FYI FYI (December 24, 2003)

ENERGIZED ENTREPRENEURS . . . East Palo Alto entrepreneurs who received training from Start Up, an East Palo Alto small and micro-business development agency, recently got a helping hand from Covad Communications of San Jose. The national broadband-service provider has given grants of $500 and one year of free broadband service to seven recent Start Up graduates through its Covad Broadband Entrepreneur Program.
The entrepreneurs are: Dominic Bannister of Delta Plumbing; Sheilah Butler of The AfterSchool Resource Center; Stanetta Crawford of TOPSCIS: Information Technology Support; Cynthia Phillips of The Real Estate Connection; Luis Vizcardo of Luis Carpet Cleaning; Dolores G. Wix of Fertile Ground Publishing; and Bethzabe Yanez of Betsy's Connexions, a correspondence/translation service.
For information, visit www.startup.com.

SIGNS OF LIFE . . . Local law firm Pillsbury Winthrop announced last week it has relocated its Palo Alto office to a new space in the Stanford Research Park at 2475 Hanover St. In what may be one anecdotal sign of a recovering economy, the new office features 84,000-square-feet, about 30,000 square feet bigger than previous headquarters, and houses 138 attorney offices, 10 conference rooms and parking.
Pillsbury Winthrop opened its Silicon Valley office in 1991 with three attorneys and now employs 78. The office acquired seven lateral partners and 10 associates in the past year, according to company officials. The additional staffing has "helped with the up-tick of business opportunities in recent months," said Davina Kaile, managing partner.
The office has made a name for itself outside of law, through charity work. Most recently staff raised 14.3 tons of food for a local food bank.

Pillsbury Winthrop has core practice areas in intellectual property, litigation, technology, energy, capital markets and finance. The firm has 17 offices worldwide. For information, visit www.pillsburywinthrop.com.

PROPOSED B.I.D.-NESS . . . The advisory committee of the proposed Palo Alto Downtown Business Improvement District is hosting a public meeting on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2004, from 5:30-7 p.m. at the Garden Court Hotel, 520 Cowper St. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the B.I.D. and how it could affect local businesses. Panelists will include two B.I.D. executives, a commercial developer and a former Mountain View city planner. For questions, contact Stephanie Wansek at mail@cardinalhotel.com.
In Business is published every fourth Wednesday of the month. Send notices of business news, events and appointments to In Business, Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, 94302 or e-mail jdong@paweekly.com.

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