Members of a City Council-endorsed task force that studied Menlo Park’s playing field shortage and suggested ways to increase field space in town showed up at last week’s council meeting eager to share their findings and recommendations with the council.
They never got the chance — so they and members of the Parks and Recreation Commission are, to put it mildly, displeased.
“Hundreds of volunteer hours went into this report, and we didn’t even get a chance to present it,” said task force member and Commissioner Richard Cline at the commission’s April 26 meeting. Mr. Cline plans to run for a seat on the City Council in the November elections.
“We’re supposed to be their advisers — what the hell are we doing here?” Commissioner Stephen Luder fumed.
The report recommends that the city modify fields at Burgess Park and Kelly Field to accommodate more athletes, and research whether fields can be built on an unoccupied site off Hamilton Avenue.
It also recommends that the city reassess fees charged to groups that use the fields, and consider resurfacing fields with artificial turf.
Mr. Cline tried to summarize the report’s findings and recommendations at the April 25 council meeting, before the council voted 3-1-1 to explore a ballot measure asking voters whether they want playing fields built at Bayfront Park. Councilman Andy Cohen opposed and Councilwoman Kelly Fergusson abstained.
Ms. Fergusson urged the council to view the report before focusing solely on Bayfront Park as a site for fields.
When Mr. Cline tried to present the report, Mayor Jellins asked him to hold off until later in the meeting. Mr. Cline later spoke as an individual, but was not invited back to the podium to speak on behalf of the task force or the parks commission.
“It’s not the first time we’ve been overlooked, and it won’t be the last,” said Mr. Cline during the commission’s meeting the following night.
Commissioner Heyward Robinson was also vexed by the council’s unwillingness to hear the findings. “They went and took action last night without hearing from us — that’s the big issue here,” he said during the April 26 commission meeting.
It was Mr. Luder who spoke on behalf of the commission at the council’s February 28 meeting, relaying commissioners’ frustration over not having a say about whether to privatize the city’s $6.8 million Burgess Aquatics Center.
Mayor Jellins later said there was “some confusion” at the council’s April 25 meeting, as he thought that when Mr. Cline spoke as an individual, he was speaking on behalf of the task force. He said he didn’t realize the need to call Mr. Cline to the podium again.
Mayor Jellins said the council will view the report before making a decision about a potential ballot measure, but noted it’s up to the council to determine how to incorporate it into decisions about the city’s field situation.
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