In regards to Annie Tsai’s Dec. 16 “Being in Community,” I say yes! The biking community needs to be inconvenienced in favor of North Central residents who have lost parking to the Humboldt bike lane. Removal of the bike lane is the equitable thing to do for the North Central gardeners, house cleaners, night workers and seniors for whom access to a car and parking is vital. It’s equitable but also necessary, as the federal money used for the bike lane states those funds are to be targeted for development of “a suitable living environment principally for low/moderate income persons” in the equity priority area. Let’s not burden even further the historically underserved North Central neighborhood. I am all in favor prioritizing their convenience, safety and comfort over the very low number of bikers using the lane, among whom it is not even clear they are North Central residents or low income. I hope the biking community can join with Narita’s sentiment and embrace being inconvenienced for the benefit of their fellow North Central community members.
People who walk and bike in San Mateo are more than "inconvenienced" every day. Long waits for walk signals or lengthy detours to get to safe bike facilities. Living in fear that your child might not make it home due to drivers checking their phones or being buzzed. Getting hit by a driver and then being forced to pay $$$ for medical bills and possibly losing your job while you heal. Waiting 30+ minutes for the bus because we don't adequately fund public transportation.
No one every mentions the 1/3 of Americans who don't drive. Their convenience takes a back seat to those who have too many cars to fit in their driveways and garages.
Lots of back and forth, but the main issue as I saw, and still see it is, use the side streets for bikes, scooters etc. and the two-way arterials for cars only. Real simple. We are not ever going to be Copenhagen with their wide boulevards and little curbs separating the cars and the bikes as well as pedestrians, with their own little traffic signals for the bikes (yes it exists). We need to keep the bikes , scooters, etc. on the side streets (hopefully now "one way"), and the cars exclusively on the two-way arterials with the speed differentials kept in mind to reveal the inherently safer conditions available for all. Oh, and I nearly forgot, the "bulb outs" also known as "bike demolition devices" need to go away as well. What a lame idea that was!!!
Cheers all and glad I drive and walk exclusively (sorry my bike buddies)
Yes on the speed separation, yes on the occasional one-way setup, and yes, "bulb-outs" are not safety devices for people on bicycles or pedestrians, they exist purely for cars and drivers.
... that said. Humboldt Street IS the 'residential quiet side street' so to speak. The arterials here are clearly US-101, El Camino Real, I-280. Maybe parts of Delaware would count as well. But Humboldt Street is mostly residential. If there is a lot of cut-through traffic, the traffic engineers should be fired.
Cut-through traffic should always have been discouraged here (as part of the 'focus' in 'Equity Priority Focus') and send over to the major arteries. N. Amphlett Blvd and Bayshore are the business streets, send trucks over there.
The Humboldt bike lane corridor is one of two segments in San Mateo that is on the City/County Association of Governments (C/CAG's) Countywide “High-Injury Network”. Before the installation of the bike lanes, this stretch of roadway accounted for 11% of all bicycle collisions in the city, including one that left an elderly cyclist in a coma for at least 10 months (final outcome unknown). For safety and connectivity reasons, the bicycle lanes along N Humboldt St and Poplar Ave were the #2 and #4 priority projects on the 2020 Bicycle Master Plan.
Serious injury and death are more than an "inconvenience".
Not everyone has the choice to use a car instead of braving a dangerous roadway on a bicycle, especially low/moderate income community members. Vehicles are increasingly becoming a luxury item with the average cost of a new car now over $50K and the cost of a used car over $25K. The share of auto loans that are more than 60 days past due reached an all time high of 6.5%, with more than 25% of car owners “underwater” on the loan, owing more than the trade-in value of the vehicle.
Between population growth and increasing unaffordability of cars, we need to be planning for more people to walk/bike, and make it safe for them to do so.
The author has a complete misunderstanding about Equity Focus Areas (EFA). This isn't about privileged people with too many cars. On the contrary 'too many cars' were the main reason these areas came into focus in the first place. As SMDJ and Nicole Fernandez have been reporting, this area has a high percentage of car violence, some of the highest in the county. And bike lanes can fix that.
When Diane Papan, Gina Papan, Rico E. Medina, David Canepa, and others added yet another highway lane to US101, they also increased air and noise pollution to various areas along the corridor. MTC is looking at East Palo Alto, North Fair Oaks, or of course North Central.
The Grand Jury of San Mateo County and C/CAG have complained and created various reports about this: https://ccag.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/CCAG-Equity-Framework_Final-Report_12.18.23.pdf
And yet, San Mateo Democrats keep refusing to fix this issue. Mayor Lorraine and Nicole Fernandez seem eager to make it worse. (would corruption explain this possible hatred for children from low-income areas or does this go deeper?)
quote:
"C/CAG's project team conducted Equity Focus Area (EFA) mapping and data analysis based on C/CAG’s program area themes, to identify social, economic, environmental, health, and quality of life inequities in the county."
and
"My community has been underserved and neglected. We don’t have any public parks. We don’t have bike lanes. Sidewalks are non-existent in some streets." [EFA resident]
Or in short: if children in high income areas like Menlo Park or Palo Alto deserve bike lanes, then children in low-income areas like EAP, NFO, and North Central deserve them even more so.
Kate Low - Great LTE! Hopefully the City will step up and do the right thing and remove these error bike lanes that go virtually unused and restore parking for residents on Humboldt Street.
And take note of which City Councilmember fails to advocate and vote for restoring the parking back. That is an indication they are also willing to remove your resident parking as well for similar bike lanes that go virtually unused. CAUTION.
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(6) comments
People who walk and bike in San Mateo are more than "inconvenienced" every day. Long waits for walk signals or lengthy detours to get to safe bike facilities. Living in fear that your child might not make it home due to drivers checking their phones or being buzzed. Getting hit by a driver and then being forced to pay $$$ for medical bills and possibly losing your job while you heal. Waiting 30+ minutes for the bus because we don't adequately fund public transportation.
No one every mentions the 1/3 of Americans who don't drive. Their convenience takes a back seat to those who have too many cars to fit in their driveways and garages.
Lots of back and forth, but the main issue as I saw, and still see it is, use the side streets for bikes, scooters etc. and the two-way arterials for cars only. Real simple. We are not ever going to be Copenhagen with their wide boulevards and little curbs separating the cars and the bikes as well as pedestrians, with their own little traffic signals for the bikes (yes it exists). We need to keep the bikes , scooters, etc. on the side streets (hopefully now "one way"), and the cars exclusively on the two-way arterials with the speed differentials kept in mind to reveal the inherently safer conditions available for all. Oh, and I nearly forgot, the "bulb outs" also known as "bike demolition devices" need to go away as well. What a lame idea that was!!!
Cheers all and glad I drive and walk exclusively (sorry my bike buddies)
All stay safe
Yes on the speed separation, yes on the occasional one-way setup, and yes, "bulb-outs" are not safety devices for people on bicycles or pedestrians, they exist purely for cars and drivers.
... that said. Humboldt Street IS the 'residential quiet side street' so to speak. The arterials here are clearly US-101, El Camino Real, I-280. Maybe parts of Delaware would count as well. But Humboldt Street is mostly residential. If there is a lot of cut-through traffic, the traffic engineers should be fired.
Cut-through traffic should always have been discouraged here (as part of the 'focus' in 'Equity Priority Focus') and send over to the major arteries. N. Amphlett Blvd and Bayshore are the business streets, send trucks over there.
The Humboldt bike lane corridor is one of two segments in San Mateo that is on the City/County Association of Governments (C/CAG's) Countywide “High-Injury Network”. Before the installation of the bike lanes, this stretch of roadway accounted for 11% of all bicycle collisions in the city, including one that left an elderly cyclist in a coma for at least 10 months (final outcome unknown). For safety and connectivity reasons, the bicycle lanes along N Humboldt St and Poplar Ave were the #2 and #4 priority projects on the 2020 Bicycle Master Plan.
Serious injury and death are more than an "inconvenience".
Not everyone has the choice to use a car instead of braving a dangerous roadway on a bicycle, especially low/moderate income community members. Vehicles are increasingly becoming a luxury item with the average cost of a new car now over $50K and the cost of a used car over $25K. The share of auto loans that are more than 60 days past due reached an all time high of 6.5%, with more than 25% of car owners “underwater” on the loan, owing more than the trade-in value of the vehicle.
Between population growth and increasing unaffordability of cars, we need to be planning for more people to walk/bike, and make it safe for them to do so.
https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/driver-in-san-mateo-hit-and-run-bicyclist-case-pleads/article_58d7a984-3ea2-11ec-a060-63b70771c571.html
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/29/nx-s1-5556935/cost-of-living-cars
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/record-number-subprime-borrowers-miss-car-loan-payments-october-data-shows-2025-11-12/
The author has a complete misunderstanding about Equity Focus Areas (EFA). This isn't about privileged people with too many cars. On the contrary 'too many cars' were the main reason these areas came into focus in the first place. As SMDJ and Nicole Fernandez have been reporting, this area has a high percentage of car violence, some of the highest in the county. And bike lanes can fix that.
When Diane Papan, Gina Papan, Rico E. Medina, David Canepa, and others added yet another highway lane to US101, they also increased air and noise pollution to various areas along the corridor. MTC is looking at East Palo Alto, North Fair Oaks, or of course North Central.
The Grand Jury of San Mateo County and C/CAG have complained and created various reports about this: https://ccag.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/CCAG-Equity-Framework_Final-Report_12.18.23.pdf
And yet, San Mateo Democrats keep refusing to fix this issue. Mayor Lorraine and Nicole Fernandez seem eager to make it worse. (would corruption explain this possible hatred for children from low-income areas or does this go deeper?)
quote:
"C/CAG's project team conducted Equity Focus Area (EFA) mapping and data analysis based on C/CAG’s program area themes, to identify social, economic, environmental, health, and quality of life inequities in the county."
and
"My community has been underserved and neglected. We don’t have any public parks. We don’t have bike lanes. Sidewalks are non-existent in some streets." [EFA resident]
Or in short: if children in high income areas like Menlo Park or Palo Alto deserve bike lanes, then children in low-income areas like EAP, NFO, and North Central deserve them even more so.
Kate Low - Great LTE! Hopefully the City will step up and do the right thing and remove these error bike lanes that go virtually unused and restore parking for residents on Humboldt Street.
And take note of which City Councilmember fails to advocate and vote for restoring the parking back. That is an indication they are also willing to remove your resident parking as well for similar bike lanes that go virtually unused. CAUTION.
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Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.