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Published on 11/16/1998 All articles from this issue

News Briefs

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Traffic officers ready to roll

Soon Los Altos Police Officers Matt Hartley and Paul Arguelles will be trading in their patrol cars for a motorcycle. After the first of the year, they will be patrolling the streets of Los Altos enforcing traffic laws and impounding unlicensed vehicles.

The officers have completed a two-week course of basic training for motorcycle officers, said Capt. Cliff Balch, of the Los Altos Police Department. The course was run by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office.

"The training was directed at traffic enforcement and how to ride in a metropolitan area with heavy traffic and on residential streets," Balch said.

During December, Hartley and Arguelles will get field training with the Palo Alto motorcycle traffic team, Balch said.

Funding for the traffic officers comes from a grant awarded by the California Office of Traffic Safety. The Los Altos department will be adding two new officers to replace Hartley and Arguelles.

The Los Altos City Council voted funds for a third motorcycle officer. That person will be selected after the first of the year, Balch said.

Two-city task force considers day workers

The two-city task force considering day-worker issues met for its second meeting Monday night in the Mountain View City Hall.

The purpose of Monday night's meeting was to receive input from the day workers, the day-worker center staff, businesses in the area and any employers who may use day workers, said Layne Long, assistant to the city manager in Los Altos.

The task force comprises two Los Altos City Council members, Mayor Lou Becker and King Lear; and two Mountain View City Council Members, Pat Figueroa and Mario Ambra.

The task force grew from "a combination of things," Long said. The St. Joseph the Worker Center, located on the corner of El Camino Real and Jordan Avenue in Los Altos, has been up and running for two years. The hope was it would reduce the number of workers on the streets.

"The center has been successful. But there are still workers on the street," Long said.

There will be two more task force meetings, Long said, to review strategies.

- Joanne Griffith Domingue