Members of City Council and Staff,
I have hesitated to provide comment because I have heard the previous commentary from downtown business owners and citizens not in favor of street closures and streeteries not be taken with much consideration.
The same words come up time and time again regarding downtown. As much as everyone thinks that this street closure has activated downtown, it hasn’t. The only thing that has happened is two businesses have done what they want and not much else. Has everyone forgotten the pointed words from Harvest?
Street closures and streeteries are not cures, they are band-aids. They take us away from what a downtown is supposed to be—the main business and commercial area of a town or city. One of the goals in the General Plan is to create a “high intensity pedestrian oriented retail street.” Again, I just don’t see how street closures and streeteries gets us to that point. It’s too piecemeal, not enough big picture. All the sidewalk dining has not had a pleasant effect on the pedestrian experience and I haven’t seen much mind be paid to improving that part of it. Tables are often too close for comfort and servers appear not to be trained in looking out for people using a sidewalk for their intended purpose.
As I heard Councilman Combs say in a previous meeting, the time to talk about the future of downtown is now. I hope a serious conversation is forthcoming. Everyone seems to move on, even laugh it off, when the issue comes up. Menlo Park has been paralyzed in it’s revitalization efforts. Keep it simple stupid. Forget a carless paseo. If it hasn’t happened at this point, it won’t. Will there ever be incentives and later consequences for building owners to put tenants in place? Can we get them to do pop up shops in the interim? This is where the success of downtown will lie. I get that people want to gather and enjoy the street market, but is there a better place? Fremont Park is used for concerts, could the market be set up there?
I also, unfortunately, don’t have confidence that we would end up with and maintain safe, attractive, and accessible spaces. Downtown currently seems to be operating without any standards in place. The red brick sidewalks are black, trash cans are not being emptied properly, existing planter boxes attached to business’ storefronts are not being maintained. I understand a downtown crew was budgeted for, when will we see them in action? No one visiting from out of town would think we have any pride in our city and seeing the state of very basic things leads me to believe we have given up. It all seems like a lot of work for not a lot of result.
Katie
