400 Menlo Park residents sent an email like this to City Council in the days prior to their November 4th meeting

Subject: I trust the people of Menlo Park


Mayor Combs and City Council Members,

I support more affordable housing in Menlo Park. In the right locations, it will strengthen our community.

But our community is built around a shared downtown — and the downtown depends on the public parking plazas. Repurposing those plazas would be a once-in-a-generation decision with extreme consequences.

On this decision, I trust the people of Menlo Park to do what’s best for the town in which they live.

I therefore urge you to adopt the Downtown Parking Plazas Ordinance, giving residents the right to vote on the future of their downtown.

Thank you for your service in representing the people of Menlo Park.

At the November 4th meeting, Council could have adopted the ordinance outright or put it on a future ballot. Instead, they commissioned a $165,000 study by M-Group - the same consulting firm that managed the process that originally led do the downtown parking lots being part of the housing plan in the first place. By requesting the study, Council pushed back their decision till the December 2nd meeting.