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...
Palo Alto scales back rail redesign plans amid rising costs
After more than a decade of designing, debating and dreaming of grade separation at three local rail crossings, Palo Alto’s elected leaders are preparing to narrow their scope and focus their energy on one location: Charleston Road. Formally, the City Council remains committed to exploring grade separation on Charleston, East Meadow Drive and Churchill Avenue....
Mountain View developer reduces affordable homes in builder’s remedy project
Plans for a seven-story condominium development in Mountain View took an unexpected turn last week after the developer submitted a last-minute proposal to reduce the number of affordable homes for the project. Community Development Director Christian Murdock held a Sept. 2 public hearing for a 216-condo project that is poised to replace 29 rent-controlled apartments on...
Silicon Valley public transit service strengthens rider code of conduct
Caltrain just got its first passenger code of conduct, hoping to make behavior expectations more transparent for rowdy riders. The Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, Caltrain’s governing body, unanimously approved the commuter rail service’s code of conduct at its Thursday meeting. Officials said doing so will bring Caltrain up to speed with peer transit agencies and...