April 14, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

Letters

Editor,

It is obvious to me, as it was also to a majority of the City Council, that the steps towards managing traffic in the Downtown North neighborhood had gotten out of hand. It was time to stop the whole program and start over.

This is evidenced (if by nothing else) by the bile and rancor coursing through the April 7 edition of the Palo Alto Weekly. Until their choke points are relieved, Northers will have to live with some cut-through traffic just as do the folks on Middlefield Road, University Avenue, Channing Avenue and Embarcadero Road all do with such good grace.

Forty-five years ago the railroad underpass to Page Mill Road had been completed. The grade-level crossing at California Avenue had been shut down. Bayshore had been made a freeway through to Sunnyvale. Traffic on Oregon Avenue, a two-lane residential street, had become a mess. Cut-through traffic on neighborhood streets was rampant and wild.

Then Oregon Expressway opened and overnight it all disappeared.

Now that Stanford has gotten Menlo Park to agree to widening Sand Hill Road the rest of the way to Santa Cruz Avenue, it becomes feasible to work with them on accepting reality at the other end.

Widen the bridge across San Francisquito Creek at Middlefield, close the rail crossing at Alma Street, build a vehicle bridge across the creek at Alma over to the self-same Alma in Menlo Park and widen Willow Road from Middlefield to 101.

Then the Downtown Northers can have their walled enclave and no one will care. Michael Goldeen Tasso Street Palo Alto
Broader community

Editor,

The recent set of letters to the Weekly attacking the City Council's decision to remove barriers from the Downtown North neighborhood demonstrates once again that some people simply do not understand that they are part of a community larger than what they can see from their windows.

The council made its decision based on review of a seriously flawed process. The facts show incomplete data analysis, broken commitments and low neighborhood support for an extreme measure that violated the city's Comprehensive Plan.

The barrier solution promoted by the Downtown North Neighborhood Association attempted to trample the voices of those opposed and ignored adjacent areas that were negatively impacted.

It was willing to trade the safety of many for the ambience of a few.

The goal of the council's action is to put us on an approved path to evaluate traffic-calming measures. The council cannot and should not remove dissention, as one letter suggests. The council is charged with setting city policies and ensuring they are followed.

Different views can be a tool to allow us to reach the best possible decisions for the whole community. Extreme and uncompromising positions hinder this process from working.

Those who feel they have lost also appear to be unwilling to change their approach. John Guislin Middlefield Road Palo Alto
Shifting blame

Editor,

At the council meeting on Downtown North traffic, the council voted 6 to 2 to remove the traffic-diversion barriers. They were being torn out Friday, April 9. This allows commuter traffic going to Stanford from Dumbarton and the 101 to cut-through our neighborhood again, essentially unimpeded.

In a process that has become highly dishonest, we saw here an abrogation of responsibility by the council and a disgraceful attempt to shift blame to staff.

Councilmember LaDoris Cordell appeared to be the driving force for this extreme and divisive course of action. She also moralized about what message keeping the barriers would send to the community.

The main pillar of her thesis was that the citizens of Palo Alto had been promised a post-trial survey, which was never carried out. She blamed staff. This stance puzzled me because Ms. Cordell and the council had every opportunity to insist that staff carry out the survey.

They did not do so.

I contacted Ms. Cordell asking why not, but received no reply. I guess that if the legislature passes a law specifically applicable to one person, that person must be very important -- for her to respond to ordinary citizens must be a nuisance.

The second pillar of Ms. Cordell's thesis was the "extended" duration of the trial -- she again blamed staff for a responsibility that lay with her and council.

Her whole case was thus built on two falsehoods. Yet incredibly, these falsehoods were used to justify taking out the barriers. I wonder what sort of message that sends to the community.

In any event, Ms. Cordell should have recused herself on this issue. Jack Morton kindly highlighted how closely the traffic flow in our neighborhood tied to the provision of access to Stanford developments, and as in the case of Antonin Scalia, it is the perception of impropriety, not legal finesse, that counts. Walter Sedriks Waverley Street Palo Alto
Creek cleanup

Editor,

In November 2000, Santa Clara County voters approved a ballot measure known as the Clean, Safe Creeks and Natural Flood Protection Program. It created a countywide special parcel tax that promised specific accomplishments over a 15-year period.

The Clean, Safe Creeks and Natural Flood Protection Program is designed to protect, enhance and restore bay ecosystems, improve water quality, help keep neighborhood creeks free from trash and develop 70 miles of creek-side trails in the county.

The ballot measure also created an independent monitoring committee to annually review the progress of the voter-approved program and report its findings to county residents.

We have just completed our second annual report on the Clean, Safe Creeks and Natural Flood Protection Program, and can report that the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s “Good Neighbor” program this past year made more than 344 stops to clean graffiti and trash at major creek crossings near trails, local parks and schools in the Lower Peninsula area.

All of these areas collect heavy trash and are high-visibility locations. In one instance, it took one crew up to eight hours to clean the trash and debris from Barron Creek near Gunn High School.

I believe and can report that the voters of Santa Clara County can be proud of the investment they made in the Santa Clara Valley Water District. You can find a full copy of our report online at www.valleywater.org. I hope you will take the time to read of all the accomplishments of the program. Craig Breon, Committee Member Clean, Safe Creeks and Natural Flood Protection Program Independent Monitoring Committee McClellan Road Cupertino
Retake driving test

Editor,

To decrease accidents, everyone ought to retake the driving part of the exam -- as well as having their reflexes tested -- every five years.

While seniors are more likely to have slower reflexes, others may have trouble in this area as well. And anyone who has had more than one accident in a given period of time should automatically be retested.

But one aspect of this problem that must be addressed is that of transportation. While seniors can get transportation for medical care or for groceries, there is nothing available for going to the movies, concerts, etc.

There is more to life than the simple basics.

Some years ago, Palo Alto had the resources to subsidize taxis for seniors. Something like this should be undertaken again. Andrea Stryer Sonoma Terrace Stanford

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