Dear esteemed Menlo Park City Council members,
I believe that increasing the availability of a flood lit turf field for youth sports should be a city priority. Specifically, field space should be required as part of re-development of the 60 acre SRI campus. I urge you to consider the community amenity aspect of this development.
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.
As a mom with two kids belonging to Stanford Strikers, a youth community soccer organization, the issues that we constantly face in Menlo Park are:
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 in rush hour traffic that will only get worse.
3. Abbreviated practices for 6 months of the year due to absence of lighted fields.
This is in contrast to our neighboring cities up and down the peninsula that 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
This is critical to the Menlo Park community as we know the benefits of youth sports:
1. The most important solution to the mental health of our kids is the ability to be outside, to interact and play with other similar aged kids. Help us get them off screens!
2. Prevention of pre-diabetes and other metabolic risk factors
3. Improved school attendance
Lack of reliable field space in Menlo Park is directly affecting the health and mental being of our kids. Are there other priorities that rank above the physical, emotional and social health of our youth?
I believe that this must be a priority for our city. I think that the SRI development requires a dedication of a regulation size floodlit athletic field. I also think that the city pursue placing turf and lighting at Burgess Park to improve access for all sports.
Thank you.
Mathilde Pribula
