OMVNA Newsletter, October 1999

WE’LL BE ELECTING NEXT YEAR’S STEERING COMMITTEE
AND HAVING GREAT, GREAT FUN!

THIS YEAR’S GENERAL MEETING WILL FEATURE
MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENT
BRING YOUR CHILDREN!
COSTUMES ARE ENCOURAGED!
4:00 TO 6:00 P.M.

OMVNA STEERING COMMITTEE SLATE FOR YEAR 2000*
Chair	Garth Williams	Community Liaison	Chris Whitaker
Vice Chair	Jean McCloskey	Newsletter Editors	Anita Louis Grossman Bruce Karney
Treasurer	Aaron Grossman	At-Large 1	Julie Lovins
Secretary	Tim Johnson	At-Large 2	Phillipe Habib

These offices will be voted on at the General Meeting on Saturday, October 23, 1999.

The latest in the lengthy process of getting the Downtown Precise Plan revised: a joint workshop on September 29, Downtown Committee and Environmental Planning Commission, to listen to summaries of lengthy backgrounders and do "straw votes" on recommendations to the City Council (some months off) regarding Areas A-G. A qualifying comment on the proceedings: only 13 of 21 voting members of the two groups were present.

The good news is that we apparently were heard with respect to requesting help in improving Areas B and C, the "transitions" west of Castro between Mercy and Villa. There was good support for reducing the current Precise Plan maximum of four stories fronting Franklin Street to two-and-a-half, as per the staff recommendation. And nine people voted to take the height limit from four to three stories fronting Bryant. Area F, on Hope and View, also went from four to three stories in the preliminary voting.

On the other hand, many people seemed to want a new building next to the current skyscraper to be six to eight stories, as currently allowed, and to keep the height limit of three to five stories (the latter only if most of the block were involved) across Castro. Areas A and G, closest to the Transit Center (all the way to Dana, on Hope), would also remain a maximum of four stories. There was some reduction of various density allowances seen in the voting, but not much.

A more solid set of recommendations --"real" votes -- will be put together at another joint meeting on October 13. I urge as many of you as possible to attend and watch the process in action, even though the opportunities for public comment will be extremely limited.

On another front, the Parking Subcommittee is also hard at work, and there is increasing pressure for action on measures that might have a good short-term impact.

The presence of real live LRT vehicles downtown, in test mode, is new, different, and I think exciting. Headed this way, they will say DWNTWN MTN VIEW on the front.

A Word From the Landels Lion
By Shelene Worland

Hello. We are now about one month into school. Our major fundraiser with World's finest Fundraising Programs is underway; proceeds will go into the PTA budget. Over the past years, all the play structures in our school yard have been replaced except for one. The main focus of the PTA budget this year is to replace this final structure that is intended to accommodate the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. We thank you if you participated in this fundraiser and encourage you to watch for future fundraisers and events that will take place at our school.

Volunteer Opportunities: Care to share your computer knowledge? Landels is looking for volunteers who would be willing to work with classes in our computer lab. Teachers bring their classes into the lab to work with various software applications. Assistance is needed to monitor the class and help trouble-shoot problems as they arise. If you can help, please contact Mr. Baier at 526-3520.

Landels School will be participating in a fund raising program called General Mills Box Tops for Education. We are asking our Mountain View neighbors to clip and send box tops from participating General Mills cereals, snacks, Yoplait Yogurt products and Lloyd's barbecue products. Proceeds from the program will be used by the PTA to fund classroom libraries. Box Tops can be mailed to or dropped off at Landels School, 115 W. Dana St., Mountain View, CA 94040.

The Landels' PTA will be holding a series of Guest Reader Days this school year. Dates for these events are as follows: Friday, November 5, 1999; Friday, January 7, 2000 and Friday, April 14, 2000. Volunteers will be asked to read a story to a classroom of students. “Old Favorites” are most certainly welcomed; teacher-
suggested materials will be available as well. Readers are scheduled to be in the classroom for 30 minutes. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Jeannine Madden at 650/967-1856.

A stroll down to Castro Street just before 9 a.m. on October 30 will bring you into the thick of some fine, free and spine-tingling entertainment worthy of a Saturday morning in Mountain View. The 189 members of the multi-award-winning Mountain View High School Spartan marching band will kick off their Homecoming celebration by marching in full uniform from Villa Street to Bryant, playing "Bullets and Bayonets. Colorful class floats will follow in procession.

The band will play selections from Carmina Burana in front of the MV Performing Arts Center. Carl Orff's exhilarating piece has been used to sell cars, chocolate and movies, but this live instrumental and percussion rendering will help to restore its original luster.

These students are among Mountain View's greatest assets. They would love to know that their city sees, hears and supports them.

Alto-View Newcomers’ Club, a nonprofit organization that welcomes new residents, invites your participation. For more information, call 650/964-4554.

There are so many things to love about Mountain View. However, there are some things that clearly rise to the top. For example, the City listens to its citizens and actively solicits our involvement through community workshops and neighborhood meetings. Our voices are heard.

One of my favorite things is bicycling or walking and enjoying the diverse architecture and beautiful heritage trees that line the streets. The open, public-access spaces are great because they provide places to experience a bit of nature.

I like being able to go to the Farmers Market twice a week to pick up fresh produce, fish and bread. People are very friendly, creating a wonderful sense of community. I get the same feeling at City-sponsored festivals. Shoreline certainly is another attraction to living here -- we get to see many different music events right in our backyard. I also like the quality independent coffee shops because I am supporting the business of a community member. To top it all off, I love all the great ethnic restaurants in the downtown area. These are things that make this city so special, and give it the feeling of a small town.

Mountain View's first post office opened January 18, 1854, in Jacob Shumway's general merchandise store on the present corner of El Camino Real and Highway 237/Grant Road. After the new town of Mountain View was built near the Southern Pacific railroad right-of-way, the post office moved there in 1871. Mail delivery for rural families began in 1900. John Barney, Mountain View's first mail carrier, served a 25-mile route. The Postal Service required him to exhibit daily weather signals on his horse-drawn wagon. By 1907, there were two delivery routes. RFD 17 was the original 25-mile route, with John Barney serving 150 families. The second route, RFD 18, was 24 miles and served 160 families. The Postal Service ordered the two routes combined into a single automobile route in 1916, the carrier to be chosen from the highest score on the Civil Service Exam. During the ensuing furor John Barney resigned. Maurice Moore became the first automobile mail carrier. He was expected to maintain the vehicle and pay for additional carriers with his salary of $1,608 per year. In 1920, the Postal Service approved two 36-mile routes after Mountain View's postmaster and residents complained of poor mail service to a visiting Congressman. The postmaster's request for delivery to residents of downtown Mountain View was denied because of a lack of sidewalks, street signs, and mail receptacles in the city.

Mountain View Post Office was traditionally an important hub in this area. The post office has served the residents of Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Mayfield (now part of Palo Alto), and Los Altos. In 1905, Mountain View and Palo Alto had the only second-class post offices between San Francisco and San Jose. Mountain View's postal receipts grew to an extent that by 1921, the postal clerk, a Miss Frances Neuroth, had to buckle on a Postal Service regulation Smith and Wesson revolver, complete with belt and holster, to deliver bank deposits. In 1937, our post office was third largest in the county.

The downtown post office has frequently moved to keep up with the growth of this region. Early locations of the post office include the first floor of the Olympic Building (presently the small park at Castro and Evelyn) in 1891, and the Rogers and Rogers Building at 158 Castro Street from 1903 to 1927. The post office moved from 102 Castro Street (now Hunan Gourmet restaurant) to 736 Dana Street (Alberto's nightclub) in 1949. The current post office building opened in 1960.

The opinions printed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the OMVNA Steering Committee.