2026-09-28 - City Council Special Meeting

19:38All right. Good evening. I'm going to

19:40call to order the September 28th, 2026

19:43meeting of the PaloAlto City Council.

19:46Madame Clerk, would you please call the

19:48role?

19:53>> Council member Lou

19:54>> here.

19:55>> Council member Rectal

19:56>> here.

19:57>> Council member Bert here. Vice Mayor

19:59Stone

20:00>> here. Here.

20:02>> Council member Lowing

20:03>> here.

20:03>> Council member Lith

20:05>> here. Council member Bert

20:07>> here again.

20:09>> So sorry.

20:09>> He's still here. [laughter]

20:11>> It's all good.

20:13>> All right. For the record, all present.

20:15>> Thank you very much. Um and while we

20:18have a agenda changes later on our

20:20agenda, the first change is that item

20:22one uh has been removed from the agenda.

20:25Uh so we will move to item two, a

20:28special order of the day, reviewing

20:30applications and selecting candidates

20:32for the HRC, PTC, and storm water

20:35management oversight committee. Uh

20:37Madame Clerk, over to you.

20:38>> Yes, Mayor, just before we move on, I'm

20:40going to turn to Vice Mayor Stone to

20:41make his remote announcement.

20:44>> Thank you.

20:45>> Yeah, thank you. I I have a just cause

20:47to attend this meeting remotely under

20:49the Brown Act. I have not attended any

20:52council meetings remotely this calendar

20:53year. I must attend this meeting

20:56remotely because I have the flu that's

20:58preventing me from attending in person.

21:01And a little uh reminder to everybody,

21:04get your get your flu shots. This one is

21:06no joke in this room. I'm I'm I'm alone.

21:11So, all right. Thank you.

21:14>> All right. Well, thank you, Vice Mayor.

21:16We miss you, but we appreciate your

21:18discretion in not sharing the flu with

21:20all of us. So, we wish you well and a

21:22quick and speedy recovery.

21:25All right. So, with that, let's go back

21:27to item two. Madame clerk,

21:31>> good evening. I'm Christine Prior,

21:33assistant city clerk, joined by Mahani

21:35Aun, the city clerk. And today, uh, the

21:37city council will be selecting

21:39candidates to interview for vacancies on

21:41the human relations commission, planning

21:43and transportation commission, and storm

21:45water management oversight committee.

21:47Next,

21:49a brief overview because we've been over

21:51this before at the last time we selected

21:53candidates to interview. This

21:55recruitment included the Human Relations

21:58Commission, Parks and Recreation

21:59Commission, Planning and Transportation

22:01Commission, Public Art Commission, and

22:04Storm Water Management Oversight

22:06Committee. I will not go through the

22:08whole timeline, but just the next steps.

22:10Um, tonight you will be selecting

22:12candidates to interview for HRC, PTC,

22:15and Stormwater. Those interviews will

22:18take place on Wednesday, September 30th.

22:21The council will appoint members to HRC,

22:23PRC, and PTC on October 5th. They will

22:28conduct interviews for public art and

22:30storm water on October 19th and make

22:32those appointments on October 26.

22:39to provide a brief summary of the

22:41recruitments we're considering tonight

22:42or the vacancies rather. The Human

22:45Relations Commission has a total of

22:47three vacancies. Two are fullterm

22:50vacancies and one is a partial term due

22:52to a commissioner resignation. We

22:55received 13 applicants.

22:58The council may choose to interview up

23:00to eight candidates for these positions

23:02and each council member um was allotted

23:04six votes for the planning and

23:07transportation commission. We have one

23:09partial term vacancies. We received nine

23:12applications. The city council may

23:15choose to interview up to six candidates

23:17and each council member had two votes.

23:19And finally, for the storm water

23:21management oversight committee, we have

23:23two full-term vacancies. We received

23:26seven applications and the council can

23:29interview up to six candidates and each

23:32council member has four votes.

23:34Next, please.

23:37So, a reminder on the council's process

23:39for how to choose candidates to

23:41interview. Uh, council members vote on

23:44who to interview. They get twice the

23:46number they get votes equal to twice the

23:48number of vacancies. The number of

23:50interviews varies based on the number of

23:52vacancies as shown on the slide. And

23:55candidates must receive at least two

23:57votes to be interviewed. We did um next

24:01please. We did re uh send out a poll

24:04earlier today to re receive votes for

24:07the city council uh the city council's

24:09votes and I will now announce the

24:11results

24:14for the human relations commission. Um,

24:17AI Olade received votes from council

24:20members Bert, Lou, Lithcott, Hayes,

24:23Rectal, and Stone.

24:25Anna Stippenoff received votes from Lou.

24:28Ann Marie Dles and Art Robinson received

24:31zero votes. Becky Wolf received votes

24:34from Lithcot Hayes. Cynthia Wood

24:37received votes from Bert, Lou, and

24:39Stone. Ellen, Bob received votes from

24:42Bert, Lowing, Lou, Lithot, Hayes,

24:45Rectal, Stone, and Vinker. Haley, Hannah

24:49received Berts received votes from Bert,

24:52Rectal, and Vinker. Katie Kazzy received

24:55votes from Bert, Lowing, Lou, Lithot,

24:59Hayes, Rectal, Stone, and Vinker. Leil

25:02Raani received zero votes. Raisel Raisen

25:05Rosenberg received votes from Bert

25:08Lowing Loucott Hayes Rectal Stone and

25:11Vinker. Rona Hoo received votes from

25:15Lowing Rectal and Vinker. And Sunonny

25:18Dwell received votes from Lithcot,

25:20Hayes, Stone, and Vinker. So we will be

25:23interviewing candidate. We'll be

25:25interviewing the candidates underlined.

25:28They are um Azi Olade, Cynthia Wood,

25:31Ellen Bob, Haley Hannah, Katie Kazzy,

25:35Raisel Rosenberg, Rona Who, and Sunonny

25:38Dwell. Next, please.

25:45I will now announce votes or results for

25:47the Planning and Transportation

25:49Commission interview selection. Adam

25:51Schwarz received votes from withcott

25:53Hayes. Aubrey Wickham received zero

25:56votes. Brian Hamichek received zero

25:58votes. Christopher Cow received votes

26:01from Lowing, Lou, Lith, Hames, Stone,

26:04and Vinker. Daniel Philip Bennis

26:07received votes from Bert. Jeff Watt

26:10received votes from Lou, Rectal, and

26:12Vinker.

26:14Justin Chen received zero votes. Musab

26:16Farooqi withdrew themselves from

26:18consideration. and Tom Seagull received

26:21votes from Bert, Lowing, Rectal, and

26:24Stone. Because um candidates must

26:27receive at least two votes to be

26:28interviewed, we will be interviewing

26:31um Christopher Cow, Jeff Watt, and Tom

26:34Seagull.

26:39Finally, I will announce results for the

26:41storm water management oversight

26:43committee. Brian Hamichek received votes

26:45from Lithcot, Haynes, and Binker.

26:47Katherine Perman received votes from all

26:50seven council members. Doug Burns

26:52received votes from Bert and Rectal.

26:55Gregory Bennett received votes from

26:57Bert, Lowing, Lou, Lithcot, Hayes,

27:00Rectal,

27:02and Vinker. Lee Tobinck received votes

27:05from Lowing, Lou, and Stone. Musab

27:08Farooqi withdrew themselves from

27:09consideration.

27:11And Susan Rosenberg received votes from

27:13all seven council members. So we will

27:16interview the candidates um marked in

27:19underline on the slide. So it's everyone

27:21except for Musad Fuki who withdrew it

27:24themselves. And that concludes um item

27:27number two.

27:30All right. Well, thank you very much

27:32madame clerk.

27:34And so with with that we will move on to

27:37our close session item item three which

27:40is conference with the city attorney on

27:42potential litigation.

27:44And so, Madame Clerk, is there any uh

27:47public comment on item three?

27:49>> Yes, we have two requests to speak.

27:51>> Okay.

27:51>> Our first speaker is Henry E.

28:00>> Oh,

28:02thank you. That is fast service.

28:07I just arrived and I'm immediately

28:13allowed to speak. Wonderful democracy in

28:17action. Sometimes sometimes

28:23unfortunately it is a rare circumstance

28:28in any and all items.

28:32And so that is one reason why I am

28:35calling for an entire revision of the

28:40charter of this council. I'm calling for

28:43all council members to be stand for

28:46election in districts. That's the first

28:48step. Second step,

28:49>> Mr. Esquitz, I apologize, but you cannot

28:51speak to items not on the closed session

28:54agenda and that is not. So I would ask

28:57>> on the closed session agenda. So what is

28:59the first item?

29:00>> That's not how it's worked. We need to

29:02use the council time. Well, I need for

29:03you to come ready to address the item

29:05that you

29:06>> I'm ready to address the

29:07>> Okay. Please address item three. Item

29:09three on the closed session calendar.

29:13>> That's my right as a citizen to draw

29:15larger inferences that the council

29:17should be drawing. But thus that is why

29:20the council must be superseded by a

29:23public

29:25all citizens of Palo Alto.

29:27>> Mike, Mr. Skoitz, we we're we're

29:29stopping your time. We're stopping your

29:32time and cutting your mic so that I can

29:35tell you you can draw those inferences

29:37during during No, you need to

29:41>> you need to let me

29:44you need to stop.

29:45>> Okay, here's here's the situation on

29:49this particular item. You can need to

29:51address the item. You can address larger

29:53inferences during general public

29:55comment. We have time for that. We would

29:57like to hear you speak on this close on

30:00this closed session item or you need to

30:02reserve till later. Okay.

30:05>> This is their last chance and if you if

30:06you don't end it

30:08>> there should be no closed session items.

30:12That's point number one. No closed

30:15session items. Council should be

30:18transparent.

30:20All items on agendas should be an open

30:24counselor. That is my first point with

30:27regarding to his closed session items.

30:29It is an illegitimate item in my view

30:33and uh council should immediately move

30:35it onto the open session agenda. That is

30:38my strong and fervent recommendation. We

30:42need to introduce democracy in Palo

30:45Alto. We now have uh

30:49clienttocracy,

30:51maybe even kleptocracy. Who knows? There

30:54are things that need investigation by

30:58the grand jury perhaps. Now to the item

31:01to the item

31:04to the item.

31:06Why do we have such a situation in which

31:10this item even arises

31:13on our public agenda?

31:16It is because there is a lack of

31:24a lack of ability of the city manager to

31:29address these items and for the council

31:32to supervise. Therefore, therefore my

31:35first point of course is that the item

31:38should not be there. It should be on a

31:40public agenda. My second point is that

31:44now that it is there, now that it is

31:47there,

31:48>> your time is up.

31:49>> Yeah. So, Mr. Escowitz, I do need to

31:52point out that you never did actually

31:54address the litigation that was the

31:56subject of that. So, next time I will

31:58not be as patient and gracious and let

32:00you go for as long. So, I just want you

32:02to know we welcome your comments on the

32:04substance of the item, but we can't have

32:06this where you speak to other items. So,

32:08thank you for appearing tonight. Next

32:11>> next speaker is Zoom user

32:18>> let me speak on it don't hear me

32:29>> Zoom user can do you know that we can

32:31hear you

32:32>> yes I would like to speak on items not

32:34on the agenda you can uh you can skip me

32:36for this one for you

32:38>> so we'll skip you for this Thank you.

32:43>> Our next speaker is Aram J.

32:53Aram J, you should be able to unmute

32:55yourself and speak.

32:58Oh, um, you know, Henry Filibuster

33:03Echowitz may be taking away some of my

33:05steam with his, uh, long diet tribes,

33:08but in any event, I again, I'm not

33:11speaking and I I'll I'll keep it very

33:13short to comply with your request,

33:15Madame Mayor. I oppose secret uh

33:19sessions. I believe that closed sessions

33:21are an enemy of democracy, and I'll

33:23leave it at that tonight. Thank you very

33:25much.

33:28All right. Well, thank you to members of

33:29the public uh who have public comment.

33:32Um colleagues who have a motion to move

33:34into close session.

33:35>> Still move.

33:36>> Second.

33:37>> Second.

33:38>> Thank you. Anything further? Nothing.

33:40Would you please call the role?

33:42>> Council member Burton.

33:44>> Yes.

33:45>> Vice Mayor Stone.

33:47>> Yes.

33:47>> Council member Lowing.

33:48>> Yes.

33:49>> Council member Rectal?

33:50>> Yes.

33:51>> Council member Lifods?

33:52>> Yes.

33:53>> Mayor Vinker?

33:54>> Yes.

33:54>> Council member Lou?

33:55>> Yes. Yes. Motion carries unanimously.

33:57>> Excellent. Okay. Well, our estimate is

33:59that we will be back in about half an

34:00hour and we will do our best to adhere

34:02to that, but it is uncertain. Thank you.

1:07:12returning from close session and there

1:07:15is nothing to report out from today's

1:07:17close session but I do want to give an

1:07:20update on a prior close session in the

1:07:23city of Palo Alto versus Wetszel. So on

1:07:26September 14th, the city council

1:07:28authorized the city attorney's office to

1:07:31accept a settlement offer in the amount

1:07:33of $244,254

1:07:37paid by the Wetszel's insurer in

1:07:39exchange for a global release of claims

1:07:42and the vote was 7 to zero. The

1:07:45settlement was then finalized on

1:07:47September 17th.

1:07:50All right, so with that, let's move on

1:07:52to agenda changes, additions, and

1:07:54deletions. Madame assistant city

1:07:56manager.

1:07:57>> Thank you, mayor. Uh there are no

1:07:59additional changes other than the one

1:08:00you already mentioned, which item one

1:08:01was deferred.

1:08:04>> All right. Thank you very much. So,

1:08:06let's move on to in-person public

1:08:08comment. Uh for items not on the agenda

1:08:11tonight, uh Madame Clerk, do we have uh

1:08:14how many public commenters do we have?

1:08:16>> We have five requests to speak.

1:08:17>> Okay, let's just go ahead.

1:08:20>> Our first speaker is Kip

1:08:23H.

1:08:33Hello. Um, this week there's going to be

1:08:37international, national, local actions

1:08:40against [snorts] the

1:08:43corporate entity known as Palunteer.

1:08:48And this is not a new thing.

1:08:53This has been going on. I first learned

1:08:55of a palunteer in

1:08:58around the time of occupy uh 2008 or so

1:09:029 10

1:09:04and

1:09:06Palo Alto's

1:09:08closeness to Palunteer geographically. I

1:09:11mean, locally, I mean, they're down the

1:09:13street, but also on the board.

1:09:18And it's

1:09:20to me, it's a it's a cautionary tale

1:09:24how we can

1:09:27chase after what seems to be a wondrous

1:09:35opportunity for advancement. But we're

1:09:38really also is an opportunity for more

1:09:42money into the uh coffers

1:09:46and if we don't pay attention we start

1:09:48to do things that we are

1:09:52that go against our our very community

1:09:55st values and pelato is a gorgeous

1:09:59wonderful town and I've lived here 50

1:10:03years and I don't want to live anywhere

1:10:06else but there's is we are attracting

1:10:11too much. Too much.

1:10:15And when we have a corporation that

1:10:18takes part in in genocide,

1:10:23in war, you know, war,

1:10:26and targeting of targeting of people for

1:10:29for assassination,

1:10:32in detentions, in compiling information

1:10:35on people for detentions.

1:10:39That's going way too far. And I and I

1:10:43don't care what they offer. If Palunteer

1:10:46comes offering Palo Alto some of their

1:10:51wonderful products and we can we can say

1:10:53this for some other corporations as

1:10:55well, tech corporations, we can need to

1:10:58be very careful

1:11:00because if the Palunteer was there at

1:11:02one bubble and we're here at another

1:11:05bubble ready to burst. When's it going

1:11:07to burst? We don't know what destruction

1:11:09is going to be done to Palo Alto in in

1:11:12the meantime. We don't know. But let's

1:11:15let's be very careful about the what we

1:11:17do to our beautiful town, our

1:11:20infrastructure, the things that make

1:11:22this a beautiful place and a and a place

1:11:24of great value.

1:11:27And so my caution, be careful about

1:11:34geeks bearing gifts.

1:11:36>> Your time is up. Thank you.

1:11:38>> Our next speaker is Henry E.

1:11:51>> I will as a student of

1:11:55Palo Alto

1:11:57University Industry Relations and

1:11:59Stanford University go into greater

1:12:02depth hopefully on what the previous

1:12:05speaker has said. I've published on this

1:12:08topic. If you read my book, Public

1:12:10Venture Capital Harper 2000, you will

1:12:14see a discussion of the program run by

1:12:18the CIA,

1:12:21openly run by the CIA. Uh, and I

1:12:23interviewed the representative of the

1:12:25CIA in Washington DC as part of the

1:12:28research for this book. And they

1:12:30explained that they were going to follow

1:12:32the venture capital model because they

1:12:34needed to access new technology and this

1:12:37is not available for the normal federal

1:12:40contracting procedure which leads to uh

1:12:43well I was also consulting the US Navy

1:12:46on this topic and they were trying to

1:12:48change the federal culture to access

1:12:50basically to access Silicon Valley. So

1:12:53what did they do? uh the CIA is an

1:12:56expert at establishing front firms. That

1:12:59is their uh traditional modus operandi.

1:13:02So they put that traditional modus

1:13:04operandi to work by establishing a front

1:13:08organization that would take uh needs

1:13:12from the CIA and put them out into a

1:13:17firm that would operate in the guise of

1:13:19a venture capital unit. The first name

1:13:22they gave to this firm, ironic, was uh

1:13:25intuitit. But then they found out that

1:13:28name had already been taken and so they

1:13:30changed it to another name. The name

1:13:32that this firm now operates under today

1:13:35in our valley. Okay. So how does this

1:13:40relate to Palunteer?

1:13:42Palunteer was one of the applicants,

1:13:44successful applicants to the CIA venture

1:13:47capital firm. uh this will be in my uh

1:13:51next book uh under under writing now uh

1:13:54on uh Stanford and Silicon Valley. Uh

1:13:58there are several articles on this but

1:14:00if you go back to

1:14:032000

1:14:05public venture capital now public

1:14:07venture capital I'd say is a title I

1:14:10never should have used it. The

1:14:12publishers should have stopped me

1:14:13because nobody believes there is such a

1:14:15thing. Venture capital is well known to

1:14:17be private. But our thesis in the book

1:14:20is there are numerous funds available

1:14:22from many federal agencies from many

1:14:24programs like small business

1:14:25administration that now give out in the

1:14:29billions in the billions to help start

1:14:31new startups and now more recently

1:14:34people are aware of it. One of those

1:14:36sources is the CIA

1:14:40unit established to access Silicon

1:14:42Valley that gave the first seed money to

1:14:45establish Palunteer which was done by

1:14:48the graduates of Stanford Law School.

1:14:51That's who is behind Palunteer.

1:14:56>> Peter Teal. Let's name names.

1:14:59>> Your time is up.

1:15:00>> They're members of our city and we

1:15:02should call them out for

1:15:10We need to move to the next speaker. In

1:15:11all fairness to others, I know Mr.

1:15:13Esquit, you care about others. Thank

1:15:15you.

1:15:16>> Our next speaker is Matt S.

1:15:26>> Hello everybody. Um I'm here to report

1:15:30on the survey that safety over

1:15:34surveillance powalto took on the

1:15:36candidates. Uh, but first I would just

1:15:38want to say that the flock cameras are

1:15:41still not covered and our community is

1:15:44still under mass surveillance

1:15:47and I find that very disturbing and I'd

1:15:50like to ask that you agendaize the um

1:15:55the covering of the flock cameras so

1:15:58that we can get those covered while you

1:16:02are making determinations on whether to

1:16:04keep that vendor that none of you seem

1:16:08to trust. So please agendaize that. So

1:16:12meanwhile um so of the survey that we

1:16:17took um regarding we asked two questions

1:16:21um one regarding flock and one regarding

1:16:25mass surveillance in general. And um of

1:16:29the candidates um on the topic of flock,

1:16:33one is strongly supporting flock and

1:16:36that is Dr. Gary Getlick. So he he fully

1:16:42supports

1:16:44um the mass surveillance tool flock in

1:16:46our community. Um but all the other

1:16:49candidates have shared their opposition

1:16:53to it um for various reasons but uh we

1:16:58appreciate that. Um then on the topic of

1:17:02mass surveillance in general,

1:17:05um the there's two candidates who have

1:17:10come out strongly against mass

1:17:14surveillance in general in our

1:17:17community. Um but the other um

1:17:20candidates have all shared um and I will

1:17:24just do this in scare quotes uh nuanced

1:17:29positions of of mass surveillance. Um

1:17:34and so we um have made that

1:17:38determination as supports. You support

1:17:41mass surveillance um with an asterisk.

1:17:45And so, um, the people who are

1:17:47supporting mass surveillance with an

1:17:50asterisk is, um, Brena Chang, Ed Lowang,

1:17:57Dr. Gary Getlick, no asterisk there. He

1:18:00wants it. Uh, Henry Escovitz, I just

1:18:04spoke to him about it.

1:18:06>> Um, Julie Deng and Vicky Vinker. So all

1:18:14um are going

1:18:16>> are going to um uh they they are willing

1:18:21to entertain

1:18:23they're willing to entertain mass

1:18:25surveillance.

1:18:26Um

1:18:28and there's two candidates who oppose it

1:18:32and that is Brian Hamichek and Raymond

1:18:36Goens. So that's my report. Thank you.

1:18:39>> Our next speaker is Ken H.

1:18:42I have your

1:18:46>> Good evening. What else? I'm here to

1:18:50encourage all PaloAlto

1:18:53to vote yes on Measure J

1:18:56and um

1:18:59excuse me

1:19:00and um want to tell you a little bit

1:19:03about Measure J because little bit

1:19:06misunderstanding.

1:19:08Measure J is a sales tax. The city needs

1:19:11money to be the kind of city that Skip

1:19:14referred to as a beautiful city.

1:19:17And that's what we're voting for. We're

1:19:20voting to give the city an additional.5%

1:19:25into the general fund so that they can

1:19:27use these monies to do the right thing.

1:19:30And one of the right things is to fix

1:19:33Coverly.

1:19:34And so if you care about PaloAlto as

1:19:38much as I do, and I've lived here for 45

1:19:40years, and you just think this city is

1:19:43special, and it is, it's because the

1:19:46city council over the years has always

1:19:48done the right thing when it comes to

1:19:52making improvements for residents.

1:19:55And so I ask all Palo Alton to vote yes

1:20:00on measure J.

1:20:02And if you personally have questions for

1:20:04me, I'll be uh at the uh farmers market

1:20:08on Saturday next to the post office.

1:20:11I'll have a table there to answer any

1:20:14questions.

1:20:15But please do the right thing for

1:20:17PaloAlto and vote yes on measure J.

1:20:20Thank you.

1:20:22>> Our next speaker is Raymond G.

1:20:31Uh, good evening council members. My

1:20:33name is Ron Gollins and I'm here to

1:20:35address an incident that happened at

1:20:37Stanford Mall on July 19th when a man

1:20:41was sleeping and he was awoke and he was

1:20:44tasered by Pal Police Department

1:20:48and that situation was hardly

1:20:50preventable. not think that our city

1:20:52police need to be held accountable for

1:20:54using excessive force on situations that

1:20:57could have been deescalated. Santa Clair

1:20:59County has a program called trust.

1:21:01Stress stands for the trusted response

1:21:03urgent support team.

1:21:06That process and that ability and that

1:21:08help but did not get called. I've

1:21:10watched the video several times and se

1:21:12several things stuck out to me. First of

1:21:15all,

1:21:17the police escalated the situation by

1:21:19not being um compassionate and

1:21:21empathetic to a man that was homeless

1:21:23and obviously an obvious mental health

1:21:25uh crisises. We listen to the video. The

1:21:28man claimed that he was on the lease and

1:21:30that should have triggered automatic

1:21:31understanding to a law enforcement

1:21:32officer that this person may be mentally

1:21:34ill. Without understanding went without

1:21:38um question,

1:21:41the man continued to become escalated

1:21:42when law enforcement gave an order. do

1:21:44this or else. It is my experience that

1:21:47when someone gives you your order, the

1:21:48order escalates the situation from being

1:21:50a from conversation to a demand to

1:21:53having, you know what I'm saying? Uh

1:21:54cause and effect

1:21:57as opposed to uh Mason the individual

1:22:00and making sure that the individual was

1:22:01apprehended safely. Paul the police

1:22:04department tasered the individual and

1:22:05the man fell flat on his face. The

1:22:08officer didn't call for medical help. He

1:22:10didn't call he didn't render medical

1:22:12care. He didn't do nothing but stood

1:22:14there and and radioed in.

1:22:18When the when the when the responding

1:22:19officers arrived, they handcuffed the

1:22:21man. And if you watch the video, the

1:22:23man's head was busted with blood pouring

1:22:25out his head.

1:22:27This man was homeless, mentally ill in

1:22:29our city, in our city, in our care. And

1:22:33our law enforcement didn't see him as a

1:22:35person. They treat him as if he was an

1:22:37enemy combatant. They didn't ren they

1:22:39did not render medical care. They

1:22:41handcuffed him while he was there

1:22:43bleeding confusiously. Come to find out

1:22:46the man fractured his skull and

1:22:48fractured his vertebrae.

1:22:50Now, I have sat and heard several

1:22:52candidates in our uh current race say

1:22:55that we need more police, but more

1:22:57police is not the answer. Empathy and

1:22:59compassion for our citizens is the

1:23:01answer. Non-emergency responses to

1:23:03situations like this is the answer. I

1:23:06think the city of Palato needs to hold

1:23:08our police and law enforcement

1:23:09accountable. I don't have faith in Mike

1:23:11Janeo in doing that. He has showed over

1:23:13and over again to be a scapegoat for the

1:23:15police and a rubber stand for police

1:23:17officers on misconduct.

1:23:19I asked the police here as the city

1:23:22council to stand up and call out these

1:23:23actions by Pal police department because

1:23:26that was preventable. That could have

1:23:28been your son. That could have been your

1:23:30dad and that could have been your uncle

1:23:33that was somebody's father.

1:23:34>> Time is up.

1:23:35>> Thank you. And that concludes public

1:23:37comment for in-person public comment on

1:23:40items not on the agenda.

1:23:45>> Thank you, Madam Clerk. All right. So,

1:23:48with that, we'll move on to council

1:23:50member questions, comments, and

1:23:51announcements. We'll get to use our new

1:23:54system here. The colleagues, you have

1:23:57anything you'd like to share?

1:24:00Council member Liths.

1:24:09Thank you, mayor. [clears throat]

1:24:11I'd like to speak tonight to the

1:24:13progress the city is making toward its

1:24:15vision for Cubberly. We have some items

1:24:18coming up on the consent calendar, items

1:24:20five and item seven. And I just wanted

1:24:22to take a moment to be sure the

1:24:24community understands what these are

1:24:25about. Uh first, a brief reminder of the

1:24:28vision for uh reinvigorated Cberly

1:24:31articulated by this council. quote, "A

1:24:34vibrant, beloved, and adaptable

1:24:35destination that promotes learning,

1:24:37interconnectivity, joy, and well-being

1:24:40where all cultures and generations

1:24:41belong." And the city's funding strategy

1:24:44for a project of this size has included

1:24:47engaging with community partners who

1:24:49will bring education, wellness, and

1:24:51creative programs to Kberly while also

1:24:54contributing financially to the

1:24:56development of the site, providing an

1:24:58opportunity to advance the Kberly

1:24:59project through a combination of city

1:25:01and private investment. Item five on the

1:25:04consent calendar is a letter of intent

1:25:06between the city and Maker Nexus, a um

1:25:10maker space located in Sunnyvale.

1:25:13Currently, Maker Nexus is a community

1:25:15focused maker space where people of all

1:25:17ages, cultures, and abilities can use

1:25:19their hands and minds to learn, create,

1:25:21and innovate in a safe space. Uh and

1:25:24that helps us achieve our vision. Maker

1:25:26Nexus has established themselves as a

1:25:28successful maker space in the area by

1:25:30using a collaborative model that lowers

1:25:32barriers to learning a craft, gives

1:25:34access to professional-grade tools, and

1:25:37fosters creativity, exploration, and

1:25:39community. And it should be noted that

1:25:41Maker Nexus would not replace the

1:25:43current Maker X space currently on the

1:25:45Cubly campus, but rather be a complement

1:25:48to it and add even more opportunity for

1:25:50all ages to participate. as make X is

1:25:54currently a space designed by teens for

1:25:56teens. Item seven regarding friends of

1:26:00the rec of the recreation and wellness

1:26:02center.

1:26:04There is already a letter of intent in

1:26:06place between the city and the friends

1:26:08of the recreation and wellness center

1:26:09which was approved by our council back

1:26:12in December of 2024. The friends were

1:26:15the first of what would be many

1:26:17additional partners on the coverly

1:26:19project to come. Coming before us

1:26:22tonight is a term sheet that builds upon

1:26:24that letter of intent and demonstrates

1:26:26their commitment to raising $40 million

1:26:29to build a recreation wellness center at

1:26:31the Carly site and the city's commitment

1:26:33to providing the land.

1:26:36Thank you, Mayor.

1:26:38>> Thank you. Uh

1:26:45>> Council Member Luth,

1:26:47>> thank you. I'd like to share a brief

1:26:48update about uh the Cal Cities

1:26:51conference that the mayor and I attended

1:26:54from Wednesday through Friday last week.

1:26:56That was a conference of about 3,000

1:26:59different elected officials and senior

1:27:01city staff uh that met um on a wide

1:27:05range of substantive issues. Uh there

1:27:09was one primary action coming out of

1:27:11that uh conference which was a vote on a

1:27:16motion uh uh advanced by the city of

1:27:20Maretta I believe uh to

1:27:24increase the level of local control uh

1:27:28through for Cal City committee to uh

1:27:32find ways to increase local control that

1:27:34passed uh

1:27:37almost unanimously on a voice vote. That

1:27:41resolution was modified somewhat from

1:27:43the version that council previously saw.

1:27:44So while the council saw a version that

1:27:47discussed a constitutional amendment,

1:27:49the uh motion that was actually put

1:27:52forward uh in the general session was

1:27:57uh exploring a wider range of options

1:28:00including legislative options but not

1:28:02precluding a constitutional amendment.

1:28:04And the motion was also modified to

1:28:06explore ways to advance affordable

1:28:08housing. So,

1:28:10uh was happy to vote yes, of course, on

1:28:14that motion um as aligned with council

1:28:17direction. And uh there were numerous

1:28:19other substantive updates, numerous

1:28:22state laws that may affect uh strategies

1:28:25around financing, around potential

1:28:27California Voting Rights Act and

1:28:29Districting. um and uh more learnings

1:28:33that I'll uh take with staff and

1:28:36uh maybe percolate back to council over

1:28:38the coming weeks.

1:28:43>> Thank you, Council Member Lou. And

1:28:45picking up on that, um I would add to

1:28:48the report that um at the invitation of

1:28:52East PaloAlto mayor, former mayor uh

1:28:54Larry Moody, who is now with Job Train,

1:28:56which is one of our nonprofit partners,

1:29:00um I uh moderated a panel, uh at the

1:29:03conference on economic mobility, which

1:29:06was entitled the path to shared

1:29:07prosperity, advancing economic mobility

1:29:10from state to local action. And the

1:29:12panelists were at the state level uh Dr.

1:29:15Sarah Bone who is the vice president of

1:29:17the public policy institute of

1:29:19California gave the state view. Uh then

1:29:23at the county level from San Monteo

1:29:25County we had supervisor Lisa Gocha and

1:29:28Shireen Malea Fazali Taedi who is the

1:29:31San Monteo County's chief equity officer

1:29:34and the director of economic mobility

1:29:36and they talked about at the county

1:29:37level what's going on. And then uh the

1:29:40third panelist was Peter Hartzell who is

1:29:42the COO of Job Train uh our partner and

1:29:44talked about boots on the ground. How do

1:29:46we do this? And it was an interesting

1:29:49discussion but the takeaway was that uh

1:29:52for communities like ours with economic

1:29:54divides that economic development is not

1:29:57enough. that if we want to address our

1:29:59economic divides and income disparity,

1:30:01we need economic mobility where people

1:30:04don't just have a job where they're kind

1:30:06of get stuck in an economic uh strata

1:30:10but have career paths. So it was a very

1:30:13interesting discussion about how to do

1:30:14that. Um, also I should report that um,

1:30:19with respect to the League of California

1:30:22Cities Peninsula Division of which we

1:30:24are a member, um, that I've been on I

1:30:27was elected to the board of that in my

1:30:29first year on council, served a couple

1:30:31years uh, as its uh, legislative action

1:30:34committee director and then last year as

1:30:37treasurer and in Anaheim last week I was

1:30:40sworn in as vice president for the

1:30:42peninsula division which represents all

1:30:44of the cities in Santa Clara County and

1:30:46San Mateo County. So, that will be a a a

1:30:49good position for us to stay connected

1:30:51on issues affecting the peninsula.

1:30:55Should also report that uh assistant

1:30:57city manager uh Jose and I had the

1:31:00attended the annual lunch with the

1:31:03Stanford University president. Um

1:31:05unfortunately, the vice mayor was ill

1:31:08and couldn't join us, so we missed you.

1:31:10uh but we do that to build relationships

1:31:12and talk about how the two entities can

1:31:14partner to our mutual benefit. So that

1:31:18was today with President Levven. Um

1:31:24then uh upcoming I wanted to invite

1:31:27everyone to join our joint tree planting

1:31:31on Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. at

1:31:32Rinkanada Park. Every year for I think

1:31:3630 years now. I think this is the 30th

1:31:37year. uh Canopy has planted a tree for

1:31:41each mayor. And this year, because I had

1:31:44introduced them previously to the Canopy

1:31:47uh urban forest entity in Bloomington,

1:31:50Indiana, our sibling city, there's going

1:31:52to be a joint first ever simultaneous

1:31:55tree planting 2,000 miles away of the

1:31:57same darn type of tree in two parks, one

1:31:59in Bloomington, Indiana, and one here in

1:32:01PaloAlto. Uh so they have a a canopy

1:32:05organization there. Um, they're putting

1:32:06that together and I invite any and all

1:32:08of you to join us in Rankinatada Park at

1:32:109:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. I think

1:32:12it's a red butt of some sort. Um, okay.

1:32:16Anyone else? Oh, Council Member Lowing.

1:32:20>> Yes, thank you. Um, I had the honor and

1:32:24privilege and fun of uh speaking on

1:32:26behalf of the city at the new sister

1:32:30city grove sponsored by uh neighbors

1:32:33abroad and city peloto and canopy and

1:32:37literally after the speeches by myself

1:32:39and uh Senator Becker and uh Canopy uh

1:32:42we planted an entire grove of trees and

1:32:46this was no photo op. Uh we just told

1:32:48the I mean we we dug holes and put trees

1:32:50in and filled them up. Uh and there were

1:32:53tons of people there including a lot of

1:32:55people from Waka, Mexico, one of our

1:32:57sister cities, 62-year relationship. And

1:32:59also our newest friendship city from uh

1:33:02Kenya dressed in traditional gear. So it

1:33:05was also quite colorful. Uh Council

1:33:07Member Bert was there as well. And as I

1:33:09said, a crowd of people and we worked

1:33:11for a long time on it. Uh and it was

1:33:13great fun to celebrate that. And we're

1:33:15literally gonna we have a new grove of

1:33:16tree trees now at Lucy Stern,

1:33:19particularly thanks to Canopy of course

1:33:21and and neighbors abroad. Thanks,

1:33:26>> Council Member Bert.

1:33:28>> Yep. Um well, I'll just add on to u uh

1:33:32Council Member Lowing that after that

1:33:34great event um on on Saturday, was it

1:33:38we? Yes, Saturday we had this wonderful

1:33:40calendar on California Avenue uh

1:33:43celebrating not only cultural history of

1:33:46our sister city of Waka but also uh of

1:33:50our uh sister city Paulo and and our

1:33:54friendship city uh Narak in Kenya and

1:33:57had uh representatives from from those

1:34:00delegations. It was really quite an

1:34:02event. Um so this is the third year of

1:34:05the calendar and put it on your

1:34:06calendars for next year.

1:34:09All right, thank you for that. Yes, I uh

1:34:12enjoyed dancing with the Masai Warriors

1:34:14on Calab. That was quite quite an event.

1:34:16So, kudos to neighbors abroad. Um,

1:34:20okay. I think that wraps us up on that

1:34:23item. So, let's move on to our consent

1:34:27calendar. Um, Madame Clerk, do we have a

1:34:30public comment on the consent calendar?

1:34:33>> We do, and we have six requests to

1:34:36speak. Okay. And these are items four

1:34:39through

1:34:4113. So if you can let us know which item

1:34:44you are speaking on or items that is

1:34:46helpful. Okay. Please go ahead.

1:34:53Our first speaker is Henry E.

1:35:13As mentioned previously, I believe that

1:35:16uh the items should be clearly stated,

1:35:19not listed by numbers. It would be

1:35:21helpful to the members of the public as

1:35:24well as myself. Uh be that as it may,

1:35:27I'm here to speak about coverly.

1:35:31I first start by saying vote no to the

1:35:35kubly tax. It is a totally unnecessary

1:35:40and unneeded tax. Why is that? The tax

1:35:44is there so that one part of Palo Alto

1:35:48will pay another part of Palo Alto uh

1:35:51for what naturally belongs to it. that

1:35:56is the educational part which is this

1:35:59independently uh will receive monies

1:36:01from the city of Palo Alto uh for uh a

1:36:04section of the Carbaly site. Now

1:36:08Neighbors for Environmental and Social

1:36:10Justice whom you will know as the entity

1:36:13that sued Elon Musk and uh

1:36:18Tesla for pouring 960 gallons of sodium

1:36:22hydroxide into Matadero Creek. Uh, I

1:36:25have news to report on that lawsuit. Uh,

1:36:28basically the bottom line is the judge

1:36:31recused herself at the hearing because

1:36:34she said she was an owner of Tesla's

1:36:37stock. She's been sitting there in

1:36:39judgments that will now be requested to

1:36:42be vacated because she was in direct

1:36:45conflict. But that's not my main point.

1:36:47Mayor,

1:36:48>> my main point. Would you please pause

1:36:50this time?

1:36:51>> Just hold on a minute. We need to see

1:36:53what the city attorney has to say.

1:36:55>> So I I we are on consent calendar items

1:36:58and certainly I think uh Mr. Esw with

1:37:00comments on Cberly are gerine enough to

1:37:03some of the items on consent calendar

1:37:04but we're we're straying again.

1:37:10>> Okay. So let's let's get your time going

1:37:12again once you get to coverly instead of

1:37:14Tesla. Yes, please go ahead. conducted a

1:37:17distributed

1:37:19s distributed focused group on Kubelly.

1:37:22I would have reported on this earlier

1:37:24but there were so many other pressing

1:37:25items that I haven't gotten to it. What

1:37:28are our findings? Our finding was that

1:37:31Cubby is a valued space. The people who

1:37:35uh go to the dance classes there and

1:37:37pick up their children, they value that.

1:37:40The uh the space where the athletic

1:37:43facilities are, it's worn. It needs to

1:37:46be upgraded and the and [clears throat]

1:37:49uh that's obviously that needs to be

1:37:51done. Now there's a lease to a church uh

1:37:54that uh exists. They're very grateful

1:37:57for that space because their church was

1:38:00taken uh and uh for development purposes

1:38:04and they have no other place for this

1:38:06black church to survive. So it may be

1:38:10considered as a violation of church

1:38:12state regulations but I believe in this

1:38:15case an exception is warranted. So

1:38:19couply should be upgraded carefully with

1:38:23the tax monies that we collect and now

1:38:26waste on excessive consulting

1:38:29activities. If you zero budget the

1:38:31consulting fees you'll find there is

1:38:34sufficient funds to rehabilitate the

1:38:37existing spaces in covering. Now, what

1:38:38should we do that's new?

1:38:40>> Your time is up.

1:38:42>> Our next speaker is Regina S.

1:38:50>> You're welcome.

1:38:52>> Hello. I'm the co-executive director of

1:38:55Make Access and um just want to talk a

1:38:59little bit more. Thank you, Council

1:39:01Member Le about your your nice and uh

1:39:06introduction of us. I just want to add

1:39:10some some other aspects of what we're

1:39:13doing. We are mega space with lots of

1:39:15tools

1:39:17um from welding, woodworking, textile,

1:39:21electronics, but one important part is

1:39:24our community. It's the people the

1:39:26people who who are there from beginner

1:39:30to to profession woodworker and the the

1:39:35cross cross teaching that happens as

1:39:39well. Not just in our workshops. We also

1:39:42host meetup groups, nonprofit

1:39:44organizations, community events, repair

1:39:47clinics, robotic events, open houses,

1:39:50maker markets, and much more to bring

1:39:53people together around learning and

1:39:55making. And we also seen firsthand how

1:39:59powerful hands-on making can be for

1:40:01young people. Our school break camps

1:40:04serve youth from ages 6 to 17. We had

1:40:06about 700 kids in this summer, giving

1:40:10them opportunity to build things,

1:40:12experiment, solve problems, work with

1:40:14others, and discover interests they may

1:40:16not otherwise have the opportunity to

1:40:19explore.

1:40:21And we are committed to make those

1:40:22experience accessible not just to

1:40:24families who can easily afford them, but

1:40:27to young people who might otherwise be

1:40:28left out. That's why we created our

1:40:32youth sponsorship fund which provides

1:40:34scholarships for lowincome and

1:40:36underserved youth to attend our camps.

1:40:39And we also offer sponsored memberships

1:40:41to adults and youth that are continually

1:40:44looking for ways to lower the barriers

1:40:45to participating in a maker space.

1:40:49At its heart, maker access is the place

1:40:51where it's okay not to know how to do

1:40:53something. You can come in, learn,

1:40:56experiment, make mistakes, ask

1:40:58questions, and try again.

1:41:00That culture of curiosity, creativity,

1:41:03and resourcefulness is what we've built

1:41:05in Sunnyville, and it's what we hope to

1:41:07bring to Palo Alto, to Kabelli, and the

1:41:11broader peninsula community.

1:41:14One of the things we are especially

1:41:15excited about is the opportunity to

1:41:17bring this to to the peninsula and

1:41:20Kabali and our letter of intent to be

1:41:23one of the community focused nonprofit

1:41:25organizations at the renovated Kabali

1:41:28community center is on the agenda as we

1:41:31know. Um so Maker Nexus has proven these

1:41:36last seven years to be a place where

1:41:38people can learn, create, connect and

1:41:40build community and we all welcome you

1:41:43to visit, have a tour and maybe play

1:41:45yourself.

1:41:47So in that way we are in total alignment

1:41:50what Kabali is about community bring

1:41:53people to

1:41:54>> your time is up.

1:41:56>> Thank you.

1:41:56>> Our next speaker is Kelly Y.

1:42:04Thank you. So, you get uh full executive

1:42:06director number two to finish the

1:42:07message. [laughter]

1:42:10I want to make sure that we get get the

1:42:11message across here. And I I can't

1:42:13stress enough how excited we are about

1:42:15the potential to be part of this

1:42:17community and to really contribute. I

1:42:19love the terms vibrant and lovable to

1:42:22contribute to this vibrant and lovable

1:42:23vision that you have for the Cumberly

1:42:25Ren re renovation because we feel that

1:42:27we already have that in Sunnyville, the

1:42:29community that we have and many of those

1:42:31will come with us. Um, [clears throat]

1:42:33our community is incredibly diverse. We

1:42:36have retired people, we have young

1:42:38people, we have people who are in their

1:42:3980s, and we have little woodworkers that

1:42:41come in the summer who are at seven and

1:42:43eight years old and just have a ball.

1:42:46Um, youth programming is a particularly

1:42:48important part of our work even though

1:42:50most of the time we have a lot of adults

1:42:51engaged and we know that it builds

1:42:54confidence that schools have lost their

1:42:56shops and their ability for students to

1:42:58really get the hands-on work that many

1:43:00of us used to get. Well, maybe not. Some

1:43:02of you might be younger than me, but we

1:43:04used to get when we were in school back

1:43:05in the day, but we can provide that to

1:43:07young people. They can come in during

1:43:09summer camps, homeschool cohorts, field

1:43:12trips. Um, we know there'll be a

1:43:14preschool that's a part of the the Cubly

1:43:16vision at some point and we can work

1:43:18with them and the retirement centers and

1:43:20all those folks can come in and make and

1:43:21enjoy. I want to share a five-star

1:43:25Google review we had recently that

1:43:27really spoke to me a lot. It's very

1:43:29simple. Someone posted it's Disneyland

1:43:32basically and it kind of is. That's the

1:43:35place. If you like to make things, if

1:43:37you want to be engaged, if you want to

1:43:39connect with community, Maker Nexus has

1:43:41proven to be able to create a place

1:43:43where that happens, where people come

1:43:45together, they fix things, they learn

1:43:47things, they talk to other people, they

1:43:50make things, and it gets us really

1:43:51connected again with that that uh piece

1:43:54of the community. Um, it also offers an

1:43:57opportunity for to build community

1:43:58resilience. If you look at what Maker

1:44:00Nexus did during the the uh uh COVID

1:44:03shutdown, we be were able to pivot to

1:44:06become a local small manufacturer and

1:44:08deliver PPE in a very quick period of

1:44:11time because we were already a

1:44:12nonprofit. We already had the

1:44:14connections and we could take donations

1:44:16and turn that around and make something

1:44:17that was useful. We don't know what the

1:44:20next emergency or event is going to be,

1:44:22but it really contributes to your

1:44:23community resilience to have that

1:44:25ability to do small manufacturing in the

1:44:28space together in community. Um, we are

1:44:33so very well connected. I wanted to

1:44:35quickly mention that we're working with

1:44:36the Silicon Valley Community Foundation

1:44:38to offer a program to transitional aged

1:44:40foster youth to help them get exposure

1:44:43to career directions using their hands

1:44:45and opportunities that they can have to

1:44:47achieve that kind of economic mobility

1:44:49that you were talking about earlier. We

1:44:51deliver that ability for them to step

1:44:54off into a brighter future,

1:44:55understanding that there are

1:44:56alternatives to a college career path

1:44:58that they can take advantage of and grow

1:45:01and become a functioning and

1:45:02contributing part of the community. Um,

1:45:05Regina talk. Oh, I'm done.

1:45:06>> Your time is up.

1:45:08>> Thank you. Our next speaker is an C.

1:45:20Good evening everybody. I am so excited

1:45:22to be here finally. So, um, mayor,

1:45:26members of the city council, thank you

1:45:28so very much. I'm speaking on behalf of

1:45:30the friends of the PaloAlto Recreation

1:45:33and Wellness Center and several members

1:45:35of our board are also here with me

1:45:37tonight. if they could raise their

1:45:38hands. Very high. Thank you very much.

1:45:41Um, tonight is a very important moment.

1:45:45I want to thank the city council, the

1:45:47city staff, the park and recreation

1:45:49commission, and the many community

1:45:51members who helped us get this far. For

1:45:54many years, we've worked toward a

1:45:55recreation wellness center for PaloAlto.

1:45:57And tonight, we have the opportunity to

1:45:59take a major step from the planning and

1:46:03discussion toward making it really

1:46:05happen. This agreement creates a

1:46:08partnership between the city and the

1:46:09friends of the PaloAlto Recreation

1:46:12Wellness Center on the model of the

1:46:14Junior Museum, which we have followed

1:46:16for sure, and allocates nearly 1 acre of

1:46:20city-owned land at Cubberly for the

1:46:22center. The friends are ready. We're

1:46:25committed to raising approximately $40

1:46:28million in private funding to build the

1:46:31recreation wellness center and Vance

1:46:33Brown builder is prepared to serve as

1:46:36our builder and general contractor.

1:46:39This is about much more than a building.

1:46:41It's about creating a place for

1:46:43children,

1:46:45families, adults, and seniors. A place

1:46:47for recreation, fitness, wellness,

1:46:50community, and healthy living for

1:46:52generations to come. And when I think

1:46:55about Lucy Stern and the community

1:46:57center and what she gave to the city, I

1:47:00know that the recreation wellness center

1:47:01will be equal to what we have at Lucy

1:47:04Stern right now. We also think that we

1:47:06can be the kickoff for the rebirth of

1:47:09Cubly and we're excited to get started.

1:47:11As an Olympian, I know something about

1:47:13the power of having a dream. Achieving a

1:47:16dream takes hard work, persistence, and

1:47:19a great team and a lot of optimism. And

1:47:23we have that team. We've had this dream

1:47:25for many years. We have been persistent.

1:47:28And now we have the team, the city, the

1:47:30friends, and our community. So, we're

1:47:33thrilled and thank you all very much for

1:47:36getting us to this moment. Let's get

1:47:38started and see Kberly get going. Thank

1:47:41you so much.

1:47:44>> Our next request is Judy K.

1:47:52Good evening. It is thrilling to be here

1:47:56talking to all of you. Some of you I saw

1:47:59this weekend persuading people to vote

1:48:02for the sales tax. Um I have just two

1:48:05things to say because I don't have to

1:48:07convince you. You already know how

1:48:08incredible this is going to be if it

1:48:10comes to fruition. So two things. One,

1:48:13normally people come here to speak to

1:48:15you about a problem, right? This is a

1:48:18solution.

1:48:19vote for it. It's wonderful. You get to

1:48:22vote for a solution.

1:48:24Secondly, I want to talk to you about

1:48:26you. Burn and I, former mayor Bernham

1:48:30and I and others up here who have had

1:48:33the choice, the the opportunity to be on

1:48:35council, have a legacy. You think, what

1:48:38did I get? What did I accomplish? People

1:48:39can say to you, oh, you spent all those

1:48:41Monday nights and then some. What did

1:48:43you accomplish? What's your legacy?

1:48:46What's your legacy? This is your

1:48:48opportunity to add another one. Uh I

1:48:51know from my point of view and and Pat

1:48:54uh helped me on that one. The airport,

1:48:57the um what else did we do, Pat? Tons of

1:49:00things. Anyway, the golf course there uh

1:49:03the public safety, the citizens uh

1:49:06citizens core, uh so many things, the um

1:49:10the climate change. I can if I were

1:49:12going to I try to keep it in the future.

1:49:15If I were going to, I could list the

1:49:16things that I think my councils

1:49:19accomplished. This is going to be a big

1:49:22big big star for you. So, think about

1:49:24that and then we will all applaud you

1:49:27for the legacy you're going to give to

1:49:28this community. Thank you.

1:49:31>> Our next speaker is Aram J.

1:49:39Unfortunately, uh, you didn't enforce

1:49:41the rules on the last speaker who went

1:49:44off on her own, uh, achievements without

1:49:47speaking directly to the item five or

1:49:49seven in coverly. So, I guess uh, people

1:49:52who are former mayors get special

1:49:54privileges when they come up

1:49:55[clears throat] here to speak. Shame on

1:49:57you, madame mayor, for not cutting her

1:49:58off into the city of Tur. Um today's

1:50:02PaloAlto Daily uh the Daily Post of

1:50:06course has come out uh in opposition to

1:50:10the Cuddly initiative uh Proposition J

1:50:14uh because you all have shot yourself in

1:50:16the foot again by refusing to release

1:50:19the appraisal without any good reason

1:50:22other than you just want to build

1:50:24mistrust in the community that uh

1:50:27there's an we're paying too much out of

1:50:30our funds to do that. Um, and of course,

1:50:33uh, you know, even though I, uh, find

1:50:36former mayor Lydia Coup to be misguided

1:50:39on almost every issue that I've ever

1:50:41dealt with, on this one, she's taking

1:50:44out an advertisement in opposition to

1:50:47Proposition J. Um, one of the things

1:50:50that she that that the ad that she's

1:50:52taken out with several other people is

1:50:53that uh there's no guarantee one that

1:50:57the tax will uh that's being imposed

1:51:00will ever uh sun sun

1:51:04what's the term I'm looking for uh stop

1:51:07okay and u sunset and then the next

1:51:11thing is we're not guaranteed

1:51:13that the funds will not just go into the

1:51:17general fund for people like Educata to

1:51:20get another raise, right? He's up well

1:51:22over 500,000 bucks and you all, despite

1:51:26criticism about his regime, um continue

1:51:29to give him a raise. I I I don't get it.

1:51:31So, the point is the public feels

1:51:34deceived. I would have loved to see

1:51:37Coverly rebuilt uh and to do that, but

1:51:39I'm absolutely

1:51:42going to vote no on Jay because you've

1:51:44deceived us. You refused to give us the

1:51:46appraisal shot. like I said, shot

1:51:48yourself in the foot and uh it it just

1:51:51stinks. Why would you want to do that to

1:51:53yourselves? Why would you with all the

1:51:55efforts, you know, we've got Anne Cribs

1:51:56and we've got uh Judy Kleinberg, all the

1:52:00folks getting up here and trying to to

1:52:02prep this thing up and you all, the

1:52:04current council are just as crazy as

1:52:07could be to shoot yourselves in the

1:52:09foot. Um so I'm going to and it's also a

1:52:13regressive tax. uh the poor folks in

1:52:16PaloAlto that this council uh time and

1:52:18time again doesn't care a damn about is

1:52:21going to be paying disproportionately

1:52:23the taxes, the renters here in the town

1:52:26that don't need more taxes so we can

1:52:29find, you know, let's let's talk to the

1:52:31Zuckerbergs and all the billionaires in

1:52:33Palo Alto and get them to fund it. No,

1:52:36no, no on Jay. No, no, no on Jay.

1:52:41Your time is up and that concludes

1:52:43public comment for consent calendar

1:52:45items 4 through 13.

1:52:47>> All right. Thank you. Um so colleagues,

1:52:50are there any no votes or requests to

1:52:53pull or recusals or a motion to approve?

1:52:57>> I move the consent calendar.

1:52:59>> Second. Thank you. Anything else? I keep

1:53:03looking over at the buttons, but tonight

1:53:05we have this whole brand new fancy

1:53:07electronic thing and I have to keep

1:53:08reminding myself to look here to see who

1:53:10wants to speak.

1:53:11All right, looks like no one. So, Madam

1:53:13Clerk, please call the role.

1:53:24>> Council member Lou,

1:53:27>> yes.

1:53:28>> Mayor Vinker,

1:53:29>> yes.

1:53:29>> Council member Li,

1:53:31>> yes.

1:53:32>> Council member Rectal,

1:53:33>> yes.

1:53:33>> Council member Lowing,

1:53:34>> yes.

1:53:35>> Vice Mayor Stone,

1:53:36>> yes.

1:53:37>> Council member Burton, yes.

1:53:38>> Motion carries unanimously.

1:53:40All right. Thank you.

1:53:43Um, all right. So, we'll move on to

1:53:45assistant city manager comments.

1:53:49>> Yes. Thank you, Council Kylen Jose,

1:53:51Assistant City Manager. Um, I'm here on

1:53:53behalf of city manager Shakata. The

1:53:56clerk is helping me pull up some slides.

1:54:00We'll keep comments brief tonight. Um,

1:54:03starting with just a few updates for

1:54:07things to call your attention to this

1:54:08week.

1:54:10Next slide.

1:54:13There it goes. Um, so this week is your

1:54:16last chance. So just a final call to all

1:54:18community members that the Palo Alto

1:54:20community survey is open communitywide.

1:54:23And it does close this Wednesday,

1:54:25September 30th. If you simply go to our

1:54:28paloto.gov website, you'll see a blue

1:54:30banner across the top that takes you

1:54:32straight to the survey. Um, and we'd

1:54:34love and encourage uh everybody's

1:54:36participation.

1:54:37Uh if you perhaps traverse Calab later

1:54:41on this uh week, you'll notice that

1:54:43there are some improvements underway. So

1:54:45on the car-free portion of California

1:54:47Avenue, uh it will be repaved on October

1:54:511st and 2nd. So you will see a revised

1:54:55visitor experience once that repaving is

1:54:57done. But if you do um head out there,

1:55:00we will wrap up before the dinner um

1:55:03rush at 5:00.

1:55:05Next slide, please.

1:55:08All right, city's oversized vehicles.

1:55:10Um, just an update for the community and

1:55:12council on the phased implementation

1:55:14plan. So, there is a new website that

1:55:16offers details about the council's

1:55:18phased plan to address oversized vehicle

1:55:20impacts. So, you can find that on the

1:55:22city's main website. At that website,

1:55:25you can also sign up to receive email

1:55:27updates as the plan is implemented. So,

1:55:29since we've taken a phased approach,

1:55:30this is how folks can remain in touch

1:55:33and in tune with the activities going on

1:55:35and progressing. Um upcoming based on

1:55:38council's last direction, we do expect

1:55:39to bring forward um the change to the

1:55:43expanding overnight uh oversized vehicle

1:55:46parking restrictions to all residential

1:55:48uses at the October 19th council

1:55:50meeting. Um and lastly, the adopted

1:55:53permit pilot program uh will allow

1:55:55eligible oversized vehicles to park in

1:55:57designated segments of Coyote Hill Road

1:56:00and Embarado Road based on the prior

1:56:02direction. So, those programs are

1:56:03underway. Uh, and updates, like I said,

1:56:05can be found at the new website. Next

1:56:08slide, please.

1:56:11There's a lot going on in October. And

1:56:14so, it is full of events where community

1:56:17members can meet staff, connect with

1:56:19your neighbors, and on this slide, we

1:56:21really are simply highlighting a few,

1:56:23although on the city's website, on the

1:56:25calendar, you can find the full list. So

1:56:28upcoming this weekend, come hang out

1:56:31with our public safety um officials,

1:56:34police, fire, and emergency services at

1:56:36Rinkinatada Park and they will serve you

1:56:39breakfast. So they will have pancakes in

1:56:41the park. Please come join us um and

1:56:43meet those that are in and around the

1:56:46community both with your neighbors as

1:56:47well as our public safety staff. uh

1:56:49clean air healthy homes workshop is um

1:56:53where residents can communicate and

1:56:56connect with community partner

1:56:57electrification experts. So if you're

1:56:59working towards moving towards

1:57:00electrification for your homes, uh this

1:57:03is at Mitchell Park Community Center on

1:57:05October 3rd as well uh with a slight

1:57:07revision to that time. It does start at

1:57:093 or start at 1:00 p.m. and go until 3.

1:57:12You can have breakfast at Rinkanada and

1:57:14head over to Mitchell Park and learn

1:57:15about electrifying your home. Storm

1:57:17prep. I'm sure folks have seen on the

1:57:19news the upcoming weather warnings for

1:57:22the storm season. And we are having an

1:57:24open house on October 29th at 5:30 p.m.

1:57:28where you can learn about activities the

1:57:30city is embarking on and support we're

1:57:33providing to the community in

1:57:35preparation for the storms. We are also

1:57:37expecting to have a study session you'll

1:57:38see later in this PowerPoint with the

1:57:40full council on storm preparations later

1:57:43um in the month of October. Last but not

1:57:45least, Thursday live on Cal A. There's a

1:57:48Halloween on October Fest. Um on on

1:57:51Calav on the well, newly repaved Calav

1:57:54uh on October 31st from 10:00 a.m. to

1:57:571:00 p.m. But don't let that be the only

1:57:59Halloween festivity that you see. We did

1:58:01issue a community guide to Halloween for

1:58:032026 last week. And there's a bunch of

1:58:06events all throughout the month for

1:58:08participants of all ages. And so I

1:58:10encourage you to go look at that and uh

1:58:14find and stop by some of the community

1:58:15events over the coming month. Next

1:58:17slide, please.

1:58:21As I noted, upcoming are a lot of full

1:58:23agendas with your first your next

1:58:25meeting being October 5th. Um with a

1:58:28study session on consultant man contract

1:58:30management. Um you also will be

1:58:32discussing your work plans with some of

1:58:34your key boards ARB, HRV, PTC, and UAC.

1:58:38Um October 19th, multif family

1:58:41residential uses and zoning and the 470

1:58:44Olive Avenue, which you continued from

1:58:46September, will also be considered.

1:58:48October 26 has that storm season

1:58:51preparedness study session that I wanted

1:58:53to call out for the community. And in

1:58:55November and beyond, you can see you

1:58:57have a number of items coming.

1:58:58Everything from ESCAT progress reports

1:59:00to screen protections, pre-screenings,

1:59:03um and study sessions. So, with that, I

1:59:07will turn it back to the mayor.

1:59:10>> All right. Well, thank you, assistant

1:59:11city manager. Um, we are at our break,

1:59:15which is supposed to be 15 minutes. I

1:59:16don't know that we need one or maybe we

1:59:18just take a short five minute one since

1:59:20we have a lengthy item to get through.

1:59:22What is the consensus of my colleagues?

1:59:28>> Five minute. Okay, we will we will take

1:59:30a five minute break and just be back uh

1:59:32very shortly so that we can give you our

1:59:34full attention. Thank you.

2:05:28You almost out you almost outnumber us.

2:05:31Well, actually tonight it's even because

2:05:33we don't have Greer up here, right? So,

2:05:36>> we'll be out.

2:05:37>> You're gonna outnumber us very soon.

2:05:39Okay. All right. Let's call this meeting

2:05:41back to order and we will move on to our

2:05:46sole action item of the evening, item

2:05:4914, uh which relates to uh providing

2:05:52direction regarding proceeding to the

2:05:5435% design for grade separation at

2:05:57Churchill Meadow and Charleston. And

2:06:00just for some preliminary introductory

2:06:02comments, I will turn to uh Council

2:06:04Member Bert who chairs our rail

2:06:06committee.

2:06:08>> Thank you. Um so at the rail committee

2:06:10we had a really um uh informative and

2:06:14detailed presentation and discussion uh

2:06:17with our consultants and staff and um uh

2:06:21for those uh in the public who are

2:06:25interested in this. I didn't get to

2:06:27attend that. I I

2:06:29>> apologize for interrupting but um we we

2:06:32may have a refusal but we need

2:06:34>> Thank you. Council member Rectal has

2:06:36something to say. I didn't know where in

2:06:38the order that happened. Any case, yes,

2:06:40I have to recuse myself. My house is

2:06:42within 500 ft of the Charleston

2:06:44construction site. So

2:06:49glad it wasn't anything I was saying.

2:06:51[laughter]

2:06:53Apologies for the interruption.

2:06:55Um and um so I encourage uh members of

2:06:59the public who weren't able to attend

2:07:00that to actually watch it because uh it

2:07:04probably goes into even depth more depth

2:07:05and we'll have a chance to go into

2:07:07tonight. Um,

2:07:10one of [clears throat] the big issues uh

2:07:11that um I think everyone will want to

2:07:14understand better is why are we moving

2:07:16forward on all three of these designs up

2:07:19to 35%

2:07:21when we've had a sentiment on where

2:07:23we're we're focusing and I'm sure that

2:07:26um uh staff will uh help clarify that as

2:07:30part of the presentation. Um

2:07:34and um

2:07:36uh really I think that we came away with

2:07:40encouragement that at just this 15%

2:07:43design we've seen significant progress

2:07:46on uh addressing a number of the impacts

2:07:50of alternatives.

2:07:52uh and that uh as we move forward to 35%

2:07:56and eventually 65% on whichever

2:08:00alternative or or alternatives we choose

2:08:02to do so um we'll have further

2:08:05refinements uh on the on the uh design

2:08:09and hopefully further reduce the impacts

2:08:12because these projects inherently have

2:08:15trade-offs and there's no getting around

2:08:17it. uh but what we are aiming to do is

2:08:20maximize the benefits and minimize the

2:08:23detriments. So uh on that note I I have

2:08:27a maybe a few complimentary um uh uh

2:08:31comments after we hear our presentation.

2:08:36>> All right. Well, I'll move on to the

2:08:37staff presentation. Welcome.

2:08:42Go ahead.

2:08:43>> Yes.

2:08:47>> Good evening, mayor, council members.

2:08:49I'm Jessica D in senior engineer with

2:08:53office of transportation. Tonight we are

2:08:55presenting an update on the great

2:08:58separation project at Churchill Avenue

2:09:01Meadow Drive Charer Road along the C

2:09:04train corridor. I'm the new project

2:09:06manager on the project. The project been

2:09:10advancing in collaboration with C train.

2:09:12We have integrated project team

2:09:15consisting of city staff culture staff

2:09:17and consultant supporting me. Tonight we

2:09:20have integrate members we need digital

2:09:23muscle and agoratories. Next slide.

2:09:30Tonight we are seeking council direction

2:09:32to advance the current 15%

2:09:35plan design to 35% design and

2:09:38environmental documentation. The council

2:09:41selected the 15% design is Churchill

2:09:44partial underpass with a seal avenue

2:09:47back and pad underpass the meadow hybrid

2:09:50the Charleston underpass.

2:09:53The project at this stage is

2:09:55grandfunded.

2:09:56Council concurrence would allow the team

2:09:59to begin the environmental

2:10:00documentation, further advance the 15%

2:10:05design and allow the team to meet the

2:10:07funding obligation to complete the 35%

2:10:10design by the end of 2027.

2:10:14With that, I will turn it over to

2:10:16Whitney.

2:10:18Next slide, please.

2:10:20As a reminder, uh we'll be looking at

2:10:22the Churchill Avenue crossing. That's

2:10:24the vehicular crossing which is coupled

2:10:27with Seal Avenue. That is the bike and

2:10:29ped crossing as well as the Meadow Drive

2:10:31and Charleston Road crossings. Next

2:10:33slide, please.

2:10:35So, in 2025, we did concept development

2:10:38and refinement and came to you all last

2:10:40December um where you all identified

2:10:43alternatives to advance into 15% design.

2:10:46Over the last several months, we have

2:10:48been uh progressing that 15% design,

2:10:51including some technical analysis,

2:10:53looking at structures, looking at

2:10:56utilities, um looking at many different

2:10:58facets, um of the design,

2:11:00constructibility,

2:11:02um and all those things. And now we're

2:11:03here today, as Jessica mentioned, to

2:11:05seek your direction on what to advance

2:11:08to 35% design and environmental

2:11:10documentation. Next slide, please.

2:11:14So in December of 2025, you all motioned

2:11:17to advance these uh concepts into that

2:11:2015% design as well as an implementation

2:11:24study of looking at delivering

2:11:26Charleston Road only um that crossing

2:11:29only um which we'll talk a little bit

2:11:31about Edgar will talk a little bit about

2:11:33during the cost and the construction

2:11:35duration um component of the

2:11:37presentation. Next slide please. So each

2:11:40of these concepts were chosen based on

2:11:43their ability to meet the project goal

2:11:45of enhancing safety and accessibility

2:11:48for all while also reducing the

2:11:51potential property impacts.

2:11:54Next slide, please.

2:11:57In many of our conversations over the

2:12:00last several weeks and months, um, one

2:12:02project in the vicinity of these grade

2:12:04separations, but not actually part of

2:12:07the grade separations, has reoccurred,

2:12:09and that's the South PaloAlto bicycle

2:12:11and pedestrian connectivity project that

2:12:13the city is currently working on. Um,

2:12:16just bringing this up based on the the

2:12:18vicinity and approximate uh proximity of

2:12:21this crossing or this project to the

2:12:23grade separation projects.

2:12:25Next slide.

2:12:30Now to jump into the 15% design and what

2:12:32it means to be able to proceed the 35%

2:12:34design. So as part of 15% design as I

2:12:37had uh previously had presented to the

2:12:39council, it's a it's a matter of due

2:12:40diligence

2:12:42essentially going from concepts or

2:12:43sketches to drawings and and first set

2:12:47of engineering uh drawing sets uh to be

2:12:50able to understand whether the

2:12:52assumptions that were made during the

2:12:54concept phase and the refinement last

2:12:56year were valid. Uh and for the most

2:12:58part what I can say is that yes, they

2:12:59were valid and sound. And so now we're

2:13:01able to be able to start uh

2:13:03understanding what the uh other

2:13:05trade-offs are as the design advances.

2:13:07So with regards to the track design, um

2:13:09Churchill Avenue is able to remain uh in

2:13:12terms of the tracks remain in place. The

2:13:14roadway profiles were all fairly

2:13:16consistent. So we feel very confident

2:13:18about that. Um effectively the due

2:13:20diligence that was done by XCAP and the

2:13:23concept requirement was validated

2:13:25through the 15% design. So that's good

2:13:27news. And what that means in terms of

2:13:2935% design is being able to start

2:13:31looking at what are the parameters that

2:13:33can be adjusted to be able to as council

2:13:36member Bird mentioned be able to start

2:13:38providing some relief as to some of the

2:13:40construction and permanent effects that

2:13:42could occur from the um grade uh grade

2:13:45crossing separations. And so we go from

2:13:48a u preliminary footprint as part of 15%

2:13:51design to effectively an established

2:13:53footprint through 35% design. And this

2:13:56is the this is footprint is what's going

2:13:58to be going through the environmental

2:14:00review process. And we'll go through a

2:14:02little bit more as to what that means in

2:14:03subsequent slides. Key factor going into

2:14:0735% design is um essentially trying to

2:14:10reduce our risk as it relates to

2:14:12structural, geotechnical, and utilities.

2:14:14So that means being able to site those

2:14:16utilities and being able to get more

2:14:17information as to what's a subsurface.

2:14:20Next slide, please.

2:14:22As I mentioned, Churchill Avenue, the

2:14:24concept has stayed predominantly the

2:14:27same. Uh, proceeding with the boxjacking

2:14:29concept and not having the landscape

2:14:31stripped on the east side of Alba

2:14:33Street. Next slide.

2:14:37Seal avenues. Same thing. We were able

2:14:39to confirm the engineering design at

2:14:41this location. There is one factor that

2:14:44we are exploring further and that is uh

2:14:46the tunnel uh into or the um ramp into

2:14:49Pierce Park potentially extending the

2:14:51tunnels as those walls could be as high

2:14:53as 18 ft in the path down below. So

2:14:55we're trying to see ways to be able to

2:14:56set get that scale to be more um

2:14:59palatable and comfortable for

2:15:01pedestrians and cyclists on the ramp.

2:15:04Next slide

2:15:07for me hybrid. Uh so in this concept

2:15:10this concept looks at both Meadow and

2:15:11Charleston as combined delivery. In

2:15:14other words, being able to rep-profile

2:15:15so that both Meadow and Charleston the

2:15:17tracks are going up. Charleston would be

2:15:19less than than Meadow. Meadow would be

2:15:21approximately 17 ft um uh raised based

2:15:25on the existing tracks. And so the

2:15:27tracks go up 17 ft. The roadway goes

2:15:30down 7 feet. To be able to do that work,

2:15:32in other words, being able to adjust the

2:15:34tracks, there needs to be temporary

2:15:35tracks for that. Those are known as a

2:15:37shoefly and that's to be able to

2:15:39maintain the the rail service that

2:15:42serves the peninsula during

2:15:43construction. Next slide.

2:15:47For Charleston Road, effectively the

2:15:49same thing here. There's um a couple of

2:15:52items that were changed uh between the

2:15:54concept and the uh 15% design. The first

2:15:57is on the upper part of the rendering.

2:16:00There's a pedestrian path that connects

2:16:03uh from essentially Charleston to Alma.

2:16:06That path was originally parallel to

2:16:07Alma or adjacent to Alma. That shifted

2:16:10to parallel along Charleston. And the

2:16:13reason why is we needed to be able to

2:16:14find a space for utilities to be able to

2:16:16go across uh Alma and Charleston. So

2:16:20being able to find space for what's

2:16:21going underneath underground and be able

2:16:23to have that be accessible for the

2:16:24city's utility departments. And so as

2:16:27part of 35% design, we will be further

2:16:29advancing that and understanding that

2:16:31more closely with the the city's utility

2:16:34departments so that they're able to be

2:16:36not only designed, constructed, and

2:16:38maintained uh by city crews. Um in this

2:16:41case, uh we also did some analysis of

2:16:44the pedestrian space on the west side.

2:16:46We've received substantive comment there

2:16:48and we'll get more into that and we are

2:16:50going to be exploring that further as

2:16:51part of 35% design. Next slide.

2:16:56So as I mentioned there is a uh for

2:16:58meadow uh the hybrid in order to be able

2:17:01to elevate the tracks fly or temporary

2:17:03tracks are near for construction. Uh

2:17:05this has been initially evaluated as

2:17:08part of 15% design and continues to be

2:17:09evaluated as part of 35. And so I can

2:17:12come back to this as part of questions

2:17:14as to what it means for the shoefly the

2:17:16location of the shoefly and how much of

2:17:18the encroaches into Alma Street uh and

2:17:20why it's necessary uh for the

2:17:22construction of me. Next slide.

2:17:27The delivery scenarios that were

2:17:29evaluated uh first is Churchill uh

2:17:31Avenue Crossing where it's Churchill and

2:17:33Seal as essentially it's a a package

2:17:35delivery. And this is important from a

2:17:36mobility perspective having that bike

2:17:38ped crossing open first before Churchill

2:17:41is uh separated. And then for Meadow

2:17:43Charleston crossing, we looked at three

2:17:45options here. First is Charleston and

2:17:47Meadow being delivered concurrently or

2:17:49essentially as one package. The second

2:17:52is Charleston first and then Meadow uh

2:17:56and essentially backtoback and see what

2:17:58that meant in terms of construction and

2:18:00cost. And then the third option was

2:18:02Charleston Road on its own. If there was

2:18:04only one crossing and that was the one

2:18:06that was of highest priority for the

2:18:07council, what would that mean to be able

2:18:09to deliver that? Next slide.

2:18:15So with every project, uh we try to put

2:18:18things in context in terms of the

2:18:19project cost life cycle. many things

2:18:21people gravitate towards the cost and

2:18:23what it means to be able to have cost at

2:18:25different stages of a project. So we're

2:18:27at the end of 15% design. So we're

2:18:30looking to have this information provide

2:18:32um early decision making information

2:18:34still high level rough order magnitude

2:18:37intended to be able to provide guidance

2:18:39in terms of the magnitude of the

2:18:42information at 35% design. This is where

2:18:45the information is informing the

2:18:47environmental review and it's beginning

2:18:48to be able to start establishing um uh

2:18:51guidance for what how a project of this

2:18:54type will then be likely implemented if

2:18:56it is chosen to be implemented. And so

2:18:59what are those uh parameters again from

2:19:02an environmental review perspective,

2:19:03from a funding perspective and delivery

2:19:06at that point that's a decision

2:19:07inflection which then proceeds into 65

2:19:10and final design which is information

2:19:12that gets becomes much more granular and

2:19:14then establishes essentially a contract

2:19:16with the contractor at the end of that.

2:19:19So be able to establish clear

2:19:20expectations and parameters for not only

2:19:22what's being built at what budget and

2:19:24the schedule timeline that's much down

2:19:26the line. Next slide.

2:19:29In terms of risk with cost estimates,

2:19:31there's always risks associated with a

2:19:33project with projects of these this type

2:19:36delivering complex projects. Um, we are

2:19:38mindful of those risks very early on

2:19:41starting at 15%. We list them out. We

2:19:44monitor them. we look to address them as

2:19:46the design progresses to be able to

2:19:48reduce the risk such that when the

2:19:50project if a project's um advanced into

2:19:53implementation

2:19:54the risks have been predominantly

2:19:56addressed and the risks that are

2:19:57remaining are those that are outside of

2:19:58the control of the project the council

2:20:00and CAL train so those are the sort of

2:20:02force majority types of of risks next

2:20:05slide

2:20:07so in terms of the buildup for the total

2:20:10project cost we have not only the

2:20:12contractor cost and the delivery for the

2:20:14designed the engine uh the uh agency

2:20:17cost that's Cal Train city and the

2:20:19supporting agencies uh real property

2:20:22escalation as there's the cost of time

2:20:24so any change in time in delivery means

2:20:27a change in cost and then being able to

2:20:29have a project contingency that's able

2:20:31to address both known and unknown risks

2:20:33also known as unallocated uh

2:20:35contingency. Next slide.

2:20:39So in terms of the total project cost

2:20:41estimates,

2:20:43our estimate year is 2026. So we use

2:20:452076

2:20:47material and labor costs and then those

2:20:49are escalated to then to the start of

2:20:52construction at 2032. That's not saying

2:20:54that the project will be starting in

2:20:552032 is we needed a starting point to be

2:20:58able to have be able to compare these

2:21:00numbers

2:21:02for Churchill Avenue and Seal Avenue.

2:21:04The high level construction duration is

2:21:06three to four years at a approximate

2:21:09cost of 420 to 450 million at year of

2:21:12expenditure. So that means essentially

2:21:15cash at the time of the expenditure for

2:21:18Charleston Road and Meadow Drive uh

2:21:20delivered as one package um

2:21:23concurrently. That's a 5-year

2:21:25construction period approximately with a

2:21:28one to$ 1.1 billion uh expense a year of

2:21:31expenditure. If they are built backto

2:21:33back, it is a 9-year construction period

2:21:37with 1.2 to$ 1.3 billion uh year of

2:21:40expenditure. So that's effectively

2:21:42saying that it's four years longer and

2:21:45it's uh more expensive at approximately

2:21:472 to30 billion. And then Charleston Road

2:21:50on its own would be four years at 480 to

2:21:53530 million at the year of expenditure.

2:21:56Next slide.

2:22:00Over the last several weeks and months,

2:22:02we've been holding several meetings with

2:22:04the public um and the community um where

2:22:08we talked about the design refinements.

2:22:10We got into some of the details and

2:22:12explanations of the um updated total

2:22:16project costs and talk about the

2:22:17construction uh considerations. As a

2:22:20reminder, we are tracking all comments

2:22:22and have a comment tracker that we have

2:22:24that information as well as responses

2:22:27that are provided on the website. Um,

2:22:29next slide, please. So, some of the key

2:22:32themes that we heard from all of the

2:22:34engagement was, um, particularly around

2:22:36the Charleston Road, um, the ped and

2:22:40bike ramp on the west side. Um, really

2:22:43the the amount of the switchbacks and

2:22:46the grades and kind of the radi around

2:22:49um, the peds and bikes trying to access

2:22:52um, that ramp. Um there's also concern

2:22:55about the total project costs um as well

2:22:58as the height of the hybrid wall at um

2:23:00Meadow Drive. Next slide, please.

2:23:04So, as we mentioned, this phase is

2:23:06currently fully funded um and we are

2:23:08obligated to complete the 35% design for

2:23:12the three crossings. Once we get to uh

2:23:15get through 35% design and get clearance

2:23:18on environmental uh and get

2:23:20environmental clearance that really

2:23:22helps unlock the project funding and

2:23:25helps to be more competitive for

2:23:27additional funding sources. Next slide

2:23:30please. So based on your uh direction

2:23:33today the team will begin the 35% design

2:23:36which we will also do 3D visual

2:23:39visualizations at each of the crossings.

2:23:41will conduct technical studies which

2:23:44will include traffic analysis during

2:23:46construction looking at noise as well as

2:23:49air quality biology and any additional

2:23:51studies that need to be done. We'll

2:23:54refine that project footprint even

2:23:56further. We'll conduct both the SQUA and

2:23:58the NEPA environmental documentation and

2:24:01we'll have updated uh construction

2:24:03sequencing um durations as well as those

2:24:06updated cost estimates.

2:24:09Next slide.

2:24:12That concludes our presentation. We are

2:24:14happy to answer any questions you may

2:24:16have. Thank you.

2:24:19>> Thank you. And I believe Council Member

2:24:20Bert, you had more comments for now.

2:24:22>> Yeah, I'll just uh follow up there and

2:24:24and thank staff and the consultants for

2:24:27the presentation. Um

2:24:31uh couple of highle things that were

2:24:33discussed at the committee is really

2:24:36what has changed in terms of the need

2:24:39for grade separations since we began

2:24:42this process in 2017. And at that time

2:24:46uh the projections for growth in terms

2:24:49of the number of trains per hour and um

2:24:54the number of cars that we would have

2:24:56but particularly the number of trains an

2:24:58hour was much higher based upon a far

2:25:02higher anticipation of regional growth

2:25:04than we have today from the state

2:25:06department of transportation and

2:25:08department of finance. Um and so it's

2:25:13relieved some of the pressure both on

2:25:15the time uh urgency which back uh in you

2:25:21know in 2019 or so there was um an

2:25:26expression that if we didn't get this

2:25:28done by 2030 we'd be in gritlock. That's

2:25:31no longer what we're facing. We're

2:25:34facing a long-term uh need and we've had

2:25:38another change which is the funding that

2:25:40is available for these projects has been

2:25:43reduced in the last couple of years from

2:25:46both the federal level and the state

2:25:48level. Uh the state has opted to uh put

2:25:51uh more guaranteed resources into

2:25:54highspeed rail and less available for

2:25:57projects like this for instance. And at

2:25:59the federal level, uh, fewer dollars are

2:26:02available and there's greater

2:26:03uncertainty on what may come forth. And

2:26:07so the committee really had a lot of

2:26:09discussion on at what point in time

2:26:12would we focus perhaps on a single

2:26:15crossing with a lot of the sentiment

2:26:17being toward a Churchill underpass. And

2:26:20the answer is that we are obligated

2:26:22under the grant and uh if this could be

2:26:25clarified by staff to complete these

2:26:28three alternatives through the 35%

2:26:30design in order to make us more eligible

2:26:33for funding uh on a preferred

2:26:36alternative that we uh have going

2:26:38forward and maybe if you can jump in at

2:26:40this time to clarify that.

2:26:42>> Yes. uh as as a whole this the city and

2:26:45Cal Train have committed to completing

2:26:4835% for the three crossings uh including

2:26:51environmental and that will then

2:26:54position the city for funding for

2:26:55whichever project u it chooses to be

2:26:58able to advance.

2:26:59>> Thank you. And then um it was mentioned

2:27:02that there is a relationship between

2:27:05what's the the south PaloAlto underpass

2:27:08we'll call it um I'll call it the um

2:27:11bicycle and pedestrian underpass in the

2:27:13vicinity of Matadero and that that has a

2:27:16relationship. I actually want to

2:27:18emphasize that more like if we were to

2:27:21have done do Churchill, we as a council

2:27:24had said we would want to attempt to do

2:27:26the bike and pedestrian underpass at

2:27:29Seal first. So when there's construction

2:27:32at Churchill, there would be roots for

2:27:34bikes and peds. Similarly, this um bike

2:27:38and ped underpass in the vicinity of

2:27:40Matadero has the potential to serve a a

2:27:44like function, which is if we can get it

2:27:46done first, then when we're doing major

2:27:49construction, we will at least have that

2:27:51much of a relief valve. It's not a

2:27:54direct tradeoff uh because the the

2:27:57location is is significantly further

2:27:59north, but it would matter. Um, also one

2:28:04of the things we didn't discuss at the

2:28:06committee is on the there's been

2:28:09significant traffic analysis, but um,

2:28:13Edgar, if you can clarify, I don't think

2:28:14we've yet, uh, evaluated what the

2:28:18traffic impacts would be if we only

2:28:21constructed it at Charleston and what

2:28:25shift in traffic pattern might uh, go on

2:28:28to there because that's that's something

2:28:29we have to be aware of That is accurate.

2:28:32Uh and it's part of the previous

2:28:34analysis. It was both crossings either

2:28:36being separated or both crossings not

2:28:39being separated. So that could be a

2:28:41request of the environmental review is

2:28:43to look at one or the other on its own

2:28:46to see what that redistribution would

2:28:48look like.

2:28:48>> So out of this meeting tonight, that can

2:28:50be one of the directions. Yes. Thank

2:28:51you.

2:28:52>> Meadow and Charleston together.

2:28:56>> Charleston only. Charleston,

2:28:57>> right? Yeah. I was making sure. Okay.

2:29:00>> Yeah. No, I

2:29:02don't want to interrupt. I'll ask my

2:29:04question later.

2:29:05>> Okay. Um

2:29:07and then um related to the need um

2:29:12Edgar, you presented at the rail

2:29:13committee, an important uh comparison. I

2:29:17think it was in response to U. Council

2:29:19member Lowing's question is

2:29:23what are the what are the traffic

2:29:26impacts of uh what are we today on

2:29:30delays at U Meadow and Charleston? What

2:29:35would we be if we constructed a grade

2:29:39separation?

2:29:41And what will we be in X number of years

2:29:44if we don't construct it?

2:29:46Uh, did you have that handy? I think I

2:29:48have the summary if you don't.

2:29:50>> Yes, we do. We have a couple of slides

2:29:52here. So, if we can go to slide 39,

2:29:55please.

2:29:57So, we we've got a few slides to be able

2:29:59to uh highlight this. We'll go to slide

2:30:0239 and then subsequently to um

2:30:07slide 41.

2:30:24And and while we're waiting for that to

2:30:25be pulled up, this is when we did look

2:30:27at um both the hybrid and the underpass.

2:30:31Again, this was in 2025 when we

2:30:33presented to council or in December of

2:30:35last year, uh presented to council as to

2:30:38what the benefits were for um for both.

2:30:40And in in context and fairness, we also

2:30:42looked at the trade-offs as relates to

2:30:44other items including property impacts.

2:30:46So this is where we saw that the level

2:30:48of service uh for both the um for the

2:30:51hybrid at Meadow was able to again

2:30:54reached an acceptable level of service.

2:30:56If we go to slide 41,

2:31:07we're able to see the delay um that was

2:31:11uh reflected there in terms of of how

2:31:14the delay was uh at Meadow and

2:31:16Charleston uh both for the for the

2:31:18hybrid and for uh for the underpass

2:31:21options. And so we can see uh where

2:31:24there were improvements and where um be

2:31:26able to at least improve it based on the

2:31:28existing regardless of the alternative

2:31:30chosen. It's an improvement over the

2:31:32existing and the no build situation. And

2:31:36as I had in a note, uh that I think the

2:31:39takeaway was that at Charleston the

2:31:42worst time is the PM rush hour and that

2:31:47um it's currently at a 3minut delay.

2:31:51With the underpass it would be at a half

2:31:53minute and without it it would be six

2:31:55minutes in the future. That is correct.

2:31:58Okay. So that's that kind of goes to the

2:32:01whole question of what will happen if we

2:32:04in coming years if we don't begin or

2:32:08continue to move forward on this

2:32:09process.

2:32:11>> And and one thing to note, pardon the

2:32:12interruption, one thing to note is that

2:32:14this is reflecting the change in

2:32:16parameters for the change in population

2:32:19growth. In other words, this model

2:32:21reflects the changes that the county was

2:32:24expecting in ter or I should say the

2:32:26transportation authority was expecting

2:32:27in terms of reduced demand. So it's

2:32:30still doubling of of the delay um over

2:32:34the next uh 15 years.

2:32:36And lastly, we continue to hear from

2:32:39some members of the public who are

2:32:41advocates of an aerial. We didn't talk a

2:32:44lot. I think we touched on just from our

2:32:46previous cost estimate because we did

2:32:48not update the aerial in this cost

2:32:50estimate. What's the the relative cost

2:32:54comparison of an aerial versus uh the

2:32:58hybrid which it's most akin to? I guess

2:33:01>> it would be orders of magnitude more. Um

2:33:05it's effectively the aerial or vioaduct

2:33:10would have the same retaining walls

2:33:11approaching it. So the question is where

2:33:13do those retaining walls start um and

2:33:16how long that bioduct would be um so it

2:33:19would be orders likely orders of

2:33:21magnitude more

2:33:21>> so it's it's more a question of how much

2:33:24money we don't have

2:33:26>> that would be yeah okay thanks I'll have

2:33:30some technical comments later thanks

2:33:34>> all right I want to see if there's any

2:33:36other uh preliminary comments or

2:33:38questions from colleagues before we go

2:33:40to public comment and looks like council

2:33:42member Lats.

2:33:45It's okay. Thanks. I'll wait until after

2:33:47public comment. Thank you.

2:33:51>> Any other

2:33:52So, Vice Mayor, is yours or clerk, will

2:33:55his show up on the screen or does he

2:33:56need to raise his hand on Zoom? Like

2:33:58when I just so I know how to I don't

2:34:01want to overlook the vice mayor.

2:34:02>> Vice Mayor will need to raise his hand

2:34:03on Zoom.

2:34:04>> Okay. All right. If he does that and I

2:34:05don't notice it, please somebody tell

2:34:07me. All right. Thank you. Uh, I have

2:34:10just one question, but I think um,

2:34:12Council Member Bert touched on it, but I

2:34:14want to make sure. Um,

2:34:17can you go to slide 14?

2:34:27I think this is the one I'm having

2:34:29trouble finding in the packet. The one I

2:34:30thought I saw.

2:34:37Uh I thought there was one that actually

2:34:39talked about um Oh yes. So so that so

2:34:43when I saw this and I saw uh Churchill

2:34:45with the Seal Avenue underpass, I did

2:34:48have the question of why on the ones

2:34:50below do we not have sort of the bike

2:34:52ped underpass because I had thought we'd

2:34:54kind of talked about same idea there and

2:34:56you mentioned that that would be a good

2:34:58idea. Is that something that though

2:35:00isn't part of this design process? Is

2:35:02that just something we we've talked

2:35:04about as opposed to the Seal Avenue bike

2:35:07ped under bus?

2:35:09>> Do you mind clarifying? Are you looking

2:35:10to see if Seal and Churchill can be

2:35:12delivered separately?

2:35:14>> No. Okay, let me say it differently. So,

2:35:16I'm talking about bike ped underpasses

2:35:17in North Palto and South Palto. I had

2:35:20thought we had a idea that it would be

2:35:22good to have one in each region. And so,

2:35:25I'm seeing it here for North PaloAlto.

2:35:27I'm not seeing it for the South

2:35:29PaloAlto. So is that just that we hadn't

2:35:32progressed as far in our discussions and

2:35:34I'm misremembering or why is it in one

2:35:37and not the other?

2:35:38>> Um so the South PaloAlto connectivity

2:35:40project is being pursued as a separate

2:35:43project to grade separation. So that is

2:35:45that's kind of going in parallel. Um but

2:35:48it's not part of the the grade

2:35:50separations. But I would also note that

2:35:52the Charleston Road and Meadow Drive um

2:35:56grade separations do incorporate

2:35:58pedestrian and bicycle access in into

2:36:00each of them as well.

2:36:01>> Right. Right. Okay. But the but the uh

2:36:04the other one near Matadero, wherever we

2:36:05end up locating it, that is just not

2:36:07part of this, but it's all but it's

2:36:09something that's progressing in

2:36:10parallel.

2:36:11>> Correct. Okay. That's that's good

2:36:13because I wanted to because I do think

2:36:14in terms of the landscape against which

2:36:16we make these decisions is similar as

2:36:18the traffic patterns are changing and

2:36:21you know that our ability to have safety

2:36:23at crossings also whether or not we have

2:36:25that bike ped underpass as part of the

2:36:28backdrop against which we make these

2:36:30decisions. So okay that is very helpful.

2:36:33Thank you. Any other clarifying

2:36:34questions before I go to public comment?

2:36:38Looks like not. Okay, madame clerk, uh

2:36:44please uh go ahead with public comment.

2:36:49We have one group of

2:36:5611 and

2:36:59seven individual speakers.

2:37:01>> Okay, let's go with the the usual uh

2:37:04amounts of time. and we can give uh 10

2:37:06minutes to the group and three minutes

2:37:08to each individual.

2:37:10>> Our first speaker is John M.

2:37:16>> Excuse me. Hello council. I have a

2:37:19presentation that I submitted to the

2:37:20city clerk. May we play it, please?

2:37:27It's 3 minutes 8 seconds.

2:37:50Thank you for the years of work so many

2:37:53people have devoted to this project. The

2:37:55information is there, but it is

2:37:57scattered across reports, drawings, and

2:38:00meetings. These slides bring it together

2:38:02to show what the East Meadow Hybrid

2:38:04would mean for everyday life.

2:38:06This first city image shows the

2:38:08temporary railroad extending along Alma

2:38:10during construction.

2:38:13This is how the Shule was explained on

2:38:15August 25th. The important words are the

2:38:18city zone. A temporary track is

2:38:20necessary to construct the meadow

2:38:22hybrid. That means Cal Train must

2:38:24continue operating beside the

2:38:26construction zone

2:38:28after 5 to 9 years of disruption. This

2:38:31is the permanent condition illustrated

2:38:32here. trains elevated above Alma behind

2:38:36a substantial retaining wall. Should we

2:38:39accept that without fully testing the

2:38:40underpass?

2:38:43This AI assisted illustration translates

2:38:45the technical drawing into human scale.

2:38:48It is not an engineering drawing. It

2:38:50shows the practical issue. Operating

2:38:52trains, temporary tracks, construction,

2:38:54and alma traffic sharing one constrained

2:38:57corridor for years.

2:39:00From the sidewalk, the impact becomes

2:39:01easier to understand. Trains beside

2:39:04traffic and homes, one Alma traffic lane

2:39:07in each direction, catinary,

2:39:08construction, noise and disruption. This

2:39:11is the human scale. The technical

2:39:13drawings do not communicate well.

2:39:16The information existed technically, but

2:39:18was difficult to visualize. The shufly

2:39:21shown here runs from before Green Meadow

2:39:22Way toward Loma Verde, roughly a mile

2:39:25and a half. A line on a plan cannot

2:39:27convey what living beside it for years

2:39:29means.

2:39:31The permanent hybrid was generally

2:39:33presented from an elevated or drone

2:39:36perspective. That helps explain the

2:39:38intersection, but not what the structure

2:39:40feels like from a sidewalk, a home, or

2:39:42Alma Street.

2:39:45The decision is about more than a

2:39:47finished intersection. It is about years

2:39:49of construction and a permanent change

2:39:51to this corridor. Those consequences

2:39:54deserve a direct comparison with the

2:39:56underpass.

2:39:58This is the choice I am asking you to

2:40:00reconsider. The underpass deserves

2:40:03further refinement for a fair current

2:40:05comparison before the hybrid alone

2:40:07advances. East Meadow deserves the same

2:40:10opportunity for improvement as Churchill

2:40:12and Charleston.

2:40:15These are the city's decision criteria

2:40:17alongside connectivity, traffic, and

2:40:19cost. They include environmental

2:40:21effects, local access, visual impacts,

2:40:24and construction disruption. Are we

2:40:27giving enough weight to the people and

2:40:28neighborhoods that will bear those

2:40:30impacts?

2:40:32I raised these concerns in my December

2:40:3415th submission. Please reject the East

2:40:37Meadow Hybrid and advance refinement of

2:40:39the underpass for a fair, current

2:40:42comparison. My separate emails offer

2:40:44constructive ideas for moving forward

2:40:46while protecting grant funding and the

2:40:48city's credibility. The proposed motion

2:40:51at the bottom of page one of my

2:40:52submitted brief offers a practical next

2:40:55step. Thank you.

2:40:58>> Thank you. Could we go back just to show

2:41:00the slide of the criteria and freeze it

2:41:02there? Is that possible? You just have

2:41:05to roll this scroll back a little bit.

2:41:07Forward a little bit. Forward a little

2:41:09bit. That one. Great. Thank you. No,

2:41:14if it's not clear, I'm again I'm with a

2:41:16group that's against advancing the

2:41:18hybrid.

2:41:19Um, and I think it deserves another

2:41:22look. It's about whether hybrid is best

2:41:25for the long-term choice for Palo Alto

2:41:26as a whole. And

2:41:29I want I want to know how we could

2:41:33really understand what the line drawings

2:41:35meant.

2:41:37Um,

2:41:38and this is this was it.

2:41:43That's not the same as the AI generated

2:41:46image I brought forward.

2:41:49We cannot understand how you could make

2:41:50a decision to know what you're buying

2:41:53from this when it really means this

2:41:57overall and we're astonished that

2:42:00there's material saying there's a

2:42:02consensus about this and there's

2:42:04positive feelings about this particular

2:42:07part of the project.

2:42:10We saw that Churchill and Charleston

2:42:13both really improved a lot over time

2:42:16from past designs. They got, for

2:42:18example, they got rid of the traffic

2:42:19circle in Mumford. Um, that's to the

2:42:22credit of our engineers here. But I

2:42:25believe that the underpass at Meadow was

2:42:28rejected prematurely on the basis that

2:42:32there was too much interference with

2:42:34people's properties, the idea of eminent

2:42:35domain.

2:42:37But on that basis there was a

2:42:39preliminary judgment to reject further

2:42:41study of that to refine it and provide

2:42:44an opportunity to remove those harms to

2:42:49property and to other people. And the

2:42:53idea of having a shoefly track on Alma

2:42:55Street for 5 to n years is very

2:42:58unappealing.

2:42:59It will make it unlivable.

2:43:01And then when we finish with it,

2:43:05our reward for half a billion dollars

2:43:09will be a wall like this replacing green

2:43:12screen.

2:43:14And I don't think that's good for our

2:43:15city. It's going to choke our

2:43:18neighborhood. It's going to choke

2:43:19traffic. It'll make it very dangerous.

2:43:22There'll be constant noise and dust. And

2:43:25there wasn't any application of study as

2:43:27far as I can understand. And I've been

2:43:28trying to understand this as best I can

2:43:30for a long time now. Read every document

2:43:32on the website I could find in the city

2:43:35that

2:43:36um boxjacking was not looked into for

2:43:41East Meadow. Maybe that maybe I'm

2:43:44factually incorrect there, but that's

2:43:45what I've understood so far.

2:43:48Funding pressure is real overall.

2:43:51Um but the deadline and money already

2:43:53spent should not turn an incomplete

2:43:54comparison into a permanent decision. In

2:43:57this situation, the 15% proved a lot. It

2:44:00proved that the shoefly plan for a

2:44:02hybrid 17t mile long wall is not a good

2:44:06one. And council has a great opportunity

2:44:09here to pivot and not lock us into that

2:44:12terrible plan, but to move us into a

2:44:15plan where we could refine and find out

2:44:17really if boxjacking in an underground

2:44:21at Meadow would be achievable.

2:44:26Um, and there's a structural problem for

2:44:28me here in terms that I want to bring

2:44:30up. Council member Rectal is recused.

2:44:34He's the only person that lives next to

2:44:35the railway and can speak to the trouble

2:44:39that we have with this operations and

2:44:41construction.

2:44:43Council member Bert wears two hats.

2:44:47He is the vice chair of Cal Train. Very

2:44:49knowledgeable, trusted, and excellent

2:44:51public servant. But on this issue, I

2:44:53don't agree with him.

2:44:55And it came this way last September at

2:44:59um

2:45:02at office hours on Zombie uh on

2:45:04California Avenue. He told me quite

2:45:06plainly when I asked them for help

2:45:09around mitigating harms from the railway

2:45:13construction and operations, he said,

2:45:16"You should have bought elsewhere." In

2:45:18fact, anybody else anybody along the

2:45:20railway should have bought elsewhere

2:45:23because it's been there since 1875. You

2:45:25did say that, Mr. B. That's true.

2:45:29Um,

2:45:31and that means we don't have

2:45:33representation.

2:45:35Calra,

2:45:38please be quiet.

2:45:39>> We don't have representation.

2:45:40>> Please be quiet, Henry. Thank you.

2:45:43um Cal Train's interests and Pal's

2:45:46interests are not always the same. So

2:45:50for this matter

2:45:52um

2:45:54I'd like to ask that the rest of the

2:45:56council

2:45:57um challenge some of the assumptions

2:45:59around Shoefly and the Meadow Charleston

2:46:04hybrid plan. Um, and I have to say I

2:46:08wasn't here in 1875,

2:46:10so I can't really answer that question.

2:46:13Um,

2:46:14I'm a retired Social Security disability

2:46:18recipient and a shaky public speaker.

2:46:22My wife and I, Kansas, our neighbors.

2:46:24I'm here speaking here at this late hour

2:46:26for families with young children for

2:46:29whom it is now after bedtime and others

2:46:31for whom the prospect of public speaking

2:46:33to council is overwhelming.

2:46:36It's hard for them to get representation

2:46:38for their concerns.

2:46:40I don't have a staff consultants or a PR

2:46:43department or a seat on the Cal Train

2:46:45board. I brought two things I could

2:46:48afford. My unpolished presentation and

2:46:51some questions.

2:46:53Please audit the assumptions. Examine

2:46:55how Palo Alto's criteria was weighted.

2:46:58Count the citywide costs that have not

2:47:00been yet fully counted.

2:47:03determine what PaloAlto really is buying

2:47:06and then decide is hybrid truly the best

2:47:09long-term choice for PaloAlto as a

2:47:11whole. If that's not yet clear, then the

2:47:14comparison is not finished.

2:47:17And I would take exception, Mr. Bert.

2:47:22You should because you talked to me with

2:47:25contempt there and all of the residents,

2:47:27the 10,000 of us that live along the

2:47:29railway

2:47:30are disenfranchised with your comments.

2:47:33Thank you.

2:47:36>> Our next speaker is Melinda M.

2:47:41>> Hello, council. Um, I'm sure you know

2:47:44what I'm here to talk about. A part of

2:47:47the tag team. So, I have to say that I

2:47:50feel like the consultants did a

2:47:52disservice to the rail committee and to

2:47:57the city council by giving us

2:48:01that picture because we've been very

2:48:04involved in this. You all know know us

2:48:06from the quiet zones and that campaign

2:48:10and I feel like we have we worked really

2:48:13hard for that. We appreciate the rail

2:48:16committee and the funding for that, but

2:48:19I'm feeling like it's a pirick victory

2:48:22>> and connectivity

2:48:24>> if we're followed

2:48:29if the quiet zones are followed by this

2:48:32disaster

2:48:34on Alma Street with the shoefly track,

2:48:36which I had no idea what that meant. And

2:48:40then

2:48:42I find out that their word temporary

2:48:45means five to potentially

2:48:489 years.

2:48:50It just blows my mind that anyone would

2:48:55think that that's a good idea.

2:48:58So, can you imagine like living next to

2:49:01that, being in our Fair Meadow

2:49:04neighborhood and having the Alma tracks,

2:49:09the Alma, the trains, the Cal Train, 104

2:49:13trains a day, plus the freight trains

2:49:16through the night

2:49:18next to your home. So, I'm begging you,

2:49:22you know, we have prepared, we've

2:49:25planned, we've presented, we've talked

2:49:27to our neighbors, and we're pleading

2:49:30with you to not move this forward to the

2:49:3335% regardless of whatever you feel like

2:49:37your obligation is because no one

2:49:42with any sense would move forward with

2:49:47such a bad plan. regardless of whatever

2:49:51you think your commitment is. And again,

2:49:54if my husband, who's limited in his

2:49:57technical skills, can create these

2:50:00images,

2:50:02why didn't

2:50:05our consultants, our experienced people

2:50:08who can do these slides give us more

2:50:12than a red line hashtag drawing, which I

2:50:16could have done with a Crayola.

2:50:18So I'm quite angry about the situation

2:50:22that we find ourselves in and I'm

2:50:24begging you to do the right thing and

2:50:27the right thing is not to move a bad

2:50:31plan forward.

2:50:34You can quantify

2:50:36the planning, the consultants, the

2:50:38engineering, construction costs, but you

2:50:41don't quantify the cost to residents in

2:50:44terms of quantity, quality of life,

2:50:47noise,

2:50:49loss of property values, a minimum of 5

2:50:52years of terrible gridlock.

2:50:56Yes. And thank you.

2:50:58>> Our next speaker is Henry E.

2:51:10Well, I think the last speaker said it

2:51:13all in begging, literally begging the

2:51:16council not to go forward with the

2:51:18destruction of their neighborhood

2:51:20because that is what it entails.

2:51:23But this council does that regularly in

2:51:25late night 7 to zero votes. After a

2:51:29closed meeting, they can be counted on

2:51:32to do the wrong thing. The wrong thing.

2:51:36And where do they get the idea for the

2:51:38wrong thing? They get it from city

2:51:41manager Ed Shakar, the boss of Palo

2:51:44Alto, like boss Tweed,

2:51:48like all the big city B. We're a small

2:51:50city, but we have a boss. And you are

2:51:53his acolytes. You do his bidding. That's

2:51:57why you're here on council. Even Julie

2:52:00who made noises at her first council

2:52:03meeting that were not in accord. She

2:52:06came out for third spaces. Well, by the

2:52:08next meeting, he had forgotten about

2:52:10that and she has happily joined the

2:52:12establishment and has commented uh

2:52:16prodigiously by Pat Bert for having

2:52:19become a good council member. Now Pat

2:52:22devotes his life to the advancement of

2:52:25Palo Alto but along the way he does

2:52:27things that are terrible like supporting

2:52:30this measure and he gives it legation

2:52:33by being a representative on Cal Train

2:52:37Cal Train which gives us uh unsafe

2:52:40conditions along the right of way. I'm a

2:52:43living example of that. I tripped on a

2:52:47doorway in Calra. The sun was in my eyes

2:52:50because there should have been a sun

2:52:51protector on that. But there isn't and

2:52:53wasn't and still isn't. There should

2:52:55have been mats where I fell and had a

2:52:58concussion broken only by my sturdy

2:53:01borcelino hat. Without that, I would be

2:53:06severely incapacitated

2:53:08per perhaps made for life. But my hat

2:53:10protected me. That's all the protection

2:53:12I had. I did not have a rubber mat

2:53:14because there was none placed there by

2:53:15Cal Frame in case someone falls

2:53:18backwards. So in some I was at the

2:53:21August 25th meeting. I heard the uh

2:53:25technocratic talks. I was there with my

2:53:29operations director and and a graduate

2:53:33of MIT Sloan School. He outtalked the

2:53:36technocrates of the consultants.

2:53:39She is no longer with me as support

2:53:42staff because she was sent home by my

2:53:45campaign manager who is working against

2:53:48my campaign. Isn't that ironic? But

2:53:51that's the way things sometimes work out

2:53:53in family situations. But the point is

2:53:56the point is that this is not good for

2:54:00Palo Alto. It's part of the destruction

2:54:02of Palo Alto. It will never happen.

2:54:05You're not going to take Apollo Alton's

2:54:07house

2:54:09to put this wall there. That's not going

2:54:12to happen.

2:54:12>> Your time is up.

2:54:15>> Thank you.

2:54:16>> Our next speaker is Mike F.

2:54:26>> Hi, I'm Mike Forester. I live in

2:54:28Evergreen Park and I actually despite

2:54:31the comm financial commitments that have

2:54:33been mentioned, I recommend that we

2:54:35pause any further expenditures on this

2:54:39project at this moment for three

2:54:40reasons. One,

2:54:43train itself has announced multiple

2:54:45times that unless the 5%

2:54:48uh tax passes on November, they're going

2:54:51to reduce their train schedules and

2:54:55possibly in a few years eliminate them

2:54:57entirely. Second,

2:55:00highspeed rail has identified in their

2:55:03recent budget that there's a very large

2:55:05multi-billion dollar problem getting

2:55:08trains from Gilroy to San Jose. And who

2:55:11knows when that might get accomplished.

2:55:16And then third, I have looked for and

2:55:18never seen a passenger

2:55:21uh estimate on how many highspeed rail

2:55:24passengers would actually go from San

2:55:26San Jose to San Francisco that would

2:55:29support four trains each direction every

2:55:32hour. I personally doubt that there

2:55:36would ever be that many because many

2:55:38people will get off in San Jose and go

2:55:41elsewhere and only a small percentage

2:55:44would actually go all the way to the

2:55:45city.

2:55:47So given all of that, if any or all of

2:55:50those happen, the primary

2:55:53driving force for great separations,

2:55:56increased rail traffic could it's

2:55:58possible would never occur. In which

2:56:01case we would need to do it and any

2:56:03money we spend now on consultants on

2:56:06staff working on this could likely

2:56:09possibly and even likely be wasted.

2:56:13Um and then a second point would be that

2:56:17if sometime in the future 2027 2028

2:56:21there are reasons to con reart the great

2:56:25separations the vioaduct approach should

2:56:29be reconsidered. At the moment I

2:56:31disagree with staff that that would be a

2:56:34more expensive

2:56:36version. I've done research and I've

2:56:38supplied that research to the city

2:56:40council and the transportation

2:56:41department

2:56:42that it should be actually much less

2:56:44expensive and also avoids a lot of the

2:56:46risks that were identified in the slides

2:56:49as far as you know utilities and

2:56:51flooding and the disruption during

2:56:54construction would be much less and so

2:56:57uh I would recommend both

2:57:00uh suspending investment now and

2:57:03reconsidering

2:57:04the vioaduct approach in the future.

2:57:07Thank you.

2:57:09>> Our next speaker is Diane R.

2:57:22>> Hi, I'm Diane Reckless 3410 Janice Way

2:57:26since 1979.

2:57:28And uh I expect I'm the only person

2:57:31around who talked to Byron Sher when he

2:57:33was still a congressman about this

2:57:34issue. So, while I'm a little late for

2:57:37the train discussion here, I have been

2:57:38thinking about it for some time.

2:57:41And it became particularly personal to

2:57:43me in 1991

2:57:45when I had just been reelected to the

2:57:47school board. And the next morning, I

2:57:49woke up all happy and discovered that a

2:57:52sixth grader had been hit by a train.

2:57:55And I can't believe that we still have

2:57:57at grade crossings for children every

2:58:00day.

2:58:03I am thrilled that the current plans for

2:58:05the pedestrian bike under crossings go

2:58:07under Elma.

2:58:09I couldn't believe that you were talking

2:58:10about going over Almond and then go

2:58:13under the train. So, what's wrong? So,

2:58:15thank you. You've you've made great

2:58:17strides. There's lots of good stuff in

2:58:19this. A few things that need a little

2:58:21more thought.

2:58:23Uh, one thing is that the cost is so

2:58:26huge and we can't wait until this year's

2:58:28kindergarteners are in high school

2:58:30before we make safer routes to gun and

2:58:32pali. That's just way too long.

2:58:36I believe if we took the problem

2:58:39and divided it in half in South Palo

2:58:43Alto. So the problem is to get bikes and

2:58:46pedestrians under Elma and the tracks.

2:58:50The problem is to get cars and trucks

2:58:52over under the fracks. So, they're two

2:58:54different problems. If we actually

2:58:56separate them, there's a pretty neat

2:58:58solution.

2:59:01And uh

2:59:03here comes the solution. We could follow

2:59:06the water paths, not just one, not just

2:59:09the one creek. There are three creeks in

2:59:11South Pala that go under the tracks and

2:59:14under Alma. We could build pedestrian

2:59:16tunnels and bike tunnels. that do the

2:59:20same thing. Instead of putting the

2:59:22bikes, you know, instead of uh in

2:59:26involved with your convoluted

2:59:29crossings that they're here, they'd be

2:59:32much simpler.

2:59:34So, the three tunnels. Yeah, I'm running

2:59:36out of time. Okay. You know where the

2:59:39three creeks are? We've got Metadoro

2:59:41Creek, uh Baron Creek, and Adobe Creek.

2:59:44And that would really help South Palo

2:59:47Alto instead of just north south

2:59:49PaloAlto. We've got tunnels everywhere

2:59:51in North Palto. We're adding more

2:59:53tunnels. We're adding one more to the

2:59:54north of South Palo Alto. But nothing to

2:59:56the people down Green Meadow area. We

3:00:00can do better.

3:00:03And uh we could complete these these

3:00:07kinds of tunnels are pretty simple to

3:00:08complete relatively speaking. They could

3:00:10be done on weekends in the summer. If

3:00:13you line everything up, you get it all

3:00:14ready and then you you don't have to

3:00:16disrupt train traffic for months at a

3:00:18time in order to do it or real traffic

3:00:22and any uh car and truck tunnels we

3:00:25build later

3:00:26>> will be s simpler, safer and cheaper to

3:00:29construct. So, thank you very much and

3:00:32thank you for hearing me. Goodbye.

3:00:35>> Our next speaker is Aram J.

3:00:43So many years ago, I suggested uh that

3:00:48we recruit

3:00:50Apple and Zuckerberg and all the

3:00:52billionaires

3:00:54um and put a tremendous uh underground

3:00:58railroad or or u subway system like New

3:01:03York City and let them advertise all

3:01:06their upgrades and whatever and make

3:01:09additional money like they needed,

3:01:11right? Um, and really feel like they

3:01:14participated here and they can have

3:01:16stops at Stanford University, one of the

3:01:20it's not look, even my dad graduated

3:01:22from that place. So, it couldn't be that

3:01:25highutin of an institution if he was

3:01:27able to make it through there. They did

3:01:29exclude most of uh Jews at the time that

3:01:31he got in, but uh we don't need to talk

3:01:34about that. But the point is, these guys

3:01:37could fund it and we could build it

3:01:39underground and it would, like I said,

3:01:42they could have all of their uh moving

3:01:44signage that advertises the latest

3:01:46iPhone or whatever it is that we'll have

3:01:48in the next century. Um, make money and

3:01:51feel actually feel good about themselves

3:01:53doing something for the cities where

3:01:56they live right here in Palo Alto.

3:01:57Zuckerberg, the Google guys, uh, on and

3:02:00on and on, the billionaires. But you

3:02:03guys got to reach out to them on that.

3:02:05Instead of coming up with these lame

3:02:07ideas year after year, none of which

3:02:10work, okay? And you guys keep batting

3:02:13this around. Get those characters to to

3:02:16do something for the social good instead

3:02:18of trying to make a, you know, AI

3:02:21weapons of mass destruction, all the

3:02:22crazy stuff that they're doing these

3:02:24days to to further line their own

3:02:26pockets. But it's going to take somebody

3:02:29like a Julie Lithcot Haynes uh

3:02:32unfortunately is going to be leaving the

3:02:34council who could articulate that

3:02:36vision. Okay. I don't know anybody else

3:02:38on the the current council that could

3:02:40even come close to her ability to do

3:02:43that. But uh we know that three fabulous

3:02:48black women, okay, Hillary Freeman,

3:02:52Judge Loris Cordell, and now uh

3:02:56our good friend uh Jul

3:03:02has ever even made it to vice mayor in

3:03:04this racist city. But we could change

3:03:06that by having her speak to Zuckerberg

3:03:09and the other folks, okay? and really

3:03:11making a difference for this city in

3:03:13perpetuity instead of fiddling around

3:03:16with all these uh little teeny uh ideas

3:03:20that don't come uh to fruition in any

3:03:23event. So, let's make the Zuckerbergs

3:03:26and the Google brothers and those folks

3:03:28and Julie, you get out there, talk to

3:03:30them about your vision. Um, and you

3:03:34really will have a legacy, okay? You

3:03:36really will because you will have done

3:03:38it and I know you can do it. So get out

3:03:40there and do it, Julie. Bye-bye.

3:03:44>> Your next speaker is Roland.

3:03:52>> Good evening, madame mayor and council.

3:03:54My name is Roland.

3:03:56I live in San Jose, so it's not for me

3:03:59to tell anybody in Palo Alto what to do.

3:04:02However, I believe I might be able to

3:04:05help Palo Alto learn how to do what it

3:04:09is that they want to do in Palo Alto.

3:04:12The first thing I'd like to do is

3:04:14associate myself with u uh Council

3:04:18Member Bird's comment about the lack of

3:04:20an immediate need. That's absolutely

3:04:23true. There is no immediate need. But

3:04:26the real reason

3:04:28why this project and many others like it

3:04:31up and down the peninsula

3:04:34where the reason why I approached MTC a

3:04:37month ago

3:04:39um about the business case

3:04:42uh for MTC to actually take over the

3:04:47management of the entire alignment

3:04:49between uh Gilroy and Emeryville

3:04:52with an intent to eventually turn it

3:04:55over to a private concession who would

3:04:58be responsible for delivering

3:05:01um every capital project between Guo and

3:05:04Emeryville, including a transb tunnel,

3:05:06believe it or not, over a period of 10

3:05:09years for a total of 20 billion dollars.

3:05:15And that by the way would include a

3:05:17meadow and Charleston vioduct for less

3:05:20than half a billion dollars in two years

3:05:23without any shoe flies on Alma built

3:05:26entirely within the uh the C train right

3:05:28away. Now you're going to say, "Well,

3:05:32this is crazy. This cannot be done." But

3:05:34my advice to you if you're unable to

3:05:36travel to Paris right now is to use AI

3:05:39Gemini for instance and ask Gemini to

3:05:41tell you about what L Grand Paris is and

3:05:44what they're building down there.

3:05:46They're building all the way around

3:05:48Paris

3:05:50120 miles of twin ball tunnels and 68

3:05:54brand new stations in 15 years for $40

3:05:58billion.

3:06:00I will repeat that. 120 mi of Twinborn

3:06:03tunnels, 68 new underground stations in

3:06:0715 years for $40 billion.

3:06:10So that's um my two cents. Um hopefully

3:06:16what I'm proposing to MTC uh will be

3:06:19discussed and will materialize in the

3:06:21future at which point in time I believe

3:06:24you're going to start learning about

3:06:26solutions from other parts of the world

3:06:28and realize that what you want to do in

3:06:31Palo Alto not only is achievable they

3:06:33can actually be funded. Thank you.

3:06:39>> Our next speaker is Michael R.

3:06:46Michael R.

3:06:49That concludes public comment for action

3:06:51item 14.

3:06:53>> All right. Well, thank you to our public

3:06:55commenters and madame clerk for managing

3:06:57that. I'll bring it back to the deis for

3:07:00comments, questions, motions, etc.

3:07:08Council member Scott Hs.

3:07:09>> Thank you, Mayor. Um, thank you so much

3:07:12to staff and our consultants for all the

3:07:14hard work that has gone into this and

3:07:16also to the public commenters. Um, I

3:07:19want to begin by clarifying something

3:07:21Council Member Bert mentioned when he

3:07:23was talking about the demographic

3:07:24changes in our region and the funding

3:07:28challenges associated with the current

3:07:30climate and the uncertainty. He

3:07:32concluded that Churchill might be the

3:07:34highest priority. And I think you meant

3:07:35to say Charleston.

3:07:37>> Is that right? I said Churchill. I

3:07:39misspoke.

3:07:40>> Yeah, you said Charleston later, but and

3:07:42when you were coming off of uh that

3:07:44recitation, you said Churchill. I just

3:07:45want to clarify for everybody. Good.

3:07:47Thank you. Um um in the slides in our

3:07:51packet, it summarized what the rail

3:07:53committee members had asked the project

3:07:54team to restate uh asked the project

3:07:57team to work on between uh the rail

3:08:01meeting on the 8th and today. Uh, one of

3:08:04the things we asked according to the

3:08:05slide was um that you restate why the

3:08:09hybrid was carried forward at Meadow

3:08:11Drive rather than the underpass. Um, in

3:08:14light of community concern about that

3:08:16issue, we had put that forward and yet I

3:08:18didn't see that articulated very clearly

3:08:21in either the staff report or in the

3:08:24presentation. So I'm wondering if you

3:08:27might for the sake of the public and

3:08:29colleagues not on rail if you might

3:08:30summarize briefly the factors that led

3:08:33council to move me hybrid forward rather

3:08:36than me underpass.

3:08:42Can you please go to slide six of the

3:08:44presentation?

3:08:50So, this was a question that the council

3:08:52did grapple with um in December of last

3:08:56year and it is

3:08:59and there are trade-offs and part of

3:09:01those trade-offs was the ability to be

3:09:05able to provide the great separation and

3:09:09be able to explore three pretty key

3:09:12ideas. First was um the safety of that

3:09:15crossing. In other words, even when it's

3:09:17separated, what one of the things that

3:09:19we had heard throughout the process with

3:09:21the public and through the various

3:09:23committees was trying to find one of the

3:09:25crossings to be at more human scale. In

3:09:27other words, more approachable, not

3:09:29having to go through many ramps, having

3:09:31more gradual experience. Um and that's

3:09:35when we did explore um at the behest of

3:09:38of rail committee to see how the hybrid

3:09:40could be a little bit more approachable

3:09:42and more potentially more constructible

3:09:44um and be able to avoid property impacts

3:09:47at the same time. And so that's when we

3:09:49started exploring that design to be able

3:09:51to see how low can we go with Meadow and

3:09:53Alma to then be able to uh avoid those

3:09:56property impacts and provide a a more

3:09:58human scale uh pedestrian and bike

3:10:00experience at that crossing since

3:10:02there's so many students uh there today.

3:10:05And so um that was one of the the the

3:10:08key factors there in the in the

3:10:10trade-off and be able to do so um while

3:10:13trying to maintain both crossings open

3:10:15as well. So this is a bit of a 3D

3:10:18puzzle, no pun intended, in terms of

3:10:19just how being able to fit all those

3:10:21pieces and be able to deliver it from a

3:10:23constructibility perspective. Um so that

3:10:27was that's what at least we recall from

3:10:30um from that particular meeting and what

3:10:32was grappled with um for selecting

3:10:34between and it was um essentially those

3:10:38property impacts and the pedestrian

3:10:39accessibility that was the primary

3:10:41driver.

3:10:42>> Thank you. And I think I must have been

3:10:43spacing when this particular slide went

3:10:44across in your presentation because this

3:10:46is what I was looking for. So I'm sorry,

3:10:47but I think it is worth clarifying

3:10:49because I think the property impacts

3:10:51were something we were most if not all

3:10:53of us were terribly concerned about and

3:10:55when presented with an option of full

3:10:57acquisitions with the underpass and zero

3:11:00full acquisitions with the hybrid. Uh

3:11:02particularly one of them is a multif

3:11:04family unit on the corner. Uh we we were

3:11:07quite concerned and wanted to mitigate

3:11:09that. Um uh a member of the public

3:11:12mentioned um the feasibility of

3:11:14boxjacking at Meadow is Can you respond

3:11:17to that?

3:11:18>> So boxjacking was also explored um at

3:11:21Meadow just as in Charleston. Um the

3:11:25challenges associated with boxjacking

3:11:27there was what led to the potential for

3:11:30property acquisitions. So it's not just

3:11:32the pit for so there's two pits

3:11:35associated with this. The first pit is

3:11:37to be able to build the box itself such

3:11:40that it can be then pushed across. Then

3:11:42there needs to be another pit on the

3:11:43other side known as the receiving pit

3:11:45that has to be able to receive all the

3:11:47dirt that comes out of it. Now you can

3:11:49try to do it from one side. However, um

3:11:52there still needs to be retaining walls.

3:11:54There still needs to be support

3:11:55infrastructure to be able to allow for

3:11:56that box jacking. That's just at the

3:11:59site. Um, if you're looking for that

3:12:02separation, there still needs to be the

3:12:04roads need to be lowered as well to be

3:12:07able to do that. That means that impact

3:12:09then extends beyond the crossing uh uh

3:12:13up and down meadow and up and down Alma

3:12:15and that's what we had explored as well

3:12:16as part of the concept refinement.

3:12:18>> Thank you. And madame mayor, I know that

3:12:20I'm a little bit over just one more

3:12:22question. Is that all right? Thank you.

3:12:24Um staying on property impacts um the

3:12:28staff report now now uh turning to the

3:12:31portion of the staff report that was

3:12:33labeled potential property acquisition.

3:12:36It said five full impacts are projected

3:12:41but nowhere in that section did it say

3:12:43where. It didn't articulate which

3:12:46project we were which grade separation

3:12:48project we were talking about. The rail

3:12:50committee was told that these projected

3:12:52full impacts

3:12:54are associated with the Charleston

3:12:56redesign. But when you look at the map

3:12:59that we were given or sort of the map

3:13:01with all the labels in it, it showed

3:13:04only three listed at Charleston. So if

3:13:06you could clarify for the public and

3:13:08colleagues not on rail, are you

3:13:10projecting three full impacts or five

3:13:12and where are you projecting them? So

3:13:15there are um five uh potential property

3:13:17impacts as identified through the 15%

3:13:19design process at full acquisition and

3:13:23then there's several that are partial

3:13:25acquisitions. Um but those that are full

3:13:27five that are full acquisition that were

3:13:29identified. Um two of them are on the

3:13:33southwest corner uh or south side of

3:13:36Charleston on the west side of the

3:13:38tracks. um they were identified as that

3:13:40there's the potential of of the um the

3:13:43roadway impacting their um setback,

3:13:46their front yard setback. And so we

3:13:48wanted to at least identify that and

3:13:49disclose that prior to the environmental

3:13:51review. Um so that that's identified in

3:13:54the project footprint.

3:13:55>> So they're all related to the Charleston

3:13:57separation.

3:13:58>> Yes.

3:13:58>> And they're a it's a smaller number of

3:14:01full projected impacts than was the case

3:14:03with the roundabout.

3:14:04>> Correct.

3:14:05>> Thank you. That's it for me.

3:14:08Thank you, Council Member Lowey.

3:14:11>> Yes. Thanks. Let's let's start with this

3:14:13uh odd situation where we have this uh

3:14:16grant that we need to go forward with to

3:14:2035% which could obiate a number of these

3:14:23conversations. Um it's a very odd

3:14:26process to me as a as a business person

3:14:28because we would never spend money uh

3:14:30for something that we think we probably

3:14:32aren't going to use. U but that's the

3:14:34way these grants work. That is the

3:14:36process. So, we can't sort of quote

3:14:38fight city hall here. Uh, and the other

3:14:40thing I want to underscore is that this

3:14:41this is Thank you very much. Quiet. Um,

3:14:45the other thing [clears throat] I want

3:14:46to point out is that this money is

3:14:48already a grant that has been granted.

3:14:51So, this is not new money that's coming

3:14:53out of Palo Alto in any way, shape, or

3:14:55form. Um, and secondly, as was said, but

3:14:58I want to emphasize, it also impacts the

3:15:00ability to raise more funds. And when we

3:15:04raise more funds, it's going to be in

3:15:06the magnitude as as you saw of $500

3:15:08million. So, we have to cooperate with

3:15:11the process here uh and be be good

3:15:14partners on using the grants as they

3:15:17were intended. We can't violate that

3:15:18process or we won't have another shot uh

3:15:21at getting the bigger numbers that we

3:15:22need to actually uh do construction and

3:15:25get, you know, one of these things done.

3:15:27So just understand what this process is

3:15:30and just you know let's put our arms

3:15:31around it because that that is the

3:15:33process. Um but the second thing I want

3:15:35to point out is that the reason we do

3:15:37these things in phases of 15 35 etc is

3:15:41because there are some basically

3:15:43hypotheses that are put into place and

3:15:45this is what we think we're going to

3:15:47find and what happened at the 15% range

3:15:50on the hybrid for example um is that we

3:15:53found out that our hypothesis your

3:15:55hypothesis uh weren't correct and that's

3:15:59okay because that's why we do the 15%

3:16:02[clears throat]

3:16:03and that's also why we're going to go on

3:16:04to 35% in addition to the fact that it's

3:16:07required because something else might

3:16:09change or an engineering approach might

3:16:11be able to be put on a different uh

3:16:13situation and I know I'm talking to

3:16:15generalities but that that's the process

3:16:17and so what we found out as council

3:16:19member Kane raised is that we picked

3:16:23this originally meadow and and

3:16:26Charleston and council approved that

3:16:28because we thought it was going to be

3:16:29the least impact on property

3:16:32acquisitions that was one of the

3:16:34drivers. Remember there was like what

3:16:35was it? H was it ABC D G? All these

3:16:38things was like 15 different choices. We

3:16:40got it down and looked at these things

3:16:41in excruciating detail as did council

3:16:43and we found out that the hypothesis

3:16:46unfortunately was wrong. That that one

3:16:48was going to still have a property

3:16:49acquisition. So now we have to react to

3:16:51that. Also you found that there was a

3:16:54bunch of utility stuff underground there

3:16:56that wasn't even known. So a whole new

3:16:59explor exploration and uh discovery uh

3:17:03came about from getting to this 15%. So

3:17:05I think we got our money's worth out of

3:17:07going to 15%. Uh which is going to cause

3:17:09us to shift. And so that what that means

3:17:13is that yes the underpass that has been

3:17:16very well described visually and um with

3:17:20uh comments and thank the public for

3:17:22that. uh it now does have to be uh back

3:17:25back in the picture uh because that

3:17:27could be an alternative that has to be

3:17:30evaluated. Um but now but now we do go

3:17:33on to the uh 35% to see what we what we

3:17:37get out of that. So I I think it's sort

3:17:40of relative tonight we we really should

3:17:43just get behind the fact that we we have

3:17:45to move on with 35%

3:17:47and make some new judgments when we get

3:17:50to that point. um but add in the uh

3:17:53review of the underpass. So, it seems to

3:17:55me like that's sort of the task in front

3:17:57of us tonight and we all the public and

3:17:59the council get another strong look at

3:18:01this at 35% or maybe even before.

3:18:05Thanks,

3:18:08>> Council Member Lou. Uh actually just to

3:18:11confirm and react to council member

3:18:12Lowing's point uh you're proposing that

3:18:15we move forward and at 35%

3:18:18uh depending on what we find out about

3:18:20the meadow hybrid revisit a meadow

3:18:23underpass potentially. Okay. Uh thank

3:18:27you. Um just a couple of preliminary

3:18:29thoughts and then some questions. Uh I

3:18:31agree that Charleston is our primary

3:18:33priority. I think uh on Meadow

3:18:37uh I

3:18:41uh I I I think the findings and what

3:18:45you've shown really sort of conform to

3:18:47what I expected in terms of

3:18:51costs

3:18:53impact of the shoefly track and these

3:18:56are uh really uh

3:18:59uh obviously trade-offs with serious

3:19:01downsides but they are largely what I

3:19:02expected. So, I'm uh happy to move

3:19:05forward with 35%. Uh I think potentially

3:19:09at 35% I could be open to re looking at

3:19:13an underpass, but

3:19:16I don't expect to be in that spot. I'm

3:19:18not sure uh what uh

3:19:22uh what else we might be looking for. Um

3:19:26uh

3:19:28yeah. Uh so uh not as excited as council

3:19:33member Lawing on that point. I do want

3:19:36to ask about Churchill. Um

3:19:42and I think I understand our grant

3:19:44situation.

3:19:47Our grants carry us through 35%

3:19:49engineering.

3:19:52If at a later point we wanted to do 35%

3:19:55engineering for a second option, would

3:19:57our grants be able to cover that for the

3:19:59same uh grade crossing? And uh

3:20:05uh would we also just have enough money

3:20:07in grant funding to potentially allow

3:20:09studying a second option?

3:20:14I'd say it's less likely that there

3:20:15would be sufficient funding for a second

3:20:17option. Um I I think it would just

3:20:20depend on whether we're talking about a

3:20:22variation or a wholesale

3:20:25completely different uh design. Okay.

3:20:29Where I'm thinking is that on Churchill

3:20:32uh I would prioritize Charleston and

3:20:34Meadow over Churchill and I think it

3:20:36would therefore be extraordinarily

3:20:38unlikely we actually have the funding to

3:20:40do the full 400 million plus on

3:20:43Churchill as an underpass.

3:20:46I would be interested in exploring

3:20:48Churchill as a uh permanent closure.

3:20:51There has been community demand for a

3:20:53permanent closure in the past. The cost

3:20:55estimates in the past were more in that

3:20:57$und00 million range.

3:21:00I'm not sure that a permanent closure

3:21:02for Churchill would be likely. I'm not

3:21:04sure we would actually have the funds to

3:21:05do that reasonably soon, but I think the

3:21:08likelihood that we do a church

3:21:11or I probably just misspoke there. I

3:21:13think the likelihood we do a Churchill

3:21:15underpass is extraordinarily unlikely. I

3:21:17think the likelihood we do a Churchill

3:21:19closure is not necessarily super likely,

3:21:22but um

3:21:25uh you know significantly more than very

3:21:28low or like zeroish. And so in my mind,

3:21:32the return on investment we would get

3:21:33from studying a Churchill uh permanent

3:21:36closure, even if it's not super likely

3:21:40at this point, could actually be

3:21:42positive. whereas I am less sure we

3:21:45would actually get value from the

3:21:47underpass.

3:21:49Sorry, I stumbled over my words a little

3:21:51bit there. Um, but I want to approach

3:21:54that idea to the council that

3:21:5735% of something we have a less than 10%

3:22:00chance of implementing is probably not

3:22:03as good as a 35% engineering something

3:22:06we actually have some chance.

3:22:08Well, in the case of a Churchill un uh

3:22:11pedestrian and bicycle underpass, in

3:22:13other words, closure with an underpass,

3:22:15that can be um written into the project

3:22:18description for the environmental review

3:22:20as it's effectively within the same

3:22:22footprint as the vehicular um underpass

3:22:26for the most part. And so, that's

3:22:27something that could be an option. Um,

3:22:30it wouldn't necessarily mean designing

3:22:32it uh to 35% for that Charleston closure

3:22:36or sorry, Churchill closure, but it

3:22:39could be written from an environmental

3:22:40review perspective to allow for that and

3:22:43provide the city that option. Um, and

3:22:46that would essentially environmentally

3:22:48clear it and then be able to advance

3:22:51that design at that time.

3:22:55Interesting. And going back at this

3:22:57point to uh study a Churchill closure

3:23:00with the bike ped under crossing, would

3:23:03that be

3:23:05uh

3:23:07potentially

3:23:08like what are the parameters or

3:23:09downsides of that? Would that exceed our

3:23:11grant funding? Would that take too long?

3:23:13Um can you help me understand?

3:23:15From an environmental review

3:23:17perspective, it's effectively the same

3:23:18footprint. In fact, it's smaller

3:23:20footprint than the vehicular partial

3:23:22underpass. And so in that case it would

3:23:25just be about making sure that the

3:23:27studies were um evaluating

3:23:31um effectively that footprint and the

3:23:33function in a similar manner.

3:23:35>> Um so if I'm understanding the question

3:23:37I think there might be two parts. One of

3:23:38them is the design and one of them is

3:23:40the environmental review. So in terms of

3:23:42environmental review both a closure and

3:23:44a and a bicycle pedestrian undercrossing

3:23:46at Churchill are smaller in footprint

3:23:48than the option that we're now

3:23:50considering. And so those could be

3:23:53incorporated potentially into the

3:23:56analysis for the environmental review.

3:23:58In terms of the design, we're currently

3:24:00on the track uh for completing the 35%

3:24:03as part of our funding obligations. I

3:24:05mean our grant obligations. Um and to

3:24:08add an additional

3:24:11design option would likely delay that

3:24:14and that could jeopardize our funding.

3:24:16So if if there's further design work um

3:24:20it would it may and that if that that

3:24:22wants to be the council wants to

3:24:24consider down the track then what we

3:24:27would suggest is um delaying that till

3:24:30afterwards but making sure that the

3:24:32environmental review does not preclude

3:24:33those different options. Okay, that's

3:24:35helpful. I would be interested in having

3:24:37the environmental review uh study that

3:24:39option and uh would uh want to proceed

3:24:43in the sort of stable predictable path

3:24:46that actually lets us study lets us

3:24:49engineer something um uh otherwise

3:24:54I had one other question but I'll hold

3:24:56on that for another round or okay um

3:25:01there was some discussion in the rail

3:25:03committee meeting also about pushing on

3:25:07design standards and freight uh [snorts]

3:25:10for example uh grade steepness that

3:25:14would be required and how that could

3:25:15change assumptions and really materially

3:25:17also affect cost. So, as we do 35%

3:25:21engineering, I might be just sort of

3:25:23beating a dead horse, but are we able to

3:25:27are we pushing appropriately on both Cal

3:25:29Train and freight design standards? And

3:25:33uh can we make sure that that is part of

3:25:3635% engineering like that? We are really

3:25:38pushing on that. Um can you give some

3:25:41context on how we think about that?

3:25:45Well, um standards and best practices

3:25:49usually with regards to freight and

3:25:50railroad design is for safe operation of

3:25:52the railroad. Um now there are um

3:25:55circumstances in which we look for ways

3:25:57in which the design can still meet those

3:25:59objectives um and be able to stay within

3:26:02the uh the requirements as as much as

3:26:05possible. For example, the vertical

3:26:06clearances requirements and looking for

3:26:08ways to be able to reduce those with for

3:26:10example.

3:26:12Um so there there are ways in which we

3:26:14we will explore those as part of 35%

3:26:17design. Uh

3:26:22and and so yes that is those are um

3:26:26design variances that will be explored

3:26:29um through the process and documented

3:26:31for as opportunities.

3:26:34Okay. Okay. So, we'll document the

3:26:35opportunities, but we won't necessarily

3:26:37push on uh incorporating them any into

3:26:40the 35% designs

3:26:43as as long as they can stay within their

3:26:44requirements. For example, the vertical

3:26:45clearance, we can we can say reduce it

3:26:48down to 15 1.5 ft and provide a

3:26:50sacrificial beam. That's an option that

3:26:52will be explored. So, right now, we're

3:26:54at 16 1/2 ft, meeting the the the exact

3:26:56requirement uh uh from the engineering

3:26:59standard. And so now we're going to be

3:27:02exploring at 15 and a half with that

3:27:03sacrificial beam so that we can protect

3:27:05the asset. The bridge is what's being

3:27:07protected, right? If the bridge is

3:27:08struck and put out a commission, then

3:27:10that could affect rail service. So we

3:27:13look for ways to be able to do that um

3:27:15to be able to meet the intent of the

3:27:17requirement in this case protecting the

3:27:20bridge. Okay. Uh yeah, that's helpful

3:27:23context and I would definitely encourage

3:27:24us to um within reason push on any uh or

3:27:30or look into design variance st uh

3:27:32standards that uh accomplish the goals

3:27:34that are sort of obvious in terms of

3:27:36making uh property takings less

3:27:38impactful, hybrid uh wall heights lower,

3:27:41things like that. Thank you.

3:27:50>> All right. Well, thank you colleagues

3:27:51for asking several questions. I wanted

3:27:53to ask it was very helpful. Um, all

3:27:57right. So, we've established that the uh

3:27:59the grant funding uh covers uh us

3:28:01through the 35% engineering. So, we

3:28:04don't have to worry about uh additional

3:28:06hundreds of thousands of dollars that

3:28:07come out of our coffers. We have that uh

3:28:10available. Um,

3:28:16I wanted to just clarify. Um, the staff

3:28:18report mentions that if we were to end

3:28:21up doing the, uh, sequential option, the

3:28:23Charleston and then Meadow, uh, that the

3:28:26shoefly would be deferred until the the

3:28:28Meadow option. I'm just curious um when

3:28:33and for how long would the shoefly

3:28:35tracks be there out of the the your

3:28:38project estimate is x years and I assume

3:28:40that it's a smaller chunk of time. It is

3:28:43so for this for the concurrent

3:28:45construction of Meadow and Charleston

3:28:47that's a 5year construction period of

3:28:49which uh two and a half to three years

3:28:52would be to fly uh operation

3:28:56>> and if it were deferred

3:28:58>> if it were be deferred so that it

3:29:01becomes a 9-year construction period for

3:29:05four years for Charleston 5 years for

3:29:08Meadow of which 2 and a half to three

3:29:11years would the shoefly operations.

3:29:13>> So either way, whether it's current or

3:29:16sequential, the shoefly would be there

3:29:18for two and a half to three years.

3:29:19>> That is correct.

3:29:20>> Okay.

3:29:20>> And and that's one of the reasons why

3:29:22when when you see the comparison, if you

3:29:25don't mind going back to that slide, um

3:29:28>> slide 18, please.

3:29:42the shoe actually allows for expedited

3:29:46construction of Charleston.

3:29:48So it was in the concurrent um delivery

3:29:52of Charleston and Meadow. We looked for

3:29:54the opportunity to be able to make the

3:29:56shoe fly slightly longer so that

3:29:58Charleston could be constructed faster.

3:30:02Um, and so that's why you're able to

3:30:04compress effectively 9 years of worth of

3:30:06construction into five. That was what

3:30:09the request was to see how to be able to

3:30:12become innovative in being able to

3:30:14deliver these crossings in a more um

3:30:18schedule and cost-effective manner.

3:30:21>> I see. Thank you. Um,

3:30:24and I I know you had some of the traffic

3:30:27slides and charts up there a little bit

3:30:28ago. I I did not review them before

3:30:31tonight though and I'm trying to

3:30:33remember. My memory is uh that there

3:30:35were greater traffic issues at

3:30:36Charleston than Meadow on average. Is

3:30:38that right?

3:30:40>> That's accurate.

3:30:41>> Yeah. And um

3:30:44I remember part of why we were looking

3:30:46at the Charleston is we thought you know

3:30:49perhaps you know again that we have this

3:30:51moving backdrop but uh depending on what

3:30:54happens with population depending on

3:30:56what happens with work patterns um

3:30:59depending on what happens with um train

3:31:02schedules um that traffic will be

3:31:06different uh by the time the project is

3:31:07finished than than it is now. Um, so

3:31:12it's possible that, you know, doing the

3:31:14Charleston only might be good enough,

3:31:16uh, or not, or at least at that point we

3:31:18could weigh, I think, was the idea. Uh,

3:31:21is it good enough to, uh, to go through,

3:31:24uh, or or should we go through more

3:31:25years, more money? Um, but I appreciate

3:31:28this, uh, effort here to look at

3:31:30compressing it. Looks like the dollars

3:31:32didn't get compressed a lot, but the

3:31:33time period got compressed if we do them

3:31:35concurrently. Um but uh I don't know. I

3:31:40I think that's I I do like um the idea

3:31:45of sequencing it especially when I look

3:31:48at these numbers on this slide up here

3:31:50and uh the far right one we could make a

3:31:53more informed decision and uh at that

3:31:56point. So um looking at that I mean when

3:32:00we consider it was traffic reasons and

3:32:02safety reasons we were doing this in the

3:32:04first place talked about traffic with

3:32:08safety we've we've learned a lot already

3:32:10in the last few years and and in the

3:32:13last year or so and with the

3:32:15anti-intrusion technology and the track

3:32:18monitors

3:32:20that is uh improved. It's not as good as

3:32:23grade, of course. Um, but it seems to

3:32:27me, um, if we limit the number of

3:32:31non-separated crossings, we can also be

3:32:34better at really focusing in on safety

3:32:36at those non-separated crossings. So, I

3:32:40appreciate that. you know, I I think we

3:32:42were wise to to go this direction and I

3:32:44would like to continue to pursue this

3:32:46direction because um I think there's

3:32:49there's a decent chance that we um get

3:32:51to the next engineering level, we look

3:32:53at that and uh you know, perhaps it

3:32:56isn't all of the crossings at that

3:32:58point. Um and I think that's an op a

3:33:00decision we can make then, right? Yeah.

3:33:04So, um, so all we're doing tonight is

3:33:06is, uh, deciding whether we take, uh,

3:33:10and and and we're on track to do it as

3:33:11we've discussed with the grant funding

3:33:13council member Lowing laid out. Um,

3:33:16go pursue the 35% for these same four

3:33:20options, right? And just

3:33:23>> I apologize. Can you restate that?

3:33:25>> So, um, so we're so this is direction to

3:33:28move forward with the 35% on the four

3:33:31options, right? So, including the

3:33:33Charleston Road only.

3:33:34>> Yes.

3:33:34>> And and including the sequential.

3:33:37>> Correct.

3:33:37>> Yeah. Okay. Um, no, I think that's I

3:33:40think that's the wise thing to do. I,

3:33:42you know, want the public to understand

3:33:44nothing is being by continuing to look

3:33:46at these. There's a lot of different

3:33:47ways we can go with the South Palto

3:33:49crossings. And, um, I think we'll just

3:33:53make a more informed decision. And I do

3:33:55recall uh uh as council member Liscott

3:33:58Hayes lifted up that we were really

3:34:00reluctant to um

3:34:03lock into something that would have uh

3:34:07whole property um exercise takings over

3:34:10those. So um okay, those are all the

3:34:14questions I have. Let me go back to uh

3:34:17Council Member Lowing.

3:34:18>> Yes, thanks. [clears throat] Um just

3:34:21want to go back to uh customer Lou's uh

3:34:23conversation about but taking a look at

3:34:26um Charleston. I'm sorry now I did it in

3:34:29reverse. Uh Churchill. Um so first of

3:34:32all council's uh rail committee and with

3:34:35with council's knowledge they sort of

3:34:37back burnered Churchill entirely. So

3:34:40that makes it already sort of priority

3:34:42number three and we're trying to figure

3:34:44out how we can get enough money to do

3:34:46priority number one. So, I don't I don't

3:34:48think that should really be on the table

3:34:50for any more uh investigation beyond

3:34:52what we have to do with the grant. Um,

3:34:55and then I also just want to emphasize

3:34:57that we just did a lot of research in a

3:34:59short amount of time, but really good

3:35:00deep research on whether we should close

3:35:03Churchill and the unanimous decision was

3:35:05we should not because that's going to

3:35:07create much bigger safety problems for

3:35:11the rest of the community on both sides

3:35:13of the track. So I don't I don't think

3:35:15resurrecting that question is should be

3:35:17on the table for any any uh time

3:35:19investment. Um, [clears throat] so where

3:35:23where I think we're going to end up

3:35:25after we go through here, and this is

3:35:26just predicting, but we've had

3:35:27discussions with this in public in the

3:35:29rail committee, is that, you know,

3:35:31Church Churchill, I said it right this

3:35:33time, is back murdered. And if we can

3:35:35figure out one of these pro probably

3:35:38Charleston uh to do at a mere 500

3:35:41million, uh, that that's probably going

3:35:43to be the logical action plan, but we

3:35:46have to go through the 35% engineering

3:35:49to get there. uh and that's what we

3:35:51would fund in sort of my lifetime. Uh

3:35:54and that's because of where we started

3:35:56this conversation a while ago with uh

3:35:58council Bert's recap that the

3:36:00[clears throat] demand factors have

3:36:02changed substantially and so we don't

3:36:04have the pressure on doing three fast.

3:36:06Not that we can do it fast anyway. Uh

3:36:08and we save a lot of money and we save

3:36:10massive construction time of many many

3:36:12years uh impacted on our on our

3:36:15community. So I I think the right thing

3:36:17to do is go forward with uh staff

3:36:19recommendation and and real committee

3:36:21recommendation and just move on to the

3:36:2335%.

3:36:27>> Council member Bert.

3:36:29>> Thank you. Um so first I'll I'll follow

3:36:32up on um Council Member Lowing's

3:36:35comments. Uh when the XCAP committee had

3:36:40evaluated

3:36:41uh if Churchill was closed, it was not

3:36:44only in conjunction with a bike and ped

3:36:47underpass at that location, I should say

3:36:50closed to vehicles, uh but extensive

3:36:53rebuilding of Embaradero.

3:36:55And so you can't look at one without the

3:36:57other. So, I encourage uh Council Member

3:37:00Lou to review that because

3:37:03um one that was not fully flushed out on

3:37:06what mitigations would be needed in

3:37:08Barkadero, how much of a complete

3:37:10rebuild of that. Uh but it um between

3:37:14those two measures, we're in all

3:37:16likelihood talking hundreds of millions

3:37:18of dollars that we don't have. Um so uh

3:37:22the other issue related to that is um

3:37:27one of the primary reasons that we've

3:37:29been looking at grade separations was

3:37:31not only the mobility of the community

3:37:33but the safety and as we know we've put

3:37:36in place a series of uh safety

3:37:39improvements um uh at not only fencing

3:37:44at all the uh basically our entire

3:37:47community is now fenced uh public areas

3:37:50are a fence with high security fencing

3:37:53uh but at grade security uh measures

3:37:57others that are in the works and being

3:37:58explored at Cal Train and then very

3:38:01importantly the track uh guards and uh

3:38:06we have never had a uh a uh suicide at a

3:38:12location when we had track guards

3:38:13present. Uh and that has continued since

3:38:16we put them in place. From a cost

3:38:19standpoint, it's important to just look

3:38:22at that context of um what is the annual

3:38:27cost of uh track guards compared to uh

3:38:32grade separating the four locations

3:38:35which would need or be needed for um uh

3:38:39uh complete grade separation. Well,

3:38:42first even that does not address the um

3:38:47the safety and security at stations and

3:38:50that would still be an issue. But from a

3:38:54cost standpoint of which the city is

3:38:56sharing the cost currently with the

3:38:58school district

3:39:00for the cost of grade separating four

3:39:02locations, we literally could pay for

3:39:06GRA track guards for 1,000 years.

3:39:10That's the cost comparison there. And so

3:39:13when we think

3:39:15track guards on a sustained basis at

3:39:18maybe three locations, is that

3:39:21sustainable? Uh compared to the cost of

3:39:24of the infrastructure construction, it

3:39:26is many orders of magnitude different.

3:39:30Um

3:39:32so I I did want to go back to uh some of

3:39:34the other issues. Um, one is that

3:39:40uh at Charleston uh one of the main

3:39:43problems that we discussed and has been

3:39:46looked at by uh payback is the

3:39:48serpentine

3:39:50um uh section for bicycles on the west

3:39:55side of the tracks. As Edgar pointed out

3:39:58or acknowledged during the um rail

3:40:02committee meeting, that remains a

3:40:04problem that we are trying to reduce. Um

3:40:08one of the questions I had was at least

3:40:10for pedestrians,

3:40:12is there a possibility of having a

3:40:14stairway that would reduce the uh the

3:40:16serpentine travel? And and the answer is

3:40:19that has not yet been explored, but it

3:40:21is something that uh can be going

3:40:23forward. Um but that remains a challenge

3:40:26of that location. Um the pros and cons

3:40:31of um of hybrid versus underpass. We we

3:40:36didn't talk tonight about why uh why not

3:40:41an underpass at Meadow. And Edgar, if

3:40:44you can briefly uh speak to any

3:40:46constraints there. is I also recall I

3:40:50think it's a related issue of a dog leg

3:40:53in the cow train ride rightway that

3:40:55further complicates matters.

3:40:58>> Yes, the the rideway does jog there.

3:41:01It's just a legacy issue from Southern

3:41:04Pacific um many years ago.

3:41:07>> Meadow Meadow. Yes. So it does change

3:41:10from a essentially a 100 foot rideaway

3:41:12down to I believe 90 ft and it it it

3:41:16shifts um for whatever reason it shifts

3:41:19there

3:41:20>> by shifts it actually moves to the east.

3:41:24Correct.

3:41:24>> Uh moves to the west as

3:41:25>> you're going south.

3:41:26>> Oh you go south. Yes. Correct. As you go

3:41:28south it moves east. Um and so there is

3:41:31a challenge there with regards to the

3:41:33space that's available. Also, when we

3:41:35start talking about the ramps going from

3:41:37Meadow uh north, providing that access

3:41:40to Alma, there are some challenges there

3:41:42with u not just the property impacts of

3:41:45the multif family home creating the

3:41:47space, but also um potential impacts to

3:41:51um or effects on the buildings that are

3:41:54uh essentially commercial buildings

3:41:55there on the east side. Um there's also

3:41:58challenges just in general with those

3:42:00ramps u and the construction of those

3:42:03further to the north.

3:42:06>> Thank you. Um we have uh discussed the

3:42:11construction impacts uh which you know

3:42:14throughout these number of years uh

3:42:16there's been a lot of focus on what

3:42:20would be the impacts to the community

3:42:22after construction and often not enough

3:42:25on the during construction. And I really

3:42:27want to uh express my appreciation for

3:42:30the consultants really emphasizing those

3:42:33construction impacts is that is

3:42:35potentially horrendous. The greatest

3:42:38ones would be with uh the shoefly

3:42:40impacts. Um but that also the the hybrid

3:42:45is the one that has the lowest property

3:42:48impacts and that was the big trade-off.

3:42:50It remains a significant trade-off. So

3:42:53the uh the hybrid has arguably uh

3:42:57long-term impacts of the physical

3:43:00barrier and construction impacts as

3:43:03well. Um and uh but has fewer property

3:43:07impacts uh long-term uh well property

3:43:11impacts for both construction period and

3:43:14permanently. Is that correct?

3:43:15>> Yes, that's correct.

3:43:16>> Okay. Um and then um

3:43:26oh one other thing I should have

3:43:28mentioned or asked about on the bicycle

3:43:30and ped undercrossing at Charleston is

3:43:35that there are you discuss uh we have

3:43:38the the width of the of the bike and ped

3:43:41underpass. what is the ceiling height of

3:43:44that underpass? Because these factors

3:43:47that both the well I should say the

3:43:49slope and the ceiling and they're ideal

3:43:53slopes and ceilings and then

3:43:57uh acceptable and the difference impacts

3:44:00how long of a ramp you need and that

3:44:02whole serpentine challenge.

3:44:05>> Yes. to be able to uh avoid um landings

3:44:09and for the ramp and be able to

3:44:12essentially making it longer. We try to

3:44:14keep it under 5% grade for pedestrians

3:44:18and cyclists. Uh so that's a much calmer

3:44:21uh grade uh but still

3:44:23>> under 5%

3:44:24>> under 5% uh for for those grades. And

3:44:27then if I recall correctly, we're we're

3:44:29trying to pull up the drawings really

3:44:31quick. I believe the vertical clearance

3:44:33uh we tried to keep it just above eight

3:44:36feet closer to nine feet. Um the ideal

3:44:38is 10, eight is a little tight. Uh but

3:44:41we're we're looking to be able to see

3:44:43what that could be

3:44:45and and out of the grade range. Um is 5%

3:44:50ruled out or just preferred not to go

3:44:53that steep? uh once you go beyond 5%

3:44:57then you need to provide landings uh so

3:45:00that there's essentially comfortable

3:45:02space right they can go up the the ramp

3:45:05take a break if necessary uh and then be

3:45:07able to continue um and then there's

3:45:09also other requirements with regards to

3:45:11handrails uh and so we that then makes

3:45:14the space a little bit more constrained

3:45:16keeping it under 5% um is able to um

3:45:21reduce those particular um ADA

3:45:25requirements

3:45:27on that space.

3:45:28>> Okay. Thanks. And I did want to u just

3:45:30emphasize the value of slide 16 where uh

3:45:36Edgar went through the risks associated

3:45:39with costs for each of the stages of

3:45:43design that as we go to a different the

3:45:46progression on stages we've reduced the

3:45:49risk. And I just want to point out that

3:45:52risks in project estimates have costs

3:45:56associated with them. So the more

3:46:00uncertainty there is, the bigger bucket

3:46:02of unknown dollars that gets built into

3:46:05the estimate. As you move to the right

3:46:07in that and things go from unknowns to

3:46:10known or at least greater confidence,

3:46:15then an actual dollar amount gets

3:46:17assigned to that factor. But a dollar

3:46:20amount gets subtracted from the bucket

3:46:23of uncertainties.

3:46:25And that's what we're going to be going

3:46:27through in this process. Not only

3:46:29understanding the design and the

3:46:31impacts, but having a more uh refined

3:46:35understanding of of the costs. Um,

3:46:40and uh let's see. Think I'm about there.

3:46:44Um,

3:46:52oh, I the the staff pointed out to um uh

3:46:57the the Q&A responses that they had and

3:47:00they're in attachment D and we can't

3:47:03read them in the printed copy because

3:47:05the font's so small, but they are very

3:47:07informative and um there's a lot there

3:47:13that's only a few pages in the packet

3:47:15because it's so uh small print, but um

3:47:19there is a lot there for the public to

3:47:21be able to see how their questions were

3:47:24captured and meaningful answers

3:47:26provided. And so I really encourage uh

3:47:29everybody to take a hard look at that.

3:47:32Um

3:47:35and I I'll just one other thing on the

3:47:37on the funding availability. Um, we had

3:47:40in the slide under measure B, I think it

3:47:44was 325 to $350 million. Um, and, uh,

3:47:50that's actually a little bit

3:47:51conservative, I believe. Uh, but it's

3:47:53right in the ballpark. Uh, we just at

3:47:56VTA got an update on the measure B

3:47:59long-term sales tax projections. They

3:48:02think that

3:48:04the the latest for our portion is 390 to

3:48:09400 million before we spend any of it.

3:48:13And we've already spent some of it on

3:48:15this and on previous work, but we're

3:48:18probably a little over 350 million

3:48:21available um from measure B uh which

3:48:26gets us a long ways toward one grade

3:48:28separation. So, thank you,

3:48:31>> Council Member Li.

3:48:33>> Thank you. Uh,

3:48:36>> just to very briefly respond to uh a

3:48:38couple points by Council Member Low and

3:48:40Council Member Bert. Totally understand

3:48:42the uh Churchill closure with

3:48:45mitigations and the bike pad crossing

3:48:48had several asterisks to it was not uh

3:48:52involves work on Embaradero.

3:48:54um uh you know to some extent I'm sort

3:48:57of an optimizer and the way I was

3:48:59thinking about this is I think there is

3:49:01an almost a 0% chance that we actually

3:49:04build a Churchill underpass. I think you

3:49:07know in the decade plus maybe there's a

3:49:115% chance 10% chance we pose Churchill

3:49:14with mitigations depending on uh how

3:49:17traffic evolves depending on uh safety

3:49:20risks and you know continued confidence

3:49:23in our safety systems I don't think it's

3:49:25a high percentage

3:49:27I would normally uh you know just sort

3:49:30of leave it at that but given that we

3:49:32are sort of to some extent playing with

3:49:34house money on

3:49:36studies that and environmental reviews

3:49:38that wouldn't ordinarily cost millions

3:49:39of dollars. Uh I want to flag the open

3:49:42question of uh you know the expected

3:49:46value of spending millions of dollars on

3:49:47a project with 0% likelihood is zero.

3:49:50The expected value of spending the money

3:49:52on a project with 10% 5% likelihood okay

3:49:56maybe after you maybe if it's that low

3:49:59it's not that high but it's still better

3:50:01than zero. So that's sort of where I was

3:50:04coming from. Uh uh and sort of

3:50:07understanding the context uh of the

3:50:11funding.

3:50:12Uh I sort of agree maybe with the vibe

3:50:14in the room that the most by far the

3:50:16most likely outcome and maybe my

3:50:18preferred outcome at this point is just

3:50:19to do Charleston only. But uh

3:50:24I think including a Churchill closure in

3:50:30an environmental study is

3:50:34just getting some marginal value out of

3:50:36something that uh otherwise is like

3:50:39almost no value. So I would like to move

3:50:42the staff recommendation

3:50:44and would we need any addendum to

3:50:46include potential study of a Churchill

3:50:49closure in with the bike pad underpass

3:50:52in the scope of the EI for Churchill

3:50:56or is that just sort of the plan

3:50:58already?

3:51:03I

3:51:04I don't know if it needs a formal

3:51:07motion. I think we would just we would

3:51:09request that the project description be

3:51:11reviewed and brought back to council uh

3:51:14for the Churchill underpass and and

3:51:18to get your concurrence on that.

3:51:22>> I'm not sure if I've totally followed

3:51:24that. In other words, sorry.

3:51:29No, I I would also just caution. I mean,

3:51:31we're we're early in the process, but I

3:51:33would caution on making assumptions

3:51:34about the form of environmental review,

3:51:37you know, whether it will be an EI or

3:51:39something else.

3:51:40>> Oh, yes. Fair. You're right.

3:51:42>> Yeah.

3:51:50Uh my understanding is that just

3:51:52including that option in some

3:51:54environmental study doesn't cost more.

3:51:56and uh

3:51:59there was some likelihood it was just

3:52:00part of the default plan and I just

3:52:02wanted to check uh

3:52:04>> so just clarifying uh we don't

3:52:06necessarily need to do that today that

3:52:08could come back with a project

3:52:09description when we're at the

3:52:10environmental stage is that correct

3:52:13>> okay so right not at this stage uh uh so

3:52:17that's fine um then I'll just move the

3:52:20staff recommendation

3:52:23>> second

3:52:24>> right thank you and I just going to ask

3:52:27um and so we're not talking additional

3:52:30budget needs for what council member Lou

3:52:32is describing that would be covered with

3:52:34what we have now.

3:52:35>> Okay,

3:52:35>> that's correct.

3:52:36>> All right. Uh Council Member Bert.

3:52:39>> Yes. Um I think uh Edgar said earlier we

3:52:43may want to include in the motion uh if

3:52:46we want to uh have the traffic diversion

3:52:51the impact of on traffic of Charleston

3:52:56only. Uh if if that was to be studied we

3:52:59should include that.

3:53:01So, I would propose that uh get added to

3:53:04the motion that um

3:53:08uh there be an evaluation of the

3:53:12uh traffic impacts of constructing

3:53:16Charleston only.

3:53:20>> Yep.

3:53:24>> Both the mover and second are good with

3:53:26that.

3:53:30Further comment?

3:53:31>> No, I don't think so.

3:53:34>> Council member Lith. Thank you, Mayor. I

3:53:36just wanted to clarify um Council Member

3:53:38Lou's request because what I thought I

3:53:41heard you say, Council Member, when you

3:53:43were making your comments was um

3:53:50well, you proposed closure of Church

3:53:52Hill with the under with a bike ped

3:53:55tunnel, but then I thought Mr. Torres

3:53:57said the bike ped tunnel could be

3:54:00studied as a part of the Church Hill

3:54:03conversation because it's the same

3:54:05footprint for a tunnel versus uh it's a

3:54:08narrower version of what we're we're

3:54:10already planning for the vehicles. But

3:54:12does the closure piece does closing the

3:54:15road um also fit I just want to double

3:54:18check that that also fits under the same

3:54:22footprint analysis.

3:54:26the traffic itself would be different

3:54:30and that can be analyzed similarly to

3:54:33Charleston. Um but in terms of the

3:54:36footprint it would effectively physical

3:54:38footprint and the environmental review

3:54:39for those resources would be the same.

3:54:43>> Okay. Thank you.

3:54:46Any further discussion?

3:54:49All right. Seeing none, uh would you

3:54:50please call the role?

3:54:54Council member Les Haynes,

3:54:56>> yes.

3:54:56>> Council member Lowing.

3:54:59>> Council member Burton,

3:55:00>> yes.

3:55:01>> Mayor Vinker,

3:55:02>> yes.

3:55:02>> Council member Lou,

3:55:03>> yes.

3:55:04>> Vice Mayor Stone,

3:55:05>> yes.

3:55:07>> Motion carries

3:55:096

3:55:11with council member rectal recus.

3:55:15>> All right. Thank you. And we're even 15

3:55:16minutes ahead of time. And I will note

3:55:18that my screen just went out. So, Vice

3:55:20Mayor, I hope I didn't overlook you and

3:55:21your hand raised. No. Okay. [laughter]

3:55:25Excellent. All right. So, let's go to

3:55:27our final uh item, virtual public

3:55:30comment for matters not on the agenda.

3:55:32Madam clerk, do we have any

3:55:37>> about public comments?

3:55:42>> We did that earlier, but you're out of

3:55:43order.

3:55:47>> We have one request to speak.

3:55:51>> We did that earlier. You need to Okay.

3:55:54Okay.

3:55:56>> You you actually spoke during that. So,

3:55:58we'll move on to virtual public comment.

3:56:00>> Thank you.

3:56:00>> Our first speaker is Roland.

3:56:07>> Um hello again, Madame Mayor and

3:56:09Council. Well, so the reason I'm

3:56:12reaching out to you very briefly is I'm

3:56:14wondering um if the city of Palo Alto

3:56:18would um consider enabling u Zoom

3:56:22transcript uh feature uh which is

3:56:25extremely useful in the in the age of AI

3:56:28because AI can read transcript but right

3:56:31now they're not capable to watch videos

3:56:34and um um understand uh what's going on.

3:56:38Now I I do understand why council um

3:56:42advise you um to take um you know this

3:56:46precaution. is because transcripts are

3:56:48not accurate and you don't want people

3:56:52to get the impression that because they

3:56:54got this transcript you know this is now

3:56:56part of the record and I think the issue

3:56:58could be very um easily be addressed if

3:57:01you did the same thing as say for

3:57:03instance city of San Jose and I just

3:57:06have a small disclaimer saying you know

3:57:09we provide these to you as a courtesy

3:57:11but this is not part of the record and

3:57:14that eliminates the need for members of

3:57:16the public to subsequently reach out to

3:57:18you and request transcripts via P. Thank

3:57:21you and good night.

3:57:27>> Our next speaker is Aram J.

3:57:32>> How are you?

3:57:33>> Okay, so um I saw an out little outburst

3:57:36by uh Ed Lowing on the he said be quiet

3:57:40to somebody. But anyway, I really wanted

3:57:42to talk about his hypocrisy as a

3:57:44Zionist. He's so excited. Oh my god. To

3:57:48be able to plant trees in the grove over

3:57:51there at Lucy Stern, but has yet to talk

3:57:54about the 800,000

3:57:57olive trees that his wacko Zionists in

3:58:00Israel, the I the IDF, uh the the

3:58:05settlers. Why don't you speak out about

3:58:08that, Ed, so that you'll have some

3:58:10credibility when you so such glee about

3:58:13planting trees? the same thing when you

3:58:15talk so glowingly about the magic um m

3:58:22little park that they have for disabled

3:58:23kids and how wonderful it was for you to

3:58:25go over there. Well,

3:58:28the Zionist just this week wouldn't even

3:58:32allow

3:58:33wheelchairs in to children with

3:58:36amputated legs. Man, are you do you have

3:58:41any compassion for anybody other than

3:58:43your own people? Us Jews, look, it's

3:58:46time for you to speak out loud and

3:58:47clear. I'm so disgusted with you. Okay.

3:58:51Now, let me also move on to another

3:58:53issue really quickly. It's uh I

3:58:56characterize it as bigot

3:58:59Chang. I was minding my own business on

3:59:03the 19th when the debate was occurring

3:59:07over at the Presbyterian Church on

3:59:09Kalper Street, sitting by myself, which

3:59:12I often do at debates because I want to

3:59:14be able to hear and concentrate on

3:59:16what's going on. That woman rushed up on

3:59:19me uninvited, got in my face. I stayed

3:59:23seated. Okay? I didn't think it was

3:59:25going to be a good idea. She was

3:59:26standing for me to stand up and I didn't

3:59:28do that. Okay? And she still, you

3:59:31misinterpreted my words. I said, 'Look,

3:59:33I'm going to interpret your words

3:59:35whatever way I damn please. And then I

3:59:37said to her, why don't you take your two

3:59:40kids and your son and spend a week in an

3:59:42RV and then a non-sucker said, "Well, MY

3:59:44SON CAME MY MY husband came to Bolivia

3:59:46AND DIDN'T HAVE ANY FOOD." And I said,

3:59:48"You know what? You are such a

3:59:50self-righteous individual." and she

3:59:52walked off. But I'm going to ask and I

3:59:55don't know whether I'll be healthy

3:59:56enough on Thursday. If I come to the

3:59:58debate

4:00:00at the El PaloAlto room at Mitchell

4:00:02Park, it's going to be my request to

4:00:04her. You don't come up to me and you

4:00:06don't get in my face. Okay? Uh it's not

4:00:09a threat. I'm simply asking her as a

4:00:11matter of courtesy. I don't want you in

4:00:13my face. She leaned over in my face

4:00:17within inches. She was so tightly wound.

4:00:21That woman's got no business being on

4:00:23city council. She's a weirdo to say the

4:00:27least. Intense and certainly a racist.

4:00:30Thank you very much. You all have a good

4:00:32evening.

4:00:37>> Your time is up.

4:00:38>> That's how the council works.

4:00:39>> So, madame clerk, we're going to hold.

4:00:41So, uh the final speaker, Gan B, bear

4:00:44with us a moment while we regain order

4:00:46in chambers. Mr. Esquitz, I think you

4:00:48are looking for me to admonish you. I

4:00:51think you are looking for to have

4:00:52trouble. I think you are looking for us

4:00:54to get a reaction. You spoke earlier.

4:00:56You are entirely out of order. You

4:00:58interrupted Mr. Yes, you intered.

4:01:02>> That is I thought that's what you

4:01:04wanted.

4:01:05>> You want Mayor Vinker? I suggest that we

4:01:09um recess the meeting.

4:01:11>> Yes. So, Mr. Mr. Uh Jean B, we are going

4:01:15to recess because we we do not have

4:01:17decorum here and we will come back and

4:01:19listen to your speaker. Okay, we're

4:01:20recessing.

4:15:56And our last public speaker for uh Gan B

4:16:00has uh sent his uh comment and the madam

4:16:03clerk will please read it into the

4:16:04record.

4:16:06For the record, Gan B's public comment

4:16:09this evening for city council. As G. Lou

4:16:12was pointing out, we need to work

4:16:14through our contracts in detail to

4:16:16ensure all work is done necessary and

4:16:18all the necessary work is done. Re

4:16:21sunset magazine redevelopment. Licardo

4:16:24can lead the way, but we should be

4:16:26organizing locally. Citizens should turn

4:16:30out in protest. It is hard to understand

4:16:33how Bont chose to support this project.

4:16:37We must make clear that Palo Alto and MP

4:16:41will not become Putin's nest. He will

4:16:44become the number one local landlord if

4:16:46the project goes through. Best gene. And

4:16:49that concludes public comment for remote

4:16:51public comment not on the agenda.

4:16:54>> Thank you, madam clerk. Thank you to all

4:16:55our public commenters. Thank you for

4:16:57gene B for accommodating our

4:16:58circumstance in this respect. And we

4:17:00stand adjourned.