Publication Date: Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Transportation official Kott resigning
Transportation official Kott resigning
(September 28, 2005) Traffic projects stirred up controversy over past seven years
by Jocelyn Dong
Joseph Kott, the city's sometimes-embattled chief transportation official, will quit his job to work for a consulting firm in San Francisco.
Word of his resignation slipped out at Monday night's City Council meeting during a discussion of the Charleston/Arastradero Corridor traffic plan, when Council member Hillary Freeman teased Kott about staying until its completion.
Kott will work for the transportation firm of Nelson/Nygaard, which consults throughout the country and helped Palo Alto develop its transportation master plan in 2000. Kott called it "an excellent cultural fit for me."
"I've been here almost seven years now," Kott said of his decision. "I've learned all I'm likely to learn here. I need to have more challenges."
Kott has drawn fire for a number of the transportation projects he's managed, including the Downtown North traffic-calming trial and the Homer Tunnel. Despite the controversies, Kott said he is resigning of his own will, and has not been pressured by either the public or city staff.
"I never take criticism personally," he said. "I have a lot of friends in town, people who think the transportation planning has been very good. I take a strength from that."
"Some of the controversies have been very worthwhile experiences in terms of personal growth," he added. "I learned how good people can disagree."
This is not the first time Kott has left the city. In 2001, he took a job in Berkeley, but came back to Palo Alto within a month.
This time, however, Kott said he is unlikely to return.
"It's important to make a professional change for personal growth. I seek out new challenges; it's true. I enjoy taking up something new and challenging," he said. In addition to his work, Kott has been pursuing a doctorate through the Murdoch University in Perth, Australia.
Council member Yoriko Kishimoto said his departure was "a real blow" to the city.
"We're all devastated by his leaving," she said, calling Kott an "out of the box" thinker. "He was willing to stick his neck out."
Following his last day in Palo Alto Nov. 3, Kott will take a few weeks to work on his dissertation, then began his new job mid-month.
Senior Staff Writer Jocelyn Dong can be reached at jdong@paweekly.com.
E-mail a friend a link to this story. | 
