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By Stuart Soffer
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About this blog: Growing up in Brooklyn, NY I lived in high-density housing and experienced transit-oriented services first hand. During high school and college summers I worked in Manhattan drafting tenant floor plans for high-rise office buildi...
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About this blog: Growing up in Brooklyn, NY I lived in high-density housing and experienced transit-oriented services first hand. During high school and college summers I worked in Manhattan drafting tenant floor plans for high-rise office buildings. This could have been a career option, but my interest in computers - unusual at the time - led me to the computer science program at the University of Wisconsin. A programming job on Page Mill Road brought me to Palo Alto after college. Since 1993 I consult on bridging law and technology, and serve as an expert witness in Intellectual Property litigation. We moved to Menlo Park's Linfield Oaks neighborhood in 1994. Neighborhood traffic issues motivated my initial volunteering as a Menlo Park Planning Commissioner, followed by a stint as a Chamber of Commerce board member and most recently a finance/audit committee member. I advocate community volunteering for meeting people, the neighborhoods, and understanding the myriad issues that somehow arise. As hobbies I collect contemporary art and vintage cameras. And? fly helicopters, which offer rare views of the nooks and crannies of the Bay Area.
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Santa Cruz Avenue Success Story
Uploaded: Dec 14, 2017
Last week I stepped into Bistro Vida on Santa Cruz, where owner Ali El Safy and I continued our usual jesting and banter. I’ve known Ali at least 20 years.
Ali and Bistro Vida have taken great advantage of the new outdoor pads. During recent warmer days it was an oasis for us to drop anchor at dusk on the couches for some refreshment.
Ali and I have a habit of gently insulting or kidding each other. For example, seeing an imaginary cockroach on the desert tray in response to learning that there are no tables available. Ali came to the US from Egypt 25 years ago with no funds (so he says). I’ve followed as Ali steered his son Zane into the best schools in our area. But today he proudly proclaimed that Zane was accepted as a transfer student into Cornell, in Computer Science. Well done, Ali. This is what it's about.
Democracy.
What is it worth to you?
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