Sec 1 - Mountain View Voice
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Sec 1 - Mountain View Voice
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6 ■ <strong>Mountain</strong> <strong>View</strong> <strong>Voice</strong> ■ <strong>Mountain</strong><strong>View</strong>Online.com ■ August 31, 2012<br />
PG&E<br />
Continued from page 1<br />
themselves in a similar situation,<br />
and Hauck and his neighbors say<br />
they had no idea the lines existed<br />
under their backyards.<br />
PG&E says the tree roots could<br />
disturb the line and cause a leak,<br />
like the one that caused a deadly<br />
explosion along line 132 in San<br />
Bruno in 2010. Trees also block<br />
detection of leaks by aircraft fitted<br />
with special laser technology,<br />
PG&E says.<br />
Alex Dimitri, a Kaiser physician<br />
who lives with his wife and<br />
infant child next door to Hauck,<br />
said he will lose three trees in<br />
his backyard, and is now going<br />
to think twice about barbecuing<br />
there. He said the greenery was a<br />
big reason he recently moved in.<br />
“I feel like at this stage of the<br />
game they should be making<br />
more concessions,” Dimitri said<br />
of PG&E following the San<br />
Bruno disaster.<br />
Another section of line 109 is in<br />
the process of being moved from<br />
under nearby Crittenden Middle<br />
School. “If it can be moved from<br />
CALIFORNIA STREET<br />
Continued from page 5<br />
stop others behind it, Mullen said.<br />
And it would mean more room<br />
for wider bike lanes, so bicyclists<br />
won’t have to ride in the “door<br />
zone” — that area where bicyclists<br />
are sometimes hit by the opening<br />
door of a parked car.<br />
California Street isn’t the only<br />
roadway in the area that could<br />
use improvements, according<br />
to the Rengstorff Great Streets<br />
Initiative website. The site makes<br />
suggestions to improve Escuela<br />
Avenue, Rengstorff Avenue, Villa<br />
Street, Latham Avenue, Ortega<br />
Avenue, and Shoreline Boulevard,<br />
which could be reduced<br />
from six lanes to four, it says.<br />
The website also calls for a<br />
paved trail along the Caltrain<br />
corridor, like one Palo Alto has<br />
built near its University Avenue<br />
station. “If Caltrain is expanded<br />
to four tracks in <strong>Mountain</strong> <strong>View</strong>,<br />
there is still plenty of space for<br />
this trail,” it says.<br />
“The idea is that this neighborhood<br />
is one of the densest<br />
neighborhoods in <strong>Mountain</strong><br />
<strong>View</strong>, if not the densest,” Mullen<br />
Matthew Pumar, the <strong>Mountain</strong><br />
<strong>View</strong> driver accused of<br />
accidentally hitting and killing<br />
William Ware, is scheduled to<br />
be arraigned Aug. 31, according<br />
to Duffy Magilligan, the deputy<br />
district attorney on the case.<br />
It will be the first time Pumar<br />
has appeared in court since he<br />
���������<br />
Crittenden, it can be moved from<br />
my backyard.” Dimitri said, noting<br />
concern for his own child.<br />
PG&E says the section of line<br />
109 is actually on a list of lines to<br />
be relocated in 2013. Until then,<br />
PG&E spokesperson Monica Tell<br />
said, PG&E needs to do something<br />
to ensure the safety of<br />
those nearby as part of its new<br />
“commitment to safety” following<br />
the San Bruno disaster.<br />
While the section of line 109<br />
is being looked at for relocation,<br />
Tell said it’s not urgent. The lines<br />
have passed a hydrostatic pressure<br />
test, she said.<br />
“There are no issues with the<br />
line that currently runs under<br />
that specific area,” Tell said.<br />
“When a pipeline is strong and<br />
functioning there is no reason to<br />
relocate that line.”<br />
Tell said line 109, built in 1973,<br />
needs to be replaced and relocated<br />
only because it doesn’t have a consistent<br />
diameter and would not<br />
allow the use of a new leak detection<br />
device called a “smartpig.”<br />
Hauck, Dimitri, and the Telleria<br />
household on San Lucas Avenue<br />
expressed interest in work-<br />
said of the area where Ware was<br />
hit. “It should be easy to bicycle<br />
and walk to nearby destinations.<br />
These streets don’t reflect that.<br />
You kind of feel terrorized when<br />
you are walking down the street<br />
because of high car speeds and<br />
volumes. And the general aesthetics<br />
are not very welcoming.”<br />
Installing bike lanes on narrow<br />
streets like Escuela and Ortega<br />
Avenue is impossible without<br />
removing parking on one side of<br />
the road, so Mullen proposes that<br />
cars be encouraged to slow down<br />
and share the road with bicyclists.<br />
“The vision for these streets is to<br />
transform the pavement into an<br />
attractive space with rain gardens<br />
and new landscaping, permeable<br />
paving, pedestrian-scale lighting,<br />
and traffic-calming devices<br />
to keep cars below 20 mph,” the<br />
website says. “On Ortega where<br />
traffic counts are lower, it may be<br />
possible to fundamentally transform<br />
the street from asphalt plain<br />
to public space.”<br />
Mullen also imagines more<br />
tree shade so pedestrians don’t<br />
feel “baked” by the sun.<br />
“Our streets are overwhelmingly<br />
dedicated to moving cars<br />
at high speeds, which stresses<br />
was arrested on one count of<br />
vehicular manslaughter with<br />
gross negligence on July 10.<br />
Pumar immediately posted<br />
$100,000 bail.<br />
Police said that on June 21<br />
the 21-year-old Pumar sped<br />
through a red light, swerved<br />
to dodge a truck entering the<br />
ing together to try to keep PG&E<br />
from stripping their yards, and<br />
to have the gas lines moved out<br />
to Middlefield Way, which isn’t<br />
planned for the section of line<br />
132 that runs through backyards<br />
on San Lucas.<br />
Beto and Eileen Telleria say they<br />
have been working with Public<br />
Works Director Mike Fuller to<br />
arrange a neighborhood meeting<br />
with PG&E instead of the individual<br />
meetings that have occurred<br />
so far, in which “it seems like<br />
some people are hearing different<br />
things.” One neighbor said he was<br />
told he could plant new fruit trees<br />
after some work was done on the<br />
line, Beto Telleria said.<br />
Fuller confirmed in an email<br />
that a meeting was in the works,<br />
but no date has been set.<br />
“The city is arranging a meeting<br />
with PG&E with those affected<br />
by this, and until that meeting,<br />
all paperwork signings and work<br />
(have) been put on hold,” said<br />
Eileen Telleria in an email. “The<br />
meeting will be announced.”<br />
Email Daniel DeBolt<br />
at ddebolt@mv-voice.com<br />
people out, leads to injury, and<br />
occasionally death,” says the<br />
group’s site. “Moreover, streets<br />
are the neighborhoodís greatest<br />
accumulation of publicly owned<br />
space, and present a tremendous<br />
opportunity to invest in an asset<br />
that touches every person who<br />
lives in the area.”<br />
Director of Public Works Mike<br />
Fuller said that the council’s<br />
recent approval of the city’s 2030<br />
general plan spurred early work<br />
to begin on a “California Street<br />
Corridor Improvements Study,”<br />
which could lead to traffic calming<br />
on California Street.<br />
Fuller was hesitant to embrace a<br />
“road diet” for California Street.<br />
“With the current volumes we<br />
have we might be able to go from<br />
four to two lanes on California<br />
Street,” he said. “But with the<br />
projected future (traffic) volumes,<br />
we may not be able to.”<br />
For more, visit the Initiative’s<br />
website at greatstreetsrp.wordpress.com.<br />
Look for more coverage of the<br />
city’s efforts to become bicycle<br />
friendly in next week’s issue.<br />
Email Daniel DeBolt<br />
at ddebolt@mv-voice.com<br />
Matthew Pumar to be arraigned Aug. 31<br />
intersection, lost control of his<br />
car, then ran over Ware, who<br />
was waiting at a bus stop in<br />
the 1800 block of California<br />
Street.<br />
Ware was dismembered by<br />
the violent impact of the collision,<br />
according to his niece,<br />
Dolores Marquez.