Please restore the parking at Nealon Park. There is no longer adequate, safe parking for families with young children who want to use the playground. The current design is very confusing for motorist, bicyclists and dangerous for pedestrians.
On Friday morning, I spent two hours at the playground with a friend who has three toddlers. There were numerous families in the playground and dozens of pickleball players. During those two hours, only one bicyclist passed by on Middle Avenue, and he did not use the newly-created bike lane. Instead, he rode his bike in traffic.
I witnessed three moms with kids in the car approach the park, see that there were no parking spaces, and drive away.
I also witnessed a driver who wanted to drop off passengers at the playground as she entered the bike lane, thinking that it was a drop-off lane. She dropped off her passengers and continued down the bike lane to the end, where pylons prevented her from exiting it, so she backed up the entire length of the bike lane to escape that trap. If you must keep this bike lane, at least post signs to indicate that it is for bikes only, and cannot be used by cars to drop off kids or elderly grandparents.
The pickleball players had taken up all of the parking spaces along Middle Avenue, and the first 20 spaces in the parking lot that extends back toward Little House. It is not practical for families with more than one small child to use these far-away parking spaces. When the mom parks the car and helps one child out of the car, the kid can zoom away while shes helping the second child to get out of the car. Before, when there were plenty of parking spaces on Middle immediately next to the playground, the mom could open the playground gate, help one child out and tell them to go inside the gate, into the playground, while she helps the second child. This isnt possible when parking several hundred yards away, out of sight of the playground gate.
In your attempt to make things safer for a few outspoken bike riders, you have made the area much less safe for small children and their parents. Please put the parking back.
Sue Kayton
kayton@alum.mit.edu
1854 Doris Drive
Menlo Park
650-853-1711
