JulianaLee.com
On April 23, 2013 the Mountain View city council approved a mixed used development at the corner of Castro and Church streets. A four-story 28,000 square foot building will be built at 605 Castro which is planned to have offices on the upper levels and either retail or offices at the ground level. Eight three story condominiums will be built behind the office building.
A underground garage will provide 87 parking spaces, which is 16 percent less than normally required.
Many homeowners living near the Caltrain tracks have been wanting the High Speed Rail to be built in a way which improves their neighborhoods. Trenched, tunneled, and raised tracks have all been discussed. A recent blog post probably shows the future. It looks like raised tracks are likely in south Palo Alto.
The Caltrain HSR Compatibility Blog posted an article on Dec 29, 2012 titled “Grade Separation: The Decadal View” showing expected changes to railroad crossings. The blog can be reached at: http://caltrain-hsr.blogspot.com/
The first phase is simply to complete the San Mateo/San Bruno grade separation in 2013.
The second phase shows four at grade crossings in San Mateo County being changed to grade separation by a combination of raising the tracks and trenching the road to go beneath the tracks. By changing these four crossings, the HSR would have longer uninterrupted sections for higher speed travel. Presumably a key factor for both raising the tracks and lowering the road is to minimize how much property would have to be seized through eminent domain … clover leaf interchanges require space (Oregon Ave underpass)
The third phase creates a stretch of track free of grade crossings from the southern half of Palo Alto all of the way to San Jose. Completion is expected in the late 2020s. Again the grade separation is achieved by combining raising the tracks and trenching the roadway.
Homeowners currently living near the tracks have been hoping better solutions would be found. Unfortunately the blog is probably quite close to what will happen.
The attendance boundary between Addison and Walter Hays Elementary Schools is expected to be changed and finalized Jan 29.
The proposed boundary change moves the west boundary of Walter Hays over to Kingsley Ave plus adds the area bounded by Middlefield Rd, Channing Ave, and Mellville Ave to Walter Hays.
Dozens of students have been overflowed from Addison to schools across town. Walter Hays has had room to spare.
A 1.67 acre parcel next to Terman Middle School, which is owned by Bowman International School, may become available to expand Terman middle school.
Bowman International School is looking for a larger site and may sell the current site to the Palo Alto Unified School District. Terman Middle School is the smallest of Palo Alto’s three middle schools with 750 students. If the parcel is purchased and used to expand Terman, the school could support about 1,100 students, the same number as each of the other two middle schools.
School planners believe the new capacity will be needed in eight years. Expanding Terman Middle School could be an efficient way to provide the capacity.
People make communities great. Schools, job opportunities, cost of living, taxes and weather are all brought up when looking at a community but people are what make the community great. I talked to Dr. Kevin Skelly, the superintendent of the Palo Alto Unified School District, and Kathy Schroeder, the executive director of Palo Alto Partners in Education. Their knowledge, ideas and enthusiasm are instantly evident. They are striving to help our children become great, amazing people.
I hope I can make meaningful contributions to my neighborhood, to my city, … to everyone possible. Palo Alto is widely recognized for the abilities of its students. Why would I choose to make perhaps my largest single contribution to date to Palo Alto Schools? Our Palo Alto schools will effectively use the money to help make our children great amazing people. Schools make our community better. Schools make our country stronger.
Yes, Chinese people are known for their education goals, but it is not just my Chinese heritage which leads me to value education. I no longer have children in Palo Alto schools. Even colleges are mostly behind for my immediate family. My education helped me have a strong curiosity, a strong desire to understand and make things better. Dr Skelly while talking about how parents and schools could help students, first brought up encouraging the curiosity of our children. I see the strengths in my own family members being directly related to their curiosity and supported by their education. Our schools are our future.
Help our schools and our community. Contact Palo Alto Partners in Education:
Office: 650-329-3990
kschroeder@papie.org
www.papie.org
Tranquil: 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath Redwood Shores home for sale. Click on picture for details. Find more pictures here. Video coming soon.
Efficient: 2 bedroom, 2 bath Palo Alto home for sale. Click on picture for details. Find more pictures here. Video coming soon.
Spacious: 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath San Bruno home for sale. Click on picture for details. Find more pictures here. Video coming soon.
Spacious: 5 bedroom, 3 bath San Jose home for sale. Click on picture for details. Find more pictures here. Video coming soon.