HomeMy WebLinkAbout0102.091January J, 199.1
The Honorable City council
Palo Alto, California
OQUMCiL PRIORITIES 70. 1.90 -lIK)L STATUS REPORT
Members of the council:
Report in Brief
This is an informational report and no Council action is requested.
The purpose of this report is to describe the progress that has
been made in recent .onths in the two subject areas selected by
Council as its highest priorities ~or 1990: Palo Alto's Economic
Future and SUbstance Abuse. Status reports such as this are
prepared on a periodio basis; this report summarizes activities
which have occurred subsequent to the last report (CMR: 369: 0, June
14, 1990.)
Progress to pate
Listed below are the two priorities selected by councll.
each priority statement is a summary of the activities
occurred in that area in the past several months.
PALO ALTO'S ECONOMIC FUTURE
Following
'Which have
Baco •• proactive in qui4inq Palo Alto'. economic futuze.
Dev.lop an .~onoaie .trategy.
To address this council priority, the Finance and Public Works
Committee decided on a ~orkplan with five major components: New
Revenues, Revenue Forecasting, Economic Outreach, Fiscal Impact of
Land Use Decisions, and. Redevelopment. Proqress in these areas
during the second half of 1990 is as follows:
For Revenue Forecasting, staff continues to accumulate and provide
information on sales and property tax revenues to council, and to
'Work with the Economic OUtlook Committee, which is composed of
representatives of the .ajor business and development interests in
the City.
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The Economic OUtlook Committee continues to mee·; quarterly as part
of tbe City/a economic outreach efforts. The latest meetings
covered the topics of sales tax, recycling and the procurement of
recycled ?roducts, redevelopment, economic analysis of land use,
alonq with qeneral ~iscussions of the local economic environment.
Minut~s trom those .eetings are forwarded to council.
Al~o in the area of Economic OUtraach, the Finance Director and
Planning Director have undertaken a comprehensive outreach effort
to the stanford Research Park, designed to foster better under
standing vi th the tenants of the Parlt as well as to provide
information tor the long-tera corporate planning project instituted
t>y tbe city lI!as>aqeJ:. The Jlliyor and key Jlta£f have undertaken a
related effort to visit top ex~cutives in the Park as well as other
selected industries in Palo Alto, to inquire. about hoW' the
companies' future plans may affect the city, and how the City can
m4ke them happier corporate citizens~ As a result of the apparent
effectiveness of this approach, the Council on December 17, 1990
authorized the. Mayor to organize and. initia.te a business task force.
co.prised of (1) key executives frOD selected Palo Alto companies,
(2) one or two council _ambers, (3) key city staff, (4) the Chamber
of commerce, {S) Stanford University, and (6) othe.rs as
appropriate~ The Mayor is to report back to the council in six
months on the status of the business task force~
In the area of Fiscal Impact ot Lend Use Decisions, the Finance and
Public Works Committee (F.PW) reviewed a staff report on revenue
impact analysis .and adopted a policy to require revenue impact
enalysis preparation for major development proposals requirinq
Comprehensive Plan and Zona Map changes as well as tor special area
studies~ The F'~~ Committee directed staff to obtain 5 consultant
to identify potential revenue opportunities in the City within the
context of existing City planninq policies and regulations. The
eonsultant will determine what actions .. ould be necessary to
maximize such revenue opportun1ties~
A staff report addressing potential redevelopment options available
to the City was submitted to the '&PW Committee in November 1990.
The committee directed staff to conduct a. special study of the
orba.n Lane Area to determine appropriate future use, development
and public improvements for th5t area.
several bills are being introduced for consideration in the 1991
.ession of the state Legislature which WOuld eliminate the lIIiany
sales and use tax exemptions that have been granted by the Legis-
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lalure over the years to special interests. Closure of the
axemptions would have a. very positive impact on City revenu-es.
When further information is available on 6pecific bills, staff will
ask Council to adopt positions of support.
SUBSTANCE ABUSE
a. Develop r.~o ... n4.tion. tor a long-tara coordinated
oo_unity-ylde strategy Whlcb illclu4ell aD .. phasis on
.~,t&Dc. abu •• preventioD, iaterveDtioD, aDd e4ucatioD
through the Palo Alto Substance ~u.. PreventioD
partnerahip tllat int.e<]rates !loth private an4 public:
fin&ncinq options.
b~ Obtaia a co .. itment 1roa .1a-peniDsul. qovernmental
aqeneias t.hllt ¥ou14 provide continued: support an4 f"un4inq
of" the reqional criainal apprebension t... concept and
provi4e recommendations for the most etrective orqani
aational structure under wbioh the t ... wou14 op.z.t.~
c .. nerever po •• ible, sbara proqraa experieru:::.. azuS
participatioh vit.b aeiqll!>oria; juria4ictioDa.
Subst.ance Abuse Partnership. As described in t..lte. previous progress
report# the Palo Alto Substance Abuse Prevention Partnership has
cOlDitted to hold monthly Executive committee meetings. The
Executive committee decided not to pursue funding at this time# but
bas instead concentrated its efforts on involvinq the whole
partnership in activities that move its agenda forward. The
partnership has formed several SUbcommittees where efforts will
focus on the following key areas;
o Drug-Free Wor~place Task
mechanisms of substance
environment.
Force -to study and implement
abuse mitigation in the work
o Legislative Issues Task Force -to target substance abuse via
regulatory, legislative and legal means.
o Development strategies Task Force -to develop fund raising
sources for the financing of drug reduction strateqies.
o Recovery Support Groups Task Force -to provide support
assistance to the recoverinq substance abuser.
o Youth-Adult Forum Task force -to establish substance abuse
information panels for appearances before youth groups,
assamblies and other qatherings.
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These task forces will bE meeting after the first of the year to
develop plans to~ addressing their particuler areas of focus. The
Htman senrices Division and the Police Oepartaent will be actlv-aly
participating on these task forces in addition to their membership
on the Executive Committee.
The Partnership is also exploring a variety ot additional community
cIruq and alcohol abuse strategies. These are still in the
formative development staqes, but hold considerable potential~
Criminal Apprehension Team 4 For the past three years, the Police
Oepartment has managed and supervised on a daily basis • regional
Criminal Apprehension Team (CAT). The Teal! concluded its operation
last June with an outstanding 1.004 arrests Qver the thirty-six
.ontb period. Peninsula police chiefs met in September to discuss
the future of CAT. ~~ile very pleased vith the Team's work, the
majority ot chiers could no longer provide officers due to other
pre~olnq demands~
The Police Department is noW' explorinq the possibility of an
approach similar to CAT, but reduced in scope. By workinq closely
with immediately surrounding agencies~ principally East Palo Alto,
the Police Department plans to devote a focused enforceaent effort
targeting street level n~rcotie6 dealers.
Red Ribbon Weel;. The second annual Red Ribbon Weelc took place
between october 20 and 27. Even more successful than in 1989. this
hlqh-profile public awareness af.fort eneompae-sedi a varie.ty of
events and included participants fro. throughout the City. A
8aapllng of SOBe of the Red Ribbon events includ.ed the Rally
Against Drugs, Healthy Lifestyles Fair, Parent-Teen Communication
sessions. the Drugs Aren't Fun Run and .. special nationally
televised ceremony featurinq anti-drug crusader C. W. Roddy of East
Palo Alto at a Stanford football game.
Red Ribbon Week has been funded and organized by concerned
community volunteers, most of whom are ~embers of the Palo Alto
Substance Abuse Prevention Partnership. This year's Week saw a
two-told increase in the number and. depth of events over last
year's Red Ribbon activities.
MtiE7,. The Police Department cont.inue.s to actively support the
Allied Agencies Narcotics Task Force (AANET), a county-wide drug
enforcement unit comprised of aembers from select police agencies
in ~nta Clara county. AANET is frequently called upon to assist
in narcotics investiqations and spends about seven percent of its
enforcement time on Palo Alto cases.
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DARE/Here'S Looking At You NOW, 2000. These drug abuse education
programs are geare~ toward elementary level students and focus on
substance abuse awareness" self esteem and coping: strateqies. They
are tauqht by police officers as well as teachers and are 'Well
received in the scbocls. These-efforts are coordinated throuqh the
PolIce Department's SChool Resource Officer program.
HUWAn Se;ryices Programs. The Human services Division of the
community Services Department supports through Resource Allocation
FUndinq the Community Be:51th Awareness Council {CHAC) and Palo Alto
AdQleacent Services. Both programs ofter psychological counselinq
for youth. The Police Department refers youth to the CF.AC program
via th. Department's Youth Diversion program.
Pal.o lito Adolescent services provides on-campus psychological
counseling for youth and their families. The Human Services
Division 1& working closely with Palo Alto Adolescent Services to
assess the feasibility of developing a comprehensive substance
abuse prograa. The orqanization has served more than double the
number of clients called for in their City contract for the first
quarter. with only one month of the school year occurring in the
first qua.rter .. the agency has seen 87 unduplicated clients in
individual and family counselinq. While this proqram is not
spe~ifically tarqeted to problems of substance abuse, this type of
problem is seen and th-a program serves to prevent future abuse
problems by dealing with family iS$ues in the initial staqes.
Finally .. the Youth Council has developed a ·Youth Survey· that
inclUdes questions about substance abuse and use among Palo Alto
youth and their fuilies.. This information will be used to enlist
cOlIlDunity involv9lDent in developing prevention and intervention
strateqies focused on particular aqe groups and specific drugs ..
pepartperrt of Transportation (001\ Drug Testing.. Because the City
operates its own gas distribution system, the DOT recently mandated
a druq testing program for certain employee categories. The imple
.entation of this program is currently in the negotiation process
between management and those unions affected.
conclusion
The Council selects priorities each calendar year in order to focus
attention and resources on issues of particular importance to the
city. The heightened activity often creates a momentUlII and new
proqrams which continue on beyond the end of the calendar year ..
although Cour~il aay DOve on to new priorities.
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Respectfully oubmitted,
I!t.. ':p': . VI~Jrn~
Aaaistant to the city "ana~er
Related staff report, CKR: 369: 0
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