Dear Menlo Park City Council members, Please read the comment chain below from today’s NextDoor to get some views on parking in downtown Menlo Park. Thank you, Anita Ochieano Parking midday in downtown Menlo Park has become a huge headache. Last week I drove to Palo Alto rather than shop at the Ace Hardware on Santa Cruz Avenue. Not shopping in my own community did not feel right but I knew going elsewhere is often more convenient. For example, on two recent occasions I tried unsuccessfully to find a parking space in the plaza near Gray’s Paint and left without stopping. Unfortunately, the downtown-parking problem will get much worse, especially once the Station 1300 and Middle Plaza developments are completed. View the entire post at https://www.almanacnews.com/blogs/p/2019/07/08/more-bad-news-downtown-parking-will-get-much-worse I welcome your comments on my posts and encourage you to share my blog with others. Thank you! Dana Hendrickson John O'Brien https://nextdoor.com/profile/35096981/ > , Park Forest·2 hr ago Maybe instead of driving solo to downtown Menlo Park or Palo Alto, you should explore alternative commute opportunities. Rather than relying on others to solve our first world problems, we need to rely on ourselves and take responsibility for the impact we are making on our planet. Thank Anita Ochieano https://nextdoor.com/profile/15564/ > , Stanford Oaks·1 hr ago Unfortunately there are times when driving to downtown is what works. I walk to downtown often because I have the time and enjoy walking, but if I'm buying a gallon of paint or picking up cleaning, walking or biking do not work. Some are not physically able to walk or bike downtown. Others might be on their way home from work, have time constraints, or have a bunch of small children with them. Sometimes foul weather is not conducive to walking or biking. Like Dana, I've had occasions when I've been unable to find a space. After wasting gas for 15 minutes, I head for Redwood City. We have wonderful merchants and restaurants downtown that we should support. Over the last five years many parking spaces have been eliminated so this support can be difficult. Several years ago when I asked a member of the traffic commission about the lack of parking, she said "The problem isn't too few parking spaces, the problem is too much demand for parking." So is her solution to have all our merchants go out of business so the demand goes away? Today's Daily Post quotes the owner of Roundtable Pizza who says his private lot is often filled with non-customers' cars so his customers have no place to park. Tricia Young https://nextdoor.com/profile/64426/ > , West Atherton·1 hr ago I go to Ace Hardware on Woodside Rd in Woodside Plaza. Because of lack of parking I hardly ever go downtown Menlo Park anymore. Either Stanford Shopping Center or Redwood City for me... especially because they’ve taken away parking spots for the ugly pop out restaurant cafés. David Lehmann https://nextdoor.com/profile/1889338/ > , Vintage Oaks·1 hr ago Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Redwood City, all have downtown parking garages. What is Menlo Park's problem? Received on Mon Jul 08 2019 - 18:15:34 PDT
