5 candidates vie for 3 seats on the Palo Alto metropolis council

PALO ALTO — So much five candidates have filed to run for 3 open city council seats in the November election whose outcome could guide to a political shake-up in the Peninsula’s NIMBY stronghold.

With council associates Eric Filseth and Tom DuBois terming out of their seats and Alison Cormack determining not to run for a 2nd phrase, a few open up seats could signify the variance concerning additional gradual-development policies for Palo Alto or a political shift towards constructing more housing. Even though currently, residents have found their leaders tout not-in-my-yard insurance policies on housing, the sure-in-my-back again-property advocates could get a lot more of a voice during this election.

For the past two a long time the town has been plagued by infighting on the issue of whether to establish a lot more housing, wherever to do it and how very best to maintain the neighborhood character that has manufactured Palo Alto 1 of the most habitable communities in the nation.

Even though in the earlier Palo Alto has experienced YIMBY town council users and was even run by a progressive, building-pleasant mayor, the 2020 election noticed a powerful NIMBY change with the elections of Pat Burt and Greer Stone and re-elections of conservative “Residentialists” Lydia Kou and Greg Tanaka. Along with robust NIMBY council customers like DuBois and Filseth, the council has fought back again towards point out housing mandates and has struggled to allocate new housing websites for development.

Now with just 13 days until finally the deadline to enter the race, five political newcomers and aged faces are vying to replace Filseth, DuBois and Cormack.

In mid-June, Scheduling and Transportation Commissioner Ed Lauing, a metropolis hall veteran with years of working experience, turned the initially candidate to file for the November town council election and promptly introduced his campaign. Lauing also ran for council in 2020 but narrowly misplaced out on one of four seats, finishing fifth out of 10 candidates.

Julie Lythcott-Haims, former Stanford College dean of freshmen and an creator, filed paperwork to run soon after Lauing but has not released a campaign internet site. Lythcott-Haims has been a very well-identified member of the Palo Alto and Stanford communities for yrs, and has penned three textbooks — of which two had been on the topic of adulthood. She expended 14 several years at Stanford, 10 of which had been as dean of freshmen. She has not still publicly announced her candidacy.

A further newcomer, genuine estate agent Alex Consawith Coldwell Banker also expressed desire in operating for town council and filed paperwork to sort a marketing campaign committee in June.

Consa is a Romanian who moved to the Bay Space in the 90s before relocating to Palo Alto in 2010. He has labored at startups, modest enterprises, advertising and finance, and his marketing campaign site claims he is focusing on housing, climate adjust and economic recovery in the put up-pandemic.

Lauing may perhaps not be the only familiar face close to town hall hoping to get a seat on the council. Lisa Forssell, a member and former chair of the Utilities Advisory Fee submitted for a marketing campaign committee in April and is anticipated to operate for a seat. Alongside with remaining a fixture in city corridor, Forssell also is effective as a producer in the Apple style studio. She’s centered substantially of her time in the city’s utilities commission advocating for good solutions to the city’s issues, which include increasing the fiber optic method, adopting new clever meters and advising the council on updates to the electrical grid.

And a further candidate in early July declared she also will be jogging for council — Stanford health care researcher Hope Lancero submitted. She filed paperwork to form a campaign committee and will sign up for the 4 other candidates. She acquired her Ph.D. from the University of California Los Angeles and has co-authored more than a dozen papers, in accordance to a profile on ResearchGate.