Guest Opinion: How Trees for Menlo got its start Guest Opinion: How Trees for Menlo got its start (May 11, 2005)

Editor's note: Two weeks ago a beautiful plaque created by Trees for Menlo was installed at the Menlo Center building in downtown Menlo Park, commemorating the group's planting of 210 trees along El Camino Real. The plaque honors people to whom trees have been dedicated by major donors to the project. The following article explains the history of Trees for Menlo, which was formed in 1999.

By Lucile Spurlock

Trees for Menlo began when a group of Menlo Park residents began talking about how we could upgrade the appearance of El Camino Real in Menlo Park. We were not hoping to replicate the Champs-Elysees in Paris, but to shade and soften El Camino by planting London plane trees along the sidewalks and in the wider medians to create an arbor-like effect.

Trees for Menlo incorporated and gained tax-exempt status in late 1999. Our original group asked our friends to support us with donations. As an incentive, we offered anyone who donated $500 or more the opportunity to dedicate a tree. Dedications range from memorials, to dedications to grandkids and families, to a greener Menlo and to the children of Menlo Park. The third grade class of Oak Knoll School contributed 44 pounds of coins equaling $2,076. Many community organizations and businesses are represented among the dedications.

With cash in hand as a tangible show of support from the community, we presented the project to the Menlo Park City Council. They voted in 2000 to make this effort a city project and to help with staff time and funds to add to those from Trees for Menlo.

To recognize the dedications, we commissioned the design and fabrication of a green slate plaque in the shape of the Menlo Park tree logo, etched with the dedications in silver. Its unveiling at Menlo Center on April 30 coincided with Arbor Day.

So far two phases of the planned project have been completed. Phase I saw trees planted on the sidewalks and in the median between Valparaiso and Oak Grove avenues. They are gaining some height now and are softening the harsh lines of that commercial strip.

The second phase was completed last fall. Trees were planted along the sidewalks from San Francisquito Creek to Middle Avenue. These trees are growing well and already are hard at work beautifying their portion of the street.

Our next plan is to plant in the wider medians between the creek and Middle Avenue, to complete the earlier sidewalk plantings. We recently received two significant donations toward this goal: Stanford University has offered to buy the 32 trees needed, and the Stanford Shopping Center has contributed $15,000 toward their planting. We are actively seeking the balance of $35,000 in hopes of completing this section of El Camino soon.

The final phase of this ambitious project is to plant 150 trees between Middle and Oak Grove avenues, connecting the plantings at either end and giving a coherent and friendly face to Menlo Park's major thoroughfare. Although this phase has not been bid, we estimate its cost at $500,000. Its completion will make the main route through Menlo Park an attractive, shady and inviting place.
Lucile Spurlock is secretary of Trees for Menlo, Inc.

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