Dear City Council members, I?m writing to urge you to pass a moratorium on major office projects in our city, and thereby to halt Facebook?s proposed massive project. Please remember whom you represent. It is the residents of Menlo Park. It is most emphatically not Facebook. In fact, Facebook represents a devil?s bargain for Menlo Park. The social media behemoth has already outgrown our town and is en route to expunging all that is left of our beloved village character. Facebook?s project?s name, ?Willow Village? is a slap in the face to our residents. When its properties in Menlo Park are fully built out, Facebook will have roughly as many employees as the city has residents. According to Facebook executive John Tenanes, the Willow Village project ?demonstrates Facebook?s commitment to building community while responsibly balancing Facebook?s future growth.? What is responsible about bringing nearly 2 million square feet of offices and 35,000 employees into our tranquil suburb? Not only that, but creating tens of thousands of jobs with no infrastructure makes our city extremely vulnerable to the Legislature?s proposed SB50, which would override our local zoning to put multi-family housing anywhere and everywhere in our suburban neighborhoods. Facebook?s proposed project is a lose-lose for our city. There is no reasonable argument for a development this out of character and disproportionate in Menlo Park, especially when Facebook could easily set up offices in other locations more suited to accommodating large workforces, such as parts of San Jose and other locations all over the area and all over the state. I urge you, Council members, to stand up to Facebook and halt the Willow Village, rather than being the council that destroys Menlo Park as a desirable place to live. Sincerely, Cherie Zaslawsky Received on Sun Jun 09 2019 - 22:40:48 PDT
