Menlo Watch: Parking-garage study planned for Menlo Menlo Watch: Parking-garage study planned for Menlo (August 04, 2004)

A consultant will conduct a $45,000 study on how and where parking garages could be built in downtown Menlo Park, the City Council agreed on July 27. Merchants have long sought more parking downtown, but opinions have been mixed on building structures, which could be pricey.

Watry Design Inc., an architectural and engineering firm in Redwood City, will put together criteria for choosing the structure site, develop design concepts, and conduct initial environmental studies.

Two council meetings canceled in August

The Menlo Park City Council typically meets every Tuesday evening, but the first two meetings in August have been canceled to give the council a summer break. Meetings will resume on August 17.

Stop signs planned at Willows crossroads

The intersection of Laurel Avenue and Durham Street in the Willows neighborhood of Menlo Park will go from a two-way to a four-way stop after five traffic accidents occurred there in as many years.

The City Council on July 20 unanimously approved new stop signs to increase safety in the area, where many school children wait for the bus. Area residents had asked for the signs after a March crash there, in which two vehicles collided, injuring the drivers and a passenger and knocking over a wooden fence.

The Transportation Commission voted 5-2 in April against the signs, instead proposing painting the corner curbs red and having neighbors keep the landscaping trimmed to aid driver visibility. Staff said the painting would reduce needed parking spaces in the area and that enforcing the trimming would require constant vigilance by staff.

-- Rebecca Wallace

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