Palo Alto

Gravel trail winds through grassy marshy field in Baylands Park, Palo Alto

Palo Alto E-Bike Ban Faces Local Backlash

Local cyclists are resisting a plan to prohibit e-bikes in all of the city’s open space preserves.

February 23, 2023 - Palo Alto Weekly

Silicon Valley

Palo Alto Includes Industrial Rezonings in its State-Mandated Housing Element

Palo Alto, a Silicon Valley city with a history of exclusionary zoning tactics, has produced a new Housing Element that calls for more than 6,000 housing units to be built in the city by 2031.

November 16, 2022 - Palo Alto Online

Power lines and towers at a substation against a red sunset backdrop

Disaster Averted!

The California power grid withstood its biggest test ever on Tuesday and passed—barely. The only rolling blackouts that occurred during the Stage Three Energy Emergency alert were results of miscommunication.

September 11, 2022 - Los Angeles Times

Silicon Valley

How Rent Control Helped Create East Palo Alto

The story of East Palo Alto’s incorporation is one marked by great contention among local stakeholders, but also provides valuable lessons for organizers in forging and mobilizing local coalitions.

March 31, 2022 - Shelterforce Magazine

Stanford

Another Silicon Valley Town Tries To Sidestep State Density Law

Palo Alto could designate more than one hundred properties as historic in an attempt to prevent lot splitting permitted under a new state law designed to lightly increase residential density.

March 23, 2022 - The Mercury News

Stanford

Opinion: Build Density in Palo Alto–and Lots of It

To keep up with demand and slow the astronomical rise in housing costs, Palo Alto and other Silicon Valley cities must overcome local opposition to density and high-rises.

August 9, 2021 - San Francisco Chronicle

Silicon Valley

From 60 Affordable Senior Apartments to 16 $5 Million Homes

A long development saga has finally concluded in the South Bay Area city of Palo Alto, following a common narrative in the development resistant city.

June 28, 2020 - The Mercury News

East Palo Alto

Another Bay Area City Considers Urban Tolling

East Palo Alto has long suffered the toll that transbay traffic has imposed on this gateway to Silicon Valley from the East Bay in the form of air pollution and traffic congestion. Now the city is considering tolling the traffic.

October 23, 2019 - (Palo Alto) Daily Post

Stanford

California's Upzoning Bill, SB 50, Would Allow Apartment Construction in Wealthy Communities

The proposed legislation would open up cities like Palo Alto to higher-density housing.

April 24, 2019 - Los Angeles Times

Electric Car Charging

Electric Vehicles See Progress at Local Level but Setbacks in Washington

The new IPCC report calls for decarbonization of transportation. While many cities are attempting to do their part, two recent federal developments in trade policy and tax legislation threaten to will make progress more difficult.

October 17, 2018 - CityLab

Real Estate Market

A Vacant Lot in Palo Alto is Asking $5.4 Million—And Will Probably Get It

In an unsettling distillation of the broader housing market, the lot's price rose by $2.3 million in under two years.

March 2, 2018 - Sacramento Bee

San Francisco Street

Is CEQA the Main Impediment to Housing Construction in California?

According to a new study by UC Berkeley and Columbia University, local land use processes, specifically the approval process, rather than the California Environmental Quality Act, is the main impediment to housing production in California.

February 24, 2018 - Los Angeles Times

Waze

Drivers: Beware Following GPS Navigation Instructions Too Closely

For the second time at the same railroad crossing in Atherton, California, a motorist followed his GPS navigation onto Caltrain tracks. In both cases, the motorists fled their vehicles before being hit by an oncoming train.

February 13, 2018 - (Palo Alto) Daily Post

Highway Living

How Overly Restrictive Land Use Regulations Hurt the Nation's Economy

Two economics professors from the University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley argue that the housing crisis doesn't just affect booming coastal cities. It's a national problem.

September 15, 2017 - The New York Times - Opinion

Cupertino

Apple's New Headquarters: Sprawling and Sprawl-Inducing

Apple's new campus contains thousands of parking spaces, but neither transit options nor daycare.

June 16, 2017 - Wired

HP Campus, Palo Alto

Palo Alto City Council Changes Zoning Language to Make Software Companies Legal in the City

Strange as it may sound, the city in the heart of U.S. software country had an ordinance that made such companies were illegal, even though such companies are common in the city.

May 9, 2017 - Palo Alto Weekly

Stanford

$2.5 Million is Too Much for a Teardown

Palo Alto has become so expensive, plots of land with derelict houses sell for millions of dollars. Mathew Yglesias argues allowing small municipalities to make their own zoning laws is partly to blame.

May 6, 2017 - Vox

Bay Area Bike Share Renamed for New Sponsor: An Auto Company

The new, Detroit-based sponsor will help pay for a ten-fold expansion of the Bay Area's regional bike share program coming this spring and a new Palo Alto program. Low income residents will be offered discounted rates to join Bay Area Bike Share.

October 21, 2016 - Metropolitan Transportation Commission

Eminent Domain for Preservation? It's Possible for Palo Alto Mobile Home Park

The city of Palo Alto, the county of Santa Clara, and the Housing Authority of Santa Clara County have joined forces to acquire the 4.5 acre Buena Vista Mobile Home Park, thus saving 117 low-income families from eviction.

June 22, 2016 - Palo Alto Online

Pumping Gas

Gas Delivery Straight to Your Vehicle. What Could Go Wrong?

Cities and fire departments around the country are struggling with the sudden explosion of start-ups promising to make your life easier by delivering gasoline straight to your vehicle.

May 5, 2016 - Bloomberg

New Updates on PD&R Edge

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

HUD’s 2023 Innovative Housing Showcase

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

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