Letter: Pro-business, pro-Menlo Park

Whether the City Council chooses to admit or not, the downtown merchants need some stimulus. Instead of wasting $1.2 million on questionable consultants, why didn’t the mayor and the rest of the council sit down with the Planning Commission and the staff of the Planning Department and tell them, "We want commerce in this town! We want our businesses to grow and prosper! Stop doing everything you can to hinder the process.”

The council could take city monies and sponsor a Sunday "wash and wax” for downtown. They could offer some advertising support to merchants and landlords who participated. After we cleaned, painted and generally spruced up the downtown, how about a week-long promotion and sale with all of the merchants. Involve the Chamber of Commerce, maybe the service groups (Kiwanis, etc.). Generally make some noise about what a great little city Menlo is, in spite of the long standing anti-business environment put forth by a number of city councils. A promotion like this cannot be a one-time affair, it needs to be an ongoing process. We need a "city-friendly” City Council and Planning Commission to get this done, not a council and Planning Commission that proposes to bribe a developer with extraordinary fees and taxes or allows special interest groups to stop complementary development (The Derry Project) and leave parts of the city looking like the Bronx. I’m willing to bet that this "city stimulus” could be accomplished for a lot less than $1.2 million and the city would be a lot better off. So council, especially Mr. Robinson and Planning Commission, especially Mr. Bressler, let’s put Menlo Park first on your priority lists and cancel your personal agendas.

Pat White

Menlo Park