Holiday Fund 8 Spectrum 17 Seniors 18 Eating out 25 Shop Talk 26 INSIDE ENJOY CLASS GUIDE
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Vol. XXXV, Number 13 N January 3, 2014 PAGE 22 Holiday Fund 8 Spectrum 17 Seniors 18 Eating Out 25 Shop Talk 26 INSIDE ENJOY CLASS GUIDE NUpfront Plane route over Palo Alto eyed Page 5 NHome Website offers remodeling ideas Page 27 NSports Stanford loses 24-20 in the Rose Bowl Page 44 LIGHT UP YOUR LIFE (AND POCKET THE SAVINGS) RECEIVE ENERGY STAR® DISCOUNT LED BULBS! City of Palo Alto Utilities is selling SWITCH Infi nia 60W equivalent LED bulbs for $9.99, and a 40W equivalent for $8.99. (Prices are about half of regular retail!) Take advantage of this great energy-saving offer while supplies last! * t Lifetime residential warranty t 25,000 hour/22 year life t Full 300o light distribution t Warm light (2700K) t Works with most dimmers (See switchlightingco.com/infi nia) tUL rated for indoor, outdoor and damp locations Use the coupon below to receive your discounted energy effi cient LED light bulbs, while supplies last at any of these three locations: Ace Hardware—875 Alma St. Fry’s Electronics—340 Portage Ave. Piazza’s Fine Foods—3922 Middlefi eld Rd. LED DISCOUNT * COUPON ""#$# $ $$' %#$ "# ' %#$# &!" "#' &$ %! $$ !%"# 650-329-2241 www.cityofpaloalto.org/lighting Page 2ÊUÊ>Õ>ÀÞÊÎ]ÊÓä£{ÊUÊ*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞÊUÊÜÜÜ°*>Ì"i°V Sellers Wanted Our Motivated Buyers Need Your Help Buyer 1 Buyer 2 Buyer 3 3 Bed + | 2 Bath + 3 Bed + | 2 Bath + 3 Bed + | 2 Bath + | View 1 Acre lot + Atherton Sharon Heights Woodside | Portola Valley Central Atherton Up to $3,500,000 Emerald Hills Up to $5,000,000 Up to $3,000,000 Buyer 4 Buyer 5 Buyer 6 3 Bed + | 2 Bath + | Views 3 Bed + | 2 Bath + Fixer Upper Home 3,000 sf + | Large Lot Bay or Hoover Tower View Palo Alto | Menlo Park Palo Alto | Los Altos Hills Palo Alto | Los Altos Hills Los Altos Up to $4,000,000 Up to $4,000,000 Up to $1,500,000 Buyer 7 Buyer 8 Buyer 9 3 Bed + | 2 Bath + 3 Bed + | 2 Bath + | 1,400 sf 2 Bed + | 2 Bath + | 1,400 sf Townhome, Condo Townhome, Condo Palo Alto | Los Altos Hills with Gunn High Mountain View | Los Altos Palo Alto | Los Altos Near shopping Up to $2,500,000 Menlo Park Up to $1,400,000 Up to $1,500,000 Call Jackie and Richard to Make Your Move Jackie Richard 650-855-9700 650-566-8033 [email protected] [email protected] BRE # 01092400 BRE # 01413607 www.schoelerman.com ÜÜÜ°*>Ì"i°VÊUÊ*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞÊUÊ>Õ>ÀÞÊÎ]ÊÓä£{ÊU Page 3 Welcome, The Dawn Thomas Team We are pleased to welcome Dawn Thomas and her team to our firm. Dawn’s profes- sionalism, community ties and outstanding personal service match our core values. Dawn L. Thomas, Ellie Scott, As part of Sotheby’s global realty network, Broker Associate Lead Buyer Specialist Dawn has the ability to serve both global BRE 01860743 buyers and local sellers. We look forward to serving you and your family with the highest The Dawn Thomas Team quality real estate service and advice. 650.701.7822 (SVAB) [email protected] SiliconValleyandBeyond.com As long as I have been aware of real estate, I’ve always known about the Sotheby’s brand and have been impressed with the truly global reach and partnerships across the planet that Sotheby’s International Realty® has built over decades to connect together the world’s most discerning buyers and sellers. The local knowledge and influence that Dreyfus has “ “ coupled with Sotheby’s is quite frankly, where my team and I want to be. It’s a delight to have the opportunity to meld the collective assets of The Dawn Thomas Team, Silicon Valley and Beyond and Dreyfus Sotheby’s International Realty to serve our Silicon Valley clients even better. — Dawn L. Thomas Downtown Palo Alto Sand Hill Road dreyfussir.com 728 Emerson Street, Palo Alto 2100 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park Each Office is Independently Owned 650.644.3474 650.847.1141 and Operated. Page 4ÊUÊ>Õ>ÀÞÊÎ]ÊÓä£{ÊUÊ*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞÊUÊÜÜÜ°*>Ì"i°V GOAL $350,000 As of Dec. 27 See who’s already 405 donors contributed to the $317,012 Holiday Fund on page 8 with matching funds Donate online at UpfrontLocal news, information and analysis PaloAltoOnline.com Drought could cost Palo Alto $5.46 million Market-rate power purchases would replace expect the drought to affect cus- the hurt in its electrical budget, ing power from other markets to tomer rates this year, but a third she said. make up for the drop would take lost hydroelectric power dry year could change that. Hydroelectric power in a nor- a 4 percent bite out of the city’s by Sue Dremann “If we have continuous three mal year accounts for about 50 electricity budget. years in a row of very critically percent of the city’s power supply, In addition to hydroelectric pow- f California doesn’t get more its driest year on record, and dry weather, it will be a problem and by contract Palo Alto pays er, 20 percent of the city’s power precipitation, Palo Alto could even additional rain won’t be at some point,” said Jane Ratchye, the same amount of money for came from landfill gas and wind I end up paying at least $5.46 able to make up for two straight city Utilities Department assistant that power no matter how much in 2013; it purchased the remaining million more for energy supplies years of drought, according to director for resource manage- power it gets, Ratchye said. But 30 percent from the open market. to make up for lost hydroelectric the California Department of ment. in 2014, the city expects that the The drought means that in 2014, power, a city official told the Water Resources. While most Californians will proportion of power it gets from 40 percent will come from hydro- Weekly. A funding reserve the city built see the effects of the deficit as hydroelectric sources, such as the electric sources, with the balance California’s seasonal forecast up during wet years, when costs lower groundwater, river and res- Calaveras and Shasta dams, will shows the state is heading into were lower, means the city doesn’t ervoir levels, Palo Alto will feel fall by about 10 percent. Purchas- VÌÕi`ÊÊ«>}iÊ£{® NEIGHBORHOODS Plan would send planes flying over Palo Alto Atherton residents propose Surf Air flights over Crescent Park, Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhoods by Sue Dremann alo Alto’s Crescent Park and Duveneck/St. Francis neigh- P borhoods could find them- selves under the flight path of a 6iÀV>Ê7iLiÀ relatively new airline, if a proposal to the Federal Aviation Adminis- tration is cleared for takeoff. Surf Air, an airline that offers passengers unlimited flights on six-passenger planes for a monthly Into the new year fee, started flying its turbine-pow- A solo walker at the Stanford Dish trail heads west on Jan. 2. ered Pilatus PC-12 planes in and out of San Carlos Airport in June. But it has rankled some Atherton residents, who have found the air- TECHNOLOGY plane noise overhead annoying. About 75 people attended a Dec. 9 community meeting about Surf Online poker, reinvented — and legal Air, with many voicing their con- cerns, according to a Dec. 10 ar- Local software engineer creates new version of skill-based poker ticle in the Almanac, the Weekly’s sister paper. by Elena Kadvany Surf Air’s current FAA-man- nline poker is a booming no luck or chance, is totally le- “You’re no longer working by pate), chance and a prize — is dated flight path is aligned above business. gal. the mathematical principles of illegal under U.S. gambling law. Middlefield Road through Ather- O Millions of Americans Arthur Pfeiffer, a local software randomness,” Pfeiffer explained, All three elements must be pres- ton, Menlo Park, Palo Alto and play the card game online, cir- engineer who’s lived in Palo Alto “so it’s a matter of outwitting and ent to deem something illegal; a Mountain View and flies over culating hundreds of millions of since 1968, created his own ver- out-thinking your opponents in game that charges a fee to play but Palo Alto’s Walter Hays Elemen- dollars each year. There are inter- sion of poker years ago but plans a skill-based situation. Because doesn’t award prizes would not be tary School. national tournaments, a growing to launch an upgraded version next it turns outs that everything that violating the law. But a proposed additional path number of gaming companies and year called Texas Block ‘Em. The happens in terms of the cards is Pfeiffer’s two previous itera- would take planes 10 degrees to a lot of money to be made. new game is very similar to two a function of what the players tions are called “Hold ‘Em Blitz” the east, passing directly over the The only catch? Under federal other poker variations he invented do, there’s no outside force giv- and “Hold ‘Em Battle” and are Willows neighborhood in Menlo and most state law, online poker and patented in the early 2000s, ing one player an advantage over connected to Thwart Poker Inc., Park and the Crescent Park, Du- is illegal. in which players privately select a another.” a software company he founded veneck/St. Francis, Triple El and But one Palo Alto man claims card from the same deck on each Any game that contains three with his son in 2001. Both games eastern Midtown neighborhoods his 100-percent skill-based ver- round instead of being randomly particular elements — consid- sion of the game, which involves dealt cards to play.