Dear Mayor Nash and City Council members,
At last you’ve heard back from the developers from whom you requested RFPs. And at least three of them showed great foresight and wisdom.
I’m referring to the three that declined to submit proposals—likely due to the upcoming election on Save Downtown Menlo’s ballot measure that gives the residents the right to vote on any proposed housing in our downtown parking lots. This means community pushback at Council meetings, which went nowhere, suddenly translates into political activism giving power to the people.
Only three of the 6 developers were predatory enough to soldier on in the face of the ballot measure, perhaps finding the prospect of $50 million worth of land for $1 per year irresistible. That is, except for Presidio Bay, which hopes to snare not just the city’s phenomenally generous 30-year lease, but seeks an astonishing 99 year-lease—which will only expire long after the rest of us have.
Again the outlier, Presidio Bay refuses to provide ANY units for very low income renters—the ones the city is frantic to accommodate. After all, the landlord’s rental income will be much higher as a percentage of tenant’s income of 120% of AMI, i.e. $158,400 a year, than from low-income (30% AMI) at a mere $33,000 per year.
As for the remaining two candidates, Alta envisions 8- and 9-story buildings in our downtown prized for its “village character.” And Alliant craftily refuses to mention planned heights at all.
None of the three plan to preserve any street level parking, which is what our merchants need for their businesses to remain viable.
OK, Council: It’s back to the drawing board to ink in those alternative sites!
As painful as you might find this realization in the moment, in the end, abandoning your parking lot housing plan will prove to be a win-win for our city, allowing our downtown businesses to flourish, while compelling you to make better decisions as to the placement of our affordable housing projects in our current cycle.
Merry Christmas!
Cherie Zaslawsky
