Dear Directors:

The Barron Park Association Board of Directors requests that your decision on the Matadero Creek Interim Fix be made at a meeting held in Palo Alto, whether it be a special meeting or one of your regularly scheduled meetings. At the public hearings conducted by your staff, there was strong, spontaneous, and widespread support from the attendees for this.

Since the key issue in your decision is the distribution of the risk of flooding, we believe that it is important for you to hear directly from the public about their perception of the risks. And we believe that it could well enhance public acceptance of your decision if they could hear your discussion of the issue (rather than having to get their information through the news media -- a filter that often fails to pass along key items).

If this decision is made in one of your regularly scheduled meetings -- rather than a special meeting for this single issue -- we urge you to arrange the agenda to facilitate attendance by the many interested residents who must take time off from jobs to attend.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Will Beckett, president

cc: Joe Huber, mayor, Palo Alto