East Palo Alto Today Page 9 May - June, 2010 Lifecycles · East Palo Alto Today Page 9 May - June,...

East Palo Alto Today Page 9 May - June, 2010

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(650)346-7543(650)346-7543

By Meda Okelo

East Palo Alto Today

Over 100 seniorsand friends at-tended the first an-

nual Older Americans MonthElder Award celebration lunch-eon at the East Palo Alto Sen-ior Center on Friday, May 21st.The celebration representedthe culmination of severalmonths of work by the City'sSenior Advisory Committeeand Community Services De-partment staff, seeking nomi-nations for the oldest EastPalo Alto resident.

This enviable award wasgiven to Mother Juanita LethaMeadows, born on May 5,1913 in Choctaw, Oklahoma.A mother of ten, Mother Mead-ows moved to California in

1977 first residing in RedwoodCity before settling in EastPalo Alto. Most of her childrenwere in California and she gottired of travelling regularlyfrom Oklahoma to assist in thecaring of her grandchildren.

She is the sole survivor outof her six siblings and she isthe reigning elder out of a fam-

ily of more than five hundredrelatives.

To the question, What arethe secrets to longevity,Mother Meadows unhesitantlyadvices all to be: kind to oth-ers; to seek forgiveness fromothers and forgive others will-ingly and wholeheartedly forany transgressions; to not letone's body be the temple foranger, resentment, jealousyand any negative emotions orfeelings; use herbs.

Mother Meadows was bornwith a passion for music,learning to play piano by earwhen she was eight years old.She is well known locally asthe house pianist for manycongretations and communityevents. She in addition servesas Choir director for several

groups, most notably the EastPalo Alto Senior Center whereshe holds court every Fridayafternoon.

Three other nomineeswere honored at the event,Mrs Ruby Smith born in 1917and residing in East Palo Altofor the last 47 years; Mrs EssieRichardson, born in 1922 inReklaw, Texas and living inEast Palo Alto for 48 years andMrs Mary Scott, born in 1901in Manila Phillipines who hadlived in East Palo Alto until lastyear when she moved to asenior residential care facilityin Mountain View.

Vice Mayor Romero andCouncilmember Abrica wereboth present to give theawards. Congratulatory reso-lutions from Assemblyman Ira

Honoring East Palo Alto’s oldest resident

future caries. “One of ourmain goals,” says Dr. Luoma-nen “is to prevent childrenfrom ever getting caries by ap-plying fluoride varnish and ed-ucating parents about theirrole in protecting their chil-dren’s teeth.”

Given limited staffing,Ravenswood will only be able

to accept its registered med-ical patients. It expects to see1,800 patients in year one, ex-panding to 3,000 patients inyear two. At full capacity, the10-operatory clinic will be ableto see 6,000 to 8,000 uniquepatients annually.

To expand capacity, RFHCis exploring a partnership with

the University of PacificSchool of Dentistry to becomea site for the National DentalPipeline Program, offeringcommunity externships to den-tal students. “At school, theywill be learning the latest tech-niques in dentistry and we willhave the technology and staffto give them more clinical ex-

perience here in the commu-nity,” says Dr. Luomanen.RFHC is also exploring a part-nership with the Foothill Col-leges Dental Hygienist andDental Assistant Program toprovide externships and isworking through the Mid-Peninsula Dental Society andthe Santa Clara and San

Mateo County chapters of theCalifornia Dental Hygiene As-sociation to recruit dental pro-fessionals as volunteers toincrease access for more pa-tients.

Kathleen Alexander is the director of communicationsand marketing for the Ravens-wood Family Health Center.

Celebration of two grand openings continued from page 4

Ms. Juanita Meadows was honoredby East Palo Alto Mayor David Woodsat the May 18 city council meeting.

Ruskin, State Senator JoeSimitian, and Supervisor RoseJacobs Gibson were pre-sented to Mother Meadows.The City presented her with aplaque acknowledging her asthe 2010 Older AmericansMonth Elder Award recipient.

Mother Meadows, has 32grandchildren, 62 great grand-children, and 34 great greatgrandchildren. She likes quilt-ing, swimming, singing, dress-ing up in the latest fashions,visiting the health spa andmore than anything else shelikes to help others in ways toimprove their health.

Meda Okelo is the Com-munity Services Director forthe City of East Palo Alto.

Photo courtesy of Meda Okelo

East Palo Alto Vice Mayor CarlosRomero presents a gift basket toMs. Juanita Meadows.

Lifecycles


Biblioteca de la EPA Por Patrick Sweeney


La Biblioteca del Condadode San Mateo (SMCL) secomplace en anunciar que ellanzamiento de su nuevapágina web www.smcl.orgocurrió el lunes, 12 de abril,en relación con la SemanaNacional de La Biblioteca. Lapágina web cambio dramáti-camente para poder crear unsentido de comunidad ybrindar oportunidades para lainteracción social y partici-pación de sus miembros. In-cluso, es un sitio fácil denavegar entre los adultos,adolescentes, y los niños. “LaBiblioteca ha creado unapágina web mejor y suma-mente interactiva,” dijo MarinaFraser, Presidenta del JPAConsejo de Gobierno.

Las nuevas característicasde la eBranch son: creaciónde una comunidad de usuar-

ios que intercambian informa-ción e ideas sobre los materi-ales, y de los eventos yservicios de la biblioteca através del uso de los blogs,comunicar gráficamente laspromociones de eventos,colecciones, noticias y servi-cios; portales web específicosy recursos para niños, adoles-centes, padres y personasmayores; mejor usabilidad delos recursos de la bibliotecaestándar, tales como el catál-ogo, bases de datos, libroselectrónicos y otros materi-ales.

En el futuro, el eBranchestará disponible en chino yespañol con un catálogo enlínea mejorado y fácil de usarque permitirá a los usuarios aclasificar, etiquetar y escribirreseñas sobre los materiales.

Cada año, miles de usuar-ios visitan www.smcl.org pararreservar libros, buscar progra-mas, ver las horas de la bib-

lioteca, obtener ayuda contarea, accesar bases dedatos, y aprovechar de lasmuchas características queofrece el eBranch. " Un es-fuerzo significativo fue dedi-cado a reconocer laimportancia en responder alas necesidades de los usuar-ios remotos SMCL", dijo la Di-rectora de la BibliotecaAnne-Marie Despain.

"El eBranch tiene comoobjetivo proporcionar elmismo tipo de servicios y in-teracciones como una visita ala biblioteca física. El desar-rollo de la nueva página webde SMCL refleja el compro-miso a ofrecer espacios vir-tuales que sirven comolugares en los que nuestrasdiversas comunidades sepueden conectar y compartir.

Patrick Sweeney es elencargado de rama de labiblioteca del este de PaloAlto.

quirements of its charter appli-cation, to provide education ata level equal to or greater thanthat of existing schools in thedistrict.

“It was hard for me to ig-nore the data,” saidRavenswood City School Dis-trict Trustee Larry Moody. “Ithad to be better than what wewere doing at Ravenswood.”

In the 2008-2009 schoolyear SNS received an Aca-demic Performance Indexscore of 605, the lowest in thedistrict and well behind thescore of 842 earned by EastPalo Alto Charter. Stanfordnew Schools is also only oneof two schools in the districtthat failed to meet all three ofits academic growth targets.

Following an evening of pas-sionate pleas from both parentsand students affiliated with theschool to keep the doors open,Trustees directed SuperintendentMaria De la Vega to work withSNS officials on a one or two-year

charter renewal proposal thatwould give Stanford New Schoolsa second chance at life.

However, eight days lateron April 22 Trustees voted 3-1with Saree Mading dissentingand John Bostic absent to per-manently close the K-4 pro-grams of East Palo AltoAcademy.

Grade 5 will be allowed tooperate out of the high schoolin 2010-2011 before its clo-sure while East Palo AltoAcademy high school wasgranted a two year charter re-newal lasting through June 30,2012, at which time anotherevaluation of its performancewill take place.

“I’m very disappointed wecan’t continue the elementaryschool but this was the bestwe could get based on ourconversations with theRavenswood City School Dis-trict,” said Deborah Stipek,Dean of Stanford’s School ofEducation and a leader of

SNS. “Every start-up schoolthat I’ve ever known has takena while to get going.”

When asked why shevoted against the proposalMading stated, “We’re not a K-12 district, I didn’t believe a5th grade class should be withthe high school.” Going on tosay, “Stanford’s been embar-rassed. I hope they have in-centive to get things right.”

As a result of the approvedproposal SNS will withdraw itsapplication for facilities under

Proposition 39 and vacate itselementary school campusfollowing the end of the schoolyear. Approximately 150 stu-dents will be affected by theelementary school closure.

“We have a scheduledtimeline for the transfer andare now looking for where va-cancies are that will allow forplacement of the students,”said De la Vega, beforenoting that it’s usually eas-ier to transfer e lementarystudents to a new school

when compared to h ighschool students.

Classes at StanfordNew Schools are set to endin early June before resum-ing in the fall.

Richard Hackmann isthe co-founder & executivedirector of the Center forCommunity Action and thecurrent chair of the PaloAlto Young Professionals.

Photo courtesy of Richard HackmanTrustees of the Ravenswood City School District from left,Saree Mading, Larry Moody, SharifaWilson sit with school District Superintendent Maria De La Vega.

Are you between the ages of 14 and 17?

Do you live in the East of Bayshore community?

Are you interested in being a paid journalism intern this summer?

If you answered yes to all three questions,

then immediately email

Paul Kandell at [email protected]

to apply to the Summer Journalism Institute.

Computer lab, science lab, li-braries, afterschool pro-grams—staffing let go.Counseling services for stu-dents, eliminated.Furlough days…and the listgoes on.

We need to join hands andrise up so that our state legis-lators wake up to the social in-justices being imposed on oureducation system.

Our message is simple:Restore the cuts to educa-tion.Demand no more cuts to edu-cation.

Ensure our children have anequal opportunity to a worldclass education.

Write a message to ourlocal Senator Joe Simitian andAssemblyman Ira Ruskin.

Call their local offices andlet them know what we dealwith because of the cuts.

Something has to change,be a part of the movement—gather parents, students, andcommunity members alike.

Thank you,Aaron WilliamsonPresident, RavenswoodTeachers Association

Letters continued from page 6

interview the finalists. Eachcity council member will selectthree residents for the panel.

The finalist swill also be in-terviewed by a technical peerpanel which will be composed

of local city managers. The entire community will

have a chance to meet thecandidates at a communitymeeting which is scheduled for

June 11.The City of East Palo Alto

will issued more informationabout the community meetingsoon.

EPA searches continued from page 1

Improving the quality continued from page 1


potential new structure where the former dredging boat was thatgives a feel for that historic struc-ture. This former boat, possiblyfrom the 1930's, unfortunatelyburned down in March, 2008. Butsalvaged parts could be put backon display. A transparent wallwould protect a visitor from thewind. Information about what youare seeing to the north can beetched into the glass.

East Palo Alto resident WillMolina of EPA.net created a web-based survey at www.cooleyland-ing.org so residents who could notattend the workshop can see dis-plays and photos of the results ofthe above process.

At this meeting, Brian Fletcher,the landscape architect fromCallander Associates, presentedthe results of community inputfrom the February 6, 2010, com-munity workshop. Nearly 100people attended that meeting.The uses that the most peoplechose as priorities were trails, out-door classroom, restrooms, andeducation exhibits.

Several residents at the April 8,2010, meeting asked to reduce

the amount of parking by the build-ing to encourage walking and bik-ing instead of driving and toemphasize the natural beauty ofthe site. Parking near the buildingis needed for access for fire de-partment, school buses, andwaste pickup. Seniors and teach-ers have also asked for parkingnear the building and near rest-rooms for people with limited mo-bility. Nevertheless, the landscapearchitect is sketching potential al-ternatives for consideration at fu-ture public meetings. He willexplain the trade-offs of differentparking options for decision ulti-mately by the City Council andothers.

The landscape architect esti-mates that to open Cooley Land-ing for safe public walking wouldcost roughly $1 million. For this,the City would cover the contami-nated soil at Cooley Landing, plantnew plants, and build trails,benches, and signs. To renovatethe building, build an outdoorclassroom, construct the dredgesculpture, extend utilities, andother improvements would costroughly $7 million. The City has

already applied for nearly $8 mil-lion in grants and plans to apply for$7 million more.

Jenny Rigby, Interpretive Plan-ner, asked roughly 30 residentsand staff from nearby nature andhistory education centers to giveinput on the “take-home mes-sages” that Cooley Landing couldshare with visitors. She presentedthis summary: “Once the base ofoperations for various agriculturaland industrial activities, the landand water surroundng CooleyLanding have sustained humancultures and enterprises for manyyears. Now transformed, it servesas testament to the power ofchange.”

We look forward to seeing youat the next meetings and gettingyour feedback on the CooleyLanding park plan! For more infor-m a t i o n , s e ewww.cooleylanding.org or contactLily Lee.

Lily Lee is the Cooley LandingProject Manager for the City ofEast Palo Alto. She can be con-tacted at [email protected], 650-853-3166.

A vision continued from page 2

CEO of the Hispanic Foun

dation of Silicon Valley;

Maria De La Vega, superin-

tendent of the Ravenswood

City School District; Kevin

Skelly, Palo Alto Unified

School District superintend-

ent; and East Palo Alto City

Councilor Laura Martinez,

an FCE alum.

Ochoa’s journey began

when at nine years old her

uncle gave her a human

anatomy book –!a gift that

inspired a desire to become

a doctor. Ochoa’s parents

supported her in that goal,

but not everyone encour-

aged her to have such high

aspirations.

She told a story of career

day, where students at her

Palo Alto elementary school

were assigned to shadow

different professionals at a

local hotel. Although Ochoa

had asked to be paired with

someone in an administra-

tive position at the hotel,

“somehow, I ended up shad-

owing the housekeepers,”

she recalled.

Also, as a high school

junior, Ochoa went to see

her college counselor, who

looked at her transcript and

said, “‘I am surprised that

someone like you did this

well.’ That was the last time

I went to her,” said Ochoa,

who joined FCE, which en-

couraged her to aim high

and provided help with her

academics. FCE also helped

her navigate the college ap-

plication process, including

encouraging Ochoa’s father

to let her leave the Bay

Area.

Her parents now appre-

ciate the support that FCE

not only gave her, but the

entire family. Ochoa re-

layed a conversation she

had with her mother the

night before the FCE break-

fast, “She wanted me to tell

all of you that FCE opened

her mind and her eyes to a

different world that she was

never exposed to.”

Mitchell asked Ochoa what

advice she would give to stu-

dents who aspire to go to col-

lege. She advised them to aim

high and surround themselves

with those who believe in them,

even when others are “telling

you otherwise.”

And work hard, she added,

recalling that during late nights

in college when she was study-

ing physics, she would write her

name on a piece of paper fol-

lowed by “MD.” “I would tape

that up and look at it. It’s impor-

tant to visualize your goals,

however that works for you,”

Ochoa said.

Asked by an audience mem-

ber how to translate individual

successes such as Ochoa’s into

building support for financing

the schools in California,

Mitchell said as a society we

need to look at the costs of not

supporting education at the state

level!–!the societal cost of losing

very talented students between

middle school and high school,

between high school and col-

lege and the “unrecognized

tragedy” of students not finish-

ing college.

Founded in 1995, FCE‘s

mission is to increase the num-

ber of students of color from

East Palo Alto and surrounding

communities who graduate

with a degree from a four-year

college and university. Other

speakers at the breakfast in-

cluded FCE alum Anabell Cer-

vantes, a sophomore at Santa

Clara University, and Anna

Waring, FCE’s executive direc-

tor.

“We made it through the perils

of infancy and the awkwardness

of the tween years and we’re

now poised to be mature and

continue our growth and suc-

cess,” said Waring, noting that

FCE is preparing to celebrate its

15th anniversary.

“Over the first 14 years, the

staff and the board and the fam-

ilies have really built FCE into

an organization that has the be-

lief that students from East Palo

Alto really can go to college if

they have the right knowledge

and the right support. We set

high expectations for our stu-

dents and we help them meet

them.

So whether its monitoring

GPA or helping them choose

classes or taking them on col-

lege tours, we always ask our

students to do more than they

think they can do, and they are

surprised, and we are affirmed

when they do what we know

they can.

We work with our parents

to ensure that they acquire

the knowledge and confi-

dence to become educa-

tional advocates for their

children and for the larger

East Palo Alto community.”

EPA Library continued from page 2

High expectations

books, search for programs,check library hours, gethomework help, access refer-ence databases, and take ad-vantage of the many featuresthe eBranch offers.

“Significant efforts werededicated to recognizing theimportance of responding to

the needs of SMCL’s remoteusers,” said Library DirectorAnne-Marie Despain.

“The eBranch aims to pro-vide the same kinds of serv-ices and interactions as aphysical library visit. The de-velopment of the new websitereflects SMCL’s commitment

to offer virtual spaces thatserve as gathering placeswhere our diverse commu-nities can connect andshare.

Patrick Sweeney is thebranch manager of theEast Palo Alto Library.

Anna Warring


By Ruben Avelar and

Everado Luna


The East Palo Alto BabeRuth Mustangs rode into town,and they appear to have apromising season this year.Mind you, this isn’t your ordi-nary ball club. It’s composedof 13-15 year old boys fromEast Palo Alto and East MenloPark. Since its inception in2007, the East Palo Alto Mus-tangs have been committed tobuilding a solid baseball pro-gram that allows kids to con-tinue playing competitivebaseball beyond LittleLeague.

Historically, the only optionavailable for our boys was onthe Palo Alto Babe Ruth team.But the high fees, the long dis-tance for kids to get to prac-tice, the few drafts picked fromEPA and the isolation mademany of our kids quit the sportaltogether. With limited op-tions, EPA Babe Ruth offerskids the opportunity to con-tinue playing for their home-town. Although their gamesare in Belmont against theBelmont/San Mateo teamsthey stay together as onecommunity playing their heartsout each and every game.

They just want to play base-ball.

The 2010 season is early,but the Mustangs are off to agood start with three wins andfour losses. This is quite afeat considering that prior tothis year the Mustangs onlyamassed two wins in threeyears. It seems this year thereis a good combination of re-turning veterans as well as im-pressive new talent ready andeager to take to the field.What’s more impressive aboutthe Mustangs, unlike otherteams in the Belmont league,the Mustangs don’t have anyhigh school baseball playerson their roster.

However, local highschools should take note andpay closer attention to theMustang’s pool of talent. They

are very impressive. The ros-ter consists of 14 players,eight of which are solid pitch-ers who can do the job on themound. This year the team isswinging the bats like neverbefore with players like top hit-ter Mike Camel, who had twohome runs and four RBI’s inone game. The Mustangs av-erage nine hits a game andplay very aggressive each andevery inning.

Coach Everardo Lunasaid, “We are in the Belmontleague because Palo Altowon’t allow our boys to stay to-gether as a team. They dividethem amongst the league.”Additionally, the East Palo AltoMustangs have been able tokeep player fees low com-pared to other leagues, whosefees can range from $340 -

$380, and in most cases, play-ers are not allowed to try outuntil the full amount is paid.

The Mustangs have keptfees relatively low, due in partto the generous support fromPAL Market, who has spon-sored the team since its incep-tion. Additionally, this year theMustangs submitted a pro-posal which netted the teamMeasure C funding. Thesefunds were used to purchasemuch needed equipment --like a pitching machine andnew uniforms -- and to payleague fees.

This ball club is the onlyshow in town that offers organ-ized competitive baseball for13-15 year olds. East PaloAlto Babe Ruth should not beconfused with E.P.A LittleLeague, T-Ball Pitching Ma-chine and Junior Giants. TheMustangs stand on their ownfeet and they have establishedthemselves as their own non-profit with a completely inde-pendent board.

The Mustangs offer awholesome structured pro-gram that focuses on baseballfundamentals, positive sports-manship and conditioning.Being on the team alsoteaches kids important life les-sons such as working together

as a team, hard work, respect,commitment, positive encour-agement and competitive-ness. Many thanks to ourwonderfully dedicatedcoaches: Bruce Swain, RoyGuerra and Manager Ever-ardo Luna who make this allpossible.

Regardless of this sea-son’s outcome, one thing is forcertain: these young men arelearning baseball on a wholenew level. They mean busi-ness. So, the bats will con-tinue to swing away.

Any person or company in-terested in sponsoring or donat-ing to the program can do so bycalling Marcia Perez at (415)297-6009 or walk right into theCalifornia Bank & Trust locatedat 1735 E. Bayshore Rd in EastPalo Alto and tell them you wantto donate to the East Palo AltoBabe Ruth Baseball bank ac-count. New coaches with expe-rience are always welcomed.Or, for that matter, come on outand see our boys play theirhearts out – they will make youproud! GO MUSTANGS!!!

Ruben Avelar is a dedicatedparent, score keeper andnewest member of the EPABabe Ruth Board.

East Palo Alto Mustangs in full swing

“'WHO DEFINES WHO YOUARE''

Who defines who you are?Who defines who you are sup-posed to be?Do you pass the test?Give it a rest.Head too big, little, long, round,flat, pointed or small?You do have a head, use it.No lips, big lips, small lips Be grateful that you have lips.Can you smile ,eat, whistle canyou kiss?Big eyes, little eyes, round eyesslanted eyes, no eyesCan you see? Little legs, big legs, bow-legs,long legs, short legsCan you walk, dance, run, skipand jump?Big butt, little butt, flat butt, bubblebuttBe greatful that you have a buttCurly, kinky, straight or no hairWho cares if people stare ?Skinny, slim or fat, you can be allof that.Short, medium or tall you reallydon't have to be here at allBlack, white, brown or tanNo color, little color are you acolor? Feel great about who you are You be the judge, You call theshots.Don't fall for that crap about whoyou are suppose to be.

Be you, accept who you are.You don't have toprove whether you are hot or not.Be a maker not a faker.You don't have to prove anythingto anyoneOnly to you and your makerWho is an earth shaker.

By: Erma J. Hutchins Moore2008

******************************Martin's Dream

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream isnowA reality that we canReally see and feel inThis world andIn this point and time.Nowhere can it be doubted whattrueLove can really do toUnited people and help breakaway fromThe past that has been aHeavy burden forEveryone of us to carry.Righteousness prevails;Keeping hope alive andIn the wondrous real of possibili-ties.No one can dispute theGreatness that helped us to gethere. WeJust need to alwaysRemember Dr. Martin LutherKing, Jr. andBarack Obama, the 44th Presi-

Poetry Corner

Photo courtesy of Everado LunaThis photo shows the East Palo Alto Babe Ruth Mustangs at arecent game with their coach Roy Guerra, who briefly playedprofessional baseball.

dent of the United States of America.A dream has beenRealized in the heartsAnd souls of billions in theCommunities, nations, and theworld.Kindred spirits have caused thisto happen.Our time has come toBoldly and proudly makeA positive difference forevermore.Let's nowMake some joyful noise forA job well done!

(c) Poetess Kalamu Chaché2009

These are the Hearts

Either Despised or even cher-ished These are the hearts that soonwill PerishA heart that's cold That sometimes foldsIs the heart that someone holdsIn your heart that keeps us outIs the reason we all doubtA heart untamed Or the heart unclaimedHas now been numbed by all thepainIn your heart that always bleedsPushes away hearts, that itneedsEither Despised or even cher-ished These are the hearts that soonwill PerishA heart that caresOr the heart that sharesAre the hearts that have nosparesIn your heart that has no beat

Will be the heart that you defeatEither Despised or even cher-ished These are the hearts that soonwill Perish

(c) Michael Uhila 2009

MARTIN, ROSA, CORETTA

Martin Luther King, Jr. made adifference. He wasAn activist who was veryResponsible andTolerantI Have A Dream is a favoritespeech that he made. HeNever gave up.

Rosa Parks was a very re-spectable person.Other people believed in her.She was very strong. She wasActive all of her life.

Coretta Scott King was full ofcourage. She was anOriginal. She had theResponsibility of taking care offour childrenEvery day without their father.She was aThoughtful person. SheTaught people to believe in them-selves. SheAchieved Dr. Martin Luther King,Jr.'s dream.

(c) Redwood City Dr. MartinLuther King, Jr. Celebration Committee 2007 [PoetworkshopYouth Participants With

Poetess Kalamu Chaché,Red-wood City, CA]

Community

News Briefscontinued from page 3

honest and we wouldn’t do that.” At the end of the meeting,

Marquardt said that he wasmoved by what he had heardfrom the group.

Earlier in the day, the fourSeattle representatives werein Oakland gathering informa-tion about Davis’ 25 years onthe police force in that city.They said they would hold in-terviews in Sacramento thefollowing day to gather infor-mation about Sacramento’sPolice Chief Rick Braziel whois also a candidate for theSeattle position. The third candidate is Seat-

tle’s Interim Police Chief JohnDiaz .

Seattle’s Mayor Mike McGin-nis is expected to make a de-cision shortly after he inter-views all three candidates onJune 3.

Given what was said to Seat-tle’s representatives at theTuesday meeting and the pur-pose of the meeting, it is easyto understand how East PaloAlto community memberscould give glowing recommen-dations for their own Chief ofPolice Ron Davis with a heavyheart.

EPA City Attorney Review

The City Attorney is havingan annual review by the EastPalo Alto City Council. Will hisreview be eventful or unevent-ful? Pay close attention to theJune 1 council meeting.


tinued to grow more frustrated.

I had never gotten math concepts

so slowly and homework started

to take longer. I needed a change

and fast. I had less and less time

to improve my grades.

I talked to my dad who was

always good at motivating me.

He started preaching that my life

was so easy. “Let’s say you wake

up at seven.” No, I wake up at six,

so I could take a shower without

anyone else in the bathroom. It is

the only time other than sleeping

when I can get some quiet in a

dorm of twenty girls. “You get

ready for school, eat breakfast,

and go to school at 8.” No, at

seven I am going to the cafeteria

to do last minute studying with a

classmate. I am so caught up in

my studying that I sometimes for-

get to eat breakfast. We seem to

have a major test everyday. “You

go to your classes and let’s say

school ends around 2 or 3.” No,

school ends at five and even then

I am still at school finishing a proj-

ect with my group, writing an

essay or working on my home-

work. But all of a sudden he said

something that made me listen,

“Do you keep your room clean?”

I felt like I was back at square

one; the same place I was in my

sophomore year sitting at two ta-

bles surrounded by my teachers

who were staring and nodding. I looked around my room. My

blue and white sheets were rus-tled and pulled off the mattress.My towel was sprawled on theend of the bed along with a pile ofdirty clothes. I had papers andcurling irons sprawled out on mydesk. My room was a mess and Ihad not noticed. I had thought

back to what Darren had said, “Amessy room shows lack of or-ganization and that transpires intoschool work.” I needed to organ-ize my life. I need to make mybed. I wanted a better future formyself and I wanted to make mymom proud and show her thateven though she did not go tocollege; she was a big part of herdaughter going to college. Thatnight, after I got off the phone withmy dad, I cleaned my room.

In that time I thought about re-

organizing my life. I knew that the

upcoming affirmative action de-

bate in my College Readiness

class was the place to start. The

night before the debate, Gabby, a

group mate, came over so that

we could work on our arguments

together. We flipped through arti-

cles and typed like crazy. That

next day I was excited to present

because I knew that I had pre-

pared a well-developed argu-

ment. As I was reading my

nerves kicked in and I was too

scared to look up but I was sur-

prised to see that nobody looked

bored, my teacher had a smile on

her face and an older student

gave me thumbs up. As we were

leaving the class at the end of the

debate, my teacher walked up to

me telling me how proud she was

and gave me a hug. I couldn’t

wait to tell Paulina, my dorm ad-

visor that my hard work did pull

through for me, that staying up

past three was worth it. At that

moment I understood what Dar-

ren was trying to tell me. When I

put time into organizing my room,

I wanted to organize the rest of

my life.

I am always going to be de-

veloping into a smarter and more

responsible person and I am

going to love and be proud of

those moments that I can say that

I worked hard for the achieve-

ments that I have received. I

wanted to go to college and make

my mom proud. I was going to be

serious about making my bed

everyday and take my academ-

ics seriously. Mariah Brown is the daugh-

ter of Keisha and David Woods.She is a senior at EastsidePreparatory School and plans toattend Saint Mary's College inSeptember.

She was accepted into thecollege’s High Potential Programand received college accept-ances to over 9 colleges and uni-versities. She decided SaintMary's is currently a better fit.

landlords throughout the stateto offer empty units at what-ever the market will bear. Thisstate law came into effect justas the dot-com bubble sentrents throughout the regionskyrocketing in 1999-2000,only to come crashing backdown after the bubble burst.

Because the current RSOlacks an explicit provision toreset Certificates of MaximumRent for each new tenant, thebubble and subsequent crashleft many certificates hundredsof dollars higher than the fairmarket rents that landlordswere offering new tenants.Page Mill’s lawyers seized onthis situation to claim that the“maximum rent” establishedfor a prior tenant during thebubble was binding on the Cityand all future tenants. Despitetwo hearing examiners whoruled that Page Mill’s claims

were invalid and contrary tothe RSO and state law, PageMill continued to demand thattenants pay these exorbitantrent increases. This core issuewas never directly consideredby the courts and remains un-resolved. Measure H fixesthese problems.

Voter approval of the meas-ure will make it unambiguousthat landlords are only allowedto raise rents once per yearbased on the rent that the cur-rent tenant is actually paying,and certificates will track the cur-rent tenant’s rent. Each year, theallowed increase will be 80% ofthe official inflation rate, butnever more than a 10% in-crease over the current rent.

Landlords can still make aprofit under this system, and yettenants are protected from largeincreases. Measure H also re-solves the ambiguities around

the “banking” of rent increasesin a way that gives landlords theflexibility to skip a rent increasein one year and catch up a yearor two later, but the total numberof increases a landlord can“bank” and apply later is limitedand the total increase cannot ex-ceed 10%.

Another way in which Meas-ure H takes Costa-Hawkins intoaccount is by eliminating thesubstantial rehabilitation exemp-tion. This exemption seldomachieved its desired effect: toencourage landlords to makesignificant structural improve-ments. Instead, it attracted

fraudulent exemption petitions.Now, with the ability to offer va-cant units at market rates thisexemption

is no longer necessary.Measure H does, however, pre-serve and update the opportu-nity for landlords to apply for afair return adjustment, a provi-sion that has been more com-monly used by landlords torecoup the cost of real invest-ments that improved conditionsfor tenants. Measure H also in-cludes a number of other impor-tant improvements. It narrowsthe “mom and pop” exemptionfrom rent control to apply only toowner-occupied duplexes andtriplexes.

It makes the law more en-forceable, both by the City andtenants, and gives the court theoption to impose stiffer penaltiesfor violations. Finally, it pre-serves and clarifies the protec-

tion against unjust eviction andadds an explicit provision thatprohibits harassment of tenants.

All of these changes aim atsimply making the law do its job,which is to encourage goodlandlords to treat tenants fairlyand to deter systematic abuses.Our hard-working families,friends, and neighbors who rentin East Palo Alto deserve thismuch-needed improvement tothe Rent Stabilization Ordi-nance. By helping renters to re-main as stable, long-termresidents in our community, thislaw protects us all. On June 8th,please vote YES on Measure H.

Matthew Fremont is a mem-ber of the Fair Rent Coalition.See him talk about Measure Hon the current edition of the Talk-ing with Henrietta show, whichairs on Channel 27 until May28, 2010.

California’s public pension fundsIs internal reform enough?

By Chris Lund

EPA Today Contributor

Following the introductionof AB 2337, the Socially Re-sponsible Investment Act, byAssemblymember Tom Ammi-ano, CalPERS and CalSTRSrecently proposed changes intheir real estate investmentpolicies with the goal of avoid-ing future investments in dealsthat rely, or result in, the dis-placement of residents in af-fordable housing, a practicecommonly referred to as"predatory equity".

Predatory equity is an in-herently risky form of real es-tate speculation in whichinvestors pay more for rent-regulated housing than can bejustified by the actual rental in-come at the time of purchase.

The business model is predi-cated on the eviction and ha-rassment of tenants so thatrents can be significantlyraised through vacancy de-control or so that propertiescan be converted to otheruses such as condominiums.

Unfortunately, this practicehas become a problem of bothstatewide and national impor-tance in recent years, and hasin many instances used publicpension fund money as theprimary source of equity. Be-yond the ethical concernsraised by such practices, theinvestments have also provento be financially unsound, withCalPERS and CalSTRS re-cently losing more than $700million in deals in New YorkCity and East Palo Alto.

While CalPERS’ and Cal-

STRS’ proposed real estate in-vestment policy changes arean important first step, they donot sufficiently guarantee thatthese types of predatory in-vestments will come to a halt.

In addition to holes in thelanguage of the proposed poli-cies, including a failure to pro-vide a right of return todisplaced renters when rent-regulated housing is demol-ished, the fact remains thatsuch policies can be modifiedat will by the board. Institu-tional memory is short, andnothing in the proposed poli-cies prevents the boards fromrescinding the changes whenmoney once again begins toflow more freely in the real es-tate market. Legislation re-mains necessary to ensurethat these policies stay in ef-

fect under the current and fu-ture boards.

In weighing the efficacy ofself-oversight versus statutoryreform, it is worth remember-ing that both CalPERS andCalSTRS were signatories tothe UN Principles for Respon-sible Investment at the timemany of these investmentswere made, and yet this partic-ular internal policy commit-ment was insufficient toprevent these investments.CalPERS’ controversial invest-ment in Page Mill Properties’East Palo Alto portfolio, whichhas received significant cover-age in local and national newsoutlets over the past year, re-sulted in the displacement ofover 1,500 predominantlyLatino and African Americanlow-income residents in less

than 18 months.Most would agree that it is

unacceptable for the retire-ment funds of California publicemployees to be used to dis-place working people fromtheir homes. AB 2337 wouldprovide stronger more perma-nent protections for renters,safeguard workers’ retirementfunds, and introduce greatertransparency and accountabil-ity into the investment decisionmaking process, something allCalifornians would no doubtlike to see.

Chris Lund is an East PaloAlto resident who is one of thefounders of the Fair RentCoalition for Tenants. His arti-cle is reprinted with the per-mission of the Capitol Weeklynewspaper. It appeared in theApril 1, 2010 edition.

Importance of Measure H continued from page 7

Handling school continued from page 7


EPA’s students excel academicallyBy Chris Bischoff

Thanks to their commit-ment to their education andthe hard work that has broughtthem to this point, the mem-bers of the Eastside Class of2010 will enter the followingschools in the fall:Ca’Shea Airy - UCLAFelicia Anderson - San Fran-cisco State UniversityChantaell Barker - BarnardCollegeWynesha Branch - PrairieView A&M UniversityMariah Brown - Saint Mary’sCollege of CaliforniaManuel Chavez - UC MercedJose Churape - KalamazooCollegeEliana Corona - Vassar Col-legeCatherine Cunningham -Bryn Mawr CollegeLuis Flores - CSU MontereyBayDarrell Ford - Stanford Uni-versity

Erika Gallegos - UCLAVashon Guidry - CSU EastBayYesenia Guizar - OccidentalCollegePorshay Hart - University ofSan FranciscoLani Hengehenga - CSU EastBayOscar Hernandez - LoyolaMarymount UniversityClara Ibarra - UC Santa CruzGustavo Jimenez - UCMercedRumaanah Khan - CSU EastBayJavier Magana - Colgate Uni-versityJesus Magana - CSU EastBayFrank Maldonado - UCMercedVeronica Maldonado - MountHolyoke CollegeErnesto Martinez - St. Ed-ward’s UniversityJosh Martinez - GonzagaUniversityNoe Mata - Sonoma State

UniversityChanell Mays - Mount St.Mary’s CollegeTania Murphy - Mount St.Mary’s CollegeAyde Nunez - CSU East BayMargarita Perez - StanfordUniversityVeronica Polanco - UC SantaCruzEvelyn Reynada - MountHolyoke CollegeRuben Robles - Vassar Col-legeDarryl Sepulveda - UC SantaCruzJamela Tatum - Prairie ViewA&M UniversityKassandra Torres - MountHolyoke CollegeGabriela Trujillo - MountHolyoke CollegeYecica Urena - Bryn MawrCollegeTitus Van Hook - PomonaCollegeDiana Vargas - Stanford Uni-versityRuth Vasquez - Mount St.

Mary’s College We hope you will celebrate

with us at our eleventh gradu-ation ceremony on May 27that 5:00 pm.

Best wishes,Chris

Chris Bishoff is the principalof Eastside College Prepara-tory SchoolEditors note:Some of the stu-dents listed above were alsoaccepted at Harvard andYale! This has happened foreleven years in a row.

Computers for scholarsBy Anita CuellarEast Palo Alto Today

On March 5, 2010 at Cesar

Chavez Academy 6 of 40

honor roll students were recip-

ients of refurbished comput-

ers. The 6 lucky recipients

were:

8thGradeEduardo Alvarado SandovalG.P.A 4.0Alondra E. Jaime Nava,G.P.A3.95Martha Flores GuitronG.P.A 3.83; Brenda Hernandez MarquezG.P.A 3.83; Christopher Juan G.P.A 3.83

7th Grade Carmen Ayala- G.P.A. 3.88

The computers were do-

nated by the community

based organization Comput-

ers For Everyone. Computers

For Everyone provides low-in-

come families with complete

computer systems (Monitor,

Keyboard, Mouse, Tower) for

$100. Along with digital liter-

acy classes and an internship

that provides people from the

comm u n i t y w i t h t e c h n i -

c a l exper ience.

The computers are to help

students and their families

have a family computer in the

home. The students had to

have a GPA of 3.75 or higher.

“We wanted to recognize the

students who have really

made a dedicated effort to

excel in the classroom. By

awarding these students com-

puters we hope that they can

use it as a tool for the families

and to aide them in reaching

their educational goals.”

Computers For Everyone

will be awarding more comput-

ers to students at Cesar

Chavez Academy during their

end of the year assembly.For more information and

class schedule for classesplease visit: http://www.com-p u t e r s f o r e v e r y o n e . b i z

Anita Cuellar is the

manager of WiFI 101. She

can be reached by email

at [email protected], by

phone at 650.832.1261.

Anita Cuellar, who is on the far left of the photo, stand withsome of the students who were awarded computers.

Project

Sentinel

DISCRIMINACION

DE VIVIENDA

¿Eres una Victima?

Commercial and Residential

Permit Expeditor & Outreach Services

Please contact

Patrick Brock

of

BROCK & COMPANY

2111B University Avenue

East Palo Alto, CA 94303

650-799-8563 cell

650-326-9972 fax

Commercial and Residential

Permit Expeditor & Outreach Services


of consciousness about thecultures of students and fami-lies of color can lead educa-tors to unintentionally lowertheir expectations of their stu-dents of color.

I would suggest that edu-cators’ beliefs about studentcapability determine resultingdisparities. Connected to oneunconscious, uninformed be-lief about the abilities of stu-dents of color is a multitude of

destructive behaviors inboardrooms, offices and class-rooms that diminish educa-tional opportunities for thosepopulations.

Courageous conversationsabout race alone will not elim-inate racial disparities. Buthelping educators develop anunderstanding about race isan essential starting point.

Glenn E. Singleton is

president of Pacific Educa-

tional Group, Inc, in San Fran-

cisco, Calif., and is the author

of Courageous Conversations

About Race: A Strategy for

Achieving.His article What If? was

originally published in and ishere reprinted in East PaloAlto Today with the author’spermission.

What If? continued from page 7Observing Family Servicecontinued from page 4non-profit organizations to con-nect with residents of East PaloAlto and surrounding areas to letthem know of the services and re-sources they offer.

There were over thirty organi-zations present at the communityfair ranging from sports clubs tocollege readiness programs an-swering questions and providingcritical information to the public.

San Mateo County Health De-partment was doing their part tohelp keep the community healthyby providing free H1N1 flu shotson site. All of the organizations thatparticipated are focused helping

keep the communities healthyand smart.

Youth Community Service is anon-profit organization that hasbeen bringing together Palo Alto,East Palo Alto, and Menlo Park forthe past twenty years by promot-ing coming together through serv-ice to their communities.

The Family Service Day andCommunity Fair event is always aculmination of collaboration be-tween our communities and YCSlooks forward to next year’s part-nerships to make it as successfulas this year’s!Sandra Y. Casillas

EAST PALO ALTO SANITARY DISTRICT

cordially invites interested residents from

the East Palo Alto and Menlo Park communities

to attend the meeting of the

Board of Directors of the East Palo Alto Sanitary District

for a discussion of the

2010-2011 proposed budget

Date: June 3, 2010

Time: 7 p.m.

Place: East Palo Alto Sanitary District

901 Weeks Street

East Palo Alto, CA

Oral and written comments are invited

Community CalendarSee more community events at East Palo Alto Today’s calendarpage in the announcements and events section at www.epato-day.org

If you have been discriminated

against in your housing situation,

visit Project Sentinel,

a non-profit agency

(888) F-A-I-R-H-O-U-S-I-N-G, (888)324-7468

Former Palo Alto City Council member Yoriko Kishimoto, entrepreneur Josh Becker, HenriettaJ. Burroughs and San Mateo County Supervisor Rich Gordon sit on the set of the Talking withHenrietta show.

Three Democratic candidates are competing to be the California State Assembly member rep-resenting the 21 Assembly District. On this edition of Talking with Henrietta, we discuss thechanges they would like to make if elected and why each thinks that they are the best candidatefor the position. Their one hour discussion can be seen on Channel 27 on the Midpeninsula fromSunday, May 30 until Friday,June 11. This edition of Talking with Henrietta can also be seen onSundays@5 p.m., Tuesdays@8 p.m., Wednesdays@3 a.m. and 11 a.m., Thursdays@8 p.m.and Fridays@3 a.m. and 11 a.m. Viewers can see the show on the web at the above days andtimes at www.midpenmedia.org.

Talking with Henrietta

Local TV CoverageAn Interview with Three California State Assembly Candidates

East Palo Alto Today Page 9 May - June, 2010 Lifecycles · East Palo Alto Today Page 9 May - June,...

Documents

Transcript of East Palo Alto Today Page 9 May - June, 2010 Lifecycles · East Palo Alto Today Page 9 May - June,...