Around Town: a revival, life amid war and enduring sports traditions

In this week’s Around Town column, a revival, life amid war and enduring sports traditions.

MIDTOWN REVIVAL … The past year has been a rollercoaster of emotions for the Midtown neighborhood, which saw four businesses —Bill’s Café, Philz Coffee, AJ Cleaners and Palo Alto Fine Wine and Spirits — damaged in a February blaze and learned in July that a fourth, Mike’s Diner Bar, was to be evicted.

Now, things may be turning around. City Manager Ed Shikada said the city has heard from the businesses displaced by the fire and they are interested in going back to the plaza at Middlefield Road and Loma Verde Avenue. He provided the update during the Oct. 15 town hall event for Midtown and Palo Alto Verde residents. “We’re all looking forward to that date coming soon,” Shikada told dozens of Midtown and Palo Verde residents. Not too soon, however. Shikada said the insurance company is still processing the claims at a “snail’s pace.” “At this point, we’re awaiting a final plan for them to remediate the hazardous materials that exist within the structure as well as ensure that the structure can be rebuilt in a safe manner,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mike’s Diner Bar, which narrowly averted eviction last month, is starting its next phase on Oct. 23, when it plans to start offering breakfast and lunch. To mark the occasion, the restaurant at 2680 Middlefield Road will have a special server on that day: Mayor Lydia Kou, who will wait tables between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.

MISSION TO LVIV … Getting to Ukraine these days isn’t easy, but that didn’t stop Palo Alto resident Barry Katz, a professor of mechanical engineering, from visiting the war-torn nation twice this year.

In March, Katz went to the western city of Lviv to offer lessons on design and post-war reconstruction at Catholic University. He made the 35-hour trip (which includes hours of waiting at the border) once again this fall, first spending time in Kyiv and then making his way to Lviv. What struck him about Ukraine, Katz said, is that “for most people who are not on the frontlines in combat, the war is everywhere and nowhere.”

“Nowhere in a sense that people are sitting in cafes and going to bars and doing the things that people do,” Katz said. “And everywhere because everyone knows somebody who’d been injured, killed or conscripted.” Katz was in Ukraine as part of a USAID project.

His task in Kyiv was to advise on seeding the culture of entrepreneurship, he said. Once he got to Lviv, which was holding a major IT conference, he was surprised to see another Palo Alto resident: Council member Pat Burt, who was also at an entrepreneurship and innovation conference. “I really emphasized the ways in which they can build on their own strengths as they build their own tech cluster,” Burt told the Palo Alto Weekly.

“They have a lot of talent. A lot of Silicon Valley companies have been tapping into Ukrainian software talent and Ukraine has very successful companies as well.” Both Katz and Burt said they found their trips meaningful and inspirational. Burt also joined the Lviv mayor on a tour of a new hospital wing constructed in the past year to focus on war casualties. “All the staff there were so empathetic,” Burt recalled.

TWO FOR TEAM USA … The Pan American Games, the Summer Olympics’ lesser-known cousin, take place every four years in the year before the Summer Olympics. This year’s games involve 40 different countries, more than 10 different sports, and most notably, two competitors from Palo Alto. Lily Zhang, a Palo Alto High graduate and Olympian who previously competed in the Pan Am games in 2015, is back this week to represent Team USA for table tennis. Colette Lucas-Conwell, also a Palo Alto High graduate with a storied collegiate rowing career, will be representing Team USA for rowing.

The games, which are taking place in Santiago, Chile this year, started Wednesday and will conclude on Nov. 5. Lucas-Conwell said she was “thrilled and excited” to represent Team USA at this year’s games and will be competing in the women’s 8+ and mixed 8+ events for the first time they are featured at the Pan American Games. “This will be a bittersweet moment for me as it marks my last race before retiring from the sport at the elite level,” Lucas-Conwell told the Palo Alto Weekly. “It has been an incredible 15-year journey, filled with ups and downs, but I am proud of all that I have accomplished.”