Palo May 1, 2020 Alto High school graduations postponed ... · High school graduations postponed...

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High school graduations postponed until

DecemberPage 5

Vol. XLI, Number 30 May 1, 2020

Upfront Drug trials offer hope for COVID-19 patients 9

Spectrum Why city budget will ‘break your heart’ Page 24

Living Well Tips for staying fit at home Page 27

Palo Alto

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• May 1, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

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UpfrontLocal news, information and analysis

High schools to postpone graduationDistrict also considers

using old campuses to aid with social distancing

by Elena Kadvany

C urrent Palo Alto and Gunn high school seniors won’t walk across the gradua-

tion stage to receive their diplo-mas until December, the Palo Alto school district announced Monday.

The district decided to postpone graduation rather than hold a vir-tual ceremony in June in response to student feedback “overwhelm-ingly” in support of doing so, Superintendent Don Austin said during a live webinar on Monday evening.

Some students said they wouldn’t attend a remote ceremo-ny even if it were offered, accord-ing to a letter Gunn Principal Ka-thie Laurence sent to seniors and their families on Monday. (Paly seniors and parents received a nearly identical notification from Principal Adam Paulson.)

“The voice of the student body was that they do not want an imi-tation ceremony,” states an FAQ attached to the letters.

Austin said the district has re-ceived requests for alternatives that aren’t lawful under current Santa Clara County public health mandates, including holding spaced-out graduations with no audiences or drive-by, “proces-sional” ceremonies with cars and bikes.

Pushing graduation out until the end of summer is not realistic, the district stated.

“It is not foreseeable that within

(continued on page 15)

EDUCATION

The Bay Area’s stay-at-home order will stretch on until at least the end of May, though

construction workers, gardeners and outdoor retailers that can ac-commodate physical distancing can get back to business as early as Monday, county officials an-nounced Wednesday.

The updated order was issued

Wednesday in Santa Clara County by Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody. It represents the Bay Area’s first attempt to loosen the shelter-at-home directives that health officers across the region issued on March 16, when COVID-19 cases were rapidly climbing and hospitals were preparing for a large surge.

The new order also lifts

prohibitions on use of shared out-door spaces, such as skate parks, which do not involve shared equip-ment or physical contact.

Health officials in San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin and San Francisco counties as well as the city of Berkeley, announced similar measures Wednesday. San Mateo County’s updated order adds one more restriction than the other counties do: Residents and visitors are prohibited from traveling more than 10 miles from their homes for outdoor recreation. People who

live more than 10 miles from the county are prohibited from travel-ing there for outdoor recreation but may travel to the county for other essential reasons.

The new order also allows golf courses to reopen. However, golf courses must continue to remain closed under the statewide or-der, which supersedes the local ordinance.

But even as some restrictions are lifted, the Bay Area’s approach also reflects the caution that counties throughout California, as well as

state leaders, have taken to reopen-ing businesses. Restaurants with dine-in service, bars, hair salons and other businesses that are start-ing to reopen in other states will remain closed in the county — and the state — for weeks, possibly months.

The new order extends most of the current stay-at-home prohibi-tions until May 31. They were set to expire this Sunday.

In making her announcement,

Construction activities, gardening work can resume this Monday

by Gennady Sheyner

Stay-at-home order to continue through May 31


S tanford University senior Jesus Enrique Cervantes drove eight times to San

Francisco International Air-port in the span of a few days in March, dropping off one by one friends who were heeding the university’s request to leave campus as soon as possible, with no certainty when they would return.

Cervantes, though, had

decided to stay. His family lives in Modesto,

just a two-hour drive from Palo Alto, but he worried about po-tentially exposing his father, who has suffered from respira-tory problems and other health issues in the last year. Cervantes is on nearly full financial aid, meaning he can live and eat for free on campus rather than pass-ing some of that cost along to his

family if he were to move home. He’s adjusting to spending

more time alone than he’s used to on an unusually quiet campus.

“Your entire life is in your room,” Cervantes said.

The fountains are turned off, the libraries are closed and the basketball hoops have been taken down, but Cervantes is among hundreds of undergradu-ate students still spending their

spring quarter on Stanford’s campus. Undergraduates had to formally request approval from the university to stay, which Stanford said would help to keep track of who’s on campus in case of confirmed cases of COVID-19. Less than 10% of Stanford’s approximately 7,000 undergraduate students remain on campus, according to univer-sity spokesperson E.J. Miranda.

Many are international stu-dents for whom returning home would have been challenging or disruptive to their studies. Stan-ford gave priority to students who were “unable to go home, those with known severe health

Alone at StanfordHere’s what life’s been like for students who stayed after everyone else left

by Elena Kadvany

Ma

ga

li Ga

uth

ier

Simon John Christoph Sorensen, a medical student from Denmark who is conducting a year of research at Stanford University, is among the students who have been allowed to stay on campus while it is shut down.


EDUCATION


MASKS FOR THE MASSES ... In less than a month, a group of Palo Alto residents created more than 1,600 masks for essential workers, hospitals and others in need during the coronavirus crisis. Mask of Hope, a group formed on March 30, first started out with a few parents and students from Greene Middle School. It has since grown to nearly 30 people, including members of JLS and Fletcher middle schools. As of April 25, the group provided 722 cloth masks and 885 one-time-use masks, group member Olivia Chen told the Weekly. The masks have two different types of fabric to make the back and front distinct from one another. The beneficiaries include Moldaw Senior Residences, Webster House, local grocery stores and U.S. Postal Service workers, who can take comfort in knowing the fabric has been prewashed, run through a dryer and ironed before it was cut and sewn into the final product. After volunteers make the masks, the group picks them up at front doors and gates, avoiding any in-person contact. “It’s been amazing to see how our neighbors have all pitched in,” Chen said.

FARMERS UNITED ... The rhubarb is just starting to come in at Happy Quail Farms in East Palo Alto. But the customers that would normally be buying up the majority of the farm’s produce — restaurants — have dropped off significantly during the coronavirus, with dining rooms shuttered or operating in a limited capacity throughout the Bay Area. Andreas Winsberg, who grew up helping his father, David, run Happy Quail Farms and is now the co-

founder of a digital design and branding agency, stepped in with an idea: a cooperative box filled with produce from small, local farms struggling to sustain sales that would be provided directly to customers who need fresh food. They partnered with several local farms to launch the Farm Co-Op Box earlier this month — including Brokaw Ranch, Swanton’s Berry Farm, McGinnis Ranch, Farwest Fungi and Marshall’s Honey — and used his agency’s website to provide online ordering. Customers can pick the boxes up at local farmers markets or opt for home delivery. Three weeks in, the boxes have generated about $5,000 in business for the farms, which is “starting to replicate the normal demand from restaurants,” Winsberg said. “We pay the farmers exactly what they’d like to get for their produce when they sell it directly at a farmer’s market,” he added. Weekly orders for the boxes must be placed by Wednesday at midnight. Learn more at farmbox.409.co.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE ... Project WeHope’s shelves are stocked with turkey bacon, fresh eggs, rice and other food donations that total $15,000 from Palo Alto’s Oshman Family Jewish Community Center, which has temporarily suspended operations while the stay-at-home order is in place. The donation was led by Robert Stayte, the center’s director of culinary services, who took notice of food that wasn’t being used by the JCC. “What do we do with a 5-pound bag of tater tots? I said, ‘We should donate it somewhere to someone who really, really needs it,’” he said in a news release. Palo Alto High School’s Social Justice Pathway also organized a food drive for Project WeHope on Wednesday. Students donned personal protective equipment and picked up food donations at addresses provided through an online form.

Around Town

I’m trying to be OK with not having a million things to do.

—Jesus Cervantes, Stanford University undergraduate student, on living on campus while it’s shut down. See story on page 5.

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Upfront

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK


C leaner air, quiet highways and roads that have sud-denly become far more

bike friendly than anyone could have imagined are constant re-minders that the health crisis has a hopeful side.

Transportation planners in Palo Alto and elsewhere now face a key question: Will some of these benefits survive the pandemic?

Steve Raney, who administers the Palo Alto Transportation Management Association, has been exploring that question for several weeks. Raney, a consul-tant at Altrans TMA Inc., co-authored a white paper earlier this month that considers what the commute will likely look like immediately after the pandemic and in the long term. Citing data from transportation agencies, research from transportation think tanks and his own observa-tions, Raney concluded that the ways we get around will change, though traffic will likely return largely to its pre-pandemic levels within a year.

The analysis, which Raney summarized in a Medium post, also suggests that the months immediately after the pandem-ic will see a dip in carpooling, a rise in telecommuting and a greater shift toward bicycle com-muting for those who live close enough to their workplaces.

In many ways, getting people not to drive alone will remain a major challenge. The pandemic has crippled public transporta-tion, hurt carpooling services and made bike-share programs a tougher sell. But it also may usher in a few unexpected ben-efits, even long after the stay-at-home orders are lifted, Raney said.

Experts expect some of the “slow streets” projects that cit-ies like Oakland and Denver put in place during the pandemic to give bicyclists and pedestrians adequate room for social dis-tancing to remain in place. Palo Alto has not yet launched such a program, though Chief Trans-portation Official Philip Ka-mhi told the council earlier this month that his staff is preparing to do so soon.

Transportation experts in other cities also are viewing this quiet time as an opportunity to implement projects that would be tougher to jump-start during normal times and to change the habits of commuters. The paper that Raney co-authored with Kruti Ladani notes that “as the economy recovers, the return by commuters to the workplace offers a unique opportunity to

establish new commute habits.”Transportation-demand man-

agement programs and organiza-tions “will exploit this habit-for-mation period to further distance post-COVID commuting from business-as-usual,” Raney and Ladani wrote.

This view isn’t limited to Palo Alto. At a recent webinar spon-sored by Ride Healthy, a bike-advocacy group, transportation planner Timothy Papandreou pointed to the more than 100 cities around the world that are implementing “slow streets” projects during the pandemic. These projects restrict cars and provide more space for bicyclists and pedestrians, allowing them to practice physical distancing more easily.

“They’re using the opportunity now,” said Papandreo, former chief innovation officer at San Francisco Municipal Transporta-tion Agency and founder of the San Francisco-based consulting firm Emerging Transport Advi-sors. “And we’ve seen other cit-ies take it to the next level. Paris and Milan said, ‘This is it. We’re going to do hundreds of kilome-ters or miles of this.’

“This is the moment to seize this. It is also an opportunity to test things out that would’ve been difficult to test out. You can actually iterate much quicker now.”

Seleta Reynolds, general man-ager of Los Angeles Depart-ment of Transportation, said the pandemic is giving the city a chance to rethink its transpor-tation programs and make them more equitable, given the chal-lenge of using transit services at a time when physical distancing is required.

“We have to use this moment of stillness to come up with a radical, different function of public transit that can begin to solve for the fact that until there is a vaccine that is broadly avail-able and affordable, which is probably a year and a half away, people are not going to be able to be on public transit. And if we’re not going to solve their mobil-ity challenges, we will trap them further in poverty,” Reynolds said at the webinar.

One idea, she said, is to use some of the federal stimulus funds designated for transit to buy electric vehicles and make them available for neighborhood residents to use for free. Another idea is to buy electric bikes and loan them to people to get to work.

The transit conundrum is just as applicable to the Bay Area, where Caltrain and BART have

seen their ridership totals drop by more than 90% during the pandemic. Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority has seen the number of riders drop by 89% and is now offering rides for free.

While these numbers will surely rebound once the threat of COVID-19 abates and com-panies reopen after the man-dated shelter-at-home order, ex-perts believe it may be a while before transit use returns to its former levels. Raney cited Fran-ces Edwards, deputy director of the National Transportation Security Center at the Mineta Transportation Institute, who estimated that once traffic re-turns to the highways, public transit ridership in congested corridors will quickly spring back to 75% of the pre-pandemic level. It would take about a year in her estimation for transit use to get to 100%, according to the estimate.

Raney and Ladani state that some transit and mobility ser-vices may require all riders to wear masks to protect others from “droplet spread” and al-low ridership to increase more rapidly. In some cases, private commuter buses may impose twice-per-month testing for peo-ple boarding buses to ensure safe commutes. He pointed to reports that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has recently called for testing of all Amazon employees. Others may follow his lead.

The one factor that will likely help transit agencies get their ridership back is highway con-gestion. The worse the highways start to look, the more people will start getting onto trains and buses.

“When you have a lousy cor-ridor like U.S. Highway 101, as it gets filled back up with traf-fic, transit will rebound nicely in those corridors,” Raney said.

While transit use remains a major wild card, biking could see an uptick. Raney and Ladani state that we can expect more bike commuting because the mode allows people to maintain physical distance. Other factors also point in favor of bicycling. Even before the pandemic, Stan-ford University and other major employers in the Palo Alto area were rolling out programs to of-fer incentives for employees to commute by bikes. Facebook and Google have launched pilot programs to equip employees with electric bikes, he said.

Palo Alto was just about to implement a bike-share pro-gram when the health crisis ar-rived. The effort could now be

Planners offer predictions on post-pandemic traffic

Experts expect biking, telecommuting will remain popular after shutdownby Gennady Sheyner

TRANSPORTATION

Upfront

Dear Monica: I sold my home last year with the intent to stay in my vacation home for a few months and then return to the Bay Area. I stayed longer than planned and now want to move back. Is this a good time to buy? Renee D.

Contact me at [email protected]; Office: 650-465-5971, COMPASS. Ranked in the Wall St Journal’s 2016, 2017, and 2018 Nationwide list of top 250 Realtors.

Is This a Buying Opportunity?

REAL ESTATE Q&Aby Monica Corman

Dear Renee: In many ways this is a good time to buy because there is good inventory available, less competition from other buyers, realistic sellers and low interest rates. The real estate market has been mostly Sheltering In Place,

with strict guidelines about how to show property during this time. Agents can show vacant properties if all parties sign a COVID-19 disclosure and waiver form, wear protective coverings, and keep at least a six foot distance from an agent. Some sales have resulted from these showings.

If this model fits your needs, you should look for a good property. It is not known at this time whether the market will be even better for buyers in the future, but it is good right now.

hampered by concerns about the virus contagion. Raney said the Palo Alto TMA is preparing to introduce an incentive program to help nudge people toward riding bicycles. It will allow us-ers who bike to work to receive cash credit that they can spend at local businesses. The pro-gram uses GPS-based software to make sure people are biking and includes a “commuter wal-let” app that will allow users to pay through QR codes on their phones.

The “slow streets” effort can also help spur more biking, though Raney noted that it’s mostly limited to large cities like Oakland. Other cities have im-plemented more limited versions of this. Raney said he believes some of these bike improve-ments will outlast the pandemic.

“You may not end up with 74 miles, but you may end up with 7 miles of slow streets,” Raney said. “Some of it would stick.”

The one area that everyone agrees will see a big boost after the shutdown is telecommuting. Karina Ricks, director of mobil-ity and infrastructure for the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, said the pandemic forced cities and employers to demonstrate “proof of concept” when it comes to working from home.

“Maybe we don’t like forced telework so much, but telework is a viable alternative to com-muting,” Ricks said at the April 22 webinar.

Numerous studies also suggest that telecommuting has plenty of room for growth. Global Work-place Analytics, a research firm that specializes in workplace strategies, estimated that about 56% of the workforce could work from home at least part of the time. However, only 3.6% of the workforce currently does so for half of their allotted time or

more. The firm concluded that employees who worked remote-ly before the pandemic will do so more frequently once they are allowed to return to the of-fice. For those who were new to working remotely, “there will be a significant upswing in their adoption.”

“Our best estimate is that we will see 25-30% of the workforce working at home on (a) multiple-days-a-week basis by the end of 2021,” the firm concluded.

Raney also concluded that the trend will “stick,” though he pre-dicted that about 10% will con-tinue to telework after the pan-demic. During the COVID-19 shutdown, he and Ladani wrote, “many workers have proven their ability to work from home.” The ability of more people to work remotely also means that subur-ban cities that are considering new office developments can now convincingly require that the developers keep their single-occupancy-vehicle rates at 65% or lower (down from the 75% level that has been the norm be-fore the pandemic).

This, his paper states, is based on the “assumption of enlarged telework commute mode share.”

“If properly managed, tenants can accommodate more employ-ees in the same building space for almost the same cost,” he and Ladani wrote.

Even with more people work-ing remotely, Raney said he ex-pects traffic to gradually return to U.S. Highway 101. The lack of traffic jams may be a relief to many, but it will also be an inducement for people to get in their cars during peak hours.

“Induced demand is a phe-nomenon we have to deal with,” Raney said.

Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at [email protected].


E ver since late March, just after the city of Palo Alto declared a state of emer-

gency because of the coronavi-rus pandemic, Emily Risberg has followed a certain routine.

Donning her orange safety vest, the north Palo Alto resident hops on her Specialized hybrid bicycle and, twice a week, she rides. It’s not exercise that she’s after, though that’s been one ben-efit during the shutdown. Rather, Risberg is on the lookout for people — people who either need help or could be of help to others.

On a recent outing, she spotted a man in a wheelchair on Dana Avenue. Risberg rode up to him and asked how he was doing.

“Come to find out, he’s alone and doesn’t have anyone help-ing him,” said Risberg, a former girls’ sports coach. When she got back to her home on Tulip Lane, she worked her neighbor-hood contacts, who arranged for a resident on the man’s street to check in on him each week.

Risberg isn’t alone in her watchfulness over fellow resi-dents during the public health crisis. Throughout Palo Alto, neighborhood preparedness co-ordinators like her — members of the city’s Emergency Services Volunteers program — have been fanning out, working the phones and checking in on neighbors.

“We are like little owls when we go out ... keeping our radar

sharpened,” said Risberg, who’s been devoting eight hours a day to the role. “Also, we’re like farmers: We dig up things that could be potential problems later and nip them in the bud.”

The Emergency Services Vol-unteers (ESV) were quietly acti-vated by the city on March 23 to aid residents during the pandem-ic. The program was established citywide more than a decade ago in recognition of the fact that police and fire personnel can’t possibly respond to all the calls for help during a disaster. In fact, on an average day, only 24 fire-fighters are at work in Palo Alto, and as few as eight police offi-cers may be on patrol, according to a program training video. In contrast, ESV members number in the hundreds.

The coronavirus pandemic is the first time the volunteers have been activated for an emergency, though they’ve stepped up during storms and fire seasons, accord-ing to Annette Glanckopf, ESV co-team leader, neighborhood section.

Neighborhood coordinators like Risberg are one of three main types of emergency volunteers, and they oversee the other two: Community Emergency Response Team members, or CERTs, who are trained in skills such as first aid and rescuing victims from wreckage, and block prepared-ness coordinators, whose purpose

is to build a sense of community through communication and events like block parties.

So far during the pandemic, the volunteers have largely pro-vided practical but important aid. They’ve connected people in need of facemasks with people sewing facemasks, brought meals to shut-ins and checked in on oth-ers who are afraid of going out.

“I’ve seen teenagers offer to get groceries for seniors,” Ris-berg said.

In the South of Midtown neigh-borhood, overseen by neighbor-hood coordinator Carl Darling, a block coordinator helped replace an elderly couple’s broken water heater.

But volunteers also have pro-vided non-tangible support, lift-ing spirits by organizing “teddy bear hunts” for children and en-couraging daily greeting times, when neighbors come to their front yards, Glanckopf said.

Admittedly, the coronavirus was not the disaster that many volunteers envisioned when they signed up to pitch in during an emergency.

“I’ve been in this program for over 10 years, and I don’t think anyone imagined this would hap-pen,” Risberg said.

Mostly, the volunteer group has trained for fires, earthquakes and floods — urgent situations that would require swift and intensive action.

They trained for an emergency — but didn’t expect this one

Rather than bandages and first aid, neighborhood volunteers are using social skills to respond to the coronavirus

by Jocelyn Dong

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS

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Carl Darling, a neighborhood preparedness coordinator in Palo Alto, chats with Jane Volpe, a longtime Community Emergency Response Team volunteer. Both have been assisting neighbors in need during the pandemic.

“That’s what’s been so differ-ent about this. With a pandemic, it’s continually evolving,” she said.

Also, in a pandemic, dan-ger can take the form of false information.

“I feel like a lot of my job is to disseminate good information,” said Risberg, who happens to be a retired technical writer. Misinfor-mation can create “that panicky feeling. It’s better to empower people with good information.”

To that end, she’s creating a brochure explaining some over-looked questions, like what’s the difference between sanitization and disinfection, and what’s the proper concentration of bleach to use to kill the virus but not harm children or pets.

In addition to Palo Alto, a few Midpeninsula cities, including Atherton, have activated their emergency volunteers. Others have not, to the consternation of their volunteers. Lacking direc-tion from their city leaders, some residents have activated them-selves, one Menlo Park volunteer said.

The unexpected nature of the pandemic could explain why city leaders have hesitated — and also why some volunteers have jumped in with both feet while others have hung back. Block co-ordinators and CERTs have dif-ferent training and skills, Risberg noted.

“People who did the CERT training (wanted to do) triage, search and rescue,” said Risberg, herself a trained CERT. “Much more of my (block coordinators) feel like they have a role” during this pandemic.

Within Palo Alto, participation in the city’s 40 or so neighbor-hoods is uneven. The leaders of College Terrace, where there are just three block coordinators, recently put out a call for help via email. Risberg said that she could use 10 to 15 more volun-teers to supplement her 25 active ones in Duveneck/St. Francis, the second largest neighborhood in the city.

Darling, of South of Midtown, is responsible for 3,200 residents living between Loma Verde Av-enue and East Meadow Drive and between Middlefield Road

and Alma Street.In the 2 ½ years that he’s been

the neighborhood coordinator, Darling and his team have built up their cadre of volunteers from six to 40 people. Even so, about half of the blocks in the neigh-borhood still lack a coordinator to identify those who are elderly or vulnerable or who may have special skills that would be help-ful during a crisis.

“It’s been a challenge,” Darling said of recruitment. “People are leery of being involved for dif-ferent reasons,” from their tem-porary status as renters in Palo Alto, to mistakenly thinking they’re too old, to feeling they’re too busy.

But Darling is trying to push back on those notions.

“This is something you do on the side. It doesn’t take much time,” Darling said. His own role usually has him working up 10 to 12 hours per month, although he’s put in more time since the pan-demic started, trying to recruit new block coordinators.

“We don’t require people to be experts. The main requirement is people who care about people and are willing to help,” he said.

He’s optimistic that if people understand that they don’t need any special skills then more will sign up and take the brief online training course. Since the start of the crisis, the program has gar-nered interest from more than 80 residents, he noted.

“The good news about the pan-demic is it got people willing to think outside of the box, to be thinking of other people,” said Darling, who also is a member of the police chief’s citizens adviso-ry group. “People being at home fostered this whole thing. People are willing to come out of their cocoon a little bit.”

More information about the Emergency Services Volunteers program is available by calling 650-617-3197 or emailing [email protected]. A video over-view of the block-coordinator program is posted at youtu.be/TOxf9_rGW1w. To obtain Ris-berg’s COVID-19 FAQ, contact her at [email protected].

Editor Jocelyn Dong can be emailed at [email protected].

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Employees of Stanford Health Care, including doctors, nurses and tech-

nicians who are caring for COV-ID-19 patients, had their pay re-duced by up to 20% as of April 27 for 10 weeks, according to a tip sheet the organization sent to workers on April 21.

The medical center briefly stated it was making the cuts due to the economic impacts of COVID-19 on the organization instead of laying off employees. The “temporary workforce ad-justment” program was created as part of the hospital’s “cost-saving measures and initiatives,” hospital administrators stated. The pay reductions apply to all employees, including doctors, at Stanford Hospital, Lucile Pack-ard Children’s Hospital Stanford and, in the East Bay, Stanford Health Care - ValleyCare.

The employees could choose to lose pay but continue to work full-time, work fewer hours while taking paid time off in full-day increments; or work fewer hours but take up to 96 hours of flex time as time off. If they are not eligible, they could take unpaid time off. The hos-pital said it would offer tips on how to file for unemployment insurance.

Employees were stunned by the announcement. The pay cuts will be an economic burden for many employees, said Linda Cornell, a 40-year employee and unit secretary who works at a nursing station as a sort of “air traffic controller” for the unit. There’s also concern it could af-fect patient care, she added.

CEO David Entwistle has in-dicated in earlier news reports that emergency room visits at Stanford Hospital are down 40%, hospital spokeswoman Lisa Kim said.

In a statement on April 24, Stanford said in part: “Stanford Health Care is navigating the unprecedented economic impact of COVID-19 and, as part of this effort, is implementing a tempo-rary reduction in hours across the organization. ... This is a dif-ficult but necessary decision to sustain the long-term health of the organization so we can con-tinue to provide critical services to the community.”

In another statement issued on April 27, the medical center stat-ed that the wage cuts are possible because the hospital is serving fewer patients.

“We anticipate that when the current shelter-in-place order is lifted, our patient volumes will return,” the organization stated.

Hospitals such as Stanford

canceled elective surgeries, a large source of revenue, under a state mandate to prepare for a surge of COVID-19 patients, but on April 22 Gov. Gavin Newsom relaxed some of those restrictions, allowing for pro-cedures such as heart-valve re-placements, tumor removals and colonoscopies.

Cornell said she hopes that more elective surgeries can be allowed to come back on line and that they would ease the economic strain on the hospi-tals. In the meantime, many employees will face economic hardship. Many have already taken or used up paid time off to care for their children because schools and day care centers have closed. Although workers can use up to 120 hours of addi-tional paid time off, they would have to pay that money back or take time off without pay, she said.

“Some families will never be able to accrue enough mon-ey to pay that back,” she said, with many employees earning $50,000 or less.

Cornell said she is on vacation, which started prior to learning about the cuts. Employees who are using up all of their vacation time now so that they can be paid will lose their opportunities to take trips with their families in the future, she added.

She also raised the question of whether patient care would be affected during the 10-week period.

“It opens up the possibility that there will be more error and mistakes because people rush to get things done,” she said.

In its statement, Stanford Health Care refuted the notion that the cuts would impact care.

“This measure will not im-pact any of our operations. We continue to provide the safest, highest-quality care for our pa-tients,” the hospital administra-tion stated.

Steve Trossman, a spokesman for the Service Employees Inter-national Union-United Health-care Workers, which represents many Stanford employees, said hospital administrators notified the union of the plan less than a week before the announcement but refused to negotiate.

Addressing Stanford’s em-ployee-labor relations executives in an open letter, 16 employees — including unit secretaries, nursing assistants, technicians and others — said that they were dismayed by the hospital’s actions.

“You’ve presented your fur-lough plan as a ‘shared sacrifice’

as if this extreme measure has the same impact on the CEO who makes over $3 million/year and a housekeeper or a nursing assistant who struggle to pay rent and feed our family in the Silicon Valley on $60,000 or $70,000 a year. This shows a stark lack of empathy and un-derstanding for the reality of our lives.”

The letter asked the hospital to reconsider. The employees proposed the hospital tier its approach to cutting costs by ex-empting the lowest paid work-ers and reducing the burden on employees earning less than $100,000 a year. Among other requests, they also asked the hospitals to reveal how much money they are losing as a result of COVID-19 and how much Stanford Health Care will re-ceive in federal stimulus funds included in the CARES Act and its recent supplement.

Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at [email protected].

Stanford Health Care cuts workers’ wages by 20%

Medical organization claims cuts are necessary due to COVID-19 economic impactby Sue Dremann

HEALTH CARE

HEIRLOOM QUALITY DOWN COMFORTERS & PILLOWS EUROPEAN BED & BATH LINENS

Upfront

CITY COUNCIL ... The council plans to hold a closed session to discuss labor negotiations pertaining to the Utilities Management and Professional Association of Palo Alto, the Service Employees International Union, Local 521, the Palo Alto Police Officers Association, the Palo Alto Fire Chiefs’ Association, the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 1319, and the Palo Alto Police Managers Association. The council will then discuss the city’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, consider changes to the city’s methodology for calculating traffic impacts; consider waiving business registration fees and rescinding the levy of assessments for the Downtown Business Improvement District for fiscal year 2020l and review potential scenarios for the fiscal year 2021 budget. The meeting will be held virtually. The closed session will begin at 5 p.m. on Monday, May 4, and the regular meeting will follow at 6 p.m., or immediately after the closed session. The meeting will be broadcast on Cable TV Channel 26, at youtube.com/c/cityofpaloalto and midpenmedia.org. Those wishing to participate by Zoom can do so by dialing 669-900-6833 and by using Meeting ID: 362 027 238. COUNCIL FINANCE COMMITTEE ... The committee plans to discuss the actuarial valuation of the retiree health care plan; proposed Community Development Block Grant funding allocations; the Fiscal Year 2021 Electric Financial Plan and the Fiscal Year 2021 Gas Utility Financial Plan. The virtual meeting will be held 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 5. It will be streamed at midpenmedia.org. Those wishing to participate by Zoom can use the phone number 669-900-6833 and Meeting ID: 479-101-323. ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW BOARD ... The board plans to discuss the proposed demolition and replacement of the Newell Road bridge; consider a proposal for a 22,029-square-foot office and research-and-development building at 3215 Porter Drive; and review a proposed addition to a historic home at 411 Lytton Ave. The virtual meeting will be held 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 7. It will be streamed at midpenmedia.org. Those wishing to participate by Zoom can use the phone number 669-900-6833 and Meeting ID: 381-564-707.

Public AgendaA preview of Palo Alto government meetings next week


www.cityofpaloalto.org/coronavirus

WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHERLimit the Spreadof Coronavirus

Shelter in Place: ItWill Save Lives.

Stay Home If You Are Sick.

If You Must Go Out, FollowSocial Distancing Guidance.

Be Well Stay Connected, Check on Your Neighbors, Volunteer

Support Local Businesses

Parks and Open Space Preserves are Open Community Resources are Available

Upfront

W hen a young William Warrior planned to become a police of-

ficer, he had no idea he would embark on a decades-long jour-ney through Palo Alto’s animal kingdom.

Warrior became a Palo Alto Animal Services officer and, after answering an estimated 75,000 to 80,000 calls for service over the past 40 years, retired on Thursday. He is taking his trusty border col-lie, Lilly, with him.

He and Lilly, who is nearly blind and deaf due to inbreeding, were ubiquitous in Palo Alto, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills. They attended to countless lost, injured and abandoned animals — and he sometimes wrote citations to the humans who violated animal-control and welfare laws.

Along the way, they met many interesting creatures. There was Citi-B, the kitten stuck in a sliver of space between two buildings in Los Altos, who spawned a comic book sponsored by the city of Palo Alto. Then there were the two deer that had become entangled. One

deer panicked and one broke the other’s neck. Still locked together, it dragged the carcass around. Try untangling that one. Warrior did.

He’s had to learn the language and vocalizations of wild and do-mesticated animals.

“It’s like being dragged into an-other country or culture,” he said.

Warrior has had his share of injuries and close calls. He was gored by blacktail deer and at-tacked by an aggressive and in-jured pit bull that had been hit by a car. He’s undertaken death-defying maneuvers to capture and relocate blind or injured deer.

He’s chronicled many of his stories in his graphic novel-like postings and videos of animal res-cues, such as those of orphaned coyote pups, opossums and ducks on Facebook and his website, Roxanagraphs.us, named after his beloved dog, Roxane.

Among all of the animals he’s encountered, though, there’s one he has never seen: a mountain lion, he said.

He’s also dealt with humans, some of whom have not been kind

to animals and others who have not been happy when he enforced the law. It’s been a challenge at times to not become jaded, he said, but the man with the cool last name has developed a philos-ophy that allows him to maintain his equilibrium.

“You just start to realize people are people. The behavior showing up in front of me I probably will do or have done (in some circum-stance) if I’m not mindful. You catch yourself before you make a decision that would cause you to lose your job, and you protect yourself. Each animal (and each person) has a very unique spirit. Their behavior is about that mo-ment,” he said.

He might have a negative en-counter with an animal, but five or six years later, he’ll encounter the same animal again and it will be a warm experience, he said.

Warrior is a fourth-generation San Franciscan who moved to Palo Alto as a toddler in 1962. He attended parochial schools: Our Lady of the Rosary in Palo Alto and St. Francis High School in

Mountain View. After graduating, he attended Foothill and Cañada colleges.

He spent five years as an artists’ figure model, including in famed artist Nathan Olivera’s class. He loved modeling and dance, join-ing a semi-professional dance group, the Aladdin’s Lads and Lasses, which performed Middle East dance to Scottish bagpipe music.

His introduction to animal care, though, began in April 1974, as a teenager. He was volunteering with the Wildlife Rescue Team and at the shelter and went on ride-alongs with an animal con-trol officer out of curiosity, bring-ing in injured and sick wildlife. In 1976, he had a part-time job as an

animal attendant at the shelter.Warrior graduated from the

Cañada College Police Reserve Academy with the intention of be-coming a police officer, but he felt he was better suited for his work in animal enforcement and rescue. Over the years, he’s seen his job evolve from enforcer to animal whisperer.

“In the 1970s, there was a ter-rible conflict over the leash law. Animal control was tasked with heavy-handed enforcement of the law at the time. It made people miserable on all sides with the officers caught in the middle,” he said. “It took a long time to un-derstand that how you work with

After 40 years, a warrior for animals rides off into the sunsetPalo Alto Animal Control Officer William Warrior and his dog, Lilly, retire

by Sue Dremann

COMMUNITY

After answering an estimated 75,000 to 80,000 calls for service over the past 40 years, William Warrior retired from his position as Palo Alto’s animal control officer on Thursday. He is taking his trusty border collie, Lilly, with him.


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RECOGNIZING LOCAL HEROESLOCAL HERO

LOCAL HERO

LOCAL HERO

LOCAL HERO

Spread the joy and support our journalism efforts by giving local heroes a shout-out in the Palo Alto Weekly.

Submit entries at PaloAltoOnline.com/local_hero/

William Warrior

I had the pleasure of working with local hero, William Warrior, at the former Palo Alto Animal Services. I have always been fascinated by his passion for work, animals, history, and Taiko. When we walked in the Palo Alto May Fête parade together, he was like a rock star — people cheered and shouted his name. After more than 40 years of public service at ACO, he is retiring. He’s a legend in this community as an active volunteer and author.

Submitted by: Sachi Hwangbo

Emel Mutlu and her wonderful staff

The Market at Edgewood is a wonderful and responsive community resource because of its owner, Emel. The staff is gracious, customer-focused and adapted quickly to the crisis by creating new services such as curbside pickup and delivery. I am so grateful to have a local market I can feel safe shopping in during this crisis. Emel and the team really have gone above and beyond!

Submitted by: Julie Jerome

Karen Ambrose Hickey

Karen shares her love of photography. Due to COVID-19, Paly spring athletic teams didn’t have photos for the yearbook. Therefore, Karen created team photos using head shots taken at a safe distance and from past seasons. We thank Karen for volunteering her time to create lifetime memories!

Submitted by: Parents of Paly Athletes

Rina Bello

Rina puts the needs of others first. As the head of non-profit Bay Area Cancer Connections, she has ensured that thousands of breast and ovarian cancer clients, and BACC volunteers, have received personal calls to check in during this time of shelter in place. She has rapidly transformed BACC services into virtual, video, and conference call offerings, and always works tirelessly to keep the services free of charge to our community. Thank you, Rina!

Submitted by: Karlette Warner


Upfront

Masked BurghersAuguste Rodin’s statues that make up “The Burghers of Calais” on the Stanford University campus don masks to stay protected from the new coronavirus on April 27.

a person can have a ripple effect.”Cultivating a better bedside

manner was something that evolved over time, he said. Along the way, he encountered all man-ner of unusual situations that gave him insight into animals and people.

One memorable incident oc-curred around 1990 at the down-town Palo Alto home of two 80-year-old sisters. They said there was a bird in the attic. War-rior climbed up to look for the bird.

“The attic was completely clean,” he recalled. There was no sign of the bird. The women kept insisting they were hearing it chirp even as he swept the area with his flashlight. Finally, War-rior exited the attic empty handed. He followed the bird sound to the part of the house where the sis-ters insisted they heard the sound coming from the ceiling. The smoke detector’s battery alarm was going off, he said.

Warrior removed the unit from the ceiling and waited for the alarm to chirp. He explained the sound was coming out of the alarm. It didn’t mollify the sisters, however.

“How is the bird making the sound come out of there?” one of the sisters asked.

With Warrior and Lilly mak-ing their last rounds in his rig this week, he noted that the 10-year-old rescue dog has herded stray cattle at Pearson-Arastradero Preserve, done school visits and helped calm down stressed people. His practice of animal services is a long way from the citation-writing, zero-tolerance mindset animal officers were required to engage in when

he first started, he said.Warrior’s Facebook page is

filled with comments from resi-dents about what his work has meant to them. Some call him a hero.

Shirley Gaines encountered him when she was walking her dogs off leash decades ago when he started. She remembered he was kind and considerate — and he didn’t ticket her.

“He put himself way out. He’s such a kind, humane gentleman. People would call him in the middle of the night and he would get up and put on his uniform. He can’t be replaced,” she said.

After he exits, he plans to con-tinue giving tours, as he has for 10 years, at California State Parks’ Angel Island, a U.S. Immigration landmark. His wife, Pam, has a grandmother who was a Chinese immigrant and was held there for five weeks and interrogated. The couple are members of the Palo Alto Buddhist Temple and take part in a taiko drumming group, which he’ll also continue in his retirement.

Although he and Lilly won’t be driving in a city rig anymore, they’ll still spend lots of time in Palo Alto. Warrior said he plans on taking many long hikes in the foothills, particularly the Retail Loop in Arastradero Preserve, which was part of their usual patrol. Perhaps now, in his ci-vilian role, he’ll also have new perspectives.

“We are very happy where we are, and I want to sit and assess and come to terms with my mem-ories, and I hope to have enough time for that kind of thing,” he said.

He will also continue his graphic novels, which people can see on Roxanagraphs.us, includ-ing “Canton Girls Are Made of Iron,” about the early Chinese immigrant experience, and stories about his animal adventures.

The website “is my love letter to San Francisco and Palo Alto and it’s about my relationship to the town,” he said.


Warrior(continued from page 10)

Mayors urge for more COVID-19 testingFrustrated by the continued lack of widespread testing for

COVID-19, mayors from every city in Santa Clara County co-signed a letter to county leaders this week offering their assistance in new testing sites.

The letter submitted by the Cities Association of Santa Clara County reflects a growing concern among local officials about the county’s slow ramp up in testing capacity, even as stay-at-home rules are starting to loosen and city leaders are formulating strategies for reopening business. Testing in the county remains largely limited to people with symptoms, health care professionals and other front-line workers. Even as other jurisdictions have made testing more available for the general population (Los Angeles announced Wednesday that any resident who needs a test can get one for free), the county has been testing about 600 people per day over the past month, a fraction of what officials believe is needed to safely reopen the economy.

The numbers have been slowing climbing. The county conducted an average of 898 tests daily over the past seven days, an improvement from mid-April, when there were fewer than 400 tests conducted on some days, according to the county’s dashboard. But city leaders and some members of the Board of Supervisors underscored this week that much more needs to be done.

“Our businesses and schools must have some certainty for their plans to reopen, which appears directly tied to the availability and the amount of testing,” states the letter that is signed by 15 mayors, including Adrian Fine of Palo Alto and Margaret Abe-Koga of Moun-tain View. “It’s not clear how much testing is sufficient, and that is of concern to us.”

—Gennady Sheyner

Ventura redevelopment faces complicationsPalo Alto’s ambitious, but uncertain, plans to reimagine the Ventura

neighborhood confronted a stark political reality Wednesday night, when neighborhood residents and some planning commissioners warned that the latest alternatives fail to reflect community’s per-spectives or account for the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The concerns came out during the Planning and Transportation’s public hearing on the North Ventura Coordinated Area Plan, a land-use document that will create a new vision for the 60-acre area.

Commission Vice Chair Giselle Roohparvar argued Wednesday that the city should pause the process until the pandemic ends and the city has a better understanding of the new reality.

Commissioner Michael Alcheck took the opposite view and argued that many of the issues at the heart of the debate — including height and density of buildings — were contentious before the pandemic and will remain so after.

Alcheck and most of the other commissioners agreed that the city should go big on housing but faced a larger question: How big? Staff presented on Wednesday three alternatives, which would add 386 units, 979 units, and 2,475 housing units to the site, respectively.

—Gennady Sheyner

Stalled history museum wins grants from countySanta Clara County has approved a pair of grants totaling more

than $300,000 to restore and refurbish the 1930s-era murals and red clay roof at the historic Palo Alto Medical Clinic building that the city owns and that the Palo Alto History Museum has been working to restore and make its home. The grants will give a boost to the project, which has stalled due to a lack of funding.

The renovation of the Roth Building hasn’t been a particularly high priority for the Palo Alto City Council. While council members have talked for years about the need to fix up the aged but valuable city asset, they have delegated much of the fundraising task for these repairs to the Palo Alto History Museum, a nonprofit that has been raising money for the effort and that worked with the city on the grant proposal.

The council’s hopes that the nonprofit would raise the funds needed to advance the project diminished last month, when an independent review commissioned by the city concluded that the Palo Alto His-tory Museum needs to raise between $2.36 million and $2.85 million to fund the renovation. The council voted on March 2 to let other nonprofits and developers propose uses for the city-owned building, including ones that would require a zone change.

Council members also said on March 2 they would consider an arrangement in which the nonprofit shares the facility with another group, or with the city.

While the two grants don’t explicitly require the building to be occupied by the museum, the county program requires the projects being funded to be “open to the public and visible,” a requirement that is aligned with the nonprofit’s vision for the museum.

—Gennady Sheyner

News Digest

William Warrior, who joined Palo Alto as an animal control officer in 1979, shares a tender moment with his dog, Lilly, at the animal shelter.

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DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK:

There will be a MANDATORY pre-bid conference and site visit at 10:00 a.m. on May 12, 2020 at the 780 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA 93406

Bid Submission:

B, C-10, C-20 or as appropriate for this Work.

PREVAILING WAGE LAWS:

ARC Document Solutions, 829 Cherry Lane, San Carlos, CA 94070, Phone Number (650) 631-2310

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997 All Other LegalsTrustee Sale No. 995091 Notice Of Trustee’s Sale Loan No. 11832 Title Order No. You Are In Default Under A Deed Of Trust Dated 09/04/2019. Unless You Take Action To Protect Your Property, It May Be Sold At A Public Sale. If You Need An Explanation Of The Nature Of The Proceedings Against You, You Should Contact A Lawyer. On 05/11/2020 at 10:00AM, First American Title Insurance Company as the duly appointed Trustee under and pursuant to Deed of Trust recorded on September 9, 2019 as Document Number 24275203 of official records in the Office of the Recorder of Santa Clara County, California, executed by: Bohaty Ventures, LLC, as Trustor, Pivotal Capital Group II, LLC, as Beneficiary, Will Sell At Public Auction To The Highest Bidder For Cash (payable at time of sale in lawful money of the United States, by cash, a cashier’s check drawn by a state or national bank, a check drawn by a state or federal credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan association, savings association, or savings bank specified in section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state). At: at the gated North Market Street Entrance Superior Courthouse, 190 N. Market Street San Jose, CA 95113, all right, title and interest conveyed to and now held by it under said Deed of Trust in the property situated in said County, California describing the land therein: All Parcel B, As Shown On That Certain Map Entitled, “Parcel Map Being A Resubdivision Of Lands Lying Westerly Of Lots 12, 13 And 14 As Shown On The Map Entitled, “Tract No. 3890 Country Club Estates”, Which Map Was Filed In Book 194 Of Maps At Pages 1 And 2, Records Of Santa Clara County, California”, Which Map Was Filed For Record In The Office Of The Recorder Of The County Of Santa Clara, State Of California On May 15, 1969 In Book 253 Of Maps, At Page(S) 26. APN: 182-40-041 The property heretofore described is being sold “as is”. The street address and other common designation, if any, of the real property described above is purported to be: 2991 Alexis Drive, Palo Alto, CA 94304. The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the street address and other common designation, if any, shown herein. Said sale will be made, but without covenant or warranty, expressed or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to pay the remaining principal sum of the note(s) secured by said Deed of Trust, with interest thereon, as provided in said note(s), advances, if any, under the terms of the Deed of Trust, estimated fees, charges and expenses of the Trustee and of the trusts created by said Deed of Trust, to-wit: $243,516.60 (Estimated) Accrued interest and additional advances, if any, will increase this figure prior to sale. The beneficiary under said Deed of Trust heretofore executed and delivered to the undersigned a written Declaration of Default and Demand for Sale, and a written Notice of Default and Election to Sell. The undersigned caused said Notice of Default and Election to Sell to be recorded in the county where the real property is located and more than three months have elapsed since such recordation. Notice To Potential Bidders: If you are considering bidding on this property lien, you should understand that there are risks involved in bidding at a trustee auction. You will be bidding on a lien, not on the property itself. Placing the highest bid at a trustee auction does not automatically entitle you to free and clear ownership of the property. You should also be aware that the lien being auctioned off may be a junior lien. If you are the highest bidder at the auction, you are or may be responsible for paying off all liens senior to the lien being auctioned off, before you can receive clear title to the property. You are encouraged to investigate the existence, priority, and size of outstanding liens that may exist on this property by contacting the county recorder’s office or a title insurance company, either of which may charge you a fee for this information. If you consult either of these resources, you should be aware that the same lender may hold more than one mortgage or deed of trust on the property. Notice To Property Owner: The sale date shown on this notice of sale may be postponed

one or more times by the mortgagee, beneficiary, trustee, or a court, pursuant to Section 2924g of the California Civil Code. The law requires that information about trustee sale postponements be made available to you and to the public, as a courtesy to those not present at the sale. If you wish to learn whether your sale date has been postponed, and, if applicable, the rescheduled time and date for the sale of this property, you may visit the website below using the file number assigned to this case. Information about postponements that are very short in duration or that occur close in time to the scheduled sale may not immediately be reflected on the Internet Web site. The best way to verify postponement information is to attend the scheduled sale. For information on sale dates please visit our website at: http://www.firstam.com/title/commercial/foreclosure/ DATE: 4/10/20 First American Title Insurance Company 4380 La Jolla Village Drive Suite 110 San Diego, CA 92122 (858) 410-2158 /s/David Z. Bark, Foreclosure Trustee (PAW Apr. 17, 24; May 1, 2020)

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF: GLORIA L. READE Case No.: 20PR187813 To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of GLORIA READE. A Petition for Probate has been filed by: GORDON READE in the Superior Court of California, County of SANTA CLARA. The Petition for Probate requests that: GORDON READE be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A HEARING on the petition will be held on May 13, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. in Dept.: 13 of the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, located at 191 N. First St., San Jose, CA, 95113. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or a contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined in section 58 (b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for Petitioner: Stephen Vernon/Cecelia C. Fusich Gilfix & La Poll Associates LLP 2479 E. Bayshore Rd. Suite 220 Palo Alto, CA 94303 (650) 493-8070 (PAW Apr. 24; May 1, 8, 2020)

Answers to this week’s puzzles, which can be found on page 31.


Upfront

three months that these restric-tions will permit 2,000+ person events,” the FAQ states. “Public health officials support this ratio-nale and advise against planning events during this time period.”

The district doesn’t yet know when in December graduation will take place but will aim to schedule the event when outgoing seniors will be home from col-lege — “that is if colleges have students on their campuses in the fall either,” Austin said.

“These are tough times right

now. It’s a real challenge to know who is or is not going to be on campuses, whether they’re ours or colleges’,” he said.

Other rite-of-passage events for seniors have been outright canceled due to the coronavirus, including prom.

The high school administra-tions are working with their student governments to plan a remote, weeklong celebration of seniors toward the end of the school year.

In Monday’s webinar, Austin also addressed the challenges — and realities — of reopening schools partially in the fall.

“Are we going to tell 5-year-olds,

‘Welcome to school. Stand 6 feet away from everybody. Do not have contact. Do not go talk to your new friends. Do not walk up to people. Do not touch things in your classroom. Don’t share balls outside. Don’t bump up against each other walking to classes’?” Austin asked rhetorically.

“We need to call that what it is: unobtainable,” he said.

During a Tuesday press con-ference, Sonia Angell, director of the state’s health department, said that California could poten-tially see schools starting the next academic year earlier, in July or August.

District leaders are discussing the possibility of schools reopen-ing without sports, performing arts and assemblies. They’re considering converting elemen-tary schools’ multipurpose rooms into learning spaces and middle schools’ gyms into computer labs or other flexible areas to provide space for students and staff.

The district is also negotiating with the city of Palo Alto to re-sume ownership of the old Ven-tura Elementary School site and looking at Cubberley Community Center as space that could be used for students and teachers to spread out, Austin said. Facing bud-get cuts due to the impact of the coronavirus, the city is exploring terminating its lease of Cubberley or switching to a “shared revenue structure.”

“Not only do we have a lease

problem with the city for Cub-berley, but it’s also a lot of build-ing space over there that maybe we can use differently,” Austin said.

An elementary school principal raised a question to other school leaders this week, Austin said: Is the district’s primary goal in re-opening to get students and teach-ers back, or is it to provide a high-level education?

“I’d like to say ‘yes’ to both, but, like every other school dis-trict that’s really being honest, (our district) is struggling with that,” the superintendent said. “Will we reopen potentially par-tially or more virtual and say with a straight face that there will be no additional learning loss and we

will be high functioning? Today the answer is ‘no.’

“I think anyone out there that’s saying anything other than the answer is ‘no’ ... is taking some liberties with the reality,” he said.

Gunn’s and Paly’s new princi-pals, Wendy Stratton and Brent Kline, who will assume their posi-tions next school year, also spoke during the live webinar, as well as a Greene Middle School teacher who talked about distance learn-ing. A recording of the event is available on YouTube (search for “Backstage with the Superinten-dent”).

Staff Writer Elena Kadvany can be emailed at [email protected].

Graduation(continued from page 5)

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Peter Li high-fives his friends after receiving his diploma from Gunn High School on May 30, 2019. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Palo Alto Unified School District has decided to postpone this year’s graduation ceremonies until December.

Your Realtor & YouREALTORS® Warn Homeowners About COVID-19 Scams

Silicon Valley REALTORS® are urging homeowners to be vigilant as scammers are utilizing many tactics offering financial aid to trick families who are struggling. Their methods come in different forms.

"With Shelter-in-Place orders still in effect, scammers know people are home. They are taking advantage of the situation by calling or emailing homeowners and tricking them into providing their personal information and more," warned Mary Kay Groth, president of the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS®

A common scheme that scammers use to gain access to personal information is “spoofing," which happens when a caller transmits false information to a homeowner's caller ID disguising their identity and pretending to be someone else. It has been reported that borrowers are receiving phone calls from fraudsters impersonating Freddie Mac and offering low interest rates and refinancing deals. Freddie Mac says it will never reach out to consumers over the phone with a refinancing opportunity or a new loan.

Cybercriminals also send homeowners emails claiming to be from organizations with information about the coronavirus. The email messages ask the receiver to open an attachment to see the latest statistics. If they click on the attachment or embedded link, the receiving party is likely to download malicious software onto their device, allowing cybercriminals

to access your personal and financial information.

Phishers are likewise sending emails with ads offering treatment or cures for COVID-19. The ads try to create a sense of urgency, and can say “Buy now, supply is limited.” When the victim clicks on the advertisement, they could potentially download malware onto their device, or they might buy the product and receive a useless item, a harmful and potentially dangerous drug, or nothing at all.

Here are some tips to help homeowners avoid being scammed:

• If you receive a call from an unknown number, let it go to voicemail. If it is important, the caller will leave a message.

• Beware of any online request for personal information.

• Be wary of offers that sound too good to be true.

"In these times, the public is relying more on the internet for information. While the internet has been helpful, it can also be used in a negative way. We are asking homeowners to be vigilant when receiving every piece of email notification," stressed Groth.

*******

Information provided in this column is presented by the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS®. Send questions to Rose Meily at [email protected].

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To place an ad, call 650.223.6582 or email [email protected].

City CouncilThe council did not meet this week.

Planning and Transportation Commission (April 29)Golf: The commission recommended approving a proposal by Palo Alto Hills Golf & Country Club for modifications to its golf course. Yes: Alcheck, Hechtman, Lauing, Roohparvar, Summa, Templeton Absent: RiggsVentura: The commission held a study session to discuss the latest alternative for the North Ventura Coordinated Area Plan. Action: None

CityViewA round-up of Palo Alto government action this week

LET’S DISCUSS: Read the latest local news headlines and talk about the issues at Town Square at PaloAltoOnline.com/square


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Upfront

Cody highlighted the county’s progress in managing the pan-demic. The county in early Feb-ruary was among the first in the country to have COVID patients, she said, but now its cases account for fewer than 5% of California’s and just a fraction of the nation’s case total, which is now more than 1 million. As of Thursday, the county had 2,163confirmed cases and 111 deaths related to COVID-19.

Cody said the goal is to move from the types of “broad-based” restrictions that have been in place since March 17 to a “more focused approach” to protect vul-nerable populations.

“What we are hoping is be-cause we have been extraordi-narily successful in our region in suppressing cases, flattening the curve and decreasing the number of new cases that we have every day, we are hoping to success-fully transition to a point where we can be more focused,” Cody said at a news conference at the County Government Center in San Jose.

The new order allows nurseries, landscapers, gardeners and other businesses that primarily provide outdoor services to reopen (which does not include dining establish-ments with outdoor seating).

The March prohibition on gardening has been particularly contentious, with many local resi-dents and some city leaders ques-tioning the county’s decision to ban an outdoor activity that typi-cally includes very little social interaction.

Palo Alto City Manager Ed Shikada said last week that the city has received more calls about gardening than about any other topic, with some complaining about gardening at a neighboring property and others complaining about the ban. Councilman Greg Tanaka aligned himself with the latter at the April 20 council meeting, where he described the gardening ban as “truly bizarre.”

Last week, the Atherton City Council asked San Mateo County officials to allow town residents necessary landscaping and gar-dening activity. This followed concerns from residents about their inability to perform the landscaping work personally; vegetation that would “quickly get out of control” given the large nature of most of the properties in town; and personal health is-sues related to either the activity or the impact of vegetation that isn’t maintained.

Mayor Rick DeGolia called the county’s decision to allow gar-dening to be a “very important move.”

But “going forward, I think that it is critical that the county greatly expand the availability of testing and put into practice a comprehensive tracing strat-egy; otherwise, we just don’t

Shelter(continued from page 5)

Owners and employees of Midpeninsula businesses that will be allowed to

operate again under the modified stay-at-home order that will take effect May 4 are expressing cau-tious optimism at the prospect of getting back to work.

Under the ordinance, “outdoor businesses” — such as plant nurseries and garden centers, as well as service providers like landscapers and gardeners —can resume operations. Construction activities and commercial real es-tate transactions will also be al-lowed. All will need to abide by social-distancing and sanitation protocols that will keep custom-ers and employees safe from the coronavirus, including require-ments for face coverings and lim-its on the numbers of customers in a space at one time.

Israel Herrera, a gardener for his father’s landscaping company in Mountain View for more than 15 years, was surprised to hear the news Wednesday but said he’s looking forward to starting to work again — and even to build-ing the business.

Before the shelter-in-place order, Herrera said his company of five people was experiencing a labor shortage, citing expensive housing costs as one of the main factors as to why it was hard to find people to hire. Oftentimes he couldn’t take on as many clients as he wanted to due to being short staffed.

And the stay-at-home order didn’t help. Since March, Herrera said most of the work came to a halt.

“We’re fortunate enough that some clients were willing to still pay us even though we weren’t showing up,” he said.

With the new ease of restric-tions, Herrera is looking to get

right back to work and hopefully will be able to bring on additional staff.

“Maybe now there’s an oppor-tunity to hire new people,” he said.

The shutdown didn’t entirely stop business for retail nurseries, which have been fulfilling phone and online orders for plants and garden supplies through curbside pickup and delivery. The owner of Leafy, a nursery on Hamilton Avenue in Palo Alto, said online revenue from deliveries of plants has helped keep his business afloat but not profitable.

Mark Pendleton, manager of Brookside Orchids in Portola Valley, said the store has contin-ued operating its orchid boarding, the backbone of the business, and likewise relied on deliveries to keep revenue coming in.

While the boarding and deliv-eries have helped keep the busi-ness afloat, he still had to reduce workers’ hours and pay.

“Many of us have landlords who don’t take IOUs,” he said.

Returning to walk-in trade will hopefully allow all staff to return to full-time work and wages, he said.

“And get back fully to what we do,” he said.

“We’ll be very glad — please put the emphasis on ‘very’ — to see our customers come back in,” he said.

Realtors also are looking for-ward to better business under the revised order.

For the first two weeks of the shutdown, the entire market, in-cluding active listings and sold homes, dropped 40%, said Real-tor Xin Jiang of Compass Realty, in Palo Alto. She didn’t see any new listings during that time. Home prices also declined 20%, though the highest-value homes

were not being put up for sale.The market has slowly been

opening up as people are gaining more confidence, Jiang said, and she expects the volume of avail-able homes and activity at ev-ery level of the market will now increase.

Michael Repka, CEO, manag-ing broker and general counsel for Palo Alto-based DeLeon Re-alty, said the revised order will give Realtors more latitude to get homes ready to show — a key component in sales.

“Normal preparation was held back,” he said. Most homes re-quire contractors and landscap-ers to build, repair, landscape or upgrade a residence. Neither type of business was allowed to work under the previous order.

“Now we can show all proper-ties,” he said. Before, agents could only take prospective buyers on a virtual tour of a property, unless no one was living in the home. The new rules allow agents to show occupied properties provid-ed they follow certain protocols.

Repka also believes that people are feeling more hopeful about the pandemic. Before, they saw their world becoming increasing-ly constricted: the shelter order, a concern over food shortages, and the lack of a treatment or cure for COVID-19.

But good news on all of those fronts this week, from the lessen-ing restrictions to protecting the food supply chain and news of possible treatments for the dis-ease are all helping to increase optimism, he said.

“People are feeling there are more options. We’re getting past this,” he said. “I’m already hear-ing from buyers. It’s going to have a very positive impact. Inventory will increase in a few weeks.”

Businesses catering to out-door activities are also exploring the possibility of relaunching at least parts of their operations. At Shoreline Lake Boathouse in Mountain View, where every-thing had closed down, the busi-ness is considering renting its paddleboats, which can be wiped down with disinfectant, and offer-ing a selection of foods in picnic baskets for people to enjoy around the lake, spokesman Evan Ber-glund said.

The business is dependent on a decision by the city of Moun-tain View, which owns Shoreline Park, he said.

“Everything is vague right now and it will take until Monday to get things figured out,” he said.

The new policy also permits use of shared outdoor spaces so long as people can maintain so-cial distance.

Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District preserves in San Mateo County will reopen on weekends starting May 9 and 10, spokeswoman Leigh Ann Gess-ner said. The county’s public health officer, Scott Morrow, had previously asked the district to close the preserves on the week-ends, she said.

Midpen’s preserves span Santa Clara, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties and the district is closely following directives in all three.

“We have worked really hard to keep the public preserves open as much as possible. We are doing all we can to have needed physi-cal and mental health outlets” for people, Gessner said.

Most parking lots at the pre-serves are open to the public, but there are some limitations. Ran-cho San Antonio has two lots that are closed to reduce the number of visitors and some loop trails have been made one way only to increase physical distance.

“We are definitely getting an uptick in visitation,” she said, adding that it is creating some challenges as some people are new to the preserves and aren’t familiar with trail etiquette.

Two popular preserves will continue to remain closed: Windy Hill will stay closed at the request of the town of Por-tola Valley and Teague Hill is also currently closed because its one short public trail ties in with adjacent Huddart County Park, which is closed. It will reopen when San Mateo County parks can welcome back visitors, Gess-ner said.

Staff Writers Sue Dremann and Lloyd Lee can be emailed at [email protected] and [email protected], respectively.

New order allows a few retailers, service companies to get back to workBusiness owners hopeful but wary about reopening while pandemic continues

by Sue Dremann, Lloyd Lee and Jocelyn Dong

BUSINESS


Ma

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Mark Pendleton, manager of Brookside Orchids in Portola Valley, examines a sick plant with Concepción Cabrera in March 2019. Nurseries and garden centers are among the businesses that will be allowed to reopen on May 4 under the new stat-at-home order.


P atients are recovering from COVID-19 when they are given the experimental

drug remdesivir, according to separate studies by the Foster City company that makes the drug and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

Preliminary data from NIAID’s study shows the antiviral drug, de-veloped by Gilead Sciences Inc., helped hospitalized patients with advanced COVID-19 affecting their lungs recover faster than sim-ilar patients who received a pla-cebo. The randomized, controlled study involved 1,063 patients.

NIAID’s Adaptive COVID-19 Treatment Trial began on Feb. 21 and found that remdesivir was better than a placebo in terms of time of recovery, which is a metric often used in influenza trials. Re-covery was defined as being well enough for hospital discharge or return to normal activity level.

Patients who received remdesi-vir recovered 31% faster, with a median recovery time of 11 days compared to 15 days for those who received the placebo. The mortal-ity rate for the remdesivir group was 8% versus 11.6% for the pla-cebo group, NIAID stated. (NI-AID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci cautioned during a press confer-ence on Wednesday that the death rate has not yet reached statistical significance, and the data needs to be further analyzed.)

Sixty-eight sites across the globe participated in the study — 47 in the United States and 21 in countries in Europe and Asia.

Fauci said the remdesivir trial is reminiscent of research conducted 34 years ago when he and others were looking at the human immu-nodeficiency virus (HIV). They performed the first drug tests with the antiretroviral drug azidothy-midine (AZT), which had a mod-est effect on HIV, and were able to build on it to create more effective drugs, he said. Fauci thinks the same will be true with remdesivir.

Gilead also announced Wednes-day the results of two randomized Phase 3 clinical trials for remde-sivir, which were conducted in countries with a high prevalence of COVID-19.

In Gilead’s first trial, research-ers gave five-day and 10-day dos-es of remdesivir intravenously to 397 hospitalized patients who had pneumonia and reduced oxygen levels but did not require mechani-cal ventilation. The study sought to determine whether a shorter course of remdesivir would be as effective as a 10-day regimen

currently being used in multiple ongoing studies of the drug.

Fifty percent of patients who re-ceived treatment showed improve-ment in 10 days among the five-day treatment group and 11 days in the 10-day treatment group. More than half of patients in both groups were discharged from the hospital by day 14.

Patients who were given rem-desivir earlier also had improved outcomes. Participants who re-ceived the drug within 10 days of the onset of symptoms fared bet-ter than those treated more than 10 days into the disease. By day 14, 62% of patients who treated early in their illness were cleared for hospital discharge compared with 49% of patients who were treated later.

“The study demonstrates the potential for some patients to be treated with a five-day regimen, which could significantly expand the number of patients who could be treated with our current sup-ply of remdesivir,” Dr. Merdad Parsey, Gilead Sciences’ chief medical officer, said in the com-pany statement.

Remdesivir isn’t licensed or ap-proved and has not yet been dem-onstrated to be safe or effective for the treatment of COVID-19, the statement noted. Gilead said it plans to submit the full data for publication in a peer-reviewed journal in coming weeks.

A second trial study is evaluat-ing the safety and effectiveness of five-day and 10-day remdesivir dosing in patients with moderate COVID-19 symptoms. The results from the first 600 patients of this study are expected at the end of May.

Palo Alto resident Monica Yeung-Arima, who was one of the patients in Gilead’s first remdesi-vir trial, said on Wednesday that she is gratified by the trial results. Yeung-Arima was given a five-day treatment of remdesivir starting March 13. She began to recover three days into her treatment.

“I am so glad that I’m one of the guinea pigs. I am getting bet-ter every day,” Yeung-Arima said in a text message to this news organization.

“I’m so glad that there’s positive news on remdesivir and the drug can possibly be used by many pa-tients soon. ... It also can put many people at ease to have a solution, even if it’s not a 100% cure,” she said.


Remdesivir drug trials show patients recovering from

COVID-19Preliminary results from Gilead Sciences, federal drug

studies appear promisingby Sue Dremann

MEDICINE

Upfront

know who has the virus and who doesn’t,” he noted in an email on Wednesday.

Cody said the county is basing its modifications to the heath or-ders on five indicators: whether the number of total COVID-19 cases in the community is flat-tening or decreasing; whether the number of hospitalized pa-tients with COVID-19 is flat or decreasing; there is an adequate supply of personal protective equipment to protect all health care workers; the county is meet-ing its need for testing residents who are in vulnerable popula-tions or in high-risk settings or occupations; and the county has the capacity to investigate all cases and trace all of their con-tacts, isolating those who are in-fected or exposed.

“We have already made sig-nificant progress on many of these indicators and we need to make sure we don’t slip back-ward,” Cody said. “Our goal is to gingerly chart a course to be the most health-protective.”

The announcement by Cody mirrors in some ways the strat-egy that Newsom announced on Tuesday for reopening business across the state. Newsom said he plans to transition “in weeks, not months” into a stage where some businesses can reopen.

Dr. Sonya Angell, the state’s public health officer, said in a Tuesday presentation that this stage, known as Stage 2, will focus on “low-risk sectors” such as retailers that can provide curbside pickup, offices where telework is not possible and manufacturers that had not been deemed “essential” under the ex-isting order.

Angell also said the second stage can include opening more parks and trails, many of which have been closed to the pub-lic over the past six weeks be-cause of concern over physical distancing.

Newsom and Angell also in-dicated that it will be months before the state enters Stage 3, in which businesses that require proximity between staff and cus-tomers can reopen.

“Those are things like getting your haircut, getting your nails done, doing anything that has (a) very close, inherent relationship with other people, where prox-imity is very close. We need a thoughtful process to ensure that people don’t put themselves at great risk in doing those activi-ties,” Angell said.

Almanac Staff Writers Kate Bradshaw and Angela Swartz contributed to this report. Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at [email protected].

What’s allowed — and what’s not A modified shelter-at-home order kicks in on May 4 in six Bay Area counties, including Santa Clara and San Mateo. It eases restrictions on outdoor businesses, outdoor activities, construction and real estate transactions. Here’s a quick summary of what is and is not allowed.

GARDENERS AND LANDSCAPERS: Under the March 16 stay-at-home order, gardeners and landscapers were allowed to perform only essential work needed to maintain the safety of a property. Now, they are permitted to resume all work.

CONSTRUCTION: Before, only construction of “essential” public infrastructure and of residential developments that included affordable housing were permitted. Now, all construction has been added to the list of “essential business” and thus is permitted.

REAL ESTATE: Under the March 16 order, real estate business was

not allowed, although the rule was eased under the county’s March 31 updated order, which allowed virtual tours of properties. Now, real estate has been added to the county’s list of “essential business.” Agents can show a property in person, with proper social distancing and a limit of two clients at a time, even if people still reside in the home.

OUTDOOR SPACES: Golf courses have been closed and remain closed under the state’s shelter-at-home order. Although the new county order allows golf courses to reopen, that permission will only take effect once the state modifies its order similarly, because the state law supersedes the local one. Dog parks remain closed under both state and county orders because they “encourage gathering.” Tennis courts are not explicitly mentioned in the county order, but sports in which equipment is shared are prohibited, except when played by members of the same household.

— Palo Alto Weekly staff

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A woman exits CVS Pharmacy in downtown Palo Alto on April 29.

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Two pedestrians walk under the HanaHaus marquee in downtown Palo Alto during the first month of the shutdown, which has been extended to May 31.

About the cover: Two pedestrians walk a dog along the empty sidewalk in downtown Palo Alto on April 29. Photo by Magali Gauthier.


or safety risks, and those who are homeless,” Miranda said.

Most graduate students have remained on campus given they typically live in apartment-style housing, he said, which can more easily accommodate social distancing.

Below are the stories of four students who have remained at Stanford during the shutdown: Cervantes; a freshman from Tur-key studying electrical engineer-ing; a Filipino senior working on a thesis about his native country’s national liberation movement; and a visiting researcher from Den-mark in his final year of medical school. Each talks about the chal-lenges and unexpected silver lin-ings of living on campus during an unprecedented time.

Jesus Cervantes

‘I’m trying to be OK with not having a million things to do with a million

different people.’

Jesus Cervantes will be the first in his family to graduate from col-lege. He’s majoring in computer science and pursuing a coterminal master’s degree in management science and engineering.

He threw himself into life at Stanford. He’s on the cheer team, participates in student govern-ment and was a resident assistant last year. He felt like he had hit his stride in the senior year and was looking forward to every-thing that the last months of col-lege promised: fountain hopping, senior formal, trips to the beach, staying up late with friends.

“All those things that we thought were waiting for us, a goodbye to this crazy experience we’ve all had — I’m never go-ing to get that,” he said. “It was a hard thing to take in, especially as a senior.”

Before Stanford moved Cer-vantes out of his home on the Row and into the Schwab Residential Center, which usually houses Graduate School of Business stu-dents, public safety officers would patrol at night, shining flashlights into common areas to make sure students were sitting 6 feet apart. At Schwab, he has a single room with a full bed (an upgrade from the twin in his old house), a desk and his own bathroom.

He used to play basketball ev-ery day, but all the nets on campus have been tied up. He goes for a daily run on campus instead and sometimes finds an empty field on campus in which he eats lunch alone.

Like many people, Cervantes has turned to technology to recre-ate social interactions that would normally happen in person. His former roommate’s New Year’s

resolution was to do 100 pushups every day; their new nightly ritual is to do them together on Face-Time and catch up afterward. He’s hosting a regular online study hall for his former housemates, invit-ing people to study apart but to-gether on Zoom.

The hardest part of staying on campus, he said, has been adjust-ing to a solitary life with more downtime than he’s used to.

“I’m trying to be OK with not having a million things to do with a million different people, which is an environment that Stanford tends to foster,” he said.

Cervantes isn’t personally dis-appointed about commencement being canceled, but is mourning the loss of an important milestone for his parents. His earliest mem-ory is his mother teaching him to read, telling him he would gradu-ate from college.

“Students who come from my background, all the pressure is on you to graduate. A lot of us have that image in our head of us walking that stage and our family getting to watch us,” he said. “For me, the image wasn’t walking on the stage. It was having a diploma in my hand. That’s been the image in my mind the last 20 years: me holding that degree, putting it up on the wall in my room.

“I’ll still get it, whether they hand me the degree on the stage or mail it to my parents,” Cer-vantes added. “For me, that’s the most important thing.”

Ethan Chua

‘This is ending in a vastly different way than any of us could have foreseen.’

As the emails from Stanford about who would be allowed to stay on campus grew increasingly serious in tone, Ethan Chua, a

senior from the Philippines, got increasingly nervous. He filled out the required form, explaining that returning home would be dis-ruptive to his education.

“I was approved to stay but a lot of folks weren’t. That was part of what was really stressful — people who had good reasons to stay not being allowed to stay,” Chua said.

His two siblings who also study in the United States did go home, but he preferred the “stability” of staying at Stanford — including the ability to access online classes without a 15-hour time difference.

In the Philippines, he said, there’s been an intense military response to the public health crisis.

“The deep worry is that the coronavirus is being used as a pre-tense with the executive branch of the Philippines to gather power to the president,” he said.

About eight other students in his residence, the Asian-American themed Okada dorm, were also approved to stay, but he’s no lon-ger interacting with them in per-son. Weekly house meetings have been canceled. Students aren’t al-lowed to eat with each other.

“It’s definitely isolating,” he said. “It’s a real challenge with respect to balancing community safety alongside one’s emotional needs as any human needing con-nection. That’s something I’ve had to navigate over the past few weeks.”

Chua is mostly staying inside his single room but looks forward to grabbing coffee from the only open Coupa Cafe and picking up to-go food from his assigned dining hall, where he said chefs have been putting extra effort in to make quality meals. Students must line up, wash their hands, take prepackaged food and go back to their residences to eat.

Despite the restrictions, campus feels “peaceful,” he said.

“I feel grateful I’m in a situation where I get to walk outside — by

myself of course — and get some sunlight,” Chua said.

Stanford’s quick transition to fully online instruction for spring quarter has had varying degrees of success, Chua said. Some of his classes are well-run while others suffer from professors lacking technological proficiency.

“The ones I appreciate the most are the ones that have been willing to let go of the traditional meet-ing time in class,” he said, includ-ing using pre-recorded lectures and asynchronous assignments. “There really is an opportunity to be compassionate about what academic requirements look like during this time period.”

Beyond coursework, Chua is devoting much of his time and energy to advocating on behalf of campus workers who were laid off when the campus closed in mid-March. He’s part of Stanford Stu-dents for Workers’ Rights, a stu-dent-led group that’s been using petitions, social media campaigns and Zoom press conferences to pressure the university to provide pay and benefits for contracted workers through June.

He’s taking an extra quarter to finish his thesis but was still

planning to walk at commence-ment in June. More than the event itself, he’s missing the opportuni-ty to reflect on the past four years with his friends and classmates.

“It would have been nice to spend that time with people who I really cared for and loved. Now this is ending in a vastly differ-ent way than any of us could have foreseen,” Chua said.

Simon John Christoph Sorensen

‘My parents, who I love and live with in Denmark, cannot offer to me what

I’m getting here at Stanford. It’s a unique

possibility.’

Before the Bay Area’s stay-at-home order took effect, Simon John Christoph Sorensen was in an operating room at Stanford Hospital every week, observing robotic urology surgeries.

Sorensen, 26, is a visiting re-searcher in his last year of medi-cal school at Aarhus University in Denmark. He came to Stan-ford last September to work with Benjamin Chung, a urologic on-cologist and professor at Stanford Medical School.

Since March, he hasn’t been al-lowed in the hospital. All of his research, which focuses on using “deep learning” (a form of ma-chine learning) in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, has shifted online. Stanford has shut down all university labs con-ducting non-essential research.

Once it became clear how seri-ous the coronavirus was in Santa Clara County, Sorensen consid-ered going back to Denmark. There, normal life is starting to re-sume more quickly — Sorensen’s high school reopened last week — even though Denmark has more cases per capita than Santa Clara County.

“It’s very tough being so far away from my family in general and now with this pandemic, it’s even more tough,” he said. But he ultimately decided “my par-ents, who I love and live with in

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Student Ethan Chua walks down the stairs in Okada, an Asian-American themed dorm, where he has been living with eight other students while the campus is shutdown.

Upfront

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Ethan Chua, a senior at Stanford University, reads while enjoying some coffee during the university shutdown in Palo Alto on April 22, 2020.


Denmark, cannot offer to me what I’m getting here at Stanford. It’s a unique possibility.”

Sorensen lives in faculty hous-ing on campus with an older woman who also happens to be from Denmark. They speak Dan-ish together, which helps him “feel a little at home while not being exactly at home.”

But all of his regular activi-ties — meetings with his mentor, practices and games for his club badminton team, volunteer work in local middle schools, chess lessons for other international students — have ceased. Most of his friends, also international students, have left campus and are scattered across the world in dif-ferent time zones.

“The social aspect has been the hardest. It’s tough not seeing people on a day-to-day basis, es-pecially people my own age,” he said. “It does feel like my room is like a box sometimes, having nowhere to go.”

Instead of playing badminton together in person, the club team is staying connected through a Facebook group. He has both academic and social meetings on Zoom with the researchers, doc-tors and nurses he’d normally see in a lab, including a weekend happy hour.

He’s taken to going for walks alone on campus, appreciating in a new way the nature and ar-chitecture at Stanford. He’s still getting used to passing by people wearing masks, which prevent the usual smiles or other interaction he might share with strangers.

Sorensen recently applied to extend his visa to stay at Stanford

through September. He feels safe on campus and is hopeful he’ll be able to resume in-person research before then.

Lara Arikan

‘I knew from the moment Stanford shut down that I’d want to keep enjoying the freedom I have here.

Here, I can go out; I can walk.’

In Lara Arikan’s native Turkey, the government has ordered a cur-few for people older than 65 and younger than 20 years old to pre-vent the spread of the coronavirus. She falls into the latter category.

“I would be extremely suf-focated,” the Stanford freshman said. “I knew from the moment Stanford shut down that I’d want to keep enjoying the freedom I have here. Here, I can go out; I can walk. There are places for me to be and to breathe and people to talk to.”

Her parents are also older, and she would have been living with them in a cramped space — not to mention she’d have to “live noc-turnally” to take live classes.

So Arikan, who’s studying elec-trical engineering with a prospec-tive minor in music science and technology, has stayed on cam-pus. She was one of the students that the university moved, but her new residence isn’t far from her freshman dorm. She said mov-ing wasn’t disruptive as much as

disorienting — adjusting to a new, single room without the comfort of her roommates or even their belongings.

When Stanford first shut down, Arikan felt unmotivated. She had trouble getting out of bed and finding a new routine.

“But now,” she said, “it feels very much like normal. I have some classes in the morning. I take a long walk or an afternoon bike ride. I go somewhere that’s green and solitary usually. I sit there and I play the flute and read and I write. I go back to my dorm for the evening and do work until about midnight.”

Because she’s studying com-puter science, she said most of her classes easily transitioned online. Her summer internship with the Stanford Energy Resources Engi-neering department is still on and will take place virtually.

About six other students from her dorm have also stayed, and she sees some of them around campus. She’s also friends with graduate students who are still living on campus. Because many people are desperate to stay con-nected online, she feels like she has the same challenge of bal-ancing social commitments and schoolwork that many first-year

college students face. “It doesn’t feel lonely at all,”

she said. “It feels exactly like dur-ing the school year when you have to plan out your time wisely.”

To Arikan, the campus feels quiet but not empty. She often sees families going for walks and said that people seem friendlier than usual.

“It feels more like a little village. Every time I go out I see people I recognize,” she said. “It doesn’t feel eerie. There’s a community that never used to really exist.”

Staff Writer Elena Kadvany can be emailed at [email protected].

Robert Otis Jack, age 89, died peacefully surrounded by his family (one at a time due to the Coronavirus), on April 22rd, 2020. Bob was born in Arlington, South Dakota on July 21, 1930 to Rollo and Ethel (Cottingham) Jack. In high school he was active in sports, playing on the varsity basketball team, as well as in journalism, where he was the editor of his school newspaper. He was Valedictorian of his high school graduating class and then traveled to Brookings, South Dakota to become a Jackrabbit at South Dakota State University. There he was the sports editor for the South Dakota Collegian and business manager of the State College basketball program. He received the Wall Street Journal Medal for Economics and graduated in June of 1952 with high honor.

In October 1952 he enlisted in the Navy and worked as Disbursing Officer and Supply Officer on ships in the Far East. After being discharged in 1955, he attended the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Upon graduation, he was hired by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space Company, where he worked for thirty-five years in the Information Processing and Finance departments. After retirement, he did accounting work for various non-profits, including the Friends of the Public Library and the Palo Alto Historical Association.

While posing as a mild mannered accountant, Bob led the life of a superhero as husband and father. In 1961, he married Joan Liddy Jack and with her raised three children: Lisa, Sheila, and Gordy in Palo Alto, California. During a time of political protest and counter culture revolution, Bob bought a VW bus to take his family on numerous camping and cross-country trips. He would drive for days showing the family the beauty of the country while listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival and ignoring the fighting taking place in the back seat.

The red VW bus (and its successor – the light blue VW bus) was the perfect vehicle for Bob, as it allowed him to take his family with him everywhere, be it the picnic grounds of Foothills park, the drive-in movie theater, the beaches of Pajaro Dunes or the weekly trip to the dump. He also used the car to get the family to soccer games, swim meets, and the occasional night out at Stickneys. By the time the kids were old enough to drive, the bus couldn’t go faster than 30 mph, and this, too, was good.

Bob was ahead of his time as a parent in many

ways. He was an early adopter of parental controls on digital entertainment, much to the chagrin of his children. In the 70s that meant locking the TV plug in a metal box with a padlock on it. He never assigned gender stereotypes to what his children

could do, which let them grow up believing they could do anything. He bought them a Radio Shack computer and taught them some simple code, (something they probably should have taken more interest in). He instilled in them a work ethic through weekend chores, and taught them financial independence by letting them manage their own money at a young age.

Bob also really encouraged his kids athletically. Early on, he signed up each of his children

to play AYSO soccer and volunteered countless hours as coach, team manager, and cheerleader. In 1973, the family joined the Foothills Tennis and Swimming Club where the children participated in both the tennis and summer swim teams. Bob did his best to instill his love of tennis in his children, but unfortunately it didn’t take. Still, that didn’t stop him from playing almost every weekend with friends and family.

The person Bob was most devoted to was his wife, Joan. No one brought more joy to his life than his wife of 58 years. The two surrounded themselves with friends, from the “mansion” parties in Los Altos, to Stanford football games and tailgate parties, and finally at their retirement home at Channing House. Between the soccer games, swim meets, Adventure Guide meetings, parent-teacher conferences, Bob whisked Joan away on trips to Oregon, Hawaii, Europe, and South America. The two made exploring the world a priority, especially during their retirement years. Joan gave Bob a reason to hang on, even after he became sick and needed full time care in the Skilled Nursing floor at Channing House. His last words to her before he passed was to tell her how pretty she looked in red.

Bob is survived by his wife Joan Jack, his children Lisa Jack, Sheila Grau, and Gordon Jack, and grandchildren Charles Smith, Cooper Smith, Rachel Grau, Rickey Grau, Alex Grau, Daniel Grau, and Henry Jack.

There will be a small memorial service at Alta Mesa for immediate family. In place of cards and flowers, the family asks that you make a donation to the Friends of the Palo Alto Public Library.

https://www.fopal.org/how-to-make-a-cash-donation

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

Robert Otis JackJuly 21, 1930 – April 22, 2020

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Stanford University student Simon John Christoph Sorensen is among the approximately 700 out of the school’s 7,000 undergraduates allowed to remain on campus during the university shutdown.

Upfront


POLICE CALLSPalo AltoApril 23-April 29Violence relatedBattery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Domestic violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Strong arm robbery . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Theft relatedAttempted commercial burglary . . . .1Commercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . .1Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7Prowler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . .2Shoplifting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Vehicle relatedAttempted theft from auto. . . . . . . . .1Auto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Driving w/ suspended license . . . . . .1Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . .1

Alcohol or drug relatedDrunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Possession of paraphernalia. . . . . . .1Under influence of drugs. . . . . . . . . .1MiscellaneousFound property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Misc. penal code violation . . . . . . . .2Missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Psychiatric subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . .5Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Warrant/other agency . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Menlo ParkApril 22-April 28Violence relatedAssault w/ a deadly weapon. . . . . . .1Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Theft relatedBurglary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Commercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . .2Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Vehicle relatedAuto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Lost/stolen plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Parking/driving violation . . . . . . . . . .1Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3MiscellaneousCoroner case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Court order violation . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Other/misc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Possession of stolen property . . . . .1Psychiatric subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . .2Suspicious person . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Trespassing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

VIOLENT CRIMESPalo AltoPark Boulevard, 4/16, 10:46 a.m.; domestic violence/battery.Welch Road, 4/20, 7:30 p.m.; simple battery.Emerson Street, 4/21, 6:22 p.m.; family violence/battery.W. Bayshore Road, 4/24, 12:24 p.m.; strong arm robbery.Addison Avenue, 4/26, 4:35 p.m.; family violence/battery.

Menlo Park1500 block Willow Road, 4/25, 11:12 a.m.; assault w/ a deadly weapon.500 block El Camino Real, 4/26, 11:34 a.m.; battery.900 block Florence Lane, 4/27, 5:57 p.m.; battery.

PulseA weekly compendium of vital statistics

Jerianne Foley a longtime resident of Palo Alto died April 18 2020. She was 93. Jeri and her former husband Warren Foley moved to Palo Alto in 1956 to open The Childrens Bootery in Midtown Center.

Jeri, born in Chicago, moved to San Francisco after graduating from Mundelein College, now part of Loyola University in 1948. She received her masters in gerontology from San Jose State. For many years she was Director of the Mountain View Senior Center moving on to the Sequoias in San Francisco. Jeri was an active member in many organizations including The C.A.R. now Gatepath, The AAUW, Elder Hostel and Las Avenidas. She was an avid bridge player and professional book reviewer. She continued her quest for learning her entire life. She moved to Channing House in 2000.

Jeri was predeceased by her daughter Grace and is survived by her two daughters Nora Foley Kennedy of Bluffton, South Carolina and Eve Foley McCauley of Sausalito and five grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Interment was private.


Jerianne Foley(1927 – 2020)

Clifton Herndon, or Cliff as she was known, was born in Los Angeles where she graduated from Catholic Girls HS. It was while attending UC Berkeley that she met her husband John Herndon at a Newman Club dance. It was their love of God that brought them together, and it was this great love that would become the theme for their long life together.

Cliff and John were married in San Francisco and moved to Santa Cruz as their family grew. They finally settled in Palo Alto were Cliff lived for over 60 years. Cliff devoted her life to raising her family of nine children and to teaching and serving those in need. She and her husband enjoyed sponsoring young initiates into their Catholic community, participating in leadership teams on Cursillo weekends and serving through the local St. Vincent de Paul Conference. They taught catechism at a local migrant farmworker camp, and, in the early ’70s, moved the entire family to Mexico for a year to serve the communities there—a mission Cliff continued while on the steering committee with South Bay Sanctuary Covenant during two trips to El Salvador.

Cliff delighted in teaching ESL classes to immigrant students, and when the children were grown, enjoyed traveling with her husband and friends. Along with raising nine children of their own, Cliff and her husband took in nine foster children over the years with various challenges and special needs. They firmly believed there was “always room for one more.”

Cliff was devoted to her family and always had a big smile and a kind word for everyone she met. She always made time to stop and smell the roses. She is survived by eight of her children: Anne Fillin, John (Peggy), Felix (Valerie), Mary (Jeff), Louise Wells, Liz (Jere), Matt and Ben (Karin), as well as ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild. She is preceded in death by her husband John R. Herndon, her son, Peter Mark Herndon Sr., and her sister, Anne Laforce Penn of San Francisco.

An intimate family gathering was held at Gate of Heaven Catholic Cemetery. A larger service will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider a donation to St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, or South Bay Sanctuary Covenant.


Clifton L. HerndonAugust 25, 1926 – March 22, 2020

Harold Earl Sweeney, 92, of Menlo Park passed away of natural causes on Tuesday, April 22.

Harold was born October 18, 1927 in Fairmont, Minnesota to James and Irene Sweeney and was the youngest of their 3 children. After graduating from high school, Harold enlisted into the Navy and was one of Captain Eddy’s boys, the country’s brightest during WWII for Navy Radar School. He earned a BS from the University of Arizona and a MS from Rutgers University. He had a successful career as an electrical engineer and is recognized on 21 patents. He retired from GTE - General Dynamics after 30 years.

Harold was a very loving husband and father. He married Gwen (Crane) Sweeney on June 26, 1960 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey and took her across the country to Happy Valley (now Silicon Valley) and settled in Menlo Park. Harold took his family on summer camping trips and enjoyed exploring our wonderful country. Harold always encouraged family hikes.

Harold loved music, was a season ticket holder for SF symphony for 30 years, and played piano, violin and coronet at home. He sang in the MPPC Choir and Aurora Singers.

Harold was also a very devoted Christian and has been an active member of MPPC since 1960. He served as a Neighborhood Deacon, participated in the Church Choir and the 50 Plus Club.

Harold was a quiet, humble, wise man that enjoyed a good joke and a good friend. The simple things like a home cooked meal, working in his yard, listening to the birds, listening to music and being with the people he loved were refreshing for him. He will be missed by many.

Harold is survived by his wife of almost 60 years, Gwen Sweeney of Menlo Park and children Kathleen (Michael) Quigley of New Knoxville, Ohio, Andrew Sweeney of San Francisco and Gordon Sweeney of Redwood City and grandchildren Sean Quigley and Nathan Quigley.

A service for Harold’s memorial will be planned at a future date.

In Lieu of Flowers, the family requests that you donate to https://hopeunlimited.org/#donate


Harold SweeneyOctober 18, 1927 – April 22, 2020

Clifton L Herndon, Mildred Martha Daume Mario, Robert Otis Jack

A list of local residents who died recently:

Clifton L Herndon, 93, a resident of Palo Alto for more than 60 years, died on March 22. Mildred Martha Daume Mario, 80, a former chairwoman of the Palo Alto Historic Resources Board, died on April 17. Robert Otis Jack, 89, a resident of Palo Alto, died on April 22.

To read full obituaries, leave remembrances and post photos, go to Lasting Memo-ries at PaloAltoOnline.com/obituaries.

OBITUARIES

Give blood for life!bloodcenter.stanford.edu


Take a bow, Weekly staff, for garnering your well deserved

glory. Without you we would be banging around in the dark not

knowing half of what was going on in town, with our people or at

city hall. That 40th Anniversary issue was dynamite, and Veronica’s

photo essay “Rethinking Waste” was odd and interesting.

Gennady, Sue and Elena, we’ve come to trust that you will be our

eyes and ears day after day, and you do that so well. Bill’s editorials

are our good fortune — and also that he thought up Embarcadero

Media. I have no idea how Jocelyn keeps it all together — it would

make me nuts. I never subscribed but will now, knowing that it

is vital to support all and the Weekly in these and all times. And

thank you Bill for asking for that support.

- Winter

Will you join the thousands of others supporting local journalism?

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

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T his extraordinary time is filled with contradictions. People behaving selflessly

and people behaving selfishly. Quiet times at home and cacoph-onous times at home. Gorgeous weather outside and sad news on our electronic devices inside.

It turns out that our city budget for next year is no exception to this pattern of contradiction: Our largely affluent com-munity that is used to a plethora of programs and services will lose many of these experiences.

Let’s start with understanding the $231 million general fund (I am going to use fiscal year 2020 numbers because it’s so hard to estimate what will hap-pen in fiscal year 2021, which starts in July). What does it pay for? The budget pays for our po-lice officers and 911 dispatch-ers, firefighters, librarians and books, park rangers and ground-skeepers, zookeepers and ani-mal food, exercise instructors and equipment, arts programs and materials, theater programs and costumes, building planners and reviews, tree trimming and disposal, transportation experts and third-grade bike rodeos,

street sweeping, city attorneys, communications gurus and emergency-preparedness folks — all the things that make our city run each and every day.

So, how do we pay for the gen-eral fund?

Whenever I ask that question, the first response I hear from people is that’s what property taxes are for. Indeed, property taxes are the biggest source of revenue at $48 million or 21% of the whole. If you own your home, only about 10% of the first line on your property tax bill goes to the city of Palo Alto, and unless you moved here in the past few years, it’s probably less than you thought. About half of that first line goes to the school district, and much of the rest goes to the county for services (including the public health department).

Since property taxes have been a lagging indicator of re-cessions, this source is not likely to decrease significantly in fis-cal year 2021, but much depends on how assessed values change during the next year.

Our first significant problem then is sales tax, at $34 million and 15% of our general fund. The largest source of sales-tax revenue for Palo Alto is Stan-ford Shopping Center, which right now is mostly closed. One of the largest segments of sales

tax is restaurants, and many of those are also closed. Since we will likely be dealing with CO-VID-19 restrictions for many months, we will see a significant decrease in sales tax in fiscal year 2021.

The second significant prob-lem we have is the hotel tax, of-ficially known as the transient-occupancy tax, at $29 million or 13%. It is not paid by the hotels out of their profits; it is calcu-lated on top of the room rate, then added to the bill of a person who stays in the hotel, and then transmitted to the city. We rely on this source of revenue to help fund our infrastructure projects, like the new fire station on Em-barcadero Road and the bike bridge over U.S. Highway 101 and the upcoming police station near California Avenue.

Most hotels are empty at the moment and some have about 10% occupancy instead of the usual 80%, so this source of rev-enue has screeched to a halt and will not fully rebound until do-mestic and international travel return to normal levels.

Why am I talking about where the money comes from? Because the revenue we receive each year determines the programs and services that we can afford to offer. It’s just that simple. And since we will see sales and ho-tel taxes go down by tens of

millions of dollars, we will have to reduce our expenses by that same amount.

What will that look like?The city manager listed

changes we must consider on pages 6 and 7 of his budget transmittal letter, which can be found at cityofpaloalto.org /c iv icax /f i leban k /docu-ments/76290. As I said when this budget was presented to the council, it’s going to break my heart to not reopen all five of our libraries, but the reality is that everyone’s heart is go-ing to be broken during this process. Here are some of the options on the list: fewer staff or hours at a fire station; fewer libraries; no traffic enforce-ment team; much higher fees for the Art Center, Children’s Theatre and the Junior Muse-um and Zoo (all of which are subsidized by the city); fewer special events, like the Chili Cook-off and May Fete Parade and holiday tree-lighting cer-emony; having homeowners be financially responsible for sidewalks; no changes to our housing development rules; no all-electric ordinance for com-mercial buildings; increased fees for residential parking permits; and much more.

I expect to receive many, many emails and calls in the next few weeks exclaiming that

we can’t possibly cut (fill in the blank here for your favorite program). Please keep in mind the magnitude of this problem, which is tens of millions of dol-lars, and remember that we are all in this together. We will all have to share in the sacrifices and they won’t be easy.

Our experienced, professional staff will provide more details on Monday, May 11, about how much revenue we anticipate losing (e.g., 15% of this year’s budget would be $35 million, which is more than the entire Community Services Depart-ment costs to operate) and pro-pose programs and services to be eliminated. I encourage you to watch that meeting online and then share your thoughts with the council via email or via Zoom.

I believe that every person who lives and works in Palo Alto will feel the impact of these changes. They are a reminder that we are more connected than we realize — to the businesses that operate here, to the visitors who come here and to the city employees whose work creates the programs and services that make our city such a wonderful place to live.

Alison Cormack serves on the Palo Alto City Council. She can be reached at [email protected].

SpectrumEditorials, letters and opinions

The Palo Alto Weekly encourages comments on our coverage or on issues of local interest.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Submit letters to the editor of up to 300 words to [email protected]. Submit guest opinions of 1,000 words to [email protected]. Include your name, address and daytime phone number so we can reach you. We reserve the right to edit contributions for length, objectionable content, libel and factual errors known to us. Anonymous letters will generally not be accepted. Submitting a letter to the editor or guest opinion constitutes a granting of permission to the Palo Alto Weekly and Embarcadero Media to also publish it online, including in our online archives and as a post on Town Square. For more information, contact Editorial Assistant Lloyd Lee at [email protected] or 650-223-6526 or Editor Jocelyn Dong at [email protected].

Do you agree with the pace at which the county is loosening the stay-at-home order?

Salary cutsEditor,

To offset the anticipated $30 million revenue shortfall in the city budget, it would seem an across-the-board salary cut is the most sensible because that is where most of the money is, and Palo Alto workers are pretty well-paid, relatively speaking.

Steve EittreimIvy Lane, Palo Alto

Housing and ‘a little sacrifice’Editor,

There’s been a lot of hoorays online lately about how proud ev-eryone is that our county’s health officer, Dr. Sara Cody, is home-grown. Sara and I were born in

the same year and attended the same Palo Alto schools. Sara was then, and I assume is now, a lovely person.

What a lot of people don’t un-derstand is that Dr. Cody, and many like her, is a product of an extraordinary place and time — a place (Palo Alto) and a time (the ’70s) where there was an under-standing of community responsi-bility and your responsibility to others and to the well-being of the planet.

People look at Palo Alto today and think it’s the extravagant houses that make it a desirable place to live. Nothing could have been further from the truth dur-ing the ’70s. What made it desir-able was the values. Dr. Cody, who pursued public health rather than a more lucrative field in medicine, is a perfect example of this.

Those values have all but

disappeared. For several decades, all that Palo Alto residents seem to be able to ask is, “What’s in it for me?” This is shameful, but it’s also understandable. When the average dwelling costs several millions, $15,000 a month mort-gage payments with $30,000 a year in taxes, self-protection and self-preservation dominate.

The foundation of community is caring about others. Palo Alto will not regain its moral founda-tion until it starts to care about others. Right here and right now, caring about others means allow-ing enough housing to be built.

Deborah GoldeenBirch Street, Palo Alto

Letters

Guest Opinion

Why the budget will break your heartby Alison Cormack

Check out Town Square!Hundreds of local topics are being discussed by local residents on Town Square, a reader forum sponsored by the Weekly at PaloAltoOnline.com/square. Post your own comments, ask questions or just stay up on what people are talking about around town!

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G U I D E TO 2020 S U M M E R C A M P S FO R K I D S • V I S I T PA LOA LTO O N L I N E .CO M/C A M P_CO N N E C T I O N

ACADEMICS

Early Learning Palo Alto

Institute Pleasanton

Improve your student’s writing skills this summer at Emerson

School of Palo Alto and Hacienda School of Pleasanton. Courses

this year are Expository Writing, Creative Writing and Presentation

Skills.

headsup.org Emerson: (650) 424-1267

Hacienda: (925) 485-5750

Harker Summer Programs San Jose

The Harker School’s summer programs for children K - grade 12

offer the perfect balance of learning and fun! Programs are led by

dedicated facult y and staff who are experts at combining summer

fun and learning. Strong academics and inspiring enrichment

programs are offered in full day, partial and morning only sessions.

harker.org/summer (408) 553-5737

i2 Camp at Castilleja School Palo Alto

i2 Camp offers week-long immersion programs that engage

middle school girls in the fields of science, technology, engineering

and math (STEM). The fun and intimate hands-on activities

of the courses strive to excite and inspire participants about

STEM, creating enthusiasm that will hopefully spill over to their

schoolwork and school choices in future years.

castilleja.org/i2camp (650) 470-7833

STANFORD EXPLORE: A Lecture Series

on Biomedical Research Stanford

EXPLORE biomedical science at Stanford. Stanford EXPLORE

offers high school students the unique opportunity to learn from

Stanford professors and graduate students about diverse topics

in biomedical science, including bioengineering, neurobiology,

immunology and many others.

explore.stanford.edu [email protected]

Summer@Stratford Palo Alto/Bay Area

Stratford infuses its STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering,

Arts, and Math) curriculum into an innovative and enriching

summer camp experience. Younger campers learn, explore, and

engage in hands-on learning projects, while Elementary-age

students collaborate to tackle real-world problems by utilizing

academic principles and concepts in a fun and engaging way. At

the Middle School level, individual subject-based enrichment

classes are offered and tailored for each grade level.

stratfordschools.com/summer

[email protected] (650) 493-1141

ARTS, CULTURE, OTHER CAMPS

Art and Soul Camp Palo Alto

Art, cooking, tinkering, yoga and mindfulness. We celebrate

multiple perspectives and recognize the many ways for our children

to interpret their world. Summer Unplugged! is appropriate for

ages 6-11 years. Located at Walter Hays School.

artandsoulpa.com (650) 269-0423

ARTS, CULTURE, OTHER CAMPS

Castilleja Summer Camp

for Girls Palo Alto Palo Alto

Castilleja Summer Camp for Girls Palo Alto Casti Camp offers

girls entering grades 2-6 a range of age-appropriate activities

including athletics, art, science, computers, writing, crafts, cooking,

drama and music classes each day along with weekly field trips.

Leadership program available for girls entering grades 7-9.

castilleja.org/summercamp (650) 470-7833

Community School of Music Mountain View

Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA) Mountain View

50+ creative camps for grades K-12! Drawing, Painting, Ceramics,

Sculpture, Musical Theater, Summer Music Workshops and

more! One and two-week sessions; full and half-day enrollment.

Extended care from 8:30am-5:30pm. Financial aid offered.

arts4all.org (650) 917-6800 ext. 0

Let’s Go Crafting Palo Alto

Let’s Go Crafting’s Studio is where your child will have fun while

learning many different fiber related arts. We teach sewing,

knitting, crochet, weaving and jewelry making to children ages

8 to 15 years. AM or PM camps $275/week. Full day camps $550/

week. 5 student minimum for all sessions; 10 student maximum.

letsgocrafting.org (650) 814-4183

Oshman Family JCC Camps Palo Alto

Camps at the OFJCC introduce your child to new experiences

while creating friendships in a fun and safe environment. We

work to build confidence, stretch imaginations and teach new

skills.

paloaltojcc.org/Camps (650) 223-8622

Palo Alto Community

Child Care (PACCC) Palo Alto

PACCC summer camps offer campers, grades 1st to 6th, a wide

variety of engaging opportunities. We are excited to announce

all of your returning favorites: Leaders in Training (L.I.T.), Camp

YOUnique, F.A.M.E. (Fine Arts, Music and Entertainment), J.V.

Sports, Operation: Chef and Chef Jr.! Periodic field trips, special

visitors and many engaging camp activities, songs and skits

round out the variety of offerings at PACCC Summer Camps.

Open to campers from all communities. Register online.

paccc.org (650) 493-2361

ATHLETICS

Dance Connection Palo Alto Palo Alto

Share the joy of dance with us! Our studio is an extended family

and a “home away from home” for our community of children

and teens. At Dance Connection, we value the positive energy

and atmosphere that we continuously strive to provide. Summer

Dance Camps include all styles of dance for ages 4 and up and

features our new “This is Me!” Empowerment Camp along with

Teen Jazz and Hip Hop Camps. A Summer Session for ages 3 to

adults will be offered from June 8 – July 31.

danceconnectionpaloalto.com/dance-connection-

event-calendar/summer-dance-camps

(650) 852-0418 or (650) 322-7032

ATHLETICS

Kim Grant Tennis Palo Alto

Summer Camps Monterey Bay

Fun and specialized Junior Camps for Mini (3-5), Beginner,

Intermediate, Advanced, High Performance and Elite tennis

levels. Weekly programs designed by Kim Grant to improve

player technique, fitness, agility, mental toughness and all

around game. Weekly camps in Palo Alto and Sleep-Away Camps

in Monterey Bay. SO MUCH FUN!

KimGrantTennis.com Text: (650) 690-0678

Call: (650) 752-8061

Nike Tennis Camps Stanford University

Junior Overnight and Day Camps for boys & girls, ages 9-18 offered

throughout June, July and August. Adult Weekend Clinics (June &

Aug). Camps directed by Head Men’s Coach, Paul Goldstein, Head

Women’s Coach, Lele Forood, and Associate Men’s and Women’s

Coaches, Brandon Coupe and Frankie Brennan. Come join the fun

and get better this summer!

ussportscamps.com (800) NIKE-CAMP

(800) 645-3226

Run for Fun Camps Bay Area

Run for Fun’s mission is to provide creative and engaging play for

all youth by getting kids active in an inclusive community centered

around outdoor fun! We pride ourselves on hiring an enthusiastic,

highly trained staff who love what they do. Summer 2020 features

four weeks of Adventure Day Camp and two weeks of Overnight

Camp High Five. Adventure Day Camp is a new discovery every

day filled with sports, crafts and nature, including explorations to

Camp Jones Gulch, Capitola Beach, Foothills Park, Shoreline Lake

and Great America. Camp High Five is six days and five nights

of traditional overnight camp mixed with challenge-by-choice

activities, campfires, friendships and lots of laughter.

runforfuncamps.com/summer-camps-and-school-

holiday-camps/camp-overview (650) 823-5167

Spartans Sports Camp Mountain View

Spartans Sports Camp offers a wide variety of sports, performing

arts, and academic enrichment camps for kids entering grades

1-9. Experienced staff ensures everyone has fun. Daily on-site

swimming is offered for all camps. Camps begin June 8th and run

weekly through July 31st at Mountain View High School. The camp

is run by MVHS coaches and student-athletes and all proceeds

benefit the MVHS Athletic Department. Lunch and extended care

are available for your convenience. Flexible cancellation policies.

spartanssportscamp.com (650) 479-5906

YMCA of Silicon Valley

Summer Camps Silicon Valley

At the Y, children and teens of all abilities acquire new skills, make

friends, and feel that they belong. With hundreds of Summer Day

Camps plus Overnight Camps, you will find a camp that’s right for

your family. Sign up today, camps are filling up! Financial assistance

is available.

ymcasv.org/summercamp (408) 351-6473

For more information about these camps visit paloaltoonline.com/camp_connection. To advertise in this weekly directory, call (650) 326-8210.

Camp ConnectionCamp ConnectionPlease check directly with camps for updates and remote offerings.


Whether they're grocery shopping for a neighbor or

volunteering for a nonprofit, you can spread the joy

and support our journalism efforts by giving them a shout-

out in the Palo Alto Weekly.

For $199, we'll design a quarter-page announcement

featuring your Local Hero. Just visit the Google form at the

address below and include a 50-word description and an

optional photo.

And a huge "thank you" to all the good neighbors in Palo

Alto doing their best to shelter in place.

Submit entries at PaloAltoOnline.com/local_hero/

DO YOU WANT TO

RECOGNIZE A LOCAL HERO?

LOCAL HERO

Cammie VailCammie Vail (shown above at the podium) is the current Executive Director at the Palo Alto Community Fund. She has gone above and beyond during this time of crisis. In addition to her normal fundraising work, she has guided PACF to raise and distribute an additional $500,000 for direct financial relief to our local underserved population and to further support non-profits in Palo Alto and East Palo Alto since the start of the shelter-in-place orders.

Submitted by: Leonard Ely

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WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHERSUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESS


Living WellA monthly special section of news & information for seniors

MAY 2020

SPECIAL SERVICES ... During the coronavirus pandemic, senior services agency Avenidas has closed its physical buildings and redeployed its staff to help local seniors. The organization will pick up and deliver groceries and prescriptions for older adults living in Redwood City, Atherton, Menlo Park, Portola Valley, East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountain View and Sunnyvale. For more information or to schedule a delivery, call 650-289-5411. The agency also has set up a friendship chat line at 650-289-5400, and a general assistance helpline at 650-289-5433.

TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES ... SeniorPlanet@Avenidas, the Palo Alto outpost of the New York-based technology-themed institute for older adults, is still providing online classes and other tech-related resources during the COVID-19 pandemic, including online meet and greets, technology tutoring and virtual museum tours. For more information, go to seniorplanet.org/locations/palo-alto.

VIRTUAL TOWN HALLS ... Avenidas is hosting a series of town hall meetings focused on various topics from coping strategies for self-care to the challenges of COVID-19 in local nursing homes. The series, which is being posted for viewing on the organization’s website, features a variety of special guests, including geriatrician Mehrdad Ayati, geriatric psychiatrist Grace Nadolny, Stanford geriatrician Marina Martin and Ellen Brown, the former medical director of Pathways Hospice. To view recordings of the events, go to avenidas.org.

THE VILLAGE CONCEPT ... Avenidas Village is offering special COVID-19 programming including Friday happy hour socials, guided meditation, Zoom lunches and Zoom games. For more information, go to avenidas.org/programs/avenidas-village.

SUNDAYS IN THE GARDEN ... Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour has moved its annual tour of Bay Area gardens online with a series of virtual Sunday garden talks and tours. The tours will take place on May 3 and May 10. The group also is offering a free, online version of its “Garden Guide,” which contains plant descriptions and more than 50 photographs from the 43 gardens that were to be featured in this year’s tour. Registration is required and donations are accepted. For more information, go to bringingbackthenatives.net/2020-virtual-tour.

Items for Senior Focus may be emailed to Palo Alto Weekly Contributing Writer Chris Kenrick at [email protected].

Senior Focus

Adapting to stay fitWith race canceled, 72-year-old marathon runner changes his routine,

inspires other seniors to remain activeStory by Chris Kenrick | Photos by Magali Gauthier

Palo Alto marathon runner Eric Spector has turned his garage into a gym and now carries a mask when he power walks on local trails. The 72-year-old, who was supposed to run in the “Superbowl” of ultramarathons this spring, said he isn’t letting the coronavirus crisis prevent him from staying fit.

Ma

ga

li Ga

uth

ier

I f these were normal times, Eric Spector would be in the final phase of training for the

race of his dreams — the an-nual Western States Endurance Run, a 100-mile trail run from Squaw Valley to Auburn. It’s an event he calls the Superbowl of ultramarathons.

But with the June event can-celed, along with most other activ-ities, due to the coronavirus crisis, the 72-year-old fitness enthusiast has been forced to adapt his fit-ness routine.

Rather than rigorously training in the hills above Palo Alto, Spec-tor has turned to power walking. And rather than swimming and exercising at the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center, he has set up a gym in his garage where he can lift weights, ride a station-ary bicycle and generally keep moving.

“The key is working up a sweat and getting the benefit of a cardio-vascular workout,” said the Palo Alto resident, who has participat-ed in more than 20 marathons in the United States and abroad and was the oldest person to complete the 2018 Rio del Lago 100-Mile Endurance Run in the Sierra Ne-vada foothills.

Though a committed runner, Spector, who turns 73 on May 5, is no exercise snob. In fact, he’s a promoter of exercise for anybody and everybody through his Twit-ter page, @fitatallages.

“It doesn’t really matter what activity somebody chooses — the benefits of being fit are extraordi-narily clear,” he said.”It prevents so many diseases and, if you get

sick, your recovery time is usu-ally much shorter because of your fitness.

“Whether you speed walk, bicy-cle, play racquetball, hike — the most important thing is that you do it regularly and that you sweat. With those two ingredients, it provides a longer, healthier, more vigorous life.”

On his Twitter feed, Spector often shares links to inspirational stories of older athletes as well as small exercise tips like: “Well, you don’t want to run? Then dance.”

During the stay-at-home order, he has been sharing the many ways athletes, from Olympians to

coaches, have adapted their fitness routines. One marathoner who qualified for this year’s Olympics in Tokyo, shared this philosophy with the New York Times: The only thing athletes can control at this point, since competitions and events are canceled, is their train-ing routines. Another story that Spector shared from Sports Illus-trated features a running coach who provided some creative in-spiration to those looking to com-pete or exercise: He organized a virtual ultramarathon where par-ticipants mapped out their own running loop in their backyards, neighborhoods or treadmills and

livestreamed their runs on Zoom.Spector said the key is to com-

mit to staying fit, whether during a pandemic or not. He recom-mends picking an exercise and following through with a routine. This can be anything from walk-ing around the block once a week to walking around the backyard everyday. Tracking when, where and for how long you do a particu-lar activity will help you maintain a routine and stay motivated.

Exercise wasn’t always a prior-ity for Spector.

As a young man he was

Eric Spector walks on a trail in Los Altos on April 23. Spector said he still exercises, but he hasn’t been training as vigorously since the coronavirus crisis canceled all upcoming competitive races.



Living Well

NurseRegistry remains open and is committed to matching

Private Duty NursingIn Palo Alto

Call (650) 462-1001 for private duty nursing.

Services include:

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overweight and working long hours at a New York City startup.

“I wasn’t at all plugged in to athletics of any kind — I’d really done nothing more than work and eat and put on some weight,” he said.

But he became intrigued when some of his business school classmates flew in from California to run the 1978 New York City Marathon.

“I thought, ‘If these guys can do it, I should be able to do it,’ so I bought some sneakers, went out for a run to the west side of the Hudson River and barely made it,” he said.

Spector kept at it, and a little more than a year later, he entered the 1979 New York City Marathon.

“It was my first running event ever but I did quite well and loved it,” he said. “I real-ly loved the fitness, the clarity of mind, the stream of consciousness as you’re running.”

He grew to love the “runner’s high,” which he describes as “a kind of a eupho-ria, where you’re not even conscious of the effort. It’s just the rhythm and the joy of physical activity.

“For me, that kind of activity has been a mainstay of mental health and sanity, with the benefit of staying fit,” he said.

Spector moved to California in the 1980s.“When I got to Marin and discovered

trail running, that was the end of my road running — it’s a rare instance for me to go back to road running.” He did, however, complete the 2009 New York City Mara-thon in celebration of the 30th anniversary of his first race.

Runner(continued from page 27)

5 ways to stay fitGyms, pools and exercise classes

at community centers may be off limits during the pandemic, but that shouldn’t create a roadblock to stay-ing fit, according to Palo Alto mara-thon runner Eric Spector. Pandemic or no pandemic, the key goals for good health and fitness haven’t changed. Spector recommends following five tips for staying fit:1. Commit to staying fit.2. Pick an exercise.3. Track your activities.4. Eat well, hydrate.5. Look in the mirror and see

your progress.

Spector said he fell in love with the hills above Palo Alto after moving here three years ago.

“Foothills Park is spectacular. Black Mountain has trails that are challenging and gorgeous,” he said. “Windy Hill Open Space Preserve is literally a treasure — there are some spectacularly different kinds of trails within a relatively small park. ... I can always find, within those three choices, whatever it is I’m trying to do that day.”

Spector’s sights are now set on next year’s Western States Endurance Run, scheduled for June 26-27. If he finishes, he’ll become the oldest person to complete the course in the event’s 44-year history.

To find Spector’s exercise tips and links to motivational stories, check out his twitter account, @fitatallages.

Contributing Writer Chris Kenrick can be emailed at [email protected].

Calendar of EventsLiving Well MAY 2020

For complete schedule or info about Avenidas events, call 650-289-5400

May 1May DayAlso Mother Goose Day, just FYI.

May 4Shakespeare Club via ZoomEvery Monday, 10:30am-12pm. For more information email [email protected]. Free.

LGBTQ Senior Empowerment & Connections Group via Zoom. Topic: Older LGBTQ people who have made a difference/writing your memoir. Email [email protected] with subject LGBTQ for log on info. Free.

May 5#GivingTuesday! Donate to Avenidas at www.avenidas.org today.

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo and Taco Tuesday with homemade tacos!

May 6Mindfulness Meditation via ZoomEvery Wednesday, 2-3pm. Visit www.Avenidas.org for log on information. Free.

May 7Ukulele Jam Session via ZoomEvery Thursday, 2-4pm. For more info email [email protected]. Free.

May 8No Socks Day. Set your toes free and go barefoot!

May 11LGBTQ Senior Empowerment & Connections Group via ZoomTopic: Individual strengths/community empowerment. Email [email protected] with subject LGBTQ for log on info. Free.

Seminar via Zoom: “Medical Decision Making and Patient Advocacy in a Crisis: Being Prepared”

required. Email [email protected]

May 12Limerick Day. If you have a good (clean) one, send it to info@avenidas .org by 12noon today. We’ll select the best for inclusion in this day’s e-newsletter.

May 13International Hummus Day. Make a spicy version with chickpeas, olive oil and a jalapeno pepper.

May 14Gokhale Method Workshop via Zoom

[email protected] $20

May 15National Chocolate Chip Day. Enough said.

May 16LGBTQ Stay Home Scavenger Hunt10am-1pm. Email [email protected] with subject “Scavenger Hunt.” Free

May 18LGBTQ Senior Empowerment & Connections Group via ZoomTopic: Celebrating National “Honor LGBTQ Elders Day.” Email [email protected] with subject LGBTQ for log on info. Free.

Seminar via Zoom: “Multi-Generational Planning for Quality Long Term Care”

required. Email [email protected]

May 19Happy Birthday, Pete Townsend! Listen to your old The Who vinyl.

May 20National Rescue Dog Day#adoptdontshop

May 21National American Red Cross Founder’s DayYou go, Clara Barton!

May 22Harvey Milk DayWatch “The Times of Harvey Milk,” “Castro” or “Milk.”

May 25Memorial DayAvenidas closed.

May 26 LGBTQ Senior Empowerment & Connections Group via ZoomTopic: LGBTQ people who have served in the military. Email [email protected] with subject “LGBTQ” for log on info. Free

May 27National Senior Health and Fitness Day

walk.

May 28Amnesty International Day

May 29National Learn about Composting DayDo the “rot” thing.

JOIN US NEXT YEAR FOR

Lifetimes of Achievement 2021!

For the health and safety of our friends, Avenidas is

postponing our 2020 Lifetimes of Achievement

Garden Party to Sunday, May 16th, 2021!

SAVE THE DATE

and join us in celebrating the accomplishments

of our honorees:

HONORINGFran CodispotiBetsy Gifford

Gay and Bill KrauseEliane and Armand Neukermans

Alma and Jim PhillipsSteve Player

CONTACTMonica Davis, Events Manager, (650) 289-5445www.avenidas.org


Trusted Home CareTraci & Pinot’s dedication to clients

is just one of the many reasons

why we’re the Bay Area’s leading

expert in senior care. In fact, over

16,000 Bay Area families trust us to

take care of family and loved ones

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Canine Visitor

A Division of Jewish Family and Children’s Services

San Francisco • Peninsula • Marin • Sonoma County

HHA License 220000378

Alzheimer’s AssociationResources for people living with dementia, care partners, and the community(800) 272-3900

Catholic Charities Adult Day ServicesServices for adults with dementia or other impairments, and their caregivers(650) 592-9325

Coastside Adult Day Health CenterStructured day health care and support(650) 726-5067

Edgewood Kinship Support ServicesSupport services for caregivers and families caring for relatives(650) 832-6711

Family Caregiver AllianceSupport for families and friends caring for adults(800) 445-8106

KimochiJapanese language-based caregiver support services(650) 388-7130

Legal Aid Society of San Mateo CountyAssistance for low-income clients with civil legal issues(650) 558-0915

Mills-Peninsula Senior FocusPrograms and services for older adults and their caregivers(650) 696-3660

Mission Hospice & Home CareCompassionate care and comfort at end of life(650) 554-1000

Rosener House Adult Day ServicesServices for older adults with challenges and their family caregivers(650) 326-0126

Seniors at HomeHome care and care management for seniors(844) 222-3212

South San Francisco Adult Day Care CenterSocial and supportive services for frail or disabled older adults(650) 829-3824

You’re there for him.We’re here for YOU.

The San Mateo County Caregivers Collaborative www.SMCCaregiversCollaborative.org


Across

1 NATO Phonetic Alphabet vowel

5 Socially distance from

10 Kind of D.A.

14 Hawaiian party

15 Cape ___ (westernmost African point)

16 Tea-based drink

17 ___ Blanc (highest peak in the Alps)

18 About 1% of the Earth’s atmosphere

19 Prefix for “medicine” seen more often recently

20 Heart charts, briefly

21 Is a huge fan of, slangily

22 Garden gastropod

23 Nigiri sushi option

24 Come back inside

26 Army outposts (abbr.)

27 Squeeze bunt stat (or so I’m told... it’s sports)

29 Pen name?

30 “Meatspace,” for short

32 Like some sprays

34 Wu-Tang Clan member born Robert Diggs

35 Balance

38 Got high

39 ___ Arann (former airline)

40 Charge to a sponsor

41 “Hurts 2B Human” singer

42 Rosie of “Birds of Prey”

44 Gasket, e.g.

45 Flub

47 Fluffy grazer

49 With 53-Across, what a 7-Down helps keep

53 See 49-Across

57 “First Blood” protagonist

58 France on the new “Queer Eye”

60 “A Fish Called Wanda” Oscar winner Kevin

61 Sicilian mountain

62 Madcap

64 Americana lithographer

65 Punxsutawney notable

66 Multiple-choice choice, sometimes

67 Infamous fiddling emperor

68 Blue-green shade

69 Showtime series set in Agrestic Township

70 Spring up

Down

1 Fudd who bugs Bugs

2 Actress Kaley of “The Big Bang Theory”

3 *Sycophants

4 Escape clauses

5 “Three Sunflowers in ___” (1888 Van Gogh painting)

6 Spine components

7 *It helps out in the closet (as demonstrated by the other starred answers)

8 “Meh, whatever”

9 Packed

10 Does something

11 *Product’s freshness period

12 “Cheers!” in France

13 ‘70s supermodel Cheryl

24 Really irk

25 “Live With Kelly and Ryan” cohost

28 *Steph Curry’s sport

31 *”The Twilight Zone” creator

32 Forty winks

33 “Dutch” actress Meyers

36 The briny

37 “Jellied” British fish

42 Lead-in to lude

43 “Your Moment of ___” (“The Daily Show” feature)

46 17th letter of the Greek alphabet

48 Panda Express vessel

49 Crawled cautiously

50 Wood shop equipment

51 “___ vincit amor”

52 Texas, for one

53 Did some comic book work

54 Coral reef visitor

55 Start of el aÒo nuevo

56 Implant again

59 Dull pain

62 “That’s great”

63 ‘19 and ‘20, e.g.

© 2020 Matt Jones

Answers on page 14. Answers on page 14. www.sudoku.name

“In Storage” — walk-ins accepted. by Matt Jones This week’s SUDOKU


Compass is the brand name used for services provided by one or more of the Compass group of subsidiary companies. Compass is a real estate broker licensed by the State of California and abides by Equal Housing

or withdrawal may be made without notice. No statement is made as to accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footage are approximate.

Carol Carnevale and Nicole Aron650.465.5958 | [email protected] | [email protected] 00946687 | DRE 00952657 | carolandnicole.com

No matter the community, we’ve got you covered!We invite you to tour these homes virtually.

For questions or further information please contact your Realtor or the listing agents, Carol Carnevale 650.465.5958 or Nicole Aron 650.740.7954, or by email at [email protected].

for intergenerational living or work-from-home. The home has been expanded and remodeled with attention

opportunity to become a part of one of the Peninsula’s most popular holiday traditions — Christmas Tree Lane.

and Stanford University.

We invite you to visit this home virtuallyat 1705Fulton.com

home opens to a private garden with an inviting black-bottom pool with waterfall. The location is just blocks

We invite you to visit this home virtually

This beautifully remodeled North Los Altos home promotes the appealing indoor/outdoor lifestyle with effortless transitions between interior and exterior spaces. The home enjoys a private resort-like setting

and a serene garden. The quiet cul-de-sac is just blocks to downtown Los Altos and outstanding public schools.

We invite you to visit this home virtuallyat 205YerbaBuena.com

1705 Fulton Street, Palo Alto

205 Yerba Buena, Los Altos

290 Gloria Circle, Menlo Park

Better Together.

5 Bed | 4.5 Bath | Offered at $5,875,000Living: 3,371 Sq Ft* | Lot: 8,598 Sq Ft*

4 Bed | 3 Bath | Offered at $4,250,000Living: 2,868 Sq Ft* | Lot: 14,147 Sq Ft*

4 Bed | 3.5 Bath | Offered at $4,250,000Living: 3,310 Sq Ft* | Lot: 12,489 Sq Ft*

*

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