I’d like to point out how well the city councils of Menlo Park and Atherton worked together so solve a serious safety problem at the intersection of Spruce Avenue and El Camino Real (right by Celia’s Mexican Restaurant). At that intersection the two northbound lanes of El Camino become three lanes. When cars were parked in front of Celia’s they blocked the view of drivers on Spruce Avenue who wanted to enter El Camino; when no cars were parked in front of Celia’s, El Camino traffic drove illegally in the parking lane in anticipation of the third lane of El Camino that begins just north of Spruce. The hazard of parking lane traffic to cars making legal right turns from the driving lanes of El Camino onto Spruce was serious.
This intersection has jurisdictional issues, since Spruce Avenue is under Menlo Park jurisdiction while El Camino, at that point, is under Atherton’s. It took almost two years to fix the problem but two mayors of Menlo Park, Andy Cohen and Kelly Ferguson, and Atherton Mayor Jim Jantz, led their respective city councils to an effective solution by eliminating the few parking spaces in front of Celia’s and replacing them with a right-turn-only lane that improves the safety not only of Spruce Avenue residents but also for the roughly 50 percent of Celia’s patrons who must get to El Camino by way of Spruce Avenue. That solution works for everybody.
This outcome is a good example of what can be achieved by cities working together. Let’s work to be just as successful in putting a stop to the high-speed rail nightmare that has been proposed to run through our cities along the Caltrain tracks.
Don Barnby
Spruce Avenue, Menlo Park
Redwood City attorney sues ‘First Amendment auditors’ after Menlo Park disputeApril 2, 2026 11:31 am
