Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers,
Save Downtown Menlo is a grassroots organization that organically emerged from Menlo Park residents, property owners, and visitors who were frustrated and disillusioned by the City Council’s poor communication and execution of its focus on the three downtown public parking lots as sites for affordable housing. After failing to adequately consider all viable sites in Menlo Park for affordable housing, Council proceeded to complete a ‘double whammy’ and issue an RFQ for the downtown lots without any substantive reports on how such a development would impact downtown businesses, traffic, and parking.
Since the forming of Save Downtown Menlo (SaveDowntownMenlo.org) in late November, this organization has produced the following:
* Over 3,375 petition signatures opposing the City Council’s intent to allocate the parking lots as ‘surplus land’ to develop high-density affordable housing.
* A plea from over 115 documented downtown businesses opposing the use of the three parking lots for high-density affordable housing. The plan is a threat to their livelihoods, and it took them completely by surprise – many downtown businesses are disillusioned by City Council’s lack of outreach to assess their opinions and needs.
* The Save Downtown Menlo Legal GoFundMe https://gofund.me/b64d2b24 which in just over 5 days has raised over $100,000, with donations continuing to roll in. While we would prefer to avoid going down a litigious road, we will be prepared and funded for a multi-year process if the City Council does not prioritize finding better options than the downtown parking lots.
Many people in Menlo Park feel betrayed by their City Council’s half-baked plan to focus on the downtown parking lots for affordable housing. The message to your constituents has been: your needs might be important….but not as important as meeting State housing quotas. As the saying goes, “decisions made under pressure can have devastating outcomes”.
The City Council now has an opportunity to regain the lost trust of its constituents by doing the right thing with a broad and thorough evaluation of better potential affordable housing sites. We respectfully urge the City Council to alter its course, as this decision will forever be on the resumes of each Councilmember. We urge you to go back to the drawing board to evaluate better city-owned and private options for affordable housing.
Thank you,
Save Downtown Menlo
