Palo Alto airport, potential long-term problems...

Purely from a strategic point of view --

A. The City Council may NOT reply to any of your comments if this item is
not on the published agenda. Doing so violates the State Open Meeting Law
(Brown Act) which states that any item not on the agenda may not be
discussed. Don't expect answers ... they can't give them.

B. The most you can hope for is for the Chair or Mayor (whichever form of
council you have) to direct the Clerk to put this item on the NEXT agenda.
If the Mayor is contacted prior to the meeting (perfectly legal so long as
you don't call a majority of the Council individually -- meeting seriatum)
you may be able to extract a promise to hold a special meeting IF this item
is time critical. Time critical implies some sort of a deadline that won't
wait until the next regular meeting. The fact that you want it done NOW
doesn't count for squat.

C. HOWEVER, if there are a few dozen of you, each of you can call up to (a
majority minus one) of the council members individually and express your
concerns prior to the meeting. (half minus one goes like this -- if there
are seven voting members on the council, you may call three. If there are
five you can call two, and so on.)

D. Getting up and leaving en masse is the worst advice you can be given.
It signals to the Council that you are going to take your toys and go home.
You don't give a damn about anything but your little playtoy airport. Don't
send that message. If the stuff on the agenda is boring as snot (the normal
run of events) you won't be noticed if you get up slowly one by one and
filter out quietly.

E. Numbers DO count. Each of those folks up there want to be reelected and
next year is reelection year for half of them. Don't bring in your friends
from East Undershirt to testify. They want to know that you are a voter for
them. The best way to do that is to say in a clear voice that "My name is
John Jones and my registered voting address is 1234 Goober Street, Palo
Alto" -- and THEN launch into your spiel. Don't BOTHER speaking if you
can't identify yourself as a voter OF THIS COUNCIL district.

E. If you can arrange it beforehand, pick a thrust issue (the deal with
Sunnyvale? the economic impact on the Palo Alto economy?) and have each
person touch on that issue before launching into their personal spiel.

Jay Honeck, you've just been down this road with YOUR council. Anything to
add?

Jim




City Council:
The City Council's next meeting is June 6 at 250 Hamilton Ave. and it
begins at 7 PM. Each meeting opens with public comments and each
speaker is allowed 3 minutes to speak. Please arrive a few minutes
early to fill out a speaker's card which must be given to the City
Clerk. After all the airport advocates have spoken and the Council gets
ready to move on to its regular agenda, the airport advocates should
stand up and leave en masse to demonstrate our numbers. Please plan on
attending and speaking at this meeting. Please pass this message on to
all of your airport friends. Bring your family and neighbors. Be
polite, concise, respectful and resolved.

Draft Resolution The Palo Alto
City Council hereby reaffirms, consistent with the Baylands Master Plan
and Palo Alto's regional sharing agreement(s), that the Palo Alto
Airport is an essential long term transportation and recreational
component of Palo Alto's infrastructure and that no actions which
adversely impact the Palo Alto Airport shall be taken without Council
approval.