December 29, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

A year of pipe dreams?

by Jocelyn Dong, Bill D'Agostino and Alexandria Rocha

It has been a year of big dreams in Palo Alto. From the district's parcel tax to an Environmental Services Center to a new police building, Palo Altans this year dared to dream as they haven't dared in more than a decade, one former mayor observed.

There seemed no area of life left untouched by the visions, from the city's neighborhoods to its Baylands to municipal infrastructure. A new library director called for the creation of a central, high-tech library with a homework center, author readings, a literacy program and an undetermined price tag.

Meanwhile, city staff and residents dreamed of a municipally-owned telecommunications network -- the $40-million Fiber to the Home venture -- that city leaders put on hold because it lacked a realistic funding strategy.

Some people even looked far into the future and envisioned science fiction as fact. One proposal receiving air time in 2004: the "silver bullet," a monorail between CalTrain and the Stanford Research Park that would whisk riders to their destinations in individual "pods."

Countless community meetings and staff hours were devoted to developing or debating these multi-million-dollar visions -- which number at least 15 by the Weekly's count. Members of the public have passionately advocated for their versions of the future, convinced the viability of Palo Alto -- not to mention its reputation -- rests on making bold plans now.

"After a very difficult period of the dot-com bubble bursting, battles over historical preservation, and the worst economic situation in the valley since the early 1970s, the city did begin to think of long-term planning and new initiatives," said former mayor Gary Fazzino. "I think people began to feel after three years of a dreadful economy; (they) felt things were improving ever so slightly."

But there are those in the community who are not so sure all the dreaming is a good thing. They look at the fiscal woes facing the city -- a $5.2-million budget shortfall has been projected for next year -- and shake their heads over all the major projects vying for attention.

"In the current climate, where public financing is, at best, tight, it doesn't inspire confidence in the community to overwhelm them with demands," Councilmember Jack Morton said. "If we want to succeed we have to do it on an item-by-item basis."

City Auditor Sharon Erickson agreed. "There's going to have to be a prioritization of those kinds of projects. ... It does feel like there's a lot of them right now."

One possible dream-buster: Residents may be asked to foot the bill on a number of initiatives.

The Measure I parcel tax was the school district's great hope this year. Warning that teacher layoffs were imminent, it sought to gain $10 million a year through the tax initiative. Voters were asked to nearly double their current tax -- from $293 to $521 -- and extend it until 2013. It needed a two-thirds "yes" vote to pass, but failed by less than 1 percent.

The district is expected to try again in a special June election.

Property owners will also be asked to pony up $17 million over 12 years for badly needed improvements to the storm drains -- the series of pipes and drains that carry rainwater into creeks. In February, residents will receive a mailed ballot asking their approval to double their monthly storm-drain fee from $4.25 to $10.

It'll be the second time the city's asking property owners to increase the fee. In 2000, an increase to $9 was shot down.

Declining conditions at city facilities helped some dreams finally get traction this year.

An upgrade to the city's police headquarters has been talked about for more than two decades. The current facility has poor ventilation, lacks space to store evidence and conduct interviews and might be useless during a major earthquake.

In the spring, the police department will come back with an updated design to a new 50,000-square-foot building, and a way to pay for it. All possible ideas for the $45 million improvements are likely to be controversial: an increase in the existing tax on hotel visitors, a new fee on 911 calls, or new tax on all businesses.

"Most communities around here have cut out the capital spending," Erickson said. "The council and staff (in Palo Alto) are so reluctant to do that because it took so long to get here."

Acknowledging that resources are scarce, one group of Palo Altans turned their attention to ways of using the city's limited land.

Councilmember Judy Kleinberg, Planning Commissioner Pat Burt and others introduced their grand idea for redeveloping the Baylands, which could include shrinking the municipal golf course while adding athletic fields and welcoming a four-star hotel and housing.

According to Kleinberg, the time seemed ripe to gather ideas from the community over what "higher and better uses" could be planned for the area.

Of course, as with any big thinking, visions sometimes collide. Political will as well as financial constraints are expected to play a key role in whether the visions turn into reality -- or become mere pipe dreams.

After keeping the flame alive for six years, Downtown North residents who were pro-street barriers saw their hopes for a nearly traffic-free utopia bulldozed in 2004. The seven controversial roadblocks -- installed in the neighborhood to calm traffic -- caused such a stir, the council voted in March to remove all but one of them.

Meanwhile, the council and public debated the merits of building a 19-acre Environmental Services Center in the Baylands, which would sort trash, process recycling and compost yard waste, among other functions. The land was designed decades ago to become parkland, however, and one group of environmentalists is up in arms over that dream being shoved aside. The council is expected to decide the issue in January.

Fazzino believes the public must be brought on board to help keep the wealth of dreams from turning into cacophonous confusion.

"I think it's imperative -- and this is where the city hasn't done as good of a job -- it's essential to communicate better messages of the nature of spending priorities and services," Fazzino said. He suggested the city hold community meetings in the spring, during the budget discussions, to outline the city's constraints and ask for public input on which direction the city should go.

"There are the tough choices we have to make. That kind of community-wide discussion is absolutely essential," he said. "That would create a reservoir of great will and appreciation within the community." Senior Staff Writer Jocelyn Dong can be reached at jdong@paweekly.com.

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