Nov 7, 2007

Election 2007: Close race ends with Espinosa, Burt, Schmid and Yeh winning seats

By Kristina Peterson / Daily News Staff Writer

In a tight race for four seats on the Palo Alto City Council, voters Tuesday night elected candidates Sid Espinosa, Pat Burt, Yiaway Yeh and Greg Schmid.

While Espinosa, Burt and Yeh sustained the top three spots most of the evening, the fourth spot was more tightly contested, with economist Greg Schmid gaining roughly 12 percent of the city's vote to edge out Realtor Dan Dykwel, who garnered 10.2 percent, with all 41 precincts reporting.

Philanthropy director Sid Espinosa led the pack with 18 percent of the vote, business owner and Planning Commissioner Pat Burt followed with 15.9 percent and government consultant Yiaway Yeh came in close behind with 15.4 percent.

State Sen. Joe Simitian said he was impressed by the depth of the field of candidates. "I'm not at all surprised it's a tight race," he said.

Only attorney Bill Ross and environmental program director Debbie Mytels also earned over 5 percent of the city's vote, though Mytels had withdrawn from the race early in the campaign.

Consultant Tim Gray and retired high-tech executive Smokey Wallace each won slightly more than 4 percent of the vote, retired engineer Mark Nadim had roughly 3 percent, registered nurse Stella Marinos garnered 2.4 percent and homeless advocate Victor Frost rounded out the pack with a hair less than 2 percent of the vote.

On Tuesday night, candidates mingled with residents at a packed, multi-candidate election night party at the Garden Court hotel, watching two computer projections of the online voting returns or lingering around the night's popular chocolate fondue fountain.

"I'm just really looking forward to trying to do some good things in office," Burt said.

Yeh, who at 29 is the youngest candidate, said he is gratified residents were willing to listen to his ideas.

"I wondered if people would take me seriously. Palo Alto has shown itself to be an open political environment," he said.

The election represents a major shift on the Palo Alto City Council, which is losing three members with eight years of experience each: Bern Beecham, Dena Mossar and Judy Kleinberg, as well as LaDoris Cordell, who served four years on the council.

Beecham, Mossar and Kleinberg were all considered business-friendly council members, while Cordell, a former judge, had strong connections to East Palo Alto, where she formerly practiced law.

"There's a lot of experience to replace," said Vice Mayor Larry Klein on Tuesday night. "We don't have time for a big learning curve. They'll have to get up to speed very quickly," he said.

Most residents seemed to think the group of new council members would fare well. Many, including former mayor Gary Fazzino, considered this year's race to be an amiable campaign between a wide swath of strong candidates.

He said the crop of younger candidates, including Yeh and Espinosa, who is 35, may be linked to the community's rally in 2005 for passing the school parcel tax called Measure A.

"It mobilized younger families who suddenly became interested and involved," Fazzino said.

This year's 11 candidates were generally cordial, most stressing the city's need to build up its infrastructure and negotiate an acceptable development agreement for the expansion of the Stanford medical and shopping centers.

The emphasis on infrastructure will likely be maintained in the coming year, as the council faces two potential bond measures to build a new public safety building and do major library improvements, including rebuilding Mitchell Park library and its adjoining recreation center.

Resident Sheri Furman said she is glad to hear that many candidates discuss outreach to neighborhood associations while on the campaign trail.

"I hope the newly elected council members remember that," she said.


E-mail Kristina Peterson at kpeterson@dailynewsgroup.com.