December 09, 2005

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Hourly workers for the City of Palo Alto, who unionized last year, are voting on their first-ever contract today. If the 180 workers approve the contract then the City Council will vote on the matter Monday night.

The contract, negotiated with city management, includes a 4 percent pay raise -- retroactive to July 1, 2005 -- and some benefits. The workers currently receive no benefits and had last received a pay raise in 2002.

The salary increase and benefits are estimated to cost the city $250,000. Proposed benefits include .03 hours of sick leave for every hour worked

"It is definitely a tremendous victory for them," said Phil Plymale, the chapter chair of Service Employees Union International, Local 715, the chapter that includes the workers.

The contract would also define an hourly worker as someone who works a minimum of 416 hours a year for the city. The workers perform many of the day-to-day tasks of the city, such as sorting books and teaching swim classes.

Also on Monday, the council will vote on giving 206 non-unionized hourly workers a 4 percent pay raise, which would cost approximately $87,000. --Bill D'Agostino
High-density zoning reviewed Wednesday

A new zoning designation that would allow developers to build high-density housing near Palo Alto's California Avenue train station will be reviewed Wednesday night by the Planning and Transportation Commission.

The city hopes the new zoning would lead residents in the housing developments to walk, bike or take the train.

The commission and the Architectural Review Board preliminarily reviewed the guidelines for the proposed "Transit Oriented Development Combining District" this week. Property owners would be able to build up to 40 units per acre and up to 40 feet high under the new zoning, according to city staff. Those limits would increase to 50 units per acre and 50 feet high if property owners provided more below-market-rate units that the city requires.

Owner of properties will have to apply for the new zoning, and it would be subject to City Council approval. Owners for properties on Park Boulevard and Page Mill Road have already applied for the zoning change; the commission will also review those projects on Wednesday.

Housing advocate Sally Probst, who attended this week's meeting, approved of the proposal.

"This is a step in the right direction and I'm pleased Palo Alto is taking it," she said.

But city watchdog Joy Ogawa said she worried the proposed rules would grant the city and developers too much flexibility.

"The city would be creating headaches with these vague guidelines," she said.

Planning Manager John Lusardi said flexibility was the point of the zoning.

"We are trying to do something different than with other zoning districts," he said.

Next week's commission meeting will be held Wednesday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers in City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.). The proposal is scheduled to be voted on by the City Council in February. City staff is also proposing similar zoning for properties near downtown's train station, to be reviewed at a future date. --Bill D'Agostino
School board to decide school sizes

Should Palo Alto's public schools serve bigger student populations? District administrators believe so, but it will be up to school board members Tuesday night when they vote on a controversial plan to raise the enrollment caps at all 17 campuses.

The district's business manager Jerry Matranga, along with his staff, reviewed the schools' capacities this fall as part of a year-long review of attendance boundaries. Their study, which involved visiting all the sites, interviewing faculty and measuring play space, revealed room for more students at each site. Specifically, each elementary and middle school can hold 50 more students and each high school 150 more teens, according to the report.

Some board members said packing the students in is a risky move.

"Originally, there were 22 elementary schools and these sites were designed for much smaller populations of students," said board member Gail Price.

Current population caps were set in 1999 and limit the number of students in elementary schools to 450, middle schools to 900 and high schools to 1,800. But over the last few years, the schools' populations have become severely unbalanced. Some schools are far from reaching the cap, while others have gone over and some are close.

The capacities review stemmed from arguments that the district may need to start planning for additional school sites, which would affect its attendance boundaries.

The Board of Education will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the district's board room, 25 Churchill Ave. For more information, visit www.pausd.org. --Alexandria Rocha
Teacher back in court in January

After waving his right to a preliminary hearing last week, former Jordan Middle School teacher and coach Bill Giordano -- who is charged with sexually molesting a student more than 12 years ago -- will next appear in court Jan. 10, in which he'll most likely enter a not guilty plea, said Karen Guidotti, a San Mateo County deputy district attorney.

Details of Giordano's case became scrambled after his Dec. 1 court appearance when his attorney William Stewart said his client had "admitted everything" to Menlo Park police after being arrested in August. Stewart recanted the statement after court, saying his client had only admitted to "contact" with the victim. He would not expand on what "contact" meant and has not returned calls from the Weekly. Giordano, 60, was arrested Aug. 18 at his Menlo Park home for an alleged sexual relationship with a 14-year-old student that spanned from 1991 to 1993, according to police reports. A second molestation charge was filed at his Sept. 9 arraignment, involving lewd and lascivious behavior with a 13-year-old girl in 2002. However, Deputy District Attorney Melissa McKowan dropped those charges Dec. 1 at the request of the victim's family. There was also a third victim who Giordano allegedly had a sexual relationship with in the early 1980s, but those incidents occurred prior to the statute of limitation's timeline. Giordano is now charged with 21 felony counts of sexual molestation and could face a maximum of 16 years and four months in prison.

On Jan. 10, Giordano will be given dates for a pretrial conference and a jury trial. Guidotti, however, said the case may not go to a jury trial if it is settled at the pretrial conference. --Alexandria Rocha
Photovoltaic project gets good reviews -- and referral

A project to place 10 photovoltaic panels on a municipal property viewable from Highway 101 got favorable reviews from the Palo Alto City Council on Monday, but did not win final approval.

City staff wants to place panels on the front of the Municipal Services Center, on East Bayshore Road, to highlight the city's commitment to renewable energy. But the city's Planning and Transportation Commission, on a split vote, recommended the council reject the project, not liking that the vertical panels were so close to the city's low-lying Baylands open space.

Emily Renzel, a former mayor, called the proposed panels "ugly" and "billboards" on Monday night.

The opposition to the panels disappointed councilwoman Dena Mossar.

"As a community, we've gotten incredibly rigid," Mossar said.

Most Palo Alto council members on Monday said they favored the project, but wanted the Architectural Review Board to review the panels and come up with suggestions to make them more aesthetically pleasing. The board will review the project and forward its recommendations to the council at a future meeting.

The vote for the referral was 6-3, with Council members Yoriko Kishimoto, Vic Ojakian and Hillary Freeman voting against.

The council also approved another part of the project, which would place carports with solar panels on top at the Municipal Services Center's parking lot. Two other parts of the project, not needing council approval, would place solar panels on the roofs of the Cubberley Community Center and the Baylands Interpretive Center.

In total, the $2.8 million project would generate 604,500-kilowatt hours of energy per year. Half of the money is coming from a federal grant and the other half is coming from fund's in the city's Utilities Department reserved for innovative projects. --Bill D'Agostino
School members walks for AIDS awareness

To observe HIV/AIDS Awareness month, Menlo School's students, faculty and staff members will participate today in an International ONE March for Children, sponsored by the Q-Fund, a Palo Alto-based nonprofit that builds schools for African children orphaned by the AIDS virus.

The marchers will walk around a pathway in front of the school 10 times, the equivalent of one mile, to show their support for the cause. Many will wear Menlo HIV/AIDS Awareness T-shirts, which are also being sold to benefit the Q-Fund. Information tables will be set up and students and faculty will participate in a drum circle to provide entertainment.

All of the funds raised at the ONE March event will be used to build schools in Africa. The first school, Chimoza Community School in Zambia, was completed in 2004.

For more information, call the school's director of communications, Marian Cavanagh, at 650-330-2001, ext. 2557. The school is located at 50 Valparaiso Ave. in Atherton. --Alexandria Rocha

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