Tag: planning

Fight For Bike Lanes On El Camino Real In Palo Alto

Palo Alto Mayor Liz Kniss. Photo courtesy of City Of Palo Alto.

Live in Palo Alto?  Do shopping or other business in Palo Alto?  Ride a bicycle in Palo Alto?  Andrew Boone from East Palo Alto posted this message in a Facebook group.  As a public service, I am forwarding this message here.

Do YOU want BIKE LANES on El Camino Real in Palo Alto?

Call Palo Alto Mayor Liz Kniss at 650-888-8671 and respectfully request that the “El Camino Real Complete Streets” project to re-envision the Royal Road between Stanford Avenue and Lambert Avenue to “create a safe and healthy place for pedestrians and bicyclists” be placed on an upcoming Palo Alto City Council agenda. The city won a grant in 2016 to re-design El Camino Real and has begun the public input process, but the project hasn’t ever been discussed by the City Council.

It’s important for the Palo Alto City Council to hear from the public and then discuss this project even if they are not making any decisions about it soon. We need City Council support to have any hope of achieving the project’s goals.

What do YOU think about Palo Alto creating a safe and accessible El Camino Real for people of all ages using all modes of transportation in accordance with state Complete Streets law? Do YOU think Palo Alto should follow state law, or continuing ignoring state law?

Palo Alto Mayor Liz Kniss
telephone 650-888-8671
email: liz.kniss@cityofpaloalto.org

City of Palo Alto project page has more information on the proposal.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

Coming Together In Cupertino

Moderator and four panelists at last Sunday’s Regional Planning Forum in Cupertino, where our group met.

Silicon Valley’s housing and traffic crises are already well documented.  Our group gathered in Cupertino last Sunday to discover and hear what can be done to resolve these crises.  The four panelists at last Sunday’s Regional Planning Forum in Cupertino were:

  • Kansen Chu, 25th Assembly Member, California State Assembly
  • “Chappie” Jones, San Jose City Council Member
  • Richard Bernhardt, CEO of Bernhardt Communications and Strategy
  • Tom DuBois, Palo Alto City Council Member

Part 1 of the Regional Planning Forum can be viewed below:

Part 2 of the Regional Planning Forum (the Question and Answer portion) can be viewed below:

A special Thank You goes to Better Cupertino for hosting this forum.  Please view both videos above.  You will learn some things from both videos.

After viewing both videos in full, please share your thoughts on what needs to be done to address Silicon Valley’s traffic and housing problems.  Also, indicate what YOU are willing to do to help solve these issues.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

VTA “Strategic Plan Update” Meeting On Wednesday

Long-term planning or ballot measure publicity stunt?  This question will be answered on Wednesday in San Jose, as the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) has a “Strategic Plan update” meeting in room B106 at its River Oaks headquarters.

VTA’s headquarters are at 3331 N. First Street in San Jose.  It’s served by the 58 bus line and is at River Oaks light rail station.

Read the VTA Strategic Plan (10.9MB Adobe Acrobat PDF) here.

One thing that stands out in the plan so far: how VTA running transit (bus and light rail) service while building toll lane/highway “improvement” projects contradict one another.  Is VTA supposed to help get people “out of their cars and onto transit” or is VTA supposed to keep people in their cars?  VTA is one of the few agencies in the nation where road building and transit providing are performed by the same agency.

What do YOU think about VTA’s Strategic Plan update? What would you have VTA do differently to make it more efficient and beneficial to every Santa Clara County resident?

I’ll be at this meeting on Wednesday.  See you there.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users