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Health & Fitness

Good News for Residents Plagued by Speeding Vehicles in Downtown San Anselmo Neighborhoods, San Anselmo, CA -July 17, 2013

SanAnSloMo Committee Report #1

The Woodland Ave "SanAnSloMo" Committee met last evening with five officials from San Anselmo to agree a  plan to slow down speeding vehicles on Woodland  Ave. by designing a new parking plan on both sides of the street.  Woodland is a narrow street which has direct access to Wade Thomas School and to the San Anselmo Hills beyond, and currently only allows parking on one side of the street.  "This makes Woodland the perfect speedway up a long straight  a way,  people just gun it from one end to the other" said Elliott Josi,  a founding member of the SanAnSloMo Committee.  The street is home to many seniors or kids who play ball and skateboard in the middle of the road, and ride bikes to school.  It is a heavily pedestrian community with many folks walking to Town on a daily basis.

Woodland connects to downtown San Anselmo Avenue right at Comforts.  This neighborhood has experienced negligent drivers for many years causing the deaths of numerous animals and family pets, frightening seniors and destroying the peaceful elegance of walking and biking in the Seminary and downtown community.  Pine Street, Ross, Bolinas, Tunestead and Tamalpais residents all have complained to the Town about the speeding vehicle problem, some holler at the cars as they race past.  Woodland was heavily signed with the Town provided "Slow Down" signs and it had no impact on the speeders. 

Debbie Stutsman, the Town Administrator, stated in 2013 that she has received more mail from residents about speeding vehicles than on any topic since she has worked in the Town.  Clearly, San Anselmo has a problem preserving the calm and serene neighborhoods from the great American automobile.  The residents got together and decided that it was time to take back the streets of San Anselmo for the bikers and the dog walkers, and the elderly and the children.

The SanAnSloMo Committee was formed last Fall and in a matter of weeks submitted  more than 100 signatures  on a petition to the Town's "Traffic Safety Committee" (TSC) in Dec 2012 requesting  speed bumps be installed.    The TSC reported that San Anselmo currently bans all speed bumps and that unless the Town Council reinserts speed bumps into policy, they are not allowed under any circumstances.  The TSC explained that when San Anselmo created its Traffic Calming Guidelines originally, the Town staff specifically proposed including speed bumps in the Traffic Calming Guidebook along with multiple other options.  When the speed bumps proposal reached the Town Council, the at that time (2003), Paul Chignell,  requested that speed bumps be deleted entirely as an optional traffic calming tool.  Jeff Krott seconded the motion, and speed bumps have been banned in San Anselmo ever since. The petition toinstall speed bumps therefore was dead  on arrival to the TSC, unless the S.A. Town Council changes this policy.  The issue of speed bumps will be placed on back on the Town Council agenda in September this Fall and a new dialog around this topic will ensue.

Therefore, Town officials responded with a traffic slowing plan with parking changes including  several different  designs to put parking on both sides of the street to slow the speed of vehicles.  The TSC officials came out to Woodland Tues night to present and discuss these alternative parking designs with the neighbors. Each of the designs includes adding new spaces on the South side of Woodland and increasing the net number of total parking spaces available.  Some of the existing spaces will be eliminated so as not to have 2 parking space directly opposite each other creating a space too narrow (under 12 feet) for emergency vehicles.

The exact parking change final design is still under discussion.  One thing was clear both sides made a genuine effort to formulate a solution that might just work.    The SanAnSloMo team plans to talk with the Woodland neighbors to socialize the proposed new parking designs and to reach agreement with the Town TSC in about one month.  Cars will have to navigate between alternating spaces on either side of the street.  The goal of SanAnSloMo is to bring the average car speeds down 5-10 MPH.  Speeds will be measured before the parking changes and afterward and the effectiveness of parking modifications will be assessed with the TSC.  The parking changes will be implemented in the months ahead.  Hopefully, the program will be positively received and successful.   It is the result of a lot of combined effort from the Town and the neighbors to create a realistic and effective solution to slowing speeding vehicles.

Woodland is only the first of many streets in downtown San Anselmo that need to implement a plan to slow down vehicles in the downtown neighborhoods.  The real goal is protecting the safety of people and pets and to restoring the character that makes the streets of San Anselmo the most secure and peaceful place to take a stroll in Marin.   

If you are interested in the SanAnSloMo Committee's progress - feel free to email me at steve dot harnsberger at gmail.





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