Around Town Around Town (September 28, 2005)

A LITERAL DRIVER ... Paul Goldstein, the chair of the Palo Alto Bicycle Advisory Committee, was on his way home from his job at Stanford University via Homer Tunnel recently when he spotted a driver take a sign a bit too literally. Goldstein was crossing Alma Street when he noticed a driver, who should have been stopped at the red light, make an illegal left turn onto Alma. "But then I noticed the flashing sign 'NO RIGHT TURN ON RED' -- I guess he thought it was OK to make the left turn on red," Goldstein quipped.

BUT ARE THEY EFFECTIVE?... Representatives from Palo Alto's sister city Enschede, Netherlands visited the City Council meeting last week, and Palo Alto Mayor Jim Burch used the opportunity to lightly rib some political adversaries. Palo Alto, it's worth noting, has nine council members but some neighborhood leaders and council candidates want to reduce that number to seven; Burch is opposed to the idea. While publicly discussing the visit with the city's representative, Burch asked how many council members it has. When the answer -- 39 - was announced, the council chambers filled with laughter.

PINK BRAS APLENTY ... October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. On Oct. 6, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Stanford Macy's will host "Fit for the Cure" events, featuring free fittings with bra specialists. Wacoal, a bra manufacturer, will donate $2 to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, for selected bras, purchased at the event. Women who get fitted will also receive a complimentary embroidered lingerie travel bag. The company will also donate $2 for every pink Wacoal bra and "Awareness" bra (bras bearing the signature breast cancer pink ribbon) purchased during the entire month.

ROXY'S WRAP-UP ... Roxy Rapp has developed historically significant properties, but now his life has been deemed historically significant as well. The prominent downtown real estate developer will be speaking to the Palo Alto Historical Association on Sunday at 2 p.m. The program, "Roxy Rapp Remembers Palo Alto," to be held at the Lucie Stern Community Center at 1305 Middlefield Road, is free and open to the public. According to the historical association, Rapp learned about business as a boy in his father's shoe store on University Avenue, Rapp's Shoes.His father, the late Lou Rapp, was known as the "unofficial mayor" of University Avenue. The child-friendly store had a model railroad and birds housed in a parakeet castle,including a myna bird taught to speak eight sentences, including "I like Rapp's." After Menlo College, Roxy Rapp opened his first retail store in downtown Palo Alto.In the early 1980s, he began to focus on developing commercial property and has since personally developed more than 30 projects, including Plaza Ramona at Ramona and University Avenue.The block, built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, was placedon the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

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