The Barron Park Association

The 17th Annual Juana Run will take place Saturday, March 2, 2013. Race through our beautiful Barron Park neighborhood in a competitive 8K race or enter the 1-mile family fun run.

There are other races for children, from pre-K to the 5th grade, and a Challenge Race for children with special needs.

The 8K starts at 8:30AM. The kids races starting times are varied, beginning at 10 AM. The 1-mile family run starts at 11 AM.

Proceeds benefit Terman and Gunn Sports Boosters and the Barron Park School PTA.

Bring the whole family, participate in the races and enjoy a Pancake breakfast, and other free food and drink.

If you don’t wanna run, but still wanna have fun, come volunteer at the race:

for pre-race help, click here
for monitoring the race click here
for race day help to help monitor: click here

BPA Board Meeting Minutes – provisional until voted on at next Board Meeting : Feb 19, 2013

Attendees: Markus Fromherz, Nancy Hamilton, Christian Kalar, John King, Lydia Kou, Art Liberman, Gwen Luce, Lynnie Melena, Linda Elder

Absent: Doug Moran

Guests: Winter Dellenbach and Gerry Masteller, BP residents (LaPara), Soroor Ebnesajjad, BP resident (Florales), Bob Moss, BP resident (Orme)

Call to order: 7:20 p.m.

1. Agenda Changes: None.

2. Minutes for November 20, 2012: Approved unanimously.

3. Brief Status Update of the Closure process of the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park (BVMHP) and Proposed Prometheus Development Project (Lynnie and Art)

The residents of BVMHP have just started to be contacted individually by relocation and appraisal consultants. The closure process is following the schedule announced by the City’s Planning Department in December. The city is preparing the Relocation Impact Report and it is expected out in April. The Prometheus development proposal is on hold and there is no information beyond what was in the BPA newsletter article. (Winter issue 2012-2013). Prometheus has assured us they will participate in a community meeting with Barron Park residents before presenting their proposal to the City Council. The issues of affordable housing for some of the displaced residents of BVMHP and of some affordable units in the Prometheus proposal remain unsettled.

4. Annual Meeting Date and Topic (Lynnie)

There is too much up in the air regarding the BVMHP and the Prometheus proposed redevelopment for it to be the annual meeting topic. There was no enthusiasm by Board members for any of the other proposed speakers or topics Lydia contacted a dance troupe/event planner who will organize a Lion Dance in celebration of Asian Lunar New Year. They are available to perform on Saturday, February 9 at a cost of $1100. We noted that since we have discontinued the Welcoming Gathering and Christmas caroling this new event was warranted and the suggestion was warmly received. Lydia is still looking into a City grant to support this kind of cultural event. The event planner will take care of promotions and reaching out to Barron Park schools. We agreed that any promotion would be limited to the Barron Park vicinity. John moved to hold Barron Park’s Lunar New Year Celebration in lieu of an annual meeting and approve the $1100 expense. All were in favor. The dance will be held outdoors if weather permits and move indoors if not. There was some concern about the short lead time, but we decided it won’t be necessary to send out post cards. Gwen mentioned that the Welcome Gathering did not use them. Sharing of Asian foods may be a part of the celebration. The event time will be from 2PM – 4PM. Lynnie and Lydia will book the Barron Park School immediately.

……. from BPA Board member Lydia Kou, lkou@apr.com

The Barron Park Association would like to invite all members of our neighborhood community to the Barron Park Lunar New Year Celebration, scheduled for Saturday, February 9, from 2 to 4 p.m., at the Barron Park School Multi-Purpose Room.

The event will feature a local prestigious Lion Dance acrobatic troupe! Community and friendship are based on everyone lending a hand and we are counting on members of our neighborhood to bring some special holiday foods to share that will add to the festivities. This link, Barron Park Lunar New Year Celebration, is to a Jooners online sign-up sheet on which you and others in the neighborhood can sign up to contribute something to our celebration of the Lunar New Year. If what you would like to contribute is not on the list, please let us know or add to the Jooners sheet.

…..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!!

.. 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

The Barron Park Association

The 17th Annual Juana Run Race through Barron Park

BPA Board Meeting Minutes: January 15, 2013

National Service Day Bake Sale at Bol Park on Monday, Jan 21st

Academy Award Winners Include a Barron Park Resident and a Gunn High Alum