As a 46-year Athertonian I visit both park & library more than once a week. Here are two points:
Parking in the park was impossible until our council outlawed its use recently. Every spot was filled and many parked illegally. Is our council misleading us?
The EIR says in one place (page 20) that when the library moves to the park, the existing library building will be used by the town for storage & staff offices. Then later this EIR (pp 129-130) rejects use of the existing library because it needs seizmic upgrades of 5 types.
Both cannot be correct. This EIR is flawed.
Added points:
Our council, the council's library committee, and the Almanac editor seem to favor putting the library in the park. If we are allowed to vote, I fear we who oppose putting our only library in our only park will not be heard by uninvolved Athertonians who are probably the majority.
Access to the park is via one street (Watkins) and one entrance. Access to our existing library is via 5 or 6 alternative routes.
Our council, mostly lawyers or real estate developers, opposes a vote because it can only make them neutral or foolish. A vote against lib-in-park would show our council wasted the high cost of the EIR.
- Thomas A. Croft, Ph.D. 76 Moulton Drive Atherton
P.S. Thanks to many of you for helpful comments and to my wife Rachel, the best editor I ever encountered, a version of my earlier email has been sent to Lisa Costa Sanders which makes it official, they say:
P.S. Thanks to many of you for helpful comments and to my wife Rachel, the best editor I ever encountered, a version of my earlier email has been sent to Lisa Costa Sanders which makes it official, they say:
From: Margaret Winters
ReplyDeleteDate: April 1, 2012 12:31:41 PM PDT
To: athertonians@yahoogroups.com, Tom Croft
Subject: [Athertonians] EIR library in park [Discussion moved to Athertonians blog]
I agree -- we've lived here for 20 years, and seen a few of these types of activities before. This should have been much more carefully thought out from the beginning. Anytime I go to the library, there is ample parking except for the times when there's a "story time," when the cars are parked up and down the street. Atherton doesn't need any more library than what it presently has, in my humble opinion. Building a large library in the middle of a beautiful park will just spoil it for everyone.
Margaret Winters
Margaret,
DeleteI have many concerns regarding this project. I believe it's a mistake to allow a 3-2 vote of the council to be able to change Atherton forever, against what appears to be the majority opinion of the residents of Atherton. Especially since four of the previous five council members (one is deceased) have stated they would have opposed the library in the park. That would have defeated the measure 3-2.
This measure was approved before several pieces of negative information were released to the residents regarding the impact to Atherton; such as the traffic light that will be needed, and the lost annual revenue to Atherton for not renting for weddings, which is almost $90,000 per year.
Is there a cost and plan to relocate the workshop area that is in the main house? Why is a Regional library needed with Menlo Park and Redwood City's so close by?
What happens during the winter when the library stays open past dark and the park closes.
Etc, Etc, Etc,........
Charles,
DeleteI know (from your past history) that you're like minded (with those of us who aren't in favor of a new huge modern library that Atherton doesn't need. The question is, what to do?
Margaret
Hi all: When I look at the temporary offices at the city as well as the corporate yard, it seems to me that there is enough room for everything in that area. All the parking at the Caltrain lot and the city lot is almost always empty. The traffic signal at El Camino makes the city area so much more accessible than Watkins Lane. We have no town and now the little central core we have is going to be broken in two? I have never liked this idea. Lastly, I know the City Council was not unanimous on this matter. I have lived at 98 Euclid Ave, since 1986. JOHN
DeleteJohn L. Worthing
Worthing Capital
845 Oak Grove Ave. Suite 105
Menlo Park, CA 94025
(650)327-6677 fax (650) 327-6699
Well said
DeleteMarie straube
Sent from my iPhone Marie
From: "Nancy Sterling"
ReplyDeleteDate: Sun Apr 1, 2012 7:55 pm
Subject: Re: EIR library in park n.sterling@comcast.net
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I just thought of something that should be taken into account.....High Speed Rail.
With the latest proposal (and probably a foregone conclusion anyway....) the crossing at Watkins will probably be eliminated in the next five years.
This will make the park much harder to access.
I am strongly opposed to placing a new library in the Park!
ReplyDeleteMay our voices be heard and reverse the Council's decision.
Mary Madden
- I absolutely agree.
ReplyDeleteAntonia Fore
I would agree. We seem to have a town council that is out of touch.
ReplyDeleteNorm & Jill Fogelsong
Perhaps not useful but interesting are old satellite photos of Atherton now available free to us all via "Google Earth". Taken on 9/25/48, you'll find our town council building, the building that is now our library, and large open spaces now a park on one side and our police station on the other. At H P Park is the original Holbrook Palmer home, the water tower, but no town manager home. Many orchards and open fields.
ReplyDeleteGoogle Earth is free. Use current imagery (2011) to find the place, then click on the tiny box in lower left that says 1948. Voila !
- Tom Croft
It seems if we want to diminish our beautiful town then we proceed with a new library built at Holbrook-Palmer park. I agree with prior comments. I also use the park and library weekly with my kids and this new library would clearly clog up Watkins, invite more nonresidents to come and enjoy the new Atherton library, and destroy the current offering which our beautiful park provides each resident for recreation and sport, etc.
ReplyDeleteI don't know of any benefits for counter arguments. Non seem apparent to me at this time.
Sincerely,
John Balena
(7yr resident)
Sent from my Samsung Epic™ 4G Touch
In my recent email to you [ie the Post above], I said:
ReplyDelete"Our council, the council's library committee, and the Almanac editor seem to favor putting the library in the park. If we are allowed to vote, I fear we who oppose putting our only library in our only park will not be heard by uninvolved Athertonians who are probably the majority."
See the 4/4/12 Almanac or its emailed flyer for blatant propaganda by writer Renee Batti (p.8) no doubt blessed by editor Tom Gibboni (p18). We who favor a park in our park have no comparable pulpit so I suggest an organized group with a short, catchy name. Could we find a leader in Charles Marsala, who might enlist present and former council members?
By "uninvolved Athertonians" I meant those who seldom or never visit either library or park and yet can vote.
Agreed. Save the open space and the park. Not to mention that in this digital age, does our community really need a large physical library?
ReplyDelete