Willow Glen residents who purchased homes on Pine Avenue and now complain about traffic volume ("Pine Avenue homeowners want traffic volume and speeding cut," April 13) ignored the cardinal rule of real estate: location, location, location.

Please remember, the San Jose Department of Transportation and other city officials never forced any Willow Glen resident to purchase a home located on a busy street.

While complaints about speeding and stop sign violations are legitimate, it is absurd to complain about traffic volume and insist "the whole neighborhood should share the traffic." Pine Avenue homes have always sold at lower prices than comparable homes in the neighborhood precisely because of the long existing and obvious traffic situation associated with the street. Buyer remorse is no excuse to pass Pine Avenue traffic problems on to the rest of the neighborhood.

Don DeLay

Fairview Avenue

Diverting traffic off
Pine not the answer

In response to the residents of Pine Avenue ("Pine Avenue homeowners want traffic volume and speeding cut," April 13) who are trying to persuade the city of San Jose to enforce a reduction in traffic volume along Pine Avenue: Filtering traffic to Minnesota and Curtner avenues is a good idea.

However, that can only be accomplished by making all nearby east-west neighborhood streets, such as Malone and Byerley avenues, inaccessible to commuters. How could this possibly be enforced?

By dead ending these streets? That would inconvenience far more residents than those living on Pine.

I agree that the city should do all that it possibly can to enforce the speed limit on Pine Avenue and to make the street a safer place. But as far as reducing the traffic volume just on Pine, that would simply put more traffic volume elsewhere, such as Malone or into the neighborhoods like Byerley.

It would also require ticketing motorists who make an unlawful turn onto Pine Avenue during commute hours.

This very thing was attempted before on Hicks Avenue, and I think that most of us will agree that the outcome of that program was a failure.

Matt Darwin

Leona Court