(they are copied below)
I voted and supported Rich Cline in two previous elections, but he won't get my vote this time.
He now doesn't care about the qualtiy of life in Menlo Park, and only wants to build build build.
Two terms as a council man has obviously been enough for Cline (really too much I now conclude).
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(copy of Cline's statements as reported in the Almanac)
from:
Almanac --
Web Link
Councilman Rich Cline was unable to attend Wednesday's meeting, but spoke to the Almanac the next day. He said that the traffic data needs to be considered in context -- it would add about 500 new daily trips on Middle Avenue over a span of 20 years or so.
Compared with that of other cities, Menlo Park's threshold for impact is so low as to be misleading, according to Mr. Cline. The city's transportation staff has said that Menlo Park regards an impact as an added 50 trips or more, whereas in Los Altos or Palo Alto, that trigger would be 2,100 new daily trips for a street similar to Middle Avenue.
Mr. Cline acknowledged the counterargument that Menlo Park isn't Los Altos or Palo Alto. "Right - why should Menlo Park be part of the region? If you ask other communities who have to deal with the impacts of housing and traffic and schools ... most people you ask will say yeah, Menlo Park has stood in a really weird place. Politically, they haven't been very collaborative."
That argument becomes "a poison pill for everything. And it is used for everything. It was used on the Derry project -- 'this is not what Menlo Park wants.' Menlo Gateway. ... 'this is not what Menlo Park wants.' It's been a constant 'this is not what Menlo Park wants'."
Rather than being based on data, he said, it becomes an emotional, subjective debate much like the one over what constitutes "village character."
"We have got to look at the bottom-line impacts over a 20-year period, look at it realistically with a broader view than 'I live a block from there'," Mr. Cline said. "The council has to represent 33,000 people. And I think a lot of good comes out of these projects and there are some impacts that will never be mitigated for people living near there."
