Dear Menlo Park City Council,

Please do NOT pursue contract negotiations with the Highlands Golf
company to build an executive golf course at Bayfront Park. Open space
is precious to the Menlo Park community and should NOT be handed over
like a land grant for the wealthy. The park should remain as it is,
open to the public for much needed naturally beautiful relief from the
spreading urban development.

More significantly than the social ramifications of such a dubious
project, this fragile environment must be preserved for its animal and
plant inhabitants. Once a tidal marsh and the associated grassy hills
are opened to this kind of high traffic use, massive amounts of earth
must be moved which will disrupt the delicate the grassland community,
water must be pumped in to irrigate the vast golf green which then runs
off into the nearby marsh irreversibly altering the tidal marsh
ecosystem. We cannot afford to destroy this open space jewel.

Please consider the full cost of this project. While Menlo Park may be
attracted to the potential income of an executive golf course, the cost
to the natural community will be far greater. As you know, tidal marsh
habitat has been devastated in recent decades leaving only a small
percentage of the original area. If you allow a golf course, or similar
non-open space project to go forward, you will create yet another
casualty for the environment.

California Clapper Rail, Burrowing Owl, Snowy Plover... These are a few
of the threatened species that you will be hurting. They will pay the
price of your foolishness.

Matthew Dodder
Mountain View, CA
650.917.6108

http://www.birdguy.net
Received on Mon Oct 31 13:31:37 2005