HomeMy WebLinkAbout1987-06-15 City Council Summary MinutesCITY COUNCIL
MINUTES
PALO ALTOCITYCOUNCIL MEETINGSARE BROADCAST LIVE VIA KZSU-FREQUENCY90,1 ON FM DIAL
Regular Meeting
June 15, 3987
ITEM
Oral Communications
Approval of the Minutes of May 18, 1987 57-342
Consent Calendar 57-342
1. Contract with Piazza Construction Comp. 4 57.342
for Foothills Park Dam Repairs and
Increase in Contract Authorization for
Consultant Construction Stage Services
with Hardesty Associates and Earth Science
Associates
PAGE
57-341
2. Contract with Utilitech, Inc., for Elec- 57-343
ric ><';till y Underground Sealing Project
3. Muni pal Service Center Building C 57-343
Remodel - Rejection of Bids
4. Report from Council Legislative Committee 57-343
5. Ordinance 3755 Amending Section 4.32.110 57-343
of the Palo Alto Municipal Code .to Change
the Prohibited Hours for, Solicitation of
Information for Commercial Purposes to Six
p.m., until X12 ne a.m.
6. Resolution 6618 Confirming a_ngineer's 57-343
Report ._ and Assessment Roll - California
Avenue Parking Garage Project No. 65-09
for Fiscal Year 1987-88
57-339
6/15/87
ITEM
u.
(Cont) Resolution 6619 Confirming
Engineer's Report and Assessment Roll -
California Avenue Off -Street Parkig
Project No. 71-63 for Fiscal Year 1987-88
Resolution 6620 Confirming Engineer's
Report and Assessment Roll - California
Avenue Keystone Lot Parking Project No.
86-01 for Fiscal Year 1987-88
PAGE
57-34 3
57-343
7. PUBLIC HEARING: Planning Commission 57-344
Recommendation re Modification to the
Zoning Ordinance to Permit Recycling
Centers in Commercial and Industrial Dis-
tricts in Compliance with the California
Beverage Container Recycling and ,Litter
Reduction Act (Bottle Bill)
8. Report from Council Legislative Committee 57-344
re AB 1728
9. Report and Recommendations from Personnel 57-347
Committee re Council -Appointed Officers'
Support Staff Classification and Benefits
10. Golden Triangle Strategic Planning Process 57-349
- Review of Phase II Golden Triangle Task
Force Recommendations
11. Ther►aal Insulation Final Test Results and 57-356
Recommendations
12. Santa Clara County Transit District - 5)-358
Proposed Bus Route Changes in Palo Alto
Recess 57-364
13. Initiative Petition for a Proposed Ordi- 57-364
nance THE NUCLEAR WEAPONS FREE PALO ALTO
14. Request of Mayor Woolley_ and Council Member .57-372
Levy re Solicitation Hours for Commercial
Purposes
15. Request of Council Members Cobb, Klein, and 57-376
Patitucci re Creation of a Citizens' Com-
mittee for Passage of Utility Users Talc
Adjournment at 1.1:22 p.m. 57-377
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6/15/87
Regular Meeting
Monday, June 15, 1987
The City Council of the :City of Palo Alto met on this date
in the Council Chambers, 250 Hamilton Avenue, at 7:32 p.m.
PRESENT: Bechtel, Cobb, Fletcher, Klein,
Levy, Patitucci, Renzel, Sutorius,
Woolley
Mayor Woolley announced that a special meeting to interview
Mid -Peninsula Access Corporation candidates was held at 6:15
p.m. in the Council Conference Room.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
1. Stanley J. Faust, 921 Oregon Avenue, was concerned about
his neighbors chree pitbulls and a requested variance to
go beyond the City's limit and start a breeding busi-
ness. He submitted literature regarding city ordinances
against. pitbulls and other animals .which caused a nui-
sance to the neighborhood andprovided a certain amount
of danger for the inhabitant-.. He hoped the :.]Palo Alto
City Council would strongly consider -an •- `ordinance
against pitbulls. He also requested the noise ordinance
regarding barking dogs be tightened.
2. Beverly B. Crowell, 919 Orr'gon Avenue( was also con-
cerned about her np i ghhnrc f pi fleul 1 s and their variance
request to acquire more pitbulls and start a breeding
business. The model ordinance, due to constitutional
issues, did not ban pitbulls but contained a grandfather
clause which allowed presently existing pitbulls to
remain. The dogs were registered, pictures were taken,
and the dogs could not be replaced. The goal was to
eventually have no pitbulls. She urged the City con-
sider adopting such an ordinance as quickly as possible.
She did not believe pitbulls should be tolerated in the
City of Palo Alto.
3. W. K. Pete! -.son, 228 Fulton, was concerned about the
through traffic in his north Palo Alto neighborhood.
The source of traffic way the continued growth of the
industrial aria of Stanford north. Connecting Sand Hill
Road with El Camino would increase the traffic if the
barrier stayed. The barrier was not totally under the
control of the City Council. If Caltrans determined
there was a danger, it could, over the violent objec-
tions of the City Council, remove the barrier and the
57-341
6/15/87.
traffic going through the north part of Palo Alto would
be intolerable. He was concerned about resultant grid -
locks and the necessity for a .new expressway on
University or Willow Road. Palo Alto could work with
Stanford to control the amount of traffic trips gener-
ated and not put more cars through the residential
areas. He suggested parking spaces be taxed and the
proceeds be used to fund free bus service and a parking
lot in the Baylands with nigh intensity shuttle buses
back and forth. If plans regarding traffic demands from
continued development of Stanford were not made now, the
residential character of the north part of Palo Alto
would be ruined.
Council Member Patitucci referred to the death which
occurred -as a -result of a .pitbull and queried whether the
City had any legislation against vicious animals.
Ms. Lee said the- provisions were-- found in the Palo Alto
Municipal Code Section 6.28,
MINUTES OF MAY 18, 1987
MOTION: Council Member Klein coved, seconded by Cobb,
approval of the minutes of May 18, 1987 as submitted.
MOTION PASSED by a vote of 7-0-2, Levy, Sutorius
"abstaining."
4-
CONSENI\ CALENDAR
MOTION: Council Member Klein moved, seconded by Cobb,
approval of the Consent Calendar.
Council Members Bechtel and Fletcher asked to be recorded as
voting "no" on Item 5, Solicitation Ordinance.
Council Member Levy said he would "abstain" on item 5.
Action
1. CONTRACT WITH PIAZZA CONSTRUCTION COMPANY FOR FOOTHIL fS
PARK DAM REPAIRS, AND INCREASE IN CONTRACT AUTHORIZATION
FOR CONSULTANT CONSTRUCTION STAGE SERVICES WITH HARDESTY
ASSOCIATES AND EARTH SCIENCES ASSOCIATES (CMR:297:7)
(1321-12)
Staff ie further authorized to execute the following change
orders: Piazza contract up to $121,000; Earth Sciences
Associates up to $172,800; and Hardesty Associates up to
$19,400.
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6/15/87,
2. CONTRACT WITH UTILITECH, INC. FOR ELECTRIC UTILITY
UNDERGROUND VAULT SEAE.TNG PROJECT (CMR:314:7) (1101)
Staff is further authorized to execute change orders up to
$900.
3. MUNICIPAL SERVICE CENTER BUILDING C REMODEL - REJECTION
OF BIDS FROM CHEGWIN CONSTRUCTION AND HODGSON
CONSTRUCTION, INC. (CMR:305:7) (810=003)
4. REPORT FROM COUNCIL LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE (CMR:322:7)
(702-06)
The Council Legislative Committee recommends that Council
support AB 10, SB 590, SB 171, AB 1731, and SCA 9, and
direct the Mayor to communicate the City's position to our,
legislators and others as appropriate. The Committee recom-
mends that nonpriority attention be given to all five bills.
AB 1728 received no recommendation.
5. ORDINANCE 3755 entitled "L DINANC E OF THE COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF PALO ALTO AMENDING SECTION 4.32.110 OF THE PALO
ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE TO CHANGE THE PROHIBITED HOURS FOR
SOLICITATION OF INFORMATION FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES TO
. :00 p=m.,.UNTIL 9;00 a.m." (1st Reading 6/01/87, PASSED
6-2-1, Fletcher, Bechtel "no," Levy "abstai,ri') (409)
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Fletcher, Bechtel vv.ing "no,"
on Item 5, Levy "abstaining" on Item 5.
6. RESOLUTION 6618 entitled "RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF PALO ALTO CONFIRMING ENGINEER'S REPORT AND
ASSESSMENT ROLL - CALIFORNIA AVENUE PARKING GARAGE
PROJECT NO. 65-09 FOR FISCAL YEAR 1987-88" (CMR:323.7)
(410-02)
RESOLUTION 6619 entitled "RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF PALO ALTO CONFIRMING ENGINEER'S REPORT AND
ASSESSMENT ROLL - CALIFORNIA AVENUE OFF-STREET PARKING
PROJECT NO. 71-63 FOR FISCAL YEAR 1987--88"
RESOLUTION 6620 entitled "RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF PALO ALTO CONFIRMING ENGINEER S REPORT AND
ASSESSMENT ROLL - CALIFORNIA AVENUE KEYSTONE LOT PARKING
PROJECT 86 -(775K -FISCAL YEAR 1987-88"
MOTION: Council Member Fletcher moved, seconded by Cobb,
approval of Resolutions 6618, 661# and 6620.
MOTION PASSED unanimously.
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6/15/8;
7. PUBLIC HEARING: PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION RE
ZONING ORDINANCE MODIFICATION RE RECYCLING CENTERS IN
COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL DISTRICTS (300)
Council Member Levy asked at what point Council approved the
standards for use permits.
Director of Planning and Community Environment. Ken Schreiber
said the standards for the use permit hearing process and
decision -making process were established by the Zoning
Administrator and did not return to Council without specific
direction.
Council Member Levy clarified parking spaces would only be
replaced it necessary, i.e., there would be no requirement
to develop new spaces if there were excess parking spaces.
Mr. Schreiber said that was correct.
Mayor Woolley declared the public Hearing open, Receiving
no requests from the public to speak, she declared the
Public Hearing closed.
MOTION: Council Member Bechtel moved, seconded by
Llutorius, to adopt the Planning Commission recommendation to
modify the Zoning Ordinance to permit recycling centers in
commercial and industrial districts. in compliance with the
California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction
Act (Bottle Bill), finding that the proposed changes will
not have a significant effect on the physical environment.
ORDINANCE FOR FIRST READING entitled "ORDINANCE OF
THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO AMENDING TITLE
18 (ZONING CODE) REGARDING RECYCLING CENTERS"
MOTION PASSED unanimously.
8. REPORT FROM COUNCIL LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE RE AB 1728
(CMR:322.7) (702-06)
Council Member Patitucci said AB 1728 involved notification
for the release of parolees. The bill provided a 30 -day
period in which the local government may respond and provide
information the Parole Board needed to consider before it
made a final decision. There was a balancing issue between
the parolee having an opportunity to start out in a comnuniti
after having served a sentence and the question of the con-
munity -having an opportunity in significant instances of
having their position known.;. The particular legislation did
not provide any power to the jurisdiction except the power to
comment and the requirement that the Parole Board consider
57-344
6/15/87
the comments. He suspected future legislation would be more
„aggressive. He supported the legislation.
Council Member Fletcher opposed the legislation because it
would require notification of the community 90 days before a
parolee was placed in a community. She believed San Jose's
interest was prompted when a parolee was placed in the home
of a minister, had a job arranged, and would be supervised by
the minister in whose home he resided. When the neighborhood
found out, the pressure grew overnight and the parolee lost
his opportunity for a job and supervision by the minister and
had to leave the area. Notifying a community 90 days in
advance would give a parolee practically no chance to start a
new life because no matter where the parolee was placed, the
90 -day period would be sufficient to incite enough public
opposition because no one wanted an ex -felon in their neigh-
borhood. She was concerned about counter -productivity. She
urged Council consider that parolees served their time and
deserved a second chance. If there was any problem, they
would be arrested again.
Council Member Levy agreed with Council Member Fletcher
although not as strongly.' The issue seemed to be related to
the action of parole rather than the action of any one civic
jurisdiction review, The real question'was whether a felon
should be paroled at all. He was concerned that too many
convicts were paroled toe early and with insufficient super-
vision. Once the decision was made that a person deserved
the right to return to society, the question was whether any
one jurisdiction had the right to reject that person. As a
representative of Palo Alto, if he had the right to reject
someone who had a.criminal record, his instincts would be to
let the person go elsewhere. In the broader sense, he did
not believe any one city should have that righil. He was more
sympathetic to Council Member Fletcher's position bat
believed any stance taken by the City should be accompanied
by a statement that the review criteria for parole should be
more carefully considered and more stringently applied.
Council Member Klein did not believe the bill was as dra-
conian as stated by Council Members Levy and Fletcher, It
seemed to have two key provisions, i.e., if the parolee was
to be released to the county from which he or she was con-
victed, the Parole Board would notify the sheriff 30 days
prior to the release. It did not seem to give -the .community
a veto right. If an inmate was _to be released to a county
different from the one -in which he or she was convicted, the
notice provision was -for 90 days and it provided the ability
to comment. He believed it was appropriate for a city or
county be able to respond if a notorious felon was to be
released into their commuunity. The bill wisely kept in the
57-345
6/15/87
hands of the Board of Prison Terms the right to make the
assignment, but it was also appropriate for citizens to pro-
vide input. As a public body, Council had input on its deci-
sions all the tirne and he did not see where the Board of
Prison Terms was any different. He pointed out the Singleton
case was the exception and there were thousands of parolees
released each year back to the counties from which they were
convicted or other counties and no complaints were made. He
believed that would continue to be the case. In an excep-
tional case, local jurisdictions deserved the courtesy and
right to comment in accordance with the democratic processes.
He supported the bill.
Council Member Renzel believed notifying the governments of
the communities 90 days in advance had a predictable result
and the Singleton case made it obvious. Even politicrians:who
might_ normally be kind and sensible would not stay quiet if
they believed their community would be outraged that a crimi-
nal was in their presence. Every politician 'ein every local
community would feel obliged to speak out against any felon
being released in their community. The 90 days would then
have to run for every subsequent community. She agreed there
was inadequate sentencing for certain types of crimes, but it
was a different issue and not addressed by the particular
legislation. Putting the paroling of people who served their
required time into the political ballpark would not aid in
the functioning of the hopeful reformation of people who in
the past committed feloneous crimes. She opposed the legis-
lation.
City Manager Bill Zaner said Palo Alto had no instances of
problems. Some felons had been paroled into the City and
were reported to the Chief of Pollee. He could not speak to
the seriousness of the crimes [Or which the parolees were
convicted or whether they were as serious as some of the ones
recently being publicized.
MOTION: Council Member Patitucci moved, seconded by Klein,
the.t Council support AB 1728 and direct the Mayor to communi-
cate the City's position to our legislators and others as
appropriate.
Vice Mayor Sutorius did not support the motion. Palo Alto
was going on record in support of legislation regarding the
full disclosure of sentencing. He believed the City properly
supported that piece of legislation which provided an early
opportunity for victims, officials, enforcement officers and
the general public to be well aware of what the probable,
actual sentence would be as opposed to the lawfully pro-
claimed sentence. All parties had an opportunityto register
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6/15/87
a concern from that date forward and to have their own
tickler if there was a belief that something should be done
in advance of the notice that ordinarily would go to the
City. He did not believe the particular piece of legislation
was as necessary as some of the others.
MOTION .FAILED by a: vote of 3-6, Cobb, Klein, Patitucci
voting "aye.1e
9. REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM PERSONNEL COMMITTEE RE
COUNCIL -APPOINTED OFFICERS' SUPPORT STAFF CLASSIFICATION
AND BENEFITS (501)
`dice Mayor Sutorius said the Personnel Committee's role was
important in guiding the conclusions. The Council Personnel
Committee was not a standing committee and while the meeting
was the subject of public knowledge and referral it was not a
meeting with a publicly noticed agenda printed in the news-
paper. There were three members of- the Committee and it did
not take final actions. It seemed inappropriate to make a
specific recommendation on the two cases. However, a recom-
mendation was made that the procedures followed should be
common as they presently existed regardless of whether the
job function reported to a Council -Appointed Officer (CAC).
Any desire for modification was a matter for the Policy and
Procedures Committee.
MOTION TO REFER% Vice Mayor Sutorius moved, seconded by
Levy, that the specific classifications withheld from final
action be referred back to the Finance and Public Works
Committee.
Mayor Woolley attended the Finance and Public Works (F&PW)
Committee meeting when the referral was made and she per-
ceived the issue as being a question of the availability to
the Council Members of criteria for the reclassification of
Council -Appointed Officers' staff members. Nothing in the
report provided Council with criteria. She asked if the
information was available.
Mr. Zaner said the criteria for reclassification of CAO staff
members was identical to the system used for any other posi-
tion. The process was reviewed with the Council Personnel
Committee by the personnel analyst charged with reclassifica-
tions. Staff could reduce the process to writing.
Mayor Woolley believed it would be helpful because Council
was in an awkward position. Council received the report
saying the process occurred and the City Manager recommended
no reclassification but yet Council._ did not really know the
details of the process. It was difficult for Council to make
a decision.
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6/15/87
Council Member Patitucci asked for clarification about
whether the Council -Appointed Officers should use the same
process as was used by other departments.
Vice Mayor Sutorius said yes. The F&P7 Committee requested
that part of the consideration be whether there should be a
distinctprocess or departure with respect to how CAO support
staff should be handled as opposed to other support staff,
Council Member Patitucci queried whether that implied that if
the Personnel Department looked at one of the situations and
said it was not, a position that would be normally reclassi-
fied as a result of actions if it were in the City Manager's
domain, then the recommendation would have the full weight of
the Council. Personnel Committee in terms of consideration.
Mr. Zaner said the process used to determine whether the
reclassification should occur was technical and was the same
whether the position was a CAO reporting position or a
department. In the budget process he reviewed the reclassi-
fications atter the technical work `was done and made a recom-
mendation in the budget as to whether a position should be
reclassified. In the subject instances, which both happened
to reptjrt to other CFO's, he recommended against just as he
recommended against a whole series that happened to report to
department heads. He did not believe the process was any
different.
i
Council Member Patitucci said if the positions reported to
the City Manager and followed the process that he wanted to
uniformly administer, then those reclassificiations would not
have been recommended.
Mr. Zaner said that was correct.
Council Member Fletcher asked if all four CFO's concurred
with conclusion and recommendation No. 1.
Vice Mayor Sutorius said the conclusion was unanimous and was.
part of the discussion during the period of time the CAO's
met with the Committee.
City Auditor Mike Northrup agreed with the recommendation.
Council Member Bechtel said Council Member Patitucci
expressed concern that perhaps the Council Personnel
Committee did not understand the F&PW Committee's recommenda-
tion. The Personnel Committee believed that since the F&PW
Committee was a public meeting process it was more appropri-
ate forthe final decision to be made 4t that point.
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6/15/87
Mayor Woolley was frustrated that Council did not have the
necessary information to make a decision. The situation was
different from when they were talking about staff under the
City Manager. Council would accept his decisions because
the staff people reported to him. When talking about staff
under the CAO's, she believed Council was more in the deci-
sion --making role andneeded to know the criteria for making
tiie decision. If Council had the information and then the
matter was referred back to the F&PW Committee, a good deci-
sion might be made.
MOTION PASSED unanimously.
10. GOLDEN TRIANGLE STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS - REVIEW OF
PHASE II GOLDEN TRIANGLE TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS
(CMR:316:7) (1045-01)
Council Member Klein, Council Liaison to the Golden Triangle
Task Force, said he voted on the tentative votes taken at the
Golden Triangle Task Force meeting in accordance with the
staff recommendations, and he hoped his colleagues would see
things the same way. There was a public hearing at the Board
of Supervisors on Wednesday, June 17, 1987, for final public
input with regard to the recommendations which were scheduled
for a final vote by the Task Fore on Friday morning, June
19, 1987.
Council Member Renzel understood the commitment to the
housing actions was preliminary at that point because all the
decisions crith respect to housing allocations would be made
in another phase. Knowing the sentiment of the community
with respect to housing density, she was concerned the c;ppor-
tunities to address the housing issue were primarily.limited
to change of zoning from other kinds of uses to dousing and
even there densities might be of sufficient +.onccrn to the.
residents that any decision the Council made would " no, be a
final one. She asked if the issue came up at discussions at
the Golden Triangle Task Force that, given the fact there was
such a gross imbalance: in their own community relative to the
other Golden Triang-a.e. communities, how they would be able to
make any kind of commitment with respect to housing.
Council Member Klein said all representatives of the other
five communities used much the same language as Council
Member Renzel. There was great' concern as to how to solve
the housing problem, but .there was n4 Commitme'nt at present
as to any particular allocation of formula. There was a
clear conundrum that everybody recognized,a serious portion
of the problems in the Golden Triangle dealt with housing.
Mr. Schreiber slated it well that the study started out as a
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transportation study and ended up as a housing study. It was
a difficult problem to wrestle with because all the communi-
ties felt the way just expressed_ by Council Member Renzel,
yet they all recognized they had to come up with more housing
and not solely by putting it on one particular community. As
of right now, the recommendations before Council were
extremely light on housing, just saying it was a problem and
;geeing if solutions could be worked out in the next phase of
the Golden Triangle.
Council Member Cobb reinforced Council Member Klein's com-
ments. Sunnyvale Council Member O'Toole expressed the same
kinds of concerns yesterday, and he expected they were uni-
form.
LaJune Bush, 3000 Hanover Street, represented Hewlett-
Packard (H -P), the Santa Clara County Manufacturing Group,
and served as Chairperson of the Working Council. The
Manufacturing Group and H -P appreciated the Council's parti-
cipation in the Golden Triangle Task Force and urged support
of the Task Force recommendations. In summary, they urged
the City of Palo Alto to: \A) adopt the full package as pro-
posed by the Golden Triangle Taske Force; 2) ensure the
implementation of the Task Force recommendations; and 3) con-
tinue to be involved as the recommendations.were implemented.
As the transportation demand management Component of the
Golden Triangle Task Force moved forward and was implemented,
both the Manufacturing Group and H -P encouraged the Council
to continue to draw on the expertise of the senior industry
representatives of the Concil and the Manufacturing Group
Board of Directors. Also, they wanted Council to encourage
a formal participation of senior industry representatives in
the early stages of the program development. They also
strongly recommended there be clearly -defined linkages
between performance and investments in transportation infra-
structure.
Council Member Patitucci asked about "insure implementation
of the policies within each jurisdiction." The focus of that
issue revolved around the City of Santa Clara, and he asked
what industry was going to do to try to get that community to
adopt the full package of recommendations.
Ms. Bush said basically the same presentation the Council
heard from her that evening was given to each member city of
the Golden Triangle Task Force, including the City of Santa
Clara. She understood the other cities intended to move
forward even if one city was reticent in . its approval. .They
had a large facility in the City of Santa Clara and had con-
versations both privately and publicly.
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6/15/87
Katherine Strehl, P.O. Box 3504, Manager of Community
Relations for Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, said the
company was located primarily in Sunnyvale but had about
1,000 employees in Palo Alto. Lockheed and the Manufacturing
Group commended the Council tor its active involvement on the
Task Force and in developing solutions to problems that
crossed jurisdictional lines. They reaffirmed adoption of
the full package of -policies. They believed in the absence
of adoption and implementation of any one policy, the effec-
tiveness of the program would be seriously undermined., They
supported the transportation demand management program before
Council which promoted voluntary participation of employers
of 100 or more and believed it was the one area where the
private sector could make a difference. Success in the pro-
gram hinged upon two critical factors. One was active
involvement of the private sector as the program was .devel-
oped in the next phase. Involvement of senior representa-
tives would insure something was put into place that really
made a difference and would encourage other employers to
participate. The second factor was public investment in
capital improvements which would improve the transportation
infrastructure, e.g., commuter lanes and improvements to
transit service. In the absence of those improvements, they
ran a risk of failure in achieving a significant ride -sharing
goal. The investments gave employers the necessary incen-
tives to `encourage ride -sharing and certainly provided
assurances the public sector was a partner as they moved
forward.'
Michael Fair, 111 Tennyson Street, gave a copy of
oleasanton's Traffic Ordinance to each Council Member on June
1, 1987 and asked the Council to study and follow the prudent
guidelines to solve the worsening problem. The Golden
Triangle Task Force proposals were not effective enough to
solve Palo Alto's traffic congestion. First, the City needed
to pass an effective and fair ordinance not depending on
other cities in the area to solve its problem. The impact
.fee was just another business tax. They should try proven,
inexpensive methods first and not add another cost to the
business community which could lead to cutting jobs or higher
prices. The voluntary method of transportation demand man-
agement was not effective enough. Only when forced would
commuters see the benefits of carpooling, public transporta-
tion and flextime. He asked why flextime was not mentioned
in the proposals, and for the Council to amend voluntary
participation to mandatory participation. -.The roadways to
Palo Alto and its surrounding areas were presently congested,
and it _a,ould be a nightmare to drive around the community in
three -years. The citizens -of Palo Alto needed the Council to
pass, an effective ordinance that day.
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6/15/87
Mail( Saul, 501 Forest, #609, commuted to San Jose every day
and had the strongest objections to the proposals. He was
reminded of an old Colorado saying that developers were
people who did not have their home in the mountains, and
environmentalists were people who did. They were largely
talking about protecting the quality of life in Santa Clara
County for people who lived there already or for people who
had already "made it," and were not encouraging growth in the
business community for people who lived outside the
community. It was important because the big business commu-
nity clearly was in favor of the proposal and yet was not
creating jobs. They were talking about limits that would
increase the cost to small businesses, businesses which grew
anc' which would largely contribute to the welfare of the
community at large over the next 20 to 30 years. The story
of Silicon Valley was small businesses growing into big busi-
nesses, not large businesses which had reached a stable
status quo and were n9 longer growing. Specifically, an FAR
basically limited the''amount of building on a certain piece
of land. An FAR limit would then drive up the price of real
estate and had a major impact on small businesses who needed
to lease land and would drive small businesses into other
areas. He challenged the inherent assumption in the proposal
that there were limits to growth in the highway system.
Highway 101 was in terrible disrepair, and they could
increase the fluidity of traffic by spending more money on
it. Central Expressway could be changed into a highway and
would not limit growth. People were not going to carpool.
Californians liked to have their own cars. He urged Council
to reconsider the proposal which would inevitably limit
growth in the area. Santa Clara was very shrewd; they wanted
to grow and were not participating.
MOTION: Council Member Klein moved, seconded by Renzel, to
adopt staff recommendation incorporating the following
actions:
1. Endorse the proposed Transportation Demand Management
Program (TDM), including the City participating in the
TDM Coordinating Council, with the Mayor directed to
appoint a Council Member to the Coordinating Council;
2. Endorse the Task Force's actions on the list of Capital
Improvement Projects and the need to vigorously pursue
additional state and federal funding for Colder.
Triangle -related transportation improvements;
3. Endorse. the Task Force's housing -related actions;
57-352.
6/15/87
1
MOTION continued
4. Endorse the proposed Growth Management Program with City
evaluation of the Program to be incorporated in the
forthcoming Citywide Land Use and Transportation Study
NIIR; and
5. Commit to City participation in the Golden Triangle
Implementation Plan.
Council Member Menzel believed the whole Golden Triangle Task
Force action resulted because all the participating communi-
ties recognized there were complicated and interrelated
problems between them, principally transportation and
housing. For many years she had supported attempting to
balance housing and jobs, and it was unfortunate even their
community didnot make bigger strides towards that some years
ago. It would be more difficult to achieve balances now but,
for the health of the entire area, it was important the
physical development of the area made economic sense. They
had seen many empty offices being built, many highways
grossly'overcrowded, and workers importeco from other counties
because of jobs without having adequate housing. They now
knew the old idea of drawing a big enough circle to balance
jobs and housing did not apply, end they needed to do every-
thing possible as a greater community to make some sense out
of laid use. She supported the actions.
Council Member Bechtel commended Council Member Klein's
participation on the Committee. In regard to the speaker who
suggested following Pleasanton's lead, many of the. local
businesses in the County already used flextime as much as
possible, ridesharing was actively pursued and should be con-
sidered. All the speaker's suggestions were being used.
Obviously they could be used further but did not preclude the
suggestions that were part of the Golden Triangle recommenda-
tions. In regard to where smaller start-up businesses would
go, she referenced the vast number- of empty buildings in
Santa Clara.
Vice Mayor Sutorius supported the motion and shared the
appreciation for Council Members Klein's and Patitucciss par-
ticipation in the process as well as the professional
participation of staff. He was particularly pleased to note
there was some indication that potentially important commer-
cial areas of San Jose would come -in under the Golden
Triangle umbrella, which was a shortcoming at the outset of
the process. He was encouraged by indications the downtown
area of. San Jose would be subject to going, in, as well as
other relevant areas both within San Jose and outside the
57•-353
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present triangle, and there would be flexibility regarding
the rules for those outlying areas. Council was aware there
were some relatively near -term financial situations coming
up, and he queried the implementation of the TDM first phase
and the staffing with respect to ongoing Golden Triangle.
Mr, Zaner said the City did not have any funds in the pro-
posed budget for implementation of Golden Triangle. However,
he noted with the budget message those costs would arise and
Council would have to deal with them. The costs were not
enormous and were easily handled as a budget amendment. His
best estimate at present for the City's share of the TDM por-
tion of the Golden Triangle was in the $50,000 to $75,000
range, depending entirely on how the program worked out and
the number of participants. With regard to ongoing staff
required for Phase ITI, the end of Phase II marked the end of
the Manufacturing Association's financial commitment, so the
cities and jurisdiction would need to rind other means of
financing staff. If there were five or six jurisdictions,
Palo Alto's share might be somewhere in the $10,000 to
$12,000 range. The total cost might be $75,000 to $80,000.
Council Member Levy supported the motion and joined in com-
mendation to Council Member Klein in particular. The motion
was obviously something to be approved in broad outline with
the detail subject to significant discussion, but. the broad
outline was important. He was particularly pleassd with the
partnership developed between business and government on the
Peninsula. He was sorry Santa Clara was not participating
and did not believe they were shrewd but unwise. He did not
believe inevitable growth was inevitably wise, nor that a
bigger community would be more attractive, stimulating, or
enjoyable to live in. He opined Santa Clara would also come
to that conclusion and join.
Council Member. Fletcher favored the motion and hoped its
implementation would be effective. She referenced the sug-
gestion that an extension of the Measure A sales tax was an
inappropriate source of funding for highway expansion and
said there had been strong comments from Council against the
Concept. She hoped the matter would go to Council before
their representatives promoted the idea.
Council Member Cobb said in regard to Mr. Fair's indication
of a need for mandatory measures, he did not like to see
government in a position where it. had to force people to do
things. He referenced Mr. Saul's comments and said he had
lived in the area a long time, yet was the owner of a small
57-354
6/15/87
As corrected
7/20/87
business who loved to drive his car and never used public
transportation. He could not drive his car to see a client
before 9:00 a.m. or akter 3:00 p.m., and the window was
getting smaller every day. He did not see a lack of vitality
in small businesses but saw an exodus of some large busi-
nesses because it became too difficult to live and get around
in the area. The real issue was a trade-off between quality
and life and unlimited growth. He did not believe even
unlimited growth would wake the area inexpensive enough for
some of the things Mr. Saul referenced to occur. Los Angeles
came to mind as a place where growth had not been limited,
and unlimited growth would see the exodus of people like him-
self who could not live in that kind of congestion. He also
commended Council Members Klein and Patitucci. Realization
of the Golden Triangle goals, particularly housing, would be
difficult, but they had to start because otherwise the area
would become unlivable, and he liked living there.
Council Member Klein believed it was important that Council
be unanimous on the issue. The full package of the Golden
Triangle recommendations before Council represented a remark-
able step forward, and he hoped they would be adopted by at
least four other cities. They were operating in an area
where other people had not gone before which made it diffi-
cult. Palo Alto's staff made a significant contribution with
several members participating. In particular, Ken Schreiber
and Bill Zaner took the lead in a number of discussions and
Council should be proud of their participation in the pro-
gram. They were a long way from accomplishing everything,
but the most important thing was they were going to formally
start on a program, and he believed they still had a chance
to preserve their area as a viable place to live and'.work.
He did not detect any lack of vitality in small businesses,
and the recommendations were one way to insure vitality was
maintained. Flextime was desirable and a large number of
Palo Alto's employees used it. Unfortunately, they were
seeing the afternoon commute rush-hour retreating towards
noon which was part of the result of flextime. The
Pleasanton program was looked at carefully. They would like
to be in the same position; however, Pleasanton was starting
from scratch with a far smaller area, while the Golden
Triangle already had a tremendous number of jobs and an an
established infrastructure. He believed there were people
who would favor mandatory TDM now, but they had to try a
smaller step first; to prove voluntary program with mandatory
reporting would not work before switching to_a system .that
nobody in the country -was using as yet, i.e., mandatory
ridesharing, etc. They were embarking on an experiment that
57--355
6/15/87
had a fighting chance, and he was glad Palo Alto was a key
player. He hoped it would succeed.
Mayor Woolley said the necessity and importance of the
Council's action that evening was pointed out last March by
the Futurecast 2001 Subcommittee on Governance whose report
concluded their big problems were mostly of a regional nature
and the solution was to find some sort of regional govern-
ment. In order to do that they needed to change their way of
thinking and behaving, The Golden Triangle was a giant step
in demonstration of their willingness to make that change;
therefore, she applauded the effort.
MOTION PASSED unanimously.
11. THERMAL INSULATION FINAL TEST RESULTS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS (141.0-01)
Mayor Woolley said Item 11 was removed by staff. Council
would not be taking up nor discussing the item but would be
happy to hear from Mr. Tranmer who came from Benicia to speak
on the item.
Joel Tranmer, 4280 Iowa Street, Benicia, spoke as President
of the largest manufacturer of cellulose insulation in the
country and said they probably had more insulation in the
City of Palo Alto's program than anybody else who manufac-
tured that product. He was also the. President of the
Cellulose Manufacturers Advisory Council and represented
companies manufacturing cellulose for sale in the State of
California. He understood the City of Palo Alto was consid-
ering the removal of cellulose insulation from attics at
great expense to taxpayers and suggested such action might
not be necesi;ary. Strictly from a liability standpoint, all
the materials ins'Salled in the City's program were labeled by
Underwriters Laboratories, the manufacturers certified the
products were manufactured to the state and federal stan-
dards. In addition, the City of Palo Alto was provided with
a certificate saf insurance from each manufacturer naming the
City as additional insured. The City also qualified all the
contractors who participated, and they also certified th0
materials were properly -installed and provided the City with
a certificate of insurance. In the unlikely event there was
a fire or problem involving insulation, he believed the City
would be well protected from a liability standpoint. Council
should understand fires .involving insulation almost always
happened within days of installation because they were caused
by contractors causing electrical shorts or putting insulat-
ion :over heat -bearing Surf -sees.. The fact the City had no
insulation -related fires to date was an indication all was
57-356
6/15/87
well from an installation standpoint. It was important to
understand there were no generally -accepted methods to test
cellulose material after it was installed in an attic. The
tests used in the City's program were designed to test mate-
rial right after it was installed -and right out of a bag.
Their technical director, George Andrews, would begin writing
such a standard. The problem had not arisen during his 11
years in the industry. It was also important to consider
that just because a cellulose sample did not pass the radiant
panel test did not mean it was flammable or presented a pub-
lic safety hazard, but only that it did not pass the test.
The Federal Register of -July 6, 1979 which defined the
Consumer- Products Safety Commission's interim standard for
cellulose ineulation, which was the present standard said,
"The Commission agrees that the historical development of the
attic floor radiant panel test does not in, itself mean the
test is suitable for assessing the fire performance charac-
teristics of cellulose insulation. The attic floor radiant
panel test with a pass/fail criteria of .12 watts per square
centimeter simulates the exposure of insulation materials to
a small attic fire under 160 degrees fahrenheit air tempera-
ture conditions, which represents conditions that have been
demonstrated by the National Bureau of Standards to be
worst -case summer attic conditions with an added safety
factor. Studies conducted by the National Bureau of
Standards` show that in spite of this difference, the pass/
fail criteria of the test approximates the entry flex level
of the insulation under realized conditions with a 50 percent
safety factor added." That could only mean that the Consumer
Products. Safety Commission considered samples that failed
within a range of .08 watts per square centimeter and .12 to
fall within_ that safety range. He believed Palo Alto was
using .12 watts per square centimeter as a pass/fail
criteria. During the past ten years the cellulose industry
manufactured and installed in excess of 30,000,000 bags of
insulation in 1.1 million attics in the State of California
alone. To his knowledge, during the same period there had
not been One single product -liability judgment awarded due to
inproper manufacture or unsafe cellulose insulation. He also
understood the City of Palo Alto experienced no fires, no
deaths, and no personal injuries associated with its insula-
tion program. He asked Council to consider that fact with
considering the City's risk in leaving the insulation in the
attics. For over a year he was a r:P., et of a task force
appointed by the Public Utilities .Commission of the Stale of
California to study insulation -related fires. He had .the
final report, and the conclusion of the task force was there
was not a significant problem. He suggested the problem
could be solved -through an inspection and correction program.
57-357
6/15/87
If the 850 attics in the program were inspected to insure
proper installation and barriers, the City would not have a
public safety problem and would save a great deal of their
taxpayers' money The eyes of many people across the nation
were watching the City of Palo Alto. He recOved calls every
day wanting to know what the City was going to do. When
Council made its decision, he asked they consider the conse-
quences for all of them. The industry was willing to help in
any way possible.
Council Member Renzel asked if a copy of the report could be
made available to staff.
Mr. Tranmer said the final report was in the hands of the
Energy Chief of the Public Utilities Commission who should be
contacted for a copy.
12. SANTA CLARA COUNTY TRANSIT DISTRICT PROPOSED BUS ROUTE
CHANGES IN PALO ALTO (CMR:318:7) (1162)
Virginia Lee, 656 Lytton Avenue, spoke as a resident of
Lytton Gardens whn presented a petition to keep Route 35 at a
previous meeting of the Transportation Committee, signed by
80 percent of the residents of Lytton Gardens. She also
spoke as a member of Palo Alto's Human Relations Commission
who endorsed the petition of Lytton Gardens. The statement
in the report that only five people from Lytton Gardens used
the bus was to be questioned because, as their population
became more frail and elderly, more people were forced to
relinquish the use of their cars and use the bus. Many shop-
ped at Midtown and to transfer carrying groceries would be
virtually impossible. According to the administrator of
Lytton TII, many visitors and staff personnel used No. 35.
The idea of a shuttle bus not yet in place left many ques-
tions in her mind. Public transportation was meant to serve
all residents and certainly the frail and elderly should have
top priority. She asked Council to keep Route 35.
Mayor Woolley. asked it Lytton Gardens had a shuttle service
or van owned by the facility.
Ms. Lee said yes, thanks to the Rotary Club they had a bus to
take people shopping and to doctors' appointments certain
days a woek. She felt that was not sufficient for getting
people to Midtown to shop, not just' the residents of Lytton
Gardens but all Downtown seniors.
Mayor Woolley understood other bus routes could be taken but
involved a transfer or walking to Homer.
57.358
6/15/87
Council Member Fletcher, asked the destinations of most of the
residents who wanted to use the bus.
Ms. Lee said to Midtown, San Antonio Shopping Center; and to
Lucie Stern Community Center.
Alice Fischgrund, 750 Torreya Court, believed Palo Altans
were getting short shrift and the whole last operation -was a
rusn job. They had three public meetings, the halls were
filled, and everybody had copies, including the
Transportation Commission, of the petitions from Lytton
Gardens, the Senior Center, the Jewish Community Center, and
Geological Survey, yet the changes were going to be made with
few concerns addressed. The remaining changes were essen-
tially cuts, and instead of improved service, they had
reduction of service. Eventually, the whole county would be
"improved," but she wished to voice her objection. She was
appalled the Palo Alto staff was endorsing the changes which
did not serve the citizens of Palo Alto. The City sh01d
object. The seniors wanted and deserved public access.
Herbert Fischgrund, 750 Torreya Court, believed there was
plenty the City could do to keep the wrong outcome from hap-
pening-. Many important points came out in the public
hearings, and in the final proposal and analysis by City
staff a thoughtful job was done in analyzing the impacts and
mitigations. Serious issues still remained. City staff's
conclusion was that it was apparent County Transit was intent
on reducing s service .��� „�.:� costs and equipment in north county prior
to the end of 1987 to accommodate future transit demand in
the light rail corridor. He read the Transit District's
staff report and the objectives of the study and did not see
anything about that but saw improving service efficiency
without significantly impacting services levels, improving
service directness, etc. He asked the basis for defining the
inevitability based on light rail. He asked the basis for
the statement that delay in existing service for one year as
the Coun01 recommended was unlikely. The City should take a
vigorous position that there was no established need for the
cuts. The were some good ideas embedded in the changes. he
asked the need for the saving and whether the City had budget
information that said the County needed to save money in the
first place. They read in the public press about the
District salting away money for transit lanes, which were not
permitted under the half -cent sales tax. He saw no data that
said more routes_ operated below standard in the area than in
other areas which were not yet being evaluated. The
Operations Committee voted to essentially endorse' the Palo
Alto position and was overturned by the Transportation
Commission on a 10-9 vote, sent back to Committee which met
with oniy_a few hours notice. Until a lot of questions were
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6/15/87
answered, the City should :take a vigorous position that there
was an important difference of opinion. He asked what the
City planned to do to support the position at the
Transportation commissio,n and before the Board of
Supervisors.
Transportation Planner.Gayie Likens said the transmittal from
the Transportation Agency outlined the three objectives of
their study, but in earlier communications with them, they
referenced the bus element of the T2000 plan and in a broader
context outlined the three elements of improving efficiency,
streamlining the service, and eliminating duplication of
service but also alluded to the need to accommodate the needs
in the light rail corridor, -and would be moving onto that as
the next sector of study. It appeared they would be looking
at not only what was there now but what needed to be thereto
accommodate the light rail system.
Chief Transportation Official Marvin Overway- said staff did
not have the budgetary numbers of the Transit District.
•Basically, the Transit District was trying to cut out and
reduce service in -those areas that were least productive
because they had a need to institute additional service as
feeder systems into light rail system. They divided the
County into four sectors, and the savings realized in that
kind of analysis in all tour sectors was intended to go into
service feeding the light rail system. - He did not have
information on the actual cost numbers with regard to the
service into the light rail and the cash flow situation out
of the County Transit System.
George Hargrove, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, spoke on
behalf Of the U.S. Geological Survey and SRI employees who
rode Route 35. He spoke in opposition of the discontinuance
of Route 353 He referenced staff report CMR:318:7, page 9,
which said, This less direct, more time-consuming transit
ride may discourage existing Palo Alto ridership, although it
is possible that the Line 300 connection to Menlo Park may
draw more ridership from other areas of Palo Alto and the
county." He did not know if it was possible to do that kind
of projection. Their position all along had been the reason.
Route 35 should be retained was because they had done a
variety of things- they believed warranted a continuation of
the route for at least one year. They offered to work with
the Santa Clara County Transit District to increase the
ridership. The line had great potential for increased rider --
ship, and they had a commitment from their population which
numbered 1,500 at 345 Middlefield, to look into the prospect.
Kay Clarke, Director of Corporate Communications at SRI, made
the same--kind-of commitment on behalf of SRI. There were TSM
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or TDM studies underway in Menlo Park and Palo Alto. He
served on the TSM study :;coup in Menlo Park, and guidelines
would be coming out in the near future. The Middlefield
corridor was recognized as a particularly congested corridor
in Menlo Park, and he suggested contacting the City Engineer
in Menlo Park, one of the prominent officials on the .TSM
study group who might be able to shed some light on the
feasibilty, acceptability, and need to retain Route 35. The
justification for discontinuance .of Route 35 seemed to ignore
the implication of the St. Patrick's Seminary development
complex directly across from their campus, from which they
expected several hundred new residents. The core buildings
would be for the elderly so bus transportation would be a
central component. He was disappointed if Route 35 was con-
demned to abolishment because the ridership would retreat to
their -cars. The proposed Route 300 came down El Camino Real
and the Middlefield corridor was not well served by that con-
nection. He hoped the Council would show the same wisdom as
in the past when it recommended no major changes in existing
service be implemented- for one year to allow employers in
Palo Alto and Menlo Park to develop TDM programs.
Mayor Woolley said the whole study of changes in bus routes
had been going on for sometime, and she asked if the U.S.
Geological Survey had done anything to upgrade the number of
riders in that time.
Mr. Hargrove said he and riders appeared before the Transit
District hearings. .At the most recent hearing, they offered
for the first time to work with the Transit District to
improve the numbers of ridership.
Mayor Woolley asked if Mr. Hargrove had any specific ideas in
mind to increase ridership provided
extend services for one year,=
the Transit District did
Mr. Hargrove said the publicity surrounding the hearings and
the discussion by their employees about Route 35 had already
led to some increased ridership. Specifically, they would
develop a coordination committee at the Geological Survey's
campus to approach all 1,500 employees and made them more
aware of the bus line.
Council Member Fletcher felt somewhat like Mrs. Fischgrund
that the county was determined to make cuts, and she was
appalled at the process they were using after the last round
when the Transportation Commission did refer the matter of
cutbacks back to the Operations Committee, but the notice for
the meeting including the description of the proposed changes
only came to her one day before the meeting. She objected
c7. -1A1
6/15/87
strenuously to making any changes prior to having local
input, so the Operations Committee decided they would take
action anyway and endorsed the proposals unanimously and
believed they were being gracious by holding up the return to
the Transportation Commission of the item for two weeks.
With the Transportation Commission getting unanimous recom-
mendation from the Operations Committee, she did not know
what kind of chance Council had. She believed the plan was
completely different, should have gone through a new series
of hearings, and was definitely a reduction of service to
Palo Alto.
MOTION: Council Member Fletcher moved, seconded by Renzel,
that the City of Palo Alto request the Transportation
Commission to postpone any change for, one year pending the
outcome of the implementation of the TDM measures.
Council Member Renzel said in the Golden Triangle Task Force
they just embarked upon an important step of making sure all
the communities had transportation systems managements, and
allowing the companies who were within route --particularly
Route 35 --to develop increased ridership and to help comply
with making transportation systems work was made more diffi-
cult if Council supported .removal of routes which provided
vital transportation to many people, and could potentially
provide it to more with promotion. It made sense to try to
implore the County Transit District not to make the cuts that
year.
SUBSTITUTE MOTION: Mayor Woolley moved, seconded by
Sutorius, to: adopt the staff recommendation to direct the
Mayor to write a letter •to the County Transportation
Commission and Transit District Board communicating the
following comments on the proposed bus route modifications,
with a revision to Recommendation No. 2:
1. Palo Alto endorses the proposed changes on Lines 23 and
24;
2. Palo Alto opposes the proposed elimination of Line 35;
3. Palo Alto endorses the proposed rerouting of Line 84 but
requests the current frequency of peak hour service be
maintained;
4. Palo Alto endorses the proposed rerouting of Line 86 but
requests continuation of current evening service;
5. Palo Alto endorses rerouting of Line 88 but requests that
Current Saturday service be maintained;
ref 7rn
41 —304
6/15/87
SUBSTITUTE MOTION continued
6. Palo Alto endorses the proposed route modifications on
Line 300.
Council Member Fletcher said the problem with the substitute
motion was nearly all the other changes were interrelated to
Line 35. The Transportation Commission was told the Transit
Agency did not want to make any changes which saved less than
$100,000 a year because of the cost of redoing maps and time-
tables.
Mayor Woolley did not see the problem because the substitute
motion did not save any money at all.
Council Member Fletcher clarified the substitute motion
endorsed all the other changes, and those changes would not
save the money eliminating Route 35 would.
Vice Mayor Sutorius seconded the motion because he believed,
despite some of the calendar and timing problems, a conscien-
tious effort was made to reflect community concerns, a logi-
cal explanation was given for certain things that could not
be accommodated in the best judgment of the Transit District,
and that some of the creative things offered benefits. He
believed Palo Alto's ridership interests towards the com-
munity center area would benefit, which was valuable.
Council had not taken the time nor was it within their prov-
ince to evaluate the impacts in the Mountain View and Los
Altos area and on through the routings of the various lines.
To withhold approval for an extended period of time as sug-
gested in the main motion ignored the potential savings and
service improvements available in those other areas. It
would be an inappropriate action to make that strong a repre-
sentation.
Council Member Bechtel supported the substitute motion.
There was value in responding with input on the proposed
changes concerning frequency of service, evening service,
etc., rather than simply saying "no," because Council would
not have as much impact as they would with the substitute
motion. There was some real need for Line 35. She agreed
with Ms. Lee it was not good to eliminate a line without an
alternative for the Senior Center.
Council Member Levy was concerned about the implementation
.and politics of the issue. If Council e;ame out with opposi-
tion to the elimination of Line 35, the effect could be the
Transit. District would go ahead anyway and they would be
worse off than with staff's recommendation which included a
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senior shuttle service as a demonstration project. He asked
if the effect of simply opposing the elimination of Line 35
per se would be a futile: gesture. Would Council be better
off saying, while they opposed the elimination of Line 35, if
in fact the Transit District was going to eliminate Line 35,
Council urged them to commit to development of a shuttle
service.
Mr. Overway said the Board of Supervisors was the final
decision -maker, and the matter still had to go through the
Transportion Commission first. Council was represented on
the Transportion Commission by Council Member Fletcher. The
Operations Committee endorsement of their staff's recommenda-
tions carried significant weight, but previous experience
showed a significant shift at the Transportion Commission and
he was not sure how it would play out. Regarding whether the
shuttle would be more likely with or without Line 35, Line 35
was $304,000 of the $485,000 cost savings and to take that
out and ask for additional shuttle costs was unlikely.
Council Member Levy agreed with not eliminating Line 35, but
if the Transit District eliminated Line 35, he wanted to see'
a shuttle service. He queried whether it should be stated as
part of the motion oc whether by stating if Council negated
its original statement that it opposed eliminating Line 35.
Council Member Patitucci could riot '.separate the elimination
of Line 35 from its connection to the other recommendations.
He believed staff made an effort to qet the best possible
deal given the reality of the Commission's direction. The
proposal was a hedge and he supported the staff recommenda-
tion or nothing. He opposed the motion.
Council Member Fletcher said the item would go before the
Transportion Commission on June 24, 1987, and the final
decision -maker was the Board of Supervisors.
SUBSTITUTE MOTION PASSED by a vote of 8-1, Patitucci voting
'no.'
COUNCIL RECESSED FROM 9:40 e.m. TO 9:55 p.m.
13. INITIATIVE PETITION FOR A PROPOSED ORDINANCE THE NUCLEAR
WEAPONS FREE PALO ALTO ACT (705-87-08)
Mayor Woolley said Council could either adopt the ordinance
without any alteration or it could place the ordinance on the
November ballot. Council could not make any changes to the
ordinance in either ease.
57-364
6/15/87
MOTION: Council Member Patitucci moved, seconded by Levy,
to direct the City Attorney and the City Clerk to include the
proposed ordinance in the resolution to be brought to the
Council on July 13, 1987, calling a Special Election to be
consolidated with the General Municipal Election, to be held
in Palo Alto on Tuesday, November 3, 1987, and submitting
said ordinance to the electorate.
MOTION TO RAISE QUESTION OP PRIVILEGE: Council Member
Klein moved, seconded by Cobb, to limit public comment to
three minutes.
Council Member Levy preferred to request the public to abide
by the three minutes, but would not support the motion. While
he did not believe there was a lot to be gained by excess
testimony, he did not believe it was proper for Council to
arbitrarily change its normal rules.
Council Member Renzel agreed with Council. Member Levy. Many
might have prepared their remarks based on five minutes and
it would be difficult to edit them. She .urged the public to
be brief.
MOTION PASSED by a vote of 5-4, Renzel, Levy, Sutorius,
Fletcher voting "no."
Paul Gardner, 890 Fielding Drive, generally believed elected
officials let the people down on the nuclear issue and the
people would start to move forward. He was happy to see the
initiative before the Council.
Constance Kuruppu, 1177 Amarillo, believed nuclear weapons
were an obscenity. Parents were responsible to their chil-
dren yet paid taxes to support nuclear weapons. She was 13
when the atomic bomb at Hiroshima exploded and did unspeak-
able horrors to human beings of that city. She was concerned
about the future being taken away from the children of this
world.
Douglas Mattern, 2671 Southccurt, said Council had the oppor-
tunity to make a positive statement to the most perplexing
issue of our time. It did no good to argue that a. city
council had no business in matters as complex as a nuclear
free zone. The issue affected everyone. There were enough
nuclear weapons currently stockpiled to kill 58 billion
people and every day the United States added another three to
five nuclear weapons. To meet the requirements and needs of
the 21st century would require a profound change in the view
of the world and a greater change in the responsibility to
the future. The world must be nuclear free to survive.
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Perrin French, M.D., 1240 Waverley, said when Considering
whether to leave the decision -making to the Pentagon or
Washington, D.C. generally, he referred to an interview which
appeared in Foreign Affairs Magazine wherein 80 top policy
makers were interviewed with regard to nuclear war issues.
The people were found to be very confused in terns of a pre -
nuclear thinking versus post -nuclear thinking and declaratory
policy versus actual -war -fighting policy. The people skipped
back and forth between the two arenas of thinking without
being aware of their own confusion. The conclusion was they
were -dealing with a battle of perceptions. Few believed the
United States could prevail in a nuclear war but was simply
building its hardware in order to give the appearance of a
willingness to fight a nuclear war. Regarding whether Palo
Alto could make a difference, Lawrence Weiler, an arms con-
trol negotiator, stated, "only when public concern has been
effectively aroused has progress ever been realized in
curbing the nuclear arms race." Freeman Dieson, who des-
cribed himself as having one foot in the'\;warriors' camp and
one foot in the victims' camp, spoke of the non-nuclear world
being a worthy end for mankind to strive for and the means to
reach it must be _firstly moral, secondly political, and
thirdly technical. He saw what Council could do as a moral
step which might be important in putting a cap on the arms
race.
Barbara Guarienti, 755 Ramona Street, Executive Director of
the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce, said the Chamber had not
taken a position on the subject but wanted to undeLstand the
initiative and its possible consequences. It intended to
explore both sides of the matter and invited both proponents
and opponents of the initiative to review the matter with the
Chamber and Government Relations Council in the next couple
of weeks. In the meantime, some members of the business com-
munity examined the language of the initiative and looked
into the experience of the Marin County process. She queried
the .economic impacts on the Palo Alto community, the poten-
tial cost to the City in higher administrative expenses, lost
revenues, increased price; of products and service, how City
contracts and purchases would be affected, whether the City
could sell its utilities to affected companies, could the
City be prevented from purchasing federal bonds in that the
government was engaged in nuclear weapons, and the legal
risks and obligations the City might incur from the ordi-
nance. Such proposals could give rise to unanticipated costs
and unintended problems. The Chamber believed the City
Council, Chamber, proponents of the initiative, and the com-
munity = at large needed to study the. proposal with great
care.
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Ward Truehblood, M.D., 1550 Dana Avenue, supported the initi-
ative, and was concerned with the quality of life in the
community. The nuclear free zone was probably the most
important issue Council would ever deal with. He urged
Council support. Any change in the country had to begin with
individuals, the cities in which they lived, and then the
capitols. The CityaeCouncil was the proper forum.
Michael Closson, 469 Homer Avenue, was Director of the Center
for Economic Conversion in Mountain View. People were con-
cerned about addressing the impacts of excessive military
spending on the economy both nationally and locally. In
fiscal year 1985, the last year for which he had complete
data, $395 million of Pentagon spending went to 60 companies
in Palo Alto. It averaged $7,066 for each resident of Palo
Alto. Nationally, the average was $644 per person. Palo
Alto seemed to be a heavily dependent military community. In
Palo Alto, few companies were involved in nuclear weapons
work as aefined by the ordinance. Presently, they were
unable to find a single explicit contract directly involved
in nuclear weapons related work in Palo Alto. He expected
that given Lockheed's track record, their research lab in
Palo Alto would be involved in some applied research for
first strike weapons. He also expected there would be some
subcontracts to firms in Palo Alto involving nuclear weapons
production. The employment impacts were unclear because the
amount of .contract work was unknown, but dollar for dollar,
military production generated fewer jobs than almost any
other kind of employment. It was important to consider the
issue at the local level and he wanted to ensure Palo Alto
obtained accurate information.
Kay Schauer, 546 Jackson Drive, was a member of the Coalition
for Palo Alto Nuclear Weapons Free Zone, and regarded the
project as one of the most important of her life. Palo
Altans were concerned about the nuclear arms race. In the
1982 November election, 73 percent of the Palo Alto voters
supported Proposition' 12 on the California ballot which
favored a bilateral, verifiable nuclear weapons freeze. In
April of 1982, most council members voted in support of a
local freeze initiative. The resolution passed by the
Council viewed the build up of nuclear weapons with great
alarm, expressed concern that.suc;i a build up made nuclear
war or, accidential explosion more likely and recognized that
the current nuclear arsenals of the Soviet Union and United
States provided adequate deterrents against an attack from
either .,side, and that peace was a local issue. Tne proposed
initiative ordinance would bring consistency into what
Council said it believed with. what was actually going on in
Palo Alto. Palo Alto had the opportunity to send the message
to others that it was serious about its belief and was
willing to -put its money and efforts on the line. The
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proposed ordinance was constitutional. Cities were supposed
to look out for the welfare of its citizens. The ordinance
did not prohibit any activities of the federal or state gov-
ernments. -It only prohibited activities of cities, private
individuals, and corporations. Congress had the power to
pass a law at any time saying it needed Palo Alto companies
or individuals to allow nuclear weapons production within
their territories and Palo Alto's law would be superseded.
Cambridge, Massachusetts spent $20,000 a year on its Peace
Commission which provided sanctuary to Central American refu-
gees, encouraged local military contractors to diversify,
etc. The Cities of San Francisco and Atlanta were involved
in international trade. Chicago, Los Angeles, and others
were sanctuary cities. It was important for Palo Alto to
take a stand against nuclear weapons and she urged Council
support.
Peggy Rogers, 1020 Fife Avenue, quoted a nuclear freeze
worker in Ashland, Oregon, "the business of nuclear weapons
has infiltrated our country, our way of life, and our
economy. Nuclear weapons crept into our towns the way Nazi
trains crept into Bavarian villages on their way to the gas
ovens." Nuclear weapons were everyone's responsibility and
they all,,had to decide how they felt about the arm's race and
what they were going to do about it. She urged the citizens
of Palo Alto and its representatives to join the nuclear
freeze movement.
Alan Miller, 3852 Corina Way, said Palo Alto was a people -
oriented town. The President of the Board of Trustees and
Minister of the Palo Alto [unitarian Church sent a letter to
the Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Coalition which informed them
that at the annual, meeting of the congregation, the Church
unanimously passed a resolution applauding the international
treaties establishing nuclear weapons free zones in South
America, Antarctica, outer space, and the sea bed. Being.
inspired by the nuclear weapons free zone ordinances and
resolutions of hundreds of municipalities and churches in
England, Europe, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the
United States, it declared- all property of the Palo Alto
Unitarian Church to be a nuclear weapons free zone and
encouraged all those who used the properties to denounce the
use. or threatened use of nuclear weapons by individuals,
groups, or states. Since then over 70 percent of the
Unitarian Churches in the United States took the same
actions. It was Palo Alto's opportunity to demonstrate its
care for its people and children.
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Judith LeVine, 2727 Midtown Court, #22, said currently the
United States stockpiled about 25,000 nuclear weapons. About
300 of the smallest weapons aimed at the 200 largest metro-
politan and industrial areas in the Soviet Onion would kill
approximately 75 percent of its population and destroy over
60 percent of its industrial structure. The excess nuclear
weaponry made the world situation increasingly volatile and
unstable. The emphasis on defense and nuclear weapons
destablized the economy and social service structure.
Military spending doubled since 1980, and it was estimated
that nuclear weapons spending would be 83 percent higher in
1988 than in 1983 costing $30 billion per year. Fifty-four
percent of the 1986 tax dollar went -to the United States
military effort and included 9 percent towards nuclear
weapons activities. Two percent each went to housing, educa-
tion, and nutrition, 7 percent to health and 1 percent to
social services. The Palo Alto Nuclear Weapons Free Zone
initiative was a means for those who lived in Palo Alto to
say they wanted a change in the priorities.
Debbie Mytels, 2824 Louis Road, supported the inititive
because it sent a message of hope to the children. Numerous
studies showed that children had many fears and worries about
their future and nuclear war. The provisions in the initia-
tive for an economic conversion commission were a reasonable
and rationale way to begin the effort. The four --year time
period would allow companies time for planning to lessen the
impact upon their employees and their own economic situation.
It would provide an opportunity to put the brains and talent
in`the community to work on other pressing social needs. It
was important to add Palo Alto's voice to how to convert to a
peace time economy. She urged that Council -put a statement
on the ballot in support of the nuclear weapons free zone.
Virginia Brink, 2471 Ross Road, spoke on behalf of the Womens
International League for Peace and Freedom, an organi.7ation
devoted to world peace since 1915. She read a statement from
Dr. Linus Pauling, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and the
Nobel Prize for Chemistry. "To advance the cause of peace
and disarmament, Palo Alto should be declared a nuclear free
zone. The City should join the growing number of nuclear
free zone communities." She urged that Council pass the
proposed ordinance without alteration.
Allen Perry, 4345 Silva Avenue, said many young people wanted
to help in the inititive as did people from Menlo Park and
Los Altos. Palo Alto needed to make a statement and take a
step in the right direction. The subject was too easy to
ignore and had been ignored for many years.
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Barbara Hart, 244 Byron, said children of all ages learned
their basic orientation from the important adults in their
life. In order to help children grow in confidence and trust
despite an element of deep uncertainty about the future, we
must take steps toward achieving a reasonably clear view of
what we stand for. Current research showed ways in which
children were affected and responded to the nuclear threat.
Firstly, there was a response to the actual physical threat,
and secondly, children were concerned that adults were doing
nothing about the threat. Even young children believed they
might not grow up and experience the future. Studies also
showed that children with parents who were actually involved
in studying the nuclear threat had hopes of success arid felt
less burdened. It was important that Palo Alto take a stand
for the children.
David Lee, 2120 Cowper Street, was a junior at Palo Alto High
School, and a member of the Palo Alto High School Peace Club.
Early in 1987, three members from the Peace Club circulated
petitions to make Palo Alto High School a nuclear free zone.
Within a period of about two weeks, they collected well over
500 signatures in support. It was then that the Palo Alto
High School Student Council overwhelmingly passed the nuclear
free zone proposal. He referred to talk that there was a lot
of despair and pessimism in todays youth, and, the actions of
the Palo Alto High School students might be` an indication
that the mood of the up and coming generation was one of
optimism. As the nuclear free zone proposal at Palo Alto
High School indicated, the students were not going to sit by
as nuclear weapons clouded their future and livelihood. The
Peace Club hoped the elected representatives of their parents
would follow suit by passing the ordinance.
Dwight Bolinger, 2718 Ramona Street, hoped the City Council
would adopt the nuclear free zone ordinance without putting
it off until November.
Herb Borock, 2731 Byron Street, said such a decision was
usually difficult for Council to make because it . c:olved
peoples livelihood. Mr Closson said his research wai•.- unable
to find any people within the City of Palo Alto who would be
immediately affected by the initiative. If there were no
such companies in Palo Alto, there should be no problem with
the City passing the ordinance. If theme were, the City had
a difficult choice. In April of_ -1982, five Council Members
supported a nuclear freeze. He realized the initiative was a
little different because rather than expressing an opinion,
Council had to -take an action which had some effect, He
urged that Council pass the ordinance.
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Michael Herrington, 1037 Amarillo, pleaded that Council con-
sider the future of life itself and the future of each mem-
ber of their family. He queried whether Council could let
economic interests, cost benefit, break e',ens and return on
investments cloud the issue of whether there should be a
future. He urged careful consideration.
Ted Salo, 3178 Ross Road, urged Council support of the ordi-
nance. Sooner or later something had to be done about the
nuclear issue.
Council Member Levy praised those who worked to qualify the
ifteasure as an initiative and was convinced Council would best
serve its constituents by allowing then to directly vote on
the matter.
Council Member Fletcher agreed with most of the sentiments
expressed. She was a member of many organizations dedicated
to the reduction or elimination of nuclear weapons. She
believed the country's priorities were skewed when it placed
a higher priority on the value of nuclear production than on
the welfare of the citizens. She supported putting the ini-
tiative on the ballot rather than adopting the ordinance that
evening because she believed the discussion during the course
of the campaign would be healthy and would focus more atten-
tion on the issue than if Council voted to adopt it that
evening. eThe facts necessary to make an intelligent decision
would be brought up and the extent of the nuclear production
and related issues would become public.
Council Member Klein agreed with almost every statement made
which was critical of the present nuclear policy. The criti-
cisms did not follow, however, that he should be in favor of
the nuclear free zone or that he should vote to enact the
ordinance as a Council. Member. Herb Borock correctly raised
the comparing of the nuclear free zone issue to the nuclear
freeze ordinance which Council adopted five years ago and
which he supported and co -sponsored. It was the proper role
for the City Council to take positions on major issues- such
as nuclear policy and to forward those positions to
Washington, D.C. where the policies were ultimately made. :He
did not believe it would be proper for the Palo. Alto City
Council to start enacting policies which seemed to be Palo
Alto's own foreign, defense policy. It did not make sense
because there was one national government for a good reason.-
Many of the speakers disparaged people in Washington and said
they had given up on them. He agreed but could not give up
because those people were -the ones Who would make the deci-
sions and it would; be true regardless of whether Palo Alto
enacted the! ordinance in November. In many ways, the effort
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however earnest\ was misplaced. The proper place for the
effort was to change the way people thought in Washington,
and the proper way to go about it was to try to elect an
administration in -November, 1988, and put people in high
levels of government that would change the way the government
acted. He did not believe the way to proceed was to enact an
ordinance that promised more than it could deliver. Palo
Alto would not be a nuclear free zone. It would be a dream
until things changed in Washington. They would still parti-
cipate in the nuclear weapons race in a variety of ways. He
feared all they would be doing by enacting the ordinance was
increasing the expenses of the City and getting involved in
silly discussions -•-as Marin Coenty presently was --as to
whether one could still buy IBM typewriters because IBM
participated in making nuclear weapons. He did not want to
see the City do that and worried that to a significant degree
they might be trivializing the movement. He would prefer to
see Palo Alto go in a clean, direct, constitutional way,
i.e., to elect an administration in November, 1988, that
would see things similarly. For that reason, he regretfully
.had to part company with the people with whom he otherwise
agreed or, where they were in the world and how they needed to
make changes.
MOTION PASSED unanimously,.
14. REQUEST OF MAYOR WOOLLEY AND COUNCIL MEMBER LEVY RE
SOLICITATION HOURS FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES (409)
Mayor Woolley noted her comments in the memo identified the
Cable Co-op but, in fact, the proposed ordinance would apply
to any commercial solicitor. The ordinance simply required
the residents would be notified by mail in advance of the
solicitation.
Lisa Van Dusen, 1868 Mark Twain, said an item relating to the
same topic was on the agenda recently, and it was because the
item was of great importance to Cable Co-op thot represen-
tatives from Cable Co-op met with Mayor Woolley, Council
Member Levy, and City Attorney Diane Northway to discuss a
solution that would_ meet the City's, City Council's, and
Cable Co-op's concerns. Before Counci.11 was the result of the
combined discussion. She thanked the participants, particu-
larly Council Member Levy, for .some creative thinking and
work on the matter. Th main reason the issue was so impor-
tant to Cable Co-op was because they felt their product was
sufficiently complex that they wanted an opportunity to
:personally explain it so people would understand what Cable
Co-op offered, and to match what was offered to people's
needs and interests. They used telemarke ting,.mail, etc.,
but those methods were secondary in communicating their
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message. Particularly, with telemarketing, they could only
reach about 60 percent of the people because only that many
had listed phone numbers. In any event, the hours were
important because people did not get home from work until at
least 6:00 p.m.
Council Member Cobb asked for a basis for treating Cable
Co-op differently from any other company that might choose to
do similar solicitations in the community.
Ms. Van Dusen did not believe the ordinance did that.
Mayor Woolley added a major concern of the City Attorney was
that the ordinance treat all commercial solicitation in
exactly the same manner. The City Attorney was satisfied the
ordinance provided equal treatment for everyone.
Ms. Van Dusen said basically everyone tried to come up with a
way treated everybody equally and which addressed the privacy
and safety issues concerned in solicitation. The time period
was limited and notification of both residents and the City
was included.
Council Member Patitucci had difficulty with the .issue. He
did not understand, with the amount of publicity any co-op in
Palo Alto was getting, why there was any difficulty whatso-
ever in communicating through media they did not have to pay
for or which they might pay for, and why they needed the
extra tool of invading the privacy of individuals who were in
their homes during the dinner hours. He found such occur-
rences so objectionable that he would hate to get the same
feeling about the Cable Co-op. He asked if Cable Co-op
believed the ordinance was an absolute necessity to their
marketing operation.
Ms. Van Dusen said Cable Co-op believed the ordinance was
very important. They had already sent out postcards to let
people know that cable was available. They were not in a
position to let the entire service area know cable was avail-
able at one time.
Council Member Patitucci asked if anything prohibited Cable
Co-op from leaving a slip of paper on the door, possibly with
a return mailer saying the service was available and to
return the self-addressed envelope if the resident wanted
someone to stop by and; giving a suitable time. Ms. Van Dusen
spoke to knocking on someone's door without notice to tell
them about Cable Co-op and asking them to subscribe.
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Ms. Van Dusen said basically Cable Co-op was sending out
postcards so people could either call to set up an appoint-
ment or say they preferred Cable Co-op not to come by. She
encouraged people to let Cable Co-op know if they were uncom-
fortable with a visit. The Cable Co-op was careful to
respect "no soliciting" signs and could not use door hangers
because they were not permitted.
MOTION: Mayor Woolley moved, seconded by Levy, to direct
the City Attorney to prepare an ordinance which would allow
commercial solicitation from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. pro-
vided:
1) The City is notified by the solicitor of the location and
time period of the solicitation;
2) The maximum solicitation period be six weeks for a par-
ticular location;
3) The residents to be solicited are notified by mail no
more than four weeks and no less than one day in advance;
and
4) An area is not solicited again for three months after the
close of the first solicitation.
Mayor Woolley commended the Cable Co-op for working with the
City Attorney in advance to get opinions and iron out wording
in order to clarify the ordinance and facilitate its prompt
return to Council. Since no Council meetings were scheduled
the following two weeks, the second reading would be when
Council returned in July and the Ordinance could go into
effect as soon as possible. She urged support of the motion
which had a one-year sunset clause so that Council would
evaluate the ordinance at the end of that period.
Council Member Fletcher was delighted to see the proposal
before Council to make it possible for the Cable. Co-op to
contact people personally. Nothing was as effective as
personal contact. Mail was often thrown out unopened, and
Co-op would need the personal contact in order to approach
the projected penetration. They needed Council's assistance.
If cable Co-op wiled, all of Palo Alto would lose a good
Cable service.
Council Member Cobb queried whether Council would pass such a
measure if not for the Cable Co-op.
Mayor Woolley said no.
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Council Member Cobb said it would not be just the Cable Co-op
that took advantage of the ordinance over the next year.
Mayor Woolley said nothing in the\ ordinance as written
limited it to the Cable Co-op.
Council Member Renzel also did not care to be bothered at
hose; nevertheless, she had knocked on a good many doors for
political reasons and felt strongly it was .important the pub-
lic be able to do so. The proposed ordinance was not apt to
result in many solicitors at everyone's door. It was not
easy to send out advance notice within a very short time
frame and during the one-year period, the maximum number of
times one could receive a solicitation appeared to be four.
A person had the option to request nobody came by. She
queried whether there should be a requirement that the notice
offer a phone number where someone could request no solici-
tors. Her solution when bothered at home was to say "No,
thanks," and close the door which did not take a lot of time.
The advance notice eliminated some of the security woccy.
She supported the motion which would eliminate many of the
problems previously addressed.
Council Member Levy supported Council. Member Renzel's state-
ment and believed the motion was a fair compromise between
.intrusion on privacy and notification ahead of time. With
that in mind, Council was being fair to the home owners by
giving .;.advance notice, limiting the amount time, and not
allowing solicitors to repeat quickly. The ordinance was
clearly difficult enough that it was not going to be used
very much, but would apply to anyone who wanted to contact
home owners within Palo Alto,
Council Member. Patitucci believed Council Member Cobb's ques-
tion was relevant. He saw perfectly reasonable Council
Members concerned about the privacy of Palo Alto citizens
trying to accommodate the Cable Co-op when they admitted they
would not for any other enterprise. Council set up Cable
Co-op as an arm's length operation that had to make it on
their own, not with the City bending over backwards to pave
the way for the operation to get benefits otherwise unavail-
able to other businesses in the community. The Co-op was a
business separate from the City. It was not an arm of City
government, and Council should not be giving them special
favors, but should give them an opportunity to prove they
could do what they said they were going to do, which was to
be successful without extraordinary help from the City of
Palo Alto.. Council might consider something extraordinary if
there were problems later on, but the motion was currently
inappropriate,
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Vice Mayor Sutorius agreed with- Council Member Patitucci in a
generic sense. The City would be prenotified and there would
be the mail notice. The marketing effort would not just
occur between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. It was basically mid-
morning and into the evening. It was perceived that the City
of Palo Alto made the cable television decision and was the
reason why it was so long in coming. He was on the premises
when cable was installed in another community. The experi-
enced cable company tried to explain to a sophistocated sub-
scriber over the telephone what the cable' television would
provide and how it would be arranged. It took three visits
and multiple telephone calls before the frustrated subscriber
understood what was involved. He did not believe Palo Alto
wanted to take such risks by avoiding a reasonable ordinance
change with a sunset clause. He encouraged Council Member
Patitucci to consider that Council was not trying to involve
itself with the Co -Op but was trying to recognize the sub-
scriber 4ouid have a shot at better understandin g cable and
be able to make a decision.
MOTION PASSED by a vote of 7-2, Cobb, Patitucci voting
"no."
15. REQUEST OF COUNCIL MEMBERS COBB, KLEIN AND PATITUCCI RE
CREATIQN OF A CITIZENS' COMMITTEE FOR PASSAGE OF UTILITY
USERS TAX (705-87-08)
Mayor Woolley announced that she would not participate in the
item due to a conflict of interest.
MOTION: Council Member Klein moved, seconded by Cobb, to
create a citizens' committee for passage of the Utility Users
Tax and the Gann override to consist of 14 members, one-half
to be appointed by the Palo Alto Unified School District
Board of Trustee's if it so desires, and one-half to be
appointed by the Vice Mayor and two members of the Council.
Council Member Klein said since the Council initiated putting
the matter on the ballot, it seemed appropriate to get the_
campaign going by creating the nucleus of the citizens' com-
mittee and letting them carry the ball the rest of the way.
it was important to emphasize that no funds from the City,be
spent which was why the motion included that the committee
would be appointed by the Vice Mayor and two other members of
the Council so no money would be spent by the City on adver-
tising. The committee was not intended .to be exclusive and
it -was stated that, the, committee would appoint additional
members as it saw fit.
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Vice Mayor Sutorius said Council Members Klein, Patitucci and
Cobb discussed the matter with the City Attorney and were
clear that the City would not be the action members of the
committee although individual Council Members were free to be
a member either through the initial process or expansion.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Woolley "not participating.*
Vice Mayor Sutorius requested Council Members Renzel and
Klein work with him on the manner and process by which candi-
dates were identified. He encouraged all Council Members to
provide input.
ADJOURNMENT
Council adjourned at 11:22 p.m,
ATTEST:
APPROVED:
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