Willows Traffic Plan Gridlocked

Tonight Menlo Park's City Council will decide whether to move forward with a contentious plan that could mitigate traffic problems in the Willows neighborhood.

For years, residents in the neighborhood have expressed disdain for the alterations suggested by the city staff, with some saying that they will not solve the traffic problems that arise during peak commute hours.  Others are ready to scrap the entire endeavor.

The city's Transportation Department and Commission have been working since 1992 to devise a plan to solve the congestion caused by drivers cutting through the neighborhood on their way toward Highway 101 during commute hours. 

The commission studied traffic with a team called Circle Point to find solutions for residents in the neighborhood which is bounded by Willow Road, Highway 101, San Francisquito Creek and Middlefield Road. Some of them include building speed tables, placing digitized speed feedback signs, or restricting left turns during commute hours as some means to improve traffic flow.

But residents have been vocal in their opposition of the proposed mitigation efforts. During the public outreach process there have been a series of long meetings that apparently have not brought residents any closer toward a unified approach to the issue.

Chip Taylor, Menlo Park Transportation Manager, said there is a polarization in difference of opinion between whether the proposed traffic mitigation efforts should be installed, or whether nothing should be done at all.  

At a Transportation Commission meeting in April, Menlo Park resident Marcia Bever said the public input process was flawed because it did not allow people to vote for no changes to be made.

Resident Chris Weseloh said he was in favor of implementing changes that would improve traffic flow, and create safer conditions for children of residents living in the neighborhood. He also feared that implementing proposed changes in the neighborhood would only divert the traffic issue to surrounding areas.

Omar Kinaan, resident of Oak Court, said he supports the plan because he believes it is a compromise of all possible mitigations to the issue.

Residents from East Palo Alto also expressed their opinion on how the plan would create adverse traffic conditions in their town.  Some residents, who wish to remain unnamed have said that installing the traffic flow control signs would discourage resident of East Palo Alto from traveling through Menlo Park, creating a cultural rift in the process.

More than 40 people gave their opinion about the plan to the commission during the opportunity for public comment in that meeting. Some went so far as call conditions of the plan stupid, and while others said that it lacked common sense.

Ultimately, the commission voted  3-2 against recommending that the City Council moving forward with the plan, with commissioners Robert Cronin, Katherine Strehl and Raymond Mueller opposing. Vice Chair Charlie Bourne voted in favor, along with commissioner Martin Engel.

Some elected city officials, such as Mayor Pro Tem Kirsten Keith, were present at the meeting to take notes that she could reference when the issue appeared before the Council. She said she would advocate for council members to be allowed to see the minutes from the meeting. Should the City Council disregard the commission's recommendation and move forward with the project, the next step would be an official city survey.

Peipei Yu Pollman, a city planning commissioner and Willows resident, said she is frustrated with the way the issue has been handled by the city.

"For me, it was such as disappointment to see this breakdown in the democratic process," she said.

She said she does not want to see the city spend money on the issue, as it is addressing ways to cope with nearly $500,000 dollar budget deficit.  She also said she wondered whether now was the appropriate time to be spending money on controversial issues that lack a majority opinion, either in support of or against the proposed plan.

The City Council will meet tonight to address this issue, and others, in Council Chambers located at 701 Laurel Street in Menlo Park at 7 p.m.