Menlo Watch: Economic panel looks at state of the economy Menlo Watch: Economic panel looks at state of the economy (January 07, 2004)

Looking ahead to what is likely to be an increasingly tight 2004-05 city budget, the members of the Menlo Park City Council will hear some thoughts on Tuesday, January 6, about the state of the economy.

A panel of speakers will brief the council at the 7 p.m. meeting, which is free and open to the public. The meeting will be held in the Woodside Room of the Stanford Park Hotel, 100 El Camino Real, Menlo Park.

The scheduled panelists are Doug Henton, president of the Mountain View consulting firm Collaborative Economics; Stephen Levy, director of the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy; and Junfu Zhang, a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California in San Francisco.

Call 330-6600 for more information.
Home-building rules at council

The Menlo Park City Council is tentatively scheduled to give final approval to new home-building rules at its meeting on Tuesday, January 13.

Designed to streamline the approval process for new homes and major remodels, the plan has been both hailed as making the process simpler and more equitable, and denounced as opening the door for more oversized homes.

Voting 3-2, the council gave the thumbs-up to the plan on December 16, but this final approval -- typically seen as a formality -- is also needed. If passed on January 13, the law would take effect February 12.

The January 13 regular council meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at 801 Laurel St. in Menlo Park.

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