HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-02-09 Human Relations Commission Action MinutesADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
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HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Community Meeting Room
Palo Alto Civic Center
250 Hamilton Avenue
7:00 PM
REGULAR MEETING
ROLL CALL:
Commissioners Present: Chen, Gordon Gray, O’Nan, Savage, Stinger, Stone
Absent: Alhassani, Chen
Council Liaison: Council Member Kou
Staff: Minka van der Zwaag, Mary Constantino
I. ROLL CALL
Chair Stone: Welcome everybody to the February Human Relations Commission meeting.
Thanks for being here. We actually have a pretty full house. I’m excited. Mary, can you do roll
call?
II. AGENDA CHANGES, REQUESTS, DELETIONS
Chair Stone: Do we have any agenda, changes, request or deletions?
Ms. Minka van der Zwaag: Chair, as you will notice that Item #5 will be heard at a later date.
Chair Stone: Yes. Thank you.
III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
Chair Stone: Moving onto oral communications. We have one card from Lynn Krug
Ms. Krug: Good evening Human Relations Commission members. Thank you for your time. Just
briefly I’m going to run through what I spoke about during our last meeting. Let's see if I can do
that off the cuff. Alright, I spoke about employees being treated as the other. That’s not a healthy
work environment. We want to work towards a healthy -- and quite frankly, it’s your utility, your
city. You need this to function well to be economically well run. The other thing is the local
publicity and hostility that I mentioned before about employees. How we should be portrayed to
the public is for what we actually do and the work that we perform, which is dedicated to this
community and the best possible work that we can. Quite frankly, I love my job. I know my
friends here, Eric, does. We’ve both been here a long time and we’re dedicated to making it a
great city. The last thing I want to talk about is top down management and that I talked about
before. Top down management does not look at the entire organization and give feedback
backup. It’s a one-way direction and it works blind. You’re not getting your best dollar from an
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
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organization that runs like the 1930s. No educational enterprise or business model would say top
down management works for you. Tonight, a new topic, a little off to the side. Alright, many of
you probably don’t know that we have a lot of departments in this City. There’s the general fund
and then there’s the enterprise fund. The enterprise fund includes those departments that make
money for the city and that’s your city; you’re a resident; you own these utilities; you own – and
are partners with the water treatment plant. This includes water, gas, wastewater, electric, fiber
and also includes – let’s see, I must have left somebody off here. It’s all those buildings that are
located out at MSC, out on Bayshore and other locations. Now the problem I see is that all the
administration and accountability is in this building. Where is the human resources management
for all these out layers? Where is the personal that holds everyone accountable and lead with a
banner that says, we want a great and healthy work environment? What ends up happening,
because of this isolation, is a lot of discrimination, harassment, bullying. No, it didn’t start
yesterday but that’s no reason not to fix it. No, there were problems before but once again, from
management standpoint; let's look at this and let’s address it. One of the easiest ways to move
forward very simply is staffing an HR person that is available on a constant basis. Not a visitor
once a week but an office available for Elwell– I’m not saying multiple people, they can cover
all of this, for starters. Elwell MSC, water quality control, and environmental control should all
have an oversight because it is in these areas where you’re getting your cases of grievousnesses,
arbitration, harassment, and bullying. We don’t want that and we want the best possible city that
we can have because our employees are dedicated. I think this is an easy, simple fix. I’m not
saying it’s going to fix everything but I think we would be heading in the right direction if we
located an HR personnel out there in the hinterlands where there is no oversight. Thank you.
Chair Stone: Thank you.
IV. BUSINESS
1. Mental Health Learning Series – Katie Cooney, Board Member, Deborah’s Palm
Chair Stone: We’ll move on to our business Item #1 for our mental health learning series. Minka,
can you introduce the speaker?
Ms. van der Zwaag: I’m really pleased to have Katie Cooney here from Deborah’s Palm, Former
Executive Director, Founding Executive Director and now a Board Member. I was really excited
that Katie said that she could come today. I think we’ve had a long rich mental health learning
series and when I was looking with the Chair and the Vice Chair what areas seem to be missing
in the presentations we had so far and a real focus on women’s health and women’s mental
health came to mind. I was really glad that on short notice, Deborah’s Palm was able to provide
such a wonderful speaker today. I’m not going to take any more of your time, Katie. Thank you
for being here tonight.
Ms. Cooney: Thank you so much Minka. I’m very happy to be here tonight and I welcome the
collaboration, thank you so much. Tonight, I just wanted to highlight a few things that we see at
Deborah’s Palm on a day to day basis and let you know what I think the issue is and how we take
care of those at Deborah’s Palm. The first one really comes about for women I believe in this
area particularly, is the loss of community. Whether that’s from the death of a spouse, their
children have left, they’re empty nesters or their children have moved away due to the housing
crisis; that they can’t afford a home here and that a parent is often left behind. They see their
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
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social circles diminishing on a day to day basis. What that really does is create a sense of
isolation and the less they go out, the less they are engaged in the community and the more
health problems they’ll have; especially mental health problems. What we have at Deborah’s
Palm, which is really unique in the area, is a place where women can come through our doors
and find friendships. They can learn new skills. They can practice old skills or they can teach
others new skills which are really very satisfying for these women. Above everything, they can
develop these new friendships with local women in the area and that just gives them a new sense
of purpose. A new sense of connection to their community and much better overall health. How
that portrays itself is on Friday’s we have groups starting at 10 o’clock in the morning. We have
approximately 10-25 women who walk through the doors with their knitting needles and you
better get out of their way because they know what they're doing. They will sit there for 2 hours
and talk about their life, their children, their dreams. What it’s like to be getting older? What that
feels like and just have very lively discussions especially, as you can imagine, in today's political
environment. We also have a session on forgiveness where women come together and they talk
about the subject of forgiveness in their own lives. We have a poetry group and a walking group
that gets together. That’s Friday’s from about 10 o’clock in the morning to 2 o’clock in the
afternoon. The other aspect of women that I see that we do – I think a really good job in the
community is women in their careers. Women in Palo Alto – a lot of people here are in different
stages of their life. You’ll have some women who have exited the career track to take care of
their children or maybe a sick parent. I often like to call that the mommy penalty because it’s
often very difficult for these women to get back on that corporate ladder in a very meaningful
way. They often have to take jobs that are a demotion in some ways, just to their foot back in the
door. We also have women that have been on a corporate track for quite a long time and they’re
feeling, at maybe midlife, that that’s not exactly what’s driving them anymore. That’s not the
passion of their life. That’s not what gives them value or meaning and they’re trying to go back
and talk to people and other women with a guide – a teacher, to figure out what they can do next
to create more meaning in their life and to give their life more value. Then you have women who
are literally starting over. They’ve maybe had a partner with a premature death or they’ve had a
divorce situation where they’ve actually never had to work before. They are starting a very new
adventure in their life and that often times, can be the scariest of all. When you talk about women
who have exited to take care of children. Not many women had in their mind, I’ll leave for 10-
years; I’ll leave for 15-years. The women I’m talking about on the bottom never thought they
were going to go back but find themselves in very different financial situation after their divorce.
What do we do for that? We have classes called Discovering Your Passion or Uncover Your
Calling which one of your colleagues here, Jill, had participated in; which is fantastic. We have
job strategy groups where 10-15 women will come together, learn how to network, interview,
answer those hard-behavioral questions that come up. We also have classes in assertiveness
training and the art of negotiation because still today, women get paid 80% on the dollar
compared to men. We are still fighting for that pay equity. Our career resources are varied.
Career Generations has been with us from the very beginning and they are the ones that provide
the career coaching, job strategy, negotiation management and we have other teachers such as
Daring Reinvention, the Uncover your Calling. A wide breath really, you can go from wanting a
career or finding a new career. Maybe that was a hobby but you don’t necessarily need to get a
paycheck from it. The last issue I’m going to bring up is really the mental health issues that I’ve
seen at my time at Deborah’s Palm and I really like to say the three D’s. It’s the divorce, the
depression and the domestic violence. Just going to give you a few statistics here. There are 2.1
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
Page 4 of 32
million marriages in 2016 and the average divorce rate is between 40%-50% in our culture. I
don’t actually have the geographical statistics of this area but it’s quite a reality for many
women. Especially when women in this area can go from living a pretty financially care-free life
to realizing that they’re on their own. Two households need to be provided and typically, there
was one income doing that. Depression is another thing that I see quite frequently at Deborah’s
Palm and that affects 12 million women a year but what I’m seeing is that people are coming in
to talk to me about most recently is they’re afraid they can’t live here anymore. They don’t know
where to go. They don’t know how to compete in the job market and they’re just basically
overwhelmed. If they are working, they have children. It’s just finding it very hard to keep up.
The last one is domestic violence. I put a number up there which is 1,500 are murdered each year
in the United States, women. In fact, since the time that we’ve been engaged in the conflict in
Afghanistan and Iraq, more women have died than U.S soldiers in that same amount of time;
which is pretty shocking. This is not something that just happens in some socioeconomic
categories. In fact, the scary part about domestic violence is that we’re finding it’s more – not
more prevalent but it’s just as prevalent in areas like Palo Alto. With the increase in the
availability of wireless technology, we have found that more women are more easily stocked and
tracked through devices that are either put on their cars or even if you can imagine, a piece of
jewelry that they wear. This is the level of sophistication that has happened. Typically speaking,
I have seen many women with husbands in fortune 500 companies that are dealing with this on a
daily basis and it has even gone so far as couples buying homes in remote areas so the cell phone
doesn’t work. I am not an expert in domestic violence. I have a friend, Ruth Patrick, who
actually deals with women in high net worth who deal with domestic violence or experiencing it.
There were 10 million cases in the United States in 2015 and 80% were women so I always like
to say there are men that are undergoing these issues as well. What can we do at Deborah’s
Palm? Well, we have three things that we can do and three things that we do very well. The
number one thing is counseling. We offer low income – low sliding scale, exactly. Thank you.
Sliding scale support and we also offer mentoring. That’s more peer support and that is – how I
like to talk about that is it’s almost as if you wanted to go talk to a woman that was maybe 20-
year older than you. Who had been through the ropes. Maybe they have gone through a divorce.
They’ve gone through a career transition. They’ve gone through the kids leaving home but they
are not pitching themselves as professional mental health professionals. We also – another great
thing we do is referrals. We have an extensive list of referrals and we train our volunteers in a
very thorough way so when a call comes in, they can easily refer to another organization that
deals with mental health or they can do domestic violence. We even have elder care. When
people have – their folks are getting older and they’re not sure what to do. As I like to say, we
want every woman to rock when they come. I’ve seen them come in and be unsure of
themselves. They’re new to the area. English is their second language sometimes or they’ve lived
here all their life and I just want those women – I don’t care if they are 25 or 85 or 95, I want
them to feel as vital as they possibly can through our services and through the volunteers that we
have and very deeply satisfying – very satisfying feeling. With that, I’ll just leave it with some Q
& A.
Chair Stone: Thank you very much. Yes, Commissioner Savage?
Commissioner Savage: I have a few questions. I am embarrassed to say I have never walked
through the doors of Deborah’s Palm but I’ll change that soon. About how many women do
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
Page 5 of 32
come through the doors annually?
Ms. Cooney: We have probably, I would think on average 80 women a week so that puts us up to
300 a month. That’s the ones that are physically walking through the doors. I would say, on a
given day, we can get anywhere between 10 and 15 phone calls of women who are working and
that coming in physically to our center is not a possibility and that’s where the majority of
referrals that we’ll do.
Commissioner Savage: How – can you estimate how many are from Palo Alto?
Ms. Cooney: I would say 95%.
Commissioner Savage: Oh, really? Ok. Thank you. Very interesting.
Chair Stone: Any other questions? You mentioned you have a sliding scale for fees that you
charge. Can you give a breakdown of that?
Ms. Cooney: Our counselors are independent counselors, although they are hired through
Deborah’s Palm and they are typically marriage family therapist in their internship at the ladder
part of their internship; it’s a 3,000-hour internship they have to perform. They set their fees, and
we have one counselor who just finished her hours and has just passed the test. Her lowest hourly
rate, I believe, is $50 and that can go up to $85. I think if you go out into the community, those
rates per hour can be anywhere from $175-$275 but if people are not able to meet that threshold
of $45, we are quickly able to refer them to other places in the community.
Chair Stone: The people that you said are 95% from Palo Alto but how diverse really are the
socioeconomic statutes of the clientele?
Ms. Cooney: We have some people who are taken care of and then we have some women that
are so much. This is probably their one outlet. They no longer drive a car. I know the one that is
almost 75-year-old and looking for work to be a companion to people. We have a very wide
range of people that come by and I will tell you, I actually had some lovely women come in and
looks are very deceiving in this community. I think we all know. I had conversations many times
with this woman that came in. She had just moved from, I want to say Vale, Colorado and she
had the look; blonde hair, the blue eyes absolutely stunning beautiful. She was telling me that she
was working on a start-up idea. How much she appreciated Deborah’s Palm; it was quiet and
supportive but what I learned from a staff member later is that she was sharing a room with four
other people; in one room. In a house in Palo Alto that had three rooms with for people and she
was in a bunk bed. She had burned through her finances and I have to tell you, I was pretty
shocked when I found that out. So, it’s a funny thing at Deborah’s Palm, I think we all have a lot
of pride no matter where we are in our life. It is a little bit tough for me to gauge sometimes
exactly where people are at but I will tell you, I’ve seen a lot of boloney sandwiches come
through that door too. I think that’s what’s good if you can develop the relationship and help
them get the care that they need.
Chair Stone: Thank you.
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access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
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Page 6 of 32
Commissioner Gordon Gray: How is Debra’s Palm funded? Do you rely mostly on fees or you
apply for grants?
Ms. Cooney: That is a fantastic question. I love that you asked that Shelly. That brings me to my
latest update. A year and a half ago, I was hired at Deborah’s Palm because our founder, Katie
Ritchie, who has so generously given to Deborah’s Palm and I will tell you right now, has
written the check every month for that place. I came in to get Deborah’s Palm financially
sustainable. That was my goal so for a year and a half, I looked around at the landscape and
thought how can we be competitive with other organizations that are serving the hungry, the
homeless and the domestic violence that’s in our community? I found out it to be quite a
challenge, to be honest with you. I developed new programs to attract more women. I extended
our hours and hired staff. I can tell you, pretty much everything I did was an experiment and I
guess in some ways, I failed because I couldn’t find the money but what I did do is I developed
relationships in the community and I found another local non-profit that is actually experiencing
some financial pain themselves. Right now, I’m just in the negotiations with that other non-profit
to bring them into our property and that will put us into the black; financially. That’s very
exciting because it’s not only Deborah’s Palm but the other organization, which I can hope I can
name in the next couple of months, serves women in the most fantastic way and I think this
collaboration will help women on both sides. You don’t need two Executive Directors and I’m
ok with that because I feel like I did my job. I will be transitioning to the Board of Directors. I’ll
be doing things like this. I will be finalizing that merger and continue on with Katie Ritchie and
the rest of the Board to make Palo Alto really a great place for women.
Commissioner Savage: Thank you. I have a question about some of the younger women in the
tech industry and if they fit the image that you described. They seem so in their stride but I
wonder if you see different problems in that population and I also wonder about gender equity in
employment and hiring?
Ms. Cooney: Yes, those are great questions. I will tell you what I see with Millennials which I
think is very unusual. It’s not usual actually, I think a lot of us have felt this way for a very long
time but I think it’s just this generation who is actually giving voice to it. They want to go to
work and have an impact on what they’re doing and they want to have value and they want to
have meaning in their life. I think for generations before that, people have just gone to college,
got the job, had the kids, got the house, got the second car, and went on vacation. These kids
nowadays, they want to have an impact. They have grown up in a world where they’ve seen so
many things. They’ve had more options to travel and I like to call it the quarter life crisis. I see a
person who are 25-years -old looking at me saying, is this all there is? I mean, I thought I was
special. I was going to save the world. I’m not doing anything. I mean, I’m just a low-level
employee. There is that joke of oh, I got hired and I’m not the CEO? I mean I think we can all
kind of giggle about that but these people – they’re in pain. They’re trying to figure out what life
is, in a very – we have a lot going on in the world and we just know about it a lot better and they
know about it a lot better. That’s actually an issue I want to work on, the next place I go, is how
we create meaning for this generation that they all don’t have to quit their jobs and do something
different. How can we get meanings and how can we engage these corporations to help them get
that meaning and thereby, benefiting the communities that we live in. I’m not sure if I answered
your entire question. In the diversity and hiring, I don’t feel like I know enough about that to
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access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
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Page 7 of 32
answer that in a meaningful way for you. I’m sorry, I feel like I’ve had my back to you the whole
time.
Council Member Kou: No worries. It’s more important that they hear. I just wanted to ask, how
do you reach multi-cultural?
Ms. Cooney: How do we reach multi-cultural? That has been, I would say more difficult. Multi-
cultural, we see European people coming in and we have East Indian. That’s what I see. I have
tried to engage and I mean in the past, with Lytton Gardens, who has a higher percentage rate of
Asian Americans. It’s so impressive because when I go to work, walking, talking – I mean, it’s
awesome. I wish we could incorporate some of those values in our older population of getting
out and moving and being engaged. The other work that I’ve tried to do is I’ve met with leaders
in East Palo Alto to try to engage the community over there but what I’ve found is – I call it the
great wall of the 101 - people are afraid to come over on this side. They are not comfortable.
There are a lot of trust elements going on so I think we have a lot of work to do in that area, quite
frankly. Thanks for that great question.
Chair Stone: I want to piggyback off that a little bit because I see you served definitely different
incomes. How does the organization bridge that gap to make sure that people who are very low-
income feel comfortable coming into a building where you have people who are used to living in
a 5-million-dollar mansion down the street? How do you make everyone feel comfortable and
welcome?
Ms. Cooney: I have to say I think that began with our, Katie Ritchie and I credit her for building
a culture that embraces anyone that walks through the door. For the 5-years before I got there,
that’s exactly what she led. That is how she communicated throughout the organization, the
value of each individual that came through the door. I have to say she was a great role model for
me and the other aspect is like Katie Ritchie, I have a deep need to see those that are less
fortunate. I’ve done that many times in my life. Throughout my undergraduate and graduate
education and my studies abroad I worked mostly with orphans, handicapped, HIV-infected
communities and I think it’s very important to keep an open mind. I will tell you in an open
community like Deborah’s Palm, you really get a lot of different kinds of people and I’m not
going to kid you, there have been people I’ve asked not to come back because they are not
mentally well enough. That’s a sad day when you have to ask somebody not to come back to the
community but I have to think of the greater good of the other women that are there and their
safety. I would generally say that people who walk through the door at Deborah’s Palm walk
through the door and they start crying and they say, I never knew that there was a place like this
and that people were so nice like this. It’s just – say hey, come on in get a cup of tea. There’s a
couple room. We have free Wi-Fi and you can stay here all day if you want. I can tell you that
I’ve heard a lot of stories over that kitchen table and they come back. I will say that I think that is
probably the bedrock of Deborah’s Palm. That everybody there that walks in is equal. Like I
said, I credit that to Katie Ritchie our founder.
Commissioner O’Nan: I wonder if I could just share that as I had told Katie before we began, I
took a class at Deborah’s Palm about a year and a half go and it was really life changing for me.
One thing that impressed me about the organization is that it’s actually in a home. It’s a home
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access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
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Page 8 of 32
that’s been remodeled and reconstructed but you feel like you are in someone’s living room.
You’re chatting in a very comfortable and soothing environment and meeting people. The
kitchen is enormous and my class always took a break half way through and we all congregated
in the kitchen; had cookies and tea. It really felt like we were in a supportive home atmosphere
and I think that it’s so much more welcoming than some of the sterile meeting rooms and
conference rooms that I’ve been in or even in counselor’s offices. It doesn’t feel like a medical or
an interventional type of environment and I think that was just a wonderful gift that the founder
gave to the community; was to take this house and turn it into really a home for all the women in
the community to walk into.
Ms. Cooney: I think often times when you say I went to a meeting and they introduced me as,
this is Katie Cooney from Deborah’s Palm. She is an expert on domestic violence and I thought
what? You got the name right, the organization right but that’s not what we do. Deborah’s Palm
is a former bed and breakfast so people often think that we’re a shelter. I don’t even think the bed
and breakfast why they think we’re a shelter. I think they just hear women’s center and they
think domestic violence. I know the one thing that we work on and we could do much better at,
part of it is funding, is to get out the word and this is a new piece that we created this year to
really tell people about our services. I’ve left 10 over there and I have more over here but this is
really the heart of what we do. The heart of what we do.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: That’s a great piece.
Ms. Cooney: Oh, it’s cute as punch.
Chair Stone: Thank you so much for coming out. We really appreciate the work that you’re
doing.
Ms. Cooney: I so appreciate this opportunity and that you guys are listening to the non-profits
organizations so kudos to you. Thank you, Mary and Minka. I really appreciated tonight. Thank
you so much. I’m happy to come back anytime and if you need domestic violence, Ruth Patrick.
Thank you.
Chair Stone: Thank you.
2. Presentation by the Palo Alto History Museum on upcoming programs and possible
HRC collaborations
Chair Stone: Alright, then we will move on to our business Item #2 which is a presentation of the
Palo Alto History Museum. I’m going to turn it over to Vice Chair Stinger.
Vice Chair Stinger: Most of you know that the Palo Alto History Museum has done a lot of
legwork to get itself established in our community and this is their opening year. I believe is it
going to be 2018? You’ve got a fabulous series of three programs this year and it’s the third
program that – is it Nancy?
Ms. Peters: I’m on the Board and the Museum has a potential possibility of being built in the old
clinic building which is absolutely wonderful – at Bryant and Homer. We’re hoping we have the
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Page 9 of 32
money raised – not quite enough yet to be able to do the renovation of the building and then
create the Museum, which is pretty exciting. I’m here to tell you about the second program that’s
in place. We just did one at PAMF about all the history of the clinic which was very, very
interesting and especially, since this is going to be our home. It was really an interesting
program. I have brought with me – the program is called It Happened Here -The Lesson Plan –
the story of the wave at Cubberley High School. Has anybody known about it already?
Ms. Peters: It’s a fascinating piece of history. Now, the part that’s very interesting -- about the
time we began to put all this together –Nancy Shephard let me know that The Every Day at Paly,
which is their magazine – let’s see, how much more do we need? They had created an article so I
brought you that from Paul Kandel who’s a journalism teacher at Paly, the magazine. It’s
absolutely fabulous and it tells what happen in 1967. This is 50-years later that we’re doing this
program and it is Palo Alto history. We’re calling it, It Happened Here, which is sort of the way
we’re addressing a lot of things that we’re bringing to the community from the museum. A
teacher by the name of Ron Jones, who was in his 20’s, was trying to teach about German history
and what took place and how the Nazis were able to get compliance with the population and how
could that ever be? He created this lesson plan and the children were designated to stand very
erectly. To have this wave and to speak in a certain way and he became the autocrat in the room
and how he managed the students. He had 30 students that were probably, as I understand it,
freshman/sophomores. The time was such that the Vietnam War was just brewing around and the
older kids were more interested in – there was a split between the younger ones and the older
ones as to who was getting to the place where they were taking on some kind of position against
the war. These were, as I understand it, the younger students. Anyway, he created this situation
where everybody had to behave in a certain way and if they behaved, they got better grades and
if they didn’t, they got worst grades. So, the whole thing went on like this. It caught on, in that
the kids very much -- worked very hard to succumb or to capitulate to what his demands were
and throughout the whole school then, this thing spread in a week’s times. There were 30
students that started out being in this class and their supposed to say, strength through discipline,
strength through community, strength through action. It was all very determined by him and he
was the – well, the tyrant – the tyrannical leader. Then he named it the Third Wave – saying that
the surfers said the third wave when you surf is the most powerful so that’s what they called it.
They had this class salute and then he created this situation about the grades. Then what
happened, is in the school is spread automatically. All the kids wanted to be a part of this and
some did not; who were very much ostracized. Then on the fourth day, kids began to turn each
other in as to who was complying and who was not complying. He then, in this fake world that
he has created, they held hearings to who was accused of anti-wave activities and he reads off the
names and so all this is to get this coalescence of a passive, compliant population. On the fifth
day, it became really quite troublesome and so it was announced that this had been a fake
endeavor and the whole thing was called off. A man who was in the class, who's named is Mark
Hancock, then – and another person who wrote a novel about it. Mark created a film called The
Lesson Plan, which you can find on YouTube and in it, he interviews kids who were compliant
with it and children who were frightened by the whole spectrum of what took place. Then this
other man wrote a novel about it. Ultimately, the German’s created a film called Die Welle. It’s
really quite remarkable, the Paly kids wrote this article in which they interviewed Ron Jones,
who's now in his 70s. It’s a lovely, lovely, article for you to read. It can tell all the details. It’s
very much – in the film, Phillips Zimbardo is also interviewed; the Zimbardo Experiment at
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Page 10 of 32
Stanford had very much the same kind of outcome, where they had to stop it because it got so out
of hand. We’re showing this at Cubberley, which is where this happened. We’re having Ron
Jones, who is the teacher and he has not been back to Palo Alto at all to do any showing of this
film or be involved in it. This film has been in numbers, just go on the internet, about the wave.
Many, many film festivities that this has been in. Never has been shown at Palo Alto at all.
We’re going to be doing that and then we’ll have a time in which there’ll be a discussion about it
and questions and answer. I think the other thing that we’re looking to see how we might be able
to do this, is get quite a lot of publicity and maybe even national publicity because it’s very much
current in terms of what’s going on in the United States now and the worries we have about how
much space is there to be true to what we all believe if it goes up against authority. The museum
is creating this for the community. Any questions?
Vice Chair Stinger: I just have a comment. Thank you for doing this. I became familiar with it in
the late summer and watched the YouTube…
Ms. Peters: You did see The Lesson Plan?
Vice Chair Stinger: I did see The Lesson Plan and I also saw from our library – from our local
library, the German film.
Ms. Peters: Oh, did you?
Vice Chair Stinger: It’s quite remarkable. It’s just – the experiment in Palo Alto is frightening
about how quickly it takes over but it is the German film was also frightening in that the German
kids, in the beginning were very cavalier. We have experience, we know what fascism is and
we’re not going to go down that path but even they went down that path. It was a real lesson in
how much we have to learn about fascism and how strong we need to be and how much we can
learn from history. I’m very appreciative of the museum’s efforts to bring our community
together to see this and to talk about it. I think it’s very timely.
Ms. Peters: We’re hoping to find – if anybody has any information about this, is how to get ahold
of a Cubberley alumni list so that we can send that out. The Paly students are going to help with
putting it on social media. Hopefully, the Paly journalism department is interested in helping us
see what kind of publicity we can get; maybe even nationally.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I have a question. What was the physiological impact on the kids
afterward?
Ms. Peters: For some it was really quite devastating.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Yes, I would think so.
Ms. Peters: The kids who resisted were frightened by it. Mark Hancock -- I would say this, I’ve
not met him yet but he’s really devoted a lot of his life to this. He’s taken it everywhere and …
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Was he one of the students?
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Page 11 of 32
Ms. Peters: He was one of the students.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Ok. I was unclear.
Ms. Peters: It’s a collection of all the kid's responses as to what they experienced about it; both
being intimidated, the whole spectrum of things.
Ms. Peters: I would encourage you to look at The Lesson Plan. I mean it’s already on YouTube.
It’s really quite something and there is this way that some of the children – the kids, they were
teenagers at that point, where really quite frightened and intimidated and felt ostracized. The
ostracism was quite great. I think Nancy Shepard had in mind whether or not we can put you
down as co-sponsors. I don’t know if you do that kind of thing.
Vice Chair Stinger: That was going to be my question would the Commission like to be
considered an endorser of the event on March 22nd?
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Sure.
Commissioner Savage: I just put that as a question. If there is some discussion, then I’ll make a
motion.
Commissioner Savage: I’d like to address that. I think as far as running publicity, certainly the
more sponsors you get the better.
Ms. Peters: Right. Right. JCC is interested.
Commissioner Savage: Although there is not a motion yet on the table, I would certainly vote in
favor of it. Second, because of the parallels with the prison experiment, has there been any
attempt to reach Phil Zimbardo and see if he was available for that night?
Ms. Peters: They might find out. He’s in the film.
Commissioner Savage: Oh, he is? Ok.
Ms. Peters: Good idea Daryl.
Commissioner Savage: Is there a fee?
Ms. Peters: Nothing.
Commissioner Savage: Oh, ok.
Ms. Peters: No. We’re going to have a dinner beforehand, hopefully, for sponsors and people
that are involved. Then our other hope is to have some kind of reception afterward. Most
especially for kids that would be coming who had been there at the time from Cubberley so all
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Page 12 of 32
these events are going to happen at Cubberley.
Commissioner Savage: It’s – oh, it’s in the auditorium. Ok, alright, I’m done.
MOTION
Vice Chair Stinger: If I can make a motion. I’d like to move that the Human Relations
Commission endorse the Palo Alto History Museum’s program, The Lesson Plan on March 22nd,
2017.
Ms. Peters: Thank you.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I second. Are we voting? We’re not voting yet.
Chair Stone: Good. One second, do either want to speak to your motion?
Vice Chair Stinger: I think I have.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I think we have.
Chair Stone: Ok.
Commissioner O’Nan: I just want to mention that the motion was to endorse it and sponsorship
is a bit different. I think we have to get the language right on that.
Vice Chair Stinger: Can I speak to that?
Chair Stone: Please.
Vice Chair Stinger: I specifically chose endorse because sponsorship implies a financial
sponsorship which would be…
Ms. Peters: We are understanding that’s not available for – we’re all in-house people.
Vice Chair Stinger: Something that we don’t have access to but we can endorse – be partners in
and endorsing a program.
Chair Stone: Thank you for clarifying that. Does anybody else want to make any comments
before we vote? None. Then I’ll open it for a vote. All in favor of endorsing the event, say aye.
Chair Stone, Vice Chair Stinger, Commissioner Gordon Gray, Commissioner O’Nan,
Commissioner Savage: Aye.
Chair Stone: Any opposed? Alright, wonderful. Passes unanimously.
MOTION PASSED 5-0
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Page 13 of 32
Ms. Peters: Thank you. Thank you. Enjoy your article. I mean, the kids just did a bang up job
and I mean it was really a wonderful coincidence that they were doing the same thing at the same
time. Ok, thanks very much. We've put you down as endorsements and hope to see you there.
Chair Stone: Thank you.
Ms. Peters: If you have any more questions, let us know.
Vice Chair Stinger: Thank you for bringing this. This is amazing.
3. Review of a draft letter in support of December 12, 2016, Council Resolution and the
HRC’s commitment to working towards a diverse, supportive, inclusive and
protective community.
Chair Stone: Now I want to move on to our business Item #3 which is a review of a draft letter
that’s is in support of the Council resolution that was passed on December 12th, 2016. We talked
about it briefly at our last meeting. Leadership discussed that we really wanted to make a
statement to the Council, expressing our appreciation, our support for the resolution and a
reminder that the HRC is here and that this is an issue that we would love to be able to get
behind and be able to assist in any way that is possible. I drafted a letter with the help of Vice
Chair Stinger and Minka and Mary and this is our draft of it. Minka, do you think I should read
the letter?
Ms. van der Zwaag: I would ask the other Commissioners if they feel that’s necessary.
Chair Stone: Yes, anyone feels that is necessary to hear my voice for the next couple minutes? I
could read the letter.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I’m reading it to myself.
Chair Stone: Wonderful. Has everybody read it? I mean, if we’re going to take the time to read it
to ourselves, I’ll just read it so that way anybody who is listening can – or anybody watching can
know what we’re talking about. But if everybody has already read it, then we can just move
forward.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Read it if you wanted to go. I understand if you wanted it recorded.
Chair Stone: I’ll make it as brief as possible. I’ll pretend like I’m back in law school reading. I’ll
go quick. To the honorable members of the Palo Alto City Council: The Palo Alto Human
Relations Commission thanks you for your dedication, strength, and leadership in assuring Palo
Alto’s steadfast commitment to maintaining a welcoming city that celebrates diversity and
opposes all attempts to undermine the safety, security, and rights of members of our community.
Hateful rhetoric that has plagued our nation, state, and the city over the past several months has
struck fear in many in our community. The Palo Alto we all know is a city of respect and
tolerance, but the one thing we will not tolerate is intolerance. The Human Relations
Commission is committed to being present and available to all in the community who fear their
rights and safety are threatened. Perhaps no time in this Commission’s history has we been more
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Page 14 of 32
needed than now. The Human Relations Commission is an advisory body for Council, but we are
also an ear for those in the community who feel they need to voice their concerns. The Human
Relations Commission wants to assure the public they are always welcome at our meetings, to
voice their concerns, to voice their fears. Our mission is "to promote the just and fair treatment of
all people in Palo Alto, particularly our most vulnerable populations. By promoting awareness of
issues and enabling conversations that enhance inclusion, the HRC strives to create a community
where civility, respect, and responsible actions are the norm." Now particularly we commit to
listening and giving visibility to unjust and unfair treatment. We are here to listen, and to raise
awareness of concerns of our community. The Human Relations Commission is doing
everything we can to proactively address issues of concern to human dignity in our community.
We serve at the pleasure of Council, and we are honored and eager to continue our mission of
inclusive and tolerance through your recent Resolution. Our Commission has been working
tirelessly over the past several years on these very issues. We held an Immigrant Voices speaker
series during our Commission meetings to learn about the immigrant experience here in Palo
Alto. Our Commission recently cohosted an Immigration and Ally forum in January and just last
week several Commissioners were closely involved with the first of a four-part forum titled
Being Different Together, which aims to bring people together to work towards building and
nurturing a community that models respect for differences. We continue to seek out related
community events and partners and aim to share this information with the community via a
Human Services email list serve. Our Commission is also planning for future events and forums
such as a Service Workers forum to be held later this year in order to help educate and inform
low-wage workers of their rights. The Palo Alto Human Relations Commission continues to fight
against hate and bigotry in all forms and continues to work towards keeping Palo Alto a safe,
tolerant, and welcoming community for all regardless of race, nationality, religious worship,
sexuality, age, immigration status, political affiliation, or zip code. We are here to help assist you
in any way to make these goals a reality. Thank you. That is the draft letter that we would like to
send to City Council and I’ll open it up to the discussion. Any comments? Commissioner
Savage.
Commissioner Savage: Hi. I’m going to put on my journalist hat for a moment. Overall, it’s
excellent. I don’t have any problem however, you’re referring the Human Relations Commission
but you call it the HRC. You call it our Commission. You call it the Commission. If it could just
be uninformed. The first reference, the Palo Alto Human Relations Commission is fine but then
in future references, it should just be HRC instead of repeating Human Relations Commission;
repeating our Commission. Am I clear?
Chair Stone: Yes, thank you.
Commissioner Savage: I didn’t see any heads nodding so maybe I wasn’t.
Chair Stone: I think that’s a good point.
Commissioner Savage: Just you know – just HRC throughout. It will also make it a little bit
shorter which is good and in the second to the last graph, in the middle where you’re talking
about the forum we had in January. The actual title was Immigrants and Allies, instead of
Immigration and Ally forum. If you just want to be specific with the title.
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Page 15 of 32
Chair Stone: Good catch.
Commissioner O’Nan: Then I’d like to put on my Stanford writing teacher hat and say that my
concern with the letter – I have a few – I have several. One is its way too long. One is it is quite
redundant. It says the same things over and over and second, it’s not clear what the purpose of
this letter is. We say that we serve at the pleasure of Council. We say that we’re working
tirelessly. We say that we’re waiting for Council to tell us how we can assist them. What is the
point? Council is very, very busy and I think if we want to write a meaningful letter to support
their resolution, that’s a great idea but we have to let them know what the purpose of this
communication is. Do we want something from them? Do we want to give something to them?
Do we want to announce something to them? What – this letter is all over the place and so I think
that’s really the biggest problem I have is that I find it modeled.
Chair Stone: I’d like to see if Council Member Kou has any thoughts, guidance based on having
read the letter, based on your comments what you think would be most helpful.
Council Member Kou: It’s a very good letter in support of what we’re working on, especially
Council Member Cory Wolbach’s and Commissioner O’Nan has a point. In terms of just
reinforcing what Council has already put forth but also encouraging Council and putting together
the calendar of what you would like Council to do in terms of all the series and the presentations
that you have forthcoming and what you would expect of Council for encouraging to come and
join; participate etc. Some point of action like you said, Commissioner.
Chair Stone: Thank you. Appreciate it. Yes, Commissioner Gray.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I think – I don’t know, for me, it’s a little bit self-serving when I
read it like how great we are.
Commissioner O’Nan: We are great.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I know but there again, the Council knows that so what’s new or
what is it that their writing that they don’t already know, I guess? I don’t know. That’s what
struck me. I mean I actually like the letter but that was the question I was left with. Similar to
what Jill said is what is the actual purpose of this? Telling them all the good work we do? I’m
not sure. I don’t know if other Commissions do that. Then just a – I guess a grammar thing. I
don’t know if this is true but this sentence, Palo Alto’s steadfast commitment to maintaining a
welcoming City.’ Something about maintaining a welcoming City just doesn’t quite sound right.
I don’t know what the replacement would be but it’s like maintaining my weight. Maintaining a
welcoming City. There’s just something about the use of the word maintaining. Then – so that’s
one. I don’t have a solution yet. I have to think about that. Then the other thing is I’m not crazy
about the word tolerant. Tolerance always sounds like I’m putting up with – we’re putting up
with something. We’re tolerating it. It’s different than like compassion or safe – even loving –
safe, loving, supportive but tolerance sounds different to me then, nurturing. It’s – like I said it
just has that, we’re putting up with something. We’re tolerating it. Those are my comments.
Chair Stone: I mean – well, I think first for the tolerance. I do think tolerance has different
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Page 16 of 32
meanings depending on the context of the word; there’s the Tolerance Museum, which really
highlights the Holocaust and other areas of intolerance. I think depending on the context, it may
not necessarily just mean tolerating.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I know that’s not what it means. I know that not what you mean but
that’s how it lands for me.
Chair Stone: Your points are well taken on this just self-serving and showing off to Council but
then using a valid point that Commissioner O’Nan said, that Council is very busy and I think the
HRC is not at the forefront of Council and their priorities and thoughts. I think it is nice to be
able to give that reminder. To say hey look, we’re here, we’re doing a lot. I think this is a good
point, a good opportunity for us to be able to say, we have been doing – we’ve been doing a lot
and really have. We should all be proud of that and remind Council that not only – I think, this
does celebrate what we have done but it also points out we’re a very capable Commission and
what the resolution that Council has put forward, we are a Commission that is very capable. If
they want to give us tasks and direction, we have a strong track record of accomplishments. I
think that was at least my thought process in that. I don’t know if Vice Chair Stinger wanted to
add anything on that.
Vice Chair Stinger: Yes, I would like to. In addition to what you’ve said, which I agree with, I
think there’s a response to your question would be we want to confirm or ratify – not – let me
think – want to acknowledge the Resolution that the City passed and the priority that it set for
this City going forward. It’s how important that is but to me that’s a minor point of the letter; a
secondary. A more important issue is that we’d like to get some guidance so that we can help
them implement and give legs to the resolution. Right now, it’s rather an open-ended request of
us to put forth some ideas and that open invitation is very exciting but we may waste a lot of our
time and waste even more of their time putting together something that is not useful. This is the
last sentence to me is one of the most important things. ‘We’re here to assist – help – we are here
to help assist you in any way to make these goals a reality.’ It’s a little bit like in business when
somebody says I want an annual marketing plan or an annual strategic plan but gives you no
guidance and you need to have some idea of the parameters. Is this a year I can spend, is it a year
I can’t spend so that the work that’s done will be fruitful for all concerned. I would probably add
something to the first paragraph to say the intent of the letter.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: That would make a difference I think even moving that last
sentence to the top.
Commissioner Savage: When is our joint meeting with Council scheduled?
Ms. van der Zwaag: The sad news is that that has been canceled once again and I was going to
tell you in about 15-minutes when that came up.
Commissioner Savage: Ok, well then never mind.
Chair Stone: Actually, that is another point that I did want to make, is that this is also – I think
the point of the paragraph as well going through our accomplishments is also because it does not
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Page 17 of 32
look like we’re getting a joint study session this year or maybe a little far later.
Ms. van der Zwaag: I wouldn’t say this year but on the 28th as it was originally scheduled, it’s
not going to happen that night.
Chair Stone: I don’t know how many times we’ve been pushed off now. It’s been over a year
since our last study session, right? So, kind of checking in and saying hey, we’re doing stuff.
Commissioner O’Nan: I feel like it’s important to frontload information, especially for people
who are busy. This letter takes too long – I think Vice Chair Stinger is right. The end is very
powerful but you have to read the whole thing to kind of get to what the point is at the end. My
suggestion would be, start off stronger – first of all, mention the Resolution. The Resolution
itself isn’t actually mentioned until 2/3 of the way down the page. That’s the first time the word
Resolution is used so let’s start maybe by saying, recently you passed this Resolution. We have
the HRC fully support it and thank you for protecting our City. Then maybe say we are here to
assist you. Here’s what we are doing in the meantime. We invite you to attend all these events.
We’d love to have you participate and finally, what can we do to support you? What additional
input do you have for us and that makes a very clear, logical step and the purpose of this letter is
clear from the very outset.
Chair Stone: Was that a volunteer to redraft the letter with all that in mind?
Commissioner O’Nan: I’d be happy to take a stab at redrafting it.
Chair Stone: Wonderful.
Commissioner O’Nan: Do one of my esteemed colleagues who helped us put together the
Mission Statement want to all chime in and do it as a subcommittee or do you all want me to…
Commissioner Gordon Gray: If you take a crack at it. You can send it to me and I’ll…
Commissioner O’Nan: Ok.
Chair Stone: Fantastic. Any other thoughts?
Vice Chair Stinger: I just have a thank you. I think your question just crystallized it for me. That
was a very good question.
Chair Stone: Alright. Wonderful. Well, yes, thank you. Good conversation and thanks for both
Commissioner O’ Nan and Commissioner Gray for taking the lead to revise the draft. Then we
can add that to the agenda for March.
4. Update and discussion on work plan items
Chair Stone: Then we will move on to an update and discussion on work plan items. Alright, so
we always come back to this at each meeting to figure out where we’re at on our various events
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Page 18 of 32
and forums. How we’re coming along? To just check in on things. Anybody have an update on
any of their upcoming events planned for the year?
Commissioner O’Nan: I know that because of some of my health issues that Vice Chair Stinger
and Commissioner Chen very kindly took over for me on the elder abuse forums that we’re
hoping to do later on this year. Commissioner Chen is stuck somewhere because of the weather
and her flight was canceled and she couldn’t be here. I’ve asked if Vice Chair Stinger and
Commissioner Chen could maybe meet with me as part of our subcommittee once Commissioner
Chen is able to return and I think we’ll probably have a better update at that point unless Vice
Chair Stinger wants to jump in the meantime with the email communication that she’s had.
Vice Chair Stinger: I’ll just add one sentence. We had three possibilities for a forum. One would
be a self, the free-standing event this spring at Avenidas. Another would be later in the fall as
part of the program that they’re doing and then a third option was to be part of the ‘Y’s Healthy
Cities program in September. We’ve opted to be part of the Avenidas program and part of the
‘Y’ program but not to do a free-standing event. We think we’ll be able to get better attendance,
better publicity and put together a stronger forum.
Chair Stone: Great. Thank you. Any other updates?
Vice Chair Stinger: I’ll give an update on Being Different Together, Taking the Conversation
Deeper. As you all remember, it’s a series of four forums. The first was held a week ago,
Thursday. We had good attendance; 80 – about 80 people in the Art Center auditorium. We
wanted the first event to be a celebration and it was very festive. Mary did a brilliant job. Thank
you, Mary. It started with an exercise called “Crossing the Line.” A series of questions that help
people identify and visually see commonalities and differences and reactions to different
statements about this City. It was well received. Some of the comments afterward were that there
was a lot of appreciation for the City to be taking on an adventure like this and just encourage
dialog. Thank you, Councilwomen Kou. It was great to have you there. I don’t know what to say.
We’re knee-deep in getting ready for the second forum. The format of the program was to have
an introduction by the moderator, Dr. Brown at Stanford, do the Crossing the Line exercise and
then we had 12 tables set up with facilitators. We have facilitators from the County who were
brilliant, and I can’t praise them enough for being facilitators for us. Then we closed with some
statements from Pastor Smith.
Chair Stone: Alright, thank you very much for that. Anything else? Alright.
5. Discussion on re-establishing the Council Buddy Program – THIS ITEM WILL BE
HEARD AT A LATER DATE
6. Review of Human Services Emerging Need Fund Draft Policy
Chair Stone: We will move right along to business items 6. Sorry for the last-minute agenda
addition here.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Can I actually interject if you don’t mind Chair Stone?
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Page 19 of 32
Chair Stone: Well, why not Minka.
Ms. van der Zwaag: This is a possible side project that was actually the idea of Vice Chair
Stinger and I’m not sure if it’s going to have any legs because it needs someone to be able to
direct it. Since it’s coming up and it falls under the Work Plan of our work on creating a safe and
tolerant and inclusive community. The May Fete parade, the theme of the May Fete parade this
year is My Hero is. They have the logo for the event and my hero is mom or dad or firefighter or
police officer or mentor or teacher and so forth. Vice Chair Stinger and I were looking at it
together and I was sharing the idea of, that’s an interesting concept of the hero. What if a hero is
something beyond some of those very typical things that children think? What if it’s the person
that’s an up-stander? When they see an active – bullying on their campus or an act of intolerance
in the community. What if it’s some of these historic figures that had really stood up in the
lexicon of standing up, like Dr. Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks and so forth? We had this very
short conversation of what if we could see if the children in our community would be interested
in some type of art or essay contest that talks about my hero and having some of the winners of
those contests, possibly be highlighted in the May Fete Parade. Maybe some of their essays
being on the City website. Mary and I aren’t sure we could take it on but since it fits in with
some of your work plan items on inclusion in the community. I just wanted to mention it at this
meeting to see if that’s anything that anybody here would be interested in giving some thought
to. Giving some parameters and possibly partnering with Staff. Now, the May Fete Parade is the
first Saturday in May and the kids are already thinking about this so really, this is something if
someone wants to give some legs too. It’s giving some legs to it pretty quick. My colleague just
came in today and said you shared that idea with me a couple of weeks ago, where is it? Because
of the intense amount of work with the Being Different Together and with the HSRAP proposal
review, it’s something that sounds really great in theory. I’m not sure Mary and I have the
capacity to do but I just thought it sounded like such a fun idea. I just wanted to mention it in this
group to see if it’s something that someone feels some kind of affinity to working on. Just if
anybody does, we can talk about it tonight or if you want to just talk to me offline as well.
Chair Stone: I love that idea.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Conceptionally.
Chair Stone: I think that’s such a great idea.
Ms. van der Zwaag: … it’s wonderful. It’s the doing of it.
Vice Chair Stinger: Yes, conceptionally…
Chair Stone: Man.
Ms. van der Zwaag: We have a lot of good conceptional ideas.
Chair Stone: That was always my answer when I didn’t do my homework.
Commissioner Savage: I have a suggestion for that and it is a big project and worthwhile. What
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Page 20 of 32
about one of the service organizations? Rotary Kiwanis, they have something – they may be
interested in partnering…
Ms. van der Zwaag: Ok.
Commissioner Savage: …with you.
Vice Chair Stinger: I was wondering about going to the after-school centers. That might be – if
we have a format or an outline of what we’re trying to do. It might be something they can take
on as an activity.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Ok.
Chair Stone: Is there any idea on age range?
Ms. van der Zwaag: The majority age range for participating in the May Fete Parade is usually
elementary age. That’s why the idea of maybe of not just an essay but drawing pictures as well
and possibly having them in that display area between the lobby and Chambers, to share that
work with the community. It certainly could be middle and high school. I think that’s an age
range we’ve – except for the bands – have had a hard time to get to participate in the May Fete
Parades. Like I said, good idea but it’s the implementation that’s a little harder.
Chair Stone: Maybe I can continue brainstorming with you offline…
Ms. van der Zwaag: Ok.
Chair Stone: … and see what we can do. I agree, elementary school. May Fete Parade is to cool
for high school. I mean, yes, it’s too cool for high schoolers. Perfect. Now, can I move on to…
Ms. van der Zwaag: Please do.
Chair Stone: We’ll move onto the review of the Human Services Emerging Need Fund. We have
a draft policy.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Right.
Chair Stone: Minka.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Thank you. This is something that just came up pretty quickly. It was
emailed out to you yesterday morning. As many of you know, during the budget process last year
Staff asked the Council to consider re-allocating the HSRAP reserve fund to be able to address
emergency and emerging needs. Vice Chair Stinger and then Chair O’Nan, came and spoke to
the Council on behalf of just the concept of an emergency or emerging need fund. The real
thought behind that is being able to address needs in the community for our grantees and not
grantees that come up mid-cycle. It’s one of the perfect examples -- and it’s exampled, that
Commissioner O’Nan brought up was what happen when the camping equipment got stole last
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Page 21 of 32
year at Abilities United. In that instance, the community rallied around them and I think they had
more camping equipment than they knew what to do with but in theory, this is the type of a fund
that could come into play when there are groups in the community that have a situation come up
that really doesn’t fall into the realm of an HSRAP ongoing grant. There is something that’s
come up and they either need to buy a piece of equipment or there is a program that maybe the
State has funding for but there’s something that happened in Sacramento and the funding is
going to happen a month later than they accept it and they just need a little bit to get them
started. It’s really something that will make an impact but it’s for something that is more one-
time in nature. What I have done with this policy is really looked at some best practices for how
these types of funds have been run in other parts of the country and have really come up with a
policy that talks about the types of needs that it will meet. The actual application process; really
looking at having people just email me and say, this is what we’re looking at. Is this something
that might fit into the realm and that’s something that I would say yes, please file out – please
submit an application. It’s something that is not over burdensome for the organization. This is
not meant to be a 25-page HSRAP application. This is a 2-page application with some supporting
documentation that asks them to answer some questions about what the need is, what they would
do about it, what led up to the need, how many clients would be affected and how the funds will
be used? That would be sent in. That would be reviewed by Mary and me and a member of the
HRC. I’m imagining this is just going to be one comes up, then 6-weeks later maybe another one
comes up or a couple comes up at the same time. Then the recommendation of that small group
goes to my department director to be able to make a funding decision. This is within two weeks
that decision could be made. What we would need to add is just to give some kind of authority to
maybe the Chair or the Vice Chair of this Commission to be able to appoint someone to serve.
That could be more than one person. It could be – that for instance Shelly – there’s three of you
who are interested in doing this. I call Shelly, she says she has a big work project, I can’t do it. I
check with Commissioner O’Nan and she says yes, I can be there on Tuesday. Send me the
application. We’ll review it and we’ll go from there but it is my hope to get this up and running
as soon as possible. It does just need to go to Council. I’m hoping that will happen in early
March on their consent calendar and that we can get the words out to the non-profits in our
community. I’ve already had some calls about it from probably a handful of groups in the
community that are looking for that. At this point, I just want to answer any questions, any
suggested word edits or so forth. I’m just here to give that short introduction.
Commissioner O’Nan: Yes. Minka, thank you so much for your report. I was wondering if a
grant is awarded then that’s taken out of the $50,000 reserve and then…
Ms. van der Zwaag: No. That is a – there is a $50,000 reserve and there’s a separate $50,000.
The $50,000 will stay intact, the other $50,000 will be drawn down during the year and then the
next year it will be replenished up to the $50,000 level.
Commissioner O’Nan: It would be offset again in the next cycle…
Ms. van der Zwaag: Yes.
Commissioner O’Nan: …or the next year?
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Page 22 of 32
Ms. van der Zwaag: Yes.
Commissioner O’Nan: Ok.
Ms. van der Zwaag: I don’t believe that for instance if we didn’t spend it all next year, it is
$100,000. That is the intention of the Council. It would remain at the $50,000 level. It will not be
cumulative to the best of my knowledge.
Commissioner Savage: Is there a maximum that…
Ms. van der Zwaag: You know what, I had a maximum and when I went over the draft with my
supervisor, he asked that I take it out because it might just be that there is a really compelling
project that could have impact that we did not want to – for instance, just say only something
$5,000 or less because something more impactful might come up. We took it out just so that we
have that flexibility. That’s a good question.
Commissioner O’Nan: Minka, I think there’s one small edit I would make to the last bullet. I
think it should be to pay expenses; plural.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Thank you.
Commissioner O’Nan: Also, I looked through the criteria, which I think is really good and very
well thought out. One additional thing that I’ve worried about is that I feel like food programs
ought to get a priority because if people are going to go hungry, that is such a basic need and we
experienced that with some of our partners in the past, where for various reasons they are not
able to continue funding of a food program but maybe dozens or hundreds of people depend on
it.
Ms. van der Zwaag: That wasn’t any direction that I received from Council so I would feel very
uncomfortable giving priority to a certain type of need. I really feel strongly that we need to keep
it as a general category because I was not given that direction. I really don’t feel like I can then
start creating like a priority of needs internally without having that kind of discussion with
Council. It could be that at the end of this year, that I go to Council or to give an end of the year
report as far as this is concerned. I could bring at the end of the year to the HRC saying, these are
the 4-5 things that we funded. Let’s talk about them. Are there any tweaks we would make to this
policy and then as I’m giving that end of the year report back to Council I could say, this was our
experiences the first year. This is some feedback that the HRC had that they thought it might be
helpful to have some kind of prioritization. I feel comfortable doing that.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: It says it’s about a 2-week turnaround but from the time…
Ms. van der Zwaag: Definitely because since it’s an emerging need. These are things that might
just turn around that they need help with. I think that’s why we’re only looking for one
representative at each time because smaller numbers of people, smaller schedule, smaller/shorter
applications. We can get is on a Monday. We can get it out there, we can review it and then
within that 2-week period be able to get on a schedule of our director to be able to make a
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Page 23 of 32
funding decision and let the applicate know.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Is the application as complex as the traditional…
Ms. van der Zwaag: No, it’s two pages.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: So, it’s only two pages.
Ms. van der Zwaag: It’s two pages.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Oh, I see.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Yes, it’s two pages. It’s free form.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: It’s not an RFP.
Ms. van der Zwaag: It’s not an RFP. They’re just going to look – that’s what the information
needed. I think before you came on the HRC, I would have a liken it to 2014-2015 when the
Council gave additional funding for something similar to the HRC and to make some funding
decisions for additional allocation. At that point, we send out a very quick to the HSRAP
grantees. This is HSRAP and non- HSRAP. We sent that out and said this is what we’re looking
for, send this in. It was free form. Every agency looked a little bit different. We’re trying to do
due diligence in the type of information so we could make an appropriate decision but we’re not
trying to make it burdensome for the applicant.
Commissioner Savage: Just one more quick question. You gave the example of the camping
equipment but just looking at our past history, how many requests do you think you would per
year?
Ms. van der Zwaag: You know, I really don’t know at this point how many that we would get
this year.
Commissioner Savage: I mean but looking back in the last few years. I mean what else would
qualify for something like that?
Ms. van der Zwaag: I would look back to the example of a couple years ago – it’s food related –
when the meal program for the Innvision Shelter Network, the Our Daily Bread Program got cut
off from 7-days a week. They were only going to be able to do the weekdays due to funding
issues so that’s something that at that point they did say is there anything the City could do and I
believe at that time their director came and spoke to Council. It’s really those types of things that
come…
Commissioner Savage: It wouldn’t – less than a handful of times a year.
Ms. van der Zwaag: It is. I don’t expect this too – this year will be the interesting year and since
we’re at the halfway point, it will look a little bit different but it will be interesting to see how
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Page 24 of 32
much this is actually used. I think we need to do our due diligence in the review that it doesn’t
supplant the HSRAP process for our agencies. Again, it very specifically says, this is something
that was unforeseen. This is one time. This is not we’d like to start a new program, can you help
us do so? If there’s a crisis in the community and one of our agencies wants to respond and needs
to get up and running right away. That’s something that I would consider. They say that’s
happened, this is best practice, we’ve got staff that could do it, we don’t have it in the budget,
this could get us going till the end of the year and then we can fold it into our regular budget.
That’s something that could be considered but it will be very interesting to see what we’ve gotten
like I’ve said, one of the inquiries I got I felt was something that should have been foreseen so if
that actually came as an application, it would probably not have been approved.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Are you going to publicize this in some way or let grantees know?
Ms. van der Zwaag: I will let grantees know. I want to see the most effective way in letting non-
grantees know because…
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Yes. You don’t want everybody coming to the trough.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Right. It’s like feast or famine so there will be a communication to our
HSRAP grantees but if there is a desire to pass it. I think I would just put somewhere in here – I
think under review and selection, applications are reviewed on an as needed basis by the staff
and the office of Human Services along with a representative designated by the Chair or the Vice
Chair of the HRC. Some of you are better wordsmiths than me but I just want to add something
short to page 3 that allows us to vote on it tonight, to give authority to someone to be able to
select a representative from the HRC to help.
Commissioner Savage: I think representative says it. I don’t think it needs to be further clarified.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I agree.
Commissioner O’Nan: I would just say maybe along with a Human Relations Commissioner.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Ok.
Vice Chair Stinger: The questions are I wonder if we need to specify it because when I read it
generally, it says to me like we’re in a meeting today and Minka says I need somebody but in
between meetings.
Ms. van der Zwaag: It will always probably be between meetings where I would call someone
that has been authorized for the lack of better phrasing, to be the representative of the HRC.
That’s why I was just thinking more of…
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Appointed representative?
Chair Stone: Is that necessary, though? I mean if the language says with a Commissioner from
the Human Relations Commission.
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Page 25 of 32
Ms. van der Zwaag: I think that if this Commission feels comfortable with that I just call who is
available, I think we’re fine. What I didn’t want to happen is that someone says well, why’d you
call so and so? Did we vote that the person was going to be the person on the HRC.
Commissioner Savage: I would suggest to start with leadership. I mean, you don’t have to
change anything here in my opinion but when it occurs, just start with the leadership and go
down from there.
Commissioner O’Nan: I don’t even know if we have to start with leadership because we all
volunteer to serve on the HSRAP Committees and the CDBG Committees. We’re all authorized
to do that so I think it would probably be whoever’s available. Maybe Minka could just ask the
whole HRC who’s willing to step up and then whoever response first would be that HRC
representative for that particular grant.
Commissioner Savage: That sounds fine.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Ok, so it sounds like in that we could just keep the wording as it’s currently
read. Ok, so we need a motion.
Chair Stone: I have just a couple of statements. A couple of comments and then one question.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Yes.
Chair Stone: I think the only thing I wasn’t fully comfortable with was the 45-days or less under
the emergency needs. I think it’s clear that it needs to be. You have the bold emergency needs,
the two bullet points.
Ms. van der Zwaag: I looked at several policies as far as that’s concerned and looking at being
able to serve in that emergency capacity. Perhaps something longer than that, another funding
source could be identified so really looking at something that we would be able to respond to
pretty quickly.
Chair Stone: Yes and I agree. I just think that maybe in this situation language that conveys that
need more so than a strict timeline because I don’t want to produce let’s say it is a 46-day and
then all of a sudden that organization precluded from this option.
Ms. van der Zwaag: I hear you. I think having a day for me helps in the filtering process as far as
then it becomes a judgment call by me. Well, I really think they waited too long to ask but; well,
you let that agency. That one you know asked and that was about 52-days but ours was 53 but
you didn’t let us. One of the changes I will make on the top that I didn’t write in is I a policy
instead of guidelines. I’d like something concrete.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: It’s this saying that they need the money within 45-days? I’m not
clear. This is us – this is the applicant saying, we need this within 45-days.
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Page 26 of 32
Ms. van der Zwaag: Right, it’s just an emergency on their part.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: But you’re saying what if they needed it in 46-days? That’s what
doesn’t quite make sense to me. We’re not saying you have 45-days to make your request, it’s…
Ms. van der Zwaag: I hear you. I think for me it is saying well, at some point in the future we
might have this emergency. I’m saying it’s an emergency now.
Vice Chair Stinger: Are these bullets ‘and’ or ‘or’? Do they have to meet both?
Ms. van der Zwaag: No, they don’t have to meet – the first one, it’s either. The second one it’s
both.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: So, both things have to apply for it to be eligible?
Ms. van der Zwaag: Let me read it again.
Commissioner O’Nan: I think it would be important to add that, Minka. I would say at the end of
the first bullet; comma or and then the second bullet. Then under emergency needs, at the end of
the first bullet; ‘and’ and then the second bullet, just so it’s clear.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Ok,) give the it’s either ‘or’ or ‘and’, ok.
Commissioner O’Nan: Correct.
Ms. van der Zwaag: I hear you.
Commissioner O’Nan: I also think the final list of bullets is a little awkward because of the lead
in says, not awarded for and then you repeat 4 and 2 in all the bullets.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Ok.
Commissioner O’Nan: We could get rid of those and I rewrote them. For example, it could just
be, not awarded for budget shortfalls, individual assistants, secretary and political support of
ongoing work, payment of expenses. Get rid of all those prepositions. I can give you my markup.
Ms. van der Zwaag: I got it but thank you.
Vice Chair Stinger: At one point, we talked about pilot programs that an agency might want to
try.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Right.
Vice Chair Stinger: Then if they had a pilot and it addressed an emerging need would that
qualify under the emerging or critical need section as it’s written?
Commissioner O’Nan: I think not because it says normal funding is no longer available and if
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Page 27 of 32
it’s a pilot, it would mean that it’s new so they didn’t have normal funding.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Right. That was not the direction I would get from Council. Like I said, that
could be something again that we could look at year end and see if that’s some changes that can
be made.
Chair Stone: Go back to the 45-days because I think Commissioner Grey made a good point that
it’s the organization making the request within that time line. I can just foresee complications
with an organization figuring out how they are going to try to quantify as far as a timeline, when
they are going to need the funds, when that emergency need will end, will start and seeing an
actual 45-days out, that’s a difficulty there. I think that’s just…
Ms. van der Zwaag: Ok.
Chair Stone: I can see if it was planned for and the request is time sensitive in nature and could
not be predicted or reasonably planned for and an imminent response for the emergency is
needed. I think there’s enough verbiage within it to clear imply it’s an emergency and then that
gives you and Staff and the Human Relations Commissioner plenty of …
Ms. van der Zwaag: Ok.
Chair Stone: I have trust in all of you to be able to analyze what’s an imminent need without
tying anybody’s hands.
Ms. van der Zwaag: If you feel comfortable, I’m fine with that. I think I would just want to check
with my director on that because he reviewed this policy as well and if he has no problems with
that, I’m fine with that.
Chair Stone: Yes. That’s fine with me.
Commissioner O’Nan: One more last quick wordsmithing. I think it should be and/or response to
the emergency as needed in 45-days or less or striking through the 45 – response to instead of a
response for.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Ok.
Chair Stone: I just want one other thing, I just have a possible suggestion. You have these –
under the application process, the last bullet point talks about wanting that itemized expense of
income budget. I think that’s a good idea. Perhaps maybe as well an additional bullet maybe
requiring them to follow-up with an accounting of how the expenses were used. Is that in there?
Did I just miss it?
Ms. van der Zwaag: Yes. It’s under the grant award and reporting.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Second paragraph.
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government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
Page 28 of 32
Ms. van der Zwaag: The second paragraph speaks to giving a simple report. How the funds were
used and how the clients were affected and impacted as a result of the funding?
Chair Stone: Perfect. Brilliant minds think alike, Minka. Good.
Commissioner O’Nan: Minka, in the reporting section, what about taking that list of 1, 2, and 3
and making it a vertical list like bullets except for numbered?
Ms. van der Zwaag: Sure. Yes.
Commissioner O’Nan: So, it stands out a little more.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Of course,
Chair Stone: Any other comments or questions?
Ms. van der Zwaag: Great feedback, thank you.
Chair Stone: This says action item. You don’t need – do you need a vote on this?
Ms. van der Zwaag: I do need a vote.
Chair Stone: Ok.
Ms. van der Zwaag: I do need a vote for – yes.
MOTION
Commissioner O’Nan: Then I would make a motion that we approve this draft with the edits that
we’ve provided to Minka, subject to those.
Chair Stone: I’ll…
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I’ll second.
Chair Stone: Perfect. We have a second. All in favor.
Chair Stone, Vice Chair Stinger, Commissioner Gordon Gray, Commissioner O’Nan,
Commissioner Savage: Aye.
Chair Stone: Any opposed or abstain? Wonderful, that passes unanimously as well. Thank you,
Minka.
MOTION PASSED 5-0
Ms. van der Zwaag: Thank you.
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
Page 29 of 32
VI. Reports from Officials – Chair Stone
1. Commissioner Reports
Chair Stone: Moving on to Commissioner Reports. Any Commissioner reports?
Vice Chair Stinger: Well, continuing our second event in our series is Beyond the Line and it
will follow-up the first event, with more discussion of critical issues. That event is going to be
March 2nd. We are still planning to do a 7-9.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Three weeks.
Vice Chair Stinger: … and holding the location at the Art Center at the moment.
Chair Stone: I don’t know how you have the energy.
Vice Chair Stinger: We are going to do a debrief tomorrow and one of the debriefs that I have is
that I think we need to figure out a way to make it easier on Mary and Minka. You guys were
just incredible.
Chair Stone: Any other Commissioner reports? I have one. I’ve been honored to be asked by out
County Supervisor, Joe Simitian, to be appointed to the County Human Relations Commission.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Congratulations.
Chair Stone: Thank you. I’m excited for that opportunity. I had a lot of back and forth and have
sought Council from some of my most trusted advisors and I’m going to take the position. The
only problem is that there is a time conflict because the County HRC meets the exact same time
at night as the Palo Alto HRC. Minka is actually going to talk a little bit about a possible
solution, if there is one, to that so I’ll let her talk about that when it is her time. That is my
Commissioner report.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Congratulations.
Chair Stone: Thank you.
Vice Chair Stinger: Congratulations.
Chair Stone: Thank you. Any other Commissioner reports?
2. Council Liaison Report
Chair Stone: Moving on to our Council Liaison report. Council Member Kou:
Council Member Kou: I don’t really have anything except to say congratulations to you. Thank
you.
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
Page 30 of 32
3. 3. Staff Liaison Report
Chair Stone: Our Staff liaison report, Minka.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Thank you. One of the items I already talked about. The cancellation of our
study session. I will say that it is not really a reflection of the Council’s desire of not wanting to
hear from the HRC. I think that it is not personal. I think the Council is looking at the manner in
which it holds study sessions because there are so many and then sometimes they get pushed
right before Council meetings and Council meetings get even longer so there are some
discussions on having it in the way that they’re scheduled so that once they’re scheduled, they
don’t get canceled. I’m hoping to have some message to you by the next month that the Clerk’s
Office and the Mayor have found some formula or solution to be able to really give time to these
important Study Sessions. Not just from the Commissioners but to have an extended time for the
Council to be able to discuss important matters. That is one thing. I will be – another exciting
thing that is coming up is the City of Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and East Palo Alto, the Mayors had
a discussion together and talked about the ways in which each city can give honor to and in
celebration of black history month, which is right now in February. The City will be honoring
four individuals in honor of black history month. I will send you that information. I’m most
familiar with the one a person who they will be honoring, Pastor Paul Bains, who is our police
chaplain but he is also the Executive Director of We Hope, which is a shelter in East Palo Alto
which is the driving force behind dignity on wheels, which is a mobile shower and laundry
service. There are two other recipients and I was behind the Pastor Bains nomination, I know that
one best. I will send you the information about the three-other people that will be nominated. I
don’t have that with me right now. I will give that to you. I think – I know it but I want to get
their names right before I do any disrespect and give the wrong name. I wanted to let you know
about that. I’ll get you a flyer tomorrow regarding that. Pastor Bains is going to be honored with
a proclamation on Monday and then February 23rd, probably here at Chambers, there will be a
celebration for all the recipients of that honor.
The other thing I wanted to give to you and maybe Mary can help hand it out, is that my
department Community Services wanted a way to share with our key partners the work that we
do. What we have done is we have created a beautiful calendar that highlights what each of our
division does and Human Services is February. We have this lovely picture of a tutor and a
student with the Dreamcatchers Program. It talks about what Human Services is and what we do
and then in the back, it talks a little bit more about Human Services in the community. I wanted
to let you know about that. This is something my colleagues produced and I wanted to let you
know about that. Why don’t you take a look at that in your leisure. I also wanted to let you know,
as far as the Council priorities for this year are transportation, infrastructure, Healthy Cities,
Health Communities, budget and finance and housing. The one thing that was very interesting
and thanks you Vice Chair Stinger, who did go to the Council retreat; is they added superiority
under Healthy Cities, Healthy Communities, which is human and civil rights. That is something
that fits in right with what we do. We have two members of this Commission that represent you
on the Healthy Cities, Healthy Communities task force and that right now, that’s Vice Chair
Stinger and Commissioner O’Nan. We can talk further what that mean or if there’s a point where
someone else wants to switch out and serve there. In response to Chair Stone’s announcement, I
will be looking and checking offline with the Commissioners if there’s any possibility if this
Commission wants to meet on another day and time so that Chair Stone can continue to serve.
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
Page 31 of 32
That is a whole juggling act of your schedules. That’s a juggling act of staff’s schedules; the
juggling act of when and if there is or room available. I thought that was something that I could
look into and address with Commissioners offline to see if that is something that would work out
and if that is something that could be accommodated or not. That’s something that I can continue
to be in conversation with you about if that’s something that is possible to have our Chair
continue to bring the voice of the County HRC directly to this group and for him to continue to
be the voice of the Palo Alto HRC on the County Commissioner.
Commissioner Savage: I would just like to encourage you to do that and I hope everybody can be
somewhat flexible with a possible new date or day or time. I think we all agree that Chair Stone
is wonderful and the possibility of him representing both us and the County is an opportunity I
would hate to see missed. Good luck on looking at some flexibility.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Ok.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I think if you keep it on a Thursday, that’s what comes to mind. A
different Thursday of the month. For some reason, that’s what makes sense to me.
Ms. van der Zwaag: At this point, that is not possible.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Oh. Never mind.
Ms. van der Zwaag: That’s the one quick look I did and there are other Commissions using this
space or Council Chambers but I will – upon a quick look, that did not look possible but that will
be the part of my process when I look into this a little bit deeper.
Commissioner O’Nan: Minka, I would say, I think all of us are – except for Commissioner Chen,
are Southey's – I think? Aren’t we all Southey's? Could we possibly meet over near your office?
Ms. van der Zwaag: I think the hard part about that is the Media Center because I’m not sure if
they are able to accommodate an off-site this room has a built in the camera into this room that’s
really looking at having something that is…
Commissioner O’Nan: We can’t just hold our phones up and tape ourselves?
Ms. van der Zwaag: These are all questions that I will look into. I appreciate that observation.
Just as a point of interest, in the end of May, Commissioner Savage and Commissioner Alhassani
terms expire at that time. Then there would be two positions obviously, for them to reapply and –
but that is kind of the dynamics that we’re working with right now.
Chair Stone: Well, thank you Minka for looking into that for me. Thank you, Commissioner
Savage, for those kind words. Thank you. Alright. Wonderful.
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
Page 32 of 32
VI. TENTATIVE AGENDA FOR NEXT REGULAR MEETING: March 9, 2017
1. Recommendations to Finance Committee for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)
Funding for Fiscal Year 2018
2. Subcommittee recommendations to the HRC for Human Services Resource Allocation
Process (HSRAP) Funding for Fiscal Years 2018-2019
Chair Stone: Then the tentative agenda for the next regular meeting. I know we’ll have to add
back on the – yes, number 3, the review of the draft letter. Thank you again to Commissioner
O’Nan and Commissioner Gordon Gray for taking that on. Anything else besides the other two
that we currently have there?
Commissioner O’Nan: I think we’ll have an update on some of the Being Different Together
Forums and probably on the elder abuse events as well.
Vice Chair Stinger: Updates. If I heard correctly and I think I did, at the Council retreat, the
Mayor suggested having a second retreat in April that was more of an implementation planning.
At our March meeting, I’d like to think about – this is premature so I’m not quite sure how to
phrase this but think about our response to the Resolution and the City priority that affects us. To
see if there is something concrete we want to make the Mayor aware of.
Ms. van der Zwaag: That’s quite a full meeting as well. Why don’t we talk about leadership to
see if that is possible? It would be a commitment by this group to stay longer.
Commissioner O’Nan: Then would we add the item about changing our day and time – our day?
Ms. van der Zwaag: Yes
Commissioner O’Nan: Our meeting day.
Ms. van der Zwaag: I don’t think that specifically needs a vote. I mean, I don’t think that needs a
vote by this body. That’s – we’re just really…
Commissioner Gordon Gray: We’ll all agree offline?
Ms. van der Zwaag: …polling, yes.
Chair Stone: Perfect. I hope and pray that I will be able to be here at the next meeting. Otherwise
Vice Chair Stinger, I kept the seat warm for you.
Vice Chair Stinger: I hope and pray he’ll be at the next meeting too.
Chair Stone: Alright. Well, thank you, everybody. We’re adjourned.
VII. ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 8:58 p.m.