Around Town: Cubberley strides, free Link for teens and advocacy in New York

In this week’s Around Town column, a compromise over Cubberley Community Center, a young advocate making waves and free rides for Palo Alto teens.

CUBBERLEY STRIDES … After years of shifting plans, shattered dreams and bureaucratic disagreements, the Palo Alto City Council and the Palo Alto Unified School District may now be on the brink of a compromise over Cubberley Community Center, which the city has been hoping to upgrade and renovate for decades. The city and the school board released a joint statement on March 26 to say they have made “significant strides” in securing an agreement for the city to expand its share of Cubberley, which would be a precursor to the renovation. The statement notes that the city and the district have met seven times since December 2023 and are now in the “late stages of negotiation.” They had also agreed to hire a mediator to bridge the remaining gap on property terms and price. Council member Julie Lythcott-Haims, who heads an ad hoc committee of council members and school board trustees that has been working on the Cubberley project, said this week that the talks are now proceeding “expeditiously.” “While it would be inappropriate of course to give any details, as these negotiations are happening in closed session, I think we can evince a confidence around the expeditiousness and the desire to reach some kind of outcome with Cubberely,” Lythcott-Haims said.

SPARKING CHANGE … Palo Alto resident and disability advocate Dashiell Meier spoke in front of the United Nations on March 22 for the World Down Syndrome Day Conference to call on doctors to do more to listen to patients with Down syndrome about their symptoms not related to their disability. The conference had attendees from over 20 countries. Meier’s advocacy started young, when he was in first grade and began speaking at Palo Alto elementary school classrooms about his experience with a disability, and has taken him to Sacramento, Washington, D.C., and now the Trusteeship Council Chamber at the UN’s Headquarters in New York.

LINK UP … This week, the City of Palo Alto announced its rideshare service Palo Alto Link will now offer free rides to select destinations for teens 13 to 18 years old. The rides will connect local teens to locations that offer mental health and community services, like the Teen Center at Mitchell Park Community Center, all of Palo Alto’s libraries, Cubberley Community Center and Lucie Stern Plaza. “I’m thrilled to see the City prioritizing teen health by providing an easy, free option for us to link to places and spaces with support and community connections,” said Olivia Chiang, Palo Alto Youth Council president. Apart from the free destinations, Link rides for teens are just $1 each, and can be paid with cash or a card. For a full list of free locations for teens, visit www.cityofpaloalto.org/PaloAltoLinkTeen. Palo Alto Link’s hours of service are Mondays through Fridays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and rides are available via the app or by calling (650) 505-5772.