The fact that the "town" council even considered building a parking structure has me wonder if the council members actually *live* in Woodside. Not just have a residence in Woodside, but *live* here.

Thank you to all residents which were able to attend to Greg Raleigh for voicing what most of us feel.

I hope there is a bench added downtown with Greg's name on it!

For the record, the Town Council did not consider building a parking structure. That idea came up during a community brainstorming session in the spring, a forum for ideas.

Actual plans, if any, are expected to come later, after the community acquires a firm set of goals via a set of facilitated community meetings, town officials have said.

@Dave Boyce, "possibly orchestrated public comment" ?? On what grounds do you base this bit of editorializing? If you were more informed of the nature of Wdsd residents, you would know that we are a rather independent lot, who are not all that susceptible to being "orchestrated". Just because we love our town and want it to remain rural, does not mean anything other than just that.
Save the snarky comments for the editorial page, please.

the Tuesday evening town council meeting regrettably turned into a deplorable and unfortunate attack on the town council.
The town council had never proposed or even considered a parking structure, nor any changes to measure J, nor had the council ever proposed any use of imminent domain to enlarge the town center.
Greg Raleigh should in stead reach out to get the facts before he makes ugly
accusations without any substance.

"...ideas for downtown's future"?

Woodside doesn't have a *downtown*. It has a village center.

Village centers don't have stacked parking structures.

Why do most Woodside residents consider Town staff(contracted) and Council/ARB members out of touch? Current example.

You can't please all the people...

Everyone, including the Town Council and Committee, was on precisely the same page. This was manufactured outrage. A calm discussion would have accomplished the same goal without the drama.

Some of you are missing your calling in Washington, DC.

I am not sure Raleigh and his cohorts speak for me or most Woodside homeowners the majority of whom were not there. As is typical those most offended are most likely to show up. I could not, however I would be interested in widening the roads to alleviate traffic and make it safer for bicyclists and kids going to school. it seems like a sensible alternative. Progress is inevitable to prevent the chaos we now have. I know there is a minority who strongly object to change, but change must happen and will or things will only get worse for everyone. Also a multilevel parking garage seems sensible and would have the least impact on the surrounding land. There is simply not enough parking, it gets worse every year. Rather than kill ideas I would like to see Mr. Raleigh's load mouth offer viable alternatives.

We were lucky several dozen Woodside residents had the courage to stand up to mayor kasten's pressure tactics. The first speaker held up a poster showing the suggested massive expansion of Woodside Town center to five times the land area town center occupies today (!!) through a government incorporation of 60 large residential lots. Other proposed suggestions included: government purchase of a portion (how many?) of the 60 newly incorporated lots, multi story parking with high density housing (potentially on the new lots), and radically altering Woodside and Canada roads to turn them into big urban thoroughfares, These terrible suggestions, if allowed to proceed forward, could have become a huge project that would someday destroy the small town, rural charcter of Woodside. There is a ton of community support for other suggestions like safe walking routes to school and better biking lanes and hores trails, but the community could not progress on these things because the Council kept refusing to remove the highly contentious items from the package of suggestions. This meeting was the first time the Council listened to their voters since the Town publishedl the package of suggestions 5 months ago. Too bad it took so long and so many residents had to attend the meeting to get the point accross - the Council should have recognized how bad the ideas were on their own and removed them when they first saw the community concern they generated.

Woodsider -

The way our legislative process works is that the Town Council holds a meeting to receive public input. They do not decide these issues in private or before the public meeting. AFTER the council receives input, they vote, not before.

The vote was 6-0 rejecting the suggestions. 6-0! Could it be any clearer than that?

As I said, everyone was on the same page and no one wanted the development that a few people suggested. There was simply no need for the drama.

WS homeowner I think you are in the minority on these issues. The town has always been crowded on weekends and will continue and will continue to be. As far as safety how many children or adults have been injured walking? This town does not need a 2 story parking garage. As I said I think you are in the minority.

Pogo - I respect your opinion and i totally agree that it's a huge relief that the council voted to not give further consideration to all the crazy and damaging ideas. However, for me, waiting for 4 more months for an out of town conultant to come on board while we continue to wonder whether or not our town might be messed up would have very nerve wracking. I'm just really grateful they voted to put things at ease again in our wondeful town :)

Woodsider -

Thank you for your kind comment.

I don't think anyone on the Town Council wants to materially change the character of our town. Unfortunately, they cannot vote on an issue before the public hearing.

I am also very gratified with the result!