Honorable Mayor and Council Members: Fundamental questions as to 1) who we are and 2) where we are going are becoming more and more urgent and important, with each passing day. All around us, we are seeing, and experiencing, the concept of OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW. When the dust settles, what will Menlo Park look like? Both El Camino Real and the Downtown area along Santa Cruz Avenue and side streets one can see significant amounts of transformation that is underway. The net result may be a city that is significantly changed that looks more like Los Angeles, Chicago or New York. The cozy, inviting town with a village feel is about to be buried, gone and perhaps forgotten. It is my belief that during the multi-year process of creating the Downtown Specific Plan, no one envisioned the mega growth of Facebook in the Belle Haven neighborhood, nor the plethora of other corporate activities being seen in many parts of the city. Gone are familiar places like the Roger Reynolds Nursery, Edy's Ice Cream Foster Freeze Ice Cream, Beltramo's Liquor and the Park Theatre. It seems like it is a matter of OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW. BEFORE it gets out of hand, allow me to suggest the City Council convene a summit, that is, a community meeting, perhaps call it a Town Hall Meeting, to address these fundamental questions of what 1) The Old Timers want for their beloved community and what 2) The New Timers want, embracing perhaps every changing and new technologies. It is clear we are never GOING BACK, but we may want to rethink where we are going? Respectfully, Jim Lewis, President Menlo Park Historical Association (MPHA) (speaking as an individual) Received on Sun Oct 01 2017 - 07:32:23 PDT
