther from Palo Alto or back in with their parents to make finan-cial ends meet.

“Employee-compensation im-provement should be No. 1 on the Board’s agenda.” Gogarty said in an email Wednesday.

The Palo Alto Educators Asso-ciation, representing more than 800 full- and part-time teachers, in June asked for “a general salary increase which is commensurate with the dis-trict’s ability to pay,” which would come on top of automatic, seniority-based step-and-column increases.

Currently, a starting teacher in Palo Alto earns $51,422, with an additional benefit package worth $12,865. A teacher with seven years’ experience and 60 units of graduate

Creating a bigger ‘in’ crowdDuveneck Elementary School second-graders Evie Barclay, left, and Tommy Doran look at the large paper quilt created by students at all grade levels for Inclusion Week on Dec. 6. On the quilt were the words: “Feeling included makes me smile.”

YOUTH WELL-BEING

EDUCATION

Palo Alto nixes election on Arrillaga’s downtown proposal

(continued on page 6)

(continued on page 10)(continued on page 8)

Page 3

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Around Town

‘‘‘‘

TO NASHVILLE ... Palo Alto Mayor

Yiaway Yeh plans to say farewell to

his hometown early next year and

take his talents to Nashville, Tenn.,

where his wife Cecilia Mo accepted a

position at Vanderbilt University. Yeh,

who was elected to the City Council

in 2007 and who has been one of its

leading voices on utilities and com-

munity engagement, has also been

representing the city on the Northern California Power Agency, a nonprofit

group for municipally owned utili-

ties. In recognition of his service, the

agency passed a special resolution

for Yeh, recognizing his diligent and

enthusiastic service. The resolution,

which City Manager James Keene

read to the council Monday night,

also makes a bold prediction — that

Yeh will be won over by Nashville’s

renowned country-music scene. The

agency even offered several potential

names for Yeh’s first country album.

These include “Table Tennis for Two,”

“I’m Not Late, You’re Early” and “It’s

Yiaway or the Highway.”

NOT FOR NESSIE ... Although it may

sound plausible, a new “marsh cam”

in the Palo Alto Baylands Nature

Preserve is not a new method to

hunt down the Loch Ness Monster.

The piece of educational technology,

installed at the former Sea Scout

building now known as the Eco-

Center, provides an intimate look at

the 2,000-acre preserve. The video

camera displays live views and infor-

mation on the Bayland’s tidal marshes

to anyone with Internet access. The

nonprofit Environmental Volunteers,

which provides science education in

Santa Clara and San Mateo counties,

is using the marsh cam to expand its

reach. Donations to the EcoCenter

Education Fund and a Whale Tail

grant from the California Coastal

Commission supported its installation.

Among the plants and animals in the

Baylands are native cordgrass, pick-

leweed and the endangered clapper

rail. The marsh cam can be viewed at

www.EVols.org/marsh-cam.

JAPAN SAYS DOMO ARIGATO ... Longtime Palo Alto resident Peter Duus has been awarded the Order of the Rising Sun by the Japanese gov-

ernment. The national decoration was

established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji

of Japan and honors exceptional civil

or military merit. Non-Japanese were

first awarded the decoration in 1981.

The Order recognizes Duus’ “contri-

bution to Japan Studies in the United

States and the promotion of mutual

understanding between Japan and

the United States.” Duus is a Stanford

University history professor emeritus

who, from 1974 to 1989, was execu-

tive secretary for the Inter-University

Center for Japanese Language Stud-

ies, a consortium school in Japan

established by Stanford that provides

10 months of intensive training in ad-

vanced Japanese. “When I embarked

on a career in the field, Japanese

language training was haphazard, to

say the least,” Duus stated in an an-

nouncement about his honor. “At the

end of four years in graduate school,

my recognition vocabulary included

‘frankincense,’ ‘bread of life,’ and ‘air-

craft carrier,’ but I did not know how

to order a cup of coffee. Thanks to the

IUC, students do not have to suffer

that fate today.”

TAPPING THE BRAKES ON GAS ... Palo Alto’s gas customers will get a

mild reprieve on their utility bills this

winter. The City Council this week

approved lowering the gas rate for

the average customer by 2 percent

because of a regional squabble over

PG&E’s proposal to include a “trans-

portation charge” in its gas rates (Palo

Alto’s gas utility relies on PG&E pipe-

lines). Staff had included this charge in

the rates that went into effect in July.

But now, a dispute over whether the

charge should be borne by ratepayers

(as PG&E anticipated) or by inves-

tors has kept the charge from being

implemented. With the California Public Utilities Commission currently

considering the two sides in the dis-

pute, Utilities Department staff recom-

mended lowering local gas rates — a

suggestion that the council swiftly ap-

proved this week without discussion.

50 YEARS OF REMEMBRANCES ... The nonprofit Palo Alto organization

that assists children and adults with

disabilities, Abilities United, will cele-

brate its 50th anniversary in 2013. To

honor that milestone, the organization

launched a weekly online storytelling blog by clients and their families. The

first story is by retired Palo Alto pedia-

trician Dr. Harry Hartzell, who could

not bear to place his son in an institu-

tion and instead worked to raise him

with help from Abilities United. The

organization will host classes for the

community and other events through-

out the year. The stories and more

information can be found at www.

abilitiesunited.org.

We need more ethics, spine and responsibility to residents.

—Fred Balin, a College Terrace resident, on the process of planning for 27 University Ave. that took place outside of public view. See story on page 3.

PUBLISHER William S. Johnson

EDITORIAL Jocelyn Dong, Editor Carol Blitzer, Associate Editor Keith Peters, Sports Editor Tyler Hanley, Express™ and Online Editor Rebecca Wallace, Arts & Entertainment Editor Rick Eymer, Assistant Sports Editor Tom Gibboney, Spectrum Editor Sue Dremann, Chris Kenrick, Gennady Sheyner, Staff Writers Eric Van Susteren, Editorial Assistant, Internship Coordinator Veronica Weber, Staff Photographer Colin Becht, Dale F. Bentson, Peter Canavese, Kit Davey, Iris Harrell, Sheila Himmel, Chad Jones, Karla Kane, Kevin Kirby, Jack McKinnon, Jeanie K. Smith, Susan Tavernetti, Contributors Pierre Bienaimé, Lisa Kellman, Haiy Le, Editorial Interns

DESIGN Shannon Corey, Design Director Linda Atilano, Diane Haas, Scott Peterson, Paul Llewellyn, Senior Designers Lili Cao, Rosanna Leung, Designers

PRODUCTION Jennifer Lindberg, Production Manager Dorothy Hassett, Blanca Yoc, Sales & Production Coordinators

ADVERTISING Tom Zahiralis, Vice President Sales & Advertising Samantha Mejia, Shop Product Manager Adam Carter, Elaine Clark, Janice Hoogner, Wendy Suzuki, Display Advertising Sales Neal Fine, Carolyn Oliver, Rosemary Lewkowitz, Real Estate Advertising Sales David Cirner, Irene Schwartz, Inside Advertising Sales Diane Martin, Real Estate Advertising Asst. Alicia Santillan, Classified Administrative Asst.

EXPRESS, ONLINE AND VIDEO SERVICES Rachel Palmer, Online Operations Coordinator

BUSINESS Susie Ochoa, Payroll & Benefits Elena Dineva, Mary McDonald, Claire McGibeny, Cathy Stringari, Business Associates

ADMINISTRATION Doris Taylor, Receptionist Ruben Espinoza, Courier

EMBARCADERO MEDIA William S. Johnson, President Michael I. Naar, Vice President & CFO Tom Zahiralis, Vice President Sales & Advertising Frank A. Bravo, Director, Information Technology & Webmaster Connie Jo Cotton, Major Accounts Sales Manager Bob Lampkin, Director, Circulation & Mailing Services Alicia Santillan, Circulation Assistant Chris Planessi, Chip Poedjosoedarmo, Computer System Associates

The Palo Alto Weekly (ISSN 0199-1159) is published every Friday by Embarcadero Media, 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306, (650) 326-8210. Periodicals postage paid at Palo Alto, CA and additional mailing offices. Adjudicated a newspaper of general circulation for Santa Clara County. The Palo Alto Weekly is delivered free to homes in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, East Palo Alto, to faculty and staff house-holds on the Stanford campus and to portions of Los Altos Hills. If you are not currently receiving the paper, you may request free delivery by calling 326-8210. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302. Copyright ©2012 by Embarcadero Media. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permis-sion is strictly prohibited. The Palo Alto Weekly is available on the Internet via Palo Alto Online at: www.PaloAltoOnline.comOur email addresses are: editor@paweekly.com, letters@paweekly.com, digitalads@paweekly.com.Missed delivery or start/stop your paper? Call 650 326-8210, or email circulation@paweekly.com. You may also subscribe online at www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Subscriptions are $60/yr.

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Upfront

AWARDS

ANNUAL

TALL

34th

TREE

nomination forms and registration:

desig

n b

y h

arr

ingto

n d

esig

n

Draft #3, 11/26/12, Weekly ad

Call for NominationsThe Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce

and the Palo Alto Weekly

are proud to announce the

34th Annual Tall Tree Awards,

presented in four categories

recognizing exceptional

civic contributions and service

to the Palo Alto community.

Current elected officials are not eligible.

outstanding citizen/volunteeroutstanding professional

outstanding businessoutstanding nonprofit

Nomination deadline:

January 11, 2013, 5 pm

The Woman’s Club of Palo Alto

• Company Parties •Weddings•Business Off-sites

Looking for a Holiday Party Venue?

inquiry@womansclubofpaloalto.org 650.321.5821475 Homer Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301

Page 4

P alo Alto’s process for admin-istering health benefits to city workers and retirees is

riddled with errors and suffers from insufficient monitoring, according to a critical report from the Office of the City Auditor.

City Auditor Jim Pelletier found, among other things, that the city’s retiree reimbursements were not accurately calculated; that the billing from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) was not adequately monitored; and that the city has not effectively administered its contract with a consultant charged with verifying the city’s health ex-penditures. The report concluded that the city’s Human Resources Department needs to improve its internal controls over health bene-fits to ensure that health premiums, administrative fees and retiree re-

imbursements are calculated and paid accurately.

The audit focused on health pay-ments made by the city between September 2011 and October 2012 and found that the city has been overpaying for retiree reimburse-ment. In reviewing CalPERS bills in October 2012, the audit found that the city made overpayments totaling $12,585 and underpay-ments totaling $3,434, resulting in a net overpayment to retirees of $8,151. The report also notes that 64 retirees were either overpaid or underpaid by $10 or more. The report notes that the Human Re-sources Department “did not have a clear, documented methodology to determine the reimbursement amount.”

The sheer complexity of tallying the reimbursement amounts ap-pears to be a major factor in many

of the errors uncovered by the au-dit. The city’s program covers 855 active employees and their 1,526 dependents in addition to 871 re-tirees and their 627 dependents. Each of the city’s labor groups is governed by its own health care contract, with varying tiers based on seniority. The fact that the sys-tem is administered by a colossal entity based in Sacramento and that CalPERS routinely makes errors and revisions to its billing further muddies the process, the report states.

The report cites the Human Re-sources Department’s (HRD) view that “there are so many billing er-rors and subsequent corrections made by CalPERS that they would not be able to review the entire billing and keep track of all deduc-tions made for each retiree.”

“For this reason, there were cas-

es where HRD was aware that the retiree was receiving overpayment but no actions were taken because they assumed the overpayment was due to a CalPERS error and the error would be corrected by CalP-ERS in the future,” the audit states. “These discrepancies were neither documented nor tracked.”

It didn’t help that the city’s eli-gibility criteria for retiree health benefits was “not clearly defined and documented,” according to the audit. The city has a document called Tier Matrix, which defines retiree health tiers for each em-ployee group and each tier within the group. The audit’s review of the Tier Matrix found that the document “was inaccurate and incomplete.” While there was no evidence to conclude that the in-accuracy resulted in a “material difference,” the audit states: “Ad-

equate documentation and clear communication of eligibility cri-teria would help to prevent any inaccuracies in future actuarial valuations.” The audit recommends making the Tier Matrix available to all stakeholders and enhancing current procedures to ensure that the document is “maintained ac-curately, completely and in an or-ganized manner.”

The audit also found that CalP-ERS used “inconsistent and inac-curate” methodology to calculate the employer share of health care costs for retirees. Auditors re-viewed 832 records and found that the employer share was different from expected amount in 55 of these records, resulting in $5,513 in overbilling. Much of this was related to retirees from two em-

Upfront

HOLIDAY FUND

CITY HALL

W hen Nina first wound up in a homeless shelter six years ago, escaping an abu-

sive relationship, her main concern was immediate: finding a place to give birth to the baby who would be coming in one week.

After that, the picture kept getting broader. Where would they live? How would she keep her son safe and healthy? How would she afford a winter jacket or deal with prob-lems at school?

For the last six years, Nina (not her real name) has depended on the people at Opportunity Services Cen-ter in Palo Alto to help her answer these questions. She and her son live in an apartment upstairs at the cen-ter, but a roof over her head wasn’t all she needed. With the help of staff and volunteers from InnVision Shel-

ter Network, which provides many services at the center, Nina has been finishing college, planning for nurs-ing school and learning how to be a mother. Staff have also been helping her navigate the court system while she’s dealt with “a difficult dy-namic” with her son’s father, she said.

“It was a blessing,” she said. “I didn’t know anything about babies. They would literally hold him for me while I was writing papers.”

When her son had a problem at his kindergarten, staff helped him change schools. Buses take him to and from school, and after school he

can play, read and do other activities in the center’s Bredt Family Center.

As Nina spoke to a reporter in the family area, she looked over and smiled at her son, who was sitting at a table with several other children. They were surrounded by shelves of books and toys, math flashcards, board games and a small computer lab. They looked happy. At another table, high school volunteers helped other kids with their homework. A staff member served up snacks in the kitchen.

“It’s like they’re helping raise him,” Nina said. She got choked up for a minute. “It gives me chills.”

This year, the InnVision Shel-ter Network programs at the Bredt Family Center are also getting a lit-tle help from their friends: a $7,500 grant from the Weekly Holiday

Fund, which collects donations to aid local nonprofits that serve chil-dren, families and individuals.

The Opportunity Services Cen-ter, located on Encina Way in Palo Alto, opened in 2006, organized by the Community Working Group together with InnVision and the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Clara. (InnVision merged with Shelter Network, another area non-

profit aiding the homeless, earlier this year.) While InnVision Shelter Network provides social services at the center, Charities Housing is the landlord for the 88 apartments.

At the center, many services are available for families and individu-als, both those living in the center’s apartments and those who drop in.

A helping hand for kidsWith tutoring, field trips and birthday parties, Opportunity Services Center

helps kids have a ‘normal childhood’by Rebecca Wallace

Audit finds errors in Palo Alto’s health care expendituresCritical report urges stronger oversight, better record-keeping

by Gennady Sheyner

HOLIDAY FUND

Palo Alto family issues $100,000 challengeGift will match others’ donations to the Weekly Holiday Fund

A local family has made a $100,000 donation to the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday

Fund for the second year in a row, in hopes of inspiring other donors to join them in supporting local programs for kids and families.

The gift is from a family who wishes to remain anonymous and who made a similar gift at the end of last year’s holiday campaign. As a result of that donation, the Holi-

day Fund set a record and was able to make grants totaling $340,000.

This year’s repeat donation will be used to match, dollar for dollar, the contributions of other donors.

“This generous Palo Alto fam-ily believes strongly in the mis-sion of the Holiday Fund and the efficiency with which we are able to assist many local nonprofits,” Palo Alto Weekly publisher Bill Johnson said.

Since the Weekly and its part-ner, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, absorb all the costs of the program, every dollar that is donated is distributed without any administrative expenses deducted.

In a statement accompanying the donation, the donors emphasized their desire to support local causes.

“We grew up in Palo Alto and have always appreciated the extraor-dinary services provided by the city,

the schools and the many communi-ty-based organizations. We want to support these efforts and the Holiday Fund is a superb way to do that.”

Over the last 19 years, the Holi-day Fund has raised and distrib-uted more than $4 million to local nonprofits.

The Holiday Fund program has enjoyed ongoing support from the Packard and Hewlett foundations, the Peery and Arrillaga founda-

tions and several other family foun-dations. Proceeds from the annual Palo Alto Weekly Moonlight Run, which has grown to become one of Palo Alto’s largest community events, benefit the Holiday Fund.

Contributions to this year’s campaign can be made online at www.paloaltoonline.com/holiday-fund or through the Holiday Fund donation form on page 22.

— Palo Alto Weekly staff

Palo Alto High School junior Taha Rafeeqi, center, volunteers as a tutor at the Family Services Center at the Opportunity Services Center in Palo Alto. He helps Ebony Earley, right, with her math while Walleska Garcia works on other homework.

Vero

nica

Web

er

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Page 5

Upfront

A proposal to relocate the his-toric Julia Morgan-designed building at 27 University Ave.

to make way for four office towers and a theater drew a harsh reception at the Wednesday morning, Dec. 5, meeting of the Historic Resources Board, where members expressed grave concerns about uprooting what they called a significant part of the city’s history.

The proposal, pitched by billion-aire developer John Arrillaga, calls for moving the Hostess House — which currently houses the MacAr-thur Park Restaurant — to a loca-tion of the city’s choosing. The latest design plans recommend a site in the nearby El Camino Park for the building, which under the concept would revert to its original role as a community center.

Though the City Council had ini-tially considered asking voters to approve in June a ballot measure that would zone the Stanford Uni-versity-owned land for the massive development, it took a step back Tuesday when it voted to focus first

on a master plan for the 4.3 acres rather than a specific proposal. Moving the Hostess House, how-ever, is still a possibility.

The building, which is listed on local, state and national historic reg-istries, was used as a meeting place for World War I veterans. Built at Camp Fremont in Menlo Park in 1918, the building was moved across San Francisquito Creek to its cur-

rent location a year later.Ward Winslow’s book “Palo

Alto: Centennial History” recalls Palo Alto’s dedication of the Julia Morgan building on Nov. 11, 1919, as a “gala occasion” with a proces-sion of about 3,000 people march-ing to the site, led by the Stanford Band, the Base Hospital Band, the Stanford ROTC, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Na-tive Sons of the Golden West and the High School Cadets.

The building’s historic signifi-

cance extends beyond Palo Alto. Once purchased by Palo Alto, it became the first municipally op-erated community center in the nation, frequently hosting dances, classes, plays and other events. In the following decades, the com-munity center housed night classes, an employment bureau and a health center. When the city’s Playgrounds and Community Department was founded in 1929, it set up its of-fices in the center. According to Winslow’s book, the “crowded and varied program activities soon out-grew the locale,” and in 1933 the city gladly accepted the larger Palo Alto Community Theatre, a gift from Lucie Stern.

But even though the building at 27 University Ave. hasn’t served as the center of Palo Alto’s civic life for 80 years, members of the His-toric Resources Board emphasized its critical role in the city’s history. Board member Beth Bunnenberg pointed to the building’s listing on the National Historic Register and argued that the building’s location is an important part of its significance. She noted that Julia Morgan herself, who went on to design the palatial San Simeon home of William Ran-dolph Hearst, attended the City Council meeting on the relocation of Hostess House and approved the city’s proposition for the new site.

“Palo Alto was thinking outside

the box and saying a community center is a good idea,” Bunnenberg said. “They held plays; they held dances; they held meetings. It was a true community center.”

While the Arrillaga plan has un-dergone a number of revisions since its design was first unveiled in Sep-tember, the location of the proposed office towers has remained con-stant — the site of Hostess House. On Wednesday, board members said they were astonished and dis-appointed by the fact that the devel-oper and the city hadn’t considered alternatives that would keep the his-toric building at its present location. Board Member David Bower said he didn’t understand how the proj-ect had gotten this far without the questions of historic compatibility being considered.

“There’s not much in Palo Alto that gets more significant than hav-

ing these older buildings in their original place,” Bower said.

Board member Michael Maki-nen worried that moving the build-ing would compromise its status as a nationally recognized historic structure. He said that the criteria for “historic integrity” on the Na-tional Register include seven as-pects: location, design, setting, ma-terials, workmanship, feeling and association. The Arrillaga proposal would compromise at least two of these aspects — location and set-ting — and possibly feeling and as-sociation as well.

“There’s a great risk with this pro-posal that the building can be de-listed as a historic property due to loss of integrity,” Makinen said.

Board member Scott Smithwick said he was “disappointed” by the

HISTORIC PRESERVATION

Board pans plan to move Hostess HouseJulia Morgan-designed building occupies site of proposed office complex, theater

by Gennady Sheyner

Do you think the Hostess House should be retained at its current location? Share your opinion on Town Square, the com-munity discussion forum on Palo Alto Online.

TALK ABOUT ITwww.PaloAltoOnline.com

for the overflow crowd. Some speak-ers, including those from the theater and business communities, praised the concept and urged the council to go forward with Arrillaga’s plan. But the majority, including two former mayors, took the opposite stance and argued that the council is moving far too fast with the dramatic proposal. Many said that the proposed build-ings, at more than 100 feet tall, are out of scale with the area.

Others decried what they said was a lack of transparency in the process. As the Weekly reported last week, many of the early discussions of the plan had occurred in private meetings between Arrillaga and staff, leaving behind scant documentation. The developer had also held private meet-ings with individual council members to pitch his project months before it was first publicized in March of this year. Some took exception to this conduct and with staff’s recommen-dation to proceed with an advisory measure on the project in June despite the fact that there still hasn’t been a formal application, much less an en-vironmental analysis.

Former Mayor Dick Rosenbaum told the council that the project would be a windfall for Stanford University, which he estimated would get about $15 million a year in income from leasing space in the new office tow-

ers (Arrillaga, a longtime Stanford benefactor, plans to donate the new buildings to his alma mater), but a terrible deal for the city. He said the city should demand half the revenue from the developments.

“This is a project that would’ve been laughed out of the Council Chambers a few years ago,” Rosen-baum told the council. “Yet here it is being considered seriously. If you proceed, there will almost certain-ly be a referendum, and I believe it will be successful. You will save the city a lot of money if you stop this project tonight.”

The council didn’t stop the proj-ect, but members agreed to slow things down a bit. Burt recommend-ed continuing with a master plan for the site and expanding the plan to consider other development options. The process for 27 University, Burt said, “has gone sideways for a vari-ety of reasons.”

“The best way for us to move to-ward something that both has a good chance for community support and good design outcomes is to go ahead and invest in this open Palo Alto pro-cess,” Burt said. “We come up with a site master plan and we find out whether we have a developer who is interested in proceeding within the framework that we set up.”

Councilwoman Karen Holman agreed that it’s premature to bring the project to the voters, given the lack of information about the proj-ect and its impacts. But, like Burt, she agreed that the office towers

envisioned by Arrillaga, staff and consultants are far too tall for the site. Though the revised plan that the council saw Monday evening reduced the height of the tallest of-fice tower from 162 feet to 114 feet and the number of stories from 10 to seven, it would still loom far above the city’s height limit of 50 feet for new developments.

“This, as currently presented, is just too ambitious,” Holman said. “This is an ambitious community, but this is overambitious, and the process has been upside-down.”

Former Mayor Dena Mossar was one of many speakers who shared Holman’s feelings. Mossar argued that a June election would make little sense given that there’s no real proj-ect and no environmental-impact re-port. She also voiced concerns about the city’s lack of transparency.

“The master-plan process has re-lied on secrecy and limited public input,” Mossar said. “It’s pretty hard to trust the process.”

Former Councilwoman Emily Renzel said the process “has been corrupted by private meetings and negotiations.” Former Vice Mayor Enid Pearson said the project “has side-stepped every possible public-input opportunity.” And Fred Ba-lin, a College Terrace resident and advocate for land-use transparency, called the city’s conduct on 27 Uni-versity “secretive” and “improper.” He also urged the council not to pro-ceed with the advisory vote.

“We need more ethics, spine and

responsibility to residents,” Balin said. “Run this process properly.”

Councilwoman Gail Price took ex-ception to some of the criticism from the public and said she felt “very un-comfortable with the comments im-plying some hidden agenda by the staff.” She said there’s still a “long way to go” in the decision-making process for the site and plenty of time for additional negotiations. She also emphasized the significant ben-efits proposed by Arrillaga, includ-ing new roads and pathways around the transit station and a new theater, which would be occupied by the nonprofit TheatreWorks. Under the proposal, Arrillaga would construct a shell for the new performing-arts theater while TheatreWorks would build the interior.

The theater company currently has what Managing Director Phil San-tora called a “nomadic existence,” shuttling its operations between Lu-cie Stern Community Center in Palo Alto and the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. The insta-bility that this causes, Santora said, stretches the company’s financial resources and limits the program-ming it can offer.

“The theater proposed as a part of this project is exciting to The-atreWorks not because of its design or because it’s new. It’s exciting because of the possibilities it provides for de-livering our mission,” Santora said.

Council members and numerous residents, particularly from the busi-ness community, also talked about

the project’s potential for re-ener-gizing a centrally located but long-neglected site that connects town and gown. Barbara Gross, general manager of the Garden Court Ho-tel, commended staff for its effort to partner with Arrillaga on developing the site. Jim Rebosio, general man-ager of the Sheraton Hotel, called the public’s concerns “legitimate” but said he supports the project.

“This is such a unique opportu-nity, and once it’s gone, it’s gone,” Rebosio said. “It’s a great opportu-nity to bring the mall together with the downtown.”

The council agreed to proceed with the master plan for the site around 27 University and to con-sider other alternatives for the area. The council also specified that the master plan should be informed by the city’s various land-use vision documents, including the Compre-hensive Plan and the recently com-pleted Rail Corridor Task Force. Under a proposal recommended by Burt and accepted by all his col-leagues, the master plan would in-clude at least two other alternatives compatible with the city’s urban-design guidelines. Each would also include a theater as an anchor.

“I think what happened is that we have ended up reacting to the vision and intention of the prospective ap-plicant — because we don’t have an applicant yet — and we have build-ing designs that are not consistent with the small urban fabric of our downtown,” Burt said.

Arrillaga(continued from page 3)

‘There’s a great risk with this proposal that the building can be delisted as a historic property due to loss of integrity.’

—Michael Makinen, member, Historic Resources Board

MacArthur Park Restaurant is currently located in the “Hostess House,” a historic building designed by Julia Morgan, which in 1919 was the first municipally operated community center in the nation.

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T he flooding that shut down the Oregon Expressway underpass at Alma Street twice in the

past week due to heavy rainstorms is prompting county engineers to take a deeper look into repairing what has been a persistent problem this winter.

The roadway was closed on Wednesday, Nov. 28, and Sunday, Dec. 2, after a series of storms dumped several inches of rain in the Bay Area, caused power outages and felled trees, making a mess of roadways and causing traffic delays throughout the region. On Sunday, a tow truck had to remove a car that stalled in the water and was im-mersed up to its hood.

On Dec. 5, another storm filled the underpass with several inches of water at the height of the morning commute. The roadway wasn’t shut down, according to Palo Alto police, but drivers headed west veered into the less-flooded left lane to avoid the deep water.

The Oregon Expressway under-pass is under the jurisdiction of the Santa Clara County Roads and Air-ports Department, according to Lin-da Clerkson, a city spokeswoman. The county was notified by the city Dec. 5 morning about condition at the underpass, she said.

Because the roadway is sunken, water collects in it and must be pumped out. Pumps detect when the water reaches a certain level and turn on to divert the water to the nearby creek.

Dan Collen, deputy director of county Roads and Airports, said

the Nov. 28 flooding incident was due to human error. A worker incor-rectly set equipment that controls the drainage.

Wednesday’s flooding was caused by an electrical-equipment failure. Crews rebooted the computer and tested the equipment to make sure it was running properly again. But workers discovered that a circuit that tells the pumps to start working needs to be replaced. Collen said re-pairs should be completed by Thurs-day or Friday. He said the water was pumped out by 9:30 a.m.

Flooding at the underpass has been a problem during other large storms. Oregon Expressway was

closed due to flooding in January 2008, and one lane of Oregon was closed due to 5 to 7 inches of water in October 2009.

The underpass is not part of a county plan to improve Oregon Ex-pressway from West Bayshore Road to Bryant Street, which is designed to improve traffic flow. Collen said funding is in place for that work, and the plans are ready to go. The Roads and Airports Department is awaiting an environmental clear-ance from Caltrans so that work can begin.

Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at sdremann@paweek-ly.com.

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A car got stuck in the flooded Oregon Expressway underpass on Sunday, Dec. 2.

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Case managers assess family needs, providing guidance and advocacy on issues related to schools, living situations and the court system. Drop-ins may also come by just to use the shower and laundry facili-ties, get medical care from the free clinic run by Peninsula HealthCare Connection onsite or attend a sup-port-group meeting.

The Holiday Fund grant helps fund the after-school and summer programs for kids. Nina and her son are one of the 18 families living at the center, and many more come by on a drop-in basis.

“We want to make sure the chil-dren aren’t traumatized by their homelessness. We want them to have normal childhood experiences,” said Maria Duzon, marketing manager for InnVision Shelter Network.

That can mean supervised after-school play or getting tutored by a staff member or high school or Stanford University student volun-teer. There are also field trips for kids and chaperones: to museums,

sporting events and other cultural attractions or to a nearby university to see what college life is like.

“They can envision a world where they can go to college,” Du-zon said.

Philip Dah, senior director at the Opportunity Services Center, pointed out a mural where an artist has painted pictures of some of the apartments’ young residents. One small blonde girl is depicted with the Hoover Tower behind her; she’s already decided she wants to go to Stanford.

It’s important for the kids to have these dreams, especially when they’re surrounded by affluent schoolmates in the Palo Alto Uni-fied School District, Dah said. “We don’t want them to feel underprivi-leged.”

Nearby, Palo Alto High School ju-nior Taha Rafeeqi helped a girl with her math homework. He comes here every week for an hour or two to tu-tor children.

“I just like giving back to the community. It’s awesome working with kids,” he said. When asked why he wanted to help the home-less, he was matter-of-fact. “It’s a general sense of community, and

they are part of it.”The center also holds birthday and

holiday parties for the children, as well as community dinners that give the place a family feel, Nina said.

“It’s a blessing because there’s al-ways kids for him to play with,” she said of her son. “I feel supported. I don’t feel lonely.”

Nina said she’s looking forward to moving into their own place. But in the meantime, there’s something to be said for getting to know people from all walks of life, learning not to look down on people who have fallen upon hard times and never thought they would.

Nina recalled a moment when a painter moved into an apartment near her. He looked scruffy and might have frightened some kids. But her son cheerfully greeted the man, who looked pleased, Nina said.

“He said: ‘I like your son. He hasn’t learned how to judge.’”

The Holiday Fund aims to raise $350,000 this year for local chari-ties. More information is available on page 22.

Arts Editor Rebecca Wallace can be emailed at rwallace@paweekly.com.

Opportunity(continued from page 5)

Page 7

sults of the three-year program Thursday, Nov. 29, at a meeting of Palo Alto Project Safety Net, a coali-tion of community groups formed in the wake of the suicides to support student social-emotional health.

He was accompanied by Univer-sity of Rochester Medical Center psychologist Peter Wyman, a part-ner in the Gunn project who in 2010 launched a long-term study of the effectiveness of Sources of Strength in dozens of schools. Wyman has worked with some 100 schools across the country, including 35 in New York State.

“The peer leaders at Gunn worked very hard and did some positive cul-ture change and reached a majority of students in their school,” Wyman said of the first-year results.

“We can’t necessarily know that it’s all due to Sources of Strength, but it’s certainly consistent with the changes we’re targeting.”

The percentage of Gunn students reporting they felt comfortable talk-ing about personal problems with someone outside of their family or school went from 70 percent in the fall to 90 percent in the spring. The percentage saying they could dis-cuss problems with an adult in their family went from 85 percent to 95 percent.

More than 95 percent of students in both fall and spring agreed with the statement: “I can think of an adult who I trust enough to help a suicidal friend” and “My school has people who can help students through hard times.”

However, the percentage of stu-dents reporting they would actually seek help from a counselor or other adult at school remained unchanged, at 49 percent, from fall to spring.

Wyman said that was to be ex-pected.

“We’d expect that norms in the school as far as, ‘Is it acceptable to go to an adult and ask for help?’ typically take longer — a couple of years — to change,” he said. “Gunn continues to be a school where there are going to be a substantial portion of kids who say, ‘Yes, I’d get help for a friend and I know there are adults available, but would I go to an adult myself? Not necessarily.’

“That’s where we’ll look for con-tinued Sources of Strength messag-

ing, and examples of peer leaders going to adults for help in their own lives, to begin to change that norm at the level of the school community.”

Sources of Strength built upon initiatives launched by Gunn stu-dents themselves in the wake of the suicides.

The peer-counseling service ROCK (Reach Out, Care and Know) and the blog hmggmh.word-press.com (Henry M. Gunn Gives Me Hope) were launched in 2009 by several students who were then seniors, including Joyce Liu, who went on to the University of Cali-fornia, Berkeley.

The student-led ROCK group continued after Liu’s graduation and later was contacted by Sources of Strength, offering help, according to Gunn English teacher Paul Dunlap.

“We looked at their curriculum, and it seemed like a good fit,” Dun-lap said.

Current Gunn senior Chandler Gardner joined ROCK in her fresh-man year and continues as a peer counselor.

“High school can be a really tough place, and teens especially may not always want to talk to an adult,” Gardner said. “ROCK cre-ates peers we can talk to. They’re in high school too, and they know the test, the teachers and everything we’re going through.”

Gardner said the purpose of the peer-counseling program — origi-nally started as a suicide-prevention

effort — has “changed to fit the needs of Gunn as the years have passed and happily we’ve had no more suicides.

“Now we’re more of a commu-nity-building club and do what we can to support our community as a whole,” she said.

Next year, plans are for student peer leaders to meet in small groups with adult advisers at least six times and continue wellness messaging campaigns through posters, presen-tations and online.

The goal, said Joshi, is to boost the acceptability of seeking help from adults for distress and expand-ing what it means to be a “loyal friend to include getting help for a friend who’s distressed or suicidal.”

Wyman began studying Sources of Strength after a student survey taken as part of a large randomized trial of adult suicide-prevention training showed suicidal students are much less willing to seek help from adults than their non-suicidal peers and that teens tend to seek help from their friends.

A subsequent study of Sources of Strength in six Georgia high schools showed that the peer-based program changed social norms by increasing rejection of the “code of silence” about distressed friends and increasing expectations among stu-dents that adults can help.

Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can be emailed at ckenrick@paweekly.com.

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Connections to adults outside of family and schoolPercent of Gunn High School students who ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ with ‘I know an adult outside of my family and school who...’

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61.6

I can rely on if I havea serious problem

I feel comfortabletalking with

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Spring 2012

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Source: Shashank V. Joshi

Strength(continued from page 3)

fact that the city hasn’t been consid-ering plans that would leave Host-ess House at its current location. He noted that the house was in Menlo Park for only one year and said that in his view, the building’s current location is “essentially its original location.”

“As a general rule in historic preservation, relocating the build-ing — and I have relocated five his-toric buildings in my career — is a last resort in historic preservation,” said Smithwick, an architect. “If it is essentially a choice between it being torn down and losing it and

relocated — OK, fine, relocate it. But it’s not preferable.”

The board didn’t vote Wednes-day morning, but members added their voices to what is now a cho-rus of criticism of the Arrillaga development. Last week, members of the Parks and Recreation Com-mission voiced their own concerns about moving the building to El Camino Park.

Pat Markevitch, a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission, told the council Monday evening that her commission was primarily concerned about a loss of trees, loss of field space and “park integration and connectivity.”

“We feel this project is moving very quickly and more thought and

planning needs to happen to mini-mize the negative impacts to the park,” Markevitch said.

The council directed staff and consultants early Tuesday morning to consider two other design alter-natives for 27 University Ave., in addition to the Arrillaga proposal. Bunnenberg said she hopes at least one of these alternatives would con-sider keeping Hostess House at its current site. Her colleague Roger Kohler agreed.

“There should be an attempt to see if we can leave it where it is,” Kohler said. “It could really be a nice component of the whole proj-ect, rather than picking it up and putting it out — in this case — in center field.”

Hostess(continued from page 6)

Page 8

Upfront

Former President Bill Clinton visits Palo AltoFormer President Bill Clinton stopped by LYFE Kitchen in down-

town Palo Alto Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 5, for a private lunch with the restaurant’s three founders and management team. (Posted Dec. 5 at

7:49 p.m.)

Palo Alto man gets 20 years for child molestationA Palo Alto man accused of molesting his two stepdaughters was

sentenced to 20 years in state prison in San Mateo County Superior Court Wednesday, Dec. 5, Assistant District Attorney Karen Guidotti said. (Posted Dec. 5 at 2:07 p.m.)

Alert citizen stops construction-trailer theftTwo men who were breaking into a stolen 15-foot construction trailer

took off empty-handed after an alert citizen called Palo Alto police, de-partment spokeswoman Sgt. Kara Apple said. (Posted Dec. 5 at 9:51 a.m.)

Gunn student, teammate, share $10K science prizeA Gunn High School sophomore and her science-project teammate

won $10,000 over the weekend in the Washington, D.C. finals of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology. (Posted Dec. 4 at

9:46 a.m.)

Online This WeekThese and other news stories were posted on Palo Alto Online throughout the week. For longer versions, go to www.PaloAltoOnline.com/news or click on “News” in the left, green column.

Want to get news briefs emailed to you every weekday? Sign up for Express, our new daily e-edition. Go to www.PaloAltoOnline.com to sign up.

City Council (Dec. 3)27 University Ave.: The council decided not to go forward with a June ballot mea-sure on a proposed office-and-theater complex and directed staff to come up with two other alternatives for the site at 27 University Ave. Yes: Burt, Espinosa, Holman, Price, Scharff, Shepherd, Schmid Recused: Klein, Yeh

Board of Education (Dec. 4)New members: One newly elected member and two returning incumbents were sworn into office. The board also discussed a report on the school district’s finances, indicating positive news due to the Nov. 6 passage of California Proposition 30 and a higher-than-budgeted increase in projected property-tax receipts. Action: None

Council Finance Committee (Dec. 4)2012 Budget: The committee discussed and approved the financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2012. Yes: Unanimous

Historic Resources Board (Dec. 5)27 University Ave.: The board discussed the potential relocation of the Hostess House at 27 University Ave. to make way for four office buildings and a theater. Board members criticized the proposal to move the historic building but did not vote on the proposal. Action: None

Utilities Advisory Commission (Dec. 5)Rate schedules: The commission recommended modifying six electric-rate sched-ules covering medium and large commercial customers to include standby service charges. Yes: Chang, Cook, Eglash, Foster, Melton, Waldfogel Absent: HallLegislation: The commission recommended approval of the proposed Legislative Policy Guidelines for 2013. Yes: Chang, Cook, Eglash, Foster, Melton, Waldfogel Absent: HallCarbon neutrality: The commission recommended approving a carbon-neutral plan for the electric-supply portfolio. Yes: Chang, Cook, Eglash, Foster, Melton, Waldfogel Absent: Hall

Architectural Review Board (Dec. 6)145 Hawthorne Ave.: The board reviewed a proposal to construct three detached residential units and requested various revisions to the design plans, including land-scape drawings, fence details and removal of copper detailing. The board continued the item to Jan. 17. Yes: Unanimous

Council Rail Corridor Committee (Dec. 6)Lobbyist: The committee recommended extending the city’s contract with its high-speed-rail lobbyist, Professional Evaluation Group, to explore cost-sharing opportu-nities with other cities and to leave room in the scope of the contract for expanded representation relating to California Environmental Quality Act legislation. Yes: Burt, Klein, Shepherd Absent: ScharffGuidelines: The committee approved the recently amended Rail Committee Guiding Principles. Yes: Burt, Klein, Shepherd Absent: ScharffTask force: The committee recommended approving the Rail Corridor Task Force Report, a vision document that would provide guidance on rail-related matters. Yes: Burt, Klein, Shepherd Absent: Scharff

CityViewA round-up of Palo Alto government action this week

Page 9

Upfront

Gunman robs pharmacy of addictive pain relieverA tall, thin man with a gun walked

into the downtown Palo Alto Wal-greens on Monday afternoon, Dec. 3, and robbed it of OcyContin, an addictive pain reliever.

The man entered into the drug store at 328 University Ave. shortly before 2:34 p.m., went to the pharmacy de-partment and asked for help finding an over-the-counter medication.

A pharmacist walked him to the proper aisle, but once there, the man allegedly opened a messenger bag he had slung across his body so that the pharmacist could see his hand on the grip of a gun inside the bag.

He demanded OxyContin, a pre-scription pain reliever that is a con-trolled substance in California, and told the pharmacist he was addicted to opiates, police stated. The phar-macist returned to the pharmacy and gave the man a bottle of the drug. The man then walked out of the store and turned left onto Bryant Street.

Police set up a perimeter that covered most of downtown and searched for the man, who was described as white, in his 20s, about 6-feet to 6-feet-2-inches tall with a slim build and cropped hair. He was wearing a white baseball cap with the Seattle Seahawks logo, a gray fleece jacket and light pants and shoes. His medium-sized, tan-and-green messenger bag had a black strap.

— Sue Dremann

Second assault reported in downtown Palo AltoA woman sleeping near a downtown Palo Alto sidewalk was beaten

by a man during a robbery attempt early Sunday morning, Dec. 2, police said. The attack occurred shortly after another robbery attempt a few blocks away.

Police believe the two incidents are likely related. Palo Alto police dispatch received a 911 call from a woman at about 1:20 a.m., reporting she had just been beaten. Officers arrived in the area about a minute later but were unable to locate the assailant.

The investigation revealed that the victim, a woman in her 70s, had been asleep in an alcove in the 300 block of University Avenue. She said she awoke to find a man reaching into the pockets of her outer clothing.

The man allegedly made a statement indicating he was looking for money. The victim pushed him away, but the man punched her numer-ous times in the head, face and chest before fleeing the scene, police said.

The victim described the suspect as of unknown race, between 18 and 22 years old and 5 feet 6 inches tall with a thin build. He was wearing a dark sweatshirt with a gray hood.

The incident occurred within 15 minutes of an attempted purse snatch-ing in the 200 block of Homer Avenue. In that case, a man approached a woman from behind, pushed her to the ground and tried to take her purse. When she resisted, he punched her six to eight times in the face before fleeing, police said.

Officers are increasing high-visibility patrols in the downtown area. Police are asking that anyone who may have information about this crime to call 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tip-now.org or sent by text message or voice mail to 650-383-8984.

— Sue Dremann

Police: Driver at fault for hitting pedestriansThe 89-year-old driver of a Chevy Blazer that struck and seriously

injured two women in an El Camino Real crosswalk in Atherton Sept. 30 was speeding and at fault for the collision, an Atherton Police Depart-ment investigation has concluded.

Police Lt. Joe Wade said Willie Haynes of Palo Alto had been traveling southbound on El Camino around noon at 48 mph in the 35-mph zone.

The women suffered major injuries but survived. Just before the impact at Isabella Avenue, Haynes had slowed his ve-

hicle to 37 mph, Wade said. He remained at the scene after the collision and voluntarily submitted to a blood test for drugs and alcohol, police said at the time.

The case was forwarded to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office for review, but the police department is not recommending that criminal charges be filed, he said.

The Sept. 30 collision happened two years to the day that 62-year-old Christopher Chandler of Redwood City was struck and killed in the same crosswalk while riding his bicycle across the six-lane thoroughfare.

— Renee Batti

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work earns $74,753. A teacher with 20 years’ experience and 90 units of graduate work earns $97,666. The maximum for a teacher with 30 years’ experience is $103,836.

Palo Alto is among the higher-paying school districts in the area.

Also Tuesday, newly elected board member Heidi Emberling, as well as returning incumbents Melissa Baten Caswell and Camille Townsend, took the oath of office. The board had in-tended to elect its officers for 2012-13 Tuesday but postponed that until Dec. 18 after staff members pointed out a provision of election law indicating Emberling is not technically allowed to be a voting member until after the first Friday of December.

Another item — a proposed board policy on guidance counseling — also was pulled from the agenda after Superintendent Kevin Skelly said it had caused confusion for a Gunn High School advisory com-mittee currently working on reforms to the school’s counseling system.

Finances(continued from page 3)

Palo Alto police released this video surveillance photo of the man wanted in connection with the robbery of Walgreens in downtown Palo Alto Monday, Dec. 3.

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BOARD OF EDUCATION ... The board will officially accept the final results

of the Nov. 6 election and sign the oaths of office. The meeting will begin at

2 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 10, in Conference Room A of school district head-

quarters (25 Churchill Ave.).

CITY COUNCIL ... The council plans to meet in closed session to discuss

potential litigation relating to the 2012 audit of software end-user license

agreement with SAP Public Services, Inc. The council also plans to con-

sider rezoning the properties located at 423-451 Page Mill Road from sin-

gle-family residential to service commercial; consider a proposal by Samir

Tuma to subdivide a lot at 827 Chimalus Drive; and consider extending the

moratorium on certain parking exemptions. The closed session will begin

at 6 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 10. Regular meeting will follow in the Council

Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

COUNCIL POLICY AND SERVICES COMMITTEE ... The committee plans

to consider options for revising the process for application and recruitment

to local boards and commissions; review a new audit of Employee Health

Benefits Administration; and consider recommendations for the 2013

council priority-setting process. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. on Tues-

day, Dec. 11, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall (250 Hamilton

Ave.).

PLANNING AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION ... The commission

plans to discuss the city’s parking strategies for downtown and the Cali-

fornia Avenue Business District. The commission also plans to discuss the

proposed pedestrian and bicycle overpass over U.S. Highway 101. The

meeting will begin at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 12, in the Council Cham-

bers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

REGIONAL HOUSING MANDATE COMMITTEE ... The committee plans to

meet at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 13, in the Council Conference Room at

City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION ... The commission plans to meet at

7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 13, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall

(250 Hamilton Ave.).

Public AgendaA preview of Palo Alto government meetings next week

Upfront

ployee groups — the Palo Alto Police Officers Association (PA-POA) and Fire Chiefs Association (FCA). When reached by the audi-tor’s office, CalPERS “confirmed that most of their formulas set up to calculate the employer share were incorrect” and stated that they will correct these errors as soon as clear written instruction is provided by the city.

The auditor’s office reviewed CalPERS billing for December 2012 and found numerous errors. Of the 91 retirees from PAPOA and FCA, 42 were still being billed incorrectly — an error rate of 46 percent.

The audit calls for better moni-toring of CalPERS billing for accu-racy. Currently, such a review only occurs for retroactive transactions associated with retirees. The audit recommends that the city conduct monthly reviews of CalPERS bill-ing and reconcile these bills with city records.

The audit also criticizes the

city’s contract with the firm Em-ployee Benefit Specialists, which the city hired in August 2011 and charged with reviewing, calculat-ing and processing health care re-imbursements. The review found that the firm “was not providing all services required in the con-tract.” Specifically, the firm did not perform calculations of re-imbursements using formulas provided by the city and did not reconcile monthly disbursements. Employee Benefit Specialists claimed that it could not perform the latter function because “CalP-ERS would not provide them with the necessary data to perform these services.”

The audit concluded that the city did not adequately monitor the contract and recommended a review of the contract and moni-toring procedures to ensure terms remain adequate.

The city’s health care expendi-tures have emerged as a hot topic over the last four years, as the City Council embarked on a series of reforms, including greater cost-sharing by employees, aimed at containing the swelling costs. The city’s health premiums for ac-tive employees have been rising steadily over the past decade, go-ing from $9.1 million in 2005 to $13.2 million in 2012, according to the audit.

The council’s health care re-forms, which began in 2008, have been extremely contentious, prompting a wave of retirements

by city employees. Last year, the city reached new agreements with its police and firefighter unions that require employees in both labor groups to foot some of the costs for health care. The city re-mains at an impasse, however, with its largest police union, the Palo Alto Police Officers Association, over a proposal to extend the cost-sharing provision for health care to retirees.

The council is scheduled to hold a hearing on employee health care costs in January.

In her response to the audit, Chief People Officer Kathryn Shen wrote that the Human Re-sources Department staff is “committed to addressing the deficiencies and improving the reconciliation methodology for this complex process.” She noted that CalPERS has recently imple-mented a new billing system and is “still struggling to find correc-tions to the various errors.”

“This has complicated the reim-bursement process requiring sub-stantial adjustments,” Shen wrote. “Fortunately, most overpayments can be recovered by withholding or reducing future reimburse-ments. Carefully reviewing the reimbursement reports will be key to addressing the issues found in the audit. Staff will also continue to find solutions to streamline this reimbursement process.”

Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@paweekly.com.

Audit(continued from page 5)

CorrectionThe Nov. 30 Shop Talk column incorrectly listed the address of a new restaurant, the Roast Shop. It is at 565 Bryant St. To request a correction, contact Editor Jocelyn Dong at 650-223-6514, jdong@paweekly.com or P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302.

Page 11

John Tuomy, a former Palo Alto teacher who served for eight years on the Palo Alto Board of Educa-tion, died Nov. 30 after suffering fatal injuries from a fall off a ladder on Nov. 28. He was 66.

He was born in Spokane, Wash., and moved to Palo Alto with his

family in 1949. He went to Besse Bolton’s Nursery School and Eliza-beth Van Auken Elementary School. He attended Jordan Junior High and then Palo Alto High School.

After briefly attending Foothill College and the University of Or-egon, he transferred to San Jose

State University, where he studied political science. In 1968 he became on intern for former U.S. Rep. Don Edwards and worked with the Mex-ican-American Political Association and the residents of east San Jose.

After 18 months at Golden Gate University Law School, he decided

to stop study-ing law and d iscovered an interest in teach-ing through tutoring at his wife’s school.

“I’d go home and think about it, and think about dif-ferent ways to get through to the kids,” he told the Palo Alto Weekly in 1998. “It was one of the first jobs I’d ever done that I really enjoyed doing, and I couldn’t believe people got paid to do it.”

He attained his teaching creden-tial in the early 1970s and student-taught in east San Jose and then at the Barron Park Elementary School in Palo Alto during a time when teaching jobs were scarce. He was then hired at Palo Verde Elementary School, and after five years he was offered a position at the district’s gifted program and eventually a spot as its computer coordinator.

“It was before Apple, even,” he said. “We were timesharing on the district’s HP 2008. I’d finish teach-ing, and I’d spend hours at the com-puter.”

In 1977 he administered a $250,000 federal grant to teach children how to tutor each other on computers. In 1979 he left the dis-trict for the private sector to better support his family. After a series of jobs in the tech industry, he became vice president of sales and market-ing for Leemah Datacom Security Corp. in 1988 and became CEO in 1990.

But he didn’t leave education be-hind. He fought against the proposed closure of Gunn High School in 1988 and served as co-chair, along with Carolyn Tucher, of the commit-tee that put helped pass the “Build-ing for Excellence” school bond in 1995. After the bond passed, he re-luctantly ran for school board. He served two terms, ending in 2003.

“He knew what he was signing up for,” said Tucher, referring to his already busy schedule as a father and businessman. “He wanted to make sure he followed through on the commitments we made for the bond, and he really cared about edu-cation from making a career in it for as long as he did.”

Tucher said his background as a teacher, his knowledge of technology and his deep love for the community made him uniquely qualified for the job of school board member.

“Often his test for decisions would be ‘What would my father think of this? How would this sound to a longtime Palo Altan, and how would it affect them?’” Tucher said.

On the board he built a reputation as someone with strong opinions who always spoke his mind.

“There was nothing wimpy about John, but he was good-hearted,” she

said. “I think being straightforward was a good quality, and when all was said and done he would play with the team.”

Tucher said Tuomy, who lived for years in the Greenmeadow neigh-borhood of Palo Alto, also ran for the school board to represent the place he lived.

“South Palo Alto has half the kids in the district, but there aren’t many board members from those parts,” Tucher said. “He felt that his neigh-borhoods weren’t as well-represent-ed for no other reason than that they didn’t run for the board.”

School Board President Camille Townsend expressed in a press re-lease the impact of his death on the school district.

“John Tuomy loved this school district and he wanted the best for its students. His boisterous advocacy came with a thoughtful analysis and a willingness to put his shoulder into the work ahead. He focused on the future. We will miss him as a friend and as a leader,” she stated.

Tucher spoke highly of Tuomy’s dedication to his family. He is sur-vived by his wife, Carolyn, a tech-nology trainer for the Palo Alto Unified School District; his daugh-ter, Erin Mershon, and son-in-law, Geoffrey Mershon, of Palo Alto; his son, Brian Tuomy, a teacher at Gunn High School, and daughter-in-law, Ariane Tuomy, of Redwood City; sister, Elizabeth Rundell of Palo Alto; sister-in-law, Susan Custer of Mountain View; nephews, Doyle Rundell of Menlo Park, Travis and Jordan Rundell of San Francisco; and granddaughters, Amanda and Leah Mershon.

Services will be held Friday, Dec. 7, at 4 p.m. at the Covenant Pres-byterian Church, 670 E. Meadow Drive, Palo Alto. It will be public, Brian Tuomy said.

– Eric Van Susteren

Anabelle MarkoffAnnabelle Most Markoff, an inno-

vator in the field of early childhood education, died Dec. 2 in Davis, Ca-lif. She was 91.

An elementary school teacher be-fore and during the early years of her marriage, she raised three children and then attended graduate school in special education during the late 1960s in a newly created joint pro-gram between San Francisco State University and the University of California at Berkeley.

She had initially returned to work in the field of education in 1963 when, as a Palo Alto housewife mar-ried to pianist Mortimer Markoff, she was invited by the local school district to teach in a new federally funded program aimed at teaching children with average IQs who were failing in school. Although she was part of a broader movement of wom-en returning to the workforce during the ‘60s, initially she did so without

TransitionsBirths, marriages and deaths

Lasting MemoriesAn online directory of obituaries and remembrances.

Search obituaries, submit a memorial, share a photo.

Go to: www.PaloAltoOnline.com/obituaries

Visit

P A I D O B I T U A R Y

Clark Lee Thomas was called home to be with his Lord on November 21, 2012, in Palo Alto CA, after living an extraordinary life of 93 years. For 64 years, Clark was a devoted hus-band to his beloved wife, Betty (Elizabeth/Betsy Watkins) of Palo Alto; a loving father to three grateful daughters: Ann Pow-ell (Jerry) of Davis, CA, Robin Sweet (David) of Piedmont, CA, and Carol Penrose (Donovan) of Phoenix, AZ; and a dedi-cated grandfather to his eight adored grandchildren: Celeste Arrington (Nathan), Weston Powell (Emily), Matthew Powell (Rosie), Emily Sweet, Ted Sweet, Jeffrey Sweet, Colin Penrose (Elaine), and Andrew Penrose. Clark was born March 20, 1919, in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, to Dr. William McLean Thomas and Nina Stearns Thomas.

He graduated from San Diego High School and received his BS and MS degrees from Colo-

rado School of Mines. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps, studied meteorology at UCLA and served during World War II in the 21st Weath-er Squadron as a meteorologist with the rank

of Captain. He worked for 35 years for Standard Oil Company of Cal-ifornia (Chevron) and retired as Chief Geologist and Head Petro-leum Engineer. Longtime mem-bers of Peninsula Bible and Menlo Park Presbyterian churches, Clark and Betty lived for more than 40 years in Menlo Park and moved to the Vi (Hyatt) Classic Residence in 2006. The family thanks his care-givers and the Vi staff for their loving care.

A gathering to honor and re-member him in December is

planned. Contributions to the Campership fund in Clark’s honor preferred: Mount Her-mon, Thomas Campership LIFE Fund/Book of Remembrance, P.O. Box 413, Mount Her-mon, CA 95041.

Clark Lee Thomas

P A I D O B I T U A R Y

Marian died December 1st 2012, from complications after a fall. She was 85. She is survived by her husband of 53 years, Rich-ard, and her children, John Davies of Seattle and Ruth Davies Sulser of St. Louis.

Marian was born in the Hi-malayan mountains of what is now Pakistan, where her parents were missionaries. Because of this, Marian al-ways felt like a citizen of the world, and has been interest-ed in other people and other cultures.

She was a graduate of Wooster College, 1948, and obtained her Masters in Latin American Studies at Tulane University. She taught Spanish at Wooster and at Stanford Uni-versity, where she got her PhD in Spanish Literature with a dissertation on Cervantes.

She lived most of her adult life in Palo Alto, where she was active in Covenant Presbyte-rian Church, United Presbyterian Women

(a past president of the Pres-byterian Association of San Jose) and Church Women United. She also worked with the Girl Scouts of America, ESL support for wives of for-eign students, the Food Bank, PTA, and the Environmental Volunteers.

Marian was loved by all who knew her and will be missed.

A Memorial Service for Marian will be held on Sun-day, December 9th, 3:30 PM,

at Covenant Presbyterian Church, 670 E. Meadow Dr., Palo Alto.

Memorial Donations can be made in her name to Covenant Presbyterian Church.

http://www.covenantpresbyterian.net/

Marian Loehlin Davies June 25, 1927-Dec. 1, 2012

John Tuomy, former Palo Alto educator and school board member, dies

Page 12

PulseA weekly compendium of vital statistics

Mail manuscripts to: Palo Alto Weekly Short Story Contest, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302 or deliver to

450 Cambridge Ave., Palo AltoQuestions: shortstory@paweekly.com

CONTEST RULES1. The contest is open to anyone who lives, works or attends school full-time in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Stanford, Portola Valley, Woodside,

Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, and East Palo Alto.2. Limit of one entry per person.3. Stories must be typed, double-spaced. Maximum 2,500 words. Longer stories will be disqualified.4. $15 entry fee, along with 2 hard copies, for all ADULT stories; $5 entry fee for YOUNG WRITERS under 18. Make checks payable to “Palo Alto Weekly.” 5. Entries may not have been previously published.6. Signed entry form must accompany story. Author’s name should NOT appear anywhere on pages of story.7. All winners are required to email their story to the Palo Alto Weekly in a Microsoft Word Document as an attachment.

ANNOUNCING

THE 27TH ANNUAL PALO ALTO WEEKLY

ENTRY DEADLINE: All Writers: December 28, 2012, 5:30 p.m.

All adult winners and first place young winners in each category will be announced in the Palo Alto Weekly in February 2013. All winning stories will be published online at www.PaloAltoOnline.com

New online submission

JUDGES:ADULT/YOUNG ADULTTom Parker, Award winning novelist and short story writer, UC Extension and Foothill College Instructor and former Stanford Instructor

Meg Waite Clayton, is the nationally best selling author of The Four Ms. Bradwells, The Wednesday Sisters, and The Bellwether Prize finalist The Language of Light.

Ellen Sussman Author of New York Times best selling novel French Lessons and San Francisco Chronicle best seller On A Night Like This

CHILDREN/TEENKaty Obringer, Former supervisor of Palo Alto Children’s Library

Caryn Huberman Yacowitz, Playwright and Children’s book author

Nancy Etchemendy, Children’s book author

PRIZESFOR ADULTS: $500 Cash - FIRST PLACE $300 Cash - SECOND PLACE $200 Cash - THIRD PLACE

FOR YOUNG ADULT/CHILDREN/TEEN: $100 Gift Certificate - FIRST PLACE $75 Gift Certificate - SECOND PLACE $50 Gift Certificate - THIRD PLACE

Certificates are from co-sponsoring area bookstores.

Bell’s Books (*ages 15-17) Kepler’s (*ages 12-14)

Linden Tree (*ages 9-11) *age as of entry deadline

POLICE CALLSPalo AltoNov. 28 - Dec. 4Violence relatedBattery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Sexual assault. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Strong-arm robbery . . . . . . . . . . . .1Theft relatedChecks forgery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Commercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . .1Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . .4Shoplifting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Vehicle relatedAbandoned auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Abandoned bicycle . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Driving w/suspended license . . . . .9Driving without license . . . . . . . . . .5Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Misc. traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Parking/driving violation . . . . . . . . .2Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . .4Vehicle accident/property damage 7Vehicle code violation . . . . . . . . . . .1Vehicle impound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10Alcohol or drug relatedDrunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Drunken driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . .4MiscellaneousAnimal call. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Evasion of arrest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Psychiatric subject . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Verbal threats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Warrant/other agency . . . . . . . . . . .3

Menlo ParkNov. 28 - Dec. 4Violence relatedAssault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Robbery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Theft relatedCommercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . .1Fraud. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . .1Vehicle relatedAbandoned auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Auto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Driving w/suspended license . . . . .3Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . .3Vehicle accident/property damage 1Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Alcohol or drug relatedPossession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . .2Possession of paraphernalia. . . . . .1MiscellaneousCourt order violation . . . . . . . . . . . .2Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Info case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Medical aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Mental evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Parole arrest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Probation violation . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Resisting arrest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . .1Warrant arrest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

a political agenda and with a good deal of trepidation.

“I hadn’t yet joined the group of women who saw work outside the home as liberating,” she wrote. “Al-though I was very excited by the challenge of the new task, I was troubled not only by my inadequacy, but by the loss of close contact with my children in this so important early part of their lives.”

Entering graduate school on two campuses that were then wracked by student unrest, she would go on to become an educator who was instru-mental in helping foster an educa-tional movement that redefined the focus of “learning disabilities” from the individual student to include the teacher, classroom, family and com-munity.

She joined the faculty at San Francisco State University in 1972 as an assistant professor in the Spe-cial Education Department. In 1976 she became an assistant professor in the San Jose State University Department of Special Education. Throughout her career she consulted both inside the U.S. and internation-ally and in 1979, with several of her colleagues, she founded the Anna-belle Markoff School in Belmont, Calif., to apply her teaching ideas to children with learning disabilities.

She authored a number of diag-nostic tests to inventory children’s reading skills and published two books: “Teaching low-achieving children reading, spelling, and handwriting: Developing percep-tual skills with the graphic symbols of language” (1976) and “Within Reach: Academic Achievement Through Parent-Teacher Commu-nication” (1992). In 1988 financial

industry executive Charles Schwab and his wife Helen financed the cre-ation of the Parents Educational Re-source Center, and Markoff became the founding director. She retired in 1993.

She was born in Los Angeles on Sept. 1, 1921, the third child of Ber-nard Most and Bertha Salzman. Her father owned a small hat business, which failed during the Great De-pression and her mother died when Markoff was 12. In high school her classmates included Jack Webb, the movie actor.

She attended college at the Uni-versity of California at Los Angeles. During college and afterwards she was active in a variety of politically progressive organizations. In Palo Alto she served on the boards of both the Coop Market and the Jew-ish Community Center.

She is survived by a son, John, and daughter, Ellen, both of San Francisco, Calif.; a daughter, Joan, of Sacramento; and two grandchil-dren, Hannah and Matthew.

Lucy SmithLucy Smith, a longtime Palo Alto

resident, died Nov. 1.She was born in San Francisco on

May 10, 1923, to Arthur and Eliza-beth Allen. She attended Commo-dore Sloat Elementary School, Ap-tos Junior High School and George W a s h i n g -ton High School. Her college years were spent at

Pomona, where she earned a bach-elor’s degree, and Smith College for a master’s degree in education and child study.

While at Pomona she met and married her first husband, Arthur Mallette. He did not return from the war, so she was left a young widow.

Her first job was at Stanford Vil-lage Nursery School. A 1947 Stan-ford Daily article describes her as having “a gay and festive mood.” She replied, “Maybe it’s because I love to be with children — to help them.... You can learn a lot from children just by watching them and listening to what they say.”

During her time at Stanford she met Hawley Smith and they were married in March of 1948. They had three children together. She spent many years raising them before re-turning to work outside her home.

She worked at the Preschool Fam-ily Program (Palo Alto High School Adult Education) from 1961 to 1982. After retiring she continued substi-tute teaching until 1992.

She was active in the Palo Alto Garden Club and especially Gamble Garden. She loved working with the Roots and Shoots Program for Wal-ter Hays 3rd graders.

She is survived by her daughter, Catherine Calbreath; and her sons, Dan and Stevo Smith. She also had three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held Tuesday, Dec. 11, at 11 a.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 600 Col-orado Ave., Palo Alto. Although she adored flowers, she requested that donations please be contributed to St. Mark’s or Gamble Garden.

Page 13

Continue upgradesEditor,

I love the new colors and the paint job on the walkways from El Camino Real to downtown Palo Alto. Hopefully, the job is not fin-ished. The automobile tunnel should be painted to match, plus the whole structure needs to be made safer with improved lighting and video cameras. As a minimum, replace the burnt-out bulbs. Let the down-town merchants and the city council know if you agree with me.

Carol GilbertByron Street

Palo Alto

Cart in front of horseEditor,

Councilperson Karen Holman said “the process (for 27 University Ave.) has been somewhat upside down.” I would say it is totally upside down, putting the cart of project design firmly ahead of the horse of needs definition and analysis. It is advanc-ing a solution without first agreeing on the problem to be solved.

The city should break the pro-cess into two steps. First, create a statement with public support de-fining the needs the project is to satisfy and the adverse impacts it is to avoid. Then and only then, open the door to multiple proposals, to be evaluated against established crite-ria of need satisfaction and impact avoidance.

Doing it this way might redeem the city staff and city council of the sins they have committed by carry-ing this project forward in an inept and secretive manner.

William H. CutlerPark Boulevard

Palo Alto

City lacks transparencyEditor,

Most Palo Alto citizens were amazed and upset by the rev-elations related in the Palo Alto Weekly about the secret meetings and negotiations between city staff and the Arrillaga 27 University project. The fact that more than 100 citizens attended the City Council meeting was a vivid dis-play of community concern, not only about the project, but about the secrecy and lack of transpar-ency of the process.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the only example of a lack of transparency with respect to major city devel-opment policies. For those of us impacted by the commercial em-ployee invasion of our neighbor-hoods, on both sides of University Avenue, the close relationship of city staff to downtown develop-ment interests, and lack of trans-parency in their relationship, has become very clear.

Among the more blatant exam-ples are the monthly Downtown Parking Committee meetings

between downtown development interests and City Economic De-velopment, Planning and Trans-portation staff. There are no published agendas, nor minutes of the discussion, and all of the meetings are closed to the public. This group sets parking policy for

the city — all to their own benefit with no concern for the surround-ing neighborhoods that must pay for this corporate subsidy.

And City Council apparently supports this approach.

Ken AlsmanRamona Street

SpectrumEditorials, letters and opinions

A needed step backResponding to intense community feedback, City Council

hits re-set button on ambitious Arrillaga proposal

A growing public concern about the magnitude of a proposal made by developer and Stanford benefactor John Arrillaga and the planning process was heard loud and clear by the Palo Alto

City Council before and during a five-hour discussion Monday night and early Tuesday morning.

On a unanimous vote of the seven council members participating (Larry Klein and Yiaway Yeh have conflicts), the council demon-strated good political and policy instincts and directed the staff to re-focus its work on what’s best for the city rather than trying to work within Arrillaga’s vision for the site, located adjacent to the downtown train station.

The city staff, which has taken a beating from the public for its initial exuberance over the Arrillaga proposal and for working in concert with him to design a “master plan” for the area, was clearly expecting the council’s pivot.

As Monday night’s discussion began, City Manager Jim Keene all but formally withdrew the staff’s recommendations urging a June public advisory vote and an agreement with TheatreWorks, suggest-ing instead that the council hear from the overflow crowd and then provide direction to the staff.

Since the release of the latest staff report the day before Thanks-giving, which detailed the reductions in height and square footage and additional project improvements agreed to by Arrillaga, it be-came increasingly clear that neither the public nor the council was happy with the process or the proposed development.

In the end, the council voted to have the staff refocus on develop-ing at least two alternatives to Arrillaga’s concept for the site and to make sure those options are consistent with the current urban design features of downtown and are feasible given the traffic and road constraints.

Implicit was the desire for buildings to be close to, if not within, the city’s 50-foot height limit and include retail or other features that would create a vibrancy to the area of interest to city residents. And there was consensus that a key objective and challenge of any devel-opment needed to be the creation of better and safer pedestrian and bike connections between Palm Drive, the train station, the shopping center and University Avenue.

But the most significant news of the evening went practically un-noticed.

As part of an answer to a question, City Manager Jim Keene pledged that from now on, staff would obtain an independent analy-sis of the economic value to a developer of any proposed new de-velopment rights granted by the city beyond what is allowed by the zoning. This analysis, Keene said, would give the City Council the information it needs to determine the value of public benefits re-quired of the developer.

We have called for reforms of the so-called “planned community” or “PC” zoning process for many years, and Keene’s initiative is an important step in the right direction and should be especially helpful in negotiating a future development at 27 University.

As City Hall now refocuses on developing alternative concepts for this awkward island of land between El Camino and the train tracks, we hope that traffic, transit, bike and pedestrian improvements drive the process. More creativity is needed, especially in how to handle the volume of VTA and SamTrans buses that overwhelm this area simply because it is the end of the line where the two bus systems connect and drivers take their breaks.

The new planning effort should also examine the opportunity for a hotel on the site that would include badly needed ballroom and meet-ing facilities and perhaps replace the aging Sheraton hotel, essen-tially broadening the planning area to include the current Sheraton site, also owned by Stanford.

While TheatreWorks is a treasured community institution, the new analysis should also look at alternative public benefits. We need to ask ourselves if creating a home for TheatreWorks is worth $30 mil-lion in public benefit dollars and the risk that it might be unable to raise the additional $30 million to $50 million to finish the theater, leaving the city with an empty shell.

Finally, since Stanford will be the ultimate beneficiary of any development allowed on the site, are there public benefits Stanford could provide by offering land, such as land west of El Camino to accommodate a bus transit center for VTA and SamTrans?

The City Council took the needed steps Monday night to put this possible development project on a much better path, and we now await the promised open and transparent process moving forward.

Editorial

The Palo Alto Weekly encourages comments on our coverage or on issues of local interest.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Submit letters to the editor of up to 250 words to letters@paweekly.com. Submit guest opinions of 1,000 words to editor@paweekly.com. Include your name, address and daytime phone number so we can reach you. We reserve the right to edit contributions for length, objectionable content, libel and factual errors known to us. Anonymous letters will generally not be accepted. Submitting a letter to the editor or guest opinion constitutes a granting of permission to the Palo Alto Weekly and Embarcadero Media to also publish it online, including in our online archives and as a post on Town Square. For more information contact Editor Jocelyn Dong or Editorial Assistant Eric Van Susteren at editor@paweekly.com or 650-326-8210.

? Do you think the Hostess House should be retained at its current location?

This week on Town SquareTown Square is an online discussion forum at www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Posted Dec. 5 at 1:21 p.m. by Al-len Podell, a resident of the Com-munity Center neighborhood:

Before it is too late, we need to widen the existing bridge over Em-barcadero Road to accommodate two lanes of automobile traffic. Instead of the left-turn signal at the entrance to the (Town & Country) shopping cen-ter, the traffic would turn right, pro-ceed to the back of the Paly property, and cross over Embarcadero Road to the shopping center.

The shopping center traffic headed east on Embarcadero would proceed to the tracks and cross over to the Paly side, to loop onto Embarcadero Road. Since this is tight, only autos could be permitted. Trucks would have to use the El Camino Road en-trance to the center.

A huge problem is caused by the crossing exiting traffic impeding the entering traffic from Embarcadero

Road. This needs to be addressed. The flow into the center is poor. This results in only one lane on Embarca-dero Road heading west.

Finally, the El Camino Road pedestrian crossing from Town & Country blocks right-turning traffic after it has passed through the gaunt-let of lights and jams. This can be helped by an island at the center of the El Camino crossing, just as they do in Europe for wide roads. This way, the pedestrian crossing occurs in two steps rather than a single, long crossing. The pedestrian cross-ing would be coincident with the El Camino left turns.

How can we possibly have more building on or near El Camino when the traffic situation is already a mess? Get the Arrillaga center to pay for traffic improvements before adding to the traffic.

Page 14

What would you like to see built on 27 University Ave.?Asked on Cambridge Avenue. Interviews and photographs by Haiy Le and Lisa Kellman.

Maria Grineva Computer scientistChanning Avenue“I’d like to have a good nightclub.”

Linda Watkins Marketing manager High Street “I would love to see an arts center, or something that benefits the com-munity.”

Howard KlecknerPhysician Guinda Street “TheatreWorks needs a new place, and it will add a lot to the city.”

Boris Burkov Software engineerRoss Road “I’d be happy with another restaurant or bar, as long as it’s not housing.”

Max Grinev Computer scientist Sharon Road, Menlo Park “I’d like to have a good music venue, especially in electronics, so that I won’t have to go to San Francisco.”

by Jay Thorwaldson

The roots of Palo Alto’s concern about tall buildings like the recently submit-

ted 200,000-square-foot office plan and adjacent community theater are at least four decades deep.

They go back to one of the oddest years in Palo Alto civic history: 1970, when, as they say, strange things were happening. One outcome of that odd even year was a virtually sacrosanct 50-foot height limit for new buildings and a legacy called loosely “the Palo Alto Process.”

“Process” in this usage describes a convolut-ed, slow, frustrating to most of those involved (proponents or opponents) way of considering new projects.

Developer John Arrillaga has been quoted as telling city staff that he wanted to avoid such a convoluted manner of doing business when he first approached the city with his concept. The project would be built where MacArthur Park restaurant is now, near the “multimodal” tran-sit center also known as the CalTrain station. The historic Julia Morgan-designed building housing the restaurant would be relocated to a lightly used corner of El Camino Park, while a major theater complex to house Palo Alto’s home-grown but nationally recognized the-ater company, TheatreWorks, would face El Camino Real.

Arrillaga’s wish — shared by virtually ev-ery developer that has ever done business with the city — seems to have worked, for a time, as staff members and individual City Council

members met with him for briefings. Yet now that the proposal has finally become

public, the many months of unannounced meetings (some call them secretive) have be-come part of the negative reaction voiced at Monday night’s council meeting, as well as in comments about the Weekly’s coverage.

As a longtime observer (as both a journalist and citizen) I would say such concerns were entirely predictable. Some people like to know about major proposals when they are first made, not months later and in bits and pieces. So a bit of civic suspicion and anger must now be addressed in addition to the project itself.

During the months of quiet discussions the project was scaled back by something like 32,000 square feet, according to consultants hired by the city. Building heights were low-ered from an initial 10 stories to two seven-story and two six-story buildings, still more than double the 50-foot limit.

Also of concern is private meetings with council members, and whether there was a vio-lation of the state Ralph M. Brown Act open-meeting law that forbids “serial meetings” with a majority of a governing body.

None of us know what occurred at the meet-ings, and must go on faith (or not) about what was said.

City Attorney Molly Stump rightfully states that such meetings are not in themselves il-legal, with two conditions: (1) a majority of council members must refrain from discussing among themselves any conclusions from the meetings, and (2) that those with whom they meet do not share anything about how other members of the governing body feel about the project at hand.

The responsibility lies with the elected of-ficial, not a developer, to avoid hearing about

how others feel, Stump said of the “hub-and-spoke” type meeting. So if the person starts to talk about how others feel the council member must instantly stop them, or clap their hands over their ears and loudly go “lalalalalala.”

Few question the right of city staff to meet informally with developers, although a “trans-parency” advocate might wish for documen-tation, virtually absent in this process, the Weekly discovered.

Besides, the fairly weak Brown Act would only require a “do-over” of any council action resulting from a misdemeanor violation. In this case, since the project hasn’t even been for-mally proposed there’s nothing to do over.

The council also asked staff to hold com-munity meetings, so there will be plenty of “do-over” discussions moving forward. Maybe “do-over and over and over” talks. ...

My question is why no council member — not one — felt the need to insist that the public be informed that a huge project was being con-sidered and occupying substantial staff time for many months. With due respect to Mr. Ar-rillaga’s positive intentions to benefit landown-er Stanford University and the theater-going public, to whom do elected public officials owe their first allegiance?

The council Monday night rejected a staff-recommended advisory vote in June in favor of a “master plan” with at least two other alterna-tive plans for the site and an environmental impact report (EIR). The EIR could easily take a year, City Manager James Keene estimated. He noted that often such things take longer.

And during the entire matter two issues will dominate: (1) the traffic impact (especially in light of a separate Arrillaga development proposed for former car-sales lots nearby in Menlo Park); (2) the 50-foot height limit versus

a square of four buildings more than double that.

Traffic has been an issue in Palo Alto since about forever, especially during the fast-growth 1950s and 1960s.

But the height limit takes us right back to 1970. The City Council at the time was about as divided as today’s U.S. Congress. Demonstra-tions were occurring against the Vietnam War and local issues such as a curfew on amplified sound and inadequate low-income housing.

Two projects in particular sired the height limit.

The first was a proposal by the former Palo Alto Medical Research Foundation (later morphed into the Palo Alto Medical Foun-dation) to build a high-rise “Hospital of the Future” on a two-block site south of Channing Avenue, opposite the former Palo Alto Medical Clinic building. The hospital was defeated by voters in June.

The second project was two tall office build-ings at the site of Avenidas, the senior center at 450 Bryant St., north of University Avenue. That “Superblock” plan also was defeated by voters. And it marked the community debut of later council member and former Mayor Dick Rosenbaum.

Rosenbaum, in a kind of time loop, spoke Monday night of his serious concerns about the Arrillaga project — along with former Mayor Dena Mossar and some three dozen residents.

It seems this project, also, can’t escape the Palo Alto Process.

Former Weekly Editor Jay Thorwaldson can be emailed at jthorwaldson@paweekly.com with a copy to jaythor@well.com. He also writes regular blogs at www.PaloAl-toOnline.com (below Town Square).

Roots of concern about tall buildings go back four decadesOn Deadline

Check out Town Square!Hundreds of local topics are being discussed by local residents on

Town Square, a reader forum sponsored by the Weekly on our com-munity website at www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Post your own comments, ask questions, read the Editor’s blog or just stay up on what people are talking about around town!

Streetwise

Page 15

ST. MARK’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH

PALO ALTOCHRISTMAS EVE

4:00 pm Children’s Christmas Pageant & Communion

10:00 pm Festive Choral Christmas Eve

Holy Communion beginning with Carols

10:00 am Holy Communion with Carols

CHRISTMAS DAY

600 Colorado Ave, Palo Alto(650) 326-3800

www.saint-marks.com

All Saints’ Episcopal Church

A Child is Born… Join Us for the Celebration

Sundays 8am & 10am 555 Waverley at Hamilton, Palo Alto

www.asaints.org (650)322-4528

Christmas Eve 5:00 pm Family Eucharist with Carols

10:30 pm 11:00 pm

Musical Prelude with Choir Solemn Candlelight Eucharist

Christmas Day 10:00 am Holy Eucharist with Carols

Valley Presbyterian Churchin the Redwoods

945 Portola Road, Portola Valley, CA 650-851-8282

www.valleypreschurch.org

Christmas Eve Worship5:00 pm Family Candlelight Service

10:00 pm Candlelight Service Lessons & Carols

St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Parish, Palo AltoOur Lady of the Rosary, 3233 Cowper StreetSt. Albert the Great, 1095 Channing Avenue

St. Thomas Aquinas, 751 Waverley Street

CHRISTMAS EVE – MONDAY, DECEMBER 24TH

5:00 pm Family Mass – Our Lady of the Rosary (Children’s Christmas Pageant during Mass)5:00 pm Family Mass – St. Albert the Great (Children’s Christmas Pageant during Mass)

6:00 pm – St. Thomas Aquinas

7:00 pm – Our Lady of the Rosary (Spanish)

Midnight Mass 12:00 am – St. Thomas Aquinas (Gregorian)

CHRISTMAS DAY – TUESDAY, DECEMBER 25TH

7:30am – St. Thomas Aquinas; 9:00am – St. Albert the Great; 10:30am – Our Lady of the Rosary;

10:30am – St. Thomas Aquinas; 12:00 Noon – St. Thomas Aquinas (Gregorian)

PeninsulaChristmasServices

Christmas Eve: 5-6:00pm

Christmas concert“Behold the Lamb”

December 15 & 16, 7:00PM

Sunday, Dec. 16th

Christmas Pageant Sunday

Dec. 23rd Festival Worship with Brass and Choir and the Hallelujah Chorus

Christmas Eve, December 24th

3:30 & 5:00 pm Family Services10:00 pm Candlelight Service

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UCC

An Open and Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ

1985 Louis Road, Palo Alto

Page 16

Celebrate Christmas With Us!Wherever you are in your journey, whether church is familiar or

not, we welcome you to join us for one of our Christmas services. Whether you prefer a simpler children’s service or a

more traditional one with the Church Choir, infused with a senseof the sacred that fills Christmas Eve night, we invite you.

Christmas Eve(All services will be about an hour)

4:00 pm Children’s Communion Service with Pageant6:00 pm Christmas Communion Service with the Festival Choir9:30 pm Carol Sing10:00 pm Christmas Communion Service with the Festival Choir

Christmas Day10:00 am Christmas Day Communion with Hymns

Trinity Church In Menlo Park, An Episcopal Community330 Ravenswood Avenue, Menlo Park(Between El Camino and Middlefield)

650-326-2083www.trinitymenlopark.org

Christmas Eve

&

& in English and German

Christmas Day

&

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH PALO ALTO

Sunday, December 23“A Light for all Nations: The Light of Love”

10 AM Worship and Sunday School for

Children and Youth

11:30 AM Annual Christmas Brunch and Do-It-Yourself

Christmas Pageant - bring finger food to share

Monday, December 24“A Light for all Nations: Jesus, Light of the World”

5:30 PM Christmas Eve Service

A brief service of candles and carols

for the family

Join us in hope and joy!

St. Bede’s Episcopal ChurchSt. Bede’s Episcopal Church

Sunday, 12/164pm Christmas Lessons & Carols

With Britten’s “Ceremony of Carols” with harp, organ, and choir followed by reception with holiday treats

Monday, 12/24, Christmas Eve4pm Festive Child-Friendly Service & EucharistSimpler service with children’s pageant, carols, and St. Nicholas

8pm Candlelight Choral EucharistStately service with organ and trumpet, preceded by carols at 7:30

Tuesday, 12/25, Christmas Day9am Holy Eucharist with Carols

Service with traditional language, organ, and trumpet

Sunday, 12/30, 1st Sunday after Christmas9am Holy Eucharist with Carols

Service with modern language

Canned food donations for area food banks welcome

2650 Sand Hill Rd (at Monte Rosa), Menlo Park650-854-6555 stbedesmenlopark.org

Peninsula C

hristmas ServicesInspirations is a resource for ongoing religious

services and special events. To inquire about or to

reserve space in Inspirations,

please contact Blanca Yoc

at 223-6596 or email

byoc@paweekly.com

Page 17

Cover

“I was a single mom working full time. My whole life changed overnight. Having the spiritual support really helped me get through that. It has helped me bridge those two lives,” she said.

Each day chaplains and volunteers from Spiritual Care Services at Stanford Hospital and Clinics visit hundreds of patients to deliver a kind of healing that medical interven-tions, surgeries and treatments cannot make whole. Spiri-tual care offers respite from pain and suffering and offers a balm to anxious souls, patients and practitioners said.

Sometimes help comes in the form of prayer; at other times it involves administering the sacraments. It can be about listening or just being present. Or volunteers or cler-gy might bring an item the sick person has wanted, such as clothing or a blanket, said Hester, the Spiritual Care associate director and volunteer-program coordinator.

More than once, Hester has used creativity and daring to help ease suffering, he said.

On a recent Tuesday morning, he quietly recalled a particularly inventive way he brought comfort to a dying woman and her husband. The patient had already had two liver transplants and stayed at Stanford for nine months, he said.

Hester had looked down at the woman in the bed.“She looked like a refugee. She was gaunt, yellow,”

Hester recalled.Her husband traveled faithfully from Reno to visit his

wife, driving down and back in his truck so he could be by her bedside. Hester noticed that his arms were covered in open wounds and sores, the effects of stress, a doctor had said.

Hester sought a way to help the couple. He learned that a member of their family had been left behind in Reno: The couple’s dog had been boarded in a kennel for those nine long months.

“Let’s bring the dog down,” Hester said, noting that it took two baths to get the animal clean.

But there was a wrinkle the chaplain hadn’t considered.“I didn’t know the make or model of the dog,” he said.The animal was large — a 70-pound pit bull and black

lab mixture. Hester needed to get the dog into the hospital without causing a staff uproar. He arranged for the engineer-ing department to deliver a dolly. They put the large cage containing the dog on top, and they concealed him with a covering, he said.

Then he gave a command.“You’ve got to go like hell,” he said, as the animal was

wheeled down to the intensive-care unit.Released into the patient’s room, the dog sniffed all

around. When he spied his owner, he sat yelping by the side of her bed, Hester said. Towels were laid out, and they lifted him on top and set him beside the gravely ill woman. The big animal went down on all fours and began licking her hand, Hester recalled. His voice broke as he recounted what happened next.

“She put an arm around him and said, ‘Oh, darling. You remember me.’”

The hospital staff allowed the dog to remain until the woman died, Hester said.

“There was no prayer, no blessing,” he said, noting that, sometimes, spiritual ministry is not what the patient de-sires.

by Sue Dremann | photographs by Veronica Weber

Rev. John Hester leaned over Cheryl Deraiche’s hospital bed in Stanford Hos-

pital and delivered Holy Communion last week. Deraiche, who is receiving

medical treatment for leukemia, received the holy wafer on her tongue and

accepted Hester’s blessing. During her first hospital stay in October, Deraiche

received Communion six days a week.

For the dying woman that day, the gift of love from her animal companion was the greatest comfort of all.

“You realize there isn’t anything greater than that,” he said.Spiritual care at Stanford is an interfaith ministry. Five chaplains are assisted by

230 volunteers. They span faiths from Buddhism and Islam to Hinduism, Judaism, Catholicism and Mormonism, said Rev. C. George Fitzgerald, director of spiritual-care services.

The program maintains a roster of community faith leaders who supply services and minister to patients to whom the core staff do not. When a Russian Orthodox patient needed religious counseling, for example, Spiritual Care went to the community to bring in clergy, Rev. Susan Scott said.

In addition to administering spiritual rites, chaplains and volunteers also help pa-

Rev. C. George Fitzgerald, top left, enters the chapel at Stanford Hospital in late November; above, Stanford Hospital chaplains Rev. John Hester, left, Rev. Susan Scott and Rev. C. George Fitzgerald talk for a moment inside the hospital chapel.

Page 18

Story

tients emotionally, identifying the issues that add to their distress, for example.What do they miss from home? How are they changing life priorities, given their illness?

Naming fears and issues helps make them tangible, as if they could reach out and touch them, said Rabbi Lori Klein, chaplain to the oncology unit.

“Someone might take comfort from saying they are scared or grieving,” Klein said.Once they have named their concern chaplains such as Klein can help the patient develop

ways to cope, she said.Prayer, if so desired, might come well after a relationship with the patient is formed, she

added.“There’s a woman I’ve been visiting with for months. Yesterday was the first time she

said she wanted to pray with me,” she said.

eraiche sat upright in her bed in the hospi-tal’s cancer ward. A soft cotton hat covered the effects of her treatments. She had arrived

only 24 hours earlier for her second hospital stay at Stanford. Diagnosed with leukemia on Oct. 11, she was admitted to the hospital just one day later for her first stay, she said.

Receiving Holy Communion and prayer have helped Deraiche through her sometimes difficult treatments, she said.

She recalled one time that almost seemed divinely sent.

“I was right about to have a procedure that is painful. It was hard to get it started, and the nurse left to check on something. Right at that moment, in walked a vol-unteer with Holy Communion,” she said. The sacred rite was perfectly timed.

“I was pretty scared. It was just what I needed,” she said.

Volunteers Jeanne Placone and Suzanne Sweeney deliver Holy Communion to patients such as Deraiche. On a recent Tuesday, the women met with 20 patients each. Both had joined the Spiritual Care group after being its recipients, they said.

Placone’s mother, who died 32 years ago, was min-istered to by Hester. Placone was so impressed by the care her mother received that she considered becoming a volunteer. But it took six years before she could face returning to the hospital, she said.

“I got to Stanford Shopping Center, and that’s as close as I got,” she said. But now, “It is totally a part of my life. It’s a gift to be able to come.”

But it hasn’t been easy. At times early on, Placone felt overwhelmed by what she saw, she said.

“So many times I would go in a room, and it touched me so much that I had to go stand outside against the wall. It was hard to know what to do. I would say, ‘Oh God, please help me,’” she recalled.

But in all of the years she has visited patients, only one person was bitter, she said. The resilience, love and joy she sees in the sick have been extraordinary.

Sometimes she will see something she never ex-pected, she said.

One or two Christmases ago a young man with ter-minal cancer lay in a hospital bed surrounded by fam-ily and friends. Despite the young age at which his life was about to end, he wasn’t sad or angry about all of the things he wouldn’t get to do, she said. Instead, he was excited and joyful that he was still there to cel-ebrate one last Christmas.

Placone said giving Holy Communion has a pro-found effect on patients.

“They close their eyes, and you see the peace come over the person,” she said.

Sweeney has volunteered for four years. After visit-ing her mother in the hospital, she saw an ad in the hospital bulletin for volunteers and signed up for a training program.

“It’s been a wonderful experience,” she said.One of her greatest joys is simply being present.

Many patients have very few visitors; some rooms are empty, she said.

Oncology patients are sometimes the most pro-foundly lonely. Some patients are kept in isolation be-cause they have compromised immune systems. Day after day, all they see are people dressed in masks and gowns, she said.

“You are one of the few people who is not a nurse or doctor that come to see them,” she said.

Sweeney said visiting desperately ill people allows her to connect with the real person that others usually don’t see.

“They are in a very tough spot. There are none of the trappings of life. No one talks about their successes or what they did for a living,” she said.

Volunteers go through intensive training. They learn communication skills, prayers for the faith in which they minister, and infection control in hospital rooms. They receive background checks. Volunteers are screened to winnow out evangelists bent on conver-sion, Fitzgerald said.

The orientation takes place on one Saturday. A sec-ond training session involves going out on the hospital floor three times with different mentors to observe various styles of ministry, Placone said.

Hester instructs volunteers not to be patronizing. “Don’t come in and call me ‘honey’ and ‘dear,’” he

recalled a patient once said.Placone said volunteers are strangers entering a

stranger’s room, and not everyone has religious faith.

“The most important person in the room is the pa-tient. A lot of patients say, ‘I’m not interested.’ I respect that,” she said.

The volunteers let patients know they also offer ser-vices that aren’t strictly faith-oriented, such as a listen-ing ear when the patient needs emotional support. Or the volunteer might get the person a book to read or help contact a family member.

“It is a rarity for someone to say, ‘No. I don’t want to see you. Go away.’ They say, ‘You know, you really made my day,’” Sweeney said.

adness and helplessness are familiar feelings that spiritual-care volunteers and chaplains experi-ence, they said. Privacy laws prohibit them from

talking about the patients with family or friends.“Sometimes we’re haunted by the things we see pa-

tients go through. We go home and we think about them. I’ve prayed for them every night. I can’t tell my husband about them. I would not want anyone else to be burdened. I pray because that helps me,” Sweeney said.

Chaplains and volunteers do check in with each oth-er for emotional support. At this time of year, Spiritual Care also holds a meeting to help health care workers deal with “holiday syndrome,” Fitzgerald said.

“There is this expectation that everyone may be joyful. (But) a patient might die around the holidays. Particularly with health care workers, they get close to patients. There may be an employee whose son has died or someone on staff has been in an accident. It wipes out the whole department,” he said.

The chaplains hold “Schwartz Rounds” — opportu-nities for health workers to receive emotional support from the spiritual advisers. Scott said one Stanford unit was recently modified to take on more patients who need end-of-life care. The nurse manager asked the chaplains to come to the unit to help staff adjust to the emotional burdens. The visits are informal and some-times take the form of a drop-in tea, she said.

The rounds are named after the late Boston health care attorney Ken Schwartz. During his nine-month hospital stay for cancer treatment, Schwartz saw the need for a compassionate-care program that benefited patients and health workers. Days before his death in 1995, he started The Schwartz Center for Compassion-ate Healthcare, according to the nonprofit organiza-tion’s website.

Klein said the oncology units have gatherings dur-ing which staff share memories and lessons they have learned from patients. She has learned to take life one day at a time.

“I might say that something is too big of a chunk. To help patients get through bad times, I might help them break things down to hours or minutes. I use that in my own life. I might say ... ‘I’m having a bad morning; I’ll see if the afternoon is different,’” she said.

Scott is the decedent-care chaplain and attends to the needs of grieving families after patients have died. She said her job involves helping people find a place of strength.

“As hospital chaplains, we can’t go with them when they leave,” she said.

Sometimes that strength comes in unexpected forms. When Scott went to a devastated 21-year-old man whose mother had just died, she could see that words would not help him, she recalled. So she asked if she could get him a cup of coffee.

What he really wanted was a mocha, he said.“Do you want it with whipped cream?” Scott

asked.The young man savored that moment of respite from

grief, she said.But there are times when all Scott can do is be pres-

ent.“As a student chaplain, I was with a family where

there was a very sudden death, and the wife and daugh-ters collapsed. For several hours they didn’t talk. They just looked at their laps. I felt so badly. There was noth-ing I could do for them,” she recalled.

So she just sat with the family for hours.At a gathering of families sometime later, Scott

said she recognized the mother. She wanted to tell the woman that she had been there that night, but Scott didn’t know if the woman would remember.

The mother approached her instead.“She walked up and said, ‘Oh, Susan! I remember

you were here with us.’ That was a lesson,” she said. Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at

sdremann@paweekly.com.

Rev. John Hester, top, places holy water on patient Cheryl Deraiche’s forehead while giving Communion at Stanford Hospital; Rabbi Lori Klein, right, and Bruce Feldstein, director of the Jewish Chaplaincy at Stanford Hospital, speak to patients and staff during a Hanukkah celebration last December.

Page 19

Arts & EntertainmentA weekly guide to music, theater, art, movies and more, edited by Rebecca Wallace

S ome classics are classics for a reason. They just keep winning over new fans. As a

case in point, take the Honeybee Trio, whose three teenaged sing-ers are smitten with music that was first in vogue a half-century before they were born.

The Vacaville high school girls deftly weave harmonies for “Be-gin the Beguine,” “Bei Mir Bist Du Schön” and “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” among many other tunes from 1930s and ‘40s swing era. Of course, no concert would be com-plete without the World War II hit “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.”

“People are always expecting it,” said Natalie Angst, who sings in the trio with fellow high school se-nior Karli Bosler and junior Sarah McElwain.

It’s safe to say that the audience can expect the Andrews Sisters classic when the Honeybee Trio performs at Foothill College on Dec. 16. For the second time, the young singers are being featured on the bill for the Palo Alto-based California Pops Orchestra’s holi-day show. It’s a swell fit for the Pops, who specialize in standards,

sing-alongs and nostalgia.The seasonal program also in-

cludes longtime theater singer Pierce Peter Brandt — and State Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, who is the orchestra’s regular nar-rator for “The Night Before Christ-mas.”

Pops conductor Kim Venaas was introduced to the Honeybee Trio by an audience member who had seen them sing. The girls were then only 15 and 16, but they were already cookin’ with gas, as Bob Hope might have put it. Impressed with their savvy harmonies and professional panache, Venaas in-vited them to perform with the Pops and then with his Black Tie Jazz Orchestra.

The teens “can and do handle all the different vocal parts,” Venaas said. “No one is stuck with just the lead or just the bottom parts. They swap around and it keeps them fresh and in sync with the others.”

It’s clear from the trio’s per-formance videos that they share friendship and musical rapport, as well as vintage style. They have

Sarah McElwain, Karli Bosler and Natalie Angst in concert as the Honeybee Trio.

Tuba player John Taylor and his fellow brass musicians in the California Pops Orchestra.

Kim Venaas conducts the California Pops, with Pierce Peter Brandt singing to the kids in front.

(continued on page 24)

Sam H

uîeSam

Huîe

Sam H

uîe

Teen singing trio is always in the mood for the swing era

by Rebecca Wallace

Page 20

Arts & Entertainment

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Inspirations is a resource for ongoing religious services

and special events. To inquire about or to reserve space in

Inspirations, please contact Blanca Yoc

at 223-6596 or email byoc@paweekly.com

a guide to the spiritual community

Inspirations

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UCC

This Sunday: Breaking the Rules

Rev. Daniel Ross-Jones preaching

Sunday Worship and Church School at 10 a.m.

Advent Vespers at 5:00 p.m.

An Open and Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ

Rockin’ the raftLight on bite but earnest of heart, TheatreWorks’

‘Big River’ shows off a superb ensemble

Jim (played by James Monroe Iglehart) and Huck (Alex Goley) try to keep the rain off.

by Jeanie K. Smith

W hen Mark Twain wrote “The Adventures of Huck-leberry Finn” in 1884,

he had in mind a more biting so-cial satire than his earlier works, skewering the hypocrisy and bad conscience of a nation that contin-ued to cling to prejudice. The 1985 musical based on the book, “Big River,” with music by Roger Miller and book by William Hauptman, keeps that satire alive but also has fun with the homespun humor and spirit of American ingenuity.

Despite some corny opening scenes, the show is a satisfying holiday confection, especially with this production’s fantastic cast that knows how to deliver bold charac-ters and big tunes.

Huck Finn (Alex Goley) narrates his own adventures in both the book and the musical, often with comi-

cal asides and observations. He’s the endearing embodiment of a misfit, mischievous and impulsive and definitely unwilling to stay in-side society’s strictures. As much as his guardians the Widow Douglas (Lucinda Hitchcock Cone) and Miss Watson (Alison Ewing) try to teach him “Christian ways,” and as much as he tries to do the right thing, he can’t seem to reconcile the way peo-ple sermonize with the way they act, and this confuses him.

He tells us the story of how he lights out on his own, only to be cap-tured by his drunken, abusive father. He manages to escape “Pap” (Gary S. Martinez) by faking his own death, and heads to the river with escaped slave Jim (James Monroe Iglehart), a man he knows as Miss Watson’s slave and trusts in spite of

their racial difference. As Huck and Jim ride their raft down the Mis-sissippi, Huck begins to appreciate this stranger as a genuine human being, one with hopes and fears and dreams not unlike his own.

Their adventures on the river mostly follow those of the book, in-cluding encounters with debris and drowned bodies, and slave hunters whom Huck has to fend off with trickery. Missing their steamboat junction for Jim to escape North, they allow on the raft two grifters who call themselves The Duke and The King, (Jackson Davis and Mar-tin Rojas Dietrich) whose fraudu-lent dealings are at first amusing to Huck, but then turn ugly.

When the grifters’ greed gets ev-eryone in deep trouble and the Duke sells Jim to a farmer, Huck reckons that the “wrong” thing in these cir-cumstances (freeing Jim) is actually the “right” thing, and declares he doesn’t care if he does go to Hell. Through a series of adventures, with assistance and interference from Tom Sawyer (Scott Reardon), Huck and Jim are reunited to claim their “happy” ending. It may seem tenta-tive or momentary — with Twain, the dangers of society’s hypocrisy tend to lurk just around the page-turn — but, hey, this is a musical, with a pleasing resolution for our heroes.

Miller’s music and Hauptman’s book do iron out some of Twain’s satire, but the central themes are still there. Considering some of the pub-lic rhetoric and invective of recent times, it’s glaringly evident we are still learning lessons from our col-lective history. After the less effec-tive opening scenes, the story moves onto the raft and the show becomes more compelling. The second half is especially good, with more action, tighter writing and less of Huck’s redundant narration.

The whole production is buoyed up by fabulous acting and singing from a superb ensemble, helmed by charismatic leads Iglehart and Go-ley. Iglehart, local favorite turned Broadway star, has the voice of a baritone angel, smooth as velvet and as big as that wide river he’s rafting. You can feel the audience melt into a grateful puddle whenever he sings. Goley’s youthful tenor, energetic, lyrical and effortless, harmonizes beautifully with Iglehart’s voice, and carries much of the rest of the

(continued on page 23)

THEATER REVIEW

Mark Kitaoka

Page 21

Each year the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund raises money to support

programs serving families and children in the Palo Alto area. Since

the Weekly and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation cover

all the administrative costs, every dollar raised goes directly to support

community programs through grants to non-profit organizations ranging

from $1,000 to $25,000.

And with the generous support of matching grants from local foundations,

including the Packard and Hewlett foundations, your tax-deductible gift will

be doubled in size. A donation of $100 turns into $200 with the foundation

matching gifts.

Whether as an individual, a business or in honor of someone else, help

us reach our goal of $350,000 by making a generous contribution to the

Holiday Fund.

With your generosity, we can give a major boost to the programs in our

community helping kids and families.

Give to the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund and your donation is doubled. You give to non-profit groups that work right here in our community. It’s a great way to ensure that your charitable donations are working at home.

Non-profits: Grant application and guidelines at

www.PaloAltoOnline.com/holidayfund

Support our Kidswith a gift to the Holiday Fund.

Last Year’s Grant Recipients

10 Books A Home .......................................$5,000Able Works ..................................................$5,000 Adolescent Counseling Services ..........$10,000 Art in Action ................................................$5,000 Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula........7,500 Break Through the Static..........................$2,500 Breast Cancer Connections .....................$5,000 Canopy .........................................................$3,000 CASSY ........................................................$15,000 Children’s Center of the Stanford Community ..................................$4,000 Cleo Eulau Center.......................................$5,000 Collective Roots .........................................$7,500Downtown Streets Team ........................$15,000 DreamCatchers ........................................$15,000 East Palo Alto Center for Community Media ................................$3,000 East Palo Alto Charter School .................$7,500 East Palo Alto Children’s Day ..................$5,000 East Palo Alto Kids Foundation ................$5,000 East Palo Alto Youth Court ........................$3,000 Environmental Volunteers ........................$3,000 Family Connections....................................$7,500 Foothill College Book Program ................$5,000 Foundation for a College Education ........$7,500 Hidden Villa .................................................$5,000 InnVision ......................................................$7,500 JLS Middle School ....................................$5,000 Jordan Middle School ..............................$5,000 Kara ............................................................$15,000 Mayview Community Health Center .....$10,000 Midpeninsula Community Media Center .........$5,000 Music in the Schools Foundation ............$5,000 My New Red Shoes ...................................$3,000 New Creation Home Ministries ...............$5,000 Nuestra Casa ..............................................$5,000 Pacifi c Art League .....................................$2,500 Palo Alto Art Center Foundation ..............$5,000 Palo Alto Community Child Care ..............$6,500 Palo Alto Council of PTAs .........................$2,128 Palo Alto High School Get Involved!.......$1,500 Palo Alto Housing Corporation ................$5,000 Palo Alto Library Foundation ..................$17,500 Palo Alto Youth Collaborative .................$10,000 Peninsula Bridge Program .......................$5,000Peninsula Youth Theatre ...........................$3,000 Project Safety Net....................................$20,000 Project WeH.O.P.E. .....................................$7,500 Quest Learning Center ..............................$5,000 Ravenswood Education Foundation .......$5,000 Silicon Valley FACES ..................................$7,500 South Palo Alto Food Closet .....................$1,000 St. Francis of Assisi Youth Club ...............$5,000 St. Vincent de Paul .....................................$6,000 TEDxGunnHighSchool ...............................$2,000 TheatreWorks .............................................$5,000 Youth Community Service .......................$10,000

Donate online at siliconvalleycf.org/paw-holiday-fund

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Page 22

141 donors through Dec. 2 totalling $47,935; with match

$95,870 has been raised for the Holiday Fund

10 Anonymous ...................... 1,650

Karen and Steve Ross ................ **

John and Mary Schaefer ........... 100

Caroline and Richard Brennan ... **

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bonini ...... 50

Freddy and Jan Gabus ................ **

Ted Wassam ............................... 50

Barbara Klein and Stan Schrier .. **

Edward Kanazawa ...................... **

Eugene and Mabel Dong .......... 200

Penny and Greg Gallo .............. 500

Eve and John Melton ............... 500

Nancy and Joe Huber ............... 100

Larry Baer & Stephanie Klein ... **

Bill Johnson & Terri Lobdell ... 500

Peter S. Stern .............................. **

Leif and Sharon Erickson ......... 250

Luca and Mary Cafi ero .............. **

Denise Savoie & Darrell Duffi e ....**

Faith Braff ................................ 500

Tom and Neva Cotter ............ 2,000

Patricia Levin ........................... 100

Richard Kilner ............................ **

Bob and Corrine Aulgur ............. **

Roy and Carol Blitzer ................ **

Linda and Steve Boxer ............... **

Ted and Ginny Chu .................... **

David and Virginia Pollard ...... 300

Debbie Ford-Scriba & Jim Scriba.....**

Diane Moore .............................. **

Harriet and Gerry Berner ........... **

John and Susan Thomas ............. **

Marc and Ragni Pasturel .......... 200

Margot Goodman ....................... **

Beth and Peter Rosenthal ......... 300

Don and Jacquie Rush .............. 200

Mark and Virginia Kreutzer ....... 75

Mary Houlihan ......................... 100

Sally Dudley ............................. 200

Adrienne Dong ......................... 100

Ann M. Pine ............................. 100

Craig and Sally Nordlund ........ 500

Drew McCalley & Marilyn Green .......................... 100

Joseph and Diane Rolfe ........... 100

Richard A. Zuanich .................. 100

Arthur and Helena Kraemer ..... 100

Bobbie and Jerry Wagger ........... **

Leonard Leving .......................... **

Robyn H. Crumly ....................... **

Sue Kemp ................................. 250

Andrea B. Smith ....................... 100

Katherine Bass ......................... 100

Tatyana Berezin........................ 100

Gwen Luce ................................. **

Roger Warnke .......................... 300

Alice Smith .............................. 100

Boyce and Peggy Nute ............... **

Richard Morris ........................... **

Scott Wong ............................... 200

Tom and Ellen Ehrlich ............... **

Barbara Berry ........................... 100

The Havern Family ............... 4,000

Solon Finkelstein ..................... 250

Walter and Kay Hays .............. 100

Hal and Iris Korol ...................... **

Ferrell and Page Sanders .......... 100

Lynn H. Drake .......................... 100

Owen Vannatta ...................... 2,500

Arden King ................................. 20

Bruce F. Campbell................. 1,000

George and Betsy Young............ **

Doug and Barbara Spreng .......... **

Andy and Liz Coe .................... 100

Dena Goldberg ......................... 100

Jim and Alma Phillips .............. 250

John and Lee Pierce ................... **

Andy and Joyce Nelsen .............. **

Karen Latchfor ........................... 50

Mary Lorey ................................ **

Michael and Nancy Hall ....... 1,000

Patti Yanklowitz and Mark Krasnow.......................... 200

Phil Hanawalt and Graciela Spivak ........................ 500

Kathy and Steve Terry ................ **

Arna and Hersh Shefrin ............. **

Marc and Margaret Cohen ....... 100

Michael and Jean Couch .......... 200

Kroymann Family .................... 250

Mandy Lowell ............................ **

Julie and Jon Jerome .................. **

Jody Maxim ............................... **

Josephine B. Spitzer ................. 150

Rick and Eileen Brooks ............. **

Maria Gault ................................ 40

Debbie Mytels ............................ 50

Marcia Katz .............................. 200

Bob and Edith Kirkwood ........... **

Jerry and Linda Elkind ............. 250

Adele and Don Langendorf ...... 200

Susan and Doug Woodman ........ **

Larry Breed .............................. 100

Dr. Teresa L. Roberts ............ 1,000

In memory ofCarolyn Reller ............................ **

Carol Berkowitz ......................... **

Al and Kay Nelson ..................... 25

The Kurland Family and Samuel Benjamin Kurland .................... 300

A.L. and L.K. Brown ............... 100

Dorothy Horton .......................... **

Alan Herrick ............................... 50

Ernest J. Moore .......................... **

Bert Page .................................. 100

Isabel Mulcahy ........................... **

Yen-Chen Yen .......................... 250

Mae and Al Kenrick .............. 1,000

Al Bernal and John Warren ........ 50

Mary Floyd ................................. **

Betty Meltzer ............................. **

William Kiely ........................... 100

Ruth & Chet Johnson ................. **

Robert Lobdell ........................... **

Gary Fazzino .............................. **

Dr. Thomas McDonald ............. 500

Bertha Kalson ............................. **

Bob Donald ................................ **

Gary Fazzino ............................ 100

In honor ofDr. Kenneth Weigel Stanford Animal Hospital ....................... 100

Lady Vikes Waterpolo ................ 50

Businesses & OrganizationsAlta Mesa Improvement Company ............................... 1,000

Crescent Capital Mortgage ........ **

“No Limit” Drag Racing Team .. 25

Harrell Remodeling, Inc. ............ **

Thoits Bros. Insurance ........ 10,000

Carl King, Mortgage Broker .... 250

Attorney Susan Dondershine ... 200

(888) 99-Harborsidewww.harborsidehealthcenter.com/ep

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wellnessat your door

(see map online)

8:30 A.M., Thursday, December 20, 2012 Palo Alto Council Chambers, 1st Floor, Civic Center, 250 Hamilton Avenue. Go to the Development Center at 285 Hamilton Avenue to review filed documents; contact Diana Tamale for information regarding business hours at 650.329.2144.

180 El Camino Real [12PLN-00424]: Request by Jacobs, on behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, for Architectural Review of new exterior storefronts, signage and awnings for the American Girl store at the Stanford Shopping Center. Zone District: CC (Community Commercial).

260 California Avenue [12PLN-00352]: Request by Hayes Group, on behalf of Tarob M&C Investors LLC, for Architectural Review of the construction of a new three story, approximately 27,000 square foot building. Environmental Assessment: An initial study and Mitigated Negative Declaration have been prepared in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Zone District: CC(2)(R)(P).

567 Maybell Avenue [12PLN-00453]: Request by Candice Gonzales, on behalf of Palo Alto Housing Corporation, for Preliminary Architectural Review of a Planned Community proposal for the development of 15 single family homes and 60 units of affordable rental housing, for seniors. Zone Districts: RM-15 and R-2.

1875 Embarcadero Road (Palo Alto Golf Course): Request by Palo Alto Community Services Division for Study Session review of preliminary designs for renovations to the golf course. Zone District: PF(D).

Amy FrenchChief Planning Official

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING of the City of Palo Alto

Architectural Review Board (ARB)

show.Most ensemble performers have

opportunities to solo as well as con-tribute to a warm, full sound, and all do their many roles justice. Reardon as Tom Sawyer has the wit and in-nocence along with the solid vocals needed; Katie Jane Martin shines in her numbers as Mary Jane Wilkes; and Martinez is surprisingly funny in his role as the despicable Pap.

Davis and Dietrich stand out in their colorful turns as The Duke and The King, with terrific comic skills for their many scenarios. They sing, they dance, they recite Shakespeare, they do the Nonesuch — well, you’ll just have to see it.

Joe Ragey’s scenic design is a marvelous mix of rolling and flying set pieces set against a backdrop of the mighty river; the raft alone is an ingenious bit. B. Modern’s costumes fit both our imaginations and the period, telling us much about these characters in the details. I enjoyed Kikau Alvaro’s choreography and director Robert Kelley’s staging, both of which kept the show lively and engaging.

It may feel a bit corny at first, but relax and let the show envelop you in its earnest heart. Later you can reflect on whether Twain’s satire has retained its bite as well as its home-spun humor.

‘Big River’(continued from page 21)

What: “Big River,” with music by

Roger Miller and book by William

Hauptman, based on the book

by Mark Twain; presented by

TheatreWorks

Where: at the Lucie Stern

Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road,

Palo Alto

When: through Nov. 30, with

shows at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays

and Wednesdays; 8 p.m.

Thursday through Saturday; 2

p.m. matinees on Saturdays and

Sundays; and 7 p.m. Sundays

Cost: Tickets are $23-$73.

Info: Go to theatreworks.org or

call 650-463-1960.

Entry Deadline is December 28th

For details, visit PaloAltoOnline.com

26th Annual Palo Alto Weekly

Page 23

Arts & Entertainment

Introducing Your Style, Your

NEIGHBORHOODOur Apartment Homes.

Welcome to Webster house, Palo Alto’s most gracious senior living community, now a member of the not-for-profit organization that owns and operates Canterbury Woods, Los Gatos Meadows, Lytton Gardens, San Francisco Towers, Spring Lake Village, and St. Paul’s Towers. Here, you’ll enjoy the rare combination of ideal location, dedicated staff, amenities, and services, all within walking distance of downtown Palo Alto, where you’ll find a mix of shops, restaurants, and art galleries. You’ll also find peace of mind and a welcoming community offering the advantages of continuing care. To learn more, or for your personal visit, please call 650.838.4004.

401 Webster Street, Palo Alto, CA 94301 websterhousepaloalto.org A non-denominational, not-for-profit community owned and operated by Episcopal Senior Communities. License No. 435294364 COA #246. EPWH645-01AA 091412

Your style, your neighborhood.

Presents

A Family Concert and Sing Along

“We Wish You Christmas”Music for Chorus and Harp

By John Rutter, Brian Holmes, Jackson Berkey, and Dale WoodSpecial Guest, Harpist Dan Levitan

Sunday, Dec. 9, at 1:30 pm and 3 pmFirst Congregational Church of Palo Alto

1985 Louis Roadwww.scholacantorum.org (650) 254-1700

sweet, smooth voices and a dash of swinging choreography to go with their outfits: ‘40s-esque military ensembles, sparkly gowns and retro dresses and hats. Red lipstick is also big with them. They’ve shot “Chat-tanooga Choo Choo”-style photos on a train, and the cover of their third album, “Flight to the Forties,” plunks them on an airstrip carrying boxy suitcases. For their brand-new fourth CD, “We Can Sing It,” they got dolled up in Rosie the Riveter outfits.

“I love everything about the ‘40s: what people wore, all their outfits, the music,” Angst said. “We buy costumes online, and some are made for us.”

The three singers formed the trio in 2008, at the advanced ages of 12 and 13. Their catalyst was a music teacher named Debi McMindes who wanted them to do a retro perfor-mance at a local senior home. The girls already knew each other from musical theater and talent shows,

Honeybee Trio(continued from page 20)

but they had never been in a trio before.

“It was really exciting. We just re-ally loved it,” McElwain said. And the trio took off.

While Bosler often sings so-prano, McElwain mezzo-soprano

and Angst alto, the three also like to mix up their parts, as Venaas noticed. Recently, they even added one original song to their swing-era repertoire: A friend wrote them a pert, jazzy tune called “No Worries” that can be heard on their website, honeybeetrio.com.

The singers now have hundreds of shows on their résumés, many for military and veteran groups. They’ve sung several times at Tra-vis Air Force Base in Fairfield, and on the U.S.S. Hornet aircraft carrier on San Francisco Bay. They agree that performing for war veterans, particularly those from World War II, is special.

“Sometimes for an encore piece we sing an a cappella version of ‘God Bless America’ and ask them to sing along. You just get chills. They stand up one by one with tears in their eyes and hands on their hearts. It’s one of our favorite things, to see how touched they are by our music,” Bosler said.

The girls often end up talking to audiences for a long time after per-formances. People will say, “That song was played at my wedding,” or, “I can do the boogie,” or sim-ply thank them. When the audience members are veterans, that means a lot.

“It’s really humbling,” Bosler said. “These are people who have sacri-ficed for our country, and they’re thanking us.”

Singer Pierce Peter Brandt will solo with the California Pops Orchestra.

What: The California Pops

Orchestra performs its “Home

for the Holidays!” concert, with

guests the Honeybee Trio, Pierce

Peter Brandt and Joe Simitian.

Where: Smithwick Theatre,

Foothill College, 12345 El Monte

Road, Los Altos Hills

When: 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 16

Cost: Premium seats are $42

and general are $37, with dis-

counts for groups. Youths ages

18 and under pay $17.

Info: Go to calpops.org or call

650-856-8432.

SUPPORT YOUR

COMMUNITY donate to the

Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund

Go to Palo Alto Online to donate

Page 24

MusicSan Francisco Choral Art-ists

When she heard that she’d been chosen to write three pieces for San Francisco Choral Artists, University of Pennsylvania instructor Eleanor Aversa reached for her iPod. In-spired, she listened to the music of the choral ensemble over and over. Possibly with a bit of birdsong in-termingled.

“The Darkling Thrush,” the first of Aversa’s new works for SFCA, is set to Thomas Hardy’s 1901 poem of the same name. Its mingling of moods and dynamics drew her in, she said in a press release: “As a composer, I was most excited to re-flect the contrast between the anx-ious speaker in a dark landscape and the bird’s sudden and joyful music.” She also reflected the way thrushes actually sound: Her piece contains short melodies that she wrote after listening to field recordings of the birds.

Aversa’s piece will be on the program when SFCA performs a concert this Saturday, Dec. 8, at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Palo Alto. (Her two other new works are set to premiere later.) Also on the Dec. 8 program is a world premiere by San Franciscan Mark Winges, who is composer-in-residence with SFCA this season. His new work, “Toward the Horizon,” challenges

the audience to think without hav-ing things spelled out. It uses sounds in place of words.

The program will also include im-ages of nature and the holiday sea-son from centuries past, representing such composers as Kodály, Howells and Poulenc. It’s set for 8 p.m. at 600 Colorado Ave.; tickets are $12-$25 in advance and $15-$30 at the door. SFCA plans to repeat the program on Dec. 9 in Oakland. For details, go to sfca.org or call 415-494-8149.

FilmShorts at Stanford

Audience members can get a sneak peek at the next generation of filmmakers next week during a free evening of screenings, cour-tesy of first-year students in Stan-ford University’s MFA program in documentary film and video. The students will show their new short films at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 11 at Annen-berg Auditorium on campus, with a Q&A and reception after the screen

goes dark.As usual, topics and titles range

widely. The films scheduled to be shown (not necessarily in this order) are: Lauren DeFilippo’s “Buena Vista,” a story told by a 12-year-old growing up in a mobile-home park in a wealthy city; Emily Fraser’s “Of Cows and Men,” about a cash-strapped dairy farmer; Katherine Gorringe’s “The Last Piano Bar,” about “music and change”; Alex-andra Liveris’ “Nunca Sola/Never Alone,” which follows a Mexican immigrant getting services at a women’s worker collective; Ve-ronica Lopez’s “Ramona,” a tale of modern-day Catholic religious life; Megan Smaker’s unusual tale of urban renewal “Pistols to Porn”; Edward Symes’ personal essay “By Design”; and Henry Wiener’s “The Wide Awakes,” which he bills as “California: More armed and less dangerous than you think.”

The event is presented by the uni-versity’s Department of Art & Art History. For more information, go to art.stanford.edu or call 650-723-3404.

Worth a Look

GRANTS FOR LOCAL GROUPS ... Several local arts groups recently received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts through its Art Works program. The hundreds of honored organizations across the country included the Stanford Jazz Workshop, awarded $40,000 for its summer 2013 jazz camp and residency season. Stanford University won a grant of $32,500 to support its inaugural music sea-son at the new Bing Concert Hall, and TheatreWorks was awarded $30,000 to its New Works Program of creating and premiering fresh musicals and plays. In addition, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program near Woodside received $25,000. For more about the NEA grants, go to arts.gov.

A&E DIGEST

Arts & Entertainment

Notice is hereby given that proposals will be received by the Palo Alto Unified School District for multiple work bid packages. Description of the projects/work is as follows:

13

Mandatory Job Walk:

each project.Bid Submission:

the contact below.

PREVAILING WAGE LAWS:

the contractor warrants he/she is aware and will follow the Public Works

subcontractors to discuss federal and state labor law requirements applicable to the contract.

2. Project contractors and subcontracts shall maintain and furnish to

with a statement of compliance signed under penalty of perjury.

delinquent or inadequate.

has occurred.

Building “D”.

Palo Alto Unified School District

Palo Alto Unified School DistrictNotice of Funding Availability

Program Years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 Community Development Block Grant Program Housing, Economic

Development and Public Facilities Projects

Applications are now available for the City of Palo Alto’s 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) pro-gram for Housing, Economic Development and Public Facilities Proj-ects. The City expects to distribute locally approximately $560,000 in funds each fiscal year from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the CDBG Program. The primary objective of the Program is:

“The development of viable urban communities, including decent housing and a suitable living environment, and expanding economic opportunities, principally for persons of low and very low income.”

The CDBG Program is directed toward expanding and maintaining the affordable housing supply; promoting housing opportunities and choices; maintaining and improving community facilities; increasing economic opportunities, accessibility, energy efficiency and sustain-ability; and providing supportive services specifically for persons of low and very low income. Targeted groups might include persons who are homeless, seniors, persons with disabilities, and other spe-cial needs groups.

A MANDATORY Pre -Proposal Conference is scheduled for Thurs-day, December 20, 2012 at 10:30 a.m. in the City Council Confer-ence Room at the Civic Center, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, CA. ALL Proposers intending to submit a proposal must be in attendance at this Pre-proposal Conference. For agencies that participated in the Pre-proposal conference on Wednesday, November 28, 2012 are not required to attend.

The deadline for submitting applications is 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Janu-ary 8, 2013 for fiscal years beginning July 1, 2013 and July 1, 2014.

Applications are available at the City of Palo Alto Planning Division, City Hall, 5th Floor, 250 Hamilton Avenue, during regular office hours. Applications are also available on the City’s website: http://www.cityof-paloalto.org/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=2099&TargetID=265. To request an application or for more information please contact Con-suelo Hernandez, Planner - CDBG at 650.329.2428 or via email at Consuelo.hernandez@cityofpaloalto.org.

Persons with disabilities who require auxiliary aids or services in using City facilities, services or programs, or who would like information on the City’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact:

ADA Coordinator, City of Palo Alto,650-329-2550 (Voice)

ada@cityofpaloalto.org

The San Francisco Choral Artists will draw on five centuries of Christmas music and present two world-premiere works at their Palo Alto concert on Dec. 8.

Rebecca Scully

Page 25

W here frozen yogurt fizzled on Palo Alto’s increasingly food-focused California

Avenue, Spice Kit sizzles. No won-der. Here’s a meal that’s quick, clean and cost-effective, reliable for in-store lunch or take-home dinner.

The growth of fast casual Asian street foods must be giving Mc-Donald’s executives another reason — beyond trouble on Wall Street and in Europe, and management shakeups — to be shivering in their

golden arches. As we learned in the recent national election, when demographics change, it matters. More Americans come from or have visited Asian countries, and younger people, particularly, are more than willing to expand their food horizons.

Along comes Spice Kit, brain-child of Stanford grad Will Pacio, with a Vietnamese-inspired menu featuring organic tofu and hormone-free meat.

Like Asian Box in Town & Coun-try Village in Palo Alto, Spice Kit works on the Chipotle model. De-pending on which of four proteins you pick, you come away with a drink and a satisfying salad, sand-wich, wrap or rice bowl for around $10. Side dishes top out at $5 for two Kurobota pork belly buns, $2.95 for one. They are cheaper (and smaller) than those at the San Francisco-based The Chairman food truck, but next to the food truck’s steamed pork belly buns with turmeric pick-led daikon and green shiso ($3.75),

just a tad generic.Which is my problem with Spice

Kit altogether. The banh mi, a much-beloved Vietnamese sandwich, hits bold spice notes with jalapenos and cilantro, but the toasted baguette is just very white-bread. The four proteins are inoffensive. Five-spice chicken ($6.90), beef short ribs ($7.95), roasted pork ($7.75) and or-ganic tofu ($6.75) won’t challenge anybody’s taste buds.

My favorite format is the salad, a bed of organic baby lettuces with cucumber slices, sticks of crunchy jicama, sweet mango and spicy pea-nuts. Sesame vinaigrette brings it together nicely. Meanwhile, ginger-peanut slaw ($1.95) is very liquidy, softening the peanuts.

Vietnamese iced coffee ($2.95) suffered from the coffee’s being pre-made. The brewed coffee cups were sitting on the counter, under their authentic individual-cup Vietnam-ese coffee brewers (called a phin).

Fast but not flashySpice Kit follows the popular Asian street-food trend, but without a lot of spice

by Sheila Himmel

Eating Out

Buns filled with pork belly, cucumber, scallions and hoisin sauce, shown here served with fried-lotus chips.

Vero

nica

Web

er

Discover the best places to eat this week!

A M E R I C A N

Armadillo Willy’s 941-2922

1031 N. San Antonio Road, Los Altoswww.armadillowillys.com

The Old Pro326-1446

541 Ramona Street, Palo Altowww.oldpropa.com

S T E A K H O U S E

Sundance the Steakhouse 321-6798

1921 El Camino Real, Palo Altowww.sundancethesteakhouse.com

C H I N E S E

Chef Chu’s 948-2696

1067 N. San Antonio Roadwww.chefchu.com

Ming’s856-7700

1700 Embarcadero East, Palo Altowww.mings.com

New Tung Kee Noodle House947-8888

520 Showers Drive, Mountain Viewwww.shopmountainview.com/luunoodlemv

I N D I A N

Janta Indian Restaurant 462-5903

369 Lytton Ave. www.jantaindianrestaurant.com

Thaiphoon323-7700

543 Emerson Ave, Palo Alto www.ThaiphoonRestaurant.com

Read and post reviews, explore restaurant menus, get hours and directions

and more at ShopPaloAlto, ShopMenloPark and ShopMountainView

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P E N I N S U L A

RESTAURANT REVIEW

One Spice Kit bowl option features kimchi rice, beef shortribs, bean sprouts, cucumbers and lettuce.

Veronica Weber

(continued on next page)

Page 26

Palo Alto got the second Spice Kit, after San Francisco. Certainly there will be more, despite the aw-shucks website: “We’re just a cou-ple guys who’ve worked in some great fine dining kitchens, like per se, The French Laundry, and The Ritz Carlton Dining Room — cook-ing complicated food all day long.” That is, these guys, including Ex-ecutive Chef Fred Tang and Chef Ming Lee, have worked at the finest restaurants in New York, the Napa Valley and San Francisco.

The site goes on to say: “Being

French-trained chefs, we utilize the best techniques — from the sourcing of our ingredients to the way we pickle our vegetables. We believe this makes everything taste better.”

We believe it, too, but come on, guys. Spice Kit has Marketing Strat-egy written all over it. And good for them. Now that Palo Alto has a Spice Kit and an Asian Box, what’s next for compact, fast casual restau-rants marrying Asian street foods to fresh California ingredients? (Spice Hut is taken by an Indian outfit.) May we suggest: Spice Box and Asian Hits.

Eating Out

1390 Pear Ave., Mountain View(650) 254-1120www.cucinaventi.com

Hours:9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday through Saturday9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday

DINNER BY THE MOVIES AT SHORELINE’S

Cucina Venti

now accepting reservations

catering available

It is in this spirit that we will continue sharing our classic recipes with you each week.

The Marche region of Italy is entirely bordered on the east by the Adriatic Sea and by the mountains to the west. There is little wonder why the varied foodsof the area refl ect the hearty country living of the locals. However the true kings of all local ingredients are the indigenous truffl es. In classical times, their origins were a mystery that challenged many; Plutarch and others thought them to be the result of lightning, warmth and water in the soil, while Juvenal thought thunder and rain to be instrumental in their origin. Cicero deemed them children of the earth. We think they’re simply a gift from the gods!

trimmed of purple membrane and cut into 12 pieces

pepper

Preparation instructions:

no longer be translucent).

are softened. Add a splash of wine the wine and the mashed potatoes. Add just enough cream to soften to a creamy consistency. Season with salt and pepper; stir in the diced crimini and the chives, and remove from the heat. Place potatoes onto plate to form a

oil over all. Serves 6

Pescatrice al Tartufo con Pancetta AffumicataMonkfi sh with Truffl e Smoked Bacon

Lunchtime diners at Spice Kit.

Veronica Weber

Spice Kit, 340 S. California Ave., Palo Alto; 650-326-1698; spicekit.com

Hours: Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sun.11:30 a.m.-8 p.m.

Reservations

Credit cards

Street & Lot Parking

Highchairs

Outdoor dining

Banquet

Catering

Takeout

Noise level: medium-loud

Bathroom Cleanliness:

Excellent

(continued from previous page)

Page 27

Movies

“GRABS YOU BY THE LAPELS

LIKE A HITCHCOCK CLASSIC.”

REX REED, THE NEW YORK OBSERVER

ACADEMY AWARD® WINNER

ANTHONY HOPKINSACADEMY AWARD® WINNER

HELEN MIRREN

EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENTS NOW PLAYING

Holy Motors1/2

(Aquarius) “Holy Motors” is a crackpot film. It’s intentionally unrealistic and insistently strange. And therefore, especially when the alternative is something like “Play-ing for Keeps” (see below), “Holy Motors” is most welcome.

Léos Carax’s new film, his first feature-length effort since 1999’s “Pola X,” has its melancholy mo-ments, but Carax infuses every frame with his joy in cinema and what Uta Hagen called “respect for acting.” You’ll see no more impres-sive performance all year than that given here by Carax favorite Denis Levant, seeing as how it constitutes something more like nine perfor-mances.

You may want to stop reading and proceed directly to the art house, for “Holy Motors” is best experienced fresh. But for those who wouldn’t dare shell out for a movie without

a plot synopsis, here goes: Levant plays a professional role-player named Monsieur Oscar (not for nothing, Alex Christophe Dupont’s professional pseudonym, Léos Car-ax, is an anagram of Alex Oscar). Oscar practices the transmigration of souls: Traveling by limousine around Paris, self-applying hair and makeup on his way, he hops out and slips into the lives of others.

These “appointments,” scheduled by a mysterious boss (Michel Pic-coli) for mysterious purposes, find Oscar becoming everyone from a sleek businessman to an old gypsy woman to a sewer-dwelling troglo-dyte. Sometimes, these performanc-es serve an apparent end, whether to produce a product or indulge anoth-er person’s emotional need; at other times, the purpose remains entirely obscure, to the point where Oscar wonders why he bothers.

As the audience comes to share in Oscar’s perspective — and fret over him, as does his trusty chauffeur Céline (Edith Scob) — the viewer takes the lay of the land that is this

existential allegory. We all toil at jobs the purpose of which we may not entirely trust and the value of which we may not entirely believe. And, as the Bard once said, “All the world’s a stage, / And all the men and women merely players: / They have their exits and their entrances; / And one man in his time plays many parts ... “

The Brits have another saying: “Who’s he when he’s at home?” And that question does finally get resolved, in a respect, with a vi-sual punchline. But “Holy Motors” invites reflection on who we are asked to be in the various circum-stances of our day, the fluidity of identity, whom others need us to be and whom we need to be for our-selves.

As for cinema, “Holy Motors” embarks as a dream of Carax, who appears in the film’s opening sequence, apparently waking to wander through a Lynchian movie theater. Scob becomes a walking reference when she dons a mask straight out of her 1960 film “Eyes Without a Face.” And one of Os-car’s appointments finds him in a motion-capture studio, giving a performance instantly transformed into computer-generated imagery for a screen.

On this level and others, “Holy Motors” finds an artist on a lark, following his muse into playful territory. But as playful as it is for

Carax to turn the liminal shell of Paris’ La Samaritaine into a set for a musical meeting between Lavant and Kylie Minogue, who sings, “Who were we / When we were / Who we were / Back then?”, the moment proves that “Holy Motors” has the power to haunt as much as to amuse.

Not rated. One hour, 56 min-utes.

— Peter Canavese

Playing for Keeps 1/2(Century 16, Century 20) An-

other day at the Romantic Comedy Factory:

“Hey, Phil. Coffee?”“Yes please! But listen, Al, Old

Man FilmDistrict is on the warpath: We need to get the assembly line moving pronto.”

“Well, fire up the Random Rom-Com Title Generator, then.”

Beep-boop-boop-boop-beep-beep! “Here it is: ‘Playing for Keeps.’”

“OK, that’s an easy one. Former British soccer star, now a washed-up, unemployed single dad, has moved to Virginia to be close to his ex and their boy.”

“Is the boy doe-eyed and apple-cheeked?”

“Is the Pope Catholic? This isn’t my first day on the job.”

“So the dad coaches the 10-year-old’s soccer team, but keeps screwing things up by accidentally sleeping with soccer moms and dis-appointing his kid.”

“Really, he’s determined not to lose his family. He’s ... playing for keeps.”

“You got it. Pull me down a Ge-rard Butler and a Jessica Biel, will ya?”

The recession-proof entertain-ment industry is one of America’s most durable ones, and I know we’re supposed to buy American. But what did P.T. Barnum say?

You’ll never go broke underestimat-ing the intelligence of the American public?

Actually, “Playing for Keeps” is directed by an Italian filmmaker, Gabriele Mucchino; perhaps a lan-guage barrier explains his rubber-stamping a tin-eared script by Rob-bie Fox. It’s all strictly boilerplate. Will they or won’t they get back together? Will a job offer in a dif-ferent city pull a family apart? Will the audience fall asleep before they find out?

Actually, there’s some mild root-ing interest in Butler’s George Dryer getting it together, mostly in the scenes in which the overgrown boy attempts to bond with his son, Lewis (Noah Lomax). But “Playing for Keeps” is entirely undemanding, mostly unrealistic, not at all funny, and curiously disconnected, with supporting characters that are plot functions rather than people.

Mostly, these comprise actresses rounded up to hit on Butler: Cath-erine Zeta-Jones, Judy Greer and Uma Thurman (whose character is married to a glad-handing psy-cho played by Dennis Quaid). Only Greer milks some laughs, but from a stereotypical desperation shtick, whereas her peers get to more con-fidently do the same thing: throw themselves at Butler. Meanwhile, the down-on-his-luck George basi-cally lucks into a once-in-a-lifetime job offer, presaging a feel-good happy ending that likewise rings false.

It’s almost as if the movie bought into the parenting advice that Biel’s Stacie offers George: “You just have to be there.” Actually, there’s a little more to it.

Rated PG-13 for some sexual situations, language and a brief intense image. One hour, 45 min-utes.

— Peter Canavese

OPENINGS

Tickets and Showtimes available at cinemark.com

Century Theatres at Palo Alto SquareFri 12/7 Life of Pi 3D - 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 Life of Pi 2D - 2:30, 5:30, 8:30

Sat 12/8 Life of Pi 3D - 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 Life of Pi 2D - 2:30, 5:30, 8:30

Sun - Thurs Life of Pi 3D - 1:00, 4:00, 7:00 Life of Pi 2D -2:30, 5:30, 8:3012/9-12/13

Edith Scob in “Holy Motors” (channeling her role from the 1960 film “Eyes Without A Face”).

Page 28

Anna Karenina (R) Aquarius Theatre: 2, 5 & 8 p.m. Century 20: 12:55, 3:55, 7:05 & 10:05 p.m.

Argo (R) 1/2 Century 16: 12:20, 3:20, 6:20 & 9:45 p.m. Century 20: 1:05, 3:50, 6:40 & 9:30 p.m.

End of Watch (R) 1/2 Century 20: 11:40 a.m.; 2:15, 4:55, 7:35 & 10:15 p.m.

First Love (1939) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Stanford Theatre: Sat.-Mon. at 5:55 & 9:10 p.m.

Flight (R) Century 16: 11:30 a.m.; 3:10, 6:40 & 10:10 p.m. Century 20: 12:05, 3:15, 6:25 & 9:35 p.m.

Hitchcock (PG-13) Century 20: Noon, 2:25, 4:55, 7:25 & 9:55 p.m. Guild Theatre: 2:45, 5, 7:15 & 9:30 p.m.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (PG-13) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: Thu. at 12:01 a.m.; In 3D Thu. at 12:01 a.m. Century 20: Thu. at 12:02 a.m.; In 3D Thu. at 12:01 & 12:03 a.m.

Holy Motors (Not Rated) 1/2 Aquarius Theatre: 2:30, 5:30 & 8:30 p.m.

Home Alone (PG) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: Wed. at 2 & 7 p.m. Century 20: Wed. at 2 & 7 p.m.

It’s a Date (1940) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Stanford Theatre: Tue.-Thu. at 7:30 p.m.

Killing Them Softly (R) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: 11:50 a.m.; 2:20, 4:50, 7:30 & 10:20 p.m. Century 20: 12:15, 2:40, 5:05, 7:35 & 10:10 p.m.

Life of Pi (PG) 1/2 Century 20: 11:40 a.m.; 2:40, 5:40 & 8:40 p.m.; In 3D at 12:40, 3:40, 6:40 & 9:40 p.m.; In 3D Fri. also at 1:40, 4:40, 7:40 & 10:40 p.m. Palo Alto Square: 2:30, 5:30 & 8:30 p.m.; In 3D at 4 & 7 p.m.; In 3D Fri. & Sat. also at 10 p.m.; In 3D Fri. & Sun. also at 1 p.m.

Lincoln (PG-13) 1/2 Century 16: 11 a.m.; noon, 2:15, 3:15, 6:10, 7, 9:40 & 10:30 p.m. Century 20: 11:15 a.m.; 2:35, 3:35, 5:55, 6:55, 9:15 & 10:15 p.m.; Fri. & Sun. also at 12:20 p.m.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (PG-13) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: Sat. & Sun. at 11 a.m. Century 20: Sat. & Sun. at 11 a.m.

Mad About Music (1938) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Stanford Theatre: Fri. at 7:30 p.m.

The Metropolitan Opera: Un Ballo in Maschera (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Century 20: Sat. at 9:55 a.m. Palo Alto Square: Sat. at 9:55 a.m.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (PG-13) Century 16: 11:35 a.m.; 2:05, 4:40, 7:35 & 10:10 p.m.

Playing for Keeps (PG-13) 1/2 Century 16: 11:10 a.m.; 1:40, 4:30, 7:30 & 10:30 p.m. Century 20: 12:05, 2:40, 5:15, 7:50 & 10:25 p.m.

Red Dawn (PG-13) 1/2 Century 16: 11:40 a.m.; 2:10, 4:50, 7:50 & 10:20 p.m. Century 20: 12:50, 3:10, 5:30, 8 & 10:30 p.m.

Rise of the Guardians (PG) 1/2 Century 16: 11:20 a.m.; 1:45, 4:10, 7:05 & 9:55 p.m.; In 3D at 12:10, 2:40, 6:05 & 8:55 p.m. Century 20: 11:30 a.m.; 1:55, 4:20, 6:45 & 9:10 p.m.; In 3D at 12:30, 3, 5:25, 7:55 & 10:25 p.m.

The Sessions (R) Century 16: 11:25 a.m.; 1:50, 4:10, 6:30 & 9 p.m.

Silver Linings Playbook (R) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: 12:15, 3:25, 6:35 & 9:55 p.m. Century 20: 11:35 a.m.; 2:15, 5, 7:45 & 10:35 p.m.

Skyfall (PG-13) 1/2 Century 16: 11 a.m.; 2:30, 6:10 & 9:40 p.m.; Fri. also at noon, 3:30, 7 & 10:30 p.m. Century 20: 11:20 a.m.; 12:45, 2:25, 4:05, 5:35, 7:20, 8:45 & 10:30 p.m.

Spring Parade (1940) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Stanford Theatre: Tue.-Thu. at 5:50 & 9:25 p.m.

That Certain Age (1938) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Stanford Theatre: Fri. at 5:45 & 9:20 p.m.

Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Stanford Theatre: Sat.-Mon. at 7:30 p.m.; Sat. & Sun. also at 4:15 p.m.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (Not Rated) Century 16: 11:15 a.m.; 2, 4:45, 7:40 & 10:30 p.m. Century 20: 11:25 a.m.; 2, 4:55, 7:50 & 10:45 p.m.

Wreck-It Ralph (PG) Century 16: 1:35, 4:15, 6:55 & 9:50 p.m.; In 3D at 11 a.m. Century 20: 11:15 a.m.; 1:50, 4:30, 7:10 & 9:50 p.m.

MOVIE TIMES

Skip it Some redeeming qualities A good bet Outstanding

Movies

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All showtimes are for Friday through Sunday only unless otherwise noted. For other times, as well as reviews and trailers, go to PaloAltoOnline.com/movies.

Internet address: For show times, plot synopses, trailers, theater addresses

and more information about films playing, go to PaloAltoOnline.com/movies

Page 29

SportsShorts

FridayWomen’s volleyball: Stanford vs. Iowa

St., 7 p.m.; ESPN3; KZSU (90.1 FM)

SaturdayWomen’s volleyball: Stanford-Iowa St.

winner vs. Michigan-Michigan St. winner, 8:30 p.m.; ESPNU

ON THE AIR

Stanford head coach David Shaw holds aloft the Pac-12 Championship Game trophy after his team defeated UCLA, 27-24, last Friday night and earned a berth in the Rose Bowl game on January 1 in Pasadena.

Bob Drebin/stanfordphoto.com

SHP’s Jack Del Santo (right) steps in front of Menlo’s Connor Paterson for one of his two interceptions.

Dave Bouvier

STANFORD FOOTBALL

Holy smoke! A 12-1 recordand a section title for SHP

CCS FOOTBALL

by Keith Peters

W hen Pete Lavorato looked out at his Sacred Heart Prep players during an early football practice, he liked

what he saw.“I knew we were going to be OK,” he said.

“But, to go 12-1? Holy Smoke!”Holy smoke, indeed. In his 10th season at the Atherton school,

Lavorato came up with a team for the ages. “It’s the best team we’ve had in 10 years,”

Lavorato said. “The best team, the best de-fense.”

Lavorato has been blessed with high-scoring teams, decent defensive squads and very talented players during his tenure. He previously had won a Central Coast Section Division IV title, in 2010, and pretty much accomplished just about everything.

His 2012 team, however, just pushed ev-

erything else over the edge with the best re-cord in school history (12-1), it’s second CCS Division IV title and a defense that allowed just 9.9 points a game — best in the section.

Gators capped their near-perfect season with a 13-7 victory over rival Menlo School last Saturday night in a torrential rain storm at Terra Nova High in Pacifica. There was no need for Lavorato to have a tub of Gatorade dumped on him as he and everyone else was already drenched.

Second-seeded Sacred Heart Prep defeated fourth-seeded Menlo (10-3) for the second time this season. The Knights had been aver-aging 48.3 points a game before the finale to lead the CCS, had scored 50 or more points on six occasions and tallied 56 points four times.

(continued on next page)

Rose Bowloffers shotat revenge

Cardinal can atone for loss to Wisconsin

in the 2000 gameby Rick Eymer

S tanford defensive end Ben Gardner grew up devoted to Wisconsin football. On New

Year’s Day he’ll be devoted to beat-ing the Badgers.

Gardner was raised in Mequon, a town on Lake Michigan about 15 miles north of Milwaukee. Home-stead High won the state Division I championship in Gardner’s senior year, finishing with a 14-0 record.

On signing day, Gardner went with Stanford while teammate Shelby Harris signed with Wiscon-sin (he’s no longer there).

“We took a lot of hypothetical questions about meeting in the Rose Bowl,” Gardner said. “People didn’t really expect it to happen. In fact, they laughed about it.”

Gardner hopes to get the last laugh, as the Cardinal goes against Wisconsin in this year’s Rose Bowl, a rematch of the 2000 Rose Bowl, in which Stanford lost, 17-9.

Both schools changed coaches since that game, though Wisconsin changed back after current coach Bret Bielema took a job with Arkan-sas. Former coach Barry Alvarez, the guy who beat the Cardinal 13 years ago, will return to the side-lines to coach the unranked Badgers when they face No. 8 Stanford on New Year’s Day.

“I’m very excited about coming back,” said Alvarez, the school’s athletic director. “This will be one game. I’m not looking to do it any longer than one game.”

David Shaw is Stanford’s fourth coach since Tyrone Willingham led Stanford into the 2000 Rose Bowl,

(continued on next page)

KNIGHTS FOURTH . . . The Palo Alto Knights’ Jr. Midgets football team will return home from the American Youth Football National Championships with a fourth-place finish in its division following a 44-16 loss to the Detroit Falcons in the third-place game Thursday in Kissimmee, Fla. Palo Alto, which compiled an 11-3 record this season, actually held an 8-0 lead in the first quarter after Ty Cox caught a four-yard TD pass from Jake Ritt-man. The Knights fell behind by 24-8 at the half before getting a 35-yard scoring play from Rittman to Jordan Schilling. By that time, the game was no longer in doubt. Palo Alto had extended its season with a 16-14 win over the Detroit Dolphins in the con-solation semifinals on Tuesday. The Dolphins scored first on a 27-yard run and ran in the extra point for an 8-0 lead. The Knights had a 68-yard drive and scored on a fumble recovery in the end zone by Garret Gavello after Schilling’s eight-yard run. The Dol-phins scored on a 53-yard pass to go ahead 14-8. In the third quarter, the Knights had a 10-minute drive before scoring on a one-yard dive by Sione Lutu with a second extra point (two points) kicked by Luca Zaharias for a 16-14 lead.

SMART TEAMS . . . The Menlo School football team, boys’ water polo team and girls’ golf team did not bring home Central Coast Section championships this season. Those squads, however, earned something just as impressive by being 2012-13 CCS Fall Scholastic Championship Teams — compiling the highest cu-mulative grade-point average in the section in their respective sports. Menlo topped all football teams with a combined 3.4914 GPA. CCS Divi-sion IV football champ Sacred Heart Prep was third at 3.3119. This marks the fifth scholastic championships for the Knights in football, which also won in 1987, 2004, 2005 and 2009. The Knights also had the No. 1 scholastic team in girls’ golf, compiling a cu-mulative 3.8500. And, in boys’ water polo, Menlo was No. 1 with a 3.5800 GPA. The Menlo girls’ water polo team ranked No. 5 at 3.513 while trail-ing No. 1 Castilleja (3.8889) and No. 3 Menlo-Atherton (3.6000). Castilleja’s water polo team had the second-high overall GPA among all teams in all sports, trailing only the Branham girls’ cross-country team (3.9280). Castille-ja excelled in four of its five sports — ranking No. 1 in girls’ tennis (3.8605), No. 2 in volleyball (3.7391), and No. 5 in cross country (3.7815) in addition to the No. 1 mark in water polo.

ON THE COVER: The Stanford football team celebrates its 27-24 win over UCLA in the Pac-12 Championship Game, earning the Cardinal a trip to the Rose Bowl game. Photo by Bob Drebin/stanfordphoto.com.

Page 30

The championship game matched the best offense against the best de-fense.

“When you have a defense, you’re always in the game,” said Lavorato. “We’ve kind of been known as a team that scores a lot of points, but not this season.”

This season was all about not let-ting the opponents score. In fact, the Gators had three shutouts in their first five games, during which they outscored the opposition by a com-bined 180-9.

So, what made this SHP different than in years past?

“The chemistry of this team,” said Lavorato. “We started with 33 guys, but we always had five guys hurt, it seemed. Every game we dressed 26-28. But, every kid could play. We had guys who stepped up.”

For example, when junior line-backer Sean Mayle suffered a con-cussion in the Valparaiso Bowl in the regular-season finale, sopho-more J.R. Hardy came in and played the final three CCS playoff games. When senior linebacker Trevor Rue-gg went down with an injury, junior Ricky Grau stepped in. The Gators also had to fill a big hole when junior tight end/linebacker Mark Hardy missed the entire season following an operation.

“We lost kids, but we had other kids right behind them who contrib-uted,” explained Lavorato. “This is a great group of kids. It’s been fun working with this group. . . . I don’t know if anybody really thought we were going to be as good as we are. I didn’t even think that.”

As the season progressed, howev-er, so did Lavorato’s impression of his team as it allowed no more than 28 points in a single game and gave up 20 or more only twice. Five times SHP held opponents to single-digit scoring.

The Gators wrapped up things up with their victory over rival Menlo (10-3), which was making its second title-game appearance since 2009 after winning 10 games for the first time since joining the CCS.

Sacred Heart Prep got two inter-ceptions from senior Jack Del Santo, the second coming 1:14 left in the game, to seal the victory.

Menlo came into the game having

scored 580 points this season. Ju-nior quarterback Jack Heneghan had thrown 33 touchdown passes with only three interceptions, operating out of Menlo’s wide-open run-and-shoot offense. Sacred Heart Prep, mean-while, had allowed just 122 points for an average of 10.1 per game.

Heneghan did get his 34th touch-down pass of the season, an eight-yarder to Matt Bradley on a third-and-3 situation in the second quarter. That held up for a 7-0 halftime lead on a night where the rainy weather played a big factor in the game’s outcome.

Heneghan, however, wound up just 6-of-20 passing for 68 yards with three interceptions. Five of the six interceptions he threw this season came in the two losses to the Gators.

Sacred Heart Prep bounced back from an unproductive first half to tie the game at 7 following a 65-yard drive. The Gators ran the ball 13 times, with sophomore Ben Burr-Kirven finishing it off with a one-yard run with 5:33 left in third quarter.

The game remained that way un-til Sacred Heart Prep put together another impressive drive, marching 73 yards on 13 plays, all runs, with senior quarterback Kevin Dona-hoe finishing it off with an 11-yard touchdown run. The extra point was missed, giving Menlo hope.

The Knights got one last chance late in the fourth quarter when Brad-ley broke through the line and threw Burr-Kirven for a three-yard loss on a fourth-and 3 from the Menlo 7. Menlo took over with 2:13 left to play.

Heneghan connected on back-to-back passes, threw an incomplete, but the Knights picked up five yards when the Gators were caught offsides. After an incomplete pass that was nearly picked off by SHP’s Patrick Tinsley, Heneghan ran eight yards for a first down at the Gators’ 49.

With time running out, Heneghan overthrew his receiver and Del San-to was there to pick it off. He made a nice, long return deep into Menlo territory before Donahoe took a few knees to run out the clock.

“I was just thankful we didn’t turn the ball over in the second half,” Lavorato said. “I was really proud of the guys. Our whole offensive line played so great in the second half.”

CCS football(continued from previous page)

with current radio analyst Todd Hu-sak as his quarterback.

The Cardinal is still looking for its first Rose Bowl since 1972, when the late Don Bunce led Stanford past Michigan.

“Before you’re aware of any other bowl game there’s the Rose Bowl,” Stanford linebacker Shayne Skov said. “The Rose Bowl is the pre-miere bowl game. I grew up watch-ing it.”

Cardinal linebacker Trent Murphy said this game was the goal from the moment he committed to Stanford.

“We wanted to win title and go to bowl games,” Murphy said. “This was our mission statement from the beginning.”

Stanford (11-2) qualified for the Rose Bowl game when it shut out No. 17 UCLA in the fourth quarter en route to a 27-24 victory in the Pac-12 championship game at Stan-ford Stadium last Friday night.

Cardinal quarterback Kevin Ho-gan posed for pictures with some kids on the way to the locker room. Chase Thomas was one of several players to clinch a rose in their mouth. As quick as he is, Stepfan Taylor was nearly the last one into the locker room.

This was something special.“It’s really special,” Shaw said.

“It’s the goal and the goal doesn’t change. It’s about trying to play our best football. Two years in a row we have been one game away and we lost to Oregon twice. We knew this year it was going to come down to beating Oregon up there. We had to beat Oregon to get over the hump. That was the signature game for us.”

The Bruins (9-4) took a 24-17 advantage into the fourth quarter and Stanford was showing no signs it would be able to stop Johnathan Franklin, who finished with 194 rushing yards. He was held to 29 yards in the final period, but did not touch the ball in UCLA’s final 13 plays.

The Cardinal defense held the Bruins on their final possession, forcing a 52-yard field goal that

went wide, clinching the confer-ence title.

“It’s been a pretty good month,” Hogan said. “We’ve been playing well and the guys around me made it easier, We knew we had to stay calm and play our style. We kept at it, pounded the ball, got field posi-tion, got the touchdown to tie it and then Jordan made a great kick.”

Jordan Williamson made two nice kicks in the contest, sending a 37-yard attempt between the goal posts at the end of the first half to give the Cardinal a 17-14 edge at halftime, and then nailing a 36-yard attempt with 6:49 remaining to play that turned out to be the game winner.

“Jordan has a lot of confidence,” Shaw said. “He’s strong enough to kick it from 60 yards out and all we ask is that he’s smooth and consis-tent.”

Williamson kicked the game-win-ner against the Ducks in overtime to propel Stanford into the title game.

Taylor had 78 yards to bring his career total to 4,212 rushing yards and eclipse Darrin Nelson’s all-time Stanford career record (4,169, 1977-81).

Hogan, named the game’s MVP, added 47 important rushing yards and scored a touchdown for Stan-ford. He also threw for 155 yards and a 26-yard touchdown pass to Drew Terrell, tying the game early in the fourth quarter.

“It’s been our goal since I’ve been here,” Terrell said. “When I got here, the standard was to win the Pac-12 championship. It was something we had to believe.”

Wisconsin reached the Big 10 title game despite going 4-4 in confer-ence. Both Ohio State and Penn State, which finished 1-2 in the Leaders Division, were ineligible for the postseason.

Following Stanford’s 2001 trip to the Seattle Bowl, Willingham left for Notre Dame and Stanford’s success left with him. The Cardinal floundered through three coaches and seven consecutive losing sea-sons.

Those days seem like ancient his-tory now that Stanford qualified for its fourth straight bowl game — and third straight BCS game — and Ho-gan will be the third different quar-

Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan (left) is congratulated by head coach David Shaw after Hogan was named the MVP of the Pac-12 Championship Game, leading the Cardinal to a 27-24 victory over UCLA last Friday at Stanford Stadium.

David Bernal/isiphotos.com

Stanford football(continued from previous page)

SHP senior Andrew Segre (34) rushed for 141 yards to pace the Gators past Menlo, 13-7, in the CCS Division IV title game.

terback.“We know we can compete with

anybody,” Shaw said. “We play with a chip on our shoulder and part of that was to prove we’re not a one-man organization. We’re a team. We’ll have more great players leave this year and we expect to be good again next year.”

With Hogan improving to 4-0 as a starter, all against ranked oppo-nents, the future looks as good as the present for Stanford.

“It’s been unbelievable, this ride,” said Hogan. “We knew we were ca-pable of it. It’s a great journey . . . I’m happy to go to Pasadena.”

David Shawa finalist forcoach of year

S tanford football coach David Shaw was named a finalist for the Eddie Rob-

inson Coach of the Year Award, as announced Monday by the Football Writers Association of America.

Balloting by the FWAA will be conducted through Dec. 8. The winner will be announced Dec. 13 and officially presented with the award Jan. 6 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Shaw has led the 11-2 Cardi-nal this season to its 13th all-time conference championship and first Pac-12 Championship, sending Stanford to the 99th Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO.

On the way to his second straight Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors, Shaw’s Cardinal has defeated five ranked oppo-nents — most this year in the FBS. Stanford has recorded regular-season victories over the Associated Press’ No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the nation for the first time in school history and the first time in the FBS since Miami in 2000. Stanford has played its best down the stretch, defeating four straight ranked teams in November.

Page 31

Sports

NOTICE OF SPECIAL PUBLIC MEETING of the City of Palo Alto

Historic Resources Board [HRB]

8:00 A.M., Wednesday, December 19, 2012 Palo Alto Council Chambers, 1st Floor, Civic Center, 250 Hamilton Avenue. Go to the Development Center at 285 Hamilton Avenue to review filed documents; contact Diana Tamale for information regarding business hours at 650.329.2144.

345 Forest Avenue [12PLN-00376]: Request by Cody Anderson Wasney Architects on behalf of Stephen Reller for Historic Resources Board review and recommendation regarding plans for a proposed historic rehabilitation of Laning Chateau, a Category 2 building on the City’s Historic Inventory which was constructed in 1927. The proposed project includes comprehensive restoration of the ornamental concrete façade, restoration of historic windows and railings, a seismic upgrade of the first floor, and selective demolition and alteration at the first floor to provide new windows and new storefronts. Approved historic rehabilitation plans would generate a Floor Area Bonus, reserved for oversized buildings, of approximately 16,800 square feet, all of which would be used off site in the City’s Transferable Development Rights Rights (TDR)

program. Zone District: CD-C(P).

Steven Turner, Advance Planning Manager

CROSS COUNTRYALL-PENINSULA ATHLETIC LEAGUE

Daniel Bereket (Carlmont) Sr.; Ryan Dimick (Carlmont) Jr.; Arthur Schulte (Car-lmont) Jr.; Rory Beyer (Aragon) Jr.; Lucas Matison (Carlmont) Jr.; Grant Murphy (Mills) Sr.; Logan Marshall (Half Moon Bay) Jr.; Tim Layten (Carlmont) Sr.; John Lovegren (Menlo-Atherton) Sr.; George Baier (Menlo-Atherton) Sr.; Zack Plante (Menlo-Atherton) Sr.; Atzin Cardiel (Westmoor) Sr.; Wyatt Cooper (Aragon) Sr.; Chris Jacobson (Half Moon Bay) Jr.; Lincoln Treanor (Half Moon Bay) Sr.

ALL-WEST BAY ATHLETIC LEAGUE

Co-MVP: Daniel Hill (Sacred Heart Prep) So.; Corey Gonzalez (Harker) So.

First Team

Matt Myers (Menlo School) Jr.; Andrew Schmitt (Menlo School) Sr.; Steven Glass-moyer (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.; Ryan Kaveh (Crystal Springs) Sr.; Joshua Keefe (King’s Academy) Sr.’; Chris Gregory (Priory) Jr.; Preson Lam (Crystal Springs) Jr.

Second Team

Collin Ching (Crystal Springs) Jr.; Dennis Mandudzo (Menlo School) Fr.; Cole Eber-wein (King’s Academy) Jr.; Abin Thomas (King’s Academy) So.; Leo Berez (Priory) Jr.; Carter Kremer (Sacred Heart Prep) Jr.

Honorable Mention

Derek Field (King’s Academy) Jr.; Isaiah Scott (King’s Academy) Fr.; Daniel O’Neill (King’s Academy) So.; Kevin Endersby (Pinewood) Jr.; Johnny Trudelle (Priory) Jr.; Andrew Christenson (Priory) Jr.; Ra-hul Sridhar (Harker) Jr.; Michael Machlin (Menlo School) Sr.’ Sasha Novitsky (Sacred Heart Prep) Fr.; Matthew Jacobs (Sacred Heart Prep) Jr.; Christian Rosales (Eastside Prep) Sr.; Ross Corey (Priory) So.; Emre Sonmez (Priory) Sr.; Hugo Pegley (Crystal Springs) So.; Javier Rojas (Crystal Springs) So.; Marcus Niksa (Crystal Springs) Jr.; Si-mon Willig (Crystal Springs) Sr.; Binh Phan (Crystal Springs) Sr.

FOOTBALLALL-SCVAL DE ANZA DIVISION

Most Valuable Player: Kyle Dozier (Saratoga) Sr.

MVP Offense: Keller Chryst (Palo Alto) Jr. QB

MVP Defense: Vita Vea (Milpitas) Sr.

MVP Lineman: Spencer Drazovich (Palo Alto) Sr.

Outstanding Offensive Lineman: Nico Aimonetti (Los Gatos) Sr.

Outstanding Defensive Lineman: TJ Towns (Santa Clara) Sr.

Outstanding Quarterback: Jonathan Walters (Saratoga) Jr.

Outstanding Running Back: Delshawn Mitchell (Wilcox) Jr.

Outstanding Wide Receiver: Jayshawn Gates-Mouton (Palo Alto) Sr.

Outstanding Tight End: De’Antay Wil-liams (Palo Alto) Sr.

Outstanding Defensive End: Chris Ma-lone (Milpitas) Sr.

Outstanding Outside Linebacker: An-drew Frick (Palo Alto) Jr.

Outstanding Inside Linebacker: Sione Finefeuiaki (Wilcox) Jr.

Outstanding Defensive Back: Malcolm Davis (Palo Alto) Jr. and Squally Canada (Milpitas) Jr.

Outstanding Senior: Kyle Kevorkian (Los Gatos)

Outstanding Junior: Adam Garza (Santa Clara)

Outstanding Sophomore: Joey Wood (Los Gatos)

Outstanding Freshman: Jarred Green (Milpitas)

First Team

Quarterback: Nick Bawden (Los Gatos) Jr.; Will Fisher-Colbrie (Mountain View) Jr.; Ronnie Reed (Milpitas) Jr.

Tight End: Frank Kapp (Mountain View) So; Teva Brender (Los Gatos) Sr.

Wide Receiver: Ashley Avery (Mountain View) Jr.; Grant Faylor (Saratoga) Jr.; Brian Erickson (Homestead) Jr.; Tre Hartley (Mil-pitas) Jr.; Stephen Rough (Saratoga) Jr.; David Kruskamp (Milpitas) Jr.

Running Back: Matt Tolbert (Palo Alto) Sr.; Justin Gates-Mouton (Palo Alto) Sr.; Marcus Jones (Mountain View) Sr.; Dion Perry (Santa Clara) Sr.; Will Le (Los Gatos) Sr.; Roland Luke (Wilcox) Sr.; Max Herman (Los Gatos) Sr.

Offensive Line: Drew Rider (Palo Alto) Sr.; Adam Verbugie (Homestead) Sr.; Jim-my Leatiota (Wilcox) Jr.; Kevin Tjon (Los Gatos) Sr.; Dave Fishman (Los Gatos) Sr.; James Tilton (Mountain View) Sr.; Alex Singh (Mountain View) Sr.; John Olsen (Saratoga) Sr.; Clark Rothenberg (Saratoga) Jr.; Mikey Saybe (Milpitas) Jr.; Vita Musika (Milpitas) So.; Zoelle Lei (Milpitas) Sr.

Defensive Back: Bent McCoy (Los Ga-tos) Sr.; Austin Johnson (Mountain View) So.; Joe Flores (Mountain View) Sr.; Derrick Rositas (Homestead) Jr.; CJ Reyes (Milpi-tas) Sr.; Mario Pellela (Mountain View) Sr.

Inside Linebacker: Erik Anderson (Palo Alto) Sr.; Jason Aguirre (Santa Clara) Sr.; Henry Wei (Saratoga) Sr.; Joeseph Ilaou (Homestead) Sr.; Tyler Perkins (Los Gatos) Sr.; Chad Schaumburg (Mountain View) Sr.; Corbin Jackson (Wilcox) Sr.

Outside Linebacker: Connor Church (Homestead) Sr.; Brandon Sualua (Milpi-tas) Sr.; Jack Tittle (Los Gatos) Jr.; Davis Berryhill (Saratoga) Jr.

Defensive Line: Larry Allen (Palo Alto) Sr.; John Antuna (Homestead) Sr.; Ricky Turnwall (Los Gatos) Sr.; Eeric Palomo (Milpitas) Sr.; Jake Romero (Milpitas) Sr.; Jason Scrempos (Milpitas) So.; Sam Park-er (Mountain View) Sr.; Nafe Latu (Moun-tain View) Sr.; Christian Lee (Saratoga) Jr.; Sefa Mikio (Wilcox) Sr.

Utility: Patrick McCaffrey (Santa Clara) Sr.; Mark Hirsbeck (Homestead) Sr.

Kicker: John Rak (Homestead) So.; Je-sus Gonzalez (Milpitas) Jr.

ALL-SCVAL EL CAMINO DIVISION

Co-Most Valuable Player: Joseph De Los Santos (Fremont); Keenan Smith (Fremont)

MVP Offense: Nathan Facciolla (Monta Vista)

MVP Defense: Forest Larson (Gunn)

Most Outstanding Lineman: Aryeh Furman (Gunn)

Co-Most Outstanding Quarterback: Spenser Quash (Harker); Andre Guzman (Gunn)

Most Outstanding Running Backs: Sean Lydster (Gunn); Peter Stern (Monta Vista)

Most Outstanding Wide Recivers: Kevin Sharp (Gunn); Eli Hawkins (Cuper-tino)

Most Outstanding Linebackers: Curtis Johnson (Fremont); David Park (Cuperti-no); Ryan Manley (Monta Vista); Dietrich Sweat (Gunn)

Most Outstanding Defensive Backs: Jordan Hazard (Fremont); William Major (Monta Vista); Won Lee (Monta Vista); Pat-rick Johnson (Cupertino)

Freshman of the Year: Saul Sher (Fre-mont)

First Team

Running Backs: Joseph Ochsner (Cupertino); Eric Day (Lynbrook); Daniel Orozco (Los Altos)

Tight End: Sam Kanongata (Fremont)

Placekicker: Ben Sampson (Gunn)

Wide Receivers: Robert Deng (Hark-

Evan Perkins (Menlo-Atherton) Sr.

Tight End: Derek Hunter (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.

Linemen: Enzo Santos (Menlo-Atherton) Jr.; Jovonne Mejia-Ortiz (Aragon) Sr.; Dom-inic DeSouza (Terra Nova) Sr.; Benji Palu (Burlingame) Sr.; Richard Auelua (Terra Nova) Sr.; Patrick Finnigan (Sacred Heart Prep) Jr.

Kicker: Aldo Severson (Aragon) Sr.

First Team Defense

Linemen: Joe Johnson (Burlingame) Sr.; Tom Bucka (Menlo-Atherton) Sr.; Sam Auelua (Terra Nova) Jr.; David Manoa (Ara-gon) Sr.

Linebackers: Matt Motylewski (Terra Nova); Mike Covell (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.; Nick Salzman (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.; Brian Jaggers (Menlo-Atherton) Jr.

Defensive Backs: Keoni Keahi (Burl-ingame) Jr.; Daniel Thaure (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.; Isaiah Atchan (Aragon) Sr.; Noah Kawasaki (Sacred Heart Prep) Jr.

Punter: Tasi Teu (Menlo-Atherton) Sr.

ALL-PAL OCEAN DIVISION

Offensive Player of the Year: Jack Heneghan (Menlo School) Jr.

Defensive Player of the Year: Anthony Ameperosa (South SF) Sr.

Utility Player of the Year: Maligi Maluia (South SF) Jr.

Special Teams Player of the Year: Max Parker (Menlo School) Sr.

Offensive Back of the Year: Anthony Shkuratov (South SF) Sr.

Offensive Lineman of the Year: Nate Velichko (King’s Academy) Sr.

Wide Receiver of the Year: Connor Stastny (Menlo School) Sr.

Defensive Lineman of the Year: Terrell Townsend (South SF) So.

Linebacker of the Year: Maligi Maluia (South SF) Jr.

Defensive Back of the Year: Jerick An-icete (South SF) Sr.

Coach of the Year: Frank Moro (South San Francisco)

First Team Offense

Quarterback: Jack Heneghan (Menlo School) Jr.

Running Backs: Anthony Shkuratov (South SF) Sr.; Dylan Anderson (Sequoia) Jr.; Booker Robinson (King’s Academy) Sr.

Linemen: Nate Velichko (King’s Acad-emy) Sr.; Chris Atkeson (Menlo School) Sr.; Kiola Mahoni (Woodside) Sr.; Julian Bertero (Sequoia) Sr.; Abiel Malepeai (South SF) Sr.

Wide Receivers: Connor Stastny (Men-lo School) Sr.; Connor Paterson (Menlo School) Sr.; Robert Johnson (South SF) Sr.

Tight End: Aaron Garcia (Woodside) Sr.

Placekicker: Tim Costa (Menlo School) Sr.

First Team Defense

Linemen: Wyatt Rouser (Menlo School) Sr.; Matt Koloamatangi (Woodside) Sr.; Anthony Ameperosa (South SF) Sr.; Terrell Townsend (South SF) So.

Linebackers: Maligi Maluia (South SF) Jr.; Liam Cotter (Sequoia) Sr.; Jack Fer-guson (Menlo School) Jr.; Seth Humble (Woodside) Sr.

Defensive Backs: Jerick Anicete (South SF) Sr.; Orlando Garcia (South SF) Jr.; Tra-vis Chambers (Menlo School) Jr.; Tommy Lopiparo (Sequoia) Jr.

Punter: Luke Vereschagin (King’s Acad-emy) Jr.

WATER POLOALL-PAL BAY DIVISION

Most Valuable Player: Morgan Olson-Fabbro (Menlo-Atherton) Sr.

Most Valuable Goalie: John Wilson (Menlo School) Jr.

First Team

Harrison Holland-McCowan (Menlo-Atherton) Sr.; Michael Hohl (Menlo-Ather-ton) Sr.; Nick Bisconti (Menlo School) So.; Spencer Witte (Menlo School) So.; Eric Bakar (Burlingame) Sr.

Peter Berquist (Menlo-Atherton) Jr.; Al-exander Carlisle (Menlo School) Sr.

Second Team

Evan McClelland (Menlo-Atherton) Jr.; Chris Xi (Menlo School) Fr.; Will Lauden (Burlingame) Sr.; Conor Kemp (Burlingame) Sr.; Nathan Calahan (Carlmont) Sr.; Dan-ny Gorn (Aragon) Sr.; Matthew Cremers (Woodside) Sr.

Honorable Mention

John Knox (Menlo-Atherton) So.; John-ny Wilson (Menlo School) Jr.; Jed Rosen (Burlingame) So.; Brice Dennis (Carlmont) Sr.; Rick Miyagi (Aragon) Jr.; Luis Medoza (Woodside) Sr.

ALL-PAL OCEAN DIVISION

Most Valuable Player: Jackson Dob-borw (Half Moon Bay) Sr.

Most Valuable Goalie: Tony Pappas (Hillsdale) Jr.

First Team

Kevin Merritt (Half Moon Bay) Sr.; Mat-thew Tolar (Half Moon Bay) Sr.; George Archibald (Sequoia) Jr.; Matt Brotherton (Sequoia) Jr.; Joel; Crossfield (Terra Nova) Sr.; John Holtan (San Mateo) Sr.; Grant Peel (Mills) Fr.

Second Team

Thomas Meador (Half Moon Bay) Sr.; Jaden Breisach (Sequoia) Sr.; Devon John-son (Terra Nova) Jr.; Austin Sterling (Terra Nova) Jr.; Danny Amaya (Hillsdale) Sr.; Won Kim (Mills) Sr.; Kyle Walden (Priory) Sr.

Honorable Mention

Kieran Wolk (Half Moon Bay) Sr.; Aaron Sturtevant (Terra Nova) Jr.; Tristan Knoth (Sequoia) Sr.; Javier Rosas (Hillsdale) Jr.; Brandan Vertrees (Mills) Jr.; Michael Schembri (Priory) Sr.

ALL-SCVAL DE ANZA DIVISION

Most Valuable Player: Michael McGee (Mountain View) Sr.

Most Valuable Goalie: Cameron Put-nam (Los Altos) Sr.

First Team

Russell Blockhus (Mountain View) Sr.; Connor Rudolph (Mountain View) Sr.; Ray Castillo (Mountain View) Jr.; Charlie Niehaus (Mountain View) Jr.; Ian McColl (Los Altos) Sr.; Sam Lisbonne (Los Altos) Jr.; Paul Bergevin (Los Altos) Sr.; Bren-don Duffy (Monta Vista) Sr.; Colin Hong (Monta Vista) Jr.; Bret Pinsker (Palo Alto) Sr.; Locklyn Jackson (Los Gatos) Sr.; Har-rison Waschura (Gunn) Sr.; Steven Russum (Homestead) Jr.

Second Team

Jason Russum (Homestead) Jr.; Mat-thew Hendrix (Los Gatos) Jr.; Ryan Seltzer (Los Altos) Jr.; Michael Znidarsic (Gunn) Sr.; Brent Schroder (Palo Alto) Sr.; Randy Kenyon (Mountain View) Jr.; Omer Yosef (Los Gatos) Sr.; Cale Horeff (Homestead) Sr.; Teault Marcelle (Los Gatos) Sr.;

Quinn Rockwell (Palo Alto) Sr.; Mark Schreiber (Los Altos) Sr.

ALL-WEST CATHOLIC ATHLETIC LEAGUE

First Team

Will Runkel (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.; Har-rison Enright (Sacred Heart Prep) Jr.; Bret Hinrichs (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.; Michael Holloway (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.; DeMar-co Orella (Bellarmine) Sr.; Riley Quinlan (Bellarmine) Sr.; John Raineri (Bellarmine) Sr.; Cory McGee (St. Francis) Sr.; Brayden Curry (St. Francis) Sr.; Anthony Buljan (Serra) Sr.; Brian Roush (Valley Christian) Jr.; Reilley May (St. Ignatius) Jr.

Second Team

Zach Churukian (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.; Will Conner (Sacred Heart Prep) So.; Michael Blach (Bellarmine) Jr.; Jack Turner (Bellarmine) Jr.; Reid Lazzarini (St. Francis) Sr.; Shawn Welch (St. Francis) Jr.; Steve Olujic (Serra) Sr.; Brandon Yee (Serra) Sr.; Michael Hoefling (Valley Christian) Jr.; Ry-han Woods (Valley Christian) Sr.; Patrick Lynch (St. Ignatius) Sr.; Max Schaum (St. Ignatius) Jr.; Scott Mills (Mitty) Sr.; Dustin DeFrank (Mitty) Sr.

(All-league teams are selected by the coaches)

er); Kevin Moss (Harker); Lucas Ranieri (Lynbrook); Victor Ruiz (Los Altos)

Offensive Linemen: Ali Zarrabi (Lyn-brook); Darian Edvalson (Harker); Omar Naguib (Monta Vista); Sione Kanon-gata (Fremont); Ozzy Aufang (Fremont); Lexy Winters (Fremont); Faris Konaborni (Monta Vista); Dakota Kratzer (Los Al-tos)

Linebackers: =Matt Shamshoian (Cupertino); Kyle Williams (Lynbrook); Tim Wallis (Lynbrook)

Defensive Backs: Justin Cena (Mon-ta Vista); Mitchell Dang (Cupertino); Gabe Wagner-Rosales (Lynbrook)

Defensive Linemen: Adam Apolinar (Cupertino); Anthony Tung (Cupertino); Mike Jorgenson (Gunn); Johnny Arm-strong (Fremont); Adam Cacheiro (Fre-mont)

ALL-PAL BAY DIVISION

Offensive Player of the Year: K’ren Spain (Terra Nova) Sr.

Defensive Player of the Year: Daniel Thaure (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.

Utility Player of the Year: Aldo Sev-erson (Aragon) Sr.

Special Teams Player of the Year: J.D. Elzie (Aragon) Sr.

Coach of the Year: Pete Lavorato (Sacred Heart Prep)

First Team Offense

Quarterback: K’ren Spain (Terra Nova) Sr.

Running Backs: Tanner Piccolotti (Terra Nova) Sr.; Tasi Teu (Menlo-Ather-ton) Sr.’ Manase Palu (Burlingame) Jr.

Wide Receivers: Aldo Severson (Ara-gon) Sr.; Jaylend Jones (Terra Nova) Jr.;

Page 32

Sports

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(TENTATIVE) AGENDA–SPECIAL MEETING-COUNCIL CHAMBERSMONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012 6:00 PM

CLOSED SESSION1. Potential LitigationSPECIAL ORDERS 2. Proclamation Honoring John TuomyCONSENT CALENDAR3. Finance Committee Recommendation to Approve the Residential

CustomerConnect Pilot Program, Approve a Contract with Elster Solu-tions LLC for up to $450,455, and Adoption of a Resolution Approving Pilot-Scale Time-of-Use Electric Rate for Residential Customers

4. Finance Committee Recommendation to Adopt a Resolution Ap-proving the Cap-and-Trade Revenue Utilization Policy for the Use of Revenues from the Sale of Allocated Allowances in California’s Green-house Gas Cap-and-Trade Auctions

5. Resolution Declaring Weeds to be a Public Nuisance and Setting January 9, 2013 for a Public Hearing for Objections to Proposed Weed Abatement

6. Approval of a Wastewater Treatment Enterprise Fund Contract to Join the Bay Area Biosolids to Energy Coalition in the Total Amount of $151,553 for Membership in a Regional Coalition Exploring Biosolids to Energy Projects that Benefit the Regional Water Quality Control Plant

7. Resolutions Approving, Authorizing and Directing the Participation in Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency’s (BAWSCA) Bond Issuance to Prepay Capital Debt Owed to San Francisco

8. Approval of the Renewal of a Public-Private Partnership Agreement Between the City of Palo Alto and TheatreWorks

9. Approval of the Renewal of a Public-Private Partnership Agreement Between the City of Palo Alto and the Palo Alto Players

10. Approval of the Renewal of a Public-Private Partnership Agreement Between the City of Palo Alto and West Bay Opera

11. Trash Boom Agreement - Wastewater Treatment Plant12. Resolution Approving PEMHCA for PAPOA 13. Submittal of Mitchell Park Library and Community Center Bi-Monthly

Construction Contract ReportACTION ITEMS14. Public Hearing: Adoption of an Ordinance Establishing Underground

Utility District No. 47 (Middlefield Road/Addison Avenue/Cowper Street/Homer Avenue) by Amending Section 12.16.02 of the Palo Alto Municipal Code

15. Public Hearing: Adoption of an Ordinance Rezoning a 0.6-acre Site from Single Family Residential (R-1) to Service Commercial (CS), Adoption of a Resolution Amending the Comprehensive Plan Land Use Designation from Single Family Residential to Service Com-mercial, and Approval of the Negative Declaration for the Properties located at 423-451 Page Mill Road (continued from December 3, 2012)

16. Public Hearing: Approval of a Record of Land Use Action for a Preliminary Parcel Map with Exceptions to Create two Single Family Residential lots from one such lot, requested by Samir Tuma and Kriss Deiglmeier, Resulting in parcels having a width of 55.845 feet where the R-1 Zone standard minimum width is 60 feet, and Ap-proval of a Negative Declaration at 827 Chimalus Driv

17. Public Hearing: Consider Extending through December 20, 2013 a Moratorium on the Use of Certain Parking Exemptions contained in Section 18.52.060(c) of of the Zoning Ordinance Related to the Downtown and California Avenue Parking Assessment Areas; and Considerations for Making Exceptions from the Moratorium for Pro-posed Projects at 135 Hamilton Avenue and 636 Waverley Street

(TENTATIVE) AGENDA–SPECIAL MEETING-COUNCIL CONFERENCE ROOM TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012 5:00 PM

CLOSED SESSION1. CAO Midyear Evaluations

STANDING COMMITTEE MEETINGSThe Policy & Service Committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, Decem-ber 11, 2012 at 6:00 PM regarding; 1) Board and Commission Recruit-ment Process, 2) Council Priority Setting, and 3) Employee Benefits Audit

The Regional Housing Mandate Committee meeting will be held on Thursday, December 13, 2012 at 4:00 PM regarding the City of Palo Alto Appeal of the Adopted Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) for the 2014-2022 Housing Element Cycle.

http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/knowzone/agendas/council.asp

THIS IS A SUMMARY OF COUNCIL AGENDA ITEMS. THE AGENDA WITH COMPLETE TITLES INCLUDING LEGAL DOCUMENTATION

CAN BE VIEWED AT THE BELOW WEBPAGE:

PALO ALTO CITY COUNCILCIVIC CENTER, 250 HAMILTON AVENUE BROADCAST

LIVE ON KZSU, FM 90.1 CABLECAST LIVE ON GOVERNMENT ACCESS CHANNEL 26

********************************************

To be held at 3:00 p.m., Thursday, December 20,

2012, in the Palo Alto City Council Conference Room,

1st Floor, Civic Center, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo

Alto, California. Go to the Development Center at 285

Hamilton Avenue to review filed documents; contact

Alicia Spotwood for information regarding business

hours at 650-617-3168.

4073 El Camino Real [12PLN-00316] - Request

by Michael Chau for a Preliminary Parcel Map for a

condominium map to create one commercial unit and

two residential units. Zone District: CN (Neighborhood

Commercial).

Curtis Williams

Director of Planning and Community Environment

CITY OF PALO ALTONOTICE OF

DIRECTOR’S HEARING

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

Sonia Abuel-Saud*Sacred Heart Prep volleyball

Hashima CarothersEastside Prep basketball

Victoria GarrickSacred Heart Prep volleyball

Claire KlausnerGunn basketball

Lauren RantzCastilleja basketball

Zoe ZwerlingGunn basketball

Ben Burr-KirvenSacred Heart Prep football

Ian CramerGunn wrestling

Kevin DonahoeSacred Heart Prep football

Patrick FinniganSacred Heart Prep football

Andrew SegreSacred Heart Prep football

Paul WestcottSacred Heart Prep football

Honorable mention

Cammie MertenSacred Heart Prep

The senior setter produced 54 assists and 18 digs in the NorCal Division IV volley-ball finals to help the Gators reach the CIF state finals, where she added 47 assists and 18 digs in a five-game loss.

Jack Del SantoSacred Heart Prep

The senior defensive back picked off a pair of passes to end Menlo School’s final two drives of the game, the second coming with 1:14 to play to secure a 13-7 victory in the CCS Division IV cham-pionship game.

* previous winner

To see video interviews of the Athletes of the Week, go to www.PASportsOnline.com

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

SHP justmisses instate finalT he Sacred Heart Prep girls’

volleyball team was just four points away from its first state

championship since 1996. The Ga-tors had battled back from a 2-0 deficit and now were primed to win it all with a remarkable comeback.

That comeback, however, never happened. Instead, Francis Parker (San Diego) battled back to tie the fifth set at 11 and then 12 before fi-nally winning it, 15-13.

The title celebration that the Ga-tors could see themselves in sudden-ly was gone in a 25-23, 28-26, 22-25, 22-25, 15-13 loss to the Lancers in the CIF Division IV state champion-ship match on Saturday at Concor-dia University in Irvine.

Francis Parker (37-2) won its first state crown in seven years and the seventh in program history while Sacred Heart Prep (33-6) was run-ner-up for the second time in three years.

The Gators appeared prime to win it after Francis Parker made a hit-ting error to give SHP an 11-8 lead in the final set. After a timeout, the Lancers came out and scored three straight points to tie. A serving error gave the lead (12-11) and ball back to SHP, but the Lancers’ Michaela Dews produced her 19th kill to tie at 12. Francis Parker served an ace and Dews made it 20 kills for a 14-12 advantage.

After SHP senior Payton Smith came up with her 11th kill (she also had five blocks), Lancers’ setter Eri-ka Conners got one through the SHP defense for the deciding point.

SHP senior Jillian Geary had scored three straight points to give her team an 8-5 lead, but errors led to an 8-8 tie. Geary later received the “Pursuing Victory With Honor” sportsmanship award, an honor giv-en to each team.

Ellie Shannon, one of nine SHP seniors, helped rally the Gators from a 21-17 deficit in the fourth set with three kills before fellow senior Helen Gannon served back-to-back aces for the victory -- forcing the fifth and deciding set.

Shannon finished with 17 kills and Smith added 14. Along with Gannon (26 digs) and Geary, the other SHP seniors bowing out in their final match included Sonia Abuel-Saud, Cammie Merten, Cady Hellman, Jojo Kurtzman and Haley Cropper. Merten finished with 47 assists and 18 digs in her final match and Abuel-Saud contributed 10 kills and 22 digs.

SHP coach Damien Hardy will return only one starter next season in current sophomore Victoria Gar-rick, who produced 16 kills and 19 digs in the championship match that saw the Gators hit .264 as a team.

Sacred Heart Prep came into the finals ranked No. 1 in the state in Division IV by the Freeman rank-ings on MaxPreps. The Gators were No. 9 in the state overall and No. 38 in the nation.

Page 33

Sports

Stanford women’s volleyball heads to NCAA Sweet 16by Rick Eymer

T he nationally No. 2-ranked Stanford women’s volleyball team is on a quest for a sev-

enth national title and will head to the Berkeley Regional this week-end. The tournament’s overall No. 2 seed, the Cardinal (29-3) will face No. 15 seed Iowa State (22-7) on Friday at Haas Pavilion at 7 p.m.

Should Stanford advance, it will take on either Michigan or Michi-gan State on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. on ESPNU.

Should the Cardinal advance past this weekend, the team will head to the Final Four, set for Dec. 13-15 at the KFC Yum! Center in Louis-ville, Ky. Stanford has appeared in a nation-best 18 Final Fours.

Stanford qualified for the Berke-ley Regional with a pair of wins last weekend at Maples Pavilion.

Freshman Inky Ajanaku recorded 11 kills and had a hitting percentage of .600 as Stanford downed visiting Western Kentucky, 25-15, 25-23,

25-15, in the second round of the NCAA tournament Saturday night.

“On different nights we have dif-ferent combinations of three to four hitters that are on,” Stanford coach John Dunning said. “Inky obviously did a really good job, blocked a lot of balls and had a lot of kills.”

Dunning now looks forward to taking on Iowa State.

“They finished second in the Big 12 and are a really well-coached and tough team,” said Dunning. “We know they are going to come at us and they are battle-tested. We are going to have to come out and fight with them.”

Michigan (24-11) and Michigan State (23-9) meet in the Sweet 16 match. Michigan upset 10th-seeded Louisville in four sets and the Spar-tans knocked seventh-seeded UCLA in four sets.

In the second set against Western Kentucky, Stanford called a timeout when the Hilltoppers took a 22-21 lead.

Brittany Howard and Jordan Bur-gess each recorded a kill out of the timeout and Howard added a service ace to put the Cardinal on the brink. The Hilltoppers staved off one match point before Burgess ended it with a kill.

The Cardinal advanced to the Sweet Sixteen after missing out last year, dropping a second-round match to Michigan. Stanford has not been to a Final Four since los-ing to Penn State in the national title match in 2008.

No. 13 Washington, with fresh-man Melanie Wade of Palo Alto, came back to beat Hawaii in five sets, No. 5 Oregon swept Dayton and USC swept St. Mary’s in match-es involving other Pac-12 teams.

This year marks Stanford’s 32nd consecutive NCAA postseason ap-pearance.

Ajanaku and Carly Wopat were selected to the 14-player AVCA All-Pacific Region team. The pair is now in contention to become 2012

All-Americans. It is Wopat’s second career all-region honor. Ajanaku is the 11th Cardinal rookie to be named to an all-region team, and the first since Alix Klineman in 2007.

FootballStanford senior wide receiver

Drew Terrell recently accepted an invitation to play in the 2013 Casi-no Del Sol College All-Star Game. The contest will be played Jan. 11 at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium in Tucson, Ariz.

Established in 2011 as part of the post-BCS football events, last year’s Casino Del Sol College All-Star Game featured six NFL draft picks. An additional 61 players from the 2012 roster entered NFL training camps in July.

Women’s soccerThree Stanford players were

named to the NSCAA All-America team last week, including two to the first team.

Defenders Alina Garciamendez and Rachel Quon were named to the first team, and midfielder Ma-riah Nogueira received second team honors. All are four-year starters and tri-captains for the No. 1 Car-dinal (21-2-1), which lost to North Carolina, 1-0, in overtime in the NCAA College Cup semifinals in San Diego.

This is the first All-America se-lection for Garciamendez and Quon, and the second for Nogueira, a third-team All-America in 2009.

This week, six Stanford were named NSCAA All-Pacific Region, including three on the first team.

Nogueira, Garciamendez, and Quon each earned first-team hon-ors. Junior goalkeeper Emily Oliver and sophomore forward Chioma Ubogagu were second-team selec-tions, and forward Courtney Verloo was a third-team choice.

Nogueira received her third first-team honor. For Garciamendez and Quon, it was the second for each.

Page 34

Sports

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BOYSCombined teams

Player of the Year: Harrison Enright (Sa-cred Heart Prep) Jr.

First Team

John Raineri (Bellarmine) Sr.; Cory Mc-Gee (St. Francis) Sr.; Michael Holloway (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.; Anthony Buljan (Serra) Sr.; Morgan Olson-Fabbro (Menlo-Atherton) Sr.; Bret Hinrichs (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.; Michael Blach (Bellarmine) Jr.; Will Runkel (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr. goalie

Second Team

Braydon Curry (St. Francis) Sr.; Michael Magee (Mountain View) Sr.; Ian McColl (Los Altos) Sr.; Nick Bisconti (Menlo School) So.; Harrison Holland-McCowan (Menlo-Atherton) Sr.; Reilley May (St. Ignatius) Jr.; Matthew Bucter (Leland) Sr.; Jack Turner (Bellarmine) Jr. goalie

DIVISION I

Player of the Year: John Raineri (Bel-larmine) Sr.

First Team

Cory McGee (St. Francis) Sr.; Anthony Buljan (Serra) Sr.; Morgan Olson-Fabbro (Menlo-Atherton) Sr.; Michael Blach (Bel-larmine) Jr.; Braydon Curry (St. Francis) Sr.; Michael Magee (Mountain View) Sr.; Har-rison Holland-McCowan (Menlo-Atherton) Sr.; Matthew Bucter (Leland) Sr.; Riley Quinlan (Bellarmine) Sr.; Jack Turner (Bel-larmine) Jr. goalie

Second Team

Joe Kmak (Serra) So.; Russell Blockhus (Mountain View) Sr.; Shawn Welch (St. Francis) Jr.; Reid Lazzarini (St. Francis) Sr.; Righabh Hedge (Lynbrook) Jr.; Joe O’Brien (Pioneer) Sr.; Rico Burke (Bellarmine) Jr.; Brendon Duffy (Monta Vista) Sr.; Rey Cas-tillo (Mountain View) Jr.; Evan McClelland (Menlo-Atherton) Jr.; Steven Olujic (Serra) Sr. goalie

Honorable Mention

Cory Murphy (Leland) Jr.; Charlie Nie-haus (Mountain View) Jr.; Peter Berquist (Menlo-Atherton) Jr. goalie; Nikolas Gregov (Homestead) Sr. goalie; Michael Hohl (Men-lo-Atherton) So.; Thomas Kelbert (Leland) Sr.; Brett Pinsker (Palo Alto) Sr.; Nathan Calahan (Carlmont) Sr.; Lachlan Jackson (Los Gatos) Sr.; Steven Cho (Saratoga) Jr.; Steven Russum (Homestead) Jr.; Brandon Yee (Serra) Sr.; Demarco Orella (Bellarm-ine) Sr.; Adam Brunmeier (Lynbrook) Sr.; Connor Rudolph (Mountain View) Sr.; Brent Schroder (Palo Alto) Sr. goalie

DIVSION II

Player of the Year: Harrison Enright (Sa-cred Heart Prep) Jr.

First Team

Michael Holloway (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.; Bret Hinrichs (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.; Ian McColl (Los Altos) Sr.; Nick Bisconti (Menlo School) So.; Reilley May (St. Igna-tius) Jr.; Alexander Carlisle (Menlo School) Sr.; Max Draga (Soquel) Sr.; Sam Lisbonne (Los Altos) Jr.; Michael Hoefling (Valley

Christian) Jr.; Will Runkel (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr. goalie

Second Team

Zach Churukian (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.; Zach Olivas (Carmel) Sr.; Eric Baker (Bur-lingame) Sr.; Zoltan Lazar (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.; Paul Bergevin (Los Altos) Sr.; Max Schaum (St. Ignatius) Jr.; Jack Picard (Soquel) So.; Karan Das-Grande (Harker) Sr.; Chris Xi (Menlo School) Fr.; Sam Sunde (Carmel) Sr. goalie; John Wilson (Menlo School) Jr. goalie; Brian Roush (Valley Christian) Jr. goalie

Honorable Mention

Wilson Strasilla (Willow Glen) Sr.; Alex Swart (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.; Scott Jol-lymour (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.; Alex Wag-goner (Santa Cruz) Sr.; Dustin DeFrank (Mitty) Sr.; Scott Mills (Mitty) Sr.; Alexander Lazar (Menlo School) Sr. goalie; Cameron Walker (Menlo School) Sr.; Micah Rosales (Menlo School) Sr.; Zach Lowenstein (Val-ley Christian) Jr.; Johnny Wilson (Menlo School) Jr.; Drew Lytle (Los Altos) Sr.; Mark Schreiber (Los Altos) Sr.; Afsheen Khosraviani (Los Altos) Sr.; Danny Gorn (Aragon) Sr.

GIRLSDivision I

Player of the Year: Jamie Nolan (Le-land) Sr.

First Team

Sierra Sheeper (Menlo-Atherton) Jr. goalie; Katherine Moore (St. Francis) Jr. goalie; Caroline Anderson (Gunn) Jr.; Cathleen Cantoni (Mitty) Sr.; Caitlin Scha-fer (San Benito) Sr.; Samantha Strutner (St. Francis) Jr.; Courtney Batcheller (St. Francis) Jr.; Teagan Stanbach (St. Francis) Sr.; Katie Peck (Leland) Sr.; Alison Griffeth (Leland) Sr.

Second Team

Gabby Whetsone (Santa Teresa) Sr. goalie; Sabrina Sherrin (Mitty) Jr.; Jes-

DIVISION II

Player of the Year: Carla Tocchini (St. Ignatius) Sr.

First Team

Francesca Puccinelli (St. Ignatius) Sr. goalie; Caitlin Stuewe (Sacred Heart Prep) Jr.; Jackie Stanger (Aptos) Sr.; Keri Clifford (Harker) Sr.; Kira Tomlinson (Burlingame) Sr.; Allison Loomis (Santa Catalina) Jr.; Bridgette Harper (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.; Lesley Kerley (Presentation) Sr.; Michaela Parelius (Soquel) Sr.; P.J. Bigley (Sacred Heart Prep) Sr.

Second Team

Kelly Moran (Sacred Heart Prep) Jr. goalie; Susan Providenza (St. Ignatius) Sr.; Nicole Reynolds (Burlingame) Jr.; Jillian Tarr (Castilleja) Sr.; Morgan McCracken (Sacred Heart Prep) Jr.; Rachel Vaughn-Hulbert (Willow Glen) Sr.; Colleen Boensel (Santa Catalina) So.; Marissa Petras (San Lorenzo Valley) Sr.; Anna Yu (Castilleja) So.; Claudia Macedo (Valley Christian) Jr.

Honorable Mention

Eden Griffen (Willow Glen) Sr. goalie; Lindsay Montgomery (Menlo School) Sr. goalie;

Romy Aboudarham (Los Altos) So. Goal-ie; Marrisa Sendejas (Live Oak) Sr.; Nikki de Roos (Saratoga) Jr.; Grace Arnold (Cas-tilleja) Sr.; Shannon Cry (Monterey) Jr.; Syd-ney Molano (Castilleja) Sr.; Amanda Chinn (Hillsdale) Sr.; Colleen Mayone (Monterey) Jr.; Liliana King-Adas (Soquel) Jr.; Katie Gutierrez (Burlingame) Sr.; Kate Bocci (Sa-cred Heart Prep) Sr.; Kaelen Dunn (Menlo School) Sr.; Natalie Picone (Valley Christian) So.; Emma Malysz (Presentation) So.; Jo-sephine Andrews (Presentation) Sr.; Cami Kellogg (San Lorenzo Valley) Sr.; Brooke Tomsula (Valley Christian) Sr.

Teams are selected by a panel of coaches)

Harrison Enright

Caroline Anderson

sica Heilman (Menlo-Atherton) Jr.; Jenna Swartz (Menlo-Atherton) Sr.; Eela Nagaraj (St. Francis) Sr.; Tina Samson (Leland) Jr.; Allison Larko (Los Gatos) Sr.; Lauren Le-syna Gunn) Sr.; Diana Hatamian (Leland) Jr.; Brittany Kirwan (St. Francis) Sr.

Honorable Mention

Anna de Groot (Homestead) Sr. goalie; Maura Cantoni (Mitty) So. Goalie; Abbey Bromberg (Palo Alto) Sr. goalie; Betsy Wall (Los Gatos) Jr.; Kiki Burke (St. Francis) Sr.; Sofia Caryotakis (Menlo-Atherton) Jr.; Emma Smith (Carlmont) Sr.; Shannon Sulli-van (Leland) Jr.; Sierra Painter (Pioneer) So.; Emma Frerichs (Mountain View) So.; Sami Gembala (Sequoia) Sr.; Emily Fong (Lyu-brook) Sr.; Megan Bordy (Woodside) Sr.; Carli Lazzarini (Wilcox) Sr.; Courtney Kin-derman (Homestead) Sr.; Martine LeClerc (Palo Alto) Sr.; Natalie Popescu (Lynbrook) Sr.; Faith O’ Malley (Pioneer) Sr.

Keith Peters

Bob Drebin

Page 35

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