Palo Alto Matters - Community voices for sustainable solutions
News, data, commentary and connections to help Palo Alto residents get informed, get involved, and speak up about community concerns.
Palo Alto Daily Post – by Emily Mibach / July 12, 2017
Facebook’s proposal to develop a 59-acre business park on Willow Road in Menlo Park into a “Village” with homes, stores and 1.75 million square feet of office space doesn’t answer some major questions about housing and traffic.
Palo Alto Weekly – by Gennady Sheyner / July 14, 2017
More than perhaps any other City Hall program, code enforcement is a custom-built operation that mirrors its community.
Palo Alto Weekly – by Gennady Sheyner / July 14, 2017
For a team that consists of just three people, Palo Alto’s code enforcers have been facing an unprecedented level of public scrutiny of late. In January, the council received the latest National Citizens Survey that showed a troubling trend: only 52 percent of the respondents rated Palo Alto code enforcement as “good” or “excellent” in 2016, down from 59 percent in 2015 and 62 percent in 2014.
Palo Alto Weekly – by Palo Alto Weekly editorial board / July 14, 2017
It’s hard to imagine a better example of how messed up our region’s planning processes and development policies are than Facebook’s latest proposal to build nine new office buildings totaling 1.75 million square feet, likely to be occupied by up to 10,000 new employees, while eventually constructing 1,500 rental apartment units.
Palo Alto Daily Post – by Emily Mabach / July 13, 2017
A judge has ruled that a development company temporarily doesn’t have to pay the city of Palo Alto a $5,000-a-day fine for failing to provide a grocery store in the Edgewood Shopping Center.
Palo Alto Weekly – by Gennady Sheyner / July 12, 2017
Palo Alto’s effort to chip away at what many in City Hall acknowledge to be a “housing crisis” advanced on Wednesday night, when the city’s Planning and Transportation Commission threw its support behind a plan to construct two buildings with 50 apartments at an El Camino Real site that until recently was occupied by Mike’s Bikes.
The plan from The Sobrato Organization calls for replacing the building and parking lot at 3001 El Camino Real with a four-story development with 19,800 square feet of retail and 30 apartments and a three-story building with 20 apartments.
The Almanac – by Kate Bradshaw / July 10. 2017
Facebook, which hit 2 billion users June 27, has announced plans for a major new office, residential and retail development near its headquarters at Willow Road and Bayfront Expressway in Menlo Park.
Palo Alto Matters – June 11, 2017
On a national and even global scale, enmities are fueled around the clock by extreme partisan politics, social media bullying and “fake news.” We’re all up in arms about it. But even as we rally to resist, those same tools of division are intensifying conflict and blocking compromise here at home. Distorted battle lines, name-calling and oversimplification of complex challenges are demonizing local interests, dividing our community and impeding balanced and sustainable solutions.
Read More “Big league politics undermine community solutions”
Palo Alto Weekly – by Gennady Sheyner / June 27, 2017
Palo Alto fired a salvo Tuesday night in its war against traffic congestion when it approved a budget that dramatically increases the cost of parking in downtown and around California Avenue and invests nearly $500,000 in a new nonprofit charged with shifting drivers to other modes of transportation.
Palo Alto Matters – Guest Commentary by Greer Stone / June 25, 2017
Santa Clara County Human Relations Commissioner, Chairman of the Santa Clara County Justice Review Committee, and former Chair of Palo Alto’s Human Relations Commission
In 2003 the world was a different place. A gallon of gas cost $1.79, a dozen eggs would run you $1.24, and the average price of a home in Palo Alto cost $1,179,000. The world had never heard of Barack Obama, and Donald Trump had not even begun his reality show, let alone his career in politics. Yes, much has changed, but unfortunately, the funding provided by the City of Palo Alto to help the most vulnerable members of our community has not.