Left with the choice to either adopt directly into law the “Los Altos Downtown Parking Plaza Ordinance” or put the citizen initiative on the ballot on Nov. 3, Los Altos City Council chose the latter during the June 23 council meeting.
Chambers were packed and the meeting long as council members first received a staff-prepared report on the potential impact of the initiative known by its place in California’s election code as “9212.” The initiative requires voter approval before nearly any change can be made to city-owned parking lots.
Several residents questioned the report’s conclusions during the public comment period, including Jon Baer, president of Friends of Los Altos.
“To summarize the report: The sky is falling or could fall,” said Baer. “There are lots of ‘coulds,’ not ‘woulds.’ And while I understand you need to be concerned about the ‘coulds’, let’s understand that they are not ‘woulds.’”
Baer further added what backers of the initiative have contended was the impetus for their efforts, “You folks are committing three of our acres to a performing arts center, a park, which we really don’t need in downtown, and a parking garage.”
Vice Mayor Larry Lang questioned Baer about his statement. “When did the City Council, in your opinion, make a commitment to do those things?” The back and forth between the two continued, Lang asking if Baer would agree that they (the projects) were “could” things and hypothetical, Baer suggesting that all of the things discussed (both projects and initiative impacts) were hypothetical and could happen. Both agreed, but there was still little sense that common ground had been established.
Lang later pointed to what was a top concern of his. “It’s not like, ‘maybe we’ll be sued.’ We have a very strong organization that has indicated that they are going to sue us the moment it passes, if it passes.” Lang indicated that it would cost the city millions in legal fees. He further suggested that all of this could have been avoided had the wording on the initiative focused on requiring voter approval before the city created parks and performing arts centers and not been so broad as to include housing, which would place the city at odds with other provisions of law. Shaking his head, Lang added, “YIMBY Law wouldn’t have sued us then.”
