Dear council members and city staff,
I attended the session yesterday at Lyle Park to learn more about the citys proposals. Thank you for holding this meeting as I learned a lot more about the project. Im writing to express my preferences.
I am NOT in favor of option 1 that removes all parking from Middle. I drive down Middle Avenue regularly and rarely observe a large number of cars parked on the street, except around New Community Church at select times (church on Sunday, preschool drop-off and pick-up). Eliminating all parking on Middle feels unnecessarily punitive to the church, preschools, parents using Lyle Park, and the Little House facility. Its also a burden for gardeners and other workers hired by the homeowner.
I favor the parking restriction options in #2 that retains parking on one side of the street, and I feel that should be the north side, adjacent to the church, preschool, Little House facility, park, etc.
I am not a fan of speed bumps. Id love to see if a new all-way stop sign at San Mateo is sufficient in lowering the speed BEFORE installing speed bumps. Putting in speed bumps could have the unintended consequence of shifting drivers to Bay Laurel and Creek Drive, etc. Middle ave. is a main route to El Camino and we need to recognize that and encourage people to continue to use it.
I am not convinced after the meeting that we should convert parking spaces on Middle Ave at Nealon Park to parallel parking-only. While there is a parking lot in back, and staff says re-striping could add 10 or more spaces, its a challenge to carry a tired young child (plus purse and diaper bag) from the playground to the back parking lot. Id like to give young families convenient access to the park from their parked cars. Have you considered requiring that cars BACK into these spaces, so that it is easier to see bicyclists when they drive out? Stanford requires this of people parking on Stanford Ave. to walk the dish.
Im not in favor of option 3; it seems better to have a consistent width of the bike lane, and its easier for people parking to understand where they can and cant park if the permitted parking areas dont come and go along the road.
Yesterday someone pointed out the problems with enforcement of street parking rules. Every Sunday people park on Santa Cruz Avenue near Menlo Church in the bike lane, which is illegal. (I attend this church and am dismayed that people do this.) However, I think they just dont know its illegal because for many years it was fine to park there (north side, west of Johnson St.). There is no red curb and there are no signs that say "no parking". They simply dont realize its illegal to park in a bike lane, and we apparently dont have any parking enforcement on Sundays. My point is: in the implementation lets also consider what will most likely accomplish our goals, which to me is not option 3.
Thank you,
Debbie Hall
Menlo Park resident
