Dear Menlo Park City Council, I am writing this to express my opinion that the street closure on Santa Cruz Avenue is very damaging to the success of retail businesses in downtown Menlo Park. The street is hard to navigate and the fact that people can no longer drive down the street and explore what stores are here limits us in ways we can’t imagine. Unless the knowledge of a business is already implanted in the mind of the consumer, there is no way to know what lies behind the barricades, which are themselves an eyesore. So there is much less chance of attracting new visitors and clients to our downtown area. While this may benefit a few restaurants in their efforts to survive, it seems that they are already adequately served by the previously established dining areas outside and their increasing use of spaces previously dedicated to parking. One can only imagine what sort of dismal fall and winter season we have ahead of us with the advent of returning rains. This town is losing its charm, and the ever-increasing vacant store fronts should be ample proof of what I am observing on a daily basis in terms of greatly decreased foot traffic. Please open Santa Cruz Avenue to automobile traffic. This town was not designed as a shopping mall, and simply willing it to be so will not make that happen. Allow the restaurants continued use of street parking if needed during this onerous pandemic, but please do not isolate us from the rest of the peninsula. People develop patterns in their behaviors, and the continued closure of Santa Cruz Avenue is sure to result in a pattern for most that can easily be summed up as “Avoid downtown Menlo Park at all costs”! Stanford mall is the biggest beneficiary of our short-sightedness. Is that what we really want? Sincerely, Stephen Miller Stephen Miller Gallery stephen_at_(domainremoved) 650-327-5040 Received on Tue Aug 18 2020 - 18:17:57 PDT
