u/Tight_Two6770

Saw a freshly painted mural. Alongside “housing is a human right” and other messages, it includes “From the river to the sea.”

For a lot of people, including major Jewish organizations, that slogan reads as a call to erase Israel, and seeing it painted permanently on a community building is disturbing.

There has been considerable public passion in East Palo Alto over inclusionary housing in recent weeks, residents turning out, writing letters, describing a 20% affordability requirement as a moral line that cannot be crossed.

Mayor Webster Lincoln has taken that debate seriously, and has argued publicly that a 20% requirement producing zero units is not protection but a policy that sounds good and delivers nothing. Reasonable people can disagree about the number.

Harder to reconcile is this: the loudest voice on that 20% floor also submitted a character reference, on Office of the Councilmember letterhead, supporting the pretrial release of a former city employee facing five felony charges related to repeatedly having sex with a 13-year-old boy. According to court records, that boy was given drugs, ended up on the street, and was surrendered to Child Protective Services.

Both Mayor Lincoln and Council Member Mark Dinan disavowed that letter. Lincoln stated that it does not represent his views and does not represent the position of this city. Dinan called it a breach of trust with the community. Lincoln also called for the City Attorney to review whether the letter violated city policy, and asked why this council learned of the arrest from a newspaper rather than from city staff.

If East Palo Alto is going to have a conversation about who this city protects, it should be the whole conversation, not only the comfortable parts.

This city's children are not an abstraction. Neither are residents who need housing. Both deserve better than selective outrage.

I came across this thread from 14 years ago and he allegedly actually lives in the Castro District with his boyfriend, and not in East Palo Alto where he was elected..