Henry Etzkowitz

Candidate for City Council (At-Large), Palo Alto · (No Ballot Designation)

Henry Etzkowitz is an innovation scholar and sociologist who has spent decades studying the relationships among universities, industry, and government. He serves as CEO of the Triple Helix Institute, a think tank focused on innovation policy, and became active in Palo Alto civic affairs after helping lead a successful pushback against a proposed rent increase at the Stanford-owned Oak Creek Apartments in 2022.

Etzkowitz has proposed a rent cap for seniors that would bar increases after 15 years of residency and limit rent to one-quarter of a tenant's income. He supports Palo Alto working with neighboring cities to build an underground Caltrain tunnel, a project city leaders previously shelved over cost (estimated at more than $3 billion) and engineering complexity. He also wants to convert San Antonio Road into an urban forest and has criticized the city's approach to Senate Bill 79, a state law easing height and density limits for housing near transit.

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