As an unincorporated area, East Palo Alto was governed by the county. Residents complained they had no say in decisions that affected them, so in 1966 county supervisors established the East Palo Alto Municipal Council. Although it was an advisory body, the county nearly always followed its recommendations. The council was made up of one representative from each of five districts, but members were elected by all voters.
"To our knowledge, this is the first program of this nature in the United States," San Mateo Legal Aid official Bruce Bailey was quoted in The Review of the News in 1968. "East Palo Alto is an ideal community for this experiment in incorporation and self-government of a minority area."
The Council began meeting in a storefront in the University Village Shopping Center, found new chambers on Pulgas Avenue in 1971, then moved into the county government center in 1975 (see map). Among those to serve was Willia Gray, later honored as the nation's first black woman mayor.
In 1968 there was
an election to rename East Palo Alto. Several alternatives were considered,
including Uhuru and Kenyatta, before Nairobi was settled upon. The measure
was defeated more than 2 to 1. At the time, the greatest support for the
name change came from the 18-to-21 age group. It was believed that if the
voting age had been 18 at that time, East Palo Alto would be known as Nairobi
today.
One of the frustrations of unincorporation was the number of special districts to which residents paid taxes for such services as drainage, fire protection, garbage, sanitation, lighting, recreation, water, education, etc. According to one source, East Palo Alto fell under the jurisdiction of 37 special districts in the mid-1960s. Consolidation of these districts and their services was one of the arguments used to support incorporation.
Photo courtesy of Palo Alto Historical Association