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Paying for ‘overtime’ parking downtown ■ City approves multi-space meters for plazas 1 and 5. By Sandy Brundage Almanac Staff Writers
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tart saving your quarters: In three months, plazas 1 and 5 in downtown Menlo Park will sprout multi-space parking meters. You enter your money and parking space number in the machines, and you can park beyond the two hours of free parking. The City Council voted unanimously on July 26 to buy six pay-byspace meters from vendor Parkeon for $53,364 — four for Plaza 1 (off Oak Grove Avenue between El Camino Real and Chestnut Street), and two for Plaza 5 (off Menlo Avenue between Evelyn and Crane streets). An additional $2,000 will let the city install modules to allow the meters to take coins as well as
“The biggest feedback we had was that people were losing customers because they couldn’t get three hours (of parking),” Mayor Cline noted during the meeting. “Losing customers at that clip wasn’t sustainable; we’ve had some restau-
aggressive parking enforcement as a factor. “We had many customers some type of credit or transit cards, who refused to come downtown to if that option seems necessary. shop,” she told The Almanac. The first two hours of parking Mayor Cline thought meters will still be free. The third hour would give the city the flexibility to would cost $1; the fourth, $1.50; adjust the plan if it doesn’t work out. and additional time, $2 A veteran of the battle per hour. Engineering over downtown park‘The biggest feedback we had was that ing, he said at one point, Services Manager Chip Taylor said enforcement people were losing customers because “You can do a great thing hours will be the same: with parking, and people Monday through Friday, they couldn’t get three hours (of parking).’ won’t think it’s a great 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. thing.” MAYOR RICH CLINE The meters give the city Councilman Peter a way to test whether the capabil- rants actually leave and say that was Ohtaki explored whether leasing ity to pay to park longer than two the reason.” the meters instead of purchashours will resolve the unhappiness After five years in business in ing would be a wiser option, but expressed by downtown merchants downtown Menlo Park, Boutique discarded the idea after the city and their customers, who complain 4 closed its Santa Cruz Avenue attorney explained that a leasing that the current two-hour limit location in February. At the time, contract with Parkeon could not doesn’t leave enough time to run Tamara Michel, co-owner of the be canceled. errands and enjoy a meal. boutique, cited the city’s extremely The city also considered simply
extending the parking limit to three hours, but staff concluded that would only lead to more downtown employees taking up parking spaces, leaving fewer available for shoppers. Mr. Taylor estimated that the meters would go live by October at the latest; the city will need to paint numbers on each parking space and install signs. One month before that happens, the city plans to hand out fliers to downtown businesses, customers, and drivers explaining the change. A one-month grace period and a telephone hotline open during the first six months will ease the adjustment, according to staff. A
Go to tinyurl.com/plaza-163 to see a map of the parking plazas.
It’s back: Stanford’s offer to improve Alpine trail By Barbara Wood Special to the Almanac
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t’s an issue that refuses to die, despite the fact that the San Mateo County’s Board of Supervisors has voted twice to reject a Stanford University offer to pay to widen and improve a trail along Alpine Road between Menlo Park and Portola Valley. On July 26 the supervisors voted unanimously to go back to residents of neighborhoods near the trail, including Ladera and Stanford Weekend Acres, to see if time has changed their opposition to the proposed trail improvements. Citing changes in the financial and political climate, and the deterioration of the existing trail, the supervisors agreed to take one more look at the proposal before it expires at the
end of December. They rejected a staff recommendation to ask Stanford for a one-year extension of the deadline for making the improvements, saying that if an extension is needed they can ask for it after hearing from the public. If San Mateo County rejects the offer and lets the deadline pass, the money will go to Santa Clara County. When the San Mateo County supervisors initially rejected the money they asked that Santa Clara County use it to form a regional grants program for recreational uses. The offer, which was valued at $8.4 million in 2006 but with inflation, is now up to $10.5 million, originated in conditions put on Stanford by Santa See TRAIL, page 8
Almanac photo by Michelle Le
Recapturing the past The renovated carriage room museum at the Folger Stable in Wunderlich Park at 4040 Woodside Road is open again. The museum attempts to capture in one 2,400-square-foot room the essence of local equestrian life from days gone by with new displays by industrial designer Stephanie Schaefer, left, seen here talking with Susan Lang, co-chair of the stable’s renovation project. Visit tinyurl.com/folger-163 for more information. See another picture on Page 9.
Amid volatile comments, city may take ‘phased approach’ to downtown plan By Sandy Brundage Almanac Staff Writers
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he third session of the Menlo Park Planning Commission’s review of the proposed downtown/El Camino Real specific plan inspired more than two hours of volatile public comment on July 28. Suggested features of the reenvisioned downtown zone include
wider sidewalks along Santa Cruz Avenue, a permanent farmers’ market with covered stalls, two parking garages in plazas 1 and 3, and blocking off Chestnut Street to create a pedestrian-friendly paseo. The crowd ignored Chair Vincent Bressler’s repeated requests to stop applauding after each speaker, as one person after another told the commission that the plan threatened their livelihoods.
Wider sidewalks meant less street parking, some said. “Having to walk to a parking garage won’t encourage customers to shop,” said furniture store owner Mark Flegel. “It will drive them away.” Some speakers, however, such as former councilman John Boyle and commissioner Henry Riggs, speaking as an individual, emphasized the positive possibilities of a
more vibrant downtown, one with fewer vacancies than the current 10 to 14 empty storefronts on Santa Cruz Avenue. Mr. Boyle said that in going door-to-door to talk to merchants about the plan, he’d heard that some felt bullied into signing a petition from the Downtown Alliance, a group of local property and business owners that opposes the specific plan’s vision.
“They felt like they couldn’t say no to their landlord,” he said, and in the background, boos drowned out the applause. Mr. Riggs said he shared some concerns about the parking garages, but believed the plan could respond. He suggested an incremental approach toward implementation, one that would need support from See PLAN, page 8
August 3, 2011 N The Almanac N 5