Old neighbors, new friends Old neighbors, new friends (May 14, 2004)

Residents near Graham Middle School celebrate stadium light victory with block party

By Grace Rauh

When Heidi Flaherty and her neighbors successfully blocked stadium lights from going up on a playing field near their homes, they were thrilled with the win.

But the neighborhood also won an additional, unexpected reward in their movement to keep bright lights out of their backyards.

In the battle's aftermath a new camaraderie has sprung up on the streets surrounding Graham Middle School, where the lights would have been installed. Residents say they are getting to know their neighbors for the first time, and they sense the neighborhood coming together in an entirely new way.

"I think we all got to know each other enough to say, 'Wow, these are a lot of great people and I didn't know them before,'" said Flaherty, who helped spearhead the local campaign to block the lights. "It gives you a sense of community."

Residents from the neighborhood near the middle school urged the Mountain View City Council in March to block lights from going up on Graham's fields. The city is breaking ground at the middle school this summer to make way for a $12 million reservoir that will increase Mountain View's water storage capacity. Playing fields on top of the reservoir will be upgraded as part of the project and the council was considering installing lights, until nearby residents balked at the idea.

At a block party on May 2, roughly 70 neighbors who live near Graham poured into Rustic Lane for a celebration. People who had not known each other before the movement to block the lights, embraced and shared in an afternoon of food, music and chatter.

Flaherty brought a cake bearing the message: "Congratulations Team Democracy Works," and neighbors dined on paella.

Mike Sanchez, who was active alongside Flaherty in the campaign, has lived near Graham Middle School for 17 years but was never involved in any neighborhood associations or campaigns before the spring.

But when Sanchez learned about the city's plans to install lights at the school, he was suddenly thrust into a new world. Sanchez attended a Cuesta Park Neighborhood Association meeting to tap the group for advice and watched the council in action for the first time. He began interacting with neighbors he may have only glimpsed when out with his two dogs on a walk.

"I was never involved, and actually I didn't even know the people in charge," Sanchez said of the neighborhood association. Now he is attending meetings and plans to help out at the annual barbecue at Cuesta Park this summer.

According to Paul Donahue, president of the neighborhood association, attendance at the group's quarterly meetings has shot up by roughly 30 percent since the light issue galvanized residents near Graham Middle School.

"I think that that got neighbors on Rustic Lane and Boranda in touch with each other," Donahue said. "We've found some new people and we've signed them up to help out with the summer picnic."

E-mail Grace Rauh at grauh@mv-voice.com

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