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Dear City Council Members,
As a resident of Menlo Park, a city that I truly enjoy living in, I wanted to take this opportunity to provide my support to not only extend the street closures and outdoor dining spaces in Downtown Menlo Park through at list summer of 2021 but to also encourage the City Council to be forward thinking in making more permanent and attractive changes to the entire downtown space in order to attract more businesses and patrons to the downtown and create a desirable central location for people young and old to shop, dine and safely socialize.
I personally live close to the downtown and walk to Santa Cruz Avenue regularly. I have had the pleasure of dining at several outdoor restaurants since they were closed to indoor seating including Bistro Vida, Stack's, Camper and Refuge. I especially enjoyed the Saturday night social distance dancing in the street outside of Bistro Vida. The opportunity to walk downtown for a wonderful meal, stay at the same establishment for dancing and drinks, and then walk home at the end of the night was priceless. Honestly, I feel like it took a pandemic to put some life back into Santa Cruz Avenue. It was becoming a sleepy street with increasing business closures up and down the avenue. It feels like downtown Menlo Park is on the brink of extinction. Santa Cruz Avenue is our city's Main Street and if we can't figure out a way to redefine how that street can thrive in a timely and efficient manner then we will be saying goodbye to the heart of our city.
One thing I have noticed while walking and dining in Menlo Park is that not all outdoor dining spaces in downtown are created equal. Restaurants like Bistro Vida, Left Bank and Stack's have their own deck spaces on the street with attractive planters filled with lovely foliage to provide an aesthetically pleasing and inviting setting while also being an effective barrier from the traffic. However, I have noticed that restaurants have quite the opposite with not so attractive white barricades that lack the same charm that is seen at these other restaurants and they also seem to lack a large number of people eating at these establishments. I feel that if the city could make a commitment to maintain the street closures where it seems appropriate, help restaurants create attractive and safe outdoor spaces, and utilize the closed streets to bring in other activities like a Farmer's Market or music, then the whole downtown could benefit. There needs to be more equality when it comes to helping all businesses create inviting spaces for their patrons so that people who walk up and down the street feel drawn to take the time to try out a variety of eating establishments both on and off Santa Cruz Avenue. While the quality of food is a huge draw for getting clientele to visit and keep coming back to a restaurant, research also shows the atmosphere is also extremely important to people in choosing a place to dine. Helping restaurants to create that attractive atmosphere can help bring more business to all of the downtown and increase revenue for those businesses that have not.
In his blog post Creating a More Vibrant Menlo Park, Dana Hendrickson (2020) provided a well-thought out list of recommendations for the City Council to consider in moving forward with continuing to aide restaurants, make the downtown safe and appealing and also create an advisory committee who would essentially be in direct contact with the businesses and residents collecting feedback and exploring ways to make improvements to the downtown. I whole heartedly agree with Mr. Hendrickson and hope you will consider putting this advisory group in place quickly to help our downtown become more cohesive with planning and decision making so Menlo Park can have a main street to be proud of.
Warm regards,
Sena Felt
Menlo Park resident
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