BY DAVE PRICE
Daily Post Editor

I’m hearing that San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller is considering a bid for District Attorney if longtime DA Steve Wagstaffe decides not to run in 2028.

Wagstaffe hasn’t revealed his plans, and Mueller said he will support Wagstaffe if he runs again, calling him the best DA in the state.

“I can’t even talk about ‘what if’s’ with you, out of respect for him,” Mueller said.

But if Wagstaffe were to win in 2028, he’d be 76 when he’s sworn in. While on top of his game, maybe it’s time to smell the roses?

As for his experience, Mueller worked as an attorney for a tech company and was Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian’s chief of staff. More recently, he led the Board of Supervisors in its difficult effort to fire Sheriff Christina Corpus. Corpus relentlessly fought Mueller and many others with the help of top lawyers paid by the taxpayers. A lot of other officials would have given up, fearing damage to their reputations from her attacks.

Getting rid of her was a courageous act of public service, and it could serve as a springboard to the DA’s office.

• • •

Ugly signs in parks

It may not sound like a big deal, but some Palo Alto residents are unhappy the city has replaced the wooden hand-carved sign for Heritage Park at 300 Homer Ave. with an ugly metal sign.

Residents went to the Parks and Recreation Commission in July to ask that the city bring back the wooden sign. They’re fearful this will happen at the city’s other 35 parks, all of which have hand-crafted wooden signs as well.

Asav Gupta, speaking on behalf of the University South and Professorville Neighborhood Association, said he didn’t understand why the beautiful sign had been replaced because it was in great condition as far as he could tell.

“For those of us in our neighborhood, it is a fairly stark and surprising change for us,” Gupta said. “Our park signs are one of the small things that make Palo Alto such a great place to live. It’s a unique thing. It brings in a lot of character.”

Another resident, who only identified herself as “Rebecca N,” said the new sign was really ugly with words that looked like a pixelated print job.

“It looks like someone took a poster board from Kinkos and printed a really rough thing on it for a high school project,” she said.

It seems the original artisan fabricator who hand-carved the classic signs has retired, leaving the city without an immediate source for replacements. The Parks and Rec board was told that the wooden signs are deteriorating, and it’s become impractical to maintain them against weather damage.

Still, the decision about how to replace these signs should have been made publicly by a panel of citizens who represent residents, like the Parks and Rec board or the City Council. This shouldn’t have been decided behind closed doors like so many other things at City Hall these days. This may not seem like a big deal to city employees, but residents think the parks are sacred.

• • •

Muzzling the critics

The Sequoia Union High School District is a hot mess, and a new “civility” policy to muzzle critics isn’t the solution.

This is a district that paid $325,000 to settle a lawsuit saying the high schools failed to protect Jewish students from harassment and discrimination. Besides the money, the district must submit classroom materials covering the Israeli-Palestian conflict to an independent monitor for pre-approval.

Unrelated to that, the district is drawing fierce criticism from some parents for closing the TIDE Academy, a small STEM school in Menlo Park, to save money.

The district is also facing an estimated $6 million budget shortfall.

Now parents are gathering signatures to put the recall of school board members Rich Ginn, Mary Beth Thompson and Maria Cruz on the ballot. Parents also want the board to fire Superintendent Crystal Leach.

This would be a great time for the school board to invite members of the public to give their views at a meeting. Instead, the board and the administration is running for the bunkers. 

Let’s hope this upcoming election results in some real changes in this troubled district.

• • •

Where’s the courthouse? CBS is coming out with a legal drama called “Cupertino.” Asian-American activists have rightly pointed out that the show doesn’t have any Asians in a city that’s about 70% Asian. The other stupid thing is this: Where is the Cupertino courthouse? I think I’ve been to every courthouse in the county, but I can’t remember where the Cupertino courthouse is located. 

Good choice: I got a press release from the city of Palo Alto the other day touting plans for the city’s new “Horizontal Levee.” Thank God they decided to go with a horizontal levee instead of one of those newfangled vertical levees.

Editor Dave Price’s column appears on Mondays.