Sorry, but those landlords wanted to remodel or tear down the building PRECISELY because there’s no more office space here for them to buy and you won’t let them build more. In fact, most of the Peninsula won’t let them build more and where/when you can do it, the added cost of dealing with City Councils and Planning Boards and repeated appeals and permits takes years and costs a lot of money.
They would have made way more money by buying a second property and getting two rental incomes than by destroying one and rebuilding it if it were possible to do so and if they didn’t have to also pay the “deal with the planning board for years” premium.
(future planning commissioner Kate Vershov Downing on the Palo Alto Weekly message board , September 11, 2014 ominously enough, a few weeks before becoming part of that system herself: she is now a Planning Commissioner here — bottom line: free pass for all developers, or she will blank it from them under the blanket*
And when she says she lives “in Ventura” she actually rents a house on Pepper, which is a small mixed use street near corner of Page Mill and El Camino and she does not know, my unscientific field work shows, even the other lawyer/tech young couple on the block, nor has she been to the art gallery there; there was also two or three garages and auto-shops there, converted to more office space; Jay Paul is adjacent — clearly she would cheer-lead for that. I am for a park at Fry’s plus 100 units, clearly Sobrato loves that she will push for the 17-units-per-acre proposal which is 200 new units and no park.
I am slightly xenophobic but people who’ve only been in America a few years are easy pickins’ for the slick developer crowd; development here is a billion dollar industry which also means millions per year in Palo Alto for lawyers, pr and other subtle manipulations of the only-theoretial Democratic principles. Meanwhile, is Russia better off with kleptocrats posing as free market? Be careful what you wish for.
I posted on a more recent thread, about Palo Alto Forward,that the group reminds me of Ring Girls at a boxing match: they look good but their message is over-simplified, it’s not obvious who they take their orders from and their basically clueless.
I think Ms. Vershov Downing is formidable, and she certainly fooled five council members into voting for her, but I would say she wears her politics on her sleeves, as noticeable as Carol Doda’s giant fake tits and this does not say great things about our future as an open society. Democracy bows under the weight of capital and becomes blank.
In greed we tryst.
and1: I count 5 Palo Alto Forward in leadership now. Palo Alto For War (on middle class and democratic values).
*if you type “kate” into a search function it pops up 44 times on this page
note, or edit to add: a previous version of this that was viewable, along hundreds of billions of other accretions of ideas, for a few minutes but no one saw it, implied something illegal about how the real estate industry continues its route and the role of so-called leadership; actually I believe that there is such a vacuum in our Democracy that merely clueless and not criminal mindsets permit all this to happen. That is, until there is a Federal racketeering indictment, I will believe that the pro-developer forces merely think what is best for the most powerful is best for them too, just to be useful.
Meanwhile, how many middle class families are forced out in the last five years, and why do we not protect them? And why all the war? (Iraq, Afghanistan, for example)
edit to add or and1: I sat next to, at the community table, at Coupa, Utilities commissioner John Melton and former PATC and PARC Alex Panelli and could not help but bounce my John Paye for Assembly scheme off them. It is possible that Alex Panelli was there for the precise opposite reason, that he was working covertly for a Berman for Assembly push/explore. In my post, and what I told John, perhaps better connected and more persuasive people will raise the same questions with him. In my opinion, John Paye would steamroll Mark Berman in a race like Ernie Nevers running thru a bevy of Ohlone maidens. Bronko Nagurski playing red rover with Mrs. Peck’s class.
I actually asked Paye about politics and district 24 in context of first asking: what if David Shaw goes pro and Stanford asks you to coach football? His answer is that family comes first, he coaches his kids and is a parent and life is challenging and exciting enough right now. But he left the door open that as his kids become more independent there may be some daylight. I knew Paye slightly from youth sports and he strikes me as a sportsman, more so than 99 percent of the jocks at his level. I see Russell Wilson as a potential POTUS, especially if he gets a second Super Bowl ring by 30. Paye has a Super Bowl ring which he said he got by backing up Steve Young who was backing up Joe Montana and he got no NFL regular season snaps but his contribution was standing next to Young and shielding the former 49ers coaches in the opposition as Steve would signal Joe what the coaches wanted done next. And I guess by extension or completing the circle, I would trust Kate Paye the Stanford assistant basketball coach more than Kate Vershov Downing as planning commissioner for Palo Alto.
who over the age of 5, speaking of Mrs. Peck, would believe this self-statement:
Silicon Valley gave Kate the opportunity to have a successful career, leaving behind childhood destitution, so issues related to Silicon Valley’s continued success, economic opportunities for the disadvantaged and support for the elderly are particularly salient to her. ???
Our Planning and Transportation looks less like The Warren Court and more like The Mickey Mouse Club:
I’m Mikey!!!
I’m Katie!!!
I’m Adrian!!!!
two more threads: I nearly wrote to commish Adrian!!! Fine to ask about something somewhat obscure on his resume, his thesis on “Drug Free Zones” in Seattle, which I tend to see as part of a justice system problem where the poor get worse treatment by the justice system than the middle class. (See Bryan Stevenson, in related topics). Meanwhile, Russell Not Russian But Rushing Wilson — son of Dartmouth football legend H.B. Wilson — is filing for divorce from his college sweetheart, which is points off for those vetting future leaders of the free world. No clue on rumor that Ashton is moving to Palo Alto and applying for PATC.
somehow I forgot Eric Rosenblum and Greg Tanaka in my round-up of PATC.
Here is picture of Greg I found on CalTech alumni page, with a founder of a tech-firm I barely am familiar with, an author named Ohanian:
commissioner tanaka is the guy on the right, of Ohanian
And I have to admit that in my formation of the moniker “Kiss Me Kate” Downing, I am conflating Eliza Doolittle of Pygmalian “My Fair Lady” with Kathryn Grayson of Taming of the Shrew “Kiss Me Kate” with lyrics by Cole Porter. And I am probably conflating Le Levy singing the best of Broadway with Steve Levy calling me the Yiddish word for penis, not in person but in print.
Plastic Alto with Mark Weiss 