Dear City Council Members,
Thanks for the opportunity to speak during public comments this evening. In light of the upcoming council goal setting process Id like to share some thoughts on prioritizing downtown Santa Cruz Avenue. Thanks for all you are doing and for considering my input.
Ben Eiref
Santa Cruz Ave.
Menlo Park Resident
Thanks to Mayor Combs and council
My name is Ben Eiref. Im a longtime resident in the city. I was a member of the DT vision committee in late 2000s and Member of the planning commission through 2015
With all the focus on housing in the last few years, I thought it would be worth taking a step back to reflect on the broader journey of our downtown, celebrate our progress, and see what we need to prioritize.
In 2012 after input from thousands of residents, the city created a specific plan for the downtown Santa Cruz Ave and El Camino area. The plan has been updated and it’s part of our general plan. It contains a vision for a vibrant city thats great for pedestrians and bicycles, with improved parking and circulation, more open space, connectivity, and also the possibility for new development and housing.
Now, thirteen years later we can really see that our downtown has become a tale of two cities - One along El Camino where we have substantial new development and momentum and the other along Santa Cruz Avenue where things are not going well.
On El Camino we have Springline and Middle Plaza and developments by the train station and along Alma which contain hundreds of new apartments, high quality restaurants, wider sidewalks and planters, and large underground parking lots. Springline even includes a public dog park with restrooms. It looks great. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent here.
Across the road we have the Guild theatre which has become a mecca for music fans with bands like Bob Weir, the English Beat, and the Wallflowers. On the edges of Santa Cruz Avenue we have the Coffeebar, the Luminaire building, and Lorettas bar.
But this is where the tale of goodness ends. The entire middle section of Santa Cruz Avenue is a mess. The sidewalks are badly cracked. The water fountains are broken. There are strange wooden structures dating from the 1970s. The sidewalk bump outs are important but very inconsistent and not permanent. I’m guessing that we have the highest vacancy rates in the history of the city with almost entire blocks of empty storefronts. Frankly it sends a message of lack of leadership and trust and it’s hurting the community and its reputation and ability to succeed.
But you can help us turn this around quickly by putting the downtown on your priority list. To that end I have three specific recommendations for you to consider.
1. Consistent with the downtown specific plan please prioritize the Santa Cruz avenue streetscape and key pedestrian only areas. There are some quick wins here with removing the broken fountains, adding new furnishings, and making some of the widened sidewalks permanent. The plan recommended doing these things in the first five years so we just need to do what the plan asks us to do. There’s no need to hire consultants or ask for permission.
2. Second, consider expanding use cases for businesses along Santa Cruz to promote services that the community really needs. In a world of Amazon and Doordash, we should rethink the notion that all downtown needs to be traditional retail. For example, would a yoga studio or a program space for kids and youth be a better use for the empty Pharmaca building and would that drive additional foot traffic to Petes and Dreagers and the rest of the downtown? At the same time let’s recalibrate the zoning, benefit, and permitting for SCA to incent landlords to make improvements. Consider a vacancy tax. .
3. Third, and thinking more outside the box, consider working with residents to create a separate community entity to coalesce feedback from residents, businesses, and property owners. We have several successful playbooks already from the Guild and Keplers - and in other cities like Los Altos - where the community stepped up to help develop and drive community services. The Guild was created as a non-profit and funded with $34 million by a group of local residents and investors who wanted to bring music to Menlo Park. It was specifically prioritized by the city council and it got done. Lots of residents are paying attention and asking questions. Perhaps we can create some new playbooks to revitalize the rest of the Santa Cruz Avenue area.
Thanks for all that you do for Menlo Park and for hearing my input. I plan to attend the priority setting meeting in two weeks and I will also send my speaker notes to the council alias.
Ben Eiref
