Yesterday I attended the amazing Love Our Earth Festival at M-A High School. It was a wonderful way to spend the day, visiting various booths with information about how to take climate action, checking out EV's and trying delicious vegan food. With the beautiful weather and the incredible event, it truly did feel like Earth Day.
Another fun celebration I attended this past week was the City of Menlo Park's annual Employee Recognition event (see photos below).
The Employee Recognition event was a wonderful way to honor our tremendous staff who work so hard every day to serve the community. In addition to the various employee award categories in each department and citywide, it was especially meaningful to recognize the multi-department Storm Response Team, who worked tirelessly through the storms and outages earlier this year.
If you have a positive interaction with a city worker, or see one going above and beyond, please let me know and I'll pass along the feedback. We want our employees to know how much they are appreciated.
Tuesday's meeting includes the annual appointment of members to various advisory bodies. The staff report for this item includes the number of vacancies that will be filled and the application for each resident wishing to serve in the different roles. It is wonderful to live in a community in which so many people are interested in being part of local government!
Most Menlo Park residents, especially those close to the train tracks, many living in District 3, are very familiar with the loud blasts of the horns along the Caltrain corridor. Because of the massive negative impact of the horn blasts, and the broad community support for a solution, the Council identified a Quiet Zone implementation plan as high priority project in 2021. As a reminder, below is information about what a Quiet Zone is:
Tuesday night's agenda includes an important study session (Item H1) with the results of the information gathered in the Quiet Zone study, and decisions that the Council needs to weigh in on prior to next steps and ultimate implementation. Staff is seeking direction on the following:
Confirmation that staff should actively pursue a service agreement with Caltrain to advance final design of the grade crossing upgrades.
Feedback on whether the City should pursue four quadrant gates at two crossings (Ravenswood Avenue and Oak Grove Avenue) to implement a quiet zone more quickly or pursue all four crossings at the same time.
Direction to develop a letter from the Mayor to the California High Speed Rail (CAHSR) Authority to seek a commitment to reimburse the City for the installation of four quadrant gates.
Direction to pursue additional left-turn restrictions from Oak Grove Avenue to Merrill Street and Garwood Way to reduce stopping on the railroad tracks.
Assuming the project advances, as the staff report states, "long term implementation of the quiet zone is likely to take several years to find funding to implement the needed improvements." Depending on various design and implementation factors outlined in the staff report, the cost of the project is estimated to cost between $4 million and $8.5 million, with an additional $350k to $1 million in design costs.
The process is further outlined below:
For more information about the Quiet Zone project, please visit the project page on the City's website here.
The first item is the approval of budget principals for the upcoming 2023-24 fiscal year which starts on July 1, 2023 and runs through June 30, 2024. The budget principles guide staff in preparing the proposed budget so that it reflects the Council's foundational budget values. For those of you interested in following the budget process, I recommend you read through them in the staff report.
The second piece of information is a calendar showing the steps and associated dates between now and the adoption of the budget, and slightly beyond. Below is the full schedule, but please note that June 1st is a public budget workshop in which residents will walked through the entire budget and will have an opportunity to ask questions and seek clarification.
The third budget-related topic covered in this agenda item is the 5-year General Fund forecast. As you may or may not know, the General Fund is the City’s main fund that accounts for the vast majority of city operations, including but not limited to: police services, recreation, planning, building inspection, library, engineering, parks maintenance, street maintenance, and general administration.
As outlined in the staff report, the General Fund 5-year forecast projects that total reserve balance trends downward from $32.5 million to $24.2 million. In addition, the unassigned reserve balance decreases to $0.25 million for the last three years of the forecast to maintain the necessary liquidity for cash flow to cover operating expenses. It is also important to note that the current forecast uses reserves to cover projected deficits.
I do want to point out that in the 5-year forecast, the Utility User Tax (UUT) has been removed ($1.56 million collected in the 2022-23 budget year), and a placeholder expense of an approximate $3.74 million onetime UUT refund has been included. This is a result of what was reported in The Almanac, that "a San Mateo County Superior Court Judge issued a tentative ruling that Menlo Park failed to make the necessary findings to continue collecting Utility Users Tax (UUT) from residents."
Please stay tuned to further Council meetings, as outlined above, where robust conversations about the budget will take place.
The City of Menlo Park recently adopted its Housing Element, the state-mandated chapter of the General Plan that requires a city to identify opportunity sites for additional housing (at all income levels) every eight years. In addition to siting enough housing to meet our Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), Menlo Park, like all California cities, had to commit to develop programs that support the preservation of existing housing and the development of new housing (in large part through zoning changes).
While Menlo Park adopted our Housing Element at the January 31st Council meeting, based on a letter the City received on April 7th from California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), "additional revisions are necessary to substantially comply with State Housing Element Law."
The staff report for informational item L3 outlines not only the efforts and timeline needed to update the Housing Element per HCD's direction, it also includes other updates related to the Housing Element Update project. Staff has divided the remaining work into four major tasks:
Revise the adopted Housing Element, where appropriate, in response to the April 7 HCD letter and resubmit the document for HCD certification
Prepare modifications to the El Camino Real/Downtown Specific Plan for City Council adoption to complete Housing Element program H4.L
Prepare modifications to the city’s commercial zoning districts, R-3 zoning district and Affordable Housing Overlay (AHO), and zoning map for City Council adoption to complete Housing Element programs H4.D, H4.I, H4.J, H4.K, and H4.T
Continue refinement of the draft Environmental Justice and Safety Elements based on additional community engagement and feedback, and prepare for City Council adoption.
The timeline to complete all of the work mentioned above is provided in the staff report and in the table below. Note that all of this work is currently scheduled to be completed by the end of the calendar year. Stay tuned.
Other Items of Interest
Below are some additional items of interest.
Menlo Park Arbor Day Celebration
Saturday, April 29th at 10am
One of the best parts of being the mayor is planting trees! The picture above is a tree I planted with Canopy at Belle Haven Elementary School. Join me on Saturday, April 29th at 10am for an Arbor Day Celebration where I and fellow Council members, the Environmental Quality Commission, city staff, and community partners will plant five additional trees. The event will also consist of fun family activities and giveaways.
The event will take place at Karl E. Clark Park at 313 Market Place in Belle Haven. For more information, click here.
Disaster Preparedness Fair
Saturday, April 29th from 11am to 3pm
The recent storms -- with three long power outages -- were reminders of our need to do a few key things ahead of any emergency. Come to the Disaster Preparedness Fair on Saturday, April 29th to learn the key steps to make you and your family safer when a major emergency strikes...or during the expected longer power outages from storms and wildfires. The event will take place between 11am and 3pm at the Menlo Park Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at 1105 Valparaiso Avenue. For more information, click here.
Coleman and Ringwood Avenues Transportation Study
Interactive Community Workshop
Thursday, May 4th from 6-8pm
A Coleman and Ringwood Avenues Transportation Study has been underway to help make the streets safer for people walking and biking. The County of San Mateo and the City of Menlo Park now seek your input to help finalize a set of design options for the corridors! A workshop is being held on Thursday, May 4th from 6 to 8pm at Menlo-Atherton High School (in the Makerspace Studio, S7) so that residents can help design and build a model of the corridors and discuss the best options for the community. For more information about the workshop, and/or about the study, click here.
Shop Local in Menlo Park
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting a new store in our downtown, Anatomie (on Evelyne, behind Posh Bagel), and meeting the lovely store manager, Carmen. In addition to picking up a fabulous new jean jacket, I was also reminded of the benefits of shopping in our community and getting to know the people who work in our wonderful city. If you haven't checked out the stores in Menlo Park lately, I encourage you to do so and to shop local! You can read about the grand opening of Anatomie in InMenlo.
San Mateo County Parks Take a Hike Challenge
Ongoing Until October 31, 2023
Ready to explore some amazing parks in the area? Welcome to the 2023 Take A Hike Challenge! Seven short (about 2 miles each - even I can do that!) hiking routes have been selected to introduce residents to the variety and beauty of our local San Mateo County parks! Special rewards are available for those who complete the #2023TakeAHikeChallenge. The challenge will run until October 31st. I hope to see you on the trails! To find out the routes and for more information, visit https://www.smcgov.org/parks/2023-take-hike-challenge.
Bike to Wherever Days Coming in May - Pledge to Ride
Menlo Park Still in the Lead!
Update: Menlo Park is still in the lead in the number for the number of pledges for Bike to Wherever Days, taking place May 18th to 20th. Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition is keeping a leaderboard to track which city has the most pledged riders (it's free to pledge!) and Menlo Park is holding strong in first place position! Let's keep our lead over our neighboring cities. Pledge to ride here!
