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Published on 06/15/1998 All articles from this issue

Plans to fight traffic

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue

Town Crier Staff Writer

Los Altos residents join together in a task force to recommend solutions

Maria Murphy Lonergan is a runner, and this Los Altos mom is fed up with the traffic in town, which she calls "very unforgiving."

Kristi Clarke, a foster mother who has cared for 50 to 100 kids, worries about the speedsters who zoom past her Los Altos home.

Tom Anderson noticed people running stop signs, especially at the four-way stop at Hawthorne and El Monte avenues. People seem "to be in such a hurry that they can hardly contain themselves," he said.

These three, along with nine other Los Altos residents, decided to do something about traffic. Together they formed the Los Altos Neighborhood Traffic Advisory Task Force in February.

They have met twice a month since March, educating themselves and working with Capt. Cliff Balch, of the Los Altos Police Department, and Dave Donahue, traffic engineer for the City of Los Altos.

Last night they presented their recommendations to the Los Altos City Council.

Their priority: four new officers dedicated to traffic enforcement in the city of Los Altos.

"We're the only city in Santa Clara County that doesn't have a dedicated traffic enforcement police officer," said Kurt Ayers, chairman of the task force.

Traffic management involves the three "Es," enforcement, education and engineering, Donahue said, and the committee considered and studied them all.

In the beginning, Ayers said, the task force members had "some difficult discussion about what to address first: how much to focus on physical barriers vs. how much effort to put into enforcement and education.

"But enforcement is favored," Ayers said, because it "affects just those who choose to break the law. The physical traffic calming devices (such as traffic lights, speed bumps) affect everyone, and they just push the problem to another part of the city."

Another benefit is that "a city then may be perceived to be safer because of the high visibility on the street of these officers," Ayers said.

But adding officers costs money. And changing the staffing level of the city is not easy.

"This has to be a conscious effort of the city council," Balch said. "It has to be from the top, a policy of the city of Los Altos, of what the city wants."

Enforcement

Currently a regular patrol officer in Los Altos issues 20 tickets per month, Balch said. A dedicated officer could write about 100 per month, he said.

"When I have 'down' time, I go out and do enforcement," said Los Altos Police Officer Paul Arguelles. He uses a radar gun.

"I like working San Antonio Road, near Alvarado Avenue. There's a preschool there, and there's a lot of speeding going down."

During a lunch hour he said he can find five to six people exceeding 50 mph.

The two other spots he has scoped out for his radar work are on Foothill Expressway near the Loyola Fire Station and the residential streets behind Los Altos High School.

"People use the residential streets as a cut-through, sometimes students, sometimes parents," as they race to school or hurry off at lunch time.

But while he's doing traffic enforcement, he must answer "calls for service. So I can't specifically do enforcements."

And that means any call for service, even a leaf-blower complaint.

"That's politically sensitive, and we have to go and address it," Balch said. "We can't say, 'we'll see you in 30 minutes.'"

Balch knows where the hot spots are in town based upon the "traffic complaint forms" he receives from residents.

Currently he has complaints on his desk regarding San Antonio Road, Oak Street, Morton Avenue, Grant Road, Deodora Drive, Rosita Avenue, Fallen Leaf Lane, Avalon and Valencia drives. And those are just a few.

"A year's worth of forms might mention 60 different streets," he said.

The point is, traffic problems are all over town.

"Volume and speed on residential streets are the issues," he said. "It's been an eye opener for me, that traffic has increased dramatically. People are in a hurry, they're late and it's become a significant problem," Balch said.

Engineering

Engineering includes things like speed bumps, barriers, widening or narrowing a street, stop signs and street lights.

In a town of only 14 traffic lights, where putting up a light on Grant Road so children can safely cross brought dozens of residents opposed to the light to a city council meeting, engineering cures are tough to come by.

From the speed bumps, you have the noise, Donahue said, "the thump thump, as well as damage to emergency vehicles.

"With unwarranted stop signs, it's been measured in this town that they cause people to speed between signs."

The task force does urge the city to adopt a Los Altos Neighborhood Traffic Management Program that would include studying the effectiveness of traffic calming devices.

Education

Currently, "the only thing we have for education," Donahue said, is the radar traffic trailer.

"It's not an enforcement tool, even though it's managed by the police department," because it has no way of citing people.

But it's effective. Not everyone means to speed. A driver may just be cruising along Cuesta Drive, with no clue that the speed limit is 25 mph, and look up and note "yikes, I'm going 35 or 40."

It offers a wake-up call, particularly to the folks in that neighborhood.

Last week it sat on Campbell Avenue near Rosita Avenue.

A yellow Mustang cruised by at 31 mph, with a teen driving.

Then a large, old Lincoln Continental rolled by doing 35, with an elderly man behind the wheel.

"You can't stereotype the speeders," Donahue said.

Next step

The committee wants to continue past its ending date of June 30. In the beginning, these 12 were individual voices, mad as heck about the traffic on their own streets.

Now they are "part of the solution," said City Councilman King Lear. "It's been a delightful attitude change."

Within the group, "relationships are being strongly established," Ayers said. The task force "lays a strong foundation for the next year or two. This problem will take some time to resolve."

These are 12 people who see beyond their own streets and want to make a difference in traffic all over town.

Lear had heard the traffic complaint, "it just kept coming up," as he campaigned last fall for his council seat.

Once elected he gathered some folks. "We accepted everyone who applied," Lear said. The council blessed the group and in March they began their work.

Now there are "a lot of tough decisions for the council to make. Very seldom is the city's staff level changed."

A study session is tentatively scheduled for July 13 so the task force and the city council can consider the task force recommendations, most especially the need for the addition of officers dedicated to traffic enforcement.

But enforcement officers will take money. Only the council can make that decision.