Upfront
News Digest
Plane crash
Palo Alto council lauds proposed fire changes
day’s tragedy, neighbors said. Jones’ home, where Eppie’s Day Care Center was located, is still boarded up. Black plastic covering a hole in the roof flaps in the wind and the city’s weathered condemnation notice is peeling near the door. “One of our members still feels very wounded,” said Heather Starnes, who witnessed the crash and explosions from her front yard. “There’s no closure for any of us. You can’t, when one of us is still suffering.” While other residents have been able to move forward with their lives, Jones has not. Church and community leaders have donated money to an account that helps Jones with day-to-day expenses, neighbors said, but her home, which sustained structural damage, has not been repaired due to bureaucratic snafus, Jones said. Help has come in small but meaningful ways from neighbors and friends. Starnes has taken one of Jones’ daughters into her home. Monty Mouton, an East Palo Alto landscaper, has dutifully kept up Jones’ vacant property, fertilizing, watering and mowing the lawn, raking leaves and pruning the rose bushes. Jones’ claim against Bourn’s estate is wending its way through the courts, as are claims of several other residents, according to Santa Clara County Superior Court papers. But Jones remains homeless and jobless, having lost her livelihood of 17 years. Nearly every day since, she has driven from her friend’s home in Foster City where she is staying to the Beech Street house. On weekdays, she takes her daughter to school and then parks her sta-
Palo Alto City Council members Monday night praised a report by outside consultants that recommends sweeping changes to the city’s fire department. While noting that some of the recommendations — such as merging two fire stations — are controversial and will require further analysis and discussion, council members appeared anxious to adopt smaller reforms as quickly as possible. City Manager James Keene said he would return to the council in “roughly a month with an action plan and a potential implementation schedule of the recommendations, some of which can be done immediately.” The 190-page report blasted the fire department for a “leadership malaise” and outmoded practices, while acknowledging that it provides a high quality of service to Palo Alto residents. In particular, there is an absence of relevant data for decision-making and excessive reliance on overtime, said Thomas Wieczorek, director of ICMA Center for Public Safety Excellence of Washington, D.C. Wieczorek presented his recommendations along with Stephen Brezler of TriData Division of System Planning Corp., which co-authored the report. “Training for captains is poor, expectations for officer performance is low ... and planning is mostly non-existent,” Wieczorek said. “You’ve become just kind of an OK department — not dynamic,” he said. Although most of the department’s activity now comprises emergency medical services (EMS), 75 percent of its effort is still directed at fire suppression, the consultants said. Between 2000 and 2009, the number of total incidents increased 19 percent, from 6,207 to 7,366, while EMS calls grew by 48 percent, from 2,742 to 4,070, they said. Firefighters’ Union President Tony Spitaleri told the council he thinks many of the 48 recommendations in the report are attainable and that they “move in the right direction,” adding the union also “might have some disagreements.” Assistant City Manager Pamela Antil said city staff members will meet again with firefighters before sorting the consultants’ recommendations into three buckets: those already being implemented; those requiring union negotiations; and those calling for further discussion or possibly a “blue ribbon” commission. N — Chris Kenrick
Palo Alto resident with webcam warns of intruder A tech-savvy homeowner on Tennyson Avenue in Palo Alto used a webcam to record footage of a suspicious man taking pictures of his house and apparently trying to open his front door last Friday morning (Feb. 4). The morning incident surprised the resident, who said in an e-mail he was not at home at the time but accessed the webcam remotely. He reported the situation at 10 a.m. to Palo Alto police and e-mailed a warning to neighborhood leaders. “I saw him, after standing there for a few minutes, nervously looking in the house and around the front yard, reach for our front door handle to see if he could open it,” the resident stated in the e-mail to neighbors. The resident, who said the man seemed to be “casing the joint,” attached several still images from the video footage to the e-mail, which spread like wildfire throughout the city via neighborhood e-mail lists. A few people reported receiving the e-mail third- or fourth-hand. Police are reviewing the video footage but the initial police report had no mention of the resident’s suspicion that the man was trying to enter the house, Palo Alto police Agent Rich Bullerjahn said. The unknown man was described as Hispanic and in his 30s, 5 feet 8 inches tall, approximately 160 pounds, with dark hair and a goatee. He was wearing a tan puffy jacket. N — Sarah Trauben
Faith groups unite for ‘youth well-being’ meeting Palo Alto school board President Melissa Baten Caswell and Superintendent Kevin Skelly will discuss youth health and well-being Sunday (Feb. 13) from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in a public meeting at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. “Stand Up For Our Youth” is the theme of the gathering, organized by the St. Mark’s Advocates for Youth Committee as well as at least eight other local congregations and Peninsula Interfaith Action, a regional faith coalition. The meeting will be the second such event organized by the St. Mark’s group, which convened in October 2009 following a series of student suicides. The St. Mark’s group has pushed the school district to ensure that every student — especially the shyest — has a sense of connection at school. The committee has said it hopes to use the meeting to review progress the school district has made toward implementing steps to improve “connectedness” among students. The district’s Student Services Coordinator Amy Drolette will also attend. Child care and Spanish interpretation will be provided at the meeting. For more information, call Greg Smitherman at 650-321-2266. N — Chris Kenrick Page 6ÊUÊ iLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ££]ÊÓ䣣ÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii Þ
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WATCH IT ONLINE
www.PaloAltoOnline.com A multimedia presentation will be posted on Palo Alto Online next week, in conjunction with the anniversary of the plane crash.
tion wagon in front of her damaged home. From morning until afternoon, she stays in front of the house “to keep an eye on it,” she said. “I don’t want to lose all sense of my community. It’s still my block. I just wanted to have a sense of belonging,” Jones said Tuesday. A 15-seat van parked in the driveway used to take the children on day trips, she recalled. “It’s my closet now,” she said. Jones gave a tour of the backyard where the plane struck her home. Most of the rubble has been removed, but charred debris is still visible. Colorful children’s playground equipment still stands; a yellow evidence flag still pokes up out of the ground beneath the domed jungle gym. “Look at those little chairs. They’re all rusty now,” she said, observing a jumble of tiny seats once inhabited by preschoolers. When the plane hit, Jones’ two daughters were asleep in their bedrooms; Jones was in the shower. “The flames were in our faces,” she recalled. Back on the street, planes droned overhead, taking off from Palo Alto Airport’s runway. The aircrafts’ Tshaped forms appeared above the baylands — like white cemetery crosses pinned against the blue sky, in the eyes of some. Soaring toward Beech Street, from Jones’ vantage point, they seemed headed directly toward the power lines that had snagged Bourn’s plane. But at the last moment, the planes banked right, turning away from the neighborhood
and the hazardous power lines, over San Francisco Bay. “When you see it go over, you say, ‘Lord, thank you.’ Your nerves get jittery. You’re ready to run and you don’t know where you’re running to,” she said, adding that she and her daughters are in therapy. She misses the photographs she used to keep of the day care’s children, of kids on play swings and on field trips and bicycles — and down at the baylands, where they waved at the planes, she said. Residents thought they’d have had a celebration by now, a party to rejoice their healing and a memorial for the three men, Irene Silva, Jones’ immediate neighbor to the south, said. But that won’t happen until Jones is back in her home, Silva and Starnes said. “This is my memorial,” Silva said, gesturing toward Jones’ burned home, located just 20 feet away. “It’s February already, the month of the big accident. That our neighbor is still not back in her home and the kids are gone, that’s the part that really hurts,” she said. Silva was opening her driveway gate when she saw the plane fly over her house and explode in flames into Jones’ home. “Every time there’s a rumble of a plane you just look up to make sure it isn’t coming down,” she said. “I say, ‘Lord, don’t let me be a witness of anything that drastic anymore.’” Starnes remains hopeful that the celebration residents long for will happen. “There’s a great reggae band, and we wanted to invite the fire department and the police. Maybe we should do it — as a fundraiser for Lisa,” she said. N Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be e-mailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.
What’s happened since the accident Questions, lawsuits remain after Cessna 310 crash last Feb. 17
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year after the Feb. 17, 2010, plane crash in East Palo Alto that took three lives, much has been repaired, but much still remains unresolved, including the cause of the crash. Here is an update on the people and places impacted by the accident: s 4HE TWIN ENGINE #ESSNA 2 disabled both of the City of Palo Alto’s electrical power conduits, blacking out all of Palo Alto and hampering communications for hours. City leaders have since invested $300,000 in a mobile-command unit, which has its own dispatch capabilities for emergencies. To avoid possible future blackouts, the city is negotiating with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and is exploring an existing western feed line through Stanford Linear Accelerator. s 0AUL AND "ARBARA )NGRAM CRASH victim Andrew Ingram’s parents, filed suit in San Mateo County Superior Court against pilot Douglas Bourn’s estate and his company, Air Unique, Inc., on Aug. 17, 2010, for unspecified damages. Their attorney, Ara Jabachourian, said the case is moving forward. s 6ICTIM "RIAN &INN S WIFE
Sherina Yuk Chan, and his young child, Erin Silei Finn, filed suit in San Mateo County Superior Court against Bourn’s estate and his company on Jan. 10, 2011. Mother and child now reside in Hong Kong, according to court documents. s 4HE 0ALO !LTO !IRPORT !SSOCIAtion, in conjunction with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, held a seminar at Cubberley Auditorium on Sept. 20, 2010, to discuss safety operating procedures and the risks associated with low-visibility departures. The association regularly tells members to reduce power and maintain an altitude of 1,500 feet if possible above all areas in the vicinity of the airport, according to Ralph Britton, the airport association’s president. s 4HE AIRPORT ASSOCIATION ESTABlished a fund to assist people affected by the crash. It purchased and delivered a truck to replace the uninsured one belonging to the Ramirez family on Beech Street that was destroyed, and the group covered insurance for the initial period, Britton said. Dave Hengehold of Hengehold Truck Rental in Palo Alto aided the association in finding an appropriate vehicle.
s 0INKIE AND %RVIN (UDLETON whose carport was destroyed, received insurance compensation and rebuilt the structure. A car that was damaged has been repaired, she said. s 2AFAEL #ORTES WHOSE HOME WAS damaged by the fire and explosion, said insurance has covered much of the cost for repairing the home, but there have been out-of-pocket costs. His brother’s vehicle, which was destroyed in their driveway, still has not been compensated for, he said. s ,ISA *ONES WHOSE HOME AND day care center was structurally damaged, remains homeless and jobless. She and residents of her home filed claims against Douglas Bourn’s estate on Sept. 2, 2010. s $EMETRA 3COBY WHOSE GARAGE was damaged by the aircraft’s motor, has repaired the damage. She filed a claim against Bourn’s estate on Sept. 2, 2010. s 4HE .ATIONAL 4RANSPORTATION Safety Board (NTSB) is still investigating the cause of the plane crash. No final report has been issued. N — Sue Dremann