HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/4/2025 Item 7a, Lightly
Kelly Lighty <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:City roads and transportation
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Dear Council,
I appreciate the work that you all do to lead our city in the right direction.
When there are things happening that I don't agree with, I think it's appropriate to speak up.
I do not believe in the direction that the City is taking with regards to our roads and transportation.
We are not a big city and we are not going to have sufficient mass transportation ridership to justify reducing
roadways. We are not Fremont, a city of over 200,000 people, which is a comparison the City has made
previously to justify more road diets. Our city makeup is of parents who need to work and to pick up their kids
after school and take them to sporting events. This isn't happening on a bus or on a bike.
We are a community that needs and wants to drive across town without congested roadways.
Johnson Avenue is a perfect illustration of what we don't want more of. Chorro is another illustration of where
the City's good intentions are not aligned with the community.
I live on Chorro Street and have struggled with the new bike lane that is right in front of our home. I am all in
favor for safe biking and protecting our cyclists But I do think that there was a lack of thorough research done
when Chorro was selected for this greenway. For instance, the city’s mature trees that line the street create
blind spots as I back out of my driveway. This put cyclists at risk of being hit on a daily basis especially at night!
Also, we park in our driveway so when both cars are there, friends or other parents dropping my kids off are
forced to park across the street- creating a very unsafe situation for crossing the street. We also have friends
who are disabled. So if our driveway is not available for them to park, there is no ADA parking available.
People continue to drive just as fast on Chorro, which is evident by the numerous cars who have run over the
planter barriers and popped their tires. So is the bike lane actually protecting the cyclists if a car can run right
over the “barriers”? Also, garbage trucks, fire trucks, delivery trucks all struggle to drive safely down Chorro
with the opposing traffic. This only creates more unsafe conditions and congestion. And sadly, there just aren’t
many people using the bike lane. I truly wish I could. But cycling with 3 busy kids who play multiple sports and
have practices all over town and the county, just really doesn’t make sense. With all of the new housing
developments, I’m guessing the new families living in SLO will also face this dilemma. My point in bringing all
of this up, is that more research and thought needs to be done before making more of these drastic changes to
our roadways.
Please do not reduce lanes on South Higuera, on Tank Farm, on Broad Street or Foothill.
Please rethink our communities strategy for our roadways.
Sincerely,
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Kelly Lighty
Sent from my iPhone
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