Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Mark Simon on Pico Boulevard

I'm in Mark's "inbox", now - he dug out my address by finding an email about the Giants selling Caltrain tickets. I'm officially a "troublemaker".


Hi John -
I just read your online petition and I have to tell you I think it's unfair to say we closed the gate for "unspecified safety concerns." Our concerns are exactly as specific as those who object to be rerouted to Redwood Shores Boulevard - someone is going to get hurt or killed if circumstances remain unchanged. I'm going to forward you a letter to the editor I sent out last week, which includes a link to the initial safety assessment.
In addition, we have contracted with a traffic engineer who is undertaking a safety assessment at this moment.
That should take about 30 days.

Mark Simon
Executive Officer for Public Affairs
San Mateo County Transit District
SamTrans
Caltrain
San Mateo County Transportation Authority
Phone: (650) 508-6340
Fax: (650) 508-6281

3 comments:

Mark Simon said...

What an interesting characterization of my attempt to communicate with you and of yourself. Should I have ignored you?

djconnel said...

Mark:
John has been making the point, extremely clearly, that no matter what one thinks about Pico, the alternative is worse, and therefore Pico should be available.

What has me and others scratching our heads is that your response continues to focus exclusively on Pico in the absence of alternatives. Since the buses which drive on Pico all continue on to the roads which cyclists are now forced to use, the possibility of bus-bike confrontations is in no way diminished, only supplemented by the added likelihood of far more bike-car interactions. Really your proposal to have a hired engineer study such an "obvious" situation is silly, especially in a budget climate in which we are continually threatened with draconian service cuts.

Occam's Razor suggests your motivation has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with liability. "I don't care if more cyclists are killed or maimed, just as long as it's not on our road."

I recommend joining SF2G one morning for a commute down the Peninsula one of these fine fall mornings. You'd save yourself tens of thousands of dollars on consultants.

Nick said...

Mark:

Get your bike; start at the Nob Hill parking lot, ride to the San Carlos airport via Redwood Shores Blvd. I guarantee you will want go on Pico instead!