EDITORIAL: Alameda trees depend on final vote EDITORIAL: Alameda trees depend on final vote (August 04, 2004)

About 1,000 homeowners and a few small businesses in the West Menlo Park neighborhood near the Alameda de las Pulgas and Avy Avenue have a "no brainer" decision to make this week -- to approve a small maintenance assessment for 47 London plane street trees that will finally complete a streetscape project first advanced five years ago.

The rest of the project, to reconfigure the two-block segment of the Alameda north and south of Avy with new sidewalks, bike lanes, turn lanes, and receptacles for trees, was completed earlier this year. The county will purchase and install the trees, but homeowners and businesses in the Alameda district must approve small annual assessments to pay for maintenance.

The tiny residential assessment -- $11.40 a year for the first five years and $7.16 for the last 15, or a total of $164.40 over 20 years -- should not strain anyone's budget. Similarly, businesses in the area would pay only $45 per parcel per year for the first five years, and $27.86 for the remaining 15, or $642.90 over 20 years.

The ballots should be received this week and we urge residents and businesses to mail them back promptly, so that this project finally can be completed. To pass, more than half the ballots received must approve the assessment. A final hearing on the matter will be held September 14 by county supervisors at 400 County Center, where people can be heard who wish to protest formation of the district.

In the five years since the streetscape idea was advanced by a group of neighborhood activists, the project has taken many twists and turns, winning wide support from neighborhood residents who were tired of dodging motorists using the wide open parking lots along the street. Cyclists too were eager to see a bike lane installed on the street.

But some residents and commercial property owners objected to the improvements that were hammered out in a series of public meetings underwritten in part by a grant from the Peninsula Community Foundation. Some didn't like a "bulb-out" curb on the southwest corner of Avy and the Alameda, and others feared the project would slow commute traffic. But every effort was made to compromise and meet most of the objections, and with the help of Supervisor Rich Gordon, the plan was approved by the county board and a design slowly took shape in the public works department.

Today, the recently installed sidewalks and bike lanes are busy, and commuter traffic continues to move briskly along the Alameda. The 47 London plane trees are all that is needed to complete the streetscape that has been taking shape for the last five years. If you received a ballot, be sure to do your part to complete this project and mail it back today.

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