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Straight to a fault

by Bill D'Agostino

Depending on who you speak to, Vice Mayor Bern Beecham's even-keeled nature and lack of sparkle is either a benefit or a hindrance as he fights for re-election this year.

Still, Beecham is praised, even outside of the city's limits and even among political opponents, for his ability to think through and discuss complex issues. Of all the council members, he is considered the expert on the city's utility company.
Last year, Redwood City Councilman Ira Ruskin and Beecham worked together to promote a series of state laws that, once passed, gave Bay Area cities more authority to make repairs to the vulnerable Hetch Hetchy water system, which San Francisco controls. Ruskin described Beecham as "very bright" with "good, sound practical judgment."
"I found I could talk about the big picture with him and about the details," Ruskin said.

Although his supporters admit he could be hurt by his lack of flash, others argue that Beecham's by-the-book style will serve him well this year, since the council is viewed as dysfunctional and he has often stayed above the fray. One notable exception: In June he accused Councilwoman Nancy Lytle of publicly misrepresenting his statements on a housing project planned for 800 High St. near downtown.
Even critics of his positions on issues applaud his brainpower. Longtime resident and Lytle supporter Tom Jordan disagrees with many of Beecham's votes, especially on real estate developments where he perceives the councilman is too favorable to developers. But nonetheless Jordan believes the vice mayor to be "intelligent and honorable."
One issue where Beecham and Jordan disagree is 800 High St., the controversial housing project that is the center of a November ballot measure. Beecham, who voted in favor of the planned 61-unit condo complex, argues it has numerous public benefits, including 63 public parking spaces. Jordan, and others opposing the project, claim it's oversized and that the council's approval was not sound planning.
Married for 26 years, Beecham has lived in a 1903 home in the Downtown North neighborhood of Palo Alto since 1978. On his campaign Web site (www.beecham.org), he boasts that he did much of the house's renovation work himself.

A graduate of Stanford business school (class of 1975), Beecham is employed as a management consultant.

Typical of his cautious style, Beecham rose through the ranks of city officials. First, he worked on other people's campaigns and then began serving on the planning commission for a decade, starting in 1989. He was then elected to the council in 1999. In that year's race, he finished fourth of the eight candidates, barely making the cut by approximately 500 votes.

Despite his low-key approach, Beecham -- who would likely be mayor next year if he is re-elected -- was not above self-praise during last week's interview. He gave himself credit for finding consensus between various community groups as the council fashioned a $49 million library bond measure that was placed on last November's ballot.

"I was able to craft a compromise among all of them to bring them together to support a unified proposal for the city," he said. "That proposal was supported by a strong majority, about 62 percent of the community. Unfortunately, because of Prop. 218 it needed 66 percent, which is terribly difficult to do in anything. But I was proud of my role."

In retrospect though, he said the city's "tactics" for selling the bond measure to voters should have been different. The pro-bond group should have addressed issues and questions raised by bond opponents, he noted.

Although a library commission has recommended closing the downtown branch of the city's library system, claiming there hasn't been enough resources in the library system to support its continual operation, Beecham said he has not made up his mind, although he appears to be leaning toward keeping it open.

"It's going to be a difficult recommendation. It's hard to give a final opinion before you have the public hearings and before you've seen the recommendations," he said. "But certainly a strong considerations for me is I believe I have made a commitment to that neighborhood ... to maintain that facility as a library for them and I don't know what would override that commitment."
During the interview, Beecham defended spending money on the city's traffic calming program, a program maligned by other candidates who claim it's a waste of money. Beecham said that while there have been some mistakes with the program's application, it is important that residents have a way to slow traffic on their streets.
"We need to do it wisely and we need to do it with the consensus of the community, but anyone who thinks that traffic is not a problem and we shouldn't spend money on it hasn't been talking to the people," he said.

Beecham also defended the city's budget, saying it is "one of the most successful budgets in the Bay Area." He pointed out that he made motions to reduce the city's budget. Among those proposals was a request for the city manager to justify each manager that has three or fewer people reporting to them, and an appeal to beef up spending next year in the city's program that repairs aging infrastructure, such as sidewalks and buildings.

"We have balanced the budget. We have not cut into reserves. We have not had layoffs, we have used attrition," he said. "We have permanently reduced the cost of government in Palo Alto. We are doing all the right things in the budget."

Asked if anything could be done to help the often-bickering council members work together more amicably, Beecham responded: "Council relations certainly are an issue in the community. We, I suspect, have had more than our share of acrimony between council members. But I can't speak and I won't speak to other members' behaviors, whether its appropriate or not. What I will say about my approach to working with my colleagues is I believe I can work well with all of my colleagues."

E-mail Bill D'Agostino at bdagostino@paweekly.com