The October 11, 2018 State of the City address gives the incumbents running for re-election an unfair advantage during an election
season. The most unbiased tradition would be to hold these speeches at the beginning of the year or well before an election. I
have to wonder how many prior contested elections might have been swayed due to the timing of these events.
The timing could leave Menlo Park subject to a lawsuit. Incumbent Peter Ohtaki faces a tough re-election challenge. Our local
newspapers did NOT ENDORSE Ohtaki. Instead, The Daily Post endorsed Ron Shepherd and the Almanac endorsed Betsy Nash. Incumbent
Kirstin was also NOT ENDORSED by our local newspapers. Instead, Drew Combs received endorsements by both the Post and the Almanac.
Any successful politician seeking re-election will take every opportunity to tout his/her record of accomplishments. Not
surprisingly, Ohtaki’s speech presented a rosy picture of just how well everything is going in Menlo Park and he frequently used
the term “Council” to claim credit for positive outcomes. The blatant overuse of the term “council’ gave the speech a clear
political cast. The term “Council” was also used to claim credit for resident-led efforts such as for the Safe Routes to School
initiative, Guild Theater, Belle Haven Library and Karl E. Clark Park.
The frequent use of term “the city” also blurred the lines as to who actually accomplished the result. The term did not give
adequate credit to the staff who implemented Council policy decisions and/or residents who helped. Many items listed in the speech
were more a “laundry list” of minor accomplishments that weren’t focused around key priorities. Notably absent was Council’s
non-addressing of key resident concerns for better governance measures such as ethics, accountability, transparency and oversight
reforms -- along with the incumbents taking adequate responsibility for prior decisions that haven’t turned out too well. In the
latter category, I would put voting for so much development without adequate traffic infrastructure and housing measures. Problems
were glossed over or blame put elsewhere such as when Ohtaki stated that most of the MP traffic is caused by commuters going to
other cities. This avoids addressing the criticism that many of our current problems could have been better anticipated and
proactively addressed by Council via regional and local solutions before they became serious problems.
The California ballots were also scheduled to be mailed the week of the address. The timing further gives a political advantage to
the incumbents. The captive audience at the speech would hear a one-sided view and the resultant publicity would another
vote-getting advantage. How easy it might be to then just fill out the ballot (the way Ohtaki and Keith would like) and mail it
in. Ohtaki and Keith’s challengers would have no such equal and free publicity platform to challenge details in the Mayor’s
speech, give their perspective on current MP problems that remain unaddressed, or convey their vision for the future of Menlo
Park. All this is unfair to our challengers and the practice may be illegal.
My request that this speech be postponed until after the election was mostly ignored. Once I realized that the timing was
problematic, I wrote council and management staff on Oct 9, 2018 to request that the address be postponed until the election. The
ONLY person who wrote back was our City Clerk who let me know that she wasn’t responsible for planning the event. (In other words,
putting the responsibility elsewhere.) The event went on, despite my pubic objections and those of Ron Shepherd.
I then also made a public records request of the timing of these events and thee results are below.
2012 (Oct 16) – Stanford Park Hotel
2013 (Oct 17) – Stanford Park Hotel
2014 (Nov 13) – Downtown Paseo
2015 ((Oct 29) – Rosewood Hotel
2016 (Nov 17) – Facebook Building 23
2017 (Oct 12) – British Banker’s Club
2018 (Oct 11) – Park James Hotel
I did a brief check as to what our neighboring cities do and so far, my results are below:
Palo Alto – Usually in February (new or incoming mayor gives vision for city)
San Carlos – Usually in Feb or March
Redwood City – May 14, 2018
Belmont – Usually in February or March (Feb 2017 and Mar 2018)
San Bruno – February 2018
San Jose – Usually in February
Campbell – Sep 2018
Sunnyvale – Sep 2018
Santa Clara – June 2018
Many cities use the annual State of the City speech as a forward-looking opportunity or one to better involve community groups.
Many hold this speech in the Council Chambers or at key community venues, such as schools or major non-profits that address
community challenges – not at private venues that do business with the city. One city (Belmont) even had the Chamber of Commerce
leader as the overall host, which further gave a non-political tone to the event. I’ve watched a few from our neighboring cities
and I see a tone that’s more even-handed with credit more freely shared. We can learn from progressive cities around us, something
I’d like to see more of in Menlo Park.
When I can, I will send a chart with details of my findings to the Menlo Park Council along with my recommendations for change.
Holding these right before elections is problematic for many reasons. At minimum, I’d like to see the annual State of the City
address start to take place at the beginning of the year and to have its focus on the new or incoming Mayor’s vision for Menlo
Park.
Meanwhile, I remain quite disturbed about the timing of the 2018 State of the City address as well as its political tone.
Integrity and ethics matter deeply to me. Trust is the foundation of all relationships. Politicians and staff who adhere to the
highest standards of integrity and ethical behavior earn the public’s trust. So I continue to be surprised and disappointed at
Menlo Park’s traditions and Council-member behavior that erodes the public’s trust because the actions don't pass the ethical
"smell" test. The timing and tone of the 2018 State of the City addressed served our incumbent politicians, not fairness or the
residents.
Lynne Bramlett
