Team Sheeper was the right choice from day one. Too bad we had to endure all the drama, and waste of staff time.

It is shocking that the city continues to allow Sheeper to self deal in selecting swim programs. Other city recreational programs are not run this way. The city decides what is best for our residents, not a private operator who decides what is best for himself.
The city has every right to insist that SOLO continues as a key program provider. Its presence in support of our children existed before Sheeper began pool operations. SOLO’s continued relationship should be honored contractually. Council members who voted to approve the contract should pull back that decision and fix this egregious omission.

I think council did actually insist that SOLO be added back into the contract as they had been before. It was unfortunate that staff didn't catch that omission, and the Sheeper team didn't seem happy about the request but it should be in there now.

I suspect the omission was very intentional, and I am glad that the council sought to add it. SOLO has been serving the community for years (as mentioned, long before Sheeper) and has also given the city a competitive alternative that helps everyone.

HCD's letter seems to nit pick and come to conclusions that are not warranted. For example, they do not seem to want to understand that the area where Willow Village is surrounded by commercial buildings. The impact of taller, bigger buildings is very different there than at the Sharon Heights shopping center that is surrounded by residential housing (already multi-family, by the way). Instead, they attribute proposed zoning differences to racism.

It is astonishing that Menlo Park has paid consultants to help with the Housing Element, and they have spoken with HCD even before the first submission. Our council needs to dig into whether the consultants have failed to communicate well or whether HCD is essentially playing games by forcing cities like ours to guess how they would react to yet another submission while running out the clock so the Builders Remedy could kick in.

The Builders Remedy should be fought vigorously locally and at the state level. It allows projects that will greatly worsen the housing shortage and could truly harm the environment without the ability for cities to require mitigation measures. The proposed skyscraper on the site of Sunset Magazine is a case in point. Although proposing to provide 800 housing units, it also would add office, retail, and hotel space. The offices - alone - could bring nearly 1,900 workers, more than double the number of housing units. And the retail and hotel would bring even more workers without new housing for them either. The vast majority of the new workers would be commuters.

The Builders' Remedy is a cynical gift to developers who can side step accountability for the impacts of construction and habitation of their highly profitable buildings, both increasing the need for even more housing and harming the environment and quality of life for all.

my apologies for posting in this thread. that was a mistake.