On Jan. 8, Greer Stone was appointed the new mayor of Palo Alto by the city council, replacing Lydia Kou. Stone was nominated by council member Julie Lythcott-Haims.
Growing up, Stone attended Palo Alto High School and currently resides in Palo Alto. In 2020, Paly welcomed him as the new Associated Student Body director. With his new position as city mayor, Stone plans to tackle high housing prices and the growing mental health crisis among students.
An audio recording of Stone’s full answer is available below each excerpt.
What issues are you prioritizing in 2024?
“I’m prioritizing…youth wellbeing and mental health. My second priority is affordable housing. Then the third priority would be climate change.”
On January 8, you told Palo Alto Online that you plan on “forming a committee that consists of local nonprofits, mental health professionals and city and school officials” to tackle student mental health. Since both Paly and Gunn have wellness centers and tbh (virtual therapy), how do you plan on expanding those? Where do you plan on getting the funds for mental health professionals as part of your new planned committee?
“If a student is receiving counseling or wellness at the school district, they’re also going to be able to find that equivalent within the city…It would be great to be able to have closer coordination with the school district to be able to kind of pass that information off seamlessly to mental health professionals at the city or the county level to be able to do it. On the funding piece, there’s a lot of grants out there that are available at the state federal level, but also the county does a lot of this work too.”
As a renter in Palo Alto, how do you plan to make housing more affordable for other residents?
“So we’re looking at different parts along El Camino Real, where we’re changing the zoning to be able to allow for housing up to 85 feet, increased density, so developers can place more housing units in there and reducing some of the parking requirements since it’s [El Camino Real] along a bus corridor near other public transportation. For developers who are interested in taking advantage of that relaxed zoning, they’re going to have to dedicate at least 20% of the housing that they’re going to create for low-income individuals.”
Many businesses in Palo Alto, especially on California Ave. have been forced to shut down due to a lack of business. How do you plan to tackle this issue?
“One of the reasons why a lot of businesses have struggled in downtown [Palo Alto] or on California Avenue over the last couple of years is because the nature of work has changed, thanks to the pandemic and telecommuting and where a lot of people are kind of going back to the office. We are trying to proactively encourage more shopping and get people out to our shopping districts, but it’s going to take time. With the Cal Ave. closure, we’re really working hard to beautify that street and really make it a destination place for people who are going to want to come out and really experience Cal Ave. without cars, but that’s going to take a few years to be able to design it and construct it.”
You mentioned that climate change was another issue that you wanted to focus on this year. What policies and legislations do you have in mind?
“One of the areas that we’re really looking at right now is trying to move towards full electrification within the city. And one of the ways that we’re attempting to achieve that is to modernize our electrical grid. In Palo Alto, we own our own utilities, we’re one of the few cities in the state that do that. And with that comes a pretty big price tag and the responsibility is mostly on us to be able to update that grid. But we’re doing the work and it’s moving along. I think that’s going to be complete by 2027.”
On March 19, 2021, you told the Campanile that you plan to continue rallying to waive students free access into Foothill Park because you believe that “it is critical for young people to have access to nature and open space.” Is this a cause that you are still continuing to support?
“Oh, 100%. I don’t think young people should ever have to pay to access nature, museums, libraries, et cetera. This is not something that you should have to pay for. That’s something that society should be encouraging.”