Vicki by the Bay

CLIMATE

Palo Altans care about climate. I’ll work to leverage Palo Alto’s innovation culture to accelerate our progress toward our climate goals to ensure we meet them, including achieving 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 (with 1990 as the baseline).

To do that, we should pursue multiple options in parallel.

For example:

  • expand on Palo Alto’s successful pilot to transition home heating from gas to electric heat pumps. Our pilot project in a multi-family building demonstrates that we can retrofit existing units for electrification.
  • work to make electric vehicle charging more readily available throughout the city, to reduce carbon emissions.
  • transition commercial units from gas to electric.
  • incentivize all electric appliances in new housing.

 

HOUSING

Palo Alto needs more housing to have a balanced community and meet existing law. I’ll work to provide affordable and economically diverse housing, including for families, consistent with state and local laws, to enhance our community and address parking and traffic impact.

We can get this done by:

  • Preserving existing affordable housing. I am proud to be a member of the Board of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley which represented the tenants of the Buena Vista mobile home park and succeeded in saving it.
  • Building housing, including affordable housing for different income levels, by:
    • Adding more housing near transit hubs and resident services, particularly in our two downtowns to help revitalize those areas
    • Increasing density near transit hubs, which abates traffic and greenhouse gas emissions
  • Improve the process for ADUs which are a part of the solution and add a diversity of housing to single family neighborhoods.

 

CITY SERVICES

Palo Altans care about quality of life. I’ll champion investment in libraries, parks, and public safety.

For example, libraries promote equity and are a beloved common space, embedded in neighborhoods, where all can gather regardless of income, race, ethnicity, or other considerations. They promote learning and support those seeking advancement, free of cost. Families often enjoy them together. Yet none of our six libraries are open on Sunday and most are closed for 2-4 days per week, including our beloved Children’s Library. I’ll work to address budgeting, revenue, and other issues that stand in the way of greater access to these community assets.