Friends of Downtown Menlo Park,

There are 2 things you can do this week to help:

1. Complete the City Council Priorities Survey.

The survey is just one question, where you can express your support for finding better housing locations than the downtown parking lots. And please add the Saturday, March 22 Priority Setting Workshop to your calendar.

2. Attend the Fire Board meeting this Tuesday, Feb. 18th, 7pm, at District Headquarters, 300 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park.

At the last Fire Board meeting, there was a brief discussion about the plan to put housing in the downtown parking lots. The Chief said that typically the fire department would not give their opinion until there were specific proposals from developers. However, there was some pushback from a board member who stressed the importance of city planners knowing about the fire dangers before they go too far down this path. You can see that on this video from 30:20 – 32:45.

At next Tuesday’s meeting, people will be speaking to encourage the board to proactively consider the use of downtown parking lots for housing - without waiting. If a lot of residents show up to the meeting, it will send a strong message to the board, and anyone paying attention, that the community feels strongly about this issue. 

You don’t need to speak – just showing up will make an impression. So please add the meeting to your calendar, and we'll see you there!

Good luck,
SaveDowntownMenlo.org