Public Works & Transportation Commission Application 2022 1 / 19
Q1
Name
Ivan Bucio
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Home Address
Q3
City
East Palo Alto
Q4
E-mail Address
Q5
Phone Number
Q6
Are you available to attend regular Commission meetings scheduled for the third Wednesday of every month at 5:30 pm?
Yes
#1
COMPLETE
Collector: Web Link 1 (Web Link)
Started: Friday, May 06, 2022 6:16:36 PM
Last Modified: Friday, May 06, 2022 6:21:04 PM
Time Spent: 00:04:27
IP Address: 172.5.153.74
Public Works & Transportation Commission Application 2022 2 / 19
Q7
Why would you like to serve on the Public Works & Transportation Commission? To be involved in the community I live on.
Public Works & Transportation Commission Application 2022 3 / 19
Q1
Name
Christina Catron
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Home Address
Q3
City
East Palo Alto
Q4
E-mail Address
Q5
Phone Number
Q6
Are you available to attend regular Commission meetings scheduled for the third Wednesday of every month at 5:30 pm?
Yes
#2
COMPLETE
Collector: Web Link 1 (Web Link)
Started: Thursday, May 19, 2022 8:00:13 AM
Last Modified: Thursday, May 19, 2022 9:38:08 AM
Time Spent: 01:37:55
IP Address: 198.241.217.15
Public Works & Transportation Commission Application 2022 4 / 19
Q7
Why would you like to serve on the Public Works & Transportation Commission? I assume you have people much more qualified than I, but I am passionate about community and transportation and looking to get involved in a meaningful way in EPA. I was on the bike committees of the last two cities I've lived in (Provo and Springville, UT) and we worked closely with the Transportation Commission on street redesigns and the newly installed public transit system. I am passionate about transportation and urban design. I have no experience in Public Works but would be dedicated and eager to learn and participate.
Public Works & Transportation Commission Application 2022 5 / 19
Q1
Name
Christopher Kao
Q2
Home Address
Q3
City
East Palo Alto
Q4
E-mail Address
Q5
Phone Number
Q6
Are you available to attend regular Commission meetings scheduled for the third Wednesday of every month at 5:30 pm?
Yes
#3
COMPLETE
Collector: Web Link 1 (Web Link)
Started: Wednesday, May 25, 2022 4:57:00 PM
Last Modified: Wednesday, May 25, 2022 4:57:35 PM
Time Spent: 00:00:34
IP Address: 98.207.161.87
Public Works & Transportation Commission Application 2022 6 / 19
Q7
Why would you like to serve on the Public Works & Transportation Commission? My name is Chris Kao, and I have lived in the East Palo Alto Ravenswood Business District as a homeowner for around a year and a half. I am applying for the Public Works & Transportation Commission. You might know me for my beautiful drone photography in the East Palo Alto Neighbors Facebook group. If you’re not in the group, you might have seen the drone footage that I contributed to films set in East Palo Alto like “The Last Town” (http://clpbrights.com/en/the-last-town) or “Lupe’s Adventures” by East Palo Alto resident Lupe Talakai (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T-GZT9fqMY). I also started the East Palo Alto Sun blog where I enjoy writing about East Palo Alto infrastructure projects. Recently I published a series of construction drone videos following the Bay Road Improvement Project (https://epasun.org/drone-videos-i-shot-during-the-bay-road-improvement-project-construction/) which received a lot of engagement from the community.
As a borderline Gen Z / Millennial, I want to advocate for the public works and transportation infrastructure that will attract and retain the next generation in East Palo Alto.
I recently asked one of my parents’ friends whether I should choose to work at an office in Menlo Park 12 minutes away by bike or an office in Burlingame 20 to 30 minutes away by car. The family friend replied: “I used to drive an hour and 30 minutes each way every day from Pleasanton to San Jose. You Millennials all don’t want to drive far to work. Just like my son.” Hoping for a differing second opinion, I ran this same question by my parents, and they had a similar response: “Your Mom has been driving an hour and 30 minutes each way every day from Orange County to Los Angeles for over 30 years. A commute is nothing.” But to me, a commute is everything. Why do I want to spend over an hour every day of my life in a car when I can be using that time in more productive ways? It appears that I am not alone in this mindset. The City of Menlo Park Housing Element, Adapted April 1, 2014, states on page 20:
“Millennials have consistently expressed a preference for dense, mixed-use, walk-able and bike-able communities, according to studies by the Urban Land Institute. They want to be near work, near schools for their children, and be close to public transportation.
These amenities, along with safety and schools, are the top priorities for the Millennial generation. Menlo Park, with the multiple activities and transit available in downtown and new jobs at Facebook and other locations, is a prime location for Millennials.” East Palo Alto is on the right track to building public works and transportation infrastructure that is “dense, mixed-use, walk-able, and bike-able.” We have a growing bicycle network; we have public transit (SamTrans Routes 280, 281, 296, EPX, etc.) which connects us to the wider transit (e.g. Caltrain); we have beautiful parks with panoramic views of the Bay (e.g. Cooley Landing, Martin Luther King, Jr. Park); we have an Urban Forest Master Plan; and we have been growing our pedestrian facilities with exciting infrastructure projects like the Clarke Avenue Pedestrian Overcrossing, the Addison Avenue Complete Green Street, Bay Road Improvements, and fully funded University Avenue Pedestrian Overcrossing. There are so many exciting infrastructure projects in the pipeline for our city, and these are some of the things I want to help bring to life:
First, I would like to help plan the extensions to our Bicycle Transportation Plan. I personally bike 5 days a week through the city and on the Bay Trail to work, and I see opportunities to add bike lanes on our wider streets like Fordham St and Purdue Ave. When I have biked down Pulgas Ave to cross the Clarke Ave pedestrian bridge, I have also noticed the gap in the bike lane along Pulgas Ave and I was disappointed that a bike lane was not added to Pulgas Ave between Bay Road and Runnymede when the roads were resurfaced in December 2021. This type of infrastructure improvement appeals to millennials who do not want to rely on cars to get around the city.
Second, I want to help ensure that our regional transportation systems are meeting their service requirements. Of the 3 times I took SamTrans Route 296 in the past month, 2 trips had issues. Once, the bus never showed up within plus or minus 15 minutes, and the other time the bus prematurely turned onto Clarke Ave and skipped 2 Pulgas Ave stops. After these incidents, I followed up with SamTrans Support to report the issues to make sure they do not happen again. My reasoning is that if I have had issues over half the time on SamTrans routes, then many other East Palo Alto residents surely have, and that would disincentivize residents from relying on public transit; this results in more cars and more congestion, which is something residents have been vocal in not wanting in our Public Works & Transportation Commission Application 2022 7 / 19
Ravenswood Business District community meetings. I actively promote transit routes, for instance with this East Palo Alto Sun blog post I wrote (https://epasun.org/taking-the-samtrans-route-296-to-menlo-park-caltrain/). This past weekend one of my neighbors took the SamTrans Route 296 to Menlo Park for the first time because I had told him about it.
Third, I want to play a role in building out awesome bridge infrastructure. I have personally used the Clarke Avenue Pedestrian Overcrossing, Embarcadero Road Pedestrian Overcrossing, Newell Bridge, and Adobe Creek Pedestrian Overcrossing (Palo Alto) dozens of times, for leisure bike rides and to bike or electric scooter to the Palo Alto Caltrain station. I had attempted to bike across the University Ave sidewalk but decided not to after scouting out the bridge on Google Maps because it felt unsafe. That is I was very excited to learn about the fully funded University Avenue Pedestrian Overcrossing on the December 7, 2021 City Council meeting. Two few weeks after that meeting, I searched on the City website for more information on the project and I was disappointed that no information had been updated, and the only public announcement besides the City Council meeting was a Twitter post. Thks was what prompted me to start the East Palo Alto Sun blog where I wrote this article last year with updates on the overcrossing:
https://epasun.org/east-palo-alto-raises-15-million-for-university-avenue-pedestrian-bicycle-overcrossing/. I also actively follow bridge infrastructure in neighboring cities, such as Palo Alto’s widened Newell Bridge which I am a fan of because it doubles the width of the bridge to add sidewalks and bike lanes.
Fourth, I would like to ensure that we have more park lands in the future. When I read the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority Notice of Preparation this month, I noticed the slope had been decreased to 7:1 which I calculated could reduce up to 6 acres of parkland in East Palo Alto. I wrote this post in the East Palo Alto Sun to inform neighbors of the proposal:
https://epasun.org/san-francisquito-creek-joint-powers-authority-7-to-1-levee-may-reduce-6-acres-of-parkland-in-east-palo-alto/. Having more park land is important to me because when I am not on my bike, I am often running or walking on the Bay Trail. I have developed so many connections with neighbors who I have met on the trail, and I like to bring my friends and neighbors to walk and talk on the beautiful trail.
Lastly, I want to see our own downtown along Bay Road in the Ravenswood Business District be more accessible by alternative forms of transportation to all East Palo Alto residents. Residents who live closer to the RBD will disproportionately benefit from proximity to the downtown area. I think a responsibility of the Public Works & Transportation Commission is to design an equitable way to make it easier for all residents of East Palo Alto to enjoy our downtown. For residents coming from Palo Alto Park / Newbridge St, we have the existing SamTrans Route 296, and we should have more dedicated bike lanes along Bay Road, particularly in the area closer to University Ave where cut through traffic is faster. For residents coming from the Gardens, we should have bike lanes along the full length of Pulgas Ave on both sides, and we can make use of the new Reimagine SamTrans EPA-OD On Demand Service (https://www.reimaginesamtrans.com/south-county/). Currently SamTrans Routes 280 and 296 only go along Pulgas Ave / Clark Ave and residents coming from the southeast of the Gardens (e.g. Wisteria Dr and Aster Way) need to walk 12 minutes, or 0.6 miles, to their closest bus stop, which in my experience dissuades the use of transit. Residents on the other side of Highway 101 can also utilize SamTrans EPA-OD, and when they bike across the Clarke Ave bridge and take the bike lane up Clarke St, the bike lane should not suddenly end after one block at Tinsley St. I have taken this route multiple times and even after I bike through University Square along Oakes, then up Tate and east along the O’Connor St bike lane, I reach Pulgas Ave and have no more bike lanes to ride on.
In conclusion, I want to be on the Public Works & Transportation Commission because I want to help bring traffic-reducing infrastructure projects to life. As mentioned earlier, studies have shown that millennials prefer “dense, mixed-use, walk-able and bikeable communities,” and I think that East Palo Alto is better positioned to make this happen than most other cities on the Peninsula and in South Bay. It is also not only millennials who want to reduce traffic: when I participated in the Ravenswood Business District meetings in 2021 and 2022, I noticed that East Palo Alto residents’ number one concern was traffic, and this was a concern that was shared by all generations. In order to have more mixed-use developments with awesome spaces like low-income apartment buildings (e.g. 965 Weeks, Light Tree Apartments), office buildings (e.g. Four Corners), and community centers (e.g. new library next to EPACENTER, new police station), we need the infrastructure that can allow higher density mixed uses without burdening the community with increased traffic. I believe that we can solve this problem, and I want to be a part of the collaborative effort to make it happen.
Public Works & Transportation Commission Application 2022 8 / 19
Q1
Name
Elizabeth Brimhall
Q2
Home Address
Q3
City
EAST PALO ALTO
Q4
E-mail Address
Q5
Phone Number
Q6
Are you available to attend regular Commission meetings scheduled for the third Wednesday of every month at 5:30 pm?
Yes
#4
COMPLETE
Collector: Web Link 1 (Web Link)
Started: Friday, May 27, 2022 3:15:10 AM
Last Modified: Friday, May 27, 2022 3:28:08 AM
Time Spent: 00:12:58
IP Address: 98.37.155.221
Public Works & Transportation Commission Application 2022 9 / 19
Q7
Why would you like to serve on the Public Works & Transportation Commission? I am a current Science Teacher at Palo Alto High School and also a certified California Naturalist. I bicycle to work regularly and also to Cooley Landing, were I lead a weekly informal bird-watching walk with my friends and colleagues. In my 25+ years as I teacher, I have often heard from my students who live in East Palo Alto about their struggles getting to school. So I know there are needs in our city around better bike lanes/bike routes and public transportation - I have experience them myself and hear about them frequently from my students. I also applaud improvements that have been made in the past few years, such as the clearly marked bike lanes on Clarke Avenue and the new overpass there - I just want to see more of this! Looking over the schedule, I would be able to attend the regular Wednesday meetings in general. However, I wanted to let the commission know that I will be on a summer US States road trip for the June and July meetings. I could still Zoom in for the meetings if that was acceptable as I will be in the US and have access to internet. I'm just not sure if the commission is still meeting over Zoom. Thanks for your consideration, and hope to work with you to improve Public Works and Transportation for all of the residents of EPA in the future!
Public Works & Transportation Commission Application 2022 10 / 19
Q1
Name
Felicia Matthews
Q2
Home Address
Q3
City
Palo Alto
Q4
E-mail Address
Q5
Phone Number
Q6
Are you available to attend regular Commission meetings scheduled for the third Wednesday of every month at 5:30 pm?
Yes
#5
COMPLETE
Collector: Web Link 1 (Web Link)
Started: Tuesday, May 31, 2022 12:23:56 PM
Last Modified: Tuesday, May 31, 2022 12:29:49 PM
Time Spent: 00:05:52
IP Address: 71.185.247.13
Public Works & Transportation Commission Application 2022 11 / 19
Q7
Why would you like to serve on the Public Works & Transportation Commission? I am a long time member of the community and I am passionate about making our community better through positive energy and my knowledge and connections in the community. I run a local non profit and grew up in the community as I matriculated through high school and college. I was part of EPATT, Center for a New Generation, and College Track during my youth.
Public Works & Transportation Commission Application 2022 12 / 19
Q1
Name
Gail Wilkerson
Q2
Home Address
Q3
City
E PALO ALTO
Q4
E-mail Address
Q5
Phone Number
Q6
Are you available to attend regular Commission meetings scheduled for the third Wednesday of every month at 5:30 pm?
Yes
#6
COMPLETE
Collector: Web Link 1 (Web Link)
Started: Tuesday, May 31, 2022 1:30:14 PM
Last Modified: Tuesday, May 31, 2022 1:37:10 PM
Time Spent: 00:06:55
IP Address: 73.241.16.64
Public Works & Transportation Commission Application 2022 13 / 19
Q7
Why would you like to serve on the Public Works & Transportation Commission? Well once again, I've lived in the Community for since 1955. I see there is room for improvement. Although I was on the Commission, I attend a lot of their meetings. I am familiar with all of E Palo Alto. I've been on every street in EPA at least 100 times. While driving for work. I also was involved with the Census, which took me to a lot of homes.
I worked at the Postal Service, which had me going up and down the Streets for one thing or another. I've listened to the "whoas" of the Citizens. I am familiar with a lot of the roads that are in need of work. I've heard what the Developers had to say, one way or another about EPA.
I know East Palo Alto.
I am East Palo Alto.
Public Works & Transportation Commission Application 2022 14 / 19
Q1
Name
Plamen Marinov
Q2
Home Address
Q3
City
East Palo Alto
Q4
E-mail Address
Q5
Phone Number
Q6
Are you available to attend regular Commission meetings scheduled for the third Wednesday of every month at 5:30 pm?
Yes
#7
COMPLETE
Collector: Web Link 1 (Web Link)
Started: Friday, June 03, 2022 12:22:48 PM
Last Modified: Friday, June 03, 2022 12:24:37 PM
Time Spent: 00:01:48
IP Address: 104.1.94.226
Public Works & Transportation Commission Application 2022 15 / 19
Q7
Why would you like to serve on the Public Works & Transportation Commission? I want to be part of making EPA streets better for locals and people transiting within the city.
Public Works & Transportation Commission Application 2022 16 / 19
Q1
Name
Kiet Phung
Q2
Home Address
Q3
City
E Palo Alto
Q4
E-mail Address
Q5
Phone Number
Q6
Are you available to attend regular Commission meetings scheduled for the third Wednesday of every month at 5:30 pm?
Yes
#8
COMPLETE
Collector: Web Link 1 (Web Link)
Started: Friday, June 03, 2022 2:05:51 PM
Last Modified: Friday, June 03, 2022 2:07:03 PM
Time Spent: 00:01:12
IP Address: 98.234.42.106
Public Works & Transportation Commission Application 2022 17 / 19
Q7
Why would you like to serve on the Public Works & Transportation Commission? I have been living in East Palo Alto since 2009 and have seen many great changes through the years. Moving forward, I would like to take a more active role to ensure more great changes continue to happen in our city.
Public Works & Transportation Commission Application 2022 18 / 19
Q1
Name
Uhila Makoni
Q2
Home Address
Q3
City
East Palo Alto
Q4
E-mail Address
Q5
Phone Number
Q6
Are you available to attend regular Commission meetings scheduled for the third Wednesday of every month at 5:30 pm?
Yes
#9
COMPLETE
Collector: Web Link 1 (Web Link)
Started: Friday, June 10, 2022 12:02:47 PM
Last Modified: Friday, June 10, 2022 12:09:12 PM
Time Spent: 00:06:24
IP Address: 98.33.107.100
Public Works & Transportation Commission Application 2022 19 / 19
Q7
Why would you like to serve on the Public Works & Transportation Commission? I have a background in Engineering, Public Works, & Transportation as an employee of San Mateo County Transit District. I can add value to reviewing various public works and transportation work for the City of East Palo Alto. I am 25 year resident of East Palo Alto who would like to serve my community and add to its future growth.