Hi,
I’ve seen some posts in Nextdoor about tomorrow’s city council meeting to discuss the possibility of building low income housing on existing downtown Menlo Park parking lots. I will not be able to make the meeting tomorrow night but wanted to voice my support. While much could be written on the subject, I will be brief.
* Housing affordability in Menlo Park is out of control. Only more supply will fix that.
* Near downtown areas and transit is the most logical place to build denser housing.
* Change is hard for people, but the future of our environment requires a less car centric culture anyway. Yes, more transit needs to be developed as well.
* Housing is a human right. People within the specified income brackets are in our community and deserve to be able to live here too.
* Socioeconomic diversity is beneficial to the community.
* Wouldn’t more people living downtown bring more business to the stores there?
Somewhat off topic, but somewhat related - there are a lot of empty storefronts downtown. I understand this has to do with the cost of rent. However, if the owner has no problem leaving their property empty rather than maintaining an existing rent paying tenant, the city should do something to motivate owners to keep tenants in the storefronts (whether that’s the existing, or quickly replacing with a new tenant).
For the record, I live near downtown Menlo Park and my household is considered middle class in this area. I would not qualify for low income housing and am also nowhere near being able to afford to buy a house here.
Thanks for reading my message.
-Kerri
Sent from my iPhone
