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Planned Cambridge Avenue development meets opposition

by paloaltomattersDecember 27, 2017January 23, 2018Leave a comment

Residents and business owners raise concerns about proposed three-story building

Palo Alto Weekly – by Gennady Sheyner / December 27, 2017

Karen Price, a massage therapist with a practice on Cambridge Avenue, believes the three-story building on her block won’t just change the character of the surrounding area.

It will also, she said Thursday, threaten the character of the city by accelerating the displacement of small, community-serving businesses like her own by tech companies with a global clientele.

Price was part of a group, which included area businesses and residents, who attended the Dec. 21 meeting of the Architectural Review Board to speak out against the project in the California Avenue Business District.

Navigation Apps Are Turning Quiet Neighborhoods Into Traffic Nightmares

by paloaltomattersDecember 24, 2017January 24, 2018Leave a comment

New York Times – by Lisa W. Foderaro / December 24, 2017

With services like Google Maps, Waze and Apple Maps suggesting shortcuts for commuters through the narrow, hilly streets of Leonia, N.J., the borough has decided to fight back against congestion that its leaders say has reached crisis proportions.

In mid-January, the borough’s police force will close 60 streets to all drivers aside from residents and people employed in the borough during the morning and afternoon rush periods, effectively taking most of the town out of circulation for the popular traffic apps — and for everyone else, for that matter.

For new bike boulevard, it’s not smooth sailing

by paloaltomattersDecember 8, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

Palo Alto Weekly – by Sue Dremann / December 8, 2017

New Ross Road fixtures are confusing bicyclists and drivers, creating danger, residents say

The city of Palo Alto’s effort to turn a south Palo Alto street into a bicycle-friendly boulevard is encountering a chorus of complaints from residents who say that the changes are making the road more dangerous.

New housing laws roil officials in Burlingame

by paloaltomattersDecember 7, 2017January 23, 2018Leave a comment

State’s loosened development standards costing local control raise eyebrows on the City Council

San Mateo Daily Journal – by Austin Walsh / December 7, 2017

New state housing laws requiring city governments to cede a substantial portion of their local control alarmed Burlingame officials who fear the regulations may bring unintended consequences.

Officials raised concerns the legislation will invite development of boilerplate, cookie-cutter plans by sapping officials authority to enforce design driven decisions.

“Burlingame for many years has worked very hard to develop guidelines, but many of those guidelines have to deal with neighborhood consistency, so all of that goes out the door with this,” said Keighran.

School board approves new rule for anonymous donations

by paloaltomattersDecember 6, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

Palo Alto Weekly – by Elena Kadvany / December 6, 2017

Members disagree on how to balance gifts and public accountability

The need to strike a balance between welcoming anonymous donations and providing transparency as a public agency divided the Palo Alto school board on Tuesday night, with its members ultimately approving in a 3-2 vote a new requirement for internally disclosing donors’ identities.

People or organizations who give the district more than $50,000 and wish to remain publicly anonymous will now have to disclose their identity to the superintendent, who would then inform each board member verbally, one by one. The board can waive this requirement in public session.

City braces for impacts of new housing laws

by paloaltomattersDecember 5, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

Palo Alto Weekly – by Gennady Sheyner / December 5, 2017

Palo Alto council members, planning staff say recently passed bills could reduce local control, spur major change

For Palo Alto’s housing advocates, the broad package of bills that Sacramento lawmakers signed into law this fall are exactly the type of disruption that the city needs after years of sluggish residential construction and a deepening crisis of affordable housing.

But for the Palo Alto City Council, which has made housing one of its top priorities for the year, the Sacramento-administered medicine comes with a host of unpredictable side effects. The new laws could upend the city’s policies on everything from parking requirements to architectural reviews. And with the new laws kicking in on Jan. 1, City Hall staff are scrambling to understand the implications and come up with new procedures and policies to address them.

City seeks more protection from Stanford expansion

by paloaltomattersDecember 1, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

Palo Alto Weekly – by Gennady Sheyner / December 1, 2017

Palo Alto officials, residents question university’s plans to manage anticipated traffic and housing problems

The City Council plans to approve on Monday night a comment letter on the project’s voluminous draft Environmental Impact Report, which assesses likely consequences of the expansion. The letter takes issues with Stanford’s assumptions about traffic, groundwater and fire-service demand, among many other things.

In Crescent Park, a push to end traffic gridlock

by paloaltomattersDecember 1, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

Palo Alto Weekly – by Sue Dremann / December 1, 2017

Residents to seek solutions for the daily line of cars on neighborhood streets

Fed up with the daily traffic gridlock on their neighborhood’s streets, Crescent Park residents are banding together to get the city of Palo Alto’s attention.

For hours each day, Crescent Park residents are plagued by the hundreds of vehicles that jam the streets within blocks of University Avenue, from Middlefield Road to East Crescent Drive. They say they battle just to get in and out of their driveways on weekday afternoons.

Cities seek more time to vet Stanford’s proposed expansion

by paloaltomattersNovember 29, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

Palo Alto Weekly – by Gennady Sheyner / November 29, 2017

Palo Alto and Menlo Park request 60 more days; Stanford calls proposal ‘unwarranted’

As the comment period on Stanford University’s proposed expansion winds down, city officials from Menlo Park and Palo Alto are calling for the Santa Clara County Planning Department to give them another 60 days to evaluate the potential impacts of the General Use Permit amendment that the university is seeking.

In arguing against the extension, Stanford may have received some help from Palo Alto Mayor Greg Scharff, who called Girard last week to discuss the topic.

Scharff said he called Girard because he had questions about how the extra 60 days would impact the planning process. But Girard recalled that Scharff said that he does not believe the 60-day extension is necessary.

“He said he hadn’t heard that much demand from his constituents for an extended period,” Girard said.

City explores ways to pay for revamped Caltrain intersections

by paloaltomattersNovember 29, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

Palo Alto Weekly – by Gennady Sheyner / November 29, 2017

Rail Committee considers new studies on rail-crossing alternatives, financing

Despite years of discussions about the need to separate the Caltrain tracks from the local streets that intersect the rail line, Palo Alto leaders are still struggling to figure out what the project would look like and how it would be paid for.

On Wednesday morning, the City Council’s Rail Committee considered two new studies in an effort to make some progress on both of these fronts. But while the studies provided insight into the scope of the problem, the council’s discussion indicated that Palo Alto is still many months away from getting to real answers.