Officers issues 252 traffic tickets on Wednesday in Atherton and Menlo Park

The police presence is very effective in reminding people to slow down. No doubt about it. That's a good thing.

However, the patrol cars themselves ought to proceed carefully in their driving too. In its zeal to protect the public, a patrol car squeezed in behind my car, to get in the left turn lane to make a u-turn, to the extent I needed to pull forward inches from the car in front of me (much closer than was comfortable for me) to make room for the patrol car that was at my bumper, nudging me forward.

Reckless driving in school zones is terrible. What can we do to double the fines for this type of crime?

Now, please put cops on bicycles patrolling Santa Cruz Ave. I'm about to boycott downtown on Saturdays based on the crazy driving behavior I struggled with last week. A Prius double-parked on Santa Cruz behind the diagonal parking between Evelyn & Crane impeded traffic. Fast u-turns on Santa Cruz at both Chestnut & Doyle scared some peds & drivers, including me. A u-turn from the NW side of Chestnut into Santa Cruz & back into Chestnut confused the pedestrians who thought the guy was turning left. I could go on but you've all seen this stuff. If downtown Capitola can effectively use a wheelchair-bound officer for parking & traffic violations, we should be able to use a non-motorbike riding officer for maneuverability to patrol downtown. Or risk more accidents and further reduce the number of people who will come to patronize our local merchants.

Downtowner - any thoughts on those idiots who in the parking lots, and those who are so worried about front end damage in those lots that they don't pull all the way in, letting their vehicle backsides hang out in the narrow driving lane? Those are my peeves, and a part of why we don't spend more time in downtown Menlo.

Why isn't there a parking structure to relieve the congestion?

Oh....

I'd be interested in knowing how many citations are issued on a normal day?

JulieToo -

I appreciated your comments. Points well taken!

I wanted to respectfully suggest that you should never let a police officer (or any other driver for that matter) push you into doing something that you do not feel is safe or aren't comfortable doing as the driver of a car. If there isn't room, don't go forward - you'll be the one charged with the accident. Simply say there wasn't sufficient room.

I have to believe that any police officer worth their badge would understand!

Police could write tickets all day long in downtown. In particular there is one motorcycle cop who hides at Left bank restaurant on Santa Cruz Ave. He has it down. I saw him write 6 tickets. I have no idea what the violations were. He had them pulled over ticket written and off in under 5 mins. The Saturation Traffic Enforcement Program to me is a huge overkill. 40 Police officers on patrol? Seriously? Atherton and Menlo Park is only 23 sq miles combined. We pay for this. Its beyond comprehension to me. Pulling over soccer mom's in their SUV without a front license plate is just a plain waste of time. I can't help but think this is just about raising money for the counties. I thought either the President was in town or we were being taken over. I have just been taking Uber for the last month or so everywhere. Its in expensive and some one else can get pulled over for nonsense.

The city tried to build a parking structure and the downtown business Flegel's in particular) did not want it. I was all for it but I seemed to be the minority.

Bruce:

the problem with the parking structure that Flegels and some others of us opposed was that it was coupled with low income housing. Yes, they called it affordable housing, but there's no such thing as affordable in Menlo Park. The amount of parking produced by this plan wasn't going to be adequate to support what would eventually be the parking needs of the residential component and provide enough parking for downtown. They had allowed for 1 car per unit. We all know that low income folks are two working persons and typically have two cars. so right out of the gate the parking was inadequate by half. Ad to that, the fact that over time those units would become rentals with multiple renters/roommates likely producing 1 car per bedroom. the project would have eventually resulted in a large parking demand that would have eaten up a large portion of the parking provided by the garage. It was a nonstarter for that reason.

If the city would construct a parking garage without the associated housing it's likely they could get it done. The only problem becomes paying for it.

Bruce Good - a few months ago, my daughter and I sat at one of the outdoor tables at the Left Bank restaurant. We watched as car after car failed to make a complete stop at the stop sign right in front of us at the crosswalk - some not even slowing down. We even saw several cars ignoring pedestrians in the crosswalk. It was incredibly enlightening... and equally frightening.

Unless you sit there and watch, you may never have noticed. I would invite you take five minutes and observe.

@Pogo, I've been at Menlo Cafe on a Sunday morning and seen the same thing at that stop sign. Cars either don't come to a complete stop, or blaze right through the intersection without even noticing pedestrians waiting to cross.

Your town (or county or state) rips people off. $285 for blocking an intersection (barely, I would contest) on a heavily trafficked road? I am sure your police officers, court officials, and other civil "servants" live much more affluent lives than most.