45 condos approved for Elks Lodge property

How about some shopping in this town instead of homes. All my money is now going to other cities!!

Less than 300 "neighbors" stopped the Hyatt from building a first class hotel in a city that needed a good hotel for the last 25 years. Also, we lost about $1,000,000 in hotel tax. What we got was the most "butt-ugly" houses 12 feet from ECR. Nice going!

The former leader of the Charleston Meadow neighborhood association led the charge against the Hyatt. the council being what it is, caved into to the pressure, without finding out what the majority in the city wanted. The city lost big tax revenue.
Now these same neighbors are whining about the developments in place of the Hyatt and the Elks property. Clearly they would have preferred the land to sit empty--that way no one will drive down their "private" enclave.
Once again, I say it is time for the city to remind some people about the meaning of public property. Wilkie Way is a public street and should therefore be open to use by ANYONE. If the residents want to make Wilkie Way a private street, I think that will be fine--they can then control access and will be liable for all repairs to the street.
People in PA love to talk about "walkable neighborhoods" but when it comes to their neighborhood NIMBYism takes over.
Shame on the Charleston Meadow residents that oppose the access to Wilkie Way--however their actions do not surprise me knowing who these people are and what they have opposed in the past.

I am confused; the City is providing a small public park for the residents of the new Summerhill homes preumably paid for by the tax payers of Palo Alto. But, Palo Alto residents can't use the park because there won't be access from Wilkie Way, and the local neighborhood residents won't let me park there anyway.

Let me see, you can't park on El Camino so I suppose we'll have to park on Charleston and walk our kids all the way back to a pedestrian and bike access road off El Camino.

This is unacceptable. Why should my property taxes be used to create a park that will be almost impossible to use?

Any halfway competent developer can steamroll any neighborhood group in this town. Hyatt was flat inept. If you want the facts, read this analysis by Palo Alto's savviest developer: Web Link

Paul's link has been posted before on another thread with the same general subject.
Bear in mind that it is an opinion piece (as it says in it's title)--it is not the gospel truth.
If you feel that the developer is entirely to blame for the Hyatt loss than you will enjoy the opinion Paul posted. If you feel that pushy neighborhood associations had the council wound around it's little finger then you will consider Paul's posting little more than a fantasy.

Paul, from a post, a while back, from another poster...

Jim Baer says "First, one must learn to be a "Horse Whisperer." Monty Roberts' book, the basis for the Robert Redford film, teaches that even when a horse is stubborn or wild one doesn't use the whip but learns to speak the language of horses in movements, gestures and sounds. So, too, a successful developer learns to communicate respectfully with city officials, neighbors and policymakers, on their terms."

Nice in theory, but can anyone define what consistent body of "terms" ever existed for this site? Alma Plaza deserves a special theory of municipal "plate tectonics" all on its own.

Jim Baer is a well-known developer here, and has learned to use the system to drive profits for his company. He's done some good work; he's a smart guy; that's all laudable. He's one of three developers who have developed a stable of key players and techniques to make a good living for themselves in Palo Alto, and elsewhere. Good for them.

That said, it's apparent that the necessary coterie of horses that Mr. Bear suggests whispering to (again quoting) - i.e. "...City staff, Chamber of Commerce leaders, council members, developers and residential activists..." often have their own, distinct and discrete mandates, often comflicting mandates. In Palo Alto, in other words, "horse whispering" takes "to darned long" (to say it like a cowboy).

The result is interminable process. Further, it's absurd that the delicate process of "horse whispering" (another name for "playing politics") be permitted to draw out to *years* of delay in residential and other projects around here. Who profits from this?

The best known developers are in a great position to profit from new development here - especially commercial development. The horses that he has been whispering to for all these years are in their stable, and well trained. The developers know the ropes.

Might it be that....the experience of one of Palo Alto's most experienced "horse whisperer's" own object lesson is more a slam at and criticism of McNellis (or Hyatt) for choosing what he (they) want to do with *his* (their) property, and a deflection away from some of the intransigence shown by certain public officials and "residential activists"? That's what it looks like from this side of the pasture.

......One thing that.......Mr. Baer won't mention; that being the way development projects take hold here, in the first place. How about making intended development projects public *before* they go to city hall for "permissions"? That might give community members more of a stake in the up front stages of a project. Some might say that this will cause even more delay. To that I would answer "we have delay only because we don't have the guts to stop it". We want to please everyone.

Bottom line: we need far more up front transparency in development actions, *before* all the permissions have been given (sorry, that makes it difficult for the "horse whisperers", but makes for more transparent community policy), and then some policy-making wisdom that says "We've heard enough, we've had sufficient discussion, let's get this thing done and move on".....

"To resolve the parking and access issues, the Neighbors, Elks Lodge members, and the developer should work together to find a solution, Councilman Yaiway Yeh said" I think Councilman Yeh knowledge of the history here is very limited. The only solution the residents of Wilkie Way will accept is to close off any access from their street onto the Elks Club site - there is no compromise so far as they are concerned.

The Elks Lodge members will have their own parking and probably don't care and the developer certainly doesn't care, he's not going to live there, all he wants to do is make money.

No, those that really care about an access onto Wilkie Way are some fellow residents of Charleston Meadow, the future residents of the Summerhill development, and Palo Alto residents who wish to use the City park facilities.

Ultimately Council must decide, and I hope they do it soon and end all this hostility. So much for civic engagement and conflict resolution!!!

AS with the Alma Plaza redevelopment, the people who vehemently oppose resolving the issues to the betterment of the whole community, change spokespeople so that it does not look like the same malcontents are against development. this is what is occurring with Charleston Meadow association--the person who vehemently opposed the Hyatt redevelopment and succeeded in driving the Hyatt from town, together with it's much-needed tax revenue, has stepped aside and a "new" leader is now the voice of these naysayers.
The question is whether the City Council will stand up to them this time--i.e. have they learned their lesson from the loss of the Hyatt, Charleston Road moratorium and the Alma Plaza debacle, or will the council once again assume because a small vocal contingent has shown up in chambers and are wearing colored ribbons (or whatever accessories they choose to adorn themselves with so that they will appear as one) reflects the opinion of the MAJORITY of PA residents

Ah, Mike. So many words, so many bedrock opinions, so little experience.

Neighborhood groups are a convenient scapegoat for anyone who disdains the democratic process they represent, and is too intellectually lazy to go learn how things really work in this town. I'll try to point you in the right direction.

The paralysis of chaos known as the Palo Alto Process reflects the fact that our city government has no rudder, no course, no chart, and is incapable of using them if it did. The visible process is a fibrillation of indirection that grips city hall until someone like Jim Baer (or Nellis Properties or Chop Keenan or Summerhill Homes or Roxy Rapp or Doug Ross or... ) gets their plan together, marches downtown, and stampedes the herd. Then the beat begins and things happen very fast. Neighborhood groups get trampled.

Hyatt deserves its ridicule for being too inept to use the real process properly, or to use it at all. Baer rubbed it in and slyly promoted his consulting services to boot.

Savvy newcomers often hire Baer to guide their projects. The rest founder ignominously, and unwitting citizens blame democracy. What a town, huh?

I think most intelligent people know that the Palo Alto Process is a _______ joke.

Why do we remain complacent?

This deal benefits only the developers. We get to see the rear of the cookie-cutter homes from the street. Our money is mixed in there because of the incompetence of our representatives and ourselves.

Ourselves? Yes. We don't do a ______ thing while they ____ everyone else over.

"Savvy newcomers often hire Baer to guide their projects. The rest founder ignominously, and unwitting citizens blame democracy."

Nice try. Most neighborhood groups are fully functional; they occasionally object tto one thing or another. That's fine.

I think you know perfectly well what I'm writing about. It's almost funny to see Jim Bear write about how he manipulates process to his advantage, and you not see that for the blatant statement at municipal inefficiency that it represents. And you talk about experience?


Joanna, Most developers are good people - and they make valuable contributions. That includes Jim Baer.

This is not a black and white issue; it's nuanced - but sometimes one has to call a spade, a spade.

Hi all,

In response to Eric's comment, SummerHill Homes is paying to create the park, but it will be open to the public, now accessible off public Deodar Street. Councilman Peter Drekmeier tried to get the city to pay for the park's maintenance Monday night, but that will also be done by the homeowners' association.

Mike: I know perfectly well what you are writing about, but I'm not sure it's what you think you are writing about.

To the point: Do you really mean "blatant statement AT municipal inefficiency" or did you intend "blatant statement ABOUT municipal inefficiency"? The former is garbled grammar; the latter conveys exactly why I directed everyone to the article.

I voted against the bike path because I really am concerned about preserving the neighborhood. I do like walking in a nice quiet neighborhood and do not want strangers off of ECH wandering into the neighborhood. We have kids here. However, I did not know there would be a park planned. This changes things a bit. Maybe a narrow bike/walker's path I'd consider.

IMPORTANT ALL MEMBERS PLEASE READ

We ALL need to remember that it is OUR LODGE. We need to take an active participation in how our money is being spent. The lodge hired a facilty manager, which was supposed to ONLY BE TEMPORARY position, for 6 months, now they want to hire him full time. His salary is $8,500 per month - $102,00 per year + benefits. He said that he could not afford to work for less,but that is not our problem, we need to find some who can AFFORD TO WORK FOR LESS! We were told that he was hired at this high salary only because it was a temporary job while he was setting things in motion to open. Our last longtime facility manager was paid $20/hr $3,200/month, so why have we hired someone that is being paid $5,300 MORE a month, than or last facilities manager. Now we hear that we are hiring a web designer/writer to order dishes/glasses etc. at $50/hr. a job that Charo and Lorrain would gladly do for FREE for us. Hopefully, the lodge does not decide to try to hire another full time employee at a salary of 50/hr = $8,000/month and $96,000/a year. These are OUR desisions as memmbers, please attend a lodge meeting and inquire about these outrageous salaries before they are hired. It is the members lodge and members need to speak up about how our money should be spent. We have long time employees that have been rehired at a 1/5 of these high salaries and most of them travel at least an 1.5 hours each way to work for our lodge. We can't afford to pay these salaries, our taxes alone on the new lodge have sky rocketed.

THE ABOVE MEMBER IS CORRECT

As members, we all have the right to vote at a Lodge meeting about how our money is being spent. When the trustees want to pay for something they ask the floor of the lodge (all members attending that lodge meeting) and then they vote on the whether they have the authority of its members to pay for something or not. Everyone concerned about how much money is being spent for a facility manager needs to attend a lodge meeting and share your concerns.

It is unbelievable that we spent over $20,000 for such a BORING WEBSITE. We live in one of the most beatiful and prestigious places in the world and this is the most skilled person that we could find to design our website. Did anyone one look at Palo Alto Hills Country Club (Web Link and
Los Altos Hills Country Club Websites, (Web Link websites are classy and professionally done, our looks like someone used a free website builder and finished it in one day. I guess we just hired the first person with their hand out!

The new Lodge website lists the "Trustees", before (and on top of) the "Lodge Officers". This is incorrect and disrespectful to the Exalted Ruler and all the Officers, no other lodge lists the Trustees before Officers.