Dear Council Members:

I want to thank you for your interest and vision in realizing that the
City of Menlo Park has such a unique opportunity to consider the El
Camino corridor for what the entire City would like to see in the
future. However, I am concerned that the consultant proposal presented
for you under item F-2 to consider at the March 20th meeting will result
in an outcome that would not be accepted by the community.

As research has shown and using common sense, there are two major areas
that create a result that can bring an effort like this down:

1. Feeling of a lack of inclusion by members of the
community.

2. A lack of trust in the outcome due to belief that the
process has been manipulated to support one point of view or another.

The Irvine Foundation has done a study about what works in these
processes. To paraphrase some experts who guide processes like this:

1. "There is no magic bullet": The process should be homegrown
and reference the history of the community, our culture, our values and
personalities, as well as the politics.

2. The leadership of the process has to be collaborative and not
authoritarian.

3. The group in the process needs to be adaptive and stay
mindful of itself - if something is not working, it cannot be so rigid
so as to not try different approaches if results are not forthcoming.

The City needs to involve citizen participation in this process from the
beginning. The citizens should drive this process.

I urge you consider a different, collaborative approach that would
accomplish the following:

1. Identify key community interests and identify shared
interests using more of an inquiry approach vs. an advocacy approach

2. After some time period, say 45 days with 3 to 5
meetings, the group can reevaluate and determine if it is worthy or
ready for a "study session" with the council. The group should try to
reach a consensus, but should make sure there is "no opinion left
behind."

After those interests are identified, then we can deal with options and
alternatives.

As you know, there was such a neighborhood-created process for the
Safeway on El Camino.

The City of Burlingame has started such a collaborative approach - note
the attached article below.

 
I know that there are community groups in Menlo Park that could lead a
citizen-based process needed for this succuessful project. I ask that
you consider having them lead this process and them ask for the
consultant resources at the appropriate time, and that you not approve
spending up to $135,000 on this contract.
 
Thank you for your consideration.
 
David Speer
Orange Avenue

Local

Committee to craft vision of Burlingame Safeway

Brian Foley, The Examiner
Mar 2, 2007 3:00 AM (18 days ago)
Current rank: Not ranked

Burlingame, Calif. - A six-member committee will be formed over the next
two weeks to discuss what a new Safeway on Howard Avenue should look
like.

The group will include one representative from Safeway and five
community members, including representatives from Citizens for a Better
Burlingame, the Chamber of Commerce, merchants, homeowners within the
city's southwest area and petition signers who supported a new store.

The committee is intended to prevent another debacle for Safeway. In
June 2003, the Planning Commission rejected a proposed
70,000-square-foot plan because it was too big and did not fit into the
downtown. The City Council followed suit the following year, capping
what became a heated political debate.

It could take about seven months before ideas will be translated into a
preliminary design, said Safeway representative Candace Hathaway, who
specializes in mediating land-use disputes.

If everything goes smoothly, a proposal could appear before the Planning
Commission in two years, she said.

City Manager Jim Nantell acknowledged that it's possible not everyone
will be happy with the result.

"Candace's approach is, if somebody is not supportive, then that is
included and noted as it moves forward," he said. "They don't get to
hijack the whole process by keeping it from moving forward."

Charles Voltz, co-chairman of Citizens for a Better Burlingame, the
group that led the fight against the former Safeway plan, called the new
approach constructive.

"The lesson learned from the last go-around is we don't want to do that
again," he said. "That was more adversarial than desirable. This is
meant to be collaborative and open-minded."

 <http://www.examiner.com/bfoley@examiner.com> bfoley_at_examiner.com

 
Received on Tue Mar 20 12:10:06 2007