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IT’S ALL ABOUT THE KIDS: SLOWIN
By Judy Buchan
Contributing Writer
McGarvey Avenue cascades from the heights of Farm Hill to the flatlands
of Fairview, bringing with it the stuff of legend: speeding cars hurtling
down the street, gaining enough velocity to go airborne, slamming into
trees, parked cars and oncoming traffic.
And rattling neighborhood nerves.
Carol Grialou, a 35-year resident of McGarvey Avenue, says it’s not legend at all.
She joins other longtime residents with tales of traffic nightmares on the oncequiet
street. “When I moved in here in 1971, some of my neighbors told me the
street had once been a dead end at the top of the hill,” Grialou said. With the
advent of Farm Hill Boulevard and Interstate 280, Grialou believes her street has
become a convenient shortcut to get from the hills to the flatlands. She would love
to see traffic diverted from McGarvey at Farm Hill but knows that’s one sign that
probably won’t be installed.
As drivers gravitated to McGarvey over the years, so did problems associated with
more traffic. “Oh, I’ve seen cars go airborne,” Grialou said. “I’ve had my cars and
my trees hit,” she added.
She called the city about traffic concerns shortly after she moved to McGarvey.
After persistent phone calls, she recalled, “a man was sent out here at 2:30 in the
afternoon to check the traffic.” When she asked him for his thoughts on how to
handle the traffic situation, he replied, “Well, lady, I guess you haven’t had enough
people die here yet.”
While statistics indicate no one has died in a collision in the area, McGarvey resident
Kathy Schrenk summed up the neighbors’ concerns quite succinctly: “Oh,
there is a problem.”
She sees a big part of the issue as “kids joyriding.” While she would like more
police enforcement, Schrenk recognizes there are “other priorities.”
Schrenk and her husband, Nathan, moved into their home in April 2002. In
March 2003, the couple was awakened in the early hours of a Monday morning
by a young woman at their door who was bleeding from a head wound. Schrenk
said a car that appeared to have tried to jump another car had spun out on her
front lawn, damaging her tree. The young driver was hospitalized overnight.
Schrenk decided to bring the issue
to the attention of the City
Council, telling them that something
had to be done. “Not a whole
lot happened,” she said.
A year later, a neighbor’s dog was
killed by a speeding car. Schrenk
again went to the City Council, and
“not a heck of a lot happened.”
With more neighbors calling the
city on an individual basis to complain
about traffic on McGarvey, all
parties concerned decided it was
time to get organized. When the
neighbors formed the McGarvey
Neighborhood Traffic Committee
(www.mcgarvey-traffic.org), “the
city started to be interested in
working with us,” she recalled.
That collaborative effort has
included an initial workshop in
January with all interested parties,
including the president of Cañada
College, who promised to get the
word out about speeding to his students. Some 53 people were in attendance, with
a wide range of issues on the table. Neighbors’ concerns focused a great deal on
what they saw as a need for more enforcement. Some spoke of construction workers
and delivery drivers speeding on McGarvey, others talked about “sideshow”
activity and others considered McGarvey a “roller-coaster road.” Some neighbors
wanted speed bumps going downhill on McGarvey, which cannot happen due to
liability.
Possible solutions to the issues of speeding and sideshow activity included educational
efforts at Cañada College and Woodside High School. A suggestion to put
“children at play” signs in the street was discounted by residents, who believed
that 15 percent of the drivers exceeding the speed limit would not care. Other
ideas were a barrier at Hetch Hetchy or Farm Hill, illuminated crosswalks and stop
signs at major intersections, selective narrowing of McGarvey, and stop signs at
every other intersection.
Residents were also encouraged to call the City Traffic Hotline at (650) 780-7146
to report areas where traffic enforcement is needed.
A follow-up meeting was held in April, and the city suggested roadway modifications
that will need neighborhood petition support for implementation. Among
the ideas are a four-way stop at McGarvey and Euclid, an all-way stop at
McGarvey and Connecticut, a traffic circle at McGarvey and east Chesterton for
a six-month trial, chokers at McGarvey and west Chesterton for a six-month trial,
chokers at McGarvey and Fernside for a six-month trial, and an all-way stop at
McGarvey and Fernside.
In addition, the neighbors received updated collision histories and speed surveys
from the Police Department. A five-year history of automobile collisions on
McGarvey Avenue supplied by the Police Department showed no fatalities. From
September 2000 to September 2005, a total of 60 collisions were documented,
with 10 shown as minor injury, 33 as non-injury, five as unknown injury, and 12
as hit and run.
And speed survey results for McGarvey Avenue from surveys taken in October
2004, September 2005, November 2005 and January 2006 indicate none of the
drivers reaching what is described by the Police Department as the “critical speed
(85th percentile).”
However, a survey of vehicles traveling over 35 miles per hour, broken down by
hour, revealed there were speed limit violations. The Police Department used this
survey for more targeted enforcement.
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