Dear Council members -
Drew Dunlevie is a good friend of our family and fellow music lover of mine. He's working to acquire the aging Guild theater on El
Camino and revive it into a local music and performance venue.
I was born and raised in Palo Alto. Since the age of 9 when I began taking guitar lessons at Draper's on California Avenue, music
has been a huge part of my life. And today, as a father of four children ages 10 through 20, I'm stoked to have successfully
passed on that passion to the next generation.
But here is the challenge. Over the past 19 years that we've lived in Menlo Park, I've had to make hundreds of late night drives
to and from The Warfield, The Fillmore, to the Independent, to The Great American Music Hall, and to and from The Paramount and
The Fox in Oakland.
All drives of 35 miles or more. Late nights arriving home at 1am. All great venues for sure, but hugely inconvenient for weeknight
excursions with my wife and friends, and teens. And while all of that activity has contributed greatly to the economic prosperity
of San Francisco and Oakland, wouldn't it be nice our passion for the arts could reward our local community instead?
How great would it be for our community, for my children, and for music lovers could conveniently go see great live music, up and
coming bands, and expose our kids to live music more easily? On weeknights too!
We are asking that you make every effort to make review and approval of this project a high Council priority in the very near
term.
Our understanding is that Menlo Park is one of a small number of potential sites/communities for this exciting entertainment
venue. I would hate to see Menlo Park lose this "once in a lifetime” opportunity for lack of ability to timely conduct a timely
review process.
We would very much appreciate your support for this project.
Sincerely,
Nick & Stephanie Zaharias
Nick Zaharias
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