BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
How much will voters be willing to pay to upgrade the Cubberley Community Center?
The answer to that question will determine how ambitious Palo Alto City Council is with its plans for the dilapidated but popular property at 4000 Middlefield Road.
“We want to be realistic, but we also want to dream,” Councilman Keith Reckdahl said. “Where along that spectrum are we? Because the bigger the project is, the more it can serve the community … But it will cost more.”
Pollster Miranda Everitt of FM3 research said she would ask potential voters whether they’d pay $250, $500 or $750 per year. The money would be collected through a bond, a parcel tax, a utility tax or a sales tax, according to her poll.
Councilman George Lu said he wants a progressive tax structure so the wealthier pay more.
A $250 tax would allow the city to purchase seven acres from the Palo Alto Unified School District and do minor renovations. A $500 tax would allow for a new recreation and wellness center, and a $750 tax would allow for a performing arts center, Everitt said in her presentation.
Councilwoman Julie Lythcott-Haims said she wants to ask voters if they’d pay a $1,250 tax. But Mayor Ed Lauing said he wouldn’t go over $1,000, calling it a “stunning number” per year.
City Manager Ed Shikada said his team would come up with another number to poll voters on that’s above $750. Lythcott-Haims suggested $999.
“You’re just trying to make me happy,” Lauing joked.
Councilman Greer Stone and Vice Mayor Vicki Veenker said the city should allow donors to name buildings at Cubberley as another way to raise money.
Councilman Pat Burt said he wants to be realistic, with a focus on 25 tenants that already have long-term leases at Cubberley.
“Money does matter,” Burt said. “We’re limited on how much the voters will support.”
The second of four polls on Cubberley will go out to potential voters in mid-November, and council will review the results in December.
The poll will also ask voters if they’d support other projects: improving a downtown teen center, upgrading the Ventura Community Center, upgrading the Rinconada Pool and developing a two-acre park honoring Asian American history around the former Fry’s building.
A third poll will go out in February, and council will consider approving a master plan for the property in March.
The final poll will go out in April before council formally places a measure on the November 2026 ballot.
The city owns eight acres of the 35-acre property that’s home to nonprofits, artists, athletics and youth programs.
The Palo Alto Unified School District owns the remaining 27 acres at the old high school and has leased most of the space to the city since 1989.
Council and the school board reached a long-awaited land deal in October 2024. The city agreed to buy seven acres from the district for $65.5 million, as long as voters approve the funding measure.
How much do each of these polls cost?
Cubberly HS closed in 1979. Palo Alto STILL hasn’t figured out what to do with it. It will soon be 50 years. City Hall needs to set up a committee immiediately to start planning the Golden Anniversary of its massive ineptitide.