The city manager needs to implement cameras in the tunnel ASAP. Residents have been concerned sbout safety for years regarding this subterranean passage.. This woman was brutally attacked by a predator. This should never have happened. Binder, Stump and mayor Kou need to press upon city manger Shikada to get cameras in this tunnel before the week is out. Step up and get it done. Assign secuity to this area where contituents and others are vulnerable. The tunnel is dangerous.

There are still no cameras there?? How special that they've devoted so much resources to putting together a "Community Engagement" document for tonight's City Council while ignoring common sense requests/priorities like this.

Was the assailant on a bike when he struck the woman? If he rode up on this poor woman from behind and hit her on the back of the head, there's almost now way would have known he was there until it was too late.

I'm not really sure how much cameras are going to help here; they would make identifying the assailant after the fact easier (maybe only a little), but they wouldn't have prevented it in the first place. Really horrible and hoping the woman can fully recover.

According to the press release, the suspect was walking his bike westbound. Cameras won't stop sexual assault any more than bank cameras stopping robberies and store cameras stopping retail theft. They'll help identify the suspect after the fact. The only thing that will stop sexual assault would be nobody using the tunnel. The tunnel is dangerous.

I think cameras may deter some criminals.
I hope the tunnel can be made safer. I went though it once years ago /not convenient to me), but such routes SHOULD be safe and appropriate to use. Otherwise the city should close it.
The attack sounds dangerous and awful. I hope the woman will recover soon.

To all of you who think cameras are unless, in a public underground space, they can help identify the attacker and help police find him! Society is full of sick predators so we need to use everything in the toolbox to make people safe! Sure have a bridge over the underpass but get a camera ASAP!!

@Jennifer - Cameras won't stop sexual assault [...] They'll help identify the suspect after the fact

Most crimes are committed by a small number of repeat offenders. Catch them once, put them away for good, and crimes will be stopped. We are relearning the lessons of the 90s the hard way.

Our DA's Office needs to get tougher on sexual assault crimes.

IMO they are too soft. Sometimes it gets ignored altogether. The rapists are paying attention.

What is the guidance for children and women, who are more likely targets for sexual assault? Should they stop using the tunnel? 3pm on a Sunday is the middle of the day. This is unbelievable.

What kind of self defense could she have performed here?

Someone who does this in the middle of the day, when he could be caught, is extremely dangerous and must be found! I'm sure this was not the first time!

Where are our police? Cameras will not help in this tunnel. Yet mirrors will empower citizens, residents and children traversing this blind tunnel to have some safe guards. Mirrors at each end and one in the dip in the center.

I wish the same for patients at Stanford Hospital in the sky. The Hospital has about 9 nurses at each ward station . Yet all nine that hour were very busy at serving the computer rather than the patient. 8 of them behind their wall of AI unintelligent healthcare. One of the nine, was actually standing out from the rest speaking to a relative of a pastiest. How strange is that image. Very.

And. My relative’s catheter was leaking onto the floor and bedding. The ward nurses were too busy at the AI to bother helping their human patient w his pee plug. Instead they said it was a shift change and once that occurred someone would be down to check on their patient... never happened. Just like the assailant will not be caught. A hospital can be stacked w nurses, a city w police and the reliance on alternative technologies — who are sworn it to actually save lives — defer and hand power of healing over to artificial unintelligence. Steak dinners are served to patience to help cloak a disgrace of patient centered health care. Yes.

Better to get low technology in Cal Ave tunnel like, mirrors. This way the city does not have any excuse to get off thier playground.

" . . . hospitalized for moderate injuries after attack." The article later mentions that the victim received treatment and a sexual assault forensic exam. Nothing about that sounds "moderate" to me.

ALB, above, is right. Palo Alto needs to get serious about crime prevention. In some ways we, as a society, need to turn back the clock a bit. Get beat cops, prosecute crimes, and make the consequences matter. And put at least some of those convicted to work doing things for society that badly need to be done - like cleaning up litter, scrubbing down graffiti, and building shelters for the homeless.

Installing cameras in that tunnel should be a no brainer for a city Council that just approved some all over town to prevent property theft.

A camera with good live analytics could have alerted Public Safety as the assault happened. And of course, the recording would help in catching the perp.

The pedestrian underpass at Homer and Alma is shorter and wider. In the past wasn’t a pedestrian underpass proposed at Seale? A new, wide and well lit pedestrian underpass should be seriously considered once again!

If the train tracks ever get lowered or raised, the many problems with pedestrian/bike/car crossings will end.

1. I feel so sorry for the woman to whom this happened. This horrible experience will never leave her life anymore.
2. Quick suggestion to all women: please purchase a loud alarm system you can carry with you. Loud screeching may frighten the attacker, although there are some bold ones.
3. Yes, punishment for these acts should be stronger than what it is today.
4. However, when a couple of members on the Supreme Court can get away with these kinds of actions, what hope is there for us, women?

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I warned my teenage daughter about avoiding the tunnels that go under the tracks at Homer and University because of guys that hang out in them. During four years of bike riding to Paly, she went way out of her way to avoid the tunnels. I have lived in south Palo Alto and used that tunnel to bike to my job at Stanford. It has always been somewhat sketchy, but I tried to go at times when they were many people going through. This brazen attack during a Sunday afternoon is horrendous. Not sure cameras will help, and I’d like to hope that a bridge over the tracks would help, but I am sometimes not comfortable crossing the 101 overpasses. Maybe a loud whistle would help, but this guy acted so quickly and violently that pepper spray or whistle might not have helped because she couldn’t get to them in time. My heart goes out to this woman who just wanted to ride her bike through a tunnel.

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This particular tunnel is used by many Paly students who consider it a safer option than crossing Churchill which can have 50 approx students crossing at each light.

There is a need for safe methods of crossing those tracks, safe in all senses of the word. A pedestrian/bike overpass would be a great improvement.

And then of course there is the disused tunnel under El Camino at Page Mill. I often wonder about the fact that it is still there and not used by say homeless or others.

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[Portion removed.] As for the tunnel, it needs bright lights, and mirrors as @Native mentioned, and those mirrors need to be behind cages so they can't be smashed. There are also mirrors that can have cameras behind them. Get some. Quit spending money on cameras and license place readers that only affluent residents will benefit from. "Safety for all" should be a mantra for City Hall and the police department.