This is a long post. It gets to the heart of why Palo Alto Forward exists, though: how to make housing more affordable and more available, and how can we have transportation solutions that support a more sustainable city. The tl;dr of the post below: everyone says that they are “pro-housing”, and sometimes policy discussions at City Council are framed such that each side has a “pro-housing” claim.  We wanted to dissect these policy discussions around a lens of “what would actually make housing more affordable, and what would serve to make housing less affordable”.  If you’re interested, read on :) Read more

Dear Planning and Transportation Commission, On this Valentine’s Day, we he hope you give affordable housing a little love!  Palo Alto Forward is a community group made up of Palo Alto residents who support the City’s efforts for to create better housing and transportation options.  We were highly supportive of the housing policies outlined in the Comprehensive Plan and are excited to see an Affordable Housing Zoning overlay so it can help the friends, neighbors and community members in our city who need housing the most.   Read more

On Jan 31, 2018 the Planning and Transportation Commission UNANIMOUSLY supported moving this to Council.  We will alert everyone when the Council meeting is going to take place. Huge thanks and congratulations to the 134 people who signed the petition supporting the project at 2755 El Camino Real! In the meantime, if you're interested, here is the article about last night's discussion and passage (if you get further inspired, you can leave a supportive comment at the bottom of the article).  For the time being, though, be happy that you helped support a sustainable, more affordable, car-light project in our city :) Read more

Dear Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, Thank you for your hard work shepherding the Stanford General Use Permit (GUP) process and for allowing the public an additional 60 days of comment. Palo Alto Forward is a community group that supports better housing and transportation options in Palo Alto, and helps educate our broader community on different topics, from ADUs to cycling infrastructure, Missing MIddle Housing to Mobility as a Service.  Our board members have served as Planning & Transportation and Human Relations Commissioners and Comprehensive Plan Committee Members.  We support positive change in our city’s long range planning efforts. Palo Alto Forward’s board has had an opportunity to review the Stanford GUP proposal and DEIR and respectfully submit the following comments for your consideration. Read more

  We had a full house (60+ people, standing room only) to hear Palo Alto Planning Director Hillary Gitelman, Russ Reich (from the City's Development Center), architects, mortgage specialists and others talk about the process of designing, approving, financing and building Granny Units.   Read more