Around Town Around Town (July 14, 2004)

THE WEEKLY WORLD-WIDE . . . We knew our newspaper's fame had spread outside of Palo Alto's humble, 26-square miles but ... Italy? Si, si! In the July 1 edition of L'Eco di Bergamo (translation: the Bergamo Echo), the Weekly was cited for its cover story on the opening of the latest Italian restaurant on University Avenue, La Strada, by chef Donato Scotti. The connection? Scotti is a native of Villa d'Alme, a northern Italian town near Bergamo. The Italian newspaper highlighted the fact that the Weekly had devoted two pages to their hometown boy's entrepreneurial effort. And now the Echo can consider the favor returned. Molto bene!

CLEANING THE VERBAL TOXINS ... The San Francisco Bay Area is home to numerous Superfund sites, lands designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as needing federal help to clean up pollutants. What those unfamiliar with the area's politics may not know, though, is that local officials find the area to be rife with poisons of a different sort: a verbal contamination of public debate. The July 2004 edition of Public Management magazine features an article by Palo Alto's own Assistant City Manager Emily Harrison entitled: "Toxic Relationships, Can the Climate of Local Government Discussion Be Improved?" The story notes that local governments in the area "have been the focus of headlines portraying community dissatisfaction, accusations of ethics violation, and open hostility between councilmembers." Harrison writes that she spoke with former (unnamed) Palo Alto mayors to find the causes and potential solutions to such problems. She highlights two salient reasons for the apparent contention: "elected leaders who lack the skills to mediate difficult issues" (also unnamed) and "media spotlight on contention" (alas, again unnamed). "One former mayor lamented the 'gotcha' school of journalism," Harrison wrote. One possible solution is getting younger families, who moved to the area during the dot-com boom, to get involved in local politics as they mature and have more leisure time to devote to community affairs, she wrote. The onus also rests on officials to stay positive, "not personalize issues" and "learn to move on."

SWAYING ONE VOTER ... State Assembly candidate Steve Poizner was meeting with about 100 prospective voters at the Palo Alto Café last week when he noted he had some work left to do at home. "My wife's a Democrat," the Republican candidate admitted. He said he was working on it. Poizner will face Democrat Ira Ruskin in November in the battle for the seat Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, is leaving in his attempt to move up to the state Senate.

DROP ZONES . . . Palo Alto residents looking to eBay their way to a less cluttered household now have some help. Two local franchises of The UPS Store have become drop-off locations for people's new or used goods. Residents can leave their unpacked items at the Midtown or downtown Bryant Street stores, and the San Carlos-based company AuctionDrop will take care of selling the item on eBay and paying for packing and shipping. The Palo Alto UPS outfits are two of 3,400 independently owned and operated locations in the nation partnering with AuctionDrop since June. Each item must be worth $75 or more, and both AuctionDrop and eBay take a commission on the sold item. But hey, at least the house is tidier -- and ready for the next generation of goods.

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