perhaps Greenheart would like to create water while they are busy building all of these units....doesn't anyone on any council or environmental impact study take water into consideration? it's ridiculous.

So now our city's / Greenheart's traffic consultants are attempting to frame excessive traffic congestion as an environmental good:

' "Sometimes," he said, "a bit of congestion can help safety and encourage other modes (of transit)." In other words, when traffic gets too unbearable, people become more likely to use other transit modes. '

Says the physician to his obese patient, 'welcome your ulcer ... now the pain will prevent you from gorging, and you will lose weight'.

Greenheart a 'transit-oriented' project ... just because of proximity to the tracks ?

Not a word in the above discussion about reduced residential quality of life due to steadily increasing traffic/pollution/noise.

Why doesn't the city publish a one/two page traffic forecast accounting for the joint impact of projects under consideration (and of the mandated additional housing), and mail to all residents ?

They don't because of the resultant public outcry. Or perhaps not. The discussion of 'public benefits' and the like is intended to cloak as civic-mindedness the profit motives of the dollar-hungry development and real-estate interests, from an increasingly resigned public.

Has the town council sat in traffic on Willow or El Camino lately?

It took me 45 minutes once to get from middlefield to 101. Something has to be done.

We all know that traffic is already really bad and that development will make it worse. The consultant said the traffic is nearing the tipping point.So let's make sure that new projects add to our quality of life, not primarily subtract.

This developer isn't making any commitments to shops and dining. Not any. They just claim they will have "community serving" uses. Some "could be" offices (it WILL be with today's rents), and even want part of the "community serving" space to be a rental office for their own buildings!

The project is at the Bonus range in the part of downtown that the Specific Plan designated to "focus on residential" because it's close to the train station and downtown. But instead of adding housing at the Bonus level, the developer wants offices and not even the amount of housing units allowed at the Base level. Big office buildings are not vibrant. They bring commuters. We have enough dead spaces in downtown area, with the banks and realtor offices.
Let's make sure that the project is really good for Menlo Park residents -bringing in people who will be part of our residential community and providing places for dining and shopping. More housing density and restaurant/retail space would be much better. Otherwise, we don't need a huge project that mostly brings more commuters.

Huh! A Transt Oriented Development? The draft EIR says only 5% of tenants will use the train! This is not a T.O.D. This is your standard office complex with no required retail and very easy expensive rental housing units. The so-called below market rate housing units are few.
All of ECR could have been housing. The town needs residents who will invest culturally into Menlo Park. With millions of sq ft of office planned for Menlo Park, we had better start building housing or the city is going to be sued again.