Mayor Cohen and Members of the City Council:

In 1992 I signed a neighborhood petition calling for traffic studies linked to concerns about crime in East Palo Alto. I was told that the map presented by the petitioner was only a concept, that they wanted input from the neighborhood. I later learned that the petition was created to prove neighborhood support for a very specific system of street barriers.

Paul Collacchi in his March 3, 1993 letter to the City Engineer made the same observation. "The crime petition was used as a 'bait and switch' lead-in to the traffic control petition. Petitioners were often vague about the finality of the plan ... I came away thinking that in fact a different plan was going to be offered."

The supporters of this "study" are suddenly vague about their goals, but their recent public statements (see attached file) show that their intentions have not changed since the '90s - to block or discourage "cut-through" (i.e. East Palo Alto Willows) traffic from Menlo Park's streets.

In almost every respect, the current situation is an exact replay of the events of the '90's. Do you really need to spend another $120k to come up with a new set of street closures and a new "maze like experience" for the Willows?

Save the expense of consultants and free Staff time for other projects. The intent of the proponents of this study are clear. Use the NTMP which the City went to so much effort to create. Print copies of the existing barrier plan and maze plan from '92 and '93 and let the proponents demonstrate their claimed neighborhood support by getting signatures on NTMP petitions. Certainly you'd want to be confident in the support of a solid majority of Willows households, as required by the NTMP, before making such sweeping changes to our streets.

Thank you,

Eric Doyle