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From:ksaucier1@gmail.com <br />To:GRP-City Clerk <br />Cc:ATTY-General Mailbox; PRCS-Tiarra Warner; GRP-City Council <br />Subject:Public Comment-YMCA Project Red Morton- K. Saucier <br />Date:Monday, November 10, 2025 6:01:38 PM <br />Some people who received this message don't often get email from ksaucier1@gmail.com. Learn why this is <br />important <br />Please include the following comment in the public record for tonight’s City Council <br />meeting, under the agenda item discussing the YMCA project at Red Morton Park. I’m <br />sharing this with all Councilmembers because I believe this project deserves <br />reconsideration before irreversible decisions are made. <br /> <br />Good evening Councilmembers, Director Parks & Rec, <br /> <br />I’m here to voice strong opposition to the YMCA development at Red Morton Park. This <br />project is oversized, outdated, and fundamentally incompatible with the character of <br />our residential neighborhood. <br /> <br />Red Morton is designated public open space—meant for all residents, not leased for 49 <br />years to a semi-private entity for $1 a year. This is not a community partnership; it’s a <br />comercialization of public land. The scale of the building, the loss of green space, and <br />the traffic impact—extending several blocks into narrow residential streets—are deeply <br />concerning. The Environmental Impact Report doesn’t reflect the lived reality of <br />congestion, tree removal, and reduced access to park amenities. <br /> <br />Redwood City should be supporting the 13 existing fitness businesses within two miles <br />of Red Morton Park—including the public gym and pool at Cañada College—not <br />undermining them with a taxpayer-subsidized vanity project. <br /> <br />This facility will charge membership fees, operate under YMCA control, and reduce <br />public access. That’s not equitable. That’s not transparent. And it’s not what our <br />community asked for. <br /> <br />Most residents never got a real say. A few lightly attended workshops in 2018 are not a <br />mandate. This should have gone to a public vote —before you carved up public park <br />land and handed it over for 49 years. The omissions in this process weren’t <br />accidental. They were strategic. And they’ve left the community feeling misled. <br /> <br />I urge you: Cancel this project. Reclaim our park. Restore public trust. <br />