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Laura Melahn has a significant lead over Charlotte Reed in the Menlo Park City Council District 4 race, according to the election night tally released at 2 a.m. Wednesday.
Melahn leads with 968 votes, or 63.7%, compared with Reed’s 552 votes, or 36.3%.
Reed, a singer and communications professional, is running against Melahn, a venture capitalist and finance and audit commissioner, to replace Mayor Betsy Nash as the representative for District 4, which includes Allied Arts, downtown Menlo Park and parts of central Menlo Park.
The initial election night results include all in-person votes but only vote-by-mail ballots received by Oct. 30. Vote-by-mail ballots postmarked by Election Day can be received through Nov. 10.
“The results are still coming in, but no matter the final outcome, I feel so proud of this movement that we created with our campaign, and I don’t think that energy ends tonight,” Reed said in an interview shortly after 8 p.m.
Melahn had a measured reaction to her lead, given how early it was in the vote tabulation process.
“Ballots are still being counted and I’ll let the county do its job. Whatever the result, I had a blast,” Melahn said.
District 4 has 4,505 registered voters. Voters in Districts 1 and 2 are also electing City Council representatives.
Reed said she is running to unify Menlo Park after a divisive fight over building affordable housing on three downtown parking lots. Reed supports the plan, which more than 150 downtown businesses oppose.
Melahn has put forward an alternative proposal to meet Menlo Park’s affordable housing mandates without using the city-owned parking lots. Her plan would have the city subsidize affordable housing at two proposed projects: one at the former headquarters of SRI International and another at the former U.S. Geological Survey campus.
Melahn said the parking lot development, which needs tens of millions of dollars in additional city funding to cover the cost of replacement parking, is not viable and that the city needs to change course to stay on track with housing production. Melahn’s proposal would also require significant city funding.
Also on the ballot is Measure P, which would require voter approval to repurpose any of the eight downtown parking lots. Save Downtown Menlo, a group of residents and businesses opposed to the housing plan, placed the measure on the ballot.
Reed opposes Measure P and said it threatens the city’s ability to comply with state law. Melahn is the only council candidate in all the three districts who did not take a position on it, instead saying she was “Team Menlo Park.” Melahn was endorsed by Save Downtown Menlo.
Visit The Almanac’s website for initial election results of other local races and measures, which will be updated over the next several days.
