LETTERS LETTERS (January 21, 2004)

Speed limit signs needed on Santa Cruz

Editor:

In regard to the recent tragic pedestrian fatality on Santa Cruz Avenue, Commander Bruce Goitia of the Menlo Park Police Department was quoted in the Almanac saying that the ". . . crosswalk . . . has a clear line of sight for oncoming vehicles."

This is true. But what that section of road does not have are (1) speed limit signs and (2) any enforcement of the speed limit (whatever it is).

I live and work near the accident scene and have driven and walked along Santa Cruz Avenue and the Alameda for more than 11 years. Cars and trucks race along that street day and night and I have never seen anyone stopped for speeding. It's no wonder someone finally got killed.

We do not need more traffic lights or a project such as the ill-conceived one at Avy Avenue. We need the existing laws to be enforced aggressively, so that that stretch of the road gets the reputation of being a speed trap.

Melanie Austin
Clayton Drive, Menlo Park

Every street, even yours, is open to the public

Editor:

We live on Lemon Street in Menlo Park, a residential through route that is a connector between Santa Cruz Avenue and Sand Hill Road. We have lived here for many years and raised a family without any ill effects from the natural traffic flow. This is relevant background information to the subject below.

Recently there has been the increasingly self-righteous use of a phrase in letters and reportage in both the Almanac and the Palo Alto Weekly. The phrase is "cut-through traffic." It is apparently used to describe vehicles using residential streets to connect from one major thoroughfare to another. Please note that unless you live in a gated community in which you have paid for the installation and maintenance of privately-owned streets, there is no such thing as "cut-through traffic.

The streets of Menlo Park and Palo Alto are a public network of roads built and maintained by the taxpayers at large. Homeowners on a street have no more rights in the use of that street than any other law-abiding citizen. If drivers observe the traffic regulations, they can legally use any route for any journey from an arbitrary Point A to Point B. Residents have absolutely no proprietary right to specify when or where drivers choose to start and finish their trips on public roads, as long as they pay their taxes and abide by the traffic laws.

If homeowners are concerned with the velocity of vehicles, they can appeal to the authority legally empowered to regulate automobile speed -- the police. But residents have no riparian controls over the volume of traffic on a street. As long as they drive within the law, drivers can pass your house in an orderly procession all day long, bound from anywhere to anywhere else, just like you can.

Morton Grosser
Lemon Street, Menlo Park

Keep democracy strong; run for office

Editor:

We presently have two Atherton residents in significant elective positions. Anna Eshoo, a former San Mateo County supervisor, is our representative to Congress from the 14th District. Steve Westly now is the California State Controller. And Greg Conlon ran for California Treasurer, but lost.

However, the San Mateo County Elections Board estimates that not all qualified Atherton residents are registered voters. And in the November, 2003 election just 20 percent of local registered voters actually voted regardless of the recall furor.

The November election was primarily for local board positions -- San Mateo County Community College, Menlo Park Fire Protection District, Sequoia-Union High School District, Redwood City Elementary School District and West Bay Sanitary District -- yet only one Atherton resident ran for any of these elected positions which directly impact our community.

In the March 2 presidential primary election San Mateo County voters will elect three members of the five-member county Board of Supervisors. In April, Atherton will solicit applications for various town commissions and committees. And candidates for the Atherton City Council must file in July for the November, 2004 election.

The United States is working and fighting in many areas of the world to preserve or to establish participative democracy. You have the opportunity to do so right here.

Bob Jenkins, President
Atherton Civic Interest League

Commissioners should not be lapdogs

Editor:

Reader Reginald Rice and others who may hold similar views are naÔve in asserting, as he implies in his January 7 letter, that members of a planning commission should not disagree with city council members.

It is important that any city, including Menlo Park, have a vigorous planning commission comprised of knowledgeable members who focus on planning issues.

If the planning commission were merely a lapdog of the city council, all planning issues would be brought automatically to the council and the resulting burden would prevent it from dealing effectively with the broader array of problems it is elected to confront.

Thus, instead of being critical of Patti Fry, Menlo Park should be deeply grateful that she and any others with her unquestionable integrity who are as dedicated, thoughtful and wise as she are willing to serve as members of our planning commission.

James R. Madison
Holly Avenue, Menlo Park

Enthusiastic about Cardiac Therapy Foundation

Editor:

Wow! The article on the Cardiac Therapy Foundation that you ran in the Health and Fitness section last week was absolutely super. You provided a wonderful public service by doing so.

I'm the treasurer of the foundation, a volunteer, and I believe in the work that they do. I had a heart attack about nine years ago -- the day before I was to leave on my honeymoon. Anyway, that's a story for another time.

About three years after my heart attack, and while a participant in the cardiac rehab program that I joined immediately after having my heart attack, I hiked down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon from the North Rim, and then hiked out to the South Rim.

Yes, cardiac rehab does work.

Thanks for the article.

Chris Masters
Atherton Avenue, Atherton

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