Dear Menlo Park City Council members,

Thank you for your efforts in finding creative locations for low income housing. It is much needed in the community, and your willingness to do so is greatly appreciated. As an active board member of the Bay Area Furniture Bank, I fully understand the challenges we face every day with not having enough affordable housing.

My business has been based in Menlo Park for a total of 18 years. I feel fortunate to be a part of this thriving community and a service provider for the housing industry for many years. My clients are on all levels of the financial spectrum, and we feel proud to provide this community with their housing and construction needs in the area of interior architecture and design. However, if our current parking is taken away - my business is doomed and will need to relocate to another city.

Let me explain. One of the biggest draws for our clients and many others we have talked to, is downtown Menlo Park has been attractive for the ease of parking. As we serve people living in this community, we find our clients find it convenient to come into our office for meetings after conveniently parking, grabbing a cup of coffee at Peets of Coffee Bar, picking up their drycleaning at Hoot n Toot, or having lunch at Left Bank, Bistro Vida, or Camper. ALL of these conveniences that currently benefit downtown Menlo Park businesses, will no longer be feasible. Not having adequate parking will turn potential clients away, thus we will be forced to relocate. I am a big contributor to non-profit organizations ONLY because my business has been sustainable due to its location and ease of parking. There is no current parking structure close enough to park during any construction, and if a new one were constructed close to our office, the havoc in the years-long building project would be a terrible disruption - thus moving out of Menlo Park would be the only option.

As an active member of Menlo Park Design District - an organization started several years ago by businesses who truly love Menlo Park, our primary goal is to bring more foot traffic and revenue to business owners who operate in downtown Menlo Park. Thus making it profitable for the City of Menlo Park. Taking away our parking would be detrimental to the hard work this wonderful downtown group has created. I plead that you please reconsider and relocate the housing development to less populated areas of Menlo Park. We would be happy to work with the City of Menlo Park in any way we can help.

Thank you for your attention.

Linda Sullivan
Menlo Park business owner since 2007
Member of the Menlo Park Design District
Board member of Bay Area Furniture Bank


[https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fci3.googleusercontent.com%2fmail-sig%2fAIorK4xZdND_OePfJuNQDMtLsMURhtu6qUoRT0f4jxBPATl7nayd3Arz5Gfr0irVxhloM493DlEug6s&c=E,1,BqZeMXRGiQdQCwCQ7PeEBm7623H-yVbUI5ApJ6ZmjqjntXz6kIzd0314zVtF1EPGdjndeBallmKrf-PuS_m7X1WvIYIxl5IPrEGfLzr86XNrKvWS&typo=1]
LINDA SULLIVAN | Principal
650.391.9300 | 883 Santa Cruz Ave #201, Menlo Park, CA 94025
SULLIVANDESIGNSTUDIO.COM

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