I moved to Menlo Park from a 5th floor *downtown Palo Alto* mixed use
building 29 years ago. Before that, I lived in a *downtown Burlingame*
apartment building. Downtown MP remains smaller than both and *it is even
sleepier now* with a growing number of closed / empty storefronts (by
contrast over 700 *active* businesses in downtown Palo Alto with a
much lower vacancy rate).
Those neighboring cities provide nextdoor examples of replacing
surface with garage parking (parking districts, etc.). Burlingame, Palo
Alto, Redwood City and San Carlos have all built affordable
housing downtown with*out* major loss of parking nor downtown business.
Indeed *all have more thriving downtowns* than Menlo Park.
Ive spoken with a few friends who live near downtown San Carlos and they
are quite pleased with Wheeler Plaza and the rise of more new businesses in
their previously sleepy downtown along Laurel Street (they kept their
Refuge while we lost ours).
I also spoke with a long time manager in Hassett Hardware who remembers the
prior opposition to an Alma affordable housing project that went up near
their building. She said they suffered *no* compromised business (they are
limited to only 4 on-site parking spaces!). Moreover, one of
their employees now lives in the next door multifamily housing building.
Despite the semi-controversy next to where I lived at the time, it was *not
a dire housing versus business survival decision*.
My wife and I favor building housing on the downtown lots with optimised
parking for local business employees, customers, *new* residents and *more*
specialty retail + service customers (+$2M annual revenue for *existing*
businesses projected).
We can *build* this.
-Paul & Jennifer Roberts
West Menlo Park
