Thank you and survey for information

Fellow Atherton residents,

I want to thank those of you who took the time to respond to our petition request last week by sending their support for the council to call a special Meeting. We presented over 300 names and we are pleased to report this was approved by the council. There were also dozens who showed up to the council meeting to object to the placement of our library in the park, only to hear the council approve the Library Committee's recommendation to make the park the "preferred" site for a new Atherton library. Unfortunately, the council took this step without waiting to discuss the idea of the Master Plan, which makes little sense.

We are concerned that the assessment and planning process for the library is being rushed and that the opinion and preference of the broader community has been willfully side-stepped. We will be preparing for the council discussion on the Master Plan and need input from as many residents as possible. We have taken the time to create a survey to get a better sense of what a majority of our town feels about these issues. We think your opinions matter! We know many residents don't have time to spare but any plan that will have such a major impact on our town should reflect the will of the majority of residents, not simply that of a small group of insiders!

Please help us support our arguments with the council by clicking the below link and responding to this informal survey. It takes about 5 or 6 minutes, and covers quite a bit. Your response will be completely anonymous. Please click on this link to take the survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/H6SV9YT

Thank you.

 

Didi Fisher

Atherton council votes 3-2 for library in park

[Copied from the Almanac]

Atherton council votes 3-2 for library in park 
Council plans to meet to discuss master plan for town facilities


By Barbara Wood
Special to the Almanac

A topic that's typically as traditional as the flag and apple pie has split the town of Atherton and its City Council – a new library.

On Wednesday night, in a meeting that didn't end until early Thursday morning, Atherton's council members voted 3 to 2 to choose town-owned Holbrook-Palmer Park as the "preferred site" for a new library.

Mayor James Dobbie, Vice Mayor Bill Widmer, and council member Kathy McKeithen, who was on the task force that recommended the park site for the library, voted for the park site. Council members Elizabeth Lewis and Jerry Carlson voted against it.

The meeting was standing room only, with the council chambers packed with as many chairs as it could hold, and other rooms in the building also filled with those too late to grab a chair.

Before voting for the park as the probable site for the new library, and perhaps indicating the depth of confusion and split opinions this issue has caused, the council took another action that had been requested by those who don't want the library to be in the park.

The council members voted unanimously to schedule a special meeting, within the next two weeks, to discuss a master plan for all town-owned buildings and facilities.

A special meeting for the master plan had been requested by former Atherton Mayor Didi Fisher, who presented the council with a petition asking for the meeting signed by more than 300 residents.

Atherton residents -- see Reply

[An email from Ginny Nile <ginnynile@gmail.com> to the Athertonians email list.]

To all Atherton residents,
Please read.  

The Town of Atherton began investigating alternatives for town buildings 3 years ago.  As a result of the work of the Blue Ribbon Task Force for Town Center, it was decided that a library would be separate from the town administration center.  Thanks to the Blue Ribbon Task Force for Town Center, the Friends of the Library and the Library Task Force for laying the foundation on which the current library committee has built their recommendations.

Recently a complete Master Plan update of Holbrook-Palmer Park was completed and accepted by the City Council.   The Atherton Library Building Steering Committee was asked by the city council to choose between the Holbrook-Palmer Park site and the existing site for constructing a new Atherton library.  The site within the park is in accordance with the park master plan and the will provisions of the family who donated the land to the town.

We hope you will read the following editorial by the Almanac and agree that after 3 years of study of town sites, that the Holbrook-Palmer Park site is the ideal location for the town’s new library.

Thank you for your consideration.

Friends of the Atherton Library


Viewpoint - Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Editorial: Library an opportunity for Atherton

Atherton has a chance to nearly double the size of its tiny library if the City Council has the courage to move ahead with the best option found by a citizen task force that has been working for over two years on the issue.

Of the two options presented, we prefer a new, 11,000-square-foot building in Holbrook-Palmer Park that would be large enough for use as a community center and easily could accommodate the activities that are now part of up-to-date modern libraries, with rooms for meetings, children's story hour and other functions. Such a building would be a tremendous asset for the town, which now offers library services in an 82-year-old building that is in bad need of rehabilitation.

The second, and in our opinion less desirable, option is to simply upgrade the 4,790-square-foot library now in use at Town Center, which would require a seismic retrofit and two more parking places on a site that is cramped and so close to the Caltrain tracks that when trains speed past in either direction all conversation in the library must stop. Despite the building's charm, it makes much more sense to use the site for a future expansion of Town Hall or to house the building department, which now operates out of trailers.

But perhaps the best part of the library proposal is that a new building is virtually paid for already, due to a provision in Proposition 13 that a tiny portion of residential property taxes be set aside to pay for library services. Atherton is part of a county library joint powers authority, and has been watching the town's library fund grow since 1978. It is now worth $5.6 million and by 2015 will be up to $8.4 million, just enough to pay for the estimated cost of a new library in the park.

This is great news for Atherton. In a town that just fired its entire Public Works and Building departments so it can outsource the jobs to save money, and which has just agreed to pay a developer more than $70,000 to settle a lawsuit over a road-impact fee, residents should be thankful that this magnificent improvement can be made with very little additional expense to the town.

More planning needs to be done, but the committee already has determined that razing the park's Main House to make room for the new building will not violate any historic regulations, and that there is adequate parking capacity in the 22-acre park. We believe fears of a huge increase in traffic at the park are unfounded, unless there is a special event scheduled at the library. This would be no different from the traffic drawn to the Pavilion or the Main House for a wedding or other special occasion.

Many critics of building a new library may not understand that the funds to be used are not available for any other use, including passing them on to a school library. Atherton must abide by the rules that come with being a signatory of the regional library joint powers agreement, which say the funds can be used only to support library services for all community members, not just those of a particular school.

We hope more Atherton residents will join those who see the value in adding a much higher quality library facility in Holbrook-Palmer Park. The library would be an asset for the community for years to come.

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Library Steering Committee

[Posted by Moderator]

From: "Bill Widmer"
Date: October 18, 2011 7:26:20 AM PDT
To: "'Valerie Gardner'"
Subject: RE: Library Steering Committee

Hi Valerie

Thank you for your comments and the effort you put into this.  I am very disappointed that this opportunity for the town has become such a focal point for anger and disagreement. 

I am not in favor of providing any additional green space in the park to any project.  That is the key thing I have heard from the residents, many of whom are signing petitions.

You are correct that I have asked for details of who attended the meetings and their comments, when I was the deciding vote on moving things forward for the additional community outreach sessions.  I like you have been told about the people’s comments but have not seen anything.

I do not know how this will go for me.  However, I am appreciative of your insight and perspective.

Bill

From: Valerie Gardner
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2011 11:02 AM
To: Bill Widmer
Subject: Library Steering Committee

Dear Bill,

I usually like to stay out of town politics—being almost entirely focused on the environmental issues—but I feel the need to share my thoughts with you.  I know you have a very keen sense of effective management and you want to do a good job for the town.  I do too, and that's why I am finding it astounding that the Library Steering Committee is already poised to recommend to the council that the library should be built in the park.  We know that they have not taken public sentiment into account—but rather they have proceeded according to their own pre-determined plan. I want to strongly urge you not to let the politics of this situation permit this mistake be made by the powerful "Library-friendly" forces in town.  Because the Library Steering Committee has totally NOT done a fair and impartial job of evaluating the needs and preferences of the Town's Residents, there will be quite a lot of fall-out and probably the very costly litigation kind and it makes no sense to rush this process and permit that to happen.  

You attended the same "Community Workshop" as I did and saw what was happening there.  You saw the objections and the arguments put forth by residents about not wanting the library taking up precious park space.  You saw the many great ideas floated at that meeting about how to fit the library into the current spaces of town center real estate.  You also saw how the members of the steering committee defended their process and their "objectivity" while without very much hesitation, arguing for the park option.

I don't know if you realized but I was asked to be a member of the Steering Committee towards the beginning for the purpose of helping them design a green building and I accepted, having been assured by Denise Kupperman that they were not going to impose their will on the town but actually bring into the process real community input.  She insisted that there could be no effective solution that was not something that the town residents really wanted and felt ownership for.  Over the course of about 8 months, I learned that the committee was in lock-step towards the goal of the library in the park and they were not abiding any dissent, from within the committee or without.  I saw that my desire to have a truly objective assessment process was not  the way the committee worked.  I am sorry to report that they were downright hostile towards my point of view (things like not instructing the architects to favor one solution over another, which they infected them with their preferences, even prior to selecting the architects).  So I resigned with real frustration in May.

Then I thought at the Community Workshop in June, that due to the hefty amount of objections raised by a broad array of residents, the committee was going to have to re-think its plan.  I asked the liaison from Group 4 to get me a summary of their "findings" from that workshop.  She agreed but never sent anything.  None of the summaries of the meetings or the lists of attendees have been posted on the web site.  In fact, there has been almost zero visibility into their process or "decision-making." Yet, without accounting in any way for the massive objections that were raised, this committee is going ahead to recommend what they realize most residents object to!  It is already causing a real uproar, which is just what Denise assured me the committee was going to work to avoid causing.

Unfortunately, I can tell you that there are multiple groups independently organizing efforts to oppose the library committee's plans and most people think having both the Library committee and the Town Center committee working independently is just foolish.  I am also one that would like to see these efforts united for our common good.  I am also opposed to a park location because I see no reason not to keep the library where we have our town center (the library is one very important anchor for our town) and our transit hub, where workers and visitors can arrive by train: in the park, everyone would have to drive to get there.  I have repeatedly voiced these concerns and others to Denise and her committee but have had no sense of satisfaction on any of my points.

I am sure there are plenty of good arguments pro and con but I would like to urge you to do the smart thing and not allow the library committee to move the library to where the library people want it but to place the library where the town and its residents want it.  I have been told by numerous supporters of both McKeithen and Dobbie that, despite years of supporting them, they are very disheartened by their actions on this matter.  We have to have a process that allows residents to weigh in and to understand how the decision is being made—and neither of these has really happened.  I can tell you very definitely that the "Needs Assessment" that is cited so often for having to increase the size of the library, had only 69 Atherton residents responding and MOST all of them loved the current library both where and how it is.  They didn't want it to become a much larger library.  The entire argument for building a new library comes from the Library people themselves, not the town residents.  You need to read the Needs Assessment report and see how manipulated the information is by the Library team, before you agree to the Steering Committee's recommendation.

Thanks for listening!

            —Valerie Gardner

Master Plan urgent help

[From Athertonians email sent by Did Fisher]

Friends,

 

Thank you all for the help on the Master Plan Study petition. More than 200 people have supported it. I asked the Council to put this study on the regular agenda for action this Wednesday, October 19 at their Council meeting based on interest from residents. The Council refused the request. Nevertheless, Agenda item #19 on Wednesday could give the green light to the Library Steering Committee to proceed with putting the library in the park without a Master Plan.

 

In order to get the council to take action on authorizing the completion of a Master Plan for the town before the Library Committee expends more of our tax dollars towards putting the Library in the park, I need 100 signatures (by email) requesting the council to hold a special meeting to authorize a Master Plan study. The staff refused to let me use the previously collected signatures because the petition didn't specifically address holding a special meeting.

 

If you agree with the petition below, please send me an email to didifisher@comcast.net to confirm your name and address. (Please do not reply to Athertonians Yahoo Group.) I NEED THE SIGNATURES BY MID DAY THIS WEDNESDAY, OCT. 19th.

 

Petition to The Atherton Council:

 

We request a special meeting (Municipal Code 2.04.010) be held by the council to authorize a Master Plan Study for all town offices (Administration, Public Works, Building, Library, Council Chambers and Police) and all town properties to establish an overall town plan before any new building sites are committed to.

 

If you agree please act quickly. If you are so inclined, please forward to others you think might be interested.

 

Thank you.

 

Didi Fisher, Former Mayor and Council member (329-8290 or didifisher@comcast.net)

Petition for a master Plan Study of all Atherton Town properties and buildings

Neighbors,

I am Didi Fisher, a former Council member and concerned resident. The enclosed petition asks the Atherton Council to undertake a master plan study of all the Atherton Town Properties and Buildings. The purpose is to get ideas for a master plan to be discussed in the community before any new buildings are committed to.

The goal is to gather as much support for the Master Plan study as possible this week so we can have this discussed at the Oct 19 th Council meeting. If you are supportive, please email me at: didifisher@comcast.net and allow me to use your name. Please do not "reply all" to the Athertonian Group.


I look forward to your questions and comments. Thank you for the time and help.

Didi Fisher, former Mayor and Council Member

A New Beginning for Building Services in the Town of Atherton

[Sent from Theresa DellaSanta]