Town Square

Park Theatre - The New Standard

Original post made by Visioning Committee Observer, Menlo Park: other, on Jul 12, 2008

Given how long the Park Theatre has been allowed to be boarded up, combined with covered graffiti, weeds and trash visible from the street, is this becoming the new standard for the City of Menlo Park? Do you ever wonder why has this been allowed to appear this way for so long?

Signs and symbols of blight are creeping into the downtown area. It seems to be happening on a daily basis. There are vacancies on both sides of El Camino Real and vacancies on both sides of Santa Cruz Avenue.

Is the visioning process only focused on the next 20 years, or does it also apply to what people want in the near future? How costly can it be to add a few flowers? How costly can it be to paint over the bare plywood on the Park Theatre? What ever happened to 'ol fasioned steam cleaning of the sidewalks?

If the Menlo Park Visioning Committee is serious about the future, perhaps some of that effort can go into the present. A little tender loving care (TLC) may go a long ways to stimulate economic vitality, community spirit and pride.

Maybe it can begin with some low cost fresh paint on the Park Theatre.

Comments (3)

Posted by Joanna
a resident of Menlo Park: Downtown
on Jul 13, 2008 at 9:27 am

Interesting point. Short of eminent domain, however, there aren't that many options a city can council use when dealing with a property owner.

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Posted by visionary
a resident of Menlo Park: Felton Gables
on Jul 13, 2008 at 10:14 am

The city needs to enact (or enforce) a law that requires property owners to maintain their properties. There are a lot of eyesores on El Camino, and it's not the city's job (or the taxpayers' responsibility) to paint them, replace broken windows, trim the landscaping, etc.

Where is code enforcement?

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Posted by Martin Engel
a resident of Menlo Park: Park Forest
on Jul 13, 2008 at 10:52 pm

The Eternal Return of the Park Theatre ? "Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?" Is this to be our rural village haunted ghost theatre, arising from the dead again and yet again? The Park, where there is no park, and no parking. It comes again to cloud my feverish mind. Enough already. Scrape it and be done! Out, out damned theatre! Bedevil us no more I say!

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