|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
As officials take sides on a ballot measure that seeks to block Menlo Park’s plan to build affordable housing on three downtown parking lots, City Council candidate Laura Melahn responds differently: “Team Menlo Park.”
“I am a mom of two young boys … When they are upset about something, it serves no one for me to try to figure out which one is right. It serves everyone for me to figure out the way forward,” Melahn said at The Almanac’s Menlo Park City Council Candidate Forum. “That is a position that is focused on what’s good for the city in the long run.”
All five other candidates across three district races for Menlo Park City Council have come out against Measure P, which would require a citywide vote on any plan to repurpose or significantly alter the eight city-owned downtown parking lots.
Learn more about this race
Candidate Comparison Grids: Where do Menlo Park City Council District 4 candidates stand?
Newcomers Charlotte Reed and Laura Melahn seek to replace Betsy Nash to represent District 4 on the Menlo Park City Council. See their answers to the questions that matter.
View the comparison grid ➔Melahn, 41, has not publicly said whether she supports or opposes Measure P. That may be a surprise to some: Driving through Menlo Park, yard signs advocating for Measure P and for Melahn are often paired up. The Measure P advocates — Save Downtown Menlo — have endorsed her as well.
Melahn, who works in venture capital, grew up in Hawaii and moved to the Bay Area about two decades ago. She has lived in Menlo Park with her husband and two sons for six years. She has served on the city’s Finance and Audit Commission since May 2025.
She is running against singer and communications professional Charlotte Reed to succeed Mayor Betsy Nash, who is not seeking reelection. District 4 includes downtown, parts of central Menlo Park and the Allied Arts neighborhood.
None of the three development proposals currently on the table for redeveloping the downtown parking lots meet the city’s original requirements because they seek financial support in order to build replacement parking and affordable housing. Melahn has come up with her own plan for building affordable housing without touching downtown lots that hinges on using city subsidies to make units more deeply affordable at in-progress developments at the former U.S. Geological Survey and SRI International campuses.
While critics say her amendment would risk losing the city’s compliance with state housing law and is designed to block housing, Melahn said that it provides a tangible path forward for the city.
Voter Guide 2026
Get to know the candidates and measures on your ballot with The Almanac’s 2026 Voter Guide, including in-depth profiles, issue comparison grids and campaign finance coverage.
View the Voter Guide ➔“If there’s a project that works, we should do it, and if there’s not a project that works, we should move on,” she said. “I want us to build affordable homes, and the path for doing that is not the one that we’re on.”
Even before announcing her candidacy for council, Melahn has been involved in downtown and revitalization. In 2025, she started the Downtown Menlo Fund with several other Menlo Park residents. Its goal is to use donations to increase the vibrancy of Menlo Park’s downtown and form a business association.
This summer, it launched Fourth Fridays, a monthly event in downtown that brings live music to Santa Cruz Avenue and encourages businesses to stay open late. She also advocated for expanding the types of businesses allowed downtown and for reinstating the slow streets program, which allows residents to initiate requests for traffic calming measures and pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements.
Melahn said that her record shows she can be effective on the council.
“Ask yourselves, what have these people done for Menlo Park and what do we believe they can continue to do? And I believe that my track record speaks for itself,” Melahn said at the candidate forum.
Melahn is endorsed by county Supervisor Ray Mueller and six other former Menlo Park mayors, 2026 Nobel laureate in economics Robert Hall and Richard Draeger of Draeger’s Market.
Read more about Melahn’s candidacy here, see her answers to The Almanac’s candidate survey here and visit Melahn’s campaign site here.
Check out the Voice’s 2026 Voter Guide, which includes in-depth coverage of this and other local races and ballot measures.
Read about the other candidate
Menlo Park City Council, District 4: Charlotte Reed
A singer. A communications professional. A church cantor. Charlotte Reed is no stranger to making her voice heard, now she wants to use her voice to bring Menlo Park together.
Laura Melahn is the ONLY candidate who brings required city planning expertise to the table for District 4. She is the Chair of the Menlo Park Finance & Audit Commission. She is a Princeton University graduate and was Managing Partner at venture capital firm Meadow Valley Capital, founder of Meadow Valley Partners and Co-founder of the Downtown Menlo Fund, a nonprofit focused on downtown revitalization. She has two kids in our Menlo Park public schools. She and her husband have lived here for six years.
Laura is the kind of council member we desperately need to help steer us through these challenging times. If that’s not enough, she’s the most approachable, down to earth person you’ll ever meet. We are lucky to have such an accomplished candidate as Laura Melahn!
Love Menlo. Vote Laura.