Dear Mayor Nash and Council Member Taylor
Firstly let me thank you both for your continued dedication and sincere efforts in making Menlo Park a better place for all of us. I hope that the City follows your leadership.
I like to state my objection and protest to what is still transpiring with the CEOC and while the new efforts, are adorned in a new shiny cloak, they offer no improvements and in certain cases are even worse.
- The City, despite the thankful language in its posts, has yet to address the issues raised by the CEOC members (at least the former members and some of the existing ones - let’s call them the Group).
- The City continues to hush the voices of this Group. While the City continues to have presentations by the Staff, it still has not asked, nor given the opportunity to the Group to make its own independent presentation in a public setting, i.e., the Council meeting.
- I’ve been told that certain members of the Council have accused the Group of “abusing” or “harassing” the Staff. This has not be validated and when this allegation was brought up, every member of the Group (including those who still remain on the committee) = rejected it. If this is in fact true, I urge the Council member (or whoever else has made this allegation to come forward with facts because that member of Staff is owed an apology. That said, disagreements, even strong ones, are not the same as “abuse” or “harassment.”
- Similarly certain Council Member/s have publicly attributed the issues raised by the Group as to the Group “wanting for their role to exceed the scope of the committee.” This has been rejected as evidenced by exchange during an early CEOC meeting. Yet, this allegation continues to be made, damaging the reputation of the Group members.
- While all of publications by the Staff/City continue to use the correct lingo, nothing of substance has changed. In fact, I submit that the Menlo Park HE will remain vulnerable to challenge by the State (even though it is not as blatantly anti equitable housing as Woodside was) for issues including uneven high density housing in the affluent parts of the City and not providing “probability” of built for some of the sites. To simply provide a list of sites is not sufficient to meet the State’s requirements.
As to scope of the new CEOC, I bring to your attention the following text and how it has even been further narrowed by the Staff. If the City’s solution to dissent is to further reduce the voices of the community, well then I suppose that is in the intended direction.
Current Proposed Scope
:
The Housing Element Community Engagement and Outreach Committee (CEOC) assists the City in ensuring a broad and inclusive community outreach and engagement process. Committee members help guide and provide feedback on the types and frequency of activities/events/meetings and the strategies and methods for communicating with the various stakeholders in the community.
Roles and responsibilities:
- Serve as an ambassador of the project and encourage people to participate in the process
- Help guide and provide feedback on the community engagement plan
- Serve as a community resource to provide information to and receive input from the community on matters related to community engagement and public outreach
Previous Scope:
The CEOC’s overall purpose is to assist the City in ensuring a broad and inclusive community outreach and engagement process. Members will have an opportunity to help guide and provide feedback on the types and frequency of activities/events/meetings and the strategies and methods for communicating with the various stakeholders in the community. The committee does not provide policy guidance, though members are welcome to participate in planned events and meetings as individuals. The City’s Commission Handbook, included as Attachment B, is a good resource for advisory bodies on a number of topics, from preparing motions to code of conduct to Robert’s Rules of Order. The primary responsibilities of the CEOC would be to:
- Serve as an ambassador of the project and encourage people to participate in the process;
- Help guide and provide feedback on the community engagement plan; and
- Serve as a community resource to provide information to and receive input from the community on matters related to community engagement and public outreach.
The primary responsibilities of each member would be to:
- Identify effective ways to inform and engage the various stakeholders about the project;
- Commit to constructive dialogue, mutual respect and collaboration; and
- Share local knowledge.
Warm Regards
Soody Tronson
Menlo Park resident.
On Feb 5, 2022, at 6:30 PM, Nash, Betsy > wrote:
Good evening!
The City Council meeting on Tuesday night includes an agenda item about the future of CEOC. Links to the agenda and agenda item are provided below (and attached as a PDF for convenience):
Council meeting 2/8 agenda:
https://beta.menlopark.org/files/sharedassets/public/agendas-and-minutes/city-council/2022-meetings/agendas/20220208-city-council-agenda-packet.pdf
Agenda item #I4. Consider 1) modifications to the composition and charge of the Housing Element Community Engagement and Outreach Committee, and 2) the use of a Community Based Organization to supplement the housing element update’s community outreach and engagement efforts (Staff Report #22-032-CC)
https://beta.menlopark.org/files/sharedassets/public/agendas-and-minutes/city-council/2022-meetings/agendas/20220208-city-council-agenda-packet.pdf#page=430
Also, there is a Housing Element Update Community Meeting - Goals and Policies on Saturday 2/12 from 10am-12noon. More information is available at https://beta.menlopark.org/Citywide-calendar/Public-meetings/20220212-Housing-Element-Update-Community-Meeting-Goals-and-Policies.
Thank you,
Betsy and Cecilia
[cid:CMP_Email_Logo_100dpi_05d92d5b-e8e3-498f-93a6-d0da509bd602111111111.png]
Betsy Nash
Mayor
City Hall - 2nd Floor
701 Laurel St.
tel 650-380-3986
menlopark.org
From: "Nash, Betsy"
Date: Thursday, February 3, 2022 at 7:17 PM
To: Max Fennell , Victoria Robledo , Dan McMahon , Lesley Feldman , Yadira Disiena , Soody Tronson , Nehezi Ollarvia , Richard Li , Michal Bortnik , Aaron Spaulding , Tiffany Dao
Cc: "Taylor, Cecilia"
Subject: CEOC update
Hello,
Thank you for your participation on CEOC. And additional thanks to those who participated in our 1/16 meeting. A staff report involving CEOC will be posted tomorrow; we will send it to you when it is released. Your service to the community is invaluable and we look forward to working with you in the future.
All the best,
Cecilia and Betsy
<20220208-city-council-agenda.pdf><20220208-city-council-agenda-packet I-4CEOC.pdf>