OMVNA Newsletter, January, 2001

Nearly 50 friends of Tim Johnson gathered on Jan. 1 to thank him for his many years of service to OMVNA. The party was hosted by Anita and Aaron Grossman.

Tim recently took a new job at UC San Diego that made it impossible for him to continue to serve on the Steering Committee. Fortunately, he and his wife Carol Soderberg haven't left the neighborhood -- Tim just has a very long weekly commute!

Before leaving the Steering Committee in December, Tim had served longer than any other person. He joined the Steering Committee in 1994 as Vice Chair, and then served two years as Chair beginning in 1995.

From Nov. 1997 to Dec. 2001 he served continuously as Secretary. In this essential role he made sure that our meeting minutes were accurate and kept the Committee's files and correspondence in order.

For the last two years he also served as Chair or co-Chair of the Community Emergency Response Team. CERT grew markedly in capability, participation, and funding during his tenure.

Tim is a quiet, tenacious leader and reminds me of the kind of characters that Jimmy Stewart used to play. It was wonderful to be able to celebrate his accomplishments with so many others last month, but there's no getting around it -- we're really going to miss him.

Send e-mail to chair@omvna.org or write me at 833 Bush St., MV 94041.
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March 5 Primary - Non-Partisan Voter Reminder
By Valerie Harris

On March 5, voters in Mountain View will decide the fate of Measure N (Home Depot) in addition to voting in the primary election for the 22nd State Assembly District.

On June 26, 2000, the United States Supreme Court overturned Proposition 198 (the "Open" Primary Act, passed by the voters in 1996), returning California to a "closed" primary system. In 2001, California's Legislature implemented "a "Modified Closed Primary" system. The Modified Primary system permits nonpartisan voters, and voters who are registered with an unqualified political party, to participate in a primary election if authorized by the political party participating in the Modified Closed Primary.

If you are registered with one of the seven qualified political parties (American Independent, Democratic, Green, Libertarian, Natural Law, Reform, or Republican) you may only vote for candidates running for partisan offices from the party with which you are registered. The party you chose to register with is listed on the back of the sample ballot.

For the March 5, 2002 Primary, four political parties (American Independent, Democratic, Natural Law, and Republican) have authorized nonpartisan voters and voters not affiliated with a qualified party to participate in their primary election.

A nonpartisan/nonaffiliated voter may request one of these parties' ballot. If you are not registered with a qualified political party, and you choose not to vote a partisan ballot, you will be provided a nonpartisan ballot containing only the local candidates, measures and state propositions.

The Registrar of Voters is still looking for election officials for the March 5th election. If you'd like to spend a day working for a good cause, meeting your neighbors and earning between $85 - $115 dollars, please call:
English: (408) 299-POLL (7655)
Spanish: (408) 299-8344
Vietnamese: (408) 299-8345
Chinese: (408) 299-8660
Website: http://www.sccvote.org/

Emergency Response and Your Neighborhood
By Donnie Foster

Volunteers from OMVNA CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) helped the Monta Loma Neighborhood in their preparedness test earlier this month. The scenario involved Disaster Center set-up, Damage Assessment, 1st Aid, Search and Rescue, Sheltering, Communications, and Incident Command. Special recognition goes to Irv Davis and Twana Karney for their participation. A similar exercise will be held for Old Mountain View once our BLOCK Teams have had time to get organized.

Teams, who began to organize in mid-January, are progressing, albeit a little slower than most people planned. Talking to neighbors about getting involved, as well as registering everyone and initial assessments are underway in some neighborhoods. If you have not heard from someone in your neighborhood, why don't you get involved and help us organize. It's pretty easy, there is lots of support from the CERT organizers and the City, and it's important. JOIN US !

Most neighborhoods contain a surprising number of resources which can be utilized during an emergency. There is a misconception that survivors of a disaster will immediately begin looting and terrorizing the unwitting. Experience shows that the opposite occurs. While some people will be dazed and confused, emergencies tend to bring people together. During the New York World Trade Center disaster, residents and merchants worked together to provide needed equipment and resources to help in the recovery efforts.

Generic versions of the Guide have been circulated on the web, and people across the country are now using the information that originated in Old Mountain view.

If you'd like to download a copy, go to http://www.tenacityu.com/ and check out the 9.11 update section, contact Donnie_Foster@tenacityu.com, or call 888-606-6085 to be added to the list for the next training.

Leadership Mtn. View Seeks Future Leaders

Leadership Mountain View (LMV) is a community leadership education program that prepares individuals to lead change in Mountain View.
LMV is seeking participants for its next class, which runs from October, 2002 to June, 2003. Students spend one Friday each month in class learning about leadership and about Mountain View. Training takes place in classrooms and on field trips; the instructors are local leaders and experts from the public and private sectors.

Informational meetings for prospective applicants will be held on May 7 from 5:30-7:00 PM and May 23 from 7:00-8:30 PM. Phone Program Director Twana Karney at 968-8378 for information on the location of the meetings and all other aspects of LMV. The information meetings are held at 585 Franklin Street in the Mountain View Public Library Community Room.

Over a dozen neighborhood residents are graduates, including City Council Members Rosemary Stasek and Sally Lieber.

Other program graduates who live in our neighborhood are: Tori Atwell, Amy Beare, Kathleen Bransfield, Ronit Bryant, Thelma Cavales, Judy Cooks, Arne and Yvonne Dietrich, Catherine Gowen, Aaron and Anita Grossman, Valerie Harris, Alison Hicks, Bruce Karney, Lisa Lockyer, Julie Lovins, Ray Meyer III, Loretta Micheals, Jamil Shaikh, Amy Spakosky, and Dan Wu.

For more information on the Leadership, Mountain View program, please contact:

Twana Karney, Program Director, Leadership Mountain View
Chamber of Commerce,
Mountain View
580 Castro Street,
Mountain View CA 94041

Phone: 650-968-8378
FAX: 650-968-5668

www.chambermv.org/leadership.html

Committee Asks Chamber Not to Support Measure N

OMVNA, along with all other members of the Chamber of Commerce Mountain View, was recently asked to vote on whether the Chamber's Board had made the right decision by endorsing Measure N, the "Home Depot proposal." At its Feb. 11 meeting, the OMVNA Steering Committee voted to ask the Chamber to withdraw its support for Measure N and to take a neutral stand.

Anita Grossman to Head Nominating Committee

Anita Grossman, OMVNA Vice Chair, was elected as Chair of the Nominating Committee on Feb. 11. The Nominating Committee's responsibility is to identify residents who can contribute to the Steering Committee and assist OMVNA in other roles.

If you would like to be more involved with OMVNA, or want to recommend a neighbor to serve on the Steering Committee, please contact Anita at 969-4031 or via e-mail at anilou@aol.com. The position of Committee Secretary is currently vacant, and interested individuals are encouraged to apply.

Come Meet the Trees!
by Julie Lovins

Arbor Day in Mountain View, March 16, will have its own Centennial moment as our next great heritage oak tree is dedicated in a Pioneer Memorial Park ceremony commemorating both occasions.

At 11:15, a mayoral proclamation and planting of the new Valley Oak in the park, behind City Hall, will kick off a lively two-hour event to which all Mountain View residents are invited. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., rain or shine, there will be fun, food, and information for all ages. It's all free, brought to you by the City and a group of enthusiastic volunteers.

Among the activities planned especially for kids are the earlier morning Library reading program and, during the Arbor Day celebration proper, a paper-flower-making workshop.

There will be a light lunch available at 11:30 and guided "tree walks" in the park starting at noon and 12:30.

Tree-related exhibits will be accompanied by live experts, including Master Gardeners, who will answer your every question: on composting, Integrated Pest Management, PG&E and trees, the Mountain View Garden Club, and the City of Mountain View Urban Forestry Division.

A week of intensive tree-planting throughout Mountain View will lead up to the March 16 event. On March 9, 125 people who have registered for the annual Tree Giveaway will receive free trees from the City for their yards. This is up from 95 people last year. There will also be 50-60 additional (street-tree) plantings during that week.

Watch the City website starting March 1 for additional information:
www.ci.mtnview.ca.us.

History Corner: 3000 Year Old Mound Bulldozed
By Bruce Karney

When you think of ancient structures, you may think of the Pyramids, or the solemn heads of Easter Island. But you won't think of Mountain View, unless you're in your 70's and remember the 3000-year-old Mountain View Mound that once rose in our town. Here's what the City's 1992 General Plan had to say about the Mound.

"Six formally recorded sites and three unconfirmed shell mounds have been documented in Mountain View. The most important of the archeological sites was located near what is now Central Expressway and San Antonio Road, and was known as the Mountain View Mound. The site was first excavated by Stanford archeologists in 1893. The remains of more than 150 Native Americans were recovered from the mound.

"The mound was estimated to be 500 feet long, 300 feet wide, and 10 feet deep. Archeologists found a circular house floor almost 20 feet in diameter, needles, barbed fish spears, arrowheads, pestles, pendants, and pipes, many of which dated from 1100 to 800 B.C.

"Most of the Mound was carved up in the 1940s and marketed as 'Indian Mound Top Soil.' The commercial use of the mound for topsoil and fill destroyed its archeological value and, more importantly, its spiritual value as a Native American burial ground."

The General Plan also notes: "The Ohlone tribe moved into the Bay Area around 500 A.D. They eventually occupied much of the central California coast as far east as the Diablo Range. The Ohlone were a dispersed society of hunters and gatherers who divided themselves into politically autonomous groups containing an average of 200 members. Spanish mission records and archeological data show that in 1770 as many as 1,200 Ohlones lived in what was to become the Mountain View area.

"The Ohlone way of life flourished in California until the Spanish mission system arrived in the mid to late 1700s. This system forced a normally scattered population into a central location, where their labor could be exploited. By 1810, the Spanish had completely transformed the Ohlone from hunters and gatherers to agricultural laborers and artisans. Replacement of the Ohlone's native religion, language, customs and way of life with those of the Spanish led to a low birth rate, and many children died of European diseases for which they lacked immunity. When control of the missions passed to the Mexican civil authorities in 1834, the few remaining Ohlone moved to ranchos and were absorbed into multi-ethnic communities. Today, only about 200 persons of Ohlone descent live in the Bay Area."

By the 1940's the mound was being carved up and sold. In this photo, about 6 segments remain.

Sidewalk Replacement Underway in Neighborhood
By Valerie Harris

A team of contractors has been sweeping through sections of Old Mountain View neighborhood replacing sidewalks damaged by the huge heritage trees on our boulevards.

When the crews came down View and Dana, the reconstruction was captured in pictures. The crews were averaging one block a week barring rain.

As you can see in this first photo, the huge heritage camphor trees buckled the sidewalk. The buckling was not that noticeable until our last El Niño season. The tree roots really began to swell, pitching the sidewalk. City Crews were constantly patching the hazardous spikes with concrete patches.

Within a day, "No Parking" signs and concrete breakers appeared. Within hours these machines were able to break up an entire side of a street.

Once the concrete was cracked, a backhoe and dump truck cleared the concrete. The backhoe operator was amazingly adept with the pan, readjusting huge piles of concrete, scooping them up and depositing immense blocks into the dump truck.
The timeline from sidewalk destruction to dump truck took a day. All excavation was scrutinized by an arborist who works for the city to insure safety of the heritage tree roots. Some surface roots were removed, but major taproots were left untouched.

The next steps involved a mini-steam roller, which leveled the soil, which would support the new sidewalk. As soon as the soil was leveled, another crew arrived with framing materials to lay down the template of the new sidewalk. The framing signaled the end of the next day.

Once was the framing was in place, another crew came in with the wet concrete and filled the frames to the brim. Using levels and push brooms, the crew filled each section until the entire sidewalk was filled. The concrete needed three days to fully cure in order to bear the weight of a car.

After the weekend, View Street was sporting a wonderfully manicured look thanks to the city's highly efficient crews.

Jan 26th Meeting in a Nutshell
By Valerie Harris

The winter 2002 OMVNA meeting was held in the Library Community Room, 585 Franklin St. at noon.

We had about 24 people in attendance. The attendees were polled for the two most important goals of OMVNA in 2003-2003. Neighborhood Character Preservation was voted the top topic with Downtown Development concerns a close second.
A vote on bylaws occurred, all but one passed. See the next article regarding the membership vote on proposed bylaws changes.

Jane Powell was the guest speaker. Powell has become an expert over the years in restoring early 1900 California Bungalow homes to their original form. The lecture was well received and a suggestion was made to form a neighborhood coop for bungalow restorations.

Eight of Nine By-Law Amendments Approved

At the January 26 General Meeting, all but one of the proposed By-Law amendments were approved by the membership. Proposal #8, which dealt with financial matters, was not approved.

Please check the OMVNA web-site for the full text information on all the changes to the by-laws.
URL: http://www.omvna.org/by-laws.html

The Downtown Beat
By Valerie Harris, et al.

Last month I had the pleasure of serving on a first meeting of the Mountain View Downtown Committee. The Committee consists of several downtown business and property owners, Chamber of Commerce and Central Business Association (CBA) representatives, corporate representative and Ralph Faravelli, a Mountain View City Councilmember.

The current Downtown Committee evolved from combining the former Downtown Revitalization Committee and Parking Committee. The Committee's goal this year is to begin the second phase of an amendment to the Downtown Precise Plan, specifically Area H, Castro Street blocks between Evelyn Ave. and California Street and Areas J & K blocks that front on Castro Street between California and El Camino Real.

The Downtown Committee is an advisory committee which makes recommendations on downtown programs, projects and policies for economic development and downtown parking to the City Council and the Downtown Revitalization District.
Downtown Mountain View has the unique advantage in that both VTA Light Rail stations and Caltrain stations are located within a short walk. Imagine the business downtown Mountain View will draw once the second phase of the Precise Plan is adopted and the construction of the new office buildings are completed. The new office space will not only house workers in the city, but this new construction will provide new retail space to attract some much needed retailers for the neighborhood.

The Downtown Committee is also aware of the need to preserve our historic Buildings. Recently the City Council directed staff to develop an interim urgency ordinance for preservation of historic buildings throughout the city including downtown. The City Council, based on a recommendation of the Downtown Committee, has also directed staff to develop an urgency ordinance for changes of uses in the downtown, to gain better control types of uses in the downtown.
The Downtown Committee is comprised of two subcommittees: the Economic Development Subcommittee, whose focus is to create programs and policies to attract businesses to the downtown area, and the Parking subcommittee, whose goal is to manage the downtown Parking District.

City Passes Interim Urgency Ordinance for Preservation of Historic Buildings
By Valerie Harris

On February 12, 2002, The City Council directed staff to create an interim urgency ordinance based on Council-determined historic preservation criteria. The ordinance will affect all residential and commercial properties in the City.

Staff identified 140 properties with historical merit in Mountain View.

The impetus behind this emergency ordinance stemmed from the building at 902 Villa Street. The owners of this historic home had proposed its destruction and replacement by a noodle house.

The Mountain View Preservation Alliance (MVPA) quickly formed to avert the destruction of this historic home. (www.mv-pa.org).

The OMVNA Newsletter
is published by a volunteer editorial committee & distributed to some 2400 homes and businesses by volunteers.

To get in touch with us:

Write to P.O.Box 391328, Mtn. View, CA 94039
Call the editor, Bruce Karney at 964-3567 or e-mail him at editor@omvna.org
Find us on the Web at http://www.omvna.org/

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

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Last updated: 2/04/02