The proposed traffic plan will re-direct a large volume of traffic onto Gilbert - a significant impact to Gilbert residents, pedestrians, bicyclists and children who walk to Willow Oaks park, Footsteps preschool, Mardini's deli and the shops on Menalto. No one wants all of the Willows traffic routed down Gilbert during peak hours and no one wants the flashing neon speed feedback signs that go with it. The existing conditions in the neighborhood are not such that these drastic and costly changes are needed. The proposed traffic plan is not wanted and we shouldn't continue to waste resources and time on this. It's simply not a critical issue and there is no real problem to fix. Let's put this to rest, save the City and taxpayers some money, and move on.

[Post removed. This poster has the same IP address as Gilbert Resident.]

I applaud all the residents of the Willows neighborhood that came out in force and some case furry to help shut down this plan. As a Willow resident myself this plan made no sense diverting traffic or putting in more speed barriers and signs.

I would rather see the money go to improvements like sidewalks in the neighborhood (especially why are there no sidewalks all the way down O'Connor) on routes to and from the schools in the Willows neighborhood.

The problem with this whole plan is it went beyond the scope that the residents wanted.

* There is *some* concern about so-called cut through (non-neighborhood commuter traffic) traffic (and not all of it is racially based even if some is).

* There is concern about traffic going too fast for a residential neighborhood in many areas. Although frankly, Woodland isn't the issue if you look at the data and experience the speed bumps

* There is concern about safe transit for school children (how many kids from three schools go down O'Connor with no continuous sidewalk?)

However, there was never strong, broad-based support for radical re-engineering of the neighborhood to improve one street(s) at the cost of others. It is this traffic shifting that has people so mad and opposed.

Can't we just get some of the simple things done without all this rigamarole?

* Full sidewalks on at least one side of major streets like O'Connor

* A couple of key intersections - with blind spots and speeding - adding stop signs (I hate to have more but...)

* A couple of spots to add some speed humps (please the 'old style' ones that don't beat up my car at normal speed not the 'new style' ones that were added to Woodland and other streets 6-7 yrs ago)

That's it. Simple, relatively inexpensive and should have little argument. Certainly doesn't require a whole new multi-year analysis

I see "cut through" traffic from Menlo residents all the time on Woodland in EPA, on Univ Ave in EPA, where I live on the EPA west side. People, get used to it. The cut through excuse is largely bull pucky - and while it's not all racially based, much of it is socio-economic bias against EPA residents.

What many MP residents perceive as "cut through traffic" are folks going to work, spending MONEY in your town via going to restaurants, shopping, banking, visiting friends and family, etc.

BTW, FWIW, I'm a Menlo native, white and drop lot of my income in your town, as does my partner, who for years lived in MP. Whether I'm visiting family in Menlo, having coffee at Cafe Zoe, running into Mardini's, eating at Mike's or heading to ECR, I have a right to get there conveniently and safely, just as you do to the east bay, 101 south, The Four Seasons, Ikea or parts of Palo Alto whose route is most convenient via EPA.

I'm glad this was shot down and that Menlo is still full of smart, balanced people whose elitism doesn't get the best of them. I'm all for traffic calming that has people slow down and puts public safety first. But one way streets, blocking streets off? For that, move to a gated community or downtown Palo Alto.

I forgot to mention that O'Connor Resident's suggestions make good sense. Having lived in the Willows for decades before I moved to EPA, I saw traffic patterns grow and shift. There are a LOT of Willows residents who speed, talk on their cell phones, make incomplete stops, don't stop for pedestrians, etc. - it's pretty convenient to blame it on non-MP residents, but that would be lying. None of us like speed bumps and too many stop signs, but I sure prefer them to getting into an accident or scaring pedestrians.

There really are only 3 options here:
1) Eliminate traffic by making it so inconvenient that people go elsewhere - unfortunately inconvenient for the residents as well, and unfair to neighbors and visitors to our neighborhood, not to mention our retailers, so NO.
2) Divert traffic - unfair to those on the newly-busy streets, not likely anyone will volunteer for more traffic or less safety, so NO.
3) Slow traffic - with more stop signs, traffic circles (on Gilbert, maybe?), speed bumps (have worked on Woodland), etc. - these have worked here and in nearby neighborhoods, so why not try a few more rather than spend more $ on "studies"? YES
Why is this so hard...?!

If anyone who cares about traffic through the Willows works for Google, it would help all of us if they would work on Google Maps and change the programming so that the flow of traffic to Palo Alto currently using Willow Road is diverted to 101 and to University Avenue.
We have stop signs and/or speed bumps on Durham, OKeefe and Gilbert. If we had cops to monitor the speed more frequently, that would help also.