Palo Alto Online: Election 1999

Palo Alto City Council candidates
Two-year City Council seats

JIM BURCH
Age: 73
Residence: Hemlock Court
Occupation: Retired vice president, BBDO Advertising
Background: Full-time volunteer and trustee, Foundation for Global Community, 1974-present; president, San Alma Homeowners Association.
Historic preservation: Burch supports the ordinance passed by the City Council in June and will vote to retain it in the voter referendum in March. "I think it is a good one, based on the Department of the Interior guidelines and similar to others used throughout California. ... It needs to be administered with common sense."
Design review: Burch supports replacing the city's voluntary design review system for single-family homes with a mandatory program, required for both developers and homeowners making significant changes to a home.
Development: The proposed Hyatt Rickeys redevelopment and the Peninsula Creamery project on High Street are too large for their respective neighborhoods, Burch said. If elected, he would vote both down in their current form, particularly the rental unit component of Rickeys.
Traffic: "We should be willing to try a variety of ideas, willing to have some fail and others succeed. Traffic is too important to be constantly studied without effecting real changes." He supports a variety of alternative transportation systems and "traffic calming" measures to slow cars traveling through residential neighborhoods.

PHYLLIS CASSEL
Age: 58
Residence: Wellsbury Way
Occupation: Registered nurse, VA Medical Center
Background: Palo Alto Planning Commissioner, 1993-present; board of directors, League of Women Voters of Palo Alto, 1990-93.
Historic preservation: Cassel supports the historic preservation ordinance passed by the City Council in June and will vote to retain it in the March referendum.
Design review: Before making any decision, Cassel says, the City Council must first review current zoning regulations for single-family homes. Cassel says changing the zoning, for example, to allow homeowners to build larger single-story homes instead of adding a second floor could make mandatory design review unnecessary.
Development: Cassel opposes the proposed Hyatt Rickeys development. "The buildings are too massive and do not blend in size to the single-family homes on Wilkie Way. The traffic flow appears to be unrealistic." Cassel voted in favor of the Peninsula Creamery project when it came before the Planning Commission, though she noted her discomfort with its size. Cassel says she would vote against the plan as a City Council member because she believes the proposed development is too large.
Traffic: "We must stop talking about alternative transportation in fuzzy warm terms and get down to the nuts and bolts." Cassel supports "priority relief" traffic calming for neighborhoods with cut-through traffic from Highway 101.

BOB MOSS
Age: 65
Residence: Orme Street
Occupation: Engineer, Space Systems Loral
Background: Cable Co-op board of directors; treasurer, Barron Park Association; secretary, PA-ComNet; chair, Community Association of Neighborhoods; created graffiti abatement program in Palo Alto.
Historic preservation: Moss supports the historic preservation ordinance passed by the City Council in June and will vote to retain it in the March referendum. "After all that thrashing, I think (the ordinance) is a reasonable approach. I would prefer more designation of houses, with more at categories three or four" (in which notable homes are recognized but are subject to very few controls and are eligible for only limited preservation incentives). Moss thinks more than half of the possible 800 historic homes in Palo Alto should fall into these categories.
Design review: "I have been advocating some type of single-family design review for more than 25 years." He favors a mandatory process for anyone remodeling more than 50 percent of their home. He proposes that developers go through a formal review of their plans with the city's Architectural Review Board while homeowners would have their plans reviewed by city staff.
Development: Moss opposes both the proposed Hyatt Rickeys development and the proposal for the Peninsula Creamery site, citing the large size of both projects and their potential impact on traffic.
Traffic: To reduce traffic, Moss proposes the city establish bus routes from residential neighborhoods to businesses during peak hours and to commercial and shopping areas in the midafternoon and evening. To slow traffic in residential neighborhoods, Moss supports starting trial "traffic calming" programs in the one or two areas where speeding and cut-through traffic are most severe.

CRAIG WOODS
Age: 40
Residence: Webster Street
Occupation: Vice president, Ordinate Corp.
Background: President, 700-household Palo Alto Homeowners Association.
Historic preservation: Woods opposes the ordinance and will vote to repeal it in the March referendum. "The goal of the ordinance is flawed in that it takes a protectionist approach. The goal should be to encourage the restoration of homes." Woods supports regulations that would apply, only with the homeowners' consent, to a single category of homes that meet national register guidelines.
Design review: Woods opposes any design review process to regulate architectural style. "The style of a home is a personal choice."
Development: Woods does not support the proposed Hyatt Rickeys development. "The current process has ignored the residents and failed to involve them in the decision-making process." He also opposes the proposed Peninsula Creamery project. "I would vote against it in its current form."
Traffic: To address traffic problems, Woods says the city should devote more resources to alternate transportation options, including the city shuttle, biking and a better mass transit system.

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