HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/17/2026 Item 6b, Smith1
Purrington, Teresa
From:Kathy Smith <mavourneen@charter.net>
Sent:Friday, February 13, 2026 11:26 AM
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:FW: ULTIMATE DIVERSITY ACTION - RE: COMMUNITY OUTREACH . . . RE: Higuera Complete Streets
Project
From: Kathy Smith [mailto:
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2026 10:22 AM
To: City Council (slocitycouncil@slocity.org); Fukushima, Adam (AFukushi@slocity.org); Sharon Whitney
(
Cc: 'Gene Nelson'; 'Mary Pollock'; 'Judy Hornaday'; 'June Smith'; 'Cathy Veley'; 'Christine Escartin'; 'Sharon Whitney';
'Cynthia Pretzel'; 'Jane Wu '; 'julessievert@gmail.com'; 'Candace DeGeare'; 'Duane Livingston'; 'Maureen Beaulieu';
'Robert Akelian'; 'Roberta Orzechowski'; Virginia deLaval ; Debbie Johnson (
Subject: ULTIMATE DIVERSITY ACTION - RE: COMMUNITY OUTREACH . . . RE: Higuera Complete Streets Project
To all SLO City Council members,
The “winners” in the Higuera Complete Streets Project (from Bridge to Margarita) are the bicyclists who like protected
bike lanes (some don’t), Public Works staff and members of the Elks Club. While some bikers indicate a preference for
protected spaces, the new traffic light at Elks Lane will provide absolute safety for Public Works staff and Elks Club
members headed to and from their desƟnaƟon.
The single greatest loser – in that street span – are the 400+ seniors living in Chumash Village. For our entry and exit
onto Higuera Street, we lose two lanes of traffic for right and leŌ hand turns with the addiƟon of concrete dividers for
the bike lanes and the supposed advantage of a wider turn lane (the current turn lane is fine).
My first contact with staff on this proposal was a requested meeƟng by me, December, 2023. From there, a core group
at Chumash organized an Higuera Street Forum 6/19/24 giving SLO City Staff “the stage” to explain their plan and hear
suggesƟons/concerns from senior residents. The turnout was robust and the suggesƟons thoughƞul.
With no changes reflecƟng the safety concerns of Chumash residents, a study session was held by Council, February,
2025. Chumash residents, again, made suggesƟons for safety measures they saw as needed at the Village entrance. At
that Ɵme, it was said that Grant sƟpulaƟons required ground broken by January, 2026.
From then, there was SILENCE. I received noƟces of the AcƟve TransportaƟon CommiƩee, that supposedly was to
APPROVE the project before it would be finally sent to Council. The project never appeared on the Agenda for
CommiƩee Approval. I aƩended one meeƟng of the ATC.
It is now 2026, and I received a 2/5 e-mail/request for us to set a “last-minute” meeƟng at Chumash to allow for
Community Outreach by staff before your meeƟng 2/17. This is not possible in so short a Ɵme frame . . . affecƟng so
important an issue in our daily life 24/7! It took a good month to organize the iniƟal Forum.
I tell all my family & friends on the East Coast and in the Midwest, how proud I am that our Council is holding FAST to
the DEI principles, currently bashed by the Powers that Be in Washington,DC. And yet, here I am having to admit
SENIORS are somehow “lost in the shuffle” of DEI. Clearly, we are invisible.
2
I trust some of our residents have “hope” and will aƩend the meeƟng 2/17. So far, it feels our safety concepts have
fallen on deaf ears.
Regards – Kathy Smith
PS – I recall a Ɵme as a Council Member in the ‘90s that we shiŌed substanƟal Federal Block Grant Program dollars
proposed by city staff for a self-serving project to meet a need of the Aids Support Network for healthcare
housing. That was DEI long before gays had public acceptance.