Around Town Around Town (January 05, 2005)

CAMPAIGN SURPRISES . . . When California Assembly candidate Steve Poizner pounded the pavement during his recent unsuccessful bid for office, he never knew what to expect. This month, he sent supporters a newsletter highlighting his campaign trail's top 10 memorable moments, two of which occurred locally. In Palo Alto, a 95-year-old woman, who didn't recognize the candidate in person, and said, "You tell that Steve Poizner to go to Sacramento and clean up the mess!" Then she shut the door. In Menlo Park, Poizner got "The Full Monty" when a man answered the door stark naked and proceeded to ask Poizner about his policies. Now who said politics was boring?

DENTAL FENG SHUI? . . . We've heard that dentists go to great lengths to help their patients relax -- including foot massages and videos on demand -- but feng shui ? Feng shui, the ancient Chinese practice of arranging elements in the natural and built worlds to improve people's well being, is planned for a new three-story dental-office building on Welch Road. According to the architect's application to the city, a triangular-shaped entry path "relates directly to the triangular opening in the roof viewed ahead, and the mirrored triangular planter below. This creates a strong feng-shui entrance feeling as pedestrians are then guided right to the building entrance, passing through concentric concrete circles which emulate energy flowing into the building."

WEEDS BE GONE . . . Attention Palo Alto residents: The weeds on your property have just been declared Public Nuisance No. 1. The city gave notice this week, following a Dec. 13 City Council resolution, that "all weeds growing upon any private property or in any public street or alley ... constitute a public nuisance, which ... must be abated by the destruction or removal thereof." According to the Palo Alto Municipal Code, this includes "weeds which bear or may bear seeds of a 'downy' or 'wingy' nature." Think the city isn't serious? Property owners who don't eradicate their own weeds will be forced to pay the city to do the job for them. However, there is an escape clause: Anyone especially fond of their weeds, and reluctant to see them go, may appear at the Jan. 18 City Council meeting and voice their objections.

SCIENCE AT SPAGO'S . . . String theory and foie gras may seem an unlikely pairing, but that's what will be on the menu at Wolfgang Puck's Spago on Lytton Avenue Jan. 11. That's when Cafe Scientifique , a science discussion group that had been meeting at the recently departed Harmony Bakery on California Avenue, will make its debut at the chichi locale. January's topic: "Surviving the End of the Universe: An Escape Plan," featuring Michio Kaku , a theoretical physics professor at the City University of New York. Roger Whiting , an organizer for Cafe Scientifique, said the group is trying out the famous restaurant's pavilion for size. Some topics have been so popular, they've been fully reserved with 80 people within an hour of being announced on the Web site, www.cafescipa.org. Lest anyone think scientific talk is all head and no heart, November's discussion on genetically modified food brought out "quite a lot of emotions," Whiting said. That may have had something to do with the bakery and its loyal following -- Harmony was organic.

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