1. Protect Our Community, Neighborhoods and Schools
2. Ensure Strong Fiscal Management and Accountability
3. Support a Vibrant Business Community

1. Protect Our Community, Neighborhoods and Schools

A. High-Speed Rail. We need to use all available means to vigorously oppose any High Speed Rail plan that calls for a 15–40-foot wall to be built through our neighborhoods, the taking of our residents’ homes through eminent domain and the division of our city once again as was done with Oregon Expressway. It is critically important that this issue be handled in a manner that protects the character of Palo Alto. Once the high speed rail is built, it will be impossible to fix the impacts on our quality of life. As an attorney and experienced litigator, I believe that I have unique skills to understand the complex issues that will be required to advocate for and protect our community’s interests.

B. Community and Schools. We need to protect our neighborhoods and schools from high-density residential development. A new regional approach to housing must be forged on a state and local level that addresses the issues without damaging the character of our community. We also need to create new bike paths throughout our city and improve our existing ones. Palo Alto can once again be a leader in having the best bike paths in the Bay Area, if not the state. We must protect the quality of life in our neighborhoods and strongly support our schools.

C. Sustainable Environmental Practices. We need to continue to improve and strengthen the City’s environmental policies and advocate for climate protection. I believe the City of Palo Alto, Stanford, Silicon Valley and the State are leading the way in addressing the complex issues of renewable energy, energy efficiency, water usage, air quality and land use. I want to use our collective experience and background to continue to work together to find solutions to these pressing issues.

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2. Ensure Strong Fiscal Management and Accountability

A. Fiscal Management. Palo Alto faces both a deficit and long-term fiscal problems. We must control city spending, lower costs and get pension and health care obligations on a sustainable footing. We need to streamline operations and eliminate positions where possible without compromising the quality of our city services. We need strong fiscal management, accountability and transparency. We will have long-term fiscal problems if unsustainable pension and health care benefits aren’t reduced. City pension costs have increased dramatically for SEIU and management employees over the last few years, in large part due to an enhanced pension formula. The City of Palo Alto by adopting “2.7% @ 55,” has provided benefit that if not reduced now, will result in unsustainable long-term obligations for the city that will cause a future of sustained fiscal crisis and declining city services. The retirement formula for city employees must be scaled back to 2% at 60 rather than the gold plated 2.7% at 55 granted to city employees in the last several years, which means that a city employee can retire at 55 and receive 2.7% of their highest salary worked times the number of years worked for life. This is simply too generous and a benefit that the city cannot afford. We also must control the spiraling costs of health care benefits. With costs far exceeding inflation and the general public paying an increasing share of its own health care costs, it is only fair that city employees begin picking up some of the costs of their coverage. The city cannot continue to pay 100% of its employee’s medical costs. We also need to look closely at the number of employees Palo Alto has in proportion to its neighboring cities and determine if we could be more efficient with our resources. It is simply shocking that Palo Alto could save $235,000 each and every year by simply having more competitive rates for landline telephone service and telecommunication lines. It is likely that there are other areas where substantial savings could be realized by strong fiscal management.

B. Transparency and Accountability. We also need open communication leading to greater civic engagement. The agenda and agenda reports must be available to the council, newspapers and public at least ten days before council meetings. We need fiscal responsibility, transparency and accountability.

C. Encourage Public/Private Partnerships. 
In this age of tight budgets and deceasing revenue, we need to encourage “Public/Private Partnerships” such as the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo, Palo Alto Art Center, Heritage Park and Lytton Plaza. Palo Alto is lucky to have a cadre of active citizens willing to give their time and money to improve our city. We need to encourage this generosity and improve our city through “Public/Private Partnerships.”

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3. Support a Vibrant Business Community

A. Increase Sales Tax Revenue to Support City Services. As a small business owner in Palo Alto, I understand the needs of business. We need to retain our existing businesses and bring new business to Palo Alto to increase our sales tax revenue and create a vibrant and healthy community to insure funding for the services we all want. We need to encourage high sales tax generating business to locate in Palo Alto and create a business- and service-oriented environment to promote Downtown, California Avenue, El Camino Real, Midtown, Charleston Center and our other neighborhood commercial areas. Downtown retail vacancy rates in Palo Alto are twice that of Menlo Park and Mountain View. Palo Alto needs to foster a culture at City Hall that supports local business, reenergizes our neighborhood shopping centers and promotes vibrant and thriving commercial areas. It should be an easy and pleasant experience to shop and do business in downtown Palo Alto. Business should feel that they are a welcome partner in our community and are receiving the support necessary to make our commercial areas fun and inviting places to spend time. We need to encourage high-sales-tax generating business to locate in Palo Alto and create a business and service-oriented environment to promote our commercial areas.

B. No on Measure A. I oppose “Measure A,” the current business license tax ordinance on the November 3 ballot. It HURTS SMALL BUSINESS, is poorly drafted, overly broad and not consistent with the tax levels of our neighboring cities in Santa Clara County. Furthermore, the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce does not support it. Redwood City, for instance, also has a business license tax that is far more modest and better drafted on the ballot this November that is supported by its Chamber of Commerce. The business license tax as currently drafted will not go into effect until 2011. Palo Alto should defeat Measure A, and, if a business license tax is truly necessary for the fiscal health of our city, the council should work closely with the business community to come up with a business license tax that is more in character with our neighbors in Santa Clara County and has the support of the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce. We need to look at better, more positive solutions that support our small businesses, not burden them.

C. Support the Stanford Hospital and Children’s Hospital Seismic Upgrade and Expansion. The Stanford Hospital and Lucile Packard Children Hospital Renewal and Replacement Project will provide at least $139M in community benefits, and it will make the hospital seismically safe and insure that Palo Alto’s residents continue to have access to the best medical care in the world. We need to work with Stanford to ensure the success of this project, which is critical to the continued high quality of health care the residents of our city have come to expect. We of course need to critically review the traffic impacts and insure that they are mitigated.

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