Belmont Official To Reshape Downtown San Carlos

City management can sound like inside baseball. But in a small Peninsula city, this is the job that decides whether a downtown plan stays a PDF or turns into actual pavement, permits, tenants, and construction fencing. That is why San Carlos naming Kathy Kleinbaum as its next city manager matters right now. She is not arriving for a quiet handoff — she is stepping in just as the city starts physically remaking downtown and after longtime manager Jeff Maltbie’s retirement. (publicceo.com) ### Who just got hired? San Carlos picked Kathy Kleinbaum as city manager at its April 27 meeting. She comes in with more than 25 years in Bay Area local government and has worked in Belmont, San Mateo, Los Altos, and Oakland redevelopment. The Belmont angle is real, but the bigger point is her mix of city hall operations and economic development work. That combination fits a downtown project better than a purely administrative résumé would. (publicceo.com) ### Why does the city manager matter here? Because downtown revitalization is not one department’s project. Planning handles zoning and design rules. Public works handles streets, parks, and construction. Economic development works on business attraction and retention. The city manager sits over all of that and makes the pieces move together inst(publicceo.com)g to improve public space while keeping a busy restaurant-and-retail district functioning. (cityofsancarlos.org) ### What is San Carlos actually building? The first visible piece is the Harrington Park refresh in downtown San Carlos. The city says the redesign adds a multipurpose plaza, a new building with restrooms and storage, public seating, a rain garden, trees, memorial bricks, and public art opportunities. This is not the whole plan. It is phase one of (cityofsancarlos.org)pe Master Plan. Basically, the park is the first proof that the city is done planning and has started building. (cityofsancarlos.org) ### Why is the timing such a big deal? Because the park closure and construction start are happening now. San Carlos said in April that Harrington Park would close for work that month, and it framed that project as the opening move in a larger downtown overhaul, with later phases expected in 2027 and beyond. So Kleinbaum is not inheriting a distant v(cityofsancarlos.org)nstruction headaches already in motion. (cityofsancarlos.org) ### What does her Belmont background add? Belmont and San Carlos are neighbors, and both are dealing with the same Peninsula pressures — tight land, expensive housing, downtown competition, and the need to grow tax base without wrecking quality of life. Kleinbaum’s Belmont experience means she already knows the regional politics and the tradeoffs. Her earlier economic (cityofsancarlos.org)t just a caretaker manager. She has done the kind of cross-functional work downtown projects demand. That is the useful part of the story. (publicceo.com) ### Is this only about beautification? No. The city’s own economic development language is blunt: grow the local economy, expand tax revenue, create jobs, and support business growth. The streetscape and park upgrades are the visible side of that strategy. The less visible side is making downtown easier to use, easier to invest in, and more attra(publicceo.com)roject will feel incomplete. San Carlos is clearly aiming for both. (cityofsancarlos.org) ### So what should people watch next? Watch whether the leadership transition stays smooth while construction ramps up. Watch whether later downtown phases keep their schedule into 2027. And watch whether San Carlos can keep Laurel Street lively while asking businesses and residents to tolerate disruption (cityofsancarlos.org)evelopment-minded city manager in place exactly when downtown stops being a concept and starts becoming a construction project. (publicceo.com)