PaloAltoOnline.com Palo Vol. XXXV, Number 45 ■ August 15, 2014 Alto Inside: Enjoy! Fall class guide Inside: Festival of the Arts guide Spectrum 20 Eating Out 30 Shop Talk 31 Home 35 QNews Residents make plea for flood control Page 5 QArts Litquake rocks the local literary scene Page 27 QSports Stanford women’s soccer season opens Page 57 Stanford Health Fair 3240 Alpine Road • Portola Valley, CA 94028 Stanford Health Center at Portola Valley offers the connection and convenience of a small primary care medical office and access to world-class specialty care at Stanford Health Care. We invite you to our free community Health Fair, featuring: • Blood pressure screenings • Posture screening • Skin “spot check” screenings • Nutritional food samples • Runner’s clinic evaluations • Ask the experts! Saturday, Aug. 23, 2014 8:30am – 11:30am Stanford Health Center at Portola Valley 3240 Alpine Road • Portola Valley, CA 94028 For questions, directions, or additional information, call 650.498.9000 or visit us online at stanfordhealthcare.org/events. Health screenings will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Page 2 • August 15, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com SOLD Jackie and Richard thank you for trusting us to help you achieve your Real Estate Success. Menlo Park – Sold 14% over asking Menlo Park – Sold 16% over asking Menlo Park – Sold 41% over asking SOLD SOLD SOLD Redwood City – Sold 19% over asking Los Altos – Sold 12% over asking Menlo Park – Sold 12% over asking SOLD SOLD SOLD Menlo Park – Sold 8% over asking Menlo Park – Sold 9% over asking Palo Alto – Sold 11% over asking SOLD SOLD SOLD Call Jackie and Richard to Sell Your Home ̈́ʹʹͲǡͲͲͲǡͲͲͲ Jackie Richard 650-855-9700 650-566-8033 [email protected] [email protected] BRE # 01092400 BRE # 01413607 www.schoelerman.com www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • August 15, 2014 • Page 3 OPEN SAT & SUN 1:30 - 4:30 Offered at $5,895,000 Elegant Old Palo Alto Home Bedrooms 6 | Bathrooms 6.5 175 Tennyson Avenue, Palo Alto | 175TennysonAvenue.com Home ±4,540 sf | Lot ±8,000 sf 6I½RIHEVGLMXIGXYVEPHIXEMPWVIQMRMWGIRXSJE*VIRGLGSYRXV]QERSVHMWXMRKYMWLXLMWEFWSPYXIP]IPIKERX3PH4EPS%PXSLSQI 3JJIVMRKPY\YV]ERHGSQJSVXXLIXLSYKLXJYPP]HIWMKRIH¾SSVTPERSRXLVIIPIZIPWJIEXYVIWKVEGMSYWJSVQEPERHMRJSVQEPPMZMRK areas that encourage gathering. 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Sand Hill Road Colleen Foraker 2100 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park 650.847.1141 650.380.0085 [email protected] dreyfussir.com dreyfussir.com )EGL3J½GIMW-RHITIRHIRXP]3[RIH ERH3TIVEXIH License No. 01349099 Local Knowledge • National Exposure • Global Reach Page 4 • August 15, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com UpfrontLocal news, information and analysis Residents near volatile creek make plea for flood control Dozens of speakers from East Palo Alto, Palo Alto flood forced her out of her home side of the creek, has been trying on July 31. and Menlo Park urge regional water board to approve for the night. for more than a year to get a per- During a long and emotional Sims was one of more than mit from the San Francisco Bay meeting in Oakland, residents, long-planned project around San Francisquito Creek 60 residents from the three cit- Regional Water Quality Control elected leaders and senior staff by Gennady Sheyner ies who brought their passionate, Board so that it can begin widen- from the three cities appealed to frustrated and at times angry ing levees, building flood walls the board to approve the project, t’s been more than 16 years 1998, Sims’ house was one of pleas on Wednesday to a meeting and restoring marshlands as part which aims to protect the par- since a flood swept through about 1,700 in East Palo Alto, of a state agency that some have of the long-planned flood-control ticularly flood-prone area in the I the homes of Spencenia Sims Palo Alto and Menlo Park to suf- blamed for standing in the way effort. In March, staff from the downstream section of the wa- and her neighbors in East Palo fer water damage after San Fran- of an urgently needed solution. water board rejected the creek tershed. Alto, and the day rarely strays cisquito Creek overflowed in the The San Francisquito Creek Joint authority’s permit requests and “We are asking you to help us,” far from their minds come winter largest spill ever recorded. She Powers Authority, which includes asked for more information and Sims told the board. “We need time. was displaced for three months. elected officials from the three design modifications. The creek After the flood in February In December 2012, a smaller cities and two counties on either authority reapplied for permits (continued on page 13) TRANSPORTATION City looks to upgrade downtown garages Palo Alto officials turn to tech for ways to make parking more efficient by Gennady Sheyner eeking to drive commut- At Monday’s council meeting, ers out of downtown’s City Manager James Keene said S residential neighborhoods, the technological solutions that Palo Alto officials will shift their the city is pursuing will “make it focus this week toward improving faster to find spaces.” the city’s garages, with the hope Some ideas, developed by plan- of making them both more effi- ning staff and city consulting firm cient and more inviting. SP Plus, are relatively benign: Veronica Weber The City Council is scheduled new signs directing drivers to to consider on Monday a range of the parking structures; improve- garage-centered, technological ments to the city website’s section solutions to downtown’s wors- on parking permits; and enabling Kings (and queen) of the hill ening parking woes, a problem the sale online of parking permits. Justin Lee, 10, left, Andrew Yang, 7, Jason Yang, 10, and HaYeon Lee, 7, climb and play on the that has dominated the city’s Staff plans to proceed with these large wood sculpture near the children’s play area at Mitchell Park in early August. Justin and public agenda over the past year. initiatives this month. HaYeon are from Korea, visiting friends over the summer. The discussion will occur just While the signage program will as the city is finalizing a pro- aim to bring more cars into ga- posed “residential-parking per- rages, other proposals seek to pro- mit program” that will set time vide drivers with information and EDUCATION limits for employees parking on flexibility. Some of these warrant residential streets; soliciting pro- further exploration, according to posals for an expanded citywide city planners, and will return to Paly’s new ‘academic integrity’ shuttle program; and exploring a the council at a later date. These range of “transportation-demand include the development of a policy kicks off larger debate management” programs aimed at parking app; more pricing op- encouraging drivers to switch to tions to increase the use of per- Pressure to excel fuels pervasive ‘culture of dishonesty in Palo Alto,’ student says other transit modes. The council mit parking; and elimination of also agreed Monday to approve downtown’s “color zones,” which by Chris Kenrick a $180,000 design contract for a bar drivers from returning to the alo Alto High School Paly students in school-wide dis- ing to rank students” — are “con- “satellite parking” program that area once the time limit expires. Principal Kim Diorio says cussions set for Aug. 29, she said. versations we need to have as a would allocate 132 parking spots Among the boldest recommen- P she wants to send a strong While the new policy offers school,” she said. on Embarcadero Road for work- dations from SP Plus is giving message about school culture greater clarity than before on what Meanwhile, a student has called ers who would then be bused drivers the option of paying for with the unveiling this month of a constitutes cheating and what the for local schools to tackle the root downtown. garage access beyond the time new “academic integrity” policy specific consequences are, Dio- causes of cheating in the wake of While some of these programs limit and enhancing enforcement for the school. rio said it does not address larger a Paly incident in May that forced have proved controversial (the of on-street parking through the The policy — which for the questions concerning “what we’re Diorio to invalidate more than contract for the satellite program use of license-plate readers. first time includes a “restorative doing as a system that makes kids 100 algebra finals after cheating squeaked by on a 5-4 vote Mon- One solution that the council justice” option, in which a student feel they have to” cheat. was discovered. day), the technological solutions will discuss Monday night is a accused of cheating may opt to “How do you create an environ- The May incident at Paly was are generally seen as “low-hang- proposed “parking guidance sys- go before a panel of trained peers ment where getting a B or a C is just one manifestation of a “larger ing fruit” in the great parking de- tem” that counts cars entering ga- — was crafted by teachers and an option as opposed to getting an culture of dishonesty in Palo Alto bate. The city’s parking garages rages and keeps track of occupan- students and has been vetted by A? That’s really hard,” she said in caused by incredible pressure to have been historically underused, cy.