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Browse archives: 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995Published on 12/25/1995 All articles from this issueCover StoryIt was a very good year1995 saw an improved downtown, hurdles cleared by council Town Crier Staff Report A lot of good things happened in Los Altos in 1995. Sure, we dealt with one dumb controversy that reached undeserving nationwide scrutiny (the issue of restricting Halloween activities in the Los Altos School District). But the year also saw an improved downtown, an approved bond measure for the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District, satisfaction for the traffic-fearing residents of St. Joseph Avenue and compliance with the state on the volatile issue of affordable housing. A few ongoing issues went unresolved, such as the issue of decentralizing the city's fire department, the struggle for control of El Camino Hospital and the day laborer problem. They'll be issues to watch for in the coming year. But local historians may very well be justified in looking at 1995 with a positive eye. It was a year of great accomplishment. What follows, in our humble view, is our recap of the year's most intriguing stories. January The Town Crier named Lawrence Chu, owner of Chef Chu's restaurant, as its first "Los Altan of The Year." He received the award for his outstanding record of generosity and community involvement. U.S. postal rates for first class postage increased from 29 cents to 32 cents, and the Los Altos Post Office did not have stamps in inventory to accommodate frustrated customers. Alain Pinel President Helen Pastorino was forced to resign because she allegedly used approximately $500,000 in company money for her own personal use. In other realty news, Coldwell Banker purchased Fox & Carskadon Realtors. Los Altos Hills resident Charles Herpick fled to the Philippines after allegedly bilking up to $100 million from Stanford golfing buddies and Peninsula residents. He left behind a portfolio of doctored and phony loans at the San Jose mortgage company he co-owned. Ingrid Jackson-MacDonald closed the Sunbird Gallery on Main Street in Los Altos after operating the gallery for 11 years. February The City of Los Altos was given state approval to establish its own affordable housing plan. The decision by the state culminated several years of efforts by Los Altos officials to establish affordable housing guidelines that would meet with state approval. A group of local investors that included, Roy Lave, Bob Grimm, Mary Prochnow, Steven Hunton and Paul Nyberg purchased the Foothill Bank from the American National Corporation of Canada. The bank was renamed The Bank of Los Altos and touted as a new community bank. Rangers at Rancho San Antonio Preserve posted a mountain lion warning after discovering a deer carcass. Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District officers urged park users to practice caution while hiking on nearby trails. March In an attempt to deal with the small numbers of day laborers who stand in front of businesses along El Camino Real, a group of community workers including officials at Community Services Agency and St. Joseph Catholic Church of Mountain View organized a committee to find a job center that could serve as a clearing house for workers. Doctors at El Camino Hospital presented a letter of protest alleging serious fiscal management problems. The statement charges that Camino Healthcare management's actions have not kept with the hospital's original stated intent. Los Altos officials were bracing for a storm packing powerful 70 mph wind gusts and heavy rains. Municipal services director Ken Haukom said there were 105 calls, 75 for downed trees and tree limbs and crews were out on the street at 3 a.m. covering Los Altos streets. Steve Young scrambled his way through a gauntlet of high-fiving Los Altos High School varsity football players to address a crowd of admirers during a tribute rally at Los Altos High School. The San Francisco 49ers star quarterback lives in Los Altos Hills. April The Los Altos City Council spent $40,000 to buy the assets of the Los Altos Conservatory Theatre, (L'ACT) which closed its doors after 18 years of providing live theatrical productions for the community. Leo Chavez, president of West Valley College in Saratoga, was named chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District by the board of trustees. He assumed his new duties July 1. Rancho Shopping Center owners planned massive changes for the 44-year-old complex with an application to the Los Altos planning department. The application came about when Rancho Market managers decided to close their doors. Andronico's, a supermarket chain from Berkeley, offered plans to build a 24,000-square-foot store at Rancho. St. Simon renovation received city council approval to build a new multipurpose room and maintenance building. The proposal drew a crowd of residents to the council meeting voicing concerns regarding suggested street improvements. Foothill College opened its first worldwide classroom via the Internet. Doris Kearns Goodwin spoke before the Los Altos Morning Forum about her recent book "No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt." After the lecture, she found out she won the Pulitzer Prize for history. Construction started on the Los Altos County Fire Protection District fire station at Foothill College. The station costs $2.6 million. May Following years of failed efforts, lawsuits, numerous public hearings and hundreds of staff hours, the state Department of Housing and Community Development gave the city of Los Altos final approval to a revised affordable housing plan April 25. The certification put Los Altos in compliance with state law that requires even affluent cities to obey a mandate saying each city must provide its share of affordable housing. The annual Mayfest weekend festivities went off without a hitch again this past year. The Kiwanis Club, for the 48th year, sponsored a lively downtown pet parade, the Sertoma Club held its annual pancake breakfast and the Rotary Club held its 20th annual fine arts show. Los Altos was well represented on the cutting edge of Internet technology. The Town Crier announced it was creating its own home page and putting its back issues on the World Wide Web. Meanwhile, Los Altos-based SurfWatch introduced anti-smut software that earned nationwide interest. The software allowed parents, teachers and even company bosses to block access to sexually explicit material on the Web. Community theater returned to Los Altos when the city council May 23 approved contract negotiations with the newly formed Bus Barn Theatre group, sponsored by the Los Altos Tomorrow foundation. The action came after Los Altos Conservatory Theatre called it quits seven months earlier, citing financial problems. In April, the city agreed to purchase the theater's assets, valued at approximately $40,000. Also at its May 23 meeting, the city council approved plans for Andronico's Market to replace the long-standing Rancho Market in Rancho Shopping Center. Andronico's personnel are looking to open the market in February. June In the first of two major honors for Los Altos School District superintendent Marge Gratiot, the Association of California School Administrators named her superintendent of the year for Santa Clara County. Gratiot went on to capture the honor for state superintendent of the year. Officials from the Diocese of San Jose announced, in response to concerns by Los Altos neighbors, its proposal for selling church property in Cupertino to housing developers could be accomplished without using St. Joseph Avenue. The announcement meant relief for the south Los Altos neighborhood which, along with the city, had fought the Diocese for years over street access. "I'm the happiest person in Los Altos right now," said attorney Jim Dozier, one of the most outspoken opponents against opening the street. After three tries, Mountain View and Los Altos high school supporters got what they wanted: a $58 million bond measure approved by voters in the June 6 election. The bond money funded an ambitious upgrade of campus facilities, many in dire need of repair. Answering to critics' charges that the money would be used irresponsibly, the district board approved a construction overview commission, comprising knowledgeable community members, to oversee the project and ensure accountability. July Richard Pettingill, accused of serving under a conflict of interest, resigned as chief executive officer of the El Camino Hospital District. Pettingill, instrumental in the implementation of the hospital district's management plan, later resigned from his CEO post as head of Camino Healthcare. City council approved a balanced budget for fiscal year beginning July 1. Figures included $13.8 million for operations and $1.3 million for capital programs. "It's very tight," said finance director Sherry Lambach, "but I think it's a good, workable budget." Los Altos libraries opened longer hours in the wake of Measure A parcel tax money, approved by the voters the previous November. The libraries had suffered state funding cuts the previous two years that resulted in slashed hours and layoffs. Another huge crowd was on hand for the 16th annual downtown arts and wine festival, sponsored by the Los Altos Village Association. An estimated 100,000 visitors attended the weekend event. A 57-unit Parc Regent senior housing proposal squeezed by with final council approval, despite a glitch that the developer and the city could not initially agree on a price for a piece of city-owned land needed for the project. August A feasibility study examining the best option for consolidating local fire districts, including Los Altos, got under way with Los Altos, Palo Alto, Mountain View and the Los Altos County Fire Protection District participating. The study cost more than $55,000, with costs shared among the four agencies. The proposed St. Joseph the Worker Center, sought as a solution for the day laborer problem, received its first funding in the form of a $6,000 grant from the Campaign for Human Development, a program of the Catholic Diocese of San Jose. The center would provide training, education and English instruction for the day laborers. A monthlong State Street repaving project got under way, as workers from O'Grady Paving tore up huge chunks of the old street. Work included new drains, brick work at the intersections and new landscaping. Los Altos Hills officials confronted the issue of yard waste sites being drop-off sites for debris from other communities. "I know there are a lot of outraged citizens over this yard waste," said council member Bob Johnson. "And we know gardeners are bringing in yard waste from Palo Alto and Los Altos, but we have no hard facts to act on." A Mountain View man held signs at busy intersections claiming excessive force by Los Altos police. He claimed his father, Hugo Hauser, was beaten up during a traffic stop. Los Altos police denied the charge and noted Hauser spit and lunged at the officer. Hauser, charged with assault on an officer, is going to stand trial. The Town Crier stirred some controversy of its own when the paper changed its long-standing masthead logo and omitted the paper's mascot, known by and large as "the little Town Crier guy." The change triggered public outcry for the little guy's return. After an issue's absence, he was back in the Aug. 30 addition. September Marge Gratiot, superintendent of the Los Altos School District, one of 1,000 districts in California, was named superintendent of the year. "If I had 1,000 Marges, I'd have 1,000 great school districts," said Delaine Eastin, superintendent of public instruction for the state of California. In the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District, baseball coach Bob Bowers and his attorney attended the Aug. 28 school board meeting to ask why Bowers' contract was not renewed. The board upheld Los Altos High School principal David Brazer's decision not to rehire the coach. Board members also instructed district personnel to review the evaluation process for coaches. The Los Altos City Council voted Sept. 5 to buy the property at 230 First St. for $1.4 million to add 42 downtown parking spaces. The Camino Healthcare Board of Directors announced a new interim chief executive officer who will replace Richard Pettingill when he leaves Sept. 30. Three unleashed pit bulls attacked a Los Altos resident while she was walking her leashed golden retriever about 9 p.m. Sept. 19. "I never thought there would be dogs running around in Los Altos in packs," said the victim, Gwen Francis. The owner of the dogs, Hank Harrison, is the father of Courtney Love, the lead singer with the rock group, Hole. October More than 60 Los Altos residents attended a town hall meeting Sept. 26 where traffic and animal concerns surfaced as key issues in town. The city of Los Altos held an animal hearing Sept. 28 to decide the fate of the three pit bulls that attacked a Los Altos resident. The dogs were impounded for a 10-day quarantine following the attack. A check forgery ring struck for the fifth time in a month at the Los Altos branch of Great Western Bank. Los Altos police arrested two on charges of forgery and conspiracy for trying to cash forged checks Sept. 27. Los Altos animal hearing officer James P. Madden, a Los Altos attorney, sentenced to death the three pit bulls who attacked a resident Sept. 19. "Their next victim could be a doe, a fawn or a 20-pound toddler," Madden wrote in his decision. Halloween hysteria hit Los Altos when rumors circulated that the Los Altos Elementary School Board might restrict Halloween celebrations from the schools. Reporters from CBS News followed residents around town Oct. 20, and then film clips about Los Altos beamed across the country on the 6 p.m. national news. The school board voted 4-0 Oct. 16, in front of a crowd of 600, to leave Halloween celebrations in the schools. The result drew a loud and raucous applause from the audience. In a closed-door session Oct. 10, the Los Altos City Council reversed the death sentence for the three pit bulls issued by the animal control officer. The dogs were released to their owner Oct. 13 on the condition that they never come back to Los Altos. The city backed off from possible litigation. Some residents were outraged. November Police had no explanation following the sudden death of a 5-month-old on Oct. 23 at a Los Altos day care home. "This is a child, known to be in good health, who stopped breathing," said Los Altos police detective Suzie Galvez. The El Camino Hospital District Board filed suit Oct. 30 to overturn arrangements the board made in 1992 because of a conflict of interest status. Los Altos residents blasted the City Council at its Oct. 30 meeting for the process council used to release the pit bulls. "Something is wrong when the city attorney and the council can overturn an action without contact with residents," said Roberta Kelsch who lived near the pit bull owner's home. Shoe leather triumphed in the Los Altos City Council election. Francis La Poll, the top vote getter in a field of six candidates, said he wore out two pairs of shoes walking the precincts while campaigning. La Poll, Kris Casto and Lou Becker won seats on the council. They replaced Marge Bruno, Ted Laliotis and Dave Reeder who all retire because of voluntary council term limits. Bob Norton, Gloria Bauer and Jan Dobson were unsuccessful in their bid for election to the council. At a court hearing Nov. 13 Judge Gilbert Brown announced that there was no record of excessive force in the personnel records of the officer accused of using during a routine traffic stop July 22. The Los Altos City Council voted Nov. 14 to buy the Kentucky Fried Chicken building at 400 Main St. for $400,000. Planners envision creating a sense of entry into town now that the city owns the entire parcel at Main and First streets, adjacent to Safeway. Los Altos resident Ruth Polata took mayor Bob Gray to task at the Nov. 14 city council meeting for a letter to the editor he wrote to the Mercury News. Gray's rude responses prompted an apology to Polata at the Nov. 29 City Council meeting. The newly elected council members were sworn into office, and then elected Patti Williams as mayor. "We all want to work as a team," said new council member Lou Becker. "It will be easy to make progress." December Domestic violence has surged in Los Altos in the past three years during the holidays. Los Altos Police Chief Lucy Carlton offered tips for staying safe this year: plan, trust your instincts and call 911 if afraid, get help beforehand, and call the 24-hour crisis hotline at the Support Network for Battered Women, 940-7855. Santa Claws may be coming to town as the Los Altos Police Department awaits the arrival of their K-9 officer. A distraught day care worker stood in front a train and was killed Nov. 25, just four weeks after a 5-month-old baby died while in her care. On Dec. 8, the assistant medical examiner released the cause of death for the infant as being from sudden infant death syndrome. Hurricane-force winds battered the Los Altos area Dec. 12, closing schools, knocking down power lines and uprooting trees. Five days after the storm some residents were still in the dark, and the city of Los Altos was filing a complaint with the Public Utilities Commission. "We aren't getting a level of PG&E service acceptable to residents," said Dianne Gershuny, Los Altos city manager. Top 10 stories of 1995
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