HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-02-22 City Council Summary MinutesCITY COUNCIL
MINUTES
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Special Meeting
February 22, 2010
The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in the Council
Chambers at 7:47 p.m.
Present: Burt, Espinosa, Holman, Klein, Scharff, Schmid, Shepherd, Yeh
Absent: Price
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
Wynn Grcich, 30166 Industrial Parkway, Hayward, spoke regarding the City
being involved with the International Council for local Environmental
Initiatives (IClEI).
Ron Wormley, Box 60112, spoke on racial profiling.
Aram James spoke regarding the Public Records Act and the Police Advisory
Board.
Stephanie Munoz, 101 Alma, spoke regarding public oversight for the Police
Departments.
Timothy Gray, 4173 Park Boulevard, spoke regarding the Police Citizen
Advisory Boa rd.
CITY MANAGER COMMENTS
City Manager, James Keene spoke regarding the Palo Alto Youth Forum that
took place on February 6, 2010 with another scheduled for Saturday
February 27, 2010 at Mitchell Park Community Center. He spoke regarding
the plane crash that occurred in East Palo Alto and the power outage in Palo
Alto.
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CONSENT CALENDAR
City Attorney, Gary Baum stated the City Manager was empowered to
declare a state of emergency; however, the declaration needed to be ratified
by the City Council at their next meeting.
MOTION: Council Member Schmid moved, seconded by Council Member
Yeh to approve Agenda Item Number-1.
1. Adoption of a Resolution Confirming the City Manager/Director of
Emergency Services' Proclamation of Existence of a Local Emergency.
MOTION PASSED: 8-0 Price absent
ACTION ITEMS
2. Request for Direction to (1) Prepare Response to Google's Fiber for
Communities Request for Information; and (2) Discontinue Work for
the Submission of a Federal Stimulus Grant Application Under the
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.
Council Member Klein advised he would not be participating in this Agenda
Item as he owns stock in Google. He left the meeting at 8: 10 p.m.
Council Member Shepherd advised she would not be participating in this
Agenda Item as she owns stock in Google.
City Manager, James Keene stated the proposal by Google was in alignment
with the long-term efforts the City had been developing. He noted the
criteria in the Google proposal matched the City's goals for broadband more
so than the National Telecommunication and Information Administration
(NTIA) criteria.
Utilities Director, Valerie Fong introduced Jim Fleming, Utilities Department
Management Specialist.
Council Member Schmid asked whether there were legal issues surrounding
Google expressing interest in investing in the City's broadband expansion
and what rights would the City be expected to share.
Senior Assistant City Attorney, Grant Kolling stated after reviewing the
Request for Information (RFI) he did not believe there was interest in
ownership by Google.
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Ms. Fong stated if negotiations began, there would need to be discussions
surrounding ownership and participation.
Council Member Schmid asked whether there was the expectation of Google
expending funds without expectation.
Ms. Fong clarified there were multiple models available for outside entities
being involved with government agencies.
Mr. Keene stated Google had requested information without a specific
proposal or award.
Mayor Burt asked for clarification on the RFI that the City was to present a
proposal to Google on what it would request or require of them to participate
in the creation of the City's broadband system.
Mr. Keene stated yes, his understanding was to present a proposal to
Google.
Mayor Burt stated if the City's proposal was viewed as favorable by Google
then more information would be requested in Phase II of the process.
Council lV1ember Yeh asked whether Staff had identified areas of data gaps
that would significantly impact the community.
Ms. Fong stated there had not been significant data gaps identified that
would raise flags at this point in the process.
Mr. Keene stated the types of information being placed in the proposal would
be of a broader and deeper nature involving data, factors and arguments.
Council Member Yeh asked the speed expected.
Mr. Keene stated Google proposed 1 Giga Byte (GB).
Council Member Yeh asked whether there was a geographic clustering of
interested residents', he stated there would be a sequential process for the
programs roll-out. He asked what the community's needs and interest in
that level of speed would be and would there be a willingness from the
community to invest their own resources if it was requested of them.
Mayor Burt stated within the Google proposal they appeared to be looking
for communities to identify usefulness of bandwidth ranging from 100 Mega
Bytes (MB) per second to 1 Giga Bytes (GB) per second.
Mr. Keene stated the history of the City's efforts on building the existing
forty-one mile ring and the efforts to design a program to have 100 percent
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of the City connected had never been solely a Staff driven effort. The
expectation for preparing the proposal to Google would be a creative
collaboration between Council, Staff, the Fiber to the Home Ad Hoc
Committee, and the Citizens Advisory Committee.
Fiber to the Home Ad Hoc Committee member, Bob Harrington stated in
reviewing the RFI from Google it was clear they were requesting similar
information that the committee had been working on. He stated there
needed to be a coordinated plan implemented to get the community to
nominate Palo Alto on the Google site by the 26th of March to impress upon
them that the Palo Alto community was behind the concept.
Mayor Burt stated Google was interested in a community with extensive
outreach capability; Palo Alto had a fairly high probability with sixty-five
thousand people in the City.
Mr. Harrington stated if the majority of those resit;:lents nominated Palo Alto
it would be impressive.
Mayor Burt clarified what the City had been working towards was in line with
the Google criteria.
Mr. Harrington stated yes, and noted there was a website www.ipaloalto.org
and www.ipaloalto.com for people and company's to view the past four
years' efforts and communicate with the Fiber to the Home Ad Hoc
Committee.
Jeff Hoel, 731 Colorado Avenue, stated working with Google appeared to be
a great opportunity for the City and he shared his concern regarding the
ownership aspect. He inquired as to how much input the public would have
assisting Staff in writing the application to Google.
Michael Eager, 1960 Park Boulevard, stated he advocated for the fiber to the
home concept for more than ten years. He stated rlis concern for the lack of
community outreach over the past five years and encouraged the City to
pursue Google but with caution.
Bob Moss, 4010 Orme Street, stated his support for fiber to the home. He
stated the City needed to poll the community to verify the number willing to
pay for the service; with a large enough support system Google would see
Palo Alto was serious about participating in their program.
Herb Borock, PO Box 632, stated Google was mentioned to partiCipate in the
City's concept in 2005, along with the goal of the system being City owned
with a private party running the network. In 2005 Google showed no interest
in that type of situation; however, the City has now been presented with the
opportunity for a possible partnership.
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MOTION: Vice Mayor Espinosa moved, seconded by Council Member
Holman to: 1) Direct Staff to discontinue work on the preparation of a
federal stimulus grant application under the National Telecommunication and
Information Administration's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program;
2) Direct Staff to prepare a response to Google's Request for Information
(RFI), announced on February 10, 2010, for their Fiber to the Communities
plan; and 3) Direct Staff to return to Council with an Informational Item
outlining a grass roots outreach public engagement strategy plan.
Vice Mayor Espinosa stated there was a need to understand how the City
could engage the public in the discussion, there was a great deal of history,
background and expertise which could be utilized to leverage the
development of the proposal received by Google. He noted a grass roots
campaign outreach would be helpful in showing Google the community was
behind the City.
Council Member Holman stated her support for the joint efforts being made
to bring a long-time desire closer to reality.
Council Member Schmid stated Palo Alto had the ideal situation for
,supporting Google's concept of a test market. The City was relatively small,
had a sophisticated community with a unique mixture of diverse age groups,
a financial range of wealthy to lower based incomes, and a wide array of
languages spoken.
IVlayor Burt stated IVlarch 26, 2010 was the deadline to nominate the City on
the Google website. He noted there was a lot to accomplish in a short
timeframe.
INCORPORATED INTO THE MOTION WITH THE CONSENT OF THE
MAKER AND SECONDER to authorize Staff to implement a grass roots
outreach program and to have a reconstituted Council Ad Hoc subcommittee
to work with Staff and the community on outreach and other elements of the
proposal.
Vice Mayor Espinosa asked whether Staff had concerns regarding the
requested timeframes being placed on them.
Mr. Keene stated Staff had the capability to accommodate the requests
being made of them and he suggested the reconstitution of the Ad Hoc
Committee would assist in the accomplishments of the tasks.
IVlayor Burt recommended a public meeting be convened at the earliest date
possible to reach out through all of the communication tools the City had at
its disposal both to locate expanded groups of citizen experts in various
aspects of applications, advocacy or other complimentary tools that could
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assist in completing a strong team to work with the Staff, Ad Hoc Committee
and the Citizen Advisory Group.
MOTION PASSED: 6-0 Klein and Shepherd not participating, Price absent
At this time the City Council adjourned to the Council Conference Room for
the Study Session with the Architectural Review Board (ARB).
STUDY SESSION
3. Joint Study Session with the Architectural Review Board (ARB) to
Discuss Palo Alto ARB Issues.
The discussion included comments on process, public benefits in Planned
Community zone changes, California Government Code Section 65915 (SB
1818) concessions, use of technology for information sharing, budget
limitations, perceptions, definitions, policy setting, appointment of a task
force to develop a strategy for urban design along arterials and identify
opportunities, study process issues and report on post construction lessons
as they relate to the approval process.
COUNCIL MEMBER QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Council Member Schmid asked about upcoming Council meetings pertaining
to High Speed Rail.
Council Member Yeh spoke regarding the Youth Forum to be held on
Saturday, March 6, 2010 at Mitchell Park.
Mayor Burt reported there is an uncertainty whether we will get the High
Speed Rail Alternatives Analysis presentation on March 4, 2010.
Council Member Shepherd reported on attending the State of the Valley
Conference this past week in San Jose.
Mayor Burt reported on attending the State of the Valley Conference this
past week.
ADJOURNMENT: Mayor Burt closed the meeting at 10: 15 p.m. in memory of
former CounCil Member John Berwald who passed away last week, and the
three Tesla Motors employees, Doug Bourn, Brian Finn, and Andrew Ingram
who died in the plane crash in East Palo Alto on Wednesday, February 17,
2010.
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