Uploaded: Tuesday, October 24, 2000

Incumbents best for Menlo Council
Challengers lack necessary experience to be effective in addressing issues in Menlo Park

With a 4-1 council majority reflecting resident concern over too much development and congestion in Menlo Park firmly in place, this year's race for two of the five seats on the City Council is virtually guaranteed not to bring about much change in policy.

Although deep-rooted political factionalism in the community hangs on a bit, gone are the days when candidate slates, supported by development interests or no-growth/residentialist interests defined local campaigns.

This year incumbents Chuck Kinney and Paul Collacchi, both elected to the Council for the first time four years ago, are seeking re-election and face challengers Christina Angell-Atchison, Steven Eichler and Greg Spalasso. Shades of campaigns past are evident, as Angell-Atchison has garnered support from some commercial development interests and the Menlo Community Association, but for the most part the campaign has focused on the effectiveness of government and the way the Council handles controversial issues.

The challengers are critical of what they see as too much arrogance and arbitrariness on the part of the current Council majority, leaving some residents unheard and powerless. There is also a growing concern over residential property rights being heard from newer homeowners who want more flexibility to expand their homes.

Angell-Atchison, who moved to Menlo Park just two years ago from San Francisco, is just such a frustrated new homeowner. She jumped into the race for City Council after becoming upset with the city's process for approving a higher fence in front of her home on Willow Road to keep her young children in the yard. She believes owners of smaller lots need to be allowed to add on to their homes and criticizes the Council for being too restrictive of development when the major source of traffic congestion is regional.

Eichler is a lifelong resident who joined the race when it wasn't clear more than two candidates would be running. He offers his business experience as chief financial officer of a family apartment mortgage banking business as an antidote to what he sees as the current problems of city government. He faults the Council for not listening and for not seeing to it that Menlo Park operates efficiently and responsively. He supports design review of all exterior remodels to ensure they meet neighborhood compatibility standards.

Neither Eichler nor Greg Spalasso, who received public attention for losing his tortoise, are seeking campaign funds nor running significant campaign efforts beyond word-of-mouth.

Of the five-person field of candidates there is no question that the incumbents are vastly more qualified. Chuck Kinney and Paul Collacchi have both served Menlo Park well in trying to accommodate the rights of property owners while reducing development impacts on local residents.

We much prefer Kinney's more collaborative and consensus-building style to Collacchi's occasionally more abrasive and confrontational approach, but both have a clear vision for keeping Menlo Park a bedroom community with carefully controlled commercial development that we think represents the predominant view of Menlo Park residents.

For voters looking for an alternative to Collacchi, we find Eichler the most appealing, articulate and compatible with the current Council. But on the whole, none of the challengers bring the kind of experience at the lower levels of government or in school or community service that we believe should be prerequisites for serving on the City Council.

In spite of our past disagreements with Kinney and particularly Collacchi on issues, we believe they are the best choices for Menlo Park voters on November 7.