(re-sent -- unfortunately the City's e-mail system did not pick-up the italics formatting. I have now noted the statements from her letter by preceding them with an >. The attached document is correctly formatted making understanding this correspondence much easier. )

Menlo Park City Council:

Response to Letter from Elizabeth Lasensky – April 2sd, Almanac

<http://www.almanacnews.com/story.php?story_id=5942>http://www.almanacnews.com/story.php?story_id=5942

The letter in the April 2sd Almanac from Ms. Lasensky contains so much erroneous content that I feel I must respond. Statements from her letter are now preceded with an >, with my comments in regular type.

>We, the citizens of Menlo Park, will never know
what the settlement with the Derry project included.

>A group of private citizens, Menlo Tomorrow,
who were not elected or appointed by any official body, >sued the developer, the O'Brien Group, and after months of secret negotiations, reached a secret deal.

Menlo Park Tomorrow (MPT), did not sue the developer. MPT circulated a referendum petition which gathered over 2500 signatures and which was certified by the County as being valid.

The City council elected to have MPT enter into discussions with the developer (The O’Brien Group) to see if an agreement could be reached for a revised project and which would permit a revised project to be built which would satisfy the objections of MPT to the Derry project as then approved.

These discussions led to an agreement, the terms of which are certainly not secret. The Planning commission last evening (March 31, 2008), approved the revised project.

The negotiating team consisted of

Morris Brown, contact person for MPT
Jack Morris, former planning commissioner, 3 term council person and former Mayor
Paul Collacchi, former 2 term council person and former Mayor Patti Fry, former planning commissioner
Elias Blawie, attorney and partner of Heller Erhmann David Speer, former candidate for council, facilities planning and development manager for the County of Marin

>People who signed the Derry referendum petition
did not necessarily agree with having a secret body that >had secret negotiations and which then decided to become a private "planning commission" for the city

The agreement has full public disclosure and the City’s Planning Commission and Council have the final word on acceptance or rejection. Last evening the Planning Commission accepted the agreement. The City Council can still either accept or reject the agreement. City officials were kept informed during the negotiating period; we had much staff help during this period. City Attorney Bill McClure was present at the final negotiating sessions.

>Many of those same Menlo Tomorrow members are
also part of Mayor Andy Cohen's kitchen cabinet. At >least we can make that public.

Some of the negotiating team are part of Mayor Cohen’s kitchen cabinet. I fail to understand what relevance this has to this item. Mayor Cohen uses this method to get input from and outreach to the community.

>So now the Derry project is more than two years
late in getting started. It will have five fewer below->market-rate units, which have a value of about $1.5 million. It is saddled with $2 million in public benefit >fees, more and expensive parking requirements and less profit margin. Additionally, the Derry project >finds itself caught in the current financial crisis, which is not friendly to any development, let alone one so >encumbered with public and secret restrictions.

There are no secret restrictions. There are no “more and expensive parking requirements”. I certainly agree the developer has less profit margin and indeed the City will receive $2 million dollars in un-restricted public benefit funds. We did indeed lose five BMR units.

Please note that Ms. Lasensky herself is on the BMR list and as such certainly has a conflict of interest in discussions on this subject.

>This project is a beautiful example of
transit-oriented development, one that Menlo Park will be proud of. >Had there been no referendum or protracted negotiations, the project would be almost finished, with >people looking forward to moving into their new homes.

>I wish the O'Brien Group good fortune with
their grant application so that the project can proceed. It would >be a shame if Menlo Park lost out on this well-designed, transit-oriented project..

>Elizabeth Lasensky

There indeed has been a delay in getting this project built. The negotiating team fully supports the revised new project. The last hurdle for City approval is approval by the City Council. Approval or rejection by the City Council should take place with the next 5 to 6 weeks.

For many reasons too long to continue on here, MPT feels this project is vastly superior to the original project. We too wish the O’Brien group all the best in building this project.

Morris Brown
Contact Person
Menlo Park Tomorrow
661 Live Oak Ave #4
MP