HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/5/2021 Item Public Comment , Aryal
To:Odile Ayral
Subject:Letters to the Council. Agenda Public Comment.
From: Odile Ayral <
Sent: Friday, September 24, 2021 4:12 PM
To: E-mail Council Website <emailcouncil@slocity.org>
Subject: Deaths on Foothill
Mayor Harmon and Council Members,
The deaths of three young students in my neighborhood haunt me as they do many of my neighbors. Kennedy
Love in 2017 and Andreas Kooi in August 2021, both on Foothill Boulevard, and Finnegan Osbaldeston in
September 2021, at the corner of Highland and Santa Rosa.
I want to speak about Andreas Kooi because I believe the City and the developers of 790 Foothill are partially
responsible for his death. True, this young man was hit by a drunk driver, but most drunk drivers can
reasonably control their cars when road conditions are good. The conditions on Foothill have always been bad,
but the City made them much worse when they agreed to let a developer build two large student apartment
buildings at the dangerous intersection of Chorro / Broad with Foothill. The residents warned that accidents
would happen, they begged you not to go ahead with the mammoth building at 790 Foothill, they told personal
stories of accidents or near accidents at this intersection to the Planning Commission and to the Council. But
money and other interests prevailed over safety, and nobody listened. Nobody listened.
We cannot do anything for those who were killed, but we can do much to prevent other deaths. Because if you
don’t act now, there will be other deaths. Look at the building you helped create, a monster that eats most of
the sidewalk! The builders made such a mess at Broad and Foothill when construction started that nobody
(sober or not sober) knew where to turn and where to go. I believe this confusion is the main reason why
Andreas Kooi was killed because I also experienced this confusion. The developer has cleaned up the
intersection since then, but he cannot undo what happened.
Therefore, the City needs to prioritize safety improvements on Foothill now. You need to place protected bike
lanes on Foothill now. You need to figure out intersection crossing enhancement at Broad and at
Chorro now. And finally, you need to have the developers of 790 Foothill change or close their garage exit,
which is located at the very intersection where Andreas was killed, because you can be sure there will be others
if you don’t.
Sincerely,
Odile Ayral
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