Dear City Council,
In connection with the vote you are taking this evening on the topic above
- the possible re-opening of Santa Cruz to traffic on the 600 block, *I
would like to support the effort to re-open Santa Cruz.* The closure served
its purpose wonderfully during COVID but now its a source of congestion on
the already over-burdened traffic patterns around downtown. I live on the
corner of Valparaiso and Crane and there are times of the day when it takes
me 5-10 minutes to get out of my driveway due to backup-at the Camino
intersection. There are several contributing factors to that worsening
traffic but one certainly is that Santa Cruz is blocked heading East on 600
Block.
I would also argue that Walgreens is probably the most heavily trafficked
store downtown, and access to park by that storefront is very much a public
good for all the folks coming and going for prescriptions etc. Parking out
back is not for the faint hearted given what a mess that parking lot is.
(Please remember that not all citizens of Menlo are bike-friendly. or live
within walking distance.)
I support the idea that the city should be able to close the street down
for special events, but that could be easily managed with temporary
bollards.
Thanks for listening. -Ned Desmond (1360 Crane Street)
