Mayor Combs and City Council Members,
I support more affordable housing in Menlo Park. I’m a renter at 847 Roble Ave. that makes a six figure salary. However I’m afraid I will be priced out of living in this area in the near future.
NIMBYism is an easy way to take a serious public problem (probably the #1 problem affecting Bay Area residents) and make it someone else’s issue. I want to encourage you to stay the course. There are ways to redevelop the downtown lots, add affordable housing, simultaneously preserve parking, and in doing so create more business for our downtown retailers, not less. As someone who walks to downtown Menlo Park almost daily, I’m excited by the prospect of more homes and more people invested in our community. The naysayers are willing to make Menlo bear the brunt of any state mandated fines for noncompliance, or the onerous outcomes from Builder’s Remedy solutions, rather than crafting our own future and answer to affordable housing in our area.
Don’t let NIMBYism prevent us from building the housing we so desperately need and price out residents like myself over time. Please stand firm in your decision and don’t adopt the Downtown Parking Plazas Ordinance. The future of our city depends on your levelheaded approach to address our most pressing problem without caving to the flimsiest of excuses to stop it.
Thank you for your service in representing the people of Menlo Park.
Best,
Kavita
