Palo Alto Housing Resolution Stirs Controversy

PALO ALTO, CA — The Palo Alto City Council’s passage of a resolution Monday that takes aim at density advocates has drawn rebuke.

The council by a 6-1 margin voted in favor of the measure that pushes back against state and regional pressures on the city to beef up its housing stock, Palo Alto Weekly reports.

The resolution heavily emphasizes the term “local control,” which appears seven times in a three-page memo to fellow council members from Lydia Kou and Greer Stone, who jointly introduced the measure.

The measure comes amid a statewide push to build high-density housing in areas in close proximity to transit corridors.

Bruce Reyes-Chow, the pastor and head of staff at First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto, tweeted: “While there is much about my new city that I love, this decision encapsulates why so much ire is direct its way. — In reaffirming 'local control,' Palo Alto vows to oppose state efforts on housing.”

The measure affirms that Palo Alto strongly opposes “the current practice of the legislature of the State of California of continually proposing and passing multitudes of bills that directly impact and interfere with the ability of cities to control their own destiny through use of the zoning authority that has been granted to them.”

Councilmember Kou said at Monday’s meeting that such legislation ignores the “unique character” of local municipalities, Palo Alto Weekly reports.

"The kind of legislation that is enacted in the end does not give homeowners — people who have invested in their community — a sense of confidence, not knowing what's going to be coming up next to them and what kind of cumulative negative impacts there will be," Kou said.

Washington, D.C.-based civil rights attorney Michael Allen described the city’s use of the term “local control” as a thinly veiled version of the language from the post-Confederacy South.

“As a former Palo Alto resident, I just want to say that "local control" has the same sound in my ear as "states' rights" did in the #JimCrowEra,” Allen wrote on Twitter.

“Let's find some language that welcomes people and creates opportunity.”

Said Twitter user Devon Ryan: “The state should make an example out of Palo Alto to show other NIMBY cities that if you proactively undermine regional housing goals, you will get higher requirements, local zoning will be voided, and you’ll be too broke on lawsuits to fight real problems your city is facing.”