HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 10905
City of Palo Alto (ID # 10905)
Policy and Services Committee Staff Report
Report Type: Action Items Meeting Date: 12/10/2019
City of Palo Alto Page 1
Summary Title: Council Priorities for 2020
Title: Discussion and Recommendations for 2020 City Council Priority Setting
Process
From: City Manager
Lead Department: City Manager
Recommendation
Policy and Services Committee should discuss and consider making recommendations to
the City Council regarding 2020 priorities and, potentially, format and facilitation for the
Council’s annual retreat in January or February.
Background
In October 2012, Council approved Priority Setting Guidelines (CMR: 3156) and outlined
the role for the Policy & Services Committee in this activity. Per the Guidelines
(Attachment A), a priority is defined as a topic that will receive particular, unusual and
significant attention during the year. Additionally, there is a goal of no more than three
priorities per year, generally with a three-year time limit.
The 2019 priorities are:
• Climate Change
• Grade Separation (choose preferred alternative by end of the year)
• Traffic and Transportation
• Fiscal Sustainability
These four priorities were chosen from a list of eleven submitted by Council members
and discussed at their annual retreat on February 2, 2019. Other topics included
pursuing a business tax and reconstructing Cubberley Community Center. Grade
separation and transportation are both carry-overs from the 2018 Council Priorities,
while climate change and fiscal sustainability are new priorities in 2019. Among the
Council ideas proposed to address transportation and traffic issues were expanding the
City’s shuttle program and promoting alternatives to solo driving.
Discussion
City of Palo Alto Page 2
Staff e-mailed Council members requesting their suggestions for priority topics to be
included, to be received by December 6, 2019. These suggestions will be available At
Places for the Policy & Services Committee’s December 10, 2019, meeting. The
community has been solicited for suggestions via Open City Hall. This will remain open
and available to the community through mid-January 2020, for inclusion at the Council
retreat, date TBD. The City Manager’s Office will follow with short social media surveys
in January, just prior to the retreat.
Past annual citizen surveys have also allowed for an open-ended responses on topics of
interest or concern. Attachment B highlights the section of Executive Summary: The
2018 National Citizen Survey which discusses the data from the open-ended question
that could inform priorities, from 2018, 2017 and 2014.
The Committee may make recommendations regarding the priorities as well as
regarding the retreat format and process for selecting a facilitator.
Stakeholder Engagement
Council members and the community have been solicited for their thoughts and topic
suggestions. At the retreat itself we also invite citizens to attend and express their
views in person.
Attachments:
• Attachment A: City Council Priority Setting Guidelines
• Attachment B: Open-Ended Questions, 2018 Citizen Survey
City of Palo Alto
City Council Priority Setting Guidelines
Approved by City Council: October 1, 2012
Last revised: October 1, 2012
Background
The City Council adopted its first Council priorities in 1986. Each year the City Council reviews
it’s priorities at its Annual Council Retreat. On October 1, 2012 the City Council formally
adopted the definition of a council priority, and the Council’s process and guidelines for
selection of priorities.
Definition
A Council priority is defined as a topic that will receive particular, unusual and significant
attention during the year.
Purpose
The establishment of Council priorities will assist the Council and staff to better allot and utilize
time for discussion and decision making.
Process
1. Three months in advance of the annual Council Retreat, staff will solicit input from the City
Council on the priorities to be reviewed and considered for the following year.
a. Council members may submit up to three priorities.
b. Priorities should be submitted no later than December 1.
c. As applicable, the City Manager will contact newly elected officials for their input by
December 1.
d. The City Clerk will provide timely notice to the public to submit proposed priorities by
December 1. The Policy and Services Committee shall recommend to the Council
which suggestions if any shall be considered at the City Council retreat.
2. Staff will collect and organize the recommended priorities into a list for Council
consideration, and provide to Council no less than two weeks in advance of the retreat.
3. The Policy and Services Committee, each year at its December meeting, shall make
recommendations about the process that will be used at the Annual Retreat paying
particular attention to the number of priorities suggested by Council members. The
recommended process is to be forwarded to Council for adoption in advance of the Council
retreat.
Guidelines for Selection of Priorities
1. There is a goal of no more than three priorities per year.
2. Priorities generally have a three year time limit.
Attachment A
City of Palo Alto
City Council Priority Setting Schedule
Last Updated: 8/17/2012
Attachment A
Executive Summary: The 2018 National Citizen Survey™ xiv
In 2018, rideshare services (83 percent) became the most convenient choice of transportation if respondents did
not have access to a car, followed by biking (77 percent) and walking (69 percent). The increase in rideshare
services for convenience is significant. In previous years, rideshare services rated much lower on the convenience
scale, with only 52 percent of respondents in 2015, 62 percent in 2016, and 66 percent in 2017 saying that
rideshare services were “very” or “somewhat convenient.” In contrast, walking, or riding the bus, train, or free
shuttle all declined significantly as convenient modes of transportation when not having access to a car:
23 percent (walking), 19 percent (bus or train), and 28 percent (shuttle) fewer respondents cited these modes as
“very” or “somewhat convenient” in 2018 compared to 2017. Biking as an alternate mode of transportation
remained similar, in the 76 to 77 percent range each year from 2015 through 2018. For details, see tables 74-76
in the report.
For the third year, we asked residents who planned to purchase a new car within the next two years, what the
likelihood would be of it being a gas vs. nongas-fueled vehicle. The most common response (71 percent) was
that it would be a hybrid vehicle. The percentage is consistent with prior years, but for the first time, was a
higher percentage than gas-fueled vehicles. Electric vehicles (67 percent) ranked second and gas-fueled
(66 percent) ranked third. For details, see tables 77-80 in the report.
Open-ended Questions
We asked two open-ended questions. Although we asked respondents to provide one item for each question,
many respondents cited more than one issue. We separated those comments into the individual issues to better
categorize them. The complete list of comments is available in the report, The National Citizen Survey™ Open-
ended Responses.
The first question was, “As a resident of Palo Alto, what one change could the City make that would make you
happier? This was a repeat question from 2017 and 2014. As in previous years, traffic, housing, and
development (other than housing) topped respondents’ list of concerns, but traffic and housing reversed places
as the number one and number two concerns. The second open-ended question was, “As a resident of Palo Alto,
what one thing the City does well and would want to maintain?”
There is some overlap between what some respondents identified as concerns that should be addressed and
others identified as things the City does well, but the positive comments generally outnumbered the needs-
improvement comments for the same issue. For example, 14 (2 percent) and 8 (1 percent) of respondents who
provided comments listed issues related to safety and sense of community, respectively, as areas needing
improvement, but 75 (12 percent) and 66 (10 percent) other respondents identified those as areas where the
City performs well.
The tables below summarize the main topics identified in the responses to each question. The first table
compares concerns that respondents cited this year with those from previous years in which we asked the same
question.
Executive Summary: The 2018 National Citizen Survey™ xv
“As a resident of Palo Alto, what one change could the City make that would make you happier?”
Response Category
2018 2017 2014
Percent of
Comments
Number of
Comments
Percent of
Comments
Number of
Comments
Percent of
Comments
Number of
Comments
Traffic concerns 23% 148 15% 224 14% 76
Housing (amount, affordability/cost of living) 21% 138 25% 369 21% 113
Development (other than housing) 10% 62 12% 183 17% 93
General government operations 8% 54 7% 99 6% 34
Improvements for walking and biking 5% 34 2% 32 4% 24
Public transportation 5% 32 5% 77 3% 17
Parking concerns 4% 28 5% 79 7% 41
Other/Nothing 4% 28 8% 115 7% 40
Lower taxes and/or utility costs 4% 25 2% 23 3% 17
Reduce noise 3% 18 2% 23 2% 9
Safety 2% 14 2% 33 4% 21
Parks and recreation amenities/services 2% 11 2% 26 2% 13
Electric utilities and amenities 2% 11 N/A* N/A* N/A* N/A*
Address homelessness 1% 9 1% 15 1% 6
Retail/shopping options 1% 9 3% 39 2% 10
Sense of community/community activities 1% 8 4% 56 1% 8
Downtown improvements 1% 8 1% 16 1% 6
Code enforcement 1% 5 1% 15 1% 3
Schools 1% 5 2% 27 1% 7
Beautification N/A N/A 2% 26 2% 9
Total 100% 647 100% 1,477 100% 547
* N/A means the category was not separately tracked in those years.
The second open-ended question was, “As a resident of Palo Alto, what one thing the City does well and would
want to maintain?”
“As a resident of Palo Alto, what one thing do you believe the City does well and would want to maintain?”
Response Category
Percent of
Comments
Number of
Comments
Parks, open space, and natural environment 23% 142
Safety services 12% 75
Library 11% 68
Sense of community, community activities, and recreation 10% 66
Utilities 10% 60
Schools and education 8% 53
Don’t know/nothing, negative comments, additional improvements 4% 28
Balancing residential and commercial growth 4% 25
Cleanliness of community 3% 18
Ability to give input and communication with government 3% 16
Ease of bicycle travel 2% 14
General City services 2% 13
Street maintenance 2% 13
Government/leadership 2% 12
Everything/great place to live 2% 12
Public transportation 1% 8
Other 1% 7
Total 100% 630