News digest News digest (April 09, 2004)

Roadblocks being removed

A city contractor began speedily removing the six controversial traffic barriers in the Downtown North neighborhood on Thursday. They are all expected to be removed by the end of next week, city officials reported.

The first one taken had been located on the corner of High Street and Everett Avenue, located near Stanford Electric.

"This was one putting a damper on our business," said Stanford Electric owner Chris Machala, who was pleased by the quick removal. Customers were getting lost through the maze of barriers, and deciding to go to Home Depot instead, he said.

Bright orange X's were placed on the other barriers, announcing their departure. The work will only cost the city $15,000, half the original estimates.

The contractor, J.J. Albanese, is the same crew installing speed tables and raised crosswalks along Channing Avenue, part of a new four-month traffic claiming trial on that road.

The Downtown North trial roadblocks were the center of the most heated Palo Alto dispute in years. They had been installed with the aim of stopping commuters from cutting through the neighborhood. But numerous groups formed to oppose the barriers, feeling they were moving traffic to other neighborhoods, causing unnecessary inconveniences and slowing emergency vehicles.

The City Council agreed last week to remove the barriers, after hearing from more than 100 passionate residents. In the closures' place, the city will install traffic circles and other traffic-slowing devises on the neighborhood's streets, part of a new one-year trial.

One trial roadblock will remain on the corner of Middlefield Road and Palo Alto Avenue. --Bill D'Agostino
Friends' book sale in new rooms this month

A portion of the Friends of the Palo Alto Library's monthly book sale at the Cubberley Community Center will be held in new rooms this Saturday, April 10.

The main book sale will still be held in a portable building near the tennis courts, but the City Council recently awarded the friends new rooms in the nearby K wing.

Room K6 now holds the sale's children's books, which were formerly in the southwest corner of the main booksale room. Room K7 will now hold all of the bargain room books.

The sale starts at 9 a.m. with a ribbon cutting by Mayor Bern Beecham. The sale ends at 4 p.m.

The booksale is held the first Saturday of the month. --Bill D'Agostino
Hyatt discussion is delayed

A scheduled April 19 discussion by the Palo Alto City Council of the plans to replace Hyatt Rickey's Hotel with housing and a new, smaller hotel has been delayed. Developer Mark Solit said the hotel company has not yet decided if replacing the hotel will be part of the plan submitted to the city.

Hyatt has an application on file to replace the 340-room hotel with a new conference hotel of almost that size, plus 300 housing units.

Those plans are now being revised to include fewer housing units, less than 200, and a possible, smaller hotel.

"We're dragging a little behind on deciding between the reduced-size applications," Solit said.

Hyatt's original plan sparked community opposition to the number of housing units being planned, with 10 neighborhood associations opposing it. Since then, because of the economy, Hyatt has abandoned its plan to build a conference hotel and is still deciding whether it will attempt to build a smaller hotel.

-- Don Kazak
Open space group gets $1 million gift

Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST), which buys coastal land to save it for public use, has received a $1 million gift from Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Blank and his wife, Alison Elliott, of Menlo Park.

Blank, who has been a co-founder or executive of eight local startup companies over the last 25 years, also owns a ranch on the coast next to the Anp Nuevo State Reserve. After retiring in 1999, he said he and his wife thought about leaving a legacy for their children and others.

"We figured the open space on the coast was an irreplaceable resource," he said. "POST has been the most aggressive, innovative and cost-effective land preservation group in the country."

POST President Audrey Rust noted that the philanthropic community "has been in the doldrums" in recent years after the high-tech bubble burst. "This gift signals a return of people stepping forward with significant philanthropic gifts." --Don Kazak

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