I was driving down Sybil Avenue in San Leandro this morning and saw the weirdest thing. Actually, it's the newest addition to East 14th Street — the ZAP electric car dealership.

I saw the itsy bitsy three-wheeled sedans and trucks in the showroom as I was making a turn, and I couldn't help but pull over and check them out.

Turns out ZAP (it stands for Zero Air Pollution), which is based in Santa Rosa, has been open in San Leandro for only a few months now. Right now, the dealership is featuring its XEBRA sedan (pictured above) and truck, as well as its Zapino electric scooter and Zappy — which only can be described as a motorized tricycle-thingy for adults.

A salesman told me to call the general manager for a test drive. But being a reporter, I'll probably decline for the time being so as not to cause a conflict of interest. And just peeking at the little sedan, it looked like my tall frame probably wouldn't even fit in the front seat anyway. But if one of you pays ZAP a visit, make sure to let me know how your experience was.

The FAA today joined the Hayward City Council in some last-minute introspection on the Russell City project. But in the FAA's case, the jitters were enough to postpone the California Energy Commission's hearing in Sacramento.

Here's the letter that the FAA sent to the CEC in July, downplaying the same concerns that it raised again today.

And here's a story on the council's 2005 vote to facilitate Calpine's plant project.

With a crowd of power plant opponents before them, the Hayward City Council last night considered an unprecedented "emergency" move to revert its 2005 land-use approval of the Russell City Energy Center. After discussion, it backed off on the idea because of clear lack of consensus and concern it might violate open meeting law.

Now the decision goes to these five people at a 10:30 a.m. hearing in Sacramento:

THE ENERGY COMMISSIONERS:

The California Energy Commission is governed by a board of five appointed commissioners. By law, each member is supposed to represent a specific area: engineering or physics; environmental protection; economics; law; and Read the rest of this entry »