Dear City Council Members:
The purpose of this email is to address three points regarding housing in Menlo Park.
1. City Parking Lots should NOT be used for housing. I do not see any of the 7 RPQs as being acceptable to the majority of Menlo Park residents (see item 3 below).
2. Alternative locations are a far better solution including USGS. Put a bond measure on the ballot for the purchase of USGS for the express purpose of housing only. Alternative properties should NOT be for additional business or office space such as what is being proposed at 80 Willow Road (which is an abomination and not helpful for the housing requirement).
3. The City Council’s survey does NOT represent the majority of Menlo Park residents as the petitions demonstrate. Petitions demonstrate that more than 4,000 residents are against using the City of Menlo Park parking lots for housing versus 300 supporting it.
If you want an accurate count, it seems the City Council should put the whole topic of using the parking lots for housing on the ballot and letting the public vote. The City Council surveys are NOT representative of the whole of Menlo Park.
If revitalization of the city is the council’s number one goal, then making a firm decision to NOT build on our city parking lots would go a long way in achieving that goal. Business owners see taking away the parking lots as a sure way to destroy their businesses and not supportive of a “revitalization.”
