Reflecting both the energy and optimism of the community and some discontent about the current council, an unprecedented 15 candidates are running to fill three slots on the East Palo Alto City Council.

Among the 15 are three incumbents: Vice Mayor Duane Bay, Patricia Foster and R.B. Jones. This is Foster's first election, since she was appointed to the council in 1999 when Rose Jacobs Gibson was named to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.

R.B. Jones is facing trial early next year on multiple felony bribery and other charges relating to his conduct in office. In spite of our admiration for the work he has done to help lead East Palo Alto out of financial difficulty, we cannot support him under the circumstances. The cloud hanging over him, and indirectly the entire city government, is simply too much of a liability at a time when the council must focus on the fragile rebuilding that is in progress.

Duane Bay, a program director for the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County, has repeatedly proven himself to be a thoughtful and visionary leader of the community, particularly on housing, planning and economic development issues. Foster, although new on the council and still learning, brings her background as a consultant for nonprofits and as an affordable housing advocate to the position. With Bay, she embodies a quieter style of leadership that we think the council needs.

For the third opening, we recommend Everardo Luna, a Latino who served on the Human Resources Commission before the council disbanded it and who has lived in East Palo Alto for the last 13 years. Luna is the youngest of three Latinos running as a slate of candidates and impresses us as one of a new generation of potential leaders emerging in the community that should be encouraged. He worked as a police cadet for the Sheriff's office and helped with the gang task force. Currently, he works for United Parcel Service. With Latinos making up over half the population of East Palo Alto, we think it's critically important to bring representation of this constituency onto the City Council.

There are several other candidates we find capable and qualified to serve. Ayodele Ankoanda-King grew up in East Palo Alto, was student body president at Menlo-Atherton High School and recently graduated from Harvard University in business management. David Woods is a planning commissioner and real estate broker for 14 years. Samuel Rasheed is currently president of the board of the East Palo Alto Sanitary District and an analyst for the Port of Oakland. And Donna Rutherford is a Ravenswood school board member and a social rehabilitation coordinator.

It is a true testament to the progress that East Palo Alto has made over the last few years that so many candidates have emerged to seek office, and it is especially significant that several younger candidates without a history of involvement in the city's factional politics of the past have stepped forward.

We recommend Duane Bay, Pat Foster and Everardo Luna as the best mix of experience, enthusiasm and freshness to continue East Palo Alto's impressive march forward.