From: LR
Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2026 5:20 PM
To: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]> Subject: Public Comment for City Council Meeting 10/19 on Second and Fourth Street Intersection "Improvements"
I am a parent and resident of Marquard Avenue. We in the West End have already endured multiple years of construction for the sewer line replacement on Second, and then the bike lane installation, which blocked our access to our homes with nonstop construction rerouting, often working noisily through the night, for the convenience of wealthy commuters in San Anselmo, without regard for the working people of the West End. Now the City proposes another large Project in the same location, as does Marin Water.
The City of San Rafael has been deaf to the entreaties of dozens of us residents, who have begged for consideration of our safety and access to our homes. The mayor is a childless bike advocate who apparently cares nothing for the elderly or disabled, or parents of young children who live on Marquard or use the preschool there. This so-called "Improvements" project would only benefit a handful of bicyclists, at the expense of all of us who live in the neighborhood. Why do we have no voice? The mayor has refused to even talk to us. Our "representative" Eli Hill recuses himself from every issue involving the neighborhood. We in the West End neighborhood get no help from the City.
This project is as ill-conceived as it is dangerous. Vehicles that would turn left off Second onto Greenfield or Marquard would be diverted up West Street (which lacks a left-turn signal) and onto the narrow one-lane hilltop road of Marquard which cannot accommodate 2-way traffic. Marquard is a very narrow (2-direction one-lane) street on the hill connecting to West St. When another vehicle comes, especially a truck, it forces drivers to back down the blind hill in a dangerous reverse. I have seen accidents, altercations, and more nearmisses than I can count at this location. For this reason, those of us on lower Marquard avoid ever driving that way, unless forced by construction. Imagining emergency vehicle access there is a nightmare. The daily traffic of preschool dropoff, residential drivers, delivery and construction vehicles all forced to traverse that narrow hill is a recipe for accidents.
All vehicle traffic would have to navigate a dangerous, blind curve on Marquard to reach homes and the preschool, which were safely accessible from the existing left-turn on Second Street. There is no reason the intersection could not be re-vamped while maintaining direct vehicle access to Marquard: a normal traffic light and intersection on Second would allow Marquard traffic out to go right or left. Also, removing the "DO NOT ENTER" sign from West End onto 2nd St. would allow traffic to move twenty feet forward to access 2nd, rather than drive over the narrow one-way hill through our neighborhood. This project may aim to force everyone to use bikes, but most people cannot do that. The project would actually increase greenhouse gas emissions, as all the vehicles would be forced to drive farther and idle longer to get to destinations on Marquard and Fremont, and increase accidents, as all vehicles would be forced over a narrow hilltop road not designed for two-way traffic. This project design makes it less safe for vehicles, and the mothers, fathers, and children inside these vehicles; any redesign of this intersection needs to address safety for all people, and all modes of transportation, not preferentially support the entitled bicyclists of Marin.
Thanks for your consideration of my comment,
Elizabeth Ryan