Upfront CITY COUNCIL
Palo Alto to ask residents for ‘value’ judgment City Council to seek community input in determining official ‘core values’
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hat are Palo Alto’s core values? If you understand the question and have an answer, the City Council is all ears. Council members agreed on Monday, Sept. 30, that “core values” should be enduring, if not “timeless,” and that they should guide all council decisions. But after an hour-long discussion of this lofty question, the council balked at actually adopting any values and instead kicked off a community exercise aimed at harnessing the wisdom of the crowd. The issue of values came up thanks to the council’s decision in February to decouple abstract and idealistic concepts like “financial sustainability” and “youth wellbeing” from its list of annual priorities and to redefine “priorities”
to mean actionable items with a shelf life of one to three years. Core values would be far less ephemeral and a little more global. Earlier this year, Mayor Greg Scharff, Councilwoman Liz Kniss and City Manager James Keene drafted a preamble that defines core values as “foundational and ongoing (timeless)” and which would “inform the Council’s decisions and staff actions every day and in every applicable encounter.” They proposed a list of five core values: quality of life; safe and healthy communities; stewardship (financial and environmental); open government and civic participation; and innovation and entrepreneurship. The council quickly agreed on Monday to set aside the list in favor of a more inclusive approach.
by Gennady Sheyner Members reasoned that adopting “civic participation” as a core value without any civic participation in the decision would be an unfortunate irony. With that in mind, the council voted 7-0, with Kniss and Councilwoman Gail Price absent, to reach out to the people for help and to revisit the question early next year, at the council’s next annual retreat. This outreach was proposed by Councilman Marc Berman, who pointed out that it’s the “core values of the community” that are being adopted, not “the core values of the council.” Berman proposed using an online tool that allows residents to submit their ideas on the city’s core values. Outreach could also include a whiteboard set up in the City Hall lobby, Berman said. The exercise, he said,
will give the council “a unique and awesome and exciting opportunity to engage the public.” Councilman Pat Burt agreed, though he suggested that expecting these values to be “timeless” is a little over the top. “Enduring” is more like it, he said. Setting these values, he said, will require “in-depth discussion” among council members and with the community. Councilwoman Karen Holman proposed that the city adopt as an overarching “bedrock” principle the idea that the council serves the will of the people. She cited a placard in front of City Hall with the Henry Clay quote, “Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees; and both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people.” Her colleagues took no issue
with this idea. By a 7-0 vote, they directed staff to come up with an outreach plan to the community, which would include language describing the purpose of the exercise — to gauge the will of the people. Staff is scheduled to present this plan to the council in November. Keene, meanwhile, emphasized the need to reach out to a broad spectrum of the community before adopting the values. “I think if we’re going to do this, we ought to do it in a way that tries to capture a lot of attention, so we don’t have just the people who know how to access City Hall to be expressing it — that’s a limited perspective,” Keene said. N Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com.
HOMELESSNESS
City weighs subsidizing housing for homeless After banning vehicle dwelling, City Council to consider $250,000 in aid for homeless
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$250,000 for programs to support the city’s homeless population, which a recent Santa Clara County Homeless Census pegs at 157. The program would target the most at-risk homeless individuals, those who have had contact with the criminal-justice system and have a high chance of recidivism. The county offers grants to provide “permanent supportive housing” to these individuals, which includes ongoing rental subsidies and a case manager who will steer their clients toward permanent, non-subsidized housing. The city’s contributions,
by Gennady Sheyner $125,000 a year for two years, would pay the case manager’s salary, supplies and travel expenses and create a “flex fund” used for such things as bus passes, application fees, cell phones to enable connection between the manager and client, interim housing options, security deposits and move-in assistance, according to a report from the Community Services Department. The staff recommendation was based on discussion with the recently formed Palo Alto Homeless Services Task Force, a coalition of nonprofits including InnVision
Open space
a provision to work with cities on wildlife corridors in urban areas and to locate and save more open space within cities. Making improvements to open space, such as interpretive centers and other educational features, is important, but director Larry Hassett cautioned against creating too many facilities that would detract from the core value of open space: creating open, free green corridors. General Manager Stephen Abbors said the plan’s concept of additional “facilities” means designing more family-oriented spaces such as trails that lead to open fields to allow children to romp freely — adding “trails and a bench — not gazebos.” Board members agreed. “This is an area of different cultures. Families aren’t four people anymore; they are 20 people getting together for gatherings,” Director Jed Cyr said. The board also considered the
pitfalls of too widely expanding the district’s role. A vague definition of what the district would protect as “culturally significant” could quickly lead to confusion. While most people would agree to preserve a Native American burial ground, deciding which structures on acquired properties would be saved or razed is a more complex issue, directors said. The workshop will continue on Oct. 9 at 6 p.m. with directors reviewing the 74 specific projects. A series of public workshops begins on Oct. 21. Workshops take place as follows and will focus on preserves in these specific areas: Oct. 21: San Mateo Coast/Half Moon Bay regions — Hatch Elementary School, 490 Miramontes Ave., Half Moon Bay, from 6 to 9 p.m. Oct. 28: Los Gatos Foothills and Sierra Azul regions — West Valley College, 14000 Fruitvale Ave., Saratoga, from 6 to 9 p.m. Nov. 4: Cupertino Foothills
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the Hawthorn area of Windy Hill with new trails to the Portola Valley trail system; improving access to the Spring Ridge Trail at Windy Hill; reopening closed areas at Russian Ridge and increasing access to vistas and other areas through new trails; reopening a closed section of Alpine Road as a regional trail connection between Portola Valley and Skyline Boulevard; improving trail connections and completing the Bay Area Ridge Trail near La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve; fully opening La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve to the public; developing new El Corte Madera Creek trails at the parking area; improving baylands trail connections with East Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Palo Alto; and working with East Palo Alto on its Cooley Landing project. The directors suggested adding
Shelter Network and the Community Working Group. It uses a “housing first” approach, which prioritizes stable shelter for the person, after which a case manager would coordinate or provide “mental health, social work, educational, health care, vocational, housing, transportation, advocacy, respite care and recreational services, as needed.” Each case manager would be charged with locating and assessing a client, arranging for a housing voucher and preparing a client for housing, according to the staff report. The case manager would
then find a landlord willing to rent to the client despite the possible extenuating circumstances and then either help to “stabilize” a client in housing so that he or she can hold on to the housing despite the various obstacles or help transition the client to a non-subsidized housing. These obstacles, according to the report, include substance abuse, mental-health issues, disabilities, hygiene, past evictions, criminal history and lack of additional income. The council meeting will begin at 6 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 7, at City Hall, 250 Hamilton Ave. N
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ith Cubberley Community Center now off-limits to Palo Alto’s vehicle dwellers, city staff is proposing a program that would offer long-term shelter and case management to at least 20 homeless individuals. The proposal, which the City Council will consider Monday, is a response to the council’s decision on Aug. 19 to close Cubberley at night and a separate decision earlier that month to ban people from living in their cars in Palo Alto. In approving the Cubberley restrictions, the council also committed
Woodside Priory students hike the summit of Windy Hill Open Space Preserve in May 2012. Among the top priorities of the Midpeninsula Open Space Preserve District’s vision plan is opening up the Hawthorn area of Windy Hill with new trails to the Portola Valley trail system. and Skyline regions — Graham Middle School, 1175 Castro St., Mountain View, from 6 to 9 p.m. Nov. 16: Cupertino Foothills and Bayfront regions — Fair Oaks Community Center, 2600 Middlefield Road, Redwood City,
from 1 to 4 p.m. More information on the project is available at www.openspace. org/imagine. N Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at sdremann@ paweekly.com.
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