Thread by @OpenPaloAlto

PA Council Meeting about to start!

Check out openpaloalto.org/next for tonight’s agenda items, how to listen in, and how to provide your input to the Council.

Live tweet thread to follow here.

#pamtg

Meeting called to order!

Mayor Fine asks to "adjourn our meeting in honor of those who suffer from the wildfire and our first responders."

Now starting with Oral Communications (public comment on non-agenda items).

Only one public comment 🗣:

Steven Lee strongly urges Council to take action on the CEDAW resolution that the Human Relations Commission recommended unanimously over 2 years ago.

Consent calendar passes unanimously.

Included:
$1.9M Page Mill Safety Project Approval
cityofpaloalto.org/civicax/fileba…
Second Reading of New Parking Ordinance
cityofpaloalto.org/civicax/fileba…

Updates on the #CAWildfires:
No fires or evacuation orders in Palo Alto as of right now, but all of our City departments with field operations are in a heightened state of readiness.

For the latest updates:
cityofpaloalto.org/firestatus

Fire Chief Blackshire:
Make sure that you don’t call 911 about the air quality so that we can respond to real emergencies. Talk to your neighbors, touch base, support each other, stay informed, and be prepared to evacuate.

City Manager Shikada:
Cooling centers (or "chill out centers") are open on Tuesday and Wednesday this week at Mitchell Park Library, 10am - 6pm, as refuge from the smoke (and heat).

cityofpaloalto.org/coolingcenters

Fire updates:
cityofpaloalto.org/firestatus

Sign up for AlertSCC to get any warnings or evacuation orders:
sccgov.org/sites/oes/aler…

Starting Agenda Item 3, in which Council will discuss whether to trade in-state RECs for out-of-state RECs to save money (in the $millions) and keep utilities rates low.

To learn more about what RECs are, here's a friendly video:

You can also read our guide which tries to explain the proposal at a high level:
openpaloalto.org/next

Staff: Here to present changes to the carbon neutral plan adopted in 2013. Will allow the utility to lower its supply cost.

All electric utilities in CA are required to sell renewable energy. Requirements around % of renewable energy by 2030.
In-state energy is 7x more expensive than out-of-state energy.
If we relax PA's rules about making sure all of our resources come from in-state, will save money

Would save $3 million per year if we got more of our energy from out of state and continued to sell our surplus energy.

“concern is that our power content label would have a significant wedge of the pie labeled as ‘Unspecified Power,” which might confuse customers & make them think we’re not meeting our Carbon Neutral Supply goals"

State law says must label out-of-state RECs as unspecified power

During the day, we don’t need natural gas, but as soon as the sun goes down we need the natural gas generators to turn on quickly and efficiently.

If the council approves of the new REC exchange then we will start selling the renewable energy we produce instate as we buy cheaper out of state energy. End of 2024 we will have the opportunity to reevaluate our portfolio.

Filseth: "partly the State’s objectives are about politics, and stakeholders, and frankly some financial interests...if they're absolutely hell-bent on giving us money in order to make their stakeholders happy, then I think it would be un-mutual of us not to take it"

DuBois: It is going to be critical to buy out of state renewable. Only question is about the use of the funds. About exactly what would be included in decarbonization programs

Cormack: Would this proposal generate an increase in out of state renewable development?

Staff: It would be marginal, but yes.

Cormack: This is financial arbitrage in some sense but it’s also helping us build the industry somewhere else.

Tanaka: How does the transmission loss cost factor into this?

Staff: The REC is transferred to us more than the energy is. No matter where carbon is emitted, wherever we reduce climate there are benefits to the environment.

Kniss: Thanks Filseth, DuBois, Cormack "for tracking and keeping track of this project. I trust staff and I trust all of you. It is a fascinating concept but I'm not sure that the general public will totally know or understand what we are doing."

Kou: "I've read it 4 or 5 times and I'm still confused. How does this benefit Palo Alto? Are we buying certificates or energy? At this time, with all the emergencies we have and the rolling blackouts we are experiencing, wouldn't buying energy be better?"

Staff: We are buying certificates, the energy would stay out of state. The certificate determines who is able to claim the carbon reductions for generating/using that energy. There is little to no impact on our carbon portfolio.

Staff: All we’re doing is exchanging the right to claim renewable energy from in-state projects for the right to claim renewable energy from projects in another state. There will be no actual changes to California’s energy generation.

Fine: Do we foresee a future where REC Bucket 1 declines in value, and this type of arbitrage is no longer possible?

Staff: The markets are volatile; REC prices tend to be more stable. In several yrs it’s possible CA has more renewable energy generation and Bucket 1 RECs go down

Staff: Anything that’s a valid use of rate-payer funds would be a valid use of these funds, e.g. transmission lines. Anything that benefits the electric utility customers specifically, which means not gas.

Kniss: Could I read something from AC Johnson? “Though it took me a long time to switch around from trading Bucket 3 RECs for Bucket1 RECs, now I support it.” Happy to support it. Move to accept Staff recommendation.

First motion passes unanimously.

Then considered another motion.

Filseth: This is an issue of where we burn a little natural gas at night in the wintertime, and then during the day we buy RECs to offset it. From the perspective of “don’t heat up the planet”, I actually think keeping the annual method of accounting is the better way to do it.

Second motion passes, with Filseth dissenting.

Fine: So this is about 8 Can't Wait -
Shikada: Uh Mayor I'll actually lead us off here. Just as a brief intro...Items 4 and 5 are separate items but are closely related. 1st being 8 Can't Wait, 2nd being a report...on Race & Equity, not limited to the police dept

Smith, Chair of the Human Relations Commission: "City Council - I wish I had come at a different time. This moment was sparked by the killing of George Floyd and last night we watched Jacob Blake being shot in the back 7 times by officers."

Smith: "What we found out after 100 hours of research, and listening to the public: 8 can’t wait is not the ceiling. It is just the floor, it is just the beginning. As in all things, we have to reimagine policing"

Smith: "Campaign Zero made a presentation that says if these 8 policies are done it’ll reduce violence by 72%. More research shows that number is a little bit of a fudge, a little bit of a stipulation" - No follow up

Smith: "We also want specific language around what de-escalation tactics it should be modeled. [...] force continuum [...] it’s a linear model and life is not a linear thing. [...] we need a clear explanation of what escalation tactics & models that are used in SF and MTV"

Andrew Binder, Palo Alto City Assistant Chief of Police: "PAPD has never trained or authorized the use of chokeholds or strangleholds"

Binder: "We know a police officer involved in a physical encounter or fight with a subject, can be a very dynamic, violent and predictive - [...] So officers must have the ability allowable by law to use reasonable force to adapt to the changing dynamic of a force encounter "

Binder: "Staff believes that our recommended revisions to the department’s policy manual require de-escalation through a multi-tiered response"

Binder: "First require an officer to evaluate the totality of circumstances at the time of the event, and second to require officers to consider and to utilize de-escalation techniques when feasible"

Fine: "This is not a legislative item, this is an administrative decision. We won’t see this item again, unless otherwise directed. We are directing the City Manager to coordinate with other administrative bodies to finalize and implement these policies."

PUBLIC COMMENT:
🗣 "I recommend that the Council accept the HRC recommendation without any changes. The department is unnecessarily trying to protect their officers at the expense of the public." (1/2)

🗣"It is important to protect officers from unfair discipline, but the modified language that the department proposes are not necessary. Support the HRC proposal." (2/2)

🗣 "The police department is trying to water down a set of recommendations on #8cantwait, which is already an extremely watered down set of reforms. Our police has a history of extreme racism and misconduct. What we need is to disarm and dismantle policing as an institution."

🗣"PAPD revisions are only aimed at protecting officers instead of the public. Police officers need to be the best of us in our community. It’s pretty clear right now that they aren’t the best of us. "

🗣"Require that police comply with the same laws that we do. CA still has the police officers bill of rights which exempts them from the most fundamental rules that every other organization complies with, like sharing disciplinary records and cooperating with the community."

🗣"On many occasions now PA councils and commissions have heard the testimony from our community of PA police using completely unnecessary and cruel violence and verbal intimidation especially when interacting with Black and brown folks"

🗣"Fire Zach Perron. It’s embarrassing to know that we have an absolutely racist individual in our department and the City Council, City Manager, and the Police Chief have all covered it up. This is a cultural change."

"What about a provision for the citizens who intervene when an officer is going to kill someone. Nuremberg principles suggest that if you knew or should have known, that you should have done something. We’ve got to have accountability."

Cormack: "I did not understand the HRC motion part that added verbal and mental force."
Smith: "As a black male in a car that is pulled over, if the officer uses authority to bully the suspect that would be mental abuse."

DuBois: "We have a police department we can be proud of. Our police department is not known for extreme racism. There was no bias found when we collected traffic stop data."

DuBois: "One question I had was, state law supersedes our policies right?"

Smith: "Is the state law the ceiling or the floor? State law is the basement. Palo Alto can do better than state law."

Fine: "Can you talk me through the differences between the police recommendation and the HRC recommendation on the use of force continuum?"

Binder: "The use of force continuum is a ladder, made popular in the 90’s but policy and force options have been improved since then."

Filseth: "You've put a lot of thought and know more about it...it seems to me that in general that you folks are in agreement but there are differences in language. It's hard for me to tell the difference because I don't have the benefit to spend the time that you have."

Filseth: "There's going to have to be some slack here. It would help me to know between the HRC version and PAPD idea, what is it that one allows and the other doesn't? What circumstances...there might be some unintentional chest compression."

Filseth: "De-escalation is a buzzword. I don't know exactly what it means"

Smith: "I do agree in principle that there can be accidents, but we would see a fall is an accident. IF the video is there, we would clearly see the fall is an accident."

Tanaka: "What change of performance would there be?"
Binder: "I'm not sure if I'm answering you're question."
Tanaka: "Not really. I'm trying to get a straight yes or no."
Binder: "I can't tell you tonight, I can give you my opinion."

Binder says he needs to wait for Council to make decisions and see the implications.

City Manager wants Council direction to proceed. Emphasizes the distinctions between HRC and Staff are nuanced. Council needs to balance the concerns of PAPD with Chair Smith's concerns.

Smith: "These policies have been enacted before. Never would we recommend policies that would A, cause a public safety issue or B, put a police officer in harm. These policies have been implemented. We are not first to the party. We are at the back of the train."

Mayor Fine: We will provide direction and assume staff will act.
Tanaka: Maybe implementing these policies means nothing...I don't know.
Mayor Fine: Each section DOES have policy implications.

PAPD Chief: "We will do what this council wishes us to do. But there is a balance between policy and protecting our community."
Kou: "At the end of the day, if you run up against people who are drug induced...and people on drugs have phenomenal strength."

Kou wants to warn us against a complete ban. Says we have terrorists who come to Palo Alto and dignitaries and business. "The language needs to be returned to Council, as the body, to be reviewed. It needs to go back to the union. It needs to come to us for final approval."

Kaloma Smith: "We're the richest city in the nation. I don't think drug issues should drive this. I personally as a black man am a little bothered by that. And I might never get to speak again at Council after saying all of this, but I needed to say it."

Kou: As the HRC is going through this, there needs to be added to community, when they call the police and force police to go out and address the issue, they could be formulating racist scenarios that police would have to respond to. It shall be 'shall' "

Stump: "Those are your wishes and you are the highest policy making body"
Filseth: "I think the HRC and the PAPD are in violent agreement. But their concern is that if we do a blanket band...somebody might fall on somebody...and it's not covered"

Filseth: "If you wrap a garden hose around their chest...would that work?"

Binder: Officer can't be worried about being on somebody's back instead of taking them into custody
Smith: "We want to cover all of the bases with tactics. I don't have a problem with using 'accidental' after language. We are asking that the intentional tactics are listed out."

Filseth moves to adopt HRC language and add the PAPD policy recommendations. Kniss seconds.
Kniss: "I think this is a good place for us to be tonight. I'm going to guess this will come back again. For now, let's head in this direction."

Vice Mayor DuBois directs Staff to come back with policy after Council has given direction.
Shikada: "This direction gives us sufficient trajectory."

Cormack: "It is confusing to do this at this detail without accepting the HRC recommendations. I think that would be better off here so we are not wordsmithing....We'd be better off to saw we're revising force policies."
Shikada: "This is really specific general direction."

Council continues a vigorous debate about whether to dive into the specific wording of the HRC recommendation and PAPD policies or to give a general direction.

Mayor Fine moves to adopt Staff recommendation and incorporate HRC ideas.

Kou moves to add "deescalation techniques as listed" in packet pg. 4, #2.

Binder says this paragraph provides good, clear explanation and blends SF, MTV, and Lexipol policies.

Smith agrees, as long as language follows SF and MTV, it sets a good ground/bar.

Accepted by Filseth and Kniss.

DuBois likes SF language, specifically clarity. Not sure how paragraph will be applied but agrees for tonight. Asks PAPD if there's any problem.

Binder: No, but Palo Alto is unique, including PAPD. Wants to steal language best fit for Palo Alto.

Cormack appreciates deescalation tactics, but doesn't include the word respectful. No matter the situation, city employees should be respectful.

Smith likes the word respectful, all public facing city employees should be a model.

Binder agrees with Smith

Cormack will be supporting 2.B.
Fine recap. 2.A and 2.B direct staff to come back to council with recommendations. Regarding 2.C, asks City Manager and PAPD what the effect and consequence would be.
City Manager clarifies 2.C would give direction for Staff and PAPD to discuss

DuBois makes friendly motion that policy include all options be exhausted before deadly force.
Filseth asks if there's a circumstance that would be considered consistent with police policy but not with HRC policy?
Binder clears up there's no functional difference.

Smith wants to make it very clear ALL alternatives are exhausted before deadly force. It should not be left to the discretion of the officer.
Binder wants to be careful about forcing officers to move up force ladder, should provide officers leeway if all options aren't feasible.

Filseth thanks God we don't shoot TOO many people in PA.
DuBois edits 2.D to make "policy include concept of shooting as a last resort, consistent with HRC and PAPD objectives".
Binder, prompted by Kniss, talks about the sanctity of life, should only be taken when necessary.

DuBois makes friendly amendment 2.E for Staff to return to Council with final PAPD policy. Accepted by both councilmembers.
Smith mentions culture Chief Johnson and Assistant Chief Binder could address these issues. Comfortable saying they are working towards a good culture.

Cormack points out 2.E is equivalent to 3. Asks what number C is. DuBois mentions C goes with B.
C is said to be 4, but D is interjected as 4.

Cormack is now confused about C.
Smith clarifies HRC agrees with PAPD that force continuum is antiquated.
Binder throws a wrench, there are two separate recommendations in 8CantWait regarding use of force continuum and exhausting all possibilities.

Filseth attempts to mediate between PAPD and HRC regarding shooting a moving vehicle.
Binder believes they capture HRC recommendations with important caveats.
Smith is comfortable with the language.

Kou wonders if "reasonable alternatives" in policy 4 should be spelled out, and if such language was in the SF policies.
Smith elaborates that SF policy have concise and clear language. Problem with PAPD is their high level ideas are good, but there are no specific details.

Kou asks about the two circumstances where shooting a vehicle is allowed, says they are pretty specific.
Binder says they are for saving lives.

We now have a 10 minute break, Council is set to return at 9:55.
See you at 10:00!

DuBois: Can we suggest that Staff comes back with the proposed language to be included in the use of force policy? Staff can handle it, instead of having it go through the ad hoc committee, and then it will come back to Council anyway.
Filseth & Kniss: OK

DuBois: Can we also direct Staff to consider moving the use of discharge of a weapon to the use of force section of the policy manual?
Filseth: As a cleanup of the policy manual. OK
Kniss: OK

Kniss: Question for Chief Binder. How often do our police actually fire a gun?

Binder: There was a shooting in 2015, maybe last one before that was in 2001.

Kniss: Clearly, this isn’t about guns and shooting, but is about respect, it’s about understanding different cultural issues as you’re stopping somebody as they go through town. So let's not miss the forest for the trees.

Tanaka: Can we direct Staff to also return to Council with feedback from the Police Department with the final police policy?
Filseth & Kniss: OK

Tanaka: Can someone work on metrics? So we can measure if the changes we're making are actually fixing the problem?

Shikada: If you'll indulge me, the next Agenda Item will speak to this.

Tanaka: When will this all come back? It's #8CantWait because it "can't wait".

Shikada: Can't say, but we promise we'll do our best. 👌

Motion passes unanimously, directing City Manager to revise PAPD use of force policies, with 6 general recommendations around chokeholds, de-escalation, etc., and come back to Council with the final policy.

Moving on to Agenda Item 5, Updates on Race & Equity work in Palo Alto, 45 minutes behind schedule.

Cormack: About the ad hoc committees, there’s a lot of work to do here. I’m looking at diversity in the broadest possible sense: while it started with race, should apply to every other dimension of people. For me this means how we’ll look at gender, LGBTQ+, age, etc.

Kniss: There's so much good stuff neighboring towns are doing. Let's learn from them.
Also as far as timeline goes, as Cormack said there's an enormous amount of work, we'll need support from Staff.

On Police Policy Manual, Data, And Hiring ad-hoc:
DuBois: Just getting started, no timeline yet.
Kou: I'm interested in reviewing the union contract, and learning more from the union reps.
Cormack: Some overlap between ad-hocs not sure how to avoid stepping on toes.

Police Accountability and Transparency Ad-Hoc:
Filseth: Two kinds of information we're looking at, 1) specific engagement with the public, and 2) statistical information like pattern of stops and calls.

Filseth cont'd: Two foci: are we using force responsibly, and are the stops we make benefitting the community.

Filseth: One observation I'll make: the Police Department is really not architected to be a public record agency. They're more about getting cats out of trees, okay? We're looking at what we must do systemically to make information available in a timely fashion.

Filseth: I don’t think this is going to be terribly controversial, but there’s a general tendency to only release as much information as law requires. Meanwhile people want the reciprocal: what actually needs to be sensitive? We can keep that closed, and let's open the rest.

Tanaka: There are a lot of models, we should nail down specifics. We need missions and goals. "Clear, crisp mission and goals to move us along."
Kniss: Spoke with Mayor in Sunnyvale ,"one of the thoughts I had was if police or firefighters got to do a ride alone in other cities."

Kniss: "People tend to more positive towards firefighters than to police. And that's interesting"

City Manager: "State legislature has a significant role in what's going on"

Niccolo De Luca: "Polce safety bills run the gamit - crowd control AB66, AB96, police disclosure records"

DeLuca: "I will dive into police reform bills and will dive into police reform bills. Happy to discuss any bills in greater detail."

Mentions that there are 10 bills that will be on the floor.

🗣️ Cherrill Spencer: Spoken several times about the need of ordinance based on CEDAW. Speaks of the city committed to creating respectful, fair, and professional city and workplace. Welcoming diverse perspectives, creating a workplace environment that works for everyone.

🗣️ Winter Dellenbach: I would like to have an update and know if there’s been any update on Skinner, SB 766. What you think the prospects are being passed and signed, if its a two year bill: police reform records and a number of other things.

🗣️Kevin Ma: I would like committees to reach out to subject matter experts, like those on the 8cantwait panel, who can show various reforms and policy changes that are required for creating a peaceful society. I’d like council to expand on council commitments.

🗣️Rebecca Eisenberg: Deeply disappointed by nature of conversation we just saw, disconcerting that police officers defending to “shoot at cars” and “right to use chokeholds”. Need to demilitarize the police. Come with actual monetary, fiscal policy that will help marginalized

🗣️ Kelsey Banes: I think a lot of the discussion is focused on policing. No consequences for bad behavior. Palo Alto - people think it’s diverse but we need to reflect upon people that can’t live here. How do we affirmatively further fair housing, stop perpetuating segregation

🗣️ Kat Snyder: Thank council for having Mr. DeLuca present tonight, really great can’t wait to hear walkthrough of bills. Talk about AB204, crisis act. Changes of getting funded, how would it affect us at a city level. 776 recently amended, went into print.

Fine: Issues of police data collection, reporting and transparency could be included in both Police Policy and Transparency & Accountability Ad-Hocs. Sourcing more on policy side, sharing more on accountability side.

DuBois: re: the mural. Came out great, served its purpose, which was to show our solidarity with the BLM mvt and pull community together. Unfortunate that the mural/art in general can be/was divisive. Would consider some permanent artwork honoring King @ King Plaza itself.

Cormack: Re: alternative public safety model. I think we could partner with the county or nearby jurisdictions.

Tanaka: Should some of this be delegated to the HRC?Could they come up with metrics for us to measure success? Should we try to make PD more effective? Is that something council/HRC/adhocs should decide?

Cormack: Not enough info currently. We need objectives before metrics.

Cormack: Police use of force is potentially not the biggest issue. People say they are being stopped for reasons that they feel are racial profiling.

Tanaka: Not advocating for Sunnyvale model. We need to make sure it’s a clear win. I do agree about the objectives.

Kniss: I think we might be taking on too much. It’s tempting to grab ahold of everything. We’re in the midst of COVID + fire season. We’re hesitant to go outside and exercise (?)

Let’s put something like a box around the issues that we’ve taken on. Let's proceed with care.

Kou: We can do what SC County has done, inviting our independent auditor to come in & have him give us some oversight. Study session w/ him would be good.

Chief Johnson: Would welcome that, we have great relationship with the ICA. We’ve discussed that there’s room for expansion.

No motions. Meeting adjourned. Good night everyone 😊