A great city creates joy, not frustration.
Increase Community Wellness & Joy
Palo Alto is already a wonderful place to live, but our city government should make practical improvements that would make everyday life easier, more joyful, and less frustrating.
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Host big events with better traffic management.
Reduce event-related gridlock by negotiating new traffic-management agreements with Stanford and other major event organizers. These agreements would fund trained traffic-control personnel from the event venue all the way to the freeway and other major routes out of the city easing congestion immediately during events.
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Add more amenities to shared spaces by cutting the costs. Clean safe restrooms in our parks, playgrounds, sports fields, shade and seating are things we can afford if we cut the costly red tape and delays that hold back small public projects through my Green Lights Plan below.
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Sustain Palo Alto’s environmental leadership so future generations can enjoy the natural beauty, healthy neighborhoods, and vibrant community we cherish today.
Green Light:
Faster Permits for Local Business, Home Improvements & Lower Cost Public Projects
I believe City Hall should use common sense to solve problems, and create a simple predictable path for businesses and residents to obtain permits.
Palo Alto's long and confusing permitting can make it more expensive for a business to open, or remain in Palo Alto. Too many simple projects require an expectation that places it on the city's back burner and can take years to approve. Permit delays cause businesses to incur debt as they pay rent but can’t open. Home owners unlocking value with ADU’s, solar or other improvements experience long waits for inspections and delays in permit approvals add excessive city mandated cost to projects.
We can revitalize downtown by making it easier to open a local business and less expensive to complete straightforward community improvements. My “Green Lights” plan will establish clear deadlines for permits while cutting unnecessary costs and delays from smaller public projects.
Faster Permits = Fewer Vacant Storefronts & Lower Home Improvement Costs
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48-Hour Intake Guarantee
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Know within two business days whether the permit application is complete and what information is missing.
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30-Day Decision guarantee for common permits.
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90-Day Decision guarantee for larger projects.​
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MORE SAME-DAY PERMITS
Expand same-day and over-the-counter permit approvals and guarantee inspections within one week—or waive the inspection fee.
Green lights: Build Small Public Projects Faster and for Less
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Adopt a cooperative purchasing policy modeled based on a new successful approach other Bay Area cities have adopted. If another public agency has already competitively bid a proven restroom, playground, or other standard facility, Palo Alto should not have to start the entire process over from scratch.
The city could use existing competitively bid public contracts and proven prefabricated designs to reduce costs, shorten timelines, and complete more neighborhood improvements with the same taxpayer dollars—without sacrificing safety or quality.
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San Francisco reports that this approach has produced significant savings on playgrounds, park restrooms, turf, and other public projects. San Francisco Chronicle.
Green Light:
Keeping Young Families in Palo Alto
We can build a shared future where our children have the opportunities we had and can afford to stay here. That requires creating more housing choices for young families, teachers, local workers, and seniors, along with more creative child care options. As Palo Alto grows, we should also continue our tradition of environmental leadership—making growth more sustainable, preparing our neighborhoods and infrastructure for changing environmental conditions, and never losing sight of what makes Palo Alto special.
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Add family housing where it makes sense—near transit, shopping areas, major employers, community amenities, and existing multifamily neighborhoods.
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Reduce commuter traffic by building along our transit corridor.
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Move faster to protect local control. Years of delay by our commissions and City Council have left Palo Alto playing catch-up and already cost us some control over where and how new housing is built. When we move too slowly, residents and neighborhoods lose opportunities to have their voices heard and shape what happens in their community. Moving faster gives Palo Alto more choices and residents more say in how we grow.
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Remove policy road blocks and offer incentives for mixed-use developments downtown that place homes above offices and shops, near public transportation and offer larger family size units.
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Make ADUs work better for families making it easier and less expensive to build a backyard home for a child, aging parent, caregiver, student, or renter by expanding the streamlined permitting process for larger units and make them qualify for low or waved fee structure.
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Plan housing and infrastructure together. As Palo Alto grows, transportation, utilities, parks, public safety, and other essential infrastructure need to keep pace. We should also continue preparing our community for flooding, wildfire, sea-level rise, and other environmental risks.