The CTRA board recently sent a letter to the City Council to voice its opposition to the development proposed by Cato Investments at the corner of Wellesley and College. You can read the board’s letter here. Thanks to James Cook for working with the board on the initial draft.
We encourage neighbors to send their own letters to the City Council at city.council@cityofpaloalto.org. We anticipate that the City Council will have its pre-screening of the project either at the end of this month or in early April. As of yet, the developer has still not set a date for its own community meeting, but we expect that to be sometime before the pre-screening.
I sent the council a message identifying what I find lacking in Cato’s proposal:
– not enough affordable units
– 3 stories in a 1 story neighborhood
– inadequate parking
– units all too small for families so inappropriate for our housing needs
– not enough outdoor space on property for tenants to use (and tiny balconies)
– Cato contacted some residents with a survey without adequate explanation of their proposal and didn’t identify themselves as the developer
– Cato has not attempted to work with residents
Hi there
I am drafting an email to the CC in support of the project with appropriate engagement and modifications but I wonder if it will ever get attention considering that someone has posted the above CTRA letter on almost EVERY telephone pole in the neighbourhood. Notwithstanding my position on the matter, I find it rude and disturbing to walk thru the streets and see this one-sided post on every pole as if its the “law of the neighbourhood”. It may simply be over-enthusiasm at work, but I would ask the poster to clean it up.
Thanks
Gary, I don’t know who posted the letter on all those telephone poles–as far as I know, it wasn’t anyone on the CTRA itself–but I agree the volume is excessive. -Chris