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Election Preview
Editorial: Ojakian, Burch, Freeman, Morton
and Graves for Council
In a Palo Alto City Council race more remarkable
for its undercurrents and nuances invisible to the average voter
than for its sharp differences over issues, voters are faced with
some tough choices in filling the five seats up for grabs.
The names of 14 candidates appear on the ballot,
although one, Paul Forbes, has dropped out of the race. The remaining
13 are incumbents Jim Burch, Vic Ojakian and Sandy Eakins; and challengers
Hillary Freeman, Jack Morton, Pria Graves, Yoriko Kishimoto, Chris
Kelly, Mark Sabin, Litsie Indergand, Wei Wang, Victor Frost, Edmund
Power. With the exception of Wang, Frost and Power, whose lack of
experience simply make them unqualified to serve, it is a remarkable
group of committed, well-informed residents.
To understand the dynamics of this race, one must go back to the
last election in 1999, held in the midst of great community division
over the appropriateness of historic-home regulation, the search
for a new city manager and many lingering bad feelings about the
city's handling of the 1998 flood and a staff proposal to close
three branch libraries, among other things.
At that time, four strong challengers, each with plenty of criticism
of the Council and the lack of strong leadership, won seats: Bern
Beecham, Judy Kleinberg, Nancy Lytle and Jim Burch. Only one incumbent,
Dena Mossar, who had been elected in 1997 to fill the remaining
two years of Joe Simitian's term, chose to run for reelection, and
finished third behind Kleinberg and Lytle.
Now it is Vic Ojakian and Sandy Eakins who must run on the record
of the Council of the last four years-certainly not an enviable
task. (Burch, who was elected in 1999 to finish the term of Micki
Schneider, has served just two years.)
Although there are some major differences among the challengers
in terms of their experience and record of community service, their
campaign platforms are not markedly different and, as frequently
happens, they all start to sound pretty similar at campaign forums.
But what candidates and their supporters are saying about each
other outside of public forums suggests continuing anger and resentment
among plenty of Palo Alto residents over how government is working
in our community and who is and isn't well represented on the Council.
Two grass-roots organizations, Libraries Now! and Save Our Schools
and Community Assets (SOSCA), each closely allied with City Council
member Nancy Lytle, have formed during the last two years and have
developed a significant following. The two groups and their members,
in general, express great frustration with what they view as a lack
of effective leadership on the council and school board, a tendency
to control and contain debate over issues rather than reach out
for greater public participation, and a bureaucratic and process
orientation that stands in the way of decision-making.
To some extent, the undercurrents of this campaign reflect the
feeling that a major segment of the community -- families with school-age
children who make the most use of city programs and services --
are impatient and dissatisfied with city government. But there is
also a feeling simply that new, more action-oriented leadership
is needed, regardless of what demographic segment it may come from.
We share many of these concerns about the direction of the council
over the last several years -- although we also know that collaboration
and consensus-building is a far better strategy for success in Palo
Alto than confrontation and manipulation of information, both of
which we have seen employed by critics.
It's much easier to be on the outside criticizing than to be on
the inside with the responsibility of balancing trade-offs and crafting
solutions for the entire community. And, it's worth noting that
almost half the council was new two years ago; the development of
effective leadership takes some time.
With these dynamics in mind, we recommend incumbents Vic Ojakian
and Jim Burch, and challengers Hillary Freeman, Jack Morton and
Pria Graves as the best group to move us forward.
Ojakian and Burch have both distinguished themselves on the council
as solution-oriented and open to new ideas. They are solid anchors
on a council that needs to hear their reflective voices of reason,
and they both have strong ties to different segments of the community.
While we have the greatest respect for incumbent and current mayor
Sandy Eakins, in balancing her record of the last five years with
the attraction of being able to allow three newcomers seats on the
Council, we must reluctantly opt for the latter. In an atmosphere
of fairly acute community criticism of city government, new voices
will bring new and fresh approaches and allow for different constituencies
to have a more direct voice. We need that now.
Among the challengers, Pria Graves is the best-informed and has
most closely followed the council over the last several years. As
a neighborhood (College Terrace) activist, she believes strongly
in listening and working with neighborhoods and believes the council
needs to be more proactive in protecting neighborhoods from change
driven by developers. She was an active proponent of the failed
historic-preservation ordinance, but she has learned from the debacle
that a mandatory ordinance will not work for Palo Alto. Graves is
strong and independent, and will be quickly effective as a new council
member, particularly as the council amends the city's zoning laws
to conform with the Comprehensive Plan.
Through his involvement in many non-profit organizations as a
board member or accountant, including the Winter Lodge, Jack Morton
has personally experienced so much dissatisfaction with city government
that he finally decided to run himself. Time and time again he has
seen the city bureaucracy put hurdles in front of important and
well-meaning community groups instead of embracing their projects
and providing assistance. As a long-standing and active community
member and a certified public account, Morton should be in an excellent
position to deal with the challenging economic times that lie ahead.
Hillary Freeman has the energy and perspective to become a future
influential force on the Council -- or not -- depending whether
she turns out to be the independent problem-solver she says she'll
be. On paper, Freeman brings perfect credentials to the job: professional
experience as a business and sales manager for a high-tech company
with good analytical and management skills and a strong track record
of community service, mostly through youth or public school organizations
and programs.
Her campaign rhetoric has focused on reaching out and listening
to all segments of the community, but as a member of Libraries Now!
and a close friend of council member Nancy Lytle, we have some concerns
about her ability to step into her new role of representing the
entire community. As a parent of two school-age children, Freeman
would become another needed voice for similar families in the community.
But the real test will be whether she can use her talents to build
council and community consensus rather than simply be an advocate.
Among the other candidates there is plenty to find appealing.
Yoriko Kishimoto has been active in transportation and environmental
issues for years, served on the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee
and has been president of both the Palo Alto Civic League and the
University South Neighborhood Association. Chris Kelly is an attorney
who worked in the Clinton Administration and then moved here two
years ago to join a law firm and then soon left to join a start-up.
He's bright and has plenty of ideas, but he has no community experience
and is simply too new to be a top contender. Litsie Indergand has
a long record of community activities, focused primarily on the
homeless. She is treasurer of the Community Working Group that intends
to build a homeless center. Mark Sabin is the chair-elect of the
Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce, chaired the Chamber's Government
Action Committee and is sales manager for a corporate training company.
Palo Alto is extremely fortunate to have the caliber of candidates
willing to endure week after week of late-night meetings and the
intensity of Palo Alto politics. In the end, our hope is for a council
that can more effectively work together, hold the staff more accountable
and reach out more deliberately to all segments of the community
in reaching its decisions.
We believe Vic Ojakian, Jim Burch, Pria Graves, Jack Morton and
Hillary Freeman are the best candidates to make that happen.
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