Keep the Humboldt Street bike lanes

The Residential Parking Permit Program would resolve all the parking problems in the north Central neighborhood.

Your opinion is not a fact—except, perhaps, the fact that you’ve lived here for 30 years. Longevity does not equal correctness.

What is factual is that prior City Council members misused funds intended for basic street-lighting safety on Humboldt Street and instead chose to strip residents of their curbside parking to install a so-called “dedicated” bike lane that is functionally unused.

City-collected camera data confirms the truth: no children have ever been observed using this bike lane, and average usage amounts to just 3–4 bike trips per day. That’s it. This is not transportation policy—it’s theater.

The result? A staggering waste of taxpayer money, coupled with real, daily harm inflicted on long-time residents—many of whom are seniors or have mobility limitations—who pay the same taxes as everyone else, yet were singled out and punished by having only their street lose parking. That is not equity. That is discrimination, plain and simple.

And for what? So a tiny, privileged subset of cyclists can enjoy an empty lane while residents circle their own block looking for parking? Absurd.

Using the City’s own data, it has already been proven that a supermajority of Humboldt Street and North Central residents oppose these bike lanes. The community has spoken. Loudly.

Yes—those former City Council members should be held accountable for this costly, ideologically driven failure and the damage it caused.

And we should absolutely demand the removal of Seema Patel from the Planning Commission. She is one of the chief promoters of this failed experiment and now wants to run for City Council—seriously? Her agenda is clear: raise taxes, eliminate residential parking citywide, increase congestion, and force residents to abandon cars regardless of reality. That is not leadership—it’s dogma.

And who’s backing her? The same backroom political operators responsible for past city failures—Recall Amo Lee, Rick Bonilla (whose tenure cost this city over $1 million), and Sacramento ideologues who don’t live here and don’t care about San Mateo’s neighborhoods.

If the City Council refuses to correct this mistake—by removing the bike lanes and restoring parking to taxpaying residents—make no mistake: your street is next.

Wake up, San Mateo.

Thank you Dylan for supporting safety and fiscal responsibility over the tantrums of a few vocal people who demand parking in front of their homes. The streets belong to all of us. Our lives are more important than convenience of a few with loud voices.

Thanks for your letter, Mr. Tweney, but instead of potentially biased surveys or studies, how about some real data on the number of cyclists and vehicles that travel on these bike lanes? How many bike riders are riding recreationally vs. commute riders? There was a previous LTE which highlighted bicycle lane usage on that street was very low. Based on previous LTE’s, that seems to be the consensus. Until there’s real data to support your cause, I’d recommend the city restore the parking spaces that were removed.

Not a good look for bike gang supporters to applaud and encourage disparagement, intimidation, or the mocking of residents living in a San Mateo Equity Priority Community who are elderly, handicapped, and less fortunate.

Having researched the matter extensively, most of the outspoken opponents are not living on Humboldt Street directly. Most are even from completely different neighborhoods. There are basically two different kinds:

A) "corporate interest" - people that are violating the municipal code by storing their excess vehicle capacity in this neighborhood where staff isn't enforcing. They store their private or business cars here now that other neighborhoods have permit systems.

B) "hapless Democrats" - people that can't seem to read or follow a few simple city plans.

Which is also why nothing around here seems to get done (housing, transportation, pot holes, "sustainability", electricity, affordability, education, equity, enforcement, etc.)

... coincidence?

On January 23, 2025, the San Mateo-Foster City School District Board unanimously adopted a resolution strongly supporting retention of the existing Class II bike lanes on Humboldt Street. The resolution describes the Humboldt corridor as one of the most vital bicycle segments in the City of San Mateo and states that removal of the lanes would pose a threat to safety. On February 1, 2025, staff also received a letter from the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) of the San Mateo City School District (SMFCSD) stating their position to keep the bike lanes on Humboldt.

City staff: "These counts confirm that Humboldt Street currently carries a large number of bicycle volumes."

After about 3-years with an avg. range of 3-6 bike trips per day ridden in those costly dedicated bike lane is not what anyone calls taxpayer money well spent.

No responsible parent would ever let their child risk their lives riding in those bike lanes, and why you never see any child riding their bikes in those costly dedicated bike lanes.

City's data shows a super-majority of residents on Humboldt St. and North Central OPPOSE the bike lanes.

Maybe what we need is a mandatory annual bike registration program that requires each bike operating on the road to have active GPS tracking.

This could help determine how many bikes there are in use at any given time and we can actually track and record bike usage and which roads or routes most bikes travel.

The annual registration could be a combination of a "BMT" (Bike Miles Travelled) fee and an annual registration fee and those collected fees combined could help offset the cost of sustainable bike safety measures.

As part of the annual bike registration program, we could adopt a policy of a first-time and annual required bike safety training courses to help educate and promote a safer experience and reduce accidents.