Travel times for commutes and shopping trips are consistent on a bike even on worst traffic day. Fully agree that Menlo Park needs to make improvements so more people will be willing to use a bike and leave the car at home.

What about synchronized lights on ECR? It's just plain brutal trying to get across town with the lights fighting you every step of the way. That, or removing some of the lights at non-critical intersections (mainly in the south part of ECR).

The Fire District looks forward to evaluating the final report and its recommendations since we were not included in this process. I would hope the group, City and W-Trans reviews our primary emergency response route information prior to finalizing their recommendations, we would be happy to meet with the group so we can discuss which proposals we can support, those we may not support and others they may have not considered.

For example:

We do not support any type of bicycle lane on El Camino Real, a primary emergency response route and the primary route of travel to Stanford Hospital and Trauma Center Needed for Ambulances carrying the sick and injured. This is also a major artery for goods and services used by larger vehicles to support this community. Bicycle travel on this route creates an incompatible use and is dangerous. Rather, we fully support bicycle lanes on Alma and Laurel Streets.

We do not support bicycle lanes on Ravenswood Avenue, especially between Laurel and the Railroad Tracks which is extremely unsafe. Rather, we fully support bicycle lanes on Oak Grove Avenue.

We would support a bicycle lane on Linfield to Santa Margarita and other streets instead of Willow Road. We have offered to work with the City to pay for half of a HAWK Traffic Signal in front of Fire Station 1 and the Fire Board has committed to front the entire amount if the City takes the lead on the engineering and project management, similar to what we did with the Town of Atherton at Altschul and El Camino.

In Summary:

The Fire District is entrusted with the protection of life and property for the community. We are primarily a consequence management organization that daily has direct contact with the patients and victims behind many of these numbers. Our network of Stations, first response units, medical and rescue equipment and our dedicated and highly competent first response personnel live in the very real world where seconds and minutes have a major significance associated with life changing outcomes.

We look forward to assisting with any pro-active strategies that improve our ability to provide important essential emergency services to the entire community.

Harold Schapelhouman, Fire Chief
Menlo Park Fire Protection District