Menlo Park has been considering a proposal for housing, offices and amenities at SRI by Parkline since last Spring. After meetings on January 23 and February 6, the City of Menlo Park Planning Commission made improvements to the proposal that increased the number of total homes at the site to 550, and dedicated an acre of land for 100 deeply affordable homes.
The City has listened to community feedback, and on March 14 the City Council made another big step towards bringing this proposal closer to reality. The Council voted to approve the Environmental Impact Review scope, which includes studying the impact of up to 800 total homes on the site. This opens the door to improving the proposal’s housing to jobs ratio, and potentially increasing the number of deeply affordable homes.
As the City continues to move this proposal closer to reality, we will keep you updated on opportunities to shape it. Stay tuned!
On March 18, Menlo Park City Council held its first priority-setting session since before the Covid pandemic.
The top priorities, according to dots allocated by Councilmembers, were Housing (with 4 dots), and in no special order, Emergency Preparedness, Climate Action, Activating Downtown and Economic Development, and Safe Streets with three dots each (apologies for a photo that cut off the 4th Housing dot.)
The City Council’s priorities affirm several of the top priorities recommended by Menlo Together, in a letter that highlighted the importance of implementing the city’s plans for Housing; Environmental Justice and Equitable Electrification; and Sustainable Transportation. These are all areas where the City has completed, or is finishing major plans, and it is good to see the council focusing on implementation.
While the topics of Advancing Equity and Community Engagement got two dots each (lower than the threshold to become a top priority), we hope that these practices can be woven into the way that the city goes about its business, so that when issues are brought to City Council for review, that city staff will highlight the steps toward equity and the community engagement as a matter of course. The topics of Housing, Climate Action and
Environmental Justice, and Street Safety had received input from many hundreds of residents over the last year and in recent years. The City Council reviewed input from residents solicited specifically for the priority setting session. Items that received the most feedback include advancing a Quiet Zone to reduce train horn noise, a project which is currently in progress with a community outreach meeting coming up on March 23, and residents wanting space for pickle ball and tennis, a topic which is being addressed in an ongoing update to the city’s Parks Master Plan.
The draft priorities will be brought back for City Council review and approval, along with a Work Plan and Budget to implement the priorities.
Thanks to everyone whose voice over time has contributed to the prioritization of Housing, Climate and Safe Streets. It will take ongoing attention to encourage the Council and the City to infuse equity in the way it does work.
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.
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.
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.
On Thursday, January 12, at 7pm, Menlo Park’s Planning and Housing Commissions will meet together to review the draft Housing Element before sending their recommendations to City Council.
Menlo Park’s Housing Element is in its final stages–it will likely be adopted by City Council before the end of January. But there are two critical and related pieces of the Housing Element update that deserve attention and consideration. These three elements of the city’s General Plan are bound together by their goals for a more just and equitable community, and to achieve those goals, they need to be considered collectively.
A draft Environmental Justice and Safety Element have been released and public meetings on these elements will be held in early February, 2023.
A home is the first line of defense from environmental hazards
The Environmental Justice Element in particular is centered on addressing environmental injustices in the General Plan; as such, it plays an equally vital role as the Housing Element in determining the quality of life where people live.
By state mandate, localities must seek input from disadvantaged and marginalized communities to inform the Environmental Justice Element. State law (SB 1000) requires cities to identify and prioritize the needs of communities affected by historic systems of discrimination that disproportionately impose pollution and other health burdens onto low-income residents and people of color.
The Environmental Justice Element is a tool to address a variety of past harms related to environmental inequities. One of the seven goals is to promote safe, stable, and affordable housing in high resource areas. The Environmental Justice Element references Housing Element programs to achieve these goals, so it’s imperative that we have a strong and equitable Housing Element.
Historic patterns of housing discrimination form a throughline between the HE and the EJE.
Redlining and discriminatory mortgage lending practices were used to isolate low-income and non-white populations to the least desirable locations.
Here in Menlo Park, the Belle Haven and Bayfront neighborhoods are overrepresented by lower incomes and people of color. They are also the most polluted, flood prone, and industrialized areas of the city. By their location as well as their history of being under-resourced, they find themselves particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. They’re also the most cost-burdened when it comes to housing.
Housing Burden Indicator Results: In Belle Haven, 28% of residents contribute greater than 50% of their income to housing cost and over 70% of households are low income (EnviroScreen 4.0, 2013-2017).
Menlo Park’s Belle Haven neighborhood sits in the FEMA flood plain (2022 map)
Zoning and permitting decisions have restricted the location and type of housing developments in Menlo Park, which has led to a severe local jobs/housing imbalance and a lack of affordable housing options. As land values continue to rise, home prices and rents have become increasingly out of reach and contributed to gentrification. Housing insecurity and displacement loom, exacerbating stress on residents’ everyday finances–and their health.
As part of the Environmental Justice and Safety Element planning process, Menlo Park did extensive outreach to the Belle Haven community about environmental harms, health challenges, and financial stressors. Chief among the community’s priorities was the need for safe, stable, and healthy housing.
Safe & Sanitary Housing State Requirement: Location, Quality, Affordability, Stability
Housing site selection can exacerbate or mitigate inequities. To reverse our past patterns of segregation, we must equitably plan for a diversity of housing across the city, especially in high resource areas.
To address housing insecurity and reduce cost burdens we need robust policies and programs to preserve and protect existing housing as well as enact strong measures to prevent displacement.
The EJ element depends on the Housing Element to achieve safe and sanitary housing outcomes. To achieve the Environmental Justice goals, the Housing Element needs to be robust and equitable.
Timely Call to Action – January 12th
Support Environmental Justice Goals through Housing Element Advocacy
A Housing Element that supports Environmental Justice will establish programs and policies to:
Reverse the trend by which marginalized communities have been overburdened with disproportionate housing and commercial development and the resulting traffic and emissions impacts
Create a robust, accelerated plan to produce 100% affordable housing on city-owned parking lots downtown
Offer protection from displacement for both renters and homeowners
Provide resources to help preserve and revitalize communities
Thursday, January 12th at 7pm, the Planning Commission and Housing Commission will discuss the Housing Element.
Every eight years, the state requires each city to update its plan for new housing at all income levels (this is called a “Housing Element”). Your personal story and input is a powerful way to influence the process to ensure Menlo Park’s housing plan is robust and fair.
It’s time to act together to shape a future for Menlo Park with homes for all. Please consider sending a personal email to Planning and Housing Commissioners by early afternoon, January 12th.
Need help? Have questions? Reach out to info@menlotogether.org.
You may want to highlight:
How the lack of housing at all income levels affects you and the people you care about. Be specific!
How more housing aligns with your values. At Menlo Together, we envision a city that is integrated and diverse, multi-generational, and environmentally sustainable. We envision an accessible and inviting downtown Menlo Park, with housing at all affordability levels, much less solo driving and with pedestrian and bike-friendly spaces, developed to produce zero net greenhouse gasses.
The importance of increasing the accessibility, vibrancy and climate-friendliness of downtown Menlo Park by building higher and denser housing near services and transit. (Note: removing some of the less realistic sites from the draft Housing Element would require the City to increase the amount of housing it plans for viable sites downtown, including city-owned parking lots and other locations in the downtown/El Camino area)
The benefits of building housing on city-owned land such as downtown parking lots include the potential for nonprofit housing developers to build homes for some of our most housing-insecure residents.
Why Menlo Park should plan for a variety of affordable housing options, including for seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, large families, and others with special needs.
The need for policies that prevent the displacement of our neighbors (42% of Menlo Park residents rent their homes), such as prohibiting unfair evictions and excessive rent increases, preventing discrimination and harassment, and preserving “naturally affordable housing” (such as homes in older buildings located in more affordable neighborhoods).
The opportunity to increase the viability of at least one potential housing site near highway 280 (such as the Sharon Heights Shopping Center). The city can incentivize housing at these sites by increasing the allowable height and density of buildings it allows on these properties.
As of November 17, with approximately 80% of the votes counted, No on V prevailed in every single council district and nearly every precinct citywide.
Menlo Together participated with multi-faceted coalition of local and regional stakeholders who organized, canvassed, phone-banked, educated friends and neighbors, hosted gatherings, recruited volunteers, delivered signs, wrote postcards, and knocked on doors all over the city to inform people about the bad measure that would have made affordable housing more difficult, and that proposed to have replaced the city’s deliberative process with more contentious ballot measures.
So, now what?
By defeating Measure V, Menlo Park residents chose to keep our public processes. This means there are important opportunities to engage in decisions about important issues like:
Housing at the Flood School Site
Housing at the SRI Site
Completing and implementing a Housing Element to provide housing for people of all income levels and meet fair housing requirements.
Now that the obstacle of Measure V is behind us, stay tuned for more opportunities to meet neighbors, engage, and improve housing affordability in Menlo Park.
Join the Political Forum Webinar the Almanacis hosting this fall. Hear from both sides of the Measure V ballot measure via Zoon this upcoming Thursday, October 6, from 7 to 8 p.m. Almanac Editor Andrea Gemmet and Staff Writer Cameron Rebosio will pose questions to Nicole Chessari of Menlo Balance and Margarita Méndez of Menlo Park Neighbors for Affordable Homes.
What’s this all about? This November, Menlo Park neighbors will vote on a local ballot measure designed to stop the Ravenswood City School District from creating affordable homes for teachers and staff at its Flood School site. The measure would also block future homes from being created for your neighbors throughout Menlo Park. YOU can stop this! Learn more about the measure here.
Last month (June 28), your Menlo Park City Council Members commissioned an independent, objective impact analysis of a November 2022 Menlo Park ballot measure.
That report was released last Friday and the findings are clear – the ballot measure would create big barriers for affordable housing in Menlo Park and block teacher and staff housing for the Ravenswood City School District.
If the ballot measure passes in November 2022, it will:
Block affordable housing for teachers and school staff at the vacant site of the former Flood School site owned by Ravenswood City School District.
Lock in and exacerbate racial and economic segregation by blocking future homes in high opportunity neighborhoods which are predominantly upper income and white.
Limit the city’s ability to plan for housing for people at a variety of income levels, in conflict with the city’s General Plan
Put the city at risk of being sued by reducing our ability to affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH), as required by law (CA 2018 Assembly Bill 686)
Block Menlo Park Fire District from redeveloping their headquarters without a public vote.
Block Menlo Park religious organizations from redeveloping their properties without a public vote.
At the City Council meeting on Tuesday, July 26, council members will most likely vote to put this measure on the November ballot rather than enact it into law without a public vote, which is the only other option. City Council measures can also express their opinions to the measure if they so choose.
To watch a presentation on the report and share your thoughts with the City Council, you can dial in by Zoom or phone.
Dial In: (669) 900-6833 Meeting ID: 831 3316 9409 Press *9 to raise hand to speak
The meeting starts at 5pm with a closed session. The Ballot Measure item will likely get started some time after 7pm. If you would like a text message or email when the item starts, rather than waiting, please send a message with your contact information to adina@menlotogether.org
Non-Single-Family Properties Affected by the Ballot Measure
The expiration of the statewide eviction moratorium on June 30 has the potential to set off an unnecessary housing crisis.
As the economy recovers and people get back to work, household incomes need time to recover from months of joblessness and economic hardship. This is especially true for lower-income renter families who have been most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to PolicyLink, approximately 700,000 California renters are still behind on rent, with an average of $4,600 in arrears. In San Mateo County, 11,000 households were in arrears by an average of $2,363 in May. The numbers are likely higher today, and we know that Menlo Park households are struggling because Samaritan House reported recently that the Menlo Park Covid Tenant Assistance Fund they administered was able to assist 30 households before it was depleted.
Much of the federal and state $47 million allocated to San Mateo County for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) remains unused due to a variety of reported factors, including lack of landlord and tenant information, a lengthy application, and eligibility criteria that exclude some households. The Governor has announced that more relief is on the way, but we have learned that such programs take time to roll out and reach those who need it most.
It is clear that the state must extend SB 91 (COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act) protections beyond June 30, but so far, it has not taken action. This is despite many local elected officials, advocacy groups, and concerned residents urging it to do so. With the statewide reopening, the County of San Mateo is limited in its authority to enact a countywide moratorium; any action it takes to extend a moratorium would apply to unincorporated county land, not to cities like Menlo Park. As the clock runs out, it may be up to individual cities to create this temporary stopgap.
We therefore ask that the City Council consider adopting an emergency eviction moratorium for Menlo Park that will take effect in the event that SB 91 is allowed to expire.
We know that COVID-19 has not affected all communities equally: for example, in California, state data show that communities of color have faced much higher COVID-19 infection and mortality rates than their share of the population, and nationwide, the economic fallout of the pandemic has hit lower-income households the hardest. According to the San Mateo County Health Dashboard, Menlo Park’s historical COVID-19 cases are 1,680 citywide, of which 828 (or 49.3%) were in the Belle Haven neighborhood where only 20% of Menlo Park resides.
We appreciate that you, our City Council, are committed to striving towards an equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in Menlo Park. We thank you for your consideration of this important and timely action.
Menlo Park City Council is considering its budget for the 2021/2 fiscal year. Thankfully, the budget is based on optimistic projections that take into account the high vaccination rates, declining Covid prevalence, and increasing economic activity.
We are grateful that this year’s budget will enable the city to start to recover from the impacts of the pandemic. We urge that recovery not to simply return us to previous conditions, but to instead, focus on forward-looking priorities of climate, safety, health and equity.
The City Council has opportunities to restore services and recover from the impact of the pandemic with budget decisions that provide * progress on transportation and climate * reimagining public safety
* recovery for vulnerable community members
Community members will have a chance to weigh in on the city’s budget at several upcoming meetings including a community meeting on June 1, and Council meetings on June 8 and June 22.
If you have thoughts for City Council (after reading this blog), send a note to city.council@menlopark.org
The community meeting on June 1 from 5-8pm is a good time to ask questions of staff: https://www.menlopark.org/855/City-budget Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/91271920424
If you have to choose one time to make spoken public comment to the City Council, join the June 8 City Council meeting (by Zoom/dial-in). The agenda and dial-in information is expected to be posted on Wednesday, June 3 and we will share it as well.
Read on for some overview information on the budget, and ideas for recommendations to refine the budget to support Menlo Together’s values.
Budget overview
The City’s General Fund, where the City Council has the most spending discretion, represents about $58 million dollars. If we are reading the city’s budget data correctly, the city’s General Fund budget was about $70 million. However, this year the city made some accounting changes moving about $4 million into other funds, leaving $66 million for an apples to apples comparison to the pre-Covid General Fund.
So the city’s revenue is projected to still be more than 10% down, but that may change based on the pace of economic recovery. .
The bulk of the city’s resources, over 60% are used for personnel pay and benefits. The largest share goes to police, followed by the library and community services, and public works (see chart.).
For more information, check out the city’s budget website and this helpful presentation put together by Council Member Wolosin for her constituents and all city residents.
The Public Works section of the budget notes that Covid recession cuts impacted a wide range of services including park maintenance, the heritage tree program, fleet maintenance, street maintenance, review of new development proposals, customer service, neighborhood traffic management, planned transportation projects, transportation demand management, and the holiday tree.
The staff recommends restoring 5 full time equivalent staff for the heritage tree program and maintenance, restoring staffing for neighborhood traffic management, and adding 1 full time equivalent to advance the Climate Action Plan.
The Climate Action Plan implementation is a top priority for City Council, and the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions is transportation. The city has recently approved a Transportation Master Plan (TMP) that identifies numerous projects and programs that provide safe, convenient, and climate-friendly alternatives to driving.
In the Covid recovery budget, we urge the City to prioritize proactive measures to implement TMP projects and programs and advance the Climate Action Plan.
Reimagining public safety
The City Council has identified reimagining public safety as a top priority for the city.
Meanwhile, the budget recommendation is to rehire 5 full time equivalent staff positions to the police force, before the process to assess and reimagine policing and public safety.
A recent analysis (see below) shows that there are substantial activities currently handled by Menlo Park Police for which other public strategies may be appropriate.
We urge the City Council to hold off on substantial increases to staff levels while the city considers the most effective ways to use the budget to advance public health and safety. We do support full staffing of the data functions that allow these reports and other information that will enable residents and the Council to assess how best to use funds and resources to improve public safety.
Data source: MPPD. Analysis source: SVDSA
Recovery for vulnerable community members
Menlo Park is receiving $6.53 million in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan.
The draft budget recommends using this funding to increase city services before the city has full certainty about the pace of post-pandemic recovery of tax revenue.
By comparison, we have observed that the City of Mountain View plans to use its American Rescue Plan funds for measures addressing the impacts of the pandemic on vulnerable residents and businesses, including rent relief, displacement prevention, homelessnes services and downtown revitalization.
We would encourage the city to take an approach similar to Mountain View with the ARP funds.
