Hello City Council Members,
I have been a home owner and resident of Menlo Park for over 10 years now. My kids attend Hillview and M-A schools. I heard that the city is considering transforming the Tennis courts at Nealon park to Pickleball courts. While I am a fan of pickleball and play myself, I heard that this would impact the new tennis program at Hillview in a negative way, and likely cancel it. This would be incredibly sad and should not be considered. Please do not change the tennis courts to pickleball and take this away from the kids. Public schools in Menlo Park are overwhelmed with so many students and have small campuses due to the growth in population and limited availability of land to expand on. Ive been shocked at the very limited athletic options Hillview provides for a Middle School of its size from a student population perspective. I grew up on the east coast in a similar type of suburb, and my public school offered so many more athletic options for the middle school students. Taking away tennis from these kids would leave the school with only 1 spring sport option for all 900 students!!! I recommend that you look to a different location that wouldnt impact all the kids in the school as much (perhaps Burgess or Willow). Hillview needs to be able to leverage any precious extra space that is available and the tennis program is such a great option for the kids. Im sure other locations in Menlo Park could be converted with much fewer issues and lower impact to opportunities for so many students.
I have also heard some adults complain about possible limits of the "social" aspects of Pickleball to distribute the courts to other locations, to me that does not come close to outwaying access for 900 children a year (including all low income children that attend Hillview) to have the opportunity to play and learn tennis. I play pickleball all the time in single and double court setups and dont experience any "social" difference between them. I bring my friends and we have fun wherever we are.
Thank you for serving our community and considering.
Regards,
Vic Vuchic
