Dear Council,
I was so happy to see that 7 RFQ responses were received for homes (and parking) downtown. I’ve reviewed some of the materials and think it’s fantastic to have so many options to compare and contrast.
Like other commenters, I support:
- Building affordable housing, especially in this location (close to downtown businesses that employ workers who would qualify for these homes). Not only does a project like this strengthen our community and workforce, it’s a key requirement of our Housing Element obligations.
- Creative parking strategies that can support shared use of spaces, such as downtown visitor parking during the day and residential parking at night. Smart parking management not only reduces construction costs, making it possible to build more, more affordable homes, it also creates the physical space for more of the deeply affordable homes that we need for our community and Housing Element process.
- Creating more units at more affordable levels to make the most of this unique opportunity to use city-owned land
We’re fortunate that so many of our neighbors are planning similar projects (Palo Alto, Los Altos) or have already welcomed residents to homes on the site of former surface parking (Burlingame, San Carlos, Mountain View, San Mateo). Between these examples and the visions outlined in the RFQ responses, I’m inspired by this opportunity to modernize downtown with workforce housing, better parking, and more vibrancy all around.
Best,
Brittani Baxter
District 3 resident
