A San Mateo-based housing nonprofit is mobilizing voters against Measure P, the Menlo Park ballot initiative that would require voter approval before the city can repurpose its downtown parking lots for housing.
The Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County will hold its first canvass kickoff on Sunday, Aug. 30, at Cafe Zoe and Neighborhood Pizza Guy, 1929 Menalto Ave. in Menlo Park. The event runs from 2 to 5 p.m. and includes canvassing training, a neighborhood walk, and distribution of yard signs, buttons and tote bags, according to the group's event listing.
In its Aug. 16 announcement, HLC urged voters to reject Measure P, framing the campaign around housing affordability and calling on community members to take action.
What Measure P would do
The citizen initiative, formally called the Downtown Parking Plazas Ordinance, would prohibit Menlo Park from selling, leasing or otherwise repurposing any of its eight downtown parking plazas without a citywide vote, according to InMenlo.
The measure heads to voters on Tuesday, Nov. 3, after the Menlo Park City Council voted unanimously to place it on the ballot. Proponents collected 3,440 signatures in October 2025, about 60% more than the required threshold, the Almanac reported.
Why it matters for housing
Menlo Park has been pursuing affordable housing on three of its downtown parking plazas as part of its state-mandated Housing Element, which requires the city to approve nearly 3,000 new homes by 2031, including more than 1,600 affordable units, according to the Mercury News. Three developer teams have submitted proposals ranging from 345 to 500 units.
The Housing Leadership Council, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2001 and headquartered on South El Camino Real in San Mateo, calls Measure P the "Menlo Park Anti-Housing Initiative" on its website and argues it would block the city's plans to modernize downtown.
In a November 2025 report on the county's Measure K affordable housing sales tax, HLC Executive Director Evelyn Stivers wrote that "renters need to earn nearly $64 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment here," underscoring the cost pressures the group cites in opposing Measure P.
The other side
Save Downtown Menlo, the proponent campaign, argues the measure does not prohibit housing or development. It would only require a future voter vote before those specific lots could be repurposed, the group says on its website.
The ballot argument in favor was signed by former Menlo Park mayors Catherine Carlton and Robert McNamara, former Planning Commission chairs Henry Riggs and Ben Eiref, and Anthony Draeger, owner of Draeger's Supermarkets.
At a Feb. 11 council meeting, Draeger urged officials to wait for voters to weigh in. "I ask you to put off any of these decisions on these parking lots until that election is held and the people speak," he said, according to the Mercury News.
The San Mateo County elections office lists Measure P on its November ballot page, noting that both a primary argument in favor and a primary argument against have been filed. The measure requires majority voter approval to pass.
Voters decide Nov. 3.
