Council split on the details but supports putting tax measure on 2020 ballot by Gennady Sheyner / Palo Alto Weekly Palo Alto will start reaching out to businesses about a proposed measure, possibly a business tax, to pay for transportation projects, the City Council decided at its Sept. 16 meeting. File photo by Veronica Weber. … Read more

City Council approves work plan to place a measure on 2020 ballot that would pay for transportation projects By Gennady Sheyner, Palo Alto Weekly After four years of false starts and sharp disagreements, Palo Alto kicked off on Monday a new effort to place a business tax on the November 2020 ballot. By a 6-1 … Read more

By Allison Levitsky, Daily Post Staff Writer. A second Palo Alto motel in two months has been hit with a lawsuit by Scott Johnson, a quadriplegic attorney who has sued hundreds of California businesses over disability access violations. In his lawsuits, Johnson cites state civil rights law and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act or … Read more

By Ashlyn Rollins, Peninsula Press. Palo Alto is collecting taxes on Airbnb rentals in the city even as a zoning ordinance technically prohibits their operation in single-family residential districts. The city – which has collected between $800,000 and $1.6 million in transient occupancy taxes on Airbnb rentals in the past year, according to city officials … Read more

By Elaine Goodman, Daily Post Correspondent. The Palo Alto City Council tonight (Oct. 15) will consider a plan for financing construction of a $45.8 million parking garage in the California Avenue district, using a process that doesn’t involve voter approval. Under the financing method, called Certificates of Participation, or COPs, the city would lease some … Read more

Daily Post Editorial. Palo Alto’s Measure E seems like a tax inspired by a Monty Python skit. In one episode, a politician in a bowler hat says, “To improve the British economy, I’d tax all foreigners living abroad.” And that’s what a hotel tax is, right? It will be paid by those visiting Palo Alto, … Read more

By Gennady Sheyner, Palo Alto Weekly. Stanford University’s graduation season typically brings flush times to the Cardinal Hotel, with guests booking rooms at the downtown Palo Alto hotel months in advance. Last year, however, the hotel’s general manager, Stephanie Wansek, witnessed a strange, new phenomenon: vacancies. This year, it happened again, Wansek told the Weekly. … Read more