Palo Alto Overturns Exclusionary Park Ordinance

PALO ALTO, CA — It took the threat of legal action less than two months to accomplish what decades of social activism couldn’t.

In the crosshairs of an ACLU lawsuit, Palo Alto’s City Council voted Monday to reverse a controversial ordinance excluding outsiders from Foothills Park, the city announced in a news release.

The picturesque 1,400-acre preserve off Page Mill Road has been off-limits to outsiders since it was purchased by the city in 1959, a policy that racial justice advocates say is discriminatory.

The council voted 5-2 to overturn the ordinance.

The park will open to the public Dec. 17 according to the city’s news release. The city will continue its policy of capping capacity at 1,000 people and will allow just 750 visitors at a time for the first 90 days.

“I’m sorry that it took a lawsuit for us to get here, but this is the obviously correct and just thing to do,” Palo Alto Mayor Adrian Fine said according to a San Francisco Chronicle report.

“Foothills Park is a public park and you don’t get to pick and choose your public.”

The ACLU moved to compel the South Bay city to lift an exclusionary ordinance that's come under scrutiny in recent months in the aftermath of George Floyd's death in police custody.

The ACLU's Northern California chapter filed a lawsuit September compelling Palo Alto to remove what it calls an "unconstitutional residents-only restriction at Foothills Park" that stands as "a legacy of the city's history of racial discrimination."

Non-residents have risked jail time and hefty fines entering the park.

William Freeman, senior counsel at ACLU of Northern California, said he was “encouraged” by the move in an email to The Chronicle.

“We are encouraged by the Palo Alto City Council’s vote to open Foothills Park to all,” Freeman told The Chronicle.

“We will continue to work with the city towards a comprehensive settlement of the litigation.”

Councilmembers Greg Tanaka and Lydia Kou voted against overturning the ordinance.

“I’m hoping the community can move forward and we could start focusing on things that will have more meaningful and bigger benefits,” Tanaka said according to The Chronicle report.

Foothills Park is the state's only such "residents-only" park.

"I cannot in good conscience sit by while the city of Palo Alto uses my tax dollars to perpetuate the exclusion of people from public spaces in my community," said plaintiff LaDoris Cordell, a retired Superior Court judge and former member of the Palo Alto City Council.

"The practice of blocking non-residents from Foothills Park perpetuates inequity, and it must end."

The city’s press release acknowledged that the city’s move overturned the ordinance came amid the ACLU lawsuit.

“Plaintiffs claim that the Park’s residency requirement violates their First Amendment rights to free speech and free assembly under the federal and California constitutions, as well as their constitutional right to travel,” the news release said.

“The City worked with plaintiffs to confirm that opening Foothills Park to the general public would enable a settlement and avoid protracted litigation.”