Page Mill Properties, the largest landlord in East Palo Alto, is asking San Mateo County to remove a section of East Palo Alto from the city's sphere of influence.
An attorney representing Woodland Park LLC, one of more than a dozen limited-liability corporations formed by the Palo Alto-based Page Mill, has written a letter to the San Mateo County Local Agency Formation Commission requesting that an area south and west of U.S. Highway 101 and south Menlo Park be cut from East Palo Alto's border. The area includes the roughly 1,700 units owned by Page Mill.
The commission, which has jurisdiction over boundaries in the county, is scheduled to consider the city's sphere of influence on Sept. 16.
The letter by attorney William Ross states that Woodland Park has experienced inadequate law enforcement, street maintenance and street lighting in the area where its properties are located. It calls for the area to be turned into a "community service district," an entity authorized to provide police, fire and other types of services within its boundaries.
Martha Poyatos, the executive officer of the county agency, said she will recommend that the commission maintain East Palo Alto's current sphere of influence. Though she acknowledged some of Page Mill's concerns, she said these concerns could be addressed in other ways besides changing the city's boundaries. The company's request, she said, is very unusual.
"The city and Page Mill currently have the opportunity to address the concerns," Poyatos said. "There is no need to create other layers of government to do that."
Ross' letter to the county cites vandalism incidents near Woodland Park's properties and claims the police department was slow to respond. He also includes 19 e-mails exchanged between East Palo Alto police officials and Tim Morgan, a former Palo Alto police lieutenant who moonlighted as a security consultant for Page Mill despite a department policy prohibiting officers from accepting outside jobs in private security that could have the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Morgan subsequently resigned and is now the subject of a Palo Alto Police Department investigation.
In many of these e-mails, Morgan tries to schedule meetings with East Palo Alto's top police officials to discuss security issues and camera installations in Woodland Park. In many cases, he doesn't succeed. On Nov. 25, Morgan wrote a letter to East Palo Alto Police Chief Ron Davis requesting a meeting.
"Despite repeated attempts over the last three months to set up a meeting with you, you continue to avoid meeting with me," Morgan wrote. "I know you are busy, but you haven't even suggested one time for us to meet."
The meeting, he wrote, is to discuss security issues.
"Please do not allow the legal issues between us and the city to stand in the way of you meeting with me to discuss the public safety and security of East Palo Alto," Morgan wrote, alluding to the flurry of ongoing lawsuits between Page Mill and the City of East Palo Alto.
In his reply, Davis wrote that he would soon be hosting a special meeting for Woodland Park's tenants and advised Morgan to attend the meeting.
"I prefer to hear first-hand from the residents about crimes and other violations that affect their lives; especially considering crime and disorder are affected by living conditions and the surrounding environment," Davis wrote. "If issues arise that require me to directly meet with you, I will make that determination."
The report by Local Agency Formation Commission staff recommends that East Palo Alto make an effort to address Woodland Park's concerns. It specifically recommends that the city "provide for increased communication, outreach and opportunity for feedback with neighborhoods like Woodland Park west of 101, to establish priorities to better meet service needs." But removing the area from East Palo Alto's service area wouldn't make financial sense, it argues.
"Formation of a community service district and exclusion of this area from the City of East Palo Alto service would result in limited revenues for a small neighborhood to provide municipal services, a reduction in revenues to the city and loss of economies of scale," the report states.
FAIR USE NOTICE. This document may contain copyrighted material the use of which may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Tenants Together is making this article available on our website in an effort to advance the understanding of tenant rights issues in California. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.