Roberta Phillips, a regular fixture at Los Altos City Council meetings and outspoken critic of city officials, has died.
Phillips was 79.
Phillips was known for speaking her mind at city council meetings and reminding those in city government that they work for the residents.
Phillips showed up to a November 2023 council meeting in a bathrobe to protest the council doing away with letting people comment on items via Zoom.
Phillips told the council that night she was there representing caregivers, parents of young children, seniors who can’t drive at night, and the many others who are unable to physically attend meetings to weigh in.
“Our democracy has lasted for over two hundred years. It is strong enough to allow speakers to participate remotely. Council members can participate remotely. Why can’t the community members?” Phillips wrote in a letter to the editor at the time.
Phillips lent her time and effort to many issues around the town, including an attempt to prevent an apricot orchard from being removed at the Los Altos library and the “Yes on C” campaign, a city measure that would have required that every city-owned property transfer be put to an election. That measure died with 53% of voters opposing it.
Phillips was then-candidate Lynette Lee Eng’s campaign manager in 2016 and often accompanied the future mayor to events and appearances throughout her campaign.
While Phillips was a regular fixture at council meetings, she was taken aback when in February 2019, then-councilwoman Jeannie Bruins cited her as the reason why council meetings were not televised, with then-councilwoman Jeannie Bruins claiming that since Phillips smoke cigarettes, the odor from her — even when she wasn’t smoking — was enough to trigger Bruins on the other side of the room.
Phillips told the Post at the time that she would bathe and wash her hair before leaving the house to remove any smell of smoke. Then-City Attorney Chris Diaz approached Phillips and asked her to leave the meeting, to which she refused, reminding the city attorney of her rights to attend any public meeting she so wished.
“I said to him, straight out, ‘Hey Chris, under the constitution of the United States I have the right to speak at a meeting and under the Brown Act (the law requiring open meetings), I have the right to attend any meeting that I want to,'” Phillips told the Post at the time.
Phillips said she felt that Bruins was targeting her personally, and pointed out that Bruins spent four years serving on council next to Mayor Jean Mordo, a regular cigar smoker.
Phillips reminded the council on Feb. 11, 2025, that Holocaust Remembrance Day had recently passed, and urged the council and all of those listening to make sure today’s children know history and to honor those who died in concentration camps and the soldiers who fought for freedom across the world.
“And when we remember, it gives us hope. We certainly are not a perfect union, but we strive to become more perfect than what we are. By remembering and honoring those people who gave us freedom, we can create as better future for ourselves,” Phillips said.
Phillips’ husband, Wallace, preceded her in death. She is survived by her two daughters.
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