News

Courtesy of Duffy Price
Los Altos Hills resident Duffy Price attends the Freedom Ball at President Donald Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20.

Los Altos Hills resident Duffy Price and husband John Harpootlian traveled to Washington, D.C., last week to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 45th president of the United States. Price shared an account of her experience, as told to Town Crier reporter Eliza Ridgeway.

Courtesy of Julie Ceballos
Foothill College music and theatre participants light a “ghost light” to celebrate inclusion.

Some Los Altos and Los Altos Hills residents flew to Washington, D.C., last week to watch a new president descend the steps of the U.S. Capitol, while others joined women’s marches in San Francisco and San Jose. Closer to home, two groups assembled to share local initiatives inspired by the inauguration.

In Los Altos Hills, Vara Ramakrishnan hosted a kid-oriented fundraiser for scores of local families who want to participate in this week’s history-making political events but aren’t marching in San Francisco or San Jose.

Megan V. WInslow/Town Crier
Approximately 500 people attended Historian Jack Rakove’s talk, “Can We Ever Get Rid of the Electoral College” Jan. 11 at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills.

America inaugurates Donald Trump as the 45th U.S. president Friday. Eager to understand the businessman’s unlikely ascension, approximately 500 Bay Area residents convened at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills last week for some historical context about the electoral system that made his presidency possible.

The League of Women Voters of Palo Alto sponsored the Jan. 11 event, a presentation by historian Jack Rakove titled “Can We Ever Get Rid of the Electoral College?” League member Diane Rolfe set the scene for Rakove’s standing-room-only audience.

Alex Glanville/special to the town crier
Hillview Community Center was full of attentive voters listening to candidate speeches. More than 40 individuals ran for 14 delegate spots to attend the state Democratic Convention in May.

More than 700 people from State Assembly District 24 stood in the rain Jan. 7, waiting to enter Hillview Community Center and vote for local delegates to the 2017 California Democrats State Convention.

Voters selected seven men and seven women to represent the district at May’s state convention. According to Alyson Abramowitz, convener for the day, 775 Democrats voted for the delegates. Margaret Okuzumi was elected to the executive board of the state Democratic Party.

Despite an ongoing hand recount, clarity is about to arrive for the Los Altos and Los Altos Hills City Councils – and current top vote-getters Lynette Lee Eng and Roger Spreen are expected to be named winners tomorrow, according to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters.

Official recounts began Monday for close races in Santa Clara County, and the Los Altos area was overrepresented – three races of interest to local residents will receive a closer look this week.

Countywide, 10 races triggered a recount with margins of fewer than 25 votes or 0.5 percent. According to spokeswoman Anita Torres, the registrar’s office will work throughout the week and weekend to finish all recounts prior to the mandatory election certification deadline Dec. 8.