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News From Silicon Valley's Neighborhoods Moving In Willow Glen--Construction may now begin on 14 to 16 portable buildings designed to house the students of Broadway High School at one end of the John Muir Middle School campus. The school district got the go-ahead from a Superior Court judge last week when the court denied a community group's request to block the move. CAIR (Community Action in Robertsville), named for the neighborhood the school serves, is made up mostly of concerned parents who fear for the influence the continuation high school students could have on their children. Their legal gripe: that the district skirted due process by not filing an environmental impact report. Common Hood Monte Sereno--A surly crowd of landed gentry turned out last week to shoot down the idea of open spaces in their hillside hamlet. As residents one by one stood up to ask that their properties be removed from "the list" of properties bordering potential open spaces, the message became quite clear: they don't want public spaces and trails where--gads!--just anyone can come to walk or do whatever it is the common rabble do. The speakers cited issues of privacy, trash, safety and of course the threat to their astronomical property values. Ticket to Ride Palo Alto--It'll be a year or so before city officials decide whether they're willing to shell out the $5.80 per passenger now being spent to give residents free lifts around Palo Alto's streets. The high per-person tariff stems from the low numbers of passengers riding the city's much-ballyhooed new shuttle system. The two-route shuttle, being offered on a trial basis, costs the city $4,800 a week to operate. Transit pooh-bahs hope an ad campaign and pomp and ceremony over the conversion of gas-powered shuttles to zippy electric models will lure locals out of their SUVs. [ San Jose | Metroactive Central | Archives ]