Back to the Table of Contents Page

Back to The Almanac Home Page

Classifieds

Publication Date: Wednesday, October 09, 2002

Endorsement Letters

Editor:

MPACT (Mid Peninsula Action for Tomorrow) has been accused of "foisting its agenda" on Menlo Park regarding several issues.

Accusations have been made in election mailings, statements made at City Council meetings, and letters to the editor. We appreciate this opportunity to clarify inaccurate information that has been sent out to the public.

MPACT has strong roots in Menlo Park. In 1996, we organized to give voice to citizen concerns regarding the regional impacts of Stanford's Sand Hill Road development project.

MPACT supporters understand that widening roads enables development that brings increased traffic. Those who support the Sand Hill Road widening believe that it will help take traffic off the streets of Menlo Park. Widening Sand Hill Road may relieve traffic in the short term, but if Stanford University develops the corridor to its capacity, jammed intersections will return. What will our solution be then?

Contrary to recent accusations, MPACT has not been involved in development of the new residential design guidelines for Menlo Park, commercial zoning proposals, or future plans for Bayfront Park. MPACT has taken no position on these issues, and has made no public or private communications to any City Council member or official regarding these matters.

MPACT has hundreds of active supporters who live in Menlo Park. MPACT advocates sustainability, participatory government, and governance in which community decisions, such as those involving development, flow from broad consideration of benefits to the long-term health of the community.

Like many other organizations in our community, MPACT evaluates candidates and makes endorsements. MPACT supports candidates who share our wish that our children may inherit a community that has considered their needs and acted accordingly. For more about MPACT's work, see our Web site: www.mpact.ws.

Edie Keating

Chairperson, MPACT Steering Committee

Alma Street, Palo Alto

MPACT is trying to control the election

Editor:

Currently, we have a City Council election where MPACT is attempting to control the council through their endorsements of three candidates.

We have at least one of these candidates asking the City Council to further delay the much-needed Sand Hill Road project.

The request for another review of the environmental impact report is silly, especially since Stanford is willing to pay completely for the project and Stanford Athletic Director Ted Leland has agreed to "take care of everything" in regard to the Stanford Golf Course.

A significant point of this delay is that if Sand Hill Road were improved, it would divert traffic off of Santa Cruz Avenue. This would save the city the expense of further changing Santa Cruz Avenue and continue to provide emergency personnel an unimpeded route on the thoroughfare.

But then this is Menlo Park where only City Council member Nicholas Jellins had the courage to reveal both the council's secret decision on the future of Santa Cruz Avenue and admit the mistake. A council that tells its citizens they will be "pleasantly surprised" to see what the city has in store for Santa Cruz Avenue and then the same majority balks at its citizens' desire to correct the mistakes is wrong.

I see a continuation of this type of thinking if MPACT has its way. But there is another choice for a council headed by reasonable, open and thoughtful citizens, who act fairly and objectively without special interests. The way for this to happen is to vote for Nicholas Jellins, Mickie Winkler and Lee DuBoc.

Randy Feldman

Santa Cruz Avenue

Bulbouts and blockheads

Editor:

Imagine having to appear before a Menlo Park City Council when the majority of members characterize you as a blockhead if they differ with you on an issue.

Not a pleasant prospect.

Judging from the cartoons in a mailer I received recently, however, that is precisely what you will experience if Mr. Jellins' slate is elected.

Your likelihood of being called a blockhead will increase, if, as in the mailer, your views are described falsely. For example, the mailer asserts that opposing candidates supported the "bulb-out debacle on Santa Cruz Avenue."

The reality is that Mr. Jellins is the only candidate who bears responsibility for the bulb-outs. As a council member, he voted to award the construction contract that included them. Moreover, he volunteered to take charge of obtaining citizen input on traffic-calming innovations, including the bulb-outs, and, when given the assignment, ignored it.

In contrast Toni Stein supports the construction of sidewalks on Santa Cruz Avenue, as have now been installed on Middle Avenue to provide a safe route for pedestrians all the way from University Drive to Olive Street, except for one final block between Hobart and Olive.

I believe Ms. Stein would listen to other reasonable suggestions for protecting pedestrians and bicyclists, such as painting cross-walks or adding islands to protect pedestrians in mid-crossing. I know that she has heard matters before her as a Planning Commissioner with genuine open ears, and that, when she takes on an assignment, she carries it out.

James R. Madison

Holly Avenue, Menlo Park