Quick replies to frequently asked questions.
Jean Mordo-Q&A
1. Why are you running?
I am eager to serve the community where I live, and I enjoy doing it. I am concerned about the future development of Los Altos and I feel that I can contribute to resolving some of the issues we are facing.
2. What strengths would you bring to the council?
I have 10 years experience in city government, including 2 years on the planning commission and 8 on Council in Los Altos Hills. I also led the Finance Commission for 8 years. I have demonstrated an ability to listen and come out with solutions which seem to have addressed the key issues in town with balanced, sensible approaches. The antagonisms which were rife in town before I joined the council have all but dissipated.
3. How do you see your LAH experience benefiting you on the LA council?
Los Altos is facing several choices which involve prioritizing financial commitments. My career in corporate financial management and my 10 years on a city finance commission allow me to make these choices with confidence
4. What do you see as the top three city priorities?
- Moving ahead with a reasonable and affordable plan for portions of the Civic Center properly to address the highest priority needs of the various constituencies, especially the seniors and the youth.
- Address, as soon as possible, the growing parking shortage downtown before it discourages Los Altos residents from coming into town and development to happen.
- Continue to stimulate moderate development in town that preserves the reasons we have to live here and maintains a safe environment for all ages.
5. What is your vision for Los Altos?
I believe that Los Altos should evolve and renew but keep its character.
6. Do you support the recent developments on First Street?
No. I enjoy having a new Safeway, but not the new look of First Street. My biggest disappointment is the opportunity lost on the First & Main location. To sell city owned property, at critical location at the entrance to the town, to a private developer, at a below market rate, shortchanged all the residents of Los Altos.
7. Specifically, what is it about the First St development that you don't like... where/how did the City make it's mistake? If you had the hypothetical opportunity to do it over, what would you have suggested?
The street is too narrow for buildings this high. If we are to allow a height of 45 feet, which I understand is the limit in this zoning district, we should require larger setbacks and step-backs for upper floors. The ratio of height to street width should not exceed 1:1.
8. How do we decide what is the appropriate height downtown?
I think that we can have a dialogue with the residents showing, with 3D illustrations how changing the various zoning heights and setbacks would progressively, through the next 10-20 years change the landscape downtown. Change is necessary, but scary if we cannot visualize it. Height by itself is not bad if setbacks and step-backs are in proportion so we do not get a canyon feeling.
9. Why is the parking shortage so important?
The parking issue is not only that it is difficult to park and therefore affects the downtown businesses. It is also that, because we do not have a City sponsored parking solution, we have no mechanism to allow developers to buy into a common parking through an in-lieu fee. Currently each property requires 3.3 parking spaces per 1,000 square feet to be developed, which is impossible to do economically on most of the lots.
10. Do we need a downtown parking garage?
A parking garage on one of the plazas seems to be a good solution if implemented properly with an attractive design. But we must also create a mechanism to include new property into a parking district.
11. What kind of parking structure would you support?
I am not a parking expert, but I have seen several examples of tastefully done, efficient parking structures. A parking structure could fit on one of the 9 parking plazas. Plazas 1, 2, 3, 7, 8 and 9 are big enough. Prior City Council members had the foresight and vision to create the plazas years ago. We now need to capitalize on this space to effectively manage reasonable growth.
12. What do you see the city lacking? How would you address it?
The Los Altos community is blessed with a very educated, smart and involved population. Some of the smartest people in the country live here. I feel that we can make better use of this resource by greatly increasing the freedom of all City commissions and committees to address the issues as they see fit and to reach out to the community at large for concerns and suggestions. I believe that this would unleash the creativity and motivation of the citizens to propose solutions to our problems and enhance our city.
13.
Now that the Los Altos School District and Bullis Charter have agreed to a 5 year facilities plan, what can the city do to help the School District/Bullis to jointly find appropriate sites for one or more additional school sites? Some folks have mentioned the possibility of denser school sites by building/adding multi-story classroom facilities... do you think this is viable? If so where should they be sited? Will the agreement last after the bond election in either case?
We certainly should cooperate with the School district to find a solution which makes sense, but we should remember that while our interests are often aligned, they do not always coincide. The City Council is accountable to all the residents young and old. We have to balance the needs of school children for an adequate school site, but also the need for parks and open space for all. I have never designed a school, but I see no good reason why it cannot be two or more stories. In our area, the cost of land is so high, and the availability of a large parcel so scarce, that building up should be considered.
14. Should the city sell/lease land to the school district for its facility needs?
If City property becomes part of the solution for the School District it should be leased not sold since the needs of the district varies with enrollment, currently going up, but maybe going down a decade from now.
15. How would you characterize the City's financial condition? Are there any Capital improvements and investments in infrastructure that you think need to be made? Are there any operating budget adjustments you think should be made? We hear elsewhere about public employee salaries, pension obligations and benefits around the state getting out of hand... do you think here in Los Altos they are okay and in line, both today and going forward, and if not, what needs to be done to bring them in line?
The City is sound financially. We are blessed to have very stable revenues because of our primary reliance on property tax. Even in the 2008-2009 recession when some property values declined, the total revenue from property tax never declined. Now is a good time to make capital investments such as the Community Center, a new City Hall and other infrastructure to improve the Los
Altos Community; these are needed and long term interest rates are now low.
Are you OK with the City's General Plan? If not, where/when/how would you like to see it updated/improved?
I am getting more familiar by the day with our General Plan. I have reviewed the various documents pertaining to downtown. I feel that we have a reasonable base to start from, but need to develop a more specific long tern plan for downtown. I would like to reconsider the issue of building heights and setbacks so as to allow development that brings vitality without losing what we have.
16. What should we do with the community center?
We should move ahead, but we need to balance space, height and cost with the desires of the various groups. I think that we can have most of what we want, but we have to make trade-offs. The outreach so far has consisted in asking all constituencies what they want, and since the constraints- some self-imposed, some not- do not permit everything to happen, it becomes a zero-sum game. "If I get my pool, you lose your apricot trees", for example. If we structure the outreach in such a matter as people see the trade-offs, we may find agreement. The major variables are: space, height, cost, parking spaces, police on site or not, theater on which side of San Antonio, same for library, acreage of apricot trees. I would like all advocates of the various elements to have a rational conversation with an eye on compromise and awareness of cost.
17. Critics have complained that selection of members of the Commissions by the City Council seems arbitrary and sometimes illogical? Others have noted that the City relies too heavily on expensive consultants to do jobs that commissions with skills which could be tapped to do some of this work. Do you have any ideas for changing the selection process?
The Los Altos community is blessed with a very educated, smart and involved population. Some of the smartest people in the country live here. I feel that we can make better use of this resource by greatly increasing the freedom of all City commissions and committees to address the issues as they see fit and to reach out to the community at large for concerns and suggestions. I believe that this would unleash the creativity and motivation of the citizens to propose solutions to our problems and enhance our city.
18. Although the City has design guidelines for development, both the Design Review Commission, the Planning and Transportation Commission and the Council seem to make decisions based on personal preferences resulting in differences in treatment of applicants with essentially identical plans. How could we resolve this issue?
We should try and streamline the development process to decrease, to the extent possible, the subjectivity and increase the predictability of outcomes. The Planning Commission and the Design Review Commission rely in part, as appropriate, on "Design Guidelines". Because every lot is different, it is not always possible to just set the rules with a set of firm numbers such as height, setback, floor area ratios, etc. But some of the design guidelines end up being subjective judgments such as "bulk", "privacy", "fit with the neighborhood", etc. I believe that while we need to consider such factors, they can be included in a more rigorous fashion which minimizes the subjectivity, and avoid the perception that applicants are not all treated equally.
19. You served on the Council in Los Altos Hills and obviously felt passionately about and committed to that city at the time you served. How is it possible to transfer these feelings to another City?
In short: 2 cities, one community! Barbara and I have served this community without regard to the artificial border line. We have held board positions for Los Altos organizations (History Museum, Los Altos Stage Co., Los Altos Rotary Club, Newcomers Club). We have hosted numerous fundraisers benefiting these and other organizations. Frankly, I do not see any antagonism between the two cities...maybe a little sibling rivalry. I believe that, just as we have a joint library, we should have a joint Parks and Rec organization, and finance jointly the community center. LA and LAH share a downtown, and can share a lot more.
|
