Dear Menlo Park City Council members,
In this year’s goal setting process, I urge the city to prioritize increasing the availability of flood-lit turf fields for youth sports in the city. A dedication similar to El Camino Park in Palo Alto across from Stanford Mall or Mayfield Soccer Fields at the corner of Page Mill & El Camino is needed, e.g., as part of re-development of the 60 acre SRI campus.
My wife and I have two kids in Stanford Strikers, a youth community soccer organization, that frequently faces issues with:
1. Frequent disruption of youth sports due to weather affecting grass fields.
2. Menlo Park youth driving to other cities due to lack of local field availability.
3. Abbreviated practices for 6 months of the year due to absence of lighted fields.
In contrast, our neighboring cities up and down the peninsula support:
1. More regulation size athletic and recreation fields with all-weather turf surfaces.
2. Flood lit fields that allow sports till 9 PM
3. Usage of school fields
Youth sports are important to the mental and physical health of our kids, and the lack of field space in Menlo Park directly affects the health and mental being of our kids.
This should be a priority for our city this year as the timing is right to, e.g., require a dedication of a regulation size floodlit athletic field as part of the SRI redevelopment. Or, alternatively, pursue placing turf and lighting at Burgess Park to improve access for all sports.
Respectfully,
Matt Clements
