A peek into the crystal ball A peek into the crystal ball (January 06, 2006)

The biggest stories of the coming year include ribbon-cuttings, school closings and new faces at City Hall

By Molly Tanenbaum and Jon Wiener

Mayor Matt Neely and Vice Mayor Nick Galiotto like to joke that Neely spent his year making public appearances at groundbreaking ceremonies, while Galiotto will be the one who gets to do all the ribbon-cuttings.

The new year will see the unveiling of a host of major projects, from the interchange at Highways 85 and 101 to the new reservoir and playing fields at Graham Reservoir to the efficiency studios project on San Antonio Circle. It will feature an election that will bring new faces to the city council and elementary school board. And decisions made this year will determine the future of Slater School, Moffett Field's Hangar One and Shoreline Amphitheatre.

Here are some of the things to watch for in Mountain View in 2006.
New highway, new clinic, old Hangar

The fate of Moffett Field landmark Hangar One may be sealed within the next few months. The Navy is analyzing 13 different potential solutions to clean up the PCBs and other contaminants in the siding of the hangar, and cleanup officials plan to release their recommendation early this year. The Navy is likely to demolish the structure unless a coalition emerges with the tens of millions of dollars needed to pay for repairs.

County highway officials are scheduled to complete the $125 million rebuilding of the 85/101 interchange in April, according to spokesperson Brandi Hall. The next step in the project is an off-ramp from northbound 85 onto Shoreline Boulevard, to be followed by the completion of two carpool lane bridges connecting the two highways.

And after knocking down the old Emporium building in 2005, Camino Medical Group will spend the year building a new clinic at the site, with hopes of opening in early 2007.
Slater closing, Castro hopeful

The year 2006 looms large on the campuses of local schools, with one of its seven elementary schools closing in June and Superintendent Rich Fischer retiring from the Mountain View-Los Altos High School District.

The Mountain View-Whisman Elementary School District, which made the painful and prolonged decision to shut Slater last year, will see the biggest change, as teachers and students are shifted to new seats at the six remaining elementary schools.

In a bittersweet twist, Slater will celebrate its 50th anniversary in February. The school's PACT alternative school program will move to Castro Elementary School in the fall, and Castro will undergo even more changes before the start of its next school year.

For its part, Castro will implement a new site plan in an effort to bring test scores up after several years of not meeting federal No Child Left Behind standards. The next round of testing will take place at the end of April and if Castro fails to measure up, the school will be forced to revise its programs in 2006-07.

School officials look for tight budgets to continue in 2006-07, saying it will be more difficult to maintain the targeted 3 percent reserve. There is some good news: The district could generate about $500,000 a year in new revenue by leasing out Slater's campus, according to chief financial officer Rebecca Wright.
Housing, Shoreline occupy city's time

The release of the environmental impact report for Toll Brother's plan for Mayfield Mall kicks off a year that will see a number of private housing developments come to the city council for review. The report on the 600-unit plan is available in the community development department of City Hall.

Other developments will also require the city to redraw zoning maps in order to take advantage of vacant industrial and agricultural land. Plans call for thousands of units to go up around the city, including large projects along Ferguson Drive and Evelyn Avenue.

City planners will also continue to prepare to annex the Grant Road farm field and the Shenandoah military housing site at Moffett Boulevard and Middlefield Road, in order to clear the way for large private housing developments at each location.

The city council will finally decide the future of Cuesta Park Annex this year, beginning with a Jan. 17 study session where council members will review various options for open space. Some neighbors have asked the council to maintain it as wild land, but officials are tempted by the prospect of adding needed playing fields.

And a trial scheduled to begin in February will continue to shine a bright light on accounting methods at Shoreline Amphitheatre. Bill Graham Presents, a division of media giant Clear Channel Communications, could not only lose its lease at the venue, but also face punitive damages totaling tens of millions. Judging from recent victories in several pretrial rulings, the city appears to have gained the upper hand, leading some council members to suspect the company will abandon its take-no-prisoners approach and propose a settlement.
New faces in office

Mike Kasperzak, the dean of the city council, will be stepping down at the end of the year after term limits put an end to his eight years on the council. Matt Neely and Greg Perry, the two youngest members of the council, will both be up for re-election in what will be the most tightly regulated campaign the city has ever seen.

Meanwhile, former Mountain View Mayor Sally Lieber is likely to cruise to victory in her third and final campaign for state Assembly.

Both school districts will hold board elections this fall, with the terms of Ellen Wheeler and Fran Kruss at Mountain View-Whisman ending and those of David Williams, Judy Hannemann and Julia Rosenberg winding down at Mountain View-Los Altos. Kruss has said she will retire from the elementary school board this November after 14 years.
Fischer leaving as new campus opens

Happy Alta Vista High continuation students at Mountain View-Los Altos will enjoy their new campus, and potentially their first on-campus graduation in the school's new multi-use room.

Superintendent Rich Fischer, who was instrumental in securing city land for the project during his nine years with the district, will retire at the end of the school year. The district plans to hire a search firm to secure Fischer's replacement before he moves toward retirement with his wife in Placer County.

In the fall, Freestyle High will open its doors at the former Alta Vista campus, offering a multimedia approach to high school education for juniors and seniors. The pilot program, which was spearheaded by Fischer and now has five teachers on board for the fall, plans to eventually move to the NASA campus. The Mountain View-Los Altos district will continue to work to close its achievement gap in algebra, and part of the new efforts will include a math mentoring program between Mountain View High students and Crittenden middle schoolers.

Mountain View High also plans to welcome back principal Pat Hyland in the fall after her year spent battling breast cancer. Hyland will undergo radiation treatments through February and is already back at work in the district office analyzing data. Interim principal Keith Moody will finish out the school year in Hyland's absence.
CFO Marla Gularte filling in for Domanico

El Camino Hospital begins 2006 by bidding farewell to CEO Lee Domanico, who after five years at the not-for-profit hospital will become CEO of a six-hospital group in Portland, Ore. While the board of directors works with a search firm to track down a new CEO, Marla Gularte, the hospital's current chief financial officer, will fill Domanico's seat.

El Camino will also move forward with construction plans -- despite financial complications due to extended legal battles with Saratoga lawyer Aaron Katz over his right to vote for the hospital's $148 million bond measure. If Katz's challenge is resolved, the funds would be used to build a new hospital building. Unlike Katz's similar suit against the Mountain View-Whisman school district, this one has hampered the hospital's ability to sell its bonds until the legal issues are cleared up.

In the meantime, the new dialysis building and parking structure will be completed by the end of this month, and the medical offices building is on track to be completed in July. The hospital building itself has a longer timeline, with completion expected by the end of 2008.

E-mail Molly Tanenbaum at mtanenbaum@mv-voice.com and Jon Wiener at jwiener@mv-voice.com

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