Dear MP City Council,
I am a homeowner and resident in Menlo Park . I have three children ages 14, 11, and 9. I am writing to advocate for a full-size playing field to be included as part of the SRI development, as well as other dedicated city amenities.
My children play soccer, lacrosse, baseball and football and often have to split practice space with multiple other teams. We have to drive 20-30 minutes to other fields in Portola Valley and Palo Alto because there is not enough space in Menlo Park. With the increased density of the SRI development, there will be more traffic and more children. We need full fields in Menlo Park (full-size for 11v11 soccer, turf for all-weather play, with lights so that kids can play in the evening). Adding lights to the field at Burgess would also extend the usable hours for that grass field.
Further, I want Menlo Park residents to receive more than just housing out of the SRI 60-acre development. My understanding is that other major development agreements have included $100M+ in new city amenities. With the increase to housing density and traffic, we should increase the walkable and bikeable things to do within Menlo Park! We need to add community amenities into SRI in addition to housing. I think it would be amazing to see space dedicated to family activities incorporated into this development: putt-putt, bowling, more swimming, roller-skating or ice-skating rinks..none of these things are currently available to us within this area of Menlo Park and now with adding so many more people and children it’s just going to increase traffic and reduce availability of family activities. It would be wonderful to add space and activities for children and teens - especially since the development is so close to Menlo Atherton high school - and all of us parents would love to see activities for teenagers, which would help keep them out of trouble.
Thank you,
Valerie Danielewicz
Menlo Park Resident
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