It is clear that those of us who live in North SCC are the ones that understand what traffic issues are like on a daily basis and what we would want in a public transport option. Mountain View City Council and Palo Alto City Council both seem to be hoodwinked by developers and blinkered by VTA, HSR and Caltrain rather than pay attention to those of us who live here and have to negotiate traffic to get our kids to schools, to get ourselves to work and various meetings and frequently to SJC and SFO. We are the ones who know that we often sit in traffic queues which take more than one green light to pass through. We are the ones who look for short cuts through neighborhoods to beat the horrendous waits at some of the busiest intersections. We are the ones who worry about missing a flight because traffic at 101 is at a snails pace through Palo Alto and Mountain View - and that is when we can get through the on ramps at our main arterials.
We want traffic to move efficiently and for many of us we understand that an efficient transportation service would greatly help us get to where we need to go. We can't continue to take a couple of hours sitting in traffic in our own cars because there is no alternative each day. We can't continue to see VTA whittling away service to enable poor SJ residents get into SJ downtown. We can't all be expected to ride bikes or walk to run errands or get to medical appointments. We can't all be expected to see lucky Googlers riding luxury buses with wifi to enjoy which we have no access to.
Mountain View and Palo Alto share a lot of the same problems as well as sharing a lot of the same facilities. We don't have a Berlin Wall down San Antonio Road, we all want to cross that boundary to get to work or to run errands.
Some of the problems could be dealt with by getting buses to take kids to our high schools and middle schools. Some of the problems could be dealt with by getting a better route to Foothill College. Some of the problems could be dealt with by getting local Google and similar employees to their jobs across highway 101, to downtown MV and downtown PA, to Stanford and various other business areas.
Will VTA, and the two city councils listen to us, the residents who have to live in the mess they are not dealing with?
It is clear that those of us who live in North SCC are the ones that understand what traffic issues are like on a daily basis and what we would want in a public transport option. Mountain View City Council and Palo Alto City Council both seem to be hoodwinked by developers and blinkered by VTA, HSR and Caltrain rather than pay attention to those of us who live here and have to negotiate traffic to get our kids to schools, to get ourselves to work and various meetings and frequently to SJC and SFO. We are the ones who know that we often sit in traffic queues which take more than one green light to pass through. We are the ones who look for short cuts through neighborhoods to beat the horrendous waits at some of the busiest intersections. We are the ones who worry about missing a flight because traffic at 101 is at a snails pace through Palo Alto and Mountain View - and that is when we can get through the on ramps at our main arterials.
We want traffic to move efficiently and for many of us we understand that an efficient transportation service would greatly help us get to where we need to go. We can't continue to take a couple of hours sitting in traffic in our own cars because there is no alternative each day. We can't continue to see VTA whittling away service to enable poor SJ residents get into SJ downtown. We can't all be expected to ride bikes or walk to run errands or get to medical appointments. We can't all be expected to see lucky Googlers riding luxury buses with wifi to enjoy which we have no access to.
Mountain View and Palo Alto share a lot of the same problems as well as sharing a lot of the same facilities. We don't have a Berlin Wall down San Antonio Road, we all want to cross that boundary to get to work or to run errands.
Some of the problems could be dealt with by getting buses to take kids to our high schools and middle schools. Some of the problems could be dealt with by getting a better route to Foothill College. Some of the problems could be dealt with by getting local Google and similar employees to their jobs across highway 101, to downtown MV and downtown PA, to Stanford and various other business areas.
Will VTA, and the two city councils listen to us, the residents who have to live in the mess they are not dealing with?
