I live right next to this tree. Interestingly, the city of Palo alto also has some electrical plumbing attached to this tree. Not sure if it's for the tree's health or just some connections for the nextdoor train tracks.
The article actually talks about a misting system set up a few decades ago for the tree since coastal redwoods can take in a lot of their water from fog. It didn't make clear what the current status of that system was or I missed that part.
Redwoods are notoriously water hungry (and thus sometimes out of favor these days as part of landscaping these days), so it would not be surprising to install some help for this one.