Developer Jay Paul Abandons Project in Palo Alto

By Jason Green 12/20/2013 Mercury News Group

Citing the “political climate” in Palo Alto, Jay Paul Co. has withdrawn its application to build a new office complex and public safety building along one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares.

The San Francisco-based developer notified the city of its decision in a letter Monday. It didn’t go into details, but a preliminary traffic analysis and community backlash against large projects may have played a role.

CLICK HERE for the full San Jose Mercury News story.

Commentary: Questions loom over sale of Raynor Activity Center

By Preeti Sharma for Silicon Valley Community Newspapers

In the past year the Raynor Activity Center has moved from being “a liability to own” to “futile to lease,” and now swiftly to “profitable to sell.” As it stands now, the sale of the Raynor Activity Center seems to be motivated by the zeal to fund a branch library in the Lakewood Village neighborhood.

Raynor has been sold (as opposed to the originally council-approved lease) to the bidder that best meets these goals, with no regard to its impact on the neighborhood. The city has made the conscious choice to rob Peter to pay Paul.

CLICK HERE for the full Mercury News Sunnyvale Sun Article

Sunnyvale Resident voices concern over Raynor Park Council Decision

Courtesy Karen Reilly

The December 3rd city council meeting revealed the  split of the council members on quality of life issues for Sunyvale residents.  The majority voting block consistently votes for concessions to outside developers and against quality of life issues which will detrimentally impact our city in the  future.

Councilman Whitttum proposed a creative amendment which would decrease the  sale price of the Raynor Park building in order to remove the priority use of our taxpayer parkland. Another pro-growth council member said he was out of order.

I feel the opposite is true: the majority aggressive pro-growth council is out of order.  No amount of LEED Certified building materials, used in the construction of the 1.8 million square ft. Moffet towers, in the pacific flyway, will offset the pollution and congestion caused by an additional 4,000 cars/day on Mathilda Ave.

When I asked another pro-growth council member where all of the new residents of the multi-story downtown apt dwellers would attend school, he answered that the occupants are not projected to have school aged children.  Since the new developments are not seniors-only units, I do not understand how he can make this assumption.  

The local elementary, Ellis, is at maximum enrollment, having grown from 500 to 860 students.  There is a complete disconnect between the majority rampant pro-growth city council members and the negative impact their decisions are creating.  

Please contact the Council and voice your concerns to raise their consciousness regarding the short sightedness of their decisions.

Sunnyvale Resident Karen Reilly