Dear Mayor Nash and City Council Members,
I am writing to express my negative opinion regarding this Ballot Initiative Measure.
1. This initiative was funded and driven by wealthy, land-owning residents in Menlo Park and targeted to residents in wealthy, land-owning resident communities in a very, less than transparent way. Residents in other communities and of other demographics did not have an equal chance to respond in person at initiative tables/events. How about giving equitable access to all residents to weigh in on this?
2. Council Members are touting that they "support housing initiatives" just not in their districts/their donors' districts. Supporting housing only in dense housing communities and only near "mass transit and services" basically means Not in My Backyard (NIMBY). Mass transit and Services will adjust to a new market of consumers. SamTrans can add stops, and Services can cater to new clientele in a variety of ways, such as those we have seen during the pandemic. The wealthy, land-owning communities in Menlo Park are not food and service deserts. New residents living in these areas will be just fine.
3. This initiative flies in the face of recently signed legislation, California SB 9 and 10, which specifically allow for subdivision of lots, building duplexes on lots, and putting an end to single-family home zoning. The state is in a decades-long housing crisis. Menlo Park has been given a legal mandate to develop over 3,000 new homes. Working against state law in this way is selfish, deplorable, and potentially criminal. How can Menlo Park possibly meet its legal and moral obligation to build thousands of new housing units when some of its leaders are focused on preventing additional housing units in their own districts? What is going to happen when the state of California enforces the housing unit mandate? Some residents have suggested that the city just pay the fine which would leave residents with even fewer resources in the areas most in need.
4. Why is it ok to make existing dense housing areas more dense? As it is, residents in Belle Haven complain that it can take them an hour just to get into their neighborhood because of traffic from nearby businesses and a single street in and out of the neighborhood that has been a topic of conversation for years. The neighborhood also doesn't have the "services or transit" that some say are a must near new housing. Hard to explain why that would be a good idea when all it does is further divide Menlo Park, but perhaps that is the point.
5. Finally, instead of focusing on property values (and there is no evidence to suggest that duplexes decrease them), why can't the City and its residents (all of its communities) think about how we can provide much needed housing in a fair and equitable way?
I urge Council to reject this proposed initiative. If you refuse to do that, please commission a study of the impacts of the initiative and defer making the decision to adopt the initiative or put it on the ballot until the study results have been presented to the community and Council.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Johnson
Diversity without disability isn't diverse enough.
