Dear City Council-Thank you for your hard work on our community's behalf. In addition, thank you for your recent attention to the
issue of installing sidewalks on Sharon Rd.
For the past 2 years, I have been a member of Parents for Safe Routes, as the Las Lomitas Parent Coordinator. While all of us in
Parents for Safe Routes share the common mission of making it safer for children to get to school, we sometimes disagree on how to
achieve this. The two of us LLESD members in Parents for Safe Routes strongly feel that sidewalks on Sharon Rd should be the
highest priority right now. I have the highest respect for Jen Wolosin, the founder of Parents for Safe Routes, but her recent
emails to City Council, first on January 29 and again this week, do not represent the views of all of us in the group. I respect
her right as a citizen and a parent to send the emails, but I was not aware of them before they were sent and do not agree with
them.
Sidewalks on Sharon Rd enjoy broad community support, not just from parents and students, but from residents who want to be able
to walk their dogs, jog, or go up to the Sharon Heights shopping center safely. In addition, significant progress has already been
made in procuring funding and support. Independent of Ray Mueller, several of us in the neighborhood have already gone door to
door to talk to neighbors who live on the block that would be affected.
The current situation on Sharon Rd is extremely dangerous. There are no sidewalks, and students must walk out into the road to
avoid garbage cans, puddles, and parked cars on the narrow shoulder. It is a very busy road with lots of traffic, just as the
children are walking to school. Please remember that La Entrada starts at 4th grade, so there are 9 year olds doing this. It is
only a matter of time before a student is seriously injured or killed.
In addition, many other projects have been completed for MPCSD: sidewalks on Santa Cruz to Hillview, bike lanes on Oak Grove,
improvements around Upper Laurel. Heck, they even have crossing guards! LLESD has gotten nothing, and now we are asking for one
block--only one block--of sidewalks.
Given that Councilman Mueller has already procured some funding for the project, it can happen quickly. Given the current and
extremely dangerous current conditions, it MUST happen quickly. I beg you to move quickly on installing sidewalks on Sharon Rd.
Thank you for your consideration,
Linda BarmanLLESD parentforrmer member, Parents for Safe Routes
