SamTrans votes in new board member

Last week, the San Mateo County Transit District Board of Directors voted in Brooks Esser to be the newest public member to serve on the board.

Esser's first official board meeting will be Oct. 4. He was chosen from among the 13 people who were interviewed for the seat, which represents all of San Mateo County.

Esser also serves as chairman of the North Fair Oaks Community Council in unincorporated San Mateo County. He will be one of nine directors responsible for setting policy for the transit district, which operates the SamTrans bus service.

-Almanac staff

Menlo Park Public Works open house on Sept. 16

Menlo Park's Public Works Department is hosting an open house on Saturday, Sept. 16, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Attendees can meet the public works team, take a tree walk with the city arborist, go to a petting zoo, and view public works equipment and tree carving.

The open house will also have local food trucks and locally sourced and handmade raffle prizes. The event will take place at the city of Menlo Park's Corporation Yard at 333 Burgess Dr.

All Aboard, Peninsula celebrates new electric trains in Menlo Park

All Aboard, Peninsula, an event to showcase electric trains, is coming to Menlo Park on Sept. 23. Attendees will ride Caltrain from Menlo Park to San Francisco, where they can tour Caltrain's new electric trains.

The event begins at 10 a.m. in Menlo Park with a train-themed story time on the lawn of the Menlo Park Library, where attendees pick up passports and activity booklets. The train leaves at 10:30 a.m. and will take attendees to San Mateo where they'll complete a scavenger hunt, before hopping on the 12:15 train to San Francisco where they can tour Caltrain's new electric fleet.

The event is free, but attendees will need to purchase Caltrain tickets to ride the train.

-Cameron Rebosio

West Nile virus found in Palo Alto, Mountain View

Mosquitos infected with West Nile Virus (WNV) have been found in parts of Mountain View and Palo Alto, according to a recent Santa Clara County advisory statement.

The Santa Clara County Vector Control District planned to use a spray treatment to target the affected areas on Sept. 14, starting at 10 p.m.

“Any delay in the application would present an imminent threat to public health and safety, exposing the public to potential vector-borne injury, or even death,” the district said, adding that since 2003, when WNV was first detected in California, more than 7,000 people have contracted the disease from mosquitos, with 400 fatal cases.

Typically, the district focuses on early prevention efforts that targets the immature stages of mosquitoes found in standing water. But the presence of WNV has prompted the district to ramp up its control treatments and go after adult mosquitos to reduce the risk of transmission to humans, according to the statement.

-Emily Margaretten