Around Town Around Town (August 17, 2005)

SILLY SEASON . . . All of the coffee-house chats, brown-bag lunches, candidate forums, campaign kickoffs and community-TV appearances can only mean one thing: It's election season in Palo Alto. A dizzying array of events for the City Council candidates have been scheduled so far, and in addition to the official forums residents are likely to see the political contenders popping up wherever there's a civic gathering. Some candidates say they're boning up on city affairs; others appear to be doing the requisite schmoozing. Candidates have been sighted at meetings of the City Council, commissions, the Mayor's Retail Attraction Committee and neighborhood association forums. One council hopeful, retired banker Roger Smith, got on cable television by coming to a last week's council meeting. Was he speaking passionately about his views of the latest controversy? No, he decided instead to ask Palo Altans to attend and support the city's Twilight concerts. "It's a wonderful, wonderful asset we have in our community," Smith gushed.

A POWERLESS ELECTION... One person who isn't feeling the seasonal spirit is Edmund Power. For nearly 20 years, he's ran in every Palo Alto City Council election, without ever gathering many more than 1,000 votes. But this year, he's taking a break. Speaking from his home, the 87-year-old Power -- whose one issue was his bitterness at the city for closing the yacht harbor -- said he was recovering from recent surgery. "I'm in terrible shape," he said. Power supposedly owned the last boat to leave the harbor. Until this year, he frequently attended council meetings, berating the council for its decision to shut it down and occasionally singing sad ballads.

QUESTIONS FOR CANDIDATES, TAKE 2... All the candidates for this fall races' for Palo Alto City Council and school board will have filed the necessary paperwork by the end of business today. But the Weekly's reporting team is still hoping you will send us questions to ask those candidates. E-mail questions for council candidates to staff writer Bill D'Agostino at bdagostino@paweekly.com and those for school board candidates to staff writer Alexandria Rocha at arocha@paweekly.com.

A SORRY STATE ... We all realize the Valley Transit Authority has fallen on tough times, but an empty bus barreling down Alma Street last week illustrated the issue dramatically. Rather than listing a destination, the sign above the driver simply stated "Sorry."

GOING NATIVE . . . Native plants are moving into the Palo Alto foothills -- and you didn't even know they'd been gone. Actually, the plants in question are part of environmental group Acterra's native-plant nursery. The nonprofit gained the city's approval to make a long-term home for its 9-year-old nursery on a half-acre parcel next to Foothills Park, to propagate plants for the restoration of the Arastradero Preserve and the San Francisquito watershed. In 2004, the nursery grew about 10,000 plants, including more than 100 species of shrubs, trees, grasses, and wildflowers. More than 6,000 of these plants have been used to revegetate sites such as El Palo Alto Park. Let's hear it for the natives!

UNSPEAKABLE ... Fourteen bunnies in deplorable condition were dumped at the Palo Alto Bowling Green near Gamble Garden on Aug. 1. The herd of rabbits, some covered with sores and tumors, were discovered by bowling green maintenance workers and reported to Palo Alto Animal Services. The animals were in such bad condition that they had to be euthanized. "It was very, very sad," said Sandra Stadler , the city's animal services supervisor. She was at a loss to explain why anyone would dump the animals, or let them deteriorate to such a condition. Many people do not realize that rabbits are not "easy pets," and have special needs, including lots of human interaction and exercise outside of a cage, Stadler said. "Maybe somebody thought they were doing a kindness, rescuing them from the conditions they were living in." But rabbits let loose usually fall prey to raccoons, dogs, owls and hawks. Once ill or injured, they generally do not fare well. Stadler fears she'll receive an angry response from the public about having to euthanize the rabbits, but she stressed that euthanizing the bunnies was "not a good thing for the staff -- it was very emotional and draining." Contrary to the popular image of the cute, cuddly, docile bunny, unsocialized rabbits can be aggressive and don't make good pets. Stadler doesn't think those responsible will be found. But if they are, it is possible charges could be filed against them, she said. "I wish (the bunnies) could've talked to us," she added.

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