Palo Alto’s aggressive effort to reform its famously frustrating permitting operation hit another landmark this week when the city hired its first-ever Development Services Director.
Peter Pirnejad, who has spent the past four years as assistant director of economic and community development in Daly City, was hired to oversee Palo Alto’s Development Center, the nexus of the city’s permit application and a frequent source of customer frustrations. The hiring of Pirnejad, which City Manager James Keene announced Wednesday afternoon, is the latest component in Keene’s effort to improve customer service and efficiency at the Development Center — an effort that also included adding new project managers, hiring a day-to-day manager for the center and leasing space above the Development Center.
Pirnejad will be charged with taming what has become known derisively as the “Palo Alto Process” and coordinating the efforts of the various city departments involved in the process, including Planning, Fire, Public Works and Utilities.
According to a statement from Keene, Pirnejad was selected after an extensive search that yielded 64 applications. Eight candidates were ultimately selected for interviews with three panels, which included department stakeholders, community representatives and Bay Area public sector leaders. He will begin his duties on Oct. 16 and will receive a salary of $161,249.
Keene said Pirnejad “brings a skill set to Palo Alto that will help us complete the organizational transformation outlined in our blueprint.” He has 14 years of experience in community development and, while in Daly City, has oversight of a department with four divisions and a $5.5 million annual budget. He also had oversight in creation of a new Virtual Permit Center, which relied on high-tech software that allowed express permit issuance and real-time corrections for building inspections through mobile laptops.
“Peter’s management style is focused on team building and his experience encompasses streamlining the development review process to the mutual benefit of customers and staff through workflow redesign, interdepartmental teams, greater procedural transparency and technology improvements,” said Keene.
In a statement, Pirnejad said he was “excited to be part of the Palo Alto Development Services Team.”
“I look forward to continuing the improvements to Development Services in the spirit of innovation and transparency that has set the City of Palo Alto apart,” Pirnejad said.
Another C student whose job is to take my money.
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/media/reports/1331139371.pdf
Maybe Development wants to be nicer to residents now, so they can shove that commercial development monster on University and Alma up our nose.
Who knew, that all the while there is a famous “Palo Alto process” for residents, there is an entirely different one for commercial developers. Commmercial developers get a free light, and can destroy views, light, traffic, the environment, with the City clamors for more, more, more.
Does the City get anything right?
So, what’s the total cost of this dysfunctional Development Services department? Please take in to account the pension costs for all of these new hires. How much of it is coming from the increased utility rates?
Jem Keene is steadily building his empire.He recently hired several (3 or 4) MANAGERS for the Development Center, now this.
Looks like he really wants that monster project to get approved. Question is, will the council ever stop him or will they repeatedly thank the staff for all their good work.
We need to know what’s in that mammoth boondoggle for him.
The idea of Development certainly needs transparency and inclusion. Does anyone know of any group or person or people, or how to get a referendum going, to vote against tall buildings in Palo Alto?
We’ve just added a very expensive bureaucrat to the most underperforming city government department (one which recently saw the addition of several more bureaucrats to address their inability to meet the city’s needs).
How is this new director going to be held accountable? What timelines, metrics, and deliverables will he be accountable for? In the real world, such highly compensated professionals are accountable for the value they add, and if they fail, they aren’t kept on the payroll for very long. Will the department become more streamlined? Will ineffective planners be weeded out and dismissed? Will the process be improved, and if not, what are the consequences?
I’m tired of the city government overpaying its own while completely failing to hold its highly paid bureaucrats accountable for their performance. The slow, chronically underperforming planning department should have been outsources a long time ago.
This sounds just like another expensive Palo Alto employee to me.
From our experience, it is the rules and procedures in the paperwork that need to be revamped, not the people.
When are we going to streamline our city government to save money rather than throwing more money away on administrators?
There has got to be a more cost-effective was of smoothing out the permitting process. When I got a new roof last year, they kept my roofer waiting all day e Rey day for,two weeks before even seeing him about getting the permit.
A few years ago, we put in new windows and doors. The permit was applied for in October, but was not approved until January.
In both cases, the contractors wanted to know who they had to pay off to get anything through!
Well, I hope Mr. Pirnejad doesn’t read this thread. What a welcome! I am (yet again) amazed at the vitriol that is posted on these forums in nearly every topic. I’ve lived in Palo Alto for 34 years, and if I had found that people here were as nasty in person as they appear to be online, I expect I would have moved away long ago.
Jan H–you sound like a bitter and miserable indiviual, who’s life in Palo Alto is a living hell(being cheated by Arrilaga, your neighbors think you are a loser, things are much better in Europe, you cannot get hummus etc). You should think of your personal happiness and move soon.
BTW, are you Sharon’s sister??
If the planning department is as bad as this — then no incumbent should be returned to the Council, or anyone who contributed to this mess–such as Liz Kniss.
Adding more management to a dysfunctional department seems to be the Keene and Klein’s team standard fix for incompetence. The Developement Center now has two managers for every staff employee. How many manager’s does it take to screw in a light bulb? According to Keene and Klein, 10 or more. The problem isn’t the need for more management, the problem is that we have a city manager with no vision and whose management capabilities have cost Palo Altans millions and continues to produce no results. A change of management at the top would be a positive step by council to assure the public that they are committed to a change for the better.
“Improve customer service and efficiency at the Development Center”
Sound like a lot of new money coming into the city budget. These new jobs are definitely more important than school crossing guards and the traffic cops altogether!
Brian, there was an article about rude Facebook and email users in the Wall Street Journal just a couple of days ago. It has to do with not being face-to-face or voice-to-voice with whomever you are addressing, sort of a protective armour of anonymity. It emboldens the user. Rather like rude drivers!
> A few years ago, we put in new windows and doors. The permit
> was applied for in October, but was not approved until January.
Could you add some detail here? How much work did the City have to do to approve this permit request?
All the City had to do was come out and look at the exterior of my house, and look at the proposed plan, complete with drawings and photos, that the contractor had drawn up. How long could that take?
It sounds like alot of City residents have insight to how municipal government employees on the management level are over paid and under perform.
If Peter was so good tell me why he was not promoted in Daly City after the Director of Economic and Community Developmrnt Dept.left that City? Peter was his assistant for over 4 years! Could he not learn that job? The credit for change in Daly City that was contributed to Peter’s skill set is way too much!All he did was follow along with a software company installation program and their consultants. There is nothing difficult about that. Palo Alto was sold a bill of goods believe me I know Peter.