BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
Menlo Park will have a competitive race for the council seat representing downtown and the Allied Arts neighborhood.
Laura Melahn, 41, is on the city’s finance and audit commission, co-created a nonprofit called the Downtown Menlo Fund, which aims to reinvigorate downtown Menlo Park and spearheaded a petition to address speeding in her neighborhood.
She is looking to replace Mayor Betsy Nash, who has decided not to seek a third term. Melahn is the second person to jump into the race to succeed Nash. Charlotte Reed, 31, a volunteer with the Junior League who works in communications for an Al marketing company, announced her candidacy in March.
Melahn founded Meadow Valley Capital, which invests and supports tech companies focused on Al and health. She was previously a partner at Google Ventures and a marketing manager for Google.
She has a degree in molecular biology from Princeton.
“I’m running for the people of Menlo Park. I’m obviously not a career politician. If I were, I’d have better hair and smoother speeches.
But I do know what it feels like to have my neighborhood’s concerns dismissed by our district representative. It’s terrible,” Melahn said in a statement to the Post announcing her candidacy.
Melahn says she built a plan to make streets safer for kids walking and biking and worked with neighbors to save a 90-year-old tree from being axed by a developer.
She said that for the past several years, the council has listened to everyone except residents.
Melahn said she supports hous-ing, but the city is focused on the downtown parking lots, putting all the weight on one site and making progress less likely.
Residents have asked council to consider other locations, and there are other opportunities for housing in town, such as the former USGS campus, Melahn said.
Melahn said if elected, she will start fixing the fundamentals, like crumbling sidewalks, faded and peeling signs, before taking on bigger ambitions.
Be the first to comment