Editing Palo Alto, California (section)

==Utilities==
Palo Alto has a city-run and owned utility, City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU), which provides water, electric, gas service, and waste water disposal within city limits,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/gov/depts/utl/default.asp|title=Utilities – City of Palo Alto|website=Cityofpaloalto.org}}</ref> with the minor exception of a rural portion of the city in the hills west of Interstate 280, past the Country Club, which does not receive gas from the city. Almost all other communities in northern California depend on [[Pacific Gas and Electric Company]] (PG&E) for gas and electricity.

Water and Gas Services (WGS) operates gas and water distribution networks within the city limits. The city operates both gas meters and the distribution pipelines. Water comes from city-operated watershed and wells and the City and County of San Francisco [[Hetch Hetchy]] system. The city is located in Santa Clara Valley Water District, North Zone. Hetch Hetchy pipeline #3 and #4 pass through the city.

The city operates its own electric power distribution network and telemetry cable network. Interconnection points tie the city into PG&E's electric transmission system, which brings power from several sources to the city. Palo Alto is a member of a joint powers authority (the [[Northern California Power Agency]]), which cooperatively generates electricity for government power providers such as the City of Santa Clara, the City of Redding, and the Port of Oakland. Roughly the same group of entities operate the Transmission Agency of Northern California (TANC). TANC transports power over its own lines from as far as British Columbia through an interconnection with the federal Bonneville Power Administration. A local oddity is a series of joint poles; those primary conductor cross arms are marked PGE and CPA (City of Palo Alto) to identify each utility's side of the shared cross arms.

Palo Alto has an ongoing community debate about the city providing [[fiber optic]] connectivity to all residences.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} A series of pilot programs have been proposed. One proposal called for the city to install [[dark fiber]], which would be made live by a contractor.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

Services traditionally attributed to a cable television provider were sold to a regulated commercial concern. Previously the cable system was operated by a cooperative called Palo Alto Cable Coop.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

The former [[Regional Bell Operating Company]] in Palo Alto was Pacific Telephone, now called [[AT&T Inc.]], and previously called SBC and Pacific Bell. One of the earliest [[telephone exchange|central office]] facilities switching Palo Alto calls is the historic Davenport central office (CO) at 529 Bryant Street.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} The building was sold and is now the home of the [[Palo Alto Internet Exchange]]. The former CO building is marked by a bronze plaque and is located on the north side of Bryant Street between University Avenue and Hamilton Avenue. It was called Davenport after the exchange name at the introduction of dial telephone service in Palo Alto.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} For example, modern numbers starting with 325- were Davenport 5 in the 1950s and '60s. The Step-by-Step office was scrapped and replaced by stored-program-controlled equipment at a different location about 1980. Stanford calls ran on a Step-by-Step Western Electric 701 PBX until the university purchased its own switch about 1980. It had the older, traditional Bell System 600&nbsp;Hz+120&nbsp;Hz dial tone. The old 497-number PBX, MDF, and battery string were housed in a steel building at 333 Bonair Siding. From the 1950s to 1980s, the bulk of Palo Alto calls were switched on [[Number Five Crossbar Switching System|Number 5 Crossbar systems]]. By the mid-1980s, these electromechanical systems had been junked. Under the Bell System's regulated monopoly, local coin telephone calls were ten cents until the early 1980s.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

During the drought of the early 1990s, Palo Alto employed water waste patrol officers to enforce water saving regulations.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} The team, called "Gush Busters", patrolled city streets looking for broken water pipes and poorly managed irrigation systems. Regulations were set to stop restaurants from habitually serving water, runoff from irrigation, and irrigation during the day. The main goal of the team was to educate the public in ways to save water. Citations consisted of Friendly Reminder postcards and more formal notices. To help promote the conservation message, the team only used bicycles and mopeds.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}