October 19, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Q&As with Palo Alto City Council candidates

Age: 55
Occupation: Land-use attorney
Other Affiliations: Former board member, La Comida; Past president and former board member, University South Neighborhood Association; Former board member, YMCA of the Mid-Peninsula
Education: Bachelor's degree, Stanford University, 1972; Law degree, Hastings School of Law, 1975
Family: Married, with three sons, ages 27, 21 and 18 and a daughter, 23


WEEKLY: When it comes time to cut the budget, which current service or program would you first look to cut?
JUSTMAN: What's the point? I don't want to cut our services. I don't think we need to. I think the money is there to provide the services we cherish if we spend our money wisely.

Why do we have to cut services? I don't accept that premise, your assumption that we have to cut services. I think we need to reduce management compensation. I'm not talking about the temporary workers who do all the work; they deserve more. But I'm talking about the management level that we have that can't be justified.

What if things were to get worse and, even in your mind, cutting services was inevitable. What services or programs would you find to be the most expendable?
I'm going to fight you on that one. I don't think we need them if we leverage our employees with volunteers. ... I mean, let's face it -- we have extremely talented citizens; 43 percent of us have graduate degrees; 75 percent have college degrees.

Many of our residents are, like me, five, 10 years away from retirement. We're going to have time to volunteer and the capability to do it. ... La Comida, with a limited paid staff, is able to serve 40,000 hot lunches a year at a very reasonable budget. Now here's something you need to hear: the budget for La Comida for a manager, a cook and two kitchen aids -- total salary and benefit budget -- is a little over $100,000 and they do 40,000 hot meals.

Take a look at the budget for the Junior Museum. The director of the Junior Museum alone gets over $100,000 and then there's a secretary getting around $80,000 and other helpers getting $100,000 and they're just serving hot meals to some animals in the zoo there. It's not nearly 40,000 hot meals a day, or a year. Excuse me, a year.

What in your background should give the public confidence you know how to lead?
Two years ago, I said we needed to reduce spending by $3 million a year. If we had done that, in June of this year we wouldn't have had a $5 million budget shortfall. I think my accurate perception of what we needed to do two years ago and the fact that the circumstances indicated that I was right indicates that I was a person who has a good perception of the problems we face.

I had a solution two years ago; it should have been implemented; it wasn't. ... That, I think, qualifies me to lead this community or help lead this community.

What one recent council decision would you overturn, and why?
The issue came up that we needed to reduce the council size. It wasn't so much a decision by the council, it was a failure to respond to that issue and to not lead on that issue. I do believe we need to reduce the council size to at least seven.

The council had an opportunity to lead on that issue. So more than the decisions that they are making or not making, it's the things that they are not leading that I think are creating a problem for this community.

At controversial sites like Alma Plaza, should the city encourage or discourage high-density housing?
I'm only in favor of high-density housing if it's going to get people out of their cars. That is, if you have a group of people near a train station then that would be a positive thing. Now I've got to consider Alma Plaza available to the Caltrain station at California Avenue. It's close enough that I'd be willing to consider it. But I'd need more information before I make a decision.

Do you participate in PaloAltoGreen?
No, we don't.

Yoriko Kishimoto

Age: 50
Occupation: Management consultant
Other Affiliations: Council member, Palo Alto City Council; Chair, policy advisory committee, Valley Transportation Authority; Former president, University South Neighborhood
Education: Bachelor's degree, East Asian Studies, Wesleyan University, 1977; MBA, Stanford University, 1981
Family: Married, two daughters, ages 17 and 19

WEEKLY: What one recent council decision would you overturn, and why?
KISHIMOTO: I put a lot of thought into all my votes. So I think I feel pretty good about almost every vote that I've taken.

What about something that you were on the minority side on that you would like to revisit? That would also fall into this category.
Let me think about this for a minute.

I can talk about a couple recent ones. There was one, which was the 2300 East Bayshore (Road). That was actually not one that I regret, but I kind of led the vote on, which was to approve it with one important condition, which was to make medical/dental high-impact uses a separate conditional use permit. ... That particular zone allowed a wide variety of uses, which extrapolated itself to a very wide variety of traffic impacts. So the EIR (Environmental Impact Report) allowed only for a kind of middle of the road one, whereas some of the allowable uses like medical/dental -- which is a very viable use for the area -- would have led to much more increased traffic.

So that one was where I was able to avoid voting no on it by proposing a condition to mitigate for that.

What specifically would you like to revisit about that?
Well that's not exactly one I would like to overturn. But it's one I would have overturned, I would have voted no unless I had been able to propose that condition, which was acceptable to me and probably to the community.

Well, let's see. I guess I would have overturned that whole process which led to the whole ESC (Environmental Services Center) discussion. The problem I had with it was that it was a very backward process. Staff came to us with a solution for a policy question, which we had not discussed overall. We ended up turning that down.

What should have happened instead was that they should have come to us and said 'The landfill is scheduled to close in 2011. What would you like us to do?'

So I felt that process was totally wrong.

Real estate development is typically the most controversial issue in the city. Do you consider yourself more "slow growth" or "pro-growth"?
I would put myself more in the slow-growth area. ...I don't think Palo Alto can handle a lot more growth because of the impacts on schools and parks and libraries and fire and police stations. We're all very aware that ... we're not able to accommodate that much more growth. But some change, yes.

The changes we will see -- more in the downtown area and certain parts of the area, which are able to accommodate it. But as I said earlier that has to be accompanied by a very thoughtful follow-up to see 'OK, if we are putting more housing in south Palo Alto, we need to see, Do they need another park? Do they need another elementary school?'

If there's more kids on the streets, we need that Charleston Arastradero Corridor project to go through.

When it comes time to cut the budget, which current service or program would you first look to cut?
I think all four years I've been on the council, we've been cutting and cutting. I don't think there's any services that I would cut per se.

I think there's still room for improvement in us taking the time -- either with the auditor or the Administrative Services Department -- to really scrutinize each department one at a time and basically help reform/reorganize each department to see what efficiencies we can gain or how we can improve the business process ...Some of them (programs) we could deliver partially through partnerships. A good example of that -- we, a long time ago, we decided, our senior services, we were going to deliver through Avenidas. And childcare we have PACCC (Palo Alto Community Child Care).

So there might be some areas that we could think about doing in partnerships with nonprofits.

Do you participate in PaloAltoGreen?
Yes.

Larry Klein

Age: 67
Occupation: Attorney
Other Affiliations: Former Council member, Palo Alto City Council 1981 to 1989; Chair, Storm Drains for Palo Alto; Co-founder, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
Education: Bachelor's degree, Economics, Cornell University, 1960; Law degree, Harvard Law School, 1963
Family: Married, with two sons, ages 41 and 37, and two grandsons, 10 and 5

WEEKLY: Real estate development is typically the most controversial issue in the city. Do you consider yourself more "slow growth" or "pro-growth"?
KLEIN: Oh, no question, slow growth.

This goes back to my concern about the number of housing units that will be built in town. I'm very, very concerned about that issue. ... We're starting to see some of that development now in the conversion of the former R&D buildings of what I call the southeast of town, the Charleston/East Meadow Corridor, the circles down there and so forth.

No, I'm very concerned that has the potential to overwhelm us environmentally and financially and also preclude us from doing other things in the future.

The Library Advisory Commission is currently considering the future of the city's library service. What changes, if any, should occur?
I think the library is the classic example of Palo Alto's not coming to grips as a community. Obviously, a tough call.

Every decision the council makes is going to displease some portion of the community. ... I think we're drifting. I think this is one of the things when the council ultimately has to -- choose your overused metaphor -- bite the bullet, step up to the plate, whatever it is, and make a decision and know that some group of people, some not insignificant group of people in town, some very well meaning, some concerned citizens are going to not like it. The council needs to show leadership.

I don't have a position as to which one of the alternatives I'll presently favor. But I know whichever one you come out with, some significant group of people are not going to like it. Whether you go for the one-or-two-really-good-libraries approach or you go for the five libraries. One way or the other, it's not going to please even close to all of the people. So just do it.

But you don't have a decision?
No, I've thought about it a lot. I'm still undecided as to which is the best result.

All I know is that we've got to move forward because the present system isn't working. As I've been campaigning, over and over I've heard people say, 'I don't go to Palo Alto libraries anymore. I go to Menlo Park or to Mountain View.' I think that's an intolerable result.

What issue is ripest for more regional cooperation and how would you approach it?
The answer is global warming. ... There are places in the country where there are local activities underway -- Portland, Boulder -- to see what we can do, on a local level, to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we're producing.

The Portland standard is by 2010 can they reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels. We don't even know what our levels were, but we certainly can work with our neighboring communities to get a start. You have to start somewhere or else it's going to be way too late.

What will be your pet project?
I think it will vary over time.

If I look out over a four-year term, my first concern, pet project -- it's hard to talk about the budget being a pet project but if you don't have your budget under control, you really hamstrung in trying to do anything. Without money, it's hard to do things. If you've got to get out that tin cup, it doesn't work very well. So that would be my first thing.

One (project) you can do without spending a huge amount of money is what I just referred to before with regard to global warming. That will definitely a thing I will be working the hardest in my term on the council.

Then if I go had a few other things I would think these major capital projects we've been talking about: police building, libraries.

If I had a far-out project ... it would be a new cultural center for Palo Alto, a performing arts center. I love Lucie Stern Center, but it was built in the 1930s, it's roughly 70 years old, it was built when Palo Alto had less than 10,000 people in it. I feel a little jealous that Mountain View has a much nicer facility than we do.

Do you participate in PaloAltoGreen?
Yes.

Danielle Martell

Age: 56
Occupation: Writer, educational software
Education: Bachelor's degree, San Jose State University, refused to state when she graduated
Family: Single

WEEKLY: What in your background should give the public confidence you know how to lead?
MARTELL: I'm well educated. I'm a good age to be leading. I am in a sense a child of the '60s; I was taught to cast my mind into higher realms and to make this a better world. I am a woman and this is a good opportunity for women to be heard. I think I'm a good representative of women around here. I think I am actually a product of this community, that I have grown both intellectually and as a person of power and authority I know what is accepted in business here. I've done a lot of consulting work around here. I am an entrepreneur so I have managed lots of teams and put teams together. I know that I am very effective. I know that I can do more research well. I'm dedicated, I'm sincerely, I'm honest, I speak well and I'm just very committed to this.

I don't know what else to say right now. I haven't thought about it. This has just been so natural for me to do it. It doesn't drain my energy, I'm not overwhelmed with it.

It's energizing, it really is.

Is the city doing enough to protect its economic base? If not, what specifically should be done?
We're giving too much money to the police. (Police Chief) Lynne Johnson is costing us hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawsuits by breaking our constitutional rights. She fosters and protects bad cops like Michael Kan and Craig Lee. They're still working for us.

I'm sorry, I lost my train of thought. Could you say the question one more time?

Is the city doing enough to protect its economic base?
Alright. No, no it's not. We're pouring out too much money. Lynne Johnson is costing us too much money.

I hear people say they want the potholes fixed in their street. We want the libraries open. We don't have enough money for the libraries and look at what Lynne is doing and costing us. No, I don't think we're protecting our money. She spends it like water.

What will be your pet project?
My pet project will be to see that we elect our next mayor and that the mayor appoints a police chief that is appropriate for this community, not someone like Lynne Johnson who breaks our constitutional rights and costs us hundreds of thousands of dollars.

We just don't want to replace Lynne Johnson we want to replace Lynne Johnson with someone that can restore the police reputation to being a pride of this community. And I believe that that can be done by electing a mayor and I believe that all sorts of other things will happen when this is brought forth.

In terms of policy-making style, the current council has been divided between those who challenge staff with tough questions and those more trusting of staff's professional expertise. Where do you see yourself in that dichotomy?
I will always question authority. I will always challenge. I will always want to know details to things. I believe that God is in the details and I want to know exactly what's going on. And that's how I am.

I am a compulsive organizer. I am very focused and no one will be able to keep me from asking questions.

Do you participate in PaloAltoGreen?
I'm not going to answer that question.

How come? It's a basic yes/no question.
Because I choose not to.

Jack Morton

Age: 63
Occupation: Certified Public Accountant
Other Affiliations: Council member, Palo Alto City Council; Founder and board member, Community Skating Inc. (Winter Lodge); Founding member and board member, Palo Alto Recreation Foundation
Education: BA, University of Alberta, 1966; MA, University of Calgary, 1967; PhD, Greek philosophy and decision theory, University of Toronto, 1973
Family: Married, with a son, 32

WEEKLY: What in your background should give the public confidence you know how to lead?
MORTON: I think we use this word 'lead' as if somehow the model that government should have would be George Washington crossing the Delaware. But I think that in a intelligent community like our own, the issue is not so much telling people what to do but trying to find common ground to do what's good for the whole community.

We have over the last four years, I think, become somewhat less polarized although we have incredibly -- for a small community of 60,000 people -- pockets of incredible dissention. ... My goal is not to be paternalistic and give people the solution, but to somehow work with them to come up with the solution they want.

In a representative government, what we do is try to present people's view, the people that elect us, and then try to come up with a way in which the problems get solved for the betterment of the whole community. That's my model of government and I think over the last 30 years I've worked with a very wide number of groups, both financial and program groups.

I think that's the answer to our future -- finding a way in which we can solve problems collectively.

Can you give me an example from the last four years of when you've done what you've just described?
Well, I think the Downtown North. Here we had a community where one part of the community wanted to barricade off a whole section of town; another part of the community just felt that that was unfair to the rest of the city and to themselves.

What I did was propose that we start with -- instead of starting with the maximum amount of barricading, why not start with the lesser amount? Then if we need to add to that. But if start with the lesser amount maybe we could build consensus.

As it turns out, it actually has worked out very well. One year later, the happiness, if you want to look at it that way, is 80 percent-plus. The majority of people that live in Downtown North think that the compromise for less restricted street closures was better than the original proposal.

What kind, if any, of police oversight should the council set up?
We had an unfortunate incident and we have now allowed a single unfortunate incident ...to simply allow us to become really polarized on what we need. In my opinion, there has not been a pattern of police abuse in this community. But we're now operating as if we need multiple layers of oversight.

The model -- that has worked in this community for 100 years -- is for the police chief to do an initial review and then, if the council is not satisfied, for the council to do a review. To set up a bureaucracy of another two or three levels of review for our size community seems to me to be waste of resources.

What will be your pet project?
I'm responsive to the community at large and I think one of the things that seems most pressing in this community would be a new library at Mitchell Park. ...

The south part of Palo Alto has the highest library usage in the city; Mitchell Park has the highest usage in the city. And yet it has, in some ways, the smallest facility. The community service building down there is more or less like a bunker and yet that's where the bulk of the families and young children are.

My view is that once we've succeeded, as we will in the next year and a half, with completing the Children's Library upgrade, my next project would be as a community enhancement would be to look to a library and community service center at Mitchell Park.

Do you participate in PaloAltoGreen?
I participate in PaloAltoGreen and am pleased to.

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