Council to consider plans to ease University Avenue traffic woe
BY I-CHUN CHE

The Palo Alto City Council next Monday will consider a $250-million plan to alleviate
the traffic congestion around University Avenue Caltrain Station, the gateway to both
downtown Palo Alto and the Stanford campus.

A joint initiative between Palo Alto and Stanford, the project proposes introducing a
four-truck, two-platform configuration at the station, building a new bicycle/pedestrian
undercrossing of the Caltrain tracks, and extending Quarry Road for bus only access at
the bus transfer center.

“We want to create a safe and pleasant environment for drivers, pedestrians and
bicyclists,” said City Chief Transportation Official Joseph Kott.

The environs of the University Avenue Caltrain station have long been the city’s busiest
transportation hub with approximately 3,300 passengers board or alight at the depot and
nearly 70,000 vehicles using its surrounding interchanges on each weekday.

Because of its heavy traffic, passing through the nexus is difficult and frustrating most of
the time. Cars are often trapped on the narrow University Avenue. Pedestrians have to
walk through the dark undercrossings of the Caltrain tracks. And the constrained rail and
bus transit capacity has limited the city’s growth.

“All the situations will be improved by the plan,” said Kott.

However, some residents do not share Kott’s confidence, complaining that the plan takes
too long and costs too much.

“The project is going to take seven years,” said Mike Abrams, a daily Caltrain commuter.

“I’d prefer them to improve current (Caltrain) service.”

The project may take even longer due to the lack of funding: only $52 million is available
now for the $250 million project with the rest to be collected from local contributions and
state subsidies.

Kott admitted that due to its high cost, major elements of the project are very likely to be
eliminated or deferred so that a portion of it can be implemented. The elements that might
be canceled include creating a new public park, replacing the road bridge over El Camino
Real and placing the bus transit beneath the tracks and the platforms.

---

Memo of story 1:
Dear Editor:

Beginning the story:
Traffic has long topped residents’ concerns in Palo Alto. But at first, I did not know where to gather information and how to get story ideas so I went to a retreat of the Planning and Transportation Commission last Wednesday. There, I met Chief Transportation Official Joseph Kott, Executive Secretary Zariah Betten, and the seven commission members.

During their discussion, I knew that they had presented a proposal to the City Council for review and the Council will make their final decision on October 22. Since I did not know the details, I arranged a telephone interview with Mr. Kott the next morning and got a copy of the staff report from his secretary.

Difficulties when writing the story:
I have a question: how can I find an opposition voice to counterbalance my story? Most of the residents who are suffering from the traffic jam around the Caltrain station know little about the project. I have to explain to them the details of the project. Sometimes, I feel that I am feeding words into their mouths.

After finishing the story, I am pretty frustrated because the story I have spent one week is not that different from the story I wrote under the pressure of the 9:00 p.m. deadline when I worked for Taiwan News, the daily newspaper. It is not interesting and compelling. I could not help wondering if I am doing it right.

What I have learned from the story:
A retreat is a good place to know commission members and city government officials since it is less formal and people have more time to talk to me. They gave me many useful suggestions, such as reading the comprehensive plan and taking a shuttle through the city so that I can have a better understanding of the city I am covering.

Most important of all, some interesting story ideas came from their casual chat. For example, some commissioners complained that the changing of the council layout has made it difficult for commission members to make comments or answer questions. Commission members used to sit at the front of city council and could press a button to signal that they wanted to comment on a particular issue; but now they have to sit at the benches with citizens and need to interrupt the session to answer questions. Since lack of communication between community and city council is one of the biggest criticisms to current city council, I think this might be a good angle to start a story.

I- Chun Che
10/16/01