Menlo Park council keeps climate, housing, downtown vibrancy and safe routes as priorities, plans public-safety study session after resident concerns

Menlo Park—s City Council used a March 21 workshop to reaffirm top priorities for the coming fiscal year and to respond to community concerns about burglaries and neighborhood infrastructure.

Mayor Betsy Nash and several council members reiterated the five existing priorities (climate action; downtown vibrancy; emergency preparedness; housing; safe routes). After discussion, the council reached consensus to remove emergency preparedness from the elevated priority list and treat it as a core function the city will continue to staff and monitor. The remaining priorities—our—climate action, downtown vibrancy, housing and safe routes—will stay on the list. Council also directed staff to emphasize infrastructure (sidewalks, crosswalks, bike lanes) in the Safe Routes to School priority.

Public comment preceding the council debate centered on safe streets and Belle Haven priorities and included multiple calls to focus on infrastructure rather than education-only approaches. Adrian Silva, an Encinal parent and volunteer, asked the council to "prioritize infrastructure projects that benefit our children," saying grant pursuit and construction should be pursued even during fiscal constraints.

Several residents from Belle Haven urged stronger anti-displacement, food access and electrification efforts; community groups asked staff to broaden scoping for food-access pilots and to work with neighborhood-based organizations. Council signaled support for deeper community engagement and asked staff to return with a scoped approach.

Public safety became the most contested policy point. Vice Mayor Jennifer Wise framed the issue as existential, saying public safety is the "number 1 most important thing" and suggested elevating it for focused attention. Other members described a need to clarify whether "priority" means a short-term surge of resources, a continuing core function, or a permanent elevated program; several members favored a one-year "surge" definition. Chief Dave Norris told council "crime is going down, and that's that's good for us," but he urged making police efforts visible in the council work plan so staff report regularly and the public can see what the department is doing.

Council directed staff to schedule a public-safety study session and indicated support for doing so without the normal multi-step member-request process to expedite work. The council also agreed to revisit the possible creation of a separate "quality-of-life" priority in a future priority-setting cycle, but deferred that action for the next year to avoid overloading the current process.

Staff will document the workshop outcomes in a final report and incorporate the selected priorities into the FY 2026-27 work plan and budget development timeline.