Menlo Park: Belle Haven residents praise changing neighborhood

Kudos also to Tim Sheeper and Menlo Swim who have opened the swimming pool there and scholarship-ed children so they can learn to swim !
Joan Smith
Kings Swim Academy

Be careful of what you wish for. Gentrification is fun at first, but greedy landlords often take advantage of the situation to jack up their rents and evict lower-income residents or lower-profit-margin businesses. Gentrification is happening all over the Bay Area right now and it can be really unpleasant, especially if you are on the eviction list. Hopefully, the city council will take steps to protect current residents against skyrocketing rents.

What can the city council do to protect tenants? And, do they want to? They pretty much have never given a darn about Belle Haven.

If gentrification means cleaner safer streets, then I'm all for it!

The other thing that's happened in Belle Haven since 2010? A massive amount of private reinvestment and revitalization: Menlo Gateway, Facebook. Sobrato. What is that, like a million square feet of new tech/innovation projects? Office *is* a great way to turn dilapidated properties into tax-producing developments... as long as they're not near Mike Lanza and Patti Fry's houses?

Great piece, Sandy. Keep reprinting "Save Menlo" propaganda and not doing any actual reporting.

So how is it that these produce revenue? ANYTHING redeveloped provides new property taxes, and those are just about the same regardless of what the new buildings are. But in terms of revenue to the city (sales tax, tot), none of these provide a penny except the hotel portion of Menlo Gateway.

How about dropping the negative comments about individuals, whether the reporter or fellow residents? Snarky and disrespectful.

Keep your West Menlo Politics out of a great community effort.

[Post removed; off topic.]