Friends of Downtown Menlo Park,

At last week’s Jan. 28th meeting, Council took a small, but important, step in our direction: they approved a motion by Councilmember Schmidt for a staff report exploring the feasibility of other city-owned lands, including the Civic Center, as alternative sites for housing.

Council deliberations seemed to indicate that such a report would show that there are in fact other viable, city-owned sites, and that the “second piece” (in the words of Vice Mayor Nash) will be to explore those sites further and get more public input. In response, City Manager Justin Murphy said that this initial staff report could then be used to frame a public discussion at a study session.

(Whether this upcoming staff report will actually lead to a serious exploration of alternate sites remains to be seen. We need to hold Council to it!)

Things were almost taken even further when Mayor Combs suggested that the RFQ (Request for Qualifications) for the parking lots be paused. But the other councilmembers did not want to go that far, stressing that the RFQ does not commit them and would be helpful for information gathering. Vice Mayor Nash said that she is open to making a decision, up or down, after RFQ submissions have been reviewed.

The RFQ submissions from developers are due by March 31st. That gives us two months to make it clear that our downtown parking lots are not an acceptable site for housing, and that we must do better.

So reach out to City Council and encourage your neighbors to do likewise. Tell Council that you expect to see a earnest exploration of alternative sites, and soon.

Good luck,

Save Downtown Menlo

P.S. You can watch the Jan. 28th meeting here. Public comment (vastly in our favor) goes from 1:50:00 - 2:21:20 and 2:33:50 - 3:03:00. Council deliberations are from 3:03:00 - 3:40:40.