By Dana Hendrickson
E-mail Dana Hendrickson
About this blog: I hope readers of my blog will join me and other members of the Menlo Park community in a collective effort to transform our downtown into a much more appealing place, one where residents enjoy a lot more positive experiences and ...
(More)About this blog: I hope readers of my blog will join me and other members of the Menlo Park community in a collective effort to transform our downtown into a much more appealing place, one where residents enjoy a lot more positive experiences and local businesses thrive. During the past decade, the vitality of our central retail district has continually declined, the victim of changing consumer behavior and negligible attention to economic development.
Fortunately, there are now promising signs this trend has ended. Attractive outdoor dining areas, a new community plaza on main street and a weekly gourmet food market are some examples. In this blog I discuss what is happening on this front including how residents, the City Council, the Chamber of Commerce, and downtown businesses can collectively make more progress.
Success will require new thinking, unprecedented commitments, and action-oriented experimentation. Our downtown is emerging from the pandemic with strong momentum. Let's not waste this wonderful opportunity.
My blog also covers what's happening in the El Camino and the train station business districts, as changes there are also important and can have huge impacts on downtown.
I have worked in many Silicon Valley companies, and after retiring shifted my focus to helping local and national nonprofits. I was raised in a small town in Maine and earned degrees at Brown University and the Stanford Business School. My family moved to central Menlo Park in 1985.
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It was extremely satisfying to see NBC Bay Area broadcast a special news story about Ali's many contributions to the vitality of downtown Menlo Park and the general well-being of our entire community. Since most residents likely missed this 3-minute segment, you can now view it
here. (Originally aired on December 22, 2022)
For the past 25 years Menlo Park resident Ali El Safy has earned a much-deserved reputation for operating his popular French restaurant Bistro Vida, boosting the vitality of downtown Menlo Park through his trademark community activism, and generously supporting local students and members of local public service organizations. Walk by his open business on Santa Cruz Avenue and you will likely see him warmly greeting customers. Visit the Bon Marche artisan market on Wednesday afternoons and you will experience a new community event that he sponsors in a temporary community plaza he personally championed, furnished and now maintains.
Thanks Ali, for making Menlo Park a better place to enjoy and live.
Dana Hendrickson
"You do emanate goodness.” (NBC News)
Ali with Menlo Park Police
Ali with Firemen Downtown
Welcome To My Blog.
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Thank you
Dana
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