City Council Annual Goal Setting Workshop
(Saturday, January 30th at 10am)
The Super Bowl of City Council meetings is this coming Saturday! Every year the City Council meets at the beginning of the year to discuss which initiatives should rise to the top of the City's to-do list. Like all events these days, the meeting is virtual and will take place on Saturday, January 30th from 10am to 3pm. The agenda (with login/call-in information) is here.
At this meeting, City Council will receive an update from Staff on current projects and resource capacity, and then members of the public will have an opportunity to share what they think the City's priorities should be. The City Council will then spend quite a bit of time discussing and deciding what should be pursued. To share your thoughts:
Make a comment - According to the meeting's outline on page 3 of the staff report, public comment will be at approximately 10:25am (subject to change). You can either participate via Zoom or phone (instructions on the agenda here). Note that public comment is limited to 2-minutes per speaker with a maximum of 4 minutes if another member of the public also present at the workshop donates their time to another speaker.
Web Form - Submit a web comment online via the City's website here. Written and recorded public comments are accepted up to 1-hour before the meeting start time.
Email - As always, you can send an email to the entire City Council at city.council@menlopark.org. If you choose to send an email about Goal Setting, be sure to send it early so the Council has time to read it beforehand.
Before I was elected to the City Council, I attended this meeting each year as an interested resident. It is a great way to see what challenges and opportunities the City faces and what resources are available to accomplish desired goals. While we all want so much for our wonderful city, to set expectations, a common mantra that is expressed at these meetings is that, "The City can do pretty much anything, it just can't do everything."
For those of you who are unable to attend, I'll send out an update afterwards.
UPDATES from Recent City Council Meetings
Curious about what occurred at past City Council meetings? Below are a few ways to stay in the know:
Watch videos of the meetings here. You can find an archive of videos from City Council meetings going all the way back to 2006. Past Planning Commission and Complete Streets Commission meeting videos are also available.
Read the minutes from the meetings. Minutes can be found here, in the same place as agendas. Note that the minutes for City Council meetings are only "Action" minutes. Unlike Planning Commission meetings, they do not contain a narrative of comments. Just as with meeting agendas, you can sign up to be alerted when minutes are available by subscribing to Notify Me on the City's website.
Check out The Almanac, our local newspaper. The Almanac typically covers major topics and issues in the City. You can sign up to get email alerts or become a subscribing member to receive even more updates and to support local journalism.
In addition to the ways to stay informed above, below are a few recent updates that may be of particular interest:
APPROVED on January 12th. E1. Final approvals for the Menlo Park Community Campus project located at 100-110 Terminal Avenue.This item will move forward a new multigenerational community center and library in Belle Haven. Facebook is primarily funding this project, with the City of Menlo Park contributing additional funds for city-requested project enhancements (new swimming pool, environmental upgrades and more). (Note: While the project was approved on January 12th, the final sign-off of the swimming pool has been postponed until a special City Council meeting on Monday, February 1st at 4pm [agenda soon to be released]).
DECISION DELAYED on January 26th. G2. Consider modifications to the Downtown street closure and whether to reopen all travel lanes on Santa Cruz Avenue.As we all know, there is so much uncertainty in COVID times. Just before the Council meeting, the Governor lifted the State's Stay-at-Home Order to re-allow outdoor dining. The Council will be taking up this issue again by the end of February (when the current street closure pilot is slated to end). Please feel free to share your thoughts on this with Council at city.council@menlopark.org. Note: Outdoor dining will remain either way in the converted parking spaces or "parklets". The issue is whether or not to allow dining in the travel lanes.
Other Items of Interest
Below is some additional information you may find useful:
COVID-19 Vaccination Information: The San Mateo County Health Department has recently updated their vaccination rollout webpage with information about the phases of distribution, contact information for those with different health care providers (and those without), and a quick sign-up form to complete to be notified when it is your turn to be vaccinated. Data is also now available about how many residents in San Mateo County have been vaccinated, and associated demographic information.
Building Climate Resiliency: Our local chapter of the League of Women Voters is kicking off a six part community series addressing the impact and possible solutions in San Mateo County related to sea level rise and wildfires. The first virtual event in this series is on Thursday, February 4th from 7-8pm and will feature San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine and Len Materman, CEO of OneShoreline. Register here.
Pickleball Pilot Proceeding Presently: The City of Menlo Park is in the midst of a 6-month pilot to test whether at least one tennis court should be permanently modified to be a Pickleball court. What is Pickleball, you ask? Pickleball is a sport played much like tennis, but that uses a wiffleball and a plastic or wooden paddle. It is played on a smaller court and can be enjoyed by people of all ages and athletic abilities. The pilot court location is at Kelly Park in the Belle Haven neighborhood. The City has acquired multiple sets of paddles and balls that can be checked out for usage. For more information about this opportunity, visit the tennis court webpage and scroll down to where it says "Pickleball is here!". If you try it, let me know what you think.
