Palo Alto voters will choose three members of the seven-seat City Council on Nov. 3, and eight candidates are on the ballot. Four have City Hall experience and four are running from outside it, according to Palo Alto Online's candidate guide published Friday.

The candidates

Vicki Veenker, the current mayor, is seeking a second term. She was first elected in 2022 without prior office or commission experience and says she wants to finish the Cubberley Community Center repairs she helped put on the ballot and push more housing, especially affordable projects. She has also floated a public dashboard to make the city's permit process more transparent.

Ed Lauing, the other incumbent, is a political moderate who chaired the Parks and Recreation and the Planning and Transportation commissions before joining the council.

Bryna Chang chairs the Planning and Transportation Commission, where she has served five years, and is running on infrastructure: housing, utilities, transportation and public safety.

Yudy Deng, a Parks and Recreation commissioner, wants the city to move faster on building housing and attracting retail.

Gary Gechlik, an emergency room physician running for the first time, thinks the city is generally well run.

Henry Etzkowitz, a scholar of entrepreneurship, and Brian Hamachek, a software engineer, are both critical of the City Hall administration. Hamachek is keeping fundraising minimal and lists no endorsements.

Raymond Goins, a community organizer who lives at the Opportunity Center transitional housing site downtown, is the first Democratic Socialists of America candidate ever to run for the council. He argues the city has not done enough for its most vulnerable residents.

What the winners will face

The next council will have to keep up with housing goals under changing state law, respond to concerns about oversized vehicles and RVs parked on city streets, and decide next steps on rail grade separation, one of the largest infrastructure projects in city history. Wildfire readiness, surveillance technology, a budget with rising costs, climate goals and utility rates are also on the agenda.

Voters can watch the Palo Alto Weekly's Oct. 7 forum with all eight candidates through the paper's online voter guide.