Some Palo Alto residents are in no mood to celebrate the city’s decision to allow data mining powerhouse Palantir to rent recreational fields for employee parties this week.

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April 30, 2016 Tech firm scooping up Palo Alto office space Palantir rented parts of the synthetic turf field at Cubberley Community Center for 17 days, from April 24 to May 10.

Parties for the company, which has headquarters downtown, are scheduled for Wednesday and Friday with employees coming from around the world. The rental, organized through event production company Blue Flame, includes days before and after the parties for setup and cleanup.

City residents such as Edie Groner and Rebecca White, who live in the Greenmeadow neighborhood near the community center, say they are disturbed by the city’s decision to allow a private company to use a public field, especially for so many days.

Groner cited the city’s field use policy, which states that such facilities should be used for “recreational, athletic, cultural, educational, social and community service functions that meet the needs and interests of the community.”

“Are we missing something that we don’t understand?” Groner asked at a Parks and Recreation Commission meeting on Tuesday. “How Blue Flame’s use of the field was justified by the city?”

Groner said Wednesday the city should reconsider whether to ban the use of public fields for commercial purposes and by for-profit entities. Residents don’t want to see the fields turned into an entertainment venue, she added.

“This event should not set precedent for future private use,” Groner said. “There’s not a lot of public land in Palo Alto, so that land is very precious and should be used for the community. The field is not there to make a profit. It’s for residents’ needs.”

Another resident, Tammy Truher, also opposed the private use. At the very least, the city should have charged Palantir a rate comparable to event venues, she said.

Residents also questioned why the city did not attempt to discuss the rental, which will cause traffic disruptions, with the Greenmeadow Community Association before granting Palantir permission.

White said the incident has stressed neighbors and that the city should engage residents when approached in the future by for-profit entities requesting rentals of this magnitude.

“All of the track has been fenced in, and then there’s that green mesh. It’s totally creepy,” White said. “Further, we were disturbed by the fact that the letter and all the communications from the commission has been relating to Blue Flame, which isn’t the client who’s throwing the party at Cubberley. Palantir is the client throwing the party at Cubberley. Blue Flame is just an event production company. So that in of itself, in a very savvy town, just reeks of deception and is just not cool. Why did you allow that?

“… In the future, it’d be better if you engaged us and asked us whether or not we thought that a commercial event is appropriate for our community, particularly a company like Palantir, who we’re already in bed with. They’re running half of downtown and they’re a defense contractor, which, I grew up in Palo Alto, lived here my entire life, is not the values of this city. It’s simply not. People may come here and they don’t understand that it’s not what Palo Alto’s about.”

Kristen O’Kane, assistant director of the Community Services Department, told Parks and Recreation commissioners that the city put a lot of thought into the decision.

“They were in a pinch to find a venue that could hold all of their employees and they came to the city and asked for our help,” O’Kane said during the meeting. “We put a lot of thought into our response… And while it’s not typical for us to allow this sort of special event to occur on the field … we made the decision to support this local business and to issue them a special event permit to have the event.”

O’Kane pointed out that half of the field is open for public use most days and the city is working to help other groups reschedule or relocate. The city also sent letters to those living within 600 feet of the site and posted information on Nextdoor, a community online forum.

“We know there is an inconvenience,” O’Kane said. “We’re aware of that and we’re trying to mitigate that as much as possible.”

The city is charging the standard hourly rate for the rental, which amounts to about $40,000 in addition to other fees. It charges different rates for youths and priority groups, non-residents and nonprofit organizations.

The Palo Alto Soccer Club and the Stanford Soccer Club, which were scheduled to use the field, managed to relocate to other areas for the duration of Palantir’s rental. The company also agreed to pay facility fees at the new site for the two youth clubs as well as contribute $10,000 to each of the clubs.

Commissioner David Moss, who lives near Cubberley, said the issue is about displacing youth programming, including a track event involving five schools, but the problem also goes beyond that.

Palantir’s request should have raised red flags because of the time the field would be occupied. City staff also had two weeks to notify the neighborhood association but failed to do so, Moss said. He said this incident brings to mind the short notice residents got about Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ campaign rally at the same Cubberley field in June 2016, but at least “they set up in a day and they did their event and was gone the next day.”

“Even if it were a private event, if it was one with a public benefit, that would have been OK,” Moss said. “It was a private event, no public benefit, no notice and a huge impact of 2 ½ weeks, which is unprecedented. I think it’s something of a public relations nightmare. If we can avoid that in the future, any one of those red flags, but especially an event with all of those red flags, I would appreciate it.”