To: Mayor Colin and San Rafael City Council Members: July 11th 2024 Hi: My name is Susan Kay Gilbert. I’m a resident of Vivalon/Eden Housing at 999 3rd Street at Brooks in Downtown San Rafael. As you’re likely aware, Vivalon’s mission is to serve elders in Marin and all the residents in my building here are 62 years of age or older, with many residents who are also disabled with limited mobility. I’ve identified a safety issue, which I posted to the Public Works website See, Click, Fix, with no resolution from them, so I’m presenting it to you here, today, for your kind consideration.
There are two traffic signals and two pedestrian crosswalks on Third Street and Brooks, which were newly-built, just before Vivalon opened. The one that travels North/South (across three lanes,) has just a ten second window of time during which pedestrians can cross safely. The East/West pedestrian crosswalk (across two lanes,) has just a seven second window during which pedestrians may cross safely.
It’s simply not an adequate time frame for someone to cross the road safely who may be blind, using a walker or a cane, particularly across the three lanes of Third Street. One day I had noticed that a blind person was attempting to make it across the street in the 10 second time frame and only made it through the first two lanes before her pedestrian crossing signal turned red and the traffic signal turned green. I entered the crosswalk to assist her and I had to wave my hands wildly at the driver who was coming at us in the third lane, as the driver was on her cell phone and distracted at the time. It could have been disastrous.
Please consider increasing the pedestrian crosswalk time to 30 seconds for this busy intersection, in both directions, for the sake of the seniors and disabled people who live and visit here. Thank you. Susan Kay Gilbert, M.A. Edu.
San Rafael, CA 94901-3156