HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-16-2016 Item 12, Godsey`- 0UN0L MEETING:
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To: Maier, John Paul
Subject: RE: 1101 Monterey Street T
From: Melissa Godsey [
EB 6 2016
Sent: Monday, February 15, 2016 10:29 PM
To: E-mail Council Website
Subject: 1101 Monterey Street
Members of the SLO City Council,
I'm writing to express my support—and encourage your support—for the proposed project at 1101 Monterey
Street, but before I comment on that specifically, I'd like you to know who I am, and what demographic I
represent.
My name is Melissa Godsey; I'm 32 years old, married to my husband Michael (a high school English teacher
for the past 12 years in SLCUSD), and together we have a 5 year old daughter, plus another child due in June
(yay!). We also own a small intemet-based business (which I manage), and this enables me to have the
flexibility I need to be there for our daughter after school, help out in her classroom, etc.
We rent a 900 square foot 2 bed/1 bath apartment, conveniently located downtown, on the corner of Mill and
Chorro Street. When the new baby arrives in June, our already tight living space will feel even tighter, but
honestly, we're just grateful live in such a convenient location. While we don't have a front or backyard, we're
walkable to anything we could possibly want—parks, trails, food, entertainment, the children's museum, the
library, our church—it's wonderful. My daughter and I walk between 3-5 miles a day around downtown alone.
It's great exercise, and I literally only have to use my car two days a week. While my dream is to one day have
even a little bit of a private yard for our children, we're grateful for what we have, and I'm grateful to only
spend about 40 minutes in the car per week.
Grateful though we are, our situation is also highly discouraging. Both my husband and I have each lived in San
Luis Obispo for more than 15 years, yet our living situation has actually declined since we were in college. The
living conditions of our current apartment on Mill Street pale in comparison to the kind of home either of us
lived in in college, for the simple fact that you can cram a home full of bunk beds, and $4,000 for a 4 bedroom
becomes very affordable when split 8-10 ways. As it stands now, rent in SLO is about $1,000 per bedroom,
which was feasible in college, but try as I might, I just can't get convince my five year old to get a job already,
and pitch in her fair share. (And it simply doesn't seem prudent to ask her to find a roommate.) Something tells
me our newborn will be just as much the freeloader.
Here's where I get to the proposed project at 1101 Monterey Street.
First of all, I am so grateful that this project is being proposed in the first place. As I mentioned, my daughter
and I walk downtown daily, but the in -and -out traffic of the Shell Station was a big deterrent in walking
"uptown;" it didn't feel particularly safe or pedestrian -friendly, and I feel rude for saying so, but it was really
ugly. When I learned that the proposed project provides direly needed housing, plus parking, a transportation
center, and a gorgeous gateway to downtown, I was thrilled. This is the perfect use for what used to be a
hideous, deterring gas station.
The project proposed at 1101 Monterey Street would be a gift to downtown San Luis Obispo. Not just for
families like mine who would love to own their first apartment in such a terrific location, but for the businesses
in "Uptown" SLO who would benefit from the additional parking, and everyone who uses public transit would
benefit from the new transit center.
My family desperately wants to stay here in San Luis Obispo. Our church, my daughter's school, Michael's
job ... this is our community. But what is our community doing to help us stay? We've scaled back our
expectations, and I've reigned in my hopes for a yard big enough for a garden, but there's only so far we can
scale back before we have to face the facts: our community doesn't seem to want us here. Every time a project
like 1101 Monterey is proposed, you have people my parent's age fighting tooth and nail against it, and it hurts.
When people try to shoot down projects that provide direly needed housing in exactly the right location, and
instead of seeing the good it will do for families like mine, they choose to selfishly complain about potentially
obstructed sight -lines, and a negligible difference in height from the building across the street from it, the
message is loud and clear: San Luis Obispo does not want families like mine as residents. (Who will replace us
as we get priced out of SLO? I'll leave it to the not-in-my-backyarders to guess.)
The fact is, we need the housing. We've needed it for years. The project proposed at 1101 Monterey is an
elegant solution to a very tricky problem, and is a key component of the larger solution of ensuring we have the
housing supply we need to enable those who work in SLO, to live in SLO. It's a responsible solution to the
irresponsible problem of passing the buck on housing year after year after year after year...
I would love to present these comments to you in person, however during the school year my Tuesday nights
are spent taking our daughter to Awana. Thank you for your consideration, and the patience it took to read all
the way to the bottom.
Sincerely,
Melissa Jenna Godsey
Mill Street, SLO