2026-10-19 - City Council Regular Meeting

18:28Recording in progress.

18:39>> Good evening. Going to call to order the

18:41October 19th, 2026 meeting of the Palo

18:45Alto City Council. Would you please call

18:46the role?

18:47>> Of course. Council member Lowing,

18:50>> yes.

18:50>> Council member Rall

18:52>> here. [laughter]

18:53>> Council member Lou

18:55>> here.

18:55>> Mayor Vinker

18:56>> here.

18:56>> Council member Burton

18:57>> here.

18:58>> Council member Leth,

18:59>> yes.

18:59>> Vice Mayor Stone

19:00>> here.

19:01>> For the bucket all present.

19:02>> I'm ready to go.

19:04>> All right. Well, thank you very much.

19:06All right. So, with that, it's my

19:07pleasure to move on to our first special

19:10order of the day, which is uh CalR

19:12presentation.

19:14So,

19:16welcome

19:20Good afternoon, mayor and council

19:22members. My name is Michelle Buchard.

19:23I'm the executive director at Calra. And

19:26uh I'm actually going to be

19:27co-presenting. Actually, Casey's going

19:29to be doing all the presenting. I'm just

19:31introducing Casey Brmpson, our chief of

19:33staff, is here. Um I did just want to

19:35introduce first of all, I wanted to

19:36thank the council so much for taking the

19:38time um to hear our story, which is been

19:43an amazing couple of years. Uh in

19:45September we celebrated our electrified

19:48service anniversary and you know we can

19:51just see how the public and the

19:53communities in which we operate are

19:55really responding to the enhanced

19:57service. Um and thank you very much

20:01council member Bert for serving on the

20:03Cal Train board. You will see much of

20:05what we're you've already seen much of

20:07what we're presenting today, but what

20:09what it we are going through a time of

20:12great expansion in terms of our

20:14wrership. We've hit 80% of precoid,

20:17including 200% over pre-COVID on the

20:20weekends. We were named the the uh uh

20:23country's fastest growing transit agency

20:26last year, and we are still seeing in

20:29excess of 20% growth year-over-year. So

20:32those results just speak for what an

20:35amazing smart investment $2.4 billion in

20:39Cal Train was to transform uh our

20:42corridor and we stand poised to continue

20:44to expand. Uh however, we do find

20:47ourselves in a position in which we have

20:49some financial troubles that are are

20:51facing us in the next fiscal year. And

20:54so with that, I just wanted to hand it

20:56over to Casey who will highlight some

20:58more good news and then really get to

20:59the nub of the financial uh situation

21:02that's facing us. Thank you.

21:05>> Hello. Good evening everyone. I know

21:07that as a council you're wellversed in a

21:09lot of Cal Train details, so I'm going

21:10to fly through the slides, but we really

21:11wanted to make sure that we are here in

21:13case you had any questions of where we

21:14are today and to give us feedback. Uh

21:16next slide, please. Uh so again, the one

21:19thing that I'll I'll point out here is

21:20the number down there with a

21:21favorability rating. you know, not just

21:24people riding the train, which you can

21:25see at a 91%, but people along the

21:27corridor have a deep appreciation for

21:29Cal Train and and our joke is 82% is up

21:32there with people liking libraries and

21:33babies. So, we're really proud of the

21:35work that we've done today and we want

21:36to continue that good work and the good

21:38service that we have out there. Next

21:40slide, please. Um, we recently received

21:43the award, the APTA outstanding public

21:45transportation system award. So, that is

21:47nationwide. Cal Train was picked for

21:49that honor and we really are so

21:51appreciative of all the people over the

21:52years that helped us get to this point

21:54especially for the electrification. I

21:56mean it's transformed the railroad and

21:58it's nice to see this type of national

22:00recognition for something that really

22:02was a a local effort. Next slide please.

22:06Calr is part of everybody's daily life

22:09and many different ways to get to work

22:11to school to events but on the next

22:13slide you can see we also have a big

22:16regional impact as well. Even if you are

22:18not on Cal Train, you appreciate the

22:20people that are because we are removing

22:22the equivalent of three freeway lanes

22:24worth of traffic every single day. And

22:27then on the economy side, we know that

22:29having Cal Train in place helps a local

22:31economy with higher property value,

22:33activity values near Cal Train stations.

22:36And we contribute to the downtown

22:38activations of all the communities up

22:40and down the corridor. And certainly as

22:42we think about our future and what type

22:44of region we want to leave behind,

22:46having an electrified service that

22:48produces clean air and something that we

22:51can really uh look back and feel proud

22:53of what we're leaving for the next

22:54generation. We made that investment and

22:56is now reaping benefits throughout the

22:58corridor and the communities that we

22:59serve. Next slide, please. We have all

23:02sorts of partnerships up and down the

23:04corridor. We have some of the major um

23:06capital ones you can see on the left

23:08there. We're not here to focus on that

23:10today, but we certainly know that you've

23:11been very engaged on on grade

23:13separations and other activities. And we

23:15have those from the north all the way

23:17down to the south, but on the right hand

23:19side, we're just highlighting that we're

23:20thinking differently. We know that we

23:22need to invest today in smart

23:24technology, things that are going to be

23:26cost effective, and we're doing that

23:28throughout the corridor. And we're happy

23:29to come back more and focus just on this

23:31topic. But certainly for cities that

23:33aren't as aware of this, we want to make

23:34sure that they know about some of these

23:36investments that we've already put in

23:37place in PaloAlto. Next slide, please.

23:40Um, the service is faster, more

23:43frequent, it's a better experience. And

23:45that last one, having a on-time

23:47performance of 95% means this is a

23:49service you can count on every single

23:51day to take you where you need to go.

23:53And that is one of the reasons that we

23:54really see the increase in wrership.

23:56Next slide, please.

23:58As Michelle said earlier, we're the

24:00fastest growing transit system in the

24:02US. And that's for a variety of reasons.

24:04You know, we're really proud of the

24:05youth that are now riding the system.

24:06Having a a dollar youth fair is having a

24:09whole new generation getting to know

24:11transit, riding it, and being uh able to

24:14navigate it well. And we also have a

24:16more diverse ridership there. You know,

24:18lowincome youth, seniors, people with

24:20disabilities. especially with a system

24:22that works and is so frequent, there's a

24:25lot of different people that can use it

24:26on a more regular basis. Next slide.

24:30Every single city along the corridor has

24:32seen an increase in ridership and so we

24:35have some of the numbers on here. Um,

24:37but that is again because we have this

24:39new system in place, we are getting

24:41benefits throughout the corridor. Next

24:44slide.

24:45Um, I want to shout out PaloAlto for

24:48this one. PaloAlto has been a real model

24:50that we've used to bring to different

24:52cities to show what does it look like

24:54when you really deeply partner with a

24:56city and it not just wearing the Cal

24:58Train hat of you know how can we

25:00navigate it and make the best possible

25:02solution but uh director Bert or Council

25:05Member Bert in this case has been really

25:07good about pushing us to think about put

25:08ourselves in the city shoes you know

25:10what are the benefits the city should

25:12think about in this partnership and how

25:15can we build that relationship more so

25:17we've started to have meetings

25:18throughout out the corridor and there's

25:20been really good conversations where

25:22cities have been thinking about oh maybe

25:24we should have this type of partnership.

25:26I understand how this could bene benefit

25:28our city and PaloAlto is one of the

25:30places that we point to of what the

25:32success has been for so many different

25:34things whether it's parking traffic

25:36release you know meeting your greenhouse

25:38gas goals or your further activations or

25:41how you even support your workforce so I

25:43want to give Palo Alto a big shout out

25:45for this that we are using this as an

25:47example for many different cities along

25:49the corridor. Next slide please.

25:52So, those were a lot of the positive

25:53things. I'm going to spend the last

25:54couple minutes talking about where some

25:56of our challenges are. Next slide. So,

25:58you can see the wrership trend here. Um,

26:00I talked about that. You saw that with

26:02all the cities. Next slide.

26:05Fairs no longer cover the same amount

26:07that they covered for us in the past. It

26:09certainly was part of our funding model

26:10and now we have to adjust and have a new

26:12funding model. The next slide. So, part

26:15of the reason for this deficit is the

26:17commute patterns have shifted. It used

26:19to be people rode Cal Train 5 days a

26:21week. 80% of our our um our ridership

26:26did that. Wrership and revenue is less

26:28than it is before. Costs have risen with

26:30inflation and we have 51 new miles of an

26:34electrified system and infrastructure

26:35that we have to maintain and we have to

26:37think about how we do things

26:38differently. Next slide. So, one of the

26:41things that we're doing is that we know

26:42we need to tighten our belt. That's the

26:44first place that we need to look as an

26:45agency. strategic hiring freezes, a

26:48comprehensive cost reduction efficiency

26:50program. We did a line by line review of

26:52our budget and we held the operator

26:54contract to the previous level which

26:56really looks like a decrease. We've

26:58implemented crewing efficiencies reing

27:01recouping costs through electricity

27:03return to the grid. We have a battery

27:06storage plan. MTC has even highlighted

27:08some of our efficiencies and the federal

27:09government recently did a look at our

27:11books and said we're doing well. Next

27:13slide. So, that's one side. We need to

27:16tighten our belt. The other side is what

27:17else can we monetize? Think about where

27:19else we can generate revenue. So,

27:21everything from the more near-term ones

27:22of how are we using our parking, what

27:24can we do for the advertising revenue to

27:27the longer term uh fiber optic cable

27:29leasing to developments along the

27:31quarter. But we need to look at all of

27:33our assets and really have a plan to

27:35make sure we're getting the most out of

27:36what we have. Next slide. So, uh, the

27:40Cal Train board has been talking a lot

27:41about Cal Train's future and our

27:42finances and where we're going to go. In

27:44June, the Cal Train board took an action

27:46to have staff look at different

27:47scenarios if we do have additional

27:49external funding that keeps us on a

27:51course to build on the electrified

27:54service we have today and be able to

27:56even grow on that. And another scenario

27:58that looks like if we do not have some

28:00funding, what are the different hard

28:01conversations that we need to look at

28:03and plan uh, scenario plan out? Next

28:06slide, please. Next slide.

28:09So when we look at FY28, we have two

28:13scenarios here. It's what we have today,

28:15which we know is positive, is working,

28:18it is bringing riderships there, and

28:19it's helping communities up and down the

28:20corridor. And then we are taking a hard

28:22look at what it looks like to have to go

28:24back to hourly service, no weekend

28:26service, early shutdowns, no special

28:29event service, and station closures.

28:31This is not something we want to do but

28:33we need to think about these options

28:35when we have such a large deficit that

28:38our organization is faced with. Next

28:40slide. And of course if we do these cuts

28:44this is the equ this is the downward

28:46spiral. You have less service fewer

28:48riders less revenue and it makes it a

28:50really difficult world to reser to um

28:54reverse. Next slide.

28:56What I have talked about also is just

28:58with the Cal Train add-on. We know that

29:00this is a regional effort and there is

29:03um a relationship between the counties,

29:05between the cities, between these

29:07services and so this can't be thought

29:09about in isolation alone. You know, we

29:11all are rising and falling together and

29:13what we want to see for our region going

29:15forward really is a connected world

29:17where nobody stops in one city. We all

29:20move amongst the region to different

29:22areas and we need to think about that as

29:23we plan for the future. Next slide. So

29:26for Cal Train, we'll wrap up just that

29:28this is a huge inflection point for us

29:30and things that the Cal Train board is

29:32grappling with. But we wanted to make

29:34sure that PaloAlto is one of our key

29:37cities, our second highest wrership

29:38station along the corridor is a body and

29:42a place that we can come back and get

29:43feedback for and let you know what we

29:45have been talking about at the Cal Train

29:47board level and make sure we're

29:48available for any questions you may

29:50have. And with that with 10 seconds left

29:53or so I'm happy to answer any questions

29:55we have.

29:56>> All right. Well, thank you very much. I

29:58was pretty impressed you got that right

29:59on the the button of the the 10 minutes.

30:02Uh but uh you know this this isn't

30:04agenda as a discussion item. However, I

30:07think if there are a couple of

30:08clarifying questions that people want to

30:10ask, this is an important enough uh item

30:13uh right now and also in our

30:16communities. So, um, if there are a

30:18couple questions, uh, Council Member

30:21Lowing,

30:23>> thank you. Um, I've heard from a few

30:25people in the community recently getting

30:27ready to vote for this or not. Um, they

30:30wonder, is this the right number?

30:31Meaning, or are they going to have to

30:33come back again? Uh, so we I I get these

30:36slides, but the the the slide that's not

30:38there is that, you know, what's going to

30:40happen eight years from now? Are we

30:42going to need, you know, even more, or

30:44is this do we think this is going to do

30:45it? And I I know you can't answer that

30:47for 30 years, but uh I thought I'd put

30:49it out there.

30:50>> Yeah, I'll take a shot and I always

30:51welcome um Michelle as well. Though

30:53obviously we're not here to to speak on

30:55what is getting voted on. We can just

30:57talk about, you know, where our position

30:59is on it. You know, I think that's where

31:00we really need to lean into what we're

31:02doing as an organization. You know, the

31:04cost cutting measures and the cost

31:05efficiency that we have started years

31:07ago actually, we're going to continue to

31:09double down on no matter what. So, we

31:11need to do that. we need to continue to

31:13to really maximize that external

31:16potential new revenue sources we have

31:19and grow ridership. So those are the

31:20three ones that we can try to move the

31:23needle on and see how far that can get

31:26us and what our future looks like. And

31:28so we are confident that if we do have

31:30external funding that gives us some more

31:32runway to continue to do those three

31:33things that we do think will give us a

31:35better stable footing for financial

31:37resources. We cannot predict the future.

31:39Certainly looking back the last six

31:41years, you couldn't have predicted what

31:42was there and how our kind of funding

31:44model had gotten so upended, but we are

31:48committed to doing the things that we

31:49know will help us financially. Um, at

31:52this moment, I don't know if there's

31:53anything.

31:54>> Council member Bert,

31:57>> thank you. Uh, and thanks for the

31:59presentation. I just want to make a few

32:01complimentary uh, uh, comments. So one

32:05of the things is that with the

32:06electrification we saw those phenomenal

32:09statistics of over 90% among riders uh

32:14positive satisfaction and over 80% of

32:17the whole peninsula. So why is that? Um,

32:21I've seen that u writers on the

32:24electrified trains

32:26get even more excited than it's

32:28justified.

32:30And it's it's a form of irrational

32:33exuberance. Um, and I don't quite know

32:36what to make of it, whether it goes back

32:37to childhood or just they're so much fun

32:39and everybody loves a a clean, fast,

32:42quiet electric train, but somehow that's

32:45the case. Um, and we actually have had

32:48these other benefits in our community

32:50from the electrification because we

32:53don't maybe remember but diesel trains

32:56aside from the horns were noisy and they

32:58were dirty for pollution polluting soot

33:03for 150 years. Almost killed off the el

33:06paloalto tree back uh decades ago and

33:10now they're clean and um and much

33:13quieter. and we're working on quiet

33:15zones on the horns as well. Um,

33:19Casey, you talked about why uh why we

33:22need this additional funding and what

33:25really happened over the last several

33:27years is all transportation agencies had

33:31a drastic drop in wrership from COVID

33:35and only slowly have been recovering and

33:38they're not recovering all the way. We

33:40now see that most riders are or a high

33:43percentage are three days a week even

33:45among commuters. Um and but at the time

33:49that those impacts were the federal

33:51government gave and even the state

33:53government big operating subsidies to

33:57keep transit alive. And now we're at a

33:59point where we need to transition to a

34:01sustainable future. And that as as Casey

34:05mentioned, you know, the wrership has

34:06changed. uh we're not getting the sort

34:09of fair increases. Precoid when we were

34:12at uh rush hour

34:1510% or so of seats, we increased uh the

34:20pricing right now in transit agencies

34:25can't do that because demand is below

34:27capacity. They were still recovering. So

34:30a simple supply and demand is part of

34:32it. Costs went through the roof. And

34:34then we've done programs like a $1 youth

34:36fair, which is a great program, but

34:39those youth show up in our writership

34:41numbers, but they don't show up in the

34:42revenue very much. Uh it's a right thing

34:45to do. Uh but but that's part of the

34:47whole cost consideration.

34:50And then Casey touched on the city

34:52partnership which is really to a great

34:55extent modeled after 25 years of

34:58programs we have done in the city and

35:01with Stanford to drive go passes and you

35:05might wonder what percentage of all the

35:07goasses that's the the the pass to ride

35:11cow train on a monthly basis uh um what

35:15percentage is PaloAlto and Stanford and

35:17the and the Stanford ones are largely

35:19from uh essentially negotiated

35:22agreements and development in the in the

35:24general use permit or the Stanford

35:26hospitals or otherwise. We are 75% of

35:30all the go passes in the entire Cal

35:32Train system. Uh that's pretty

35:35phenomenal and that goes into the last

35:37thing Casey had talked about is we're

35:40the second highest boardings in the

35:42whole system at the university station

35:44and we aren't the biggest city on the

35:46quarter. We have almost twice the

35:47boardings of San Jose at Deeron and a

35:50lot of that is the programs we've had

35:54and we had those programs because not

35:56because we wanted to help Cal Train. I'm

35:58sorry. We did it because we wanted to

36:00help ourselves. We had traffic

36:02congestion. We had parking shortages. We

36:06had environmental programs, atmospheric

36:08and greenhouse gases. we electrified our

36:12citywide greenhouse gases were reduced

36:14by almost 2% as a result. And then more

36:18recently, as we were looking at cutting

36:20back the the patent program, we heard

36:22from small business owners who were

36:24having huge employee uh recruitment and

36:28retention challenges that once they had

36:30a go pass, they held on to their

36:32employees if those employees had it. So,

36:35it's benefited us as a city and we hope

36:37other cities will understand that. Um,

36:41so that's my um additional comments on

36:45why we should all support the regional

36:47measure and support CAL train.

36:51>> Thank you and uh really appreciate the

36:54presentation. Um, I think it's uh

36:58laudable that in addition to uh the RTM

37:02on the ballot to see the nonfair nonfair

37:05revenue strategies. So much appreciated

37:08those taking advantage of the various

37:10assets you have and a new one called

37:14regenerative breaking from electric

37:15trains and and looking into battery

37:18storage. So I think appreciate the uh

37:20the fresh look at things and uh coming

37:22tonight and explaining all of that to

37:24us. So, thank you very much.

37:26>> Thank you.

37:28>> Okay. So, we will close out that item

37:30and move on to our second special order

37:34of the day, which is celebrating

37:36PaloAlto's relationship with Sucha

37:39Japan. And we have Dennis, I believe,

37:42here, our Sutura Marathon runner. So,

37:46Mr. Fe, are you kicking this off?

37:48>> I am. Welcome.

37:50>> It is my pleasure. Mayor Banker, council

37:53members, my name is Ed Fe. As most of

37:56you know, I am president of Neighbors

37:57Abroad and it is my great pleasure this

38:00evening to introduce Dennis Shabcoplus

38:03who represented PaloAlto at the Lake

38:05Kazmagaro Marathon in our sister city of

38:08Sutura, Japan this April. And special

38:11greetings to Sutura. They are watching

38:13us. Hi guys. They are definitely

38:16watching us around their computer at the

38:18municipal office. Um, since 2021, a

38:22dozen PaloAlto area residents have

38:24participated in this marathon, including

38:27two former mayors. And by the way, next

38:30year, our very own city clerk, Maha

38:34Aune, will be trading meeting minutes

38:37for marathon miles as our 2027 runner.

38:41Maha, do you get to type your name in?

38:44[laughter]

38:47We're very excited for that. Now, I had

38:49the honor of serving as our designated

38:52runner in 2019. So, I know firsthand

38:54that this exchange is about more than

38:57running 26.2 miles. It's an opportunity

39:00to represent our community and

39:02strengthen the friendships that make our

39:04sister city relationship meaningful. For

39:07Dennis Shoplas and his family, that

39:09connection began well before the

39:11starting line. His son Austin

39:13participated in our PaloAlto Sutura

39:16student exchange program and the

39:18Chopcoplius family has twice welcomed

39:20Japanese students into their home. They

39:23have supported the relationship in a

39:25very personal way by opening their doors

39:28and helping young people experience life

39:30in another culture far from home. Dennis

39:33brought that same generosity and

39:35commitment to his role as our marathon

39:37diplomat. He represented Palo Alto with

39:40enth enthusiasm and care and managed to

39:43save off the injury that popped up

39:44during his training. We are grateful for

39:47the many ways he and his family have

39:50helped bring our two cities closer

39:51together. Dennis, thank you for being

39:54such a wonderful ambassador for Palo

39:56Alto and neighbors abroad. We're

39:58delighted to have you and Austin here

40:00this evening to share your experience.

40:02Dennis,

40:06>> thank you. It was um hard act to follow.

40:10Um by the way, it was very interesting

40:12presentation about Cal Cal Train. Uh $1

40:15rides are awesome. Don't you think,

40:17Austin?

40:18>> I would agree to that as someone under

40:1918. [laughter]

40:21>> Um so, well, good evening everybody. Uh

40:23good evening, um the mayor, um members

40:27of the city council, and everyone here

40:30tonight. A special um greetings to Mayor

40:33Ando. I'm not sure where the camera is,

40:35but I'm sure we figured this out right

40:38there. Um, the official and the all the

40:41officials of Churra City and our

40:43friends, host families watching from

40:45Japan. Uh, thank you Ed, Lydia, and the

40:48rest of the neighbors abroad team uh,

40:51for having us here and bringing us

40:52together. Uh this is April Austin Oliver

40:56who's right there

40:59um had a chance to visit Japan and this

41:02was for very special event

41:05Kasuigura marathon. I thought most

41:08memorable part would be running 42.2

41:11kilometer

41:13sightseeing tour. I was wrong.

41:17What really made difference are the

41:19people

41:21actually I ended up running two races in

41:24Japan that time. The first one was the

41:27marathon along the beautiful shores of

41:29the lake and the sightseeing that we

41:32kind of soaked in as we ran under the

41:34searing sun. The second was last minute

41:39shopping sprint

41:41through Shibuya before our flight home.

41:44our friend, I'm not sure if Kenji Arita

41:47is there, wearing a sports jacket. Uh he

41:50was hurrying after us through the crowds

41:53of Shibuya as you can can imagine. I

41:56think he got more exercise than I did

41:59during that time um during the marathon.

42:03But for the uh but to understand why

42:05this trip really mattered, we need to go

42:07back a year um to Austin as a student

42:11part of the exchange program.

42:46Good evening everybody. My name is

42:47Austin. Last year I went to Tutur

42:50through the exchange program. This year

42:51I was very happy to return and see my

42:54friends again kanji and now I visited uh

42:57the school that was there and everybody

42:59remembered me surprisingly and welcomed

43:01me and my family. It felt like returning

43:04to friends not just visiting a new

43:06place.

43:08Uh that is exactly how it felt. Not like

43:11tourists arriving but like friends

43:14returning.

43:15Um, Kayyoko,

43:17I'm sure you're there somewhere, and her

43:19family has hosted Austin during the his

43:22exchange program. A year later, uh,

43:25Kayoko became our lead guide, organizer,

43:27and the person who somehow figured out

43:30the whole visit to run smoothly. Amo and

43:34her family welcomed us for wonderful

43:36meals and even invited Oliver uh, for a

43:40sleepover. Um, city staff greeted us at

43:43the airport.

43:44other family members um came to our

43:47hotel, made time for us, made us feel

43:50completely at home.

43:52Uh what surprised us wasn't how much of

43:56Japan we saw that time. It was how many

44:00people came to see us.

44:08Remember

44:28most is not just the tourist attractions

44:30but the people there. Former exchange

44:32participants came to meet us. It's

44:35amazing that these connections continue

44:36for decades. Through the program, I

44:39didn't just see Japan, I made real

44:41friends there.

44:43>> Uh then came the race day. Um Kasumigura

44:47Marathon follows part of the shoreline

44:49of Japan's second largest lake. It also

44:52has the largest larger purpose

44:55supporting efforts to protect the lake,

44:57supporting guide dog training and

44:59welcoming blind and virtually impaired

45:02runners. Um, it is a race about helping

45:04others. And as discovered that morning,

45:09I was about to need some help myself.

45:12Just before the start, I realized I'd

45:14forgotten my energy gels. Something that

45:17you might want to take note of. Uh, for

45:20runners, for non-runners, those are the

45:23little packets of fuel of carbohydrates

45:26uh, you carry to keep yourself going for

45:28hours. I had none. and there was an

45:31there wasn't an easy place near the

45:33start to buy them. Um, so the city staff

45:36and my boys launched in the rescue mi

45:38miss mission. They searched Lawson's

45:40convenience store which we loved the

45:42most, found something that might work

45:44and figured out where to meet me

45:46twothirds of the way along the course.

45:49Uh, by the time they reached me, um, I

45:52was overheating under the searing sun,

45:55uh, running low on energy. They handed

45:57me some mystery drink. I I as I passed,

46:02I was so grateful until I tasted it.

46:06Um I still don't know what it was. I

46:09only knew it tasted somewhat sus, but I

46:13drank it and I was so grateful. I kept

46:16running and I made it made it to the

46:18finish line. That's hospitality in

46:20action.

46:40on marathon day. Many people came to

46:42cheer. Oliver and I cheered for our dad,

46:44too. But what made me happiest was that

46:46the people of Suchure were there with

46:47us. I'll never forget their kindness.

46:50>> Um, some former exchange participants uh

46:53came to lunch with us. Even people from

46:55um those exchanges were nearly 30 years

46:58ago. Uh they traveled from Tokyo and

47:01elsewhere. And what made this program so

47:04valuable was that a student stays with a

47:08family, goes to school, shares meals,

47:11and learns how people in another country

47:13live. Then sometimes decades later,

47:16those connections are still alive. um to

47:19um Mayor Ando, the city of Tutura, uh

47:23city staff, Kayoko and her family,

47:25Amoiko and her family, Tanji son, uh the

47:28alamn the neighbors abroad. Thank you.

47:31You gave us far more than the memorable

47:33trip. Austin, would you close for us?

48:04and are separated by an ocean, but our

48:07hearts are connected. A marathon has a

48:08finish line, but our friendship doesn't.

48:10I hope many more students and families

48:12get to experience this wonderful

48:13exchange. Thank you everyone sir and I

48:15hope to see you again.

48:17>> Thank you.

48:23>> Thank you.

48:29>> Well, thank you so much for that story

48:31of running friendship and energy packets

48:34that we now understand. [laughter]

48:36So really really truly uh appreciate

48:39that. Um would you like to come up and

48:41take a photo with council? Welcome.

50:02All right. Well, thank you again to our

50:05friends at Neighbors Abroad. We're

50:06always proud of those relationships and

50:09all that work. Um, we will move on to

50:11agenda changes, additions, and

50:13deletions. Uh, Madame Assistant City

50:15Manager.

50:16>> Yes. Thank you, Mayor Vinker. Um, we

50:20have two agenda changes that I wanted to

50:22go over tonight. So, the first is item

50:24six on your consent calendar. A

50:27supplemental memo was released to

50:29address some of the questions that have

50:31been uh that were provided to staff um

50:35and was pro uh provided to aid in

50:37informing council's obviously review and

50:39action. As a reminder, this item is one

50:42of many steps council directed staff to

50:45implement in August with other elements

50:47such as the pilot permit program,

50:49additional outreach, and more detailed

50:50work that is actively underway. Staff

50:52does expect another discussion with the

50:54city council this calendar year on the

50:56topic of oversized vehicles. So, we have

50:59that supplemental report hopefully to

51:01help with your review. Second um agenda

51:04change is item 11. Item 11 is a close

51:06session discussion item on potential

51:09litigation and that will be deferred to

51:11a future date.

51:13>> All right. Thank you very much.

51:15Appreciate those updates.

51:17So now turning to uh in-person public

51:20comment for matters not on the agenda.

51:23Madame clerk, how many speaking requests

51:25do we have?

51:25>> We have two requests to speak.

51:27>> Okay, please proceed.

51:30>> Our first speaker is Ken H.

51:33How much time we get today? Three

51:35minutes. Wow.

51:38>> Enjoy.

51:39>> Yeah, enjoy it. Ken Horwitz. Um we're

51:42winding down two two more weeks

51:45and um to those um people that have not

51:50yet voted, please vote. And of course,

51:52please vote for Measure J. Um this is an

51:57opportunity of a lifetime and and we

52:00don't know what the future is going to

52:01hold. Um, we got a a a new school board

52:06coming up in 2027. Those are not the

52:09same people that were on the school

52:11board when the negotiation took place.

52:14And um, we don't know what they're going

52:17to plan to do. And for people to say,

52:20"Let's give it another try. Let's

52:22negotiate a better deal." A bird in hand

52:25is worth two in the bush. As I said, I

52:28want to shout out to a a few pe a few

52:31organizations.

52:32Um, number one, I want to thank you, the

52:35city council. I've seen you out there

52:37with me,

52:39you know, doing the hard work. Um,

52:42talking to people, manning tables, etc.

52:45You deserve a lot of credit. I know that

52:48you don't you're doing this because of

52:49the community first.

52:51And I also want to shout out the number

52:54of people that in the community have

52:56come forward.

52:58Really appreciate it. And win or lose,

53:01um we'll um we should all be proud. But

53:05I also need to shout down a few people

53:08and a few organizations as you did last

53:11meeting with uh regards to Lindy Lydia

53:14Coup.

53:16And number one, I want to shout down the

53:18leaders of the PaloAlto Unified School

53:20District.

53:22I haven't seen them in this fight at

53:23all. I haven't seen them at any table,

53:27organization, whatever. And they're

53:30going to get $65 million out of this

53:34and it's going to improve their

53:36facilities. So where are our PaloAlto

53:38Unified School District leaders? So I

53:41want to shout them down.

53:44And then some in some or some group or

53:47not group but newspaper that I want to

53:49shout down

53:51is the PaloAlto weekly.

53:55And you may have seen in this last

53:57edition of the PaloAlto Weekly. There

53:59were two guest opinions, one from Joe

54:02Sime and one from Diana Diamond.

54:06If you go back and look at the PaloAlto

54:08Weekly and Diana Diamond, she's written

54:11three guest opinion pieces. One in

54:15February, one in August, and now one in

54:18October, and we get one. That's not

54:22fair. That is not fair. And I say to the

54:26Palo Alto Weekly, this needs to be a

54:28fair fight. And you need to give the

54:30people who are positive on Measure J the

54:33same opportunity that you gave Diana

54:36Diamond to say no to the sales tax.

54:40And I've text this to Janati so he knows

54:42>> your time is up.

54:43>> Thank you for your time.

54:44>> Our next speaker is Matt S.

55:07My name is Matt Schlegel. I'm a PaloAlto

55:11resident and I am with the safety over

55:14surveillance coalition. I'm here to

55:18report that the flock cameras deployed

55:21in our city by our city are still not

55:24covered. So the city continues to

55:27undertake warrantless mass surveillance

55:30of the community in violation of our

55:33fourth amendment rights.

55:35This is an emergency and we should treat

55:38it as such. There should be an emergency

55:41action taken by the mayor to instruct

55:44the covering of the cameras

55:47on an emergency basis. Flock system use

55:51should be agendaized at the next city

55:53council meeting and the system should be

55:55turned off and the flock cameras

55:58removed.

56:00By not taking this emergency action, the

56:02mayor and this council are exposing the

56:05city to a civil rights lawsuit such as

56:09has already been filed in San Jose and

56:13San Francisco. Please do not expose the

56:16city to a lawsuit. Please agendaize the

56:19flock cancellation as promised by the

56:21mayor before the lengthy audit process

56:24is completed.

56:26I do not know what influence flock is

56:29exerting on this council. I only know

56:31what has been reported about flock

56:34tactics. For instance, Flock trains

56:36sympathetic law enforcement agencies to

56:39use fear-provoking anecdotes to gain

56:42public support for Flock's illegal mass

56:45surveillance tool. I have searched for

56:48credible, quantifiable evidence that the

56:50flock system lowers crime rates. I have

56:53found none. I hope this council will

56:57avoid falling into the into Flock's trap

57:01of citing anecdotes without also citing

57:06quantitative evidence to back up your

57:09stories.

57:11Meanwhile, there's been another report

57:13of the flock system being misused by law

57:15enforcement. This time, a San Jose

57:18police officer was fired after using

57:21flock camera data for a cousin accused

57:25of domestic violence. Not only does the

57:28flock system violate our Fourth

57:30Amendment rights, but it is a clear and

57:33present danger to our community members.

57:36Please take emergency action. Please

57:39cover the cameras. Please discontinue

57:41the system. Please terminate the

57:44contract with this untrustworthy vendor.

57:48Get block out. Thank you.

57:53>> And that concludes public comment for

57:54in-person comments not on the agenda.

57:58>> All right. Thank you. Um

58:02so with that, we will move on to council

58:04member questions, comments, and

58:06announcements. colleagues, have you any?

58:16>> Council member Rectal.

58:18>> Okay, thank you. Yeah, last Saturday, so

58:21nine days ago, I attended along with

58:23most of us to the Pelter Rocks, which

58:26was a concert over in Heritage Park, and

58:29it was a great event. Really a lot of

58:31people out there enjoying it. And it

58:33reminded me back my days in parks and

58:34wreck when council member Lowen and I,

58:37we worked on the master plan, spent a

58:39lot of time in the master plan, a lot of

58:41outreach. One thing people told us was

58:44they want more activity in the parks.

58:46They want to have concerts in the park.

58:47They want to have uh movies in the park.

58:50And that was a high priority for the

58:52people, high priority for the people on

58:54the commission. And also eventually it

58:57was approved unanimously by city

58:59council. So I just wanted this event

59:02reminded me that we can't forget about

59:03that. That's a priority for us to

59:06increase activity in the park and this

59:08was a good a good reminder. The second

59:10thing about this uh when they sent out

59:13the invitations the announcements for

59:14this event they included something very

59:16small but really important. They asked

59:18people who were attending to choose

59:20sustainable transportation to bike,

59:23walk, carp, pool, use transit. And we

59:26should just have a policy that all of

59:27our city announcements should have that

59:30because the only thing that makes a

59:31concert in the park better is if

59:32everyone bikes to the park. So, but

59:36overall good event. I'd love to see more

59:37events like that.

59:43Council member Lithcott Hayes.

59:47>> Thank you, Mayor. Um, well, I wasn't

59:50able to attend the Palto Rocks event

59:53because my kid was getting married and I

59:55just want you to go with me there for a

59:57second because this does have something

59:58to do with the city of Palo Alanto. So,

1:00:00picture your kid getting engaged.

1:00:02Picture the couple deciding to get

1:00:04married at a campground on a lake in

1:00:05Northern California over a long weekend.

1:00:08Picture a couple of parents, my partner

1:00:10and I, trying to figure out how to get

1:00:12food and drink for 36 people up to that

1:00:14campground and how to provide plates,

1:00:17cups, and utensils to go with that food

1:00:19and drink. We were in a total panic

1:00:22until somebody told me about PaloAlto's

1:00:25zerowaste party packs. I have lived in

1:00:28this city for 26 years. I've been on

1:00:30council for almost four, and I hadn't

1:00:32heard about these zero waste party packs

1:00:34until about a month ago. Thanks to

1:00:36public works and about two dozen

1:00:38zerowaste party pack hosts, you can

1:00:41borrow for free a tub containing 24 play

1:00:46settings of plates, cups, bowls, knives,

1:00:49forks, and spoons, and a cloth napkin.

1:00:53Well, we borrowed three of those packs,

1:00:55a total of 72 place settings. And I

1:00:58don't know what we would have done

1:00:59without them. They were certainly a hit

1:01:02of the wedding. Um, and I'm just so

1:01:06grateful to this city for providing uh

1:01:09us all with the opportunity to borrow

1:01:12very highquality, durable plastic wear

1:01:15that can be washed and returned um for

1:01:18events such as a wedding or a picnic or

1:01:21a neighborhood gathering of some kind.

1:01:23So, just another reason to love

1:01:24PaloAlto. I made sure everybody there

1:01:26knew that these were being borrowed from

1:01:28the city. And I want to give a shout out

1:01:30to public works, whomever came up with

1:01:32the idea, and to the two hosts I worked

1:01:35with who donated a total of three packs

1:01:37for our needs, Debbie Mel's and Ronnie

1:01:40Jaakumar. They were incredible to work

1:01:42with. It worked seamlessly and

1:01:44flawlessly. Other than having to

1:01:45handwash it all to return it, um, and to

1:01:48make sure we had the right count and I

1:01:50hadn't lost a fork along the way, um, it

1:01:52was absolutely easy and spectacular.

1:01:57Uh on a more serious note, um

1:02:00uh we have an event an item coming

1:02:02forward on consent tonight that I want

1:02:04to um talk about. As we close in on

1:02:08election day when our community will

1:02:10have the opportunity to vote on Measure

1:02:11J, which is about renovating and

1:02:13modernizing Coverly, we have an

1:02:15important update. Council, as you know,

1:02:18has already approved letters of intent

1:02:19from nonprofits intending to collaborate

1:02:21with the city on this project if Measure

1:02:23J passes, including Theater Works, Maker

1:02:26Nexus, Aanus, and Heartfit for Life. And

1:02:29we have both a letter of intent and a

1:02:31term sheet signed with the Friends of

1:02:33the PaloAlto Recreation and Wellness

1:02:35Center. Well, tonight on consent, we

1:02:38have an additional letter of intent with

1:02:40nonprofit partner PaloAlto Community

1:02:42Childare, known as PACCCC or PAC. This

1:02:46partnership is a vital addition to the

1:02:49Carbly Road because as PaloAlto's

1:02:51housing stock and population grow, so

1:02:54will our needs for highquality and

1:02:55affordable child care in our community.

1:02:58PAC has provided early child care and

1:03:00education in PaloAlto for over 40 years.

1:03:03Today they serve more than 12,200

1:03:05children annually from infants through

1:03:06fifth graders at 18 centers throughout

1:03:09PaloAlto. PAC is committed to

1:03:11eliminating financial barriers to

1:03:13quality child care. Over one-third of

1:03:16enrollment is designated for financial

1:03:18assistance and the city of PaloAlto has

1:03:20supported PAC's financial aid program

1:03:22through a long-standing agreement. A

1:03:25partnership with PaloAlto Community

1:03:27Childare in which PAC would invest in

1:03:29the Carly renovation and modernization

1:03:31project provides an opportunity to

1:03:34expand child care and early childhood

1:03:36education at Kberly to meet growing

1:03:38demand. We are incredibly excited to

1:03:41have this letter of intent on the

1:03:42consent calendar and wonderful to see

1:03:44executive director Lee Fab in the

1:03:46chambers tonight as well.

1:03:54Anybody else?

1:03:58All right. Well, I'll just add a couple

1:03:59of of things. Yes, Palo Alto Rocks did

1:04:03[laughter]

1:04:04that was really really a joy and a

1:04:05delight to be there. Um, and then just

1:04:08one uh just want to make one comment

1:04:11about uh the the comment about the mayor

1:04:14during public comment. I don't have

1:04:16emergency powers like that. That's a

1:04:18different system of government that we

1:04:20don't have. So, we can get at it a

1:04:22different way, but not that way. Um, but

1:04:25what I really wanted uh to mention is

1:04:28last Thursday uh the city held its first

1:04:31uh business reception for major

1:04:33employers and key business stakeholders.

1:04:36And I want to thank uh economic

1:04:38development committee chair rectal who

1:04:41joined me as well as city staff uh with

1:04:44whom I've been talking about this

1:04:46working on it for close to a year uh in

1:04:49hosting those representatives as part of

1:04:51our business retention expansion and

1:04:53attraction strategy.

1:04:55Um, you know, I was inspired by uh Mayor

1:04:58Lur's business roundt that has resulted

1:05:00in public private partnerships that have

1:05:03supported public safety resources and

1:05:05more uh up in San Francisco. And the

1:05:08primary objective of this first

1:05:10reception was to develop stronger

1:05:12communication channels, gain a deeper

1:05:14understanding of evolving business

1:05:16concerns and explore uh potential public

1:05:20private partnerships. Uh and I would say

1:05:22it was very successful. We had more than

1:05:2420 business representatives in

1:05:26attendance from 17 business

1:05:28organizations that covered a range of

1:05:30entities from Varian Medical and IFF

1:05:34which was formerly Janenor to General

1:05:37Motors, Ford, Tesla, SpaceX AI and

1:05:40Rivian to Stanford Medicine Children's

1:05:43Health, Stanford Research Park, Simon

1:05:45Property Group and SRRI to Google and

1:05:48Syquantum to the Chamber of Commerce.

1:05:50Thank you, Charlie. um and harvest

1:05:53properties and a few more. So that

1:05:56reception provided an opportunity to

1:05:58build relationships, foster strategic

1:06:00partnerships and identify emerging

1:06:03economic growth trends during the

1:06:04conversation. And I believe staff is

1:06:07preparing a more detailed readout. Um

1:06:09but I just wanted to let you all know

1:06:10that we did that. And I will say

1:06:13attendees expressed significant interest

1:06:15in future meetings and perhaps even

1:06:17quarterly. So, we we'll see if that's a

1:06:18little too uh uh optimistic, but it was

1:06:22I they definitely wanted to continue

1:06:25engagement and I think if we can do that

1:06:27in a way that's uh helpful for uh both

1:06:30entities, uh perhaps we can uh see some

1:06:33good things come of it. So, all right.

1:06:36Oh, Council Member Bird, go ahead.

1:06:39>> Yes, thanks. So uh I too will echo uh

1:06:42what a nice uh joyous event the PaloAlto

1:06:46Rocks was a collaboration of the city

1:06:49and the PaloAlto Museum uh just brought

1:06:53community together uh of all ages and um

1:06:57was really a great fun event. And then I

1:07:01did want to call out that uh we are part

1:07:04almost halfway through the UNAF film

1:07:07festival which is the documentary film

1:07:10festival and held in PaloAlto now for

1:07:12the 29th year in collaboration also with

1:07:15Sanford East PaloAlto and San Francisco

1:07:17but primarily at Mitchell Park. It's

1:07:20internationally renowned and

1:07:22award-winning and yet every year I want

1:07:25to call it out because most of our

1:07:27community doesn't know it exists. So, um

1:07:30I encourage everybody to look at the um

1:07:33the schedule of films and um we have

1:07:38always

1:07:39um stumbled into films that we thought

1:07:42would just be boring or why would I want

1:07:45to care about a movie about seeds or

1:07:47whatever and they are one after another

1:07:50just fascinating

1:07:52uh and thoughtprovoking.

1:07:54So, um, uh, I encourage everybody to

1:07:57check it out.

1:08:00>> Yeah, thank you for that reminder. Um,

1:08:02it it was interesting at the, uh, the

1:08:04kickoff, uh, event, um, they invited me

1:08:08to speak and I was really, uh, uh,

1:08:12pleased to see quite a few POW Alton,

1:08:14but also people drawn into the city by

1:08:16that festival. So, it was uh, terrific.

1:08:18Thank you for that. Um, all right. So,

1:08:21let's move on to our consent calendar

1:08:24and let's start with public comment.

1:08:26Madame clerk,

1:08:34our first speaker is Lee P.

1:08:42Good evening. Lee Fab, Palo Alto

1:08:45Community Childare. For more than 50

1:08:48years, PAC has had an unwavering

1:08:50commitment to building our community's

1:08:53most precious asset, the children.

1:08:56Cubberly is an integral part of

1:08:58PaloAlto's history and the future for

1:09:01children. How royalty uh sorryly is the

1:09:05main destination for youth programs that

1:09:07support health and well-being, child

1:09:10care, education, recreation, language

1:09:14literacy, and visual and performing

1:09:17arts. With the anticipated expansion of

1:09:20housing near San Antonio, there will be

1:09:24a need for child care that has

1:09:27government subsidy opportunity like PAC.

1:09:32PAC has submitted a public private

1:09:35letter of intention with the city of

1:09:37PaloAlto to expand early childhood

1:09:39education and care. We thank you the

1:09:43city for 50 years of partnership and we

1:09:47look forward to another 50. Thank you.

1:09:52Our next speaker is Charlie W.

1:10:00Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor,

1:10:01Council, Charlie Wans, PaloAlto Chamber

1:10:03of Commerce. And on behalf of the

1:10:05Chamber of Commerce, we are here tonight

1:10:07to reiterate our support for the

1:10:09business retention, expansion, and

1:10:11attraction strategy as a vital framework

1:10:13for advancing our city's priority of

1:10:15enhanced business vibrancy. While we

1:10:18support the Bria strategy's focus on

1:10:20direct business engagement, we want to

1:10:22highlight an important disconnect

1:10:23between the business goals and the

1:10:25proposed OSV strategy. We recognize that

1:10:28managing OSVs is a complex challenge.

1:10:31However, the current approach does not

1:10:32appear to support business retention and

1:10:34attraction. We hear OSV parking near

1:10:38commercial zones leads to diminished

1:10:39customer accessibility, blocked

1:10:41storefront visibility, public health

1:10:43concerns, and reduced foot traffic. Rest

1:10:46restricting the proposed parking ban

1:10:48solely to residential areas will shift

1:10:51these vehicles into our business zones,

1:10:53creating an unfair burden for small

1:10:55business owners already struggling to

1:10:57attract customers and fill vacancies. We

1:11:00respectfully offer the following

1:11:02recommendations.

1:11:03Consider the transitioning OSV parking

1:11:06away from commercial retail corridors

1:11:07and shopping centers. Clarify what

1:11:11measures are planned to address existing

1:11:13OSV impacts within the business

1:11:15districts once the policy takes effect

1:11:18and consider establishing clear criteria

1:11:21to evaluate the pro the pilot program

1:11:23specifically ensuring that impacts to

1:11:25business operations, local sales and

1:11:28commercial foot traffic are tracked and

1:11:29measured. Our long-term economic

1:11:32stability relies on keeping our

1:11:33commercial districts competitive,

1:11:35accessible, and vibrant. We ask council

1:11:37and staff to implement the Bria strategy

1:11:40while also refining the OSV strategy to

1:11:42protect the vital business environments

1:11:44that generate our revenue. Thank you for

1:11:46your time, your leadership, and your

1:11:48support of our business community.

1:11:53Our next speaker is Henry E.

1:12:00Henry E. Moving to our next speaker,

1:12:02Aram J.

1:12:08Okay. So, um, PaloAlto, America's

1:12:12meanest city. I'm talking on item number

1:12:15six.

1:12:17Stanley Moss, Supreme Court Justice for

1:12:2030 some odd years. The city cannot solve

1:12:22its homelessness problem simply by

1:12:24exiling large numbers of its homeless

1:12:27citizens to neighboring localities. I've

1:12:29heard nothing from our business

1:12:31community, from our city council or our

1:12:34vigilante KKK committees, the folks that

1:12:37run around and try to scare the hell out

1:12:39of our RV dwellers about uh this

1:12:42ordinance. Why don't we have a forum

1:12:44before we move forward with this

1:12:46proposal with our sister cities and how

1:12:49they feel about and sister cities in

1:12:51Santa Clara the unilateral decision to

1:12:54have PaloAlto push its RVs and homeless

1:12:57people onto the less resources cities

1:12:59down the city and Ed Ed my god you've

1:13:02really helped Ed Lowing to make this a

1:13:05sundown town America's meanest town Ed

1:13:08Lowen wants to put up signage inspired

1:13:12by his Zionist this zealot tree to say

1:13:15to black and brown and poor people, you

1:13:17stay out of PaloAlto at the outrageous

1:13:20cost of $140,000

1:13:22for this signage at all PaloAlto

1:13:25entrances.

1:13:27This is just disgusting. In an article

1:13:29on the front page of the Daily Post on

1:13:31October 1st um by Brandon Cartwright,

1:13:35candidates weigh in on the RVs.

1:13:41Miss Chang and Lowing said, "You know

1:13:44what? Just bring it on. We've got to

1:13:46take on more legal risk." Interpret what

1:13:49that means. We don't care if we get our

1:13:51asses sued off because of the immoral

1:13:54stand that we're taking on RVs. Because

1:13:56of the unconstitutional stand, because

1:13:59of the defense of necessity and other

1:14:02legitimate legal defenses that can bring

1:14:04the criminal justice system to a halt.

1:14:07This is immoral. It's just outrageous.

1:14:10And you know, maybe Ed, maybe you need

1:14:12to to fly over to the West Bank right

1:14:14now and join in uh with the uh the

1:14:17settlers in harassing uh the olive har

1:14:21the Palestinian olive harvesters. Maybe

1:14:23you could wear a mask and go join with

1:14:26the with the with the settlers and

1:14:28attacking peaceful Palestinians because

1:14:30you sure are attacking the most

1:14:32vulnerable people in our community,

1:14:34unhoused people living in our RVs. And

1:14:37Brina Chang, well, you know what? You're

1:14:39a straightup vile racist and what a team

1:14:42you two will make. The Zionist and the

1:14:44bigot. You know, it's just absolutely

1:14:48outrageous that you all are willing to

1:14:50defy the law, the morals of this

1:14:52community and act in this horrible,

1:14:55horrendous way rather than trying to

1:14:57solve a problem with all the resources

1:14:59that we have in Palo Alto. Shame on you.

1:15:01You vile Zionist Edoing and you racist.

1:15:05Bina Chang. Thank you.

1:15:09Our next speaker is Winter D.

1:15:18Um, I'm glad you all continue to think

1:15:20about how RV dwellers can remain a part

1:15:24of our community.

1:15:26Uh, that said, I want to say about that

1:15:29respectfully, of course.

1:15:32Uh first of all in hearing Charlie

1:15:34Widens I suggest and hope that the

1:15:36Chamber of Commerce is asking its

1:15:39members to consider providing their

1:15:42parking lots for RV parking at night.

1:15:46Also, um I saw 100 ft

1:15:50uh which is the distance between uh in

1:15:54res in residential areas between

1:15:57residences and uh RV dwellers would be

1:16:01100 ft. That's one-third the length of a

1:16:04football playing field. It provides

1:16:06plenty of separation between PaloAlto's

1:16:09housed residents and lowincome RV

1:16:13residents. There is no need to further

1:16:15distance them from us as I saw a couple

1:16:19commenters suggest not city council

1:16:23members. The plan seems to be

1:16:27to place at least 50 signs stating no AM

1:16:32a 8:00 p.m. to 8 a.m. parking. One sign

1:16:35for every entry point to PaloAlto.

1:16:38Apparently, this is to save the city

1:16:40time and money by not posting signs

1:16:42throughout the city. So, I mentioned to

1:16:46a couple uh as I mentioned to a couple

1:16:48city council members where I grew up in

1:16:51Southern California, there were sunset

1:16:52laws, signs at the city limits that

1:16:55stated that by sundown all negroes and

1:17:00Mexicans, forgive me for questionable

1:17:04language usage here, but all negroes and

1:17:07Mexicans must be out of town by sunset.

1:17:11While I understand

1:17:14you the that vile intent is not with you

1:17:19and the city council, still I hope we

1:17:22don't have a PaloAlto version of sunset

1:17:25signs applying to mostly low-income

1:17:28people. It's not a good look for our

1:17:29city. Besides, many people with and

1:17:33without RVs miss seeing signs at busy

1:17:35intersections, especially if there are

1:17:37multiple signs at a location or if a

1:17:41person doesn't speak English,

1:17:44the signs, if we're going to be doing

1:17:47this,

1:17:49um, which is difficult for me, but if

1:17:52we're going to be doing this, then the

1:17:53signs should be, uh, in the locations

1:17:56where they actually apply, and the city

1:18:00should be willing willing to put up the

1:18:01money to do that. Also, uh I hope you

1:18:04will ask at meetings with major

1:18:06businesses, any of you, if they will

1:18:09host RV dwellers on their parking lots

1:18:12and overnight. Thank you.

1:18:18>> And that concludes public comment on

1:18:19consent calendar items 3 through 9.

1:18:23>> All right. Thanks very much. Um, so

1:18:26colleagues, uh, do you have any, uh, no

1:18:29votes or requests to pull or recusals

1:18:33or a motion to approve?

1:18:35Council member Lowington.

1:18:37>> Yes. I'd like to uh, pull item six at

1:18:41least for the question period, and it

1:18:43may be a what I'll call a narrow poll,

1:18:45which I can describe.

1:18:48>> Could you speak to one? Yeah,

1:18:51>> he he I think he's opting not to. I

1:18:54mean, if you want to say anything now

1:18:55about why you want to pull,

1:18:56>> um,

1:18:57>> feel free.

1:18:59>> No, whatever. You're you're the chair.

1:19:02You let me You tell me.

1:19:03>> You can do that. And if you have uh a

1:19:06question to ask. Um there's some

1:19:09ambiguity in our procedures and

1:19:10protocols. I would think you could do it

1:19:12now. We've had a question about that.

1:19:13So, if you want to wait till later and

1:19:14ask that question if if it pulled, it's

1:19:17up to you.

1:19:17>> Okay. Yeah. Um it's on item uh six

1:19:21there's three items there. One is the

1:19:23about the 100 foot um distance and the

1:19:26other is about uh Embaradero Road

1:19:29adjustments and the third is about um

1:19:33expenses. So um I'm speaking just to the

1:19:36first one about the 100 foot distance.

1:19:39Um I I think we could benefit from um

1:19:42public comment uh as such as we just had

1:19:45um before we before we vote and have

1:19:48that discussion amongst ourselves and

1:19:50we'll be missing that if we uh leave it

1:19:52on consent. Uh I also think the council

1:19:56could particularly benefit the full

1:19:57council of all seven discussing sort of

1:20:00the pluses and minuses of the 100 versus

1:20:03you know something more than 100

1:20:05something less than 100. uh it's not

1:20:07just an arbitrary number, but I think

1:20:09that there's uh some considerations

1:20:11there in terms of how you do the actual

1:20:13measurement of that as well. Um and also

1:20:17how it affects each neighborhood. And at

1:20:20one point we were in the last meeting we

1:20:22were discussing that we should actually

1:20:23have visuals of how it literally impacts

1:20:25each each neighborhood. Uh I think it

1:20:28was um the vice mayor that suggested

1:20:30that we do that. Um and and none of

1:20:32those visuals are currently available.

1:20:35So what I would like to see just on this

1:20:37one item is to come back in just two

1:20:39weeks with some visuals uh and have an

1:20:42open discussion on that. So that's

1:20:43that's my interest.

1:20:45>> Okay. Thanks for stating your reason.

1:20:47Any other colleagues

1:20:50wish to

1:20:52support that or have other no votes or

1:20:55requestable?

1:21:05Okay. Um

1:21:08All right. Do I have a motion to approve

1:21:11this?

1:21:12>> So moved.

1:21:14>> Second.

1:21:17>> Okay. Um then uh since I remembered to

1:21:21ask for a motion this time, I guess

1:21:22madam clerk, go ahead and call the role.

1:21:35It's going to take me a minute to get

1:21:36used to this voting on the screen.

1:21:39>> This is for all.

1:21:41>> Can we separate out six?

1:21:44>> Yeah. I I think that we should go ahead

1:21:46and take that request to pull as I

1:21:48should have gone back to you and asked

1:21:49if you want to do a no vote. Yeah.

1:21:51>> Yeah. Can we note that, please? And not

1:21:54unless I separate that out.

1:22:55I just wanted to clarify for voting

1:22:57purposes um when council registers a no

1:22:59vote you'll still go ahead and vote yes

1:23:01ident um and I will identify that you

1:23:04voted no on item six.

1:23:06>> Okay. So since this is the first time

1:23:08we've done this. So through our we'll

1:23:11still use the uh push buttons, but it

1:23:13will be yes to what we see above, which

1:23:16is including council member Lowing

1:23:18saying no. Is that correct?

1:23:19>> Correct. And that doesn't change from

1:23:20our current process. When a council

1:23:22member registers a no vote, typically

1:23:23you would still vote yes on the motion.

1:23:26>> Just want to make sure we're all right.

1:23:28Great. There no questions. We'll go

1:23:30ahead.

1:23:49motion carries unanimously.

1:23:51>> Okay. Um, Council Member Lowing, would

1:23:53you like to say anything more to speak

1:23:54to your no vote?

1:23:56>> No.

1:23:57>> Okay. All right. Thank you.

1:24:01Okay. So,

1:24:04Let's move on to city manager comments.

1:24:10>> Thank you, mayor. Um, good evening,

1:24:12council. Kylen Jose, assistant city

1:24:14manager here on behalf of city manager

1:24:16Shakata. Um, while the clerk pulls up

1:24:18the slides, I'll just note from council

1:24:21member comments, uh, staff's

1:24:22appreciation to the mayor and economic

1:24:24devel economic development committee

1:24:26chair Rectal, um, for their attendance

1:24:28and support at the business reception.

1:24:31And as the mayor identified, uh that'll

1:24:33be one of the topics for debriefing with

1:24:35the economic development committee in

1:24:37November.

1:24:40Okay, next slide.

1:24:43The storm readiness and community

1:24:45resources. As everyone, if you haven't

1:24:48seen, I'm sure you have, you will see it

1:24:50soon. Uh all the forecasts for a very

1:24:52strong El Nino forecast this win this

1:24:54winter and we accordingly are preparing

1:24:57for storms and potential creek flooding.

1:25:00Um, as you see on this slide, there are

1:25:02a number of engagements coming up to

1:25:04help support the community um, awareness

1:25:06as well as education and preparation for

1:25:08this season. Uh, first, as of today, the

1:25:12winter street sweeping will resume. Um,

1:25:15this upcoming October 26, we'll do a

1:25:17study session with the council on storm

1:25:19preparedness. October 29th is an

1:25:22openhouse. So, everybody from the

1:25:23community, please come to Fire Station 3

1:25:25from 5:30 to 6:30 to learn more about

1:25:28storm preparedness.

1:25:30Um, sandbags will be available early

1:25:32this year. So, beginning um, as early as

1:25:34November 1st, sandbags will be available

1:25:36at the typical Palo Alto locations. Um,

1:25:39and we will do our annual emergency

1:25:41alert test in December. So, we'll

1:25:43continue to update the community and

1:25:45council as we move through the calendar

1:25:46and this wet season. Uh, but wanted to

1:25:49make sure you had the full schedule

1:25:51ahead of you. Next slide, please.

1:25:55All right. Um, Q&A with the mayor. So,

1:25:58please join Mayor uh Vinker and city

1:26:01manager Shakata to gain updates and

1:26:03progress on city council priorities. Uh

1:26:06it'll be a forum for community members

1:26:08to ask questions and participate in

1:26:10person at the Rankinado Library of

1:26:12Barkadero room. You can also watch live

1:26:15on YouTube. So, this will be held on

1:26:17October 28th and December 3rd from 4 to

1:26:215:00 p.m. So, we look forward to seeing

1:26:23the community out.

1:26:26Next slide.

1:26:29Uh, Thursday Live concludes on

1:26:30Halloween. So, we're already halfway

1:26:33through October and Halloween is

1:26:34approaching as well as the holiday

1:26:36season. So, Thursday Live will be having

1:26:40their last series for this year

1:26:42specifically um on October 31st. It's a

1:26:46little bit different than Thursday since

1:26:47it's on the holiday itself. So, from

1:26:4910:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., please come and

1:26:51enjoy a Halloween and October Fest theme

1:26:53event um that with Stanford Research

1:26:56Park sponsoring a photo booth and a mini

1:26:58pumpkin decorating on Calab. You can

1:27:01enjoy the community, the shops, the

1:27:04dining, uh and explore the event. And

1:27:07what's also nice about this is you'll

1:27:09also be able to see the recent

1:27:10improvements that have been done on

1:27:12Calab. Uh the street was repaved, new

1:27:15crosswalks were replaced and upcoming we

1:27:18are expecting um new signage to come at

1:27:21the El Camino some of the entrances. So

1:27:24you'll see new monument signage not at

1:27:25this event but coming up in the in the

1:27:27near weeks. Um all of this to say you'll

1:27:31also you'll see that staff are

1:27:32implementing the new outdoor dining

1:27:34permits uh in alignment with the

1:27:36council's recent approved actions in

1:27:38June. So next slide.

1:27:43you have a busy docket between now and

1:27:45the end of the calendar year. So in

1:27:48October, we talked about the storm study

1:27:50session, storm season study session. We

1:27:52also have the stream corridor protection

1:27:54as well as a colleagues memo coming

1:27:56forward in November. Uh the first

1:27:58meeting in November, as we all know,

1:28:00this is also the day before the

1:28:01election. We have a study session on the

1:28:042025 greenhouse gas inventory and ESCAP

1:28:07progress report as well as SB9 permanent

1:28:09ordinance. Moving on through November

1:28:12and beyond, you'll see we have study

1:28:14sessions for pre-screenings, some

1:28:16transit projects such as Corey Road, the

1:28:18Bryant Linton traffic calming, that's

1:28:21tongue tie. Um, a joint st joint study

1:28:24session with our utilities advisory

1:28:26commission on water supply reliability.

1:28:29Um, the 470 Olive Avenue, which has been

1:28:33a continued item. um ALPR audit uh

1:28:37should be brought forward and a few

1:28:38other items between now and the end of

1:28:40the year. Next slide.

1:28:43I think that's it. I'll turn it back to

1:28:45you, Mayor. Thank you.

1:28:49All right. Thank you very much,

1:28:51Assistant City Manager Nose. Appreciate

1:28:53all of that update. Um

1:28:57great. Okay. So now we will go to the

1:29:01first part of our additional special

1:29:04orders of the day uh which is to

1:29:06interview candid candidates for public

1:29:10art commission and storm water

1:29:11management oversight committee. We will

1:29:13take a break between those two batches

1:29:15but uh we will go ahead and I will turn

1:29:18to the city clerks uh to start us off.

1:29:22>> Good evening. So tonight we uh the city

1:29:24council will be conducting interviews

1:29:26with candidates for the public art

1:29:28commission and the storm water

1:29:29management oversight commission. Each

1:29:31can each candidate interview is

1:29:33scheduled for 10 minutes. Candidates may

1:29:35start with one to three minutes

1:29:37explaining um their uh background and

1:29:40their desire to serve on the commission

1:29:42and the rest of the time will be set

1:29:44aside for council member uh question and

1:29:46answers

1:29:50and the city council is expected to vote

1:29:52on these appointments next Monday.

1:30:02>> All right. Do you have more or Okay. So

1:30:04great. So we uh have uh

1:30:08hold on, I gotta flip my flip my forms

1:30:10over here. Uh so we have it looks like

1:30:13uh five candidates for two positions on

1:30:16the public art commission. Uh an

1:30:18incumbent and we are starting on Zoom.

1:30:22Looks like is that right?

1:30:25>> Yes.

1:30:27>> Okay. So, um, we will turn to Claude

1:30:31Ezren first on Zoom and every candidate

1:30:34will have 10 minutes with, um, we

1:30:37usually invite an opening statement of

1:30:40two or three minutes, whatever they want

1:30:41to do. We'll ask some questions and then

1:30:43we'll wrap up in 10 minutes. So, welcome

1:30:47Claude. If you want to just start

1:30:49whenever you're ready.

1:30:51>> Good evening, council members. Um, I'm

1:30:55applying to the public arts commission

1:30:57for the third time. So hopefully you can

1:31:00see that um I'm very motivated.

1:31:04Um, I'm not an artist. I'll be very

1:31:06clear about that. Uh, I'm not an art

1:31:09professional, but you already have

1:31:11several of them on the commission. So

1:31:15uh, I will bring diversity to the

1:31:17commission. Uh I will bring a

1:31:19complimentary perspective as an art mur

1:31:24as an art conessor a member of the

1:31:26public who has a keen interest in arts

1:31:30and somebody who visits many museums

1:31:32around the world art galleries art shows

1:31:36uh for instance uh just right in

1:31:39September I visit several museum in

1:31:42Switzerland in Zurich and Basil who has

1:31:45great museums

1:31:47and in nove November um I will go to the

1:31:50art island of Naosima in Japan which is

1:31:54a great island which has a lot of

1:31:57outdoor art and museum many museum I

1:32:00spent two days focused on art there

1:32:04let me also mention that um I'm one of

1:32:08the jury chair of UNAF United Nations

1:32:11Association Film Festival which by the

1:32:14way is going on right now

1:32:17um As a jury chair, no, I make sure we

1:32:19evaluate documentaries, we discuss them,

1:32:22and then as a jury, we make a collective

1:32:25decision whether to move forward or not

1:32:28a specific documentary.

1:32:31And uh I mentioned this experience

1:32:33because it would not be completely

1:32:36different from some of the things that I

1:32:38would have to do on the art commission.

1:32:43I also have experience with um city

1:32:46commissions. Having been uh on the HRC

1:32:51for six years, including uh an

1:32:53experience as a chair and vice chair.

1:32:57One of my objectives on the commission

1:33:00will be to make Palo Alto more of an art

1:33:03destination

1:33:04like I did for music when I organized

1:33:07Palo Alto World Music Day for 11 years.

1:33:11And by the way, I was not even uh um I

1:33:15was able to work effectively with

1:33:17performers who love the events and

1:33:20return year after year. And I was able

1:33:23to do that despite the fact that I'm not

1:33:26an artist. I'm not a musician. I don't

1:33:28play an instrument. I don't even carry a

1:33:31tune. Uh so I could do the same for uh

1:33:37other artist. So in conclusion um I will

1:33:41bring a complimentary point of view uh

1:33:44to uh the public art commission as an

1:33:47experienced art amateur

1:33:50and hope you will trust me uh again to

1:33:53do great things for Palo Alto.

1:33:58>> All right. Well, thank you very much for

1:34:00that uh preliminary statement. I I'm

1:34:02actually gonna ask you the first

1:34:04question because um you talked about

1:34:06making PaloAlto an art destination

1:34:10and I I want to uh ask you though how

1:34:15broadly you think about that because I

1:34:17noticed one of the things you said is

1:34:19well you're not an artist you took art

1:34:21classes at the Louvre and you also took

1:34:23ceramic classes right here at the art

1:34:26center in PaloAlto and so do you think

1:34:29that one of the things we should

1:34:30contemplate on our public art commission

1:34:33is more sort of classes and uh artistic

1:34:37training.

1:34:39>> Uh some of that but uh that was not

1:34:42exactly what I was thinking although you

1:34:44know this is not a bad idea at all to

1:34:46the contrary. Uh, and I'm sure we

1:34:48attract people to our classes from the

1:34:51Bay Area or at least nearby cities. But

1:34:54I was thinking more about having art

1:34:57events, you know, uh maybe at the art

1:34:59center or, you know, uh with art

1:35:03galleries, know maybe organizing things

1:35:06with them or with with a pto uh art

1:35:11league um or you know in the libraries.

1:35:14I think having more events where people

1:35:17can see art. We had also uh some great

1:35:21events like maybe once every year uh

1:35:25code art in Paroto I think was fantastic

1:35:27you know was relatively well attended.

1:35:29Maybe we could do more of that. You know

1:35:32I I don't come with a very specific idea

1:35:36in mind. I think I would want to discuss

1:35:40this with my fellow uh art commissioners

1:35:43if I'm selected and maybe with staff and

1:35:46see what we could do to attract more

1:35:48people like you know as I did with

1:35:50Paroto World Music Day know we attracted

1:35:53uh a lot of people from the Bay Area

1:35:55during this event and having some art

1:35:58expose uh having more artists present

1:36:01their uh their art in Palo Alto would

1:36:05achieve such an objective. I can't get

1:36:07him.

1:36:08All right. Thank you very much. Um I'll

1:36:11turn to Council Member Bert.

1:36:13>> Yeah. Thank you, Claude. Um your

1:36:14comments um reminded me of uh something

1:36:17I had asked applicants a couple years

1:36:20ago that I'm interested in revisiting.

1:36:22Well, first um this broader concept of

1:36:27um not only the arts that we sponsor as

1:36:31a city or approve, but uh how would the

1:36:35public art commission work with private

1:36:37art uh and galleries in the city? We

1:36:40just had this major opening of the Hower

1:36:43and Worth uh gallery uh right a block

1:36:47away that had this CER and O'Keeffe uh

1:36:50exposition. Um, it was a huge deal. And

1:36:54while there, I saw that, uh, Bell's

1:36:57Books had posters saying, um, this is

1:37:01our new addition to the Emerson Street

1:37:03Arts District, which I don't think the

1:37:06city has embraced, but, uh, it appears

1:37:08the businesses have selfidentified. So,

1:37:10I want to get your thoughts on that. And

1:37:12then secondly, whether uh we should be

1:37:15considering a broader definition of

1:37:19uh what the art commission's purview is

1:37:21to the arts and that including

1:37:25performing arts uh music and otherwise

1:37:29um uh visual arts uh vid film and and uh

1:37:34as well as visual arts. Um so any

1:37:38thoughts on that?

1:37:40Yeah, I think these are all great ideas.

1:37:42Um, uh, it's exactly along the lines of

1:37:46what I have in mind, you know, working

1:37:48with all galleries. I would also add

1:37:50that we have a lot of very good artists

1:37:54in Palo Alto. Some are professionals,

1:37:56some are amateurs and know we could

1:37:59certainly uh try to encourage some of

1:38:01them to uh show their art

1:38:06often in the libraries. Maybe, you know,

1:38:08we could have an art event at Kerberly.

1:38:11You know, hopefully one day it will be

1:38:13even a much better venue for that. But

1:38:15even in the meantime, you know, uh maybe

1:38:18we could find a space there to have like

1:38:20a weekend of art shows for local

1:38:23artists. Um and definitely you know um I

1:38:27agree with you you know art should be

1:38:29viewed as not just visual arts but could

1:38:32be music could be along the lines of

1:38:36what UNAF is doing and uh try to find

1:38:40some synergies between all these

1:38:42different things so that Palo Alto will

1:38:43be much more on the map as an art

1:38:46destination. And I think we could do a

1:38:48lot more and that would be good for

1:38:51commerce. That would be good for our

1:38:53citizens. You know, art is always

1:38:55uplifting.

1:39:00>> Thank you,

1:39:02Council Member LS.

1:39:04>> Thank you. Uh thank you, Mr. Ezren, for

1:39:06applying and for all that you've done uh

1:39:08in PaloAlto. I appreciated that you took

1:39:11a bit of a contrarian view in your

1:39:12application. You said public art in Palo

1:39:14Alto tends to be bland and unremarkable,

1:39:16barely noticeable, not memorable, does

1:39:18not trigger conversations. I'd like to

1:39:20bring more of a wow factor, more of a

1:39:22sense of wonder. And then you suggested

1:39:24to explore the opportunity of hosting

1:39:26again some of the highly creative and

1:39:28stunning art pieces from Burning Man

1:39:30artists. I just want to invite you to

1:39:32say a little bit more from this angle.

1:39:35>> Yes. You know, um I'm a burner. Uh I go

1:39:39pretty much every year and the art there

1:39:41is stunning and many cities now uh are

1:39:45hosting often on a temporary basis

1:39:48sometimes on a longer term basis art

1:39:51from uh Burning Man artist. Palo Alto

1:39:55did that a few years ago. Um uh we had

1:39:58like a lighted tree and and a few other

1:40:01things. I think we could do it again.

1:40:03that would be um a good idea, you know,

1:40:06maybe to put on King's Plaza or some

1:40:08other places like that. Uh because this

1:40:11art is often uh stunning and it

1:40:14definitely triggers conversation,

1:40:16reactions from people. Um so, you know,

1:40:20we could certainly do that. Many cities

1:40:23know like um San Francisco, San Jose,

1:40:26Reno and many others know do host

1:40:30Burning Man art with a lot of success.

1:40:37>> Great. Thank you for applying Claude.

1:40:38And you are at time so good luck in the

1:40:40process.

1:40:41>> Thank you very much everybody. Thank

1:40:43you. Bye-bye.

1:40:47>> Thank you Mr. Vice Mayor. Um, we will

1:40:50next turn to uh Harriet Stern, our

1:40:53incumbent commissioner. Thank you for

1:40:55your service. Welcome.

1:40:56>> Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Vanker, Vice

1:40:58Mayor Stone, city council members. In my

1:41:01brief comments, I want to drive home two

1:41:02important messages. Public art is vital

1:41:05to building a sense of community across

1:41:07Palo Alto. It fosters participation in

1:41:10and awareness of the strength of our

1:41:12city.

1:41:13Public art encourages our citizens to

1:41:16pause and reflect and it builds pride in

1:41:19our community. During my two and a half

1:41:21years of service on the public art

1:41:24commission, I have directly contributed

1:41:27to the awareness of the value of public

1:41:29art in our community. From working with

1:41:32artists and art consultants in planning

1:41:34art for the built environment to the

1:41:37digital mapping of city hall for code

1:41:39art, I have been involved in expanding

1:41:41and diversifying public art offerings

1:41:43around PaloAlto.

1:41:46I often advocate to my fellow PaloAltons

1:41:48about the value of our public art. I do

1:41:51this in my capacity as a fellow

1:41:53PaloAlton, but also as vice chair of the

1:41:56public art commission and as a private

1:41:59exhibit curator on behalf of neighbors

1:42:01abroad and art and artists with

1:42:03disabilities. To anyone who will listen,

1:42:06I draw attention to sculptures, murals,

1:42:08and exhibitions which comprise the

1:42:10portfolio of public art available in

1:42:12PaloAlto. I wanted to become a

1:42:14commissioner because I felt strongly

1:42:16that public art builds a sense of

1:42:18community across all demographics. It

1:42:21nurtures everyone in Palo Alto. Little

1:42:23did I know how much these beliefs would

1:42:25be amplified by my tenure on the public

1:42:28art commission. By serving as a

1:42:30commissioner, not only have I observed

1:42:32firsthand the vital importance of art

1:42:34and fostering community across PaloAlto,

1:42:39but I have contributed to the greater

1:42:40awareness of the value public art

1:42:42delivers. I stand before you tonight

1:42:45asking to be reappointed as a public art

1:42:47commissioner. I wish to remain a strong

1:42:50advocate for public art on behalf of all

1:42:52PaloAltons.

1:42:54I'm happy to answer any questions you

1:42:56might have about my reappoint.

1:42:58>> Terrific. Well, thank you very much for

1:43:00that.

1:43:01>> Thank you.

1:43:01>> And even though I'm in this chair, I'm

1:43:02going to have to turn back to the vice

1:43:04mayor because my iPad is out of

1:43:05commission and I can't see who's ringing

1:43:06in. So, would you please take it from

1:43:08here?

1:43:09>> Not a problem. Uh, Councilman Lot.

1:43:12>> Thank you, Miss Durm, for your service

1:43:13on the Palto Art Commission and

1:43:15appreciate your uh wanting to reup. I

1:43:18was intrigued when you said you were the

1:43:19sole dissenting vote uh to approve code

1:43:22art and you took it upon yourself to

1:43:24learn more about the concept. you

1:43:26visited the Napa Lighted Art Festival

1:43:28and you were quite impressed by the

1:43:30thousands of people that it was bringing

1:43:32into uh that region and then you sort of

1:43:35pose the question is that happening

1:43:37here? So I wonder as you continue to

1:43:39mull this, what would you have us do

1:43:43differently in order to ensure that an

1:43:46investment in something like Kodart,

1:43:48which those of us who see it are

1:43:50completely mesmerized by, um, ends up

1:43:53having the kind of reach or draw that

1:43:57apparently the Napa Lighted Arts

1:43:59Festival has.

1:44:00>> Yeah, that's a very good question. First

1:44:02of all, I think we need to get the buy

1:44:03in from from the businesses around

1:44:07PaloAlto. People should stay open late.

1:44:09They should encourage visitors who are

1:44:11here because it's an after-dark event

1:44:14and if um shops are not open then they

1:44:17won't get visitors. I mean, we do have,

1:44:18of course, a lot of restaurants, but you

1:44:20know, Bells is a great example of a

1:44:22great of an excellent partner. And the

1:44:24whole Emerson Street corridor, the arts

1:44:27corridor, I hadn't never heard that

1:44:28referred to before, but there is an art

1:44:31walk now on Friday evenings in PaloAlto.

1:44:33I'm not sure that you were aware of

1:44:35that. Um, right. It's uh the first

1:44:37Friday of the month. And um so I to

1:44:41answer your question, I think that

1:44:43there's a lot of arts enthusiasm,

1:44:45especially with Hower and Worth just

1:44:47coming. That was an amazing event. Um

1:44:50and I think we have to form a coalition

1:44:53of all of the commercial art galleries

1:44:55that we have and um encourage uh greater

1:45:00uh input from them and the businesses.

1:45:02And for example, the first night of

1:45:04Kodart and maybe it was even the second

1:45:05or third, the lights were on in city

1:45:07hall, which were kind of was kind of a

1:45:10problem if you're trying to project in a

1:45:12dark environment. So I don't even know

1:45:14why our own city hall couldn't have been

1:45:17100% participating in that.

1:45:22>> Council allowing

1:45:24>> Thank you. Uh Council Scott basically

1:45:27asked my question uh which was kind of

1:45:29what do you what more do you want to do?

1:45:31Uh, but I'm gonna ask you another

1:45:32question that that I had prepared. It's

1:45:34a little bit different, but since you're

1:45:36in leadership as the as the vice chair,

1:45:39what do you think the the best new ads

1:45:42would be for other commissioners? What

1:45:44kind of things do you think we need to

1:45:45put on there uh to get um diversity in

1:45:48types of art and things like that?

1:45:50>> Well, since I've been on the commission,

1:45:52we've had quite a turnover and now we

1:45:54have a lot of actual practicing artists,

1:45:57which I think is a huge benefit. Um, I'm

1:46:00interested in what Claude had to say

1:46:02about the other types of art that we had

1:46:05in the city, the music day. I remember

1:46:07that and it was great. And um, I'm not

1:46:10sure if we should I mean I'm I think

1:46:12it's we should consider having other

1:46:15types of art forms versus just the

1:46:17visual artist arts which is what we seem

1:46:20to be focusing on. Um, you know, murals,

1:46:24installations,

1:46:25that kind of thing. But uh you know we

1:46:27do have these uplift art grants which

1:46:29are artlift grants which are super and I

1:46:33did encourage some uh other types of

1:46:35artists to apply for that not just uh

1:46:38visual artists some musicians and those

1:46:42grants are awarded by um a by committee

1:46:46and those artists obviously weren't you

1:46:48know favored so none of those people got

1:46:52grants but um I think that we should

1:46:55think about other types of artists and

1:46:57maybe leaders like Claude who could

1:46:59bring some other, you know, ideas to the

1:47:03commission.

1:47:04>> Well, thanks for the code art. That was

1:47:05just that was that turned into a city

1:47:07celebration. That was just absolutely

1:47:09amazing.

1:47:09>> Well, I think we need more people more

1:47:11people to come and enjoy code art

1:47:12because

1:47:13>> all generations were talking to each

1:47:14other, chasing that dinosaur around, you

1:47:16know, that kind of thing. So, it it was

1:47:17beautiful.

1:47:18>> That was Thank you. [laughter]

1:47:20>> That was fun. It was spectacular. Uh,

1:47:22Council Member Rall.

1:47:24>> Yeah. Thank you for applying or

1:47:25reapplying. Yeah, I did go to the U art

1:47:28walk. It was well attended. I was

1:47:30pleasantly surprised. Uh in your

1:47:33application, you talk about working with

1:47:35disabled artists. You want to talk more

1:47:36about that and that give you more

1:47:38insight into art?

1:47:40>> Um well, yes. So, for the past few

1:47:42years, uh I'm just working on the

1:47:44exhibition right now, which is going to

1:47:46happen in November 13th at the Minnesota

1:47:50Street Project in San Francisco for

1:47:52Creative Spotlight. And it's uh I just

1:47:54got I'm a volunteer for this in this

1:47:56role and I'm wrangling 70 pieces of 2D

1:48:01art and another 50 pieces of ceramic and

1:48:05um jewelry craft art uh to create a

1:48:09cohesive um exhibition

1:48:12uh which is all for sale in order to

1:48:15provide a pathway for artists who have

1:48:18disabilities mostly intellectual and

1:48:21developmental disabilities who our

1:48:23artists a pathway for them to earn a

1:48:26living, earn money.

1:48:28So that's the capacity in which I'm

1:48:30working with that.

1:48:31>> Okay. Thank you,

1:48:32>> Council Member Lou.

1:48:34>> Thank you. I'm curious, Harriet, as a

1:48:37curator and someone who has put on

1:48:39shows, how should we think about how to

1:48:42better support or promote the shows that

1:48:44we host as a city at the Paul Alto Art

1:48:47Gallery, which uh are often great, but

1:48:50seemingly also uh not extremely well

1:48:53attended, though I'm unsure. Uh can you

1:48:56speak to um some of that and what you

1:48:59think the commission might be able to

1:49:00do? Well, I've actually been impressed

1:49:02that the art ga art uh center is trying

1:49:05to get more and more people in and

1:49:06they're starting to have their Friday

1:49:08they have Friday night live at the art

1:49:10gallery and apparently it's well

1:49:12attended. I've not been able to get

1:49:14there. Um I do think a lot of people

1:49:17come into PaloAlto to to the art center

1:49:20uh from from the surrounding

1:49:22communities. I'm not sure if people come

1:49:24from San Francisco uh or or you know San

1:49:27Jose. I have no idea about that. That

1:49:29that's an interesting question. Um, how

1:49:32can we encourage more people? Well, the

1:49:34certainly the art walk is a good way to

1:49:37get more people to come appreciate the

1:49:38arts here. We do have some fabulous

1:49:40galleries, you know, uh, Qualia, Pamela

1:49:43Welsh, um, and now Hower and Worth and

1:49:46for sure we're going to get more people

1:49:47in the community because of Hower and

1:49:49Worth. So, yeah, that would be wonderful

1:49:51if we capitalize on that. And if

1:49:54somebody comes to Palo Alto to see

1:49:56Calder and O'Keeffe, maybe they'll go

1:49:58down to the PaloAlto Art Center and

1:50:01spend uh another hour or so looking at

1:50:04the exhibition and um pop into some of

1:50:06our other galleries and have dinner, I

1:50:08think, is all just a huge plus.

1:50:12Create more buzz by creating more buzz.

1:50:16>> Great. Well, you have 40 seconds, so is

1:50:19there anything you'd like to say in

1:50:21closing?

1:50:22>> Nothing. I've I mean I've really enjoyed

1:50:24the the work I've been doing with the

1:50:27public art commission and I learned a

1:50:29lot about our artists at Cubberly. Um

1:50:31we've got some fantastic artists there

1:50:33and one of the things I've enjoyed is

1:50:35reviewing the art as they as it comes

1:50:38into the public art collection. So, no,

1:50:41everything. I've just had a grand old

1:50:43time and I've really enjoyed getting to

1:50:45know the artists and other commissioners

1:50:47and I hope actually in the future to um

1:50:51have an art exhibition of commissioner

1:50:54art. So, that's my next thing I'm

1:50:56thinking about as a as a curator.

1:50:59>> Interesting. Interesting. All right.

1:51:00Well, thank you very much for

1:51:01reapplying.

1:51:02>> Thank you.

1:51:03>> All right. And so, now we will move on

1:51:05to Meta Huberman. So, take your time,

1:51:08but welcome. Start when you're ready.

1:51:10Thank you. Good evening. My name is Ma

1:51:13Huberman. I am a Danish American who has

1:51:16lived in Palo Alto for almost 35 years.

1:51:19Um I have an education degree from

1:51:21Stanford and I have worked as an

1:51:23education researcher

1:51:25um in a nonprofit research company for

1:51:27more than 20 years. I then went back to

1:51:30school and I'm now an art historian and

1:51:32a contributing writer to Palo Alto

1:51:34online. I write stories about art and

1:51:37culture and have written several stories

1:51:39about public art in Palo Alto, including

1:51:42one about the 50-year-old Gre Greg Brown

1:51:45murals in downtown and the almost

1:51:47100-year-old uh Victor Arnito murals at

1:51:50the Palo Alto Museum. And someone

1:51:52mentioned the Palo Alto Art Center. I've

1:51:54been writing about their exhibits as

1:51:56well. And there's one coming out

1:51:58hopefully on Friday about their latest

1:52:00ex exhibit, Live the Moment Light, which

1:52:03is really a beautiful exhibit. So I'm

1:52:05hoping that more people will learn about

1:52:06it that way.

1:52:08I'm also an art dosan at the Palo Alto

1:52:10Art Center where I lead school tours for

1:52:13local K5 students of the changing

1:52:15exhibits at the center and I further

1:52:18serve as an art dosent in Lascato school

1:52:20district where I teach art history in K8

1:52:23classrooms and just today I taught fifth

1:52:26grade a fifth grade lesson on American

1:52:29art in Lascataros.

1:52:31I care deeply about art education for

1:52:33children and adults alike. And given the

1:52:37importance of public art in a community,

1:52:39it would be beneficial for the public to

1:52:40learn more about the art that does exist

1:52:43in Palo Alto already. And this could be

1:52:46done in various ways. for example, by

1:52:48making schools aware of the Greek brown

1:52:51murals scavenger hunt that already

1:52:53exists online

1:52:56and also by making maybe having students

1:52:58locate the multiple decorated utility

1:53:01boxes that exist which are really

1:53:02beautiful. I think um the public program

1:53:05could also do we do this monthly art

1:53:08walk but I have participated in one in

1:53:10Los Altos where they combine gallery

1:53:12walk with public art viewing in the city

1:53:15and I think really making people in

1:53:17PaloAto more aware of the beautiful

1:53:18public art that does exist as part of

1:53:21that artwork I think could really make

1:53:23people more aware of what exists here in

1:53:25the city. Um, given my teaching

1:53:29experience, I think I would be very

1:53:31capable of helping with this process.

1:53:33And in addition to art education, I also

1:53:35care deeply about uh female artist

1:53:38recognition and appreciation, which is

1:53:40something I have focused on in my um

1:53:43whole career as a as an art historian uh

1:53:46and something I would like to pursue

1:53:48more as part of u my commissioner my

1:53:50commissioner's work. So my art

1:53:52historical knowledge on the topic as

1:53:54well as my experience working with

1:53:56stakeholders and artists will be very

1:53:57helpful in this process. And in addition

1:54:00as a writer I have interviewed numerous

1:54:02art stakeholders including artists,

1:54:04curators and art administrators and this

1:54:08experience will also be helpful um on

1:54:10the art commission in my research and

1:54:12evaluation work. I have extensive

1:54:14knowledge of writing of proposals to

1:54:16secure funding and that could be

1:54:18something that could be useful as well.

1:54:20Um, lastly, I just want to mention

1:54:23something that the first applicant

1:54:26talked about that there are currently a

1:54:29lot of artists on the commission, which

1:54:31I think is great, but I think it's also

1:54:33nice to have a broader experience of

1:54:35arts on the commission. So, um, I

1:54:38encourage you to think about other

1:54:41applicants as well, uh, with more mixed

1:54:43art experience on the commission. So,

1:54:46thank you for now.

1:54:50>> All right. Thank you very much and

1:54:52colleagues questions. Council member

1:54:54Bert.

1:54:55>> Thank you. Um so I also very much

1:55:00appreciate uh the real uh caliber of

1:55:04artists on our art commission and I am

1:55:07at the same time intrigued with these

1:55:09different points of view uh to

1:55:11complement them. Um and um as you were

1:55:16talking about uh our uh art history in

1:55:20our community,

1:55:21uh it made me wonder about something

1:55:25that is uh a different angle on that is

1:55:29opportunities for future art to express

1:55:34elements of our history. And an example

1:55:37is we have a perspective mural in the

1:55:40repainted uh University Avenue tunnels

1:55:43and and that train line was constructed

1:55:46by primarily by Chinese immigrants

1:55:48before the transcontinental railroad.

1:55:50It's an undertold story. Um so that's

1:55:54just one example. And we have this

1:55:56marvelous art at the uh the former Fry

1:56:00building uh that is a mosaic that

1:56:03reflects it's that reflects um the

1:56:06history of of that community that uh

1:56:09worked and and ran those that phenomenal

1:56:13uh uh business

1:56:15uh not the fries but the uh the canery.

1:56:18Um so anyway, your thoughts on that?

1:56:22>> Yes. Uh definitely. And I want to get

1:56:24back to something I mentioned in my

1:56:26opening and that's the Victor Arnito

1:56:29murals at the Palto uh Museum um because

1:56:32it really has an incredible historical

1:56:35value um because it's it talks about uh

1:56:39it was developed for the Palto Medical

1:56:41Foundation about 100 years ago and um

1:56:46Victor Arnosov chose to show modern and

1:56:48ancient medicine. So he was talking

1:56:50about modern medicine at that time and

1:56:54juxttoposing

1:56:56the ancient medicine methods. So it

1:56:58really do both speaks to um where we

1:57:02were in terms of um medicine um

1:57:05innovation at that time and and then we

1:57:08have these beautiful murals that are

1:57:09fresco very special the only fresco in

1:57:12in our county actually at that caliber.

1:57:15Um, so I totally agree with you that

1:57:18it's something that we could really

1:57:19focus more on showing our own history in

1:57:22our art and I believe that that already

1:57:25exists in in some places and we can make

1:57:27people more aware of it.

1:57:30>> Vice Mayor,

1:57:32>> thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you

1:57:34for uh applying. I'm curious, are are

1:57:37you aware of another city that you look

1:57:40up to as far as their ability to invest

1:57:42in in public art and how we might be

1:57:45able to borrow best practices from from

1:57:48those to improve our own public art

1:57:50program?

1:57:52>> I mean, I have been impressed with um

1:57:54Los Altos and what they've been doing.

1:57:57Um, I'm not exactly sure how they are

1:57:59funding their art program compared to

1:58:01Palo Alto, but I really I have

1:58:04participated in these monthly artworks

1:58:05and I'm very impressed with how they're

1:58:07able to share with the public sort of

1:58:10the progression of their art program and

1:58:13then I've also written an article about

1:58:15the the public art at on Stanford campus

1:58:17and that of course is at a very high

1:58:19level. They have a lot of funding for

1:58:21their art, for their public art on on

1:58:23campus. And that is really very

1:58:26impressive. But it takes a lot of uh

1:58:28private uh funding to to get to that

1:58:32level of quality of public art, I think,

1:58:34that they have on campus.

1:58:39>> So, I'm very uh intrigued by your art

1:58:42education and working with students and

1:58:44the ones that you taught today.

1:58:46>> Yes. Um, so in thinking about the art

1:58:49offerings in our city,

1:58:51>> you know, it'd be nice if we appealed to

1:58:53all ages of our residents. Are there do

1:58:57you perceive any kind of gaps? And if

1:58:59so, what would you do about it or even

1:59:00ones that are maybe some age groups we

1:59:03don't appeal to enough and how you might

1:59:06uh engage them?

1:59:08Um well as I mentioned in my opening I

1:59:11think making schools more aware aware of

1:59:13what already exists in the city and that

1:59:15could be done through the Palato Art

1:59:17Center for example when school classes

1:59:19come in we could make them more aware of

1:59:22for example that scavenger hunt that

1:59:24already exists in the city um that's

1:59:27sort of at the child level or the school

1:59:29level for adults I think that monthly

1:59:32artwork where we could also combine it

1:59:34with the uh public art or the murals

1:59:37that already exist. There has been some

1:59:39art walks of that nature, but to have it

1:59:41sort of on a more monthly basis and

1:59:43making people more aware of that at the

1:59:46adult level as well.

1:59:47>> Yeah. And I'm just curious about like

1:59:50youth and young adults who might feel

1:59:51they're too old for a scavenger hunt,

1:59:53but they're, you know, they have other

1:59:55things to do on a Friday night.

1:59:56[laughter]

1:59:57Is there some way of getting at that age

1:59:59group?

2:00:00>> So, you're thinking more of like the

2:00:00middle school, high school level?

2:00:02>> I'm thinking high school, college, like,

2:00:03you know,

2:00:05>> I think there are. are I mean making

2:00:06them aware of a lot of the offerings

2:00:08that are happening at the Palto Art

2:00:10Center for example, classes that are

2:00:12happening um and also at the Pacific Art

2:00:14League. I think that could really speak

2:00:16to that age group. Some of the the

2:00:18classes that are offered

2:00:20>> um and also some of the more particip

2:00:22participatory um events that that where

2:00:26you can get students to participate in

2:00:29art activities at the center.

2:00:32>> Great.

2:00:33>> Could speak to that age group. Well,

2:00:35thank you. Uh, you have 36 seconds left

2:00:38if you'd like to have any closing

2:00:39thoughts you'd like to leave with us.

2:00:41Um,

2:00:43I just hope that the council will

2:00:46consider just a broader set of

2:00:49experiences on the center and I really

2:00:52um feel very strongly about art

2:00:54education. So, which is something that

2:00:56is actually in in the plans uh to make

2:00:59the the public and at all levels more

2:01:02aware of the art we have in the city.

2:01:04So, something that I really encourage

2:01:06the council to consider.

2:01:09>> Great. Well, thank you very much for

2:01:10applying and being here tonight.

2:01:14>> All right. So, with that, we will move

2:01:15on to Marilyn Gotautly Roberts. Take

2:01:19your time and

2:01:21when you're ready, you can start in.

2:01:25Welcome.

2:01:28>> Thank you for the opportunity. Oops.

2:01:31>> Let's get the microphone. There we are.

2:01:32>> We go. Uh, thank you for the opportunity

2:01:35to interview. Um, I'm a visual artist, a

2:01:38writer, uh, and a retired college art

2:01:41professor. Uh over many years I've

2:01:43worked in exhibitions, installations,

2:01:46artist books, public presentations, and

2:01:49arts review including uh public art

2:01:52contexts.

2:01:53Uh in these settings, um artistic

2:01:57quality, feasibility, sighting, and

2:02:00public experience all had to be

2:02:02considered together.

2:02:05I'm interested in serving on the public

2:02:07art commission because I believe public

2:02:10art can do more than decorate a civic

2:02:12place.

2:02:14At at its best, public art creates

2:02:17attention, memory, and shared meaning in

2:02:20everyday life.

2:02:23I would hope to bring discernment,

2:02:25openness, and serious respect for

2:02:28stewardship, thoughtful artist

2:02:30selection, and meaningful public

2:02:32engagement.

2:02:36Great. Well, thank you very much for

2:02:38that. Um, colleagues, who wants to start

2:02:40us off?

2:02:48Oh, council member Lowing,

2:02:52I was very intrigued by some of your

2:02:54writing in here in the application. Uh,

2:02:57and this one phrase uh I've read a

2:02:59number of times where you say art can um

2:03:02uh deepen public attention and enlarged

2:03:05shared meaning and then you say bring

2:03:07seriousness and surprise and memory into

2:03:10everyday life. Could you give us a

2:03:13layman's version of that?

2:03:15>> Sure. Um I guess may maybe by talking

2:03:18about

2:03:20I'm I guess I'm a kind of a as an artist

2:03:23I'm a kind of a ferret. Um, I glom on to

2:03:27something and don't let go. Um, I I

2:03:31worked with pastoral nomads um and and

2:03:35along the Sahel and um learned a bit

2:03:39about what the stars do for them. And

2:03:43then the next thing

2:03:45led to the next thing and then the next

2:03:47thing and um I I discovered um a oral

2:03:53almanac embedded both in the Gilgamesh

2:03:56and in Beaolf.

2:03:59And that that's part why I'm so

2:04:01jet-lagged right now because I just got

2:04:04back from presenting my work to uh an

2:04:07international conference of um on on on

2:04:12that work uh of archaeologists of all

2:04:16things. Um

2:04:19but the the the the almanacs that I

2:04:23found are based on memory

2:04:26and

2:04:29Um, it's a very old kind of memory and

2:04:31it's recorded in written literature.

2:04:36The basic pattern in both of those myths

2:04:38is the basic pattern of every grade B

2:04:41movie you ever saw. It's stayed around a

2:04:44long time and it's carried there by art

2:04:48both as oral literature

2:04:51uh, and in writings. I I'm not sure I

2:04:54answered it, but that's

2:04:56>> that helped. Oh,

2:04:57>> thank you.

2:04:59>> All right, Council Member Rectal.

2:05:01>> Okay, thank you for applying. Uh, you

2:05:05say in your application that strong

2:05:07public art should be memorable,

2:05:10wellsighted, and responsive to the scale

2:05:12and character of its setting. So, Palto

2:05:15has a lot of public art. How do we rate

2:05:17in that criteria?

2:05:20>> Um, we've all got room to grow.

2:05:24[clears throat]

2:05:26Do you want to give some details?

2:05:29>> Well, um, Palo Alto, um, is a city that

2:05:37>> what what could we do better, maybe?

2:05:39Well,

2:05:41just starting with what the kind of city

2:05:43that PaloAlto is, it uh it it cares

2:05:47about um ideas,

2:05:51about public life

2:05:54and um

2:05:57uh about design.

2:06:00And um

2:06:03those those things together uh suggest

2:06:08possibly um more adventuresome

2:06:13>> um in in selections.

2:06:15And I don't mean adventuresome in in

2:06:18just looking for novelty. I mean

2:06:20adventuresome in looking beyond um some

2:06:24of the obvious things about public art.

2:06:27um public art, you know, sort of had its

2:06:31down period in the 1960s with plop art

2:06:35and luckily enough we've moved beyond

2:06:38that in public sightings, but I think we

2:06:42can do better.

2:06:43>> Okay. Thank you.

2:06:49>> Yeah, thank you for applying. Um, I

2:06:52wanted to ask how you think we can

2:06:55prioritize more and bettersighted and uh

2:07:00sort of more engaging uh public art in

2:07:04uh civic spaces. And specifically, I'm

2:07:06curious how you think about uh temporary

2:07:11activations um uh and exhibits versus

2:07:15sort of acquiring

2:07:17uh

2:07:18more permanently cited art because you

2:07:22spent

2:07:22>> a lot of time on temporary exhibits. I'm

2:07:24I'm just not sure what the right balance

2:07:26is.

2:07:26>> Yeah. Yeah. Yes.

2:07:29Um

2:07:31when I was teaching I um you know my oh

2:07:34Miami Miami was a real backwater

2:07:38uh for for quite a while in its its

2:07:41history. And one of the things that was

2:07:44so frustrating to me about teaching is

2:07:46that there were no no decent museums,

2:07:49nothing for the students to work on. And

2:07:52and so they were sort of by default

2:07:55doing original work. I mean really

2:07:57interesting stuff.

2:07:59Um

2:08:01but I also wanted a balance of of the

2:08:04the the

2:08:06wealth of our our past and then I raised

2:08:11the money to to do a um avantgard film

2:08:15because with film you can for very cheap

2:08:18bring in art the way the artist intended

2:08:21it to be seen. And um so I just started

2:08:25you know showing showing it in my

2:08:28classrooms and then I started working

2:08:30with the library and we expanded their

2:08:33collection of avantgard art and then

2:08:35that became Miami Waves um um

2:08:40experimental film and performance art an

2:08:44annual performance and that turned in to

2:08:46the 10th annual uh New Music America

2:08:50festival with John Cage's last uh

2:08:53performance performance before he died.

2:08:55So, one thing leads to the next just

2:08:57just like I mean that's what artists do.

2:09:00One thing leads to the next. Um I' I'd

2:09:04if I were I' I'd have to start, you

2:09:07know, sniffing around and talking and

2:09:09finding out what where the needs were

2:09:12and how how I could be a little

2:09:16innovative in supplying the needs. And

2:09:19my students loved it, too.

2:09:24And that was a great question. Thank

2:09:25you. I I loved it.

2:09:29>> Um, well, I wanted to just see if I

2:09:31could get a little more information

2:09:32about a a comment in your application

2:09:35that mentions your experience working on

2:09:37uh in public art contexts where planning

2:09:40documents, institutional goals and

2:09:42conditions, and review criteria shape

2:09:44the selection and presentation of art.

2:09:47And so I'm curious based on that

2:09:50experience on selection of public art,

2:09:52what lessons you might have learned like

2:09:55like what processes work well or maybe

2:09:57not so well. What lessons can we take

2:09:59here in PaloAlto from your experience?

2:10:01>> Well, a a lot of the work I did um

2:10:05really depended on working with a lot of

2:10:07different people and as you know cur

2:10:10hurting cats is easy compared to that.

2:10:13um learning how to listen, learning how

2:10:17to ask better questions.

2:10:20Um and that leads to a lot of really

2:10:23interesting things that we wouldn't have

2:10:25thought of ordinarily.

2:10:28I did I answer your question or

2:10:30>> Yeah. No, that's great. I think that,

2:10:32you know, because obviously that's part

2:10:34of what the commission does is these

2:10:35selections and I just thought, you know,

2:10:37if there were particular ways that have

2:10:40worked well, it would be helpful. So,

2:10:43>> um

2:10:44the the two people who did the public

2:10:47art program, I don't know if you're

2:10:48familiar with Miami's public art

2:10:50program, but it's really quite wonderful

2:10:52and it was um you know, both of the

2:10:55people who made it that have all have

2:10:58both moved on. But,

2:11:00um they're two of my closest friends and

2:11:03so I' I've seen them through a lot of

2:11:06ups and downs and again it just all

2:11:08comes down to people skills. I mean, if

2:11:12you're doing innovative things, you

2:11:14don't have a choice [laughter] but to

2:11:16work with some really weird people.

2:11:20>> I'll stipulate that.

2:11:22>> Oh. Oh. Oh, yeah. Oh my god. I have

2:11:24stories.

2:11:26>> Well, at some point I'd love to hear

2:11:28them. You have only a few seconds. Is

2:11:30there any last thoughts?

2:11:31>> No.

2:11:32>> Okay. Well, thank you so much for

2:11:33applying.

2:11:34>> Thank you.

2:11:35>> Okay. Um, so then we will move to our

2:11:38last applicant for the public art

2:11:40commission, Edith Barakeet. I may not

2:11:43have said that right, so please tell us

2:11:45how to pronounce your name. Hi, welcome.

2:11:47It is on. Welcome.

2:11:48>> Thank you. Thanks for having me. Good

2:11:50evening, members of the panel. I'm

2:11:52running for the public art uh commission

2:11:54because I bring a unique intersection of

2:11:57acqu, business knowledge, and a deeply

2:12:00global perspective to our city's urban

2:12:02canvas.

2:12:04Palo Alto has been my home for over 20

2:12:06years now and I'm deeply grateful to

2:12:08this community and eager to serve it

2:12:10with a fresh and new energy for this

2:12:12role.

2:12:14My academic foundation in art history,

2:12:16specifically in photography, gives me a

2:12:19rigorous framework for evaluating

2:12:21collection stewardship and artistic

2:12:23merit. At the same time, my professional

2:12:25experience in real estate means I speak

2:12:28the practical language of developer

2:12:29zoning ordinances and structural phys

2:12:31feasibility.

2:12:33Having moved across different cultures

2:12:35and languages throughout my life, I've

2:12:37developed a deep sense of cultural

2:12:38empathy. I know firsthand how public

2:12:41spaces can bridge communities, and I'm

2:12:43excited to help Alto navigate its public

2:12:45private art mandates to select art that

2:12:48truly connects our diverse global city.

2:12:51I'll give you a bit of my biography um

2:12:53as a background to who I am. I was born

2:12:56into an artistic home with an artist

2:12:59father, an artist mother. Uh my aunt and

2:13:02uncle lived upstairs um in Chelsea in

2:13:05Manhattan back when Manhattan was

2:13:07affordable and a vibrant vibrant place

2:13:09for artists to live. We then moved to a

2:13:11small village in France um the border of

2:13:14Switzerland. So my language was a bit of

2:13:16a jumble to the point where my mom could

2:13:18not understand me at times. From there

2:13:21we moved to Jerusalem where the National

2:13:23Museum was my playground where I would

2:13:26accompany my father as he documented uh

2:13:29the work of archaeologists exposing

2:13:31ancient tiled floors and photograph

2:13:33Rousenberg when he put on an exhibit

2:13:36there. I of course had no idea how

2:13:38unusual that life was. Um I was just

2:13:40hanging out with my dad at work. I then

2:13:43arrived in Toronto as an ESL student

2:13:45when that term didn't really exist and

2:13:47it took me a while to adjust to speaking

2:13:49English and learning Canadian culture. I

2:13:52attended the University of Toronto uh

2:13:54for a literature degree and some time in

2:13:56McGill in Montreal. Then I moved to New

2:13:58York back to where I was from. I worked

2:14:01at a magazine as a fact checker when we

2:14:03had those and uh an assistant editor and

2:14:06then I also freelance as a stylist. So I

2:14:08worked on a lot of fashion shoots and

2:14:10product shoots. I went back to Toronto

2:14:12to start my art history uh which I

2:14:14completed at Tel Aviv University. My

2:14:16thesis funnily enough was um the

2:14:19dialogue between Georgia O'Keeffe and

2:14:21her partner at the time Alfred Stiglets

2:14:24as they um looked at the skyscrapers

2:14:28arriving in Manhattan in 1920s. So when

2:14:31the Hower Worth Gallery opened up, it

2:14:33was a real treat to see some pieces that

2:14:34I'd never seen before from George

2:14:36O'Keefe.

2:14:38As I said, I moved to California about

2:14:3925 years ago. uh at first to San

2:14:41Francisco and then to Palo Alto which

2:14:43has been my home since I moved here with

2:14:46an 8-year-old and two 5-year-olds

2:14:48directly into the PA USD system which

2:14:51for me was um wonderful and um

2:14:54incredibly enriching. I became a dosent

2:14:57at the art center which I had also done

2:14:59at the art gallery of Ontario and an

2:15:02instructor in the classroom at Aloney

2:15:03where my kids were attending school. I

2:15:06also use my home as a community

2:15:08gathering space for art shows by my

2:15:10friends from around the world working in

2:15:11different mediums. I also had the

2:15:13privilege of hosting classical music

2:15:15concerts in my home. It's something that

2:15:17I tried to do during co as well. I did

2:15:20something I called um art drive-thru

2:15:23where we lined up art on the street and

2:15:25people could drive by and look at the

2:15:27art or purchase the art. And the

2:15:29highlight of that was when someone

2:15:31bought a piece of art from a friend at

2:15:33full gallery cost because he

2:15:35acknowledged that artists had suffered

2:15:37so much during co and that was a really

2:15:38heartwarming moment. We also had a

2:15:41concert outside and um everyone insisted

2:15:43on paying the musicians for the same

2:15:45reason but they wanted the money to go

2:15:47to the ACLU which was also quite lovely.

2:15:50I have other volunteer interests

2:15:52particularly with seniors. I volunteer

2:15:54at Jewish family services uh with a

2:15:56group that supports Holocaust survivors

2:15:58which is deeply meaningful to me and

2:16:00through that I've joined the Stanford

2:16:02hospital the chapency program to work um

2:16:05to volunteer at the hospital as well. A

2:16:08few years ago, in order to understand

2:16:09the upcoming sale of my home, I decided

2:16:11to get my real estate license. But the

2:16:14manager at the Compass office insisted

2:16:15that I do it on my own, which was pretty

2:16:18um difficult for me, but I learned a lot

2:16:21in the process and decided to pursue um

2:16:23real estate uh for my friends. And I've

2:16:26learned a lot about real estate in Palo

2:16:27Alto through my own experience of

2:16:29getting permits and doing that kind of

2:16:31thing. So, I've learned uh to look at

2:16:34real estate from the seller point of

2:16:35view, the buyer point of view, the

2:16:36renter point of view, all of those

2:16:38things. So, I see the overlap of my art

2:16:41background both personally and

2:16:42academically um in my more recent

2:16:44exposure to real estate as a natural fit

2:16:47for the role in the public art

2:16:49commission.

2:16:51And um I welcome your questions.

2:16:54>> All right. Well, thank you for all of

2:16:56that. Um colleagues, who would like to

2:16:59kick us off? Vice Mayor.

2:17:02>> Great. Thank you. And thank you so much

2:17:04for applying.

2:17:06Fascinating. You've lived all around the

2:17:08world and I'm sure you've seen some

2:17:10incredible public art programs

2:17:12elsewhere. Is there any other city that

2:17:15really inspires you and and and how

2:17:18might we be able to bal be able to kind

2:17:20of borrow some of those best practices

2:17:22here to make our own program better?

2:17:24>> I mean, every city has something

2:17:26wonderful, but I think as you say that

2:17:28it triggers a thought to my mom. Um, and

2:17:30she worked with her husband, who's an

2:17:32urban planner in Toronto, to do art in

2:17:35laneways in Toronto, which is a big part

2:17:37of the architecture. And I found it

2:17:40really inspiring um to take places that

2:17:43were not really considered a source for

2:17:45art, and to invite artists to to do work

2:17:47just like we have here, the murals in

2:17:49Palo Alto. Um, I find that very

2:17:51inspiring personally, of course.

2:17:57>> Others Council

2:18:00member Rectal,

2:18:02>> thank you for applying. Uh, you talk in

2:18:04your application about promoting young

2:18:07local artists and can you talk more

2:18:09about that?

2:18:10>> Well, I said this last year when I

2:18:12applied, I love the idea of having a

2:18:14pop-up gallery. Um, I feel like we have

2:18:17enormous talent in this city from kids

2:18:20all the way up to seniors. It would be

2:18:23really wonderful to sell art of just

2:18:26normal people. um that the interest we

2:18:28don't we have the high-end the blue chip

2:18:30art now with howorth and um I would love

2:18:34to see just people here selling their

2:18:36own art I know we have open studios and

2:18:39that's lovely as well but it would be

2:18:40nice to have a space that we can feature

2:18:43local artists

2:18:45>> what can we do to encourage more local

2:18:47artists to become artists

2:18:49>> I think we have a lot of artists um I

2:18:52I'm very um enriched by my friends in

2:18:55all the different forms of art here.

2:18:57There's so much going on from music to

2:19:00writing to photography to art. I mean,

2:19:03just walking by All Saints, the church,

2:19:05and seeing the camera club with the

2:19:08rotating artwork. I mean, we have so

2:19:10many talented people here. I think

2:19:12there's a lot of art already.

2:19:14>> Okay. Thank you.

2:19:19>> Anybody else?

2:19:26Well, I loved your story about um during

2:19:29COVID that the uh put out the art and

2:19:32that uh people stepped up and and bought

2:19:35some art at a full gallery price.

2:19:38>> And um

2:19:40those are people who really appreciate

2:19:44>> um art. And I I guess

2:19:47what I'm wondering is what do you think

2:19:49moves someone to really appreciate it

2:19:51more and isn't just trying to get the

2:19:52full what is what is it that that we

2:19:54could try to to light in the in more

2:19:56people to get them to be that type of

2:19:58art appreciator.

2:20:01>> Again, I find people here are very

2:20:04engaged. It somehow seems spread out,

2:20:06but we have a wealth of opportunity to

2:20:09appreciate art. the Caner which is free,

2:20:11the Anderson which is free, uh the polit

2:20:14center, the art walks which are back

2:20:16which is a lovely addition. I did notice

2:20:19with Hower and Worth they did an

2:20:21enormous amount of advertising and I

2:20:24think that's what got so many people

2:20:26out. There was a line around the block

2:20:28for the opening even though it was

2:20:30incredibly hot that day. Um, and one of

2:20:33my favorite things about Hower and Worth

2:20:35is that they opened up the bookstore

2:20:36next door. Very inviting for people to

2:20:38come and sit down. I was told I can

2:20:40bring coffee from somewhere and my

2:20:42laptop and sit and to be able to sit in

2:20:45that environment. Um, I think that's

2:20:48going to really inspire people.

2:20:51>> That's terrific. Um, so you have a

2:20:54little less than a minute. Is there any

2:20:55final thoughts or or comments you'd like

2:20:57to leave us with?

2:20:59No, I I think this um I'm really eager

2:21:02to serve Palo Alto, as I said, and this

2:21:04feel like it's a good fit for some of

2:21:06the skills that I have. Um and um I

2:21:10really love what I'm seeing, especially

2:21:11now that I live downtown walking around.

2:21:12I do see a lot of things that are

2:21:14inspiring. The new mural again at um All

2:21:17Saints is lovely and I I really

2:21:19appreciate the fact that it um echoes

2:21:22what happens in the church, the musical

2:21:24aspect of it and it kind of reminds you

2:21:27that there are things going on inside.

2:21:29Even though the building is a brutalist

2:21:31style, it might not be so inviting. Uh

2:21:34that color and that reminder of music

2:21:37happening indoors is an a really lovely

2:21:39invitation for people to come in.

2:21:42>> Terrific. All right. Well, thank you

2:21:43very much

2:21:45>> and I I want to thank all of our

2:21:47applicants. I have really enjoyed these

2:21:49interviews. It's been just expansive to

2:21:52listen to you and your ideas. Um and

2:21:54once again, this community is so full of

2:21:57talent. You make our jobs really hard.

2:21:59Um so, so thank you uh for your time

2:22:02tonight. And with that, we will uh

2:22:05recess. Uh and our next interview is

2:22:08scheduled at 8:00. So, we will take the

2:22:11day just a little bit before that.

2:22:12Unless madame clerk you happen to let us

2:22:14know we have anybody ready to talk to us

2:22:16or before that. All right. Thank you.

2:44:53back to order so that we can continue

2:44:55with our uh special order of the day of

2:44:58interviewing board and commission

2:45:00candidates and I guess moving on to

2:45:02storm water.

2:45:04>> Correct.

2:45:04>> So, madame clerk, it looks like uh we

2:45:08start with Susan Rosenberg uh on Zoom.

2:45:10Is that right?

2:45:11>> And she is online. I will promote her to

2:45:13panel list right now.

2:45:14>> Excellent. Thank you.

2:45:23Susan Rosenberg, you should be able to

2:45:25unmute yourself and speak.

2:45:27>> Yeah. And Miss Rosenberg, I just I just

2:45:30want to this is the mayor and I uh want

2:45:34to mention that what we will do is give

2:45:35you uh however long you'd like at the

2:45:37beginning if two or three minutes to

2:45:39introduce yourself, say anything

2:45:40preliminarily, then we'll ask you some

2:45:42questions uh over the course of 10

2:45:44minutes. So, please go ahead when you're

2:45:47ready.

2:45:56Susan, you should be able to unmute

2:45:58yourself and um

2:46:00show your video.

2:46:10>> Can you see that she's online? But

2:46:12>> yeah. Um Oh, I see her putting her

2:46:15camera on. Oh. Oh, there her camera is

2:46:18on now. But I believe Susan, you are

2:46:20still muted. We cannot hear you in

2:46:21chambers.

2:46:25>> All right. There you go.

2:46:27>> You can see me and you can hear me now.

2:46:30>> Yes, correct.

2:46:31>> Yes.

2:46:31>> Hold on one sec.

2:46:37>> Okay. I'm visiting my grandchildren in

2:46:40Parkfield, California,

2:46:43population 18. So hopefully this will

2:46:48hold out. So thank you for the opport.

2:46:51Can you see me?

2:46:52>> We can see and hear you well, please.

2:46:54>> Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank

2:46:56you. Okay. Thank you for this

2:46:57opportunity and for considering me for

2:47:00the storm drain oversight committee.

2:47:02About 10 years ago, I was appointed by

2:47:06council to the storm drain blue ribbon

2:47:09committee where I received a thorough

2:47:13introduction to PaloAlto's watershed and

2:47:15storm drain infrastructure.

2:47:18That committee made recommendations to

2:47:21fund the green storm water

2:47:23infrastructure

2:47:25and also uh to have a oversight

2:47:29committee which is what this is. Um

2:47:33during this time

2:47:35uh during this time my relationship I

2:47:38began to understand my relationship the

2:47:40relationship between storm water runoff

2:47:42and storm drains and the trees in

2:47:45PaloAlto

2:47:47because as a co-founder of Canopy this

2:47:49connection is still very important and

2:47:52so I look forward to rejoining this

2:47:55committee.

2:47:59>> Excellent. Well, thank you very much.

2:48:01Um, so colleagues, who would like to ask

2:48:04the first question? Council member

2:48:06Liths.

2:48:07>> Mr. Rosenberg, thank you for uh

2:48:09reapplying and uh for joining us when

2:48:12you're away with your grandkids. Um, I

2:48:15was intrigued that you said your um,

2:48:19decision to apply was really driven by

2:48:21the need for applicants and I wonder if

2:48:24you could give us your perspective on

2:48:28what the um, storm water commission is

2:48:31about that perhaps people don't

2:48:34understand or fully appreciate. You

2:48:36know, we we have been in need of folks

2:48:38and you've stepped up and said, I'll

2:48:40I'll come back have me. But what is it

2:48:43that you think the community is

2:48:44misunderstanding or not appreciating?

2:48:47>> Um, I have to confess that before I was

2:48:51asked to be on the um blue ribbon

2:48:54committee, I had no idea what storm

2:48:56drains did. Um, so for me it was a

2:49:00really wonderful learn learning

2:49:01experience to be on that official blue

2:49:03ribbon committee and to learn about the

2:49:06relationship of our watershed, our rain,

2:49:09the things the water that comes down

2:49:11from the mountains um, and the impact

2:49:15not only on you know the people that

2:49:17live there but on our trees that are

2:49:19there. So, I was actually

2:49:24uh thrilled to learn I mean I'm sorry

2:49:26that you're not getting people to join

2:49:27the committee, but I was thrilled to

2:49:29learn about the opportunity to rejoin

2:49:32this committee about a decade later.

2:49:41>> Great. Thank you,

2:49:44>> Council Member Lowing.

2:49:47>> Thank you. I [clears throat] have the

2:49:49highest respect for somebody that's a

2:49:51co-founder of Canopy. So, thank you for

2:49:54staying active and uh maybe getting

2:49:56reacted here. Reactive. Um what what

2:50:00have you done sort of more recently? Uh

2:50:02obviously since the original and since

2:50:04now just kind of other things that

2:50:06you've you've just been working on

2:50:07volunteer or otherwise.

2:50:10Uh really uh for about the last 10 years

2:50:14um I've had five grandchildren and

2:50:18there's they're like the most important

2:50:21thing that I want to do. And so I have

2:50:23been spending quite a bit of time with

2:50:24my grandchildren. Um but when this

2:50:27opportunity came up I thought that

2:50:29something I could do while I'm with my

2:50:31grandchildren as well. I'm no longer on

2:50:34Canopy's board, but I'm still uh a big

2:50:37supporter of the work that Canopy does.

2:50:42>> Okay. Thanks,

2:50:49>> Council Member B.

2:50:50>> Thank you, Susan. [clears throat] Could

2:50:52you speak a little bit about the green

2:50:55storm water um aspect of our storm water

2:51:00uh master plan and um uh how that has

2:51:06evolved and and um its benefits.

2:51:11So when the blue ribbon committee was

2:51:15formed, at that point people weren't

2:51:18really thinking about green

2:51:20infrastructure as a way to deal with

2:51:23rainwater. They were um you know I mean

2:51:26there were there were underground pipes

2:51:28that weren't that weren't connecting

2:51:30that were supposed to carry the storm

2:51:32water. So the city staff was really

2:51:35concerned about mainly concerned about

2:51:38re fixing those things. There were areas

2:51:41in the city where there were floods and

2:51:43that's what the city staff wanted to do.

2:51:46And there was a a a group of us in the

2:51:49on that blue ribbon committee that

2:51:51understood

2:51:53were understood what uh green

2:51:56infrastructure the benefits it could

2:51:58bring to the city in addition to

2:52:00repairing the more engineered things

2:52:03that needed to be done. So initially it

2:52:05started out with the concept of getting

2:52:07people to uh or making lowcost 50gallon

2:52:12rain barrels and and that didn't go over

2:52:17I don't think it was hugely successful

2:52:19because we have 50 gallons isn't that

2:52:21much water

2:52:24spread over you know if you're not

2:52:26getting rain between say March and

2:52:28November

2:52:30you know that doesn't hold much so the

2:52:33the funding that was earmarked for green

2:52:36infrastructure um kept growing until a

2:52:40point that it became about a million

2:52:41dollars and at that point the city staff

2:52:45was able to do a really grand project in

2:52:48the Stonegate neighborhood where there

2:52:50is only one storm drain in the whole

2:52:54neighborhood.

2:52:56So

2:52:58that's a project and then since then the

2:53:00city has done other projects which I'm

2:53:01not so familiar with. Thank you.

2:53:09Other questions?

2:53:16Well, I'm just so fascinated to hear the

2:53:18history and the relationship both with

2:53:21our tree canopy and uh you know, bioils

2:53:26and all of that. Now, so um really

2:53:29appreciate all the work that went into

2:53:30this. Um,

2:53:34I'm not seeing other questions. So,

2:53:37>> Susan, do you want to give I don't if

2:53:38there's any thought other thoughts you

2:53:40want to leave us with, something we

2:53:41didn't ask that you'd like us to know?

2:53:43>> Um, no. I mean, uh, the one thing I was

2:53:47reminded about this committee that I

2:53:50hopefully can join is that it's just an

2:53:52oversight committee. Not just, but it is

2:53:54an oversight committee. meaning that uh

2:53:58the residents who join this committee,

2:54:00our job is just to make sure that the

2:54:04city projects are actually completing

2:54:06the things that were initially set up 10

2:54:10years ago or approximately 10 years ago.

2:54:13So, I'm looking forward to being a part

2:54:15of this again.

2:54:17>> Yeah. No, that's an excellent point.

2:54:18Thank you for pointing out that

2:54:20distinction in the scope of the the

2:54:21work. So, all right. Well, thanks for

2:54:23joining us again from and and uh you

2:54:26know, enjoy your grandkids.

2:54:28>> Okay, great. Thanks so much. Bye.

2:54:30>> Bye. Bye.

2:54:31>> Bye.

2:54:32>> Okay. Um so, let's move on to our next

2:54:35applicant. Gregory Bennett, I believe,

2:54:37also joining by Zoom. Is that correct?

2:54:40Terrific.

2:54:54Gregory Bennett, you should be able to

2:54:56unmute yourself there.

2:55:04>> Welcome. And and if you'd want to give

2:55:05us a couple minutes of intro about you,

2:55:07anything you'd like us to know, please

2:55:08go ahead and then we'll ask some

2:55:10questions.

2:55:11>> Sure. Um, well, thank you council for

2:55:14your time and uh and uh attention today.

2:55:16Um, and I wanted to shout out Susan.

2:55:18she's still on the call for a great

2:55:20history lesson on the storm water

2:55:21management committee. Um so I joined uh

2:55:25I'm reapplying for uh my role on the on

2:55:28the committee. Um I joined in the last

2:55:31uh couple years. Um and uh when I

2:55:35originally joined uh it was out of a

2:55:38abundance of caution and fear for

2:55:40climate change for our community and I

2:55:42was make wanted to make sure that I was

2:55:44doing everything I could as a climate

2:55:46investor person. um to make sure that my

2:55:48neighbors are being best served. Um and

2:55:52I'm proud to report that I've been

2:55:54really impressed with everyone I've

2:55:55interacted with. Uh and I feel like Al

2:55:58is in really good shape um from a storm

2:56:00water perspective going into a historic

2:56:02El Nino season. Um, I know now deeply uh

2:56:07how all the money gets spent and how uh

2:56:10how how the um how Paul to make sure

2:56:13that we have uh the lowest risk flood

2:56:16season every year that we do. Um and uh

2:56:20I look I uh I was really inspired by the

2:56:23folks that we've been working with uh

2:56:24both with the city and um externally.

2:56:27And I wanted to continue serving my

2:56:29community the best that I could and uh

2:56:31so I'm reapplying. And uh about me um I

2:56:35have a three-year-old at preschool

2:56:36family uh and at Bing Ele uh nursery

2:56:38school. Um that takes up a lot of my

2:56:40time. I also uh do some uh advisory for

2:56:45startups in the AI space and um still a

2:56:48climate investor uh even though that's

2:56:50not necessarily the most uh popular

2:56:53thing right now. [laughter]

2:56:57>> All right. Well, it's popular with me,

2:56:59so that's [laughter]

2:57:00um All right. Well, thank you for your

2:57:02service, uh Council Member Rectal.

2:57:05>> Okay. Thank you for reapplying. Thank

2:57:07you for your service. So going forward,

2:57:09what are your big uh priorities going in

2:57:12your next term?

2:57:13>> Uh number one uh with a bullet to me is

2:57:17um we are nearing the end of the

2:57:20original budget, tenure budget from uh

2:57:23the 2017 ballot initiative that funded

2:57:26the initial storm water management

2:57:28oversight committee. Um and as we move

2:57:31into sunsetting that, I think it's the

2:57:33end of next year. Um the future of how

2:57:36we do upgrades in the city is very much

2:57:38top of mind for me and how to make make

2:57:40sure that we're continuingly doing

2:57:41upgrades to make sure that the water

2:57:43goes where it's supposed to which is out

2:57:44to the bay. Um

2:57:47uh so uh doing all the things that are

2:57:50required of the storm water management

2:57:52committee uh in as part of that process.

2:57:54I'm very interested in learning more if

2:57:56we are supposed to do anything. Um but

2:57:59uh happily ready to serve if that's the

2:58:02case. um if there's more to do there.

2:58:04So, that's number one is understanding

2:58:05how that works. Um because I assume

2:58:08that's coming down the pipe. Um I think

2:58:10people are very happy with the storm

2:58:12water uh upgrades that we've made. Um

2:58:15and uh and then also how you sunset the

2:58:19budget uh because there's a bit of a I

2:58:21think a 5-year uh kind of maintenance

2:58:23window after the initial budget to make

2:58:25sure that those 13 projects are uh

2:58:27operating in goodstead. So, um, learning

2:58:31how the machinery of civic

2:58:33infrastructure works.

2:58:35>> Is there anything the city could be

2:58:36doing to help you to make your job

2:58:38better or more successful?

2:58:40>> Oh, oh my goodness. Um,

2:58:47I think that the members of the

2:58:49stormwater oversight committee have I I

2:58:52don't want to speak for everybody, but I

2:58:54do think that there are uh uh uh

2:58:58well-informed opinions now, especially

2:58:59if they've served for any length of time

2:59:02on how the water goes from the hills

2:59:05down to the bay. Um, and uh, we know

2:59:09what's uh, what the intricacies of, you

2:59:13know, managing easements with certain

2:59:14property owners and all all that fun

2:59:16stuff. Um, so if there is a future

2:59:20ballot initiative, I would love the city

2:59:22to let us know and maybe we can weigh

2:59:24in. Um, I think that's the only thing I

2:59:26would uh, ask for.

2:59:28>> Okay. Thank you,

2:59:30>> Council Member Bert.

2:59:31>> Thank you. Um so one of the things that

2:59:36um uh we you know we normally think of

2:59:39this as a pretty mundane uh oversight

2:59:43but in addition to the the green

2:59:45infrastructure component um it's often

2:59:50overlooked that one of the most

2:59:52important improvements we've done to uh

2:59:56flood control on the from the San

2:59:59Francisco Creek is not us within the

3:00:02creek, but the improvements to our storm

3:00:04water system in both the first tax and

3:00:06now this extension and projects going on

3:00:09now uh with El Nino coming up. Um

3:00:14I think there'll be even more highlight.

3:00:16I my understanding is that the

3:00:18>> it's the Hamilton one, one of the last

3:00:20ones won't be complete until next year,

3:00:24but I wonder if you could speak to that

3:00:26aspect of your oversight.

3:00:28Uh uh I think that the um green

3:00:33infrastructure

3:00:35uh performing as well as it has to me is

3:00:38a testament to the quality of the green

3:00:40like the capability of green

3:00:41infrastructure. Um it's one of those I

3:00:44think lowhanging fruit for the Bay Area

3:00:48where we can have these kind of very

3:00:50controlled areas um that are uh good for

3:00:55the environment and can handle overflow

3:00:57during uh atmospheric river events. Um,

3:01:01so that's definitely, yes, San Francisco

3:01:03Creek and uh near 101 are kind of the

3:01:06two big uh areas where everyone uh every

3:01:10winter now is like really looking

3:01:12forward to seeing what happens. Um, and

3:01:15I think that the both the long-term

3:01:18infrastructure upgrades that have been

3:01:19going on and the kind of spot uh storm

3:01:21water in coordination with public uh

3:01:24Department of Public Works um for

3:01:26clearing debris from storm drains and

3:01:28kind of the regular work that has been

3:01:31going on, maintenance um has been really

3:01:34really um impressive to me as a as a

3:01:37member of the uh as a resident of this

3:01:40community. Um, I feel like there are uh

3:01:43a lot of people working really hard to

3:01:45make sure that the um the water goes

3:01:48where it's supposed to go and um yeah,

3:01:50I've just been really impressed with

3:01:51them.

3:01:52>> Thank you,

3:01:55>> Council Member L.

3:01:57>> Thank you. Uh thank you for reapplying.

3:01:59I think your discussion on uh

3:02:02potentially passing another ballot

3:02:04measure is interesting. Can you

3:02:06elaborate a little bit more on that?

3:02:07what sort of the biggest strategic needs

3:02:09are and how you actually think about the

3:02:12timing uh of that.

3:02:15>> Yes. So from my understanding um the

3:02:19city has taken this initial um

3:02:23infrastructure kind of sprint over the

3:02:25last 10 years and uh in the tw uh in

3:02:292017 when the um ballot measure was

3:02:31proposed and passed um I believe we were

3:02:34on climate uh in a climate regime of

3:02:37projections that was uh I believe it was

3:02:39the IPCC 3 or four and we are now on six

3:02:43and the severity and volatility ility of

3:02:46atmospheric river events specifically in

3:02:48our area has gone up over that time

3:02:50period. So um we can expect more

3:02:54potential for major uh atmospheric

3:02:57rivers coming in kind of in sequence the

3:03:00same way that they happened I believe it

3:03:01was 2022 uh around New Year's Eve. Um uh

3:03:06you can expect that frequency to

3:03:08increase going forward. And so, um, I I

3:03:12believe there's an opportunity to

3:03:13continue the work that, um, this initial

3:03:16storm water upgrade, uh, uh, uh, system,

3:03:20uh, set of projects that were proposed

3:03:22in 2017, uh, to continue that. Um, I

3:03:26believe that the engineering department

3:03:27at the city has some uh probably has a

3:03:30list of places that they would like to

3:03:32continue upgrading. Um, including with

3:03:35green infrastructure projects cuz even

3:03:37the most skeptical folks within uh the

3:03:39engineering department said that they've

3:03:40been outperforming project uh their

3:03:42expectations. Um, so that's been great.

3:03:45Uh, so I think we should do more because

3:03:47there's going to be more coming down the

3:03:48pipe. Um, so I think there's an

3:03:50opportunity to get ahead of this and use

3:03:51the um use the expertise and the

3:03:54knowledge of the people that have been

3:03:55working on this for the last 10 years to

3:03:56continue it for the next 10 or I assume

3:03:5910 for the next if we do a ballot

3:04:00initiative. How that all gets funded,

3:04:03who we have to talk to, whether that's a

3:04:05good idea, um, I'll leave that up to

3:04:07council and everybody else, but um, I do

3:04:10think that there's an opportunity here.

3:04:15>> Okay, great. Uh well, I don't see any

3:04:18other requests to ask questions. So, if

3:04:20there's anything you'd like to leave us

3:04:22with in the last minute here, feel free

3:04:24to add any thoughts that you'd like us

3:04:26to consider.

3:04:28>> Uh I guess for the other folks online um

3:04:30who may be new to the committee. Um it

3:04:33is a bit uh dry. You're looking at

3:04:36budgets and understanding how budget

3:04:38items uh uh correlate to work in the

3:04:41field and infrastructure upgrades. But I

3:04:43think it's one of the most rewarding and

3:04:46important uh pieces of u civic

3:04:48participation you can do Paul Alto. So

3:04:51>> wow.

3:04:51>> I'll leave you with that.

3:04:53>> That's terrific. Thank you. And I'm just

3:04:55fascinated that storm water work is dry.

3:04:59[laughter]

3:05:00>> Anyway, yeah. All right. Well, thank you

3:05:02for applying.

3:05:04Okay. So, we'll move on to our next

3:05:07applicant, uh Brian Hamichek, who is

3:05:10here in person. So, I think you've heard

3:05:12the drill. So, start when you're ready

3:05:14and welcome.

3:05:17>> Hey, I think I've met all of you at one

3:05:19time or another, but my name is Brian

3:05:21Hamichek. I was born and raised in Palo

3:05:23Alto. I love this city and I really want

3:05:25to get involved and give back. I can't

3:05:27say that storm water management is a

3:05:28particular interest of mine, but I

3:05:30believe my background as a technology

3:05:32executive has given me skills that would

3:05:34be valuable in carrying out the fiscal

3:05:36oversight responsibilities of this uh

3:05:38committee. And as I said, I'm just

3:05:40looking to get involved however I can.

3:05:41Uh that said, I understand there's two

3:05:43open seats and that there's two current

3:05:45committee members who have served the

3:05:46city well that are also seeking

3:05:48reappoint. So I won't take up too much

3:05:50of your time. But above all, I just

3:05:52wanted to say thank you for selecting me

3:05:53the interview. I've been applying to

3:05:54serve on various commissions since 2012.

3:05:57And although I haven't had the

3:05:59opportunity to serve yet, I'm going to

3:06:00continue to apply. So if I'm not

3:06:02selected this time, I hope you'll

3:06:03consider interviewing me again next time

3:06:05around.

3:06:09All right. Well, thank you for that.

3:06:11Colleagues, who might like to start

3:06:17think we're wearing out? [laughter]

3:06:19Council member Burch.

3:06:20>> Yeah. Uh Brian, can you offer any

3:06:23thoughts you have on um uh the the

3:06:29initiatives of the storm water plan and

3:06:32and um and uh anything that you would

3:06:36focus on if you were selected?

3:06:38>> I mean, I think that from my

3:06:40understanding, this committee is more of

3:06:41just fiscal oversight. So, I'm I'm not

3:06:43that familiar with the individual

3:06:45initiatives and which have been

3:06:46completed already because I think a fair

3:06:48number of them have been. Um but yeah,

3:06:53>> Council Member Lisk Hims, I was going to

3:06:55ask a similar question, Mr. Hammer.

3:06:58Thank you um for applying and it's

3:07:00wonderful to hear that you've been going

3:07:01for it and you're looking for the right

3:07:02way to serve the city and um I wonder if

3:07:05you could just say a little bit more to

3:07:07us about um who you are and why that

3:07:10matters.

3:07:12>> Um just in general.

3:07:13>> Yeah.

3:07:14>> Yeah. I mean I I just love this city. I

3:07:16grew up here. I just

3:07:19all all aspects of it. I really do

3:07:20believe that this is the best city to

3:07:22live in, the best city to raise a family

3:07:24in. Um so yeah, I think that uh I've

3:07:28always been trying to give back. I've in

3:07:31multiple ways I've done a I created a

3:07:33website that tracks all the city council

3:07:35and commission meetings, summarizes them

3:07:38so that you can quickly just see what

3:07:39the main issues were at that meeting.

3:07:42Um, I also broadcast the the police

3:07:44radio online so the residents can uh see

3:07:47what's going on in their city. But I but

3:07:50I'm definitely looking to get involved

3:07:51in a more meaningful way.

3:07:54>> Thank you.

3:08:00Council

3:08:06member,

3:08:14>> thank you for applying. I do actually

3:08:16track your website that tracks the

3:08:18police reports because the current the

3:08:21police is actually their website is 24

3:08:24hours and you have a longer history. So,

3:08:25it's very useful if I want to go back

3:08:27and and look at reports.

3:08:29So, what attracts you to Storm Water as

3:08:32opposed to the other commissions?

3:08:34>> I mean, uh, I definitely have applied

3:08:36for almost all the other commissions at

3:08:38one point or another. Um, at this point,

3:08:40I'm just trying to get on a commission

3:08:41and serve. Uh, I mean, there there are

3:08:45definitely things that attract me to it.

3:08:46I think that, uh,

3:08:48the fiscal oversight aspect of it, I

3:08:51mean, is definitely a less intensive

3:08:53one, which I suppose is nice. Um, but

3:08:55yeah, I'm just really looking to serve

3:08:57on any commission at this point. So,

3:08:59>> okay. And have you followed what they've

3:09:02done in the past? Looked at past

3:09:03meetings.

3:09:04>> Say that again.

3:09:05>> Have you looked at past meetings and and

3:09:08>> I've read the the summary. It seems like

3:09:10it's pretty just overview. Uh looking at

3:09:12the budget, making sure approving it.

3:09:14Yeah.

3:09:15>> Yeah.

3:09:15>> Pretty straightforward committee it

3:09:17seems like.

3:09:17>> Yeah. The workload is a little lower

3:09:19than other commissions.

3:09:21>> Okay. Well, thank you for applying and

3:09:22re reapplying. [clears throat]

3:09:35Yeah. Hi, Brian. Thanks for thanks for

3:09:37uh applying.

3:09:39Doesn't feel like your your heart's

3:09:41quite in this. I mean, where would this

3:09:45committee rank uh in the in the

3:09:47commissions that you would like to serve

3:09:49on and and give back to the community?

3:09:52Where would you rank this? I mean, I

3:09:54definitely don't want to diminish my

3:09:55excitement to be on this committee as

3:09:57well. I just know that there are two uh

3:09:59two spots open and there's two uh really

3:10:01wellqualified people who are already on

3:10:03the committee that so um that that's why

3:10:06maybe I'm not coming off as as excited,

3:10:08but um I I just want to give back. I

3:10:11don't know if I can rank the commissions

3:10:13per se

3:10:15and I appreciate your desire to to give

3:10:17back and serve the community. It's

3:10:18honorable. So, thanks

3:10:23All right. Well, I will say I will note

3:10:26that, you know, you wrote a thorough

3:10:29application and spent no clearly spent

3:10:31time on that and that that matters. So,

3:10:33the the the sincere interest is clear

3:10:36and uh I respect and appreciate that. Um

3:10:40but I'm not seeing any more questions.

3:10:42Going once, going twice.

3:10:45So, is there are there any thoughts

3:10:47you'd like to leave us with?

3:10:48>> Nope. I just hope uh you'll consider

3:10:51interviewing me again the next time

3:10:52around. Yeah.

3:10:53>> All right. Very well. Thank you. Thanks

3:10:55for applying.

3:10:58>> Okay. So, now we will move on to Doug

3:11:02Burns

3:11:03and will he be on Zoom or Yeah. Okay.

3:11:06Great.

3:11:11Doug, you should be able to unmute

3:11:13yourself and um turn your camera on.

3:11:18>> Okay.

3:11:20Can you hear me?

3:11:22>> We can hear you and you can start

3:11:23whenever you're ready.

3:11:24>> Okay. So, um like the previous person, I

3:11:27was actually born and raised in Palo

3:11:29Alto and I worked for um Barryian for 40

3:11:32years in the tax department. So, I I'm

3:11:36kind of approaching this from more of a

3:11:37numbers standpoint than a but I do

3:11:40always liked infrastructure and and find

3:11:42it very interesting. But um you know the

3:11:46budgeting and fiscal aspect is what sort

3:11:48of appealed to me about this whole

3:11:50thing. Um and as I say uh lived in Palo

3:11:53Alto all my life except for going to

3:11:55college and uh loved the town and um was

3:11:59kind of wanted to give back to the

3:12:01community.

3:12:04>> Great. Well, thank you very much for

3:12:06applying. Um colleagues, who has the

3:12:09first question?

3:12:20Council member Lou, thank you for

3:12:22applying. Doug, uh, can you speak a

3:12:24little bit more to your interest in

3:12:27storm water and, uh, this commission and

3:12:30anything you'd uh, uh,

3:12:34potentially hope to achieve beyond the

3:12:36immediate, uh, sort of fiscal oversight

3:12:38role? Well, and I again that's probably

3:12:41a huge part of it just to make sure that

3:12:43the money spent correctly and and that

3:12:45people are doing things, you know, as I

3:12:47say, I've been working for Variant. I

3:12:50was on kind of the other side of audits,

3:12:51but I've definitely been involved in a

3:12:53lot of oversight and things like that,

3:12:55as I say, from the over end. So, from

3:12:57the other end, but um definitely

3:12:59understand how all that works and

3:13:00everything like that. And um it sounded

3:13:02like when I read about it that it was,

3:13:04you know, it's important that there's

3:13:06oversight on all of this. So that's kind

3:13:08of more approaching it. But as I say, I

3:13:10do like infrastructure. Um, and I think

3:13:12that's very interesting. And I think

3:13:14some of the things that um they're doing

3:13:16in terms of the um you like it, I've

3:13:19forgotten what they're called. The rain

3:13:21collector um ponds are very interesting

3:13:24and some of the ones that are proposed

3:13:26like over at um Wanos Park and stuff. I

3:13:29do find that very interesting. And it it

3:13:32is, you know, good not to have so much

3:13:35water going in the sewer system. Cool.

3:13:42Thank you.

3:13:45>> All right. So, you mentioned your

3:13:47interest uh you know comes out of your

3:13:50your background in accounting and

3:13:52wanting to make sure that money is used

3:13:54for the purpose intended. Um so with

3:13:57with the accounting and all the 40 years

3:14:00at Varian um has has that been primarily

3:14:04in like the the transactional accounting

3:14:06role or have you done oversight uh in

3:14:09other contexts that would be helpful for

3:14:11us to understand? Again, I think um I

3:14:14was in the tax department at Varian and

3:14:15we Varian definitely had a lot of

3:14:17audits, you know, from the state and the

3:14:19federal government and and the um county

3:14:22and so I was always kind of involved

3:14:23from the other end, but I understand the

3:14:25process, but I've never actually

3:14:27approached it from the audit side.

3:14:31>> I see. So, you've had other folks with

3:14:32oversight of you and your practices as

3:14:35the other way around.

3:14:36>> So, now it's time to to to join the

3:14:38other side.

3:14:40Did you learn anything from being, you

3:14:43know, in your role about what you think

3:14:46would have made a more effective sort of

3:14:48oversight process? Like what didn't they

3:14:50ask, what didn't they do, what what

3:14:51process-wise would you recommend?

3:14:54>> Um, that is a very hard question to

3:14:56answer, but it's definitely um something

3:14:58I would say. Yes, of course. you know,

3:15:01when you you have government um you

3:15:04know, people come in from various taxing

3:15:07agencies come in, there's things that

3:15:09they could probably do better. You're

3:15:11kind of in a better position to know

3:15:12that just because you kind of know what

3:15:14they don't know, but um

3:15:17I definitely think yes, I could have

3:15:19made some suggestions to some of those

3:15:21agencies on how they could improve the

3:15:22processes, but actually some of them are

3:15:24are quite good. But I mean like the

3:15:26board of equalization um is I always

3:15:30found to be a very well-run

3:15:31organization.

3:15:34>> Well, I'm glad to hear that.

3:15:37Uh so colleagues, any additional

3:15:39questions?

3:15:42All right. Well, Mr. Burns, I'm not

3:15:43seeing any. So, are there any is there

3:15:46anything we didn't ask uh that you'd

3:15:47like to share with us? Any final

3:15:50comments?

3:15:50>> Um no, not really. Um no. And I Yeah. Uh

3:15:55it would be great to to get back in the

3:15:57city, but it you know, so thank you very

3:16:00much for your time.

3:16:01>> All right. Well, thank you for joining

3:16:03us and thank you for applying.

3:16:05>> Bye-bye.

3:16:06>> Bye-bye.

3:16:08Okay. So, now we can move on to

3:16:11Katherine Perman here in person.

3:16:14Welcome.

3:16:17>> Good evening, council members.

3:16:21Thank you for this opportunity to talk

3:16:23about my application for a second term

3:16:25to the stormwater management oversight

3:16:27committee. As you well know, the 2017

3:16:30storm water management fee ballot

3:16:32measure and green infra green storm

3:16:34water infrastructure plan established

3:16:36the committee's working goals and it's

3:16:39been such a pleasure working on those

3:16:41goals with our excellent city staff and

3:16:43committee members.

3:16:45I enjoyed seeing our capital and

3:16:47maintenance progress projects progress

3:16:50through their various life cycles

3:16:52experiencing some of the nitty-gritty of

3:16:54governance

3:16:56and nerding out. I'm a environment

3:16:59environmental engineer over technical

3:17:01details such as pipe diameters and trash

3:17:05collection devices.

3:17:07All of this with the goal of making our

3:17:09community a cleaner and safer place.

3:17:13So giving back to my home city with a

3:17:16second term would be an honor.

3:17:20>> Well, terrific. Well, thank you for your

3:17:22service to date and thank you for

3:17:24reapplying. Um, I have a question. uh

3:17:30maybe a little I I I I don't know that

3:17:32this is something that comes within the

3:17:34purview of the oversight, but um when we

3:17:38were uh talking with some other

3:17:39applicants earlier and talking about

3:17:41getting the water from the hills to the

3:17:43bay or from really anywhere out to the

3:17:45bay, the storm water,

3:17:48do you have does much come to you in the

3:17:51way of especially since you're an

3:17:52environmental engineer, making sure it's

3:17:55storm water and not other things uh

3:17:57getting in those pipes and that we don't

3:17:59want going out to the bay. So, how does

3:18:01that come to your commission or

3:18:03committee if at all?

3:18:04>> Right. That's an excellent question. So,

3:18:06um the capital improvement projects are

3:18:10>> Sorry, we can't hear you. So, move

3:18:12close. There we are. Thank you.

3:18:13>> The capital improvement projects are

3:18:15very specific locations kind of within

3:18:17the major city limits. Um I don't think

3:18:22there's any in the hills at the moment.

3:18:23uh the various other projects that

3:18:25people talked about like on San

3:18:27Francisco Creek come under a slightly

3:18:28different purview I think although there

3:18:30is some overlap with um with drainage uh

3:18:34control. Um and along with all of that

3:18:39is a set of projects on trash collection

3:18:42that come under our purview and um the

3:18:45city staff has been with others working

3:18:49with other agencies has been quite busy

3:18:51in installing in doing an inventory of

3:18:55the trash that's collecting and

3:18:57influencing storm water quality. Um, so

3:19:01there are projects that are in flux,

3:19:02there are projects that influx that are

3:19:04in progress [laughter] and there are

3:19:06some that have completed and they're all

3:19:08with the goal of reducing the amount of

3:19:12trash uh that goes out to the bay. And

3:19:15in fact, the city's under some pretty

3:19:17strict requirements um along with the

3:19:19regional requirements to to meet certain

3:19:22goals and I believe the goals are are

3:19:25getting accomplished which is awesome.

3:19:28>> That is awesome. That's great news.

3:19:30>> Yeah.

3:19:31>> What about like non-tr? What about like

3:19:34liquids that aren't storm water? Is

3:19:36there any issue around those? And that

3:19:38be much harder to identify, I would

3:19:41guess.

3:19:41>> Right. Well, you know, there are

3:19:43regulations about dumping liquids of

3:19:46that nature onto the streets or and

3:19:49there's various um sources of those

3:19:52types of polluting liquids that would

3:19:54could go into the storm drains.

3:19:56There's a set of projects I've been

3:19:57reading about um around regulation and

3:20:01enforcement of that, but I don't think

3:20:02they're particularly under our purview.

3:20:05>> Yeah, that's what I was wondering. So,

3:20:06>> that's a good question.

3:20:08>> Okay. All right. Thank you. Um, Council

3:20:10Member Lithcott Haynes.

3:20:11>> Thank you, Mayor. Um, thank you, Miss

3:20:13Perman, for your service and, uh, for

3:20:17wanting to re-up. I wonder, we know that

3:20:20city service can be full of rewards and

3:20:22also sometimes frustrations. I wonder

3:20:25you want to take the opportunity to let

3:20:26us know from your vantage point as chair

3:20:29what if anything might we be doing

3:20:32differently to empower the committee to

3:20:36do what it's trying to do? Are there

3:20:40issues of bureaucracy or staff committee

3:20:44conversation

3:20:45um transparency?

3:20:47You know, do you feel that council

3:20:49understands and you know what what it is

3:20:52you're up to?

3:20:54uh anything you might want to provide by

3:20:55way of feedback on how to make the

3:20:57committee a more effective one. Not

3:20:59saying it isn't, but let us know and you

3:21:02know what do we need to know? This is a

3:21:03great time to tell us.

3:21:05>> Yeah. Um another set of good questions.

3:21:08Um I I think one thing that comes to

3:21:10mind uh um Greg brought it up uh during

3:21:14his time was focus on this upcoming uh

3:21:20winter. And I know that it is not

3:21:25part of the capital improvement as such,

3:21:28but the last round when we had our epic

3:21:31winter, um there was real issues getting

3:21:35heavy equipment to uh the city staff so

3:21:39that they could then get out there and

3:21:41park it and be ready to clear drains and

3:21:45uh the bridge, you know. Um, and

3:21:49I know that they've been working and

3:21:51they have solutions for that. But I

3:21:53think

3:21:54one of the trickinesses of of of our

3:21:57climate situation is the

3:21:59unpredictability of extreme events. And

3:22:02so I all I can say is I think the staff

3:22:04is well aware of what they might need

3:22:07and if they ask for help to prevent

3:22:11flooding during an extreme event and

3:22:14this could come up quickly. It's not

3:22:15like a regular budgeted type of line

3:22:18item, but I think that might be

3:22:22a big challenge for everyone to sort of

3:22:24get their heads around and and be able

3:22:26to move on it quickly or at least put in

3:22:28some

3:22:30forethought on to uh be able to release

3:22:32funds quickly for that sort of

3:22:33situation. I mean, that's not really

3:22:36oversight, but what I've seen over the

3:22:39years with um reports coming, the

3:22:42technical reports and the risk reports

3:22:43coming from the staff, I I see that as

3:22:46something that it's difficult for

3:22:48everyone to deal with these extreme

3:22:49events, but I think we should be

3:22:51prepared for it this winter.

3:22:52>> Thank you.

3:22:53>> Yeah, Council Member Rectal.

3:22:56>> Okay. Yeah. Thank you for reapplying. We

3:22:58appreciate your service. Uh when you

3:23:00look back at your first term now, what

3:23:02do you like best about the position and

3:23:04what did you like worst about your

3:23:05experience?

3:23:07>> Worst

3:23:10um what did I like best about it? I I

3:23:13really I really enjoyed nerding out over

3:23:17all the technical infrastructure stuff.

3:23:19I mean, I I have academic and practical

3:23:21experience with it over the years. And

3:23:22then I I shifted I pivoted, as we like

3:23:25to say around here, into more of a a

3:23:28pure tech position where I did a lot of

3:23:29financial audits, tech, I did data

3:23:32analysis for for financial audits. So,

3:23:35um, so I think the thing I like the best

3:23:37is just getting back to my academic and

3:23:39and environmental engineering, water

3:23:40resources roots and just nerding out

3:23:42over that. I do love hearing about pipe

3:23:44diameters and [laughter] trash

3:23:46collection devices. So, um, you know, I

3:23:49think the worst is really, it's not like

3:23:52a bad thing. It's just that, um, I wish

3:23:54I could help more with this particular

3:23:56v, you know, situation, but, you know,

3:23:58it's an oversight committee. We're not

3:23:59there to do projects and put up public

3:24:02art or anything. So, but it's all good.

3:24:04Yeah.

3:24:05>> Okay. Thanks again,

3:24:07>> Council Member Lowing.

3:24:09>> I'm going to ask you to help us do our

3:24:11job. What what kind of skill sets do you

3:24:14think you need to do this job correctly?

3:24:19Hm. I think it helps to be able to look

3:24:22at financial numbers and get a at least

3:24:25be able to ask questions and um

3:24:30kind of understand what it means to plan

3:24:32out a budget and all the pluses and

3:24:35minuses and line items and line items

3:24:37and also um just be a little bit

3:24:40concerned about where we're headed,

3:24:43you know, in terms of like Greg also

3:24:45mentioned that, you know, we're we're

3:24:46well into this whole project and where

3:24:49do we go from here, you know, when we

3:24:51get to the end. So, um, that's a skill

3:24:54set that's important. Um, but I think

3:24:56it's also important to have some

3:24:59understanding of, uh, how the

3:25:01infrastructure works and what this

3:25:02particular, um, sector of

3:25:04infrastructure.

3:25:05>> So, infrastructure knowledge and sort of

3:25:08literally financial overview. Yeah.

3:25:10>> The past.

3:25:11>> Yeah, it's a nice combination of those

3:25:12things.

3:25:13>> Okay. Some people have some people have

3:25:15more experience with certain aspects of

3:25:16the infrastructure than others, but

3:25:18yeah, [clears throat] some some some

3:25:20knowledge is appreciated.

3:25:22>> Yeah.

3:25:22>> Yeah.

3:25:22>> Thank you.

3:25:25>> All right. Well, you have about a minute

3:25:26left. Is there are there any additional

3:25:27thoughts you want to leave us with?

3:25:29>> No, I think I'm I'm good for now.

3:25:31>> Okay. Terrific. All right. Well, thanks

3:25:33again for your service and for your

3:25:34application.

3:25:35>> Thank you.

3:25:36>> All right. We're on to our grand finale.

3:25:39[laughter]

3:25:40Our last applicant is N. Sorry, Lee

3:25:43Tabernac. And so, please go ahead and

3:25:46you can step down to the mic, give us a

3:25:49couple minutes of introduction if you'd

3:25:50like, and we'll ask a couple questions.

3:25:53Thank you.

3:25:53>> Great. My name is Lee Tabernac.

3:25:56[clears throat]

3:25:56Um,

3:25:58I got a 40-year career in environmental

3:26:01engineering. Um, private and public,

3:26:06uh, considerable amount with storm

3:26:09water. Uh, started in

3:26:12uh city of Davis as a wastewater

3:26:14treatment plant operator

3:26:17and uh have academic background from UC

3:26:20Davis as well as University of Virginia.

3:26:23Um 17-year resident of PaloAlto.

3:26:28Um

3:26:29some of my private projects focused on

3:26:33with the city of conquered and their

3:26:34their trash capture bio retention and

3:26:37detention of storm water through a

3:26:40financial contribution from Calrans

3:26:43and um

3:26:46see completed the completed the reports

3:26:49for that financial contributions from

3:26:51CALR. I've been a successful grant

3:26:54writer for funding with both CALR and

3:26:58the California Transportation

3:27:00Commission.

3:27:02um also participated as a while I was

3:27:05with CALR and uh best management

3:27:09practices for both the central valley

3:27:11and statewide storm water program and

3:27:16also the uh

3:27:18deicing study within Lake Tahoe or

3:27:21shifting from calcium to magnesium

3:27:24deicers.

3:27:28Just some highlights.

3:27:29>> Terrific. very helpful. Um, Alex,

3:27:33anybody want to kick us off? Council

3:27:35member Rectal.

3:27:36>> Okay. Yeah, thank you for applying.

3:27:38Looking at your resume, it's quite

3:27:39impressive.

3:27:41A lot of stuff that really applies to

3:27:42this. Uh, well, the one thing that

3:27:44caught my eye was the ground squirrel

3:27:47patrol committee member. [laughter]

3:27:50Do you want to talk about that?

3:27:52[clears throat]

3:27:53>> Uh, yeah. Currently, I I just stepped

3:27:56off of that as a result of going back uh

3:27:58her full-time work as a shuttle bus

3:28:00operator, shuttle bus driver with San Mo

3:28:05uh transportation commission,

3:28:07transportation district. Um yeah, I was

3:28:10on that for what, a year, I guess. I'm a

3:28:13member of the Rinkanatada Garden. And uh

3:28:16>> and what does

3:28:17>> they've used? They've been using uh the

3:28:19city in cooperation with a private

3:28:20contractor has been using uh through

3:28:22parks and rack

3:28:24uh basically smoke applicator and so

3:28:28it's uh it's you know it's an organic

3:28:31garden so there's no chemicals involved

3:28:33but it does force the smoke into the

3:28:35tunnel into the ground squirrel tunnels

3:28:38to get them to leave and um

3:28:43>> so far as I know there's been no

3:28:44complaints from nearby residents but You

3:28:47smoke them out just to chase them away

3:28:48or do you

3:28:49>> smoke them out to chase them away? Yeah.

3:28:50>> Okay. Okay.

3:28:51>> Then we back fill over in the holes and

3:28:55Yeah.

3:28:55>> Okay. Thank you.

3:29:00[laughter]

3:29:02I agree with Council Member Rectal. Just

3:29:04a a wealth of relevant experience here.

3:29:07Um, and uh

3:29:10you mentioned on on uh when we say what

3:29:14specific goals would you like to see the

3:29:16storm drain oversight committee achieve

3:29:18and you mentioned the update to the 2015

3:29:20storm drain master plan. Um and the

3:29:25second half of the question was how

3:29:26would you help in the process? So I

3:29:28wonder if you could just think out loud

3:29:29about what you would like to do in

3:29:32helping to update that master plan.

3:29:35think

3:29:35>> well I

3:29:36>> what aspects of it would interest you I

3:29:38guess is the

3:29:39>> yeah what what what appeals to me is is

3:29:41the uh connection both within the county

3:29:45as well as uh the Bay Area as a whole.

3:29:49You know my work with the S

3:29:51[clears throat] Santa Clara Roads

3:29:53Commission has given me an insight to

3:29:56the expressway network that they serve

3:29:59and the their budget constraints.

3:30:04Um, so I think I can participate on that

3:30:07level as well as working with Basma

3:30:10partners from around the bay, the Bay

3:30:11Area Stormwater Management Association

3:30:14for uh other examples of partnering uh

3:30:19or the financial contributions. the

3:30:22Calrans has actually increased the

3:30:24funding for over the last eight 10 years

3:30:28about for funding opportunities with

3:30:32with cities and municipalities to get

3:30:34credits not just for the cities but also

3:30:37for themselves. So that's a partnership

3:30:39that I think could prove fruitful for

3:30:42the city.

3:30:50You mentioned UC Davis earlier and this

3:30:52is a little off point but you know

3:30:54there's the storm water that goes into

3:30:56the bay but uh we uh you just might find

3:31:00of interest uh if you don't already know

3:31:02we just put in this horizontal living

3:31:04levy to deal with sea level rise. We

3:31:06take the effluent from the regional

3:31:07water quality control plant. You

3:31:09mentioned having worked with some of

3:31:10those. So yeah,

3:31:11>> um but I just wanted to mention it's a

3:31:13UC Davis um academics there that helped

3:31:16design and and build that on our uh

3:31:18beayhore area.

3:31:19>> I wasn't aware of that. I'm aware of the

3:31:21project but I wasn't aware of the Davis

3:31:23connection.

3:31:24>> It was so and now they're helping us

3:31:26monitor it to see if it you know how

3:31:28successful it is and if we want to

3:31:30replicate that or others might. So yeah,

3:31:32you might just keep your eye on that.

3:31:33Yeah, I support some of their faculty

3:31:35with, you know, as an alumni, but

3:31:38>> great.

3:31:39>> Just small potatoes. [laughter]

3:31:42>> All right. Any other questions uh for

3:31:45Lee?

3:31:48All right. I'm not seeing any, but is

3:31:50there any any other thoughts you'd want

3:31:51to leave us with? Um, clearly this is an

3:31:53area of expertise and enthusiasm.

3:31:56Yeah, I mean it's uh

3:31:59when the regulations were first

3:32:00promaggated in in the late 80s by EPA,

3:32:05this long range plan of cleaning up

3:32:07non-point source was envisioned. It's

3:32:10come a long way since the 80s.

3:32:12>> Yeah.

3:32:12>> And uh I think the expertise has grown

3:32:15too and the awareness uh but uh there's

3:32:21still contributions that can be made and

3:32:23refinements and you know the the project

3:32:27that I had in in conquered was focused

3:32:29on the Mercury and the PCBs

3:32:32you know from state routes four and 242.

3:32:35Um the and we also worked on prior to

3:32:40that when I was with Calrans we we

3:32:42worked on the San Francisco bridge

3:32:44bridge over 101 which is the anticedent

3:32:47to all the other San Francisco Creek

3:32:50improvements that have been taking place

3:32:52since

3:32:542012 I believe is when CALR finished

3:32:56that project. When you mentioned the

3:32:58mercury and the the roads, is that

3:33:01runoff that then has that in it? Is that

3:33:05>> PCBs?

3:33:07>> Well, the PCBs was actually part of the

3:33:10Buchanan field uh

3:33:14soil contamination. So,

3:33:16>> but the storm water went into into the

3:33:20creek there.

3:33:21>> So, brought some of that along with

3:33:23>> part of what the city treated, city of

3:33:25conquered treat. Yeah,

3:33:26>> I see. I see. Great. All right. Well,

3:33:29thank you for that and thank you for

3:33:31applying and thank you for your time

3:33:32this evening.

3:33:33>> Thanks.

3:33:35>> All right. So, we have another set of

3:33:36applicants that are making our job hard.

3:33:39[laughter]

3:33:39A lot of talent out there, people

3:33:41willing to serve our city. So, thanks to

3:33:43all of our applicants and thank you to

3:33:44the clerk's office for managing this

3:33:47process. And uh do you have some final

3:33:49words about next steps? Um,

3:33:53the only comment I have is that next

3:33:55Monday on October 26, council is

3:33:58scheduled to make appointments to both

3:33:59the public art commission as well as

3:34:01storm water management oversight

3:34:02committee. Um, and those votes will be

3:34:05taken live at the meeting.

3:34:07>> Okay. Live at the meeting and uh we

3:34:11there's two on each I believe that we

3:34:13two appointments for each.

3:34:15>> All right. Okay. Great. All right. So we

3:34:18will conclude that matter and uh move on

3:34:22to our close session. Again um item 11

3:34:26has been deferred. So we are moving to

3:34:30item 12. So madame clerk is there any

3:34:32public comment on item 12.

3:34:37>> There are no requests to speak and no

3:34:38hands are raised on Zoom.

3:34:41>> All right. Well then uh colleagues I

3:34:43would entertain a motion to move into

3:34:45close session. I so move.

3:34:49>> Second.

3:34:50>> All right. Thank you. All right. Would

3:34:52you please call the role or we vote

3:34:55online? I guess [laughter]

3:34:58I'll get that one of these times.

3:35:13>> Motion carries unanimously.

3:35:15>> All right. Excellent. All right. Well,

3:35:16we will recess into close session and uh

3:35:19be back in perhaps an hour, hopefully

3:35:22less

4:30:35going to call this meeting back to

4:30:37order. And we do have one public

4:30:40commenter on this item. Madam clerk.

4:30:43>> Yes. Um Jean

4:30:47>> from Palo Alto. And just so happy to

4:30:49hear that we may be hearing something

4:30:50about Palo Alto joining with Menllo Park

4:30:53and protesting the proposed development

4:30:55at the Sunset Magazine site. I just am

4:30:59flabbergasted by Attorney General Rob

4:31:01Bont taking the side of um Vladimir

4:31:05Putin, let's call a spade a spade, and

4:31:08his uh desire to become our newest uh

4:31:11and largest landlord/nab

4:31:14to have us be uh uh a primary source of

4:31:17his future income, no matter what it is

4:31:20he decided to uh do with his illgotten

4:31:22gains. I just think it's atrocious that

4:31:24we be put in this position, but here we

4:31:26are. I'm so happy Men Park is against

4:31:29it. I trust Palo Alto is as well and I'm

4:31:32excited to see what we're doing about

4:31:33it. Personally, what I've been doing is

4:31:35organizing folks to actually show up in

4:31:38person at the Sunset Magazine site uh

4:31:41next week, Tuesday the 27th uh at 4 p.m.

4:31:45to let the attorney general know what we

4:31:47think about his position. Hopefully by

4:31:50then it will have changed. Thank you so

4:31:52much.

4:31:55That concludes public comment for it for

4:31:56item.

4:31:57>> Okay, great. All right. Well, we did

4:31:59meet in close session and uh well, I did

4:32:02not uh disclose anything about that.

4:32:04What I just said was when you asked will

4:32:06we be hearing anything, I said I'm going

4:32:07to give you something to hear. So, this

4:32:09is what it is. All right. So, in the

4:32:12matter of Willow Project LLC versus City

4:32:16of Menllo Park at AL, the city council

4:32:19met in close session and we have

4:32:21authorized the city attorney office to

4:32:24seek leave to file an amikas brief in

4:32:26support of the city of Menllo Park and

4:32:29that action was taken by unanimous vote

4:32:32of 7 to zero.

4:32:34So, I think that concludes this item.

4:32:37Um,

4:32:39and so with that, we will move on to

4:32:43virtual public comment on items not on

4:32:46the agenda. So, madame clerk, how many

4:32:48Zoom speakers might we have?

4:32:50>> Have one request to speak.

4:32:52>> Okay, let's go ahead.

4:32:53>> Aaron Mach.

4:33:02>> Okay, so, uh, here's my question for you

4:33:06folks tonight.

4:33:07And and are you able to hear me?

4:33:10>> Yes.

4:33:10>> Yes.

4:33:11>> Okay. Julie Lithcott Haynes, nothing

4:33:13restrains you tonight

4:33:16to actually put out uh a statement in

4:33:20opposition

4:33:22to [clears throat] the genocide, the

4:33:23ongoing genocide in Gaza. We don't have

4:33:26a real ceasefire fire. Uh and the

4:33:29attacks by the settlers of course on the

4:33:32West Bank.

4:33:34uh you're not up for reelection and you

4:33:37said you're now free to to speak your

4:33:39mind, so to speak. So, this is your your

4:33:41opportunity to do that. Um it's it's

4:33:44vile what the Israelis are doing. And I

4:33:46know you you love your Zionist, you love

4:33:49your uh Heath Lect, and you love your uh

4:33:52your um

4:33:54>> Thank you.

4:33:54>> Edi, could you close that gate for me,

4:33:56too? Thank you. and and so my but my

4:34:00question is you're unrestrained now so

4:34:02do the right thing I I want to I want to

4:34:05now switch to something a little bit

4:34:07different um I've come up with a term

4:34:11not very creative but it's called a

4:34:13reverse Karen what is a reverse Karen

4:34:16well we all know what the karens are and

4:34:19we probably all know now because we only

4:34:21got one one person up here on the dis

4:34:23that looks like a white woman right

4:34:25that's the mayor And so, you know, Dave

4:34:29Price has come up with, and I've said it

4:34:31many times, you intend to run for state

4:34:34assembly, madame mayor, in two years,

4:34:37and you're defrauding the voters of

4:34:38PaloAlto, and you know it. There's no

4:34:41way you're going to fulfill your term.

4:34:43You're a social climber, and I got

4:34:44nothing against that. You you're free to

4:34:47do that. You're an opportunist, and

4:34:48you're free to do that, you know, but

4:34:50you should be you straight be straight

4:34:52with the voters. What I'd like you to do

4:34:54is instead of being a Karen that goes

4:34:57after black men and calls them out for

4:34:59racism

4:35:01when it doesn't exist, and I say that

4:35:03racism by black people towards white

4:35:05women, we see it repeatedly where these

4:35:07these crazy ass white women uh uh claim

4:35:11that they're being uh

4:35:14attacked by black men when it's not

4:35:16happening. The fear of black men just is

4:35:18unbelievable. But here you've got a

4:35:20chance to do a reverse Karen and I know

4:35:23you know high ranking members of the

4:35:25NAACP over the years and I admire that

4:35:27trade on you. But here you got a chance

4:35:29to just withdraw from the race and toss

4:35:33your votes to a black man. Raymond Goins

4:35:36instead of giving lip service to your uh

4:35:39so-called liberalism towards black men.

4:35:42Do something that will really make a

4:35:44difference. We need an alternative voice

4:35:46in this city. not all these

4:35:48multi-millionaire

4:35:50Zionist and Zionist sympathizers on our

4:35:52city council. So, madame mayor, do the

4:35:56right thing. Be a reverse Karen. Okay?

4:35:59Stand up for what you say. Don't give

4:36:00just lip service. Actually take a step.

4:36:03Do the right thing. Step up.

4:36:05>> Thank you.

4:36:12That concludes public comment for remote

4:36:14speakers for items not on the agenda.

4:36:17All right. Thank you. And with the

4:36:18conclusion of public comment, we move on

4:36:21to adjournment. And we are adjourned.