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In this week’s Around Town column, a robotics World Championship, a raise for council members and solar power for Buena Vista.
MEAN MACHINES … A group of students from East Palo Alto schools celebrated a big victory earlier this month when their team crushed it in a regional robotics competition and booked its ticket to Houston for the World Championships. The Churrobots, a team affiliated with the nonprofit Hope Horizon East Palo Alto, was part of the winning three-team alliance in the FIRST Robotics Competition Silicon Valley Regional, which took place Feb. 29 to March 3. The results mean that the team has qualified for the World Championships, which will take place in Houston between April 27 and 30. This will be the first trip to the championships for the team, which was founded in 2019 and which includes students from more than 10 different schools, according to Tiffany Pizzementi, the team’s mentor. They used the garage of one of their coaches as a workshop to design and build an industrial-size, semi-autonomous robot over the course of the six weeks. “I think the whole experience there will mean a lot to them and really encourage them in their career pursuits or future goals past high school,” Greg Corsetto, the lead coach, said in a statement. He noted that he has seen significant growth in the team over the past few years. “This year, we attempted our most complex robot yet, in terms of functionality and abilities on the field to score. The students have really been able to up their game and follow the whole process through from designing to building to test and troubleshooting.” With the ticket to Houston booked, Churrobots are now hoping to raise $40,000 for the trip. Supporters can pitch in by going to https://hopehorizonepa.kindful.com/?campaign=1292995.
LABOR COSTS … Members of the Palo Alto City Council gave themselves a treat this week when they finalized the previously approved hike to their own salaries, raising them from $1,000 to $1,600 per month. With no debate or discussion, the council voted 6-1, with council member Greg Tanaka dissenting, to pass the salary hike at the March 11 meeting. The move follows the recommendations of a memo that Mayor Greer Stone and Vice Mayor Ed Lauing submitted last year urging for the change. Their colleagues agreed on Dec. 4 that the salary hike is overdue. They also agreed at that time that the city should appoint a citizens committee to consider further salary increases for elected officials. The increased salaries aren’t the only bonus that council members are preparing to give to themselves. On March 13, the council’s Policy and Services Committee considered a new program that would give each council member a $2,000 stipend every year to help pay for equipment, Zoom accounts and other tools that they need to conduct city business. Two of the three committee members — Tanaka and council member Julie Lythcott-Haims — had previously voiced support for a much more significant stipend, one that would allow them to pay for — among other things — legislative aides. That idea fizzled this week, when City Manager Ed Shikada and City Attorney Molly Stump suggested that such a change would be very complex and require significant changes to the city’s governing structure. But while Tanaka and Lythcott-Haims favored higher stipends and cited other cities in which elected officials get more compensation and reimbursements — including Mountain View and Sunnyvale — the committee ultimately agreed to stick with the $2,000 limit that the full council had favored last year. This money would be earmarked for technology and communication expenses. Council member Lydia Kou is the only one who had some reservations about the new stipends and said she would only support it if there are strict safeguards to ensure the money is not misused. Tanaka, meanwhile, worried about making the program too complex, such that the administrative costs would be higher than the stipends. “For the seven years that I’ve been on the council, every year I spend way more than $2,000 serving the city,” he said. “So I don’t think I’d be too worried that people are making too much money from this stipend,” he said.
IT’S ELECTRIFYING … The Santa Clara County Housing Authority received a boost this week for its plan to redevelop Palo Alto’s only mobile home park. The agency announced that it has secured $850,000 in federal funding to fully electrify the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park. The money was secured through the Economic Development Initiative grant, with the help of U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and the late U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. According to the housing authority, the money will help make Buena Vista will be 100% electric by paying for replacement of aged utility systems, design and engineering cost and installation of solar panels and electrical lines. “I’m very proud to have secured $850,000 to replace the aging natural gas line at Buena Vista Mobile Home Park with an electric system, converting these affordable homes into a safe and environmentally conscious all-electric community,” Eshoo said in a statement. Preston Prince, executive director of the Santa Clara County Housing Authority, called the electrification funding a “significant milestone in our commitment to providing a safe, affordable, and environmentally conscious, all-electric community.” “This project embodies our dedication to preserving existing communities while creating quality housing options,” Prince said in a statement. “We look forward to advancing our shared vision with the community, and most importantly, the residents at Buena Vista.”