My Priorities
I believe that my passion for Palo Alto and my 17 years of experience make me the best candidate to ensure that all residents and local businesses are heard as we continue to grow. Palo Alto is now subject to over 100 new state laws that restrict our ability to make many decisions locally regarding housing and growth. We need to work within those laws to provide and maintain truly affordable housing while preserving habitats, open spaces, parks, libraries, and other community services. We need to maintain our existing infrastructure, plan for growth, and invest in improving safety.
My top priorities as a council member are listed below.
Housing
The Bay Area badly needs truly affordable housing.
This need cannot be met simply by building more multimillion-dollar condos and apartments with astronomical rents. First, we need to preserve existing affordable, below-market-rate housing. I was a strong advocate of retaining the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park and the affordable units at the President Hotel. Projects that displace lower-income residents to build luxury hotels or high-end housing are not a net benefit to Palo Alto. Second, as a former renter, I strongly support policies to ensure that renters are treated fairly and not subject to arbitrary eviction or extortionate rent increases. This is critical in a city where nearly half of the population are renters. I was a strong supporter on the planning commission for increased renter protections.
Finally, we need to support the construction of truly affordable housing. This will be difficult to do given the cost of construction and the laws focused on market rate housing, but my long experience with land use and planning means that I am the best candidate to help navigate these issues. I will not accept donations from large developers: Palo Alto is a community not a commodity.
Public Safety
I support returning both Fire and Police employment to pre-Covid employment numbers so people are safe in their homes and on our streets. I also support expanding the budget for code enforcement to make it more responsive to concerns.
Local Business
We need to do a better job of supporting our local businesses – especially retail and services. We all treasure Palo’s Alto’s wide variety of shops, services, and restaurants but we need to give the owners of these businesses more of a voice. We need to act with more urgency so that our business districts do not continue to deteriorate. Making small business easily accessible to customers is key, including more bike lanes, adequate parking, and attractive outdoor public spaces.
Environment
Palo Alto should continue to be a leader in protecting the environment and responding to global climate change. I believe that environmental leadership begins at home – I have been a vocal advocate for dedicating our undedicated park land within Palo Alto to retain the open spaces that we all enjoy. I have worked to protect the urban canopy both as a treasured city amenity and to provide wildlife habitat, shade, and carbon sequestration. I support the electric grid modernization initiative. I also support mandating best building practices that help protect wildlife and efforts to address sea level rise. I will also work to protect our creeks and riparian habitat.
A Voice for Residents and Businesses
I will work to ensure that the residents and small businesses of Palo Alto will have strong voices in determining the future of our city. In my time as commissioner, I have never turned away a resident or local business that has asked for assistance. I will continue this policy and will hold regular office hours and will actively seek input from you and your neighbors.
We are the beneficiaries of decades of efforts and forward thinking by both elected officials and citizen volunteers who helped create the Palo Alto that we love with its open spaces, great parks, libraries, tree canopies and great schools. We owe it to future generations of Palo Altans to bequeath them a city that remains a great place to raise children, to nurture dreamers, to protect the natural environment and is welcoming to all.