1 From: Martin McTaggart
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2026 9:30 AM
To: Zachary Reda; Christina Horrisberger; Matt Fabry; Katherine Sheehan Cc: Chantal Eaton; Alby Calles
Subject: Fw: Central Neighborhood Association Support for Traffic Calming
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From: David Light
Sent: Sunday, March 15, 2026 9:19 PM
To: City Council (San Mateo) <[email protected]> Cc: Maurine Killough >; Tom &
Francine Souza >; Sharon Prager >
Subject: Central Neighborhood Association Support for Traffic Calming
Dear Mayor Loraine and Members of the City Council,
We are writing in support of the proposed strategic priority #54 for the City of San Mateo in 2026.
The issue of increasing vehicle speeds and severe crashes involving bicycles and pedestrians, including recent pedestrian fatalities, is an area of great concern for the Central Neighborhood Association (CNA). We continue to advocate for speed humps, LPI - leading pedestrian interval - 6 second delays, (RRFB) - rectangular rapid flashing beacons at crosswalks, and other traffic calming measures. Such measures benefit from an ease of installation and low expense in order to make safe streets for children, seniors, dog walkers and all of our residents of San Mateo.
Our experience in the Central Neighborhood is that speed humps are very important traffic mitigation solutions, as proven on Fremont Street and Ellsworth Street. We need these speed humps on more streets in our neighborhood. The current process for requesting a speed hump is too restrictive and should not be dependent on a high response rate from residents to mailers in order to address safety issues quickly. Also, In order to qualify for a speed hump, speeds must be registered at 10 mph over the posted 25 mph limit. Driving at 35 mph or higher in our residential neighborhood is a very high bar required in order to qualify for a speed hump. This is a very dangerous requirement that limits protection of pedestrians and bicyclists. We need a less complicated and faster process to qualify for traffic calming.
CNA actively promotes neighborhood safety. We advocated for a safer crossing of 4th Avenue at Grant Street which resulted in the installation of bollards on 4th and more recently, due to increased traffic, we were able to have the City install rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFB) for pedestrians who cross 4th Avenue at this intersection. We were recently able to successfully ask the City to implement a 6 second (LPI) leading pedestrian interval at 9th at Delaware and 9th at B Street in the Downtown. This makes crossing safer for our residents and, especially, students who attend the nearby Sunnybrae Elementary School and Borel Middle School. We advocate for sidewalk repairs and green pedestrian
2 level street lights in the Central Neighborhood to increase safety. We continue to advocate for speed humps on our residential streets and more are needed to calm cut-through traffic impacts.
Thank you for considering this important issue!
Sincerely,
The Central Neighborhood Association Board
David Light
Laurie Watanuki
Sharon Prager
Maurine Killough
Francie Souza