Former mayor pens humor book from alien perspective

Posted by Steve Schmidt
a resident of Menlo Park: The Willows
on Dec 6, 2020 at 4:32 pm
Steve Schmidt is a registered user.

Former Menlo Park Mayor Mickie Winkler’s “rare distinction of not being reelected” after serving a first term can easily be explained. As residents who were among those who worked to make sure Ms. Winkler was not reelected, let us respond:

Ms. Winkler and sidekick Lee Duboc were elected in 2002 and immediately used their nascent power to reverse community-wide efforts such as the construction of a healthy childcare center, the successful City operation of the new public swimming pool, and even the protection of the city’s trees.

The Child care center approved by 70% of voters in 2000 was killed by Winkler, Duboc and Council Member Nicholas Jellins, along with $800,000 worth of architectural and construction plans already paid for. The city’s new swimming pool, again approved by 70% of voters, was handed to a private entity without a public hearing. As of today this private pool operator has refused to open his books for public review. The Heritage Tree Ordinance which Ms. Winkler still calls the “Heritage Twig Ordinance” was gutted and repackaged as a program that includes a $200 fee for any resident who wants to appeal removal of a Heritage Tree.

Ms. Winkler might take a moment to recall one of her first acts after being elected when she succeeded in throwing out a 2-year community Residential Zoning Ordinance that protected neighbors from residential developers seeking to build large houses shading their yards, windows and solar access. The discarded RZO mandated developers meet with adjacent neighbors with the goal to find compromises for the negative impacts of the proposed construction.

Another of Ms. Winkler’s most devious successes was her changing the way neighborhoods reached solutions for dangerous speeding cars. Instead of neighbors working together and relying on a democratic majority rule, Ms. Winkler inserted a trick: If a property owner did not participate, the absence of a vote was considered a vote against the traffic calming plan. Since Winkler was voted out of office in 2006, only one neighborhood traffic calming plan has been able to survive Winkler’s calculated hurdle and that one took two and half years from the first petition to final approval.

Alas! At the end of the day, Council Members Winkler and Duboc met their final rejection with the failure of their 2006 Measure J, an ill-conceived plan to destroy Bayfront Park and turn the 160 acres in to soccer fields. This occurred when the Federal Government was restoring the wetlands leading Palo Alto and Mountain View to create miles of paths with views of the Bay. Winkler and Duboc wanted to grade the hills of a one-time garbage dump that was still producing methane, a toxic and inflammable greenhouse gas.

Measure J was a referendum on Council Members Mickie Winkler and Lee Duboc. The Measure and both Council Members were shown the door.

Ms. Winkler and Ms. Duboc today cling to their scorched earth approach advising residents in their email blasts from an organization they call “Menlo Future.” There is still a small but faithful following that takes the bait filling the City’s email log with Winkler’s talking points. Her book may be a comedy to Ms. Winkler, but to Menlo Park residents it’s nothing more than a reminder of bad policy.

Steve Schmidt
Brielle Johnck