Last November, there was a referendum in Menlo Park about a controversial condo/retail development near the train tracks. The folks collecting signatures said that they didn’t necessarily object to the project, they just thought that the city council had negotiated a bad deal for the city. I wondered whether this was sincerely pragmatic opposition, or a cover for Nimbyism. The referendum proponents followed through on the drive to get a better deal. Six months after the referendum succeeded, the referendum proponents and the developer have come up with a settlement reducing the density from 50 to 40 units per acre, and providing a payment of $2 million to the city. The new proposal now needs to go to the planning commission for approval.