Palo Alto’s plans for a new bike tunnel at El Dorado Avenue took a turn Wednesday, when the Planning and Transportation Commission panned the project and sympathized with neighborhood concerns about the width of the street and eminent domain acquisitions. The tunnel at El Dorado was one of eight potential options the city explored for...
Mountain View approves updates to historic preservation rules
The Mountain View City Council recently updated its historic preservation policy, but did not finalize a list of buildings to put on the city’s historic register. The register has drawn opposition from some residents who say their properties are not historic and shouldn’t be included on the list. At a Sept. 22 meeting, the City Council...
Palo Alto advances plans to redesign three rail crossings
After years of debate, Palo Alto leaders on Monday advanced three alternatives for redesigning the rail corridor near the Churchill Avenue, Meadow Drive and Charleston Road crossings, even as they acknowledged it’s unlikely all three will make it to the construction phase. The designs for all three crossings are currently at the 15% design stage,...
Residents warn of mobility challenges as Palo Alto ends ride-hailing service
As Palo Alto Link prepares to run its final trip next month, residents who have come to depend on the city’s ride-hailing service are raising concerns about losing a valuable resource they have come to depend on since it first rolled out in 2023. Ian Irwin, who is in his 70s and has a daughter...
Mountain View legal settlement protecting RVs expires soon
For years, Sylvia Garcia Cruz and her family have lived in a recreational vehicle on Terra Bella Avenue, one of roughly three dozen streets in Mountain View that does not prohibit the parking of RVs and trailers. Twice a week, Garcia Cruz pays someone to move her RV to a different spot on the street in...
Palo Alto mulls new rules for building and selling ADUs
In June, an accessory dwelling unit in San Jose became the first in the state to be sold separately from the main house. It closed for $530,000, taking advantage of a new state law that allows cities to treat granny flats, in-law apartments and other ADUs as condominiums for sale. Now, Palo Alto is considering...
Palo Alto bike improvements coming to East Meadow, Fabian Way
After stalling for several years, a grant-funded bike lane project in south Palo Alto will soon be back in the city’s rotation, with construction slated for 2028. The South Palo Alto Bikeways Project is expected to introduce temporary bike lane protections on East Meadow Drive and Fabian Way, two streets that carry a large number...
New downtown Palo Alto parking garage moves forward
Spurred by a legal challenge from a downtown developer, Palo Alto leaders on Monday gave the go-ahead on a new six-story parking garage at the corner of Hamilton Avenue and Waverley Street with an adjacent plaza that could eventually become affordable housing. The vote closed the loop on a decade-long plan for the city to...
Bay Area’s first ‘living levee’ opens at Palo Alto Baylands
A cool breeze swept through Palo Alto’s Baylands Nature Preserve as local and federal representatives opened the Bay Area’s first nature-based horizontal levee — a project officials hope protects against rising sea levels and helps filter wastewater going into the bay, while boosting the native marshland ecosystem. Dozens of representatives from various agencies, from Palo...
Mountain View pilots AI translation services at public meetings
Access to Mountain View City Council meetings is expanding, with the city launching a pilot program that allows residents to follow along in more than 60 languages. Mountain View is testing out Wordly, an artificial intelligence-powered service that provides real-time audio and text translation on personal devices. It debuted at an Environmental Planning Commission meeting last...