Dear City Council:
I am writing you today as a Menlo Park resident to ask for your support in making Coleman Avenue safer for bicyclists and pedestrians. Please support Pilot Option 3 as soon as possible - the one-way street with dedicated walk/bike lanes.
As parents of a new Laurel Lower Campus kindergartener, my wife and I love everything about the school and the larger community. Everything, that is, except for the commute to and from school. We ride our bicycles with our child and have no choice but to go down Coleman Ave, and it is an incredibly dangerous road.
Cars zoom by, frequently driven by impatient commuters and inexperienced M-A teenagers. There is no bike lane and barely any shoulder. It’s incredibly treacherous and feels like a bad accident waiting to happen. Kids and families do their best to bike and walk safely, but they shouldn’t have to be in such a delicate position.
Before I moved with my family to Menlo Park, I lived (and biked) for almost 30 years in Chicago, Manhattan and Brooklyn. As a bicyclist, I’ve even been in a head-on collision with a car — and was lucky enough to walk away relatively unscathed. Even with all that experience, I’ve never felt as consistently unsafe on a road as I do on Coleman Ave. My family and I take every precaution - lights, hi-viz vests, helmets, flags - but it doesn’t feel like enough. We even get off Coleman Ave at every opportunity to take back streets, adding miles every week to our commute.
Making a dedicated bike lane and reducing the amount of traffic on Coleman is the only reasonably and fair option. Please support Pilot Option 3 with a vote as soon as possible.
My wife and I know you’re all very busy and we appreciate the hard work you put in. Taking this one more step will ensure a safer future for our family and countless other families like ours.
Sincerely,
Josh Orth
646-479-7268
Jessica Berkeley
650-245-4110
376 McKendry Drive
Menlo Park, CA 94025
>
