Menlo Park's annual "goal setting" public meeting gives residents an opportunity to express their views on what goals the city should work towards in 2018. Each speaker will have 3 min. to make a statement. IF YOU HAVE SIGNED THE SAVE THE GUILD PETITION (as 4000+ Menlo Park residents, past residents, peninsula residents, and supporters of small neighborhood theaters from all over the US who are lovers of small neighborhood movie theaters vs multiplexes with intimidating parking garages have done), PLEASE COME TO THE OAK ROOM IN THE ARRILLAGA REC CENTER - across the duck pond from the police station and near the gym and library - AT 1PM THIS COMING MON., JAN. 29, TO EXPRESS YOUR VIEWS ON RENOVATING THE GUILD AND CONTINUING TO PROVIDE A REGULAR SCHEDULE OF CURRENT INDY AND FOREIGN FILMS. IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND: email city.council@menlopark.org * * * WHY?. One of the speakers will be proposing, in his 3 minutes, a project he wants to do through a non-profit, to renovate the Guild and offer additional live entertainment, speaker series, possibly special film screenings and movie festivals, but he’s not sure that the Guild will still provide a regular schedule of current movies of the kind you’ve come to enjoy at the Guild. He has great goals to add these options, but we may lose our current movie schedule. WHAT’S THE PROBLEM? There are few remaining intimate single-screen theaters in CA, and the Guild is one of them. It attracts audiences who want to go out to a movie for a modest cost, enjoy the reactions of the audience, view a current indy or foreign film or documentary, have a snack or maybe go out for lunch or dinner after the movie and talk about it with friends and neighbors, and maybe join the Menlo Park Library’s Guild Film discussion group on first Tuesdays of every month. The Guild is a threatened species that some towns have worked hard to keep going, despite the competition of bigger theaters and of course, streaming videos. Help Save the Guild! WHAT CAN YOU DO? If you want to continue catching the flicks at the Guild, now 92 years serving Menlo Park, but renovated and offering, in addition to current films on a regular basis, other options, like live entertainment, speakers series, maybe music, and special film series, would that be a goal you’d want the city to get behind? If you support your local movie house, please come on Monday to the 1pm City Council meeting and say you want to keep the current feature films – and maybe even subscribe to a season of films, if that were possible, to assure that there is a demand for the films, as well as support other cultural events and entertainment that will be offered at the “new” Guild. WHY NOW? As you may know, the theater owner has been interested in either getting a long-term tenant to redevelop the property for mixed use, or possibly selling the Guild. A local non-profit representative will have his 3 min. to tell you how he’d like to transform the Guild. But he has doubts about the survival of the movie theater part of the Guild. Please come to tell him that you encourage plans to add new options to the Guild, but you don’t want to sacrifice the regular current movie offerings you’ve enjoyed for many years and you’ll vote with your feet by attending and supporting the kind of movies you’ve been enjoying maybe since you started going to the movies at the Guild. YOU WORK AND CAN’T GET TO THE MEETING? YOU'RE OUT OF TOWN? If you can’t make the meeting at 1pm Mon. Jan 29, email the City Council that one of your cultural, and entertainment goals for the city is that you’d like to see a continuation of the regular movie offerings at the Guild and its preservation. You may help make an important decision to Save the Guild theater: city.council@menlopark.org