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News From Silicon Valley's Neighborhoods Wacky Weeds San Jose--Last week the City Council unanimously voted to accept the Hazardous Vegetation Commencement Report for the year 2000. If not for their fearless leader, however, the 11 council members might not have known the gravity of the resolution they were accepting. "Who knows what 'hazardous vegetation' is?" asked Mayor Ron Gonzales. A timid silence crept over the council chambers. "I have notified the city manager's office," he said, "and I hope in the future we can call it what it is. It's weeds." Margie Matthews added that "a weed is nothing but a flower out of place." Pay Day Sunnyvale--You know the boom's big when some of it trickles down to teachers. Congratulations to Curtis Schneider of Sunnyvale Middle School and Wendi Smith of Fairwood Elementary, who were among 11 teachers to win $10,000 each from National Semiconductor for integrating the Internet into the classroom. Schneider designed a site called "The Human Disease Project" where students can research disease and communicate with researchers. Smith developed a weather-studying site for her first-graders in which a doll travels the cyberworld and reports back on weather conditions via email. Green Road Palo Alto--Those tire fires raging in Tracy and Stanislaus County may have a little less fuel, thanks to the recent repaving project along Palo Alto's Page Mill Road/Oregon Expressway. The road has been resurfaced with rubberized asphalt concrete made of 16,000 scrap tires, a tiny fraction of the 33 million tires Californians toss into landfills each year. While initially more expensive than conventional paving, rubberized asphalt lasts longer and requires less maintenance. The silky- smooth pavement is drawing praise from both the Green and NASCAR crowds, turning what used to be a pothole-dodging contest into a ride like butter. [ San Jose | Metroactive Central | Archives ]