I support the City Council in its proposal to create a RFQ for the potential development of downtown parking area for housing development.
The effort by some members of the public to prevent such a study is ill conceived as it assumes that getting more information from developers about the possibility of housing own this area means that is a fait accompli that housing would be built. This is not the case. It is a process for getting more information about the such a project, its pros and cons.
Downtown Menlo Park is by almost ll account struggling with vacant store fronts and a lack of appeal to the wider public as a place to shop, dine, and obtain services. IT lacks the vibrancy of its neighbors. Placing housing in this area would immediately create more customers for the downtown area simply because of proximity, And the nearby Caltrain station makes it a desirable location for commuters looking for alternatives to buses or driving. Many communities in the Bay Area a building apartments near rail transportation hubs as they see it as a logical means of increasing housing supply and decreasing carbon intensive travel.
The so-called NIMBY-YIMBY divide is an oversimplification of how to approach housing. What is needed is a a systems-based approach that does not look to assign blame for the housing shortage, but instead examines how the regional housing system can make smart adaptations to changes that are affecting not just Menlo Park but the entire Bay Area region. City level decisions must be made within the context of the regional system in which we are located and not be driven by hyperlocal politics.
Regards.,
Steve Taffee
25+ year resident of Menlo Park
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Steve Taffee
600 Willow Rd Unit 10
Menlo Park, CA 94025-2676
steve.taffee@icloud.com
