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Writer's pictureHenry Etzkowitz

A Letter to Provost Martinez and all

Dear Provost Martinez and all:


Should people who work in Palo Alto be able to live in Palo Alto, If so, where, how? How can we have a “blue collar” as well as an elite white-collar community? How can we make it possible for PhD students and post-docs to live in walking distance of labs and libraries without a one hour+ commute from Fremont?


Community of Oak Creek Residents (COCR) our neighborhood association since 2022, is hosting an event for residents and friends, a discussion of the existential issue of our era in Silicon Valley, where “Too Much Success” has disrupted the achievement of the UN Sustainability goal of the human right to housing, defined as affordable, at all levels, not costing more than 1/4 of household income.  


Our communities, academic, public and private must unite to achieve this objective! Bring the VC effort for “California Forever” to the emptying out shopping centers of the Peninsula, making them living/working as well as consumption spaces. Build “University City.”  Go greenly high: with10k living-working lofts on the Stanford Shopping Center garages. Make set asides for Seniors, the children of Palo Alto residents and for those who are constrained to reply, "I work in Palo Alto but I don’t live in Palo Alto” when asked to sign a nominating petition. Create graduate residential colleges on the model of Wolfson College, Oxford, at the Research Park, paid for with one-billion-dollar naming rights, Like Doerr Sustainability School.  Research Parks worldwide, like Stockholm’s Kista, are transitioning from the original Stanford model to living as well as working places, with new research as well as shopping and dining amenities. Science cities is the new nomenclature at Newcastle and elsewhere. 


These are some of the bold ideas we may adapt from elsewhere and do better here! 

Let’s celebrate our common interests with a structured brainstorming event, utilizing the classic Oxford format to tease out new ideas around a single focused question: Rent Equity for Palo Alto Allows You to Live Where You Work.  Let’s recuperate your predecessor, Bill Miller’s Joint Venture Silicon Valley brainstorming series of the mid 90's addressing the deep recession of that era. A winnowing venture capital brainstorming design brought forth “networking” as the focus for the regeneration of Silicon Valley. Now we must address the “good problem” of Too much Success, the unintended consequences of a too narrow focus on private gain without equal attention to public welfare.


We are planning for two invited guests per resident, according to the Oak Creek official guidelines.  The precedent of collecting petition signatures in the Club House was established during the organizing phase of COCR, resisting Stanford’s attempt at “Senior removal” after its acquisition of Oak Creek.  The 5pm-6:30 educational and civic event scheduled for Sunday 20 October is also part of a non-partisan municipal election process for the political entity in which Oak Creek Apartments is situated. Long ignored by the city in which it is ensconced, the Seniors and renters of Oak Creek together with their counterparts and friends throughout Palo Alto, are seeking representation for their interests, some of which are unique while others overlap with our homeowner neighbors. This election is likely the first that has seen the presence of four renter candidate, who exemplify various demographics, including seniors as well as public, private sector and academic professions.  

Indeed, we would like to invite President Levin to Call the “Lincoln/Douglas" event to order and be briefly introduced to the Stanford Oak Creek members of his university constituency and Senior residents.  President Levin eloquently called for reasoned discussion in his recent inaugural address. Originated by the Oxford Union, the widespread Oxford style debate format, conducted with courtesy and wit, is the epitome of formal discussion and debate, I believe that, after thoughtful re-consideration, Stanford, the Principal and its Agent, Sares Regis, would graciously appreciate welcoming our guests from the town to the gown, rather than grudgingly allow that such a function is not precluded by Stanford’s contract with Sares Regis, Associate Provost (McNair’s, email). Let’s use this occasion to begin to bridge the town-gown division that has impeded efforts to collaboratively address common problems, like the paucity of affordable housing at all income levels, for students, faculty, staff and private and public sector workers.


The university   should take pride in encouraging a display of "American local democracy at work" in Oak Creek Apartments, the home of many international students, faculty and post-docs, Oak Creek lives on the “Stanford Land Grant,” with the university having virtually unique privileges by virtue of authorization in the Constitution of the State of California.  Its citizen/residents seek to engage in Civil Society and, on the Great Lawn, fulfill civic responsibilities. The Great Lawn and Clubhouse are “quasi-public spaces,” as Shopping Centers have been recognized. 


Where is our “Polis”? 

 

Sincerely,

Henry Etzkowitz

Candidate for Palo Alto City Council 

Retired Professor/Stanford Donor/Community Organizer

Endorsed by United Neighbors  

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