Greer wants city consultants who are neutral

BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer

Palo Alto Mayor Greer Stone wants another term on council so he can make sure the city hires consultants who are neutral, rather than pushing a certain agenda.

“This is probably human nature to do this, but the consultants always kind of have their hand on the scale and say, ‘Oh the city has hired me to consult on this project. That means I have to sell this project,’” Stone said in an interview last week. 

Instead, consultants should provide an objective analysis and let the council decide one way or the other, Stone said.  He’s in the early stages of working on policy to cement that idea.

Neutrality was missing during a discussion last week about the Palo Alto Airport, Stone said.

Two consultants — C&S Engineers and Centurion Planning and Design — were hired to help create a 20-year plan for the airport, required by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Consultants came up with four options for expanding the runway into the Baylands, and one option for leaving the runway as is.

Residents overwhelmingly opposed the expansion, with more than 70 public speakers at the meeting on Sept. 16.

Councilman Pat Burt confirmed that voters would need to approve the removal of parkland for the runway to expand, effectively ending the possibility of an expansion.

Stone said the consultants were too focused on the safety of the runway, while offering no evidence of safety concerns there. They overlooked the potential noise, lead pollution and loss of open space, he said.

“We already have too many aviation impacts. We don’t need more,” Stone said at the meeting.

Stone said he understands the issue with consultants more after four years on council, and that’s partly why he’s seeking another term.

“You’ve got to get through enough of these to realize, 

‘OK this is the culture.’ Then you have to understand the culture to be able to understand how you fix it. And that takes a little while,” Stone said.

Stone said council does a relatively good job pushing back on City Manager Ed Shikada’s recommendations, while neighboring councils are more of a rubber stamp for their staff.

“That’s not the Palo Alto way,” said Stone, of nine candidates running for four seats on council.