Megan V. Winslow/Town Crier
Palo Alto city employee Alison Hlady uses a bullhorn Saturday inside the Foothills Nature Preserve ranger station to urge lookie-loos to move along.
As of Tuesday (Feb. 23) there are no free rides into Foothills Nature Preserve – unless, that is, a visitor is a bicyclist, a pedestrian, a veteran, an active member of the military, a student behind the wheel of a vehicle, a volunteer, a person with a disabled placard or someone with a “low income” as defined by the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
After hours of massaging rules for admittance into the 1,400-acre Palo Alto park bordering Los Altos Hills – and various exemptions to those rules – the Palo Alto City Council on Monday unanimously passed both an emergency ordinance and a regular ordinance including them.
Kristen Zuraek/Special to the Town Crier
Los Altos Hills resident Kristen Zuraek’s horse stares at her as vehicles line Page Mill Road outside her house. Visitors of nearby Foothills Park have been parking haphazardly outside the Palo Alto preserve’s entrance since Jan. 9, the day Palo Alto began restricting vehicle access on weekends and holidays.
Since opened to the general public Dec. 17, Foothills Park has become “like Disneyland,” “Golden Gate Park” and “a tourist trap,” according to participants at last week’s Palo Alto City Council meeting.
“What I saw there is – you know, it’s not supposed to be an amusement park. At least most people don’t think it’s supposed to be an amusement park. It’s inconsistent with being a preserve,” Councilmember Eric Filseth said. “So I think we need to move forward on trying to get this under control.”