So what has happened to the rail crossing project(s)? I thought that was one of the main planning issues to be finalized, but the Council seems to have decided to continue the years-long effort to ignore the issue. Are they hoping it will just go away? Or is there some hidden/secret reason that it makes sense to delay- other than political fear? It was "considered" to be crucial a couple of years ago. Now it isn't even mentioned on the list of important city issues.

So what was decided about restoring library hours? And what will those 60 programs cost?

Any discussion about the utility rates?

How about traffic lights for bikes separate from vehicle traffic and pedestrian traffic. They have them on San Antonio in Los Altos and there are a few places e.g. Alma/Churchill where implementing such lights would really help all modes of traffic.

To Bystander...City of Palo Alto has been installing some of these signals. One example is at Nelson/Charleston intersection, a school crossing that carries a lot of foot and bike traffic throughout the day across a high auto volume residential arterial. Another I can think off-hand is at Lytton/Alma--similar situation near the train station. Lots of foot and bike traffic crossing a multi-lane arterial street.

It's not the perfect solution for every intersection. Engineers have lots of tools in their toolbox, but I agree that these signals are useful at some locations.

Thank you, City Council, for prioritizing safety. This change will align local policy with federal and state policy, to position our city better to apply for some of the billions in new federal funding that have recently been designated to improve safety for all road users: people who drive, walk, bike, and use transit. Road collisions are one of the top three preventable causes of injury and death in the U.S. Other "first-world" nations have made much better progress on this front by implementing Safe Systems policies. This will save lives and prevent terrible injuries in our community. Well done. Now let's get that planning work moving.

@Brian
The rail grade separation projects were premised on a big increase in Caltrain runs. As it seems that may not materialize with the cratering of in-office work, perhaps just leaving the crossings as they are isn't a bad idea.

Having attended several of these meetings, it seemed that the city doesn’t free up staff from past priorities. Shouldn’t some of theses past projects be dated, done or in lower effort maintenance mode? The exchange seemed to be, “we can’t do anything new or different unless you give us add’l FTEs, because staff is fully booked on previous priorities ” It didn’t sound comically or operationally healthy to me.

All for improved bike safety, but again conversation seems to avoid one major factor, that many (I should change that to most) riders completely blow stop signs and expect car traffic to yield while they parade thru controlled intersections without even pausing. That needs to change before much improvement can be expected.

I hope they actually finish installing the protected bike lane on Arastradero; it is absolutely wild to me that on a street that has two schools on it (not to mention another school a block away from it), they decided to install a protected lane for like, 2-3 blocks of the 10+ between El Camino and Gunn and then called it a day. Especially when the average speed on that street is 10-15 MPH higher than the speed limit.

Oh, and I almost forgot the man in the wheelchair I saw having to use the bike lane (and thus be 5 or so feet away from said speeding cars) because the sidewalk had so many grooves in it for driveways that he wouldn't have been able to go on it anyways.

I second what Observer wrote. And will add that from what I have seen, the worst offenders are people in what I will guess is the 25 - 45 age range, mostly male. Kids and parents with kids and people who appear to be a little older ride responsibly. Those who choose to ignore the rules of the road and signage appear to me to be skilled riders who have the ability to navigate capably in tight situations. That's great for them, but myopic given that they are sharing the road with less skilled bicyclists, youngsters who can be very unpredictable in their movements, pedestrians, people in wheelchairs, and vehicles.

As for Staff hours and getting through the "to do" list, the task:time ratio should be easy to determine by multiplying the number of staff by the number of hours in the work week.
Add some buffer time. Figure out that number, allocate time to each project, and subtract. CC should be able to assign projects until there are no more available hours. And the CM should be able to do this. We are repeatedly told that we must pay high salaries to remain competitive and attract good people. So, we do. Presumably this means we have a very capable team at City Hall that is capable of accomplishing an impressive volume of work.

@Annette
In terms of numbers of riders ignoring stop signs, I would observe that the younger groups comprise most of the offenders (examples being Paly and Greene Middle students). Also, a common occurence that is really blatant is seeing parents riding with their young children demonstrating a lack of recognition of required stops - great teaching moment!

@Observer. I guess we have seen different things, but I am laughing at myself and thinking your observations may be more on point than mine. If you will look at the photo at the top of this story, the cyclists are 1) on the sidewalk and 2) going against traffic. So, hey, no wonder we have problems.

Rather than attacking people with anecdotal evidence, how about we celebrate the direction that was given to staff re: a data-based Safe Systems policy that will make the streets safer for all road users: people who drive, walk, bike, and ride transit (and use wheelchairs)?

Yes. There is plenty of bad behavior out there, but Safe Systems works and has solved a lot of these problems in other parts of the world creating significant reductions in collisions that cause serious injuries and fatalities. We can do better, and we should.

Thanks for the info about bike traffic lights, good to know.

As for bikes not stopping at stop signs, blame the crossing guards. They stop traffic and wave bikes through, adults, kids, even when there are pedestrians crossing and sometimes stop traffic in all four directions and the bikes speed through almost hitting each other and pedestrians. If the crossing guards stopped allowing bikes to ignore their stop sign, it might make for better bike behavior when they are not there or when there is a stop sign without a crossing guard.

Will 160k cover the salary for a new manager to oversee the bike safety program? Hardly. But they will re-visit the issue in 2 years and realize they can't afford the staff to hire a consultant whose only observation will be that the streets of Palo Alto aren't wide enough to promote (let alone ensure) bike safety. I volunteer as tribute to act as consultant. I will be able to tell the city right away that building high density buildings with little to no setback will result in more bike accidents, especially on streets like El Camino Real, where there are already ZERO bike lanes. The only solution is to mow everything down and start over. Except for the Eichler houses, of course. Thus, by preserving "history", PA can maintain its long-touted "bikes are better" savoir faire.

IT's true that many cyclists (of all ages) do not come to a full stop at stop signs, the more respectful and sensible ones come to what, if one were in a car, would be called a rolling stop; slow enough to come to a full stop if someone is coming the other way. If it is a four way stop then cyclists should stop as one would in a car, although in my experience many drivers wave cyclists through. However as a frequent walker on the bike boulevard that is Bryant Street without any stop signs between California Avenue and Embarcadero, I have observed a number of near misses involving Paly Students. Cars are still allowed on Bryant and I have seen a number of students entering Bryant from a cross street, all of which have stop signs, without as much as looking to see if a car is coming on Bryant. While most of these kids are intelligent, like most adolescents, they have a poor understanding of real danger--it's not going to happen to me--and often blow off clearly sensible advice; there's a serious accident waiting to happen.