Dear Maria and fellow council members,

Today I learned Palo Alto’s “plans” for pickleball expansion. Cubberly tennis courts are to be resurfaced, lights installed and dedicated to tennis play. All the existing Mitchell tennis courts will be converted to pickleball. I did not hear this from the city but a fellow PA club member who nonetheless is well connected.

What a contrast this is to Menlo Park where city staff feel the pickleball community is “entitled”….

I’ve been silent regarding MP pb recently as I only play at Nealon once or at most twice a week now. Like many other MP residents I rejoined/joined the Palo Alto Pickleball Club and usually play at Mitchell. I play for Portola Valley (along with two other MP residents) in a league comprised of peninsula towns and clubs so I also am playing in Portola Valley quite a bit. PV recently increased the hours that pb has priority and striped the basketball court to provide an additional tennis court. The single tennis court fits on a bb court much better than multiple pb courts imo.

In the hope that facts & quality data still matter, I’ve updated my community benchmarks presentation (attached) and I’d also like to provide some observations below.

Why doesnt the library/P&R survey (2022?) provide sufficient data to demonstrate pb demand? It was sooo lengthy and my take is that those folks who actually completed it, ranking pb courts so highly, were really motivated. I’m with the folks that have said we don’t need to spend $$ for surveys/additional demand data.

Most of the Nealon pb community don’t care about and wouldn’t ever play at Kelly however having recently played at The Hub and Bobby Riggs facilities in the San Diego area, I think a case could be made for some sort of public/private partnership to build permanent courts @ Kelly. Again I don’t think many MP residents will play there, but a good facility would attract travelers staying at nearby hotels, employees of nearby businesses and potentially folks from the East Bay in addition to nearby residents.

I hope the Willow courts get built and David Mok is the city approved instructor based at those courts.

Note what Stanford is doing!

tx,
Nate



> On Mar 17, 2024, at 8:20 PM, Doerr, Maria wrote:
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> Hi Brian,
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> Thanks for your message.
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> During the city council meeting on Feb 12, City Council asked staff to prioritize 1) adding sound protection and 2) addressing basic repair issues (like the lights and water fountains) on the Nealon courts - before any additional work or research.
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> Due to limited internal capacity, staff asked to use consultants to help determine where, how, and when to add any additional tennis/pickleball courts. This is a necessary step towards building more courts. Im not sure on timing of when the project would begin - I can let you know as soon as I hear something more.
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> Staff shared with me that the longitudinal capacity study I requested (to get a longitudinal count on court usage / player numbers at Nealon and Kelly Park) would be a part of the research. It could move forward in the spring/summer. Im eager to see this, as it is a more rigorous approach that the city has not pursued before to understand the magnitude of demand and the availability of courts.
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> $85k is the limit on what the City Manager can allocate on any singular project without City Council action. However, this is *not* how much staff anticipates a study costing. They informed us that it would be significantly lower.
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> I appreciate your feedback.
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> Kind regards,
> Maria
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> Marias Office Hours are Tuesdays 8-9:30am at Woodside Bakery in Sharon Heights. Come say hello! (all except Tue March 5 and March 26)
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> [cid:CMP_Email_Logo_100dpi_05d92d5b-e8e3-498f-93a6-d0da509bd602111111111.png]
>
> Maria Doerr
> City Councilmember
> City Hall - 2nd Floor
> 701 Laurel St.
> tel 650-600-1940?
> https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fmenlopark.gov&c=E,1,bs1haH8SFJ8VipjT1MK7hw7QeEmvTK_lNLVHg-HlcQ4MQVRiDPg7lhEUfNzyKnh9tVKJVB17V0p_PM22jhkv7P8ijMlVf1Ki11rsrtBYmbCnIOEU&typo=1
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> ________________________________
> From: Brian Kissel
> Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2024 10:50:19 AM
> To: Doerr, Maria
> Cc: Jim Schott; Peter Diepenbrock; David Yoshida; Nate Gardner; Katrina Ryan; Doug Strauss; Linda Itskovitz
> Subject: Stopping the $85K study on Pickleball by the Parks & Rec Dept
>
>
>
>
> Hi Maria, what is the status of this study?
>
> As you can see from public comments here (https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.hiago.app%2fen%2forganizations%2fmenlo-park%3ftext%3dpickleball&c=E,1,P_z-I3ybS3VdL6Oa7TtJ2Te_c5r48TJPho7DRdQNgOdnII1BDbUnyFqEnhn1nJ2ijvgIeanMXUHCGo_lVf46CmUwP4GKxPlqh-tIqM82Tcl3ng,,&typo=1), the PB community does not feel this is a good use of city funds. There is are a number of low cost ways to address the near term needs of the PB community while the city determines if/when/where they will build new dedicated PB courts.
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> Please review the recommendations from the PB community. We have also offered to have an open session with the P&R Dept. to save the time and cost of yet another study and address the near term needs of the community.
>
> Cheers, Brian
> =========
> Brian Kissel
> brian.kissel@gmail.com
> Mobile: 650.397.1414
>
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