Palo Alto’s wealth, bucolic neighborhoods and proximity to Stanford College make it the envy of Bay Space cities. However for all its benefits, town faces important monetary, housing and public security challenges.
The Metropolis Council, led by councilmen Eric Filseth and Tom DuBois, has made strides in the course of the previous two years to get town’s pension obligations below management. However that funding, coupled with the pandemic, pressured town to make price range cuts to its Police Division that have to be restored. In the meantime, the council has struggled to determine how greatest to satisfy its state-mandated housing targets whereas sustaining the appeal of its downtown and tree-lined neighborhoods.
And Palo Alto residents need to see progress eliminating the damaging Caltrain grade crossings that run alongside Alma Road — a hazard that shall be magnified as Caltrain’s electrification challenge will increase the variety of trains working via Palo Alto.
Filseth and Dubois are termed out. Councilwoman Alison Cormack determined to not run for a second time period. Seven candidates are vying for the three open seats. We suggest Ed Lauing, Julie Lythcott-Haims and Vicki Veenker to voters within the Nov. 8 election.
Ed Lauing
Lauing is probably the most skilled of the candidates. He has additionally constructed a well-deserved repute for with the ability to convey folks collectively on difficult points. Lauing is the chair of the Planning and Transportation Fee and beforehand served on the Parks and Recreation Fee. He's co-chair of the housing working group, which is creating Palo Alto’s plan to satisfy the state’s housing quota. He's a powerful advocate for providing higher incentives to builders to extend town’s reasonably priced housing inventory.
We advisable Lauing when he ran for the Metropolis Council in 2020, believing his enterprise expertise working startups would assist town work via its monetary points. In a race that includes 10 candidates for 4 open seats, he completed fifth.
Lauing strongly helps Measures Ok and L to assist town restore cuts to its public-safety price range. Measure Ok would institute a enterprise tax in Palo Alto. Measure L would allow town to renew income transfers from town’s pure gasoline utility to the final fund.
Julie Lythcott-Haims
Lythcott-Haims could also be a political newcomer, however she may be very well-versed on Palo Alto’s monetary and housing points.
She is a Harvard-educated lawyer who spent 10 years as Stanford College’s dean of freshmen college students. Lythcott-Haims has written three books, together with two on maturity. She has served on a dozen non-profit boards, together with the Palo Alto Group Fund, Palo Alto YWCA of the Mid-Peninsula, Companions in Schooling and Group Working Group.
She cites reasonably priced housing as her highest precedence, advocating for a return of the times when Palo Alto led the state in constructing reasonably priced housing. She calls the failure to offer housing for lecturers, seniors, younger households and employees a “reflection of our values.”
Vicki Veenker
Veenker is a brilliant, educated patent legal professional and mediator with sturdy folks expertise, which might be a significant plus on a council that has had a tough time reaching compromises on main points. She has served as a mediator for the federal courts and the Worldwide Commerce Fee for 16 years.
She established the now defunct Ladies’s Skilled Soccer league and has served as board president of the Silicon Valley Legislation Basis, which affords free authorized providers to low-income purchasers.
She acknowledges that Palo Alto is transferring ahead with websites to construct extra reasonably priced housing however says that town wants to offer higher subsidies to builders to make initiatives financially possible. Veenker additionally advocates figuring out city-owned downtown parking heaps the place reasonably priced housing might be constructed, eliminating the necessity for builders to purchase land.
She backs the enterprise tax on the November poll to assist restore metropolis providers and demonstrates a strong understanding of town’s funds.
Veenker ran a powerful marketing campaign for state Meeting in 2016 however misplaced to Mark Berman.
The remaining 4 candidates are Lisa Forssell, Doria Summa, Alex Comsa and Brian Hamachek.
Forssell and Summa are additionally strong candidates. Forssell is an Apple design studio producer who's chair of the Palo Alto Utilities Advisory Committee and has served for 3 years on town’s price range subcommittee. Summa is retired after working within the film trade. She is vice chair of the Planning and Transportation Fee and a longtime volunteer for a wide selection of group organizations.
Comsa, a realtor and small-business proprietor, understands land use points however doesn't have any fee expertise and was fuzzy on monetary points. Hamachek is a software program engineer who wants extra expertise on town’s boards and commissions earlier than being able to serve on the Metropolis Council.
Lauing, Lythcott-Haims and Veenker are the standouts within the race. They're one of the best candidates to assist the council deal with the housing and monetary points that a metropolis with the wealth of Palo Alto ought to be fixing at a sooner tempo. We suggest them to voters within the Nov. 8 election.