Dear City Council Members,
I am a lifelong resident of Menlo Park and I am writing to express my strong support for building housing, including affordable housing, in the downtown Menlo Park area.
I would like Menlo Park to be more accessible to people of all income levels. I would also like Menlo Park to have a vibrant, walkable downtown area, with businesses that are open past 8pm and that provide a range of goods and services to bring our community together.
When opponents of housing downtown talk about maintaining Menlo Parks "village character" or "saving our parking lots," I understand that change is hard, but what I hear is that we need to maintain a community that is as exclusive as possible, both for individuals/families and for businesses. Based on the decades Ive spent living in Menlo Park, the character of Menlo Park has often been defined by half a dozen rug stores, a fairly constant rotation of vacant storefronts, and a few standout/wonderful businesses that manage to make it work in this community. My experience of our parking lots is that they are poorly designed and not well maintained; "saving" them is not high on my priority list, though I acknowledge that driving is still the main mode of accessing the downtown area, which is unfortunate.
Given the above, I ask that you not give in to the small but very vocal opponents to the downtown development proposals. I note that some of the survey responses shown in Attachment L come from individuals who do not live in Menlo Park; others are from individuals who decided to respond more than once.
In conclusion, I support the staffs recommendation to prepare and issue an RFP and to invite the four recommended developers to respond to it. I look forward to reading their more detailed proposals.
Thank you for your consideration.
Best,
Erin Kravitz
905 Continental Drive
Menlo Park, CA 94025
