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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.

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