Council Members,
Our parks are one of our city's greatest assets. They provide a place for peace, exercise, community, and connection with nature. As our population and housing grows, we will require all that our parks offer us even more and simply cannot afford to lose a foot of park space to development. Everyday, I walk my dog around Sharon Park, my elderly mother comes to walk and sit at the park, my children have grown up enjoying its playground, pond, trails, grassy fields and idyllic views of the hills, trees and fog rolling in. It is not only an escape for Menlo Park residents, including those who live in the numerous Sharon Heights apartment complexes and other MP complexes, but for the many visitors from other communities and towns who come daily to enjoy it. Our other parks are equally precious, from Burgess to Nealon to Jack Lyle to Kelly to Flood, they offer a respite that all of us crave and need, as close to our homes as possible to meet the needs of the young and the old, and to build a sense of local community as well.
There are other developed places to build the additional housing we require, if we consider building up existing apartment complexes and office/business structures to including housing above them (ie. the apartments on Sharon Park Drive near Sand Hill Road, the Sharon Heights Shopping Center, downtown parking lots and above businesses, as well as along ECR). Please consider supporting Councilman Mueller's Park Preservation Measure so that the greater good can be served, with preserved park space for our growing population and wise use of expanded building in developed but underutilized locations with ready access to public transportation.
Thank you for preserving our parks and, in turn, our communities so that Menlo Park continues to be a place we all treasure.
Sincerely,
Kimberly Birn
