So far, 2023 has been quite eventful. You can access the City of Menlo Park's storm updates here. On Thursday, January 5th, the City Council ratified City Manager Justin Murphy's proclamation declaring a state of emergency for Menlo Park. This was done in order to prepare for real and potential cumulative impacts of the past, current and upcoming storms.
I greatly appreciate the amazing responsiveness our City Staff during this storm and flood event. I am also awed by the stories of neighbors helping neighbors - Menlo Park is indeed a special place.
In addition to monitoring and responding to upcoming storm conditions, this week also brings quite a bit of significant City business (agendas linked below):
Two City Council meetings
January 9th at 5pm - Special meeting to appoint a District 5 Councilmember
January 9th at 7pm - Regular meeting that in addition to other items, will include a recommendation to City Council about an SB9 ordinance
January 12th at 7pm - Special joint meeting with the Housing Commission to make recommendations to City Council to certify the Housing Element Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and to amend the General Plan to update the Housing Element
While I hope you find my emails useful, and I will continue to send these out, I encourage you to sign up for the City of Menlo Park's updates directly. To do so, visit www.menlopark.gov and scroll to the bottom of the homepage. Under "Connect" you will find the City's various social media channels, and under those there is a link called "Subscribe". From there you can select which announcements and updates you wish to receive. You can access that page directly here. Now is also a good time to sign up for SMC Alert, San Mateo County's notification system used during emergencies.
And finally, as we weather these major storms, it's important to keep in mind that much of the extreme weather we are experiencing and will continue to experience here, and around the world, is increasingly a result of Climate Change. The third Menlo Park Community Collaboration Session, part of a new series of citizen-led discussions about Menlo Park’s responses to a changing climate, is being held on Zoom on Thursday, January 19th from 7:00 to 8:30pm. This month's topic is "Electrify Your Home." You can learn more about this event and other efforts by this group at https://greenblueandyou.org/community-sessions/. It's not too late for us to take action to ensure a livable planet for future generations.
Wishing you a safe, dry and wonderful week.
Warmly,
P.S. In light of the recent flooding, I have received questions from residents about the status of Pope-Chaucer Bridge project. Palo Alto Online has a comprehensive article here about the history of this project. You can also learn more about the project at the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority website at https://www.sfcjpa.org/reach-2-upstream-project.
