COMING EVENTS
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MOVIE NIGHT AT THE PARK
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PANEL DISCUSSION ON ANTISEMITISM
CV HOMEWORK CENTER OPENS
CASTRO VALLEY FORUM A COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SERVING CASTRO VALLEY SINCE 1989
YEAR 36
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2024
NO. 31
INSIDE YOUR
MAC MEETING
FORUM
Workshop on CV Business District Plan
Scholarships Baywood celebrates achievements of 22 scholarship recipients
By Amy Sylvestri CASTRO VALLEY FORUM
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Award Winning CV Artist Stephen Bourque’s exhibit at Center for the Arts
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Castro Valley High School Journalism/Social Studies teacher Matt Johanson has hiked all over the west coast, including Mt. San Gorgonio.
Teacher Hikes Mountains And Writes Comic Book By Linda Sandsmark CASTRO VALLEY FORUM
Will or Trust? Many use the terms interchangeably, but they’re quite different
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INDEX Classified Ads ........ 8 Crosswords ............ 9 Homes ..................... 6 Obituaries ............. 11 Opinions ............... 11 Our Town ................. 3 Sheriff’s Report ...... 3 Seniors .................. 10 Sports .................. 12 Weather ................ 2 WWW.MYCVFORUM.COM
Now that school is back in session, you may wonder what teachers do during their time off. For Castro Valley High Journalism/Social Studies teacher Matt Johanson it’s hiking, including the , mile acific oast rail Johanson didn’t walk all those miles in one summer n fact, he says, tart to finish, did the trip over 26 years.” The trail, which runs through mountain ranges from Canada to Mexico, is a popular but arduous trek. (Approximately one million people hike portions of the trail annually.) During his usual teaching years, Johanson did pieces of it every summer. But he decided to take the 202223 school year off to complete the parts he hadn’t finished “In my year off, I did about 80 percent of the trail. The best thing about the PCT is the people you meet there. In 2022 I was out 11 weeks and covered 1,300 miles. In 2023 I hiked 800 miles, which took me about eight weeks,” he says. Johanson actually did most of the hike by himself. His brother Dan and cousin Andy accompanied him for some of it. Other than that,
he met other hikers along the route and camped with them or by himself. He documented the trip in a series of articles for Adventure Sports Journal, which may be read online at adventuresportsjournal.com. Johanson returned to the classroom last fall for the 2023-24 school year. This past summer he hiked ten mountains— some challenging and some fairly easy. These include the Palisades group of mountains in California, where he made progress toward conquering our state’s “14ers” which are 15 mountains o er , feet tall e has now finished of the 15, having done six of them this year. Friends accompanied him on some of these hikes. Johanson has written several books about hiking, focusing on Yosemite National Park, the Sierra, Mt. Shasta, and California summits that can be done in a day. He takes most of the pictures for these books himself. Johanson has also written books about the San Francisco Giants and recently tried a new format – a comic book featuring fantastic artwork and Castro Valley landmarks. In it, Batman visits our town to inspire students — and maybe teach them a lesson or two. see TEACHER on back page
The Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) took a bit of a hands-on approach to one of the biggest topics in town at their meeting this week. The astro alley usiness istrict pecific lan SP) was discussed at a special workshop Monday night and attendees had a chance to talk to MAC members individually at special break-out tables. The CVBDSP is an ongoing project, which has been broken down into two phases. Phase Two was completed in late 2021 and involved a Community-Wide Zoning and Map Update. Now, the county has hired consultants Lisa Wise, Inc. to implement Phase Two, which has already been in the works for over a year and isn’t scheduled for completion until at least late 2025. Broadly speaking, the CVBDSP is a plan on what see MAC on page 5
Get Hungry For the 2024 Fall Festival By Michael Singer CASTRO VALLEY FORUM
Autumn is just around the corner, and the community is preparing to celebrate it next month with a cornucopia of good food, artwork, music, and fun for all ages. This year’s Castro Valley Fall Festival will occur on Saturday and Sunday, September 7 and 8, between Redwood Road and San Miguel Avenue on Castro Valley Boulevard. Presented by the Castro Valley and Eden Area Chamber of Commerce, more than 125 vendors and attractions will again line the Boulevard. This year’s food options are particularly exciting because they will include fan favorites like corn dogs, kettle corn, and snow cones, and many local food vendors such as Nice Jazz!, Freezy Frosty, and Sweetcanes Sugarcane Juicery. see FESTIVAL on page 3