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News From Silicon Valley's Neighborhoods Love and Honesty Los Gatos--As a citizen of the Contra Costa city of Orinda, fervent "citizens advocate" Ray Davis maintained perfect attendance at city council and planning commission meetings. To drive home his point about potential power abuses, he would sometimes don a World War II Nazi helmet and yell "Sieg Heil!" when he thought he detected fascist behavior on the part of his elected officials. Now that the 72-year-old has moved to Los Gatos, however, he jokes that he may be out of work. After attending two council meetings, he is overwhelmed by the honesty in evidence at council proceedings. "I have a very distinguished nose," he brags. "I can smell the slightest stink of corruption, and I've got none." Rubber Solace Cupertino--Sure, the spate of bank robberies in Sunnyvale and Cupertino is interesting and all, but the tire puncturings in Cupertino are positively epidemic--33 in three months. Eleven of them happened outside the Cupertino Library on the night of Feb. 26. Police have no clue about who the poke-happy suspects might be, but the rash of vandalism has elicited one act of heroic generosity: After a store employee at Marina Foods had his tires punctured, manager I Hao bought the employee a new set of tires for the car. The man had worked at the store for 10 years, said Hao, and was "almost like family." Running Dogs Palo Alto--Fur's been flying between Palo Altans for Responsible Dog Ownership and People for Unleashed Pet Space over proposed hours for a canine curfew. After a citizens committee met seven times and still failed to agree on a compromise leash law, Assistant Police Chief Lynne Johnson took matters into her own hands: until Johnson settles the dogfight later this spring, dog owners who don't keep their pets leashed at all times can be cited. [ San Jose | Metroactive Central | Archives ]