If you put a gun to my head and asked me how Los Altos and Redwood City were similar I would likely get shot. Yes, they are both cities in northern California, but from there the similarity escapes me (and perhaps you as well).  So I was skeptical when a downtown group sent out an announcement that the former city manager of Redwood City, Ed Everett, would be speaking downtown about how our community might look at the proposed development of the downtown Parking Plazas and the RFP (Request for Proposal) that the city staff is preparing.

I have to tell you I was surprised, pleasantly, by what I heard. Ed provided some good insights into the process, and admitted that he didn’t really understand Los Altos, so he wasn’t going to be prescriptive.

The first point he made is that the high vacancy rate we now experience in Los Altos is not unique to us; Redwood City and many other cities face similar, if not higher rates. I found it interesting that Redwood City, which undertook an extensive redevelopment of its downtown, was currently no better off than we were.

Secondly, Ed pointed out that a developer will propose whatever she/he thinks will yield him the best return. No surprise there. However, Ed added that whatever that project is (retail, mixed use, office, condos, etc.) the developer will tell the city that it is exactly what the city needs. Boy did that raise a red flag with me. We need more residents living downtown, say the developers, when the only thing a bank will finance is condo developments…hmmmm!

The third point was that plazas should be small, cozy and surrounded by building, not large open areas. Ed says (and most people in the room agreed) that this is one case where smaller is better.

The last point that Ed made, that I particularly took note of, is that putting an RFP together without first doing a visioning process is a crapshoot. Without the vision, anything (or everything that a developer proposes) may look good. Perhaps it is fortuitous that the Planning Commission recommended that the city undertake a visioning process to start in late 2012-after the initial wave of downtown development is completed and residents could see some of those larger projects and intelligently assess what else they wanted in our downtown.

I still don’t see the similarities between the two towns, but the advice was relevant nonetheless.