I am writing to add my voice to the discussion about how to ensure that community priorities are the guiding principle behind capital project plans. While I appreciate the generosity of a potential donor, if the restricted nature of the gift causes the City to move ahead faster with improvements to a City service with lower objective need than that in Belle Haven, I am concerned that we will be, once again, not serving those whose needs have been neglected over many years. I live in the Willows neighborhood of Menlo Park, and also volunteer with the ESL classes held at Belle Haven under the auspices of Project Read. At a time when there is apparently discussion about reducing, the Belle Haven evening classes, ironically in order to "extend" evening library open hours for the very limited public open times that currently exist, I find it disturbing that the prospect of a partial capital gift could also cause redirection of scarce staff and capital resources into the part of our community that is already better served. A major library improvement project would inevitable suck up a large majority of staff and funding options,leaving Belle Haven to, yet again, be relegated to second class status and continue to put up with seriously lagging library and literacy services. Please make sure that priorities are driven by the most serious need and respect for a neighborhood and population that has not historically been at the forefront of significant improvements in City services. Judith Jones Elliott Drive, Menlo Park. Received on Mon Aug 21 2017 - 17:56:11 PDT
