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In 2022, Menlo Together made progress on our goals to advance a city that is integrated and diverse, multi-generational, and environmentally sustainable. Some of this progress was on issues we had planned to take on; and some of the progress was driven by events that came up in areas that touched our values.  And some of the progress was in building a stronger network within Menlo Park and with allies in nearby areas, growing the community of people who are informed about issues, share values, and are willing to take action.  

Housing Affordability – strong pro-housing turnout for major policies and sites 

The top Menlo Together priority for the year was community education and mobilization about opportunities to support housing affordability, renter protections, and fair housing through the Housing Element – the process required of Menlo Park and all California cities by the state to plan for housing for people of all income levels. 

In 2022, we drew on the base we had built over time with community education to organize turnout resulting in a majority of public comments favoring affordable housing at key public meetings.   At a study session about a major development at the SRI campus, 20 of 23 speakers spoke in support of affordable housing.  At a meeting about affordable housing at the former Flood School site, a majority spoke in support. 

Menlo Together team members did robust analysis and comment on the City’s Housing Element, strengthening the policies included in the submission to the state.

Environmental Justice / Climate Justice

Another priority at the start of the year was equity in climate action.  To pursue environmental justice and inform the Environmental Justice Element of the City’s General Plan that was being developed in 2022, we participated actively in the Belle Haven Climate Change Community Team led by Climate Resilient Communities. 

As readers may know, an Environmental Justice Element is a required component of a city’s General Plan serving to address a variety of past harms related to environmental inequities.  By state mandate, localities must seek input from disadvantaged and marginalized communities to inform the Environmental Justice Element. State law (SB 1000) requires cities to identify and prioritize the needs of communities affected by historic systems of discrimination that disproportionately impose pollution and other health burdens onto low-income residents and people of color. 

Over the year, the CCCT provided education and focus groups drawing over 120 attendees, and surveyed over 400 residents on how climate change affects them. Menlo Together community organizer Marlene Santoyo contributed over 20 hours per month to this outreach.  This outreach informed input into the city’s drafts.  We expect the City Council to review and approve the Environmental Justice Element in 2023. 

There were strong overlaps between the Environmental Justice Element recommendations and the Housing Element.   Safe and secure housing was identified by community members as vital to address and repair environmental injustices.  This feedback about the importance of safe and secure housing resulted in strengthened provisions for renter protections approved by City Council in 2022.

Measure V – Defeating an anti-housing ballot measure

An unexpected need for organizing and action arose in 2022, when we organized in opposition to Measure V, a ballot measure designed to block affordable housing for teachers at the site of the former Flood School.  A peaceful army of canvassers, with a core derived from our team and outreach, knocked on over 9000 doors.  The resounding success changed conventional wisdom about Menlo Park’s attitudes toward housing.  The measure was soundly defeated, 62-38.  

After the campaign was over, we reached out to campaign volunteers and brought newly active people into our ongoing housing advocacy and organizing. 

Belle Haven Empowered

Belle Haven Empowered is our civic education and engagement program, by and for Belle Haven residents. Through a series of virtual meetings we present civic education on a variety of topics and provide a safe space to discuss community members’ needs and share tools to influence city decisions. We have held 16 workshops, engaging 25 residents who have become more active in the City processes, commission and committee meetings.

Constituency building across the City

Menlo Together grew our overall list from about 800 people at the beginning of 2022 to over 1000 by the end of 2022.  We built up a strong housing team with 10-15 people that regularly organizes on policies and developments. We held three General Meetings, bringing in and engaging new participants, and co-led a bike tour of Housing Element sites. 

Coalition building

Over the year, we expanded our coalition with groups holding expertise in key equity issues and respected leadership.

El Comité de Vecinos del Lado Oeste, East Palo Alto is a grassroots organization made up of committee neighbors of the Western Side of East Palo Alto that are dedicated to tenants’ rights, anti-displacement work and affordable housing. Menlo Together began collaborating as of June 2022 to conduct on the ground bilingual outreach to Belle Haven residents about the Housing Element and opportunities to be part of the public decision making process. We plan to work more closely to extend outreach to Spanish speaking residents.

Climate Resilient Communities. Since 2016, Climate Resilient Communities (CRC) has been on the ground learning the specific needs of residents in diverse, under-resourced communities in East Palo Alto, Belle Haven (Menlo Park), North Fair Oaks and Redwood City. CRC’s outreach cultivates environmental awareness while giving local residents a voice in proactive resilience planning and adaptation. By building stronger alliances between residents, schools, local government programs and community-based organizations, this work creates resilience against climate-related stresses such as sea-level rise and economic instability.

During Measure V, we engaged in outreach to the local faith community. Since then, we brought on Penny Nixon to work with us and HLC on faith community outreach, and are partnering with Faith in Action to deepen engagement and to support organizing for tenant protections, building on their long standing work and our existing community connections.

Media coverage

Our members and housing work generated major press coverage and compelling stories in the Chronicle and KQED.

Thanks and opportunities to get involved

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in 2022.  If you haven’t yet gotten involved and are interested, click here to learn more and sign up for our newsletters.

Menlo Park has been considering a proposal for housing, offices and amenities at SRI by Parkline since last Spring. After meetings on January 23 and February 6, the City of Menlo Park Planning Commission made improvements to the proposal that increased the number of total homes at the site to 550, and dedicated an acre of land for 100 deeply affordable homes. 

The City has listened to community feedback, and on March 14 the City Council made another big step towards bringing this proposal closer to reality. The Council voted to approve the Environmental Impact Review scope, which includes studying the impact of up to 800 total homes on the site. This opens the door to improving the proposal’s housing to jobs ratio, and potentially increasing the number of deeply affordable homes.

As the City continues to move this proposal closer to reality, we will keep you updated on opportunities to shape it.  Stay tuned! 

Read previous blog posts about this project:

SRI Parkline Study Session: Letter to Planning Commission (Spring 2022)

Update on the Parkline project at SRI (January 2023)

On March 18, Menlo Park City Council held its first priority-setting session since before the Covid pandemic.     

The top priorities, according to dots allocated by Councilmembers, were Housing (with 4 dots), and in no special order, Emergency Preparedness, Climate Action, Activating Downtown and Economic Development, and Safe Streets with three dots each (apologies for a photo that cut off the 4th Housing dot.)

The City Council’s priorities affirm several of the top priorities recommended by Menlo Together, in a letter that highlighted the importance of implementing the city’s plans for Housing; Environmental Justice and Equitable Electrification; and Sustainable Transportation.  These are all areas where the City has completed, or is finishing major plans, and it is good to see the council focusing on implementation.

Environmental Justice, and Street Safety had received input from many hundreds of residents over the last year and in recent years.  The City Council reviewed input from residents solicited specifically for the priority setting session.  Items that received the most feedback include advancing a Quiet Zone to reduce train horn noise, a project which is currently in progress with a community outreach meeting coming up on March 23, and residents wanting space for pickle ball and tennis, a topic which is being addressed in an ongoing update to the city’s Parks Master Plan.

The draft priorities will be brought back for City Council review and approval, along with a Work Plan and Budget to implement the priorities.

Thanks to everyone whose voice over time has contributed to the prioritization of Housing, Climate and Safe Streets. It will take ongoing attention to encourage the Council and the City to infuse equity in the way it does work.

On Monday, January 23, Menlo Park’s Planning Commission will study an update to the Parkline project at the SRI site in a central location in the city, walking distance from downtown shops and services, parks and transit.

The updated proposal incorporates feedback from numerous residents who advocated last spring for the Parkline proposal to include more housing and more deeply affordable housing and now includes:

• 150 more homes (from 400 to 550)
• An acre of land dedicated to a non-profit housing developer to produce 100 homes for people who are most impacted by housing insecurity, such as extremely low income people with special needs.  

To support these improvements, sign this letter to the Planning Commission. We encourage you to share why this is personally important to you. 

We offer these talking points, but you are the expert in your own life and experience, and your personal story is your power. 

• Housing at all income levels keeps our community resilient, inclusive, and thriving.
• Here’s a cool recent batch of data from Arlington VA who saw a net decrease in traffic despite adding more units to the city, because of how the units are smartly clustered around transit
• We will not meet our Climate Action Plan goals without reducing the number of miles people commute to work in or near Menlo Park, simply because they cannot afford to live here.
• I support local businesses and want them to have a robust, local workforce who are able to thrive and contribute to the community in which they work. 
• I value equity and welcome people who have been discriminated against into all neighborhoods, parks and our schools.
• Dedicating land in this prime location to a non-profit affordable housing developer is a great way to meet hard-to-meet housing needs: seniors, large families, single-women headed households, people with developmental and physical disabilities.
• This site will be a strong applicant for federal, state, and county funds because of its proximity to transit and services.
• The developer has shown that they are willing and open to building more housing for people of all incomes and abilities. We should take advantage of this opportunity and work with them.

This project offers an opportunity to help Menlo Park achieve our legal requirement to affirmatively further fair housing and to help shape the city we all deserve. 

On Thursday, January 12, at 7pm, Menlo Park’s Planning and Housing Commissions will meet together to review the draft Housing Element before sending their recommendations to City Council. 

Menlo Park’s Housing Element is in its final stages–it will likely be adopted by City Council before the end of January. But there are two critical and related pieces of the Housing Element update that deserve attention and consideration. These three elements of the city’s General Plan are bound together by their goals for a more just and equitable community, and to achieve those goals, they need to be considered collectively. 

A draft Environmental Justice and Safety Element have been released and public meetings on these elements will be held in early February, 2023.

A home is the first line of defense from environmental hazards

The Environmental Justice Element in particular is centered on addressing environmental injustices in the General Plan; as such, it plays an equally vital role as the Housing Element in determining the quality of life where people live. 

By state mandate, localities must seek input from disadvantaged and marginalized communities to inform the Environmental Justice Element. State law (SB 1000) requires cities to identify and prioritize the needs of communities affected by historic systems of discrimination that disproportionately impose pollution and other health burdens onto low-income residents and people of color. 

The Environmental Justice Element is a tool to address a variety of past harms related to environmental inequities. One of the seven goals is to promote safe, stable, and affordable housing in high resource areas. The Environmental Justice Element references Housing Element programs to achieve these goals, so it’s imperative that we have a strong and equitable Housing Element.

Historic patterns of housing discrimination form a throughline between the HE and the EJE. 

Redlining and discriminatory mortgage lending practices were used to isolate low-income and non-white populations to the least desirable locations. 

Here in Menlo Park, the Belle Haven and Bayfront neighborhoods are overrepresented by lower incomes and people of color. They are also the most polluted, flood prone, and industrialized areas of the city. By their location as well as their history of being under-resourced, they find themselves particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. They’re also the most cost-burdened when it comes to housing. 

Housing Burden Indicator Results: In Belle Haven, 28% of residents contribute greater than 50% of their income to housing cost and over 70% of households are low income (EnviroScreen 4.0, 2013-2017). 

Menlo Park’s Belle Haven neighborhood sits in the FEMA flood plain (2022 map)

Zoning and permitting decisions have restricted the location and type of housing developments in Menlo Park, which has led to a severe local jobs/housing imbalance and a lack of affordable housing options. As land values continue to rise, home prices and rents have become increasingly out of reach and contributed to gentrification. Housing insecurity and displacement loom, exacerbating stress on residents’ everyday finances–and their health.

As part of the Environmental Justice and Safety Element planning process, Menlo Park did extensive outreach to the Belle Haven community about environmental harms, health challenges, and financial stressors. Chief among the community’s priorities was the need for safe, stable, and healthy housing. 

Safe & Sanitary Housing State Requirement: Location, Quality, Affordability, Stability

Housing site selection can exacerbate or mitigate inequities. To reverse our past patterns of segregation, we must equitably plan for a diversity of housing across the city, especially in high resource areas. 

To address housing insecurity and reduce cost burdens we need robust policies and programs to preserve and protect existing housing as well as enact strong measures to prevent displacement. 

The EJ element depends on the Housing Element to achieve safe and sanitary housing outcomes. To achieve the Environmental Justice goals, the Housing Element needs to be robust and equitable.  

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Timely Call to Action – January 12th

Support Environmental Justice Goals through Housing Element Advocacy

A Housing Element that supports Environmental Justice will establish programs and policies to:

• Reverse the trend by which marginalized communities have been overburdened with disproportionate housing and commercial development and the resulting traffic and emissions impacts
• Create a robust, accelerated plan to produce 100% affordable housing on city-owned parking lots downtown

• Offer protection from displacement for both renters and homeowners
• Provide resources to help preserve and revitalize communities 

Thursday, January 12th at 7pm, the Planning Commission and Housing Commission will discuss the Housing Element. 

Take action now:

1. Before 7pm on Jan 11th, please sign on to this Menlo Together/Housing Leadership Council letter in support of a rigorous and equitable Housing Element 
2. Lend your voice even more powerfully:  Speak directly to your Planning and Housing Commissioners at tomorrow’s  joint meeting.

Here’s all the relevant meeting information you’ll need:

Agenda

When: January 12, 2023 at 7:00 pm

In Person: City Council Chambers, 751 Laurel St., 94025

Online Via Zoom: Meeting ID 862-5880-9056

Phone:

Dial 669-900-6833

Meeting ID 862-5880-9056

Press *9 to raise hand to speak

If you have any questions info@menlotogether.org or kchan@hlcsmc.org will be happy to help.

As of November 17, with approximately 80% of the votes counted, No on V prevailed in every single council district and nearly every precinct citywide.

Menlo Together participated with multi-faceted coalition of local and regional stakeholders who organized, canvassed, phone-banked, educated friends and neighbors, hosted gatherings, recruited volunteers, delivered signs, wrote postcards, and knocked on doors all over the city to inform people about the bad measure that would have made affordable housing more difficult, and that proposed to have replaced the city’s deliberative process with more contentious ballot measures.

So, now what?

By defeating Measure V, Menlo Park residents chose to keep our public processes. This means there are important opportunities to engage in decisions about important issues like:

• Housing at the Flood School Site
• Housing at the SRI Site
• Completing and implementing a Housing Element to provide housing for people of all income levels and meet fair housing requirements.

Now that the obstacle of Measure V is behind us, stay tuned for more opportunities to meet neighbors, engage, and improve housing affordability in Menlo Park.

Sunday, September 18th at 4:00 pm

Hybrid: Belle Haven Library and Zoom

Join us and Belle Haven Empowered for a chat this Sunday on the history of education in the Ravenswood City School District (RSCD) and Sequoia Union High School District (SUHS). We will discuss the impacts of segregation on the RCSD and decisions made that affected the district’s funding. We will also discuss SUHD’s decisions that segregated our high schools and their impact. 

The Belle Haven Empowered initiative hosts a series of conversations (chats) throughout the year designed to bring Belle Haven neighbors together to share information and discuss topics important to the community. By increasing community involvement in the city’s decision-making and working together for common goals, we can strengthen our voices and representation. 

Please invite your family and friends interested in learning more about the history of Belle Haven and the educational systems to register for this event.  We look forward to seeing you there.

More informational updates and events to be discussed during the chat include:

• Belle Haven Community Development Fund 
• Resource Fair
• Climate topics and events highlighting Environmental Justice
• New JobTrain Digital Literacy courses 

Join: Pam D Jones and Juanita Croft at the Belle Haven Library or on Zoom. 

When: Sunday, September 18th, 2022 at 4:00 pm

REGISTER HERE After registering, you will receive an email with information about how to join this Kitchen Table Chat.