HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/2/2023 Item PC, Ayral
Wilbanks, Megan
From:Odile Ayral <oayral@calpoly.edu>
Sent:Wednesday, April 26, 2023 8:14 AM
To:E-mail Council Website; Johnson, Derek; Schwartz, Luke
Subject:Public Comment
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Mayor Stewart and Council Members,
I have lived in the Foothill neighborhood since 1978, and for a long time, it seemed I was the only one who
walked to Cal Poly—and there were no bikes. Little by little, other pedestrians joined me, then bicycles. Now,
the entire area around Cal Poly brims with pedestrians and bicycles, and this includes the important arterials
of Foothill, of Grand, and the Santa Rosa and California stretches linked to these two. Unfortunately, these
streets have remained the same since 1978, and what was acceptable at a time when nobody rode a bike is
very unsafe now. As far as I know, nowhere else in the city do we find so many bicycles with so little
protection.
San Luis Obispo is like any other city, its money is limited, and priorities need to be set. In view of the huge
number of students who ride bikes to Cal Poly, the priority should be obvious, and the 6 million dollars that
went to create the Chorro Greenway for the few parents who ride bikes to elementary schools with their
children, should have gone instead to the large area around Cal Poly, where several deadly accidents took
place.
After the deaths of Kennedy Love and Andreas Kooi on Foothill, I was bracing myself for a third student death
in the same area. Sadly, it happened last week as Sean Ogawa Hillman, a student in architecture, was hit on
the neighboring Grand Avenue. I urge Council person Jane Marx, who lives near Grand, to focus on this
avenue, and perhaps interview neighbors to better understand its dangers.
I received encouraging news from transportation manager Luke Schwartz regarding planned work on Foothill
Boulevard, but it has become obvious that safety work needs to be spread to the larger area surrounding Cal
Poly. I therefore urge you to expand your planned safety work to the entire area from West Foothill to Grand,
whatever the cost may be because we must not lose another life.
As far as I know, Cal Poly has not been involved in any effort to improve the dangerous conditions around the
university. I hope they will see the importance of participating in this endeavor. Perhaps an enlightened
successful alumni would like to bestow money to have his or her name given to a greenway, where all Cal Poly
students could safely ride their bikes.
Sincerely,
Odile Ayral
Professor Emeritus, Cal Poly
IN MEMORY OF:
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Kennedy Love, August 2017, Foothill Boulevard, 22 years old.
Andreas Kooi, August 2021, Foothill Boulevard, 23 years old.
Finnegan Osbaldeston, September 2021, Santa Rosa and Highland, 17 years old.
Sean Hillman, April 2023, Grand Avenue, 20 years old.
Copies to Derek Johnson, Luke Schwartz, President Armstrong, Dean Joy Pedersen, Mustang Daily
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