Friday, December 10, 2010

Fwd: I'm opening an open forum for residents to discuss their views about the current Evergreen Ave sidewalk plans.

From: Keith Garriott 
Date: December 10, 2010 2:57:40 PM PST

Subject: Fwd: I'm opening an open forum for residents to discuss their views about the current Evergreen Ave sidewalk plans.

Bcc: SaveEvergreen, Hearus, & Madrone Park Circle Group

Hello Neighbors,

This is a message sent from Homestead resident Paula Wegeforth
replying to my email about the open forum for residents to discuss
their views about the current Evergreen Ave sidewalk plans.

Feel free to comment on my initial email and the replies!

The emails I recieve will be collected and sent to the County Reps.

Sincerly,

Keith Garriott


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Private
Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2010 15:46:31 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Re: I'm opening an open forum for residents to discuss their
views about the current Evergreen Ave sidewalk plans.
To: Keith Garriott <saveevergreenave@gmail.com>

Dear Keith,

As I travel down Montford onto Melrose and then Evergreen whenever I
leave my home on Pixie Trail, it is more than apparent to me that ANY
reducing of the width of the street is going to pose more of a hazard
than improving the roadway for pedestrians or cyclists.  At night,
when people are home and parked on both sides of Evergreen, it is
barely wide enough for one car.

Today, when I came home at 1:00 pm, cars were parked on both sides of
Melrose, waiting to pick up children.  Again, a sidewalk would have
made it impassable for more than one car to get through.

I am HIGHLY opposed to the idea of putting in a sidewalk of any width
for these reasons, not to mention the diminishment of the esthetic
appeal and the country feel of our roads.  I have other friends in MV,
and have always been grateful that my valley (Homestead) doesn't have
the narrow roads they do.

Paula Wegeforth
XXX Pixie Trail
Mill Valley, CA

--- On Wed, 12/8/10, Keith Garriott <saveevergreenave@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Keith Garriott <saveevergreenave@gmail.com>
Subject: I'm opening an open forum for residents to discuss their views about the current Evergreen Ave sidewalk plans.
cc:undisclosed
Date: Wednesday, December 8, 2010, 3:40 PM
Bcc: Save Evergreen, Hearus, Madrone
Park Circle Groups

Hello Homestead Neighbors,

I was outside my house on Evergreen Ave at around 6:30 PM
Monday night
when I heard the sound of a fire engine and ambulance with
sirens on
coming down Linden Lane and turning onto Evergreen Ave
heading
westbound up the street. I couldn't help but to notice how
it seemed
the fire engine had just enough room to make the turn onto
Evergreen
Ave while using the other side of the street to complete
it's turning
maneuver. The intersection here measures approximately 26
feet wide in
the travel lanes.

As I was looking up the street as the fire engine proceeded
foward, it
looked as though with cars parked along the street, there
was only
enough room for the fire engine and ambulance following to
travel in
the both travel lanes leaving no room for a vehicle
traveling in the
opposite direction.

I figure this was because of the speed the emergency
vehicles needed
to travel in the event of an emergency response and
maneuver it
safely, while driving up a straight away portion of the
street that is
measured at approximately 22 feet wide with cars parked
along the side
of the road.

Then I looked down the street to see a fire truck with
siren flashing
moving at a speed of typical emergency response heading
around the
turn in the road between Ethel and Linden Lane on Evergreen
Ave.

It looked to me that the fire truck, in order to maneuver
the vehicle
at that speed, needed to travel in almost the middle of the
street,
leaving no room for a vehicle traveling in the opposite
direction.

A pedestrian was also walking on the north side of the
street along
the turn as the fire truck was passing. The fire truck
moved further
past the middle of the street to accomodate room for the
pedestrian to
walk safely. (The same case would be for a bicyclist
traveling up the
north side.)

This portion of Evergreen Ave measures approximately 26
feet wide in
the travel lanes.

Note: (Of course by law a vehicle traveling in the path of
an
emergency vehicle with sirens flashing is required to pull
to the side
to give plenty of room for passing, but what if there's no
room to
pull over because of the street being newly narrowed as the
proposed
plans call for?)

During my observation, I came to the conclusion that this
verified
what I figured about the new proposed sidewalk being
possibly too wide
to accommodate for safe travel of all types of vehicles
that travel
along this street. (Especially in the sections noted to be
narrower
that other sections.)

Why would any plan for improvement on this street ignore
the fact that
this current plan could make it potentially difficult and
slow the
response of an emergency vehicle en route to an emergency
call?

Why would a plan to make it safer for students to walk and
bicycle to
school ignore the needs for the safety of the bicyclists
riding on the
proposed narrower road; limit wheelchair access across the
street from
the new sidewalk; and jeopardize general road safety for
vehicles?

I think we can do better that saying: "Let's just see how
it goes and
hope for the best."

You know how the saying goes: "If it ain't broke, don't fix
it."

But it's obvious that there's an interest in an
"improvement" to be
made on Evergreen Avenue for the purpose of making it safer
for
children walking and bicycling to Marin Horizon School.

If any residents out here have made some observations
lately about
Evergreen Ave concerning the currently proposed sidewalk
plans and
possible issues that may arouse from it, then feel free to
write about
it to me.

I'm giving the residents of Homestead a chance to discuss
this topic
in an open forum, to share with what other residents may
feel about
this change coming to (the not broken) Evergreen Avenue.

If you would like to comment on what I metioned in my
observation,
please feel free to drop an email to me at your leisure,
whether
you're pro, against, undecided, or open to working as a
community that
wants to work with the County Representatives & DPW to
make sure the
proper sidewalk is installed on Evergreen Avenue.

If you write in, I'll foward your message with other
residents
responses and send them all to the County Representatives
& DPW and
promise to keep your email address private if you prefer.

Please feel free to pass this along to your Homestead
neighbors
concerned about the future improvements on Evergreen
Avenue.

Sorry I couldn't make the HVCA meeting on Tuesday. I didn't
know the
sidewalk topic was on their agenda. If anybody concerned
about the
sidewalk plans went, please fill me in on if you or any
other
concerned Homestead residents are getting through to (the
HVCA) about
this being a serious concern of the residents at these
meetings!

I'll be at tonights meeting for the Joint MHS/Homestead
Valley
Committee Meeting.


Holiday Cheers,

Keith Garriott

(Homestead Resident)

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