Menlo Park council challenger Taylor plans to stay in game

Way to go Cecilia!!! I too was really disappointed to see the West Menlo establishment ignore again the candidate from Belle Haven. What are people thinking of? I live in Lindfield Oaks, but see the disparity of representation. No one on the board has first hand experience with the effects of Face Book and other tech companies is having on Belle Haven. That's only one issue we continue to ignore.

Who will address the uncertainty of our neighbors who fear deportation, or attacks on themselves and their children? It is vital that Belle Haven have at least one seat on the board and even better to have 2!

I whole heartedly support expanding the board and automatically including Cecilia Taylor as a member.

Thanks to the Almanac for publicizing this imbalance and for endorsing Cecilia in the election.

Good for you Cecilia, this was a good start. It takes time to break through but you will next time. Hope you can keep your name out there during the wait. It's disappointing that those voting did not see the value of new ideas and a new perspective on issues that face all of us in Menlo Park.

Congratulations Cecilia on an honorable run. Keep up the good work and you will get elected next time !
Best,
DC McGlynn

Eight of the past twelve elections has a smaller margin of victory.

• 1998: 0.02% (4 votes)
• 2004: 0.02% (46 votes)
• 1994: 0.15% (47 votes)
• 2006: 0.38% (112 votes)
• 2012: 1.03% (235 votes)
• 2014: 1.40% (247 votes)
• 2010: 1.36% (374 votes)
• 2002: 2.70% (709 votes)
• 2016: 3.35% (710 votes)*
• 1996: 4.45% (846 votes)
• 2000: 5.52% (1171 votes)
• 2008: 6.02% (1343 votes)

• latest count

If geographic representation is important to Menlo Park voters, they should move to a district based city council representative system rather than have at-large members.

The high school district is converting into a district based representative body.

@Apple writes, "If geographic representation is important to Menlo Park voters, they should move to a district based city council representative system"

Belle Haven, where Ms. Taylor received over 50% of the vote, is less that 10% of the voting population of Menlo Park. Breaking Menlo Park up into 5 wards would put Belle Haven into the same ward as Lorelei Manor, Flood Triangle and Suburban Park. Fortunately, there is no need for this. In this last election, each candidate receives roughly 1/3 of the vote +/-3% (Web Link

Ms. Taylor would have done much better had she polished and reworked her candidate statement to be more effective for West Menlo voters, and had she send out a mailer to absentee voters. The incumbents were running independent campaigns, so this election was up for grabs. When the incumbents work together, as they did in 2014, challengers need to work much harder to break in.

It is disparaging to watch candidate that are willing to do or say anything to get elected. Ms. Taylor has a great advantage as she has stayed positive and stayed true to her message. She will be able to build on this campaign and run a successful campaign in 2018.

@positive

Districts would be evenly divided by census population, not voting population. Belle Haven has just under one-fifth of Menlo Park's overall population. Once the new multi-unit housing in that area is occupied, it should easily be one-fifth of the population and thereby be assigned a district by itself without Lorelei, Flood, nor Suburban.

I actually don't know much about Ms. Taylor. I'm just proposing a solution if Menlo Park wants council members that represent individual Menlo Park districts, rather than the city at large.

Taylor got my attention through her ballot statement that talked about her being at ground sero for development impacts about to hit the rest of town. That won my support but barely.
She should serve on a town commission and broaden her horizon beyond belle haven. These council positions address city wide issues and if she wants to be effective and to appeal beyond her personal experience she must learn about the bubble and concerns of others in the rest of menlo where more voters live.

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