HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/15/2022 Item 6a, Ayral
Delgado, Adriana
From:Odile Ayral <oayral@calpoly.edu>
Sent:Thursday, PM
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Agenda item 6a
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Mayor Stewart and Council Members,
As you are reviewing the mid-year budget, I request that you set aside enough money to bring safety to
the Foothill neighborhood.
As you know, this neighborhood lost three Cal Poly students in four years. First, Kennedy Love was hit on
his bicycle at the intersection of Foothill with Ferrini in 2017. The City then installed pedestrian and
bicycle crossing lights at this intersection, which dramatically improved safety for anyone attempting to
cross this dangerous boulevard.
The second death was Andreas Kooi on August 7, 2021 at the intersection of Foothill with Broad. The
City shares equal responsibility for this death with the inebriated teenager who ran into him because you
allowed the developer to take over one traffic lane and the bike lane, leaving one narrow lane shared by
all the traffic on Foothill—cars and bicycles. Someone like me, an older and more careful driver who does
not drink and drive, could not figure out where to turn into Foothill in broad daylight in July 2021
because the developer did not have any worker to direct the traffic. I therefore switched my route to
Santa Rosa, and quite a few locals chose to do the same thing.
The third death was Finnegan Osbaldeston at the intersection of Santa Rosa with Highland. I can’t believe
you allowed hundreds of students to cross this intersection whether by foot, bicycle or car, without
improving safety. There are no flashing lights on Highway 1 announcing the intersection, and the speed
limit is way too high. You should have been working with Caltran to improve safety at this particular
point.
During the last ten years or so, the City has been pushing students to ride bikes in this neighborhood
without improving safety one iota. On the contrary, you approved two out-of-scale buildings at one of the
most dangerous intersections in the city (Foothill / Broad / Chorro). The angular intersection at Chorro
has always been problematic, but it was made much worse first by the construction of 22 Chorro, then by
the addition of the enormous 790 Foothill. I cannot even imagine how bicycles will be able to safely go
from one point to another on Foothill in the future.
It is time for City Staff and Council to put their money where their mouths are, and to build up safety on
Foothill between California and Tassajara, as well as Santa Rosa and Highland. You cannot go on
encouraging students to ride bikes while at the same time increasing the danger to do it, therefore I urge
you to set aside enough money to improve everyone’s safety in this area. Thank you.
Odile Ayral
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