News Digest News Digest (August 12, 2005)

Managers will vote on unionization

Managers and professionals with the City of Palo Alto, who have been trying to unionize for almost two years, have gathered enough signatures to get a vote of their membership to authorize unionization, they reported on Thursday.

The organizers failed to gather more than 50 percent of the workers' signatures, which would bypass the need for a vote, but gathered one-third. The signatures and paperwork were given to the city clerk's office at Thursday at noon.

The vote will take place in about eight weeks.

If more than 50 percent of the workers vote yes, they will be unionized under the Professional & Technical Engineers, Local 21 (IFPTE Local 21).

If the membership approves the unionization, it would be the second group of Palo Alto workers unionized in 12 months. The city's temporary workers recently joined the Service Employees International Union, Local 715.

Workers in the proposed professional and manager group were hit with layoffs during the city's recent budget process.

Unlike other workers who were targeted for layoffs in Palo Alto, the technologists and their manager did not find other jobs in the city, said Kathy Espinoza-Howard, the division manager of the Cubberley Community Center and Human Services.

"I'm sorry that we couldn't move faster for (those laid off workers), but we're doing it," Espinoza-Howard said.

-- Bill D'Agostino

Large pool of council candidates

With the deadline for candidates to file paperwork fast approaching, there appear to be at least 13 candidates in the race for the Palo Alto City Council.

There are five open seats. Three incumbents -- Mayor Jim Burch, Hillary Freeman and Vic Ojakian -- have announced they won't seek reelection; Ojakian is term-limited out.

The deadline for incumbents to file their candidate paperwork is today. The deadline for non-incumbents will be likely extended to Aug. 17 since Freeman and Burch are not running.

Four candidates had completed their paperwork by Thursday morning:

*Sanford Forte, a Library Advisory Commission member and a business owner;

*Harold "Skip" Justman, a Palo Alto land-use-law attorney;

*Jack Morton, an incumbent and certified public accountant; and

*David Rapaport a Palo Alto High School government teacher

Nine residents have announced they are running and pulled paperwork:

*John Barton, a Palo Alto school board member and an architect;

*Norm Carroll, the coordinator of "Downtown Streets Team," which uses homeless people for cleaning downtown streets;

*Peter Drekmeier, a conservationist and environmental activist;

*Victor Frost, a panhandler who frequently runs for council;

*Karen Holman, a Planning & Transportation Commission member and historic preservationist;

*Yoriko Kishimoto, an incumbent City Council member and a consultant;

*Larry Klein, an attorney and former City Council member;

*Danielle Martell, an educational software writer; and

*Roger Smith, the retired CEO of Silicon Valley Bank and co-founder of the Friends of Palo Alto Parks.

Three other candidates have pulled paperwork but have not definitely announced if they are running:

*Marc Fleischmann, a small-internet business owner who said he was not likely to run;

*Tim Harrington, the CEO of Armor Gear, which creates travel bags; and

*Charlie Scurlock, a retired physicist and CEO of Sandpiper Labs, which manufactures specialty crutches, who has not returned phone calls regarding his candidacy.

Three other candidates have pulled papers but have said they are not running: supervising deputy district attorney Jay Boyarsky, Planning and Transportation Commissioner Pat Burt and neighborhood leader Doug Moran.

An up-to-date list of the candidates can be viewed at www.PaloAltoOnline.com

-- Bill D'Agostino

'Alpha 1' helps nab shooting suspects

Three men believed linked to a Tongan Crips gang are being held on $300,000 bail each after being arrested following a high-speed chase related to shootings last week in East Palo Alto, according to police and the San Mateo County district attorney's office.

Police Chief Ron Davis -- whose radio code name is "Alpha 1" -- initiated the late-night chase and other officers joined and captured the men.

The men entered not-guilty pleas Monday at their arraignments and are scheduled for preliminary hearings Aug. 19, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

The men, identified as Simione Paletua, 21, Nalesoni Tuipuloto, 18, and David Tupou, 18, were apprehended after fleeing from the Hamilton Avenue/Willow Road area about 2 a.m. Friday after Davis spotted them when he heard gunshots and headed for them to investigate, Wagstaffe recounted.

Davis had gone to the area following several shootings -- including an apparently unrelated shooting in which a 16-year-old boy, identified as Jorge Hernandez, was killed about 10:40 p.m. Thursday.

Wagstaffe said he knows of no evidence to link the arrested men to the death of Hernandez, who had reportedly approached a SUV then fled on his bicycle when gunshots came from the vehicle. He collapsed and died in a carport area of an apartment building near West Bayshore Frontage Road and Newell Avenue.

Two earlier shooting incidents left a 23-year-old man with several gunshot wounds and two other men hospitalized with gunshot wounds after someone shot at them in the 2100 block of Capitol Avenue.

There was one more shooting that night: Shortly after 3 a.m. a 21-year-old man was found bleeding from a leg wound on Alberni Street near Jervis Avenue, police reported.

Wagstaffe told the Weekly he was at the homicide scene with police officers when an urgent call came over the police radio, "Alpha 1 in pursuit!"

"Who's Alpha 1?" Wagstaffe asked, reacting to the astonishment of the officers.

"That's the police chief!" one officer said as they raced toward their patrol cars to join in.

Wagstaffe said the fleeing men allegedly threw a shotgun and a rifle from the vehicle as officers pursued them. He said there are indications the three may have been out "looking to shoot at other gang members," but police are still trying to sort out the sequence of events.

Wagstaffe indicated that Chief Davis likely will be called to testify in the case.

-- Jay Thorwaldson

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