Menlo Park Gets A Little Bit Prettier

Contributed by Kathleen Peregrin:

A small pocket park at Bay Road and 18th Avenue in North Fair Oaks, Menlo Park will be dedicated at 3 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 21. 

The project, located on a parcel of Hetch Hetchy land owned by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), was a collaboration between the Fair Oaks Beautification Association (FOBA), SFPUC, local businesses and neighbors.

Planning and fundraising for the park began once the new Hetch Hetchy pipeline was completed in the area over two years ago. Funds for the park, which cost approximately $50,000, were raised through donations from neighbors in the community where the park is located, the Arrillaga Foundation, Westmont Real Estate Services, LLC, David D. Bohannon Organization and San Mateo County.

Donations of materials were received from Horizon Irrigation, Peninsula Building Materials, Ewing Irrigation, Heavenly Greens, Lyngso Garden Materials, Netafim USA, landscape architect Mara Young and Janet Bell and Associates, landscape contractor.

The project not only creates a welcoming entrance to the neighborhood, but also addresses one of the county’s goals, listed in the strategic plan adopted for North Fair Oaks in 2011, to create more open space and parks

San Mateo County Supervisor Warren Slocum and Juliet Ellis from the SFPUC plan to attend the dedication ceremony.

FOBA is an all-volunteer, non-profit community organization established in 1996. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for residents in the North Fair Oaks neighborhood. Community volunteer efforts have included planting and caring for over 400 street trees, installing traffic calming devices to make streets safer, building and maintaining a playground and open space area at the corner of Edison and Fair Oaks and producing “Avenues,” a neighborhood newsletter.