Around Town Around Town (December 24, 2003)

BACK IN BLACK (AND WHITE)? ... Remember the Palo Alto Black and White Ball fondly? Well some residents and city employees do, and they are trying to bring back the formal soirée, albeit on a smaller scale than the $125-a-head affairs of the past. Led by Sunny Dykwel, a realtor, the group hopes to return the ball to its roots, the Lucie Stern Theatre. In recent years, the ball had begun losing money, and the City Council cut it last year for financial reasons.

ALL SYSTEMS GO FOR CORDELL ... Palo Alto City Councilwoman-elect LaDoris Cordell is all set to be sworn in as the newest member of the council on Jan. 5, despite the quandary relating to a state law governing contracts between the government entity and the employer of the elected official. The city and Cordell's employer, Stanford University, where she is a vice provost, are seeking a minor change in state law to broaden the definition of "nonprofit organization" to "nonprofit institution" -- Stanford was formed as a trust prior to the law creating nonprofit organizations. "The day I get sworn in is the day the legislation is introduced," Cordell said last week.

BAGGINSES IN PALO ALTO? ... The flurry over the opening of the final film chapter of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy isn't the first time Tolkien's creation has stirred the imagination of Palo Altans. In the 1960s, when the paperback version of the classic tale was distributed in America, a progressive school opened in south Palo Alto, named Lothlorien , after the forest refuge of the High Elves. The school developed a reputation for easy-going, self-directed study -- or not -- that for many students included an introduction to a form of illicit leaf. Well, that was the reputation at the time. Cars sported bumper strips reading, "Frodo Lives!" and a "head shop" (where marijuana pipes and other drug-related paraphernalia were sold -- legally at the time) opened in downtown Palo Alto called the East Farthing Trading Company, after a region of the Hobbits' Shire. Bookstores sold a scatological spoof titled "Bored of the Rings." More than one local civic leader noted a resemblance between the homey perfection of the Shire and the tree-lined streets of Palo Alto.

RODENT AT CITY HALL ... At Monday night's City Council meeting frequent council commentator Bunny Good brought her dancing, battery-powered CEO hamster to sing "Money Money Money Money - Money!" for council members. Good's hamster wore shackles and an orange prison jumpsuit and bopped to the beat of its own high-pitched tune. Many in attendance - including a Weekly reporter - were amused.

END-OF-THE-YEAR HITS AND MISSES ... Monday's council meeting was also outgoing councilwoman Nancy Lytle 's last meeting. Lytle didn't attend - Mayor Dena Mossar said Lytle wasn't feeling well that evening.

SUNNY SKIES AHEAD ... Stanford University's 2003 finances ended up peachier than the 2002 numbers. Year-end financial results shown to the school's board of trustees this month revealed Stanford had an operating surplus of $46 million for the financial year ending Aug. 31. In the previous financial year it had a deficit of $17 million. Despite the good news, the school should keep being cautious with its finances, Stanford Provost John Etchemendy said in an online press release. "...I don't feel we're completely out of the woods and we need to continue our responsible approach to using resources with the utmost care," he said.

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