Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Pacifica highway 1 widening, waiting for the final EIR


Without facts, let's not cause further delays. 

Pacifica Tribune, letters to the editor, 3/12/13.  "Letter to Council" by Jim Wagner and Mark Stechbart

"Editor:  Regarding the safety and commute improvements to Rt. 1: City Council represents the best interests of 40,000 town residents, not just the few who signed the other "open" letter. City Council -- stay the course and make the best decision for all of Pacifica.

Here is a prime example from a Tribune letter of 9-21-11 on why we as a community need a Rt. 1 congestion solution now:

Time to deal with the highway 1 commuter hour bottleneck
'We are retired professional firefighters who have served in Pacifica collectively for over 100 years. We support the Highway 1 traffic bottleneck solution being considered.....

....we believe it irresponsible to wait any longer to implement a Rt. 1 widening to solve traffic congestion we have seen increase for over 20 years. Rt. 1 is a regional highway and thousands of Pacificans use it as their only way out of town. For emergency personnel, Rt. 1 is our lifeline to protect Pacifica. We do not want to tell any Pacifica resident we were late to a fire or medical emergency because we were stuck in traffic.'

Jim Bonner, Battalion Chief, Pacifica Fire Dept, retired. 38 years of service
Bob Trapp, Battalion Chief, Pacifica Fire Dept, retired. 33 years of service
Steve Engler, Battalion Chief, Pacifica Fire Dept, retired. 30 years of service

The tunnel will open in several weeks and more traffic will visit us. The County is generating the environmental report, as required by law, by midsummer and then and only then will all the facts be before us. 

So why have yet another meeting to discuss a project without the full facts available? More delay will place Pacifica behind in securing funding we all pay for through a voter approved county transportation tax. Our transportation dollars will be lost to another city. More delay will enable the Gang of No to remake the wheel yet again, and force the project to start all over again. Fifteen years of planning abandoned. 

Delay will kill the project and force us to suffer continued commute and safety delays.

City Council was elected to make the best decisions based on the best facts for the entire community. Thousands of south Pacifica commuters and parents of school age children are counting on a fair and fact based evaluation of this project. So are the emergency personnel we all depend on."

Fix Pacifica reference - "Open Letter to Pacifica City Council, 3/6/13, Tom Edminister and Hal Bohner.

Posted by Kathy Meeh

9 comments:

todd bray said...

Jim, there were 213 comments received by CalTrans concerning the inadequacies of the widening DEIR. This is the hold up, the document itself. The is a general concensus that the document needs so much more clarification that it would be a wholly new document requiring recirculation. Your dreams and wishes are understood but there are still laws and rules to be followed.

My queries to CalTrans concerning the circulation of the FEIR have all been answered in the same way. CalTrans is still preparing answers to comments, and that notification of the release of the FEIR will appear on the San Mateo County Transportation Auhourity Website.

Hutch said...

aestone 25Great letter Jim & Mark!

It's good to see our retired fire big wigs on the record about the absolute need for this project to go forward without any more delays from the anti everything hippies.

These are the same people who were against the Quarry project because of the traffic and now they say there isn't that much traffic.

We've talked about this long enough. Enough comments, enough meetings, enough clarification, enough stall tactics.

Anonymous said...

213 comments deserve an answer! We'll get one when the final document is finished. I don't want to hear any more hot air from folks who oppose eveything in this town regardless of importance and then talk everything to death.
Nothing the Gang of No can add, other than more NO....

todd bray said...

Ha, Hutch, you are in for a shock. If you think it's been nothing but meeting up until now and that the fireboy's opinion matter more than anyone elses get ready for the permitting process. I think you'll be very sorry when that starts, if ever.

Anonymous said...

www.metrosantacruz.com/metro/08.06.08/news-0832.html

Anonymous said...

205, how does your link relate to highway 1 widening?

Anonymous said...

Trot out those firefighters all you want. Put that letter on your nifty campaign calendar so you don't forget.
We'll all die of old age before that road gets widened.

Anonymous said...

245, it doesn't. just breathe.

Anonymous said...

City council was elected to do what is best for all of Pacifica.

Since when?