Dear Mr. Thomas Rogers and Menlo
Park City Council members,

 This email is a letter of support for the recent Use Permit application filed by Casa dei Bambini (CdB) for the 1215 O’Brien Drive location. My family have been residents of Menlo Park since mid 2001 and strongly believe that allowing CdB a permit for this location is a large benefit for both families like ours that are nearby and need quality child care and for the local businesses which will get increased visibility from a desirable demographic (the parents).

When we first moved to Menlo Park, our decision was based on proximity to our work locations and other conveniences like restaurants, shopping districts, etc. But now as our daughter nears pre-school age, we find ourselves seriously considering moving to other areas of the Bay Area to take advantage of some of the neighborhood facilities targeted to younger children like parks and playgrounds, a variety of both public and private school options, and better access to children's programs and facilities like music and gym classes, zoos and playgrounds, etc. For preschool, our daughter has an extremely small number of choices in Menlo Park - Trinity which is a religious based program and Peninsula School which has a very unique style of education. We know there are other programs but these are probably the most reputed and other than being extremely competitive programs to gain admission to, neither really fits the model of education we would like to provide for our daughter.

Casa Dei Bambini is an absolutely excellent, Montessori-styled school which consistently is reputed to be the best preschool program in the mid-Peninsula area. I was previously VP of Education for the Palo Alto Menlo Park (PAMP) Mother's Club and can attest to the commendations and consistently positive experience parents and students of CdB have experienced. Having a CdB school in Menlo Park will only serve to enhance the community, the allure of the region to new families, and improve the quality of life of neighboring families. In addition, based on our experience with CdB’s Palo Alto location, having a children-based facility in the O’Brien location should improve traffic speed and safety as all concerned typically become more conscientious with children nearby. We also feel that businesses near CdB will not be impacted by the new facility.

 Finally, we firmly believe that CdB represents a leading educational approach with excellent resources for the entire Menlo Park community and will enrich more than just the children that directly attend through outreach, community involvement and education services. Menlo Park will be lucky
to have Casa dei Bambini in our city.

Please feel free to contact us directly with any questions or comments.

Regards,

Charu Gupta, Ajay Gandhi & Anisha Gandhi
424 8th Avenue
Menlo Park, CA
94025

Charu Gupta, charug@yahoo.com
Received on Sun Jan 21 02:45:57 2007