Menlo Park unveils plan for downtown, El Camino; first meeting Wednesday

Are you friggin' kiddin' me? The unveiling of the new plan for downtown Menlo Park is a joke.
First, the concept suggests choking-off Santa Cruz Ave. with a Central Plaza, to provide "outdoor dining and cavorting". So, let me get this straight. We cut-off the main artery through Menlo Park for several months of outdoor enjoyment? How is the traffic suppose to flow? What streets now become the main N/S arteries? I mean, this makes the insanity of the infamous Santa Cruz Ave. traffic islands that were installed at great expense (and then removed at greater expense) several years ago, seem harmless.
Second, while we're on the subject of further screwing-up traffic flow in M.P., to not address Menlo's El Camino Real bottleneck in this plan is ludicrous. The vague description of Retail, Mixed-use/Residential along El Camino's corridor will only increase traffic along the corridor, further congesting and slowing traffic in all directions.
The conceptual sketches are nothing more than pretty smoke screens of a plan that is not well thought out at all. This plan and renderings show boxes, trees and streets, with no regard for light planes or shade created by suggested new 4 - 5 story buildings. And I've got news for Perkins + Will and the planning commission, the popularity and vibrancy enjoyed by Cafe Barrone isn't its food or lattes, it's the unobstructed, Southern exposure, sunny location. If you want people to gather outside, you need warmth. Heck, the Native Americans knew that.
I could continue my rant, but there's really no substance in this plan to waste any more of my time to comment. Oh wait, maybe there is. Did they run out of ink before they could draw in the train tracks?

And let the obstruction begin! You stopped it three times in the past, you gotta believe you can do it one more time, right?

Ugh.

The central plaza would *not* be closed to traffic, except for special events. Most days of the year, the dining and cavorting would take place on the widened sidewalks, rather than in the middle of the street.

In the 46 years I have lived i the area, Menlo Park has destroyed and replanted the trees along Santa Cruz at least three times. Then there was this really stupid idea of islands sticking into Santa Cruz,installed and removed at significant cost.

This idea sounds like another boondongle, converting Menlo Park into a version of a "big city"., which would totally destroy the commercial activities for some period, choking traffic E to W, adding to the choke points along El Camino. - If the City has money to spend on blue sky dreaming, it should use it to alleviate the shortfalls in the budget and infrastructure. Spending other people's money is always great fun. A Realty Check is never ppopular.

You mean all that commercial activity on el camino? Gunther, you have a nice town. Have at it. We'll have at ours.

Well, I guess I read the rendering of Santa Cruz Ave. incorrectly. The Central Plaza shows trees in the center of Santa Cruz Ave. before and after the proposed plaza, then trees on both sides of the plaza with no arrow traffic directionals (as shown on other downtown cross streets).
My bad. Let's start spending money the city doesn't have to make this dream come true. Unfortunately, at age 58, I'll never see this come to fruition because the downtown property owners will never spend their money for this kind of Menlo make-over. Most of the downtown buildings look exactly as they did when I was ten years-old — except they had customers then.

They need to hire a consultant to tell them if they should hire a consultant.

Who is paying for this?
If you have money to throw away on cosmetic projects like this, give it to the schools who desperately need it.
We never learn from our past mistakes . . . never.

wow. there you have it folks. don't do anything to change anything and don't spend money and never hire consultants and learn from the past...the past...the old days...when things were so much better.

Never try to change. Change is bad.

It's o.k. not to like something, in which case I say if you have an idea, by all means share it, otherwise I agree with some of the posters we need to be open to change. One idea I have is taking a portion of the revenue that would be generated and putting it towards our local schools. Just my thoughts.

I went to the 1st presentation tonight in the Presbyterian meeting room behind the hardware store. Approximately 75 people were there to hear one of the city planners, Tom Rogers, present the draft plan for the downtown, train station, and El Camino corridor. The presentation was quite detailed and went on for nearly an hour. After, a number of city staff were present to answer questions and they stayed another 20 minutes doing just that.
There will be two more meetings where the plan will be presented and I recommend those of you on this blog attend one or both so that you'll have the facts about what is being proposed. They also have a number of copies of the plan to hand out - one per attendee.
The plan is very detailed and quite impressive - around 150 pages - well organized and well written. Detailed color maps showing trees, circulation, building profiles, etc. give a good overview of what is planned for the different areas. To visually explain what is imagined for specific areas, such as the downtown marketplace, they include photos taken from cities across the country that have successfully implemented many of these ideas.
I hope I live long enough to see some of these ideas realized.

they should just demolish downtown and build a freeway on it or something

Let me guess - the no-change crowd probably ignored all the notices and meetings regarding this project, per usual.