Around Town Around Town (June 08, 2005)

COUNCIL MEMBERS ARE STANDING BY... Like the Boy Scouts, the City of Palo Alto is prepared. In the event of a politically cataclysmic event, say an earthquake on a Monday night that topples City Hall and slaughters all nine City Council members, the city has a backup collection of formerly elected officials ready to take charge. The way members of this enigmatic group, known as the Emergency Standby Council, get appointed is unofficial and amorphous, and some of the nine current members have been serving their thus-far silent roles for decades. So next Tuesday night, the council's Policy and Services Committee will review a proposal to clear up the process by rotating the longstanding members of the emergency council with fresh members of the City Council as they leave office. In case you are wondering (and who isn't?), the backup group was first fashioned in 1963, a year after the Cuban Missile Crisis, amidst nationwide fears of nuclear war.
CRACKED EGG ...Adriana Varella, the creator of Digital DNA, the egg-shaped artwork recently placed in Lytton Plaza, was laboring last week to repair damage done to her handiwork during the long Memorial Day weekend. Her goal was to have it in tip-top shape for a city celebration on June 10 (5:30 p.m. starting in the lobby of City Hall and moving to Lytton Plaza at 7 p.m.). The vandals removed six of the circuit boards and pulled out wires. Police Agent Dan Ryan speculated ("I'd bet my first 50 cents," he said.) the vandals were late-night drinkers waiting for a cab by the adjacent taxi stop or leaving Pizza My Heart. The crime has caused the artist and the Public Art Commission to reconsider adding surveillance equipment to the plaza for protection. That had been a part of an earlier plan, but was dropped immediately before the artwork was installed last month. The commission will discuss the possibility at its next meeting, on June 16. It's not the first mishap involving the artwork. When Varella was initially creating it, a number of the circuit boards were accidentally thrown away. A first rendition of Digital DNA was later destroyed in a warehouse fire, while under the city's care. Palo Alto Arts Center Director Linda Craighead was disappointed to hear about the vandalism, saying it's "the absolute opposite of everything the piece stands for." Sewed into the artwork are phrases in a multitude of language and Craighead said the piece, for her, signifies "the power of technology to bring the world together."
PROLIFIC ENRON ... Curious about why the city agreed to hand over $21.5 million to the disgraced Enron corporation? On Friday morning, June 10, Palo Alto City Councilman Bern Beecham will hold an informal get-together with the public to answer questions about the city's recent settlement, which stems from energy and gas contracts the city signed with Enron and then cancelled as the company went bankrupt in 2001. The 10 a.m. talk will be held at the Prolific Oven on Waverley Street. Asked how political neophytes would recognize him, Beecham simply responded: "Look for the council member at the Prolific Oven and that will be me."
PILLOWDAD ... Apparently, there's a new way to celebrate Father's Day: pillow fighting. On Fogster.com, the Palo Alto Weekly's online classifieds, an anonymous someone posted the details for a patrimonial ceremony. "The Father's Day Pillow Fight honors families that play together," the person explained, "in particular the more rough and tumble play for which dads are famous." By the way, this year Father's Day is on Sunday, June 19.
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