Dear Menlo Park City Council, I have been a resident of Menlo Park for 15 years and in that time I’ve seen Menlo Park change rapidly from a place to raise a family, filled with small businesses and charm to it’s recent boom of development. The proposed building at 1170 El Camino is troubling. The building currently at that site, built sometime between 1888- 1900, not only hosts the charm of a simpler past but also an independently owned bookstore. The current proposal seeks to destroy the past to put up an unremarkable apartment block building in an unsuitable location. I know all too well how much housing is needed in Menlo Park and the site proposes 3 BMR apartments within the 9 apartments, which normally would be good news. I can’t help but think that the developer has leveraged housing and the BMR apartments to make the destruction of the original buildings and the possible shuttering of a 23 year small business a bit easier for the community to take. Feldman’s Books is more than just small, locally owned business, it hosts part of the heart of our community. The books connect the community with the written word and the shop connects us with one another, a place to feel the humanity of Menlo Park. I hope that the Planning Commission, City Council and the developer recognize their responsibility to the community and Menlo Park of the future by finding a way to save Feldman’s Books if they building is to be turned into an apartment complex. The closing of Feldman’s Books to money and development would be a deep loss to Menlo Park in what I see as another step in making Menlo Park a commuter town, businesses and no community. Please, don’t let that happen. Respectfully, Charlotte Layton Received on Sun Oct 06 2019 - 21:18:03 PDT
