Around Town Around Town (April 14, 2004)

GETTING BOULDER . . . For all the Valley's fascination with things new and technological, Palo Alto parents would rather their kids play on natural wonders than on equipment designed by man. Well, sort of. At a recent neighborhood meeting to discuss improvements to Juana Briones Park, residents instructed city staff to install a boulder structure for older kids rather than a climbing wall. Due to safety requirements, though, it won't be a real boulder, but rather a concrete mass pretending to be one, whose every angle and plane have been inspected and approved. Oh well, can't have everything -- even in Palo Alto.

eSHEBA COME HOME! ... A laptop who lost a laptop is using the old-fashioned manner for finding a missing friend - posting a flier on local telephone poles. The desperate soul has been promising a $500 reward. One local cynic scrawled on the white paper that the computer "answers to the name of Fido." Boy that's ruff!

TAKE THE "B" TRAIN . . . If you think Caltrain runs the only locomotive game in town, Palo Alto resident Eric Struck would beg to differ. Struck is owner of the Barron Park Garden Railway, a model railroad that has operated in his Barron Park backyard for 23 years and will make its spring debut this weekend. His G-scale model locomotives wend their way by bushes and fences, past pint-sized train depots and other miniature buildings. Not to toot his own horn, but Struck notes his railway has been featured on the TV show "Bay Area Backroads" and that children from all over come to see his very popular attraction. Take that, Baby Bullet. (Visit www.cyberstars.com/modeltrains/ for location and train schedule.)

SHOW ME THE WAY ... A new lighted crosswalk will appear in Palo Alto this week, at Page Mill Road and Park Boulevard. The city's transportation officials are hoping the $11,500 device will improve pedestrian safety near the Caltrain station. It uses the latest in traffic safety technology -- the lights will be triggered by a wireless connection, set off by solar-powered buttons. But will it be organic?

INSENSITIVITY IN THE MOST UNLIKELY PLACE ... Palo Alto's Human Relations Commission is charged with acting when it finds people are being treated "unfairly or differently." But during last week's meeting, it was Commissioner Jeffrey Blum who made the un-PC comment that drew attention. While looking over a report about racial profiling, Blum asked how many "man-hours" it took to compile the data. Police Chief Lynne Johnson promptly corrected him -- the proper term is "staff-hours." A red-faced Blum quickly apologized.

SCOOT! ... Speaking of Police Chief Lynne Johnson, she recently sent a letter to State Assemblywoman Jenny Oropeza asking for support of a state bill that would require riders of motorized scooters to be licensed. The scooters have been a nasty problem in Palo Alto, the chief wrote. They are unsafe, noisy and increasingly used by criminals for a quick get-away, she pointed out.

FIBER RESEARCH ... City watchdog/gadfly Wayne Martin has been doing lots of historical research, preparing for next Monday night's City Council meeting, when the council will review a proposal to enter the $40 million fiber optics business. The move would allow the city to provide cable television, high-speed Internet and telephone service to residents. One gem Martin found was a Palo Alto Times article from 1948, announcing the city's first "mobile telephone," which could be used in cars. "Palo Alto has been well served by its telephone system, and attempts to attack its service, or capabilities should not be seen as a legitimate role of local government," Martin wrote in an e-mail to the council. Another article he found, from 1951, included a photo of "120 trucks and installation men" ready to "install more than 300 telephones in the city in one day's time."

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