Dear Mayor Nash and Members of the City Council,
I am writing as a Belle Haven resident and as someone who has worked as a social worker.
I want to be clear about where I stand: I support building more housing in Menlo Park, and I especially support building more affordable housing.
I live in Belle Haven, so I know firsthand that transportation is a real issue. During peak hours, a trip of roughly 1.3 miles from the Marsh Road and Constitution Drive area toward Chilco Street and Terminal Avenue can take me 20 to 40 minutes. At times, that means traveling at little more than walking speed. I am a cyclist, so I can sometimes avoid some of the congestion by bicycle, but not everyone has that option.
Belle Haven also has fewer everyday services than other parts of Menlo Park. We do not have a bank or pharmacy, and residents often have to leave the neighborhood for basic necessities.
I understand why people are concerned about additional development and traffic. But I do not think we should make the mistake of treating these as an either-or choice. We need housing, and we need transportation improvements.
What concerns me is when legitimate concerns about transportation, infrastructure or neighborhood impacts become reasons to continually delay housing.
Menlo Park is considering major projects at Constitution Drive, the former SRI campus, the former Sunset Magazine campus and potentially downtown sites.
Rather than asking whether we should build the housing or address transportation, I believe we should ask: How do we build the housing while making the necessary transportation investments at the same time?
If additional infrastructure is needed, let us identify it, fund it and build it alongside the housing.
I do not want the City to wait until thousands of people have moved in before addressing transportation. But I also do not want people who need housing today to be told that they have to wait for every transportation problem to be solved first.
We often treat tomorrows problems as if they are more important than todays needs. But for someone who cannot afford a home today, tomorrow is not an acceptable answer. That is especially important when we talk about affordable housing.
Many of us in Belle Haven also feel that the history of redlining and unequal investment continues to affect our community today. I would not presume to know the motives of every person who opposes a particular development. But I believe we should be honest about the consequences of housing policy.
When affordable housing is difficult to build in communities with high property values, we should ask who gets to live here and who is being priced out. As a homeowner, I understand the desire to protect the value of ones home. I want my home to be valuable too. But I also believe that a home should be more than an investment. I do not believe the value of my home should come at the expense of someone elses opportunity to have a home.
As someone who has worked as a social worker, I have seen how poverty and housing insecurity affect individuals and families. Poverty does not discriminate, but our systems can.
I believe Menlo Park can do better.
We can build housing.
We can build affordable housing.
We can plan for transportation.
And we can make the necessary infrastructure investments as our community grows.
My request to the Mayor and City Council is simple: Please do not allow transportation and infrastructure concerns to become a perpetual reason to delay housing. Instead, require transportation and infrastructure improvements to move forward alongside the housing we need.
People need homes today.
Let us plan for tomorrow without forgetting the people who are living today. Thank you for your consideration.
Eduardo Hernandez
Belle Haven Resident
