Palo Vol. XXXVI, Number 46 Q August 21, 2015 Alto City Council looks to raise minimum wage Page 5 www.PaloAltoOnline.comw ww.Pa l o AltoOnline . com Why Palo Alto’s failed ban on gas leaf blowers might be making a comeback PAGE 22 PulsePulse 18 Transitions 19 Spectrum 20 Eating Out 3322 Tidbits 33 Movies 35 Puzzles 58 QArts A cappella group Pentatonix performs at Shoreline Page 27 QHome Local artists featured in Palo Alto Festival of the Arts Page 37 QSports It’s a healthy start for Stanford women’s soccer Page 60 Living Well With And Beyond Cancer Celebration Saturday, August 29, 2015 11am – 3pm Li Ka Shing Alumni Lawn, Stanford University School of Medicine 291 Campus Dr., Palo Alto, CA 94305 RSVP Today! shc.is/livingwell WHO DO YOU KNOW THAT’S BEEN TOUCHED BY CANCER? Connect. Learn. Share. You are invited to join us August 29, 2015 Event Highlights • Connect with your physicians and health care team • Ask Stanford experts about ways to live well • Learn about Stanford services • Visit community resource tables • Live music • Lunch • Free parking • Children’s activities ations • E aniz xpe • Reiki therapy • Chair massage rg rts O • ty S ni ta For More Information u n m fo r Please visit us online at m d o S C e http:shc.is/livingwell, by email: • r v s i [email protected], c m e a or give us a call at 650.498.3323. s e • T E e r a c a h C Connect O h t t l h a e e r Page 2 • August 21, 2015 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com H ǫ ǯ ̈́ʹͷͲǡͲͲͲǡͲͲͲ ͸ͷͲǦͺͷͷǦͻ͹ͲͲ ͸ͷͲǦͷ͸͸ǦͺͲ͵͵ ̷ Ǥ ̷ Ǥ ͓ͲͳͲͻʹͶͲͲ ͓ͲͳͶͳ͵͸Ͳ͹ Ǥ Ǥ www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • August 21, 2015 • Page 3 Coming Soon… 7KH¿UVWVWHSLQSODQQLQJ\RXU Your weekly ZHHNHQGVWDUWVKHUH email with tips EAT 5HVWDXUDQWUHYLHZVDQGVSHFLDOGHDOV and insights SEE $UWH[KLELWVPXVLFPRYLHVOHFWXUHV about hot events PLAY /RFDOHYHQWVRXWGRRUVMXVWIRUIXQ and cool activities • Music • Eating out • Movies • Fun and free • Art exhibits • Theater • Lectures and learning Presented by Page 4 • August 21, 2015 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com UpfrontLocal news, information and analysis Palo Alto prepares to raise minimum wage City Council to consider plan to set local rate at $11 city with a broader push across the followed suit last November Campbell, Morgan Hill and Santa state to raise the minimum wage. with an even more aggressive Clara are now considering such per hour, with a view toward $15 in 2018 The California minimum wage is proposal, one that increased the ordinances. by Gennady Sheyner set to rise from $9 to $10 per hour in wage to $12.25 on May 1 and that Palo Alto’s new law is mod- January, though cities across the state gradually raises it to $15 by July eled in many ways after those of alo Alto is a relative late- posal that would set a local mini- are moving ahead with their own lo- 1, 2018. its neighbors, namely Mountain comer when it comes to mum wage at $11 an hour starting cal laws that go beyond this standard. Berkeley, Emeryville, Los An- View and Sunnyvale. Councils P establishing a minimum in 2016 and put the city on a path San Jose voters led the way by geles, Oakland, Richmond and in both cities adopted ordinances wage, but a new proposal that to see the figure rise to $15 by adopting a minimum-wage ordi- San Diego have adopted mini- last October that set the minimum the City Council is set to discuss 2018. The plan, which was crafted nance in 2013, with the hourly mum-wage ordinances in recent wage at $10.30, effective July 1 Monday looks to place the city and unanimously endorsed by the rate currently set at $10.30 and years, with varying amounts of this year. The ordinances also ahead of the regional pack. council’s Policy and Services Com- tied to consumer price index and adjustment mechanisms. In The council will consider a pro- mittee in April, would align the (CPI) increases. San Francisco Santa Clara County, the cities of (continued on page 14) TRANSPORTATION Cities challenge VTA on transportation funding Mayors from Palo Alto, North County and West Valley call for ‘transformative long-range vision’ by Gennady Sheyner ith the regional push sure, to initiate a comprehensive for a transportation tax study to develop a “system-wide W measure cruising to- plan that integrates future mass- ward November 2016, Palo Alto, transit investments in Santa Clara Mountain View and other cit- County with connections to other ies in the northern part of Santa counties, via such systems as Cal- Veronica Weber Clara County are joining forces train, as well as community-level to ensure their needs don’t get systems and ‘first/last mile’ strate- overshadowed by San Jose’s. gies,” the letter reads. The unusual alliance of 11 cities Though the letter doesn’t spe- was prompted by years of complaints cifically mention the proposed First-grade teacher Angelina Rodriguez reads to her students in Spanish in their Spanish about the lack of balance in how the tax measure, its strategic signifi- Immersion classroom at Escondido Elementary School on Aug. 19. Ninety percent of class time is tax funds have been allocated. cance is clear. With highway traf- spent speaking Spanish and 10 percent is in English in first grade. According to an analysis by the fic around Palo Alto, Mountain office of Santa Clara County Su- View, Los Altos Hills and Cu- pervisor Joe Simitian, whose dis- pertino severely congested dur- EDUCATION trict includes the northern part of ing the morning and afternoon the county, nearly 80 percent of rush hours, officials are trying to the funds from the past two ballot ensure that a good chunk of the measures have been spent on the funds raised through the potential Spanish immersion program marks extension of BART from the East tax will help remedy the situation. Bay to San Jose. This includes the During a lengthy discussion entire $320 million raised so far Monday that dominated its first 20 years in Palo Alto from the 2008 measure and $3.3 meeting after the summer break, billion of the $4.3 billion raised the Palo Alto City Council ex- Two decades later, first students reflect on how from the 2000 tax. pressed its own frustrations about the elementary school program changed their lives Simitian’s analysis also showed tax allocations and unanimously by Elena Kadvany that District 5, which also includes approved the letter to the VTA, a portion of West Valley, received which calls for the county to focus ne works on climate School District’s Spanish im- dents, now in their mid-20s, all just 5.3 percent of the proceeds its attention on commuting patterns change in the White mersion program, from which describe the program as having from the 2000 measure. District along busy Peninsula arteries such OHouse. Another started all of these people graduated a lasting impact on their lives 1, which includes the remainder as U.S. Highway 101, Interstate 280, a new job this week as an ele- from many years ago. that went far beyond simply of the West Valley cities, received Highway 85 and State Route 237. mentary school dual-immersion The program, which has been being able to speak a second just 4.5 percent from that measure. Signaling the renewed spirit of teacher. Another is a journalist; housed at Escondido Elementa- language. It developed in all Now, the cities see the 2016 cooperation, Mountain View May- another is heading to Chile this ry School since the late 1990s, of them an appreciation of lan- transportation measure as the per- or John McAlister and Councilman fall for a physical therapy in- is celebrating its 20th anniver- guage, education and cultural fect opportunity to change that im- Lenny Siegel both attended the ternship; and one now serves sary this weekend. Students differences that has played out balance. To that end, elected offi- Palo Alto meeting. Siegel told the as program director for Dream- and families from the earliest in each of their lives in compel- cials and city managers from these Palo Alto council that the root of Catchers, a local nonprofit that cohorts of the program are re- ling ways. cities have co-written a letter urg- the problem in Santa Clara County provides after-school tutoring turning from elsewhere in the Twenty years later, one can ing the Santa Clara Valley Trans- is that “we don’t have a transit sys- and mentoring to low-income state and country to attend the see the impact of the Span- portation Authority (VTA) to tem in the county that serves our Palo Alto students. celebration, a testament to the ish immersion program most consider more comprehensive and existing commuting patterns.” The common thread in these deep impact and close ties the directly through two students. integrated transportation solutions “A study of our transportation seemingly disparate career immersion program produced. that would serve the needs of the needs throughout the county and choices is Palo Alto Unified The program’s earliest stu- (continued on page 12) entire county. It calls for the VTA, the agency pursuing the 2016 mea- (continued on page 16) www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • August 21, 2015 • Page 5 Upfront 450 Cambridge Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94306 QUOTE OF THE WEEK (650) 326-8210 PUBLISHER William S. Johnson (223-6505) EDITORIAL Editor Jocelyn Dong (223-6514) ® Associate Editor Brenna Malmberg (223-6511) Sports Editor Keith Peters (223-6516) Arts & Entertainment Editor It’s execution time.