october 8, 2021 | student covid-19 vaccine mandate garners

O C T O B E R 8 , 2 0 2 1 | VOL . 57 NO. 5 WWW.ALMANACNEWS.COM

T H E H O M E T O W N N E W S P A P E R F O R M E N L O P A R K , A T H E R T O N , P O R T O L A V A L L E Y A N D W O O D S I D E

By Angela Swartz

Voters will decide the fate of a proposed parcel tax that Menlo Park

City School District (MPCSD) officials say is needed to keep its programming afloat, retain teachers and keep class sizes small.

Measure B on the Nov. 2 special election ballot asks for $598 per parcel annually, a $193 bump from the current rate of about $405. It would raise $4.6 million annually for the district, which serves about 2,800 stu-dents in Menlo Park and Ather-ton, and requires two-thirds of voters’ support to pass.

“It’s a reasonable amount of money,” said Superintendent Erik Burmeister, who noted that he has made sure the district is very transparent with the pub-lic, hiring a public information officer and hosting a booth at the Menlo Park Farmers Market once a month for the last five years. “It’s not anything more than any kid in any community should have.”

The district is community

funded, and 88% of its bud-get comes from local sources, according to the district.

District officials say they lis-tened to voters who turned down the district’s past measures A and C, in part, because they were evergreen taxes. Instead, the latest measure would sunset after 12 years, expiring in 2033. This would replace Measure X, a seven-year parcel tax which expires in June 2024. It has been described as a “stopgap” solu-tion and raises $2.83 million annually.

The district made about $2 million in cuts in the 2021-22 fiscal year budget to help bal-ance its budget. Board Presi-

dent Sherwin Chen said the district “took a scalpel to these expenses,” but really “protected the education of our kids.”

“We have really thought about Measure B as the second step of Measure X,” Chen said. “We met the community halfway. ... Because of the greater faith the community has in the district, we said we are not going to take the easy bait of running a scare campaign.”

Measure B proponents argue that district leadership has made smart choices, including being one of the few districts in the state that offered in-person learning for most of the 2020-21 school year. MPCSD “created

the reopening plan that many others emulated,” proponents note on their website.

If Measure B fails, based on budget analysis, the board has discussed cuts to world language courses, librarian programs and physical education teach-ers (moving the responsibility to classroom teachers). It would also look at increasing class sizes. Chen noted that the dis-trict won’t be able to offer more programs as a result of Measure B.

Part of the district’s argument for funds is that it has financial challenges ahead, including a

By Zoe Morgan and Angela Swartz

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement last week that COVID-19 vaccines

will be required for students ages 12 and up has been met with broad support, and a lot of questions, from local education leaders.

School officials on the Penin-sula are generally on board with the idea of a vaccine mandate, but some say there are still a lot of details that need to be worked out.

For Palo Alto Unified School District Superintendent Don Austin, the news of a vaccine mandate was “relatively predict-able,” but the lack of written documentation on how the new rules will function has left a lot of issues unanswered.

“Immediately school lead-ers have a thousand questions, which are in addition to the questions we received right away from parents and staff,” Austin

said. “The frustration begins with having to wait for clarifi-cation around exactly what it means and potential timelines.”

The governor announced at an Oct. 1 press conference that students will be required to get fully vaccinated to participate in face-to-face instruction. The mandate will only take effect at the start of the academic term next year, either Jan. 1 or July 1, after the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the shots for those 12 and older. Based on current FDA time-lines, the state expects students in grades seven through 12 will be required to get vaccinated by July 1, 2022.

In response to questions from this news organization, the Cali-fornia Department of Public Health’s (CDPH) communica-tions office said in a statement that once the FDA fully approves a vaccine for students within a given span of grade levels, the

Measure B asks school district residents to increase parcel tax rateMenlo Park City School District seeks $193 more than current annual rate

Magali Gauthier

Brady Watten, 13, receives the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from licensed vocational nurse Joanna Morales at a drive-thru vaccination clinic at Hillview Middle School in Menlo Park on May 21.See MANDATE, page 14

See MEASURE B, page 21

Read up-to-the-minute news on AlmanacNews.com

VIEWPOINT 24 | ARTS 27 | FOOD 30INSIDE

2 0 21

V O T E RG U I D E

Student COVID-19 vaccine mandate garners local support, though education leaders say many questions remain unanswered

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced public school students age 12 and up will be required to get vaccinated

2 TheAlmanac AlmanacNews.com October 8, 2021

Th e Pandemic Puzzle: Lessons from COVID-19A FREE VIRTUAL SYMPOSIUM SERIES

▶ Register to watch live and access session

recordings, speaker Q&As, and more at

pandemicpuzzle.stanford.edu

Join leaders and experts from health care, business, and

government as we discuss the global response to COVID-19

and how we prepare for future health threats.

2021 SESSION DATES

SEP 17 Responding to a Global Pandemic

OCT 13 Building Toward Health Equity and

an Inclusive Recovery

OCT 28 Tracking and Mitigating a 21st Century Pandemic

NOV 19 Agile Discovery and Innovation: Advancing

Tomorrow’s Vaccines, Treatments, and Cures

SPEAKERS INCLUDE

Janet Woodcock, MDActing Commissioner, U.S. Food

and Drug Administration

Francis Collins, MD, PhDDirector, National Institutes

of Health

Meena Seshamani, MD, PhDDirector, Center for Medicare, Centers

for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Lloyd Minor, MDDean, Stanford School

of Medicine

Jonathan LevinDean, Stanford Graduate

School of Business

HOSTED BY

Marcella

Nunez-Smith, MDSenior Advisor, White House

COVID-19 Response Team

Robert Redfield, MDFormer Director, Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention

October 8, 2021 AlmanacNews.com TheAlmanac 3

PERFECTLY LOCATED on the Stanford campus at

the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, this home presents

sleek mid-century modern style with a two-level

spacious entry hall connects the main rooms, each

enjoyment while two upstairs partially covered

space is perfect for the Stanford lifestyle and

the home with privacy and provide ample space for

Elementary School, offers an easy connection to the

OPEN HOUSE Saturday & Sunday, October 9 & 10, 1:30 – 4:30pm

MORE PHOTOS AVAILABLE AT

www.729TolmanDrive.com

Mid-Century Classic with an Enviable Stanford Campus Location729 Tolman Drive, Stanford*

COLLEEN FORAKERRealtor®


Menlo Park1010 El Camino Real, Suite 90

650.326.9661

www.flegels.com

FLEGELS DESIGN

STICKLEYSALE

October 8, 2021 AlmanacNews.com The Almanac 5

M E N L O P A R K | A T H E R T O N | W O O D S I D E | P O R T O L A V A L L E Y

Local News

By Embarcadero Media staff

A community news site covering Redwood City is set to make its debut

this month, an expansion of Embarcadero Media, which publishes the Palo Alto Week-ly, PaloAltoOnline.com, The Almanac and the Mountain View Voice.

Building on the independent media company’s four decades of experience reporting on the Midpeninsula, the Redwood City Pulse will provide the city with professional journalism and community information.

“Redwood City is dynamic

and growing, and we can think of no better place to engage with residents, business owners, non-profits and government,” said Bill Johnson, president and pub-lisher of Embarcadero Media. “When so much is changing in a city, the role of journalism becomes all the more impor-tant in order to keep people informed and to be a conduit for helping them to get involved in what’s happening in their community.”

Veteran journalist Michelle Iracheta will serve as the Pulse editor. She comes to the Bay Area with more than eight years of experience as a journal-

ist, most recently working as a breaking news reporter for the Houston Chronicle. Her work has also taken her to newspapers in Hawaii, Las Vegas and Wash-ington state.

“I’m incredibly excited to explore the Redwood City com-munity and to be part of such a fantastic team here at Embar-cadero Media,” Iracheta said. “Embarcadero Media, with its commitment to unbiased, pro-fessional community news cov-erage across the Bay Area and its many journalism awards, proved to me the Pulse could successfully expand into Red-wood City and provide its resi-

dents with trustworthy, impact-ful, thought-provoking news.”

Menlo Park native Leah Worthington joins Iracheta as the lead Pulse reporter. In her prior work covering the East Bay, Worthington has written about everything from dementia and gene engineering to true crime and artificial intelligence. She also helped launch The Edge, a podcast about cutting-edge, often controversial, ideas in science, technology, and society.

To get started, the Pulse team plans to put a special focus on education, housing, develop-ment and the city’s redistricting

plans, among other topics, in the coming months. The publica-tion will be digital only, with no print edition.

Although operating as part of a long-established media com-pany, the Pulse has been given the charge of taking a fresh approach to digital journalism.

“Rather than simply replicat-ing the model of other newspa-pers, we at the Redwood City Pulse have the unique oppor-tunity to try something new — to grow and shape ourselves to meet the needs of Redwood City’s residents and workers,”

By Julia Brown

San Mateo County health officials will hold Pfizer booster clinics for eligible

individuals at the San Mateo County Event Center beginning Oct. 7, the health department announced Sept. 30. Boosters are also available now through pharmacies, primary health care providers and at the county’s community clinics (a list of clin-ics is available at smchealth.org/vaccine-clinic-calendar.)

In a press release, the health department stated that it would hold booster clinics on the fol-lowing dates at the event center (1346 Saratoga Drive in San Mateo):

• Thursday, Oct. 7, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

• Friday, Oct. 8, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

• Tuesday, Oct. 12, from noon to 7 p.m.

• Wednesday, Oct. 13, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Additional clinics may be scheduled according to demand, health officials said. Boosters are only available to individuals 18 and older who have received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Appointments are encouraged but not required, and may be scheduled through myturn.ca.gov.

These will be drive-thru clin-ics, similar to previous vac-cination clinics at the center,

the county said. Participants should wear masks and should not bring pets in the car. Those getting the booster should bring their previous vaccination docu-mentation; those without can self-attest to having received a second dose of the Pfizer vac-cine at least six months ago and meeting the other qualifications outlined by the CDC and FDA.

First and second doses of the Pfizer vaccine will also be offered to those who have not yet received them. An estimated 40,000 residents countywide remain unvaccinated, while 94.1% of San Mateo County residents have received at least one vaccine dose, health offi-cials said.

On Sept. 22, the FDA issued its approval of an extra dose of the two-dose Pfizer vaccine for those ages 65 and older and people ages 12 to 64 who are at higher risk of serious illness because of medical conditions or the nature of their job, as outlined by the CDC. Once fully approved by the CDC in addi-tion to the FDA, those eligible for boosters will be advised to get them at least six months after receiving their second dose of the vaccine.

The authorization applies only to the Pfizer vaccine at this time. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are currently seeking emergency use authorization for

San Mateo County begins offering vaccine boosters

for eligible individuals

Redwood City news site to launch in early October

Magali Gauthier

Janelle London, an Environmental Quality Commission member, holds her children’s book “Sparky’s Electrifying Tale” outside her Menlo Park home on Sept. 30.

By Kate Bradshaw

Menlo Park resident Janelle London has made it her mission

to advocate for the environ-ment. In addition to leading a nonprofit pushing to make America gas-free and serving on Menlo Park’s Environmental Quality Commission, she’s now co-author of a children’s book that builds on similar themes.

More specifically, she said, “Sparky’s Electrifying Tale” features a magical hamster and is the first book for children that talks about the harms of gasoline.

London is co-executive director at Coltura, a nonprofit focused on helping people switch from gas to cleaner energy at a faster pace. The nonprofit works to change policies and cultural attitudes

about the acceptability of gas as a fuel.

Matthew Metz, fellow co-executive director and founder of Coltura, is a co-author of the book. It’s illustrated by Ilya Fortuna, a freelance illustrator.

“We need to help children to understand this, to start to have a culture with a younger generation that doesn’t accept

Local nonprofit leader co-authors first book for children about

the harms of gasoline

See SPARKY, page 21

See PULSE page 8

See BOOSTERS, page 18

6 The Almanac AlmanacNews.com October 8, 2021

N E W S

Woodside resident wins community service award The Woodside Town Council awarded the Woodside Honor Coin to Anne Van Camp for her citizen advocacy for cleaning up the equestrian trails, after her beloved horse was injured by metal debris on local trails, during a Sept. 28 meeting. “The honor coin is new (this is only the second one we have awarded) and it is meant to serve as a symbol of the town’s grati-tude for those who have had a materially positive impact on our community through their advocacy, leadership and service to the town,” said Mayor Brian Dombkoswki in an email. The coin shows Woodside’s Independence Hall on its front, representing the meaningful impact that an individual can have in the local government, he said. Spring and Sprite (the horse statues along Woodside Road) are on the back, representing the commitment to the spirit of Woodside and upholding values as a community.

Community meeting on Portola Valley’s housing element Portola Valley town officials will host a community meeting on its latest housing element from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 14, on Zoom. The interactive meeting will include discussion on how to plan for more housing over the next eight years, according to the town. This meeting is open to everyone: Those who live or work in town and to all those who are new to the housing ele-ment update process. Sign up online at bit.ly/3EEEs4u. For questions or to get more information, email [email protected].

Woodside high teacher wins national award The MAA American Mathematics Competitions (AMC) announced the 2021 winners of the Edyth May Sliffe Awards for Distinguished Mathematics Teaching in Middle School and High School. Woodside High School AP Physics and BC Calcu-lus teacher Stephanie Finander was one of about 20 winners. The awards are given annually to teachers who have done outstanding work to motivate students in mathematics by par-ticipating in one of MAA’s competitions.

— Angela Swartz

COMMUNITY BRIEFS

City Council meetings to continue virtually It appears that public meetings will continue to be held remotely in Menlo Park for at least a while longer. The Menlo Park City Council voted unanimously Tuesday, Oct. 5, to con-tinue to retain the option for the council and the city’s advisory bodies to hold meetings remotely for at least the next 30 days due to health and safety concerns for the public. Assembly Bill 361, approved by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 16, authorizes local agencies to hold meetings remotely during a declared state of emergency or when the legislative body has determined that meeting in person “would present imminent risks to the health or safety of attendees.” Based on the prevalence of the delta variant of COVID-19, and the fact that masks are still mandated indoors countywide, the City Council agreed that meetings may continue remotely for the time being. The resolution will have to be reauthorized every 30 days, and the City Council planned to bring the item back at its upcoming meeting Oct. 12 to allow for more public discussion.

‘Neighborhood Pizza Guy’ brings project to the WillowsNext time you go to Cafe Zoe on a weekend, you may just be able to pick up a pizza. Matt Burr, who taught himself to bake pizzas as a pandemic passion project in Atherton and began sharing them with neigh-bors via the social networking site Nextdoor, will begin operat-ing out of Cafe Zoe in Menlo Park’s Willows neighborhood on weekend evenings starting Friday, Oct. 1. Cafe Zoe also hosts live music nights on Fridays. Pizzas will be available by preorder to pick up. “The last few months have been a lot of planning and business development, but Kathleen and Zoe have been so kind as to offer their assistance and space to help me get off the ground,” Burr

MENLO PARK BRIEFS

See MENLO PARK BRIEFS, page 20

Serving Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley,

and Woodside for over 50 years

The Almanac is published

every Friday at

3525 Alameda De Las Pulgas,

Menlo Park, CA 94025

Newsroom: (650) 223-6525

Newsroom Fax: (650) 223-7525

Email news and photos with captions

to: [email protected]

Email letters to:

[email protected]

Advertising: (650) 854-2626

Advertising Fax: (650) 223-7570

Classified Advertising: (650) 854-0858

Submit Obituaries:

AlmanacNews.com/obituaries

NEWSROOM

Editor Andrea Gemmet (223-6537)

Assistant Editor Julia Brown (223-6531)

Arts & Entertainment Editor Heather Zimmerman (223-6515)

Staff Writers Kate Bradshaw (223-6536) Angela Swartz (223-6529)

Embarcadero Media Staff Writers Sue Dremann (223-6518), Kevin Forestieri (223-6535), Lloyd Lee (223-6526), Zoe Morgan (223-6519), Gennady Sheyner (223-6513)

Contributors Kate Daly, Maggie Mah

Special Sections Editor Linda Taaffe (223-6511)

Chief Visual Journalist Magali Gauthier (223-6530)

DESIGN & PRODUCTION

Design and Production Manager Kristin Brown (223-6562)

Designers Linda Atilano, Amy Levine, Paul Llewellyn, Doug Young

ADVERTISING

Vice President Sales and Marketing Tom Zahiralis (223-6570)

Display Advertising Sales (223-6570)

Real Estate Manager Neal Fine (223-6583)

Legal Advertising Alicia Santillan (223-6578)

ADVERTISING SERVICES

Advertising Services Manager Kevin Legarda (223-6597)

Sales & Production Coordinator Diane Martin (223-6584)

The Almanac (ISSN 1097-3095 and USPS 459370) is published every Friday by Embarcadero Media, 3525 Alameda de las Pulgas, Menlo Park, CA 94025-6558. Periodicals Postage Paid at Menlo Park, CA and at additional mailing offices. Adjudicated a newspaper of general circulation for San Mateo County, The Almanac is delivered to homes in Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley and Woodside. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Almanac, 3525 Alameda de las Pulgas, Menlo Park, CA 94025-6558. Copyright ©2021 by Embarcadero Media, All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited.

To request delivery, or stop delivery, of The Almanac in zip code 94025, 94027, 94028 and the Woodside portion of 94062, call 854-2626.

The Almanac is qualified by decree of the Superior Court of San Mateo County to publish public notices of a governmental and legal nature, as stated in Decree No. 147530, issued November 9, 1969. Subscriptions are $60 for one year and $100 for two years. Go to AlmanacNews.com/circulation.

Established 1965

VERY REALLOCAL NEWS #PressOn

Print or online subscription starts at only $5 /month

Visit: AlmanacNews.com/join

MarketplaceThe Almanac offers advertising for

Home Services, Business Services and Employment.

If you wish to learn more about these advertising options,

please call 650.223.6582 or email [email protected].

U.S. POSTAL SERVICESTATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP

MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATIONRequired by 39 U.S.C. 3685

1. Publication Title: The Almanac

2. Publication Number: 459-370

3. Filing Date: October 1, 2021

4. Issue Frequency: Weekly

5. Number of Issues Published Annually: 52

6. Annual Subscription Price: : $120/year; $60 for seniors

7. Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication: 3525 Alameda de las Pulgas, Menlo Park, San Mateo County, CA 94025-6558

8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business Office of Publisher: 3525 Alameda de las Pulgas, Menlo Park, San Mateo County, CA 94025-6558

9. Full Names and Complete Mailing Addresses of Publisher, Editor, and Managing Editor: Publisher: William Johnson, 3525 Alameda de las Pulgas, Menlo Park, San Mateo County, CA 94025-6558, Editor: Andrea Gemmet, 3525 Alameda de las Pulgas, Menlo Park, San Mateo County, CA 94025-6558, Managing Editor: Julia Brown, 3525 Alameda de las Pulgas, Menlo Park, San Mateo County, CA 94025-6558

10. Stockholders Owning 1% or more of the Total Amount of Stock: William Johnson & Teresa Lobdell, Trustees, Palo Alto, CA; Jean & Dexter Dawes, Palo Alto, CA; Shirley Ely, Trustee, Palo Alto, CA; Franklin Johnson Jr., Palo Alto, CA; Marion Lewenstein, Trustee, Palo Alto CA; Joe Pickering, Trustee, Palo Alto, CA; Jeanne Ware, Palo Alto, CA; Cath-erine Spitters Keyani, Palo Alto, CA; Margaret Haneberg, Trustee, San Luis Obispo, CA; Jerome Elkind, Palo Alto, CA; Anthony Sloss, Trustee, Santa Cruz, CA; Derek van Bronk-horst, Corvallis, OR; Mary Spitters Casey, Campbell, CA; Peter Spitters, Campbell, CA; Jon van Bronkhorst, Redwood City, CA; Kort van Bronkhorst, Napa, CA; Nancy Eaton, Sausalito, CA; Thomas Spitters, Los Altos, CA; Karen Sloss, Bellingham, WA; Christopher Spitters, Seattle, WA; Elizabeth Sloss, Seattle, WA; Mike & Diane Naar, Trustees, Palo Alto, CA; Lawrence Spitters, San Jose, CA.

11. Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1% or More of Total Amount of Bonds, Mortgages or Other Securities: None

13. Publication Title: The Almanac

14. Issue Date for Circulation Data Below: September 24, 2021

15. Extent and Nature of Circulation

A. Total Number of Copies (Net press run) 9,500 9,500

B. Legitimate Paid and/or Requested Distribution

B1. Outside County Paid/Requested Mail Subscriptions 51 57

B2. In-County Paid/Requested Mail Subscriptions 6,089 5,927

B3. Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Paid or Requested Distribution Outside USPS 564 547

B4. Requested Copies Distributed by Other Mail Classes Through the USPS 0 0

C. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation 6,704 6,531

D1. Outside County Nonrequested Copies 0 0

D2. In-County Nonrequested Copies 0 0

D3. Nonrequested Copies Distributed Through the USPS by Other Classes of Mail 0 0

D4. Nonrequested Copies Distributed Outside the Mail 1,844 1,978

E. Total Nonrequested Distribution 1,844 1,978

F. Total Distribution 8,548 8,509

G. Copies not Distributed 952 992

H. Total 9,500 9,500

I. Percent Paid and/or Requested Circulation 78.43% 76.76%

17. Publication of Statement of Ownership for a Requester Publication is required and will be printed in the October 8, 2021 issue of this publication.

18. I certify that the information furnished on this form is true and complete.

Peter Beller, Chief Financial Officer, Embarcadero Media

Average No. of Copies Each Issue during Preceding

12 months

No. of Copies of Single Issue

Nearest to Filing Date


N E W S

By Angela Swartz

The Ravenswood City School District will lease out its district office and

an unused school site in Menlo Park to help bolster revenue to increase teacher pay and fund initiatives like early learning programs. The district plans to select the lessee and negotiate terms by the end of December, the Board of Trustees said during a Sept. 9 meeting. The 110,000-square-foot building spaces where James Flood Magnet School used to operate, at 320 Sheridan

Drive, are west of U.S. Highway 101 next to Flood Park and sits on an approximately 2.5-acre site. The district office is located on a 4-acre site at 2120 Euclid Ave. in East Palo Alto, and is about 176,000 square feet of building space. “The district needs to be financially stable in the long term, and this is Ravenswood’s only self-sufficient path towards competing financially with nearby affluent communities (like Menlo Park and Palo Alto),” district staff noted in a presentation. “We have histori-cally always chosen community

benefit by bringing in commu-nity partners. ... If we want to keep our adjusted budget in-line with other districts in the coun-ty, Ravenswood needs to have the highest per-pupil funding in the county and needs to develop sustainable and reliable revenue streams.” The district is in the early stag-es of exploring possible partners for both sites and officials don’t yet have a formal estimate of how much they might be able to receive in ground lease revenue, said Chief Business Official Will Eger in an email last week. This school year, the district

expects to receive a record amount of overall funding through the stimulus, the shift into basic aid, and a record donation from the Ravenswood Education Foundation of over $6 million this school year com-pared to $3 million in the recent past, according to the district’s

2021-22 budget. This puts it into the top third of districts in the county on the basis of per-pupil funding. “Yet when we adjust for stu-dent need, even with this record funding, RCSD receives roughly

By Angela Swartz

Atherton Vice Mayor Mike Lempres is step-

ping down from his post, effec-tive Oct. 15, fol-lowing a family move to Paris. Lempres, who was elected to the council in 2014, announced his resignation on Tuesday. His term on the five-member coun-cil was set to expire in Novem-ber 2022. “Unfortunately, it is neither appropriate nor possible for me to continue to serve on the Town Council when I am not living

in Atherton,” he wrote in an email to friends and neighbors on Tuesday. Lempres began his second term in 2018 when the council canceled its elec-tion by appointing the three incumbents, who were the only candidates to file, to serve new four-year terms. He is taking his consulting work, in the financial tech industry, to Europe for the next year. He previously served as the chief legal and risk officer for Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange platform. He most recently worked at venture capi-tal firm Andreessen Horowitz. His daughter is also attending middle school in France. “We’re never going to have

a chance to do something like this again,” he said of the chance to move. “I love Atherton. It’s a wonderful community. It’s sad because there’s a good possibili-ty I would have been mayor next year. I’m missing that opportu-nity but gaining the opportunity for my family and myself.” Lempres, a fifth generation Bay Area resident, is selling his Atherton home. He won’t rule out the possibility of moving back to town or seeking a seat on the council in the future. “I will miss the community involvement,” he said. He noted in this resignation letter that “the town government is in extremely capable hands. The town staff, led by City Man-

ager George Rodericks, does a tremendous job. The direction of policy established by sev-eral city councils over the years sets the town up well to retain its unique character despite the rapid changes occurring throughout the Peninsula.” He is proud that the town is close to completing the civic cen-ter project after decades of plan-ning. He’s also proud of his pedes-trian safety project — adding pedestrian lights when someone crosses the road — on El Camino Real while on the council. “It got done in record time, which is three years,” he laughed, noting that it can take a while to implement policies. Lempres has seen one sil-

ver lining over the course of the pandemic: increased public involvement with meetings tak-ing place over Zoom. “I hope when things return to normal, we continue to have that teleconferencing capability,” he said. “Suddenly instead of 2-3 people in attendance, we would have 20-30 online. From the resident standpoint, you didn’t have to give up the evening to go down to the town hall and sit in an uncomfortable chair.” The council consider how to fill Lempres’ position at its meeting Wednesday, Oct. 20, said Rodericks in an email. A

Email Staff Writer Angela Swartz at [email protected].

Atherton vice mayor resigning from City CouncilMike Lempres is stepping down after nearly seven years on the council to move family to Europe

Mike Lempres

Ravenswood to lease out district office, closed school site

Funds needed to help increase teacher pay, staff says

Veronica Weber

The Ravenswood City School District’s administration offices, located on Euclid Avenue in East Palo Alto.

By Angela Swartz

There are open seats on the Portola Valley School District governing board

after two of the five trustees announced they were stepping down early. The resignations, made two weeks ago, came just two weeks after two members of the Las Lomitas Elementary School District’s Board of Trust-ees also stepped down. Board President Brooke Day and Jeff Klugman, who each served on the board for four years, tendered their resigna-tions two days before the Sept. 23 meeting, effective Nov. 20, according to a report prepared by staff. The board voted dur-

ing that meet-ing to appoint two provisional members in mid-November. The board chose t he a p p o i n t m e n t process instead of calling a special election because this approach is “significantly less” costly and fills the vacancies in a more timely manner since a spe-cial election could not happen before April 2022, according to a presentation by district staff. The term of the two provisional appointments will end with the November 2022 election. Day, whose term was set

to expire in D e c e m b e r 2022, said over the last several months her per-sonal and work obligations have increased to the point that she didn’t feel like she could dedicate the time and effort the position needs. “This decision didn’t come easy; it’s bittersweet for me,” she said during the meeting. Klugman’s twin son and daughter graduated from eighth grade last spring, so he is no longer a district parent. He and his wife plan to be involved in their school activities, which

are spread across their two high schools, making it difficult for other commitments. “It has been far more reward-ing than any occasional chal-lenges that have occurred,” said Klugman, whose term was set to expire in December 2024. “This is the right time to turn it over to someone new.” Klugman told The Almanac in 2017 that he became interested in joining the school board part-ly over concerns that the district needed to think more carefully about how it uses technology in the schools. This school year the district is in the midst of rebuilding its two schools, Corte Madera Middle School and Ormondale

Elementary. The Board of Trustees is hosting virtual informational sessions on serving as a trustee Friday, Oct. 15, and Tuesday, Oct. 19, both at 9 a.m. The application can be found on the district’s website, pvsd.net, and is due by 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 15, in hard copy to the district office at 4575 Alpine Road, Portola Valley, CA 94028, or via email. Candidate interviews will be held on the evening of Wednes-day, Nov. 17, and the board expects to make appointments after the interviews. A


Two Portola Valley School District board members resignRemaining three board members will appoint new trustees in November

Jeff KlugmanBrooke Day

See RAVENSWOOD, page 18


N E W S

By Kate Bradshaw

Filiberto Zaragoza, a 19-year-old student at Foothill College, has had

his hands full over the past few months working to keep his community housed. As a core member of Youth United for Community Action, or YUCA, in East Palo Alto, he’s knocked on doors, met with renters, and helped to run clinics to support households behind on rent apply for rent relief and make themselves eligi-ble for protection from eviction before October. Zaragoza said that clinics were held outside

of St. Francis of Assisi Church in East Palo Alto and near the Woodland Park apartments. And those efforts paid off: As of Sept. 30, the group had helped about 150 households apply for rent relief and contacted about 2,800 households, he said. California’s statewide ban on evictions ended Oct. 1. In Califor-nia, renter households are shield-ed from eviction if they have paid 25% of their rent between Sept. 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021, accord-ing to CalMatters. They also cannot be evicted over any rent owed between March 1 and Aug. 31, 2020, so long as they respond to their

eviction notice with a signed declaration saying they experi-enced financial distress related to COVID-19. The full rent that accrued between March 2020 and Sep-tember 2021, however, is still due. Surgo Ventures, a nonprofit global and public health “action tank,” analyzed recent U.S. Cen-sus Bureau data and came up with estimates evaluating rent arrears owed by households in each county. According to their report, in San Mateo County, about 12% of households, or almost 13,000, owed a total of $98.3 million in rent, or an average of $7,633 per household behind on rent. In Santa Clara County, the study estimated that about 13%, or 36,000 households county-wide, were behind on rent and owed a total of $256.2 million, or about $7,227 per household. People are eligible for rent relief if they have been finan-cially impacted by the pan-demic and earn below 80% of the area median income, according to CalMatters. In San Mateo County, that threshold is set at $102,450 for a single-person household or $146,350 for a four-person household. In Santa Clara County, it’s $82,450 for a single-person household or $117,750 for a four-person household. “As soon as we heard about all the stuff we can do as youth — outreach, clinics, helping

organize everything, we were on board right away,” Zara-goza said. “We saw how seri-ous eviction really is and we wanted to take advantage of this moment and really help out our community.” Youth have a say in every-thing at YUCA, Zaragoza said, describing the process by which youth join the organization and then, as they rise in the leader-ship ranks, become eligible for both more responsibility and pay in their community advo-cacy work. In his conversations with residents, he said, a lot of people didn’t know that there was help out there, or that they could fill out an application so they wouldn’t be evicted from their homes. “Making that known to so many families was very neces-sary, especially for people who don’t speak English,” he said. One challenge that many households faced with the appli-

cation was that it asked details about how much each household was able to pay each month and by how much each house-hold fell short — numbers that weren’t easy to track down for some families. When this publication spoke with Zaragoza on Sept. 30, he noted that after that day, people will still be able to apply for rent relief, but they will not neces-sarily be eligible for protection from eviction. “It’s great that East Palo Alto residents are able to take advan-tage of this moment and this application,” he said. “Because of COVID, things have been really tough. A lot of people have been struggling. The last thing we want is to see another family move out of East Palo Alto or be kicked out of East Palo Alto. We believe housing is a human right and always will be.” A

Email Staff Writer Kate Bradshaw at kbradshaw@

almanacnews.com.

INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSION (IRC) VACANCIES

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND APPLICATIONS:• Visit menlopark.org/redistricting

• Email [email protected]

• Call 650-330-6620

The City of Menlo Park is seeking Menlo Park residents to apply for the IRC.

The Commission shall be comprised of seven (7) commissioners and two (2) alternate commissioners. Alternates may fully participate in Commission deliberations but may not vote and may not be counted toward the establishment of a quorum. Alternates are subject to the same qualifi cations, restrictions and standards of conduct as all other Commissioners.

The IRC’s responsible for setting Menlo Park’s electoral boundaries for City Council districts following the 2020 census.

Redistricting determines which neighborhoods and communities are grouped together into a district for purposes of electing a city councilmember

As state eviction moratorium ends, East Palo Alto youth step up to help neighbors

Courtesy YUCA and YCS

East Palo Alto Mayor Carlos Romero shadows Ofelia Bello, executive director of YUCA, at a rent relief application clinic near the Woodland Apartments in East Palo Alto.

Courtesy YUCA and YCS

Filiberto Zaragoza, far left, stands with other youth volunteers working to prevent evictions.

Worthington said. “Everyone I’ve spoken with, from govern-ment officials to local activists, has already been incredibly forthright and welcoming, and I look forward to continuing to connect with our future readers and share their stories.” In addition to a website, the Pulse will produce a daily newsletter, Express, a free daily email that gives a quick run-down of the top stories and upcoming events. A Spanish-language version is planned; both Iracheta and Worthington are bilingual. In the weeks leading up to the Pulse launch, Iracheta and Worthington have been meet-ing with as many local leaders and community members as possible. Embarcadero’s market-ing team has been connecting with key local business leaders,

whose support in the form of institutional sponsorships will be important to the site’s suc-cess, as will membership from readers. “I’ve learned a great deal about Redwood City and its robust and diverse community through my many conversations with key community leaders,” Iracheta said. “The city has changed dra-matically in recent years through its collaboration with local non-profits, various industry leaders and by being open to healthy public discourse. The city has welcomed new diverse voices to the council. It has acknowledged the rich history of the many cultures that contribute to its growth. I can’t wait to continue learning about Redwood City in the coming months.” The public can reach Iracheta and Worthington at [email protected]. Readers can sign up for Express, the free daily newsletter, at RWCPulse.com. A

PULSEcontinued from page 5


RANKED #1 COMPASS SMALL TEAM IN CALIFORNIA AND #5 SMALL TEAM

IN THE NATION, PER The Real Trends Report, JUNE 2021.

BRENT 650 888 4898DRE 01329216

[email protected]

MARY 650 888 0860DRE 00373961

[email protected]

GULLIXSON.COM

Compass is a RE broker licensed by the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportu-nity laws. License #01527235. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only and is compiled from sources deemed reliable but has not been verified. Changes in price, condition, sale or withdrawal may be made without notice. No statement is made as to accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footage are approximate.

ATHERTON

81Atherton.com

81 ATHERTON AVENUE, ATHERTON/ Contemporary masterpiece completed in 2017/ Architecture by Swatt Miers | Builder Gary Lencioni/ 5 bedroom main residence on 1.06 acre/ 1-bedroom, 1-bath guest house/ Pool / Spa / Sport court / Playground / Vegetable and fruit garden


N E W S

WEBINAROctober 13 through December 1, 2021 6:00 PM

Creating a More Affordable FutureWebinar and Discussion Series

Why are our housing prices so high, and what can we do about it? How can we create more affordable housing and great places to live? Each San Mateo County community is currently updating its Housing Element – a housing plan

fellow community members for a four-part webinar and dis-cussion series to learn about housing issues in San Mateo County so that you can help plan for a shared future that is

Wednesdays at 6 pm:10/13 ~ Why Affordability Matters10/27 ~ Housing and Racial Equity11/10 ~ Housing in a Climate of Change12/1 ~ Putting it All Together for a Better FutureTo register and learn more, visit:letstalkhousing.org/events

By Kate Bradshaw

From raging Himalayan rivers to navigating the Nile, Northern Califor-

nian Scott Lindgren has made headlines for his worldwide kayaking expeditions.

But it’s only recently that he’s opened up about the personal physical and mental health chal-lenges he’s faced alongside his journeys through some of the world’s most dangerous rivers — a story highlighted in the new Netflix documentary, “The River Runner” (2021). The film documents Lindgren’s quest to kayak the four rivers that begin at Mt. Kailash: the Indus, the Sutlej, the Karnali and the Tsangpo.

A big part of how Lindgren is telling his story has to do with the work of Thayer Walker, a longtime Outside Magazine correspondent, Bay Area resi-dent and co-founder of the Half Moon Bay-based Ink Dwell Studio.

Walker wrote and produced “The River Runner,” co-authored an article with Lind-gren sharing his story in Out-side Magazine, and is now co-authoring Lindgren’s memoir.

We caught up with him recently to learn more about his work. This interview was edited for length and clarity.

How did you get involved as writer and producer for “The River Runner,” and how has the process been for you?

This has been my first docu-mentary, and it was such a fun process ... I’ve certainly been aware of Scott for a long time. Scott’s a formative figure in the sport, kind of the War-ren Miller/Laird Hamilton of whitewater kayaking. Several years ago I was on Instagram and wondering what Scott had gotten up to ... The first post was this very vulnerable window into the journey that Scott had been going through up until that point.

I reached out to my editor at Outside Magazine and (con-nected with) Rush Sturges, the director of “The River Runner” and Scott (who) had been work-ing on a film project.

(When Rush brought me on, they) had 70% or more of the raw material at that point, but turning this into a human story that a non-kayaker could appre-

ciate was my biggest focus.I feel like I kind of had the

best job of anyone on the team, because Scott had to do all this hard work opening himself up and becoming really vulner-able. And Rush, as the director, basically everything falls on him. For me to be able to work with these two really talented people, and just help guide their process, was a real treat.

It’s very different than, say, writing a book or an article on your own. That’s a very soli-tary and sometimes painstak-ing experience. So having the ability to work with a creative team in this manner was really refreshing and a very energizing process.

Telling Scott Lindgren’s story has now become an endeavor that spans multiple mediums for you: a magazine article, a film documentary and now a book. What about Scott’s story is so inspiring to you that you go to these lengths to present it in these different formats?

There’s so many layers and levels to it.

First of all, it’s the personal and human journey that he’s on. I think it’s especially relevant today in 2021, as people are talk-ing about topics like masculinity and vulnerability, and what do those things actually look like, versus the archetypes that we’ve created for ourselves.

Are those archetypes that we’ve created for ourselves healthy, or are there other ways to go about it?

I think Scott was very much an archetype of that alpha male kind of personality, and

that really served him in the exploratory kayaking world, but that was not a particularly productive attitude to have off the river.

We’re starting to see, over the last five or 10 years or so, that athletes, and especially men, are starting to lean into and ask these questions about vulner-ability and strength and what that means. So I think that’s part of it.

Certainly, I think that the sport of kayaking ... has not chronicled or documented itself particularly well. There’s really only been one or two books of any quality or note that have been written about the sport.

(With) Scott being such a for-mative figure within the sport, being able to then take that and tell a much larger story that has the ability, for decades to come, to be a foundational piece to a sport like this, is really exciting. It’s a small sport, but the oppor-tunity to contribute to that in a meaningful way is certainly unique.

Then there’s this broader con-cept of river exploration. This niche, little sport of expedition kayaking is almost the evolu-tionary endpoint of a process that has guided human evolu-tion and social evolution — the process of river exploration and river navigation, and harness-ing rivers to advance societies. I mean, look at the Nile — it basically laid the foundation for much of the culture and science that we have today.

If you look at this country, and the way that its mythology and economy evolved, there was river travel. It was the Missis-sippi. It was the Columbia. It was Washington crossing the Delaware, one of the most leg-endary images in the birth of this country: Someone crossing a river in a small boat. I think there’s a historical context here.

So when you add it all togeth-er, it’s the adventure component, which is off the charts. It’s one of the top exploration achieve-ments of our time, for sure. You take the personal transfor-mation, and that story, which I think is a really important story for us to tell, and then the broader context of the evolution of human civilization and how it’s tied to rivers. So, there’s a lot of ground to cover.

Local writer get on board a new Netflix documentary about extreme

kayaker Scott LindgrenIn ‘The River Runner,’ Thayer Walker navigates the turbulent waters

of the Grand Canyon, masculinity and mental health

See RIVER RUNNER, page 12

Chris Michel

Bay Area writer/producer Thayer Walker.

MEET OUR ELDER CARE

EXPERTS

New Strategies for Family Caregivers!Avenidas

CARE FORUM

Register for free by visitingwww.avenidas.org

Questions? Call Paula at (650) 289-5438

TSEX

Ellen Brown, MDwww.ellenbrownmd.com

Rita Ghatak, PhDwww.aging101.org

Planning, Conversations and Concerns Regarding

Discharge From The Hospital During the Pandemic

11am-12:30pm.

WEDNESDAY - OCT. 27


N E W S

By Embarcadero Media staff

Governor adds COVID-19 to list of mandatory vaccinations for students

In another aggressive effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 and ensure schools remain open, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Oct. 1 announced a vaccine mandate for students ages 12 and older, making California the first state in the nation to require students to be fully vaccinated for in-person instruction.

The mandate would add the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of required immunizations, which includes mumps, measles and rubella. Newsom issued this order in the aftermath of similar mandates from the state’s largest districts, Los Angeles Unified and San Diego Unified.

“We intend to do that once the FDA has fully approved the vaccine which will give us time to work with districts, give us time to work with parents and educators to build more trust and confidence,” Newsom said.

Parents still have some time to get their students vaccinated. The state mandate will go into effect only once the federal Food and Drug Administration fully approves vaccines for those 12 and older. Upon FDA approval, students will have until the start of the following academic term, either Jan. 1 or July 1, to be fully vaccinated.

The mandate, however, doesn’t just put the responsibil-ity on students. All public school employees will be required to be vaccinated as soon as the mandate takes effect for stu-dents. Until now, teachers and staff were either required to be vaccinated or undergo regular testing for COVID-19; negative tests will no longer suffice.

The state expects that based on current FDA timelines, stu-dents in grades seven through 12 will be required to be vaccinated by July 1, 2022.

Students who are currently too young to get the vaccine will be required to receive their doses as soon as they reach the required age, but they’ll be given a “rea-

sonable period of time to receive both doses.”

The California Department of Public Health will develop the rules for personal and religious exemptions following a public comment period. Details for that process have not yet been released.

Nationwide shortage of rapid home COVID tests

Sarah Voit likes to keep 10 to 15 rapid test kits on hand in case any of the residents of the Fam-ily Emergency Shelter Coalition in Hayward need to be tested for COVID-19. They’ve had some infection scares, and the antigen tests — which return results in minutes — have been crucial to curbing the virus in the family shelter.

But in recent weeks, the staff has struggled to purchase enough rapid test kits. The local Walgreens and Costco have started limiting sales to one per customer. “We ran into the same issue at the beginning of the pandemic when we were trying

to buy Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer,” said Voit, the shelter’s program director.

Three weeks ago, a child liv-ing at the shelter was sent home from school after a classmate contracted COVID-19. Voit’s team used the rapid tests on the whole family. They all came back positive.

“Because we had those kits on hand, we were able to send them immediately to the isolation and quarantine hotel the county runs,” she said. “Otherwise it could have taken three to five days to get those results and many more families could have gotten sick.”

Online and in stores, major retailers are sold out of the popular at-home tests, and medical supply vendors can’t find enough rapid test kits for schools, shelters, nursing homes, employers and other groups. Across the state, people in low-income communities are being turned away as community groups and clinics are forced to ration their tests. Workers in need of regular screening for

employment struggle to find them. Some parents are spend-ing hundreds of dollars out-of-pocket to test their school kids. And nursing homes are told they may have to wait weeks for test-ing kits.

“The U.S. gets a D- when it comes to testing,” said Dr. John Swartzberg, an infectious dis-ease expert and professor emeri-tus at UC Berkeley. “We’re not doing enough of it and it’s too difficult for people to get tests. Those with the least resources have the greatest difficulty in finding a free test site or pur-chasing at-home testing.”

Experts say quick and easy testing is vital to contain the spread of COVID-19. Without widespread access to tests, peo-ple don’t know they are infected and need to quarantine, causing outbreaks that could have been prevented.

When the delta variant reared its head, the shortage of rap-id tests created the “perfect storm,” experts say. The surge coincided with schools reopen-ing and employers requiring quick, routine testing. At the same time, local health depart-ments scaled back their test-ing efforts, focusing on vac-cinations instead. Manufactur-

Coronavirus central: Newsom orders a vaccine mandate for California students

COVID rapid home tests in short supply

See CORONAVIRUS, page 20

RSVPs are required for in-person meetings. To register, or for a complete list of meetings: Visit www.EssenceHealthcare.com/Meet or Call 1-855-437-3867 (TTY: 711)

JOIN US

COMMUNITY MEETING WEBINARSCOMMUNITY MEETING


N E W S

By Sophia Markoulakis

In August 2018, acclaimed cellist and humanitarian, Yo-Yo Ma, set out on a global

musical mission — The Bach Project — to perform Johann Sebastian Bach’s six suites for solo cello in 36 different loca-tions and demonstrate the pow-er that music has to connect our divides and bind us as humans. Almost a year later, when Joanna Ho, Peninsula author and vice principal at East Palo Alto Academy, read an article about Ma’s performance in the

border town of Laredo, Texas, she was immediately trans-ported back to her youth and her memories of growing up in a large immigrant family. “My mom loved Yo-Yo Ma, and she would blast his Bach solos on Saturday morning when my brother and I would try to sleep in,” she said with a laugh. The article also stirred thoughts of the author’s connec-tion to her single mother who taught her to build bridges, not walls. That “aha” moment was marked with the idea to write

a book about Ma’s concert, the musician’s mission of unity and his childhood that inspired his activism. Ho’s children’s book, “Playing at the Border: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma,” is set for release on Sept. 28. “I had an epiphany and wrote that book faster than any other book I’ve written. I had the core of it done in two days,” Ho said, referring to the book’s initial draft and her New York Times best-selling first title, “Eyes that Kiss in the Corners.”

What’s the timeline for the book project? We’re about a third of the way into it. This last year and a half has been a bit of a chal-lenge because we’ve been pinned down. ... So much of this book and Scott’s life is tied to a sense of place and to exploration. When we were first developing the outline for this a lot of it involved me and Scott revisiting some of these places and pad-dling some of these rivers. As a travel writer myself there’s no way to replace actually going and seeing a place. So some of these places I know pretty well, and I’m comfortable with, but, for instance, Mt. Kailash, we are hoping that Scott and I will be able to get out there and do a circumnavigation. That will help the central part of the book, which revolves around Kailash.

We’re going to Costa Rica next month for a couple of weeks to do some paddling down there, where he first learned how to kayak. I’m hoping by the middle of 2022 is when we have the manu-script done, and then I think the book would potentially come out later that year. That’s really up to our publishers.

What is the collaboration pro-cess like with Scott? For every type of co-authored book, I think it’s always differ-ent. This one in particular has been really smooth. First of all, Scott and I both understand each other, which is important if you’re going to do a project this personal for both sides. In terms of how the story actually gets cranked out, Scott and I’ll sit down and we have many, many conversations about the journey of his life and how we get from point A to point B. Then it’s my job to pick out the formative events that are really going to shape the story — and in an article, there’s far fewer than in a movie or than in the book. Scott’s biggest focus was mak-ing sure that the message was conveyed accurately in the story that he wanted to tell. And the story that he wanted to tell was not a story of “Scott Lindgren, the chest-thumping expedition kayaker,” or “’Look at how cool I am.’” He wants to tell this story about personal healing, (that) you can find that strength and vulnerability. And if he had known these things sooner, what that would have meant. I think for Scott, the most impor-tant thing is that we nail the themes right. Obviously, it’s his story — he’s so close to it — and I think that he’s been appreciative of the fact that I can offer some distance and some perspective

to it, and then lead into a bigger conceptual geography and take these bigger themes and weave it in ways that he wouldn’t have necessarily gravitated to. It’s a pretty collaborative pro-cess, but it’s also one where there’s a lot of trust.

What’s been one of your coolest river adventures? I’ve basically had the oppor-tunity to spend two years fol-lowing the stern of one of the world’s great expedition kayakers, so selfishly, there’s a component to this story that was undeniably attractive and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. My paddling has significantly improved since I started this story. We just got back from two weeks in the Grand Canyon. In the middle of June, we went down there ... and Scott and I kayaked the whole thing. I tell people that it’s both your right and obligation as an American to go and do the Grand Canyon. And by doing, I mean go rafting down that river and spend two weeks down there and see it. It’s a dynam-ic, life-changing, spectacular experience. Closer to home, there’s a sec-tion of the North Fork of the American River called Giant Gap. It was actually the first whitewater experience Scott ever had. He rafted it back in the late ‘80s and with the rafters who pioneered that run. It’s a full-on, one-day expedition. It’s a 14-mile river canyon with a 2,000-foot vertical hike in, down switchback trails. It’s a solid Class IV or V run, depend-ing on the flows. In addition to COVID-19, one of the challenges has been that it’s been so dry that rivers haven’t really been running the way they typically do. For Giant Gap, we got one of the few days this year that it actually ran and that was an absolutely spectacu-

lar experience. I literally drove there from San Francisco, woke up early and then was in the bottom of this river canyon. By 11 a.m., I could have been on the dark side of the moon. Knowing that this stuff is out there and still relatively accessible is a beautiful thing and one of the reasons why I still live in this corner of the world.

Why should people watch “The River Runner”? First and foremost, this jour-ney to kayak these four great riv-ers of Mt. Kailash is a superlative adventure quest. The Tsangpo itself was considered one of the greatest expeditions of the 20th century. And then you layer on these three other (expeditions) and the mountain on top. It’s an absolutely phenomenal achieve-ment. There’s still so much spiri-tualism and mysticism around it with Mt. Kailash being this holy place. Then there’s the fact that this feat will never be duplicated — Scott is the only person that has done it, because some of these rivers are in the process of get-ting dammed up, like a section of the Sutlej River. The Tsangpo

River has been sort of an endan-gered species for some time. No other expedition has been there ever since. From that perspec-tive, it’s an incredible adventure that anyone who is interested in exploration of the natural world will appreciate. Beyond that, from a human level, there is this story of a hard man learning how to open his heart, and learning that the only way that he’s ever going to achieve this incredible 20-year quest is by being vulnerable and embracing vulnerability, and ... shedding the protective armor that I think we all wear to a cer-tain degree every day. It’s ultimately a story about the strength that can be found in vulnerability, and opening your-self up to the people around you. And that is a really transcendent story. That’s something that I think all of us can appreciate. The kayaking and the adventure component is aspirational, cer-tainly, but the human journey is inspirational, and it’s something that I think we can all under-stand in our own ways. A

Email Staff Writer Kate Bradshaw at kbradshaw@

almanacnews.com.

RIVER RUNNERcontinued from page 10

Mike Dawson

Scott Lindgren, a Northern Californian and world-renowned expedition kayaker, paddles through turbulent whitewater.

Charlie Munsey

Kayaker Scott Lindgren looks out over a river.

Striking a chordEast Palo Alto educator’s new book finds harmony in Yo-Yo Ma’s music

Courtesy Katie Heiner Photography/Harper Collins

Joanna Ho, Peninsula author and vice principal at East Palo Alto Academy, is set to release her new children’s book, “Playing at the Border: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma.”See YO-YO MA, page 21


Stunning Single Story Residence in West Menlo

Beautifully updated single story home a 10,000+ Sq Ft lot in prime West Menlo Park. Excellent floor plan with four bedrooms and three and a half baths plus a separate family room. Gourmet open kitchen features high-end appliances and an eat-in island. The elegant living room has beam ceilings and a fireplace. The expansive open rear yard features lovely landscaping. One of the most desirable neighborhoods on the Peninsula close to downtown Menlo Park and Stanford University. Award winning Menlo Park schools. Fantastic home, move right in!

At a Glance:

• 4 Bedrooms 3.5 Bathrooms

• Attached 2 car garage

• Living Space: 2,362 sq ft per county records

• Lot Size: 10,152 sq ft per county records

• Excellent Menlo Park Schools (Oak Knoll Elementary, Hillview Middle, Menlo Atherton High School- buyer to verify enrollment)

OFFERED AT $4,198,000 | 1145HILLVIEW.COM

1145 HILLVIEW DRIVEM E N L O PA R K

OPEN HOUSE SAT & SUN . 1:30-4:30PM

and assumes no legal responsibility for its accuracy. Buyer should verify accuracy and investigate to Buyer’s own satisfaction.

650.400.2718 | [email protected] | [email protected] 01009791 | DRE 01747147

Leannah Hunt &Laurel Hunt Robinson


N E W S

state health department will consider recommendations from other groups, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and American Academy of Pediatrics, before implementing a requirement.

CDPH will then begin a rule-making process to flesh out the details, gathering public com-ments and possibly including exemptions to the mandate, according to the statement.

“We will make an announce-ment when we have more infor-mation to share,” a communica-tions office spokesperson said.

Los Altos School District Superintendent Jeff Baier said that he thinks the mandate is a “positive step” to protect student and staff health, adding that it’s similar to vaccines the state already mandates.

“This is yet another disease over which we can exercise a measure of control and really ensure that our students are able to remain in in-person school-ing with much less worry about a significant outbreak,” Baier said. “Everyone participating is critical in this.”

In an Oct. 1 email to fami-lies and staff, Menlo Park City School District Superintendent Erik Burmeister said that vac-

cines are key to ending the pan-demic, and that all eligible people should be vaccinated.

“We are also proud that 97% of our staff is already fully vac-cinated and those who received Pfizer are now getting their boosters,” he said.

Parents and students react to mandate

Mountain View High School parent Jennifer Matus said the vaccination requirement makes her feel safer about her children attending school, especially with the emergence of breakthrough COVID-19 cases among the vaccinated.

“I personally love it. I think it makes a lot of sense,” she said. “Kids always have vaccine requirements, for the safety of students and adults.”

Matus serves as Mountain View High’s PTSA president, but said she was speaking as an individual parent. Although she favors the mandate, Matus said she knows other families who aren’t getting their kids vac-cinated, including some of her son’s friends.

Los Altos High School senior Serena Gaylord is similarly sup-portive of the mandate, saying that while she is vaccinated, she knows that some other students aren’t.

“I think it’s really important,

especially because kids don’t have a lot of autonomy to decide whether they can be vaccinated or not,” Gaylord said. “It’s their parents’ decision.”

Some teachers have also shared their support of the vaccine requirement. John Davenport, who teaches history at Corte Madera School and is president of the Portola Valley Teachers Association, said his mentality toward COVID-19 vaccines is “the more the merrier.”

“We can hopefully move back to something a little less restric-tive than what we have now,” he said of current classroom safety protocols.

The vaccine mandate will also apply to school staff. Pub-lic school employees will be required to get vaccinated when the mandate takes effect for stu-dents. Currently, teachers and staff who aren’t vaccinated must undergo regular testing.

Palo Alto Superintendent Austin said a lot is still “up in the air” about the staff man-date, like whether there will be any exemptions and what would happen to unvaccinated employees.

Menlo Park Superintendent Burmeister is optimistic the “medical, legal, and logistical questions will resolve them-selves” over the next several months and “districts will be able to move forward with clarity,” he said in a Wednesday email.

Implementation questions linger

Newsom’s announcement does leave questions in the minds of many school officials. Chief among them is what happens if a student doesn’t get vaccinated. It’s possible those students would be enrolled in the independent study programs districts are required to offer this year, Los Altos district’s Baier said, but that isn’t certain.

“There’s some skeletal details here, but we have not yet seen ... the regulations from the Cali-fornia Department of Public Health,” Baier said. “Once we see those, we’ll have a better idea.”

Superintendents wondered whether families will be able to opt out of the mandate. Moun-tain View Los Altos Union High School District Superintendent Nellie Meyer said that from the governor’s statements, it appeared he was exploring the possibility of offering exemp-tions to the COVID-19 vaccine.

“It still remains to be seen what the details will be for those who are exempt,” Meyer said. “I anx-iously await that guidance.”

Exemptions based on personal beliefs aren’t allowed for other immunizations that are cur-rently required by the state of California, although vaccination isn’t necessary to enroll in inde-

pendent study programs that don’t include classroom-based instruction.

According to Meyer, enrolling unvaccinated students in the district’s independent study pro-gram seems like the most likely option at this point.

Austin said it would be “disap-pointing” if the vaccine man-date meant more students don’t receive an in-person education, when the goal is to ensure stu-dents are able to stay on campus.

Another remaining question, Baier said, is how many vaccines need to receive full approval before the mandate takes effect. Currently only the Pfizer-BioN-Tech vaccine is fully approved for ages 16 and up, with Moderna’s and Johnson & Johnson’s still under emergency use authori-zations. Pfizer is the only vac-cine currently available to those under 18, and is being admin-istered under an emergency use authorization for ages 12-16.

Austin said he “absolutely” supports mandating COVID-19 vaccination for those 12 and older once the FDA gives its full approval, adding that although he normally favors local con-trol, he feels it would have been “irresponsible” for the state to leave the decision about a vaccine mandate to local districts.

“I do support the state taking this on for an entire state, rather than leaving it to the 1,050 indi-vidual school districts,” Austin said. “I think that path was going to be a disaster.”

Local schools push for the mandate

Some local school districts had publicly pushed the state to issue a vaccination mandate ahead of Newsom’s announcement. Sequoia Union High School District Superintendent Dar-nise Williams and school board members recently sent a letter to Newsom, asking the state to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of legally required vaccines. School district officials felt forced to make medical deci-sions while being “squarely in the middle of political divides,” instead of focusing on educating students, she said.

San Mateo County Superin-tendent of Schools Nancy Magee, who co-signed the Sequoia dis-trict letter, said in an email that the recently announced mandate “makes a statement that state leaders are committed to provid-ing the safest, healthiest envi-ronments possible for teaching and learning.”

“The more people within a given school community who are fully vaccinated, the more the risk of transmission is reduced for everyone, children and adults,” she said. “When students at every grade level are fully vac-cinated, the levels of protection

increase.”In the Mountain View Los

Altos Union High School Dis-trict, Meyer said the district’s board hasn’t taken a formal posi-tion on the mandate, but added the district supports students being vaccinated.

“The more students and staff we can have vaccinated, the safer our community will be,” Meyer said.

Magee noted that individual school district governing boards may decide to enact vaccination mandates sooner than July if they deem it necessary.

Menlo Park Superintendent Burmeister concurred that school boards will have some flexibility to mandate vaccinations sooner than the state. But most boards would likely not do so until vac-cines receive full FDA approval.

The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is expected to receive emergency FDA approval this month for 5- to 11-year-olds. To prepare for a “robust and efficient” vaccina-tion process for that age group, the San Mateo County Office of Education is working with the county health department and local districts to plan for school-based vaccination events starting in early November.

Menlo Park district officials have already planned a vaccine clinic with Safeway Pharmacy for 5- to 11-year-olds on Saturday, Nov. 6, at Hillview Middle School.

Gathering vaccination information

Some school districts have already begun asking students to voluntarily disclose their vac-cination status. Roughly 50% of students in the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District have submitted proof of vaccination, Associate Superin-tendent Leyla Benson said.

The “vast majority” of that information came from stu-dents who had been identified as a close contact of a positive case, Benson said. Vaccinated students who are close con-tacts can generally continue to participate in extracurricular activities while getting tested for COVID-19, while their unvac-cinated peers have to sit out.

Both Benson and Meyer said they believe the true number of students who have been vac-cinated is well above 50%, but said many students may not see a need to submit their vaccination information.

“If there is some kind of requirement imposed, or a local requirement, I do think that the number will go up very quickly,” Benson said. A

CalMatters contributed to this report.Email staff writers Zoe Morgan at [email protected] and Angela Swartz at aswartz@

almanacnews.com.

The City Council of the Town of Atherton, at its meeting of October 20, 2021, will consider the adoption of an Ordinance of the City Council of the Town of Atherton, State of California, Amending Chapter 2.08, Posting Places.The full text of the proposed Ordinance is available for review or purchase

/s/ Anthony Suber____________________________

Anthony SuberCity ClerkTown of AthertonDated: October 8, 2021

NOTICE OF ORDINANCEPROPOSED ADOPTION BY THE CITY

COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF ATHERTON

Two seats on the Portola Valley School District Governing Board will become vacant in November. The term of each seat will be 12 months, beginning in mid-November, 2021 and ending in December, 2022. All residents of the Portola Valley School District who are also registered voters are eligible to apply to serve on the Board.

Any interested parent or community member must complete an application form and a “letter of interest” stating their experience in and commitment to educational, youth and community activities.

Application materials may be found on the Governing Board section of the PVSD web site www.pvsd.net or by calling 851-1777, ext. 2562. Completed applications must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, November 15, 2021, and should be sent to:Roberta Zarea, Superintendent Portola Valley School District, 4575 Alpine Road, Portola Valley, CA 94028.

Candidates will be interviewed by the Board on Wednesday,

November 19, 2021.For additional information, please contact Roberta Zarea at

851-1777, ext. 2561.

Portola Valley School District Governing Board Vacancies

MANDATEcontinued from page 1


compass.comCompass is a real estate broker licensed by the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. License Number 01079009. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only and

and square footage are approximate.

1 0 2 0 H E R MO SA WAY, M EN L O PA R K

Carol Carnevale, Nicole Aron & James Steele Team

2 5 P R E STON ROA D, WO OD S I DE

Erika Demma

9 9 1 A DDI S ON AV EN U E , PA L O A LTO

Lori Buecheler Sherry Bucolo

1 S U R F WAY # 2 1 1 , MON T E R E Y

Lynn Wilson Roberts

19 0 P H I LLI P ROA D, WO OD S I DE

Erika Demma

4 6 1 A L GE R DR I V E , PA L O A LTO

Lynn Wilson Roberts

Anne Wilson Roberts

PE

ND

ING


the same amount per pupil as the typical district in the coun-ty,” staffers note. “Without these one time funds, we will drop down to below county average in per-pupil funding.”

By 2022, the district plans to move out of its office, which will be demolished. The district office is likely two or three times

larger than what is currently needed, according to a January facilities update for the board.

This school year per-pupil expenditures (nearly $30,000 per student) are likely to be the “highest ever in Ravenswood history,” Eger said during the meeting. The funds are being used to decrease class sizes, with an average of 17 students per class this school year.

The district plans to choose

the highest responsible bid-der. Officials noted it could be complex, as some bidders may include a high proposed ground lease and then negotiate down, add undesirable payment terms or propose an infeasible project.

Other district leasesThe district makes a “signifi-

cant amount of revenue” (about 6% of its budget) from leasing properties it owns in Menlo Park and East Palo Alto, such as the former site of Menlo Oaks School to Alto International, according to the presentation. It has nine formal leases bringing in about $2.7 million each year, the presentation said.

The Primary School is pay-ing roughly $1.4 million this school year to lease the for-mer Brentwood School site at 951 O’Connor St. in East Palo Alto, which the Ravenswood district closed in 2020. The lease agreement is 10 years long and rent increases by 2% each year, according to the facilities update.

All Five preschool leases a por-tion of the Belle Haven School property. The Silicon Valley International School rents the former Willows Oak School site for about $1.1 million yearly, according to the district.

In 2018, the district had con-sidered building affordable housing for teachers on the Flood site, but the plan never came to fruition. A


N E W S

Lasting MemoriesAn online directory of obituaries and remembrances.Search obituaries, submit a memorial, share a photo.

Go to: AlmanacNews.com/obituaries

Visit

A memorial service for and a celebra-tion of the life of Peter Llewellyn will be held on Sunday, October 10 at Christ Church Episcopal in Portola Valley. The service will be at 3:00 P.M.

Friends and family friends of Peter are welcome to attend. Masks will be required during the service. There will be a reception following.

Peter passed away on October 14, 2020 at the age of 90.For more information contact Richard Llewellyn at 650-279-8107.The address for Christ Church Episcopal in Portola Valley is

815 Portola Road, Portola Valley. www.ccpvw.org.

Peter Llewellyn1930 – 2020

Memorial Service Announcement

In loving memory of Mary, born in Robinsonville, Wisconsin to James and Florence (Conboy) Brinks.

Mary died of natural causes at age 87, in Redwood City. Mary’s faith in God was a principal guiding force throughout her life. She was devoted to family and friends, and frequently walked/hiked with both.

Mary began her career with the Sequoia Union High School District as a Home Economics teacher at Ravenswood High School. She later became a guidance advisor, working at San Carlos, Carlmont, Sequoia, and ending her career as the head of the Guidance Department at Menlo-Atherton, from which she retired in 2002. While at M-A, Mary earned the school’s Sisyphus award twice.

Mary was a successful real estate investor and landlord. Along with her husband Barry, she owned and managed Pear Williams Restaurant in Menlo Park from 1976 - 1982. She was a volunteer docent at Filoli, working as a House and Garden docent and also dispatching nature hikes for school children. Mary was a volunteer usher with Stanford Live, San Jose Rep, and Palo Alto Players.

Mary loved working in her garden. She was known to some as “the rose queen”. She loved playing bridge with her “Ladies of the Club”. She was active in her church and had a very strong connection to her “Best Home Group”. Mary also participated for years in a book club, dubbed “Fallen Women”. Mary loved to travel and made one or two trips each year. Her travel was frequently service based.

Mary is survived by one sister: Florence (Seattle); four children: Leanne, Ken, Darrell, and Adele; seven grandchildren: Erin, Devon, Lauren, Ryan, Alex, Daniel, and Emanuel. Mary’s beloved husband, Barry, her eldest son, Craig, her parents, five sisters and two brothers are all deceased.

Service:Saturday October 16, 2021 11:00 AMPeninsula Covenant Church3560 Farm Hill Blvd.Redwood City, CA 94061In lieu of flowers, please send donations, in honor of Mary, to

Kenya Help: https://kenyahelp.us/P A I D O B I T U A R Y

Mary Cox December 11, 1932 – March 10, 2020

Barbara Jean Wright, a resident of Atherton, California for 55 years until 2019, passed away peacefully on September 23, 2021 at the age of 91 at Villa Capri in Santa Rosa. Barbara was predeceased by her husband of 67 years, Edwin Charles Wright, who passed away in 2017. Barbara is survived by her youngest brother, David Gates (Jo Rita), her sons John (Ruth), Chuck (Lisa), Dan and Jim (Michele), grandchildren Adam, Peter, Thomas, Sam, Scott, Steven, Lindsay, David, Joshua and Ashley, and great-granddaughter Amelia.

Barbara was born January 13, 1930 in Belvidere, Illinois to Clarence and Aileen Gates (Rollins). Her childhood was spent there and in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where her parents moved in 1940 along with her brothers Clarence Jr., Ron and David. Barbara and Ed married in 1950. They soon moved to the San Francisco Peninsula, first to San Mateo, then Menlo Park and finally to Atherton in 1964. Barbara was a member of the Atherton Tree Committee, and en-joyed painting and tennis. The sole daughter of a very musical family, Barbara played cello for the Peninsula Symphony and taught piano for many years.

Barbara’s parents came from large families, and family was always the most important part of Barbara’s life. She enjoyed trips to Palm Springs with her husband, to Hawaii and Mexico with her mother, brothers and their spouses, and in later years to Asilomar and on coastal cruises with her children and grandchildren.

Barbara’s family is grateful for the many decades that she and Ed enjoyed in Menlo Park and Atherton raising children in simpler times, and hosting innumerable visits from grandchildren who fondly recall the tranquility and grandparental warmth of the Atherton family home.

Donations in Barbara’s name may be made to the Allied Arts Guild in Menlo Park or a charity of your choice. A Celebration of Life will be scheduled at a later date.

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

Barbara Jean Wright January 13, 1930 – September 23, 2021

Local residents who died recently include Clifton “Cliff” Jenkins, 83, a former staffer at the San Mateo Office of Education, on Sept. 10; and Barbara Jean Wright, 91, a longtime Atherton resident and member of the Atherton Tree Committee, on Sept. 23.

To read the full obituary, leave remembrances and post photos, go to Lasting Memories at almanacnews.com/obituaries. A

OBITUARIES

RAVENSWOODcontinued from page 7

booster shots, and boosters may be recommended for additional groups in the future.

As of Sept. 27, the CDC states that the Pfizer vaccine booster is available for the follow-ing individuals who completed their two-shot series at least six months ago: those ages 65 and older, and people ages 18 and older who live or work in high-

risk settings or have underlying medical conditions.

The CDC recommends an additional dose for people who are moderately to severely immunocompromised at least 28 days after their second dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. There isn’t sufficient data on whether an immu-nocompromised person who initially received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine would see an increased antibody response

after an additional dose of the same vaccine.

Health officials added that, per CDC guidelines, people ages 18 to 49 with an underlying medical condition — as well as those at risk of COVID-19 expo-sure because of occupational or institutional setting — are also eligible and may want to con-sider a booster. A

Email Assistant Editor Julia Brown at jbrown@

almanacnews.com.

BOOSTERScontinued from page 5


Rare Gem in University Heights

2120 Ashton Avenue, Menlo ParkBedrooms: 5 | Bathrooms: 2.5 | Living: 2,760 sq ft | Lot: 6,000 sq ft

List Price: $3,598,000

Scan for more info about 2120 Ashton Avenue

• •

•

• •

•

• •

•

David Weil | [email protected]

DRE 01400271

Nick Granoski | [email protected]

DRE 00994196

Compass is a real estate broker licensed by the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. License Number 01866771. All material presented herein is intended for informational

of any description. All measurements and square footage are approximate.


N E W S

995 Fictitious Name StatementBOTTLETREE CULTURE FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No.: 288861 The following person (persons) is (are) doing business as: BottleTree Culture, located at 321 Bell Street, East Palo Alto, CA 94303, San Mateo County; Mailing address: P.O. Box 50713, East Palo Alto, CA 94303. Registered owner(s): MUISI-KONGO MALONGA 321 Bell Street East Palo Alto, CA 94303 This business is conducted by: An Individual. The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on January 1, 2018. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of San Mateo County on September 14, 2021. (ALM Oct. 8, 15, 22, 29, 2021)

NEIGHBORHOOD PIZZA GUY FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No.: 288752 The following person (persons) is (are) doing business as: Neighborhood Pizza Guy, located at 1929 Menalto Ave., Menlo Park, CA 94025, San Mateo County; Mailing address: PO BOX 401, San Carlos, CA 94070. Registered owner(s): NEIGHBORHOOD PIZZA LLC 1929 Menalto Ave. Menlo Park, CA 94025 California This business is conducted by: A Limited Liability Company. The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on N/A. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of San Mateo County on September 2, 2021. (ALM Sep. 17, 24; Oct. 1, 8, 2021)

MORGAN HILL REAL ESTATE MORGAN HILL COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

HICARE BROKER FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No.: 288736 The following person (persons) is (are) doing business as: 1.) Morgan Hill Real Estate, 2.) Morgan Hill Commercial Real Estate, 3.) HICARE Broker, located at 503 Trinidad Lane, Foster City, CA 94404, San Mateo County. Registered owner(s): ANNETTE MARIA DIRESTA 503 Trinidad Lane Foster City, CA 94404 This business is conducted by: An Individual. The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 8/8/2008. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of San Mateo County on September 1, 2021. (ALM Sep. 17, 24; Oct. 1, 8, 2021)

BC HANDYWORKS FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No.: 288855 The following person (persons) is (are) doing business as: BC Handyworks, located at 120 Scenic Drive, Redwood City, CA 94062, San Mateo County. Registered owner(s): BENJAMIN C CAMPOS 120 Scenic Drive Redwood City, CA 94062 This business is conducted by: An Individual. The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on N/A. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of San Mateo County on September 14, 2021. (ALM Sep. 24; Oct. 1, 8, 15, 2021)

JLCZ TRANSPORTATION FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No.: 288893 The following person (persons) is (are) doing business as: JLCZ TRANSPORTATION, located at 2065 California St. Apt. 46, Mountain View, CA 94040, San Mateo County. Registered owner(s): JORGE LUIS CUEVAS ZAVALA

2065 California St. Apt. 46 Mountain View, CA 94040 This business is conducted by: An Individual. The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on N/A. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of San Mateo County on September 17, 2021. (ALM Sep. 24; Oct. 1, 8, 15, 2021)

KIDDIE COTTAGE BILINGUAL DAY CARE FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No.: 288814 The following person (persons) is (are) doing business as: Kiddie Cottage Bilingual Day Care, located at 1750 Croner Ave., Menlo Park, CA 94025, San Mateo County. Registered owner(s): ALEJANDRA ESPINOSA 1750 Croner Ave. Menlo Park, CA 94025 This business is conducted by: An Individual. The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on N/A. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of San Mateo County on September 9, 2021. (ALM Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, 2021)

MID-PENINSULA HIGH SCHOOL FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No.: 288864 The following person (persons) is (are) doing business as: Mid-Peninsula High School, located at 1340 Willow Rd., Menlo Park, CA 94025, San Mateo County. Registered owner(s): MID-PENINSULA EDUCATION CENTER, INC. 1340 Willow Rd. Menlo Park, CA 94025 California This business is conducted by: A Corporation. The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 5/15/2002. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of San Mateo County on

September 14, 2021. (ALM Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, 2021)

SELECT PHYSICAL THERAPY FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No.: 288929 The following person (persons) is (are) doing business as: Select Physical Therapy, located at 540 Ralston Ave., Suite B, Belmont, CA 94001, San Mateo County; Mailing address: 4714 Gettysburg Rd., Mechanicsburg, PA 17055. Registered owner(s): PHYSIOTHERAPY ASSOCIATES, INC. 4714 Gettysburg Rd. Mechanicsburg, PA 17055 Michigan This business is conducted by: A Corporation. The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on N/A. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of San Mateo County on September 21, 2021. (ALM Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, 2021)

SELECT PHYSICAL THERAPY FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No.: 288928 The following person (persons) is (are) doing business as: Select Physical Therapy, located at 900 Veternas Blvd., Suite 230, Redwood City, CA 94063-1750, San Mateo County; Mailing address: 4714 Gettysburg Rd., Mechanicsburg, PA 17055. Registered owner(s): PHYSIOTHERAPY ASSOCIATES, INC. 4714 Gettysburg Rd. Mechanicsburg, PA 17055 Michigan This business is conducted by: A Corporation. The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on N/A. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of San Mateo County on September 21, 2021. (ALM Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, 2021)

SELECT PHYSICAL THERAPY

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

File No.: 288927

The following person (persons) is (are) doing

business as:

Select Physical Therapy, located at 1860

El Camino Real, Suite 201, Burlingame, CA

94010, San Mateo County; Mailing address:

4714 Gettysburg Rd., Mechanicsburg, PA

17055.

Registered owner(s):

PHYSIOTHERAPY ASSOCIATES, INC.

4714 Gettysburg Rd.

Mechanicsburg, PA 17055

Michigan

This business is conducted by: A

Corporation.

The registrant commenced to transact

business under the fictitious business

name(s) listed above on N/A.

This statement was filed with the County

Clerk-Recorder of San Mateo County on

September 21, 2021.

(ALM Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, 2021)

Public Notices

The Almanac is adjudicated to publish in San Mateo County.

Public Hearing Notices Resolutions • Bid NoticesNotices of Petition to Administer EstateLien Sale • Trustee’s Sale

Deadline is Monday at noon.

Call Alicia Santillan at 650-223-6578 or email [email protected] for assistance with your legal advertising needs.

said in an email. “I think the Willows deserves more food options,” said Kath-leen Daly, owner of Cafe Zoe, in an interview. “If the pandemic taught me one thing, it’s that I should have had more options for food here,” she said. There are some limitations — the cafe doesn’t have a full kitchen, but they have found a countertop pizza oven that will work for a while as the pizza business grows, Daly said. Daly added that she was eager

to see “the direction that this place takes with some more takeout food options.” Go to neighborhoodpizzaguy.com to preorder. Cafe Zoe is located at 1929 Menalto Ave. in Menlo Park.

Library hosts film screening exploring Latino representation The Menlo Park Library is hosting a two-week virtual screening of the documentary “Latinos Beyond Reel” that explores and analyzes the ways that Latinos are portrayed in U.S. news and media. Any-

one interested can access more information, as well as the link to the film at is.gd/mplatino-film. Attendees may also par-ticipate in a virtual discussion with one of the directors Mon-day, Oct. 11, from 6 to 7 p.m.

For gardeners: Seed swap Oct. 23 Looking to grow your garden? The Menlo Park Library is set to host an in-person seed swap on Saturday, Oct. 23, from 10:30 a.m. to noon on the library’s patio. Attendees do not have to bring their own seeds to participate.

— Kate Bradshaw

MENLO PARK BRIEFScontinued from page 6

ers, seeing decreased summer demand, reportedly shuttered production lines and tossed unsold product. Fewer than 10% of testing locations across the state now offer rapid-result antigen tests, according to a database from Coders Against COVID and URISA GISCorps. The test shortage is so severe that the federal government has stepped in to increase pro-duction. On Sept. 9, the Biden administration announced

a national COVID-19 action plan that includes the purchase of 280 million rapid point-of-care and over-the-counter tests by the federal government and a three-month deal with Walmart, Amazon and Kroger to sell the tests at cost.

State expands COVID vaccine mandate to senior care facility, home care workers The California Department of Public Health expanded the state’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate on Sept. 28 to require

senior care facility and in-home care workers to be fully vaccinated. The update to the state’s mandate will require people who work in adult and senior care facilities, certified home care aides, hospice care work-ers and employees of the state’s facilities serving people with developmental and intellectual disabilities to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 30. The state has already required health care workers, K-12 teach-ers and state employees to get vaccinated or tested at least once a week for COVID-19. “We can and must continue

to protect our most vulnerable communities from the ongoing threat of COVID-19,” CDPH Director and state Public Health Officer Dr. Tomas Aragon said in a statement. “These care settings are home to Califor-nians with complex medical conditions, all of whom are at high risk of having severe but preventable outcomes including hospitalization, severe illness, and death.” State residents can visit myturn.ca.gov or call 833-422-4255 to schedule a vaccination appointment or find a walk-in vaccination clinic in their county.

Comprehensive COVID-19 coverage View interactive charts track-ing the spread of the coronavi-rus in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties online at paloal-toonline.atavist.com/tracking-the-coronavirus. Find a compre-hensive collection of coverage on the Midpeninsula’s response to the new coronavirus by The Almanac and its sister publica-tions, Palo Alto Online, and the Mountain View Voice, at tinyurl.com/c19-Almanac. A

CalMatters and Bay City News Service contributed to this report.

CORONAVIRUScontinued from page 11

EmploymentENGINEERING

Strateos, Inc. has job opp. in Menlo Park, CA: Principal Engineer. Dvlp systems-level SW components & architect, dsgn, & implmnt microservices. Mail resumes referenc’g Req #PCE22 to: W. Cheung, 3565 Haven Ave, Suite 3, Menlo Park, CA 94025.

To place an ad or get a quote,

contact Kevin Legarda

at 650.223.6597 or email

[email protected].


N E W S

Ho grappled with and ultimately over-came her inner voice that told her that a story revolving around the southern border wasn’t her story to tell. “It was at the peak of child separation at the border, and I had been wrestling with the idea of writing a book about that experience. But I was conscious that that story is not particularly my story, so I was initially hesitant,” she said. Instead, the author found a way to write it through her own lens, as the daughter of immi-grants herself. “I was able to find a way to speak about what was happening at the border and still speak about the global dialogue surrounding immigration and refugees at borders.” The story begins on the banks of the Rio Grande in Texas where the musician plays Bach to a Mexican and American audience straddling each side of the river: “Feet planted on the soil of one nation, facing the shores of another.” Readers learn about Ma’s penchant for Bach at the

age of four, his French-Chinese-Amer-ican lineage and his cherished instru-ment, Petunia, constructed from materi-als sourced from all over the world. It’s a story about all of us, made from bits and pieces of the past, held together with notes and strings and bound by centuries of lessons and commonality. Ho’s writing is poetic and sparse — not a simple task for big topics like these. Successful picture books require precise distillation of words inspired from both world events and everyday wonders. It takes skill, meticulous editing and great finesse; and we can’t overemphasize the impact picture books have on all readers and listeners. “Picture books are so impactful. They can tackle complex issues and powerful emotions with only 400 words. The chal-lenge is understanding that your audi-ence is wide. A good picture book won’t simplify a difficult topic, but approaches it in a way so that the message is layered. I’m always very conscious about my sto-ryline and where I can build in layers, so that if you wanted to, you could go in

and dissect the text in a high school or college-level course,” Ho said. “This isn’t just a story about immigration. It’s a cri-tique of colonization and land grabbing.” Teresa Martinez, who provides further insight into the text, created the new title’s illustrations; and Ho said that, “Sometimes, less collaboration with an artist is better, because she provides her own layers to the narrative. It makes for a complex, rich story.” For Ho, who has built out educational curricula and has taught English to underserved communities, the practice of distillation of words and their mes-sage comes in handy at work. When Ho speaks about her drive and passion for education, she reflects, “I’ve always been focused on fighting inequity and disrupt-ing systems of oppression, and I’ve always been drawn to teaching. When I finally put the two together and decided on my path, I went home and sobbed.” Ho’s work at East Palo Alto Academy contributes to the charter school’s goals of fostering inclusivity and changing the paradigm where one’s outlook and trajec-tory isn’t so predictable. Word is out that they have a New York Times best-selling

author in their midst and staff and stu-dents are embracing both the craft of writing and the pleasure of reading. “We have a teacher who’s doing a unit where students have to create a picture book, and I had some students approach me, saying that they had seen my You-Tube presentation and loved my first book,” Ho said. “We’ve also overhauled our library and initiated a universal reading time where every day the whole school stops and reads for 20 minutes.” The school year just started, and Ho shared a recent encounter with a student and the idea of initiating a book club. “I had been excited to start a book club, thinking about it all summer and the books we would read. During club day a couple of weeks ago, I saw that a student who was not always happy to see me at school had set up her own booth and was starting a book club with her own list of great titles,” she said. “And now I get to be the club’s advisor! Students are so surprising in the most beautiful ways.” Like music, books too can build bridges.

Sophia Markoulakis is a contributing writer for the Six Fifty. THE ALMANAC OPEN HOMES

LOS ALTOS HILLS11665 Dawson Drive $4,488,000Sun 1:30-4:30 4BD/3.5BA DeLeon Realty 650-900-700026304 Esperanza Drive $4,488,000Sat/Sun 1:30-4:30 7BD/5.5BA DeLeon Realty 650-900-7000

MENLO PARK1145 Hillview Drive $4,198,000Sat/Sun 1:30-4:30 4BD/3.5BA Sereno 650-269-7266624 Berkeley Ave $4,488,000Sat/Sun 1:30-4:30 4BD/3BA DeLeon Realty 650-669-8088

MOUNTAIN VIEW2461 Benjamin Drive $1,988,000Sat/Sun 1:30-4:30 7BD/3BA DeLeon Realty 650-963-5062

PALO ALTO551 Lytton Avenue (T) $1,888,888Sat/Sun 1:30-4:30 3BD/2.5BA JLee Realty 650-857-10002291 South Court $5,199,000Sun 2:00-4:00 4BD/4BA Compass 650-207-9909425 Ferne Avenue $2,988,000Sat/Sun 1:30-4:30 4BD/3BA DeLeon Realty 650-459-3888552 Kellogg Avenue $6,495,000Sun 1:30-4:30 4BD/3.5BA Compass 650-465-5958

PALO ALTO737 Center Drive $5,988,000Sun 2:00-4:00 4BD/3.5BA Compass 650-207-9909

991 Addison Avenue $4,599,000Sat/Sun 2:00-4:00 4BD/3BA Compass 650-387-2716

1117 Hamilton Avenue $6,988,000Sat 1:30-4:30 5BD/5BA DeLeon Realty 650-459-3888

2303 Cowper Street $6,995,000Sun 2:00-4:00 5BD/6BA The Dreyfus Group, Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty 650-485-3476

4121 Orchard Court $4,663,250Sun 2:00-4:00 5BD/7BA The Dreyfus Group, Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty 650-485-3476

4158 Orchard Court $4,934,650Sun 2:00-4:00 5BD/7BA The Dreyfus Group, Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty 650-485-3476

528 Jackson Drive $2,988,000Sat/Sun 1:30-4:30 5BD/3BA DeLeon Realty 650-900-7000

890 Seale Avenue $4,988,000Sat/Sun 1:30-4:30 5BD/4BA DeLeon Realty 650-900-7000

PORTOLA VALLEY835 Westridge Drive $9,988,000Sat/Sun 1:30-4:30 5BD/7.5BA DeLeon Realty 650-900-7000

Legend: Condo (C), Townhome (T). Agents: submit open homes at AlmanacNews.com/real_estate

gasoline and questions why on earth we’re enabling it to be used,” London said in an interview. “It’s killing our planet and ruin-ing our futures, yet people are filling their cars with it every day.” She said she felt that a children’s book would be one way to help that next gen-eration make the connection between the use of gasoline and climate change and air pollution that threaten the planet. So she developed a story that would become “Sparky’s Electrifying Tale.” It’s about two kids, one of whom gets a pet hamster, she said. As they’re looking for somewhere for the hamster to play, they consider using the tailpipe of their fam-ily car. The older sister intervenes, and the two siblings learn about all of the problematic stuff that comes out of car tailpipes, and the environmental damage that comes along with every step of the process of extracting, refining, trans-porting and burning gasoline. The book is targeted toward readers ages 5 to 9. London said she got feedback on the story from her own children — now a college student and high school senior — as well as many families throughout the community.

She tested out various iterations of the book with between 10 and 20 local chil-dren and families as the story developed. “It’s been a community effort,” she said. “I hope this book is impactful for people in Silicon Valley,” London said. “I think there’s a huge opportunity for people in Silicon Valley to make a dif-ference. The vast majority of people have no barriers to making the switch to an electric vehicle right now. Every house-hold that can (should) get an EV (electric vehicle) today,” she said. A majority of households have two cars already, and could swap out one for an electric vehicle and still have a gas-powered vehicle for longer-range trips, she said. More than half of the region’s households live in single-family homes, where they don’t need to worry about accessing home charging systems. Yet only about 3.3% of cars on the road today are electric vehicles, she said. “We don’t have time to wait for our gas cars to die — we have to do it now,” she said. The book is available online through Kepler’s Books at keplers.com, directly from the publisher at mascotbooks.com or via Amazon.

Email Staff Writer Kate Bradshaw at [email protected].

SPARKYcontinued from page 5

potential jump in enrollment from Men-lo Park’s proposed 3,000 new housing units, almost all within district boundar-ies. Enrollment has been down in the last two years with families moving out of the district during the pandemic because they want to live somewhere with a lower cost of living since they can work from home, Burmeister said during a Sept. 9 governing board meeting. It is “safe to say this is a temporary decline,” he said. The district recently lost federal Title 1 funding used to support students from

low-income families, which Burmeister called a fluke in that not enough district families filled out the survey required to qualify for the funds. MPCSD lost out on over $600,000 in federal COVID-19 aid because it didn’t qualify. As future federal aid is likely to be tied to Title 1 eligibility, MPCSD may continue to miss out on hundreds of thousands of dollars, he said. Mark Hinkle, president of the Sili-con Valley Taxpayers Association, said the district is asking for a “whopping increase” in parcel tax funds when its test scores are down. “With inflation creeping up, people

on fixed incomes are going to be hurt by this,” said Hinkle, who authored the argument against Measure B. He said with enrollment in local districts hold-ing steady, he doesn’t see the need for the measure. “They’re basically saying, ‘There may be additional housing and that we may have additional kids,’” he said. “This is pretty speculative.” Hinkle added that he would expect math and English language arts test scores to be higher for the type of fund-ing that the district receives — about 16% of students tested below grade level in English during the 2019-20 school

year and 17% of students weren’t profi-cient in math. “If you went into a restaurant (where) 15% of the time you get bad service, would you continue going back to that restaurant? Probably not,” he said. He argued that doing well in math is an important skill to make it in the tech world, and that for the amount of money the district is spending, it could do better to educate students. (The district spends about $20,000 per student.) For more on the measure, go online to smcacre.org/post/november-2-2021. A


MEASURE Bcontinued from page 1

YO-YO MAcontinued from page 12


To support local schools, Dana Carmel will donate $5,000 to your local Education Foundation when you

buy or sell a home with her by May 31, 2022.

Dana Carmel is a long-time, active Foundation member. She knows just how much our school districts

rely on Foundation support to provide quality education. Funds raised provide additional teachers,

specialists, programs, and tools that make our schools extraordinary places for learning.

for every dollar spent on public schools in a community, home values increased by about $20. This increase directly

translates to higher resale values.

I N T R O D U C I N G

MAKE THE MOVE • BACK TO SCHOOL

Dana Carmel650.804.2393 •

Compass is a licensed real estate broker and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, condition, sale, or withdraw without notice. This is not intended to solicit property already listed.

ATHERTON • MENLO PARK • PALO ALTO • WOODSIDE • PORTOLA VALLEY

$ 5 , 0 0 0 D O N A T E D F O R E V E R Y S A L E


IDEAS, THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ABOUT LOCAL ISSUESIDEAS, THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ABOUT LOCAL ISSUES

ViewpointMeasure B is the right

solution for the future of Menlo Park’s students

By Peter Carpenter

Measure B is a long-term financial solution that allows Menlo Park City School

District (MPCSD) to continue deliv-ering superior education at a reason-able cost, and one with meticulous accountability to the taxpayers. I say this as the leading voice againstprevious parcel tax measures; I even drafted the argument against mea-sures A and C in 2016. In contrast, I fully support Measure B.

California’s elementary and second-ary education financing system is com-plex and difficult to understand. When Proposition 13 was passed in the ‘70s, the focus was on funding “basic” educa-tion for all. As a result, many districts ended up relying on local funding, such as property taxes, to provide a higher standard of education. In Menlo Park, it was determined that 18 cents from each property tax dollar would go toward the school district, and unfortunately, this percentage is unchangeable. That’s why, four decades later, property taxes cover only 62% of the district’s budget, and why parcel taxes were introduced to bridge the gap.

The complexity of these early supple-mental funding solutions was further challenged by poor communication to voters about them. And the efforts to educate voters were primarily targeted toward district parents, not taxpayers.

As a taxpayer, I presented my con-cerns about parcel taxes in order to change the basic philosophy: Make parcel taxes work for our community’s education system and for the economy. When new district and school board leaders ushered in an approach that put taxpayers at parity with parents, the communication, understanding, and collaboration about supplemental fund-ing grew.

Over the last five years, MPCSD streamlined and simplified the dis-trict’s finances while navigating the complex laws that dictate funding for our education.

In the lead-up to Measure B, I reviewed the plans and budgets with the experience formed over decades of serving on boards, ethics and finance committees in academia, the public sector and the corporate world. As a member of the Vision for Outstanding Public Education Committee, I helped to formulate and refine the district’s long-term goals and the financial plans for how to achieve them.

Most recently, with my grandchil-dren now attending schools in the dis-trict, I’ve seen firsthand the phenom-

enal quality of the staff, and the value of my tax dollars at work. MPCSD delivers credible value for the dollar, with strong academic performance despite spending the least per student compared to competitive neighboring districts: Woodside, Portola Valley, Las Lomitas, Hillsborough, and Palo Alto.

I empathize with taxpayers’ con-cerns around the ambiguity of future enrollment and the hesitancy to approve a measure that incorporates these uncertain, though likely, risks. Think about it this way: As a share-holder, would you have confidence in a board that didn’t have a long-term plan that took into consideration both present and future risks? Measure B allows the board to move forward in a period of ambiguity with a hard cap, and the f lexibility — and responsibil-ity — to reassess if they don’t need the entire Measure B amount in any given year.

The importance of the quality of lead-ership to run an efficient and successful organization should not be overlooked. It’s something I saw firsthand, as a member of the military, while serving in the federal Office of Management and Budget, in boardrooms and educational institutions. We have great leadership across the school district, from the administration to the staff as well as a solid school board, elected by the people and tasked with district oversight.

Finally, we also must acknowledge that much of the political and economic turbulence in our society is because of poor education. A healthy democracy demands well-educated students. The strength of our economy is contingent on productivity, and our productiv-ity can only be increased by education. Data shows that with a strong education system, communities see an economic benefit; for example, a 2010 Stanford study found that for every dollar the government invests in education, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grows by $20.

These are key factors that I have considered, and which I encourage others to consider, when deciding to support this parcel tax. Measure B will empower the district’s leadership to provide economic growth for our community through investing in our children; and well-educated children are the greatest asset for the future of our democracy.

Peter Carpenter is a Menlo Park resident.

GUEST OPINION

Vote no on Measure B, Menlo Park school district’s latest

parcel tax initiative By Mark Hinkle

With this latest “temporary” parcel tax, the Menlo Park City School District claims

they need a tax increase to continue providing “high quality educational programs.” The district wants to extend the 2017 “temporary” parcel tax ($360 is your current property tax assessment) for another 12 years, and they want to add inflation adjustments so your taxes will rise every year for the next 12 years.

Have they earned this extension that will cost you well over $7,176 for the next 12 years (on top of all the other taxes you are already paying)?

Let’s look at the latest student academ-ic performance for English and math. Results from the 2018-19 school year indicate 15.93% of students are below grade level for English, and 17.49% are below grade level for math.

The district rewarded students, par-ents, and taxpayers for the passage of the 2017 parcel tax by dropping profi-ciency in English and (with) minuscule 1.67% improvement in math!

How many students in the graduat-ing class took one or more Advanced Placement (AP) exam? Answer: 13 out of 2,922 students for the 2018-19 school year, the latest figures according to the California Department of Education Data Partnership (ed-data.org).

(Editor’s note: AP exams are usually taken by high school students. MPCSD is a K-8 elementary district.)

Should you, the voters, reward the district for declining academics? If not, we encourage you to vote no on Measure B.

This district is already spending $19,990 per student per year, which is 148% above the statewide average ($13,489), while providing average edu-cation results. Yet they want more of your hard-earned money to pad their salaries (averaging $106,988 per year plus up to $13,250 in benefits) and fat pension plans. They claim no funds will be used for administration. But revenues increased over the last five years ($12.2 million) can be used for administration expenses without limits.

The statewide average teacher’s salary is $84,531 (2019-20 school year) com-pared to this district’s average salary of $106,986 (according to the latest fig-ures from 2017-18). That’s a whopping $22,455 difference. And they only teach 180 days a year, earning $594.36 per day.

Furthermore, the district’s average daily attendance expenses for certified personnel are 178% above the statewide average.

Student enrollment continues to decline, now down to 2,922 students.

They say this tax will raise $4.6 mil-lion, but revenues are already up $12.2 million in just the last five years. They clearly don’t need more of your hard-earned income.

Tell the Menlo Park City school board to be fiscally responsible by voting no on Measure B.

In the real world, you get better results when you reward success. However, if you reward failure, you will get more failure!

Tell the Menlo Park City school board that you want education success first and then they’ll get a reward. But for now, vote no on Measure B.

The ballot measures states there will be “independent oversight” of the funds. However, guess who picks the oversight committee? You guessed it: the Menlo Park City school board. Not exactly like foxes guarding the henhouse, but hardly an objective oversight committee.

The ballot measure also states that this “temporary” tax will expire after 12 years. But we all know they will just seek another extension for more money for another “temporary” tax increase after this one expires.

One last thought: Parcel tax elections are paid for by the school district, which means your tax dollars are paying for this mail ballot and not being spent on educating students. If you think this is a misuse of your tax dollars, then please vote no.

For more information, please visit us at svtaxpayers.org

Mark Hinkle is president of the Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association and lives

in Morgan Hill.

GUEST OPINION

What’s on your mind?

From City Hall politics and the schools to transportation and other pressing issues, the Almanac aims to keep readers informed about their community. But we also want to hear from you.

Tell us what’s on your mind by sending your letters to [email protected]. Or snail-mail them to: The Almanac, 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306.

Letters should be no longer than 300 words.

Questions? Email [email protected], or call 650-223-6537.


V I E W P O I N T

Where will the electricity come from?

As you may know, Menlo Park is contemplating an ordinance “to prohibit the installation of new gas equipment in build-ings throughout the city.” The ordinance would mandate the “conversion of gas, water and space heating to electric.” It does not include gas dryers and stoves (because they do not currently require inspection by the city when replaced).

But in a Sept. 17 Palo Alto Weekly guest opinion (“Opinion: What most environmentalists don’t know can hurt us”), physi-cist Bill Zaumen asks, “Where is this additional electricity going to come from? That a problem exists should be obvious.”

He continues: “ ... switching from gas to electricity for heat-ing is going to be less effective in reducing global warming than one would think, and in the worst case — if demand got ahead of production — it could be counter-productive. Basically, switching from natural gas to electricity can increase greenhouse gas emis-sions if done faster than so-called clean energy sources can be built

... We should be careful we do not inadvertently make the situation worse.”

I hope that before going forward with the very consequential and costly Menlo Park ordinance, the City Council will gather some experts to publicly address Zau-men’s key question: Where will the electricity come from?

We know that the demand for electricity will increase many fold.

We know that all new cars bought in 2035 must be electric.

We know that the nuclear power plant, which now supplies 9.38% of California’s power, is scheduled to be retired.

We know that our hydro-electric plants have been shut down because of drought; that our water storage facilities need repair; and that our current elec-tric infrastructure is inadequate. And we know that power outages are massively inconvenient and dangerous.

You may not know that Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of power emergency and in August the state authorized the building of five “temporary” gas-fueled generators to boost the state’s grid, at a cost of $171.5 million each.

We all care about the climate threat, so let’s be smart and cau-tious and certify that major and costly changes we introduce will benefit — not conflict with — our

desire to do the right thing.If you think, as I do, that we

should get some academic elec-tricity guidance before proceed-ing with the ordinance, you can let the City Council know at [email protected]

Mickie Winkler Former Menlo Park mayor

Palo Alto

Change to all-electric homes, but also put a price on carbon

The Environmental Qual-ity Commission in Menlo Park has suggested a city ordinance requiring a switch from gas appliances to electric appliances. Under consideration is to con-vert 95% of existing buildings to all-electric by 2030. As gas furnaces and hot water heaters wear out, they are replaced with electric appliances.

In her opinion piece published in the Oct. 1 issue of The Alma-nac (“Guest opinion: Examining myths about switching from gas to electric,”) Josie Gaillard makes a compelling case that it is indeed feasible to replace gas appliances with electric equivalents as they wear out. Feasibility is enabled by the availability of space and water heaters using more efficient heat pump technology.

This proposal by Menlo Park is an aggressive policy to address climate change. By totally elec-trifying our homes while also demanding more clean electric-ity from renewables, we would be taking a bold step to reduce our carbon emissions. Of course, these actions would only be local and their effects on the global problem would be minuscule. Nevertheless, major transforma-tions often start with the first steps done locally.

The urgency of climate change, however, also demands bigger steps done globally. The United States needs to put a price on carbon. The rest of the world will follow the innovative lead of the United States, like it always has done. Americans have an excel-lent opportunity now to include carbon pricing in the reconcilia-tion package being discussed by Congress. Under carbon pricing policy, fossil fuel companies, not energy consumers or taxpayers, bear the cost of lowering carbon emissions. Revenues from a car-bon fee on fossil fuel producers are returned to consumers as a dividend.

I urge all Almanac readers to ask their senators and congres-sional reps to add carbon pricing to the reconciliation bill.

Rob HogueSiskiyou Drive, Menlo Park

Stanford lacks leadership on climate change

Last month, the president of Harvard University, Law-rence Bacow, announced that Harvard’s endowment will end investments in fossil fuels. He called climate change “the most consequential threat facing humanity.” What has been the response at Stanford University? As far as I can tell, deafening silence.

In June 2020 the Stanford Board of Trustees voted against divestment in fossil fuel compa-nies. Should local reporters call the office of Marc Tessier-Lavi-gne, president of Stanford Uni-versity, and ask him to comment? Are there perhaps conflicts of interests on Stanford’s board? Is the university, perhaps, caving to its moneyed interests? Should these questions and others be explored by the press now that the United Nation’s Intergovern-mental Panel on Climate Change has characterized global warm-ing as a “widespread, rapid and intensifying” emergency? Yes. Local residents need to under-stand why Stanford University is continuing to support fossil fuel companies.

Bryan BeckRedwood City

��

��

�� !�� "#��$�� %��#��%��%�� #�� #�� %��#�&��

$'()�()*�$+ )�,��-.��)+)$,&(��&(/0..1

$� ��2�!��2��2

LETTERSOur readers write


By Heather Zimmerman

alo Alto may be one of the birthplaces of Silicon Valley, but this week,

one of the city’s parks is going Paleolithic. A “ruin” populated by colorful primitive life forms will arise in downtown’s Lytton Plaza. Visitors can even interact with the beings that inhabit the ruin. It’s not a time travel portal, but an interactive installation called “Paleoalto” and despite its ancient theme, technology made it possible.

“Paleoalto” is a centerpiece of Code:ART, a three-day festival highlighting new media taking place Oct. 7-9 in Palo Alto. In addition to “Paleoalto,” visi-tors can enjoy six other “urban interventions” — digital works that all invite interaction — placed in spots in and around downtown Palo Alto.

“Paleoalto” is a collabora-tion between Alameda-based Marpi Studio and technology system designers and installers Colour Feeders.

Artist Marpi specializes in interactive works, both large-scale installations and smaller pieces that can be experienced on screens as small as a phone. His exhibitions have been shown internationally, includ-ing in Shanghai, China, and Seoul, Korea, and often fea-ture organic shapes that also have a slightly otherworldly quality to them.

“It’s an interactive but imagi-nary world. So it’s (about), ‘How do you bring imagination to a physical, three-dimensional

space?’” Marpi said.He has collaborated with

production designer Will Clark and systems architect Kev-in Colorado, co-founders of Colour Feeders, for about three years. They have worked more closely together as pieces have become increasingly intricate or demanding in design.

“(‘Paleoalto’) is more of a design collaboration rather than a technical collaboration. Traditionally, when I’ve col-laborated with Marpi in the past it’s been more from a tech-nical perspective — designing the infrastructure that makes the digital experiences happen,” Colorado said.

In this case, the collaboration meant getting more hands on in important details, such as how the piece would look.

“It’s a big experiment, and even considering our previ-ous work which was relatively experimental as well, this is just going further,” Marpi said of “Paleoalto.” “... with all of this we are treading in uncharted territory in a bunch of directions.”

Marpi’s works are site-spe-cific, which posed a particular challenge for an outdoor space like a plaza. Most of Marpi’s installations have been created for indoor spaces, and many of them have used projections. “Paleoalto” employs an LED wall and uses software to track and mirror visitors’ motions.

“We’ve been researching dif-ferent camera vision systems and hand-tracking software. In both cases we’re focusing

on technologies where you don’t have to touch anything. Our work before was on touch screens and phone interactions, and touch-related interactions, but this time it’s all tracking your skeleton and tracking your hands in midair,” Marpi said.

Marpi’s works often incor-porate music, and although the specifics of what the music will be was still in development when Marpi and the Colour Feeders spoke to this publica-tion, “Paleoalto” will definitely have some original music to help set the scene for visitors.

One thing that makes “Paleo-alto” especially unique as an interactive piece is its shape, with the installation built in a staircase shape.

“We’ve been working with the city of Palo Alto’s engineers to design a truss system, and then attach a projecting LED wall to it. It’s in a step shape, so it’s not just a traditional square or a rectangle, like a screen would usually be. It has its own taper-ing edges and some extra panels on top of it,” Clark said.

The pandemic delayed the exhibition of “Paleoalto” by more than a year. In the mean-time, Lytton Plaza saw some changes that required altera-tions to the design, making the space for the installation a bit smaller, for one. Another signif-icant change was the planting of some trees in the plaza that ultimately became a serendipi-tous addition, bringing an extra sense of realism to the piece.

“That became a design con-sideration, which was pretty

cool, and we incorporated the trees into our setup. The trees are emerging from our digital ruins, and that ties it into the physical world,” Colorado said.

“It (ties) into the theme, as well, because I am always a fan of this kind of overgrown ruins look, where nature takes over again,” Marpi added.

Not only is its shape unusual, but the design of “Paleoalto” allows for greater interaction. Where many interactive pieces have only one side where visi-tors can participate, “Paleoalto” is double-sided and allows for interaction between the sides.

“I’m really excited for the design aspect of it. I’ve never really seen something like this myself in terms of an outdoor installation of this type. I feel like we’ve done a lot of work to make it not stand out as a big

video wall; it’s a fully immersive thing that looks like it belongs in that space,” Clark said.

“Paleoalto” may have moved into its temporary home com-plete with its own population of brightly colored whimsical creatures, but it’s waiting for the visitors who will really make it come alive.

“More than anything else, it’s the interactivity that gives it a soul, that gives it life,” Colorado said.“Paleoalto” will be on view Oct. 7-9 in Lytton Plaza, 125 Univer-sity Ave., Palo Alto. For more information and a map of where to find all seven Code:ART pieces, visit cityofpaloalto.org. A

Email Arts & Entertainment Editor Heather Zimmerman

at [email protected].

P E O P L E A N D PERFORMANCES I N ARTS A N D ENTERTAINMENT

Artscene

Above: A rendering of “I/O” by Ben Flatau, a piece that is one of six “urban interventions” at Code:ART. Courtesy Ben Flatau. Top: Visitors can interact with video renderings in “Paleoalto,” an installation by Marpi Studio and Colour Feeders. The piece is seen here in an early demo version. Courtesy Marpi Studio and Colour Feeders.


By Melissa McKenzie

C an art enhance your eats?Well, we’d point to the

fact that most restaurant critics include ambiance in their assessment of any eatery, so there must be something to that idea. And here on the Penin-sula, we have a special place in our hearts (and stomachs) for restau-rants that go big on art-oriented interiors.

From original floor-to-ceiling work by San Francisco’s favorite doodle master to a vast cartoon recreation of Japanese food hub Osaka, Silicon Valley delivers for those eager to eat with their eyes. And no, we can’t tell if it’s the creative stimulation, the Insta-friendly backgrounds ... or the fact that we just like to eat tacos beneath a mural of a kid holding fish.

So as we slowly make our way back into restaurants, here are a few of our favorite restaurant murals from around the Penin-sula. Take a look (and snap a pic when you’re there.)

Taro San Japanese Noodle BarThe buzzing streets of Osaka

are alive at Palo Alto’s Taro San Japanese Noodle Bar. Nigel Sussman’s teal monochromatic painting of folks eating, biking, hugging, talking, cooking and going about their daily lives was painted at various perspective points, giving it a surreal feel.

The idea came about in 2018 as Taro San’s owners Lihn and Jerome Ito were building out the restaurant. Sussman was asked to “create a mural that represented the streets of Osaka, the foodie hub of Japan; filled with all the food stalls, busy streets and peo-

ple enjoying good food.”The Itos said the mural is the

restaurant’s focal point as it’s the first thing viewable upon entry and “adds an energy and vibe to the restaurant, allowing the viewer to enter the world of the painting.”Taro San Japanese Noodle Bar, 717 Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto; 650-815-2700, tarosanudon.com.

SweetgreenTwenty spectacle-sporting car-

toon images surrounding the words “Live the Sweet Life” are plastered onto a wall at the Moun-tain View Sweetgreen location. The black and white mural was created by artist Lauren Asta who set out to design a “fun doodle world of healthy food and good times.”

Asta says she hopes restaurant visitors will “take a pause on life and enjoy the doodle life,” which she said is her own motto. Each doodle wears a goofy expression and overlooks the restaurant’s dining quarters. Asta, who said she spent three days creating the mural in 2017, wants viewers to know “good food and being healthy can be fun.”Sweetgreen, 440 Castro St., Moun-tain View; 650-753-7300, sweet-green.com.

La Viga Seafood & Cocina Mexicana

Wanting a “remark on fresh ingredients, produce and fish,” La Viga Seafood and Cocina Mexicana chef and owner Man-uel Martinez employed muralist Morgan Bricca of Morgan Mural Studios to create two complemen-tary murals — each embracing an unfinished look — inside his Redwood City restaurant.

According to the artist, the pieces — one depicting a woman holding a basket of produce standing amid flowers mostly void of color, and the second, a young boy standing alongside colorless flowers and displaying a large fish dangling from each of his fists — were designed to be hip, casual and celebrate the La Viga market in Mexico City. Each of the murals contains a hand-ful of black birds and a simple semi-circle color splash with the woman in front of turquoise and

the boy’s image before a bright red backing.

At the time the mural was painted in 2017, Martinez told Bricca that adorning his walls with images was “like getting a tattoo on my business,” and has since said the murals have “made a huge difference” in his restau-rant, with customers enjoying the dining experience the images create.La Viga Seafood & Cocina Mexi-cana, 1772 Broadway, Redwood City; 650-679-8141, lavigasea-food.com.

RoohDesigned and painted in Janu-

ary 2020 by artist Amanda Lynn, Rooh restaurant’s mural of an Indian woman peeking out from green foliage, butterflies and white flowers is worth a deeper look. Wearing a headband of red roses, a bindi and green and gold oversized jewelry, the subject in the image is meant to make patrons pause.

“All of our restaurant locations have a mural of the woman,” said Rooh co-owner Anu Bhambri. “They are an ode to strong and powerful women. Murals align with our concept, representing the new modern world while preserving the traditions.

The mural is a focal point of the restaurant, she said. “It ties

different elements of the space together. Space represents an old Indian haveli, a historical Indian building with enormous court-yards and ornate archways.” According to Bhambri, Lynn took inspiration from different elements already in place within the space, including the two plants meant to mimic mango trees at Rooh’s entrance and the restaurant’s floral wallpaper by Sabyasachi.Rooh, 473 University Ave., Palo Alto; 650-800-7090, roohrestau-rants.com.

Chico’s TaqueriaTwo black and white sombrero-

wearing men, one with a ciga-rette hanging out of his mouth, stare down diners. The smoker points a handgun directly into the dining room while his com-panion extends a bouquet of red roses — the painting’s only splash of color — toward patrons as they order. On a rosy wall, a brightly colored sugar skull looms. Painted in bright blue, hot pink, vibrant yellow, turquoise and green shades, the image

serves as both a contrast and complement to the yellow wall across the aisle.Chico’s Taqueria , 127 W 25th Ave., San Mateo; 650-242-1780, Insta-gram: @chicostaqueriasanmateo.

It’s-It FactoryIt’s not exactly at a restaurant,

but everyone loves an It’s-It, and the factory shop has a mural worth visiting. Yes, it’s partially an image of the It’s-It Factory, but the mural has so much more and serves as an homage to the Bay. The image of San Fran-cisco’s Playland-at-the-Beach, the original location of the It’s-It fac-tory, contains a Ferris wheel, fun house, cruise ship and a white, multistory building built into the headlands above Ocean Beach, creating a carnival atmosphere viewers will want to dive into and visit.It’s-It Ice Cream, 865 Burlway Road, Burlingame; 650-347-2122, itsiticecream.com. A

Email Contributing Writer Melissa McKenzie at

[email protected].

Instagrammable eateriesThe original art of Silicon Valley’s

most photogenic restaurants

650.245.1845

LEHUA GREENMANLEHUA GREENMAN“Never let the fear of

striking out keep you from

playing the game.”

Food&Drink

Embarcadero Media file photos

Above: It’s not exactly at a restaurant, but everyone loves an It’s-It, and the Factory Shop has a mural of Playland-at-the-Beach that’s worth visiting. Top: The buzzing streets of Osaka come alive at Palo Alto’s Taro San Japanese Noodle Bar in Nigel Sussman’s monochromatic painting of folks eating, biking, hugging, talking, cooking and going about their daily lives.

DIG INTO FOOD NEWS.Follow the Peninsula Foodist on Instagram @peninsulafoodist and subscribe to the newsletter at almanacnews.com/express/ foodist to get insights on the latest openings and closings, learn what the Foodist is excited about eating, read exclusive interviews and keep up on the trends affecting local restaurants.


Congratulations on managing what is a

permanent crisis and know that there

are more of us than you think who

support independent journalism and local

journalism.

- Jill M.

Will you join the thousands of others supporting local journalism?

Now’s your moment to step up when we need you the most.

Subscribe now at AlmanacNews.com/join

You can also subscribe for one year by mailing a check for $120 ($60 for seniors and students) to us at 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto 94306.

WHY SUPPORT

LOCAL JOURNALISM?

Our subscribing members say it best...

“

”

WHY SUPPORT

LOCAL LOCAL JOURNALISM? JOURNALISM?


RANKED #1 COMPASS SMALL TEAM IN CALIFORNIA AND #5 SMALL TEAM

IN THE NATION, PER The Real Trends Report, JUNE 2021.

BRENT 650 888 4898DRE 01329216

[email protected]

MARY 650 888 0860DRE 00373961

[email protected]

GULLIXSON.COM

Compass is a RE broker licensed by the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportu-nity laws. License #01527235. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only and is compiled from sources deemed reliable but has not been verified. Changes in price, condition, sale or withdrawal may be made without notice. No statement is made as to accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footage are approximate.

ATHERTON

/ Approx. 1.08 acre, 4-story estate with elevator to all levels:

/ Pool house with full kitchen and bath

/ Family room, media room, playroom, recreation room,

/ Pool, spa, tennis court, and barbecue pavilion

/ Attached street-level 3-car garage plus underground garage for 2 cars

/ 150-foot-deep well for irrigation

/ Excellent Las Lomitas schools

420 SELBY LANE, ATHERTON

october 8, 2021 | student covid-19 vaccine mandate garners

Documents