After fielding complaints about golfers damaging sensitive wetland habitat in the Palo Alto Baylands, the city has installed fences, added signage and instituted a new “local rule” in an effort to keep the area pristine. The issue of golfers trampling on Baylands plants surfaced in 2023, when a complaint from a local environmentalist prompted intervention from...
Palo Alto adopts $1B budget, revamps ambulance service
Facing a turbulent financial outlook, Palo Alto adopted on Monday a $1-billion budget that revamps the Fire Department’s ambulance service, expands funding for nonprofit groups and delays decisions on budget cuts until later this year. The spending plan that the City Council adopted by a 6-0 vote, with Councilmember Greer Stone absent, includes one major...
Palo Alto explores use of drones in police work
The Palo Alto Police Department is exploring the possibility of acquiring drones for a variety of uses in police work and for other city departments. Police Chief Andrew Binder said during a May 6 meeting of the City Council Finance Committee meeting that Palo Alto is one of the only police agencies in Santa Clara...
State orders Palo Alto to revise laws on backyard dwellings
In a city where building homes is famously costly and often onerous, accessory dwelling units offer Palo Alto’s housing advocates a small bit of promise. Bolstered by recent state laws, the backyard structures are quietly but consistently doing their part in helping the city meet its housing goals. Palo Alto had issued 125 permits for...
Palo Alto may lead efforts to restrict ‘builder’s remedy’
Palo Alto is preparing to lead the charge in support of a new legislative effort to limit builder’s remedy applications, which allow housing developers to bypass zoning regulations in cities that don’t have compliant housing plans. The city is working with Sen. Josh Becker to modify the Housing Accountability Act in a way that would...
Palo Alto looks to create new neighborhood on San Antonio
The strip of San Antonio Road east of Alma Street hardly looks like Palo Alto’s most inviting housing destination. It is located near U.S. Highway 101 and its current occupants include car dealerships, modest one-story office buildings, an oil change place, two new hotels, an apartment complex for seniors and a smattering of restaurants. But...
Town & Country owners look to build housing near its shopping center
For more than a year, the owners of Town & Country Village have been battling a proposal to build a condominium development on a parking lot just north of the El Camino Real shopping center. Over public meetings and in written correspondence, Ellis Partners has argued that the planned project is incompatible with the area...
Palo Alto mulls new RV park to aid vehicle dwellers
With the number of vehicle dwellers on the rise, Palo Alto’s elected leaders are considering further expanding the Geng Road “safe parking” site, which provides spaces and social services for individuals and families who live in RVs. The program, which is administered by the nonprofit group MOVE Mountain View, has been gradually evolving since the...
A vibrant destination? Palo Alto dreams big on Cubberley
After decades filled with false starts and shattered expectations, Palo Alto’s elected leaders on Tuesday took their first step in what promises to be a long journey to repair, rebuild and enhance Cubberley Community Center. By the standards of local planning efforts, which typically feature years of debate and numerous iterations, the current Cubberley effort...
Santa Clara County courthouse mural is racist, advocates say
Silicon Valley groups are calling for a mural they say is racist to be removed from the Palo Alto branch of the Santa Clara County Superior Court. Several groups including the NAACP San Jose/Silicon Valley and Muwekma Ohlone tribe said a mural inside the hallway of the Palo Alto branch displays colonialist imagery, denigrating Native Americans....