Public Comment - Verbal CommunicationsPublic comment received in the Public Comment email box before the deadline for Verbal
Communications:
From: Maria Ristow
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2020 9:55 AM
To: PublicComment <PublicComment@losgatosca.gov>
Subject: Public Comment: ideas for more public space downtown this summer
Mayor and members of the Town Council,
With reduced car traffic, increased foot traffic, and certainly some version of social distancing
likely to extend through the summer, have you considered reducing or eliminating parking on
some or all of Santa Cruz Avenue for the summer?
Why would this make sense?
• Clearly we will have fewer cars downtown this summer, if present activity is any
indicator.
• If we want people to return, there must be extra walking space, more sidewalk area to
safely share space.
• Restaurants will have much less seating permitted, so takeout and outdoor
eating/sitting areas will be desirable.
What needs to be done first:
• New CLEAR signage for all muni lots must be in place, to direct visitors to the lots and
off-street parking.
• The employee permit parking program needs to be in place to move employees to
residential streets, private lots (with agreements) and more distant muni lots to free up
the main lots for visitors. (As employees slowly return to work downtown, now is the
ideal time to move them into the employee parking program.)
My guess is that loading areas will need to remain and be clearly marked. Then something
perhaps more attractive than last summer's K-rails would run along the edge of the travel lanes,
reserving the former parking spaces for outdoor seating or extended sidewalk areas? Sharrows
would need to be painted in the lanes to make sure cars and cyclists know the lane is for all
modes of transit.
I do NOT recommend closing Santa Cruz Avenue to vehicle traffic. The local residential streets
would be too badly impacted, and I think we want the exposure of our shops and restaurants to
passing traffic.
Thank you for all you are doing for the residents and businesses in town!
Maria Ristow