From: Matt Bryant
To: Council, City
Subject: Please support Safe Routes to School
Date: Monday, April 21, 2025 11:55:55 AM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Be cautious of opening attachments and clicking on links.
Dear City Council of Palo Alto,
Please support safe routes to school in Palo Alto. As the parent of two children in PAUSD who rode their bikes to school over the years, it was very reassuring to know that there was an organization overlooking the safety of our children as they biked to and from school every day. As a safe routes to school parent representative at Gunn high school, I can attest that safe routes to school is always meeting with the community to make sure that any routes to school are being closely monitored to ensure our children’s safety is being protected. If you have any questions about the organization, please reach out to me.
Thank you again for your support.
Best regards,
Matt
Matthew D. Bryant, PharmD
(415) 846-1239
[email protected] LinkedIn/in/DrMattBryant
From: Rachael Panizzo
To: Council, City
Subject: Support for safe routes to school program
Date: Monday, April 21, 2025 9:05:24 AM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Be cautious of opening attachments and clicking on links.
Dear Palo Alto City Council Members
I am writing in support of the Safe Routes to School program. I have been a parent transport safety rep at Fairmeadow and JLS for the past four years.
Palo Alto is incredibly unique in making it the norm to bike or walk to school every day. It was the first thing I noticed when our family moved here six years ago.
This is not something that happens organically and should not be taken for granted. The levels of walking and biking to school that the city has achieved will quickly dissipate without support from the safe routes to school program. Parents need to know that the city prioritises student safety, bike routes and traffic calming around schools to feel safe letting their kids bike to school independently. The PTA, school district and city safe routes to school team worked very hard together to re-establish these norms coming back to school in person after the covid disruption.
Apart from the physical health benefits, fitness and independence that students gain from biking to school, the safe routes to school program hugely reduces car trips and congestion during rush hour. Every student that bikes to school is one less car journey. You can easily see this on bad weather days when fewer students bike and instead get dropped off by car. The traffic multiplies, dangerous driving, illegal parking, driving in bike lanes and U-turns on school streets occur regularly. This would become our new normal without the safe routes to school program.
I understand that budget cuts are anticipated and am writing to ask that the City please fill the currently vacant Safe Routes to School Planner position, despite budget shortfalls, to ensure critical bicycle safety and education programs are sustained for our children.
Whatever savings you make from budget cuts will be dwarfed by the knock on effects of traffic, parking needs and congestion. It would be a step backwards and undermine the city’s sustainability and climate goals. How else are kids supposed to get to school? Please also support the SRTS Resolution and Partnership Consensus Statement and Bylaws to support our strong, effective and longstanding partnership.
Thank you
Rachael Panizzo
JLS parent and transport safety representative
From: Rachel Vazquez-Reina
To: Council, City
Subject: Supporting Safe Routes to Schools
Date: Sunday, April 20, 2025 9:14:24 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Be cautious of opening attachments and clicking on links.
Hi,
My name is Rachel and I'm a Transportation Safety Representative at Palo Verde. I am writing in support of the Safe Routes to School program. The important work this program does is vital to our children's safety and our community.
I understand that budget cuts are anticipated and am writing to ask that the City please fill the currently vacant Safe Routes to School Planner position, despite budget shortfalls, to ensure critical bicycle safety education programs are sustained for our children.
Thank you all for your service to our community and for your long standing support and partnership on Safe Routes to School!
Sincerely,
Rachel Vazquez-Reina
Palo Verde Transportation Safety Representative
Proud Palo Verde mom
From: Sanne Smith
To: Council, City
Subject: Writing in support of the Safe Routes to School Program Date: Saturday, April 19, 2025 6:07:31 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Be cautious of opening attachments and clicking on links.
Dear City Council members,
I’m writing to support the Safe Routes to School Program. I am a parent in the PAUSD district and consider this program incredibly important for several reasons.
First, encouraging children to walk or bike to school helps them stay active and build healthy habits. It also reduces car traffic around schools, which benefits the environment and improves safety for everyone in the community. In addition, promoting independent travel helps kids develop confidence and responsibility. I believe SRTS supports all of this. I have heard that budget cuts are anticipated and that the bike safety education that SRTS provides might be at risk. Therefore, I am writing to voice my appreciation of SRTS and I hope that the city will continue to support SRTS.
Best,
Sanne Smith
PAUSD parent
From: Kara Baker
To: Council, City
Subject: Support for Safe Routes to School - thank you for your continued commitment! Date: Saturday, April 19, 2025 12:35:36 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Be cautious of opening attachments and clicking on links.
Dear Palo Alto City Council,
This is Kara Baker writing, co-Traffic Safety Rep for Escondido Elementary School and parent of a Greene Middle School 8th grader. I wanted to express my support for the Safe Routes to School program and truly hope the City will continue investing in the program at the current level to keep our students safe on their way to and from school.
My 8th grader bikes over 4 miles round trip to Greene Middle School every day and without a safe route including crossing guards, I would be reluctant to have him out on the roads. He rides down the very busy Stanford Ave with parked cars along the side, crosses El Camino, goes under the Alma tunnel by the Cal Ave Caltrain, and enjoys the opportunity for independence, being outdoors, and riding with friends.
If the City does not plan to spend funds to offer buses for students to get to school, it is our obligation as a community to provide our students with safe routes and continue to provide a bike safety education so that they can get themselves to school. Particularly with school for middle schoolers and high schoolers starting at 8:30 or 9am, it is not reasonable for all parents to be able to drive their students to school before getting to their places of employment. Not to mention the traffic that that would entail. The bus used to serve this function where I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, but absent a bus, and with the amazing weather that we have in Palo Alto, we cherish the opportunity for our students to bike or walk themselves to school. But in order to do that, they must have safe spaces to ride and bike safety education to help them make good choices along the way.
I would like to thank you for your service to our community and your long standing support and partnership on Safe Routes to School.
Thank you again for your time,
Kara Baker
From: Silvana Gaia
To: Council, City
Subject: Please Continue Supporting Safe Routes to School Date: Thursday, April 17, 2025 1:28:05 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Be cautious of opening attachments and clicking on links.
Dear City Council Members,
As a Palo Alto resident and the mother of two children—ages 13 and 15—who bike to school every day, I am writing to express my strong support for the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program and to urge you to continue fully funding it at current levels.
This program has been essential to our family's daily life. My kids’ ability to safely and confidently ride their bikes to school gives them not only independence, but also daily physical activity and a mental health boost—benefits that are so important during the middle and high school years. The safety improvements and bike education made possible through SRTS have helped make this possible.
However, there is still important work to be done—particularly in addressing safety concerns related to rail grade separation.
I hope you will continue prioritizing this vital program and to maintain its current funding levels, even in the face of anticipated budget challenges.
Thank you for your leadership and for your continued support of Safe Routes to School. This program is one of the reasons Palo Alto continues to be a wonderful place to raise a family.
Sincerely,
Silvana Gaia
Mother of two PAUSD students
From: [email protected]
To: Council, City
Cc: "Lara Anthony"; "Melissa Oliveira"
Subject: Resolution and Safe Routes to School Partnership Consensus Statement, Consent Calendar Item 9 on April 21, 2025 City Council Agenda
Date: Tuesday, April 15, 2025 2:14:16 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Be cautious of opening attachments and clicking on links.
i
Honorable City Council Members,
I am writing to ask you to please vote in support of the updated Resolution and Safe Routes to School Partnership Consensus Statement, Consent Calendar Item 9 on your April 21, 2025 agenda.
In 2006, unanimous endorsement of a similar resolution by both PAUSD Board of Education and Palo Alto City Council sparked nearly two decades of steady mode shift to walking bicycling, carpooling, riding local buses, scootering, and other active, healthy and environmentally sustainable alternatives to driving solo.
That partnership commitment was the impetus for transformation of school commuting in PAUSD schools. The three-pronged partnership commitment of Palo Alto PTAs, PAUSD, and City of Palo Alto formalized shared Goals and Vision with a foundation of mutual trust and respect and a shared commitment to support comprehensive programs.
Each partner receives significant benefits. However, students benefit most from improved physical and mental health, connection to community, readiness to learn, opportunity to become increasingly independent and confident as they grow and learn to move about the community with transportation safety skills every person needs.
Better Use of Valuable Land, Transportation ROW and Staff Time The school district and city have enjoyed significant reductions in auto congestion and safety impacts over time. Mode shift away from driving to school has enabled the district to construct facilities for education on valuable land that formerly was needed for student and parent automobile parking, drop-off and pick-up. Mode shift has released site staff from auto traffic management at bell times to spend that time on more productive educational purposes. The city has seen greatly reduced auto congestion, especially in areas where work and school commute trips converge.
Less Risk. More Joy.
This message needs your attention
This is a personal email address.
This is their first mail to some recipients.
Mark Safe Report
Powered by Mimecast
One of the greatest risk factors to student safety on public streets and school campuses is cars, a safety liability that is very difficult to manage. By reducing and managing car traffic better and improving separated, safer foot-powered access to and through school sites, PAUSD schools and city streets have become more welcoming to foot-powered students who now start and end their days with happy, healthy walks or bike rides with friends or family that lift spirits and connect them to community. Exercise and connectedness are great contributors to good mental and physical health.
Reducing Automobile Congestion and Related GHG Emissions Make Our Community Safer, More Comfortable and Greener for Everyone.
As your predecessors did in 2006, please support this resolution in support of the updated Partnership Consensus Statement. Renew this commitment to engage our organizations in renewing and sustaining a city, school, community partnership to reduce risk to students commuting to and from school and to encourage more families to choose alternatives to solo driving more often.
Thank you
for your ongoing support of Safe Routes to School. Thank you for considering my comments.
With gratitude for your service to our community,
Penny Ellson
(former 17-year Safe Routes to School PTA leader, currently engaging in collegial support of Palo Alto PTAs Safe Routes to School Volunteers)
650-387-8707
Virus-free.www.avg.com