Displacement of residents among concerns as Menlo Park revises general plan

If local politicos don't look out for ALL community members, then no one will. Certainly not large corporations. How many times has Menlo Park said no to a developer, even when said person(s) don't fulfill low-cost housing regulations? This area, sadly, is becoming only a place for the wealthy and those who companies can buy.

All of us should be ashamed. I notice our homeless people are no longer around either, at least not as before. As each of us must decide, wouldn't it be morally easy to stand and fight for those who are losing their basic needs and rights or have we truly become jaded by the glitz.

So what's the answer? Blanket rent control forced over all of Belle Haven and the M2? A property value cap applied to lower income communities so they do get glitzy? Lower the threshold of affordable housing to be 50% across every site in Menlo Park? Build social housing with a Bond Measure such as Prop A in SF, after snatching up sites with Eminent Domain?

I'm tired of this typical 'gentrification victim' sob story- propose the changes in land-use policy and see what flies.

Why is it that only the eastern portion residents are at risk? How many meetings with that part of the community have been held?

Just for the record, Belle Haven is not eastern Menlo Park. I know we want it to be, but it just isn't. Belle Haven is as descriptive a label as the Willows and Lindenwood and other neighborhoods not denoted by the location (especially since the location moniker in this case is inaccurate). Thanks to Rose Bickerstaff for beating that drum.

Does anyone really think that the Menlo Park council will look out for the interests of East Menlo residents ? The council has allowed west-of-101 development that will unleash a flood of street-clogging traffic in the city -- something already becoming apparent on Ravenswood, Middlefield and Willow Road. And this in a far more affluent section of town. Not a word from council about follow-on housing requirements imposed by ABAG.
What about a development moratorium ?
San Francisco has just qualified one for the November ballot. Before we know it, the Menlo Park we know will have been replaced by car-clogged concrete canyons, with tributaries through our neighborhoods. The charming small businesses will have been transformed into plastic establishments catering to the daily inrush of office workers.

...and as people on NextDoor complain about the Leaf Blower Problem, many of their neighbors are having to confront the fact that no one cares about them or the homes that they will lose.

Mixed feelings about this. Could results in significantly more services, traffic will get bad, bad, bad. Bad for people who rent here, good for people who own.

As long as Menlo park keeps adding more jobs than housing, the cost of housing will increase. The general plan update hides the increase in jobs from more development that is likely throughout town. The documents showcase only the belle haven changes in zoning but not the trends. The biggest offender so far is bohannons Menlo gateway that adds jobs but zero housing.

Unfortunatley I couldn't make it. Can anyone who attended this evening share any details, How many people, what was discussed, what was the general idea, housing, business, traffic, FB, Was it productive. Did they have a scale model of what it will look like after finished development?

Thanks,

Any discussion about the fact that the only school in Belle Haven is part of the Ravenswood School District. It has the lowest rankings possible. Any chance of it becoming part of Menlo Park Schools. It would improve the school and take the cost burden off of Ravenswood so they can spread their limited funds to their other schools.