Dear Mayor and City Council Members, I took the survey sent by the City on the Belle Haven branch library process (forwarded below) to poll us again on what we need or what should be prioritized for our BH branch library. I have been in this process on and off for two years. I would like to share my thoughts with you all on the "open ended" question that was part of the survey sent to all residents of Menlo Park (not just Belle Haven). A lot of my questions are for the city-- so I thought it might be useful to also paste my open-ended response to you also by email. The open-ended question was along the lines of any additional comments, inputs etc. (my response below): The branch library is a "branch" to serve the residents of Belle Haven so please consider looking at the data/responses from the residents of BH rather than the entire city. There is a main library for the rest of Menlo Park. All residents of Menlo Park are welcome to use any branch/location but the primary users are the residents of BH. So their inputs should be the focus of this poll. It is also important to point out the irony that Belle Haven's opinion or interests were not actively sought or the community had no major influence on the decisions made in the Main Library Improvement plans last year. But a branch library needs to go through this seemingly "egalitarian" process in which people who have zero interest/passion/understanding of our neighborhood get to share their opinion on what to prioritize in terms of criteria. How will the city sift through the data from this survey to prioritize what is shared by our community of BH? Please stop minimizing the voice of this neighborhood. How much more information do you need to understand that we need a library/community space to be the heart of this community and we believe that this is best situated in the Onetta Harris Community Center, with a complete overhaul of that community space. What is so hard for the city to understand about this community request, made repeatedly? And how many more polls will it take for you to "hear" what you want to hear? We want a library/community space that we can walk/bike to, hold cultural events, meetings, concerts and educational events. We don't want to sit in our cars getting there, because our neighborhood is small enough that you can walk the entire periphery of it in 30 min. And once we navigate the horrible traffic of Willow road during the week, we are happier not sitting in our cars to get to points in our neighborhood. It would be stating the obvious but the city should be coordinating development for our neighborhood in a cohesive and strategic way. Why is the branch library project considered in isolation from the larger recommendations of the Parks and Rec Master Plan? Why is the city not looking at our neighborhood as something to invest in with a long-term vision? I strongly urge the city to analyze the data from the subset of Belle Haven responses as the "primary findings" followed by any key trends or insights gleaned from the larger data set only as "nice to consider." --------------------------------------------- To add to the comment above: the residents of BH have been asked the same question (what do you want?) in different ways in different contexts and points in time (over years), with the hope that the answer will be different or what the city wants to hear. I hope you will maintain the integrity of the data/responses of this current poll and truly hear and execute on what we've been asking repeatedly in surveys, public comments, focus groups, interviews, 1:1 conversations etc. Being a researcher myself, at some point (typically by the 7th or 8th interview) in qual. comments, you begin to hear a theme--which becomes your insight or key finding. Don't you have enough already in terms of key insights or themes to deliver on the needs and expectations of the residents of BH? I'm curious to know if you hope to find anything new from the residents of BH or will you be satisfied by what you've heard so far over the last many years? Thanks, Pushpinder -------------------------------------- Pushpinder P. Lubana, PhD LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/pushpinderlubana > Cell 650-644-8554 ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: City of Menlo Park Date: Wed, Sep 25, 2019 at 11:38 AM Subject: Survey: Belle Haven Library / Encuesta sobre la biblioteca de Belle Haven To: [Community survey / Encuesta comunitaria] http://surveymonkey.com/r/bellehavenlibrary > We want your opinion! – Belle Haven Library survey The City of Menlo Park is planning a new branch library to replace the old Belle Haven branch library. We’re reaching out to Menlo Park residents for your input. Please take a few minutes to complete the following survey. Your responses will help us better understand community needs, wishes, and preferences for a new branch library. Thank you! Take the online survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/bellehavensurvey > Thank you! ¡Queremos su opinión! – Encuesta sobre la biblioteca de Belle Haven La ciudad de Menlo Park planifica construir una biblioteca nueva para remplazar la biblioteca vieja de Belle Haven. Queremos la opinión de los residentes de Menlo Park. Por favor tome unos minutos para contestar la siguiente encuesta. Sus respuestas nos ayudaran a comprender las necesidades, los deseos, y las preferencias de la comunidad para construir una biblioteca nueva. ¡Muchas Gracias! Tome nuestra encuesta https://es.surveymonkey.com/r/bellehavensurvey_espanol > ¡Gracias! [Facebook Share] Share on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://cp.plus/FdGdmnq > [Twitter Share] Share on Twitter http://twitter.com/share?url=https://cp.plus/FdGdmnq > [Email Share] Share via Email https://cp.plus/FdGdmnq > Copyright 2019 City of Menlo Park. All Rights Reserved. 701 Laurel St., Menlo Park, CA 94025 If you no longer wish to receive emails from us, you may Unsubscribe http://www.menlopark.org/list.aspx >. Powered by [CivicSend - A product of CivicPlus] Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser https://cp.plus/FdGdmnq >. Received on Sat Sep 28 2019 - 09:26:37 PDT
