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.
At 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.
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.
2. Prevention of pre-diabetes and other metabolic risk factors
3. Improved school attendance
Lack of 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.
Grant Matthews
Grant Matthews, CFP(r), CIMA(r), CPWA(r)
Managing Director - Wealth Management
Financial Advisor
CA Insurance License #0C91226
The Matthews Oliver Group
[cid:image001.png@01DA7395.42EE3640]
UBS Financial Services Inc.
64 Willow Place, Suite 200
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel 650-289-7072
Efax 855-526-5226
grant.matthews@ubs.com
https://advisors.ubs.com/thematthewsolivergroup/
Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Advisors: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
The Forbes rating is compiled by Shook Research and awarded annually in April based on information from a 12 month period ending June of the prior year.
Eligibility is based on quantitative factors and is not necessarily related to the quality of the investment advice. For more information on third party rating methodologies, please visit ubs.com/us/en/designation-disclosures
This link provides a FINRA Educational Communication that includes important considerations in deciding whether to transfer assets.
