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OMVNA Newsletter
August, 2002
Volume 14, Number 6
Help Save the James Stover House
Leave Me Alone … or How I Stopped the Second Round of Junk Mail
Free (YES FREE) Home Repair from Rebuilding Together
PAYPAL - The Little Company that Could … and DID!
The Downtown Beat
Nominations for the OMVNA Steering Committee Officers
History Corner - The History of the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce
Noise Issues in the Neighborhood
Help Save the James Stover House
Dear Old Mountain View resident,
I am your neighbor from a historic Mountain View neighborhood on the other side of Shoreline Blvd. I am writing to ask you to help our neighborhood save the James Stover House, a heritage house that is key to our neighborhood's character. The James Stover House at 340 Palo Alto Avenue was built in 1908, making it one of the oldest homes in Mountain View. It has been declared eligible for the California Register of Historic Resources due to its unique architectural style and historic integrity. It is a large farm-house built in the Vernacular Eclectic style popular between 1890 and 1915. Architects using this style created unique buildings by combining individual architectural styles from different styles and regions. City historian Barbara Kinchen's recent research shows that the house was probably built by Reverend Hampton W. Cottrell, president of the Pacific Press Publishing Asso-ciation and one of Mountain View's leading residents.
The current owner of the house is proposing to demolish it and replace it with two identical two-story homes with inhabitable basements. The owner is disabled and the homes are designed to accommodate his needs. The Development Review Committee, made up of professional architects and chaired by the city's Deputy Zoning Administrator, re-viewed the owner's plans for the property. The committee could not endorse the proposed demolition and commented that the new homes appeared out of character with the neighborhood because of their modern, somewhat commercial appearance and orientation away from the street.
City staff proposed three different development options that would save this historic resource while still allowing the owner to build a new home with the disability accommodations he needs. I am writing to ask that Old Mountain View residents join my neighborhood in helping to save the James Stover House. To help out you can:
· E-mail City Council members and candidates and tell them that you want this house and other historic Mountain View properties to be preserved.
· Show up and speak out in support of development options that would both preserve the James Stover House and meet the needs of the disabled owner.
· Join with the Mountain View Preservation Alliance (MVPA) in preserving this and other heritage homes. Find MVPA at www.mv-pa.org and come to the next meeting on September 15, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Red Rock Cafe on Castro Street.
Thank you for helping to keep Mountain View neighborhoods livable.
Mark Sullivan
307 Palo Alto Avenue
Mountain View, CA 94041
650-965-9307
imarksullivan@yahoo.com
Editor's Note: In January of 2002 the OMVNA general meeting attendees voted "Historic Preservation" as a top issue.
Leave Me Alone … or How I Stopped the Second Round of Junk Mail
By Valerie Harris
My husband and I own, breed and race thoroughbreds. As part of our business, we subscribe to numerous satellite services, which carry horseracing broadcasts so that we can track the progress of our stallion's progeny.
In March of this year we subscribed to the Arabic Language Packages on Dish Networks in order to watch the full broadcast of the Dubai World Cup in the United Arab Emirates. I subscribed online and the service was started almost instantly. Not only did we have access to the UAE races, we were able to tune in to Aljazeera as well.
Three months later, we started receiving advertisements in the mail in Arabic. Our personal information had been sold to marketers by Dish Networks!
Two years ago we researched and employed methods to reduce junk mail and telemarketing calls. Here are some tips.
If you want to reduce the amount of national advertising mail you receive at home, send your name and address to the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service (MPS):
DMA Mail Preference Service
P.O. Box 643
Carmel, NY 10512
If you want to reduce the amount of national advertising calls you receive at home, send your name, address, area code and telephone number to the Direct Marketing Association's Telephone Preference Service (TPS):
DMA Telephone Preference Service
P.O. Box 1559
Carmel, NY 10512
After a few months, the TPS will reduce the amount of advertising mailers and calls you receive from national marketers such as credit card and magazine subscription companies. Some local organizations and charities may not participate.
Names remain part of the TPS for five years. After five years, you will need to register with the TPS again.
If you continue to receive unwanted phone calls or advertising mailers after a few months, the Direct Marketing Association suggests that you request your name be removed from a company's list when they call.
In addition, we added a block of unidentified callers, a service offered by PacBell. This service prevents telemarketing firms from calling from a corporate PBX.
The results in junk mail and tele-marketing call reduction for us were dramatic. But now we were added to junk mailing lists again. How did this happen?
In the past two years our family started using the internet exclusively. Most of our bill paying, banking, magazine ordering, books and CDs purchases are processed online. So why the new junk mail?
A visit to the dishnetwork.com site answered my questions. Every internet commerce site has a "Privacy Statement" or "Privacy Policy" link, but these links are not that obvious. Privacy links are usually at the bottom of the page buried in the fine print along with the copyright information.
When I clicked on the Privacy Statement, much to my surprise, my personal information was "For Sale" unless I wrote to Dish Network instructing their organization not to sell my personal information. Not only did they want a letter, they wanted my social security number! I did write a letter to Dish Networks omitting my social security number, but submitted all other requested information.
After the Dish Networks revelation, I started checking every site with which I interacted commercially to view their privacy policies. I was stunned to find out that the default is to sell your information unless otherwise instructed in writing through e-mail, FAX, or a letter.
I sent a letter to every magazine and periodical, credit card company, airline company, e-commerce site, and cell phone company. Luckily, most of the contact information can be found online along with the privacy policies.
My advice to anyone who shops online, or uses a company website to pay bills, please take the time to check the site's privacy policies and do your part to thwart unwanted junk mail.
For more information on how to stop unwanted information, please visit anti-junk-mail sites like www.junkbusters.com. This site has form letters you can print, fill out and send in. For SPAM-related issues, visit www.cauce.org.
Free (YES FREE) Home Repair from Rebuilding Together
From a "Building Together" Letter
What is it? It is neighbor helping neighbor....people helping people. And, they need of help in spreading the word about their services.
Rebuilding Together Peninsula is a non-denominational organization that builds volunteer partnerships to rehabilitate homes and community facilities of low-income, elderly and/or disabled neighbors so they can live in warmth, safety and independence.
In 1989, the Peninsula program was founded under the leadership of the Junior League of Palo Alto, Mid Peninsula, and a community-based advisory board. The first program was completed in April 1990, when 500 volunteers renovated 18 homes and community facilities.
Rebuilding Together Peninsula seeks to organize, train and direct volunteers, and to raise the funds necessary to repair these homes and community facilities of neighbors in need. This neighbor-helping-neighbor effort, culminating in a "National Rebuilding Day" held each April, requires a partnership between city government, private businesses, skilled trades, community volunteers and contributors
Rebuilding Together, formerly known as Christmas in April, began in Midland, Texas in 1973 when a few generous people decided to devote one day to help some neighbors in need. The program acquired its name when one early home-owner exclaimed, "Why, this is just like Christmas...in April!"
In 1983, Christmas in April came to Washington D.C. after a reporter witnessed the Midland program and was overwhelmed by what he saw. A national program was launched in 1988 as Christmas in April H USA. This effort has spread Rebuilding Together to 600 cities and towns in 50 states with 245 programs.
Many of our neighbors have worked hard all their lives and have been physically and financially able to repair their homes for most of that time. Now due to illness, aging, inflation, etc., they are unable to do this work themselves and their homes have deteriorated. The result is a loss of the homeowner's dignity, unsafe conditions and crumbling neighborhoods. One day of volunteer effort can make a difference in people's lives.
Homeowners who are able-bodied are expected to work along-side volunteers on National Re-building Day. Family members living in the home or the area are also ex-pected and encouraged to work. While it is not always possible, homeowners have found other special ways to make volunteers feel welcome and appreciated, some providing a special snack or lunch, words of appreciation or notes of thanks. In addition, homeowners are encouraged to return year after year to work on future projects and reinvest in the program in relation to their capabilities.
Eligible homeowners are those whose income meets the federal low-income guidelines, with emphasis primarily on the elderly and disabled. Non-profit centers such as schools, shelters, day care centers and health care facilities are also eligible for Rebuilding TogetherPeninsula support.
Community organizations, housing rehabilitation departments, social service agencies, civic and religious groups may refer to Rebuilding Together Peninsula's web-site. Many of their former recipients refer their neighbors. An application form must be filled out by the homeowner, accompanied by proof of income. Sites are previewed and selected by the "Site Selection Committee." Selection is based on need and the ability of Rebuilding Together Peninsula volunteers to accomplish the required tasks. What are Rebuilding Together Peninsula's most outstanding accomplishments? Everyone benefits. Hope and independence are restored for homeowners. Volunteers are empowered by knowing and seeing the difference they have made. Sponsors receive a return on their investment that far exceeds their contribution - the average site renovation has been valued at $17,000. Neighborhoods are revitalized. Horizons are broadened and bridges are built between people.
Applications are due October 15, 2002 and may be obtained from
rebuildingtogetherpeninsula.org or calling Seana at (650) 366-6597.
PAYPAL - The Little Company that Could … and DID!
By Valerie Harris with assistance from Julie Anderson of PayPal
My first introduction to PayPal was shortly after PayPal launched its website. A friend down in Los Angeles wanted money for tickets to the horseraces and requested that I send my portion of the money over PayPal. "PayPal?" I asked, "What's PayPal?" Once Dave sent me to the website I was hooked. What a wonderful way to transfer funds.
Since that first interchange, I have used PayPal for all sorts of transactions. I bought and sold items on eBAY, sent money to friends for ticket reservations, set up websites for political candidates to accept money for their campaigns. But how much did I know about this gem of a company that operates right in the heart of the Old Mountain View Neighborhood?
PayPal co-founders Peter Thiel and Max Levchin began building a business together in December 1998, though the business model for the company has changed a number of times. Initially the company was named Fieldlink and the intent was to build security software for hand-held devices like Palm pilots and other gadgets popular at the time. Shortly thereafter the idea to transmit money by handhelds surfaced and the company was re-named Confinity. As it became clear that the true market for money transmission was the Internet the company re-focused once again and launched a consumer-focused product called PayPal -- which eventually became the corporate moniker as well.
PayPal launched its services in October of 1999 with approximately 30 employees. However, adoption of the PayPal service was incredibly rapid. Within two months of launching the service, more than 20,000 people were signing up every day -- an incredible rate even for Internet companies.
PayPal has emerged as the most successful new payment service provider on the Internet. Growing at a rate of 28,000 new accounts per day atop a base of 17 million registered users, PayPal, more than any other service, is shaping how the online community thinks about consumer payments. PayPal customers send more than 300,000 payments through the system every day. Many of these payments are made for sales on auction sites (eBay is Pay-Pal's largest revenue source), but many are also made to mom-and-pop type businesses that sell goods and services through their own websites.
While the traditional financial services industry looks on--partly in contempt, partly in awe--PayPal continues to bear down: focusing on customer needs, methodically expanding its service, and steering toward profitability.
How did PayPal do it? According to CommerceNet Security and Internet Payments Research, November 9, 2001, "The company obsessively focused on the needs of under-served customers; it kept the solution simple in spite of the human tendency to chase the hard problems; it leveraged the Internet to deliver, market, and support its service; it made sure that viral adoption was integral to the underlying design; it incrementally improved the payment service on a month-to-month basis, based on real-world feedback and actual usage; it continually drove costs out of its internal operations; and it refused to listen to industry experts who said it couldn't be done."
Apparently eBAY agrees! On July 8, 2002, eBAY tendered an offer to buy PayPal in an acquisition, which is valued at $1.5 billion.
For those of you that have not had the pleasure of the PayPal experience, you can visit their website at www.paypal.com. PayPal is located at 303 Bryant in the offices at the corner of Bryant and Dana.
The Downtown Beat
By Valerie Harris
On July 23, 2002, the Downtown Committee met to hear an update on Phase 2 of the Downtown Precise Plan, sections H, I and J, and to give the committee members an update on the Interim Use Ordinance - Conditional Use Permit (CUP).
Area H consists of the downtown segment of Castro Street between California and Central Expressway. This is a very pedestrian-friendly segment with buildings, which now fall under the Historic Preservation Ordinance.
Area I is that section over by Wells Fargo Bank and the Chamber of Commerce Building by City Hall.
Area J is that segment of Castro by El Camino Real with the strip mall that backs up against Hope Street. Since this segment of future development and renovation will affect residents, the City will invite impacted residents to participate in focus groups to gather inputs.
As for the ordinance, the City Council granted a 6-month lead-time before violations will be issued. The Central Business Association and the MV Chamber of Commerce are working together to educate the downtown business owners on understanding how the new ordinance affects them.
On June 11, the City authorized commencement of the design of a parking structure at California and Bryant. The first floor of this structure will be dedicated to retail.
Nominations for the OMVNA Steering Committee Officers
The OMVNA Nominating Committee met twice, once in July and once in August, to determine a list of candidates for the OMVNA Steering Committee. An election will be held at the General Meeting, scheduled for Sunday, October 27th, 2002, from 11:30 am to 3:00 p.m. at Trinity Methodist Church at 748 Mercy St.
OMVNA Steering Committee nominees are as follows:
· Chair: George Harris
· Vice-Chair: Alison Hicks
· Treasurer: Aaron Grossman
· At Large #1: Julie Wrobel
· At Large #2: Larry Rosenberg
· Newsletter Editor: Valerie Harris
· Community Liaison: TBD
· Secretary: TBD
The CERT Chair position remains open. CERT's mission involves emergency preparedness for the neighborhood in case of disasters. Since most of the development of CERT is completed, CERT may revert back to the Steering Committee.
History Corner - The History of the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce
By Valerie Harris
As long as commerce has existed, traders have banded together for the common protection against enemies, to govern the conduct of trade, and later to exert influence on legislation.
The first known use of the term "chamber of commerce" occurred in Marseilles, France, where such an organization was established by the city council toward the close of the 17th century. From this beginning, chambers of commerce spread to Germany, and then throughout Europe.
European chambers have little parallel with the American organization. They frequently operate as quasi-public agencies, with administrative and judicial powers with respect to trade.
The oldest chamber of commerce on the American continent is that of the State of New York, chartered by King George III, in 1770. The establishment of the New York Chamber was a direct result of the Stamp Act that was passed by Parliament in 1765, 8 years before the Revolutionary War.
The first local chamber of commerce was founded in Charleston, South Carolina in 1773. By 1870, the number of local chambers had increased to 40. The early American, like their European prototypes, were associations of tradesmen, organized for the protection and promotion of commerce.
In the United States, early chambers promoted the sale of goods, organized markets, made and enforced rules of trade, protected goods in transit, and even operated their own trading floors. But their activities were limited to those directly connected with commerce.
The emergence of the chamber as a true community organization came much later, as businessmen began to realize that their own prosperity depended on the development of a prosperous community.
In the 1950s and 1960s, chambers placed major emphasis on industrial recruitment and job creation activities. As we entered the 1970s, 80s, and 90s major problems with inadequate housing, schools, community services, and high unemployment, the role of chambers of commerce expanded to socioeconomic concerns.
The Mountain View Chamber of Commerce formed in 1922. An article in the Mountain View Register Leader, dated April 14, 1922 says, "... a movement is under way to build in Mountain View a modern, efficient community organization with a membership representative of the whole community." Then the article continues, "we are here to seek to secure the cooperation of the churches, the schools, the clubs, the business men, the farmers and every element in the community in a proven plan of community organization." Seventy-seven years later, the Chamber still strives to serve the same purpose that those founding members had intended.
Although the Mountain View demographics have changed since its inception in 1922, the basic mission statement is still the same. Today there are fewer farmer members, but more business owners, more women and more minorities.
Today the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce is a business organization working for the mutual benefit of its members and the community by enhancing an environment in which business can succeed. This action is accomplished through progressive leadership in the areas of business assistance, educational partnerships, legislative advocacy, economic development and professional networking.
The Mountain View Chamber of Commerce serves not only as a business liaison, but also as a tourist center, and a center for various community-based programs such as the Diversity Youth Forum, School Adoption Programs, Shadowing Programs (where students "shadow" a corporate employee for a day), and Community Outreach. The Chamber administers the Leadership Mountain View Program, a community leadership education program for adults who live or work in Mountain View. Many LMV graduates have gone on to become community leaders and activists. The Chamber also sponsors the annual Art and Wine Festival. Each September, the Chamber's annual Art & Wine Festival draws over 200,000 visitors to Mountain View for the two-day event. Visitors may shop for arts and crafts while sipping some of California's wonderful wines or beer from the local microbreweries.
Carol Olson is the current President/CEO and has served in that capacity since 1998. Carol joined the Chamber after serving as Studio Director of Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic in Palo Alto. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley.
The Chamber is located at 580 Castro Street in Mountain View right next to City Hall and the Wells Fargo Bank Building. The Chamber may be reached at 650-968-8378 or via email at info@chambermv.org, and the URL is www.chambermv.org.
Noise Issues in the Neighborhood
By Valerie Harris and Bruce Karney
A couple of noise nuisances have been reported to the OMVNA Steering Committee from residents in the Old Mountain View Neighborhood.
Over the last few months OMVNA Chair Bruce Karney has had conversations and exchanged e-mail with several people in the central part of our neighborhood who have been bothered by noise from parties and dances at the SFV Lodge (Portuguese Hall) at 361 Villa St. At the April, 2002, OMVNA Steering Committee meeting we had a presentation from one of the Hall's neighbors. The Steering Committee requested that that a letter be written to Police Chief Vermeer to seek more information about the noise issue.
Based on the presentation OMVNA heard, OMVNA believes it is possible that many dances and parties held at the SFV Lodge violate the terms of their City-issued permits by being louder and lasting longer than they should.
OMVNA also requested the list of noise complaints, number of permits issues and whether a representative of OMVNA could review the details of dance permits issued to the SFV Lodge in the past, and whether it would be possible for us to receive notification 2-3 days in advance whenever a dance permit is issued to them in the future.
The second noise complaint was from Tom Macagno of 272 Bryant Street about problems caused by patrons of the Lime Light nightclub.
The Committee feels there are six problems that affect neighborhood residents and require police attention:
1. Noise from patrons, primarily outside the club in the adjacent City-owned parking lot
2. Illegal consumption of alcohol in and around the parking lot
3. Drunken driving and dangerous driving by patrons of the Lime Light
4. Littering on private property near the parking lot, as well as in the lot and nearby streets
5. Other alcohol-related misdemeanors, such as urinating in public
6. Excessively loud music from inside the club
OMVNA has been in existence for over 12 years. This is the first time problems of this type have been reported to us regarding the building at 228 Castro now known as the Lime Light. When the same building housed the Rio Grande nightclub, and for the first year or two of operation of the Lime Light, there were no reported problems. Mr. Macagno traces the rise of the problem to a recent change in the management and marketing of the club. He believes they now attract a younger and rowdier clientele.
OMVNA would welcome action by the Police and other City departments (working with the Lime Light's management) that would eliminate or significantly reduce the six problems identified above. To that end, OMVNA Chair, Bruce Karney's letter to city officials stated, "OMVNA would be willing to participate in meetings or other activities that may be helpful."
The OMVNA Newsletter
is published by a volunteer editorial committee & distributed to some 2400 homes and businesses by volunteers.
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The opinions printed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the OMVNA Steering Committee.
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