When local elections come around, the magic wands of candidates emerge. Often candidates talk about what they will do, as if they possessed a magic wand that could create whatever they dreamed up. Wave that wand and we get affordable housing. Wave it some more, and Caltrain goes underground in a tunnel. These wands can create thriving retail in abandoned stores, safe bicycle routes on busy streets, a carbon-free future with power generated by unicorns jumping through rainbows.
In recommending candidates for Palo Alto City Council, we favored those who had a practical mindset with realistic ideas. Candidates who have the ability to roll up their sleeves and get the job done, rather than grandstanding and virtue signaling.
We strongly recommend Pat Burt, who is seeking his fourth term on council. He’s knowledgeable on every issue because of years of experience dealing with those issues. We know he’ll always be fighting for us. Sometimes, we’re uncomfortable watching him forcefully debate a fellow council member, but in a time where elected officials are increasingly spineless, it’s good to have someone who isn’t a pushover.
This isn’t a slam on City Manager Ed Shikada, but every employee needs a boss who holds their feet to the fire and makes sure they get their job done. A council with inexperienced members can be led astray by a dominating city manager. Somebody like Burt, who has seen it all, will keep the manager in line.
Burt’s work on regional boards ensures that Palo Alto residents aren’t cheated when it comes time to distribute transportation dollars. He is playing a key role in ensuring that Palo Alto gets its promised share of 2016 Measure B, the VTA sales tax meant to fund bridges for rail crossings.
We also recommend for re-election Greer Stone, who has become the voice of social justice on council and an effective advocate for more housing.
We think back to April 4, 2022, when council was dealing with then-police chief Robert Jonsen’s decision to encrypt police radio transmissions. The ability for the public to hear police activities was a First Amendment issue. Before the meeting, four council members had indicated they were going to vote to tell Jonsen to end encryption. But at the hearing, Jonsen gaslit the council into believing that terrible consequences would result if the public could once again hear the frequencies. One by one, the council members who opposed encryption folded except for Stone. Despite pressure from various figures in law enforcement at the hearing, Stone stood his ground and was the lone vote to end encryption. Stone lost the vote, but soon Palo Alto would get a new police chief, Andrew Binder, who, in one of his first acts, ended encryption. And all of the dire consequences that council was told about that evening never happened.
Stone was able to cut through the crap and make a logical decision. He’s unafraid to stand up to special interests.
We’re comfortable recommending Doria Summa, currently a Planning and Transportation Commission member, for council. She has years of experience in city government. She’s completely up-to-speed on the city’s complex zoning code. A resident of the College Terrace neighborhood, she’s a voice for residents who want to protect their neighborhoods. She’s not anti-business, but she’s passionate about neighborhoods.
Another Planning and Transportation Commission member who gets our recommendation is Keith Reckdahl. Besides his experience on the PTC, he also served nine years on the Parks & Recreation Commission, the Housing Element committee, the North Ventura Coordinated Area Plan committee and the railroad grade separations study committee, known as XCAP. All of that to say, he’s well qualified to serve on council. He’s a known quantity.
Reckdahl, like all other candidates in the race, supports new housing for all incomes. But in 2022, he led the successful Measure K business tax campaign to fund affordable housing. While supporting housing, he favors reasonable renter protections, such as security deposit limits and prevention of wrongful terminations. Those are measures that won’t discourage construction of homes.
Reckdahl, an aerospace engineer, is known for his work ethic. He won’t have the learning curve you sometimes see in newbie council members. His 12 years of experience on city boards and commissions have given him the knowledge to be a solid contributor right from the beginning.
If there were additional openings on council, we would recommend Cari Templeton and Katie Causey. We hope both of them stay involved in civic affairs and will be around in two years for the next round of council elections.
Surely this is a mistake – these four don’t have NEARLY enough endorsements from regional politicians who don’t know them …
Terrible endorsements. As the only newspaper left in town, you need to fo better.
Congrats for endorsing the best and brightest. Most knowledgeable and experienced.
When elected, our city will be in good hands.
Palo Alto can do better. Experienced Council member should be balanced by fresh voices, youth and elders alike.
Reject status quo, even regressive thinking exemplified by this stale, timid endorsement editorial. Balance homeowners with renters, youth with elders, housers with residentialists and seriously consider the candidate statement of “Senior RENTARISTA” Henry Etzkowitx, who synthesizes both factions and wants an underground Caltrainwith an overlay of fresh thinking that the Post itself has called “Big Bold” ideas.
But they are all eminently practical and have been implemented elsewhere: NYC park avenue NYC; urban forest on San Antonio, Rio de Janeiro, mid 19 century; Chinese History Museum.
Why not pivot Fry’s Ventura site to honor the workers who built the transcontinental railroad and Stanford’s main quad?
Artists living working lofts not superseded office in the rest of the building, like Berkeley’s Shell Laboratory renovation and nyc 1960’s re-zone of an industrial district that had lost its original purpose, for qualified artists living working lofts…This is the Palo Alto I want; Is this the Palo Alto you want?
Above all, with university and VC collaboration: affordable housing at all income levels at the Stanford Shopping Center, Cubberly and downtown city owned parking lots.
Fire the expensive consultants; invite Stanford and San Jose state faculty and students to democratically plan with us. End the “consultocracy” give the airport back to the baylands, its rightful owners; a distributed gym across the city. Revive the rich activity; eg yoga, aerobics, Sunday brunch where “we made out friends” according to a graduate student and spread sociability to underutilized community centers, using volunteers with city support—learn from Amsterdam sponsor senior dinners so we can live in place.
Rent cap for seniors Keep social ties intact. Do not force out seniors who can no longer afford escalating rents making Palo Alto one of the highest cost cities for seniors. Staff our empty firehouses; invite our police force to come out of their vehicles and patrol on foot, bike and horseback. Increase the sense of security in our city with enhanced blue visibility. If the above policy measures are aspirational; let’s aspire! We are Palo Alto, the hometown of innovation and entrepreneurship. “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it; if it’s working well, make it better!”
Thanks, Dave Price, for your sensible endorsemments and astute comments.
Magic wands and uninformed virtue signaling don’t belong in taxpayer-funded government.
If a candidate is running so PA can have a parade to celebrate a cause, she/he needs to do his/her homework and organize one just like Black Lives Matter (BLM) did.
Obviously ignorance about how to organize parades is trivial vs the real complicated a city like PA faces – which is why we need experienced information leaders.
I’m OK with bringing back the two incumbents, but I would ask that they look hard at whether we ought to spend local funds on the grade separations. If Caltrain is going to grow in ridership, then it should be expected to pay for this work. Most of us in Palo Alto don’t use the train and the number of cars it takes off the road is minimal (do the math), so we don’t get the benefit of a big tax increase for these projects. I realize the city has been headed in the direction of building grade separations for more than 10 years, so changing anything is like turning around an aircraft carrier. But we ought to be discussing whether to put the brake on this to see if Caltrain really bounces back.
What a group! And four years from now, City Hall will still be locked down!