Keep the Humboldt Street bike lanes

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.

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.

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.

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