LWV Palo Alto ACTION

The League uses its positions to take action on issues. 

The League of Women Voters advocates for its positions in many ways: gathering signatures for a needed ballot measure, showing up and speaking up for voting rights and other issues we support, giving testimony before government bodies, and demonstrating for or against possible legislation or ballot measures pertaining to our positions. 

LWVPA Action Alert!
1/13/22

Santa Clara County released a Civil Grand Jury report Affordable Housing: A Tale of Two Cities, detailing how Mountain View and Palo Alto have been addressing the regional housing shortage. The differences are stark. Mountain View has far outpaced Palo Alto in its political support, long-range and area planning, funding and process of approving affordable housing.

The Grand Jury report asks Palo Alto City Council to review the findings and create a plan to meet the recommendations. A number of concerned Palo Alto community members have initiated a petition to support the recommendations and would like to send as many signatures as possible to Palo Alto City Council.

Will you join us and sign the petition? Please also share with other local friends!

Call to Act

Call or write to the Palo Alto City Council members and tell them to enact three campaign finance reforms in time for the 2022 city elections:
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1) Limits on campaign donations of $500 to reduce the influence of large contributors and the perception that decisions are influenced more by the size of the contribution than by the best interests of the city;
2) Voluntary expenditure limits of $30,000 to stop the skyrocketing trajectory of campaign spending, so candidates can spend less time fundraising and more time addressing issues of importance to their constituents; and
3) Disclosure of the top five donors who contribute $2500+ to independent spending on political ads in city elections.

Local Advocacy: 2021-22

May 3: LWVPA wrote to the Palo Alto Unified School District Board objecting to its April 19 decision to disallow the public from addressing the Board remotely via telephone or Zoom, requiring instead that the public show up in person to speak. Read the letter here.
April 14, 2022: LWVPA wrote to the City Council urging the members to bring up for consideration a $500 campaign donation limit on future City Council elections. Read the letter here.
December 3, 2021: LWVPA sent a resolution to the Palo Alto Unified School District Board urging them  to notify parents and guardians annually of their legal obligations regarding the safe storage of firearms and to work with other local agencies and nonprofits to inform parents of those responsibilities. Read the letter here.

November 5: LWVPA wrote to the City Council in support of renter protection reforms described by staff (11/8/2021 Council meeting) and HRC recommendations to turn them into city ordinances. The League also recommended two additional rental housing preservation policies for staff study. Read the letter here.

November 4: As part of a coalition, LWVPA sent  this letter to Council members in support of local campaign finance reform. The reasons for our support are summarized in this Resolution.

October 15: LWVPA wrote to the Santa Clara County Facilities and Fleet Department in support of the draft EIR for the '231 Grant' Educator Workforce Housing Project. The project would create 110 apartments for public school district employees from Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. Read the letter here.

September 27: LWVPA wrote to the City Council in support of the nonprofit Eden Housing/Mitchell Park apartments proposal. Read the letter here.

August 30: LWVPA wrote to the City Council thanking them for their work to enact a safe storage of firearms ordinance. Read the letter here.

August 6: LWVPA urged the City Council to pass a resolution supporting the Santa Clara County Community Plan to End Homelessness and also encouraged the Council to have staff establish a public-private partnership for a Supportive Interim Housing site in Palo Alto. Read the letter here.

August 5: LWVPA wrote to the City Council in urging approval of a Safe Parking Program permit for the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto, to be operated by the experienced nonprofit Move Mountain View. Read the letter here.

June 9: LWVPA wrote to the City Council in support of the staff recommendation for alternative 3B in the North Ventura Coordinated Area Plan (NVCAP) study area or a bolder housing alternative. Read the letter here.

May 25, 2021: LWVPA wrote to the City Council urging them to make the adoption of an ordinance for the safe storage of firearms at home a priority, six months after having directed staff to draft such an ordinance. Read the letter here.

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Local Advocacy: 2020-21

April 19: With input from Housing & Transportation team members, the League sent a letter to the City Council objecting to the method of selecting the members of the Housing Element Advisory Committee as a breach of open government norms. Read the letter here.

March 22: LWVPA wrote the City Council in support of the adoption of a resolution proposed to stop Asian hate in Palo Alto. Read the communication here.

February 22: LWVPA sent the City Council three recommendations to prevent the inequitable outcome of having extremely high gas rates fall on low- and moderate-income households unable to afford the switch to electricity. Read the letter here.

​February 8: LWVPA wrote the City Council in support of two housing proposals which would increase affordable housing. They are for (1) more than 100 units of middle-income teacher housing on Grant Avenue and (2) 300 units on Fabian Way, with 20-25% affordable proposed.

December 14: LWVPA wrote the City Council in strong support of a city ordinance requiring safe storage of firearms in the home. Read the letter here.

September 2: Randy Tsuda, President and CEO of Alta Housing, discussed Housing in the Bay Area – How We Got Here and What Will Bring About Change.
 
August 31: Both AB 2541 and AB 3070, which you asked Assemblymember Marc Berman to support, passed the California Assembly and are now headed to Gov. Newsom for his signature. Both bills address the persistent problem of racial discrimination in our criminal legal system. Thank you!

August 18: LWVPA's Advocacy Chair, Lisa Ratner, represented the League at Congresswoman Anna Eshoo's press conference, held "to call on the Trump Administration to immediately end its campaign of sabotage against the U.S. Postal Service."  Read Lisa's remarks are here.
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August 12: LWVPA co-sponsored an Acterra Virtual Lecture on The Role of Agriculture in Climate Change, where Professor Pete Smith of Scotland's ClimateXChange presented his findings on livestock, diet and soil carbon sequestration. 

May 13: LWVPA co-sponsored with Palo Alto Forward a panel during Affordable Housing Month on Missing Middle Housing. Presenters made a strong case for rewriting our current R-1 zoning, showing that different types of housing make a neighborhood and contribute to a low-carbon environment.

Local Action Letters: 2019-20     
Local Action Letters: 2018-19

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