HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-01-03 City Council Summary MinutesCITY OF PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL
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Special Meeting
January 3, 2017
The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in the Council
Chambers at 6:22 P.M.
Present: Burt, DuBois, Filseth, Holman, Kniss, Scharff, Schmid, Wolbach
Absent:
Mayor Burt: Welcome, everyone. This is a special meeting that we have
when we swear in every 2 years new Council Members and elect our new
Mayor and Vice Mayor. I'd first like to acknowledge as many of the officials
that we have in attendance as we've managed to spot, but I'm afraid we're
going to come up short on this. What I'd like to do is first acknowledge the
Former Mayors in attendance. Let me just read them off as a group because
the applause goes on. Former Mayors Judy Kleinberg, Nancy Shepherd,
Lanie Wheeler and Joe Simitian and Betsy Bechtel. That's part of the trick;
all the people who get left off get special applause. We also have a number
of other officials. Please help us out, as we did with Former Mayor Bechtel,
to point out who we're omitting. From the East Palo Alto City Council, we
have Council Member Ruben Abrica and Mayor Larry Moody. We also have
from the School Board Jennifer DiBrienza and former School Board Members
Camille Townsend and Susie Richardson. We'd like to just acknowledge as a
group—we have a number of our Board and Commission Members. Rather
than err in omitting them, can all Board and Commission Members please
rise? Who have I left off?
Vice Mayor Scharff: Steve Scharf from Cupertino.
Mayor Burt: Mayor or Council Member? Council Member Steve Scharf from
Cupertino, welcome. Now we get onto our real business. The most
important Item tonight is the swearing in of new City Council Members.
Beth Minor, our Clerk, would you like to take the lead? I understand that
County Supervisor Simitian is going to do the honors with one of our
reelected officials.
Beth Minor, City Clerk: Yes, he is. Joe, if you'll come up.
Joe Simitian, County Supervisor, swore in Council Member Kniss.
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Ms. Minor swore in Council Members Lydia Kou, Adrian Fine, and Greg
Tanaka.
Mayor Burt: At this time, we'd like to welcome the new Council Members to
take their seats at the dais. Those of us who are departing will do so.
Vice Mayor Scharff: Congratulations everyone and thanks for joining us up
here.
Special Orders of the Day
1. Election of the 2017 Mayor.
Vice Mayor Scharff: The next order of business is the election of Mayor and
Vice Mayor for 2017. We'll proceed as follows. First, I will collect
nominations from Council Members for the position of Mayor. Council
Members may nominate themselves or another Council Member, and no
second is required. After collecting the nominations, I will invite people to
speak in the following order: Council Members who made a nomination may
speak to the nomination and then Council Members who are nominated may
speak, if they wish. Any other Council Member may comment and members
of the public, of course, will be heard. Then, we will vote, and then we'll
redo the process over again for Vice Mayor. The floor is now open for
nominations for Mayor. Council Member Filseth.
Council Member Filseth: I nominate Vice Mayor Scharff for Mayor. Greg is
one of our longest tenured and most experienced Council Members including
past experience as Mayor. He has a strong understanding of policy and City
government and a longtime advocate for infrastructure, local retail and fiscal
responsibility. Greg is the logical choice for this Council tonight. This
Council will be the last one with nine members. With a group this size, it's
natural to anticipate some divisions. I believe there's a broad consensus
available because there is broad consensus in the community around
addressing our transportation and traffic issues; sensible housing growth
that addresses the heavy cost of living here while respecting the capacity of
our schools, services and infrastructure; supporting our local retail and
personal services; continuing to move forward on sustainability independent
of federal activity; and protecting our neighborhoods and the physical
attractiveness of our City and our quality of life here. Survey after survey
shows that these things are things a majority of Palo Alto residents want and
all of us have talked about them as we've stood for office. Greg understands
all these things. As leader of the Council, he'll be in a position to lead us to
this consensus with a Council that works together to do the community's
business. For all these reasons, I nominate Greg Scharff to be the next
Mayor of Palo Alto.
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NOMINATION: Council Member Filseth nominated Vice Mayor Scharff for
Mayor for 2017.
Vice Mayor Scharff: Council Member Holman, I saw your light on.
Council Member Holman: I'd like to nominate Council Member Liz Kniss as
Mayor. Do you want comments now?
NOMINATION: Council Member Holman nominated Council Member Kniss
for Mayor for 2017.
Vice Mayor Scharff: Sure.
Council Member Holman: Since we've started in that regard. Two years
ago, Liz Kniss did me the honor of nominating me for Mayor. I feel it's very
appropriate, given the current climate and current situation, that I nominate
Liz. I think Liz would serve the community very well. As then, Liz was the
top vote getter; I think that's an appropriate measure of the community's
sentiment about leadership on the Council. As then, we're coming out of
also another difficult election period. I believe that Liz has the unique
experience and influence to bring the community together and bring the
members of the Council together on the dais. With these perspectives, I'm
very pleased to nominate to Liz Kniss for Mayor.
Vice Mayor Scharff: Council Member Kniss, I saw your light on.
Council Member Kniss: With gratefulness and gratitude, Karen, I accept
your nomination but must decline it. I think going forward this year—I think
Eric Filseth has said it extremely well. This is a year when we have
somebody with even more experience than I do sitting here for the last nine
years. Karen, I hope you'll nominate me again sometime. I would be
delighted. For this evening, I believe our best choice for tonight is going to
be Council Member Scharff. Once again, thank you so much for those very
kind words. I appreciate it, and so does my family who is sitting here and
probably thinking "This is unusual." Thank you all so much.
Vice Mayor Scharff: I just wanted to thank both Council Member Filseth and
Council Member Kniss for those kind words. I don't see any other lights.
Let me just look; it's a little hard to see over here. Council Member
Wolbach.
Council Member Wolbach: I just wanted to say that I will also be supporting
Vice Mayor Greg Scharff for Mayor. I think you've done an excellent job as
Vice Mayor this year. The experience that Council Member Filseth spoke to,
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I don't need to repeat. We're all aware. I think you'll do an excellent job
leading the Council through an important year ahead.
Vice Mayor Scharff: Thank you very much. Now, we'll move to the public.
Council Member Kniss: Greg, before you do get to a vote, would you remind
new members which light to push for what reason?
Vice Mayor Scharff: If I'm not seeing lights from new members, there's a
little, silver button that you can just push up and down. If I don't see you, go ahead—it's actually hard to see it over there.
Council Member DuBois: You're going to the public first and then …
Vice Mayor Scharff: No. I wanted to finish Council Members first. I just
didn't see any more lights. Adrian.
Council Member Fine: Thank you very much. I'll be quick. Council Member
Scharff, as I know him, has been generous of spirit and information, but he's
also acute, direct and to the point. I believe he'll be a good leader for our
City in getting our business done. That's what we can ask of him. I will be
there to support him.
Vice Mayor Scharff: Thank you. Tom, you had your light on.
Council Member DuBois: I didn't. I'll make a quick comment. First of all, I
just want to say welcome to the new Council Members. It's kind of an interesting transition. Having gone through it, you're out there being
competitive, campaigning, and now you join the fellowship of nine. You get
to be collaborative and work with us for the betterment of this City.
Welcome aboard. I support the nomination of Greg, because I think he will
uphold the basic tenets of good government. We just heard the oath to
follow the Charter of the City. The Mayor is really one of nine Council
Members with really no more power than the other nine. Greg, I'd ask you
in your comments to reaffirm some of those things of good governance,
which I think you support, openness and transparency. We generally are
together on a lot of items, but we are a divided Council on other items. I
expect you'll be fair, and you'll be transparent and respectful. Because I
believe that, I support the nomination.
Vice Mayor Scharff: Thank you, Tom. You can be assured that all the things
you just said I would aspire to do. Any speakers from—Eric. I'm sorry,
Greg. I have trouble with the name Greg.
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Council Member Tanaka: I guess there's a conservation of Greg’s, because
one Greg just stepped down and another Greg stepped up. I too will be
supporting Vice Mayor as Mayor. I've gotten to know you for quite some
time now. I thought you were a very effective Mayor last time. I've seen
you run this meeting very, very well, and I think that's needed. I think you
bring people together. You have my support.
Vice Mayor Scharff: Thank you very much. Is there anyone I'm missing? Lydia.
Council Member Kou: Thank you. I do want to say that 2016 to the
elections and the campaign was a very tough time. I do support your
nomination and would hope that moving forward we remember you can
nurture our residents here. I did, when I was campaigning, campaign with
the organizational chart of Palo Alto, which my husband has. I really want
to remind that we're here as Council Members to serve the residents of Palo
Alto. Honey, could you please bring it up and give it to David over here, just
as a reminder? I think that's a very—it's not easy to find on the website. It
is in the operating budget site. Again, just want to remind. I ran with that,
took it with me everywhere I went. I just want to bring it back so that we're
remembering that. Thank you.
Vice Mayor Scharff: Thank you. Council Member Holman.
Council Member Holman: I'll also be supporting the nomination. I felt it a
real honor and almost a duty, if you will, to be respectful and dutiful to
nominate Council Member Kniss as Mayor and understand the declining of
that nomination. Appreciate the comments in return. I will be supporting
the nomination. Will we have an opportunity to make comments welcoming
other Council Members now or any time?
Vice Mayor Scharff: Why don't you just do it now? We can conserve the
time.
Council Member Holman: I do want to welcome—we have obviously three
new Council Members, some that are new to the dais and some that have
been sitting at this dais for some period of time. As we know, there are a lot
of common issues in the public that have captured the public's attention.
The solutions to those have gotten varied response. We will not always
agree on the solutions. We will not always agree on the issues. We will not
always be allies on the issues, but we will always be colleagues. For the
next two years, we will be colleagues. With that mind, I look forward to the
next three years of us directing the issues that face this community, some of
them as a result of our great success as a community. I look forward to
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addressing those issues directly, head-on and with great perseverance.
Welcome to our new colleagues.
Vice Mayor Scharff: Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak?
With that, do we have any cards from the public? No cards on the public.
Since there's only one nominee, I'm just going to ask you to vote on the
board. The way you vote on the board is you push the green button if
you're in favor and the red button if you're opposed, the yellow button if you want to abstain, but we don't do that at Council. That passes unanimously.
NOMINATION PASSED: 9-0
Mayor Scharff: Now, we'll take a moment. I'll just switch seats with Council
Member Tanaka. It's actually traditional for the Mayor-elect or elected to
say a few words before us. That's what I wanted to do. First of all, I
wanted to thank my colleagues and the community for the trust you've
placed in me. I really appreciate Council Member DuBois' comments. I
thought they were apropos, and I totally agree with them. I appreciate all
the other kind words. I wanted to thank all of you for supporting me, and
the community. I wanted to welcome the new Council Members. I wanted
to say that being Mayor of Palo Alto is an honor. It's a real honor. In fact,
as a lot of Former Mayors have told me—I can tell you this myself having served once as Mayor—it's the one thing, when you go to an event, that
people are like, "You're the Former Mayor of Palo Alto?" It's very well
thought of Palo Alto regionally. It's really an honor. I wanted to say we
have really an extraordinary community here, from our amazing citizen
engagement frankly to the number of libraries we have. It's just amazing.
The quality of City Staff, we don't really talk enough about the quality of our
City Staff. I wanted to say we have an extraordinary Staff, and they work
extremely hard on behalf of the citizens of Palo Alto. Palo Alto is just such a
wonderful place to live, work and raise a family. An important component of
that is the quality of the City services we have. The quality of the City
services is only as good as our City Staff. I wanted to highlight the City
Staff in that I've noticed over the last couple of years really how hard they
work, how many late hours they put in, and how unsung they are in terms of
the press and in terms of the community. I just wanted to do a real shout-
out to the City Staff. The other thing I wanted to say is I know it was a
tough election that did elicit a lot of strong feelings and statements.
However, I know all of you fairly well up here, the new Council Members as
well as the old Council Members. I want to say to everyone here Palo Alto is
extremely lucky to have each of you as Council Members. You all are
amazingly skilled and bring a lot to this community. Your dedication and
service to the community is very impressive. I would ask that we all come
together as colleagues and, frankly, hopefully friends. I want to tell you that
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being on Council is supposed to be fun. You're supposed to all enjoy it.
Let's all work together; let's have fun. If you don't know someone well on
Council, go out and have coffee with them or go have a drink. Get to know
each other, become friends. I hope we can all work together, frankly, to
compromise, to build consensus and to continue to solve the challenges we
face and, frankly, the problems that will undoubtedly arise this year. My
experience as a Council Member over the last—is it seven years now—seven years is that as I sit here today we don't foresee the issues that are going to
pop up and that arise. There undoubtedly will be those challenges that
come up. There are a lot of really important things I think we need to get
done this year and things we need to lay the groundwork for. First of all,
this will be the third year of making the Comp Plan a Priority, if we make it a
Priority. Clearly, we need to get the Comp Plan done and be done with that.
We also need to focus on fully implementing our infrastructure plan and to
continue focus on ensuring that Palo Alto is fiscally sound. This will require
some discipline with the budget and new sources of revenue. We also need
to continue to focus on relieving congestion, funding the TMA and making it
effective. The other thing I really wanted to focus on was that Measure B
has passed. There's now significant money for transportation that should come to Palo Alto. However, we as the Council, frankly, need to focus on
making sure we get our fair share of that money. They don't necessarily
just hand it over. That's something we need to do. Part of that, frankly, is
we need to start thinking about grade separations. Within Measure B there
was a lot of grade separation money. If we don't make it shovel-ready, we
don't have a plan for the community, we won't get the money; somebody
else will. We need to really focus on doing that. Now is the time for the
community to have realistic discussions, frankly, about how we achieve
grade separations in a way that enhances the community. I think these
could be some difficult conversations, but I think we need to start those
conversations and start having them. Also, likewise with the passage of
Measure A, there should be substantial funding for affordable housing. We
need to focus on ensuring that we move forward with at least one affordable
housing project, and that we address the housing needs of our community.
Finally, the primary job of the Mayor is meeting management. I know all of
you want to have meetings that end by 11:00 but are productive and
focused, yet have a thorough examination of the issues that come before us.
These are contradictory goals; we know that. I think, however, we can do
it, but I'm going to need all of your help. That means suggestions, ways to
streamline the meetings, make it work. Now, at Policy and Services, which
Tom chaired, at the suggestions of the City Manager, the Committee has
recommended that we have a second Council Retreat that focuses on
facilitating these type of governance issues. Again on the one hand, it is
another meeting, probably a Saturday meeting. I believe, along with my
colleagues on P&S, this is a good way to build consensus on how we can
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achieve this. I think it's also a good way to on-board new Council Members
frankly and to have a thorough discussion of governance and any concerns
people have. Finally, with the national election, I do believe we as a City, a
region and a State need to be vigilant in support of our values should the
need arise. Finally, I wanted to recognize my family for attending, my wife
over there and my daughter Emily and my son Jason right there in the thing.
Thank you all for coming and supporting me tonight. Thank you for your support, and I look forward to a great 2017.
2. Election of the 2017 Vice Mayor.
Mayor Scharff: Now, we'll move onto the election of Vice Mayor. Do we
have any nominations for Vice Mayor? Council Member Wolbach.
Council Member Wolbach: I'd like to nominate Council Member Liz Kniss for
Vice Mayor.
NOMINATION: Council Member Wolbach nominated Council Member Kniss
for Vice Mayor for 2017.
Mayor Scharff: Do we have any other nominations for Vice Mayor? Seeing
none, Council Member Wolbach, would you like to speak to your nomination?
Council Member Wolbach: I'd like to, briefly. Council Member Liz Kniss, as
we know, is eminently qualified and experienced. She's a great ambassador for Palo Alto in a number of regional bodies where she represents us and in
all of the Ad Hoc communications that she participates in with neighbors and
with Council Members from neighboring cities to make sure that Palo Alto is
respected, understood and involved in the regional discussions on those
issues that we can't solve on our own. She's also clearly and enthusiastically
supported by the community, as we saw this fall. I think that she brings a
calm, steady and unifying voice rooted in tremendous understanding of Palo
Alto and institutional memory. It would be my pleasure to nominate her for
Vice Mayor.
Mayor Scharff: Would anyone else like to say a few words? Council Member
Fine.
Council Member Fine: Thank you, Mayor.
Mayor Scharff: It has the wrong names up here, so it takes me a moment.
Council Member Fine: No worries. Liz, I would also be happy to support
you. You've served our community for decades, and you make me proud as
a Palo Altan. You could have an entourage of 100 people doing your work,
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but I've always seen you do your own work. That's a real honor to you. I
think you'll anchor us in wisdom and, as Council Member Wolbach said, in
regional connections will help our City solve some of our problems. As you
said yourself in the campaign, experience matters.
Mayor Scharff: Council Member Tanaka.
Council Member Tanaka: I also support Council Member Kniss for Vice
Mayor. I had a chance to campaign with you during the election, and I was thoroughly impressed. You're gracious. You're well-liked by everyone. You
get things done. I can't think of a better choice for Vice Mayor. You have
my support.
Mayor Scharff: I also would like to say a few words. I've known Council
Member Kniss for a while now. She is one of the most effective leaders we
have regionally. In fact, she is going to be Chair of the Air Board. That is a
huge accomplishment. I don't think we can tell you how huge an
accomplishment that is for a Council Member to achieve something like that.
That's because she is the most well-thought-of person regionally. She's
extremely gracious. Everyone likes Liz. In fact, if you noticed, our
Supervisor made a special effort to swear her in today. That's a testament
to how well Liz is liked regionally. That is a huge benefit for Palo Alto. Whenever I need anything done regionally, I always talk to Liz about it. I
tell you, nine times out of ten Liz can pull it off. I think Liz will be a great
Vice Mayor. She has my full support. Seeing no further lights, if we could
vote on the board. Community, do we have any? No, we don't have
anything from the community. If we could vote on the board. That also
passes unanimously. Liz, come talk, yes. Do you want to come sit over
here first?
NOMINATION PASSED: 9-0
Vice Mayor Kniss: I'm okay right here. I'm kind of used to this. First of all,
if I could just ask my family to stand up. I will tell you what my
granddaughter said. "What do you do on Monday nights for five or six
hours?" Would you all stand up so I can recognize you? All of you who are
sitting out here, especially those who supported any of us during this past
campaign, know the time, energy and effort that this takes. You need your
family's support to do this. This is a job that takes far more than five or six
hours on Monday nights, and it takes more than either a Tuesday or
Wednesday and sometimes a Thursday night and many days to do this as
well. We do it cheerfully and, I think, in good humor. Would you agree,
Marc Berman, who's sitting in the front row? Assembly Member Marc
Berman. It makes a difference, having the support of the community. I can
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feel wonderful energy in here tonight. It is just terrific. It's very different,
by the way, than when the energy is divided over some major issue. I think
you've all come tonight to support a new Council, a new Council that has
every intention and will work hard at working consensually, at working
together, at respecting each other. As one of my friends has said in the
past, the ability to disagree in public and go in the back room and be
agreeable with each other, as you step back. It's very important to be able to do that. It's very important to be able to speak of each other kindly in
public as well. I think the public really appreciates that. Let me just
mention two things that Mayor Scharff just brought up. One of them is
regionality. I would urge anyone who's new on the Council and those who
are continuing on to get involved regionally. I've said it many times; we're
not an island. Larry Moody is here from East Palo Alto. I know Kirsten Keith
is here from Menlo Park. We really do the best when we cross our borders
and work together. Act locally, as they say, but do think regionally. It will
make a big difference. I am delighted to be taking on what's called the Bay
Area Air Quality Management District this year. I think that will be very
beneficial and very advantageous for us here as a community. Secondly, I
also want to say what Greg did about Staff. Sitting here in the front is our Staff, counsel, City Manager, Assistant City Manager, head of Utilities.
These are the guys that make us—they run the bus every day. We're not
here to do that. I'd love it if you'd give them a big round of applause. The
wheels on that bus do need to go round and round. We're very appreciative.
Thank you, colleagues, for supporting me. Welcome to the new Council.
We're still a little short of women up here, I've noticed, but we're getting
there. Wonderful of you all to come tonight. We know that you probably
had other things to do on your Tuesday night. We're grateful that you're
here. Thank you all.
At this time Council heard Agenda Item Numbers 3-5 concurrently.
5. Resolution 9654 Entitled, “Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo
Alto of Expressing Appreciation to Marc Berman for his Outstanding
Public Service as Council Member.”
Mayor Scharff: Now, the next order of business is the Resolutions honoring
the outgoing Council Members. I'm going to call Items 3, 4 and 5 at the
same time, but we'll do it individually.
Vice Mayor Kniss: Do you want a general Motion?
Mayor Scharff: Not yet. We'll probably take—let me just take a quick look
at where we are on this. The first thing we'll do is—I was looking for the …
Here we go. The first thing is would Council Members like to speak to the
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Resolutions and comments of the outgoing Council Members? First, we're
going to ask people to read the Resolutions. We will do Council Member
Berman first. I will read Council Member Berman's. First of all Marc, I want
to tell you before I read your Resolution we're really going to miss you up
here. It's been a real pleasure serving with you. I'm really glad that you
realized your dream of going to the Assembly. I know you're going to make
us proud and do a great job there. Mayor Scharff read the Resolution into the record. Now, we'll go to Council Members, if you wish to make any
comments regarding Marc. Council Member Wolbach.
Council Member Wolbach: I just wanted to thank Council Member Berman
or rather Assembly Member Berman for being a friend, a mentor, a
Colleague for the last two years that we've served on Council together. We
didn't always agree. We did frequently, but we didn't always. I appreciated
your candor in private and your courtesy in public through all of those
agreements and disagreements. You've served as a good example and
reminder to myself to remember to bite my tongue once in a while but to
speak my mind when it's important. I appreciate that. I think those are
important lessons for all of us. I know that you'll take those skills to
Sacramento, where you'll continue to serve us well. I know that you'll be a friend to Palo Alto and to the region, helping us address, as we've discussed
tonight, not only our local issues but our regional issues, where we'll send
Liz to tell you that we need some help. Thank you.
Mayor Scharff: Vice Mayor Kniss.
Vice Mayor Kniss: Marc, why don't you come and stand at the mike?
Nobody can see you, and that's important. Working with Marc has been a
real pleasure. Rather than tout all of the things you've done here, I was
going to tell them a little about your background. Former Mayor Shepherd is
here tonight, and she told me once that you had decided in the eighth grade
you were going to run for State office. You started planning then. I think
that's probably true. I know you went through high school; you were
president of your class. You continued in leadership roles. I would
commend you. I remember two years ago when you said, "I'm going to be
running for Assembly, and I'm going to start now." For anyone who wants
to run for public office, I would suggest start early, run hard, engage your
entire family if possible, and hope for a great outcome. You did that. I want
to applaud your tenacity, your perseverance and also indicate that when we
come to Sacramento we expect a great deal of care and attention. Thanks,
Marc.
Marc Berman, State Assembly Member: Thank you, Liz.
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Mayor Scharff: Next, we'll do the—you wanted to speak?
Council Member Tanaka: Assembly Member Berman, we had the privilege of
serving together on the IBRC. I knew back then you were going to go far.
You did amazing work on IBRC. I know you're going to do amazing work in
Sacramento. Thank you so much for stepping up to the plate and serving
us. I really appreciate it.
Mayor Scharff: Anyone else? No.
3. Resolution 9655 Entitled, “Resolution of the City Council of the City of
Palo Alto Expressing Appreciation to Patrick Burt for his Outstanding
Public Service as Council Member and Mayor.”
Mayor Scharff: Now, we'll do the Resolution for Patrick Burt, our Former
Mayor. Karen, would you like to read that?
Council Member Holman: It would be my honor to do so. Thank you. She
read the Resolution into the record. I'd like to make just a few comments, if
I could, just a few personal comments.
Mayor Scharff: Go right ahead.
Council Member Holman: Today happens to be my birthday, and I'm going
to put something. Somebody left me a little present today at my doorstep.
Many people know what this is about. This is a little donkey. I've known Pat for some 20 years, 20-plus years probably. We go back to the University
South neighborhood association. We worked together on both SOFA I and
SOFA II. We were colleagues and allies often on the Planning and
Transportation Commission. We've been allies often and colleagues on the
City Council. Much of that time, we've also been friends. I really appreciate
that relationship. I'm sure it will be an ongoing relationship. I also more
recently for the representatives from Barron Park neighborhood and for the
City more broadly appreciate both Pat's and Sally Bemus' support and
participation in helping to bring Perry back to Palo Alto. I did note that it
also made one of the more uplifting comments in the Palo Alto Weekly for
the yearend comments. Pat, hee haw.
Mayor Scharff: Council Member DuBois.
Council Member Dubois: I just briefly want to say Pat's really been a
resource for me, somewhat of a mentor. You've been really generous with
your time and your ideas. I just wanted to thank you for that. Don't be a
stranger. I hope it's a friendship we can maintain. Thank you for your
many, many years of community service.
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Mayor Scharff: Vice Mayor Kniss.
Vice Mayor Kniss: Pat, I'm trying to see where you are. Why don't you
stand up too? I just hate to talk about somebody who's sitting down. I
have thoroughly enjoyed working with … I've really enjoyed working with
Pat. Especially I enjoy our other conversations which have revolved around
what he does for a living, what I've done in the past as well. I think one of
the things that we have become is friends. I really appreciate that. I too have a token for Pat because he's an adamant bike-rider, absolutely
adamant. Most of you know I'm an adamant non-bike-rider. I recently got
this at one of the public health meetings. You all remember I have a
background in public health. I should ride a bike, but I promise you I do get
exercise. I have this for you, if you'd come on up. This goes on your bike.
It not only flashes, it also does flash-flash. It does a solid one. You can
even turn it off.
Patrick Burt: Thanks, Liz.
Vice Mayor Kniss: Thanks, Pat, for all your service by the way. It's been
enormous. Pat has done the regional outreach, I think, as much as any of
us have. I really appreciate that. It makes a difference. I know Larry
Moody would say that, especially when we talk about the creeks, where we have finally gotten to a point that our creeks will be protected and our
nearby communities will really benefit from that. Thanks.
Mayor Scharff: Council Member Wolbach.
Council Member Wolbach: I just wanted to say thank you. There's not a ton
I can add beyond what's already been said. As with Council Member Berman
and maybe even more so, I appreciate that you've been a great mentor to a
lot of us, especially those of us in the freshman class, what was the
freshman for the last two years of the Council. I know that over the last
couple of years you and I have passionately agreed where we did and
passionately disagreed where we didn't, but I know that it was always about
the policy, never personal, and always because we cared a lot about the
future of Palo Alto, like everybody here. I'll also take this opportunity to say
welcome to the new members. I know that you're all here for the same
reason, which is we love Palo Alto and we want to make it even better over
the next few years. Thanks, Pat, for setting that example.
Mayor Scharff: Council Member Kou.
Council Member Kou: I too want to thank Council Member and Mayor Burt,
especially when I started the emergency preparedness program and helping
me further Quakeville. I don't know how many of you remember that, but it
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was camping in the parks in case of emergencies. You really helped me get
that off and take emergency preparedness in the City to the next level. I
really appreciate that. Along the way also all your guidance through all the
different issues, thank you so much.
Mayor Scharff: Pat, I just wanted to say that I've enjoyed serving as your
Vice Mayor. I really appreciate all that you've done for Palo Alto. I've got to
say you're one of the smartest people I've ever known, and you do a really good job on the policy stuff. The work on the creek stuff, I think, is
exemplary. We really owe you a lot on the creek stuff. Thank you for your
service.
4. Resolution 9656 Entitled, “Resolution of the City Council of the City of
Palo Alto Expressing Appreciation to Greg Schmid for his Outstanding
Public Service as Council Member.”
Mayor Scharff: Council Member Schmid. Council Member DuBois, would
you like to read …
Council Member DuBois: I'd like to say a few words. I'm actually not going
to read all the "whereas" and "wherefore." Greg, there is a bunch of official
language here coming your way. Greg's been on the Council since 2008.
Before that, he served on the School Board for four years. You've served our community for a long time, and you've served us very well. While he
was on Council, he chaired the Finance Committee. I think you were on the
Finance Committee five times, Policy and Services a couple of years. You
were on most of our City Committees. Regionally, you served on ABAG and
the Santa Clara Water District. I think we're losing our only Ph.D. on Council
tonight. Greg has consistently brought a unique viewpoint. He digs into the
data, and he really looks for cause and effect. You've used data to make
informed decisions and really shed new light on issues, going beyond the
surface level. I personally have appreciated those insights, and I'm going to
miss those contributions. Greg has consistently been a voice for quality of
life issues and residents on Council. I don't know how many times I've
heard "the parties involved should pay their fair share," but that's a refrain
that's good to hear. Greg's been a consistent supporter of sustainability
issues and environmental issues throughout his tenure. Greg, I and the rest
of the Council want to commend you for your public service and give you
thanks and appreciation for being such a strong contributing member of our
community. Thanks.
Mayor Scharff: Council Member Wolbach.
Council Member Wolbach: A couple of things that I wanted to add. One is
that, although, it's easy for us to pigeon-hole each other and easy for us to
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know or to think we know what's going on with somebody else's head, I was
never really sure going into a meeting, not because Greg was indecisive but
because he kept his own counsel. He would listen to people, but he would
have an open mind, and he would come to what he felt was the right
decision every single time. That meant that we'd have to work to get your
vote. If I wanted you as the fifth vote on something that was narrow, I'd
have to work really hard. I'd have to make the case. I'd have to use logic. I couldn't just say "pretty please." I appreciate that. I think that's
important because as much as politics and governance is about people, it's
really about setting good policies for the future of Palo Alto. Since I'm not
going to be able to pick your brain up here on the dais or in the back room
anymore—for those of you who don't know, Greg lives right around the
corner from me—please don't be surprised if I come knocking on your door
to pick your brain in the future.
Mayor Scharff: Vice Mayor Kniss.
Vice Mayor Kniss: Greg, I'm going to ask you to do what others have done,
stand up when we talk about you. It's much more fun. First of all, thank
you. Greg comes to us with a background in economics and has utilized that
very effectively during his time on the Council. It makes a big difference when somebody brings a particular discipline to that which they are going to
do on the Council. Greg, yours is decidedly a very intense background in
economics, which I've appreciated. One more thing that I wanted to
mention because you and I are part of a very select group of people, the
group that first served this community on the School Board before you came
and ran for the Council. You and I have discussed that before. I think there
are probably only four or five people in this community that have actually
done that. You've done your service. You've done it at the School Board
level, and you've done it at the City Council level. We owe you a great debt
of gratitude and a great big thank you. Appreciate that.
Mayor Scharff: Council Member Holman.
Council Member Holman: It's been my privilege to serve with Council
Member Schmid. It was my honor to have Council Member Schmid be the
Vice Mayor when I had the privilege of being Mayor. I think Council Member
Wolbach said it very well. You have a voracious appetite for information.
Oftentimes, it comes in the form of data, but just a voracious appetite for
information. Sometimes I would ask you, "How did you know that? Where
did you learn that?" "I was reading …" It'd be some obscure document
somewhere or other. Greg reads all of this and retains so much of it and
has, I have to say, an enviable filing system too. He will pull out documents
to bring to a meeting for something that we discussed three years ago. It's
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enviable, and I hope you'll give us a tour sometime of how you do your
filing. It has kept us all onboard and on track. You've always had at the
forefront service of the community and balancing the interests of residents
as well and with those of corporate interests and business interests. I think
the community well recognizes that and respects that. I think that's part of
what the recognition you heard in terms of the applause. Take that in.
Thank you very much. It's been my honor to serve with you.
Mayor Scharff: Council Member Filseth.
Council Member Filseth: Greg, thank you for doing this all these years. I
can say it's been an absolute pleasure trying to keep up with you on things.
I learned a lot from you. Thank you for that. Thank you for encouraging me
to do this. Best wishes. Thanks.
Mayor Scharff: Greg, I also wanted to say I really enjoyed serving with you.
I think back to when I was first elected to Council, and we served on Finance
together. It was so helpful having you go through the books and tell me
exactly where the bodies were buried and where we should look for stuff. I
know, right. You really were encyclopedic knowledge of that kind of stuff. It
was a great resource for me. I've really enjoyed serving with you. The
other thing I wanted to say about Greg is he's a genuinely nice guy. I always enjoy having coffee with Greg. I always enjoy having lunch with
Greg. We're going to miss you on the Council. Now, we go to the public. I
don't see any other lights. Everyone's spoken. We have a number of public
speakers. You'll each get three minutes. The first one is Joe Simitian. If
you'd like to come up, you're speaking to Items three through five.
Joe Simitian, County Supervisor: How fitting that I should be limited to
three minutes, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Scharff: Especially after that Committee we served on.
Mr. Simitian: Let me just say congratulations to both you and Supervisor,
now Vice Mayor Kniss. Congratulations on your new roles. Congratulations
to all of you who have been elected and reelected this last go-around.
Thanks to all of you who continue to serve on the Council. I am here tonight
really to say thanks to the three outgoing members of the Council, who
you've just recognized. At the risk of being misunderstood, I want to tell
you that you really don't want to have nine Pat Burt’s on the City Council or
nine Greg Schmid’s or nine Marc Berman’s, but you want all three of them
on a nine-member Council, because each one of them brings their own,
unique set of skills and experiences and views and values that make the
nine-member Council, soon to be seven, a better Council by virtue of their
unique attributes. It is no exaggeration to say these are not three peas in a
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pod. You all have worked with them. The community has elected them and
reelected them. You know how different each one of them is. We are really
here just to say thank you for their service. I would have said thank you
and farewell, except no farewell is necessary or appropriate for any one of
these three. I feel quite certain that we will see and hear plenty from all of
them. We know that Assembly Member Berman has a defined role in a new
venue. I'm looking forward to seeing what role Former Mayor Burt and Council Member Schmid take on. It is not just because, as some of you
have suggested, that as Council Members they fought for the things they
believed in and they fought for the things they thought were in the best
interest of this community, but also as I've worked with and watched them
over the years, it is because they listened, they learned and they understood
by virtue of the way they approached their job. Palo Alto is a demonstrably
better community by virtue of that effort. I want to say thank you on behalf
of 1,918,044 residents of Santa Clara County this evening. Thank you, all
three gentlemen.
Mayor Scharff: Annette Glanckopf …
Mr. Simitian: Ceremonial hardware to follow, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Scharff: All right. Annette Glanckopf to be followed by Olenka Villarreal.
Annette Glanckopf: What an honor to follow Joe. First of all,
congratulations to all the new Council Members. Welcome and lots of luck.
Tonight, I'm really speaking to thank Pat Burt. Pat, I don't want you to
stand behind me, so maybe you could just come up here. I'd like to formally
thank you for all the years of your service, starting with University South
president onto Planning Commission, City Council and in your present role as
Mayor. Thanks for everything you've done for so long to make Palo Alto
such a special place for all of us to live in. Of course, I wanted to call out a
couple of things that involved me personally, of course. Emergency
preparedness, thank you for all of your support in making the Palo Alto
volunteer program for handling disasters and emergencies and the best
practices go-to model. I want to highlight all your work in the early strategy
meetings on the feasibility implementation with our City Staff, Judy
Kleinberg, who's here, Ken Dueker and many, many others. Your support in
2004 was key to making emergency prep a City Council Priority and to
maintaining it for a Priority for four years. That made all the difference. You
were a strong advocate for the first phases of our block preparedness
coordinator program and funding for it. You've been a champion ever since,
participating in events and in our annual award ceremonies. Thank you for
honoring your commitment on the time when you could have met President
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Obama, but you chose to be with us. I know you got the opportunity later
to make up for it. Second, you were instrumental with Leadership Palo Alto.
You were part of the effort in the 2008-2009 frame to bring back Leadership
Palo Alto to our community after its demise. Your participation, advice and
support made the new and the revised dynamic Leadership 2.0 program a
reality. Your presentation on how things work in Palo Alto, the Palo Alto
process, is always a highlight for the new members of the class, our fellows. Neighborhood associations. With your background, who else could
appreciate the value of a neighborhood association, that these are the key
ingredients for building community. Thanks for all your support over the
years, for listening and support for many of the Palo Alto neighborhoods'
ideas and requests. Finally, for all these efforts and more, I thank you. It's
difficult for me to imagine a Council without you, with your amazing depth of
knowledge, eloquence and visionary ideas. I know boards and commissions
all over the State and the County are going to be knocking at your door,
offering you more opportunities. We all look forward to seeing what the
bright future will bring you. Thanks again. We'll miss you.
Mr. Burt: Thanks. That's very nice.
Mayor Scharff: Olenka Villarreal to be followed by Martin Sommer.
Female: Olenka had to leave.
Mayor Scharff: Olenka had to leave. Martin Sommer to be followed by
Nadia Naik.
Martin Sommer: Good evening. I have a little bit for everybody here.
Karen, first I want to say happy birthday. Nothing personal, but from one
Missourian to another, when you held up the little statue I thought for sure it
was our State motto, which is the Missouri mule. No offense of course and
with all due respect. For the new electees, there's a saying that if it rains on
your wedding, you will become rich. Hopefully that's a good start for you.
Let me just turn here. Pat Burt—I should say Mayor Pat Burt—thank you
very much for all your work on—see, I even choked up over it. Thank you
for all your work on the rail projects. I encourage you to keep involved. I
didn't know you had other offers out there, but I encourage you to keep
involved. You don't have to be an elected official to make a real difference.
Thank you. Honestly, I like our at-grade solution. I look forward to an
electrified Caltrain and High Speed Rail coming through. We'll see how that
goes. Next is Greg Schmid. From what I understand, my wife is from
Hamburg, and your relatives are maybe Hamburg as well. I learned this on
July 4th this year. There's a little bit of a story here; it won't take long. I
too love to ride. I was out doing a mountain bike ride in the Arastradero
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Preserve and was going pretty fast and took a jump a little higher and longer
than what I normally do and stuff. It turns out I crashed. As I'm lying on
the ground with three broken bones, Greg Schmid and his lovely wife come
up. They stand me back up again and help me get back to my truck. I
didn't even realize it was them when they had their sun hats on and stuff
until we started talking. When I reflected back on that, I just want to say
that watching Greg over the years, it's truly a reflection of his personal touch on the City and the caring that he put into the years that he was here.
Thank you. Marc, I didn't have a chance to work with you, but I hope to in
the future at some point. Congratulations on your new seat. There you go.
Nadia Naik: Hi. First of all, congratulations to Mayor Scharff and to Vice
Mayor Kniss. Welcome to the newbies. I'm sure we'll be seeing you a lot. I
wanted to say on behalf of CARRD for those of you who don't know what
CARRD is, you'll soon learn on the Council. We just wanted to say thanks to
everybody. Thanks to Greg Schmid for all of your work. When we started
as fellow data junkies, we appreciated how you dove into those crazy
spreadsheets the way that we did. We thank you for that. With Council
Member Berman, our paths didn't cross as often. Now that you will be in
Sacramento, they probably will more often. Welcome to the challenge. Of course Pat, I feel awkward also talking to you backwards, but I guess we'll
do this all night. What can we say? You more than anybody, I think, helped
us become the active citizens that we became and the reason why the rest
of the Council now knows who we are. Thank you for that. You have been
helpful in doing citizens advisory and the Rail Committee and so many
things, long-range planning. Your regional leadership, the meetings that
you helped us set up, working from San Francisco all the way down to San
Jose, really not about just keeping it local but thinking really broadly have
really impacted everyone. You have just worked tirelessly to help citizen
activists like me, accidental activists basically, get pulled into the thread and
not be able to back away from things. We thank you profoundly for that.
We're excited your tireless work has now got us the money from Measure B
so we can continue to have grade sep conversations in the community,
which we certainly are looking forward to doing. All I can say—this is mostly
on behalf of Elizabeth—you don't just talk the talk, you bike the bike. We
thank you for that. Thanks from all of us. We'll miss you.
Mayor Scharff: Arthur Keller to be followed by Lisa Chung.
Arthur Keller: Thank you. First, congratulations to Mayor Scharff on your
election as Mayor and to Vice Mayor Liz Kniss on your selection as Vice
Mayor and also on your reelection. I am interested in your comment about
the wheels on the bus turning round and round because we're about to lose
the 88 bus, which I'm sure that Penny Ellson will talk more about. We need
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your support in making sure that we keep our bus service. Congratulations
to Lydia Kou, Adrian Fine and Greg Tanaka on your election to the Council. I
remember that no one campaigned on tall buildings over 50 feet and no one
campaigned for more office space, so I expect that's where we'll be, not
more (inaudible) space, not tall buildings. Congratulations to Marc Berman
on your election to the Assembly. Thanks to Pat Burt for all your service. I
served with you on the Planning Commission some years ago. I recall that one of the early things you did in your service to the City was work on the
SOFA plan. I'd like to see a plan for the Fry's site that is as high quality as
the SOFA plan. I think we need to get started on that now because,
otherwise, Fry's is going to go away. We don't want the developer telling us
what should be built there. We want the community to decide what should
be built there. Thanks to Greg Schmid for your service starting with the
School Board. I'll point out one thing that Greg did when joining the School
Board. He was talking about school capacity. At that time, our enrollment
was going down and down. They were about to close down to one high
school and one middle school. He said, "No. It's turning around. We're
getting more enrollment." That was very prescient. We've seen the
enrollment go up and up and up. We've seen it continue to go up. It's now settling back because we haven't built as much housing in the last few
years. If we go back to grow big on housing, we'll see the school capacity
once again be an issue. That's why I think the Comp Plan should have a
policy in there to require that we consider school capacity with our policies
and our regulations. We can't do it with individual projects, but we can do it
for policies and for our laws. I think those are the things we should think
about in the future. Thank you to Greg. Thank you to Pat. Thank you to
Marc. I look forward to a very collegial process in the next two years. Good
luck to all of us for what happened in the national election. May 2017 not be
as bad as we fear.
Lisa Chung: Hi. I'm Lisa Chung, Senator Jerry Hill's liaison to the City of
Palo Alto. Congratulations Mayor Scharff on your selection and Vice Mayor
Kniss. Congratulations to Council Members Fine, Tanaka and Kou. It's great
to see a new era now in 2017. I too brought hardware. It's a little
embarrassing because I only brought two out of three pieces of hardware.
That's because you could probably make your own resolution that I brought,
Assembly Member Berman. The District Office where Senator Hill has his
office is right next door to Assembly Member Mullin's office. Recently, one of
our comrades in arms in Mullin's office just recently joined your Staff. We
are sorry to see him go, but it's good to see a Palo Altan return down to the
south part of the district. First, I would like to pull out for Mayor Burt, just
past Mayor Burt, a Resolution. If you'd like to come up, I'd like to present it.
It has all the "whereas" that, I think, probably are maybe as fulsome as the
one from the City of Palo Alto, perhaps not, since your record is much more
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complete than the ones that we had. I want to thank you for your
leadership and your service. I also want to say probably the thing that came
out in a lot of this besides working with you on San Francisquito Creek and
the Caltrain work that we've done statewide is you've certainly put your
stamp on this City in making it a leader sustainability-wise and
environmentally-wise. That should be duly noted and recognized.
Congratulations. For former Council Member Schmid, as was noted, he is probably the only Ph.D., and we have noted the Honorable Greg Schmid
Ph.D. on our Resolution. Again, our Resolution may not be as fulsome as
the City of Palo Alto's. I want to say that one of the things that did come
out, that your stamp on the City has been both tangible, such as the
addition to Foothills Park, and also the less tangible, which is your ability to
use data to inform and drive decisions of the City. That is not as much
appreciated but should be very much recognized. We thank you for your
service. Happy new year to all.
Mayor Scharff: Thank you. Sandra Slater to be followed by Penny Ellson.
Sandra Slater: First of all, congratulations to the new Council and to Mr.
Mayor and Ms. Vice Mayor. I just tonight wanted to take this opportunity to
express my deep appreciation for the outgoing members of the Council tonight. We're watching the kernel of democracy, the peaceful turnover of
power with the knowledge that everyone here this evening has made the
commitment to make our City even better. The call to public service is done
out of the desire to serve the public interest and to serve the larger
community. It's with really tremendous gratitude that I offer my remarks
this evening. The City Council reflects our values, concerns and
opportunities. I'd like to implore every resident of Palo Alto to come down to
Council on Monday nights and see the hard work, dedication and thoughtful
deliberations this fine group of citizens, who are sacrificing their Monday
nights and sometimes Tuesday mornings, not to mention the various
Committee and task force meetings, liaison responsibilities and so much
more, to make our fantastic City even better. We all know that you didn't
make that sacrifice for the money but for a profound sense of duty and
responsibility to oversee the enormously complex task of running a City and
wanting to make a difference in our collective lives. Thank you also to the
Staff who just does an astounding, wonderful job on every level. Every
interaction I've had with Staff has been just really, really terrific. A special
thanks to our Mayor Burt, who has been a champion of sustainability and
environmental causes for as long as I can remember, from bike and ped
infrastructure to our S/CAP to shepherding our Utility to carbon neutrality
and of course the Cool City Challenge. He's been leading the charge, and we
and the planet are grateful for tireless commitment to a green Palo Alto. We
lose a great environmental leader tonight at Council and sincerely hope that
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you continue as a private citizen to further our cause for a sustainable Palo
Alto and beyond. Thank you so much, Pat. To Marc Berman, who has put in
the hard work to ensure that our quality of life remains second to none.
Marc understands the importance of measured and thoughtful growth and
has served our City with distinction, enormous dedication, courtesy and
consideration. His work on the Infrastructure Committee and his interest in
youth has left a wonderful legacy. He's off to bigger, or at least different pastures. I know he'll keep up the great work he started as a champion of
environmental issues and affordable housing and better transit here in Palo
Alto and also his dedication to education, smart growth and social equity.
Thank you so much, Marc. To Greg Schmid, whose quiet counsel is always
thoughtful and deliberate. Thanks to Greg for your support for the S/CAP
and for the green gas initiative recently. Your direction on the Finance
Committee was so helpful to reframe the initiative. I know we'll be seeing
you around these Chambers for years to come and always welcome your
perspective and judgment. I leave you tonight quickly with an inspired
quote from former President Clinton. Citizen service is the very American
idea that we meet our challenges not as isolated individuals but as members
of a true community with all of us working together. Our mission is nothing less than to spark a renewed sense of obligation, a new sense of duty and a
new season of service. Thank you.
Penny Ellson: Good evening. I'm Penny Ellson. I'd like to take a minute to
say thank you first to our incoming City Council Members. Thank you for
your new commitment of service to our City. I invite you to come and talk
to the Safe Routes to School representatives about the work that we're
doing for the children in our community. To our outgoing Council Members,
Mayor Burt, Council Members Schmid and Berman, thank you for accepting
this responsibility and for working so hard to do your best to hear us and to
represent us. I know I'm not the only person here who feels grateful for the
generous gift of your time and energy and talent, but I truly thank you for
that. All of you have given your support to Safe Routes to School over many
years, enabling our great success, increasing students to choose active,
sustainable school commutes more often. On behalf of the Palo Alto Council
of PTAs, I thank you for that. I'm actually emotional about this. I'm sorry
to see you go. Finally, I want to give special thanks also to Mayor Burt, who
stands out as a very, very long-term, stalwart champion for Safe Routes to
School. Even before Safe Routes to School was officially established in
2006, you recognized and embraced the importance of safe school
commutes. You took time to learn about and understand the developmental
and physical differences of children that make this program necessary. You
rode your bike with us at events. You helped our community establish what
is today one of the nation's most successful Safe Routes to School programs.
We know that we couldn't have done it without your leadership, all of your
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leadership and support during your service on the Planning Commission and
City Council. The results of that support is thousands of new students in
Palo Alto walking, bicycling, riding the bus and carpooling to school more
often. We've grown the ranks of alternative commuters by an order of
magnitude. As a volunteer for this program, my heart leaps when I see
fleets of young people on bicycles flowing into our secondary school
campuses. We thank you, we thank all of you for making that possible.
Mayor Scharff: Debra Cen to be followed by Ruben Abrica.
Debra Cen: First, I would like to congratulate the new Council and the new
Mayor, Greg Scharff, and Vice Mayor Liz Kniss. Especially I would like to
congratulate Lydia Kou and Liz. Now with two of you plus Karen we've got
three women serving on the Council. Congratulations. Also, I would like to
congratulate Greg Tanaka and Lydia Kou for becoming the two Chinese
Americans serving on the Council. Congratulations. Next, I would like to
speak on behalf of Chinese community. I would like to thank Mayor Burt for
his outreach to the Chinese community. Mayor Burt was very approachable
and very personable. The first time I met—maybe I should explain a little
bit. My name's Debra Cen and I'm a cofounder of Palo Alto Chinese Parent
Club three years ago. Our goal is to engage Chinese community, which is a growing community—everybody knows the Chinese immigrant community—
to engage with the community and to become a bigger contributor to the
City. When I explained to Mayor Burt two years ago during, I think, Lydia's
campaign, I met Mayor Burt and explained to him. He's in full support. He
come for me and say, "I took Chinese class in my high school." He speaks
on Chinese to me. He said, "I have a Chinese friend." That made me feel
instantly very comfortable with him. Early last year, 2016, the Chinese
community also work with the City as a cosponsor, put on the inaugural
Chinese New Year fair. It was an enormous success. We have 1,200 people
attend the fair. We invite Mayor Burt to come and to give us speech. Just
last year. We really appreciate that. This year, we put all the flyer on your
desk and hope all of you will come. New Mayor will speak in the fair. Thank
you very much.
Ruben Abrica, City of East Palo Alto: Good evening, everyone. My name is
Ruben Abrica. I'm Vice Mayor of the City of East Palo Alto. I want to
definitely congratulate all the new Council Members, the new officers and
also the outgoing members of the Council and new Assembly Member from
Palo Alto but from our area too. I represent the City of East Palo Alto on the
Joint Powers Authority for the San Francisquito Creek, and I have done that
for quite a few number of years. I think I may be one of the oldest serving
members at this point. I have a little bit of the history on it. I live by the
creek. I want to say a few words in particular to Honorable Pat Burt for your
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work. I know that everyone does great service. Because I did have the
honor of working with him the last few years, I want to say that working on
regional issues is absolutely necessary. It's also never easy. It's not an
easy thing. The last couple of years in particular I think we've made some
milestones on the San Francisquito Creek. I want to say that Pat Burt has
been a very outstanding member, has made many contributions at key
points. I think all of us bring our experience and our ideas. We did have a couple of very rough years with State agencies, one in particular. I want to
forget the name of it, a very important agency. We had to deal with flood
management, with environmental issues, with recreational issues, with many
different things. I very much appreciated Pat Burt's studious efforts, always
being very well prepared, doing his homework, asking tough questions.
Among ourselves, we have at times disagreed, and that's part of the
process. In the end, we worked as a team. I'm very happy that, before he
stepped down, Pat Burt was able to be there. We were there at the
groundbreaking, so that work is now finally taking place. We look forward to
the continuing work. Definitely from the bottom of my heart, because I've
been at it for a long time, I really appreciate the work that Pat Burt did as
well as others. A great Colleague. I know Council Member Romero's around here. He served also as the alternate. I know he feels the same way.
Definitely congratulations to Palo Alto for being a good neighbor. Thank
you. That's it.
Mayor Scharff: One more. Come on up.
Carlos Romero, City of East Palo Alto: Greg, I'm sorry.
Mayor Scharff: No, no worries. Come on up.
Mr. Romero: (Inaudible).
Mayor Scharff: It's perfectly fine. Carlos Romero from East Palo Alto.
Mr. Romero: There was one final Item that, I think, the Vice Mayor forgot to
mention. By the way, congratulations to the new Vice Mayor, the Mayor and
those of you who are newly elected. In terms of Pat Burt, Pat had, whether
it was the soul, the foresight, the integrity to reach out to East Palo Alto
some time ago and ask us how we could work together to potentially solve a
very critical water issue we have in East Palo Alto. Granted you have a
Colleagues' Memo that is making its way now through your process, but we
would not have gotten there had it not been for Pat unilaterally. There
hasn't been a city on the Peninsula that's done this, reaching out to us and
saying, "Look, this just isn't fair. Historically East Palo Alto has gotten the
short end of the stick. Is there some way that we can look at resources and
try indeed to fix that issue that is presently vexing us in East Palo Alto?"
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Again, had it not been for Pat—Pat, I won't give you a hug and I won't shake
your hand because I have a cold—certainly [foreign language], as we would
say in Spanish, to him for again this deep soul sense of equity and justice
that, I think, he brought forward in that discussion with us. Thank you very
much, Pat.
Mayor Scharff: Before we conclude public comment, I wanted to call
Supervisor Simitian and just say did you have something from the County you wanted to present tonight. Did you say that? If you want to do it now,
that'd be great.
Mr. Simitian: It can wait.
Mayor Scharff: You don't want to do it now. In that case, we'll move on.
We have some—let's see. I think the next thing is we actually vote on all
three Resolutions. If I could have a Motion to approve.
Vice Mayor Kniss: I so move.
Council Member DuBois: Second.
MOTION: Vice Mayor Kniss moved, seconded by Council Member DuBois to
adopt three Resolutions expressing appreciation for outstanding public
service to Patrick Burt as Council Member and Mayor, Greg Schmid as
Council Member, and Marc Berman as Council Member.
Mayor Scharff: It's moved and seconded. Please vote on the board. That
passes unanimously.
MOTION PASSED: 9-0
Mayor Scharff: Before we do Oral Communications, we now need to present
the plaques. The first one is to Mayor Burt. Thank you for your service.
(Inaudible).
Patrick Burt: Given that I stand between us and the refreshments, I'll try
and make it short. It really has been a privilege to serve this community for
nine years on the Planning Commission and nine years on the Council and
time before that and neighborhood leadership. I wouldn't have done it if it
wasn't such a wonderful community to live in, to raise our children and to be
part of. We certainly always have our great challenges going forward. They
continue to evolve. Yesterday's challenges are not the same as tomorrows.
I do really commend our community and the Council for what we're now
engaged in, in our Comprehensive Plan, in our Sustainability and Climate
Action Plans that are building on the work of prior Councils and the
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community beforehand to make this a community that will continue to pass
on what we value to our future generations. That's the real challenge. This
Council is facing a lot of difficult pressures from the regional and local
growth and changes. We must look at how we can both adapt and evolve
and embrace the qualities that we so value. I look forward to continuing to
participate as a private citizen and working with all of you and wish you all
the best, working on our collective challenges.
Mayor Scharff: Council Member Schmid.
Greg Schmid: I've thought a lot about this night, after nine years, of leaving
the Council. I'd like to follow up the statements that have been made by my
colleagues, to thank my colleagues on the Council for working together, to
thank the Staff for providing a wealth of information on every issue we've
talked about and for the support they've earned in the community by
carrying out good government. I would like to just say a word about what I
think is key about this night and about local government. Local government
is special. I remember 35 years ago I had four kids in elementary school.
They had closed down ten elementary schools, two middle schools, two high
schools. We were meeting with parents and saying, "What's going to
happen to our schools?" Funding of schools, selling off school property. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Why don't you go to the
School Board and tell them what you think? They're the ones who make
decisions." I remember thinking, "Go to the School Board? Why not?" I
remember that first night. I walked in there and looked up the rules, three
minutes, certain part of the Agenda. They were very busy. Who am I to
come here? I remember nervously getting up and saying in my three
minutes what I could. The Board Chair, when I finished, smiled, looked at
me, "Thanks so much for your input." I remember that feeling I had leaving
the meeting, saying "Even if they don't do what I say, the chance to get up
and express that made me feel that it was worth it." I remember doing the
same thing at the Council 10, 12 years ago about traffic, growth, quality of
life, speaking for three minutes, sometimes speaking for two minutes, going
to ARB meetings early in the morning, signing petitions, advocating. I
remember sitting there at night, frustrated at 11:00, the vote goes against
what you said, leaning over to the one other person in the room, saying "I
think you have to be on the Council to really have an impact." I got a
quizzical look for that. Another time at 11:00 when the vote came, one of
the Council Members said, "I'm going to change my vote because of
something that people said tonight." I finally with friends and neighbors ran
for Council and got on the Council. I remember it was a night like tonight. I
started out there, took the oath, walked up to the dais. I said, "How am I
going to retain that feeling I had, of people coming to speak to you, that it's
important and vital, key to them?" I got an Agenda. I remember reading
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somewhere that if you write something, you retain it longer than if you just
listen or you later hear it. I got an Agenda for each meeting I went to, and I
wrote down the name of every speaker who came. I wrote five to ten words
about what they had said, what was different or unique of their thing. Did I
agree with them all? No. I voted for some, against some. I had to in my
own mind say, if I voted against someone, "Did I have a good reason for
doing it?" I went through my sheets the other day, figured out there was about 1,000 people who come to speak each year. That means almost
9,000 people in the time I've been here. That is the basic deal of local
government. We agree to make decisions in public. We have the same
information the public has. We will listen to anyone who comes and has
something to say about that. From my own experience, I know it's
important to them. They feel it; they know it; they experience it. That
basic deal of local government has been my pleasure to participate in over
the last nine years. I thank my colleagues, and I thank the people of Palo
Alto for allowing me to do that.
Mayor Scharff: Assembly Member Berman.
Marc Berman, State Assembly Member: Thank you, Mayor. First, I want to
thank Staff. You've been rightfully thanked many times tonight, but thank you for all the hard work you do, the constant politeness with which you
treat everybody, both Council Members and the public. A lot of folks don't
realize how available you guys are, both to members of the public, a small
subset of the public that emails you directly, sees when you reply at 11:00
at night on a Tuesday or 2:00 p.m. on a Sunday. You guys work tirelessly
to improve our community and make Palo Alto the amazing place it is to live.
Thank you for that. I want to congratulate the new Council Members that
just got elected. Thank Council Member Kou for the organizational chart.
For those who couldn't see, Palo Alto residents are first and Council is
second. Let me just say, at least for tonight, in this Chamber it's nice to be
the boss again. I know that'll change as soon as I step outside. I have a
couple of things I've wanted to tell all of you. No. To the new Council
Members especially, the opportunity to serve your community is really
amazing. For me and I know for a couple of Council Members, it's especially
moving because we grew up here. You get to go back to the elementary
school or the middle school or the high school that you went to and talk to
students and try to be a role model. I'm really proud of a lot of the
accomplishments that we had, some that I'll be able to look at for decades.
It's been noted a couple of times that I served on the Infrastructure Blue
Ribbon Commission. I know there are a couple of IBRC Commissioners here
also tonight or they were; they might have gone home already. We're going
to build a new Public Safety Building in Palo Alto, which is something that
had been talked about for decades and is now finally being accomplished.
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We're going to build two new fire stations in Palo Alto, that were originally
built in 1959 and 1963. Those are things that I'll be able to drive around
town and look at for decades to come. For all those decades, it's the
memories of much smaller interactions that I had with folks, that I'll hold
closest to my heart. It was people who reached out to me because they
were running a preschool, and they were having trouble getting through the
Palo Alto process to be able to increase the preschool spots, the desperately needed preschool spots that we needed here in Palo Alto. They called, and I
was able to work with them and Staff to find a creative solution to the hurdle
that existed in front of them. It's the parents that have begun reaching out
to me. Adrian or Cory, you guys might have to take this on. When the sand
in the playgrounds got too low for their kids, they were worried about the
safety of their kids, that they might fall and hit the side or hit the concrete.
It was working with people to improve traffic intersections so that students
had a safe way to cross the street to get to where they wanted to go to. It's
kind of personal ways that we get to help members in our community, that I
am going to hold most dear from my time on the City Council. That's right.
I knew I had something I wanted to say to close it up. I was rushing out of
the house this afternoon and grabbed my wallet and grabbed my keys. Next to that is a tray that has all the pins that we collect as we serve on the Palo
Alto City Council. I saw this one that I'm wearing today, which is For the
Love of Palo Alto. I think that best sums up both the work that you all will
put forth to improve the community. It sums up the reason that the
Chambers was packed tonight with people who care and love Palo Alto. Only
Council Member Schmid could actually have a tally of how many people
come and talk at Council meetings. Why 9,000 people have come to talk at
Council meetings during your nine years on Council, it's because we all love
Palo Alto. We might come at it from different viewpoints, and we might
have different ideas of what that should look like, but we all come to this
Chamber with the same motivation, which is to improve the community that
we live in. It's a really amazing thing. It was an honor to be able to spend
four years on Council. I just wanted to thank the community for that
opportunity. Thanks.
Mayor Scharff: We're almost getting to the end. I wanted to tell them we
actually have some more awards and plaques to give out. This is the
symbolic key to the City. We're going to give those to our three retiring
Council Members. For Mayor Burt, he gets a gavel which he used once, I
gather, as Mayor. I'm just going to come down and call you up. We can do
a photo.
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Oral Communications
Vice Mayor Scharff: Now, we have two public speakers: Jennifer
Landesmann to be followed by Karen Porter. You'll have three minutes.
Jennifer Landesmann: Congratulations new Council Members Kou, Tanaka
and Fine. Thank you all for all you do for the community. A special thank
you to Mayor Burt, Assembly Member Marc Berman. Your leadership on the
Policy and Services Committee helped jump start a critical City investment
and resources to address jet noise which, as you all may know, has only
escalated in importance for Palo Alto citizens. Thanks to the engagement of
hundreds of Palo Alto residents and the City's efforts a plan is underway to
make changes to our air space. The first body to address the changes is an
Ad Hoc Subcommittee consisting of two members or alternates from the
recent Select Committee or others yet to be named from each county and
Congressional District. As the operative word tonight was regional, it is
imperative for Palo Alto to have an elected official seated at the Ad Hoc
Subcommittee to address high stakes interests in the Report recently issued
by the Select Committee. Please identify a Council Member to contact
Representatives Eshoo, Speier and Panetta to have a Palo Alto Council
Member seated on the Committee. Unlike any other time, this is crucial because the FAA and Congress are engaging cities to make changes to SFO
arrivals. Several of the Select Committee recommendations are extremely
important to us, and their prioritization by the FAA will make a huge
difference. Thank you and best of luck in your stewardship of the City.
Congratulations.
Mayor Scharff: Karen Porter to be followed by Penny Ellson.
Karen Porter: Thank you. Many thanks to the outgoing Council Members
and particularly Mayor Burt, who I would often run into at fundraisers for
other candidates. I thought it was particularly generous of him to give of his
time in that way. Congratulations and good luck to the new Council. This
year should be interesting. As many have noted, Palo Alto is a great City,
but the elephant in the room or in the sky I should say, as Jennifer alluded
to, is the increasing onslaught of the low-flying jets directly over Palo Alto.
While the items mentioned by Mayor Scharff are important, jet noise should
be at the top of the list of priorities that the City should be addressing. As
the overwhelming majority of people who have posted on the City's website
have noted, this year is perhaps our one and only chance to make sure that
the FAA takes action on the Select Committee's recommendations. The City
should play a leadership role in this effort, among the other cities in the
region. With the esteemed and talented group of the new Council, I am sure
we will be well served in this effort. Thank you so much and best of luck.
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Mayor Scharff: Penny Ellson.
Penny Ellson: Thank you. This is just a brief announcement actually of a
meeting. Today the VTA next network plan for bus service regionally was
released. It's very disappointing for Palo Alto. We're going to see probably
some cuts, looks like. There are some upcoming community meetings
where we can comment and take notice. I hope our Council Members will
participate. One of them is going to happen in this room on January 19th at 6:00 p.m. It's an opportunity for citizens to come out and speak. If you
know somebody who rides the VTA 88 to school or to the VA hospital or
perhaps back and forth to Stevenson House or other places like that along
these corridors, I hope that you will take a moment to come out and speak
for yourself or for the people you love who need these services in our
community. I hope that you will join us and learn more. I hope we can
work together on this, the way we did in 2009. Maybe we can make some
changes to this presently disappointing plan. Thank you.
Mayor Scharff: Thank you. Before we adjourn, if any Council Members have
any brief comments they'd like to make, don't feel like you're obligated.
Council Member Wolbach.
Council Member Wolbach: Just briefly. Some folks asked last month if it was necessary in a community like Palo Alto to proactively address the
threat of hate crimes. On December 12th, as we all know, we unanimously
passed a Resolution reaffirming Palo Alto's commitment to a diverse,
supportive, inclusive and protective community. It said, among many other
things, that Palo Alto rejects bigotry in all its forms, specifically among them
was listed anti-Semitism. It also mentioned that Palo Alto does not tolerate
hate crimes. I learned today from the local press and also from our City
Staff that community members have recently found swastikas and anti-
Semitic messages scattered as vandalism across town, on City and private
property. I heard about two such swastikas myself last night from a friend
via social media. It was about 10:30 at night. I was mad, so I drove over
there and cleaned it up. Luckily it was easy to do so. I've been pleased to
see and learn that community members have also taken matters into their
own hands to clean it up when they've been able to, reported it to City Staff.
City Staff has also been cleaning them up. I hate to mention this somber
issue before we go to our celebratory reception, but I do think it is worth
noting. I do think it's important that continuing the positive mood of this
evening and the people in this room that we do work together. If we see
any time of hate or bigotry in Palo Alto, let's continue to reject it, address it
immediately and make sure that it finds no refuge here. I do want to
mention a couple of quick thank yous. Thank you to Palo Alto Police
Department Officer Derek Souza, who came to the site of the vandalism last
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night and was very polite and responsive even before he recognized that I
was a member of the City Council. Also thank you to the residents who
have reported and even taken matters into their own hands to clean up such
vandalism. Thank you to the City Staff for working on the rest of the
cleanup efforts. Let's stay vigilant.
Mayor Scharff: Vice Mayor Kniss.
Vice Mayor Kniss: I want to underscore what Penny Ellson just said. As far as VTA, there is no question. I was with the VTA Policy Committee today.
Instead of using cutbacks, they're calling it rescaling. I would really
encourage any of you who can come to the meeting that is on the 19th, here
in this room at 6:00, to come and really express your concern with the so-
called scaling back that VTA may be doing. It's always difficult. I think Joe
is still here. It's very difficult at our end of the County to continuously keep
service in place. The only way you can do that is literally by coming and
complaining and indicating that this is absolutely an unfair way for them to
treat, especially, the 88 bus which is used extensively not just by kids that
are going and coming from Gunn but many others in the community. Just
as Greg said earlier tonight, Greg Schmid, people will hear you, but it's
really important for us to show up and to make sure that we are expressing that in such way that they not only hear it but they act on it. I think we can
put that out in one of our memos as well, so that people won't forget and
will come that night. Thanks.
Mayor Scharff: Council Member Kou.
Council Member Kou: First, thanks to everybody who came tonight. Thank
you for the congratulations and the welcome. I did want to piggyback on
what Debra was saying, from the Palo Alto Chinese Parents Club, and extend
her invitation to everybody in the public to join us on our Chinese New Year,
which is going to take place on February 12th from 2:00 to 5:00. There's a
lot of exciting things to see and learn about our community and our culture
and traditions. I hope you'll join us. Thank you.
Mayor Scharff: Thank you. With that, we have refreshments in the back.
The meeting's adjourned.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:18 P.M.