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Fourteen candidates -- four lawyers, two Realtors, two school volunteers, three consultants, a retired property manager, a concert promoter and a panhandler -- are vying for five open seats on the nine-member Palo Alto City Council this fall.

After Election Day on Nov. 3, at least four (possibly five) candidates will be elected to the council for the first time. Aside from incumbent Councilman Larry Klein, who has spent 12 years on the council, including eight in the 1980s, none of the candidates have served on the city's top legislative body before.

And only one other (Karen Holman) has taken what used to be the traditional route to the council -- prior service on other city boards and commissions.

Yet the field this year has a wealth of volunteers with experience in community organizations and the school district, including one former school-board member, Gail Price.

The candidates are vying for Klein's seat as well as those of Mayor Peter Drekmeier, Vice Mayor Jack Morton, and council members John Barton and Yoriko Kishimoto. Morton and Kishimoto will reach their term limits at the end of this year, while Drekmeier and Barton have opted not to seek second terms.

Over the past three months or so, the candidates -- Klein, Corey Levens, John Hackmann, Greg Scharff, Leon Leong, Dan Dykwel, Price, Nancy Shepherd, Holman, Brian Steen, Tim Gray, Christopher Gaither, Mark Weiss and Victor Frost -- have been soliciting signatures, shaking hands and explaining their positions at forums, in questionnaires and during street encounters. (View a map of where the candidates live in Palo Alto).

They have interviewed at local newspapers and, in some cases, attended council meetings to talk on issues about which they're particularly passionate.

The winners will face a city impacted by regional issues as well as home-town concerns:

* a projected $10 million gap in the city budget;

* the proposed high-speed rail line;

* a composting operation that will soon be displaced;

* the massive expansion of Stanford Hospitals and Clinics;

* ongoing concern over the emotional and mental health of the community's teenagers;

* a stalled effort to give the Palo Alto Police Department bigger headquarters;

* continuing concerns over traffic and high-density housing; and more.

Over the next two weeks, Palo Alto Online will post brief profiles of all 14 candidates for Palo Alto City Council, which are featured in random order. In addition, video interviews of the candidates will be posted next week.

Here is the first of a two-part series.

■ Brian Steen

■ Mark Weiss

■ Leon Leong

■ Larry Klein

■ Dan Dykwel

■ Nancy Shepherd

■ Chris Gaither