Although it isn’t clear who will be the long-term operator of Menlo Park’s new children’s center, the city will open the center May 1, and celebrate its completion Saturday, April 29.
City staff will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m., and let people tour the facility until 1 p.m. The children’s center is located in the renovated former police station at the Civic Center between Laurel and Alma streets.
The decision to put the center in the former police station sparked a public outcry in 2003 because previous plans called for a new $6.7 million center. But council members Mickie Winkler, Lee Duboc and Nicholas Jellins endorsed plans for the smaller center.
The approved center cost $3.4 million, and was funded by a 2001 bond measure.
The center is also the subject of a current public debate.
At a special meeting April 19, the City Council is expected to consider options to privatize the two programs that will occupy the center — the children’s center preschool program and the Burgess school-age after-school program.
Ms. Winkler and Ms. Duboc have floated the idea of privatizing the programs to help eliminate the city’s projected $2.9 million budget deficit, and both supporters and opponents of privatization have voiced their opinions through council meetings and e-mails to the council.
The special meeting is at 5:30 p.m., in the council chambers at the Civic Center.
