Hi,
Yes! We love the outdoor dining areas created on the streets downtown! As a Menlo Park native, I have seen the rise and fall of many local businesses on Santa Cruz Avenue. With the increase in population, the new developments along ECR and the ever growing number of bicycle riding students/residents, Santa Cruz has become a difficult and dangerous downtown street to navigate as an automobile. As much as I hate losing access to ECR and the train station via Santa Cruz Ave, I am keenly aware that it's ripe for a serious accident. Please continue with the blocking of east-bound auto traffic and allow the restaurants that have struggled to recreate their dining experience at great expense to continue using the street for seating in our gorgeous MP weather.
On the topic of improving ECR traffic:
1. Consider punching Middle Avenue through to Alma by Burgess, as we need more routes of direct access to Alma and Willow Road. This will alleviate a tremendous amount of east-west traffic congestion and make the streets safer.
2. Shut down all left turns into Allied Arts (up to Middle Avenue), which will in turn cause frustrated Palo Alto commuting traffic to finally force Stanford/Palo Alto to allow Sand Hill Road to cross ECR to get to Alma - their traffic is our biggest headache during rush hour and not our responsibility.
Best,
Missy Whitenight :)
985 Windsor Drive, MP
On Mon, Feb 22, 2021 at 3:52 PM ta.whitenight@yahoo.com > wrote:
Please let the restaurants continue with outdoor dining. They have all gone above and beyond (and out of pocket expense) to accommodate county/state orders. Happy to chat.
Best,
Tom Whitenight
