City Council members,

    My husband and I have been residents of Menlo Park for 5 years, and have always appreciated the wonderful public services, including the incredible library, fire department, and parks. As public school teachers, and a young family, it would be challenging for us to purchase a home here. However, as renters, we have still felt a part of the community and enjoyed access to the wonderful lifestyle that Menlo Park has to offer.     Recently, I have attempted to secure Nealon Park, which is just a few blocks from our home, for my son's first birthday party on May third. We were hoping to have a small, simple gathering of family and friends for an afternoon of play at the park. However, I was most unpleasantly surprised to discover that, although the park was available on that date, I could not reserve it without a $1 million dollar event policy to cover that date. When I inquired about how to go about getting such a policy, I discovered that it is simple and costs about $25... if you have a homeowner's insurance policy. If you are a renter, it is quite another story.     I began doing some research with the help of a cousin who is an insurance broker. He had never heard of a city requiring this type of policy to rent a park for a child's birthday party, but he spent quite a bit of time investigating how to go about getting one through my renter's insurance company. He went as far as speaking to the head of underwriting for several companies that he works with. Meanwhile, I was researching policies on the web through companies that insure single day events, such as weddings.     After several hours of work, we discovered that: my renter's insurance would extend to $300,000 coverage and no more (for that $25 fee) OR I could buy the full coverage for one day for $300- $500! After speaking to a few other city employees, I found that the $300,000 coverage was unacceptable and that there was no possibility of signing a waiver in lieu of the additional amount. This left me with only one option- spending at least $300 for insurance, in addition to the $38 it would cost to rent the park. This, unfortunately, is not a feasible sum for our family to spend on a baby's birthday party at the park.     My husband and I were very sad to discover that, as renters, we were not able to afford reserving the local park. This policy, which is exclusionary to renters and other non- homeowners, does not seem in the spirit of the Menlo Park community. This is especially true when considering that many of these non- homeowners are your public servants- teachers, firefighters, police officers.     We would like to ask that you reconsider this exclusionary policy and make the parks a place that all of the residents of Menlo Park have equal access to.

Sincerely,
Stephanie Bowen, MA

850 Arbor Rd.
Menlo Park
(650) 326-8372 Received on Tue Mar 4 17:09:47 2008