News Digest News Digest (October 01, 2004)

Changes could help biotech, affordable housing

Changes to Palo Alto's zoning code, the laws that tell developers what can be built in which location, will be before the City Council on Monday night.

Some of the proposed changes are designed to help retain or create new affordable housing, while others will encourage biotech companies to move into town.

"South San Francisco and Berkeley are making huge efforts to attract biotech," Planning Director Steve Emslie said.

Among the dozens of changes up for approval are new rules that would allow:

*Biotech firms to build taller buildings (from 35 feet to 40 feet high);

*Second stories to be constructed on unusually shaped lots;

*Small adult day care centers to be built;

*More flexibility for homeowners wanting to build second units on a property; and

*Fewer (from two to one) parking spaces for smaller units (450 square feet or less).

The regular City Council meeting begins at 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 4, inside the City Council Chambers in City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

--Bill D'Agostino
Palo Alto housing among most expensive

A housing price survey released Thursday by Coldwell Banker ranks Palo Alto fourth nationally after three other California cities -- La Jolla, Beverly Hills and Santa Barbara -- with a 2004 average sales price of $1,212,000.

There is a caveat to the ranking however, since Palo Alto homes sell for less than those in Hillsborough or Atherton.

The ranking is based on the sales price of a four-bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2,200-square-foot home with a family room and a two-care garage, according to David Siroty of Coldwell Banker. "Obviously, we can't include every community," he said.

Palo Alto ranked first in the same survey in 2001.

--Don Kazak
'Cautionary' child revaccination at PAMF, MayView

Nearly 1,300 children from the Palo Alto/Mountain View-area may have been vaccinated in 2001 with ineffective common childhood vaccines, officials at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and the MayView Community Health Center announced Tuesday.

No health problems have been found relating to the possible problem, and the revaccination is a cautionary move, the organizations said in a press release issued jointly with the Santa Clara County Department of Health.

The announcement followed a county-led investigation stemming from an anonymous letter the groups received last April. The medical groups this week sent letters to parents notifying them of the possible problem and offering free revaccinations as a cautionary move.

Eight vaccines may have been improperly refrigerated during transportation, the anonymous letter alleged. The county-led investigation found that "some vaccines in 2001 might have been transported between the two clinics, but there was no evidence to substantiate the claims made in the anonymous letters," according to the three-way joint announcement.

The vaccines were for polio, hepatitis B, measles/mumps/rubella, chicken pos, tetanus/diptheria/whooping cough and other childhood illnesses.

About 1,250 of the patients were from PAMF and 25 were from MayView, which provides primary-care services to about 4,000 patients in Mountain View and Palo Alto in about 14,000 visits. PAMF serves patients primarily from northern Santa Clara and southern San Mateo counties and has about 500,000 patient visits annually.

PAMF has scheduled a drop-in revaccination clinic for Saturday, Oct. 16, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in its Department of Pediatrics, 795 El Camino Real, Palo Alto. Patients may schedule a revaccination visit or wait until a regularly scheduled visit. It has set up a special question line: (650) 853-2300.

MayView will contact patients individually to schedule revaccinations, or parents may call (650) 965-3323, x311, to schedule an appointment. A special informational clinic on vaccinations will be held Monday, Oct. 11 from 4 to 5 p.m. at the MayView Clinic in Mountain View. It also operates a clinic in Palo Alto.
School district appoints new business manager

Harvey Grimshaw of Laguna Beach will serve as interim business manager for the Palo Alto Unified School District until a permanent chief is found. Grimshaw, who is filling in for retiring Bob Golton, will start Oct. 25.

A permanent replacement, whether Grimshaw or another candidate, will likely begin in January, said Superintendent Mary Frances Callan. Grimshaw is retired from serving as business manager for various school districts.

--Alexandria Rocha

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