Hello Betsy, Ester, Jen, Ray, and Kevin,
Thanks so much for taking the time to thoughtfully improve Middle Ave. I enjoyed meeting some of you and your team at the meeting at Nealon Park last week. My family lives at 759 Middle Ave, the corner of Middle Ave and Blake St across from Nealon Park. We are happy to assist, gather feedback from neighbors, and generally be useful to you in the process. Our kids bike to school every day to M-A, Hillview, and Oak Knoll. My husband, Ted, is an avid cyclist. We’ve practically raised our kids at Lyle, Nealon, and Burgess Parks. We use Nealon Park daily and walk and bike the neighborhood streets regularly. We have the benefit of observing the practices and patterns of the residents, commuters, pedestrians, and bikers regularly and are happy to be of service to your efforts.
As a side note, we know and love our neighbors on Blake and Middle and greater Allied Arts/West Menlo. Our family moved from Santa Cruz Ave to Middle Ave in October of 2020 and grafted into a tradition of cheering nightly for the essential workers during the pandemic. Blake St now approaching our 2nd anniversary of this tradition. Our Blake St neighbors still come out at 6:30 pm most evenings to cheer, but also to share stories and connect as friends. This tradition has evolved to welcome neighbors from Morey/Kenwood Dr, College Ave, and other neighbors in Allied Arts and greater West Menlo. On Friday nights we frequently share a glass of wine, appetizers, and friendship. Kids and dogs run up and down Blake St, neighbors we’ve never met stop and stay to be a part of the sweet human connection. If you want to experience the friendliest block in town, you are welcome to join us for one of our Friday evenings. Especially in light of the past two years, this has been a real gift. Our family chose to live in Menlo Park because we love the people we meet and connect with here. We love that our kids can safely bike to school on their own, walk to downtown, and play at the local parks. We chose Menlo Park so we could have these rich layers of a neighborhood.
Here is a summary of my thoughts from the survey. I hope it is helpful. Please reach out if there is anything we can do to assist you in your process.
1. Which option would you recommend to City Council?
I don’t prefer taking away parking on one or both sides of the street. Taking away parking adversely affects residents on Middle Ave. As someone who lives on Middle Ave and has three children who bike on Middle to school every day, I value bike safety. I think adding bike lanes between the traffic lane and parking is very reasonable. What I notice from living here, is that the heavy parking on Middle Ave is not necessarily the same time as heavy bike traffic. At 8-9 am when most students and commuters are biking there are few cars parked on Middle Ave. To restrict it would do little to make biking to school/work any safer. After school and work bike traffic is more spread out because the end of the day for school and work differs. It is not particularly unsafe for my 5th grader to bike around the few cars parked on Middle Ave on her way to Oak Knoll. Not having parking in front of residents’ homes would create a daily inconvenience and if parking is only on one side of the street it will encourage more pedestrians to cross the street randomly. This seems like trading one safety issue for another. Note: this will not affect us personally. I do think the intersections, especially at University and Olive, could use more strategic bike safety lanes/marking.
I walk the neighborhood frequently and usually choose to walk on the quieter streets. When I do walk on Middle Ave I use the sidewalk on the north side and cross the street when necessary. I’m not certain adding a sidewalk on the south side of Middle Ave is worth removing parking for the residents.
6. Are there any particular complete streets features that you feel are needed?
College Ave to Blake St is a major walking and biking route for Allied Arts/West Menlo to get to Nealon Park. Because there isn't a sidewalk on College or Blake St (except for 5 houses or so) people walk in the street. Dog walkers, strollers, little kids on bikes, etc. all cross at the crosswalk at Middle/Blake. Bike commuters frequently travel from Stanford area over the bike bridge at San Mateo, down Bay Laurel to College Ave, and then to Blake St. They then cross at the crosswalk at Blake/Middle to travel through Nealon Park to get to downtown Menlo Park. Many pedestrians and bikers prefer using the quieter streets in Allied Arts/Downtown rather than Middle and University to avoid cars. It is quieter and more enjoyable. We should be thinking about ways to make these streets protected with less car traffic. With the increased population and traffic due to the new buildings on El Camino, cars will more frequently cut through Blake St/College Ave. I think it would be wise to close Blake St to car traffic at the end near Middle Ave making this a safe bike and pedestrian route. It will also prevent excessive traffic from using College and Blake as a shortcut. Many will benefit from this adjustment.
9. Please provide any additional feedback on the project in general.
I’m concerned we will over-engineer the biking/parking/driving design on Middle Ave and not necessarily make it any safer. As a resident who lives at the corner of Blake St and Middle Ave, I get to witness the traffic and pedestrian patterns on a daily basis.
In my opinion, the best things we can do to help all (traffic, bikers, park users, and pedestrians) are the following.
1. Improve the crosswalks and intersections. Especially at El Camino, Nealon Park, University Ave, Lyle Park, San Mateo crosswalk, and Olive.
2. Leave parking on Middle Ave
3. Paint bike lanes down Middle Ave
4. Repave from El Camino to University
5. Close off Blake St to cars to create a safe route for pedestrians and bikers at the Middle Ave end
6. Improve and increase parking within the parking lot at Nealon Park
Specific Ideas:
* Crosswalk and intersection safely: Bright colored crosswalks (not white), maybe raised? Avoid the middle of the road signs, they just get knocked down by cars. Make clear routes for bikers in intersections.
* Move the trash/recycling cans away from the crosswalk entrance to Nealon park. This forces pedestrians and bikers into the parked cars. Easy fix.
* Think about removing some of the 7 parking spots on Middle Ave near the crosswalk in front of Nealon Park (on the El Camino side) to improve visibility as cars approach the park. This is the area between Morey Dr to the other side of the crosswalk at Blake St on the park side of the street. Maybe no parking at all between Morey Dr and the crosswalk. Just an idea and worth getting feedback from the residents on Morey Dr/Middle Ave (north side)
* Increase the number of parking spots within the parking lot at Nealon Park. To reduce the number needed on Middle Ave in high use times.
* I’m concerned the back-in parking design will create more trouble rather than less. The back-in parking is only helpful to cars approaching from El Camino. To park in these new spots, I’m concerned many of the drivers approaching from West Menlo will either use College Ave to Blake St (increasing traffic in a heavily used pedestrian/bike route) making this less safe, or they will pull a U-turn and create more chaos. The back-in design may create more traffic rather than less as people try to find parking.
* Improve the entrance to the parking lot at Nealon to encourage more to park there. The transition is currently bumpy and not very visible. The whole lot could be improved and solve a lot of the issues on Middle Ave.
* The good thing about the parking right now is that cars generally slow down near the park because there’s so much action. The weak point is the crosswalk.
* There simply aren’t very many cars parked on Middle Ave or at Nealon Park during the morning rush hour. Maybe we shouldn’t overly design our bike lanes and parking when the higher levels of park use don’t necessarily compete with the heavier bike traffic times.
* Please keep in mind the many narrow driveways on Middle Ave. It can be difficult for residents to get in and out of their narrow driveways on Middle Ave. Unlike Santa Cruz Ave, we don’t have a turning lane, so it is important we don’t design Middle Ave to be like Santa Cruz Ave with no parking and all bike lanes and car traffic. If we remove the parking, we will create more chaos for bikers and drivers. People would be forced to park illegally to make deliveries and pick-ups. For example, delivery trucks would end up blocking bike lanes regularly creating a less safe route for bikers. When I asked my kids, who bike down Middle every day, they said it feels safe the way it is designed now, and only at the intersections does it get confusing. I think adding marked bike lanes, leaving the parking on most of Middle Ave, and improving the intersections and crosswalks is the best of all worlds.
* Middle Ave between University and El Camino is overdue for repaving. The road is in bad condition and repaving would make it safer for bikers.
Thanks for your time.
Ashley Callahan
759 Middle Ave
617-789-8957
