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dana


January 2024

My wife and I have lived in Menlo Park since 1985. While we still appreciate those things that originally attracted us and the many positive changes that have occurred since then, I believe Menlo Park could become an even more appealing place to live, visit and operate a local business. For example, Downtown Menlo Park currently has far less appeal and vitality than both the central consumer business districts in neighboring cities, e.g., Redwood City, San Carlos, and Palo Alto, and the popular Stanford and Palo Alto Town and Country shopping centers. However, should not try to compete with these well-established   destination shopping and entertainment areas and Menlo Park has no to believe it could advantages . Instead, Menlo should simply strive to become a much more enjoyable and visually attractive place to eat, shop, walk, attend small public events, stroll, and simply enjoy spending time with friends. Menlo Park residents deserve a much better place for these types of experiences. And I expect even more Atherton residents would frequent our downtown and boost the profitability of  our local businesses IF it had greater overall appeal.  But meaningful progress requires (a) Menlo Park City Councils to dramatically change how they value, view and treat city investments in Downtown and (b) residents become more actively engaged in shaping these decisions.

centrl retail district So during the past decade I became an active community advocate who encourages city leaders, local businesses and residents to reimagine how Menlo Park could be transformed into a special is a place where I focus primarily on how our city government, the business community, and residents can greatly improve the vitality of both our downtown and El Camino-based retail districts. the to address BOTH, offerring my recommendations about impactful private and public investments, providing well-reasoned analysis for making them, and encouraging residents to proactively get involved in the planning and implementation of significant new civic civic projects. I also encourage local businesses to make private investments that enhance the overall Menlo Park experience.

 Example – Downtown Menlo Park

The small Menlo Park  retail district – centered on Santa Cruz Avenue –

View this page to read my ideas about my recommendations.

Let’s Reimagine (And Make) Menlo Park a better place to be.

Dana Hendrickson

Editor & Publisher

danahendrickson2001@yahoo.com


Short Bio

I am a retired hi-tech executive with decades of experience in senior management at computer, communications and network security companies.  I founded the national non-profit Rebuild Hope which for 10-years provided financial counseling for the families of severely disabled Iraqi and Afghanistan veterans who were usually living in poverty while waiting for their merited service-connected compensation to start. Rebuild Hope enabled donors to direct their donations to individual recipients. Prior to this, I built homes once-a-week for five years as a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, and served as a volunteer driver for the Avenidas senior community center in Palo Alto.