I support the options discussed here.
George WalkerMenlo Park
Sent from my iPad
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Judy Adams
Date: April 14, 2018 at 8:54:27 PM PDT
Subject: To Guild movie theater supporters: important meeting this Monday to discuss film option adopted by city at same time as
new Guild proposal
> Dear Supporters of the Guild Theater petition:
There is an important Menlo Park City Council meeting THIS MONDAY, APR. April 16 at 6:30 AT THE CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERSto discuss in
more detail one of the priority goals adopted by the City at the conclusion of its goals setting meeting on Feb. 13, which
approved the replacement of the Guild theater with a live entertainment venue that would also include film screenings and film
festivals. The meeting will be a public discussion of the construction of a downtown parking garage with a unique feature you may
recall: including a 2-3 screen first -run (mainstream, not independent) movie theater on the ground level of the 2-storey below-
ground garage. We need your support, as movie patrons, for this City project, as well as the Guild transformation that we're
working so hard to assure that it includes screening of indie and arts films.
The parking garage is intended to address the existing - and future - parking shortage downtown, while absorbing the cars of
theater patrons who will be able to shop and eat downtown before or after a film without congested street parking. It will also
augment parking nearer the new Guild on adjacent surface lots. The new movie theater will add diversity to the downtown after the
full-time Guild movie theater closes. But it will alos complement the indie film screenings we are working with the buyers of the
Guild, the Peninsula Arts Guild to include in their arts programming when the new Guild opens.
We are told by city council members that themovie theatre would be economically viable because the City would own the land and be
the landlord.
We are exploring with the prestigious U.N. Association Film Festival (UNAFF), which has venues in Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, and
Stanford, the possibility that they will include the Menlo-Atherton Performing Arts Center as a venue for their film festival in
the near future. The exciting combination of the UNAFF and the longstanding Windrider Film Festival at M-A PAC (once again this
summer), a modest-sized first-run "mainstream" downtown movie theater, film screenings and smaller film festivals at the new
Guild, and film options we are exploring with the Menlo Park main library, the Menlo Park Senior Center in Belle Haven, and the
Little House senior/community center, will put Menlo Park "on the map" for an exciting variety of film options, in addition to the
live entertainment at the new Guild.
The meeting is on Monday, 4/16/2018, at 6:30 pm in City Council Chambers,701 Laurel St., Menlo Park, CA 94025
[https://maps.google.com/?q=701+Laurel+St.,+Menlo+Park,+CA+94025&entry=gmail&source=g]. Please come with friends who support both
indie and mainstream movies, and the pragmatic addition of a parking garage to the downtown, and speak of your support for this
dynamic combination. If you or they can't come, please write an email in support of the garage/theater project to:
city.council@menlopark.org [city.council@menlopark.org].
Longtime Menlo Park and Peninsula cities' supporters of the Guild will be able to attend recent releases of their beloved
indie/arts films at the new Guild (an estimated 120 seat theater when the live entertainment stage area and mezzanine are
converted for film screenings), thought-provoking UNAFF documentaries and foreign films at smaller venues we're working on at the
Main library and our two Menlo Park Senior Centeres rather than driving to Redwood City's large multi-screen cinema or patronizing
only Palo Alto's theaters, taking revenue and vitality from our downtown.
These two film venues will put Menlo Park on the map, combined with the other arts programming planned at the new Guild. Please
show your support by speaking at the City Council this coming Monday or sending email to the city council. Urge your fellow film
lovers to do the same. This is a critical time for film in Menlo Park. Write tonight on Sunday, or at the very latest, early
Monday.
Judy Adams
