♫ And frolics in the autumn smoke…too pollute you and me…. ♫ It might soon be illegal to smoke cigarettes and medicinal joints in most Palo Alto Parks. Last night, City Council’s Policy and Services Committee said it wants the full council to consider a law that would ban smoking in all parks under...
Read More »

There is a lack of shelter beds in the Palo Alto area. There have not been enough beds for those in need for a long time now. There are even fewer total shelter beds in the area now that Clare Mateo closed. As Google and other local employers offer landlords higher and higher rents...
Read More »

The City of Palo Alto 2012 employee salary and compensation data is available.  This year, the City is using it’s OpenData platform to make the data viewable in a browser and available as a download. In addition to 2012 data, we’ve also posted 2011 data for easy comparison.  Some key comparison points include: *...
Read More »

Long lines of car were forming early this morning in front of East Palo city hall  where three city’s were taking part in a first gun buyback program involving East Palo Alto, Palo Alto and Menlo Park. Funding for the program, fifty thousand dollars, were “privately donated” according to Menlo Park police commander, Dave...
Read More »

You be the judge.  Back before the break-up of the Bell System in 1984 it was the view of many including the Federal Government that AT&T had in fact monopolized the nations telecommunication industry.  Many emerging competitors were claiming foul play including MCI. And so it was, Federal Court Judge Green in his historic...
Read More »

As an elected or appointed official, the prosecutor is the most powerful official in the criminal justice system. Prosecutors exercise unfettered discretion, deciding who to charge with a crime, what charges to file, when to drop the charges, whether or not to plea bargain, and how to allocate prosecutorial resources. In jurisdictions where the...
Read More »

“Driver says he was spit upon in parking spat” as reported Daily Post today. Finding parking in Palo Alto can be stressful, so much so that one man was cited for misdemeanor battery after allegedly spitting on a driver who blocked two parking spaces. Police said psychiatrist Peter Lucy, 62 of Los Altos, became...
Read More »

Joe Webb is no stranger to the streets of Palo Alto and nor are his racist views and anti-semitic remarks which grace the chambers of city hall from to time to time. Local city leaders cringe and often criticize Mr. Webbs appearances during oral communications a time afforded all citizen to express their view points...
Read More »

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing the world’s smallest chain robot, less than the size of a dime, designed to link up to others like them and shape-shift into a range of micro-tools. Put together, four of these machines, with a specialized engine and covered with rings and fittings, look like a...
Read More »

The Fourth Amendment and Electronic Privacy The Fourth Amendment protects us from unreasonable government searches and seizures. In practical terms, this means that law enforcement has to get a warrant — demonstrating to a judge that it has probable cause to believe it will find evidence of a crime — in order to search...
Read More »