| Fall 2000 Newsletter |
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Kinder Care in Midtown at Middlefield and Loma Verde |
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Diesel Generators To Pollute Our Neighborhood Unless We Stop Them |
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From The Other Side |
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| Art Comes To Midtown |
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Safeway Update |
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Meet Frank Benest - City Manager |
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News from NeighborSpace |
| On August 7th, a community meeting was called to inform surrounding Midtown residents about the potential of a for-profit child care facility coming to this neighborhood shopping center containing the popular coffee shop Creme de la Cafe and the Pommard deli. Over 100 outraged people crowded into the small space. This group was furiously opposed to the development and are currently organizing. The Midtown Residents Association will keep everyone informed as we hear news. Some key points follow:
Overview:
Currently Kinder Care has not submitted a formal application to the City of Palo Alto (CPA). When they do, the process that follows will take from 6 months to a year to gain approval. Once the application is initiated, an internal review process occurs. It will focus on such issues as (A) What Are Appropriate Uses for THIS LOCATION? (B) What are "RESIDENT-SERVING" uses? and (C) to what extent are such impacts as traffic, parking, noise detrimental to the area and to what extent does Kinder Care propose sufficient mitigations for these impacts? There will be 4 hearings (see below). After the application has been filed, it will take 2-3 months before the first hearing. After the application is received CPA will assure that the application conforms to all CPA codes, the CPA general plan, and California environmental quality acts such as traffic, noise and special conditions for site. The key issue in determining the feasibility will be "What Best Serves the Neighborhood?" Proposed plans and blueprints can be found at http://www.stiv.com/creme/ under the pictures link. Four Hearings will be held
Opportunities for Residents to Comment
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The City of Palo Alto granted approval to Paix.net to build an Internet routing facility at 3270 West Bayshore Road, on the west side of the 101 Freeway, adjacent to Maddux Drive in Palo Alto. To provide uninterrupted power and ample cooling to their customers, this facility proposes:
Paix.net has been non-responsive to numerous suggestions by both the local residents and the Fire Department, and had stated that if an Appeal was filed, then they would not entertain any additional reconfiguration of their site. 97% of the 44 nearby homeowners oppose this ruling, and have filed a formal Appeal of the use permit. Dan Heiser of the Palo Alto Fire Department recommends that these fuel tanks be installed underground. Fire Chief Reuben Grijalva calls this facility "a small gas station". The construction of vast "server farms" - warehouses full of computers and their attendant cooling systems - has contributed to the overloading of the power network that caused brownouts in Silicon Valley.
Most of us think of computer and hi-tech companies as clean industry. This example has severe environmental impacts. We need to have Paix.net mitigate those environmental impacts and be sensitive to the neighborhood in which they want to do business, OR find another location. |
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| The anti-PAIX argument is being presented as if the choice is between PAIX or nothing. In fact, the choice is between PAIX and some other business. The situation is not at all clear-cut to me when viewed this way.
PAIX will have a generator that will produce fumes and noise for 15 minutes every 2 weeks. A more conventional employer would have far more employees, who would bring with them noise, pollution and TRAFFIC. They would do this every working day. The choice is really between these two, and I think that PAIX would actually result in less noise and pollution than the alternative, with the added bonus of less traffic. The storage tank issue is also bogus. A properly inspected and maintained storage tank will result in less discharge into the environment than a parking lot full of cars that are always oozing and dripping various fluids. There is better regulation and accountability with a storage tank than with a lot full of cars, too. A discharge from the tank would result in a citation, while a car dripping oil all over the place would not. |
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| After a long 2 year search, Midtown Residents Association is pleased to announce the winner in the Public Art competition for a mural for the CO-OP Wall. On June 3rd, the Public Art Commission and the Midtown Art Committee met and selected 2 finalists. The artists were given a stipend to create a mural prototype to present to the Public Art Commission in August. At that meeting, Peter Bartczak, muralist from Santa Cruz was selected. Peter's vision is a retrospective view of the Midtown area from the time of the Ohlone Indians.
From Peter: I've been a professional artist for 28 years and have painted CD and book covers, posters, magazine illustrations, signs, and murals. I like combining airbrush with traditional painting techniques to produce a realistic, but stylized look. Art to me is as natural as breathing and as necessary for the soul. Art is my opportunity to inspire feelings in other people. I like my art to be humorous, clear, and moving. Public art removes the intimidation of gallery and museum settings and becomes a part of the life of everyone who passes in front of it. An easel artist can do what he pleases - a muralist must take the effect on innocent bystanders into consideration. You can see more of my work at my website www.clownbank.com But there is more! The Selection team was so impressed with the second artist, Liz Lada from our Palo Alto Midtown neighborhood, that they also granted Midtown a SECOND Mural. We are currently developing an agreement for the perfect location for this mural - an introspective life of teenagers. To see both murals in color look at www.NeighborSpace.org in the Local Issues Conference.
From Liz: I have lived in midtown for 16 years, working for the Peninsula Times Tribune and the San Francisco Chronicle, and more recently freelancing, as an illustrator. My clients have inclued Time, Kiplinger's, Business Week, McGraw Hill and Red Herring Magazine. My design for the mural, inspired by my three children, attempts to look at the inner life of teenagers: its highs and lows, its enlightenment and confusion, the joy and pain of relationships, the growing feeling of freedom and imprisonment. |
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| The Midtown Safeway remodeling project is on track to start late this year. Improvements will include adding a customer service center and restrooms in the front of the store and reconfiguring the entrances. Landscaping, lighting and pedestrian access through the parking lot will be enhanced.
Midtown Residents Association is continuing to work with the city and Safeway to ensure the project best suits the neighborhood. For more information contact Ron Wolf at ron.wolf@keynote.com. |
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TUESDAY NIGHT, OCTOBER 17th
7:00 PM MITCHELL PARK COMMUNITY CTR Next to the Mitchell Park Library on Middlefield Sponsored by Midtown Residents Association Discussion will focus on the key city priorities and how they will shape Midtown - traffic, commercial development, house building & renovation, cooperation with schools. |
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Topics of note:
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