Palo Alto voters face two separate sales tax measures on the Nov. 3 ballot, and a free forum Thursday will let them grill campaign representatives on both.

Palo Alto Forward is hosting "Ballot Measure-A-Palooza," with the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County and other regional housing and transit groups as partners, from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Mitchell Park Community Center's Matadero Room, 3700 Middlefield Road.

Six measures will be represented. Two carry the biggest local weight.

Measure J, placed on the ballot by a unanimous City Council vote on June 8, would add a half-cent city sales tax generating an estimated $15.6 million a year, according to the city's ballot measure page. The council's stated intent is to buy 7 acres of the Cubberley Community Center site from Palo Alto Unified School District for $65.5 million and fund Phase 1 of a redevelopment plan. The measure needs a simple majority and has no sunset clause. A May poll showed 55% of residents leaning toward support, a narrow margin that prompted early discussion of postponing the vote to 2028, Palo Alto Online reported.

Jeanne Fleming, a Palo Alto resident leading the campaign against Measure J, told Palo Alto Online in a Sept. 24 article, "I'm fine with developing Cubberley; I just think it needs to be done openly and honestly."

Measure RTM would add a separate half-cent sales tax across San Mateo, Santa Clara, Contra Costa and Alameda counties and a full cent in San Francisco. The tax would run 14 years and generate roughly $980 million a year regionwide, first reported by the Mercury News. Caltrain would receive about $70 million annually. The measure needs a simple majority.

The stakes are concrete for Palo Alto commuters. Without new revenue, Caltrain has proposed eliminating weekend service, closing more than a third of its stations and cutting frequency to one train per hour, the Mercury News reported. Palo Alto's two Caltrain stops, at University Avenue and California Avenue, sit at the center of the city's transit-oriented housing pipeline. Nine housing projects totaling 341 homes have been proposed near those stations under SB 79, according to Palo Alto Online.

If both Measure J and Measure RTM pass, Palo Alto's combined sales tax rate would rise to 10.75%, Palo Alto Online reported.

Three statewide and neighboring-city measures round out the forum. Proposition 1 would authorize $11.25 billion in state bonds for affordable housing, with the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office estimating it could subsidize up to 40,000 affordable rental units and help 40,000 households buy homes. Proposition 43 would amend the state constitution to require two-thirds voter approval for citizen-initiative special taxes that currently need only a simple majority, according to the Sacramento Bee. Menlo Park's Measure P and Los Altos' Measure D complete the lineup.

The Housing Leadership Council has stated positions on each measure, supporting Measure RTM and Prop 1 and opposing Prop 43.

The last day to register to vote is Oct. 19.