Volunteers Helping Seniors
Filed under Blog · Tagged: Los Altos, Los Altos Town Cirer, Quality of Life, Volunteering
What began as a simple desire to help fellow residents, has blossomed over the past 8 years to include almost a dozen cities and hundreds of volunteers. The focus of all this care an compassion? Our senior citizens. Through the years, Carol & I have been a part of many coordinated efforts. The RSVP program, is once such effort.
The day of volunteering was recently covered by the Town Crier. Below are highlights from a recent article which highlighted how the program has helped to improve the lives of those assisted …
More than 100 Realtor volunteers helped 46 senior households, in the Los Altos and Mountain View area, during Realtor Service Volunteer Week.
Volunteers from Intero Real Estate Services & the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors helped seniors and the homebound with household. Wearing T-shirts emblazoned with a blue-and-yellow logo that identified them as members of the Realtor Service Volunteer Program, workers descended on households to help homeowners and renters with chores they can no longer perform by themselves.
Seniors were grateful for the free service. “I really appreciate the help,” said one 84-year-old senior, who has requested help for the past two years. “I still do quite a bit of the work myself. I even used to climb the stepladder, but my son gets worried about that, so I don’t do it anymore.”
Three volunteers visited her home to wash exterior windows, move a stove and refrigerator so she could clean underneath and replace her smoke-detector batteries. When a volunteer climbed the stepladder to replace the battery, he noticed there were none. That sparked a memory for the senior homeowner.
“I remember taking it out, but I never replaced it, because I couldn’t reach to put the new one in,” she said. Local Realtors officially adopted RSVP as a community outreach project in 2002, and it has since expanded to include realtor association members from other cities and counties.
Every May, these volunteers help seniors and the homebound with household tasks, such as washing windows, installing smoke-detector batteries, flipping mattresses, vacuuming, dusting, replacing light bulbs, changing furnace filters and trimming bushes.
Outside the home of a 90-year-old Mountain View resident, the team of Carol Casas, Hilda and Nick loosened dirt in a flowerbed, swept the patio and carport, trimmed ivy in her front yard and washed windows. “My children have gone and moved away, so it’s wonderful to have help. I couldn’t do it any other way,” the homeowner said. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”
63rd Annual Pet Parade
Filed under Blog · Tagged: Downtown, Family Fun, Los Altos, Los Altos Town Cirer, Pet Parade, Quality of Life
Well it was certainly one of the best Pet Parades in a long time, and pristine weather to boot. We surely enjoyed the riding on the Mayor’s car, with our Chocolate Lab … Coco. There were hundreds of people lining the street, and even more in the parade. This is one of those Mayberry moments. Truly a slice of mom and apple pie.
Below are highlights from a recent article in the Los Altos Town Crier …
Creatures of the world united in downtown Los Altos Saturday as thousands of them – two-legged, four-legged, eight-legged, no-legged and winged – thronged Main and State streets for the 63rd annual Kiwanis Club Pet Parade.
It was as if a huge pet store came alive, with families and their pets showing off one another on the sunny spring morning. Animals of all shapes and sizes walked, trotted, wheeled and slithered as visitors – local and out-of-towners – lined the streets, cheering, waving and clapping.
From the tiniest hermit crabs and furry spiders to lean greyhounds and majestic horses, visitors got their fill of the domesticated wildlife.
Not all pets wanted to march, however.
Tucker, a 4-year-old Golden Retriever, sat patiently, tail wagging and tongue lolling, while his master, Spencer Richmond, 8, watched the parade from the sidelines.
The canines stole the show – with a variety of popular breeds represented, including pocket Chihuahuas, rambunctious Terriers and Pomeranians, frisky Golden and Labrador Retrievers, staid St. Bernards, stately Greyhounds, German Shepherds, Pugs and Dachshunds.
Spectators enjoyed the procession of guinea pigs, cats, goats, rabbits, chickens, lizards, rats and canaries.
To the delight of onlookers, many owners outfitted their pets in cute and clever costumes. They paraded their pets in decorated baskets, wagons, strollers and cages. Some dogs wore outfits to match their owners’, while others sat daintily in their owners’ pockets watching curiously.
Lively, foot-tapping tunes from the South Bay Jazz Society, performing in its horse-drawn wagon, and Ye Olde Towne Band, playing from its motorized gazebo bandstand, provided the soundtrack, entertaining participants and onlookers alike.
Approximately 5,000 people attended, according to Lucy Carlton, parade director and former Los Altos police chief. “Everyone has a great time,” Carlton said. “That’s what community is all about.”
Packard Foundation Plans Eco-friendly Expansion
Filed under Blog · Tagged: Downtown, Enviromental, Green Building, Los Altos, Los Altos Town Cirer, Packard Foundation
With conservation one of their chief concerns, officials with the Los Altos-based David and Lucile Packard Foundation are taking great care to lead by example with plans for their new 45,000-square-foot office building on Second Street.
The two-story building, across from the current headquarters at 300 Second St., will employ an extreme-green philosophy, featuring net-zero energy efficiency. The goal, according to foundation president Carol Larson and vice president Chris DeCardy, is a building as environmentally friendly as possible – right down to rainwater runoff from the building that would water plants rather than spill into the street. Larson said 95 percent of the existing buildings’ materials would be recycled.
“We’re helping (the downtown) with this new building,” DeCardy said.
Added Larson: “We want it to be a place for the future while fitting into the past.”
Packard officials hope to receive city go-ahead by midyear and break ground by December. They said they anticipate the new building would be open for business by summer 2012.
Since the Packard board of directors decided to move forward with the building last December, Larson, DeCardy and other Packard officials have held meetings with city leaders and the public to tout their building’s benefits. The latest was a Community Conversation with members of the general public, scheduled March 9 at foundation headquarters.
Construction is likely to be painstaking, given Packard’s ambitious goals in creating a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum Certified building, the highest possible green certification. Larson said plans call for smaller offices and more “common space.”
“We’re driving our employees to be in better contact with each other,” Larson said.
Meeting space, videoconferencing and high-tech improvements also will be among the features.
The new building, designed to accommodate the foundation over the next 40 years, has capacity for 124 employees, Larson said, although she imagines the foundation will not need that many. The 45-year-old foundation, active in 10 countries and focused on some of the planet’s most pressing problems, currently has 100 employees.
To make way for the new building, the
existing buildings on Packard-owned land bordered by Whitney and Second streets and San Antonio Road will be deconstructed, Larson and DeCardy said, further reflecting the green approach. Instead of demolition, Packard will have crews tear down the old buildings piece by piece. Deconstruction could start as soon as this month, they said.
Larson emphasized Packard’s commitment to staying in Los Altos and that the foundation is proud to call it home.
“People are proud of it being here, and we’re grateful for that,” she said. “We want Los Altos to continue being the exemplary community it already is.”
Note: This is a slightly edited version of a recent article featured in the Los Altos Town Crier.
Restaurant Spotlight – Chef Chu’s
Filed under Blog · Tagged: Chef Chu's, Dining, El Camino Hospital, El Camino YMCA, Los Altos, Los Altos Town Cirer, Restaurants
Chef Lawrence Chu, with 40 years of restaurant experience, prides himself on elegant dining, gourmet food to go, full-service catering, banquet facilities, and creative cooking classes, all with wonderful Chinese restaurant food.
Just last week, I was fortunate to join Chef Chu at his anniversary celebration. It was wonderful to see the community turn out to honor a wonderful chef, his family, and his restaurant.
As for the restaurant, you should know that the menu offerings are so extensive that you can easily enjoy a custom culinary experience each time you visit. The food deserves, and receives, accolades from the hundreds who dine at the restaurant each week. Even the Yelp reviews attest to the delicious cornucopia of the menu selections.
As a restaurant reviewer once stated, “Chef Chu … has been called a standard-setter, and he is. One expects and gets no less from this Sichuan-born, Taiwan raised, son of a gentleman from Hunan.”
Beyond his obvious talents in the kitchen, Chef Chu has made many contributions to the greater community. As founder of the Asian Chef Association, Lawrence Chu organized events that have raised over $100,000 to fight human trafficking and $250,000 for tsunami victims.
Closer to home, he’s led a group of chefs in providing Thanksgiving meals to 2,000 people through Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco, and has donated hundreds of raffle items and free catering services to numerous local causes and organizations, including schools, PTA walkathons, the Children’s Health Council, El Camino Hospital and the El Camino YMCA. Wow!
In a recent Town Crier article, it was reported that in addition to Chef Chu’s being ranked as one of the top 100 Chinese restaurants in the country, the article also noted that Chef Lawrence Chu’s received the Lifetime Achievement Award of Excellence at an industry awards ceremony in Las Vegas.
If you are interested in trying your hand at one of Chef Chu’s recipes, you can pick up book at the restaurant. In the book, he tells you how to prepare Chinese dishes that rival those served in his restaurant.
So, there you have it. If you are on the lookout for some good Chinese food, this is the place. Whether you choose to dine in, or order food online for takeout, I am confident that you will not be disappointed. While Los Altos has dozens of good restaurants in town, Chef Chu’s continues to set the bar … both in the quality of their food, and their commitment on giving back to the community.
The Latest From The History Museum
Filed under Blog · Tagged: Family Fun, Los Altos, Los Altos History Museum, Los Altos Town Cirer
A tour of San Jose’s Winchester Mystery House reveals its creepy, quirky and ghostly secrets.
But the Los Altos History Museum’s latest exhibition, scheduled through June 6, uncovers the true story behind the Mystery House’s architect, Sarah Winchester, and her sister, Isabelle Merriman … “Through Thick & Thin: A Tale of Two Sisters”
In 1862, Sarah married William Winchester, wealthy son of the manufacturer of the Winchester repeating rifle. After Winchester succumbed to tuberculosis in 1881, Sarah and Isabelle moved to California from New Haven, Conn., seeking a similar sociopolitical environment.
Winchester purchased in 1888 much of what is now the downtown Los Altos triangle, using it as a ranch.
An arthritic and private person, Winchester resided with her sister in San Jose. She fell into a deep depression after losing her husband and her mother-in-law. Because of her sizable inheritance and her passion for architecture, she channeled her grief into building the San Jose house, working at a frenzied pace.
Laura Bajuk, executive director of the Los Altos History Museum, said the public spread unfettered gossip that Sarah’s fervent and eccentric construction was due to the spirits of her dead relatives haunting her. Buoyed by people’s superstitions, the stories made their rounds in the local press.
Around the turn of the century, the Southern Pacific (SP) Railroad Company informed Sarah that it planned to lay tracks through her Los Altos ranch property.
Sarah subsequently forced SP to purchase all of her land, adding a large sum to her fortune. Later, Paul Shoup developed the land, paving the way for downtown Los Altos as we know it today.
After Sarah’s death in 1922, her grandiose home was immediately sold and converted into a tourist attraction – the Winchester Mystery House.
Sarah’s sister Isabelle was her polar opposite, outspoken and spunky. Isabelle lived in what is today Los Altos’ oldest home, located on Edgewood Lane. She was a humane officer for the state of California, and hordes of children would find temporary shelter at her spacious house.
In the end, the exhibit helps to dispel some of the many myths about the sisters. I encourage you to visit the museum and enjoy the exhibit. For more information, click here.
Note: This is a slightly edited version of a recent article by Elliott Burr in the Los Altos Town Crier.
A Successful Los Altos Real Estate Partnership
Filed under Blog · Tagged: 190 Hillview Ave, C4 Marketing, City Council, Employee Relocation, Los Altos Town Cirer, Real Estate Marketing
This week, the Los Altos Town Crier profiled this web site, and our partnership with Tony Campitelli of C4 Marketing. Below is the news story written by Ya-an Chan …
Homebuyers from Germany or South Africa may know nothing about Los Altos and are not always in a position to visit before making a real estate decision.
Los Altos resident Tony Campitelli, former vice president of marketing at Laszlo Systems in Silicon Valley, saw this as a gap in real estate marketing. Most realtors do not have the time to explore new ways of real estate marketing because they are occupied with the day-to-day tasks of getting a new listing, finding a hopeful buyer or finishing the paperwork, according to Campitelli.
“So I came to this conclusion,” he said. “I’m going to help them.”
Campitelli founded C4 Marketing LLC, a new approach to real estate marketing that allows buyers to discover the community beyond the standard online descriptions of the property. He said C4 Marketing provides an online marketing system with professional corporate branding that assists real estate agents who “want to take the business to another level.” It presents realtors online as the experts of the areas on which they focus.
David and Carol Casas, of Intero Real Estate Services, tested the new concept. They built a Web site, Move Into Los Altos (www.moveintolosaltos.com), in collaboration with Campitelli and C4 Marketing. The site features property descriptions and detailed information on the area’s schools, business associations, cultural activities, parks and local government. It includes blogs with updated information about upcoming community events. As a result, prospective buyers not only are informed about the property, but also have a picture of the type of community they are considering.
David Casas, a Los Altos City Councilman, said Campitelli’s company, which integrates multiple media platforms, is an example of the Los Altos community’s entrepreneurship.
“In a time of economic turmoil, to know that we have residents creating opportunities, creating business and creating ideas is wonderful,” he said.
Since the launch of Move Into Los Altos, the Casas’ have worked with homebuyers from such countries as Taiwan, Japan, India and the United Kingdom.
Campitelli said he continued refining the initial system and officially founded C4 Marketing in January 2009. The “C4,” Campitelli said, refers to C-4 plastic explosives, as in explosive marketing.
The Casas’ said they are impressed with the results. A property at 190 Hillview Avenue they recently put on the market sold in 23 days. A New Jersey company found MoveIntoLosAltos.com by searching on Google, approached the husband-wife team to help relocate an employee’s family.
“As they found (David and Carol) online, they’re realizing that David and Carol are the knowledgeable experts in the community,” Campitelli said. “They know what’s going on, they write about the shows, the Farmers’ Market, the movie night – they’re telling a story about what it’s like to live here.”
Realtors can launch multiple Web sites, including community- and property-specific sites, write blogs and link videos, which they post on YouTube, to their Web sites.
A main benefit of his new advertising tool for real estate, Campitelli said, is the analytics provided by the system. The report shows the most-searched keywords and which sources generate the most traffic (i.e., direct traffic, referring sites and search engines).
The data, he said, give realtors direction on the types of content that are most effective.
Carol Casas said the analysis not only helps realtors to understand where their marketing dollars are most effective, but also allows home sellers to track how many people are viewing their property information.
For more information about C4 Marketing, call (650) 619-6678 or visit www.c4marketingllc.com.
About Us
Moving into Los Altos? We can help! We have lived in Los Altos for the past 35 years and love helping people buy and sell homes in this great city! We bring experience, knowledge, skills and professionalism to each of our client relationships. Our clients will agree they would not have had the same positive experience, at each step of the way, if they had not had us represent them.
David Casas Cell: 650-823-8920 or Email
(DRE#01116954)
Carol Casas Cell: 650-823-1434 or Email
(DRE#01123855)
