Mayor Taylor and Menlo Park City Council,
I want to send an email with more information than a 3-minute public comment would contain. For context, I bike with my 6 year old kid every day to school from The Willows to Lower Laurel along Coleman Avenue, and Id like to cover the following topics:
1. Safety of Coleman Avenue
2. The political will and community support around changing it
3. My desired changes for Coleman
4. Concerns around equity and parking
5. A reminder of the Citys adopted plans as it pertains to safer active-transportation infrastructure.
Safety
* Coleman is currently very unsafe for bikers, especially young kids biking to and from Laurel Lower & Upper elementary schools.
* Every single time we attempt to identify unsafe street conditions, Coleman gets specifically mentioned by name. Our Transportation Master Plan, our Vision Zero Action Plan, and the Coleman and Ringwood Transportation Study have all identified Colemans current conditions as unsafe. This is not something that needs to be adjudicated or studied further.
* Despite being designated as a "safe route to school", there is no dedicated infrastructure and bikers are asked to share the lane with fast moving vehicles (who often pass dangerously), and bike right next to parked cars, who can open doors or pull out of a parking spot at a moments notice. I have witnessed every single one of these occur first-hand.
* There have already been numerous collisions between cars and bikers on Coleman, and countless more near-misses or unreported incidents. Please help us change something before the results of these collisions have a worse outcome.
Community Support
* While Coleman has been an issue for a very long time, there is now significant momentum to actually getting things improved! With the Coleman/Ringwood study being the latest impetus for enacting change, there are so many people in the community that are renewing their hope that things will finally improve now.
* The Transportation Master Plan from 2020 had dozens of comments asking the city to do something about Coleman.
* The Coleman transportation study showed that the vast majority of the hundreds of people surveyed are asking for something to be done.
* Last week the San Mateo County BPAC voted unanimously to recommend to the County Board of Supervisors for a one-way pilot of the County portion of Coleman Ave.
Improved Design for Coleman
* Coleman is formally designated as a bicycle boulevard according to our citys General Plan. As such, it should be used to cater to active transportation more than cars or parking.
* My recommendation for the City portion of Coleman is, at a minimum, to remove parking on the "apartment side" (towards Ringwood) and allow for a separated bike lane in that direction.
* If the County does, in fact, make Coleman one-way, then it would be towards Ringwood and therefore keep traffic volumes high in that direction, furthering the need for a separated bike lane in that direction.
* Facing Willow, if Coleman is not accessible from Ringwood as a cut-through, then traffic volumes would likely decrease to the point where hopefully a separated bike lane on that side wouldnt be necessary.
Concerns around equity and parking
One of the biggest concerns around this plan would be removing parking along one side of Coleman, which is currently most used by people who live in the apartment buildings on Coleman. Below are my thoughts on the prospect of removing parking in front of those apartments:
* Convenient free parking in front of anyone’s property is an absolute luxury. It’s a luxury that most people around Menlo Park have. It’s a luxury that shouldn’t be taken away from others lightly. There are many people who live on Coleman Ave and don’t have enough parking spots in their apartments and therefore are required to park overnight on city streets.
* I’m a huge proponent of our mid-rise apartments in Menlo Park. I think it’s fantastic that we’re able to house so many people in that area and wouldn’t ever seek out to diminish the quality of life of those living at those apartments, especially when so many other people within Menlo Park are able to enjoy the luxuries of more space through single-family detached houses, as well as ample free parking right on their own streets.
* That being said, part of the tradeoff of safer streets and neighborhoods that put the needs of people above the needs of cars, is that using the public right-of-way to park our private cars becomes a harder and harder proposition to entertain.
* I hope that by making these, and many more changes to come, we can reduce our residents’ needs to have multiple cars per household. We can reduce the need to drive for most daily trips, by making it safer and easier to walk, bike, and use transit.
Menlo Parks Plans
A quick reminder of our existing government plans and how this project can support so many of those goals.
* 2016 General Plan Circulation Element
* Coleman Ave Classification: Bicycle Boulevard. Bicycle & Pedestrian mode priority = high; Vehicle mode priority = medium.
* Policies
* Policy CIRC-1.7 Bicycle Safety. Support and improve bicyclist safety through roadway maintenance and design efforts.
* Policy CIRC-2.5 Neighborhood Streets. Support a street classification system with target design speeds that promotes safe, multimodal streets, and minimizes cut-through and high-speed traffic that diminishes the quality of life in Menlo Park’s residential neighborhoods.
* Policy CIRC-2.7 Walking and Biking. Provide for the safe, efficient, and equitable use of streets by pedestrians and bicyclists through appropriate roadway design and maintenance, effective traffic law enforcement, and implementation of the City’s Transportation Master Plan
* Policy CIRC-4.4 Safety. Improve traffic safety by reducing speeds and making drivers more aware of other roadway users.
* 2020 Menlo Park Transportation Master Plan
* “Design transportation projects to accommodate all modes and people of all abilities. Encourage the use of loweremission modes such as walking, biking and transit.”
* “minimize cut-through traffic on neighborhood streets, including the encouragement of the use of lower emission modes such as walking, biking and transit, and prioritizing the safety of children, seniors and the public.”
* 2024 Vision Zero Action Plan
* “Top Priority Safety Project Locations… Coleman-Ringwood Avenues Study”
* “community members shared their safety concerns and desires, including an emphasis on: Installing more robust bicycle infrastructure, such as wider bicycle lanes, protected bicycle lanes, and separated bicycle paths”
Thank you,
Ross Silverstein
