A love fest broke out at the Palo Alto City Council meeting Monday night. The less-than-two-hour scheduled meeting went on for about three hours, with more than an hour of praises for three outgoing members through resolutions of “outstanding city service,” presentations of plaques by dignitaries and even commendations by council thorns.
It was all too much.
Not that thanks aren’t in order. Those who serve on the council work long and hard, with little pay or daily praise. My personal thanks to the three retirees, particularly Larry Klein, who attended 17 years of council meetings (four terms plus an extra year when the council switched to even-year elections), at least two to three meetings a week, and fielded telephone calls galore from residents, city employees and special interest groups. That takes dedication and stamina. He served the city well.
The same is true for ex-mayor Nancy Shepherd and councilwoman Gail Price, who each served four years.
But the “fest” I’m talking about is the unctuous praise for our fair city. We all like Palo Alto, but when a few council members suggested it is “respected all over the world,” well … love wafted through the room all night.
City Manager James Keene gave a rundown of the past year’s accomplishments — for almost 45 minutes. I laughed when he acknowledged that given these projects, it takes ages to get things done here, such as the Mitchell Park Library and Community Center. A nice reality focus.
The election of Karen Holman as mayor came as no surprise. She was the top vote-getter and served on the council and the Planning and Transportation Commission for years, and has a wealth of usable knowledge about how this city works.
What was a nice surprise was that both council members Liz Kniss and Pat Burt nominated Holman — a surprise because each also wanted to be mayor. Both were very gracious in their enthusiasm for Holman.
Her election seemed a fait accompli way before the meeting started, which I suspect took a lot of back-room conversations.
The other surprise was the vice mayoral race between two longtime council members — Greg Schmid and Pat Burt. It ended up 5-4 for Schmid, perhaps because he served eight years without any leadership post and Burt has been mayor. Holman opted to give her support to Burt, which I understand given the forthcoming issues the city will be facing. But newbie Councilman Cory Wolbach broke the tie by casting his vote for Schmid. Both candidates have their individual skills, so I think the Holman-Schmid team will work just fine!
Catching up with history
The new council has a strong residentialist tilt; by contrast, last year’s was decidedly pro-growth. I came across the following lately, and all I can say is we seem to be not back to the future but back to where we were — residentialists:
“It is with a feeling of deep regret that we see on our streets today those who would sell, or give, our beautiful little city to an outside community. We have watched Mayfield grow from a small hamlet, when Palo Alto was nothing more than a hayfield, to her present size … and it is with a feeling of sorrow that we contemplate the fact that there are those who would sell or give the city away.” — Mayfield News editorial on July 10, 1925, four days after Palo Alto and Mayfield were officially consolidated into one city.
Think “developers” when an “outside community” is mentioned and “suburban community” rather than a “small hamlet.” It will be refreshing to see how the new no-growth, little-growth mindset of the council majority works out the next decade.
Diana Diamond is a columnist for The Daily News. Her email is Diana@DianaDiamond.com.
