How refreshing to have a mayor pay his own airfare to Ireland and back, while strengthening ties between our two cities and picking up ideas which could benefit Menlo Park, CA. Thank you, Peter.

The residents of Galway seem to be really taken with the idea of a friendship relationship their derivative city (in some respects) Menlo Park. While the cities are similar in many respects, there is one difference that really stands out: Galway has a very vibrant downtown area with lots of street life, restaurants, pubs, etc. By contrast Menlo Dark (as some call it) is so low key that it's easy to skip it all together. But Galway changed (beginning 19 years ago), partly due to stimulation by the city fathers, and hopefully Menlo Park can too.

Kathy, I was convinced this was all a giant boondoggle until I read your comment here. Please come to make a public comment at tonight's council meeting so that we can see you are a real person.