Honorable Members of the City Council of Menlo Park:

In several prior emails I provided the City Council with suggestions
regarding a vision for a revised El Camino Real. While that plan
sketched a detailed picture of a wider Europe-like boulevard with
large central island and large setbacks, I realize that serious
consideration of such a plan is premature since not even a process
agenda has been agreed upon whereby the council and city can generate
a vision for ECR appropriate for our city.

On the other hand, if acceptance of any project in the pipeline to be
developed on El Camino meets with the approval of Council, Commission
and staff over the next, say six months, and this would be prior to
the formulation of the newly revised ECR master plan, such a project
could not be required to meet the anticipated set-back requirement
were that to become part of a new zoning ordinance. In short, any
project approved prior to the formulation and approval of a new ECR
plan would most likely violate and invalidate the intent and
implementation of that plan.

Someone extraordinarily wise once said to me, "Plan a little, do a
little, plan a little, do a little." That is to say, we should get
started now by creating a residents' task force that would emerge
from a meeting not unlike the recent and very productive "green
ribbon" environmental stewardship meeting held at the public library.
How quickly that was implemented! Another excellent model is the
brainstorming town hall meeting held by the Council earlier this
year.

Let's get started. Let's get the city actively involved. Meanwhile,
Council can continue to negotiate with staff about the elaboration of
the process that generates the largest amount of visionary
alternatives and at the same time, strives to achieve consensus.

Another suggestion I had proposed as early as the beginning of last
November's political campaign was the creation of a number of
strategic standing committees, including revival of the budget
committee and new ones that, among a number of major issues, address
the creation of a new general plan for El Camino and the business
district, with an eye on economic as well as aesthetic development.
Greater citizen involvement in government was a central issue in the
campaign. Here is a great and immediate opportunity for that to
become a reality.

A final suggestion for Council: Having been involved in outsourcing
at several stages of my prior career, I strongly urge competitive
bidding solicitations rather than sole-source contracting. It has
become apparent to a number of residents in Menlo Park that, despite
the best of intentions, staff all too frequently drives and controls
the Council agenda, obliging reactive micro-management on Council's
part. Also, it boxes Council in, constraining strategic and
policy-making leadership by limiting choices of action. Council
needs to get in front of, not remain behind, staff process.

Respectfully,

Martin

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Martin Engel
1621 Stone Pine Lane
Menlo Park, CA 94025
650:323-1670
martinengel@earthlink.net
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