Palo Alto Neighborhoods

Questionnaire for City Council Candidates

September 2003

1. What skills and experience would you bring to the City Council?

2. What do you consider the three most significant issues facing Palo Alto residents?  What would you do to address these issues?

3. What steps would you propose to increase City revenues and/or reduce City spending to meet anticipated budget shortfalls?

4. What changes in organizational structure or services, if any, do you believe should be made to our City-owned utilities to ensure that they serve our residents well?

5. Do you believe that any of our infrastructure (parks, libraries, recreational facilities, schools, etc.)  is inadequate for our current population?   If so, please explain what specific improvements are needed and how you would fund them.

6. How would you harmonize the State/ABAG housing requirements with infrastructure needs (including parks, libraries, recreation facilities, schools and roads) relating to that level of growth?

7. What specific steps would you take to create sufficient affordable housing to ensure economic diversity? 

8. Our zoning code allows “planned community” projects to exceed the zoning rules that would otherwise apply in exchange for a “public benefit”.  Do you favor retention of this zoning category?  Do you favor modifying it in any way?

9. The Comprehensive Plan calls for consideration of a new Transit-Oriented Residential zoning category which would allow multifamily housing up to 50 units per acre in commercial areas that are within 2,000 feet (walking distance) of a train station.  Should this category be applied outside this radius (such as along El Camino Real), and if so, under what circumstances?  Should Transit-Oriented Residential zoning, wherever it is applied, also require a mixed-use component?

10. Many Palo Alto residents want to reduce speeding and cut-through traffic on local and collector streets, as well as improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists, including school commute routes.  Others are concerned about how to reduce backups and increase safety on our major streets, especially residential arterials. As a City Council member, how would you address these concerns? What solutions to our city’s traffic problems would you support?

11. Discuss how you would use corridor studies to analyze the aggregate impacts of future development on traffic and infrastructure (school, parks, libraries, and recreation facilities).  What streets might benefit from inclusion in such a corridor study?

12. What steps would you take to revitalize our neighborhood retail, regional retail and business-to-business sales sectors?

13. What lessons did you learn from 800 High Street that you would use to improve the decision-making process for future projects? 

14. What role do you believe citizens and, separately, neighborhood associations should play in the City Council’s decision-making process?