I’ve been a resident here in Menlo Park since 1993. It’s been a wonderful town to raise my family. The one thing I could never understand is why our Downtown is so poorly developed.
We know the effect of the pandemic on business, but the decay of our downtown started way before that. I recall when city council engaged an outside urban planner to reimagine what our downtown could look like and held public meetings for comment. It was exciting to see how the downtown could be reimagined. Nothing ever came out of that.
50 percent or more of the shops downtown are shuttered. The concrete barricades used to extend dining areas into the street really add to the pathetic post pandemic look, and disrupt traffic. The light fixtures and planting areas are remnants from the 1950s. Face it, everything is rundown and dated.
Now it appears city council is really excited about adding affordable housing. I get that we need to contribute our share of such housing. But let’s not add to the mess that is the downtown without a plan to revitalize this sad street scape.
Such a major change to the downtown should not proceed without the development of a master redevelopment plan for the entire downtown. That should include parking structures to compensate for the surface parking lost. It should also include removal of barricades, new sidewalks with public seating areas, new landscaping, lighting, etc. Hire some talented urban planning firm to reimagine a pleasant downtown that will attract new businesses and bring people to downtown.
For such a wealthy community, it’s pretty hard to understand the total neglect of the downtown. Please do this right and get professional help.
Ed Rivera
660 Hobart St
Menlo Park
Sent from my iPhone
