Palo Alto’s New Public Safety Building

By Dylan La Mere

Photo credit: City of Palo Alto

If you have been to California Avenue recently, you may have seen a giant building under construction. This is the new public safety building, which just opened on November 16th. This project spanned over 10 years, and the director of public works says that it will greatly benefit the community. 

Why

I interviewed Brad Eggleston, the director of Public Works in Palo Alto, about the origins of this project and why it was built. This new building, as mentioned previously, is located adjacent to California Avenue, took over ten years, and cost over 120 million dollars. As for why it took so long, Eggleston said that the city had actually been aiming to fund a new public safety building for over 20 years, and once it was funded, the construction could not be started because of the new parking lot, which was not finished until 2020. Eggleston also mentioned how the California Avenue location would improve the overall efficiency of the emergency services. This is because of the building's proximity to three crucial streets: ​​Alma Street, Oregon Expressway, and El Camino Real. 

The Benefit

When I asked Eggleston how the building would benefit the community, he said that because of all of the emergency services being in the same building, the coherence of these services would be improved. Eggleston also mentioned that this “new building is designed to what are called “essential services standards”. This means that this building could be used potentially right after an earthquake happens, which could save many lives in the case of a devastating earthquake.

Concluding thoughts

All in all, this building could provide many useful services to the community. However, is it worth the 123.5 million dollar price tag? It’s too early to tell, but it is important that we continue to pay attention to the way our local community budget is spent and appreciate the safety establishment that is being made.