Around Town Around Town (July 27, 2005)

LONG OVERDUE ... Library Director Paula Simpson recently granted a merciful reprieve to a Redwood City schoolteacher who had amassed a large fine. In a letter to Simpson earlier this month, Liann Sumner pleaded for amnesty. The Palo Alto resident said she started teaching in Redwood City's Hoover School eight years ago when it had no library. "I would check books out of the children's library 30 at a time so my first-graders have books to read," she said. "Once over Christmas break, I left them at school and racked up a $90 fine. Since then I have not used my card. I cannot afford to pay this on my teaching salary." Simpson responded that she would waive half of the fine, and lift the block on Sumner's account once she had established a payment plan for the remaining $45.

UNPATRIOTIC? ... The controversial Patriot Act, passed a few weeks after 9/11, has not made an impact locally, according to a new city report. Palo Alto Police Chief Lynne Johnson wrote to the City Council that there "has not been any information obtained, nor attempts made to obtain information," from Palo Alto's public schools, colleges, libraries or bookstores under powers granted by the law. Although the Patriot Act makes it illegal to report specific requests for information, it is not apparently illegal to report the lack of such requests, allowing the city to pen the new report. Got it? City officials said they would continue producing such reports every year, at the request of the council, leaving observers to wonder: If there's no report next year, does that mean there have, in fact, been requests under the Patriot Act?

RETAIL 'TROJAN HORSE' ... Making sure that Palo Alto's neighborhood shopping centers continue to serve local needs may seem like a great idea, but it got a chilly reception from developers at the Mayor's Retail Committee last week. "This is a real Trojan horse for Alma Plaza in particular," Chop Keenan told the rest of the committee, which is composed of neighborhood leaders, city officials and staff, and other developers. "We need some neighborhood-serving retail, but not 60,000 square feet." John McNellis, whose McNellis Partners is redeveloping Alma Plaza into housing and retail, called the notion of forcing property owners at both Alma and Edgewood plazas to keep all their retail space "patently unfair." But Deborah Ju, head of the Charleston Meadows Neighborhood Association, called Alma "a perfect example of where housing, being more profitable, is trumping retail." Ultimately the head of the committee, Councilmember Bern Beecham, ended the debate by suggesting the city explore incentives for developers to retain retail in the centers.

ANARCHISTS AND TEMPORARY WORKERS ... It was a little challenging to find more than a few Palo Alto city employees at last week's temporary workers' rally, which was held to protest the city's latest offer to the newly unionized workers. (Signs appeared around town a few days before the rally decrying the city's "dirty secret" of hiring workers without benefits.) Approximately 100 people sympathetic to the temps attended the rally, including unionized workers from other cities and local hospitals. Also present were four anarchists, saying they were sympathetic to the workers' plight. A few members of the Green Party were also on hand. A small group of uniformed police officers watched the event, but said they were not too worried. "They're city employees," one remarked.

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