Aug 29, 2007

3,505 new home-building recommendation debated

Housing survey revs up residents

By Kristina Peterson / Daily News Staff Writer

A new survey on Palo Alto housing has been zipping its way through local listserves and generating heat wherever it goes.

Created by Palo Alto residents Irvin Dawid, Steve Levy, Steve Raney and Scott Ward, the online survey asks city residents how they feel about the Association of Bay Area Governments' recommendation that Palo Alto build 3,505 new homes.

While all four of the survey writers do housing or land-use research as part of their profession or as a hobby, Raney said they are not in league to push any one agenda.

The survey's introduction identifies Raney as executive director of the land use and climate change nonprofit Cities 21; Dawid as a member of the Sierra Club California Air Quality Committee; Levy as director of the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy; and Ward as an employee of Classic Communities.

"This is not all the big developers in a secret clique," Raney said. "We don't have a uniform voice. We haven't talked about what the solution is."

But residents have said the survey is not as straightforward as it seems.

"The scenarios are very definitely slanted," resident Bob Moss said.

One survey question asks residents to rate a scenario in which the city builds the 3,505 new homes "for deserving local workers, such as Stanford Hospital nurses," using green building and traffic-reducing practices to create an "inspired model" that would prompt other local cities to follow suit.

Resident Brandon Baum wrote in an e-mail that the poll seemed designed to be a "push survey, intended to achieve a desired result."

"We're really getting beat up on the listserves," Raney said.

Levy said Monday the point of the survey is "to get a discussion going."

The survey's first question asks residents whether they agree or disagree that "it will be very hard to accommodate 3,505 new homes in Palo Alto." The fourth question follows by asking whether "adding these 3,505 homes will increase pressure on the schools, roads, libraries and other public facilities."

Raney said his interest in developing climate-friendly "smart growth" policies fueled his desire to poll Palo Alto residents on land-use issues.

"I am in favor of building new housing in a way that minimizes carbon production," he said.

After writing a newspaper editorial that "had absolutely no impact," Raney said he bounced a draft of the survey off three members of his "Paly high school poker gang."

On the advice of other community members, he pulled in Levy, Ward and Dawid for their economic and local expertise to help with refining the poll.

Raney said the poll costs its creators $19 per month - the fee charged by the online survey agency.

Levy said part of the survey's purpose is to make people think about where the housing will go, if not in Palo Alto.

"They can't just say, 'I wish no one would ever move here,'" he said.

Christy Riviere, an ABAG senior planner, said the regional housing allocation is "probably one of the most contentious things we do.

"We understand the cities don't like it, but the housing needs to go somewhere," she said.

Raney said residents need to consider the perspective of the entire Bay Area, not just Palo Alto.

"We need to be aware and empathetic of what the region is trying to do," he said, noting that he plans to make the raw survey results available "so anybody can analyze it."

Meanwhile, the survey makers continue to circulate their electronic questions, sending the link out to various neighborhood online groups. They have 77 completed responses so far and are hoping to get at least 100.

Raney said they considered printing out and distributing the survey at the local farmer's market, but figured that would likely result in "having people throw tomatoes at us."

To access the survey, visit http://www.cities21.org/pa.