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An advocate for downtown is running for Menlo Park City Council to represent District 4 after Mayor Betsy Nash announced she is not seeking reelection.
Laura Melahn, 41, one of the founders of the Downtown Menlo Fund, said she wants to run for City Council to promote community connection and represent constituents. District 4 includes downtown and parts of central Menlo Park and the Allied Arts neighborhood.
“I love this place. I think a good life is building something meaningful with other people in a place that you share,” Melahn said. “But I think that the way Menlo Park City Council is operating today is pushing residents out of civic engagement.”
Melahn, who grew up in Hawaii, moved to the Bay Area 19 years ago and has lived in Menlo Park with her husband and two sons for six years. She works in venture capital. In February 2025, Melahn was one of four residents who started the Downtown Menlo Fund to improve the vibrancy of downtown. Melahn has also served on the city’s Finance and Audit Commission since May 2025.
Melahn said one of her main priorities is to build connections between residents.
“I think that people spending time together is how connections happen: it’s good for cities, it’s good for businesses. It will impact how people feel in Menlo Park and how we can thrive and grow,” Melahn said.
As part of her work at Downtown Menlo Fund, Melahn is advocating for more events downtown and connecting businesses owners through an association. If elected, she said she wants to continue that work from the council dais.
“If you look at San Francisco or Los Altos and Palo Alto, a lot of community events are typically a collaboration between the city and the community,” she said.
She said she also wants to see change to the types of businesses allowed downtown. Currently, some businesses like gyms face restrictions on where they can operate.
“I think that Menlo Park should update permitted uses for our downtown to meet the modern world and the way people shop and live in communities. I think it will really help drive (downtown) vibrancy and reduce vacancies,” Melahn said. “I spent a lot of time talking to business owners downtown, talking to people who want to open businesses downtown but aren’t able to because of our permitted uses.”
One of the most controversial issues facing downtown businesses is a city plan to build affordable housing and parking garages on several city-owned downtown parking lots. Residents will vote in November on a ballot initiative to require the city to get voter approval for future parking lot developments.
While Melahn declined to take a stance on the initiative or the plan to develop downtown parking lots, she said it is distracting the City Council from important work and dividing residents.
“I think that it’s really eating up a lot of the city’s attention and polarizing the community in a way that is not healthy. That being said, I think that we do need to build more housing in Menlo Park Park, and we do need to figure it out,” Melahn said.
She also said that she has worked on improving the city’s jobs-housing balance by advocating for more housing at the SRI International research campus. The redevelopment project, approved in September 2025, includes some expansion of office and research space and 646 units of housing, with the option to add more units.
“It’s an extraordinarily important topic for the entire state. We need to meet our housing goals, there’s a housing crisis that we need to be contributors to a solution, and we need to continue focusing on other things as well,” Melahn said, adding that she would be supportive of housing development at the Veteran Affairs center in Menlo Park.
As a resident, Melahn said she has long advocated for the Menlo Park Safe Streets program and wants to continue that work if elected. She would also want to explore using Assembly Bill 43 to lower speed limits on some streets.
With Menlo Park facing a structural deficit, Melahn said she would evaluate options and look at potential impacts.
“With any conversation, particularly around the budget, there are thousands of decisions you can make but some are going to move the needle in a small way and some are going to shift things more dramatically,” Melahn said.
She said she thinks the city needs to look at both cutting spending and raising revenue and was supportive of the city’s effort to raise fees earlier this year.
The District 4 seat is one of three that will be on the November 2026 ballot. Incumbent Drew Combs, who represents District 2, which includes the Willows and Suburban Park, is seeking reelection and has one challenger so far.
District 1 incumbent Cecilia Taylor, who represents Belle Haven, has not responded to repeated inquiries asking whether she is seeking reelection.
Melahn’s campaign website is lauramelahn.com. Singer Charlotte Reed is also running for the District 4 seat; find her campaign website at charlotteformenlopark.com.
Editor’s Note: The assembly bill that allows the city to lower speed limits has been corrected and a quote from Melahn has been updated to better reflect her meaning.
“One of the most controversial issues facing downtown businesses is a city plan to build affordable housing and parking garages on several city-owned downtown parking lots. Residents will vote in November on a ballot initiative to require the city to get voter approval for future parking lot developments.
While Melahn declined to take a stance on the initiative or the plan to develop downtown parking lots, she said it is distracting the City Council from important work and dividing residents. ”
Meeting the State’s affordable housing requirement for very low and low income households is BY FAR the City’s biggest and most difficult challenge. It is NOT a distraction.
And the recent Meta decision to cancel Willow Village worsens the City’s position as it has depended on this project for 119 very low income units, 76 low income units plus 134 moderate income units.
No candidate for the Council should avoid discussing this challenge AND particularly the Downtown affordable housing project. This project was originally expected to deliver at least 345 units of very low income housing BUT developer proposals have fallen far short of this number.
Mayor Nash and every other Councilmember other than Drew Combs have ignored their responsibilities to fairly and responsively address the City’s affordable housing challenges. So, every candidate for the Council must thoughtfully explain how he/she would address them.
She lost me at lowering the speed limits 🙄.
But as long as she’s not trying to solve global warming as a Councilmember, she might be the best choice.
“I think that Menlo Park should update permitted uses for our downtown to meet the modern world and the way people shop and and live in communities. I think it will really help drive down vibrancy and reduce vacancies,” Melahn said.”
Did she mean drive UP vibrancy and reduce vacancies, not “drive down vibrancy”? Is she saying new permitted uses make downtown less vibrant??
Hi BIll,
Thank you for pointing this out. During the conversation, it was clear she meant “drive (downtown) vibrency” so we updated it to better reflect that.
Arden
Ok thank you, that makes sense and is a good idea.
Is her downtown group the one with the AI business descriptions and map with Kepler’s in San Francisco I asked about on that opinion column? If yes, I did not get a good answer in that comment section, but if not then forgive my mistake.
I want to know what she thinks of the downtown housing too.
Not stating an opinion on placing low income people in parking lots, in between 1-2 story retail/services business, seems strange at this point.
History: All 7 of the DT lots are included in the state housing element. The 3 were chosen as the city felt they were the least encumbered and could simply be given away as “surplus land” by council vote.
For someone who works in Venture Capital, taking a stance on an important issue should be a skill I believe one would need to have to be even remotely successful.
Are candidates waiting for other candidates to take a stance first? What issue(s) do you think voters in district 4 find more important to their lives than this one? Do you think Menlo Park should be allowed to have a downtown? Who should pay to replace the parking that will be lost? Do you think the city should pay millions to build a garage? Do you think people should/will pay to park?
BTW: Can someone ask the candidates next time they mention lowering speed limits “how low do you suggest” as DT is already 20mph, rest of city is I believe 25mph. The state allows for 15mph only for specialized zones (ie. school zones).
While Ms. Melahn declined to comment on parking lot housing, the founders of Menlo Fund are decidedly against housing on the downtown parking lots, and aligned with the Save Downtown movement to keep housing out of downtown. I would expect the Almanac to not let her or any candidate off the hook so easily on an issue that is so important to our city.