How affluent Palo Alto PTA members are trying to save a working-class enclave
by Scott Herhold / Mercury News
POSTED: 03/11/2015 12:04:12 PM PDT
The rules were strict on Monday. Each of the three speakers could talk for only three minutes. The idea was a quick presentation to the Palo Alto City Council and just as quick an exit. Hit them with your point and move on into the gentle evening.
But no one criticized Nancy Krop, the legislative director of the Sixth District PTA, for talking just a little longer. She is a tall, dark-haired woman with an eloquent way of speaking. And she was addressing a topic that touches the heart, the fate of the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park, a largely Hispanic working class enclave off El Camino Real.
Noting that 100 children attend eight Palo Alto schools from the mobile home park, Krop urged the council to approve $8 million set aside by City Manager Jim Keene to save the park. “What’s behind those numbers is a child, a child who believes that adults can fix things,” she said. As you heard her say that, it made you want to go fix things yourself. [Read full Mercury News article…]
Nancy Krop speaks to the Palo Alto City Council