March 6, 2008

District 10 Report

Ensuring Almaden’s safety

By Councilmember Nancy Pyle
Special to the Times

Keeping our neighborhoods safe is one of my top priorities as your representative on the San Jose City Council.

While I am proud to say that on many fronts, be it funding for additional police officers or maintaining our city's crossing guard program, I have fought to ensure our community's safety but my work is far from over. One of the areas I am strongly committed to is traffic safety within our District. I am pleased to say that my office's working relationship with our City's Department of Transportation (DOT) has never been stronger.

While not always evident on the surface, you might be surprised to know that improvements in District 10 are occurring on a daily basis due to the city’s dedicated DOT staff; changes which ensure that residents can safely and easily travel around our City. In January alone, 16 significant changes were made in various areas around District 10. These changes included 11 signage marking alterations, which covered everything from new school warning signs and stop sign replacements to several new no parking zones and red curbs. Whether an issue involves a single resident’s concern or an entire neighborhood that recognizes a need for traffic changes, the city works hard to make sure that your voice as a San Jose resident is heard loudly and clearly.

More than six months ago, a terrible accident occurred on Graystone Lane in District 10. Since this tragic event I have worked closely with the Safe Graystone Neighborhood association and DOT to take the necessary steps in order to prevent an accident of this magnitude from occurring in the future.

I have been consistently impressed by the determination and care, which the Safe Graystone Neighborhood has taken in making sure their community, is a safe one. Following a series of community meetings, in-depth discussions with the DOT management, and research from DOT traffic, I am proud to say that action has been taken in addressing several key areas of Graystone Lane. These are just some of the changes which have occurred:

Installation of a ‘Stop Ahead’ warning sign on Graystone Lane approaching the Pfeifer Ranch intersection. This sign is meant to alert drivers about the upcoming stop sign at the intersection.

Installation of an additional speed limit sign south of Pfeiffer Ranch on Graystone Lane.

Installation of advanced intersection signs on Graystone for Paramukh's Way and Vista Del Roble for both approaches. These signs would warn drivers on Gray stone about the egress traffic from these streets.

In addition to traffic improvements, DOT staff often addresses additional maintenance issues that are raised around problematic or dangerous traffic areas. In the case of Graystone Lane, maintenance items included the replacement of a burned-out bulb for the streetlight closest to the Graystone/Camden bridge and the trimming of a tree at the intersection of Graystone and Pfeiffer Ranch that was blocking a stop sign. 

DOT and the county’s DOT also met with a group of residents regarding speeding at the southern portion of the curved section of Graystone Lane. As a result of this meeting, city staff installed a double yellow centerline with raised round markers on the pavement to assist in channeling the traffic flow on Graystone Lane.

In addition, a directional sign for northbound traffic at the curved portion of the road was installed and an edge line was added on the west side of the lane, starting 50 feet south of Briana Court through the bend area of the road. These changes have added to the safety of the road and encourage drivers to stay closer to the road’s center line to avoid hitting the curb or trees at the roadside.

My staff and I continue to work with DOT to ensure that your traffic related concerns are addressed in a suitable and timely manner. Unfortunately, even with the best of intentions, some of the traffic changes that DOT makes have to be revisited due to small changes that have a major impact on our everyday lives.

A good example of this occurred just recently in front of the Country Inn restaurant in the heart of Almaden Valley. A ‘No Parking’ sign was replaced in front of the restaurant, in an area where customers had regularly parked for many years. Hearing clear concerns from the restaurant’s owner as well as regular customers and many District 10 residents, I knew that action had to occur swiftly.

My office worked closely with DOT staff on the issue and within two days a traffic engineer had visited the site and performed a preliminary assessment on the sign’s placement. Within a week DOT had covered the sign and parking enforcement in front of the restaurant was halted. While there are times when a change is made that doesn’t work for the community, my office and DOT’s staff are always willing to work with the community to make sure that these changes serve the best interest of our city’s residents.

Since my election to office three-plus years ago, I have worked with hundreds of residents to identify, report and change many problematic traffic areas. In collaboration with DOT’s hardworking staff and your dedication as active community members, we have created real change in the case of many District 10 traffic issues.

Although speeding continues to be a citywide issue, I am constantly working with DOT to ensure that we follow up on each and every one of your traffic concerns. From the smallest of these concerns to the greatest, working with community members to resolve these issues is truly one of the most satisfying parts of my job. It may take time to address each of these concerns, but I am fully committed to keeping District 10 a safe community where we are all able to live, work and play.