Dear Menlo Park City Councilmembers,
As a resident of Menlo Park for over 15 years, I am writing to strongly support building homes on Menlo Parks downtown parking lots. Please move forward with this project (as outlined in your housing element) without further delay and distraction. I implore you to dedicate as much land as possible to these new homes, especially considering the large acreage of land downtown the city owns. This public good should be used to support the community of people that support the local businesses, including downtown employees, in the form of affordable homes.
We all benefit when young local families, teachers and employees can afford to live here. Affordable homes help our community stay safely housed, reducing local houselessness and allowing more of our children, working families and seniors to stay here. Local businesses thrive when they have customers and employees living nearby. Older residents living in large homes can downsize, opening new housing options for larger, growing families and enabling the elderly to live in a walkable, disability-accessible location,
Menlo Park can be part of the bigger solution to ensure everyone has a safe, stable place to call home by promoting housing on our downtown parking lots.
Sincerely,
Christine Kalaveshi
