I watched city council last night. The long discussion among council members was most enlightening. Rare is the bandaide ripped off, revealing misrepretations and discrepancies by staff to council and the public. Unfortunately this happens too often, seemingly without council members realizing it, while many in the public have made note of it for years.

It took remarkable efforts by Veenker, Stone and Lauing to tease out the actual inconsistancies and ambiguities in this flawed TDM. They tenaciouly read from the document, comparing it to the record, pushing back on staff by referrring to the TDM to the actual council motion passed at a prior council meeting and from the ambiguous plan.

These councl members showed the TDM substantially fell short of what was required, counter to staff's dogged insistance otherwise (which didn't matter in the slightest to Lythcott-Haims and Tanaka given their comments and no vote).

Thank you for this vote last night. It's not just about Casti's TDM, but about keeping staff honest.

Castilleja has a wonderful academic record, and a terrible trust record. For years, the school violated the cap on the number of students and only confessed when caught. The City Council should rigorously monitor Castilleja's traffic and enrollment plan. It should NOT trust the school to monitor itself.

The city's long-term record on following up and enforcing TDMs is very spotty. Neighbors' work will not be done once the TDM is approved. They will have to push for enforcement going forward by reporting problems. Look at enforcement of TDMs for Campus for Jewish Life, Challenger School, Stratford School to name just a few).

If Castilleja were serious about implementing a robust TDM plan, they would have done it sometime during the six-year review process to demonstrate their commitment and build trust with the community. They understand who their student body is--the daughters of Bay Area elites who will gift their precious darling with an expensive car on her 16th birthday, and that will be the end of transit riding and walking.

Early in the 6-year project review period, a Casti parent (a Palo Alto resident and friend) reached out to PAUSD PTAs to learn how we accomplished 54% of students walking and bicycling to school across 17 school sites. We brought them a presentation and offered support in developing their program. (We were generous about this because Casti's traffic impacts local school commute routes and neighborhoods.) As far as I can tell, they never followed up.

Their Transportation web page (see Web Link ) speaks VOLUMES about their priorities. It tops with a photo of two girls parking bikes, but ALL of the school commute information is about driving and parking cars. There is NOTHING about alternatives to driving: taking transit, bicycling, walking, carpooling--all of the things Palo Alto Council of PTAs promotes every single year. If they haven't even bothered to put this stuff on their web site at this point, I'm betting a comprehensive education, encouragement, evaluation, engineering, enforcement program is not part of their future.

Castilleja has done little to rebuild the trust they lost, and I can't blame the neighbors for their frustration. Trust is earned.

This long-running saga is an expensive farce. What wasn't ambiguous was city staff's A) letting Casti (the applicant) write its own TDM and B) staff's failure follow CC's directives to share info with the neighbors whom you describe as "critics" rather than resident/taxpayers who've tolerated this disruptive costly farce for so long.

How much have taxpayers spent on staff time and on consultants trying to placate Casti during the last 6 -- SIX --years when we're too broke to keep our libraries open?

"Council members Greg Tanaka and Julie Lythcott-Haims both dissented with the continuation and supported approving the document, in keeping with the recommendation from planning staff."

One has to ask where they've been the last 6 years and -- in view of staff's blatant bias -- how Ms Lythcott-Haims, a freshman councilperson, can say staff doesn't need "nitpicking oversight."

Good for the Mayor Kou and the rest of CC for calling on staff and Casti to START restoring trust after years of broken promises and gaming the system.

Just the same as the last 7 years, the staff again was behaving like they are working for Castilleja to present and defend the TDM that was drafted by Castilleja. The neighbors have repeated asked for Planning Director Lait to get a seat at the table to develop the TDM. He flat out rejected it and claim he will be able to write up the TDM. However, he handed the task to Castilleja to write an ambiguous TDM which will not be able to measure the true traffic impact to the neighborhood and making it hard to enforce. Really, who does he work for? When councils questioned why he allowed Castilleja to increase the enrollment to 450 even though only 6th grader is moved offsite during construction. Lait had the nerve to disregard to the intend of the councils motion and argued the wording of the motion was not specific enough so he can make the determination that Castilleja can increase to 450 during construction even not all students are relocated offsite. With this type of staff conduct, how can the neighbors' interest be fairly represented?

"Council members Greg Tanaka and Julie Lythcott-Haims both dissented with the continuation and supported approving the document, in keeping with the recommendation from planning staff."

I really wonder about this Tanaka guy. Is he for real to propose a motion to just leave this incomplete, unenforcible TDM just sitting there for another 6 months, then all the issues will magically get resolved? As for Lythcott-Haims, was she listening to the meeting discussion or read the TDM? Maybe she was focusing on writing her next book or booking her next speaking engagement. I have given up on Tanaka long ago. But now I have to look hard at Lythcott-Haims's ability to serve as a city council.

Those of us all along Embarcadero Rd are concerned about traffic impacts from Castilleja school - during lengthynconstruction, disruption and afterwards as the school,operates “normally” with full complement of students and staff.
This has ZERO to do with the quality and history of this private educational institution.
The TDM is important. It requires attention for the reasonable life of the community. Thank you to those City Council members who noticed this.

B-roll for Fox News on how California cannot get anything done.

M - There are some things that positively should not get done, and Castilleja's arrogant, overreaching, tone-deaf, and environmentally hazardous new construction is one of those things that never should have been approved.

I applaud the courage and integrity of Mayor Kou, Vice Mayor Stone, Council Member Veenker, and Council Member Lauing for seeing through the propaganda and lies that Castilleja and its expensive lawyers have been feeding City leadership for literal decades.

It was always clear that Castilleja had no interest or intent in minimizing traffic. If Castilleja actually cared for its environmental and community impact, it would have made the same choice that newer (and rising in prestige) schools like Nueva chose: to prohibit cars on campus and instead double down on public transportation and shuttles. [Portion removed.]

Castilleja is entitled to place the convenience of its elite clientele over all else - it's a free county. Although it is infuriating that its lobbyists, along with those of Stanford and other private schools that serve the wealthy, pushed through their tax exemption despite that private schools have zero public benefit and serve zero public good -- we in Palo Alto cannot take away this problematic tax loophole.

What we can do, however, is stop bending over backwards to please this highly profitable private company. Last year, for example, CC *changed the zoning law* to allow underground commercial garages in R-1 residential neighborhoods. That was inexcusable and shameful and is unimaginable in other contexts. Who else - other than Sobrato, and the billionaire private equity firm that bought the Hotel President - was able to convince City Council to change our local laws in order to maximize their profits? (The answer is in the question!)

Thankfully, due to the good judgment of recent voters, the Palo Alto community now has a new Council with leaders who serve the community rather than kow-towing to billionaires. Veenker, Lauing, Kou & Stone are getting it done. Thank you to the four of you!

Anyone else wondering who gave Lait the authority he apparently thinks he has? Both he and Amy French need to remind themselves that they work for the City of Palo Alto, not Castilleja or any other deep-pocketed applicant they happen to favor. It's high time the best interests of residents factored into their approach to decisions about Castilleja. Safety is a best interest and too much traffic and congestion can lead to unsafe conditions. A school with the smarts and the resources of Castilleja could have developed a TDM that satisfied all the required conditions if it intended to and wanted to. Lait, Tanaka, and Lythcott-Haims should not have attempted to give the school a pass on this.

And, please, let's not say this is the neighbors' fault. It took 6+ years to get the building permit b/c the school repeatedly attempted to get faulty plans approved. Looks like they are taking the same approach with the TDM. Once again the school is proving true the proverb that a leopard cannot change its spots.

"Those of us all along Embarcadero Rd are concerned about traffic impacts from Castilleja school - during lengthy construction, disruption and afterwards as the school,operates “normally” with full complement of students and staff."

"Anyone else wondering who gave Lait the authority he apparently thinks he has? Both he and Amy French need to remind themselves that they work for the City of Palo Alto, not Castilleja or any other deep-pocketed applicant they happen to favor. It's high time the best interests of residents factored into their approach to decisions about Castilleja. Safety is a best interest and too much traffic and congestion can lead to unsafe conditions."

Both statements are worth repeating. It's incredible to me that during the 6+ years of this costly farce how little attention has been paid to what will happen to Embarcedero traffic during the years Casti will be under construction.

Do our "planners" and transportation staff ever get out of their offices and look at how bad things NOW are?

Also a reminder that Palo Alto has never been noted for the accuracy of its traffic counts and that residents have been forced to pay for their own traffic surveys because of the long-standing practice to NOT count traffic during rush hour and other heavy times of day.

Instead staff does its counts in the middle of the night and other times designed to give them the results THEY want, not the most accurate ones.

How could it take 6+ to START addressing how to even count Casti traffic? And still have no plan for how to address any and all Casti violations!

How much has this nonsense cost US??

Not to mention the fact that the City of Palo Alto allowed Castilleja to expand over what was formerly a lovely residential cul de sac to operate its profitable--yet tax-exempt--private business on 50 single family home lots.

That was a big deal back when 8000 square foot lots were priced at $300,000. It's a $250 million giveaway now that 8000 square foot lots in Old Palo Alto cost $5 million. That does not include the $65,000 a year ($3.25 million combined) property tax revenue these homes could be generating that would go directly to assist our *public* schools that are open to *all* children, rather than the wealthy kids hand-picked by the Castilleja elite--the vast majority of whom do not live in Palo Alto.

Castilleja is a monumental financial black hole, whose existence is costing our community, our parks, and our public schools literally millions of dollars a year in lost tax revenue, while paying *zero* into our coffers, unlike every single one of its neighbors, aka "critics" (shame on you Weekly).

The most infuriating part of this is that Castilleja has no legal right to continue operating in PA. It has been in material breach of its negotiated Conditional Use Permit for more than 20 years, which it admits. That same CUP, which Castilleja asked for and signed, mandated that Castilleja's CUP be revoked upon extended material breach, which Castilleja surpassed more than a decade ago. Yet, instead of evicting them as the CUP mandates, our elected and appointed officials continue to pad Casti's stuffed wallets with OUR public money.

Ten years ago this fall, the City of Palo Alto, under City Mgr James Keane, began revocation proceedings as provided under the CUP. But somehow Castilleja bullied its way out of that. I called every lawyer who signed these letters and none would talk -- some now work for Castilleja.

The City has not even enforced the statutory penalties for Casti's violations: $500 per violation per day. Times EVERY car above their estimate.

Statutory penalties serve a crucial purpose. If Castilleja actually had to pay the mandated $500/day penalty for each extra car trip and each student it continues (!!) to over-enroll, then it would no longer make the $2.5 million profit in extra tuition it enjoys by blatantly ignoring the limits it voluntarily agreed to.

Palo Alto needs to enforce its own laws and contracts against ALL residents and businesses, not just the ones least culpable and least able to pay. We are not the unreasonable ones to demand that.

It's a school. A school! What is wrong with this town? We don't give a damn when office after office opens or expands, but a primary school wants to educate more students, and people go ballastic? Get over yourselves.

Don't want more cars? Neither do it. Implement paid parking, require Casti to charge for parking, close streets to cars, make it safer to bike (remember Ross Road? I do!). You do NOT own our streets. And everyone gets to use them equally.

Absolutely embarrassing to call this place my hometown.

Evan, a school is not above the law. They can't just violated their 415 enrollment limit as defined in their Conditional Use Permit since 2000. For more than 2 decades, they ignore their violations and continue to bring in more out of town traffic to the City by their 70%+ of out of town students. They continue to play tricks by not counting all their traffic to the neighborhood. A school has the responsibility to set example and teaches their students to follow the laws and care for the well being of their neighbors, not violating the laws, deceiving the public and ignoring the well being of their neighbors. Castilleja has tens of millions in their endowment fund. In the last 6 years, it spent hundreds of thousand if not millions of dollars in hiring PR, consulting and lawyers to push their expansion ambition without any regard on the neighborhood. Does it sounds like a non profit school or a big for profit corporation?

Evan,
Castilleja is not a primary school.
Offices are not built in neighborhoods where people live.
Close streets to cars? There are homes on those streets.

[Post removed.]

[Portion removed.] Castilleja, which my grandmother attended on her way to LSJU, has morphed from a girls' boarding school with a few day students into an over-sized & overly entitled institution which continues to flaunt & defy the conditions under which it's permitted to operate.
They've violated enrollment limits for about 25 years. Their promises to scale back have no value, but the building, garage, etc, expansions with which they bulldoze ahead wreak havoc in an area already impacted by normal traffic along the very narrow Embarcadero Rd & busy El Camino. We resident taxpayers need to be able to get to our homes, PAMF, T&C, PAHS, and not have Casti girls & their drivers swarming our streets, blocking our driveways, double parking, etc. If Casti "needs" more room to accommodate more girls for more $$, let them go elsewhere. There's probably space near the PA airport where students can be coptered in & the number of students legally permitted be increased. I'm sick & tired of non-enforcement & non-collection of the fines Casti is legally supposed to pay. With whom does the headmistress have such a close personal relationship that the school has been allowed for years to violate the rules? Or is it a Casti board member who has such juice? Most businesses, and this is certainly a business, get shut down after years of ignoring its use-rules. As far as I'm concerned, Casti can move or close & it'll be no loss to the citizens of PA. Send the kids to our public schools or any of the many other privates.

Evan:

1. We all care VERY much when office after office opens and expands, and it is literally unimaginable that a regular (tax-paying) office would be given permission to open in the middle of a R1 zoned neighborhood. Our City Council changed the rules to allow Castilleja to locate in Old Palo Alto. That said, when the decision was originally made, Castilleja was a boarding school (so arguably qualified as residential) and the land it occupied was worth 1/100th what it is worth now.

2. Castilleja is not a "school" in the ordinary sense. Most "schools" are public organizations that are required to serve all local residents. Castilleja is a PROFITABLE private business. It admits approx 3% of applicants of which a small fraction live in Palo Alto. It never opens its doors to community members, like Stanford and all other private schools are required to do. It enjoys unusually special privileges unseen anywhere else, courtesy of our elected officials (why? why? why?).

3. Most of all, CASTILLEJA PAYS NO TAXES. This means that every single taxpayer in Palo Alto--homeowners, hotels, businesses, and consumers--all SUBSIDIZE the services that Castilleja uses, including police, firefighters, street cleaning, utility delivery, garbage pickup, mail delivery, park usage, *city staff time* (!), etc.

4. Every other comparable private school pays mitigations. Most offer full scholarships to local needy kids. Others provide swim access to community members. Some make their theater or fields available to nonprofit or community organizations. Many pay money into the public school funds. Castilleja refuses to do ANY of these things.

5. Add in the law-breaking described above, as well as the millions of dollars in unenforced penalties also described above, both which constitute legal and financial windfalls for a private profitable businesses that provides zero public service and community benefit, yet lots and lots of harm.

6. Because Castilleja is a profitable private business that pays no taxes, it is given undeserved subsidies that You, Evan, are paying for without realizing. Knowing that your tax money is going directly to Casti which gives you nothing while harming neighbors, do you still feel the same way?

I want to know how much money these 6.5 years worth of hearings, studies, etc have cost in terms of staff time and consulting contracts. It's got a substantial amount and Casti should reimburse Palo Alto taxpayers for that full amount.

And that's not even addressing the amount of money Casti's tax-paying neighbors have spent out of their own pockets on architects, engineers, arborists, lawyers etc.

I also want to know how much of a financial penalty Casti will get for each violation of its TDM and its CUP.

Again, trust is EARNED. What substantive action has Castilleja taken to earn back trust?

They could have implemented a TDM program six or even four years ago and demonstrated progress toward trip reduction. Instead they opted to do nothing.

You make your bed, you lie in it. These are values lessons I learned at a very young age. What values is Castilleja teaching your children, Casti parents?

Castilleja students are given priority on campus parking over faculty members that need to park at First Presbyterian Church on Cowper. If Castilleja teachers (not administration) are found to park near campus, they are severely reprimanded by the school.

This is all one needs to know about Castilleja.

August 24, 2023: Palo Alto City Council Member Julie Lythcott-Haims was the keynote speaker for Castilleja's opening day ceremonies.

@NJ: Do you know if she was paid to speak at the event?

ps the list of speakers over the years is like a who was instead of who's who.

One only has to look at how consistently Julie Lythcott-Haima voted to support Casti, even when it was obvious that the TDM plan was nonexistent and needed to be fleshed out, and used her time to deflect hard questions by deferring to the incomplete staff reports.

She didn't see any problem with staff's failure of staff to even address the specifics of the TDM for SIX and a half long year -- and then letting Casti that she doesn't think CITY staff needs oversight and that she prefers to speak nationally on social justice issues.

People get paid in different ways, including but not limited to speaking fees, endorsements, in-kind services and campaign contributions and Ms Julie Lythcott-Haims as a first-time candidate raised the most money in total and from sources outside of Palo Alto.