Blog: A Pragmatist's Take

Home (at PaloAltoOnline.com)

Supporting Materials

Guidelines
Logical Fallacies:
- A Taxonomy
- Thou shalt not commit logical fallacies

Index: Chronological is below (2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013)

Index: topic-oriented

This includes some of my early Guest Opinions published in the Palo Alto Weekly/Online, plus some related Guest Opinions and news articles.

COVID-19 (novel coronavirus):
- Is Palo Alto prepared for a Coronavirus outbreak?, 2020-01-30.
- Coronavirus (COVID-19): Underappreciated Unknowns & inexplicable failures, 2020-02-28.
- Preparing for COVID-19: An epidemic is not a hurricane. Panic buying harmful, 2020-03-03.
- COVID-19: Critiquing News Releases: What's missing + teachable opportunities, 2020-03-19.
- Remember the failures for when it's time for fixes: COVID-19, 2020-03-27.
- Profiteering off medical equipment and its export unimpeded, 2020-04-03.
- America held hostage ... by Congressional Democrats (COVID-19), 2020-04-09.
- Open Letter to SCC Public Health on excessive restrictions, esp Nurseries, 2020-04-18.
- Confusing a means-to-an-end with being the goal -- Shelter-in-Place, 2020-04-23.
- Spotting non-false fabrications in the news: Coronavirus-Origins as example, 2020-05-05.
- Restarting an economy: points to ponder from history, 2020-05-14.
- Obsolete Guesstimates Keeping Businesses Closed, 2020-05-28.
Public Input and related problems
- Public Input
  - Why contentious local politics: More examples from ADU at Council, 2017-04-18
  - Why the City doesn't hear residents' perspectives? It doesn't want to (3 parts):
    - Part 1 (2013-12-03)
    - Part 2 (2013-12-04)
    - Part 3 (2013-12-06)
  - Die, Pedestrians, Die: The City's implicit response to major long-term safety problems, 2014-02-18
    This only uses the issue of a particular pedestrian safety problem to illustrate the difficulties of dealing with City Hall, in this case Staff and the Planning and Transportation Commission (PTC).
  - Why not constructive engagement with City Hall?, 2014-10-23
  - Amnesia at City Hall, 2016-06-14
  - Nonstarter killed after 2 decades, 2016-06-28
  - Abusing the ADA & Compromising safety of others for the convenience of bicyclists, 2016-07-11
  - Within the Comprehensive Plan Update 2014-???
    - Our Palo Alto program:
      - Visioning or Potemkin Villages? (Our Palo Alto), 2014-05-08
      - "the Summit" (CompPlan): Forewarned is Forearmed, 2015-05-20
    - Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC), appointed July 2015:
      - Unrepresentative sample of the community?, 2015-05-15
      - The Remedy to Inadequate Citizen Input? More of the same, 2015-07-31
      - 143 important decisions in 150 minutes by a 20-member committee, 2015-08-05
      - Transportation Element of the Comprehensive Plan: Big Questions, 2015-08-27
      - Additional Resources:
        
        Citizens Advisory Committee at City's Website
  - Flint Michigan disaster: Unusual only in its severity, 2016-02-14.
  - How to Train your City Manager?, 2019-01-29.
  - Other resources:
    - Guest Opinion: Improving Palo Alto's stakeholder group process by John Guislin, Palo Alto Weekly, 2014-11-09
- Planning and Transportation Commission: Its demise from being insubordinate. Eventually reversed course.
  - Replacing the defunct Planning and Transportation Commission: Part 1: Cronyism and Corruption, 2015-08-18
  - Recreating the Planning and Transportation Commission: Part 2: Credibility and Confidence, 2015-08-23
  - Subsequent News Articles:
    - Amid policy clashes, Palo Alto council to meet with planning commission: Joint session on Nov. 30 offers chance to air grievances, consider improvements, by Gennady Sheyner, Palo Alto Online, 2015-11-24.
    - Council tries to narrow rift with planning commission: Palo Alto council members offer words of criticism, encouragement to their top land-use advisers by Gennady Sheyner, Palo Alto Online, 2015-12-01.
- Process problems:
  - Foothills Park: City does NOT want to hear from most of you, 2020-07-27.
  - Foothills Park controversy back to Council yet-again on Tuesday: Why, oh, why?, 2020-06-21.
  - Nonstarter killed after 2 decades, 2016-06-28.
  - Brown Act Inhibits Open Government, 2015-09-03. More appropriate title: Brown Act being misused to Inhibit Open Government.
  - Yet another Questionable Staff Report/Survey, 2013-12-07
  - How Bad Policy Happens, 2014-07-25
  - Flawed process is normal, 2014-09-05
- Civic Engagement and Neighborhood Associations
  - I blame soccer (teamwork) 2015-03-28
  - Disengaged "Engagement", 2015-03-14
  - Neighborhood Associations: Why they are still important, 2015-03-10
Politics: Palo Alto
- Foothills Park Referendum: Considerations, 2020-12-09.
- Lie down, Roll Over, Play Dead: City Attorney and Manager to Council - Unasked/Unanswered Questions, 2020-11-02.
- Democracy loses again at City Hall: "Pig in a poke" lawsuit settlement, 2020-10-27.
- Foothills Park Pseudo-Lawsuit: Is the City going to cave-in & defame its residents as "racists"?, 2020-10-12.
- Never let a crisis go to waste: Overloading the City Council agenda, 2020-06-14.
- Palo Alto's Culture War: Analytics vs. Aspirationals, 2013-11-10
- Behind contentious local politics: Failed and toxic leadership, 2017-05-30
- Why contentious local politics: More examples from ADU at Council, 2017-04-18
- The You're despicable style of politics, 2016-09-22
- Demonization: Single-family homeowners are deplorables, especially Palo Altans, 2019-05-26.
- Why is Palo Alto Politics so stubbornly pre-Internet:
  - Part 1, 2015-01-07
  - Part 2, 2015-01-18
- Promising news on credentialism: Palo Alto failed basic test for malignant bureaucracy, 2019-01-04.
- Council Priorities 2015: Honesty, Focus and Listening about Listening, 2015-01-23
Development:
- Larger Policies:
  - General
    - Community or Extended-stay Hotel or …? Part 1, 2016-08-04
    - Community or Extended-stay Hotel or …? Part 2, 2016-08-09
    - Environment, Design and Healthy Cities, 2016-06-01
    - Development policy: The Market and regulation, 2017-06-20
    - The Creative Class and superstar cities, 2017-07-08
  - Smart Growth:
    - Stupid Growth: So-called Smart Growth is a cancer on the community, 2014-06-07
    - The Law of Supply and XXXXXX, 2014-06-10
    - Shills and Charlatans of Smart Growth, 2014-06-16
    - Should Palo Alto really aspire to be more like a Chinese factory city?, 2014-06-22
    - Public Transit Follies, 2014-07-01
  - Housing
    - Demonization: Single-family homeowners are deplorables, especially Palo Altans, 2019-05-26.
    - State Legislature on Housing: Getting the Dēmos out of Democracy and with it, Accountability, 2019-03-15.
    - Downtown Commercial Cap: Once more into the breach, 2019-02-10.
    - A bad beginning makes a bad ending: City Council, 2018-12-08.
    - Will subsidies for developers trickle down to provide more affordable housing for high-income people? Monday@City Council, 2018-12-02.
    - Affordable Housing: Complexities, 2017-02-21
    - Housing Policy: It's community, not generational, 2015-10-20
    - RPP + ADUs: Winners and losers, 2017-03-04 (ADU = Accessory Dwelling Unit = Granny unit)
    - How Bad Policy Happens, 2014-07-25
      This is an example that comes from the Housing Element update of the Comprehensive Plan and it is an attempt to greatly weaken current policies.
    - The You're despicable style of politics, 2016-09-22 (the example behaviors come be debate about affordable housing)
    - California Democrats seek to revive the Republican Party: Republicans expected to resist, 2017-07-16.
    - SB35: Taking power from the people, 2017-08-31.
    - Guest Opinion: Recognizing a 'bad beginning' on housing dialogue by Doug Moran, 2003-06-11
  - Office
    - Development Cap: Size, what to count, and why, 2015-11-01
    - Guest Opinion: PRO: Retain the 50-foot height limit to protect residents by Douglas Moran, 2012-11-16
  - Retail
    - Retail - basics of public policy, 2016-03-25
    - Misuse of Mixed-use Development, 2016-04-23
    - Guest Opinion: Alma Plaza represents a larger issue in Palo Alto — strip mall or neighborhood shops? by Doug Moran, 2006-06-07
  - Parking
    - RPP + ADUs: Winners and losers, 2017-03-04 (RPP = Residential Preferred Parking Permit Program)
  - Listen for Yourself: An index into A Conversation on the Future of the City, 2013-12-13
  - Guest Opinion: Rewarding manipulation and intransigence by Doug Moran, 2006-12-06
- Specifics: Projects, proposals…
  - A Self-inflicted Hardship: The City caves in yet again (Alma Village sign), 2013-12-18
  - El Camino Sidewalk Width and the Grand Boulevard Delusion, 2014-03-29
  - Guest Opinion: Alma Plaza is a $12 million giveaway by our City Council by Doug Moran, 2007-06-20
Transportation:
- Larger Policy:
  - Traffic Calming
    - Bad question, useless answers: Traffic policy GIGO, 2015-09-17
  - Bicycling:
    - The Palo Alto Bicycle Lobby: Impeding more and safer bicycling?, 2014-03-16
    - Another Copenhagen Syndrome, 2016-03-05
    - Abusing the ADA & Compromising safety of others for the convenience of bicyclists, 2016-07-11
  - Pedestrians:
    - Die, Pedestrians, Die: The City's implicit response to major long-term safety problems, 2014-02-18
    - Abusing the ADA & Compromising safety of others for the convenience of bicyclists, 2016-07-11
- Specific instances:
  - El Camino: Another scheme to increase congestion?, 2018-11-12.
  - El Camino/Page Mill intersection needs more pedestrians?, 2015-04-08
  - Guest Opinion: El Camino is broken and we have a chance to fix it by Kathy Durham and Doug Moran, 2002-09-25
- Other resources:
  - The Public Transit Conundrum by Sue Dremann, Palo Alto Weekly, 2016-07-15. As pressures mount for county bus agency, will Palo Alto be left without service?
Schools:
- Wisdom, Skills, Knowledge, Wits: Not the same, 2015-12-14
- Humpty Dumpty's Theory of Meaning + 1984 + Overton Window, 2018-03-17.
- Computer Science in PAUSD, 2017-03-13
- Rethinking High School Curriculum: Chemistry, 2016-05-22
- In search of better formulated questions on school policy:
  - Part 1, 2015-05-03
  - Part 2, 2015-05-08
- Fight racism: Oppose districts for PAUSD, 2018-09-05.
- Frustrated with arguments on the parcel tax, 2015-04-17
  Referenced in Palo Alto Unified School District Parcel Tax Increase, Measure A (May 2015) (BallotPedia)
Other issues:
- Sustainability: Better management needed, 2017-06-05
- Driverless self-driving car testbed issues, 2017-03-29
- Groundwater Pumping Background, 2017-03-01
- Choosing meetings on Emergency Preparedness over actual preparedness, 2015-05-26
- Public Art Policy, 2015-02-07
- Library
  - Librarians Against Books: Subverting the will of the electorate, 2013-10-07
  - Guest Opinion: In new library talks, let's start with what's most important by Doug Moran, 2006-03-01
  - Guest Opinion: Another approach to Palo Alto library reorganization by Doug Moran, 2004-12-08
- Fiber to the Premises (FTTP), formerly Fiber to the Home (FTTH)
  - Can Palo Alto Afford the Vanity of its Ruling Elite? Part 1 of an infinite series: Intro and Fiber-to-the-Premises, 2013-10-31
  - Guest Opinion: What an average resident needs to know about fiber by Douglas B. Moran, 2004-05-12
Politics: General
- Palo Alto's Woke proto-Authoritarians, 2020-08-18.
- Expert witness are more than experts. Plus my 7 fundamental impeachment questions, 2019-12-07.
- Anonymous Sources: Facebook and YouTube suppressing important questions and discussion, 2019-11-12.
- Skeptical of the skeptics but not the advocates?, 2019-09-22.
- Moral Panic, again on guns, 2019-08-22.
- Support your local whistleblowers (inside social media companies), 2019-07-03.
- YouTube punishes publicizing of UK gangs sexually exploiting children, 2019-06-06.
- Kavanaugh-Ford: A widening societal division on justice, 2018-09-30.
- Populism: A response to the failure of the elites: Palo Alto edition, 2018-09-23.
- Fight racism: Oppose districts for PAUSD, 2018-09-05.
- A sanctimonious, hypocritical (national) media, 2018-08-17.
- Use-Mention distinction fading; Idiocracy ascendant, 2018-07-21.
- The Right to Listen: Free Speech #2, 2018-06-14.
- Mocking Nazis is a crime in Britain: Free Speech #1, 2018-05-01.
- Enough with Boycotts & We don't want your type around here, 2018-03-31.
- Misadventures in boycotting: In-N-Out Burger & Wil Wheaton, 2018-09-01.
- Humpty Dumpty's Theory of Meaning + 1984 + Overton Window, 2018-03-17.
- Parkland School Shooting: Why work for a good solution when there is a proven non-starter?, 2018-03-01.
- In Defense of Incivility, 2014-10-14
- Public Discourse: Inverted Totalitarianism, Threshold Models and Cell Phones, 2016-02-21
- Humpty Dumpty's Theory of Meaning + 1984 + Overton Window, 2018-03-17.
- California Democrats seek to revive the Republican Party: Republicans expected to resist, 2017-07-16.
- Joe Simitian talk: Listening to Trump's America: Bridging the Divide, 2017-10-15.
- A profoundly un-influential speech, 40th anniversary, 2015-09-09
- This time we're not lying. HONEST! No, really!, 2018-01-19. Non-clickbait headline: Highly partisan media, the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect & examples from my history.
- Google memo: a lesson in not trusting news media, 2017-08-09.
- Damore's Google Memo NLRB Complaint Rejected: More misrepresentations, 2018-02-17.
- Swastikas, censorship, false positives and kittens, 2017-09-07.
- Winning the battle but losing the war? Thinking strategically and recent events, 2017-08-18.
- Politics: Empty appeals to innovation, 2014-10-19
Politics: Electoral
- General:
  - Recall Election Reform: Forgetting that the talking points were only that, 2021-09-16.
  - Vote-by-Mail concerns: Integrity, Accuracy, Credibility, 2020-09-08.
  - Negative/Attack Ad? Wrong Question, 2016-10-30
  - City Council & School Board: Leaders, Overseers, Technocrats or Advocates?, 2016-05-05
  - Supporting a candidate for Council: Not too early to start, 2014-01-06
  - Candidate Slates for City Council: Time to reconsider?, 2014-01-18
  - Candidate Kickoff Events: Public, not just for supporters, 2014-08-22
  - Campaign Lawn Signs: What you can learn from them, 2014-09-30
  - City Council Candidate Forums: Not worth watching, 2014-10-07
    Note: While this comments on the 2014 forums, it provides some advice on running a successful forum.
  - Follow the money: Coverage for the next campaign, 2014-11-09
  - Campaign Endorsements: Behind the Curtain, 2014-11-22
  - Election recounts an illusion?, 2014-12-02
  - Lessons in marketing yourself: Making lemonade from the Presidential campaigns, 2015-10-02
  - Guest Opinion: Some thoughts on evaluating City Council candidates by Doug Moran, 2005-11-02
- Specific Elections:
  - 2022:
    - Considerations on City Council Candidates, 2022-10-11.
    - Primary for local Congressional seat might not be uninteresting + Uncomfortable with Weekly's endorsement, 2022-05-28.
  - 2020:
    - Tanaka resurfaces false 2016 accusation against Burt: PA City Council election, 2020-10-05.
    - The most important question, and biggest lie, of the Presidential Debate & relevance to Palo Alto, 2020-10-01.
    - Examining Candidates Donations: Palo Alto City Council, 2020-09-29.
    - Pseudo-Primary for CA Senate District 13: some thoughts, 2020-02-21.
  - 2018:
    - Populism: A response to the failure of the elites: Palo Alto edition, 2018-09-23.
  - 2016:
    - Negative/Attack Ad? Wrong Question, 2016-10-30
    - Disputing a Council Endorsement on Attitude toward residents, 2016-10-25
    - Council Candidate Forums, 2016-10-18
    - No on B, Faithlessness, Fecklessness, 2016-10-08
    - The You're despicable style of politics, 2016-09-22
    - A manipulative candidate questionnaire, 2016-09-08
    - Candidate Kickoffs: Part 2, 2016-10-03
    - Candidate Kickoffs: First weekend, 2016-08-30
    - Candidate Kickoff Events: Public, not just for supporters, 2016-08-20
    - State Assembly Candidates: Links & Notes for the LWV Forum, 2016-05-13
  - 2014:
    - Early Campaign Notes: City Council, 2014-09-18
    - Reducing Council Size? Against, 2014-09-25
    - LWV City Council Candidate Forum: Interesting Points, 2014-10-01
    - City Council Candidate Forums: Not worth watching, 2014-10-07
    - Subverting open, fair and honest debate (Measure D) (Council size reduction), 2014-10-26
    - A reprehensible political ad, 2014-11-02
  - 2013:
    - Measure D (Maybell Rezoning): Cutting through the noise, 2013-10-11
History: Generic
- Guy Fawkes: Historical vs Misappropriated, 2015-09-28
- How history should be taught: Connections to the present, 2016-01-16
- Anniversary of an unlearned lesson: The Irish Easter Rising and current politics, 2016-04-02
- de facto Emancipation Proclamation of May-August 1861: Events dictating decisions, not vice versa, 2019-07-04.
Miscellaneous
- Plethora of propaganda provides media literacy lessons, 2020-11-12.
- Spotting non-false fabrications in the news: Coronavirus-Origins as example, 2020-05-05.
- Non-Player Character: Can you be mistaken for an IRL-NPC?, 2018-10-15.
- Groundhog Day: Dis-embellishing a Multilevel Proxy, 2016-02-02
- Pet Hair for the Birds (Nests), 2016-02-16

Index: chronological (most recent first)

2022:

2021:

Recall Election Reform: Forgetting that the talking points were only that, 2021-09-16.

2020:

Foothills Park Referendum: Considerations, 2020-12-09.
Plethora of propaganda provides media literacy lessons, 2020-11-12.
Lie down, Roll Over, Play Dead: City Attorney and Manager to Council - Unasked/Unanswered Questions, 2020-11-02.
Democracy loses again at City Hall: "Pig in a poke" lawsuit settlement, 2020-10-27.
Foothills Park Pseudo-Lawsuit: Is the City going to cave-in & defame its residents as "racists"?, 2020-10-12.
Tanaka resurfaces false 2016 accusation against Burt: PA City Council election, 2020-10-05.
The most important question, and biggest lie, of the Presidential Debate & relevance to Palo Alto, 2020-10-01.
Examining Candidates Donations: Palo Alto City Council, 2020-09-29.
Vote-by-Mail concerns: Integrity, Accuracy, Credibility, 2020-09-08.
Palo Alto's Woke proto-Authoritarians, 2020-08-18.
Foothills Park: City does NOT want to hear from most of you, 2020-07-27.
Foothills Park controversy back to Council yet-again on Tuesday: Why, oh, why?, 2020-06-21.
Never let a crisis go to waste: Overloading the City Council agenda, 2020-06-14.
Obsolete Guesstimates Keeping Businesses Closed, 2020-05-28.
Restarting an economy: points to ponder from history, 2020-05-14.
Spotting non-false fabrications in the news: Coronavirus-Origins as example, 2020-05-05.
Confusing a means-to-an-end with being the goal -- Shelter-in-Place, 2020-04-23.
Open Letter to SCC Public Health on excessive restrictions, esp Nurseries, 2020-04-18.
America held hostage ... by Congressional Democrats (COVID-19), 2020-04-09.
Profiteering off medical equipment and its export unimpeded, 2020-04-03.
Remember the failures for when it's time for fixes: COVID-19, 2020-03-27.
COVID-19: Critiquing News Releases: What's missing + teachable opportunities, 2020-03-19.
Preparing for COVID-19: An epidemic is not a hurricane. Panic buying harmful, 2020-03-03.
Coronavirus (COVID-19): Underappreciated Unknowns & inexplicable failures, 2020-02-28.
Pseudo-Primary for CA Senate District 13: some thoughts, 2020-02-21.
Is Palo Alto prepared for a Coronavirus outbreak?, 2020-01-30.

2019:

Expert witness are more than experts. Plus my 7 fundamental impeachment questions, 2019-12-07.
Anonymous Sources: Facebook and YouTube suppressing important questions and discussion, 2019-11-12.
Skeptical of the skeptics but not the advocates?, 2019-09-22.
Moral Panic, again on guns, 2019-08-22.
de facto Emancipation Proclamation of May-August 1861: Events dictating decisions, not vice versa, 2019-07-04.
Support your local whistleblowers (inside social media companies), 2019-07-03.
YouTube punishes publicizing of UK gangs sexually exploiting children, 2019-06-06.
Demonization: Single-family homeowners are deplorables, especially Palo Altans, 2019-05-26.
State Legislature on Housing: Getting the Dēmos out of Democracy and with it, Accountability, 2019-03-15.
Downtown Commercial Cap: Once more into the breach, 2019-02-10.
How to Train your City Manager?, 2019-01-29.
Promising news on credentialism: Palo Alto failed basic test for malignant bureaucracy, 2019-01-04.

2018:

A bad beginning makes a bad ending: City Council, 2018-12-08.
Will subsidies for developers trickle down to provide more affordable housing for high-income people? Monday@City Council, 2018-12-02.
El Camino: Another scheme to increase congestion?, 2018-11-12.
Non-Player Character: Can you be mistaken for an IRL-NPC?, 2018-10-15.
Kavanaugh-Ford: A widening societal division on justice, 2018-09-30.
Populism: A response to the failure of the elites: Palo Alto edition, 2018-09-23.
Fight racism: Oppose districts for PAUSD, 2018-09-05.
Misadventures in boycotting: In-N-Out Burger & Wil Wheaton, 2018-09-01.
A sanctimonious, hypocritical (national) media, 2018-08-17.
Use-Mention distinction fading; Idiocracy ascendant, 2018-07-21.
The Right to Listen: Free Speech #2, 2018-06-14.
Mocking Nazis is a crime in Britain: Free Speech #1, 2018-05-01.
Enough with Boycotts & We don't want your type around here, 2018-03-31.
Humpty Dumpty's Theory of Meaning + 1984 + Overton Window, 2018-03-17.
Parkland School Shooting: Why work for a good solution when there is a proven non-starter?, 2018-03-01.
Damore's Google Memo NLRB Complaint Rejected: More misrepresentations, 2018-02-17.
This time we're not lying. HONEST! No, really!, 2018-01-19. Non-clickbait headline: Highly partisan media, the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect & examples from my history.

2017:

Joe Simitian talk: Listening to Trump's America: Bridging the Divide, 2017-10-15.
Swastikas, censorship, false positives and kittens, 2017-09-07.
SB35: Taking power from the people, 2017-08-31.
Winning the battle but losing the war? Thinking strategically and recent events, 2017-08-18.
Google memo: a lesson in not trusting news media, 2017-08-09.
California Democrats seek to revive the Republican Party: Republicans expected to resist, 2017-07-16.
The Creative Class and superstar cities, 2017-07-08
Development policy: The Market and regulation, 2017-06-20
Sustainability: Better management needed, 2017-06-05
Behind contentious local politics: Failed and toxic leadership, 2017-05-30
Why contentious local politics: More examples from ADU at Council, 2017-04-18
Driverless self-driving car testbed issues, 2017-03-29
Computer Science in PAUSD, 2017-03-13
RPP + ADUs: Winners and losers, 2017-03-04
Groundwater Pumping Background, 2017-03-01
Affordable Housing: Complexities, 2017-02-21

2016:

Negative/Attack Ad? Wrong Question, 2016-10-30
Disputing a Council Endorsement on Attitude toward residents, 2016-10-25
Council Candidate Forums, 2016-10-18
No on B, Faithlessness, Fecklessness, 2016-10-08
Candidate Kickoffs: Part 2, 2016-10-03
The You're despicable style of politics, 2016-09-22
A manipulative candidate questionnaire, 2016-09-08
Candidate Kickoffs: First weekend, 2016-08-30
Candidate Kickoff Events: Public, not just for supporters, 2016-08-20
Community or Extended-stay Hotel or …? Part 2 , 2016-08-09
Community or Extended-stay Hotel or …? Part 1, 2016-08-04
Abusing the ADA & Compromising safety of others for the convenience of bicyclists, 2016-07-11
Nonstarter killed after 2 decades, 2016-06-28
Amnesia at City Hall, 2016-06-14
Environment, Design and Healthy Cities, 2016-06-01
Rethinking High School Curriculum: Chemistry, 2016-05-22
State Assembly Candidates: Links & Notes for the LWV Forum, 2016-05-13
City Council & School Board: Leaders, Overseers, Technocrats or Advocates?, 2016-05-05
Misuse of Mixed-use Development, 2016-04-23
Anniversary of an unlearned lesson: The Irish Easter Rising and current politics, 2016-04-02
Retail - basics of public policy, 2016-03-25
Another Copenhagen Syndrome, 2016-03-05
Public Discourse: Inverted Totalitarianism, Threshold Models and Cell Phones, 2016-02-21
Pet Hair for the Birds (Nests), 2016-02-16
Flint Michigan disaster: Unusual only in its severity, 2016-02-14
Groundhog Day: Dis-embellishing a Multilevel Proxy, 2016-02-02
How history should be taught: Connections to the present, 2016-01-16

2015:

Wisdom, Skills, Knowledge, Wits: Not the same, 2015-12-14
Development Cap: Size, what to count, and why, 2015-11-01
Housing Policy: It's community, not generational, 2015-10-20
Lessons in marketing yourself: Making lemonade from the Presidential campaigns, 2015-10-02
Guy Fawkes: Historical vs Misappropriated, 2015-09-28
Bad question, useless answers: Traffic policy GIGO, 2015-09-17
A profoundly un-influential speech, 40th anniversary, 2015-09-09
Brown Act Inhibits Open Government, 2015-09-03. More appropriate title: Brown Act being misused to Inhibit Open Government.
Transportation Element of the Comprehensive Plan: Big Questions, 2015-08-27
Recreating the Planning and Transportation Commission: Part 2: Credibility and Confidence, 2015-08-23
Replacing the defunct Planning and Transportation Commission: Part 1: Cronyism and Corruption, 2015-08-18
143 important decisions in 150 minutes by a 20-member committee, 2015-08-05
The Remedy to Inadequate Citizen Input? More of the same, 2015-07-31
Choosing meetings on Emergency Preparedness over actual preparedness, 2015-05-26
"the Summit" (CompPlan): Forewarned is Forearmed, 2015-05-20
Unrepresentative sample of the community?, 2015-05-15
In search of better formulated questions on school policy: part 2, 2015-05-08
In search of better formulated questions on school policy: part 1, 2015-05-03
Frustrated with arguments on the parcel tax, 2015-04-17
El Camino/Page Mill intersection needs more pedestrians?, 2015-04-08
I blame soccer (teamwork) 2015-03-28
Disengaged "Engagement", 2015-03-14
Neighborhood Associations: Why they are still important, 2015-03-10
Public Art Policy, 2015-02-07
Council Priorities 2015: Honesty, Focus and Listening about Listening, 2015-01-23
Why is Palo Alto politics so stubbornly pre-Internet? Part 2 2015-01-18
Why is Palo Alto politics so stubbornly pre-Internet? 2015-01-07

2014:

Election recounts an illusion? 2014-12-02
Campaign Endorsements: Behind the Curtain, 2014-11-22
Follow the money: Coverage for the next campaign, 2014-11-09
A reprehensible political ad, 2014-11-02
Subverting open, fair and honest debate (Measure D), 2014-10-26
Why not constructive engagement with City Hall?, 2014-10-23
Politics: Empty appeals to innovation, 2014-10-19
In Defense of Incivility, 2014-10-14
City Council Candidate Forums: Not worth watching, 2014-10-07
LWV City Council Candidate Forum: Interesting Points, 2014-10-01
Campaign Lawn Signs: What you can learn from them, 2014-09-30
Reducing Council Size? Against, 2014-09-25
Early Campaign Notes: City Council, 2014-09-18
Flawed process is normal, 2014-09-05
Candidate Kickoff Events: Public, not just for supporters, 2014-08-22
How Bad Policy Happens, 2014-07-25
Public Transit Follies, 2014-07-01
Should Palo Alto really aspire to be more like a Chinese factory city?, 2014-06-22
Shills and Charlatans of Smart Growth, 2014-06-16
The Law of Supply and XXXXXX, 2014-06-10
Stupid Growth: So-called Smart Growth is a cancer on the community, 2014-06-07
Visioning or Potemkin Villages? (Our Palo Alto), 2014-05-08
El Camino Sidewalk Width and the Grand Boulevard Delusion, 2014-03-29
The Palo Alto Bicycle Lobby: Impeding more and safer bicycling?, 2014-03-16
Die, Pedestrians, Die: The City's implicit response to major long-term safety problems, 2014-02-18
Candidate Slates for City Council: Time to reconsider?, 2014-01-18
Supporting a candidate for Council: Not too early to start, 2014-01-06

2013:

A Self-inflicted Hardship: The City caves in yet again (Alma Village sign), 2013-12-18
Listen for Yourself: An index into A Conversation on the Future of the City, 2013-12-13
Yet another Questionable Staff Report/Survey, 2013-12-07
Why the City doesn't hear residents' perspectives? It doesn't want to (part 3 of 3), 2013-12-06
Why the City doesn't hear residents' perspectives? It doesn't want to (part 2 of 3), 2013-12-04
Why the City doesn't hear residents' perspectives? It doesn't want to (part 1 of 3), 2013-12-03
Palo Alto's Culture War: Analytics vs. Aspirationals, 2013-11-10
Can Palo Alto Afford the Vanity of its Ruling Elite? Part 1 of an infinite series: Intro and Fiber-to-the-Premises, 2013-10-31
Measure D (Maybell Rezoning): Cutting through the noise, 2013-10-11
Librarians Against Books: Subverting the will of the electorate, 2013-10-07