Dear City Council, The Stanford Development on El Camino has a detrimental fiscal impact to the future of our city revenues and school district due to the university being a non-profit. Furthermore, the residents of Menlo Park should not ever be asked to make up the shortfall through more taxes. Stanford's endowment is one of the largest in the world despite their non-profit status. We should not be forced to pay for their benefits to their students. A $1M payment over 10 years or even $1.5M over 15 years to the MPAEF is a terrible concession, which will create an even greater structural deficit going forward for Menlo Park City and Schools. Prioritizing a $5M bike bridge/tunnel over our schools squanders public resources and benefits a handful of people. We need an ongoing financial benefit, to make up for the lack of City revenue on an ongoing basis or more creative interpretation of zoning regulations to ensure Menlo Park gets the revenue that is lost on an ongoing basis due to Stanford's non-profit status. If taxing rent is our only option, we should make sure they pay every cent. Although it is good that if they rent to non-students, they will pay taxes, the devil is in the details. A friend of mine, a Stanford employee NOT student, is living in such a subsidized apartment building in Los Altos (on El Camino south of San Antonio) and has a roommate, who isn't affiliated with Stanford. They only require one person to be Stanford-affiliated. Such arrangements and rent should be taxed. In addition, the subsidy provided by Stanford that would have allowed that apartment to be rented at market rate should be taxed. Please don't agree to such a horrible deal and come up with one that doesn't punish Menlo Park residents and schools. Best, Suzan Liao 132 Buckthorn Way Menlo Park, CA Received on Mon Sep 11 2017 - 07:50:38 PDT
