From: Jayden Wan
To: Clerk; Adam Loraine; Rob Newsom; Lisa Diaz Nash; Danielle Cwirko-Godycki; Nicole Fernandez Cc:
Subject: Public Comment - City Council Special Meeting
Date: Thursday, March 13, 2025 8:00:13 AM
San Mateo City Council and Staff,
My name is Jayden Wan. I'm seventeen years old, and a senior at Burlingame High. I spoke at the Council's 2/3 Meeting and their Blue Sky Session.
In light of the City’s process for long-term visioning, I’d like to address the discrepancy between the Council’s proposed priorities and its actual action, specifically on the topic of sustainability, safety, and bike/pedestrian infrastructure.
Communities across the Bay Area both in and outside the City of San Mateo are mobilizing to support the Humboldt bike lanes. That's because the decisions made in the City of San Mateo set rippling precedent for other cities locally, and removing bike lanes in this city enables the removal of bike lanes in MY city. Other cities follow in the footsteps of San Mateo, for better or worse.
I expect that the Council back down on their decision to remove the bike lanes for the following reasons and many more.
It is indisputable that bike lanes make streets safer for bikers, pedestrians, homeowners, and cars. They also reduce vehicle congestion and negative greenhouse gas emissions.
The pilot program to install bike boulevards on Fremont/Idaho is an insufficient supplement for bikers locally, who deserve dedicated bike LANES.
The Council has NOT involved youth in this decision-making process, and has not considered how removing the bike lanes would disenfranchise students at many local schools of their safety and mobility.
In 10, 20, 50 years, the current councilmembers' terms will have expired and the City will undoubtedly return to this issue of bike and pedestrian infrastructure.
Bike culture should and will have popularized increasingly by then, and by not thinking long-term, San Mateo would be hindering its capacity to provide for the
residents of the future as those here today.
There is still time to make the right decision for San Mateo and the future.
My ask is simple: before making a decision, Council must engage with the youth and students who will be directly impacted. Since this outreach has NOT occurred, Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action currently organizing a petition and survey at San Mateo High School to (1) gauge student perspectives on bike lanes and (2) collect data on their usage. I estimate that students, parents, and staff overwhelmingly support these bike lanes, and once they become aware of this decision, there may be frustration with the Council. If all students were given a chance to speak to you like I am right now, you might reconsider your decision, we’re hoping.
Our perspective is not oppositional—it is collaborative. We want to provide the city with a fuller understanding of the real impact of its decisions.
History is watching this Council anxiously.
Best,
Jayden Wan
Burlingame High School