From: Amy Powers
Sent: Sunday, May 4, 2025 11:47 AM
To: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]> Subject: City Council Special meeting on Monday, 5/4, at 4:00 pm for Goals and Objectives, item B1.4 Design and construct Second Street and Fourth Street Intersection Improvements.
To the San Rafael City Council:
I am a Marquard Avenue owner and resident of 49 years. I support the preserving of the left turn lane from Second Street to Marquard Avenue.
I am in opposition of the closing of this vital intersection. Closing this intersection will impede the many families on Marquard Avenue, Fremont Road, Upper Fremont Drive, and Trost Road. It would be a inconvenience for all of us residents of the area.
I don't see this as an improvement and it certainly isn't taking in to account the residents that will be affected negatively by this so called "improvement.
Thank you,
Amy Powers
From: Chuck
Sent: Sunday, May 4, 2025 10:18 AM
To: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]> Subject: Item B1.4 Design and Construct Second Street and Fourth Street Intersection Improvements:
Regarding; Item B1.4 Design and Construct Second Street and Fourth Street Intersection Improvements:
To the San Rafael City Council:
I am a Marquard Avenue owner and resident of 49 years who has used the left turn lane from Second Street to Marquard Avenue / West End Avenue all my life to come and go from our home at #24 Marquard Avenue.
I am in full opposition of the closing of this vital intersection which would impede the many families on Marquard Avenue, Fremont Road, Upper Fremont Drive, Trost Road and above along with the West End Avenue families who value this westbound left-turn lane on Second Street to Marquard Avenue and West End vicinity's.
I do not look at this traffic altering idea as an improvement but as a big mistake in analyzing what this area has and is justified as needed into the future for access to this vital San Rafael area and community of Families.
Thank You,
Charles F. Powers lll
( San Rafael )
From: LR
Sent: Sunday, May 4, 2025 6:29 PM
To: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]> Subject: Public Comment on Second Street and Fourth Street Intersection Please add my public comment for the City Council Special meeting on Monday, 5/4, at 4:00 pm for Goals and Objectives, item B1.4 Design and construct Second Street and Fourth Street Intersection Improvements.
Intersection improvements must maintain the left-turn lane on Second Street to Marquard/West End, to allow citizens, including parents of young children and elderly people, who cannot use bicycles for transport, to access their homes, workplaces and child care. There are 300 cars using this left turn lane daily. IT IS POSSIBLE to make improvements for bicycle and pedestrian users WITHOUT DESTROYING ACCESS for people trying to drive home.
Rerouting all 300 vehicles to other intersections will cause more traffic issues, accidents, and safety risks for pedestrians at those locations. The city needs to include and respect the needs of all the users of this intersection, including vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists. This includes the need to maintain reasonable access for those living on Marquard AVENUE (not Street as the new sign says), and higher uphill on Fremont, Upper Fremont and Trost, whose only access is from Marquard.
The proposed reroute includes a narrow one-lane road over a steep hill that is impossible to navigate in large trucks, and would create an unsafe and unreasonable burden on the inadequate infrastructure of this intersection to accommodate additional traffic.
The City's prior expert traffic engineer, Rafat Raie stated in 2022 that he didn't want to "land lock Marquard" and "because of the location, this intersection needs to accommodate all vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles". Please respect this professional opinion and the pleas of the neighbors and keep the left turn lane off Second Street in any redesign of this intersection.
Thanks,
Elizabeth Ryan
Marquard Ave.
From: Jana Zanetto
Sent: Sunday, May 4, 2025 11:54 AM
To: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]> Subject: Public Comment - 5/5/2025 Special City Council Meeting - Goals and Objectives Dear city council members,
I would like to express my support for several projects related to the Goals and Objectives for San Rafael transportation and safety.
With the recent passage of AB 413, I hope that the council will prioritize certain intersections downtown for daylighting, by using red paint to keep vehicles from parking within 20 feet of the intersection. Last year I was crossing 4th Street at C in the intersection on a green light when I was almost sideswiped by a car.
I hope that some practices of traffic calming in the Spinnaker Point pilot, such as curb extensions, will be replicated in other areas of the city.
I urge the council to prioritize a Vision Zero action plan to plan concrete steps to assure safety for all residents as the move around our city.
I am grateful for your work and appreciate your consideration of my views.
Sincerely,
Jana Zanetto
Lincoln Hill
-----Original Message-----
From: Susan Nawbary
Sent: Saturday, May 3, 2025 5:41 PM
To: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]> Subject: Public Comment - 5/5/2025 Special City Council Meeting - Goals and Objectives Dear San Rafael City Council,
Pedestrian foot traffic is critical for priority area A: Economic Development. Please compare the business livelihood around 7pm in downtown San Rafael to Santana Row, where vehicles cannot drive all the way through but can access either end, vehicles drivers directed more readily to parking garages, sidewalks are wide, and most importantly the prevailing sound isn’t vehicle noise. I would argue that the worst thing about living in San Rafael is all the vehicle noise. Additionally, too many drivers speed through 4th Street and the cross-streets because the design and the timing of the lights allow it. You won’t be able to slow 4th street without slowing the ingress and egress to/from 3rd street.
People hate being pedestrians in downtown San Rafael. It’s noisy, narrow, and it just feels like a drag.
That’s why people are constantly fighting for curbside parking at their destinations. The sidewalks are too narrow for a downtown corridor, and tables and chairs pinch the path of travel to 3’, which is pretty uncomfortable when passing a group of people.
If you want to rejuvenate downtown, you need to widen the sidewalks and daylight intersections. And yes, you can retain the trees. In 2011, the sidewalks were widened an additional 6’ on Valencia Street in San Francisco, and the trees are mid-sidewalk, but there is 6’ path of travel on either side of the trees. As the trees die naturally, the alignment shifts to the curb. It is a successful design that retained canopy and improved walkability, because trees are also traffic calming features.
You cannot science priority area A, without implementing Priority area B. If people cannot move around safely, they will not visit.
The city of San Rafael is constantly catering to the boomers who like to drive everywhere because they grew up in a time when traffic was low and the automobile lobby was king, but they will be gone someday. Millennials are about to become the wealthiest generation in history due to the “great wealth transfer” but your policies keep catering to the noisy boomers, who are retired and attend all the meetings in person because they don’t have to work during the day. This is all to say that millennials want walkable, bikeable cities, where their kids can play outside without worrying about speeding cars.
They don’t want to sit in traffic and fight for a parking spot, and GenZ even less so; they’re content to order doordash and stare at their phones.
You need to make changes that appeal to the youth or suffer the same fate as the Democratic Party:
lose.
Thank you for reading my comments,
Susan Nawbary
PS: consider a vacant storefront tax on landlords who’d rather write off the rent loss than rent at a lower price. Consider a special tax on doordash orders to disincentivize ordering out. Work with Damon Connolly to bring a proposal to the legislature to waive or reduce the 7.25% eat-in tax.
From: Teal Collins
Sent: Saturday, May 3, 2025 10:56 AM
To: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]> Subject: Please Preserve Left Turn Lane from Second Street to Marquard/West End Dear City Council Members,
I’m writing as a concerned resident to urge you to preserve the left turn lane from Second Street onto Marquard Avenue, which provides essential access to the West End neighborhood. I live on Sentinel Court and use this turn every day—it is a quick, safe, and direct route home for me and many others in the area.
Removing this left turn would significantly increase travel time and frustration for local residents. The proposed alternative—turning left at Greenfield Avenue—is not a viable substitute. That intersection is already congested, the light cycle is long, and it only accommodates about three cars in the dedicated turn lane. Overflow quickly spills into the fast-moving traffic lane, increasing the risk of rear-end collisions and further backups.
Additionally, turning left at Greenfield forces drivers to navigate oncoming traffic while trying to reach Miracle Mile, creating more conflict points and potential hazards. The current Marquard turn, by contrast, has a sensor that efficiently triggers the light when a vehicle is waiting, minimizing delays and keeping traffic flowing.
Please take these on-the-ground realities into account. Preserving the Marquard left turn is a small action that has a big impact on daily life for local residents.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Teal Collins
Sentinel Court, West End area, San Rafael
www.tealcollinsart.com
insta @tealcollinsart
fb tealcollinsart
From: Vanessa Powers
Sent: Sunday, May 4, 2025 10:20 PM
To: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]> Subject: Item B1.4 Design and Construct Second Street and Fourth Street Intersection Improvements To the San Rafael City Council:
I am opposed to closing this intersection because it is and has always been vital to my daily life. I am 36 year old with a 3 year old daughter and we live in I have been a resident of Marquard Avenue since 2012 and have used this intersection multiples times every single one of those days over the last 13 years to get home. Without it things would be a lot more difficult. Marquard is already a tough road to navigate for people as it is primarily one way and people need to pull over for other cars. I feel as though closing this access to our street will make it much more difficult for people trying to make their way home every day.
Please consider the people and families who live on these streets and realize that this might not be an improvement at all.
Vanessa Powers