From:
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2025 3:51 PM
To: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]> Subject: Public Comment - 7/21/2025 CC Meeting - Chris Brignetti To Whom it may concern:
Chris was a neighbor of mine for more than a decade, and I always knew him to be a delightful person and a skilled, careful cyclist. I was stunned and deeply saddened to hear of his death in a cycling accident. How could this have happened to Chris, of all people? It only made sense when I learned more about this intersection and the fact that it has a long history of serious, even deadly car/cyclist collisions.
This shouldn’t have happened. Public safety experts have recommended ways to make that intersection safer, to make cycling in San Rafael safer. As a taxpayer and a cyclist, I want to see their recommendations implemented so that we can all cycle these streets without unnecessary risk.
Thanks,
Anne-Christine
Anne-Christine Strugnell
“I just want to urge you all to have a good time while you are fighting for freedom.
First of all, we don’t always win, and it might get to be the only fun you’ll ever have.
And second of all, it’s a better way to live.” – Molly Ivins -----Original Message-----
From: Bridget Clark
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2025 3:52 PM
To: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]> Subject: Changes for Freitas Parkway
To the City of San Rafael,
I often ride from San Anselmo to San Rafael (Terra Linda) and I urge you to PLEASE make changes to Frietas Parkway to slow traffic and make it safer for cyclists before there is another PREVENTABLE crash.
It can no longer be overlooked. We want to encourage more cycling for the sake of climate change..
Due to traffic, I can often ride from San Anselmo to Terra Linda quicker than if I were to drive. I’d like to be able to safely ride and not be hit by a car.
Thank you for doing what you can to make it safer and help prevent another collision from occurring.
Best wishes,
Bridget Clark
From: Diane McCurdy
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2025 3:35 PM
To: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]> Cc: Public Works <[email protected]>
Subject: Time for Public Expression - San Rafael City Council meeting 7/21/2025 Re: City Council meeting 7/21/25, “Open Time for Public Expression” Subject: Comparison of “Second and West Street” intersection to bicycle collisions at “Freitas Parkway and Lea Drive” intersection vis-a-vis “2nd/4th Street Intersection Improvement Project”
Dear City Council,
As a resident of the West St. neighborhood for the past 20-years, I would like to add my voice of concern and my plea for a redesign of the proposed closure of the left-turn lane from 2nd Street to Marquard Ave. As the tragic death of a bicyclist recently at an "unsignalized" intersection in Terra Linda reminds us, traveling by bicycle (while generally good for the health of the rider, the health of the planet, etc.) is increasingly dangerous as our city grows. We need to keep these basic steps in place (i.e. not eliminating dedicated left-turn lanes and traffic signals) to protect against the fatal threat of motor vehicles with whom we share the roadways!
I ride my bicycle on this stretch of roadway to work, and I also see, among others, parents riding with their young children on bicycles going to our wonderful neighborhood preschool near this intersection. I am concerned that the current plan for the redesign of the roadway is creating an unsafe situation for pedestrians and cyclists.
Please do not move forward with the current plan, and see below for additional support! Sincerely,
Diane Faulkner
Additional points of consideration from my neighbors and me:
The intersection of Freitas Parkway and Lea Drive is an “unsignalized” intersection.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis and reporting system (FARS), in 2022, total traffic fatalities involving an “unsignalized” intersection increased 86% over fatalities at a signalized one.
Bicyclist fatalities increased 45%.
Knowing the increased risk of collisions at “unsignalized” intersections, the City is proposing the closure of a “signalized” left turn at Second and Marquard and diverting ~100 vehicles/day to the “unsignalized” intersection of Second and West Streets as part of the proposed 2nd/4th Street intersection project.
According to a Kimley-Horn report, closing the left-turn lane at Second and Marquard will reduce all delays in peak travel time, by about 5-8 seconds, hardly an improvement. The report doesn’t comment on the increased risk of collision at Second and West Street by diverting ~100 left-turning vehicles daily to this “unsignalized” intersection.
At a recent BPAC meeting where members questioned the safety of diverting traffic to an “unsignalized” intersection, the director of Public Works, April Miller, stated that “everything is a trade off.” She claims that conflict points at the “signalized” intersection are greater, even though there is no history of collisions involving leftturning vehicles here and FARS statistics show bicycle fatalities increase by 45% at “unsignalized” intersections. The recent fatality at Freitas and Lea bears this out.
Vehicles turning left from Second to West Street have to weave in between heavy oncoming traffic (30,000 vehicles/day, our "junior freeway" as a friend calls it), cross a 2-way bike lane, and pedestrian crosswalk. This is no easy feat, without traffic controls.
"Everything is a trade-off." By approving the closure of a safer “signalized” intersection at Second and Marquard and diverting ~100 vehicles to the “unsignalized” intersection at Second and West Streets, you will be choosing the reduced delay in travel time on Second Street of 5-8 seconds over the increased risk of bicycle collisions at Second and West Streets. Is a life worth less than a 5-8 second delay in traffic? Will you wait until a bicyclist is killed at this intersection, like Freitas and Lea, before taking these risks seriously? Do you want it on your conscience that you knew of the risks yet chose to do nothing to prevent it? Diane [McCurdy] Faulkner
From:
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2025 2:05 PM
To: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]> Subject: Public Comment - 7/21/2025 CC Meeting - Chris Brignetti Hello,
I'm writing to express my support for any measures the city can take to make Freitas Parkway, particularly the intersection near Lea Drive, a safer place for its people.
I commute to my job at the Marin County Office of Education by bike, and pass the intersection where Chris was killed, nearly every day. Before this accident I had absolutely no idea there was not a Stop sign for oncoming vehicles turning here. No idea whatsoever.
Because it seemed so obvious that cars needed to stop there.
Now, everyday, I think about the fact that Chris' death is the only reason I've been forewarned about this dangerous section of road. And that his death is perhaps the reason I will not be killed there.
A person's daily commute should not be something of such Biblical proportions. It's 2025.
We don't even need something technologically advanced, or expensive, to haul us out of the dark ages. A Stop sign would do it.
Please do the right thing (and do what you have already been urged to do, before Chris' death) and improve the safety of this road.
Thank you for your time,
--
JESSICA GREELEY
• July 21, 2025
Mayor Kate Colin and City Council members
City of San Rafael
1400 Fifth Ave
San Rafael, CA via email: [email protected] Re: City Council meeting 7/21/25, “Open Time for Public Expression” Subject: “2nd/4th Street Intersection Improvement Project” and comparison of “Second and West Street” intersection to bicycle collisions at “Freitas Parkway and Lea Drive” intersection
Tonight you are hearing from several residents asking why the City has not improved safety at the intersection of Freitas Parkway and Lea Drive after 6 collisions, the most recent involving the death of a bicyclist, after colliding with a left turning vehicle.
The intersection of Freitas Parkway and Lea Drive is an “unsignalized” intersection.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis and reporting system (FARS), in 2022, total traffic fatalities involving an “unsignalized” intersection increased 86% over fatalities at a signalized one. Bicyclist fatalities increased 45%.
Knowing the increased risk of collisions at “unsignalized” intersections, the City is proposing the closure of a “signalized” left turn at Second and Marquard and diverting ~100 vehicles/day to the “unsignalized” intersection of Second and West Streets as part of the proposed 2nd/4th Street intersection project.
According to a Kimley-Horn report, closing the left-turn lane at Second and Marquard will reduce all delays in peak travel time, by about 5-8 seconds, hardly an improvement.
The report doesn’t comment on the increased risk of collision at Second and West Street by diverting ~100 left-turning vehicles daily to this “unsignalized” intersection.
At a recent BPAC meeting where members questioned the safety of diverting traffic to an “unsignalized” intersection, the director of Public Works, April Miller, stated that “everything is a tradeoff.” She claims that conflict points at the “signalized” intersection are greater, even though there is no history of collisions involving left-turning vehicles here and FARS statistics show bicycle fatalities increase by 45% at “unsignalized” intersections.
Comments from local residents about the “unsignalized” left turn from Second to West Streets include:
•I was turning from Second Street onto West Street when a bicyclist came FLYING by (going eastbound); I had to slam on my brakes or I would have hit him. •I have been caught “off-guard” by bicyclists traveling westbound in the bike lane on Second Street as I wait for a break in traffic to turn left onto West Street.
Vehicles turning left from Second to West Street have to weave in between heavy oncoming traffic (30,000 vehicles/day), cross a 2-way bike lane, and pedestrian crosswalk.
This is no easy feat, without traffic controls.
Everything is a trade-off. By approving the closure of a safer “signalized” intersection at Second and Marquard and diverting ~100 vehicles to the “unsignalized” intersection at Second and West Streets, you will be choosing the reduced delay in travel time on Second Street of 5-8 seconds over the increased risk of bicycle collisions at Second and West Streets. Is a life worth less than a 5-8 second delay in traffic? Sincerely,
Susan Montana
Marquard Avenue
From: Lauren Withey
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2025 3:41 PM
To: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]> Subject: Public Comment - 7/21/2025 CC Meeting - Chris Brignetti Dear City Councilmembers and Mayor Kate,
I write as a Terra Linda homeowner, frequent walker, runner, cyclist, and automobile driver throughout the neighborhood and San Rafael, parent of two young children and aunt to two older ones down the street, and neighbor to Chirs Brignetti and his family.
Like all those who had the good fortune to have spent any time with Chris and his family, I was devastated by his senseless death. That someone who had spent so much of his life dedicated to cycling and coaching was killed at an intersection that I cycle, run, and drive through at least weekly, often with my children and nephews, was unsettling to say the least, and certainly made the tragedy and loss hit even closer to home.
Yet another collision on Manuel T. Freitas Parkway was, sadly, also not surprising. This intersection, as we all know by now, had been the site of several such crashes in the past. Freitas, like all the roads in Terra Linda, was made to maximize driver speed and parking in an era where male engineers convinced that cars, concrete, and big lawns would define the future made the decisions about how people would live. While most of the big lawns were torn out long ago, however, we continue to live with the dominance of cars and concrete in Terra Linda. At the intersection where Chris was killed, cars barely have to slow down to turn left from Freitas to Lea -- I know this personally as I was also almost hit by a car turning left at full speed while crossing Lea on a walk down Freitas recently. The car failed to notice me until it was almost upon me. This was not a result of landscaping - which is also an issue - but of basic road design. Such rounding of turns to maximize car speed is the default across Terra Linda.
Despite having decades of experience with the beneficial effects of traffic calming in similar residential neighborhoods, including around the Bay Area, this has never been implemented, or even considered comprehensively, in Terra Linda. This is a shame, as there is no shortage of opportunities to do so, even at relatively low cost. Go on Nextdoor any given day and you can find at least one, if not several, posts about drivers going too fast, or collisions or near misses in our neighborhood. Cars race by daycares and parks on Tamarack, Las Pavadas, and Montecillo at 40 miles per hour because the road design encourages them to do so, and there is no enforcement of the 25 mile per hour speed limit. Occasionally putting up signs to tell drivers how fast they are going, which seems to be how the city has primarily responded to these complaints, produces little beneficial effect.
Freitas, as everyone who has been through the neighborhood knows, is particularly egregious. Overbuilt with two car lanes on each side and a tangle of slip lanes for a future that never came to pass, the road acts as a stark divider between the two sides of Terra Linda. My eight-year-old nephew is instructed to bike ten minutes out of his way to come to our house so as to cross Freitas in the least busy and dangerous zone - which itself is just yards from where Chris was killed. The road is not just terrible for those on bikes and pedestrians, either. Crossing through each intersection is stress-inducing in a car as well, and regularly results in near misses and road rage incidents. Keeping track of who has arrived at the intersection first while looking at four or five different lanes, at least one of which is difficult to see from any given arrival point, is a challenge for even those with perfect vision and attention. Add bikes, pedestrians, and smartphones to the mix, and it is not surprising that those not in cars might not be seen. Imagine such a scene in the dark under poor lighting or when the sun is shining in the drivers' faces, and the situation becomes yet more dangerous. Moreover, there are different traffic patterns at each intersection, which understandably confuses drivers about who has the right of way.
The division of the neighborhood by Freitas is especially unfortunate because there are many students one one side who go to school on the other side. As those who have been in Terra Linda on school mornings know, traffic peaks between 8:20 and 8:40 am, exacerbated by parents driving their children within the neighborhood so as to prevent them from having to cross Freitas. I am certain that traffic and aggravation across the neighborhood would be significantly reduced by making raised crossings with yellow flashing lights for crossing Freitas, and implementing comprehensive traffic calming measures along key school routes.
We are a community of significant means. I know that there are many worthy needs for our taxes, but these are the kinds of needs that are eminently within our power to respond to quickly and with relatively little investment, and which can yield beneficial results immediately. We can make more costly investments at key intersections, such as raised crosswalks and flashing lights at Las Pavadas and Freitas, and lower cost investments such as bollards and planters for straightening turns, and speed bumps and enforcement for reducing speeds. Removing parking, narrowing travel lanes, and adding bike lanes to key corridors can accompany resurfacing projects. This will also require more resources for what I understand to be an already overstretched DPW team, which will need to have the resources to develop these plans -- and then actually follow through on them.
Chris's death was a senseless tragedy. It would be a tragedy of a different sort, one that could result in more senseless death, if our elected officials did not use their power and voice to make the changes we need so that those using all modes of transportation can feel safe in our community.
Finally, it goes without saying that these actions are about safety first and foremost, but certainly not just about safety. They also have the power to shape the world we raise our children in in other ways, toward one that is quieter and less polluted, that facilitates strong relationships with our neighbors, and that has a liveable climate.
Thank you for first and foremost, taking immediate action to make the intersection at Lea and Freitas safe to prevent yet another crash there. Additionally, I would like to see the Council take swift action toward the following:
1) putting in bike infrastructure along Freitas as committed to in the past; 2) fixing other Freitas intersections to make pedestrians and bikes safe when crossing; 3) developing and implementing a comprehensive plan to make Terra Linda safer for all, including by removing traffic lanes and slip lanes on Freitas and parking lanes on other roads, adding bike lanes, narrowing travel lanes, straightening off turns with bumpouts/bollards/planters, adding speed bumps in strategic locations, and investing in speed enforcement; and
4) making the same investments in traffic calming across our city.
My dream, shared by many others I know, is that one day, in the not-too-distant future, families across San Rafael can feel safe to travel throughout the city with their children walking and on bikes and to have their children bike and walk to school and activities on their own without fearing what has come to pass for the Brignetti family. I sincerely hope that this Council will do all within your power to make this dream a reality.
Sincerely,
Lauren Withey
--
Lauren S. Withey
--
Lauren S. Withey
From: Leslie Walleigh
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2025 3:24 PM
To: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]> Subject: Public Comment - 7/21/2025 CC Meeting - Chris Brignetti To whom it may concern,
We rent a condo in The Meadows of Terra Linda in close proximity to our daughters' families. We have previously worried about the safety of the left turn from Frietas onto Lea Drive both for pedestrians and bikers. We were unspeakably saddened by the death of Chris Brignetti.
We urge the council to implement the 2018 Bicycle Master Plan and to take other steps to make that particular crossing, as well as others, safer for both bikers and walkers.
Thank you for your attention.
Leslie Walleigh MD, MPH
Robert L. Withey
From: Nancy Grover
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2025 3:59 PM
To: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]> Subject: Public Comment - 7/21/2025 CC Meeting - Chris Brignetti I was shocked and saddened by this death. And outraged to hear that this intersection has been discussed as a dangerous spot and, in actual fact, had already been the site of five previous, serious crashes.
I am a 78 year old woman who is trying to be healthy for myself and for the planet. I choose to ride a bike when I can, and I have been advocating for safety for all of us. Who would choose to ride a bike when such dangerous conditions are allowed to remain This life threatening situation must change. And you can do it as soon as your can.
I live close to the San Anselmo Hub and regularly ride to San Rafael.
Thank your for considering safety a major priority in the future.
Nancy Grover
From: William P. Bacon
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2025 3:47 PM
To: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]>; Rachel Kertz <[email protected]>; Mayor Kate <[email protected]>
Subject: Public Comment - 7/21/2025 City Council Meeting - Freitas Parkway & Death of Chris Brignetti Dear Mayor Kate, Councilmember Kertz, Members of the City Council, and City of San Rafael Staff,
My name is William Bacon and I am a San Rafael resident, parent, and homeowner in Terra Linda. I am writing to express my hope that the City of San Rafael will prioritize making Manuel T. Frietas Parkway in Terra Linda a safer corridor for people walking or on bicycles. The senseless and preventable death of my neighbor Chris Brignetti, who my family personally knew (his family lives four houses away from mine), must never be allowed to happen again.
I travel through the intersection where Chris was killed several times per week on foot with my two year old daughter and two month old son or on our cargo bike. This upper part of Frietas is a critical bike and pedestrian like to the Ross Valley for Terra Linda residents via Mission Pass Path and Fawn Drive and it is deeply disappointing that the City of San Rafael has not made a meaningful effort in recent years, especially with the 2023 resurfacing of Frietas Parkway, to make the road safer for all users.
Freitas Parkway, and frankly most streets in Terra Linda, remain dangerous for people on foot and bicycle due to the roads being engineered to support high speed car travel. The lack of City of San Rafael investment in improving our neighborhood's roads over the last 60+ years since Terra Linda was developed has resulted in a public right of way environment that is not reflective of our community's needs and stated values in 2025.
Thank you for your work on behalf of all the residents of San Rafael.
Best,
William Bacon
San Rafael, California 94903