Upfront
PUBLISHER William S. Johnson EDITORIAL Jay Thorwaldson, Editor Jocelyn Dong, Managing Editor Carol Blitzer, Associate Editor Keith Peters, Sports Editor Tyler Hanley, Express™ and Online Editor Rebecca Wallace, Arts & Entertainment Editor Rick Eymer, Assistant Sports Editor Chris Kenrick, Gennady Sheyner, Staff Writers Sue Dremann, Staff Writer, Special Sections Editor Karla Kane, Editorial Assistant Veronica Weber, Staff Photographer Jeanne Aufmuth, Dale Bentson, Colin Becht, Peter Canavese, Kit Davey, Iris Harrell, Sheila Himmel, Kevin Kirby, Jack McKinnon, Renata Polt, Jeanie Forte Smith, Susan Tavernetti, Robert Taylor, Contributors John Squire, Mike Lata, Editorial Interns DESIGN Shannon Corey, Design Director Raul Perez, Assistant Design Director Linda Atilano, Diane Haas, Scott Peterson, Paul Llewellyn, Senior Designers Laura Don, Gary Vennarucci, Designers PRODUCTION Jennifer Lindberg, Production Manager Dorothy Hassett, Blanca Yoc, Sales & Production Coordinators ADVERTISING Walter Kupiec, Vice President, Sales & Marketing Judie Block, Esmeralda Flores, Janice Hoogner, Gary Whitman, Display Advertising Sales Neil Fine, Rosemary Lewkowitz, Real Estate Advertising Sales David Cirner, Irene Schwartz, Inside Advertising Sales Cathy Norfleet, Display Advertising Sales Asst. Joan Merritt, Diane Martin, Real Estate Advertising Assistants Alicia Santillan, Classified Administrative Asst. EXPRESS, ONLINE AND VIDEO SERVICES Rachel Palmer, Online Operations Coordinator Molly Stenhouse, Online Sales Consultant BUSINESS Mona Salas, Manager of Payroll & Benefits Elena Dineva, Mary McDonald, Sana Sarfaraz, Cathy Stringari, Doris Taylor, Business Associates ADMINISTRATION Amy Renalds, Assistant to the Publisher & Promotions Director Alana VanZanten, Promotions Intern Janice Covolo, Receptionist Ruben Espinoza, Jorge Vera, Couriers EMBARCADERO PUBLISHING CO. William S. Johnson, President Michael I. Naar, Vice President & CFO Walter Kupiec, Vice President, Sales & Marketing Frank A. Bravo, Director, Information Technology & Webmaster Connie Jo Cotton, Major Accounts Sales Manager Bob Lampkin, Director, Circulation & Mailing Services Alicia Santillan, Susie Ochoa, Circulation Assistants Chris Planessi, Chip Poedjosoedarmo, Computer System Associates Lisa Trigueiro, Assistant to the Webmaster The Palo Alto Weekly (ISSN 0199-1159) is published every Friday by Embarcadero Publishing Co., 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306, (650) 326-8210. Periodicals postage paid at Palo Alto, CA and additional mailing offices. Adjudicated a newspaper of general circulation for Santa Clara County. The Palo Alto Weekly is delivered free to homes in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, East Palo Alto, to faculty and staff households on the Stanford campus and to portions of Los Altos Hills. If you are not currently receiving the paper, you may request free delivery by calling 326-8210. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302. Copyright ©2010 by Embarcadero Publishing Co. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. Printed by SFOP, Redwood City. The Palo Alto Weekly is available on the Internet via Palo Alto Online at: www.PaloAltoOnline.com Our e-mail addresses are: editor@paweekly.com, letters@paweekly.com, ads@paweekly.com. Missed delivery or start/stop your paper? Call 650 326-8210, or e-mail circulation@paweekly. com. You may also subscribe online at www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Subscriptions are $60/yr.
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
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450 CAMBRIDGE AVE, PALO ALTO, CA 94306 (650) 326-8210
It takes much more time to resolve an issue when you have 100 voices participating. — Paul Bains, pastor of St. Samuel Church in East Palo Alto, on Palo Alto’s new police Community Advisory Group. See story on page 3.
Around Town
TOO FAST FOR CONDITIONS ... When is driving 15 mph considered driving “too fast for conditions”? When the car in front of you is driving 0 mph. That’s what a Palo Alto police officer learned on Dec. 8, when he allegedly rear-ended a car on Lytton Avenue, forcing that car to, in turn, rear-end another car. According to a police report, Officer Jesus Paneda was driving eastbound on Lytton Avenue at about 3 p.m. when he observed a car heading north on the southbound-only High Street. Paneda told the investigating officer that he was distracted by the wrongway driver when he hit another car that was standing at the stop sign. No one was injured, but the city stands to lose about $832.82 in damages, according to an insurance claim. THE MEANING OF RESPECT ... Palo Alto’s Human Relations Commission typically deals with issues of police oversight, support of nonprofits and civic involvement. But in November, the commission decided to issue an official statement on the tense labor negotiations between Palo Alto’s administrators and its largest labor union. The statement touched on the themes of stereotypes, respect, work and community and urged both sides in the negotiations to get along. “Palo Alto’s history is one of the whole exceeding the sum of the parts. We hope the continuation of that history will be an essential part of the next round of negotiations,” the letter stated. But not everyone appreciated the conciliatory gesture. Councilman Larry Klein said at Monday’s joint meeting of the City Council and the Human Relations Commission that he didn’t understand the point of the letter. “It seemed to me you may have been overstepping the boundaries of the HRC,” Klein said. But his council colleague Gail Price disagreed. “I very much appreciate the statement that was created and the language and thought that were brought together in the letter,” Price said. “I personally believe that it is an important extension of the work of the commission.” Commissioner Ray Bacchetti, one of the letter’s authors, told
Klein that the commission wanted to respond to the bitterness surrounding last year’s negotiations. “Some people were demonizing each other,” Bacchetti said. “We wanted to make a statement.” MORE NAME GAMES ... A crusade by a group of downtown businesspeople to rename Lytton Plaza to Thoits Plaza ran into an unexpected snag last week when the Parks and Recreation Commission voted 2-4 against the idea. As at previous discussions, the public split on whether the plaza should get a new name. Developers and members of the group Friends of Lytton Plaza argued that the Thoits family deserves to be honored for its three generations of civic involvement and investments in downtown Palo Alto. Others observed the city’s renaming policy requires a “compelling reason” before a facility switches its name. In this case, a compelling reason does not exist, argued Winter Dellenbach. Former city Mayor Jim Burch offered a compromise — name the property University Plaza and put up a bronze plaque informing visitors about Palo Alto’s history. The plaque would also mention Bart Lytton, who built the plaza, and note that the plaza was renovated in 2009 by a group of business owners who wanted to honor the Thoits family, Burch said. Ultimately, only commissioners Sunny Dykwel and Pat Markevitch supported the Thoits Plaza proposal. The issue will next go to the City Council, which would have a chance to accept or overrule the commission’s recommendation. SEEING DOTS ... The day-long Palo Alto City Council retreat on Saturday was progressing so smoothly with collegial discussions that it elicited audience comments — until it became a connect-the-dots exercise near the end of the day. Council members were pasting colored dots next to priorities they considered most important. After repeated rounds of dot-pasting, Mayor Pat Burt said it was easy at that hour to get “a bit giddy” — more like a bit dotty, one council-watcher observed. N