Hello Brian, This item is now on the city council agenda this Tuesday, 11/14/17 at 7 pm. Best regards, Kirsten Keith On Fri, Nov 10, 2017 at 8:57 AM Kirsten Keith > Hi Brian, > > We don’t have a confirmed date yet. As I mentioned, we are looking at a > few dates. We’ll confirm a date next week. > > Best regards, > > Kirsten Keith, > Mayor > > On Fri, Nov 10, 2017 at 8:18 AM Brian Gilmer > wrote: > >> Thank you, I appreciate the urgency that you are giving to this matter. >> If we are confirmed for the next council meeting I will let the Willows >> Neighbors know so that we can attend and speak on the topic. I do not know >> if I will have time to get a small group together to come up with >> suggestions, but I will try. >> >> >> >> Best Regards, >> >> >> >> Brian Gilmer >> >> >> >> *From:* Kirsten Keith [mailto:kkeith_at_(domainremoved) >> >> *Sent:* Thursday, November 9, 2017 10:29 PM >> *To:* Brian Gilmer >> >> *Cc:* city.council_at_(domainremoved) >> >> >> *Subject:* Re: Please help adress this serious issue >> >> >> >> Hi Brian, >> >> >> >> Thank you for your email. I live in the Willows and completely understand >> your frustration and that of all of our neighbors. I’m so sorry that your >> car was hit. That is very scary. >> >> >> >> Amy Roleder wrote in earlier this evening and I have already written to >> our City Manager about trying to find some immediate solutions to the >> serious increase in traffic in the Willows. >> >> >> >> I usually reply directly to people who write to me on CCIN, but thought >> this warranted responding to CCIN. >> >> >> >> I will add this to our 11/29/17 or 12/05/17 council agenda so that we may >> discuss short term solutions that we can quickly implement. I will also >> confer with our city attorney about the possibility of discussing this >> topic at our next council meeting, 11/14/17. >> >> >> >> Again, thank you for writing to me. The City will address these concerns. >> >> >> >> Best regards, >> >> >> >> Kirsten Keith, >> >> Mayor of Menlo Park >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> On Thu, Nov 9, 2017 at 8:38 PM Brian Gilmer >> wrote: >> >> City Council Members, >> >> I am writing today to bring to you attention a matter that poses a >> serious safety hazard as well as impacting the lives of my family and many >> of the residents in the Willows. That matter is the cut through traffic >> and the impact it is having on our lives and safety. >> >> I know you are aware that cut through traffic in the Willows has been an >> ongoing issue for many years, I have lived here for 50 years. We have a >> lot of cars trying to avoid University Avenue and Willow Road by cutting >> into the Willows neighborhood, driving down residential streets not mean >> for a high volume of traffic and then back on to Willow at O’Keefe, Durham >> and Chester. While driving through the Willows many of these drivers fail >> to obey the posted speed limits and in many cases run stop signs at various >> speeds. With the number of children in this neighborhood this poses a >> serious threat to their health and well being. >> >> As bad as this problem has been in the past it just became much worse, >> dare I say untenable. The Willow Road / highway 101 interchange work is >> progressing and as part of that work two additional stop lights have been >> activated on Willow Road. This has created a traffic debacle. Congestion >> is much much worse now. Starting at about 4:00 PM myself and many of my >> neighbors on O’Keefe are not able to leave our driveways due to the line of >> cars backed up trying to turn right onto Willow Road East. This back up >> eventually extens well past Laurel Avenue three blocks south of Willow >> Road. I have spoken to my neighbors on Durham and if anything the backup >> is even worse there. I can only imagine how bad it must be on Chester. I >> am enclosing some pictures I took this evening. Starting as just after >> 4:00 PM the cars on O’Keefe street extended from Willow past Arnold. By >> 4:45 they extended past Regal and included buses from Facebook. >> >> I challenge each of you to attempt to drive from City Hall to Bayfront >> express way at 5:00 on a week day evening in under 1 hour. When you find >> that a near impossible challenge I invite you to walk through the Willows >> neighborhood and observe the congestion on the residential streets and the >> impact it’s having on our families. If a fire truck or other emergency >> vehicle was needed it would take a very long time to get through. >> >> Finally I would like to add that as I was writing this letter one of the >> construction crew working on my house came in to inform me that my vehicle >> had been hit by another vehicle attempting to squeeze between the traffic >> trying to get onto Willow and my SUV parked on the street due to day time >> construction. This is the second day in a row that has happened, with the >> car breaking my driver side rear view mirror yesterday. This has never >> before happened to me and just indicates how drivers are in a rush and are >> driving dangerously. >> >> Please do something NOW to address this. We can’t wait for another 3 >> years while another traffic study is done, issues are debated, etc. >> Someone is going to get hit by a car speeding through the neighborhood or >> need an emergency vehicle that cannot reach them in time. >> >> Sincerely >> >> Brian Gilmer and Zhanna Sardaryan >> >> >> >> Two photos attached. One of the line of traffic down O’Keefe toward >> Laurel taken from the middle of the 500 block. The other the cars blocking >> the drive ways so we cannot get out. The line grew even longer but it was >> difficult to get a good picture when it was dark. >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> >> Best regards, >> >> Kirsten Keith, >> Mayor of Menlo Park >> > -- > Best regards, > > Kirsten Keith, > Mayor of Menlo Park > -- Best regards, Kirsten Keith, Mayor of Menlo Park Received on Fri Nov 10 2017 - 19:04:45 PST
