Upfront
Local news, information and analysis
SEIU plans to stay on the job — for now Union rejects city’s imposition of ‘last, best and final offer,’ ponders its next actions by Gennady Sheyner alo Alto’s largest labor union voted Tuesday night to oppose city-imposed benefit reductions and vowed to take “strong actions” in coming weeks to demonstrate its displeasure with the city’s negotiation tactics. But officials from the Service
P
Employees International Union (SEIU) also said Tuesday night that the union workers are willing to remain on the job — at least for now. The union meeting came one day after the Palo Alto City Council voted to impose what the city called its “last, best and final offer”
on the 617 workers represented by the SEIU. The council reached its decision after five months of tense negotiations, including 26 meetings between negotiators from both sides. The council vote was 7-1, with Yiaway Yeh dissenting and Sid Espinosa absent. Khanh Weinberg, spokesperson for the SEIU, said about 200 union members attended the meeting Tuesday night. About 90 percent
voted against the city’s newly imposed offer. Workers also filled out questionnaires asking them what the union should do next. Weinberg told the Weekly that a strike is “still on the table,” but said workers have agreed to remain on the job at least for the very near future. “The negotiating team leaders will be going over the questionnaires in the coming days to see what the majority of the workers say in terms of
what they want to do next,” Weinberg said. City officials have been preparing for a workers’ strike and have already won an injunction barring 87 “essential employees” from striking. But Brian Ward, a member of the union’s bargaining team, said in a prepared statement that workers decided to stay on the job despite dwindling morale. (continued on page 10)
COURTS
Attorneys probe ‘Who shot first?’ in May case Answer could determine a life sentence or death for Alberto Alvarez, accused of killing police Officer Richard May by Sue Dremann
I
Shawn Fender
A skeleton dangles from the street lamp on Vernon Terrace, a spooky Palo Alto block that’s more than ready for Halloween.
COMMUNITY
Alien invasion, spooky sights descend on Midtown street Halloween displays attract hundreds on Vernon Terrace by Sue Dremann
F
orget Nightmare on Elm Street. The real horror takes place this Halloween weekend on Vernon Terrace, a normally quiet horseshoe-shaped street in Palo Alto’s Midtown neighborhood, according to residents. There, skeletons hang from the lamp posts, and giant tarantulas dangle from the trees. Haunted houses come alive, and even the
Grim Reaper greets trick-ortreaters. Perhaps one of the eeriest sights is the alien on a dissection table in a nearby extraterrestrial laboratory, guacamole oozing out of its little green body. These creations, along with a rooftop UFO and a baby-alien incubation lab, could make Vernon Terrace the Palo Alto destination
spot for Halloween haunting. “Wouldn’t it be cool if we could be Halloween Gulch or Vernon Terror? I want to say, ‘Ha ha! Take that, Christmas Tree Lane!’” said Doree Tschudy, resident of the socalled alien house. Tschudy and her husband, Michael, have hosted the alien invasion in their front yard for the past five years. It’s the creation of their friend John Russell, a selfdescribed sci-fi geek from Colorado Avenue who, with his brother, have made extraterrestrials part of the Halloween tradition. Tschudy said it all began when their children became friends in kindergarten. When she and Michael asked the Russells if they wanted to take their kids trickor-treating together, John and his (continued on page 12)
n a literal life-sentence-or-death courtroom drama, San Mateo County prosecutors sought this week to determine who shot first in the death of East Palo Alto police Officer Richard May. Witnesses testified they saw suspect Alberto Alvarez on Jan. 7, 2006, fire at May first during a shootout in a Weeks Street driveway. Two witnesses also testified they saw Alvarez shoot twice at the fallen officer as he lay on the ground. Whether Alvarez shot May in the face — the fatal shot — during a gun battle or if he coldly executed him after the officer lay stunned from non-fatal wounds could mean the difference between life or death for Alvarez. Defense attorneys have stipulated that Alvarez killed May, so that is not at issue in the trial. On Monday, prosecutors played separate video and audio recordings of two interviews with Marco Marquez, 19, the police Explorer who accompanied May on a ride-along. During both interviews, Marquez said he saw Alvarez fire the first shot at May. In a video interview two hours after the shooting, a frightenedlooking Marquez told East Palo Alto Detective Sgt. Jeff Liu that he and May followed Alvarez to Weeks Street in East Palo Alto. They had received a dispatch call about a fight at the Villa Taqueria on Cooley Avenue. Previous testimony last week by witnesses established that Alvarez was involved in that fight but did not initiate it. The officer pursued Alvarez into a residential driveway at 579 Weeks St., where Marquez said he saw Alvarez pull out a handgun. “Officer May takes out his baton and ... he strikes at him once or
twice. ... (Alvarez) was in the driveway so he turns around. ... First he put his hand inside his, ah, jacket and he turns around and put the gun out and Officer May ... at that moment he took out his gun ... and they were both firing at each other but I guess the guy shot first,” Marquez said. In a separate audio recording with San Mateo County investigators, Marquez said Alvarez aimed somewhere toward May’s neck or upper torso. May and Alvarez were only about 5 feet apart. “It was face to face,” he said. “I heard and I saw the shot ... But then I looked up a little bit. And I saw the, uh, shell casing flew off. So I knew it was him that shot Officer (May) first,” he said. On Tuesday, Virginia Rodriguez, a petite, Spanish-speaking woman, provided compelling testimony and the most complete picture yet of May’s shooting death. The man she later identified as Alvarez moved between two cars — a white truck and an older Oldsmobile parked in the driveway. He went toward the house and moved into the corner between the front bumper of the Oldsmobile and the garage door, she said. May also moved between the cars but went only a short distance toward Alvarez. Alvarez moved toward May, who backed up behind the cars, closer to the street. Alvarez advanced toward the officer, to the middle of the driveway between the cars, near the truck’s back bumper, she said. “They were within arm’s reach of each other. They tried to grab each other again. I saw the second per(continued on page 13)
*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ"VÌ LiÀÊÎä]ÊÓää ÊU Page 3