Blog: A New Series To Help Menlo Park Voters Prepare For November 3, Local Elections (Episode 1)

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“Pro-Affordable Housing, Pro-Downtown And Pro-Menlo Park.”

I believe there is overwhelming evidence our city government is failing to responsibly plan for needed affordable housing, and if it fails to make fundamental corrections soon, our entire community will experience huge irreversible problems.

a) The City’s current plan to develop 345 units of affordable housing on three downtown public parking lots is NOT financially feasible without substantial city (voter) funding and exposes the City’s Housing Element to its decertification and potential “builders remedy” projects.

b) The City plan will subject our entire community to years of severe political, social, economic and financial hardships.

c) The City will NOT truly represent the interests and preferences of most voters who I believe are pro-housing, pro-Downtown and pro-Menlo Park.

Fortunately, avoiding these problems – though extremely challenging – is still doable, but the time for identifying practical solutions is running out. I also believe the City currently lacks the will and capabilities to make necessary reforms to its affordable housing efforts. So, I encourage voters be THE catalysts for making them by supporting the Citizen’s Initiative and carefully selecting council members who are capable and committed to championing them. 

But there is also some very good news! In July, city planning staff confirmed there are more than enough affordable housing sites in Menlo Park to meet all state-mandated, requirements. And on November 3, voters will have excellent opportunities to initiate reforms.

Purpose of This Series

I have closely tracked Menlo Park’s affordable housing efforts since mid-2024 and regularly reported my findings, assessments and recommendations in this blog. This has been a challenging but very rewarding journey. The planning of city-wide affordable housing involves many “technically” complex issues, difficult trade-offs, unknowns, and uncertainties. Competing political choices continue to generate intense controversy within our community. And our city’s trademark lack of transparency has undermined community trust and fostered an environment that nourishes the constant spread of misleading and inaccurate information. So, I understand how extremely difficult it is for voters to understand this subject, form their own well-founded positions and make sound decisions.  I hope to help them overcome these challenges by (a) clearly providing facts and sound assumptions, (b) defusing the negative power of misinformation and disinformation and (c) sharing the rationales for my own views and positions. 

In this post, I explain the important opportunities voters will have in the November Elections. Then I will address a set of important topics. (Contact me at danahendrickson2009@gmail.com, if you want to receive email notifications.)

• The City is not producing enough affordable housing, and the outlook is poor
• Key reasons voters cannot currently trust our City to avoid failures
• Ways to build an effective City affordable housing program
• Critiques of ongoing City affordable housing planning 
• Fact-checking advocacy groups, e.g., Save Downtown Menlo, Menlo Together Homes For Menlo, Housing Institute 

Vote Twice November 3rd

I expect Menlo Park will fail to meet its affordable housing requirements every category of household income – especially for very low income – unless two important things occur. First, voters must transfer a significant amount of political power from our city government to our community. 

=> Measure P Citizen Initiative

 Measure P requires voter approval for any proposed use of downtown plazas for something other than the convenient parking around which the downtown was built. It does NOT block any type of housing – either affordable or market rate. For example, voters could approve affordable housing on one specific downtown parking lot. Now, three council members can approve such projects on their own regardless of how the community views them. This makes no sense to me, and I will share my reasons in this series of posts.

=> New Council Member Elections

On November 3, voters will elect three council members who will represent Districts 1, 2 and 4 starting in 2027. I strongly encourage voters to elect individuals who are energetic and creative problem solvers and will represent EVERYONE who lives in Menlo Park.

Wrap-Up

I believe most voters are pro-affordable housing, pro-Downtown and pro-Menlo Park and want developments that are acceptable to our entire community. On November 3 voters can vote twice. I encourage them to clearly understand their choices and cast votes that enable our community to develop sound city-wide, affordable housing plans.

Comment Guidelines

Reader comments are an important part of my blog. To keep discussions both productive and civil, please adhere to the following guidelines. Otherwise, I can either edit or remove them. In general, help maintain this blog as a welcoming place for everyone. 

    – Avoid disrespectful, disparaging, snide, angry and ad hominem comments

    – Stay fact-based and reference reputable sources.

    – Stay on topic

Thank you.

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