i would like to let my priorities be known and hopefully acted upon. traffic is my number one priority.
i couldn't care less if facebook or stanford are allowed to do anything. if it was up to me i wouldn't allow facebook to add any
more space to their already massive complex.
as for the stanford project along el camino i think it should be halted before it gets started and the city should demand they
encorporate a vehicle bike and pedestrian crossing to connect willow rd with el camino. if they refuse to incorporate it the city
should use eminent domain to make it happen. one of the biggest traffic congestion issues is people trying to get across town and
with willow connecting to the freeway i should be a major artery for the city instead it forces all the traffic that would
otherwise have gone strait onto ravenswood backing it up and making it dangerous at the railroad crossing.
DON'T block off any crossings of the train tracks. DON'T dig the intersections under the tracks. theycare fine the way they are.
if you are going to do it anyway DON'T do all 3 at 1 time. that would make it so there would be no way to get across the tracks
dividing the town in 2. i work on santa cruz ave. i need to be able to get there quickly and efficiently. if all 3 intersections
were being dug at the same time (for 5 years i heard, because menlo can't seem to do anything in a timely manner. example the
willow 101 over crossing) all traffic in menlo would be diverted to encinal and atherton ave. not only would it be a nightmare but
i am sure atherton would not appreciate it. no need to ▒▒▒▒ off the neighbors.
the biggest issue at the railroad crossing at ravenswood is actually the crosswalk at the corner of the library. when cars are
moving along and then the crosswalk signal is pushed it causes traffic to come to a screeching halt which causes people to be
trapped on the tracks. we could install a signal light at the northbound side before the tracks and delay the timing on the
crosswalk so people have enough time to get across and not get stuck on the tracks. this would solve the "dangerous intersection"
problem with a solution that only costs a fraction of what digging under the tracks would cost. historically this intersection
isn't dangerous. every one got riled up because one person was stupid enough to get caught on the tracks and did NOTHING to
prevent herself from being killed. i pulled the records for the intersection and there hasn't been any other cars hit at that
intersection. we shouldn't be spending millions of dollars because one person can't make good decisions.
i think the council should think of a way to create a "downtown" for the bell haven area. something like santa cruz ave with
shops, PLENTY of parking and maybe a park. if the facebook train station is going in it could be around there and if a new library
was added there it could be a great way to enhance that neighborhood. the area between willow and chilco between facebook and
hamilton would be IDEAL for this even though it would mean removing some housing. but with multi use buildings it could actually
add housing in the long run.
affordable housing is a big issue. we should add large amounts of affordable housing. it shouldn't be a small fraction of the
total housing. maybe 50% of all new multi use buildings should be for low income housing. don't let facebook build it and let
their employees get all the slots. they make enough especially with all of facebook's perks that they don't need it.
we should be able to connect constitution dr to facebook way. the traffic along bayshore is a nightmare in the evening. people use
chilco to get around it and to go other place in that part of menlo park connecting chilco to facebook dr would allow the people
looking to get around traffic a way to go and the rest of the people who actually want to use the shops and businesses around
there can keep going on chilco.
also what's going on with flood park? i thought we got funding to fix it up but nothing has happened. also when is the parking
garage in lot 1 going to get started? quit delaying these important issues.
Matt Todddowntown businessmanlifetime residentconcerned citizen
