Palo Alto is seeking to earn a pro-housing designation from the state of California this year, a label that would mark a major shift in the way the city has responded to growing regional housing needs amid significant resident pushback to new development. If the city’s application succeeds, Palo Alto would join 74 other cities — including...
Palo Alto poised to restore crossing guard funding after public uproar
Despite ongoing budget challenges, Palo Alto is preparing to restore some of the funding it was planning to cut from the city’s crossing guard program and ask the school district to help pay for the popular service, according to a recommendation the City Council Finance Committee approved May 19. As part of its final hearing...
Palo Alto leaders approve 183-apartment complex
Palo Alto city leaders have enthusiastically backed a housing project that would have likely been dead on arrival just two years ago: an 85-foot-tall apartment building in the Ventura neighborhood. The proposal from Vittoria Management is one of about 10 projects that the city received through the “builder’s remedy” process, which allows builders to circumvent...
Palo Alto transitional housing site celebrates long-awaited opening
Tasheana Price used to sleep in the door frame of a building near the Palo Alto Caltrain station. Now, she works with homelessness nonprofit LifeMoves to manage volunteers at the organization’s drop-in service center downtown — the same place where she received case management herself about 10 years ago. During the May 14 ribbon-cutting ceremony...
Former Palo Alto cannery celebrates history with new chapter
Few buildings epitomize the evolution of Silicon Valley better than the sprawling, lofty structure on Portage Avenue, which began its life as one of the nation’s largest fruit canneries and later evolved into one of Palo Alto’s major retail destinations, best known for Fry’s Electronics. On Tuesday, the 73,000-square-foot building that was once known as...
Months after opening, Palo Alto police headquarters is largely empty
It’s been nearly six months since Palo Alto leaders celebrated the grand opening of the city’s new public safety building, a $123.5-million facility near California Avenue that took decades of planning and five years of construction. Most of the work on the three-story building at 250 Sherman Ave. was completed by the summer of 2025,...
Embarcadero road improvements in Palo Alto scheduled for summer
Amid concerns about traffic congestion and emergency response times, one glaring issue that could arise if Palo Alto leaders decide to close the Churchill Avenue train crossing is the lack of an adequate detour for cyclists and pedestrians. For Palo Alto High School students trying to get to class, their most likely route would follow...
Palo Alto looks to rezoning to limit impacts of state bill
Concerned about a new housing law that encourages development near transit areas, Palo Alto is considering numerous zoning changes that would blunt the impacts of the new legislation in neighborhoods like Old Palo Alto and Greenmeadow, which are dominated by single-family homes. Palo Alto officials are looking to minimize the impacts of Senate Bill 79, a...
Palo Alto license plate data searched by hundreds of out-of-state agencies
Despite local officials’ claims to the contrary, public records show hundreds of law enforcement agencies from around the U.S. searched data from Palo Alto’s automatic license plate reader cameras over a period of about a year. The city’s automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras, operated by Flock Safety, were made available to out-of-state and federal...
Palo Alto orders demolition of former Stanford Terrace Inn
The Palo Alto City Council on Monday approved a demolition order for the dilapidated building in College Terrace that used to house the Stanford Terrace Inn, rejecting an appeal from the property owner. Between insufficient fire sprinklers, hazardous materials stored in the garage, broken doors and other issues, the conditions on the premises were among the...