March 11, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

News Digest

A local law outlawing keeping pets in cars on hot days without proper ventilation was passed by the Palo Alto City Council on Monday night. The new law makes the dangerous action a misdemeanor.

There is already a state law outlawing animal cruelty and abuse, but it isn't always "specific enough to be easy to use," said Sandi Stadler, Palo Alto's superintendent of animal services.

There were 19 complaints filed in Palo Alto last year against owners who endangered their pets by keeping them in a car with the windows closed during hot days, according to a city report

"Certainly their owners do not mean harm to the animals, but it doesn't take long" for animals to be damaged by heat, Stadler noted.

When the temperature is 88 degrees outside, the indoor temperature of the car can reach 105 degrees, a potentially lethal heat, in less than 10 minutes, according to the report.

Other California cities, like Davis and Cupertino, have similar laws on the books.

"If we never needed it, I would just be thrilled," Stadler added. "Unfortunately, I know that's not going to happen." --Bill D'Agostino
School board support higher storm drain cost

Although its monthly fees will increase by more than 115 percent, members of the local school district's Board of Education voted to support the city of Palo Alto's election to raise the storm drain fee.

The district has 17 properties impacted by the increase. The board will have one vote for each school. Its monthly costs will raise from $4,620 to $10,065 if the majority of voters decide to pass the proposal. --Alexandria Rocha
City Council rejects home appeal

The Palo Alto City Council voted 5-1 Monday night to not hear an appeal by neighbors of a decision to allow a two-story home to be built at 1012 Forest Ave. The home was earlier approved by Planning Director Steve Emslie in a staff hearing.

The decision Monday night was not about the merits of the approval, but whether to hear objections to the approval at a later date.

Mayor Jim Burch, Vice Mayor Judy Kleinberg and Council members Bern Beecham, LaDoris Cordell and Yoriko Kishimoto voted to not hear the appeal, while Jack Morton wanted to have the hearing. Council members Hillary Freeman, Dena Mossar and Vic Ojakian were absent.

Greg Lee and Linda Liu had won approval to build a 2,100-square-foot home, but neighbors Todd and Kathy Reece appealed the decision. The main point of contention was a planned 128-square-foot glass window on the second floor that would overlook the Reeces' patios, bedrooms and hot tub.

The issue, like a similar one in 2003 over the Elizabeth and Jaimie Wong property on Webster Street, set neighbor against neighbor.

"We used to leave bags of fruit on each other's porches," Kathy Reece told the council. "Now we leave petitions." -- Don Kazak
Feds say Palo Alto's public schools need improvement

The battle between California's school accountability system and the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) came to a head this week. The result is 184 school districts, including Palo Alto, are now in Program Improvement. Those districts now have only two years to make progress according to the federal model or face strict sanctions.

At issue was NCLB's stringent requirement on school districts to annually test 95 percent of all students in each sub-group, including those in special education and English learners. Because parents can opt their students out of taking the test, the Palo Alto Unified School District failed to test 95 percent of their special education students. "We meet the proficient part easily, but the participation rate is not quite where it needs to be," said Bill Garrison, the district's director of testing and assessment, when the test results originally came out in September.

Palo Alto Unified will likely not face any sanctions if it can raise the participation rate of students taking the standardized tests in the next year.

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