This was printed in Thursday’s Daily Post.
BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
There’s a rift among three Palo Alto council members who negotiated a deal to buy seven acres at the Cubberley Community Center from the school district.
Councilman Pat Burt and Councilwoman Julie Lythcott-Haims aren’t happy with former Mayor Lydia Kou because Kou has criticized the deal, even though she was on the negotiating committee with them.
“It takes a lots of chutzpah to be part of the deal and then turn against it, wouldn’t you say?” Lythcott-Haims said in a text message on Monday.
Burt said Kou’s criticism of the deal is “offensive.”
“There’s hardly any way to characterize it other than dishonest,” Burt said in an interview on Tuesday. Kou signed the ballot argument against Measure J, a half-cent sales tax on the Nov. 3 ballot to fund the land purchase and building renovations.
Burt pointed to Kou’s comments at a council meeting on Oct. 7, 2024, when council unanimously approved an agreement with the district to buy seven acres at the old high school for $65.5 million.
At the meeting, Kou said the committee negotiated the purchase price “with fiscal responsibility and fiscal diligence.
“I’m just glad that we are where we are … This is a project that does need to happen,” she said at the time.
In an interview on Tuesday, Kou said she raised issues with the sale price behind closed doors.
“It was a lot of back-door dealings. Obviously I came away unhappy with it. Just because I was in the room doesn’t mean I was agreeable,” she said.
Kou said she supports expanding and renovating Cubberley, but she wants a tax or bond that is specifically for the Cubberley project. The city can spend Measure J proceeds on any city project.
Council went with a general tax, not a specific tax because a general tax has a lower threshold for approval.
Kou has criticized the city for not releasing its appraisal of Cubberley. She said a bank wouldn’t give out a mortgage without an appraisal, so the people of Palo Alto shouldn’t be expected to spend their hard-earned cash without the supporting documentation either.
“It would be great if the people can see (the appraisal), and we can justify paying that money,” Kou said in an interview.
‘Never-ending rathole’
The city released a statement about the appraised price on Monday that said the seven acres were val-ied at $43.6 to $60.2 million in 2024. With inflation, the $60.2 million would be equal to approximately $65.5 million in 2027, the statement said.
Burt said he doesn’t support releasing the appraisal because critics of the Cubberley deal would’ve found disagreements with the appraiser’s assumptions.
“That would simply be a never-ending rathole that opponents would want to pursue,” Burt said.
Burt said the city obtained two appraisals. The first was at the higher number, and the second was at the lower number. The purpose of the second appraisal was to be more aggressive in negotiations, and that was the city’s starting offer, he said.
The school district originally asked for $90 million, reflecting the potential value of leasing the buildings to a private school, Monday’s statement said.
What can go there
The property is zoned for public facilities, which limits what can get built there and gives priority to government buyers.
Former school board member Todd Collins said council members should’ve released the appraisal months ago.
“They just keep making it a bigger issue … Unfortunately their view has been that too much information is not good for voters,” Collins said in an interview on Tuesday.
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