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Published on 09/21/1998 All articles from this issue

Council accepts grant for 2 traffic cops

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

When the two new traffic cops hit the streets of Los Altos on New Year's Day 1999, they won't be riding designer Harley Davidson hogs.

They'll be on standard, quiet, police-stock Kawasaki motorcycles, said Lucy Carlton, chief of police in Los Altos.

Folks are pleased that at last Los Altos will be getting some officers dedicated to traffic enforcement.

At the Sept. 22 meeting of the Los Altos City Council, members accepted a two-year grant from the Office of Traffic Safety for $280,000, to fund two officers and two motorcycles.

"We're very pleased and proud," Carlton said. This "will start addressing traffic issues."

These issues have been on people's minds for months. During elections last fall, traffic surfaced as a top concern. In response, the council appointed a neighborhood traffic-calming advisory task force that urged support for dedicated traffic enforcement officers.

The city council adopted traffic calming as one of its top priorities.

And Carlton applied for an OTS grant.

All these activities are bearing fruit.

Los Altos will be sending three police officers, from the current force, to the motorcycle academy, beginning in October, to have them ready for the first of the year.

After the training, Carlton said, she would select two for the grant.

"It's real exciting for them," she said.

In the meantime, she needs to "backfill" those spots and is in the final phase of checking out six possible recruits for those positions.

"This is a big win for the community," said Kurt Ayers, chairman of the traffic task force. "It will return stability to the streets," he said.

While task force members are delighted with two traffic officers, they had asked for four.

Council members "seemed very much interested in expanding the program," Carlton said.

But city manager Phil Rose told the council that there is no "pool of money" to fund two more officers from current operating expenses.

The council asked the staff to come back to the council, as soon as possible, with a budget analysis to determine the feasibility of hiring two additional traffic officers, in addition to the two from the grant, said city clerk Carol Scharz.