Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Bike lanes would impair access to Boulevard and pose a safety threat

By John Moore

The editorial "Bicyclists continue to be the bad guys" in the Oct. 8 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times is another example of the Weekly-Times exercising its constitutional right of disseminating incorrect and misleading information.

I guess someone always has to the "Bad Guy" in the eyes of the news. As a car dealer, and on behalf of the other car dealers in town, I take exception to your statements that we were not a part of the process involving the Los Gatos Boulevard planning.

I attended many of the early planning sessions, and from the very beginning voiced the concerns of the car dealers, as well as other retail businesses, that restricting traffic in any way would be detrimental to our business. I continued to voice my concerns and attend these meetings of the Boulevard Community Alliance until it became apparent that those sitting on this "committee" seemed to have hidden agendas, and very few of them had any actual involvement with either the boulevard or Los Gatos, for that matter.

As the General Plan Committee took on the planning process, we stayed involved, never deviating from our original position that restricting traffic would not be good for business.

We questioned the intent of slowing the traffic, and we were told "it goes too fast, much higher than the 35 mph speed limit."

Why not enforce the speed limit? The response was that the police department could not justify the cost of increased patrols. We attended the Planning Commission meeting, where our continued pleas and concerns were not recognized or taken seriously. We attended the Town Council meeting and gave them the same information we had been verbalizing for the past three years.

They listened. They reacted prudently. Unfortunately, your editor refuses to do either.

Your editorial should have looked at the facts. Los Gatos Boulevard is a major arterial. Thousands of vehicles travel on it each day. From Blossom Hill Road to Lark Avenue, there are 70 driveways and streets that access the boulevard. Only nine of these are signaled.

If you have ever exited one of these driveways with on-street parking impairing your view of oncoming traffic, you must know that it is difficult to see vehicles approaching, let alone bicyclists.

Our business is automobiles. That's what we sell and service. That is what and how people come to our businesses. We used to all be located downtown. As the town grew, we relocated to a more easily accessible area. Our very livelihood depends on this easy access.

Our position on restricting traffic is a result of the issues of easy access and safety. This issue is important not to just the car dealers, but to all retail businesses on the boulevard. We get 79 percent of our sales and service business from ZIP code areas other than Los Gatos. We cannot afford to jeopardize our out-of-town customer base with traffic restrictions.

According to a study done for the Los Gatos Auto Dealers by Barton-Aschman Associations Inc., Caltrans' Highway Design Manual says that bicycle lanes and adjacent traffic lanes must be of sufficient width. Reducing the size of the lanes to 11 feet and incorporating a bike lane with adjacent parking requires a minimum curb-to-median distance of 45 feet, which is more than currently exists along the boulevard.

And reducing all the lanes to 11 feet is contrary to Caltrans' standard of 12 feet for each outer lane, according to the study.

If there is an accident and the cause can be attributed even in part to faulty design standards, who will be sued?

The real issue is about economics and safety. If restricting the traffic causes negative economic consequence, the idea is a bad one. If restricting the traffic causes increased traffic in neighborhoods, the idea is a bad one.

And finally, if restricting the traffic further increases the likelihood of an accident--well, you get the idea.

We are not against bicycles or bicyclists. We require that this issue be studied further, ensuring that the proposed traffic changes will be both good for the retail sector and safe for all concerned.

John Moore is the owner of Moore Buick Pontiac GMC in Los Gatos.

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