More than 75 sports participants and parents — including children in soccer and baseball uniforms — flooded the April 25 Menlo Park City Council meeting, stressing the need for more playing fields.
“I can say with confidence and without a doubt that Menlo Park has a shortage of fields,” said Bob Crowe, president of the Menlo-Atherton Little League.
He said that 60 percent of Menlo-Atherton Little League participants are Menlo Park residents, but only one-third of the baseball fields used by league teams are in Menlo Park.
Tom Gaa, president of the Mid-Peninsula Striker Futbol Club, a Community Youth Soccer Association (CYSA) group, said in two years, there will be 200 more soccer players who will need regulation-sized fields to play on — something the city doesn’t have.
Other speakers urged the council to look at all options before focusing all of the city’s efforts on Bayfront Park.
“Set up a process,” said Eileen McLaughlin, a tour guide for Wildlife Stewards, a Bay Area volunteer environmentalist group.
She asked the council to avoid pitting open space advocates against sports participants, stressing that both sides respect one another and can work together in finding additional field space.
