The Barron Park Association

Sep 122013
 

Another Community meeting called by the Transportation Division to receive input about a bicycle boulevard, this one running along Maybell-Donald-Georgia, from El Camino Way to Arastradero.

When:  September 17, 2013 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Where: Terman Middle School Cafeteria Room

The text of the message sent to homeowners by mail:

“The City is soliciting public input on design elements of the proposed Maybell-Donald-Georgia Bicycle Boulevard between El Camino Way and Arastradero Road. This project is proposed in the City’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Plan 2012 and supports Safe Routes to School operations for Briones Elementary, Terman Middle and Gunn High School.

The kickoff meeting will include a presentation on standard bicycle boulevard treatments and allow residents to provide input, using high resolution maps, of areas where focused improvements may be necessary to improve bicycle and pedestrian operations.

All information shared at the meeting will be posted on the City website at www.cityofpaloalto.org/transportationprojects

Following the meeting, the design team will put together improvement concepts that are responsive to the community input and return for a followup meeting later in the fall.”


If this follows the recipe for similar meetings they’ve held on the Matadero-Margarita Bicycle Boulevard, Jaime Rodriguez will give a presentation about bicycle boulevard treatments and answer a few questions and take a few comments. He will then ask the attendees to break up into several groups and look at some high resolution posters of the streets taped to tables in the rear, and write their comments and suggestions for special treatments (crosswalks, signs, speed humps…) on those places on the posters.

He refused to discuss other traffic issues publicly (invited speaker to talk with him privately) when they were raised at the recent Matadero -Margarita Bicycle Boulevard meeting.

Jul 112013
 

Barron Park Association’s Neighborhood Movie Night under the stars!

WALL-E

Saturday, July 27th, 2013 @ Bol Park

 

7:30PM – meet someone new, old, young…

     Do you have a robot to show and talk about? 

                          Bring IT!

Dusk – movie starts

     Popcorn will be provided (limited amount)

     Please BYO… chair, blanket, water, refreshments and your favorite movie treat, etc.

Supported by a grant from Palo Alto’s “Know Your Neighbor”  program : event organized by Lydia Kou

Jul 052013
 

Note : This is a guest post by Barron Park resident Jerry Underdal, in which he expresses his personal views about the PAHC project on the Maybell–Clemo site.

Please Don’t Kick it Away

I credit the Barron Park and Green Acres communities for accomplishing a great deal in pushing back against a hastily put-together, though well-intentioned, project that didn’t show an awareness of the deep suspicion of city hall and seething resentment over traffic impacts of the Arastradero makeover. Thanks to our efforts, the city was forced to acknowledge that we have a major traffic safety problem that has to be dealt with even if the Maybell/Clemo property reverts to apricot orchard. Public opinion around the city swung to sympathy and support for a neighborhood seen as fighting a process of land-use change that leaves citizens feeling powerless. Here was a neighborhood that wasn’t going to take it lying down. And (here I differ from the strong majority of BPA membership) we got concession after concession as PAHC and the City Council fought to keep the project alive and show the neighbors that it truly was trying to come up with a project that would be a point of pride for Barron Park, not dismay.

Do members know that there will be 7 two-story homes on Maybell, with varied set-backs of 18–22 feet so there won’t be a monotonous sameness, and the fronts of the buildings are to have distinctive elements so they look like anything but the generic rows of townhouses that we see elsewhere. There’ll be no driveways onto Maybell. There will be 5 three-story homes on Clemo, the upper portions concealed by existing oak trees. Traffic will be restricted from accessing Maybell except through the adjacent apartment house complex parking lot. An amount of $200,000 is provided for addressing safety concerns on Maybell–work to be completed before actual construction begins. And, of course, the main goal and public benefit for this project would be the 60 units of affordable housing for seniors with limited income, with attractive landscaping inside the complex. Continue reading »

Jan 202013
 

…..from Marlo Kitch

A group of Barron Park families are hosting our 2nd Annual National Service Day Bake Sale in Bol Park this Monday, January 21st between 12:30 and 4. 

Please come enjoy some treats and support the InnVision Opportunity Center in Palo Alto (Palo Alto’s only long term housing for the homeless).  All the proceeds from the bake sale will be donated to the Children’s Activity Program at the Opportunity Center.  We hope you will come to the park to join our community in making this National Service Project a success!!

Jan 172013
 
.. by Greta Gize Olbrich
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the recipients of the Scientific and Technical Achievements earlier in January, and two of the winners have connections to Palo Alto. Lawrence Kesteloot (San Francisco)Drew Olbrich (Palo Alto – Barron Park Resident), and Daniel Wexler (Soda Springs – Gunn High graduate) will receive an Academy Award for Technical Achievement for their creation of the Light system for computer graphics lighting at PDI/DreamWorks.  Kesteloot, Olbrich, andWexler will be honored for their achievement in filmmaking  at the annual Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation in Beverly Hills on February 9, two weeks prior to the televised Academy Awards.

Kesteloot, Olbrich, and Wexler worked at PDI/DreamWorks for a number of years when the office was located on Park Ave. in Palo Alto, near the Fry’s building, before its move to Redwood City off Seaport Blvd. PDI/DreamWorks’ Light system has been used to make several of DreamWorks’ most successful films such as the Shrek and Madagascar series. The first Shrek movie won the Academy Award for Best Animated Picture in 2002. One of Palo Alto’s Bol Park Donkeys was used as model for the donkey character, which was voiced by Eddie Murphy. Bol Park is right around the corner from Barron Park School, where Drew Olbrich’s children attend school.

More about the Light System:

The Light System is virtually unchanged from its original incarnation over 15 years ago, and is still in continuous use due to its emphasis on interactive responsiveness, final–quality interactive render preview, scalable architecture and powerful user–configurable spreadsheet interface.

Unlike other Academy Awards, achievements receiving Scientific and Technical Awards need not have been developed and introduced during 2012. Rather, the achievements must demonstrate a proven record of contributing significant value to the process of making motion pictures.

For more information, please see:

http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2013/20130103.html