Candidate for
Council Member; City of Palo Alto

Palo Alto is facing significant challenges, from growth to budget to dated infrastructure, below is my opinion on the major causes of the challenges above, if we can solve the causes listed below Palo Alto will be the city we were used to and the quality of life that made us move to Palo Alto.

• Protection of our Open Space - Palo Alto is blessed with a significant open space, we have the baylands along the east side of the city and the foothills along the west side. This open space needs to be protected for future generations of Palo Altans. The city has worked hard to restore the baylands, making it one of the most beautiful areas to go for a relaxing stroll or to run and enjoy the fresh air. To the west the foothills which are a treasure of trees and open space.
• Sensible and Balanced Multi Family Housing Development - There is a major drive in Palo Alto to build multi unit housing, the city has been rezoning commercial parcels to develop these housing units. The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) is advisiong that Palo Alto should have 3505 housing units by 2012. Before we charge forward and start all these developments we need to study the effects of adding all these units on the community, and the effect they will have on the infrastructure like water, sewer, electric power lines, schools, and traffic. The city should say "NO" the ABAG numbers. Any new units should be in mixed use zoned areas where there will be retail on the ground floor, and residences on the upper floors.
• Stop the Conversion of Retail Space to Residential - This one is an absolute shortsightedness, commercial properties generate sales tax revenue and serve the community. Unfortunately Palo Alto has been rezoning commercial parcels and replacing them with multi family housing, and there are more projects in the planning stages. Palo Alto should if anything increase the commercially zoned properties that generates revenue which can be used to improve and upgrade the city's infrastructure.
• Address the Diminishing Tax Base - This is a follow on to the item above, reducing the number of commercial properties will reduce the sales tax revenue to the city. Palo Alto is getting to be an unfriendly city to businesses, there are a couple of initiatives on the November ballot, the first to add a business tax and the second to add an occupancy tax in the few hotel we have left in the city. Unfortunately increasing the taxes on businesses will make them less competitive. We live in close proximity to neighboring cities making it easier to drive a few miles to shop in these neighboring cities.
• Why the Reliance on Raising Taxes to Generate Revenue - The City of Palo Alto has a $10.4M in projected revenue growth in 2007-2009 period or 8% over last year, and this is with diminishing sales tax base, the city though finds it much easier to increase the different types of taxes (use tax, and other forms of tax) instead of finding creative ways to find new revenue, like increasing the commercial space in the city, or allocating a parcel to develop a conference center. Looking into reducing the city's overhead is another way to free up revenue. Unfortunately the City of Palo Alto is getting into the tax and spend mode.
• Lack of Progress on Upgrading our Libraries - The libraries upgrade has been in the planning for a while. Our libraries used to be first class and we need to bring them back to their original status. We do need, however, to look at the upgrade from an sound fiscal point of view.