Publication Date: Friday, December 10, 2004
News Digest
News Digest
(December 10, 2004)
Santa Cruz Avenue closed this weekend
Santa Cruz Avenue between Sand Hill Road and Junipero Serra Boulevard will be closed to traffic both Saturday and Sunday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. for construction, weather permitting. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. will be putting utility lines underground during that time.
More information is available at www.sandhillroadproject.net.
Woods elected EPA mayor
David Woods was unanimously elected mayor by his colleagues on the East Palo Alto City Council Tuesday night, while newly elected Councilman Ruben Abrica was elected vice mayor.
Longtime Councilman and former Mayor Duane Bay stepped down from the council after narrowly being defeated for re-election in the Nov. 2 election, and newly elected A. Peter Evans took his council seat.
Pat Foster and Donna Rutherford were also re-elected Nov. 2.
"I offer congratulations to all my worthy opponents and wish you Godspeed in moving forward," Bay told his colleagues after stepping down. "We have disagreed from time to time on various issues, but that's to be expected."
Bay served on the council since 1996.
"We are going to disagree politely," Woods said after taking the mayor's seat, bringing applause from the standing-room-only crowd in the council chambers.
Woods briefly outlined some priorities for 2005, including hiring a new police chief and reducing crime, forging a better relationship with the Ravenswood City School District, reviewing the roles of all city boards and commissions, and finding way to fund city services.
Woods also spoke to the issue of redevelopment, which has deeply divided the community in recent years. "We need development that benefits East Palo Alto, and not development for development's sake," he said.
-- Don Kazak
Paly lockers vandalized
About 30 student lockers at Palo Alto High School were broken into last weekend and their contents strewn about, according to the student online newspaper, the Paly Voice. It's not clear whether anything was stolen.
"There hasn't been any report that anything was stolen," Paly Vice Principal Chuck Merritt said Thursday.
The vandals used a bolt cutter to cut into a gate to the cage that protected the lockers, and then used the bolt cutter to remove the locks from about 30 lockers.
The locker vandalism was discovered on Sunday morning. "I think it happened late Saturday night or early Sunday morning," Merritt said.
-- Don Kazak
PAMF completes computer-donation program
The Palo Alto Medical Foundation recently completed a computer donation program to schools in the San Carlos, Belmont/Redwood Shores and Fremont school districts.
According to the foundation, the San Carlos School District received 40 complete computers and 20 hard-drive upgrades. The foundation also donated an additional five computers to the Spring Fling event where they will be auctioned off, with the proceeds benefiting the district.
The Belmont/Redwood Shores Unified School District received 60 hard-drive upgrades, keyboards and mice.
The Fremont Unified School District, the foundation reports, received 90 hard-drive upgrades and 10 complete computers.
In addition to the school donations, the foundation also gave 10 computers and a cash donation to the Children's Fund of San Mateo County.
The Palo Alto Medical Foundation is nonprofit health care organization that specializes in group practice and outpatient medicine.
E-mail a friend a link to this story. | 
