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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

November 5, 2003

P.A. measures: Condos win; fluoride stays in water

Developer Doug Ross watched the results on a screen at an election party in the lobby of the Cardinal Hotel, a few blocks from 800 High Street, where he hopes his project will rise from the site of an old creamery.

He said he didn't know what to make of the results. "I've never been through a referendum before,"' he said.

The other measure on the ballot in Palo Alto produced much clearer results.

Palo Alto residents voted heavily in favor of keeping fluoride in their drinking water Tuesday.

"It's really hard to change the status quo,'' said Susan Willis, a Palo Alto psychologist who championed Measure B, the anti-fluoride initiative that seemed headed for defeat Tuesday night.

"I think in communities where fluoridation hasn't begun, it's easier to keep fluoride out,'' she said. Palo Alto has put the cavity-fighting chemical into its water since 1954.

In support of Measure C, Ross and his partners spent $240,000 on a professional campaign run by political consultant Ed McGovern, who had previously helped win voter approval for the Ikea store in East Palo Alto. For public relations, Ross turned to former Palo Alto city planner Carol Jansen.

They crafted a campaign of newspaper ads and mailers that described the development as perfect for downtown, within walking distance of shops, restaurants and the Caltrain station.

They also touted the 10 units of "affordable housing'' included in the project by state law. The estimated price tag for those condos ranged from $189,000 to $349,000 -- far less than the other condos, but still out of reach for many potential buyers.

The project won the endorsement of the Greenbelt Alliance, the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce and all three local newspapers.

There were several arguments against 800 High St., but the slogan of the Committee Against Measure C best summed up the opposition: "It's Way Too Big!''

The block-long building, four stories tall, would dominate the neighborhood of small businesses and block sunlight, opponents said.

They also criticized the zoning deal the city council struck with the developer. Ross was allowed to build roughly twice the number of condos allowed by the existing zoning, in return for giving the city 63 public parking spaces in the building's underground parking garage and an easement to an adjoining piece of city-owned land.

And the opponents feared that approval of 800 High St. would set a precedent for high-density development at the Hyatt Rickeys hotel, the Elks Lodge property, Alma Plaza and Edgewood Plaza.

The less publicized Measure B, the anti-fluoride initiative, called fluoridation a public health problem, in essence a poisoning of the town's drinking water.

The California Dental Association spent $75,000 to fight Measure B, and it was joined by local dentists. Fluoride, they argued, has a long history of reducing cavities without causing harm.

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