Palo Altans elected her to the school board in 1985 and then to the City Council in 1989. She's in her third term and is currently mayor. She also was mayor back in 1993, when California was in the midst of a recession. She guided our city through tough times, cutting the budget while preserving city services. Besides approving development projects and passing laws, council members also run fire and police departments, the management of which has life and death implications.
Council members have the thankless job of responding to complaints from residents.
Some elected officials hate dealing with the public, but Kniss seems to thrive under that pressure, treating people fairly regardless of whether they said nice things about her in the past. We also think Kniss is the candidate best equipped to deal with Stanford over the university's growth. She's not an ideologue who won't negotiate, but a principled pragmatist who fights for what she believes in, but can also get things done. During the city's negotiations with Stanford over the Sand Hill Road projects, it was Kniss who pushed the hardest to get the university to dedicate land west of Junipero Serra Boulevard as open space. At times it seems the county government is out of touch with technological advancements, and some county staffers wouldn't dream of using technology to improve services.