From:
To: City Council
Cc: BPAC Communication
Subject: 11/15/22 meeting agenda item 4.7 (Shoreline bus lane) Date: Monday, November 14, 2022 2:18:39 PM
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To: Mountain View City Council
From: Joel Dean, MV
Subject; Shoreline Reversible Bus Lane
The justification for this project was feeble from the outset, and has completely evaporated since the pandemic and its aftereffects. Why does project 18-47 continue to siphon resources away from more worthy purposes? Why does it sail through the approval process without a peep of objection from people in authority? Perhaps because the process follows a path hinted at by George Bernard Shaw and Woody Allen:
(1) Those who can, do.
(2) Those who can't do, make policy.
(3) Those who can't make policy, make plans.
(4) Those who can't make plans, consult.
(5) Those who aren't consulted don't matter.
So now another $866,500 is to be squandered on Project 18-47 and taken away from the bicycle/pedestrian bridge over US101, in exchange for a Confederate-money promise to restore bridge funding whenever staff gets around to it. For pedestrians, this is just another what's-new? moment. They are accustomed to being disregarded, they don't benefit from the so-called "improvements" bundled with the bus lane, and even if the bridge is finally built, they will have to share their 6-foot allotment of space with cyclists who are not satisfied with two 10-foot lanes. But bicyclists are feistier and better organized than pedestrians, and might be tempted to import Critical Mass to City Hall if they were alerted to item 4.7.
Shoreline Boulevard south of Googleville is free of peak-hour congestion. The bus lane will not save even the 5 minutes in the morning and 1 minute in the evening which allegedly would have induced enough commuters to abandon their cars that it would alleviate congestion -- congestion which no longer exists. Meanwhile, Mountain View has just achieved the dubious distinction of recording the biggest year-to-year drop of any city in MTA's Pavement Condition Index, and its streets "may need rehabilitation to prevent rapid deterioration." This measure must not have included sidewalks, or Mountain View's PCI would have dropped from "fair" to "execrable." Rather than spending $866,500 ($40 million per acre) to acquire 970 square feet of execrable sidewalk, I recommend that Council disapprove staff's recommendation on item 4.7. The Shoreline Reversible Bus lane is a turkey. Thanksgiving is almost here. Wring the turkey's neck.
Thank you for your attention.
From:
To: City Council
Cc: BPAC Communication
Subject: 11/15/22 meeting agenda item 4.7
Date: Monday, November 14, 2022 2:33:10 PM
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Typo in last message: substitute 'MTC' for 'MTA'.