From:
To: Stephen Zollman; Sandra Maurer; Neysa Hinton; Phill Carter; Jill McLewis Cc: Mary Gourley; City Council; Toni Bertolero
Subject: SEB CC Mtg Nov. 18, 2025 Agenda Item #4 Public Comment Date: Monday, November 17, 2025 10:30:41 PM
Dear Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council Members,
I urge you to approve Item #4 on your Consent Calendar of November 18, 2025, including the work on the retaining wall along the cemetery and Experiment Farm / City Park frontage, and paving near Atascadero Creek.
This matter is titled "Award of Construction Contract for Bodega Avenue Bike Lanes and Pavement." It is, in reality, much more, as stated in the Executive Summary:
The Project consists of installing bike lanes and repaving Bodega Avenue from Nelson Way to Pleasant Hill Road, and adjusting utility boxes to new elevation grade, removal and reconstruction of accessible ramps, sidewalk, curb and gutter, restriping and remarking the finished paved surface, and other associated work and includes two alternate bid items for paving approximately 500 feet of Bodega Avenue near the Atascadero Creek bridge and a new retaining wall near the cemetery.
This work on Bodega Avenue has been needed for years. As our Mayor in 2016, I made the "Bodega Avenue Safety Corridor" my top priority and launched the effort for these improvements. Now, ten years later, I am, at the same time, dismayed and heartened that Phase II could get underway next year. I appreciate Staff's persistence and erdedication to this project.
Members of our public may criticize the work plan because it includes bike lanes on a somewhat steep, major thoroughfare. "No one will use them" might be their refrain. This complaint is invalid. Class II bike lanes are the preferred design for this roadway of varying widths, (even though, were it a perfect world, we would all rather have a multi-use off-roadway trail). The inclusion of bike lanes in the design has helped secure the funding. The presence of the bike lanes will promote active transportation, reduce dependency on cars, lower emissions, improve safety for cars, cyclists, and pedestrians, and enhance public health.
It seems economical and potentially less disruptive to include the work along the cemetery and Experiment Farm / City Park, and the paving near Atascadero Creek.
I ask that you approve Item #4, with the inclusion of the alternate bid items of the work along the cemetery and Experiment Farm and the paving at the westerly entrance at Atascadero Creek.
Respectfully submitted,
Sarah Gurney
Retired City Council Member (2004-2022)