Blog: Redwood City keeps defying SMC Grand Jury

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Editor's Note: The views and opinions expressed in all blog posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Redwood City Pulse or its staff.

In 2002, the San Mateo County Grand Jury gave the San Mateo County/City Association of Governments (C/CAG) a failing grade regarding Bicycle Safety. The Grand Jury also provided C/CAG and each city with a homework package to be returned by 2003.

Twenty long years later, the 2023 Grand Jury revisited the topic. The goal of both reports is to have more people on bicycles. To achieve better health and a better quality of life for all residents, the Grand Jury gave everybody a homework package in 2002:

Within one year, San Mateo County and every city without a long-term strategic bicycle safety and transportation plan should develop one that includes the following:
- the priorities set forth in the San Mateo County Comprehensive Bicycle Route Plan (CBRP)
- a Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC)
- at least one city employee whose job responsibilities involve bicycle transportation and safety issues
- coordination of roadway construction projects with neighboring cities
Cities should seek grant funding and support bicycle projects
C/CAG should increase its efforts to address bicycle issues (more bicycle lanes and bike paths)
C/CAG should prioritize and fund bicycle projects, e.g.

Twenty years later, the Grand Jury revisited their 2002 Bike Safety report for an update. The results were devastating. Safety numbers have hardly improved, which, as a direct consequence, leads to the fact that bike mode share numbers have stayed negligibly low compared to the modern cities of this world. The bicycle commuting share is still at 1% – as a comparison, that number is over 20% in Davis, CA. Also not changed is Redwood City's status as the city with the worst safety record in this county. The recent Vision Zero report showed low bike mode share and still very high collision, injury and fatality rates. This combination does not speak well for the professional and political leadership in Redwood City. But instead of taking responsibility and action, the staff report was only full of excuses.

Former Mayor Diane Howard – the council member who has been around for both Grand Jury Bike Safety Reports and Vision Zero – called these negative results a "wake-up call." Which can lead only to one question:

What exactly happens during a 20-year nap time?

In 2002, the Grand Jury gave Redwood City a homework package to be returned within one year:

Provide a long-term strategy, …
- When the Grand Jury started revisiting the topic, Redwood City quickly stitched together their underwhelming Bike Master Plan called "WalkBikeThrive." It's only 20 years behind schedule, but even worse, it's completely based on something called "sharrows" instead of bike lanes. The plan deliberately and without explanation left out school-aged children and seniors.
- In 21 years, RWC never managed to set up an independent Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC).
- In 21 years, RWC never employed a pro-cycling person in charge of bicycle issues.
- RWC never cooperates with anybody. Currently, this city council is blocking the Peninsula Bikeway East, the Peninsula Bikeway West, the Peninsula Interim Bikeway, the SF Bay Trail, and every single East-West connector in the San Mateo County Comprehensive Bicycle Route Plan (CBRP). They are also not playing well with Caltrans; the last 30 years brought no progress on the "The Grand Boulevard Initiative."
RWC has sought and found lots of bicycle funding over the years. But not much of that funding went into real bicycle projects. Bicycle funds in Redwood City are frequently redirected to projects labeled as "traffic calming."
Redwood City has not created even one street that could be called a "Complete Street," and that is 15 years after Gov. Schwarzenegger signed The California Complete Streets Act of 2008 (AB1358). Even their new transit-oriented, family-friendly neighborhoods add zero bike lanes.
4 is all about C/CAG. It feels like C/CAG is burning through bicycle funding to create bike plans and maps every 3-5 years. But since no city has started implementing these plans, this looks a lot like the old Dumbarton Pattern or SamTrans' 50-year Bus Shelter project.

Calling a 20-year failure to do your homework a 'wake-up call' deserves a nomination for Understatement of the Year. Hibernating for 20 years did not only cost lives; this nap time cost all residents in health and quality of life.

Forty-five percent of all Americans have Fatty Liver Disease, and 25% of all children have Fatty Liver Disease – and these aren't even obese people; these are just sedentary people. Residents need to understand how significant that failure is. 44% of our school district's 5th graders are overweight, 25% are obese, and 19% of youth have asthma. The SRTS bicycle mode share is ZERO in Redwood City. The egregious decision of excluding Safe-Routes-To-School (SRTS) from all their plans is especially suspect since Alicia Aguirre (D-7) was a former School Board member, and Diane Howard (D-6) spent decades on the Safe-Routes-To-School board. Long-time council members, long-time C/CAG board members, and multiple ex-Mayors Diane Howard (D-6), Alicia Aguirre (D-7), and Jeff Gee (D-1) should have done much more. Our new bold and people-centric council members Chris Sturken (D-2), Kaia Eakin (D-5), Elmer Martinez Saballos (D-4) and especially Vice-Mayor Lissette Espinoza-Garnica (D-3) need to do much, much better.

This council set itself the goals:

Eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries by 2030
Reach over 50% of all trips being non-driving by 2040

During the city's 20 years of hibernation, the bike mode share stayed at 1%. Going from 1% to 40% in 15 years requires much more effort. This requires staying awake and vigilant; this requires a new approach.

The question is, 'can they execute'? We will check back with the council on this topic and see how "bold and people-centric" this council is. We wish them luck because it really is high time to get away from the decades of "lame and car-centric" policies and decisions. Redwood City's children deserve better.