Menlo Park’s annual goals: climate action, housing, street safety and emergency preparedness

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Improving street safety, tackling climate change at a local level, creating more housing and emergency preparedness are priorities for Menlo Park in the year to come.

During a Tuesday, Feb. 12, goal setting workshop, the City Council whittled down a long list before voting on its goals.

Before the meeting, the city posted an online survey asking residents which topics were important to them to address during the 2024-25 fiscal year. A total of 53 people responded to the survey.

Sixty-three percent of respondents named climate action as one of their priorities, while safe streets came in second with 52%. Respondents also named emergency preparedness and improving the downtown area as goals. Ten respondents advocated for establishing a “quiet zone” along Caltrain in the city.

Council members also raised issues they want to be addressed, including staff shortages, high staff turnover rates, revenue loss, lack of affordable housing and housing discrimination.

Reflecting on last year’s goals, the city announced 22 of 61 projects were completed, with others ongoing. Council members cited other accomplishments such as approving the housing element, completing several park projects and completing protected bike lanes.

Over 20 members of the public spoke during the goal setting meeting.

Resident Noami Goodman asked the council to develop more goals related to climate change.

“We are already experiencing more heatwaves,” she said. “We can develop strategies here at the local level.”

Among them was Lynn Bramlett, who recommended similar goals to last year but advocated for disaster preparedness.

“I think we’ve done a very good job of improving preparing for emergencies,” Bramlett said but wondered about housing displacement in case of natural disasters.

Moreover, several speakers advocated for completing the “quiet zone” project, which would prohibit trains in specific neighborhoods from blowing their horns except in emergencies.

Fixing potholes and maintaining bike paths and public facilities were top priorities during the city’s November 2023 survey, which differed from the survey produced for this meeting.

Gregory Faris encouraged the council to act on the triangle annexation, saying 80% of those surveyed supported the effort. The triangle annexation is a plan for Menlo Park to annex an unincorporated area bordered by Santa Cruz Avenue, Alameda de las Pulgas and Sharon Road. Among the reasons residents have offered for pursuing annexation are interest in voting in Menlo Park elections and engaging in civic matters; to more easily secure services and infrastructure such as safe routes to school and sidewalks; and to have more regulation of residential development through the city’s zoning and heritage tree ordinances.

Resident Dorothy Dickey said public safety is her top priority due to break-ins and burglaries in her area, a view echoed by other public commenters. A resident from the Sharon Heights neighborhood said residents from that area had a meeting to discuss a rise in burglaries (17 from Jan. 1 to March 5).

Relatedly, Dickey and others supported funding for automated license plate readers (ALPRs). Resident Randy Avalos disagreed with using ALPRs, saying they provide a false sense of security and have other significant data implications.

The next step is to craft a workshop report with the goals discussed, which City Manager Justin Murphy will use to help guide the council.

Watch the meeting below:

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