Please get out of the way for the hospital project. Learn from meddling with the shopping center and hotel project.

After reading this I really would not blame Stanford if they chose to build their new hospital on land near their new medical facility in Redwood City.

P & T Commission get off Stanford's back, and let them design the kind of facility they want, or you'll lose it.

Ahh! There's a consultant! So more Palo Alto Process: delay, blackmail, righteous posturing. In short, the usual nonsense. Stand by for the City Council to shoot itself in the foot...they can be taken to the closest emergency room...in Redwood City.

Why doesn't Palo Alto leave Stanford alone and concentrate on it's own problems. they reject all projects which would bring revenue into the city then claim lack of funds for infrastructure work. Why not spend time fixing Palo Alto Streets and bike paths, which are the worst in the county.

Certainly Palo Alto has the right to ask the University for help on increased traffic solutions etc. However, they seem to be getting into site and building design which is not their affair. Perhaps Palo Alto should put up the money and build their own hospital so they can have precisely what they want.

The City Council sees everything through their "green" glasses, to the detriment of the city as a whole. This is especially true of the two most vocal Stanford bashers Drekmeier and Kishimoto.
They constantly whine about too much traffic. Kishimoto has stated that even the creation of one new job adds traffic (one has to wonder if she is happy with the economic downturn--less people working equals less traffic according to her equation).
I have yet to see any evidence of a large employer that has been in PA being asked to provide housing in order to remodel etc. Why does the council look at Stanford as a cash cow? their list of demands are outrageous and border on extortion (especially given statements by council members that all 50+ demands are non-negotiable.
Any other company/business would say good bye and move to a place where the climate is more welcoming.
The problem is that the council is clueless and listen to residents who claim that the Stanford hospital/medical center should not be a regional hospital. Some people have no clue as to what is going on and what Stanford means to Palo Alto.
I am sure that the council will have no problem exploiting Stanford's athletic facilities to line their own pockets when the Senior Games are in town, as an example of the council's double standard.

The Planning Commission should just stick to the Hospital Expansion and drop this "village concept" nonsense. Pushing for additional housing on Quarry Road is just an example of extraneous interference. Stanford should be preparing a Plan B and just move the expansion to Redwood City out of the hands of "the Palo Alto Process."

"But commissioners agreed that the medical center's expansion -- which includes major additions to Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and Stanford Hospital and Clinics as well as renovations to Hoover Pavilion and to the medical school -- should include amenities and design elements that would make strolling, biking and busing to and from the hospital attractive experiences."

Do the commissioners even have a clue as to what a hospital is or are they just extensions of our city council? People go to the hospital when they are ill--those people and their visitors are not interested in "strolling" nor are they interested in an "attractive experience"--they are concerned about their health or the health of a loved one.

It is time for this community to rise up in wrath and tell the Council AND the Planning Commission to back off and out of the Stanford Hospitals project before we lose it all together. We've lost the expanded shopping center. This council was not crowned or anointed. It was elected to take care of the business - particularly now the financial business - of Palo Alto. This council is composed of short term-ers, and come November I hope some will be shorter than others. The council's decisions will impact this city for generations - and they and some previous councils made some pathetically dumb decisions. We need that hospital - and desperately need a large, modern emergency room.
I have no qualms about putting my name on this blog. The council's popularity is spiraling down, and residents feel so helpless to stop the civic carnage. Where is the common sense?

Housing for the workers? And when those workers move to other jobs, do they lose their home? Housing for medical students is good enough for me. The city's focus on having workers live where they work is ridiculous. Did they do that with Facebook? Have they done it with any other entity aside from Stanford?

Housing all along Quarry Road? As a mother who has had to get her child to the Stanford ER or to Packard in more than one emergency and more than one major illness, I think that adding housing and further constricting Quarry Road is outright dangerous. It's already bad enough: you get to the hospital if you can get through the shopping traffic. Making access to the HOSPITAL slower by adding hundreds of housing units in that narrow corridor should not be on anyone's list of desireable outcomes.

Making a trip to the hospital, to see a patient, or being an ambulatory patient, should be possible by direct public transportation, and is of vital importance to everyone!

By 'direct' I mean not having to take a VTA bus, or even the Palo Alto shuttle (which has a very, very limited number of hours we can use it, ( no evening trips, nor weekend trips, etc.) then transfer to Marguerite, with ITS limited hours is a nightmare for seniors, and those without a car.

The very real problem of trying to drive to Stanford Hospital, then the prohibitively expensive parking for the public, that is, Palo Altans not connected to Stanford and not having a Stanford parking sticker, is something we should think about. Hopefully the City Council will be specific about that aspect of the traffic problem, and hold Stanford responsible for that. It is not unreasonable.

The first 45 minutes of parking are free for patients. That seems pretty generous already. Then it becomes $6 for 6 hours ($1 per hour). On weekends the commuter permit zones (A and C) become available for the public to park in for free.

Try parking at UCSF the public lot fills up by 11 am and everyone wanders aimlessly looking for spaces. The entrance of the garage won't have a sign saying 'garage full' so drivers wander around 8 levels until they realize no more spaces are left. Then they get suckered into paying for valet parking ($30 + tip).

Parking is Stanford is already very easy compared to other hospitals.

I have experience with El Camino Hospital - not Stanford. Parking is free at El Camino Hospital.

I hope that the PA Mayor and the council read these posts so they can see that they are not representing the concerns or wishes of Palo Altans. I agree with many of the other posts that the hoops they make Stanford jump through are unreasonable and unfair. Facebook and other companies seem exempt from this level of extortion by the city.

Facebook has been occupying pre-existing office space in Downtown Palo Alto, and is moving to pre-existing office space in the Research Park. Though currently vacant, this Research Park space was previously occupied by Agilent.

On the other hand, Stanford wants to EXPAND the hospital to add NEW floorspace of 1.3 million square feet (according to the PA Online article), thereby adding an estimated 2,243 NEW workers and generating an estimated 10,061 NEW vehicle trips daily by 2025 (according to the City's Administrative Draft EIR). Stanford's expansion plans create a very different situation from Facebook or any other company that moves into pre-existing commercial space in Palo Alto.

"The City Council is still negotiating with Stanford over the community benefits the university would need to provide to get the city's approval for the medical-center expansion. The benefits, which would likely include new housing units, will be laid out in a development agreement between the city and Stanford."

Stanford should abandon this effort and simply move the entire Medical Center to Redwood City - where it will be greeted with open arms and probably even a redevelopment agency to help fund this incredible world class institution. Palo Alto's only interest in the Medical Center is as a source of extortion.

Remember that Larry Klein says he doesn't read the Town Square blogs because they are so 'negative'. I wonder if a majority of the council does that also. They stick their heads in the sand. Too bad we can't kick the rest to get them to wake up and smell the rage.
Council members - if you read this, then tell us so we know that at least we are heard.

Does everyone who works in Palo Alto have to live here? I bought a house in Palo Alto when I worked on Page Mill Road. After 6 months, I left that job and subsequently worked as far south as Campbell and as far north as San Mateo.

What about Stanford employees who have spouses/partners who work elsewhere?

I'm fed up with all the plans for urban villages, dense housing, transit-oriented housing, BMR housing, etc. The character of Palo Alto is changing for the worst!

The solution is quite simple:
Recall the City Council. Clearly, they are out of touch with anything resembling logic or reason. They have been and continue to be constant obstacles to real progress. They do not listen to what the community wants, and if they do, they are afraid to move on anything without hiring a consultant, forming a committee of some kind to 'study' the issue, etc. The list of incompetence goes on and on. It is a fungus that spreads to every council, through the same folks. What happened to the priority of 'Civic Engagement'? That is clearly another buzz word that means nothing.
Seriously, this City is being run into the ground by a bunch of self important babies who have nothing but bickering and indecision running through their veins. Get real Palo Altans, the root of the problem is the City Council. They are clearly out of touch with the rest of the area. If it doesn't show now, wait for the History lessons in a few years.
Recall the Council, it's the only hope.

OK "JO", then what about the new building where the Old Pro was? Did they have to provide housing? Or the new Walgreens building that now has more offices above, or any of the other new builds where they put in more office space than the previous building? None of them needed to provide housing. Sure the hospital will create more traffic. But, do you actually think that making them build housing will eliminate traffic? Should the city then institute a new law that if you create "x" number of jobs, you must build a house? Won't those people in that new housing need to go out somewhere aside from "walking" to work? Forcing them to build housing is unreasonable. The additional housing will further overcrowd schools and put an even greater strain on city services that already can not support the current residents.

Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he replied "Because that is where the money is".
Why does Palo Alto try to extort Stanford - for the same reason. The Stanford goose has decided, in abandoning the shopping center expansion and the hotel, to stop laying its golden eggs in Palo Alto. Hopefully, the Stanford goose will realize that its newest golden egg, the beautiful Out Patient Center, in Redwood City is doing quite well and that it is time to move to a new nest.

f the Childrens Hospital is so short of space, why do they advertise so much in all the papers soliciting new patients?

Something funny going on there.

Peter Carpenter,

What are the chances that Stanford will petition the county/state to incorporate its own city? There seems to be next to no benefit to stay under the sway of Palo Alto.

[Post removed by Palo Alto Online due to repetitive post by same poster.]

"Peter Carpenter,

What are the chances that Stanford will petition the county/state to incorporate its own city? There seems to be next to no benefit to stay under the sway of Palo Alto."
This idea was discarded long ago when it was realized that such a city would be controlled by the vote of the students - which is probably only slightly worse than being controlled by people who have no real stake in your future except as a source of extortion.

My last post was removed because I said I had heard an advertisment for patients on Sunday on CBS radio at 7:20 pm by Stanford Hospital.
Why did you delete this original posting? I have never said it before.