I'm very excited to see Lisa running for city council. She has experience from the UAC, and endorsements from a variety of current and former council members. I think she has what Palo Alto needs -- a positive vision for the future, some ideas for how to get there, and a willingness to work with stakeholders with different perspectives. As a father with a two year old, I'm particularly interested in making Palo Alto a place where all generations thrive. I encourage you to visit her campaign website at Web Link .

Thanks for the link to her web site and her endorsements Web Link which I always check as the most important indicator of a candidate's positions and priorities.

From her list of backers that she's clearly in the pro-development camp which conflicts with her support of more traffic calming as well as more city spending as per her support of the city's fiber network at a time when there's already enough competition from private industry AND the state's announced plan to develop its own network.

Given her tenure on the Utilities Commission, she should be aware that the city has NO expertise in running a competitive network or providing customer service for one.

I'd also ask what she's done to rein in CPAU's water rate hikes now that Palo Alto's number one as in water costs as per today's blog. Web Link

I always like to thank those who are willing to run for their time and interest.

I honestly don't think our utilities has been run well enough for my liking so it is hard to say that I am very enthusiastic, but of course willing to be open minded enough to be persuaded otherwise.

I like how her website says "pulling together people with disparate views, skills, and backgrounds to find common ground and a path forward to a common goal". We need that creativity to provide housing and manage traffic. I would hope those are not mutually exclusive goals. Other cities have managed by developing near transit hubs, building infra for walking/biking, increasing potential users so public transit is more financially viable, growing neighborhood businesses so less driving to run errands, building neighborhood amenities so less need to drive for entertainment, etc. With many employers committing to supporting long-term hybrid/remote work, this seems like a good time to re-examine our assumptions of what is possible.

When I see endorsements from real estate attorneys who have expertise in and benefit from commercial real estate transactions and development this raises a red flag as to who would benefit from a particular candidate serving on council. Especially anyone who has served on council who, when there is a choice, has prioritized the financial interests of those who do not live in Palo Alto.

@Online Name: FCC Chairman Rosenworcel is proposing to raise the definition of "broadband" from 25/3 Mbps to 100/20 Mbps. Web Link Most Palo Alto premises don't have a choice of 100/20 Mbps wired providers. Rosenworcel is also proposing a national goal of 1000/500 Mbps. Most Palo Alto premises can't get this from any wired providers.

California is planning to pay $3.2 billion for an open access middle-mile fiber network, called GoldenStateNet, to connect "unserved and underserved communities" to the internet. Web Link But Palo Alto doesn't qualify. See map (page 20 here). Web Link Anyhow, Palo Alto already has access to a middle-mile network capable of supporting the last-mile fiber to the premises (FTTP) network the City is considering building.

According to MuniNetworks, there are 343 municipal FTTP networks, as of September 2021. Web Link Most of these municipalities had no "expertise in running a competitive network or providing customer service for one" before they started.