Lots to say and will probably come back later with more, but the article fails to mention the community garden that was destroyed and has been allowed to turn into a weed patch, no comment from the owners on that for years. Also no mention to the fire at Bills, Philz, AJs and liquor store which is technically Midtown too. We don't even know the official cause of the fire!

I also seem to recall the demise of the community garden being tied to the sale of the shopping center a few years back. The details elude me now; but the terms of the sale, as evidenced by the end of the garden, provided hostile to local interests in at least a handful of ways.

Can anyone else help me remember?

"A recent study by the city-hired consulting firm Streetsense identified Midtown as one of two Palo Alto commercial districts currently in physical decline. It states that decline follows "maturity" in a 10- to 15-year “re-investment lifecycle” of thriving commercial districts. (The other city district in decline is downtown Palo Alto.)"

More brilliance from Streetsense. Guess old scenic thriving communities like Carmel, Santa Barbara, Mendocino etc. etc. should recognize their "maturity" also and raze themselves.

"Palo Alto currently runs Uplift Local, a program designed to encourage residents to eat and shop locally. For example, businesses are invited to submit any holiday promotions they might be running and the city advertises them for free via print and digital communications during the season. "

Hah! Maybe Palo Alto can hire Ali from Menlo Park's Bistro Vida to teach it how to revitalize a downtown. How many people actually read the weekly Uplift newsletter with its recipes and mental health tips? Perhaps something equivalent to Menlo Park's Wednesday Market or Los Altos' Thursday evening farmer's market might be more exciting and more cost-effective.

Midtown must have plenty of people as often parking after 4 pm involves a bit of driving around although I can generally find a space. The Wells Fargo ATM has been taken out and that was usually a draw for many people, I used it and often had to wait until someone had finished or someone was waiting for me to be done.

Places like Como Esta, Subway and Sanchos are always busy at lunchtime, the crowd often consists of construction workers, and other workers coming from who knows where to eat lunch. When there is no school, there are often teens or families buying lunch and eating together.

Safeway needs to be updated, probably by taking over the Round Table space to make for a bigger store (I know Palo Alto doesn't want to do that but it might stop those who routinely go to Menlo Park or Mountain View Safeways to stay in town). Probably difficult for Safeway to do that because how long the Palo Alto process take and the store would need to close for at least part of the time.

Midtown has lost 2 coffee shops, Starbucks and Philz. I don't know if Palo Alto Cafe has taken the majority of their business, but it is still a trek from Midtown to Peets. The amount of seating outside PA Cafe is limited and encroaches on pedestrian movement, not sure what someone with a stroller or a wheelchair does unless they go across the parking lot.

The weeds at the back are an eyesore. A nice seating area with some shade and even a small children's play area would be a welcome addition. There is nowhere for people to eat together who have bought food at different places, or even their own sack lunch. Safeway doesn't have a seating area to eat the food bought for lunch.

Locals do use Midtown and could do so more if there were more amenities to entice them. Walkable neighborhoods seems to be the desire of the CC, but that doesn't apply to south of Oregon.

The district should be spruced up

Midtown commercial businesses are becoming our own Detroit, without the toxic water. The fire that Bystander mentioned -- I'm not counting all of the comments, Bystander, only the ones where I add 'flavor' to the stew. Some would call it puke instead of flavor but whatev. That fire, the indecent acts in the past 12 months at Safeway, the early-morning break-in and robbery at CVS are just a few reasons why I hardly ever go that direction anymore. I don't know how Safeway could annex the Round Table with a 7-11 sandwiched in between. Nothing at the shopping area make sense. It's not eclectic, it's like a patchwork quilt sewn together by a blind person. "Planning" doesn't exist, when structural improvements take years to complete thanks to red tape. Nevermind charging whoever was responsible for the fire, so they can be responsible for the millions of dollars it will take (and years) to rebuild something at that site. Palo Alto is getting nearly impassable due to construction EVERYWHERE. It was never planned to be anything but a place for the wealthy to rest their heads at night. Streets are too narrow, which deter people from parking -- if it were only a bedroom community. But it's not. Never was. Despite whatever Leland's ghost might say about it. And the legal entanglements due to an overpaid city manager all the way down to the lowliest clerk facing lawsuit after lawsuit due to ineptness and lack of engineering education and training, gum up the works even more. So here we have it. Too few places to buy things, which flies in the face of what was intended when it was first incorporated -- a place to sleep. Founders of this city are rolling in their graves while city higher-ups are rolling on the floor laughing. Respect for the working class was never one of PA's core values. Businesses are now manned solely by the owners in many cases, because not enough working class people can afford to live here. Now, who is the slave, and who is the master?

No place to buy things. Does that mean the present and future is Amazon? Such a pity.

To help our struggling midtown retailers, we should build more homes near this shopping district. People could walk or bike a short distance to these great establishments.

"Safeway needs to be updated, probably by taking over the Round Table space to make for a bigger store..."

"I don't know how Safeway could annex the Round Table with a 7-11 sandwiched in between."

The property in question is owned by the owners of the adjacent and former dry cleaners. Why would they opt to sell such valuable rental property?

Perhaps it should be mentioned that the Round Table just spent a great deal of time and money to completely remodel the restaurant and recently reopened. It certainly seems to be having a significant success at this time.
As for the comments from MyFeelz above, --- they do seem rather over the top. I can't believe that anyone avoids Safeway or CVS due to potential crime risks (an early morning break in represents some sort of risk to customers during the day??). I suspect an overwhelming majority of customers are completely unaware of these isolated events. As for PA being a community that was never anything except "a place a place for the wealthy to rest their heads at night" --- that certainly misses the history of at least the Midtown area. I am aware of the makeup of the area around midtown from having lived here (or having relatives live her) for 60+ years. Historically, the area around midtown included a fair amount of middle class working families. The neighbor over my fence since the early 1960's was a fellow of Japanese ethnicity who was a gardener (his family had been imprisoned during WW2). No, he didn't own a gardening business, he was the sole individual working in his own gardening business. Many other neighbors were also clearly middle income (including my family who was in the area). Ok, these houses that sold for $17,000 in those days are now out of reach of anyone other than the quite wealth, but the comment that "it was never planned to be a place for anyone except the wealthy" completely misses the history of at least the Midtown section of PA.

I'm willing to bet the investment LLCs that own the midtown properties that house UPS and the fire-damaged buildings care less about trying to make money from the small businesses than about the potential value of the land. We should expect little improvement in commercial offerings at those sites.

I'll raise that bet.

Remember that the landlord for Mike's Diner is paying under $6K a YEAR in taxes while charging Mike's $22,000 a MONTH.

Landlords have no incentive to upgrade their properties and/or preserve retail. Just drive around midtown and all over PA and see all the empty storefronts and offices.

The site where my old cleaner was on Cambridge near Cal Ave is STILL vacant after 4? years. The landlord doesn't care, never reduced the very high rent during the pandemic and evidently still can't find another tenant willing to pay the high rent.


.

"Round Table just spent a great deal of time and money to completely remodel the restaurant and recently reopened. It certainly seems to be having a significant success at this time."
^ Kudos to owner Bob Larsen.

"Remember that the landlord for Mike's Diner is paying under $6K a YEAR in taxes while charging Mike's $22,000 a MONTH."
^ This is besides the point. As per any rental or lease agreement, renter obligations must be paid in a timely manner.

"Historically, the area around midtown included a fair amount of middle class working families."
^ Not any more. Palo Alto property values have priced most lower and middle income folks out of the market.

The new Palo Alto is far different from the Palo Alto of yesteryear.

Midtown businesses primarily serve the needs of Midtown residents and these businesses should be geared towards the needs of the locals.

Midtown will never be a true destination spot for those residing further away.

It seems to me that council can help everyone focus. For example,
A. How much capital would be needed to modernize Midtown facilities and appearance? Who pays? City? Or fragmented owners without compelling common interests? How would modernizing capital be consolidated and redirected?
B. How can the fragmented ownership model compete with "Town/Country" biz model?
C. How many new neighborhood housing units are needed to energize these commercial properties?
D. Most important, what are the brutal realities of retail goods and services today? Midtown has superior competition within a very few miles.

Unlike some citizens, I have more confidence in city staff and their rather narrow role to support seriously challenged businesses. These hurdles are often not within the control of city council or staff. These are private sector issues facing communities everywhere.

Even an untrained eye can see that only the barest of minimum investment and upkeep have occured since CWKT E&R purchased the Mid Town Shopping Center.

To be absolutely clear, closing the Community Garden was a real middle finger to the Midtown Community.

I would wager that as soon as the real estate investment market loosens up...CWKT E&R will propose replacing the existing development with a very high density apartment building with only the bare minimum of at grade retail.

Furthermore, the ARB and Midtown Association will find the proposed re-development oversized and incompatible with the neighborhood. This will result in the developer triggering the “Builders Remedy” and forcing a huge, incompatible, and unhealthy addition to the community.

We need a ballot initiative repeal the law that put the “Builder’s Remedy” on the books (ARE YOU LISTENING MARC BERMAN?). We will continue to get developers ruining our neighborhoods with oversized and unwanted development until this ill-founded law is repealed.

"We need a ballot initiative repeal the law that put the “Builder’s Remedy” on the books (ARE YOU LISTENING MARC BERMAN?). We will continue to get developers ruining our neighborhoods with oversized and unwanted development until this ill-founded law is repealed. "

Marc Berman won't listen to residents, only to the deep-pocketed developers, landlords, labor unions, lobbying groups etc. who gave him more than $1,400,000 a few months ago in big checks of $5,000 and more vs all the individuals who contributed $100-$500 to Mayor. (These figures were reported about a month ago so I'm sure the funding gap is growing.)

It was this HUGE funding disparity that led us to coin the term DODO for Developer Owned Developer Operated politicians.

When 200+ concerned voters participated in a housing ZOOM with Berman, he evaded each and every question, explaining A) they were too complex to "wrap his mind around" and B) when the text of the various housing bills was read to him, he refused to address the substance of the bills and explained were too many bills for him to pay attention.

We should all call his staff to discuss. Staff never responded to calls and emails.

Funny how the very next day after the ZOOM he suddenly felt informed enough to vote for every pro-density housing bill that had just been read to him.