Important Issues

Infrastructure

Palo Alto provides an amazing breadth of services. Yet our city is in need of many updated facilities. The City hasn’t built a new city building in over thirty years. We must improve our public safety building and our libraries. We must maintain our parks and reduce the 20-year street repair backlog which faces the City today. We must engage our school district to explore innovative ways for sharing facilities, such as libraries, theatres, swimming pools, and meeting rooms. And by implementing the fiber-to-the-home network the City has invested in, we can attract innovative and leading-edge companies to Palo Alto and provide a tool for our residents that enables better remote work capabilities and reduces car trips.

Public Safety Building

I was proud to serve on the Blue Ribbon Task Force for the proposed new public safety building and have toured Palo Alto’s facility along with those in Santa Clara and Redwood City. While many of our citizens may never step inside this facility, its importance to our community should not be underestimated. The existing building does not meet today’s standards. We must build a modern, seismically-safe facility to guarantee that our public safety officers will be able to respond in the event of an emergency. A modest increase in square footage will eliminate existing problems protecting evidence and providing privacy for juvenile offenders. A new facility will enable a state-of-the-art emergency response system that will serve the needs of all our citizens.

Libraries

It has been fifty years since the residents of Palo Alto invested in libraries. It is time to make that investment again.

The library at Mitchell Park is the most used in Palo Alto, with over 1000 visitors per day, and it is in the worst shape. It is one-third the size of what it should be and has only one-half of the number of books it needs to serve its patrons. The main and downtown libraries need capital improvements, such as lighting and ventilation, and more public space.

The construction of a new library and community center at Mitchell Park and improvements to the main and downtown libraries will meet the current and future needs of our diverse and well-educated community.

Housing

As a realtor, I am keenly aware of how highly valued Palo Alto’s unique quality of life is and how important it is to maintain it. Like all vibrant cities, Palo Alto is going to experience growth. Managing that in a measured way requires creating a sustainable level of development that can be supported without straining our infrastructure, facilities, and our schools.

I support a variety of housing opportunities for all income ranges, especially for our seniors, while preserving the unique character of our existing neighborhoods. I believe in smart growth principles and will be an advocate for in-fill housing since it protects open space and concentrates housing along corridors to encourage people to walk, bicycle, and use public transportation, leaving their cars at home.