Bcc: Save Evergreen, Hearus, Madrone Park Circle Groups
Greetings County Officials and Homestead Neighbors,
I've been recently observing some idea's being tossed around amongst
residents of Homestead Valley lately concerning Evergreen Avenue for
the intention of it being made a safer street.
One suggestion is a call to have a 3-way stop sign to be installed on
the corner of Melrose and Evergreen Ave. Being that there are already
sufficient stop signs at nearby intersections within one block, I
think this would be a good idea for a painted 3-way crosswalk
intersection with the existing stop sign on Evergreen Ave and yield
signs on the north and south sides of Melrose Ave pointing to the
crosswalks. It would surely make it safer for children to cross the
street to and from Evergreen Ave to the school located across the
street, and also making the drivers aware of the pedestrian crosswalk
causing them to make the turn from Melrose to Evergreen more
cautiously.
I would also suggest some school crossing signs to be placed in the
appropriate locations at that corner on Melrose facing both directions
within the designated areas approaching the school zone, along with a
reduce speed sign for vehicles during school hours on Melrose and
Evergreen Ave.
Being that Evergreen Ave is such a dangerous street to some people,
then I would think the County would conduct the proper road study
surveys to determine the proper signage an other traffic safety
measures to improve this road that is obviously a prefered way of
travel over the other roads leading to and from this neighborhood.
How come nobody at DPW bothers to eleviate some unnecessary traffic on
Evergreen Ave and Homestead streets from the lost tourists trying to
find Muir Woods and MT. Tam? I suggested in December along with
getting other residents feedback, a sign to be placed on
Montford/Molino intersection showing a "Keep Right To Muir Woods and
MT. Tam Sign", instead of letting them accidently head into the
Homestead neighborhood stopping everywhere to get directions from
residents!
Most of you are aware of the near miss dissaster of having a 6 foot
wide grey concrete sidewalk built on this street of limited
capacity...somebody's idea? Quite a drastic measure without
consideration for the overall impacts that may be implemented on the
road characteristics in mind.
As suggested by some residents, maybe we should install a gravel
pathway on one side of the street...better get yourselves use to
sweeping the rocks the pedestrians kick up daily! It's also not very
ADA complient.
I'm also hearing some other rather odd ideas about making Evergreen
Ave a one-way-street in a certain section or sections. I think this
kind of idea is going to surely fuel the fire for the unauthorized
calls for safety measures that are making their way down our charming
rural street, entangling residents with obsticles and making our
street into a concrete chopped seuy.
I'm affraid that something like this will open the door for "The Never
Ending Expirements For Safety Committee" to decide that it's for
everyones best interest in examples such as: Narrowing Evergreen
Avenue's travel lane widths to be less than accordance to Caltrans
minimum travel lane width for the intention of "Traffic Calming?"
Someone may come up with an idea for in the near future after the
proposed sidewalk is built, to possibly eliminate all of the parking
on the north side of the entire street to make appropriate room for
students bicycling to school along side the students walking on the
newly built sidewalk that seems to be fine for the walkers, but raises
a concern for the safety of the bicyclists, automobiles (especially
commercial vehicles), and students who love walking in the street in
groups.
So what will the Evergreen and Homestead residents think of this
idea...we do want everyone to be safe on Evergreen Ave, right?
Instead of this all being put upon the Evergreen Ave and Homestead
residents to bare the burden physically and mentally, proper steps
need to be taken when making improvements to existing streets so
senerio's like this don't happen.
Part of that process is a road study survey. This would determine
whatever safety additions need to be applyed to this road or any
other, which would all be incorporated into the street plan as valid
safety factors.
There are some simple safety additions that I noticed should be
applied to make Evergreen Ave safer without any drastic measures
applied first.
I'm requesting that DPW's traffic engineering staff consider surveying
Evergreen Avenue's road characteristics to determine what simple steps
could be taken to improve Evergreen Avenue in a simpler approach than
a drastic one!
Here's some items I notice shoulded be on the agenda for making the
street safer before anything drastic is proposed:
A). A reduce speed sign at the blind curve between Ethel Ave and
Linden Lane on Evergreen Ave (in both dieections)
B). Speed limit signs posted in visibly seen locations along the
street and painted on the roadway.
C). Signs stating "local traffic access only" on Evergreen Ave, except
during weekday business hours.
D). "Sharrows" (shared lane symbols) painted in appropriate locations
for improved bicycle safety.
E). If a sidewalk is to be installed on the south side of Evergreen
Ave, then a reduction in the width should be mandatory in the areas of
substandard width to allow for a bike lane 4 feet wide on the north
side while maintaning all street parking. (This is an allocation of
width in sidewalk reduced to accomodate the bike lane within the
county easement while including all the dimensions for road
improvements such as the travel lanes and street parking widths).
F). Sign showing "Keep Right To Muir Woods/MT. Tam installed on
Montford/Molino intersection (to keep unnecessary traffic off of
Evergreen Ave).
In the case of having an effective redevelopement of Evergreen Avenue,
to me (E) seems to make the most sense if a sidewalk it to be
constructed. It's the most cost efficient way to fully develope the
street with the intentions of having all who use this street
accomodated for, by simply painting a line 4 feet from the north edge
of the paved road. There's no need to lose any street parking in the
future. Also wheelchairs will be able to access the north side via the
bike lane (aka shoulder lane).
We don't want any of these following ideas that may soon be lurking on
this street or in a neighborhood near you:
A). A sidewalk too wide for certain sections of the street to be
installed (causing negative impacts on road safety for moving
vehicles, bicyclists, wheelchairs, and pedestrians entering and
exiting automobiles).
B). A bike lane put in after the new sidewalk is installed because the
street is now presumed to be more dangerous for bicyclists (after the
fact that I presented a proposal for a bike lane with a sidewalk
reduced to 4 feet in the sections of the street of substandard
widths).
C). Parking eliminated on one side of the street in place of a
multi-use pathway.
(Parking needs to be eliminated because the sidewalk as planned leaves
no room for future improvements without taking drastic measures such
as this)!
D). Evergreen Ave be made into a one-way-street?
E). Stop Signs located at every intersection known to Homestead Valley streets.
F). Video cameras and radar placed all along Evergreen Avenue to
monitor traffic behaviors.
G). A toll booth located at Melrose and Ethel on Evergreen (collected
for future improvements needed just in case something is added as an
improvement, it might call for the need for something else to counter
act it).
For more information and news about this subject, please visit:
http://saveevergreen.blogspot.com/
Best Regards,
Keith Garriott
(Keith Garriott is a resident of Homestead Valley, union building tradesman,
musician, community activist, and the founder of the Save Evergreen
Avenue Group, which aims to secure for the residents of his
neighborhood the best and safest possible street improvement plan for
Evergreen Avenue proposed by the Marin County Public Works and Marin
County local officials).
.
I agree that a road survey should be done before anything is implemented, whether it is a sign or especially a sidewalk. Thanks for continuing to encourage community participation.
ReplyDeleteAfter receiving some feedback from members of the HEAR US group, I was prompted to take another look at this posting from your email dated January 8th.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good thing I understand your sarcastic wit, otherwise I might get the impression that you were mocking your neighbors in the HEAR US group!
I'm sorry that you missed the emails in the HEAR US list that mentioned we sent a request to DPW to survey the intersection at Melrose & Evergreen, as it was never our intention to blindside anyone, as Mr. Sands suggested in his posting : http://thesandsbox.blogspot.com/2011/01/fwd-three-strikes-against-community.html
Did you remember the community sidewalk meeting in November? Do you remember that one of the people who shared the reason they supported the sidewalk was Al Wuthnow, who lives at Melrose & Evergreen? After hearing his account of Evergreen, I considered maybe that is why he wrote the letter of support - because of his perspective at that tricky intersection - a blind corner. As you may also recall, Mr. Wuthnow wrote the letter of recommendation for the SR2S grant proposal - on behalf of the community, WITHOUT reaching out to the community - a proposal for which is causing such an UPROAR in this community.
Many of our neighbors are in agreement - that we understand and appreciate the mission of "Safe Routes to Schools"
That said, some of us agree that it makes much more sense to implement incremental changes to Evergreen, before embarking upon such a huge project as building a sidewalk.
This would be true of ANY street, not just Evergreen Avenue, but it makes MORE sense, given the fact that Marin Horizon School is a private school - and only serves less than 5 percent of our population - to install a $500 Stop sign before proposing to build a million dollar sidewalk.
The way I see it, unless the people who live closest to that intersection object to it - regardless of how anyone feels about the Marin Horizon School - it makes sense to place a STOP sign at the intersection near the school before we even CONSIDER building a sidewalk along 2000" along either side of Evergreen Avenue.
But I understand that proper road surveys need to be done for such things.
Safe Routes folks have been kind enough to grant the DPW a year extension - so please lets make the best use of this time.
Please join the other neighbors who have taken the survey.
Let's work together to gather all that valuable information in one place - we can help the DPW, Safe Routes to Schools AND our community - all at the same time.
If our community wants and needs a sidewalk, or path, or two sidewalks or paths - or no changes at all - let's figure it out - together.
Let's start with a process that should have been done BEFORE submitting any proposals to Safe Routes to Schools.
Our goal is the same - to keep Homestead the wonderful safe and unique community as it has been for so many years.
Mari,
ReplyDeleteIt's true that I don't agree with the way the Hear Us Group is going about suggesting changes to that Melrose intersection without first running it by the residents of Homestead who travel that intersection everyday.
I'm kind of getting a flashback of last July 14th's, "HAY EVERYBODY, HERE'S A 6 FOOT SIDEWALK FOR YA!"
What do you think of my suggestion of: Being that there are already sufficient stop signs at nearby intersections within one block, this would be a good idea for a painted 3-way crosswalk intersection with the existing stop sign on Evergreen Ave and yield signs on the north and south sides of Melrose Ave pointing to the crosswalks. It would surely make it safer for children to cross the street to and from Evergreen Ave to the school located across the street, and also making the drivers aware of the pedestrian crosswalk causing them to make the turn from Melrose to Evergreen more cautiously.
I would also suggest some school crossing signs to be placed in the appropriate locations at that corner on Melrose facing both directions
within the designated areas approaching the school zone, along with a reduce speed sign for vehicles during school hours on Melrose and Evergreen Ave.
I think this would be sufficient enough to keep the pedestrians safer without such a drastic measure as a 3 way stop at an intersection with no past incedents.
Don't you find it kind of funny that DPW jumped on this so fast and didn't even debate putting a yield sign first at this intersection?
They sent engineers to survey the Melrose intersection when they should be surveying the Evergreen Ave Proposed Sidewalk situation, AND GETTING BACK TO THE RESIDENTS INQUIRIES ABOUT THE PROPOSED SIDEWALK'S IMPACTS ON EVERGREEN RESIDENTS AND EVERYBODY ELSE IN HOMESTEAD VALLEY WHO USES THAT STREET!
Also, I didn't miss the emails you sent to DPW...I just wished you would have asked me for an opinion on that one beforehand!
Keith -
ReplyDeleteAre you not aware that the whole point of this debate was/is to increase PEDESTRIAN safety?
Do you WALK near that intersection at all? or BIKE?
Honestly, how will a Stop sign at a blind corner negatively impact anyone? Slow a driver down a bit?
I understand why the DPW would pay attention to this request - they have the pro-sidewalk camp breathing down their necks, freaking out about the year extension.
DPW are just trying to do something to respond to the community - and the 3 way stop sign was in the original 2006 Safe Routes proposal.
No one ever asked for a yield sign over there.
As stated previously, it should be up to residents who live closest to that intersection.
I would certainly understand asking for your opinion about an additional Stop sign at Linden & Evergreen, but why insist upon interjecting your opinion on this matter?
And why suggest all these additional bright yellow signs and crosswalks?
If you have such a need to be redesigning intersections, why don't you start at the intersection closest to YOUR HOUSE?
Mari,
ReplyDeleteAre you saying I should just mind my own business and just think within the immediate parameters of my specific location?
It sounds to me like you're saying, "This intersection is none of mine or anyone's business except the residents who live near that intersection!"
If that's the case, why didn't you get signatures from those residents in the immediate area and then present this idea to DPW?
Mari, it is my business at that intersection, being that I'm apart of this community, pay taxes, occasionally use, and have a concern about what the majority of the neighborhood thinks about changes to be made to their community!
What right do you or anybody else have to tell me or anybody else what they should be concerned about?
You are not a ROAD STUDY ANALYSIS!
You do have the right to protest, suggest something of concern, or conduct a survey, petition, or get other peoples opinions.
It seems to me that we're getting away from the real topic here of the PROPOSED SIDEWALK, and drowning ourselves in more rules and regulations that are not necessary.
That corner of Melrose and Evergreen Ave is such a wide turning raduis, that a STOP SIGN will not help the situation of coming up upon pedestrians walking towards that southside corner.
What is wrong with my idea of a more suttle approach of yield signs and painted crosswalks?
Is is a possibility that you jumped the gun on this one?
Is it possible that you thought you'd make a point of having DPW go ahead and install a 3 WAY STOP SIGN at that intersection...and then you'd possibly say, "Evergreen Avenue is now considered SAFE ENOUGH, therefore we shouldn't need a sidewalk anymore!"
Did I mention I use to walk my dog there daily years ago, and once in a while I walk and drive that way on cccasion.
Common sense tells me to "NEVER WALK INTO A BLIND CORNER, STOP SIGN OR NOT!"
C'mon, Keith - that is just unfair. I'm not trying to squelch your rights and opinions on anything - but honestly, if you don't defer to the folks who live at that intersection about this Stop sign, then how can anyone ask that Evergreen Avenue residents' wishes be given more weight regarding this sidewalk project?
ReplyDeleteI sincerely apologize if you or anyone else thinks I jumped the gun on this, but I respectfully disagree - a stop sign was mentioned several times on the HEAR US List, since July, when we started researching how a neighborhood path recommendation turned into a million dollar sidewalk project.
And please don't try to project your own political tactics on me. I have no idea why you would insist on two sidewalks when most of our neighbors don't even want one.
My purpose in asking for the Stop sign is as stated - to make that intersection safer while the DPW processes the overwhelming amount of feedback on the sidewalk.
Is it possible you've been so busy writing emails to everyone, including the Safe Routes to Schools representatives, lobbying for your two sidewalk / bike lane design, that you haven't been paying attention to what our neighbors have been discussing in HEAR US?
If you need to know all the details, when the Stop sign petition was posted on the Beat, several people contacted me off list to suggest that instead of wasting time with a petition, we should ask the DPW to do a survey. I called the DPW, and they told me to write to Mr. Mansourian to ask for a survey for that intersection. When I emailed Mr. Mansourian, I copied the HEAR US list on the email. Several people who live near that corner are on the HEAR US list, and no one sent me any emails to object to that Stop sign. Please let me remind you that when I heard back from Mr. Mansourian, I then posted the news on The Homestead Valley Beat, and forwarded his email to everyone on the HEAR US discussion and HV Beat announce lists, which are OPT IN lists. I also sent it to Mr. Sands - to share with his list, chock full of people who never asked to bombarded with endless rhetoric about this sidewalk project.
Next time, I'll be sure to cast a wider net before contacting the DPW, because I value their time.
While we are on the subject of TIME, I can't figure out why you insist on wasting time arguing with me instead of working together - such as, taking the sidewalk survey.
If you are still holding a grudge because I wouldn't sign the petition that Mr. Sands wrote for you, I suggest you get over it and start asking more people on your list to take the survey.
Otherwise, in 2012, we all may be looking at a 5 or 6 foot wide raised sidewalk all along the South side of Evergreen Avenue, with brightly painted red curbs and "no parking" signs in front of your house - whether we want it or not.
Mari,
ReplyDeleteDo you seriously believe that I'm pushing for two sidewalks on Evergreen Avenue? Nothing like twisting the truth...my plans which are supposed to be in Hear Us files show one 4 foot wide sidewalk on the south side and a 4 foot shoulder/bike lane on the north side. I think it's the best design for this street. It accommodates all safety concerns for all users of the road. What am I missing here...it has everything but the kitchen sink?
Did you know that if a 4 foot wide sidewalk was installed on the corner of Evergreen Avenue and Melrose, it would eliminate the hazard of accidently walking in the street towards that corner from the cars traveling northbound on Melrose and making a right turn onto Evergreen Avenue, which tends to be a blind spot for pedestrians? That's a fact! There would be no need for stop signs on top of stop signs. By the way...yield signs are currently used in situations like this near schools all over Mill Valley.
Mari, it's understandable that you or anybody else wouldn't have all the answers to every potential problem in the neighborhood. That's why we all need to work together!
I presume that Hear Us is a neighborhood watch group designed to accommodate the concerns of the local residents to be heard by the local agencies to help address possible issues, such as changes to the neighborhood that don't neccessarily reflect those wishes of the residents.
To me at this time, it seems like you're more or less pushing your own agenda and taking the neighborhood along for the ride! Where's the democracy in these pending issues thrusted upon our community lately?
C'mon Mari, give me a break....don't you notice in all my emails I write to the County Representatives, DPW, and local Homesteaders, that I'm speaking on behalf of what I interpret as what would best suit the good of the majority of residents and those who may not know any better, or may not care what so ever?
Catch the wave!
I never ever push my own agenda! If it was up to me, Volunteer Park would be a Homestead Valley Cafe with live music and commedy day and night! I think we have plenty of commedians around here...let's put our talents to work!
I tried to check out your survey but I couldn't find it when I clicked the link...it said survey expired or something like that....plus there was too many links to click...kind of like a circus act trying to participate in.
The survey reminds me of something that I sent to you last year to finalize with questions to gather viewpoints from local residents....but I guess you neglected to give me credibility at that time, probably because of the take over mode you were in...it was around the time of the first meeting of residents about the sidewalk.
You see Mari...I was trying to work with you from the start...I was also working for the better of the neighborhood first and foremost!
By the way,,,I don't hold grudges against anyone...unless they continue to discredit me or twist the truth for their own agenda. If I had a grudge against you...I wouldn't be able to participate in the commentary part of The Beat. I understand that we are everyday neighborhood residents who decided to take the lead on these pending issues because the powers that be seem to try to pull a fast one too often!
So...the saga continues....
Sincerly,
Keith Garriott
Keith - sorry - I mixed up your design with Paul's - I'm not going to continuing to argue.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the point is moot - as your design is NOT an option right now.
MY only agenda right now is to get people to participate in the survey so we can move forward in a productive manner that is best for our street. Really.