My closing statement:
Hire the best candidate
Every election, we vote and many of us hope things will get better, but sometimes it can feel like not much changes. It helps to think of your vote as a hiring decision. You’re choosing who will help shape policy for District 1’s future: new affordable homes, safe and clean streets, and how ready we are for disasters, like floods and earthquakes. The quality of the person you choose matters, so it’s worth looking at the work each candidate has already done.
As this campaign comes to a close, I want to share what I’ve built. Not vague and empty words, but actual systems that lay out the issues: a housing plan simulator, a city budget you can balance yourself, and a new plain-language guide to a District 1 issue every week, all in English and Spanish. I’ve also tried to visit and contact every household in District 1, at the door, by mail and by email, to hear what matters most to you.
Who I am
- Actual experience in Menlo Park city government. As a Parks and Recreation Commissioner and the commission’s former chair, I helped guide the planning for the Belle Haven Community Center and create events like the Community Fun Run 6K.
- 8 years in the federal government, as a Director of Technology in the U.S. Senate. Those years taught me how government gets things done.
- I visited every single-family home in Belle Haven and listened to what matters most to District 1 residents. Thank you to everyone who opened the door.
- Software engineer: outcomes over process. I build technology for a living, and in my field what counts is whether it actually works for the people using it. I’d bring that same focus to the council.
In the neighborhood
Planting trees with Canopy, reporting dumping until it’s picked up, cleaning up with neighbors, and sharing pupusas at Hamilton Park.
School tree planting with CanopySaturday, October 17, at Belle Haven Elementary and All Five: more than 30 new trees for the neighborhood.
Illegal dumping on Ivy DriveA couch on the median, reported September 13 and picked up nine days later, and what it shows about dumping in District 1.
Let’s clean up Belle HavenSunday, October 18, at Hamilton Park: an afternoon with neighbors picking up litter on our streets and in our parks.
Free pupusas at Hamilton ParkSunday, September 6: lunch with neighbors on the campaign.Try the tools I’ve created for yourself
The housing plan simulatorZone or drop the city’s housing sites, try the Measure P switch, and see whether the plan still meets the state’s targets.
The city budgetThis year’s budget as blocks you can move. Add your own idea with its price tag, then make room for it, the way the council does.Every week, a new guide to a District 1 issue
Each one is in English and Spanish, in plain words, with its sources.
Menlo Park’s housing planWhy the city must plan for 2,946 new homes, whether the state approved its plan, and where the homes are going.
The builder’s remedyWhat it is, why it applies in Menlo Park, and the story of 80 Willow Road.
Flood risk and El NiñoWhich homes are in FEMA flood zones, and how to get ready for a wet winter.
Reimagine DumbartonSamTrans’ plan to turn five miles of unused rail into a zero-emission busway and a paved trail.
Crime and safetyA map of crime reports since 2018, crime by year since 1985, and police response times, with a source for every figure.
How Belle Haven was segregatedHow deed covenants, federal loan rules, the highway, zoning and school district lines separated Belle Haven from the rest of the city.
District 1 by the numbersWho lives in District 1 today, from the census, and what residents have told the City they need.
How zoning shaped District 1The 2016 ConnectMenlo plan, what actually got built, and the neighborhood shops District 1 still doesn’t have.Watch the candidate forums
If you missed them, the full recordings are here.
The League of Women Voters’ forumOctober 20, in the City Council Chambers, recorded by the League.
The Almanac’s forumOctober 8, in the City Council Chambers, recorded by Midpen Media Center.
Paying the American Dream forward
My family at the Belle Haven Community Campus Trunk or Treat, October 28.
I’m a product of the American dream. My parents immigrated to New York City from South Korea in the late 1970s with nothing. My mom worked as a grocery store cashier and my dad as a laborer, and together they saved enough to run a newsstand in the Bronx, open from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. They worked that hard so their son could go to college, get an education, and one day raise a family of his own.
Today that dream is harder to reach than ever. My wife and I are raising two young kids in Belle Haven, and I want to keep that spark alive for their generation, so that hard work here still leads somewhere. They’re the ones who will live with the decisions we make today.
At every forum this fall, I closed with the same promise, and I’ll make it again here: I will always remember our past while fighting for our future. District 1 has waited long enough for the basics: homes families can afford, a grocery store we can walk to, parks that get fixed and streets that get swept. Join me in the movement to change that.
I’ve treated this campaign as a job interview, and in any interview you ask three questions: Can they do the job? Have they done the work? Will they represent me well? I hope what you’ve read here answers all three. When you fill out your ballot, ask yourself one last question: which candidate would you hire?
Thank you for reading, and for caring about our community.
I’d be truly honored to have your vote.
— Wonman Lee