Dear City Council and Planning Commission Members,
I attended with great interest Monday night's Planning Commission meeting to better understand Facebook's Willow Village plan.
While I left impressed with the phasing plans, design team and some of the concepts presented, I also walked away with many
questions and concerns:
Traffic Mitigation
Given the scope of the new Facebook project, I am underwhelmed by the traffic mitigations mentioned at the meeting, by both
Facebook reps and City Staff.
Here is what Facebook mentioned:- A $100,000 investment in setting up a Transportation Management Association for downtown
businesses. Compare that investment to Facebook's 2017 revenue of over $40 billion.- Facebook's Transportation Demand Management
Program. This is mostly made up by the Facebook buses. About 50% of Facebook employees arrive in modes other than single occupancy
vehicles. Great.- Hints of the reactivation of the Dumbarton Corridor...assuming that it is "time and cost efficient." Promises of
more studies on that.- Underparking. They mentioned 1.7 parking spaces per 1,000.- The future of autonomous vehicles.
Here is what City Staff mentioned:- The same Transportation Management Association mitigation ($100,000 from Facebook) already
mentioned above.- The Transportation Master Plan. Note: This is a a plan that helps to identify and prioritize transportation
efforts. While the plan is a "Top 6" priority for the City, it is still a year away from being adopted (projected for Spring of
2019)...and then there's project identification, funding and implementation. We are years away from any relief associated with the
Transportation Master Plan.
While many claim that Facebook is a good neighbor and partner, they need to prove it. In exchange for their mass amounts of office
development (35,000 workers projected to be coming to MP in the next 10 years) there must be extensive community benefits. Teases
of Dumbarton bridge help and $100,000 program investments aren't enough. We need concrete and immediate transportation action.
While Facebook pointed out that most of the Willow Road traffic in MP is not theirs, they admitted on Monday that 15% of it is
Facebook. That's a lot of Facebook cars. They must do more other than fund studies and small programs to address our traffic
crisis. The City must hold them accountable to real action and tangible benefits. The City and Facebook must apply the same
intensity and can-do attitude to real transportation solutions as they are doing to push through the Facebook Willow Village.
On that note, what is the real plan for the giant Culture/Visitor Center that is planned for the corner of Willow Road and the
Dumbarton Corridor? There is talk that this could be converted into a transportation hub if the Dumbarton Corridor is activated.
Can we get further explanations and commitments from Facebook about this? It appears highly unlikely that this will indeed be a
Culture/Visitor Center (there is only so much Facebook swag people can buy). Please be upfront with us.
Housing
Two things jumped out at me with regards to housing...other than there will be 9,500 new jobs with only 1,500 new residential
units:- It appears that Facebook can build 1,777 residential units, not just 1,500. They must do that. Every unit counts.- There
was a discussion at the meeting about who the non-BMR residential units will be serving. It appears that to date, Facebook is
allowed to give preferential treatment to Facebook employees for the rentals (assuming no discrimination laws are broken). Is that
a good thing or not? I'm not sure. This definitely needs to be discussed and not left entirely to Facebook to decide.
Retail Shopping Area
Many times at Monday's meeting the planned grocery store was touted as a major community benefit (and one of the ones most highly
desired by Belle Haven residents). A grocery store was a top need that came out of the ConnectMenlo process and that's great.
However, for whom is the grocery store and associated retail area actually being designed for? I asked this question on Monday and
was told that it was for both the community and Facebook...that leaves me to these further observations/questions with regards to
different intended users of this retail (Belle Haven Residents, Facebook Employees, Other Menlo Park Residents, Commuters):
- Belle Haven Residents.It is unclear what type of grocery store and what types of restaurants and retail services will be at this
location. Since Belle Haven residents shoulder much of the burden of all this development, they should be the primary recipients
of the associated benefits.Many Belle Haven residents are living paycheck to paycheck.I'm assuming that Belle Haven residents need
affordable prices on grocery staples, including fresh food. This may not be what Facebook employees have in mind (think Whole
Foods). Picking the right grocery store may be a challenge (unless a Whole Foods-type market is significantly subsidized). The
same goes for the other restaurants and services.
Another issue related to the Belle Haven residents and the retail area is the challenge these residents will face trying to cross
Willow Road. At Monday's meeting this was brought up and both an overcrossing and improved/really good crosswalks were suggested.
This issue must be better thought out. I know some older Belle Haven residents who would have a hard time walking over Willow Road
in either of those fashions...and having Belle Haven residents drive to the new retail center will only add more cars. There are
also families with young kids who may want to take advantage of the open space being provided.One suggestion would be for a
reliable Facebook-funded/operated shuttle to serve the Belle Haven community every 15 or 30 minutes. Just as the Facebook campus
has many shuttles moving its employees from building to building, so too could it use these shuttles to move around its neighbors.
This seems like a very small price for Facebook to pay.
- Facebook EmployeesSomeone pointed out on Monday night that if Facebook employees are given all the free food and convenient
retail services they so desire on campus, why would they need to come to the Retail area to shop/dine? This is a huge issue that
needs to be addressed by Facebook. Also as mentioned, with regards to the grocery store, will the same grocery store that is
affordable and desirable to Belle Haven residents meet the needs of Facebook employees?
- Other Menlo Park ResidentsThis development is made possible by "ConnectMenlo" the General Plan Update. I'm a little confused
about how this development "connects" Menlo Park. Why would a Menlo Park resident (who doesn't live in Belle Haven or work at
Facebook) brave Willow/101 traffic to come to this new Willow Village? There are easier grocery stores to get to. There are many
restaurants on the other side of town. What's the draw or are the rest of us not intended to go there?
- CommutersI suppose that the 80% of traffic on Willow that neither starts nor ends in Menlo Park could decide to pull over to the
Willow Village and go to the market and/or grab a bite to eat. How likely is that? How much analysis has been done on this?
The traffic flow and transportation planning associated with different user bases needs to be considered now. How will Belle Haven
residents get there, how will other Menlo Park residents get there, how will Facebook employees from other campuses get there, and
what about commuters coming off of Willow Road? The distribution of shoppers/dinners who are expected to use this area of the
Willow Village must be thought through.
Judging by the presentation given, I am cautiously hopeful that Facebook has hired the right retail consultants to think through
these issues. If the retail corridor is the biggest community benefit that Menlo Park gets out of this development, it should be
done right and not set up to fail. We deserve an explanation of how this is supposed to work.
ConnectMenlo set a vision of "live, work, play." It's clear who will work at Facebook's Willow Village. It is less clear who will
live and who will play. Please clarify and do something so we don't end up with more "commute, work, commute."
Facebook has the right to develop, but we have the right to community benefits. Facebook is looking out for their interests,
please look out for ours.
Sincerely,Jen WolosinMenlo Park Resident
P.S. I would be remiss if I didn't mention Safe Routes in this email. In the Staff Report for Monday night's meeting there was
discussion about changing the roads from the original ConnectMenlo design to a design more compatible with Facebook's proposed
Willow Village. While I am not against this in principle, I'm concerned about the additional Transportation Department staff time
and resources an effort like this will require.
There is a dangerous backlog of Safe Routes-related safety issues that need to be addressed around Menlo Park. In the most recent
issue of The Almanac I wrote an editorial which lists 10 (of many!) intersections around town that pose immediate dangers to
pedestrians and cyclists. We can not continue to punt safety improvements in order to push through development projects. Perhaps
Facebook, being the good neighbors that they claim, could help us move these projects along, by both funding and offering
engineering support. The speed in which they are able to implement infrastructure improvements when it suits them is remarkable.
In exchange for their ability to modify the original ConnectMenlo road design, it would make sense to ask them to help us in our
city-wide engineering needs. This would really help to "connect Menlo".
