Palo Alto

Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The city was established in 1894 by the American industrialist Leland Stanford when he founded Stanford University. Palo Alto is one of the most expensive cities in the United States in which to live, and its residents are among the most educated in the country. However, it also has a youth suicide rate four times higher than the national average, often attributed to academic pressure. It is headquarters to a number of high-tech companies, including HP, Space Systems/Loral, VMware, Ford Research and Innovation Center, PARC, IDEO, Skype, Houzz, SAP Labs, and Lockheed Martin. The area of modern Palo Alto was first recorded by the 1769 party of Gaspar de Portolá, a 64-man, 200-horse expedition setting out from San Diego to find Monterey Bay. On November 29, 1777, Pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe was established by order of the viceroy despite the displeasure of the local mission. In 1839, their daughter María Luisa Soto (1817-1883) married John Coppinger, who was to be, in 1841, the grantee of Rancho Cañada de Raymundo (in modern San Mateo county) Upon his death in 1847, Maria inherited it and later married a visiting boat captain, John Greer.

History

Palo Alto is the primary city name, but also E Palo Alto, East Palo Alto are acceptable city names or spellings. The official name is City of Palo Alto. The area of modern Palo Alto was first recorded by the 1769 party of Gaspar de Portolá, a 64-man, 200-horse expedition setting out from San Diego to find Monterey Bay. The group trekked past the bay without recognizing it and continued north. In 1777, Father Junipero Serra established the Mission Santa Clara de Asis, whose northern boundary was San Francisquito Creek. The land grant, Rancho Rinconada del Arroyo de San Francisqito, of about 2,230 acres (9.0 km²) was given to Maria Antonia Mesa in 1841. In 1863, it was whittled down in the courts to 6,981 acres (28.25 km²). Stories say the grand hacienda was built on the former meager adobe of José Peña near Ferne off San Antonio Road, midway between Middlefield and Alma Street. It was ruined in the 1906 earthquake and its lumber was used to build a large barn nearby, which was said to have lingered until the early 1950s. On April 10, 1853, 250 acres (2.2 km²), comprising Barron Park, Matero Creek and Stanford Business Park, was sold for $2,000 to Elisha Crosby. In 1880, Secundino Robles bought the land to satisfy a debt he owed to Sarah Wallis. The name of the community was later attached to the community that started to be known as Palo Alto.

Geography

Palo Alto is in the southeastern section of the San Francisco Peninsula. It consists of two large parcels of land connected by a narrow corridor. The southern inland section, located south of Interstate 280, is hilly, rural, and lightly populated. The northern more densely populated parcel is bordered by San Francisquito Creek (with Menlo Park and East Palo Alto in adjacent San Mateo County beyond) The city has a Mediterranean climate with mild, moderately wet winters and warm, dry summers. The official elevation is 30 feet (9 m) above sea level, but the city boundaries reach well into the northern section ofThe Santa Cruz Mountains. The record high temperature was 108.4 °F (42 °C) on September 6,2022 and the record low temperature was 21.6 °C (9.9 °F) on December 24, 1990. The average rainfall is 1532 inches (389 mm) resulting in an average rainfall of 57 wettest days annually. The driest year on record was 1983 with 32.51 inches (826 mm) and the year with the driest was 1976 with 7.34 inches (186 mm) Palo Alto has a number of significant natural habitats, including estuarine, riparian, and oak forest. Many of these habitats are visible in Foothills Park, which is owned by the city. The Charleston Slough contains a rich marsh and littoral zone, providing feeding areas for a variety of shorebirds and other estuarist wildlife.

Local government

Palo Alto was incorporated in 1894. The City Council has seven members. The mayor and vice-mayor serve one year at a time, with terms ending in January. General municipal elections are held in November of even-numbered years. According to one study in 2015, the city's effective property tax rate of 0.42% was the lowest of the California cities included in the study. The city has a population of 1,856,000. The population of Palo Alto was 1,788,000 in 2010. The number of residents in the city is 1,932,000, according to the 2010 Census. The percentage of the population that lives in poverty is less than 1%. The city's unemployment rate is 3.7%. The percentage that lives on the poverty line is less then 1%. It is the lowest rate of any California city. The average income is $50,000; the average household income is about $60,000 and the percentage of people who live on the income ladder is about 2.5%. The average age of the City's residents is 40 years old; the median age is 38 years old, and the average height is 6 feet, 2 inches. It has one of the lowest murder rates in the state. The rate of murder is 1.3%. The crime rate is 2.4%. The murder rate is the highest in the State of California. It is also the lowest in the United States. The highest rate of crime is the crime rate.

Politics

According to the California Secretary of State, as of February 10, 2019, Palo Alto has 40,040 registered voters. Of those, 20,857 are registered Democrats, 4,689 are registered Republicans, and 13,520 (33.8%) have declined to state a political party. Palo Alto is in California's 18th congressional district, represented by Democrat Anna Eshoo. In the California State Legislature, Palo Palo is in the 13th Senate District and the 24th Assembly District. The city is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is home to the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco's San Francisco Giants football team. The San Francisco Opera is based in Palo Alto, California, and has a theater in the Palo Alto neighborhood of the same name. It is also home to Stanford University, which has a campus that was founded in the early 1900s. The University of California, San Francisco, has a theatre that opened in the mid-1930s and is now the home of the Stanford Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The Palo Alto High School football team was established in the late 1950s and has been in existence since the early 1960s. It was the first high school in the city to graduate from the top of the California School of Professional and Continuing Studies (CHS) ranks. The school was also the first in the state to graduate with a bachelor's degree in political science. It has been home to a number of high school and college football teams, including the California Golden Bears.

Demographics

The 2010 United States Census reported that Palo Alto had a population of 64,403. The racial makeup of Palo Alto was 41,359 (64.2%) White, 17,461 (27.1%) Asian, 1,197 (1.9%) African American, 121 (0.2) Native American, 142 (0,2%) Pacific Islander, 2,426 (2.2% from other races) Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3,974 persons (6.2%). There were 28,216 housing units at an average density of 1,094.2 per square mile (422.5/km²), of which 14,766 (55.7%) were owner-occupied, and 11,727 (44.3%) were occupied by renters. In the city, the population was spread out with 15,079 people (23.4%) under the age of 18, 3,141 people (4.9%), and 17,159 people (26.6%) aged 25 to 44, 18,018 people (28.0%) aged 45 to 64. The average household size was 2.41, and the average family size was 3.04. The median age was 41.9 years, and for every 100 females, there were 95.7 males. The city was 75.76% White, 2.02% Black, 0.21% Native American and 17.22% Asian. The U.S. Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category and assigns them to a separate category.

Housing

The median home sale price for all of Palo Alto was $1.2 million in 2007. In 2010, Palo Alto ranked as the 2nd most expensive city in the United States. In the 1920s, racial covenants were used that banned "persons of African, Japanese, Chinese, or Mongolian descent" from purchasing or renting homes in many neighborhoods throughout Palo Alto. Blockbusting strategies were also employed to instill fear in white neighborhoods and cause White flight out of areas on the outskirts of the city. By 2020, residents' opposition to new housing has resulted in Palo Alto only allowing construction of enough low-income housing to meet 13% of its state-mandated share. The city's housing stock is in the style of California mid-century middle-class suburbia. Palo Alto is by some measures the most expensive college town in the U.S., with an average home sales price of $1,677,000. The homes, including many Joseph Eichler-designed or Eichlers-style houses, were primarily built in the first 20 years after World War II. However, for the most part, Palo Altos housing was built on policies that are still reflected in the current demographics, including redlining and blockbusting, which is responsible for the prevailing demographic divides between Palo Alto and East Palo Alto, where there was no money from loans in the economy, leading to a state of decay in the 1960s and '70s. In 2007, the city ranked in as the 5th most expensiveCity in the US.

Economy

Palo Alto is home to more than 7,000 businesses employing more than 98,000 people. The city's economy generally follows the economic trends of the rest of the Silicon Valley. In 2021, Tesla, Inc. moved its headquarters from Palo Alto to Austin, Texas. Palo Alto is the location of the first street-level Apple Store, the first Apple mini store, and the first West Coast Whole Foods Market store. Many prominent technology firms reside in the Stanford Research Park on Page Mill Road, while nearby Sand Hill Road in the adjacent city of Menlo Park is a notable hub of venture capitalists. Many nearby Silicon Valley companies, no longer primarily in Palo Alto, were once headquartered and experienced major growth in the city, including Google (now in Mountain View), Facebook (now in Menlo park), and PayPal (now in San Jose) The top employers in the City are: PayPal, Google, Facebook, Stanford Shopping Center, Stanford University, and Stanford University Medical Center. The City's 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, according to the city's top employers, is $1.2 billion in annual revenue. It is estimated that the city will have a population of more than 100,000 by the end of the year. It will be the first city in the United States to have a mayor-level elected office in more than 30 years. It has been the site of several major events, including the opening of the Stanford Shopping Centre in 1955. It was also the location for the first Victoria's Secret store and a Whole Foods market store.

Utilities

Palo Alto has a city-run and owned utility, City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU), which provides water, electric, gas service, and waste water disposal within city limits. Water comes from city-operated watershed and wells and the City and County of San Francisco Hetch Hetchy system. Almost all other communities in northern California depend on Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) for gas and electricity. Palo Alto is a member of a joint powers authority (the Northern California Power Agency), which cooperatively generates electricity for government power providers such as the City of Santa Clara, Redding, and the Port of Oakland. A local oddity is a series of joint poles; those primary conductor cross arms are marked PGE and CPA (City of Palo Palo) to identify each utility's side of the shared cross arms. The city operates its own electric power distribution network and telemetry cable network. The former Regional Bell Operating Company in Palo Alto was Pacific Telephone, now called AT&T Inc., and previously called SBC and Pacific Bell. One of the earliest central office facilities switching Palo Alto calls is the historic Davenport central office (CO) at 529 Bryant Street. The building was sold and is now the home of the Palo Alto Internet Exchange. The old 497-number PBX, MDF, and battery string were housed in a steel building at 333 Bonair Siding. By the mid-1980s, these electromechanical systems had been junked. Under the Bell System's regulated monopoly, local coin calls were ten cents until the early 1980s.

Fire and police departments

Palo Alto was among the first in Santa Clara County to offer advanced life support (ALS) paramedic-level (EMT-P) ambulance service. In all, the Fire Department has six regular stations plus one opened only during the summer fire season in the foothills. Palo Alto Fire also has a contract with Stanford University to cover most of the campus. The police are now headquartered in the City Hall high rise. The department has just under 100 sworn officers ranking supplemented by approximately ten reserve officers and professional staff who support the police department and the animal services organization. The Palo Alto Police Department is currently the only fire department inSanta Clara County that routinely transports patients. Rural Metro holds the Santa Clara county 911 contract and provides transportation in other cities. Enhanced 9-1-1 arrived in about 1980 and included the then-new ability to report emergencies from coin telephones without using a coin. The city has a population of 2.2 million. The fire department has six normal stations plus a special fire station opened only in the summer during the fire season. The Fire Department also has six special fire stations. The Police Department has an average of about 100 officers ranking. It is the only police department in the county with a full-time force of over 100 officers. It has a police station that was originally housed in a stone building at 450 Bryant Street. Still engraved with the words Police Court, the building is now a non-profit senior citizen center, Avenidas. Palo Alto is home to the San Francisco Giants baseball team.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Palo Alto, San Mateo County, California = 11.8. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 40. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 10. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Palo Alto = 5.1 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 68,572 individuals with a median age of 43.9 age the population grows by 2.33% in Palo Alto, San Mateo County, California population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 2,871.52 residents per square mile of area (1,047.35/km²). There are average 2.32 people per household in the 25,525 households with an average household income of $104,707 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 20.90% of the available work force and has dropped -6.14% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 21.22%. The number of physicians in Palo Alto per 100,000 population = 263.9.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Palo Alto = 16.6 inches and the annual snowfall = 0 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 56. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 261. 78 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 38.6 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 52, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Palo Alto, San Mateo County, California which are owned by the occupant = 53.19%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 50 years with median home cost = $1,080,980 and home appreciation of -4.54%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $5.62 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $8,089 per student. There are 15.7 students for each teacher in the school, 754 students for each Librarian and 683 students for each Counselor. 4.06% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 31.43% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 43.10% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).