Our Town: Around Town

CASH MACHINE . . . At long last, East Palo Alto residents won't have to go to the other side of the freeway to get cash. Bank of America officials were on hand Monday to open a new automatic teller machine at East Palo Alto City Hall. The ATM was installed in the entrance area of 2415 University Ave., and is the only ATM in the city, which doesn't have a bank. The ATM actually marks the return to the city of Bank of America, which had a branch next to city hall on Bay Road, where McDonald's is today.

RAZING THE PAST . . . The wrecking ball will be swinging bright and early today, June 3, as crews tear down the old Palo Alto Veterans Hospital on Arastradero Road. The old facility, opened in 1960, was declared seismically unsafe after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Patients moved into the new hospital last fall. Most of the inside of the old hospital has already been gutted, but demolition of the skeleton of the building will begin between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. today.

UNITING OVER THE FLOOD . . . Groups representing the two neighborhoods hit hardest by the flood, the Duveneck Neighborhood Association and the St. Francis Neighborhood Association, have merged, calling themselves the Duveneck/St. Francis Neighborhood Association. The group represents a majority of the homes in the city affected by the Feb. 2-3 storms. The group has created a Web site with a photo gallery of the flood and a chronicle of personal experiences, including a recording of a telephone call from one neighbor to another on the night of the flood. The Web site is www.afh.com/flood.

IF I HAD A HAMMER . . . Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, will pitch in June 13 to help start construction on a new Menlo Park home for Florencio and Matilde Sanchez and their family. The Sanchez family has been chosen to be the recipient of a Peninsula Habitat for Humanity home, which are built by community volunteers. The Sanchez family will contribute 500 hours of "sweat equity" to the project. The project is also part of the San Mateo County "House That Congress Built" and National Homeowner Week, June 6-13.

NAMES AND NOTES . . . Five Stanford University faculty members and an academic staff member have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, recognizing their distinguished contributions to science, scholarship, public affairs and the arts. The five are: Hans Gumbrecht, professor of literature; Helen Quinn, senior staff physicist at the Stanford Linear Accelerator; Leonard Ratner, professor emeritus of music; Richard Scheller, professor of molecular and cellular physiology; and Richard Tsien, professor of molecular and cellular physiology.

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