Dear City Council,
We purchased our house on Concord Drive in the Willows in 1987 after
renting on Willow Road for four years. We chose the location on Concord
because it was nice and quiet and walking distance to downtown Palo Alto. I
visited the house we were considering buying at night to listen; there was
some sound from planes on their way to SFO and a freight train horn in the
distance but otherwise really nice.
For decades I commuted by bicycle to work in Redwood City, Palo Alto,
Mountain View and Sunnyvale, sometimes making use of Caltrain on the return.
I pushed my twins’ double stroller on walks downtown, easily crossing
Middlefield without fear. Woodland had no sidewalk but walking on it was
reasonable.
The noise is still pretty good, but the traffic has steadily increased,
causing drivers to get frustrated waiting multiple cycles at traffic
lights, to speed recklessly when there is an opportunity, and to search for
shortcuts through neighborhoods including running stop signs. On Willow,
this starts about 2:30 every workday.
These factors combined with drivers distracted by cell phones has made
cycling unsafe in our community. Last year I was hit by a car for the first
time in 50 years of riding in this area and now I rarely feel like taking a
risk by cycling. If I had school age children I would be afraid to have
them cycle to school.
Some workers and residents of the proposed 80 Willow project may take the
train. Some may want to cycle but many of these will be discouraged by the
dangerous conditions. The majority will drive, injecting thousands of added
cars right at this choke point.
It seems to me obvious that this massive development will really damage the
quality of life in the area and deter cycling. Isn’t that the opposite of
what we want for our city?
Please stop this development or at least scale it back to something
reasonable.
Sincerely,
Tom Cooper, Concord Drive
