Around Town Around Town (October 05, 2005)

BACK IN CONTROL ...Palo Alto City Councilwoman LaDoris Cordell was in fine form as the moderator of last week's forum on housing, sponsored by several neighborhood associations. Usually serious and to-the-point at council meetings, Cordell showed her dry sense of humor is still intact, despite her nearly two years on the council. At the forum, she warmed up the crowd by sternly warning the panel of city officials that "no B.S. will be tolerated" in their presentations. After introducing the entirely male panel of city department heads, she glanced at the audience: "The fact that there are no women means nothing." Finally, to everyone's laughter, she admitted she was relishing the opportunity to serve as moderator because, since giving up her position as a Superior Court judge, "I dearly miss being in control."

PAINTING THE TOWN ... Groups of youth hit the streets, "tagging" for the environment last Wednesday. Armed with templates and spray cans, eighth-graders clad in orange vests freshened up city storm drains with new, bright blue "No dumping" notices. Students from Menlo Middle School, accompanied by their teacher Denali St. Amand, learned lessons from Acterra's David "Tex" Houston about the environment. "There are nine endangered species in the San Francisquito watershed. I learned about what a creek is, and if we pollute, then endangered species will die from pollution," student Kyle Bullington said. The storm drain painting is one of two community service projects students from the school will complete during the school year.

WHATTA ROW! ...Going to new lengths to capitalize on Palo Alto's natural bent toward civic competition, the Palo Alto Downtown Business and Professional Association is sponsoringa row-a-thon this Saturday to raise $50,000 for its Downtown Streets Team. The event will pit candidates for City Council against civic leaders, as well as firefighters against police officers. Not to be outdone, a team of landlords will even face their tenants. Rumor has it that one of the tenant groups is Form Fitness (good luck to the landlords). In total, about 120 rowers are expected. The Downtown Streets Team employs people who are un-housed or living in permanent subsidized housing to clean the downtown streets. It also provides job training. The rowing begins at 10 a.m. and goes until 2 p.m. on Bryant Street at Lytton Avenue. The civic officials will row at 11 a.m. and the police and fire departments at noon. There will also be food, beverages, awards, raffle prizes, and music. Call 462-1795 or visit www.paloaltodowntown.com/ for information.

RELIGHTING FIBER? ... The City of Palo Alto's on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again debate about creating a citywide high-speed telecommunications network for all residents appears to be -- you guessed it -- on again. A new proposal for a private or private/public approach to providing a fiber-optic system for Palo Alto intrigued City Council candidates last Thursday. In fact, nearly all the candidates at the forum said they would favor reversing the city's decision to pull the plug Oct. 31 on a 70-home 3-year-old neighborhood trial in the Newell Road/Walnut Drive neighborhood of a fiber-optic trial. The council is scheduled to consider the larger issue again at its Oct. 24 meeting, to take a look at a request for proposals to provide some type of high-bandwidth service to the community. That's in lieu of a city go-it-alone project that would have cost as much as $35 million to $40 million. At the televised forum last Thursday, candidates Karen Holman, John Barton, Peter Drekmeier, Yoriko Kishimoto, Larry Klein and Danielle Martell all said they would favor delaying the Oct. 31 shutdown date in light of the new proposal. Candidate Victor Frost said he'd favor a study. Three other candidates -- Norman Carroll, Jack Morton and Harold "Skip" Justman -- were not present. Kishimoto, who co-authored a memo this fall that suggested both the shutdown and the proposal request, said she "would support suspending or reversing that" Oct. 31 shutdown date. The proposal to create a "Palo Alto Fiber to the Home" system that would use little or no city money is posted online at www.PaloAltoOnline.com.

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