I'm a legit two "long blocks" away and I can hear it clearly every time it goes off. Zero response from facebook (I've emailed them). Super frustrating.. fb really sucking at being a good neighbor rn.

Has the City of Menlo Park made any sound level measurements at the perimeter of the Facebook property? Are there limits that should be applied in this case? I understand the need to broadcast clearly on their campus, but there seem to be loudspeakers pointing out over Belle Haven and particularly the homes along Chilco and Hamilton.

I reached out to them as well but did not receive a response. I am moving out of the neighborhood this week, and the blasting alarms has been a "good riddance" of sorts. I feel as though Facebook and its employees have absolutely no care for the Belle Haven neighborhood or Menlo Park in general. It's been lovely living here otherwise. I doubt Facebook will do anything about the alarms. The more people they can get to move out, the more of their employees can move in. It's a sad reality :(

My entire family was woken by both of those alarm incidents. It is extremely irresponsible and unnecessary for them to be as loud as they are (my complaint is not that they go off but that they are so loud). I should not be able to hear the alarm in my house when all the windows are closed and we have a sound machine going. My house is also newer construction with quadruple pane windows. I am not exaggerating when I say it is extremely loud, in fact, my toddler has developed a fear of the alarms and refers to them at odd times in the day saying that he wants them to stop. @FaceBook - you have told us you want to be a partner and a good neighbor to Belle Haven but what you're doing with these alarms is abusive. It has to stop.

Anna - I'm sorry that you're leaving and that Facebook's intrusive presence is part of the reason. They made a big show of wanting to be a good neighbor during the open houses for the Willow Village proposal, but have vanished into thin air. I think those of us who live in Belle Haven and who are paying the consequences of Facebook's actions need to keep city officials informed of all of the ways in which Facebook is hurting our quality of life.

The Alarm went off again at 5:30am yesterday it seem that they do not want to bother Facebook employees with the drills’.

This is not about the alarm since I cannot hear it on the west side of 101 but I just want to share my experience with Facebook’s “Community Team.” They are TOTALLY UNRESPONSIVE. I’ve tried numerous times to reach them about my local issue and no one has ever replied.

Lselkins - I agree that Facebook is very opaque about its local community team. There doesn't seem to be any way to find out how to contact the company representatives who are supposed to be working with the neighborhoods and people who are affected by the company's physical presence.

I live on Terminal, newer construction, and this alarm sounds like someone yelling inside my house. If FB is at all concerned with community relations, they need to apply some common sense and turn that thing down. The entire neighborhood is not being evacuated.

I'm very sorry to read the above and I urge you to act further. I researched the MP Municipal Code for Noise Web Link and the offensive noise appears to be illegal. (Search under the Peace, Safety and Morals section or 8.06). As per the posts, Facebook's Community Team has ignored the complaints. These actions speak volumes. Talking directly with our City Manager also didn't help. So I suggest filing a police report. Web Link and that each of you also write an email to city.council@menlopark.org with your concerns about the noise and Facebook's non-response. You could also attend the next City Council meeting and make a public comment describing your concerns and what you would like to see differently. As Facebook continues its expansion in MP, it's important that Council and the public are aware of their broken complaint process. Along with being annoying and disturbing your sleep, the decibel level could also be damaging your hearing. If you want to measure the decibels yourself via a Smart Phone, this article describes a Smartphone app that can do this. Web Link This article also might help Web Link

Wow, so Facebook didn't live up to its promises to be a good neighbor.

Too bad no one could see that coming.

Here is the link to send an email to the council and staff. city.council@menlopark.org

In my opinion Facebook is a Corporation its aim is to make a PROFIT by what ever means! They have cause and continue to cause hardship for the people of Menlo Park and others nearby cities.
The traffic, their buses doing 70-80 on the bridge changing lanes without a care in the world, increasing apt and housing cost for families by hiring so many people from outside the area.
And with the last data breach from their company and companies they work with I SAID NO TO FACEBOOK!
But just look it appears city members, some of their family or themselves had shares in Facebook?

Web Link

It looks like our voices are being heard! I got a call this morning from Ryan Patterson, who is part of Facebook's real estate team. He had seen our posts and said it prompted two actions on Facebook's part. First, they are meeting with the fire district to see what they can do to modify the volume of the alarms, which are being triggered by water pressure fluctuations in the new building. He said they realize how loud the alarms are and want to find a solution.

The other action is that they are looking for better ways to respond to community concerns. He said all of the emails to the fblocal@fb.com have been going to a filtered folder and the community team wasn't seeing them. They're fixing the problem and will respond to the emails that have been sent. Additionally, they want to provide a better phone number for neighbors to call when issues like the alarms arise. He promised to follow up with that phone number. He also said Facebook has now created a Next-door account and will use the account to provide better information about the reason for the alarms, their plans for mitigating the problem and how to reach them.

This is a promising start, and I appreciate all of you who have helped bring this issue to the surface. Thank you!!

Dear Belle Haven community,

We apologize that our fire alarm system has been triggered on 3 separate occasions this month. We know how frustrating this must be and we sincerely apologize for this.

Unfortunately, these were real alarms and not any sort of test of the system. The fire suppression system in our Building 21, detected a drop in water pressure, which trigged the alarm to sound on these occasions. We’re still investigating the cause of the pressure drop and if it was something we contributed to or not.

While this has been a pretty rare occurrence for us, we are taking it very seriously and are working hard to figure out what happened and what we can do to prevent this in the future.

We also apologize for the slow response time to your messages. We are working closely with our IT team in order to improve our process. We will certainly be prompt in our responses moving forward.

Please know that we hear your concerns, understand your frustrations and we appreciate your feedback.


Best,
Ashley
Community Engagement I Facebook

Oh Ashley...you don't TRUELY expect us to believe that, do you? First, there have been more than three incidences. Second, it's interesting that all of these have happened at times when Facebook employees are not on campus (ex: on weekends, the middle of the night, etc.) The wellbeing of Facebook employees will always be greater than the neighborhood it is gentrifying.

The alarm just got ofF again, from 3:35 to 3:51 am, we live just blocks away, we are sick of this. I hear you all, can't believe this happends every week now. Can't Go back To sleep, we have complained many times,and have no response from anybody, we are getting ready to go to the news about this.

I agree Erandi. I'm beyond angry at this point. We can't continue to have our sleep interrupted because Facebook can't figure out how to resolve the problem with the tripped alarms! We need to press the company and our city officials to fix this immediately. Here are some ways that all of you can help:

-Send an email to the City Council at city.council@menlopark.org.
-Send an email to Facebook at fblocal@fb.com (they said yesterday that they had set up a new system that would route the emails to the proper people instead of being overlooked as they have in the past).
-Post your comments to Facebook's Nextdoor page at Web Link

One of Facebook's community engagement people has offered to arrange a meeting on this issue, and I think we should insist that they do this immediately. And it should include representatives from the city government as well as fire district officials.

An update: I've heard from three city council members on this. Kirsten Keith has asked the mayor to put this on the council's agenda ASAP. Catherine Carlton is asking the city manager whether Facebook can be fined for these repeated alarms. And Ray Mueller said he has spoken with Facebook and with the city manager, and that Facebook gave them the same explanation about the alarms being triggered by fluctuating water pressure. He said the city will do what it can, but that the fire district has to sign off on any changes to the alarm system.

How could Catherine Carlton be talking to the City Manager about Facebook?

Catherine Carlton is recused from matters regarding Facebook matters due to a conflict of interest. She shouldn't be engaging with City staff regarding Facebook at all and especially not asking whether or not Facebook could be fined.

How could Catherine Carlton be talking to the City Manager about Facebook?

Catherine Carlton is recused from matters regarding Facebook due to a conflict of interest. She shouldn't be engaging with City staff regarding Facebook at all and especially not asking whether or not Facebook could be fined

First, thank you Sie for your post and for the others who also posted and wrote Council at www.city.council@menlopark.org. Make no mistake, you are seeing some response to your concerns due to your speaking out. With all that, you still have the problems of the alarms. You are also now being pointed to the Menlo Park Fire District. If the fire district has to sign off on changes to their alarm systems, I suggest contacting the Fire District's Board of Directors Web Link In parallel, I would also use their Contact Us form Web Link to send in a complaint. If the alarms are continuing as of July 3, I would try to go to one or both of the public meetings on that day to register a public complaint. Web Link Unfortunately, I do not see the direct email addresses of the Fire Board's Executive Staff or I would suggesting contacting them first. Web Link

Thanks, Lynne. I sent an email to the fire district earlier this morning but haven't heard back yet. It would be helpful if others would contact them, too.

Thanks Sie. I hope more (who hear the alarms) will join you in writing! I also want to respond to Recusal's concerns about Catherine Carlton talking with the City Manager about Facebook. Recusal is absolutely correct in that Carlton is now disqualified from participating in governmental decisions pertaining to Facebook. As I recall, this was because the consulting firm that she works for does some work for Facebook. According to Public Service Ethics laws (page 11), Web Link when someone is disqualified, the breadth of the disqualification requirement includes: "one must not only step aside from voting, but the entire process leading up to a governmental decision, whether
a vote of a legislative body or an action or decision by an employee vested with the authority to act on behalf of the agency. This means conversations with fellow officials and staff are also against the law if one has a conflict of interest. Also, there may be even more restrictive local requirements." Clearly if Carlton and the City Manager are discussing the topic, the entire Council and staff need much more extensive training on the ethics laws and also an easy to understand and refer to Ethics Handbook.

Neighbors: Facebook is holding a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the problems with the alarms. Please spread the word and plan to attend, if possible. The July 4 holiday makes it difficult, but I hope this is a first step in resolving the problem. The message below is from Facebook:

Building 21 Fire Alarm: Community Meeting

This morning we had the unfortunate occurrence of a fire alarm going off again. We want to reassure you that addressing this concern is a top priority for us. We have our facilities and security teams working diligently to resolve the problem and make sure water pressure fluctuation or other facility issues do not continue to trigger the fire alarm.

We know this is causing a significant disturbance and has impacted how you go about your daily lives. For that we are incredibly sorry and are committed to working with the Menlo Park Fire Department, City of Menlo Park, and the Belle Haven community to find a solution.

Here are the set of steps are we taking to help resolve the matter:
We’ve assembled a large team of contractors, consultants and installers who are sweeping the building to identify inconsistencies and remedy them.
Our fire alarm and sprinkler systems are being put through a rigorous and full evaluation to get ahead of any potential issues.
We’re working with the Fire District on improvements to the building alarm system.

Due to the urgency of the matter we plan on holding a community meeting next Tuesday, July 3rd to make ourselves available to answer any additional questions from the community and hear your concerns. Below you will find more information.

Community Meeting: Building 21 Fire Alarm
Location: Belle Haven Neighborhood Service Center
Address: 871 Hamilton Ave, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Date: Tuesday July 3rd at 6:30-7:30pm

Water pressure sensor alarms are standard - they are the best way to detect water release by sprinkler heads in the building. The decibel level of the automated alarm is set so that it cannot be ignored, even on a very busy day full of other ambient noise. Water pressure fluctuates because of variability in the supply system, probably outside of Facebook's control. Solving this issue involves several entities - focusing on Facebook as the sole responsible party misses the truth.

Of all the parties involved in creating and resolving this issue, the Fire District will be the toughest nut to crack. They have virtually unlimited authority to require "features" determined (by the local Fire Marshall or the State Fire Marshall) to be necessary for public safety. These features are updated constantly, with little (if any) public input. Inconvenience, lost sleep, cost and reasonableness will likely not be factors in their response to this problem. Expect more and not less of these alarms and any other features they deem necessary.

The City of Menlo Park has little authority here, and Facebook with all its resources will not be able to convince the FD to back off anything they've required. With any luck the FD will participate in Tuesday's meeting and at least explain that Facebook is complying with their requirements, and has no control over fluctuations in the local water supply pressure.

To the residents of Belle Haven

We have been working closely with Facebook to help them bring their new building 21 on line and to address many of the life safety and fire protection system issues associated with such a large and complicated structure. One of the more unique features of building 21 is the occupancy capability of the roof area.

The fire alarm systems are very specialized due to the type of design and occupancy load. As I understand it, the fire alarm vender decided to use “stadium style speakers” on the roof to address the potential occupancy of thousands of people.

I was not made aware of the neighborhood impacts, or problems, until a few days ago. Since that time we have been working with Facebook to resolve this problem. I am unaware of any formal communications from the City of Menlo Park to the Fire District.

Our Fire Marshal and the Cities lead Building Official have been discussing both the challenges and solutions to many of the building issues, on a regular basis with Facebook.

We have proposed a variety of potential options to Facebook leadership regarding the roof speakers up to and including turning the audible notification system off at night for the next 30 days.

I will allow this if Facebook can guarantee the roof will NOT be occupied during that period of time, there is a protocol developed to turn the system both off and on, a daily record, or log is kept, and we collectively resolve the problem to the mutual satisfaction of the Fire District.

We are trying to balance the intended purpose of an emergency notification system needed to alert thousands of people in an open air roof setting on a large multistory elevated platform, against the “debugging” and fine tuning of a complex warning system that is malfunctioning and driving you all crazy.

Each of these activations requires that a field unit, a Fire Engine, be deployed to validate that their is not an actual emergency. So the Fire District has a significant interest in assuring that this new system not only properly functions as designed only when there is an actual problem, but we also eliminate the false alarms so the Firefighters are available if another emergency occurred elsewhere in their primary response area.

In summary:
We are now aware of your concerns and are working with Facebook to not only provide you with some relief, but to also make sure the life safety and fire systems are properly operating for this unique structure.

For additional follow-up, feel free to email me at harolds@menlofire.org

Harold Schapelhouman, Fire Chief

Thank you, Chief Schapelhouman, for responding to the concerns of our neighborhood and to working with Facebook to find a solution. I appreciate your explanation and your willingness to come up with strategies that work for both the company and the neighborhood. I hope you or a member of your team will be joining us at the community meeting on July 3 so that we can get any additional questions about this matter answered.

I only live a block away from the latest building, and I fully understand that the alarms are supposedly being triggered for valid reasons. My complaint isn’t even that the alarms are repeatedly going off, but that their db level is earsplittingly loud inside my own house. I’ve lived here for over 8 years now and never conceived of having this kind of problem. This alarm has gone off so often and blasted my ears that I’ve started logging it. Just in the last few weeks: Sun June 10 @ 5:20pm, Sun June 10 @ 5:53 pm, Sun June 10 @ 6:06 pm (yup, 3x in one day!), Sun June 17@ 2:10 am, Tue June 26 @ 5:47 am, and
Thu June 29 @ 3:35 am.

I should probably sue Facebook for the constant ringing in my ears now. The speakers need to be mounted internally - not blasting the whole neighborhood, and they need to TURN DOWN THE VOLUME!!!

The meeting is an opportunity to press Facebook to schedule another meeting on the topic of skyrocketing rents and displacement in Belle Haven. My husband pointed out today's Mercury News article to me as it made him feel so sad, and he knew that it is part of a larger collection of issues in Belle Haven that I'm trying to do my part to help with. I just wrote Council to ask that they agendize the issue of displacement and skyrocketing rents as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I cannot add a direct link to the article here, but you can see my email at Web Link You can also write me directly at lynne.e.bramlett@gmail.com and I will forward my email to Council (with the article) to you. Facebook has created the displacement problem in Belle Haven and they need to do more to help solve it. I cannot attend your July 3 meeting or I would. Please update us all after it occurs.

Someone should post a van with stadium speakers mounted on the roof outside of Zuck and Sandberg’s houses and blast them every time his alarm system goes off at HQ. The situation would be fixed the next morning, guaranteed.