Dear Councilmembers and City Staff,
Waymos expansion into Menlo Park is shining a long-overdue spotlight on a
citywide infrastructure gap: our neighborhood streets are not designed or
governed for safe, modern use.
Residents have raised this issue for years, especially where streets lack
sidewalks, have high pedestrian activity, and carry increasing cut-through
traffic. Now, with autonomous vehicles following our outdated rules to the
letter, the consequences of that inaction are impossible to ignore.
As of June 17th, Waymo now operates in all of District 4 and much of
Districts 2, 3, and 5. The cars accelerate precisely to the posted speed
limit, even on sidewalk-free neighborhood streets where kids play, people
walk, and active commuters bike daily. On most of our neighborhood streets,
the speed limit is 25 mph, which translates to a stopping distance of 155
feet--more than three houses. That is not a safe default speed and the
near-silence of electric vehicles only makes it more dangerous.
Waymo is not the problem, its doing its job and doing it well. Waymo
provides a clean, safe, and accessible transportation option. The problem
is delay and inaction by the City of Menlo Park to update our streets to
match how people, and now machines, use them.
Waymo vehicles do not have human discretion. But they follow the rules
exactly, and that means the rules and infrastructure need to match
neighborhood context now more than ever.
Fortunately, there are simple, low-cost, and legally supported steps the
city can take:
- Use AB 43 authority to reduce speed limits to 20 mph on qualifying
neighborhood streets throughout Menlo Park, like those impacted by this
summers major changes to the Middle Ave corridor.
- Install quick-build, in-street pedestrian signage and other visual
cues to support safe, human-scale environments.
This is a citywide systems failure that is made plainly visible by the rise
of algorithmic driving (both autonomous vehicles and navigation systems).
With school starting in August, Waymos are not waiting for the citys
10-year timeline for safety action, and neither should we, especially when
childrens daily routes are at stake.
I urge every Councilmember and every resident who values safety to push for
action from the city we trust with our safety. The infrastructure gap is
real in Menlo Park, and now is the time to address it.
Thanks,
Laura Melahn
