Video

Photo

Gail Price is new to city politics, but the veteran urban planner, education volunteer and former Palo Alto Board of Education member isn't a stranger to public policy.

Price, 61, has spent decades scrutinizing major developments, analyzing transportation policies and shaping the city's education system. She spent eight years on the school board (terming out in 2007), where she supported district-wide fundraising, investigated leadership flaws in school administration, addressed school budgets and pushed for more efficient meetings.

She also demonstrated an independent mindset by oftentimes voting against the majority view. In 2006, she was the most vehement opponent of the intensely controversial Mandarin-immersion program for elementary students, which was approved by a 3-2 vote and is housed at Ohlone Elementary School.

Price also served on the City/School Liaison Committee and said both the City Council and the Board of Education would greatly benefit from more dialogue with each other.

But Price says it's her background in urban planning that makes her particularly well-suited for tackling the toughest issues on the City of Palo Alto's agenda -- issues that include the proposed high-speed rail system up the Peninsula, next year's scheduled update revision of the city's Comprehensive Plan (the city's grand vision for land use and transportation) and state mandates calling for nearly 3,000 new housing units to balance the city's jobs.

Price, who currently serves as executive director of the Santa Clara Valley chapter of the American Institute of Architects, says she is undaunted by these high-profile planning and transportation issues, which she's been dealing with for more than two decades.

She spent 22 years as a city planner in Sunnyvale -- writing numerous environmental- impact reports, updating the zoning code and serving as project manager for Sunnyvale's Comprehensive Plan update.

Now, with Palo Alto launching its own Comprehensive Plan revision, Price wants to inject her expertise into the process. She specifically wants the city's Comprehensive Plan to narrow its focus and do a better job setting priorities. She observed the current plan has dozens of strategies and policies within each chapter and said she believes the city is trying to cover too many fronts.

"We need to seriously examine what are the visions and the goals of the community and try to do the update of the Comprehensive Plan with a better emphasis on these priorities," Price said.

Among the most crucial components is the housing element -- the ongoing analysis of the city's housing needs and housing alternatives, she said. Other candidates, including incumbent Councilman Larry Klein, have proposed resisting a mandate from the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), which calls for the city to provide 2,700 or more additional housing units in the next seven years.

Price takes a less antagonistic stance. She said the city has a "social responsibility" for providing a variety of housing options for residents and wrote in a Palo Alto Neighborhoods questionnaire that the city should consider dense housing along major transportation corridors and adjacent to transit centers.

But she also advocates re-examining the ABAG numbers, which she feels could be high, and considering transit and transportation options before determining how much added housing the city could handle.

"We will be experiencing some growth, but it's important to evaluate what numbers are really appropriate, from a feasibility and management standpoint," Price said. "It's really critical in our housing element to look at the numbers that we think we can manage and work with."

Price also seeks to bring a more conciliatory approach to the city's stalled and bitter contract dispute with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represents more than 600 city workers. She called the current standoff between the city and the union "a breakdown in the process."

To improve communication, Price recommends setting up a "joint benefits committee" with people from labor and management who could meet regularly throughout the year, develop a healthy relationship and build trust. She said she identifies with the values of the labor movement and called on the city to get the employees more involved in bridging the city's projected $10 million budget deficit.

"I'd like to see us not making critical decisions at a point of crisis but having communication that is more effective," Price told the Weekly. "Negotiations in a crisis environment are not productive."

Price also supports the city's proposed business-license tax, which will also be on the November ballot. The tax would bring about $3 million in revenues to the city, according to staff projections. She also proposed raising revenues by contracting services out to other jurisdictions -- in the same way the city's Fire Department provides services to Stanford University.

City management should consult employees and see if any other revenue-generating services could be contracted out, she said.

"I'm convinced there are employees who've already given this concept some thought," Price said.

— Gennady Sheyner

Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.