Pacifica Tribune, Letters to the Editor, 7/2/15. "Fix Highway One" by Frank Vella
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| Highway 1 widening traffic improvement is on track. |
Regardless of all the maneuvering and the political talk, the widening is on track, and we'll have some community meetings to fully explain how our commute will improve.
Pacifica BACPAC is to be commended for being the dependable moderate voice before City Council. It is nice to see business and community members working together through BACPAC."
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Reference - CA Department of Transportation, District 4, Calera Parkway Widening. Note photograph. Highway 1 through Pacifica by John Green from a San Jose Mercury News article by Julia Scott, 10/16/2011.
Posted by Kathy Meeh
16 comments:
I must have seen a different meeting.
I don't know what to make of Vella's LTE. He says the widening is on track despite all the maneuvering and political talk. How's that? In her 7/1/15 Tribune article CM Lorie Tinfow, speaking for Council, says nothing of the kind. She goes so far as to say in reference to the widening, "To be clear, the Council did not approve nor accept this concept which assumes construction to freeway standards. In fact, the Council has taken no action to move forward with any project to date." In the same article she announces the community conversation process on this issue. I'd like to think Council is being honest and sincere about this. Even so, it still may end up on a ballot. Meanwhile, I don't think Vella has any special insight or a direct, private line. He's just doing a little publicity for BACPAC.
Figment of one's imagination...normal. Having it posted for all to see, a different story!
Sometimes you want something so bad and for so long that you imagine it. Could be. Or, maybe you think if you tell people over and over that it's happening they'll begin to believe it and accept it and even look forward to it. I guess it's a strategy of sorts.
Saying things repeatedly until some people believe that they're actually true? Like that school buses would fix the problem? Or changing school times? Or re-timing the lights? Or that widening wouldn't actually fix the problem? It's all BS, but it's a strategy that's worked too well for too long in this town, and look where it hasn't got us.
@1139 Ya think? Yeah, the crap is piled high on both sides. Some of it more amateurish than others. No moral high ground for anyone so let's not be trying to claim it. No sure solution for traffic congestion in CalTrans' plan, none. The only thing you can be sure of, is that in all things, follow the money. The never ending dipping of the beaks, large and small.
1139 Obvious you expect bigger things from widening the highway than just a faster commute. Maybe you see a bright new Pacifica. In terms of strategy, why not try to sell that? Be honest about it. Honest. The ambulance and exhaust fume stories aren't cutting it. You can afford some help. You think Council has the balls to approve widening and run the risk of an angry public vote? They can avoid making that decision and stall til a public vote is the practical, popular, democratic choice. They'll be cheered. You're gonna need a new strategy. A good one.
1026 it follows, the longer we wait, the higher the cost. The traffic congestion analysis through Caltran's "best practice" research is completed. And with additional population in the Bay Area, the ongoing traffic congestion problem 1.3 miles through Calera Creek parkway (two intersections, Rockaway and Vallemar) will worsen.
The cost to make this State highway 1 widening improvement is not coming out of the City General Fund, but from Measure A tax, and other Federal and State funding.
Also, for a cost comparison note: the estimated cost to add a southbound ramp at Peninsula Avenue in San Mateo, CA is $56 to $71 million, here.
You want to call others "amateurish", "no moral high ground", void "Caltrans solution" when the research is evidenced and practical; then, you point to a false money argument? This gets old. Look in the mirror, buddy, your comment is a sham. Come-on, you can do better than that.
Let's make that section of the highway a toll road. As long as everyone is sitting in traffic, collect a couple of bucks from them. Sort of like SF attempting to place a toll on 101. How'd that go? SF seemed to make it through highway repair after the '89 earthquake. Is Pacifica really that backward that we can't fix a 1.3 mile section of highway! Ask the firefighters and the police if that stretch is a hazard. I have. Guess what? Fix it!
1130, in your anti-highway 1 widening comment, you said "just a faster commute", and "the ambulance and exhaust fume stories aren't cutting it." "Obviously" you have reduced timely traffic safety, congestion, emergencies, and health to trivia.
Yet, ARE these essential traffic survival issues trivia? I don't think so. And would anyone not blinded by ideology, who has concern for human life think so? No.
And whereas, the bottom line highway alternative is "nothing", same as it has been for 30 years.
Then, you are also suggesting a public vote delay, because the Gang of NO/nimby mob has run out of failed lawsuits? To paraphrase another Anonymous comment (Larry I think), in a different article: "since the tax money is County, State and Federal, shouldn't they all vote", (ha, ha)?
Our City Councils have voted periodically over 26 years to move this project forward. This is a State highway widening, nothing unusual; and so far the project continues on track, including the completed EIR documents, with evidence of research, considered alternatives, public meetings, and public comments.
Will the Gang of No, nimby mob prevail against our City Council doing the right thing? Hope not. Along the coast, just south of this City, other highway 1 traffic congestion areas are in civic process to be updated as well. Hence, no reason for people to sit in snarled traffic here. (And should that occur, the result would be beyond stupid, as well as dangerous to the commuting public).
So did Pacifica PD Set up Guantanamo Bay Pacifica jail holding cell cage at Linda Mar Beach. I heard Pedro Point Shopping Center was filled with deadbeat surfers by 10 am.
Hi @7:51AM, can you elaborate on that comment?
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Anonymous July 5, 2015 at 7:51 AM
"So did Pacifica PD Set up Guantanamo Bay Pacifica jail holding cell cage at Linda Mar Beach..."
Surfers at night? No. Those were out-of-towners with illegal fireworks.
Anyone who was anywhere near Linda Mar Beach or the valley or Pedro Point last night knows that the Pacifica Police "zero tolerance" policy is a huge joke. I wonder if anyone was arrested for the numerous and obvious flagrant violations of the law. Will anybody get the $1000 fine? Probably not. Complete FAIL.
In my 17 years here in Pacifica, I've never seen or heard a July 4th like last night's. They should just drop the zero tolerance pretense and sell the illegal stuff. At least the city would get a cut of all those explosives.
I am sure we will hear from the Pacifica P.D. that several people were caught firing off illegal fireworks.
An $1,000.00 fine is simple not enough, we need a fine that reflects the danger to public safety that illegal fireworks represents $10,000-15,000 would be more than just an ouch and might give some people real incentive to change their behavior.
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