HomeMy WebLinkAbout4/18/2017 Item 2, Zoller
Gardner, Erica
From: Eleanor Zoller \[ ]
Sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2017 12:41 PM
To: E-mail Council Website <emailcouncil@slocity.org>
Subject: Bikes!
Dear council members,
Thank you for your support of SLO bikers. I am writing to express my support of - and need for - even more
developed bike facilities and access in SLO. I teach at Cal Poly and some quarters have biked to campus with
my 2-year-old (on a front bike seat) and returned home at night. I usually travel on Johnson and California,
because of our location, but have lately been reluctant to bike these routes because of too many near-misses
with cars - including being swiped by a city SUV who rode too close to the bike lane. There is a real need for
safe, separate bike routes like the Railroad Safety Trail that connect points of interest for commuters, tourists,
and families. We are a family who would readily make more trips by bicycle if the routes were safer and better
connected. On the days we do still bike or need to bike (we have only one car), I worry it is only a matter of
time before one of us has a serious accident. I hope and pray neither of our kids are riding with us if it
happens. Please help us reduce the risk to our family by increasing safe routes and connecting existing trails.
I am especially exciting by the existing projects: 1) Safe Routes to School for Pacheco and Bishop’s Peak
Elementary Schools, 2) a bicycle/pedestrian crossing on Foothill Boulevard at Ferrini Road and 3) the
Broad Street Bicycle Boulevard.
Please follow through with these projects and allocate the needed funding! Special thanks for the grant for the
Railroad Safety Trail segment from Taft Street to Pepper Street, especially the bridge over the railroad tracks
behind California Highway Patrol headquarters. This will help with our commute and connecting the different
parts of SLO we regularly travel to. This just can't happen soon enough, from our perspective.
Other projects don't affect me as much personally, but I fully support them for others. For example, I have
experienced that the Marsh - Madonna connection is frightening (we used to live in that area) and kind of
insanely risky. (I used to push a running stroller across that exit ramp and felt like a terrible parent each
time.) Whose idea was that?!? This distance is not that great but feels incredibly dangerous. I am confident
more people will choose to travel between downtown and the Laguna Lake area by personal motor vehicle for
safety reasons even though the distance is easily covered by bicycle or on foot. The existing crossing to the
Madonna bike path is so perilous that experienced bicyclists avoid it, and I can readily believe that Laguna
Middle School students rarely consider it as a viable option for safe travel to school.
Thank you for considering these needs and problems, especially those that affect the safety of bicyclists,
including children, on their way to work and school.
Sincerely,
Eleanor Helms
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