Publication Date: Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Our Town: And they're off ...
Our Town: And they're off ...
(July 20, 2005) by Don Kazak
Monday marked the first day Palo Alto City Council and Palo Alto Unified School District board candidates could take out filing papers to run in the respective Nov. 8 elections.
But what had been shaping up as a mildly interesting council race became more lively last Thursday evening when former Mayor Larry Klein held his kick-off event in the back yard of the home of a supporter.
The event drew former long-ago mayors Ed Arnold, three years in the 1960s, and Alan Henderson, two-and-a-half years in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Both are highly regarded in Palo Alto politics for their reasonableness during trying times.
Klein was mayor for two of his eight years on the council in the 1980s.
After a pleasant hour of meeting and greeting, Klein stepped to the microphone to say why he was running.
One reason is to increase leadership on the council in providing direction for the community.
"The city manager takes more lead than he should. The City Council should be out front in setting policy," he said.
Then it got more interesting as he took questions. One was about how he would have handled the recent council discussion about establishing an auto row of car dealers for sales tax purposes. He said the council should have been out front on that issue long ago.
Sitting nearby, both Mayor Jim Burch and Councilman Bern Beecham noticeably stiffened.
Klein also got a reminder of how difficult those coming Monday night Council meetings might be for him when two people asked about the lack of benefits for city temporary workers and his commitment to providing more affordable housing.
Klein seemed uncomfortable with both questions, although less so on the housing question.
He is not alone among former council members in seeking a return to the council dais. He is the fifth former council member in the last 30 years to seek election to the council again.
Henderson was defeated in 1975 but elected again in 1977, serving through 1981.
Dick Rosenbaum was defeated in 1975 then won in 1991, serving two terms and one year as mayor.
Gary Fazzino left the council in 1983 because of a job transfer to the Seattle area. He returned to Palo Alto and was elected again in 1989, serving through 2001, including two years as mayor.
And Mike Cobb served from 1981 to 1993, including two years as mayor, but was defeated when he sought election again in 1999.
This November, two of the five council seats up for election won't have incumbents defending them. Burch never planned to seek another term while Councilman Vic Ojakian is being term-limited out. (City voters approved a charter amendment in 1994 establishing a two-term limit.)
Jack Morton and Yoriko Kishimoto will seek re-election and Hillary Freeman is likely to, although she said she hadn't made a final decision as of Monday.
Others who will enter the race include school board President John Barton, Skip Justman, who ran two years ago, and Library Commission member Sanford Forte. Planning Commissioner Pat Burt has taken out papers.
The school board race is starting off quietly, too, with just three candidates for the two seats so far -- both Barton and Cathy Kroymann are leaving the board after two terms each, which is the informal policy among school board members.
As of last week, only three candidates had declared for the school race: Claude Ezran, Barbara Mitchell and Dana Tom.
More candidates may come forward in both races before the Aug. 17 filing deadline, but some observers wonder why more candidates aren't rushing in when the school board and council each have two open seats. The 1989 council election had 17 candidates.
"It's a difficult job to do," Ojakian said. "It's a lot more than just showing up on Monday nights."
"Something about the job discourages some potential candidates," Burch said. He recently asked someone about being interested in running
"Are you crazy?" was the reply.
It also means working in an era of tight budgets and difficult decisions, facing an often contentious public and even getting pounded in the press.
"When it gets tough, you have to hang in there," Burch said.
Senior Staff Writer Don Kazak can be e-mailed at dkazak@paweekly.com.
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