To the members of the Parks and Recreation Commission:

I want to take this opportunity to explain my comments during
commission reports at last Tuesday's council meeting.

First, I want to apologize to Chairman Maurano, members of the
commission, and the residents of Menlo Park for my comments during
her presentation. I served with Paula on the Parks Commission and
have the utmost respect for her and the other commissioners. I
should have allowed her to complete her presentation without
interruption. I will attempt exercise more restraint in the future.

I also apologize for any disrespect shown by me for the legitimate
concern of these citizens of Menlo Park about the potential Park
Theater agreement.

The council was obviously caught off-guard by the Commission's
report. In the future, I suggest that you provide the city manager
and/or Mayor with notice that the commission intends to make a
presentation. Knowing ahead of time that reports are coming enhances
our absorption of the information and assists the Mayor in managing
the agenda. Distributing advance copies of your remarks and/or
presentations will also help in communicating the commission's views.

I am not in position to address the specifics of your report or
motions. There does appear to be some misunderstanding of the terms
of the proposal that appeared in the October 2, 2007 staff report.
Those terms were put forth by the projects developer, Mr. Andy
Duncan. They are not set in stone. Councilmember Cline and I were
appointed to negotiate these terms with Mr. Duncan, and these
negotiations are ongoing. Many aspects of the potential deal are
unresolved, and few if any of the details are known publicly or were
known by the Park & Recreation commission when it passed its recent
motions.

I hope that an agreement can be reached that will provide significant
benefits to the the city's residents. I ask for patience from the
commission, my fellow council members, and other Menlo Park residents
while we continue negotiations. If the negotiations are successful,
we will present the agreement to the council and public for their
review and comment.

-- 
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Heyward Robinson, Ph.D.
Menlo Park City Council Member
hgrobinson@menlopark.org
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