county opens covid vaccinations to residents 65 and up€¦ · county opens covid vaccinations to...

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County opens COVID vaccinations to

residents 65 and upPage 5

Vol. XLII, Number 17 January 29, 2021

Pulse 31 Spectrum 34 Puzzles 43 Read up-to-the-minute news on PaloAltoOnline.com

Upfront City considers putting police headquarters on hold Page 5Arts Pace offers rare look at color field abstracts Page 35Eating Out Pizzeria, Japanese market celebrate openings Page 38

• January 29, 2021 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

U.S. News & World Report recognizes Stanford Health Care among the top

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Stanford Health Care is here for you. Even during shelter-in-place,

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To protect your health, we are:

• Screening both staff and patients for COVID-19

• Requiring and providing masking for all

• Offering “touchless” check-in/check-out with your MyHealth account

• Limiting the number of patients inside to allow for physical distancing

• Ensuring separate screening areas for symptomatic patients

Don’t delay your care. Appointments are available at our locations

across the Bay Area and remotely by video visit.

To learn more, visit: stanfordhealthcare.org/resumingcare

dependablehealth care in uncertain times

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • January 29, 2021 • Page 3

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UpfrontLocal news, information and analysis

A fter a brief interlude, Palo Alto is preparing to re-sume its effort to expand the citywide network of bike-ways, with a particular eye to-ward the city’s south end.

The City Council voted on Monday night to kickstart three new bike projects when it en-dorsed a community engagement process for improvements on

segments of East Meadow Drive, Fabian Way and the Waverley path. The improvements include reconfiguring Fabian Way to cre-ate a bike path in each direction, possibly by removing a car lane between East Meadow Drive and East Charleston Road, and install-ing a protected bike lane on East Meadow by potentially removing some parking spots.

The city also plans to widen and smoothen the Waverley bike path, which is located on Palo Alto Unified School District property between East Meadow and East Charleston.

The three projects are the city’s first major effort to boost its bike facilities since its contentious revamp of Ross Road in 2017, a project that included a new

traffic circle on East Meadow as a central component. While some lauded this project for giv-ing bicyclists more space, others criticized the city for inadequate outreach and slammed the design for pitting cars against bikes at the new roundabout.

Staff hopes to avoid some of the pitfalls of the Ross Road mis-adventure with its new suite of projects, which were boosted by a $919,000 Santa Clara County grant through the Vehicle Emis-sion Reductions Based at Schools program. The city expects to kick in $781,000 for the project.

CITY BUDGET

City could delay new police HQ

Squeezed by shutdown, Palo Alto council

rethinks city’s prioritiesby Gennady Sheyner

F acing plummeting revenues and continued uncertainty about the pandemic’s tra-jectory, the Palo Alto City Coun-cil is preparing to reshuffle its list of infrastructure priorities and potentially delay its most ambitious project, a new police headquarters.

But even amid the recent staff layoffs and budget cuts, council members are preparing to move ahead with two expensive and long-discussed projects that they believe will aid the city in its re-covery from COVID-19: the ex-tension of the city’s fiber-optic network to every household and a permanent reconfiguration of the city’s most prominent thorough-fare, University Avenue.

Both of these efforts are includ-ed in the wide-ranging economic recovery plan that City Manager Ed Shikada presented on Mon-day night to a largely receptive council. The plan also includes upgrading heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems at City Hall and other public facilities to improve indoor air quality; assist-ing local businesses by permitting parklets and temporary street clo-sures; and developing a series of activities and events to promote community well-being.

In discussing Palo Alto’s re-covery plan, council members signaled a desire to see the city’s priorities reshuffled in recogni-tion of the new normal. While

(continued on page 41)

County opens vaccinations to residents 65 and up

S anta Clara County resi-dents 65 years and older are now eligible to get vaccinated through the county health system, county leaders an-nounced Tuesday.

Residents in that age range can

schedule appointments through the county website, sccfreevax.org, for openings.

The expanded eligibility fol-lows the state’s current guidance for vaccine allocation.

“Older residents and those

living in skilled nursing facilities continue to be the population at greatest risk for serious illness and death from COVID-19,” said Dr. Monika Roy, a county assis-tant public health officer.

As of Monday, more than 160,300 individuals have been vaccinated in Santa Clara Coun-ty by the county, private health care providers and other vaccine distributors.

The county’s health system is the largest provider of the COV-ID-19 vaccine, county staff said. So far, it has administered nearly 60,000 first doses and has a week-ly capacity to provide 30,000 vac-cine appointments per week.

Residents can make appoint-ments for the mass vaccination sites located at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, at Berger Drive in San Jose and at the

Mountain View Community Cen-ter on Rengstorff Avenue.

The county is also vaccinating eligible individuals at several Val-ley Health Center locations, in-cluding up to 600 people per day in Gilroy, according to the coun-ty’s Public Health Department.

“As the vaccine becomes avail-able to more of our residents, the


Expanded eligibility comes as state lifts stay-at-home order

by Sue Dremann and Jana Kadah

TRANSPORTATION

City paves the way for new bike projectsSouth Palo Alto plan includes cycling lanes on East Meadow, Fabian

by Gennady Sheyner


Swingin’ in the rainMiri Avisar and the child she is babysitting sit on the swings at Mitchell Park on Thursday during an interlude in a storm that slammed the Midpeninsula this week. An atmospheric river passed over California bringing 3.09 inches of rainfall to the area during a 72-hour period between Tuesday and Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Wind gusts reached 31 mph in Palo Alto on Tuesday morning and caused power outages for about 740 customers in the downtown area, according to Palo Alto Utilities.

Magali G

authier.


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The Palo Alto Weekly (ISSN 0199-1159) is published every Friday by Embarcadero Media, 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306, (650) 326-8210. Periodicals postage paid at Palo Alto, CA and additional mailing offices. Adjudicated a newspaper of general circulation for Santa Clara County. The Palo Alto Weekly is delivered to homes in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, East Palo Alto, to faculty and staff households on the Stanford campus and to portions of Los Altos Hills. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Palo Alto Weekly, 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306. ©2021 by Embarcadero Media. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. The Palo Alto Weekly is available on the Internet via Palo Alto Online at: www.PaloAltoOnline.com

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Upfront

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D E L E O N R E A LT Y, I N C .

OUR TEAM IS IN MOTION FOR YOUFEEL THE BERN? ... The sight of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders bundled up in mittens and a winter coat while sitting cross-legged at the Inauguration Day ceremony last week is arguably one of the most memorable fashion moments from the national event that has since taken the internet by storm in the form of memes. Palo Altans were no exception, posting images on Instagram of the former presidential candidate transposed onto recognizable places around the city. The Palo Alto Library posted him at the entrance of the Rinconada branch manning a table outside of the main entrance (and appropriate considering the library system carries a few of his books published over the years). Lotus Thai Bistro also joined in the fun by setting Sanders next to a stand of flowers for the California Avenue Farmers Market. Sanders also made an appearance downtown outside The Wine Room, where he appeared to be the first and only customer in line, sitting next to a barrel with an unopened bottle of vino. The U.S. senator has turned the viral sensation into a benefit for the greater good. He has launched the Chairman Sanders Collection that features the widely shared image on sweatshirts and T-shirts to benefit charities in his home state. The fundraiser has reportedly raised $1.8 million, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

PLANS FOR THE YEAR ... When the City Council gets together on Zoom for its annual retreat this Saturday, don’t expect too much suspense. As in years past, the council will use the Jan. 30 virtual meeting to set its priorities from now through December. But while well-meaning and vague priorities such as “civic engagement” and “healthy community” made the official priority list in years past, the council is expected to spend most of its energy in 2021 on pandemic recovery. The list of proposed priorities submitted by council members in the weeks leading up to the retreat includes both “COVID-19 recovery” and “economic recovery,” alongside items relating to housing, climate change, social justice and transportation. On Monday, Jan. 25, as the council and city staff discussed a broad range of COVID-19 initiatives — from upgrading air filters at city facilities

to permanently changing the configuration of University Avenue to support outdoor dining — City Manager Ed Shikada made it clear that COVID-19 recovery is the biggest issue at the current moment. “From a staff perspective, it’s clear that we see no higher priority than sustaining community recovery from this pandemic,” Shikada said. Housing also has a high chance of making the list. Of the more than 200 responses that the city received to a resident survey, many include “housing” or “affordable housing” atop their rankings. The retreat will begin at 9 a.m. and can be accessed by Zoom using the phone number 669-900-6833 and Meeting ID: 362 027 238.

OPENING UP NEW HORIZONS ... Stanford University’s Cantor Arts Center debuted its new Asian American Art Initiative this week. The effort seeks “to acquire, preserve, display and research art related to Asian American and Asian diaspora artists and their practices,” according to Stanford News Service, which said the initiative is the first of its kind. The initiative is “anchored” by acquisitions of artist Ruth Asawa’s “Untitled (LC. 012, Wall of Masks),” which features 233 ceramic masks, and 141 works from The Michael Donald Brown Collection (pieces created between 1880 and 1996 by Asian American artists). It will be steered by founding co-directors Aleesa Alexander, the Cantor’s assistant curator of American art, and Marci Kwon, assistant professor at the university’s Department of Art and Art History. “With the exception of a few major figures, Asian Americans remain in the shadows of American art,” Kwon told Stanford News Service. The initiative aims to encourage scholarship across disciplines and support research by undergraduate and graduate students in the field. “Stanford is the ideal place for this project, especially when one considers the history of the Bay Area and the museum’s plurality of audience,” Alexander said. There are plans to host a conference and exhibit in the fall of 2022 “to rethink and reimagine the historical and theoretical dimensions of Asian American art and aesthetics,” the article states.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Around Town

We cannot solve a homeless problem without having housing, no matter what.

—Paul Bains, co-founder of United Hope Builders, on manufacturing modular houses for the homeless. See story on page 7.


Upfront

Two steel houses were deliv-ered on the back of a big rig on Jan. 7 to a parking lot in East Palo Alto, one coming all the way from Pueblo, Colorado, and the other from Caldwell, Idaho. They’re not exactly ready-to-live-in homes, but in a few weeks, pos-sibly by Valentine’s Day or earlier, they can be.

For Pastor Paul Bains, that’s just part of the beauty and benefit of modular houses — factory-built homes that come ready-made in sections to be stacked or put together like Lego blocks. One of the newly delivered modular dwellings is a 960-square-foot, three-bedroom house made of three sections; the other is a 640-square-foot, two bedroom home made of two sections.

The big-rig delivery marked a new chapter in the Palo Alto na-tive’s 21-year pursuit to address homelessness in the Bay Area.

“My goal has always been to disrupt generational poverty,” Bains said. “You do that through education and home ownership, and this makes it much more af-fordable for people to own their own home.”

Bains and his wife, Cheryl,

founded East Palo Alto’s WeHOPE nonprofit in 1999, which now oper-ates 100-bed shelters in San Fran-cisco, a 74-bed shelter and Safe Lot RV parking program in East Palo Alto and mobile fleets that provide showers, bathrooms and laundry services in 17 cities, across four counties, according to Bains.

But to address homelessness, a problem made worse by the pan-demic, more directly the pastor is venturing into affordable housing development with his new non-profit, United Hope Builders.

“We cannot solve a homeless problem without having housing, no matter what,” he said.

Through a partnership with IndieDwell, an Idaho-based B corporation that manufactures

modular housing units, United Hope Builders will construct a roughly 60,000-square-foot fac-tory by leasing seven acres of the old Romick Environmental Tech-nologies site on Bay Road. The fa-cility will churn out steel modular homes like the two recently deliv-ered to East Palo Alto’s RV Safe Lot at 1798 Bay Road.

A burgeoning trend in housing

Prefabricated homes are not a new concept, but they’ve become an increasingly popular answer to the Bay Area’s affordable housing crisis.

In August, as part of San Jose’s goal to provide emergency hous-ing for the homeless, the city broke ground on one site that will host more than 100 beds, using modular dwellings that each cost $85,000, according to a report from San Jose Spotlight.

Sand Hill Foundation, the non-profit arm of Sand Hill Property Company of Palo Alto, purchased the modular units for the San Jose project, Bains said.

In another sign of the demand for modular housing, Factory OS, a 3-year-old Vallejo-based modular

housing factory, recently completed 1,000 housing units, according to multiple media reports, and raised $55 million in Series B funding, receiving support from tech and finance corporations such as Face-book, Google and Morgan Stanley.

In September, the company an-nounced that it will open a second facility to meet the demand.

“The floodgates have opened,” Bains said. “I’m getting inquiries every single day about this product and people wanting to come see it.”

Two of the most attractive rea-sons for the shift toward modular homes are time and cost.

“Modulars can reduce construc-tion expense, but most impor-tantly, reduce (construction) time sometimes by as much as 40%,” said Michael Brownrigg, United

Hope Builders’ chief of staff.In 2019, the average cost of

building affordable housing in the Bay Area was $664,455 per unit. According to the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, an economic and policy think tank, that figure includes construction, land acquisition, materials, labor and legal fees, among other costs, unique to the region.

Brownrigg couldn’t yet provide the total price tag for a United Hope Builders modular home, due to some of the uncontrollable vari-ables beyond construction, but he is certain that modular units will cost a “small fraction” of the typi-cal new home.

“Even when you peel all those

P olice departments through-out the Midpeninsula are following in the footsteps of the Palo Alto Police Depart-ment, which on Jan. 5 abruptly announced it would immediately encrypt its dispatch radio com-munications — a longtime source of information for residents and the news media — to protect cer-tain private information from be-ing transmitted publicly.

The Menlo Park, Atherton and Mountain View police depart-ments all state that they plan to completely encrypt their commu-nications, choosing the more strin-gent of two options for complying with a California Department of Justice policy that aims to protect information such as license plate numbers, names, street addresses, phone numbers and other private information. The less stringent op-tion is to encrypt only the private data, which is accessed through the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS) and could be used for identity theft. Encrypting the in-formation also gives privacy to victims of crime.

The Department of Justice re-quires encryption of “specific in-formation” disseminated through radio traffic “while allowing for radio traffic with the information necessary to provide public safety,” according to an October bulletin.

But the total encryption of a source of information sets a dan-gerous precedent, according to watchdog organizations, includ-ing the Electronic Frontier Foun-dation and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

One of the fundamental pur-poses of access to the dispatch transmissions is so the public has knowledge of information about their communities. It’s why the press access is so important, said Aaron Mackey, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The move to encrypt, while re-cent for local police departments, has already stirred up controversy in other areas of the country, in-cluding Colorado and southern California. In some jurisdictions, news organizations and law en-forcement have tried to come up with solutions that walk the line between continuing to provide

vital access to police activity while also shielding private information from public view. With high price tags and clunky interfaces asso-ciated with these workarounds, however, news organizations say the jury is still out as to whether an alternative to total encryption can be found.

Falling in linePalo Alto’s police department

began encryption in early January, but others are planning to enact the change within the next three years.

Menlo Park Police Department is currently working with its radio vendor for a redesign of its current radio system with a projected date of no later than December 2023,

said Tracy Weber, communica-tions and records manager.

Atherton police Chief Steve Mc-Culley said that his department will need to upgrade its commu-nications center and radios. He es-timated the cost at $250,000. The department plans to be compliant with the state mandate by 2023. The Atherton police have just one radio communication channel and can’t switch to other frequencies to encrypt specific information, he said.

“It’s an unfunded mandate (and is) quite a financial impact on a small agency like ours,” he said.

Relaying the private informa-tion by computer or cell phone, separately from the radio, would

be too difficult. Having to leave a person’s property and go back to the patrol car would compromise officers’ safety, he said.

“It’s not an efficient way to pro-vide that information. Oftentimes (we) need to have that information as soon as we can over the radio. We have no choice but to move to encryption,” he said.

Likewise, Mountain View Police Department spokeswoman Katie Nelson said using both the radio and a separate channel for sensi-tive information could jeopardize officers’ safety.

“An officer stops someone and checks their information over the

Are modular homes the answer to Bay Area’s affordable housing demand?

Inside the latest chapter in one pastor’s bid to address the housing crisisby Lloyd Lee

Radios silencedAs police encryption of dispatch transmissions grow,

questions remain about the public right to information — and alternatives that would not exclude news organizations

by Sue Dremann

HOUSING

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Pastor Paul Bains tours the kitchen inside a three-bedroom modular home in East Palo Alto. Through his new nonprofit United Hope Builders, Bains hopes to construct a roughly 60,000-square-foot factory on Bay Road to churn out similar modular homes.

Magali G

authier

The Palm Springs Police Department created a computer aided dispatch (CAD) system page, similar to one used by police and dispatchers, for the press to view active incidents in real time. The system replaces radio transmissions, which are now encrypted.

Courtesy Palm Springs Police D

epartment

‘The floodgates have opened. I’m getting inquiries every single day about this product and people wanting to come see it.’

— Paul Bains, co-founder, United Hope Builders




Upfront

S everal changes to Palo Alto Online’s popular reader forum, Town Square, will be implemented over the next few weeks in an effort to reduce disrespectful commentary and encourage broader, more diverse community participation.

The new policies build on an experiment implemented last Au-gust, when all commenters were required to register as a condition of posting, a change that has now been made permanent. As a result of the registration experiment, the tone of comments improved and some of the more problematic posters stopped commenting, but it had the effect of giving more visibility to those who posted the most frequently, Embarcadero Media President Bill Johnson said. These are often among the comments that are also long and not seeking constructive dialogue with others, he said.

“The registration requirement did significantly discourage and reduce the number of ‘fly-by’ commenters, many not even from

our community, from posting snarky, disrespectful and often in-cendiary comments that our mod-erators needed to edit or remove,” Johnson said.

After seeking feedback and in-put from readers and holding two virtual community meetings, the Town Square editors considered additional changes, which are in the process of being implemented.

The most significant change, which will be completed in sev-eral weeks by the company’s software developers, will create a “pre-moderation” function that will automatically delay the post-ing of comments by newly regis-tered users until a moderator has reviewed and released them to the site. That preview process will re-main in effect until a moderator clears that user to post directly to the site.

Similarly, existing posters can be switched to pre-moderated status if a moderator determines they are undermining the goals of Town Square by attacking other commenters, repeatedly violating

the Town Square terms of service or not sticking to the topic.

An added benefit of this new system is that it should virtually eliminate spam, since spam al-ways comes from a newly regis-tered “user” and will be subject to deletion before readers see it.

Other changes, which are be-ing implemented on Town Square this week, include a length limit of 2,000 characters (about 200 words), an end to the “like” a comment function and a new requirement that posters use the same screen name for all their comments. At the discretion of the moderator, posters who make consecutive or an excessive num-ber of comments and are domi-nating a discussion may have their comments deleted.

The “like” upvoting feature has been removed because of exten-sive abuse by some commenters who circumvented our automated checks to prevent repetitive voting from the same user.

In explaining the need for the changes, Johnson said the

company felt an obligation to do its part to better manage Town Square in light of the widespread abuses of social media both lo-cally and across the country.

“Town Square is intended to be a place residents can share their opinions, debate local issues and give their feedback on our report-ing. But like other social media platforms, it is also used by those trying to manipulate public opin-ion, create false narratives and incite distrust of institutions, in-cluding the media,” Johnson said.

“On a local level, we had al-ready been evaluating how to improve our Town Square on-line reader forum and ensure that we weren’t aiding and abetting those who sought to polarize and divide the community through misinformation.”

Johnson said that the substan-tive content and political views expressed by commenters have never been a factor in modera-tion decisions and won’t be in the future.

“We don’t care what your po-sition is on local issues. As long as the comments are made with respect for those with differing opinions, aren’t snarky or sarcas-tic and are not presenting false information, we believe the more diversity of views the better,” Johnson said.

“Moderating is an art, not a sci-ence, and we have and will make mistakes. But our collective goal as a community should be to talk about issues with civility and, when appropriate, passion, with-out attacking those who are hon-estly and respectfully expressing different opinions,” he said.

Here is a summary of the changes being made:

• All new Town Square post-ers will automatically be “pre-moderated” before their com-ment goes live on our site. While this will result in a delay in their posts appearing, it will allow our moderators to review comments for adherence to our rules and guidelines. It will also reduce spam. When the poster has shown that they are willing and able to follow the rules, his or her ability to post instantly will be activated. Similarly, any established com-menter who frequently violates

the rules may be relegated to pre-moderation at any time as a sort of “penalty box.”

• The “up-voting” function that allows anyone to “like” a comment will be removed. Too many posters are using tools to circumvent our limit of one vote per person and are creating a false impression that their com-ment has been embraced by large numbers of other people. These abuses have made the voting meaningless.

• “Screen” names of a poster will need to be consistent across all topics. Currently, we allow a poster to comment under different screen names in different Town Square topics, but do not permit them to change names within a single topic discussion. This will be changed to prevent the use of multiple names.

• The length of comments will be limited to 2,000 characters, or about 200 words. This will be automated and no one will be able to exceed this length. This will prevent excessively long posts that can easily dominate or overwhelm a discussion.

• Extremely short comments of 200 characters (about 30 words) will also generally not be allowed. Most of these short com-ments are emotional outbursts only designed to denigrate or be dismissive of another person or an organization. They don’t seek to engage others in a conversation. Deletion for shortness will be at the moderators’ discretion.

• The frequency of comment-ing by a poster will be limited. No poster will be permitted to make consecutive comments on a topic. The comment of at least one other person must be made before a commenter may post again, and repeated comments from the same poster that dominate a dis-cussion will be removed. Modera-tors may make exceptions, such as in the case of a second short post correcting content in the previous post.

Changes planned for Town Square, the Palo Alto Online forum

New policies will ‘pre-moderate’ new users, limit length of comments and make other changes to improve quality of reader forum

by Palo Alto Weekly staff

MEDIA

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Palo Alto Online’s Town Square forum will see new restrictions aimed at improving public discourse.

Photo illustration by Kristin Brown

There are plenty of conversations happening on Town Square. Check them out at PaloAltoOnline.com/square.

TALK ABOUT ITPaloAltoOnline.com


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Upfront

W hen Palo Alto officials adopted a position in 2018 in support of the Bay-Delta Plan, which aims to protect the Yosemite ecosystem by restricting how much water cities can draw from the San Joa-quin River and its tributaries, they knew were swimming against the prevalent political tide.

Prompted by water conserva-tionists and environmentalists, the City Council went against recom-mendations from the city’s Utili-ties Department staff and its wa-ter supplier, the San Francisco Public Utilities Com m iss ion, which relies on the Tuolumne River for much of its water. It also defied the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency, a coali-tion of 27 municipal agencies that buy water from the SFPUC.

Now, the city’s appointee to BAWSCA, City Council mem-ber Alison Cormack, is drawing criticism from some of these same environmentalists after she took a stance that they say contradicts Palo Alto’s official position. Rather than endorsing the council’s 2018 position, Cormack publicly backed on Nov. 30 the position of the water suppliers, who have criticized the Bay-Delta Plan’s flow restrictions as a threat to their water supply.

The plan, which targets the San Joaquin River and its three tribu-taries, the Stanislaus, Merced and Tuolumne rivers, requires the “un-impaired flow” at these rivers to be at least 40% between February and June to protect salmon, steel-head trout and other species that rely on the rivers.

Conservationist groups, includ-ing the Tuolumne River Trust, said the plan is necessary to protect the environment and dismiss the alle-gations from the SFPUC and other water supply agencies as “scare tactics.”

That debate resurfaced on Nov. 30, when the SFPUC held a work-shop to discuss the Bay-Delta Plan, which the state Water Resources Control Board officially adopted in December 2018. Sandkulla told the commission at the workshop that the Bay-Delta Plan could result in a loss of 90 million gallons per day of water, potentially requiring a 50% reduction of water for resi-dents in BAWSCA’s service area.

“Losing that much supply would severely impact people and busi-nesses at communities that rely on the system,” Sandkulla said.

Peter Drekmeier, a former Palo Alto mayor who serves as policy director at Tuolumne River Trust,

pushed back against these figures. He said BAWSCA is not serving its constituents by opposing a plan that seeks to protect the river’s ecosystem.

“Saying that they care about the Bay Delta ecosystems but doing very little to improve conditions and putting out an alarming num-ber, which we’ve shown to be false, like 50% rationing, does not serve the public interest,” Drekmeier said at the workshop.

Cormack, who serves on BAWSCA’s board of directors, also spoke at that meeting. But far from channeling the council’s ad-opted position in 2018, she echoed her BAWSCA colleagues in sup-porting “voluntary agreements” between the state board and water suppliers. These measures would allow water agencies to SFPUC to avoid the 40% requirement by committing to other measures that don’t address water flow, including habitat restoration.

“A voluntary agreement will be much better and ultimately more acceptable than a forced legal resolution for all who rely on the Tuolumne River,” Cormack said in a prepared statement at the Nov. 30 meeting. “This is actually an opportunity to lead the way in California, since we are far from the only region in the state that faces this issue.”

Her position sparked an immedi-ate backlash among local support-ers of the Bay-Delta Plan. Hours after the workshop, Drekmeier at-tended the council’s virtual meet-ing and asked how it’s possible for the council to take a position in fa-vor of a plan, only to have a single member take an opposing position and support another plan.

“It’s unconscionable,” Drekmei-er told the council. “It’s clear the science supports exactly what Palo Alto endorsed two years ago and I hope you revisit this. It looks really bad when Palo Alto is represented in front of the commission and saying the opposite of what was voted on two years ago.”

Earlier this month, Drekmeier took his comments a step further when he submitted a letter to May-or Tom DuBois and the council re-questing that Cormack be replaced as a city representative.

“Palo Alto deserves a represen-tative who respects and advocates for the City’s official position on issues such as the Bay Delta Water Quality Control Plan,” Drekmeier wrote. “Council Member Cormack has failed to do so.”

Other residents echoed his sen-timent. Stephen Rosenbloom said he was shocked when he heard Cormack speak at the workshop

A fter the Capitol insurrec-tion on Jan. 6 by a faction of Donald Trump support-ers, major social media compa-nies took the unprecedented step of banning a sitting U.S. president from their platforms.

Now, companies like Facebook are grappling with how to effec-tively moderate content to prevent future violence while politicians from both sides of the aisle con-sider policies to regulate social media platforms from spreading misinformation without limiting free speech.

On Jan. 22, during an online panel titled “The Storming of the Capitol and the Future of Free Speech Online,” four experts from Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center, which focuses on digital technology and govern-ment policy, discussed how so-cial media platforms have helped cultivate political radicalization and extremism, the potential

consequences as these same plat-forms aggressively crack down on false information, and the govern-ment’s role in regulating social media in the near future.

The experts found there’s an in-credibly challenging feat ahead for both entities.

“When it comes to incitement, it’s very, very difficult to develop a clear concrete standard that will apply prospectively to any type of situation that might lead to law-breaking or violence,” said Nathaniel Persily, a co-director of the center.

To understand what led to the deadly insurrection on Jan. 6, Re-nee DiResta said it helps to know that the event was not an overnight result of online coordination of one, large group of Trump sup-porters or conservatives.

“This is not one faction, if you will, this was multiple factions that came together,” said DiResta, a research manager at the Cyber

Policy Center’s Internet Observa-tory. “So there’s a need to under-stand ways in which network ac-tivism online manifests and ways in which these factions form.”

DiResta suggested the event re-flected a process of polarization that was years in the making and included various groups such as militias, white supremacists and, more recently, followers of the far-right conspiracy theory known as QAnon. Groups like these can occupy “echo chambers’’ further strengthened on online platforms, she said. That, coupled with an ef-fective disinformation campaign, where Trump and his allies ques-tioned the integrity of the U.S. election system based on mislead-ing and false information, demon-strated how social media played a role leading up to the insurrection.

“There was this repetitive pro-cess that we saw over and over

Can social media giants stop an insurrection before it happens?

Panel of Stanford cyberpolicy experts discuss ramifications of leading tech companies’ ban of the former president

by Lloyd Lee

Council member’s position on water plan makes waves

Critics say Alison Cormack failed to accurately present city’s positions on Bay-Delta Plan

by Gennady Sheyner

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Upfront

different expenses away, we’re still, we think, much more competitive from a cost point of view,” he said.

Construction time is also a big selling point, especially for a re-gion where supply can’t meet the demand.

Unlike traditional stick-built homes, modular homes are put to-gether off-site in a factory, without any of the on-site construction de-lays that might arise from factors like weather.

Solving the land problemThere are, however, hurdles

both generic to any type of af-fordable housing development

and unique to modular housing, Brownrigg said.

“Challenges for all of us in the Bay Area is the availability of land — I’d actually put that as No. 1,” he said. “Then, No. 2, just the red tape and cost of building.”

One way United Hope Builders wants to address issues of land availability is by targeting “non-traditional landholders” such as the churches and other religious organizations throughout the Bay Area that own often wide-open parking lots. Citing research from U.C. Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation think tank, Brownrigg claims there are about 5,000 acres of unused land con-trolled by religious organizations in the Bay Area.

“We think there’s an opportu-

nity to work with other mission-aligned people in the Bay Area who want to create great, beauti-ful, environmentally sound, af-fordable housing,” he said.

And to move through red-tape, Brownrigg said modular units can come already compliant with state code before developers have to put them together.

Specific to modular housing, however, one of the biggest hur-dles is facilitating the shift in the housing industry’s approach to development, where, traditionally, design decisions such as flooring, windows and appliances are made over a longer period of time rather than early-on as required with modular houses.

A study on modular construc-tion by McKinsey and Company, published in June 2019, found that while modular homes can cut the development schedule by 20% to 50% and construction costs by 20%, “modular projects currently tend to take longer to design than traditional projects” because of the early decision-making process.

This, as a consequence, also requires larger down payments at the front end, and Brownrigg finds that it can discourage some developers who may rely on low-income housing tax credits to fund an affordable housing project.

Without greater control of the construction process, Brownrigg said, a developer may be nervous to pull tax credits early on since there are very strict deadlines be-tween the moment tax credits are issued and when a tenant moves into the property.

To date, United Hope Build-ers has raised $4 million through foundations and private investors. Some of the largest investors in-clude Anastasia Vournas and Bill Uhrig, who is the owner of Three Cities Research investment firm,

Housing(continued from page 7)

in favor of voluntary agreements, given the council’s officially ad-opted position. Her statement, he told the council on Jan. 11, should “disqualify her as a representative of the Palo Alto City Council on BAWSCA, since she refused to separate the official position of the City Council from her own beliefs.”

David Warner, a resident who supports the Bay-Delta Plan, called Cormack’s statement “a step back-ward” and said he was taken aback by her comments.

“Council member Cormack should either vigorously retract her statements verbally, in front of SF-PUC, and reiterate Palo Alto’s po-sition or she should resign from the BAWSCA board,” Warner said.

Cormack emphasized that in taking a position in favor of vol-untary agreements, she was acting as a representative of BAWSCA rather than of the council. Even though her statement identified her as a council member, she emailed the commission on Dec. 18 to clarify that she was speak-ing as a BAWSCA director rather

than a council member and to apologize for the omission.

“I absolutely made a mistake in not making it clear. That was brought to my attention and I promptly corrected the record in writing,” Cormack told this news organization.

Her position on the Bay-Delta Plan, however, hasn’t changed. She said she doesn’t oppose the plan, which she noted includes provi-sions for voluntary agreements. The state Water Board in fact ap-proved a resolution in December 2018 that encourages stakeholders to “continue to work together to reach voluntary agreements that incorporate a mix of flow and non-flow measures that meet or exceed the new and revised water quality objectives and protect fish and wildlife beneficial uses, and to present those voluntary agree-ments to the State Water Board for its review as soon as possible.”

Yet in its July analysis of non-flow measures, the Water Board noted that “substantial scientific evidence indicates that reduc-tions in flow and alteration of the natural flow regime resulting from water development has been a ma-jor driver of historic declines of

native fish populations and a ma-jor impediment to the restoration of salmon populations in the San Joaquin River and other Central Valley watersheds.”

Non-flow measures alone, the analysis states, “are not sufficient to support and maintain viable popu-lations of native fish populations.”

“Actions like creating habitat, modifying structures, or enhancing channel forms are often relatively short-term solutions, requiring re-peated application and/or mainte-nance in order to continue to pro-vide benefits, and do not address restoration of key watershed- or river-scale regulating processes,” the Water Board’s analysis states.

While Cormack said she favors the Bay-Delta Plan’s incorporation of voluntary agreements, she is far less enthusiastic about the portion of the plan that the 2018 council and environmentalists like Drek-meier and Warner see as its most critical components: a requirement for unimpaired flow. When asked about her position on the 40% re-quirement for unimpaired flow, Cormack said that she had learned over the past two years that “non-flow measures” can help achieve the desired environmental benefits.

“In the same way that I support amending the proposed voluntary agreement to improve outcomes, I could support the Bay-Delta Plan with amendments that include and consider non-flow measures,” Cor-mack said. “This is one way to bal-ance the needs of water users for re-liable supplies with improvements in the ecosystem of the river.”

Cormack also made a public statement at the council’s Dec. 14 meeting underscoring that that her comments at the SFPUC work-shop did not constitute opposition to the Bay-Delta Plan and did not conflict with council policy on this issue. She also told her colleagues that when the council appoints a BAWSCA director, that person “does not serve as an instrument of our municipal interests but as steward of the 26 member agen-cies” and the nearly 2 million cus-tomers they serve.

“I’m working hard to find an in-tersection between Palo Alto’s cur-rent position and my responsibility as a BAWSCA director,” Cormack told the Weekly.

While her colleagues hadn’t taken any actions to replace Cor-mack as the city’s BAWSCA ap-pointee, some residents remain

unconvinced by her explanation. David Schrom suggested in a Jan. 8 letter that if Cormack was repre-senting her BAWSCA colleagues in her comments at the workshop, she should have at least clarified that Palo Alto rejected voluntary agreements in favor of the Bay-Delta Plan. If she did not speak at the behest of BAWSCA, Schrom wrote, then her “flagrant disregard and implicit misrepresentation are sufficient reason for you to find an-other of your members to represent you, me and other Palo Altans on the BAWSCA board.”

“If we’re to reap the benefits of your past and future decisions made on the basis of extensive review of applicable science, we need an advocate who understands the responsibilities of fully and accurately upholding those deci-sions,” Schrom wrote.

Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at [email protected].

Water(continued from page 10)

Talk about this topic, and read what others think about it, on Town Square, the community discussion forum at PaloAltoOnline.com/square.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?PaloAltoOnline.com

City Council (Jan. 25)Economic recovery: The council discussed and approved the city’s proposed economic recovery plan, which includes $500,000 for upgrades to air-filtration systems in city facilities and $150,000 for changes to University Avenue. The council approved most of the measures in the plan unanimously but voted 4-3 on the University Avenue funding, with DuBois, Kou and Stone dissenting. Yes: UnanimousBike projects: The council approved a community engagement plan for bike improvements on segments of Fabian Way, East Meadow Drive and the Waverley path in south Palo Alto. Yes: Unanimous

Parks and Recreation Commission (Jan. 26)Election: The commission elected Anne Cribbs as its chair and Jeff Greenfield as its vice chair for 2021. Yes: UnanimousBoulware park: The commission heard an update about proposed improvements to Boulware Park. Action: NoneFoothills Park: The commission discussed proposed visitor limits and entrance fees to Foothills Park. Most commissioners favored a limit between 400 and 650 visitors at one time, as well as allowing staff to modify the limit as needed. They also supported the creation of an annual pass for Foothills Park entry. The commission plans to vote on a formal recommendation on Feb. 23. Action: None

Planning and Transportation Commission (Jan. 27)Bicycles: The commission heard an update about bicycle projects that would be funded through the county’s Vehicle Emissions Reductions Based at Schools (VERBS) program Action: None

CityViewA round-up of Palo Alto government action this week

and both helped lease the factory site on Bay Road, according to Bains. To get the factory open by the third quarter of this year, the organization will need to raise an-other $2 million.

With the opening of United Hope’s factory, Bains also hopes to bring around 100 jobs to East Palo Alto, where employees will earn equity by owning 20% of the factory.

The organization is projected to produce around 400 homes per year at a minimum for the Bay Area, Bains said.

As for the homes already deliv-ered, two families who are clients

of WeHOPE will be surprised with them in the next few weeks, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the site planned on Valentine’s Day.

Editorial Assistant Lloyd Lee can be emailed at [email protected].

Council considers large apartment proposal A commercial site at the busy corner of Fabian Way and Charles-

ton Road may soon be redeveloped to create one of Palo Alto’s largest apartment projects in decades under a proposal that the City Council is scheduled to consider next month. (Posted Jan. 28, 8:54 a.m.)

County scrambles to reinstate eviction protectionsThe Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimous-

ly Tuesday to bring back its eviction moratorium, which prevents landlords from evicting tenants behind on rent due to COVID-19. (Posted Jan. 27, 9:07 a.m.)

Woman arrested for hate crimeA Santa Clara woman was arrested Jan. 22 in Palo Alto on sus-

picion of assaulting a man with her laptop computer on California Avenue in an alleged hate crime, police said Monday in a press release. (Posted Jan. 26, 9:53 a.m.)

‘Residents-only’ requirement forever bannedPalo Alto is permanently barred from limiting access to visitors

to Foothills Park on the basis of residency under an injunction that a U.S. district court judge signed off on Monday. (Posted Jan. 25, 4:37 p.m.)

Gunman attempts to rob man working in yardPolice are investigating an attempted armed robbery that tar-

geted a man working outside of his Palo Alto home on Webster Avenue during the afternoon on Jan. 20. (Posted Jan. 21, 4:51 p.m.)

These and other news stories were posted on Palo Alto Online throughout the week. For longer versions, go to www.PaloAlto Online.com/news.

Online This Week

About the cover: Paul Bains stands outside a modular home delivered to East Palo Alto’s Safe Lot. His new nonprofit plans to manufacture similar homes in a factory on Bay Road to house the area’s homeless population. Photo by Magali Gauthier. Cover design by Douglas Young.


Upfront

again for months in which an incident — an incident that was documented, it really happened in the world — was recast as part of a broader narrative, and then sometimes those narratives were additionally recast into the realm of conspiracy,” DiResta said.

This process was well docu-mented through research con-ducted by the Election Integ-rity Partnership, a coalition that’s composed of Stanford and other research groups.

Their analysis found cases in which a real image of ballot enve-lopes from the 2018 midterm elec-tion in a dumpster or a video of a person who appears to be collect-ing or delivering absentee ballots on behalf of another person — sometimes called “ballot harvest-ing,” which is legal in some states — were misleadingly packaged as evidence of massive voter fraud. They were then amplified through social media accounts owned by right-wing media outlets, conser-vative influencers and, as shown in these two cases, Trump’s son, Don-ald Trump Jr., who has 6.6 million followers on Twitter.

“For people who occupy certain echo chambers, this is what they saw over and over and over again,” DiResta said. “So when Trump’s loss manifested, they were primed to believe that this was a result of a massive steal ... (and) that generated extraordinary amounts of anger.”

Transparency effortsPrior to the Capitol riot, and

even before the Nov. 3 election, Facebook and other social media companies made efforts to combat misinformation on their platforms. Twitter slapped fact-check labels on tweets; Instagram attached links to official information on COVID-19 and the U.S. election underneath users’ photos; and Facebook temporarily tweaked its news feed algorithm so that news from more reliable publications were more prominently displayed.

In October, Facebook said the company’s measures led to prom-ising results, touting it had removed 120,000 pieces of content that vio-lated its policies on voter informa-tion and promised to do more.

But this type of content modera-tion, leading up to the outright ban of Trump and some of his allies, increasingly pushed many conser-vatives who felt they were censored by tech companies to make the dig-ital exodus to other platforms such as Parler, which advertised itself as a free-speech friendly platform. Parler’s app, at one point No. 1 on Apple’s and Google’s app stores after the election, was shut down when Amazon barred the site from its web-hosting services on Jan. 9.

This hasn’t stopped other plat-forms like Gab from growing as it seemed to target disillusioned conservatives by similarly calling itself the “free speech social net-work.” Nothing in U.S. law makes it explicitly illegal to give a certain group a platform, even at the risk of

hosting smaller, “domestic extrem-ist groups,” said Alex Stamos, di-rector of the Cyber Policy Center’s Internet Observatory and former chief security officer at Facebook.

“You’re going to continue to see the separation from the companies that are trying to go after the (ex-tremist) groups versus those that aren’t, which is not something I think we actually have a good his-tory of or demonstration of what’s going to happen,” he said.

DiResta, however, noted that al-though a large number of popular conservative influencers and their followers made the recent move to other social media and messaging sites, what also needs to be ac-counted for to measure the long-term impacts of the migration is engagement between those users.

“Account creation isn’t the only metric,” she said. “The question becomes: Do we see sustained en-gagement on those platforms? Did all of the millions of accounts that were created ... actively continue to participate?”

Larger social media and tech companies have already applied comprehensive moderation policies and many are also members of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terorrism. Stamos believes that rather than going back to a normal where, for example, baselessly ac-cusing voting machines of deleting votes can be considered “accept-able political discourse,” these plat-forms will likely have to keep up or increase moderation of content, fact-checking and rule enforcement as it did during last year’s election and after Jan. 6 riot.

A tussle between law and tech

From a U.S. legislative stand-point, there’s also the question of what laws need to be considered or amended to regulate forms of speech that could incite violence from proliferating, mainly Sec-tion 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which has come under increased scrutiny.

The law essentially protects in-ternet platforms from assuming responsibility for the speech of its users, including hate speech, which is protected by the First Amendment. There are excep-tions to the case, including intel-lectual property or content that may violate federal law such as sex-trafficking material.

Daphne Keller, director of the Cyber Policy Center’s Program on Platform Regulation and for-mer associate general counsel for Google, said Congress has intro-duced over 20 bills in the past year that would amend Section 230 in different ways.

But major “constitutional hur-dles” stand in the way of regulat-ing speech that may incite violence through laws that are effective and won’t violate the First Amend-ment, said Keller, who elaborated on the topic in a Jan. 22 post on the center’s blog.

Legislators do have some le-gal precedents to start from. The most relevant is the Brandenburg v. Ohio case, where the Supreme Court ruled the First Amendment

does not protect speech that is “di-rected to inciting or producing im-minent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.”

Persily, the co-director at the Cyber Policy Center, who is also a constitutional and election law expert, finds that to apply the case to speech online, one question begs to be asked: At what stage can companies know some form of speech will lead to imminent lawless action or violence?

“What kind of judgments do (platforms) need to make in or-der to really have a good forecast about the likelihood of imminent lawless action?” he asked. “It’s al-most always going to be too late.”

Once legislators can decide on the kinds of speech that should and can be prohibited, they’ll also have to figure out how to hand this responsibility to private internet companies.

“If you take a pretty vague rule prohibiting speech and then you outsource it to risk-averse plat-forms ... they will over enforce, and the overenforcement may hit people that we don’t like today and people that we do like next week,” Keller said. “One group of people we can pretty strongly predict that it will hit is members of vulner-able minority groups.”

More than two weeks after the Capitol riot, Facebook announced on Jan. 21 that it will defer its deci-sion to permanently ban or restore Trump’s account to the company’s independent Oversight Board. The group, which was first officially announced last May, is made up of global experts and civic leaders who take on “highly emblematic cases” that need further examina-tion if Facebook made decisions, such as the Trump ban, in accor-dance with its own policies, ac-cording to the board’s website.

On that same day, a group of 40 House Democrats led by Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, and Tom Ma-linowski of New Jersey submitted letters to the CEOs of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, accusing the platforms of helping to foster the “insurrectionist mob” and urging the executives to re-examine their algorithms that “maximize user engagement.”

It’s a follow-up to a bill the two House representatives proposed in October, Protecting Americans from Dangerous Algorithms Act, which amends Section 230 to hold internet platforms accountable if their algorithms boost content that violates or interferes with civil rights. In other words, it’s an at-tempt not to regulate speech, but to regulate the reach of speech, which Kellers believes platforms have the ability to execute but currently can’t enforce through U.S. law without First Amendment scrutiny.

“The value in identifying these barriers is to figure out how to get around them,” Keller said. “If we want a good law, we need to un-derstand the hard limits. And the hard limits are: What is actually implementable ... and what will get struck down by the courts.”

Editorial Assistant Lloyd Lee can be emailed at [email protected].

Social media(continued from page 10)

air to then be told by the dispatch-er that the person is a wanted felon considered armed and dangerous. This type of information is criti-cal to know, not only for the of-ficer dealing with the person, but also to others working in the city so they can instantly respond and assist,” she said.

Also, more staff would be need-ed, she said.

East Palo Alto police Chief Al Pardini said his department is looking into encrypting its com-munications in 2023.

Currently, the San Jose, Morgan Hill and Sunnyvale police depart-ments have made the switch to encrypted radio channels, Nelson said. Mountain View plans on making the transition in March. Every law enforcement agency within Santa Clara County will be switched over to encrypted trans-missions by the end of this year, she said.

Alternatives for accessFor news organizations, the loss

of access to police radio transmis-sions is thorny.

The FBI and the California De-partment of Justice (DOJ) main-tain that media members are not authorized to receive information that is obtained from the Califor-nia criminal telecommunications system, Atherton’s Chief Mc-Culley said. A person receiving CLETS information must have “a right to know” the information and a “need to know” of the informa-tion under DOJ and FBI mandates.

“I understand from the media standpoint it’s kind of like radio silence,” Sunnyvale Capt. Hank Syu said.

Some police departments throughout the country offer a way for credentialed media to listen in on radio transmissions: decryption licenses.

A license with the Denver Police Department in Colorado allows the media to utilize a decryption “key,” which gains limited access to specific police channels and transmissions. While the decryp-tion is offered at no cost, the me-dia organizations must purchase specific radios, have liability, worker’s compensation, commer-cial general liability, media profes-sional liability and cyber liability insurance policies, according to a copy of the licensing agreement.

They can be prohibitively ex-pensive, however, and the terms of use can be burdensome, said Mailyn Fidler, a legal fellow for the Reporters Committee for Free-dom of the Press’ Technology and Press Freedom Project.

Encryption of radio transmis-sions in 2018 in Riverside County, California, led to a legislative at-tempt to continue access by the news media.

Then-state Assemblyman Todd Gloria introduced a 2019 bill, AB 1555, that would have required any law enforcement agency to pro-vide access to the encrypted com-munications to “a duly authorized

representative of any news service, newspaper, or radio or television network, upon request.” AB 1555 went through revisions in the as-sembly and state senate before Gloria withdrew it due to its fail-ure to make it to a vote under leg-islative deadlines.

Nick Serrano, Gloria’s commu-nications director, told the Desert Sun newspaper of Palm Springs at the time that they noticed a nation-wide trend toward police encryp-tion of radio communications.

“We believe news media have a right to access police radio com-munications. As much as this is an issue of transparency and right-of-access, Assemblymember Gloria also sees this as a public safety issue. We rely on media outlets to provide emergency information to the public and much of that is garnered through their access to police radio communications.”

Though the legislation failed to progress, one Riverside County police department found a way to continue providing some level of information to the news media.

In a phone call on Wednesday, Lt. William Hutchinson of the Palm Springs Police Department described how his department pro-vides media access to its comput-er aided dispatch (CAD) system, which offers call information in real time. The press page is differ-ent from the one the police see in that Hutchinson can control what information goes out. He regu-lates traffic stop information, for example, because he doesn’t want to release information about the location of unmarked patrols. But violent crimes, thefts and other in-cidents that affect the community are listed.

The system cost less than $2,000 to create and about $1,000 to add on to the current CAD pro-gram, he said.

Julie Makinen, executive editor at The Desert Sun, said she ap-plauds the Palm Springs Police Department for trying to come up with a solution. But “the fact is, it’s not the same as listening to the scanner,” she said.

The information doesn’t tell news staff whether an incident that starts off as innocuous has escalat-ed into something worse, she said.

“A domestic violence incident that turns into a police-involved shooting doesn’t show up on a page with only one line,” she said.

Local news media are conduits on behalf of a community, espe-cially if there’s a school shooting or other emergency incident.

“I think it’s critical for public safety,” she said of media access to the transmissions. “The media is a partner, informing the public and directing people away from the site,” she said.

The encryption “is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist,” Makinen said.

Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at [email protected]. The Almanac Staff Writers Kate Bradshaw and Angela Swartz and Mountain View Voice Staff Writer Kevin Forestieri contributed to this story.

Encryption(continued from page 7)


Upfront

county continues its deep com-mitment to equity and ensuring access for our communities most at risk of contracting COVID-19,” said Dr. Jennifer Tong, associate chief medical officer for the Santa Clara County Health System.

The county also is partner-ing with community clinics and launched a pilot mobile vaccina-tion clinic to ensure vaccine ac-cess to residents and staff of long-term care facilities.

“We are coordinating efforts with local fire departments and emergency medical services pro-viders and sending vaccinaters into the field to ensure those at greatest risk can be vaccinated as quickly as possible,” Roy said.

County leaders say the ability to expand vaccine eligibility is de-pendent on vaccine supply.

This week, the county received 20,125 additional first doses of vaccine, which is “far fewer doses than health systems in the county have capacity to provide,” accord-ing to the county public health department.

Residents can get more infor-mation about vaccine allocation and administration by health care providers on the county’s COVID-19 vaccine dashboard at sccgov.org/sites/covid19/Pages/dashboard-vaccine.aspx.

State order lifted, outdoor dining resumes

This week, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties returned to the state’s most restrictive COVID-19 level, the purple tier, after Califor-nia health leaders lifted statewide regional stay-at-home orders on Monday.

Under the purple tier, outdoor dining, personal care services and professional, collegiate, adult and youth sports may resume with modifications. Restaurants can once again offer outdoor dining. Personal care services, such as nail and hair salons, can have indoor and outdoor clients. Outdoor family entertainment centers and outdoor card rooms also can reopen, and gatherings of up to three households can resume outdoors only. Places of worship also can resume outdoor services.

Mandatory travel restrictions, which require a 10-day quaran-tine for most persons who return to Santa Clara County after trav-eling farther than 150 miles, will stay in effect, Santa Clara County Counsel James Williams said dur-ing a press conference on Monday afternoon.

The county is keeping the travel restriction order in place due to the high infection rate in other parts of the state, particularly in southern California, where three variants of the coronavirus that

are spreading throughout the state have been found. The travel restrictions also appear to have re-duced the amount of travel, which is one of the main ways the virus has spread, Williams said.

“We are still nowhere yet out of the woods,” he said, noting the county still has high hospital rates.

The county’s local directives, which predate the state’s regional stay-at-home order, are still in ef-fect. Noncontact youth sports can resume if they are outdoors, but contact sports are still prohibited. The San Jose Sharks can resume play at SAP Center provided they adhere to regulations, Williams said.

Businesses and individuals must follow both the state and county orders, and where there is a conflict between the two, the stricter rules must be followed.

In San Mateo County, outdoor dining and personal services re-sumed Monday with required modifications. The county is not imposing additional local restric-tions and remains in alignment with the state.

“This is a huge sigh of relief for our struggling small businesses, but we’ve got a ways to go still before life returns to normal,” San Mateo County Board of Su-pervisors President David Canepa stated in a press release Monday.

“Science and data tell us that wearing our masks stops the spread. So I will repeat once again, wear your damn masks,” he said.

Sutter/PAMF to open mass vaccination center

Also this week, Sutter/Palo Alto Medical Foundation has signed an agreement to set up a mass vaccination site at the San Mateo County Event Center, the county’s health chief, Louise Rog-ers, said on Tuesday.

The large site will enable Sut-ter/PAMF to begin vaccinating a greater number of its patients — so long as it has supplies, Rog-ers said during an update to the county Board of Supervisors.

A Sutter/PAMF spokeswoman said on Wednesday that the medi-cal provider is “actively working to expand capacity throughout Sutter’s footprint, and large-scale vaccine clinics are an important part of our strategy to continue to deploy as much vaccine as pos-sible to eligible patients.”

The vaccination clinic at the San Mateo Event Center is ex-pected to open to Sutter patients age 75 and older next week. It is a walk-up format, not drive-thru, and will be by appointment only. Sutter patients, including those served by Palo Alto Medical Foundation, who are 75 years or older can make an appointment by calling a dedicated hotline at 844-987-6115 or self-booking through My Health Online, the Sutter Health patient portal.

Sutter has approximately 3 million patients in its system throughout northern California.

Like other health care providers, it has been experiencing a surge of patients at its acute facilities and is testing thousands of patients per day for COVID-19, the organiza-tion stated.

“At this time, Sutter is priori-tizing the state’s most vulnerable populations including those who are 75-plus years of age and our community health care workers because they are at greatest risk according to CDC guidance. As vaccine supply and appointment capacity expands, we will broaden eligibility and notify our patients. We share in the excitement and hope that comes with the CO-VID-19 vaccine and are working extremely hard to meet eligible patients’ scheduling requests,” a Sutter spokeswoman stated.

Dr. Anand Chabra, San Mateo County’s section chief for CO-VID-19, said the county has vac-cinated 48,826 people, a total of 6% of the county’s population (a number that includes children, who are not eligible for the vac-cines). The county has been allo-cated 58,750 doses thus far. The number of vaccinations given is likely higher, since the county doesn’t have data on all of the vaccinations given at long-term care facilities, where there are an estimated 12,000 residents. Those doses are administered by phar-macy teams from CVS and Wal-greens using the federal supply of vaccines.

About 30,000 of the county’s 38,000 health care workers have been vaccinated, Chabra said. The county has also vaccinated 16,000 people who are ages 65 and older, which is about 12% of that popu-lation, he said.

Rogers acknowledged there are some groups who should be vac-cinated that currently fall through the cracks. Some small, infor-mal group care facilities aren’t in the county’s licensing data-base and need to have access to

the vaccines. The county is also working on a plan to reach home-bound seniors, who might need to have public health nurses visit them at home. The county also has transportation for its Health Plan of San Mateo patients to be transported to vaccination cen-ters, she said.

To further address equity issues, the county is looking at working with local pharmacies and to find local partners to administer vac-cines at neighborhood sites where it is easy for people to walk to and receive the vaccine. Sub-zero freezers, which are required to store the vaccines, however, pose a challenge to this localized ap-proach, Rogers said.

The main concern is still supply. Counties and medical providers don’t know when they will receive vaccines, nor the amount they will receive, in a timely manner, which doesn’t allow for planning, Rog-ers said, but she is hopeful that the logistics and communication will improve under the Biden administration.

Some issues could also arise in terms of supplies beyond the vac-cine dose. Kaiser has expressed concern about having enough needles, for example.

“Everyone is constrained except for Sutter/PAMF for supplies,” Rogers said.

Some supplies, such as needles, come with the vaccines, but there have been five-dose vials from Pfizer that actually have six doses-worth of vaccine in them, Chabra said.

The county also added a new data dashboard related to the vaccines Tuesday morning on its website, which can be accessed at smchealth.org/data-dashboard/vaccination-demographic-data.

Reporter Jana Kadah works for Bay City News Foundation. Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be reached at [email protected].

COVID-19(continued from page 5)

All of the following are sub-ject to the county’s Mandatory Directives, which describe spe-cific operating regulations.

• Outdoor dining may resume; indoor dining remains prohibit-ed. Bars, breweries, distilleries, and pubs may serve alcohol only outdoors and only in the same transaction as a meal.

• Personal care services may resume indoors and outdoors.

• Professional and collegiate sports may resume.

• Adult recreational sports ac-tivities may resume.

• Youth sports may resume subject to the state’s and coun-ty’s guidance.

• Most businesses that are al-lowed to open indoor operations to the public must limit capacity of their publicly accessible space to 20%.

• Outdoor gatherings with up to three households are now al-lowed for any purpose.

• Larger outdoor gatherings with up to 200 people are al-lowed only for political, reli-gious or ceremonial purposes. Indoor gatherings of any kind remain prohibited.

• Most people who travel into the county from more than 150 miles away must quarantine for 10 days upon their arrival.

• Lodging facilities may not provide lodging services for non-essential purposes, such as tourism, recreational or leisure purposes. Non-essential travel should be avoided, especially in light of new variants of COV-ID-19 that are circulating glob-ally and in the United States.

• All businesses must continue to require workers to do their jobs from home whenever pos-sible. Workers can go into work only to complete the job duties they can’t complete from home.

Source: Santa Clara County Department of Public Health

What the purple tier allows in Santa Clara County

CITY COUNCIL ... The council plans to hold its annual retreat to set its priorities for 2021. The virtual meeting will begin at 9 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 30. Those wishing to participate by Zoom can do so by dialing 669-900-6833 and using Meeting ID: 362 027 238.

CITY COUNCIL ... The council plans to approve several contracts for construction of the new public safety building at 250 Sherman Ave., as well as authorize the selling of bonds to finance the project. The council also plans to form a working group to work on updating the Housing Element and to consider a colleagues memo from council members Lydia Kou and Greer Stone about preserving local control for land use issues. The virtual meeting will begin at 5 p.m., Monday, Feb. 1. Those wishing to participate by Zoom can do so by dialing 669-900-6833 and using Meeting ID: 362 027 238.

BOARD OF EDUCATION ... The school board will hold a study session to discuss reopening schools in the fall; recruitment, hiring and retention of diverse staff; student mental health; and equity goals. The virtual meeting will begin at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 2. The meeting will be broadcast on Cable TV Channel 28 and midpenmedia.org. Those wishing to participate by Zoom can do so by going to pausd.zoom.us/j/97888498129 or dialing 669-900-6833 and using Meeting ID: 949 9734 6242.

COUNCIL FINANCE COMMITTEE ... The committee plans to meet at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 2. The agenda was not available by press deadline.

UTILITIES ADVISORY COMMISSION ... The commission plans to consider approving the fiscal year 2022 Wastewater Collection Utility Financial Plan and hear an update on the 2020 Sustainability and Climate Action Plan. The virtual meeting will begin at 4 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 3. Those wishing to participate by Zoom can do so by dialing 669-900-6833 and using Meeting ID: 966 9129 7246.

ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW BOARD ... The board plans to review the proposed sign replacements at Macy’s in Stanford Shopping Center and a preliminary design for the proposed auto dealership at 1700 Embarcadero Road. The virtual meeting will begin at 8: 30 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 4. Those wishing to participate by Zoom can do so by dialing 669-900-6833 and using Meeting ID: 990 0735 9509.

Public AgendaA preview of Palo Alto government meetings next week

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