Around Town Around Town (March 17, 2004)

WASTE NOT ... The Stanford Terrace Inn recently replaced the bulbs in its rooms with energy efficient compact fluorescents, part of an eco-conscious effort that won the inn a Green Business Certification from the county. But what, you ask, did they do with the old energy-inefficient bulbs? Why, they mailed them out -- including one that arrived in a small box into the in-box of a Weekly reporter. A clever gimmick to get press? Or a waste of cardboard?

WANT WORK... At last Thursday's groundbreaking of 800 High St., the 61-unit condo development that was on last November's ballot, homeless man Victor Frost was spotted one block away, in his usual spot outside of Whole Foods, with an unusual plea. Frost, who unsuccessfully ran for City Council on that same November ballot, was using his sign to ask for employment at the condo development as a day laborer.

PUBLIC PROSE . . . Move over Longs Drugs. Your fancy mural's not the only public art in Midtown Shopping Center anymore; Walgreens in Midtown now has art of its own. Just in time for spring, a new multi-hued poetry wall has sprouted on the wall next to Baskin-Robbins 31, featuring the poems of six local residents, including first-place winner Ron LeBlanc's arbor-empathetic "A Tree Calls Out." Annette Ashton, chair of the Midtown Residents' Association, which spearheaded the development of the wall, has scheduled a celebration of the mural and Midtown's new taqueria, Como Esta, on May 8.

BOTTOMS UP, BUBBLES DOWN ... Stanford scientists, settling a barroom dispute that has miffed intellectual drunks for years, have recently determined that yes, when beer is poured into a glass, some bubbles actually go down, instead of up. After analyzing very slow-motion photography, professor Richard Zane saw the process in action, then determined the explanation owes to a simple "what goes up must come down" theory. As big bubbles flow upward, Zanes concluded, it pushes liquid beer to the side and down, taking with it smaller, common sense-defying bubbles. Now if the researchers can just determine how to use those bubbles to prevent hangovers, we'd be in business!
FIXING THE 'PALO ALTO PROCESS'? ... A preview of 15 ways to reform and streamline the infamous "Palo Alto Process" will be outlined Sunday afternoon in -- where else -- the City Council chambers (250 Hamilton Ave.), Planning Director Steve Emslie, Midtown neighborhood leader Annette Ashton, and Community Center resident Rick Ferguson will be panelists at an "informal Q&A" meeting from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. The Planning Commission is scheduled to discuss the changes next Wednesday night, March 24 -- and they will be scheduled for City Council discussion later (despite Palo Alto local news reports that they were to be discussed last Monday). "The good news is that staff has agreed with some of our key comments," Ferguson said from a citizens' perspective. Changes include wider notification of proposals using e-mail, Web sites and neighborhood associations, with more time for neighbors to learn about and respond to projects and better ways to track changes as a project proceeds. "There is some hope here, for both owner/applicants and neighbors alike," Ferguson was quoted as saying in the latest e-mail newsletter of the College Terrace Residents Association.

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