Exploit Common Technology to Engage Residents. Improve Safety in our Town and Promote Preparedness

By Bill Widmer

Use Technology to increase transparency and promote community input. Improve safety for vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclist as well as promote disaster preparedness.

Finally, I am one of two Council members on the newly formed Technology Committee and we are exploring cost-effective ways to better connect the town and keep the residents informed.

Safety: Safety of our Town is a TOP priority. Our residents should not only be safe, but they need to feel safe too. This involves a well-run and visible Police force such as the one we have with Chief Flint. He has managed our team well. They are well trained and our equipment is up to date. I have fully supported each of the Chief's budget requests. However this is not all we need. Feeling safe also entails the understanding that in the event of a disaster, you are well prepared. It is here that I advocate we invest more.

I have already touched on safety along El Camino elsewhere on this webpage, however some of it bears repeating here. I have worked hard to get the State's attention on safety improvements on ECR. As Mayor, I personally got their attention and started the ball rolling on crossing improvements. While planning and agreements have been reached, the timing of the installation of new hybrid beacons which would be pedestrian/biker initiated stoplights is several years out. Not accepting this, and in-light of yet another pedestrian fatality, I have reached out to our state representatives and again requested they support us by allowing the Town to initially fund these devices from our reserves and allow the state to refund these during their normal budgeted period (which is 2017). I had initial support on this concept from our State Senator, Jerry Hill however it did not reach the level of formality it should have. As such I am driving it again, as has been reported in the local media outlets in July.

Finally I support other measures to improve safety on this state highway. Already we have improved the visibility along our stretch of the street. Additionally, as part of the Bike/Ped Master Plan which I was the Council rep on, we are proposing analyzing the potential of reducing lanes on El Camino. This of course is subject to a study on traffic impacts as well as input from our Police Department and the Menlo Fire District who use that road as an emergency corridor.

While we have made some investment with our ADAPT teams (Atherton Disaster and Preparedness Team) more awareness and engagement with our residents is needed. Today we have identified neighborhood coordinators, water supplies and food and tool lockers for use during a disaster. However that will not help the average resident if they are unaware of what to do and who to turn to. As such, I propose we repeat the seminars and training programs the Town held following the Katrina Disaster to reacquaint the residents with the basic information they need. Additionally we will be able to get more volunteers involved so that we are even better equipped to handle events we hope will never come, but we need to be ready for. Please see http://www.getreadyatherton.org for the Adapt website and some very useful information.