Dear Council Members,
My name is Margaret May. I have been happy to call Menlo Park my home for the past 10 years and I am the mother of two children
who were born here, Charlie and Ellie. My children have attended Menlo Children’s Center (MCC) since they were both 18 months old.
Over the last 4 years I have had the chance to get to know the MCC program very well. I’m writing this letter in support of the
important role that MCC plays in the Menlo Park community given the recent proposal to expand the main library, one variant of
which appears to require closing down the preschool and relocating it.
I’d like to add my voice to the group expressing concern about a plan that would prioritize a library renovation at the expense of
the stability of available childcare in Menlo Park. It’s not that I have a problem with moving MCC (though I do like the
centrality of its current location and would be sad if it were moved); what concerns me is that the city council has not made it
clear that childcare is a priority, creating anxiety that the possibility of a proposal that relocates MCC on short notice is
realistic. I know we’ve been told that no decisions have been made yet, but the danger of promised money running the decisions
rather than resident needs seems, well, not impossible based on the communications we've received.
It goes without saying that a disruption in the services that MCC provides would be very destabilizing both to parents and
children, I imagine you understand this so I won’t elaborate on this point. I will say that as a psychiatrist who cares for
veterans at the Menlo Park VA (particularly vets who are homeless and struggle with addiction), I deeply appreciate the services
that a city offers to its broad range of citizens. This includes libraries, which serve as public places where individuals can
avail themselves of shelter, social interaction, day to day routines, and the acquisition of knowledge. So I am not opposed to
resources going into a library. I can only imagine that there are a thousand needs in every community and it is hard to know which
to prioritize. But my impression is that many feel the current library meets the community needs, whereas housing and childcare
remain under-resourced needs. I share the opinion that childcare needs are substantial in this community where most families have
dual working parents, often in training programs affiliated with Stanford which require extended working hours (this was the case
for me until a few years ago).
Lastly, it is worth mentioning that childcare needs have often been overlooked because of subtle biases against working mothers
and in sectors where women lag behind in leadership positions. I hope Menlo Park will not exacerbate this historical legacy and do
diligence in acknowledging the central role of childcare in our community as an investment in our children and families.
I am unable to attend the proposal meeting tomorrow at the library but was hoping to submit my thoughts via email. Thank you for
taking the time to read this.
Sincerely,
Margaret May
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Margaret May MD
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