Mayor Taylor, Vice Mayor Combs, and City Council Members Doerr, Nash, and Wolsin -
Im writing to express my strong support for the recommendations regarding downtown parking lots in Item G1 at tomorrows (Nov 19) City Council Meeting. I believe that the courses of action outlined make good on the well-considered plan that Menlo Park approved as part of its Housing Element, and the affordable housing that hopefully results will help us live up to the goals we have agreed upon as a city. I am excited that staff has moved to prepare a draft RFQ, and I support the City Councils approval of its release.
The most important thing to note in my view is that the City has undertaken a thoughtful and thorough process to get to this point. This recommendation is directly in line with the Citys carefully constructed Housing Element approved by California HCD. After considering a multitude of potential strategies to meet our required Regional Housing Needs Allocation, the City specifically named in its Housing Element the use of downtown parking lots for this type of housing. Far from being a fast-moving project without due consideration, this plan has been well considered and thought through for years by our City.
I have lived in Menlo Park for 8.5 years, and I plan to live here for many more. I frequent and appreciate lots of businesses downtown, and I care about the Citys having a vibrant downtown with wonderful businesses. I believe that the proposals in Item G1 do a wonderful job at balancing needs for parking with the imperative for our City to provide sufficient housing. I believe that building more housing downtown is likely to create a more vibrant downtown, because there will be more people living closeby to frequent the businesses there! I understand there is concern about parking, but personally I see two main reasons why the proposed path forward will be good for the city: (1) First, more people living closer to downtown creates a larger customer base for businesses who are based downtown, in turn creating a more vibrant and attractive area for businesses to call home; and (2) City staff has evaluated the need for parking, and the recommendations in Item G1 include plans to ensure requisite parking.
Finally, I will note that parking is not the only way to patronize downtown--I personally bike or walk downtown almost every time I go there, and lots of others do (and can) as well. While parking is one consideration we should consider (again I will note in this case that the plans include replacement of existing parking), it should not override the strategy Menlo Park has carefully crafted and instituted as part of our Housing Element.
I strongly urge the City Council to take the steps recommended in Item G1.
Sincerely,
Andrew Ehrich
