San Mateo bike lanes on Humboldt Street spur neighborhood debate
Residents in San Mateo are battling over the city's removal of some bike lanes as officials explore other ways for drivers and cyclists to share the road.
Safety is important to Ana Lis Salotti on every bike ride, especially the rides that involve picking up or dropping off her five-year-old daughter at school.
"I depend on my bike. It's my main mode of transportation," Salotti said.
That was one of the reasons why she really liked Humboldt St. in San Mateo's North Central neighborhood when she was looking for a place to live. It has bike lanes that make her feel safer as she goes about her car-less life.
"I take at least four rides in the bike lane every single day," she said.
But now, city leaders are pushing forward with the removal of Humboldt's bike lanes as a solution to a problem other neighbors say the lanes created when they were installed about two years ago: the removal of around 200 parking spaces.
"I'm honestly very concerned," Salotti said.
Longtime resident Claire Mack showed CBS News Bay Area cones that she has in front of her house in the neighborhood.
"I've got these at the end of my driveway here so people won't park in my driveway, though they do it anyway," she said.
She lives a block away from Humboldt in the North Central neighborhood, and says parking was an issue here well before the bike lanes eliminated hundreds of spots.
"It's an extremely dense neighborhood," she said. "Give them back their parking places."
As a result of people losing their parking places, she says many frequently can't park near their homes and have to park a few blocks away.
"This is not San Francisco. It is not Oakland. It is San Mateo. It is a suburban city," Mack said. "I'm 88 years old. This neighborhood is full of a lot of people my age and older. They're not going to get out and walk at night."
The city is exploring a plan to remove bike lanes on Humboldt St. that would in turn bring back 100 parking spaces. It would also pilot a bike boulevard on two streets in the neighborhood, but wouldn't create bike lanes on those streets. The price tag could be somewhere around $2 million.
"To remove that will cost us taxpayers," Salotti said.
The issue is a hot one in the neighborhood. Dozens of people spoke up at a recent city council meeting that went well into the evening.
Some people pleaded city officials reconsider, reminding them the city installed the bike lanes in response to a rash of serious traffic crashes in the area. Some of those who voiced concerns were parents with children who attend one of the numerous schools in the area.
Others argued there simply aren't enough people using the bike lanes to justify them. Some neighbors took weeks of video surveillance to survey the area, and they argue it is proof the lanes aren't widely used.
"I'm not against bike riders. I want people to be able to ride, but I think to take something away from a property owner is just not fair," Mack said. "It is monumental. It is a horrible thing to have done to the residents of this neighborhood who are constantly put on."
Salotti thinks there is a better compromise that the city could explore.
"I understand there are two problems, but this doesn't solve either of them," she said. "I think that there could be some permit system that we could put in place here. Just as we test these things, we can also test a parking permit to make sure that at least, our neighbors, have a place to park."
