Update on the Parkline project at SRI

On Monday, January 23, Menlo Park’s Planning Commission will study an update to the Parkline project at the SRI site in a central location in the city, walking distance from downtown shops and services, parks and transit.

The updated proposal incorporates feedback from numerous residents who advocated last spring for the Parkline proposal to include more housing and more deeply affordable housing and now includes:

• 150 more homes (from 400 to 550)
• An acre of land dedicated to a non-profit housing developer to produce 100 homes for people who are most impacted by housing insecurity, such as extremely low income people with special needs.  

To support these improvements, sign this letter to the Planning Commission. We encourage you to share why this is personally important to you. 

We offer these talking points, but you are the expert in your own life and experience, and your personal story is your power. 

• Housing at all income levels keeps our community resilient, inclusive, and thriving.
• Here’s a cool recent batch of data from Arlington VA who saw a net decrease in traffic despite adding more units to the city, because of how the units are smartly clustered around transit
• We will not meet our Climate Action Plan goals without reducing the number of miles people commute to work in or near Menlo Park, simply because they cannot afford to live here.
• I support local businesses and want them to have a robust, local workforce who are able to thrive and contribute to the community in which they work. 
• I value equity and welcome people who have been discriminated against into all neighborhoods, parks and our schools.
• Dedicating land in this prime location to a non-profit affordable housing developer is a great way to meet hard-to-meet housing needs: seniors, large families, single-women headed households, people with developmental and physical disabilities.
• This site will be a strong applicant for federal, state, and county funds because of its proximity to transit and services.
• The developer has shown that they are willing and open to building more housing for people of all incomes and abilities. We should take advantage of this opportunity and work with them.

This project offers an opportunity to help Menlo Park achieve our legal requirement to affirmatively further fair housing and to help shape the city we all deserve.