Many are the ways to take stock of a year. Photographs can sum up powerful moments of raw emotion, while words reveal people’s perspectives and their attempts to shape public policy. This year, as issues of unrelenting traffic congestion, the woeful inaffordability of housing and missteps in the Palo Alto Unified School District made the […]
When looking at photographs of Cubberley Community Center from the 1960s, when the facility served as a high school, it’s hard to notice anything different from how the grounds look today. The gymnasium still houses myriad mosaic animals on its facade, the doors still have their bluish tint, and a sign with the words “Ellwood […]
About the photo: A Tesla Model S, Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt fuel up at electric-vehicle charging stations installed at the Foothill Research Center office complex in Palo Alto. Photo by Veronica Weber. For more than a century, the U.S. automotive industry has connoted gasoline and combustion engines, grease-covered mechanics in goggles, supervisors barking out orders in […]
An inside look at one of City Hall’s most crucial, and thankless, jobs Story by Gennady Sheyner About the cover photo: Lead code enforcement officer James Stephens takes a photo of illegal dumping outside a multi-unit housing complex. Stephens will follow up with the property owner to remove the debris or the owner faces a […]
In his “State of the City” speech on Feb. 8 — a talk normally confined to highlighting the City Council’s recent accomplishments and annual priorities — Palo Alto Mayor Greg Scharff took a detour to address an unusually heated and convoluted meeting that had taken place the prior week. In deliberating over an update to […]
Creating positive change doesn’t happen overnight. Just ask the seven Palo Alto residents who have been selected as recipients of this year’s Avenidas Lifetimes of Achievement awards for pouring their time and energy into projects designed to better the community. Together, Ruth and George Chippendale, Dexter Dawes, Marion Mandell, Judy Sleeth and Carol and Terry […]
Figuring out how to balance the budget of the Opportunity Center for the past 10 years has been as challenging as learning how best to serve chronically homeless clients The nonprofit Community Working Group, which led the effort to build the facility, has contributed between $150,000 and $250,000 per year to keep the day services […]
For four years, Evan Davis made Palo Alto’s Rinconada Park his home. It was challenging — especially in the winter when the rains came, making sleep difficult, he recalled. “I had a spot where I kept dry,” he said. “With food stamps, I could eat.” Today, Davis — neatly dressed on a recent Tuesday in […]
by Gennady Sheyner It takes Police Chief Dennis Burns about 15 minutes to walk from King Plaza to the conference room inside the Police Department — a remarkably sluggish pace for a guy who used to run track at San Jose State University and who made headlines just six years ago by chasing down a […]
It takes courage to walk to the beat of your own drum at any point in life, but perhaps particularly so during high school. Every member of the senior classes at Palo Alto’s public and private high schools deserves recognition and celebration for the accomplishments, big and small, that propelled them to graduation. In seeking […]