Dear Menlo Park City Council,
I have lived in Vintage Oaks for 9 years, and Im writing today to express my enthusiastic support for building new affordable housing downtown. A fellow parent at my childs school, Morgan Ames, wrote this piece, and it encapsulates everything I believe, so instead of reinventing the wheel, I will forward it as I fully support all the points in her message.
Best,
Cassandra Lopez Loftus Cities all over California have blocked housing development for decades, leading to historically high housing prices all over the state. Now, for the first time in decades, the state is enforcing city housing elements, meaning that we have a HUGE deficit to make up. ALL neighborhoods need to do their part, but especially neighborhoods close to transit. Building on downtown parking lots is a historic opportunity to meaningfully address this deficit in a pro-transit, pro-density, climate-change-conscious way. From conversations with Drew Combs and discussions on NextDoor, I know this is a hot topic, but the arguments against housing all seem to be strawmen. Here are the main arguments Ive seen repeated: 1- "taking away parking" - it would be simple to include a parking garage! People on NextDoor are arguing that they are *certain* that wont happen, but there is NO design yet. Moreover, I often see ample parking downtown, and we just added a lot just across El Camino as well. I support PEOPLE over CARS. 2- "this would kill downtown" - Menlo Parks downtown is already struggling with high vacancies. Having more people live downtown would almost certainly make downtown businesses MORE vibrant.
3- "people who live in affordable units wont be able to afford Draegers" - given the proximity of Trader Joes, Safeway, and a number of other options, this is just ridiculous. 4- "traffic will be worse" - traffic through and around Menlo Park is bad in a large part because so many people cant afford to live close to where they work. These units, with their proximity to CalTrain and major bus lines, would enable a public transit lifestyle far more easily than even more building in flood-prone Belle Haven or elsewhere in the city. I for one would LOVE to couple this construction with the addition of more dedicated and separated bicycle lanes to make biking a safer and more viable alternative to driving for more of the population. In the long-term, Id also love to add light rail along all major thoroughfares throughout the city as well! 5- "we dont have the infrastructure" - Ive never seen any evidence for this claim. Moreover, if infrastructure DOES need to be upgraded for these developments, then that will be part of the project - which could potentially benefit the whole city by replacing and improving aging systems. 6- "we have to add housing because of Meta, so lets build more down there." This housing must be added not because of Meta, but because Menlo Park residents have for DECADES blocked housing that the city was legally mandated to add according to its housing element, and California has not been enforcing its housing element - UNTIL NOW. Moreover, Belle Haven has already had a HUGE amount of housing development, and a huge amount is still in the pipeline -- and I worry about much of this housing with rising seas because of climate change. It is time that ALL neighborhoods share the task of adding more units, including neighborhoods that have historically used their political power and wealth to block development, which includes all neighborhoods west of El Camino. (And speaking of power and wealth, Ive heard that some wealthy residents have already hired LAWYERS to oppose this, and its clear theyve poured money into large-scale marketing campaigns! Ive gotten professionally-printed full-color cardstock flyers on my car downtown and at Menlo Medical Clinic opposed to this development.) 7- "we dont have the school capacity" - we currently have unfilled capacities in Menlo Park schools, as our enrollments are down from where they were a decade ago. And if we need more capacity, we can build more onto existing schools, and I also see multiple opportunities for new schools on chunks of land like USGS/SRI, the former Sunset campus, schools in the Willows currently owned by Belle Haven district, and more. In short, this is something that we can address! 8- perhaps MOST ridiculously, Ive seen posts on NextDoor decrying the "red" buildings that people appear to be certain are going to be built, based off of renderings put on the city website that highlighted possible building profiles in red so we could easily see them. I see this as a clear sign that the anti-housing contingent is grasping at strawmen in their opposition. Again, I urge you on January 14th to support declaring parking lots as surplus land so we can build more badly-needed housing in Menlo Park. Please vote "yes" to new affordable homes downtown!
