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Gail Wilkerson grew up in East Palo Alto, and her pride for the city turned to political action years ago, with a desire to hold people accountable.
“Nothing is getting done by going along, simply to get along,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
Wilkerson, an outspoken community member and attorney who has spent years serving the city on multiple levels, aims to gear up for change and shake things up in City Hall in her second attempt at a seat on the dais.
Among her top priorities are reducing traffic, lowering rent and increasing access to amenities like grocery stores and entertainment venues.
Wilkerson grew up in a military family and lived in East Palo Alto before it was incorporated. She eventually saw the city divided by new borders, she said, and bulldozed for redevelopment, like when Four Seasons took the spot of Whisky Gulch, which was one of the city’s main sources of revenue.
She received her bachelor’s degree in science and paralegal studies from Purdue University, then went on to acquire her real estate license in 1980 and to own multiple businesses. She’s now been in the real estate market for over four decades and knows it “upside down and sideways,” she said, asserting no other candidates have that expertise.
Wilkerson also has a background in taxes, but in 1995, when she was going by Gail Dixon, she was convicted of 14 counts of felony in aiding and abetting the preparation of false or fraudulent tax returns through her tax preparation business.
Once she sold her last restaurant in 2016, she said, she began gearing up to run for city council, and did for the first time in 2022, but lost to Ruben Abrica and Martha Barragan.
Wilkerson has spent years bringing her real estate background to local government, she said, on the Senior Advisory Board, the East Palo Alto Rent Stabilization Board, the Public Works and Transportation Commission and the East Palo Alto Sanitary District Rate Advisory Committee.
Those experiences didn’t prepare her for her council candidacy, she said, because they only exemplified what she already knew about the city and its legal operations.
If she could clean house, Wilkerson said, she would, criticizing current council members and new candidates – even openly criticizing them on social media.
She calls for a change in protocol when it comes down to her priorities like traffic congestion, which she thinks should be blocked off from East Palo Alto.
Specifically, she would favor cutting off access to Menlo Park via O’Brien to Kavanaugh drive and not allowing people who exit Dumbarton Bridge into East Palo Alto.
“Why do we have all this traffic going through East Palo Alto?” she said. “We have the highest asthma rate on the Peninsula, and [council members] just sit there doing nothing.”
She is also concerned about the increase of air pollution caused by the potential expansion of the Palo Alto Airport, which she said will bring more soot into East Palo Alto.
As for parking issues, Wilkerson pitched leveraging less-busy parking infrastructure, like at the Four Seasons hotel, to support new businesses. She hopes the city can purchase some 200 unused spaces and create modes of transportation from them to promote more shopping in the area.
Besides traffic and quality of life, Wilkerson prioritizes keeping rents low, bringing business in and showing gentrifiers “who’s boss.”
Like many other candidates, she is in support of mixed-use housing for all types of income levels, rather than just affordable options, in order to support the middle class.
But partnered with diverse housing options, Wilkerson emphasized the need for senior and family housing development with space for thoughtful child care facilities, which are lacking locally, she said.
Wilkerson hopes to use her career experience to combat the displacement of long-time residents and protect the legacy of multigenerational families.
The recent closure of Target has left an even greater disparity in businesses for locals, she said, leaving people with few grocery options that are often upcharged.
“Bringing major supermarkets like Walmart and Safeway to East Palo Alto, improving local shopping convenience,” she said, would greatly benefit people, along with other businesses like pet stores, pet day cares and entertainment systems like movie theaters and bowling alleys.
All in all, she wants to cut the bureaucracy and take actionable steps toward the improvement of East Palo Alto, especially for those who have lived there for generations.
“I am sick and tired of East Palo Alto being at the bottom,” she said. “There’s so many people at the top keeping their foot on the city’s neck.”
