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APRIL 12, 2013 VOLUME 21, NO. 11
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City zeroes in on bike, pedestrian safety DATA, DEATHS SPARK COUNCIL TO MAKE IT A TOP GOAL By Daniel DeBolt
Lt. Tony Lopez says police have seen a significant drop in car he city is continuing to collisions of all types. Last year ramp up efforts to make police began using a plainclothes Mountain View more decoy to catch drivers who don’t pedestrian friendly after resi- give pedestrians the right of dents called for safer streets in a way in crosswalks and added series of Voice articles published two more officers to its traffic last year. enforcement team. Last week the City Council In March, police looked at the made pedestrian and bicycle numbers and found they had mobility improvements a top given 3,068 tickets since March goal for fiscal year 2013-2014. of 2012, after having issued only Meanwhile, police have stepped 1,138 during the same period up enforcement the year before. — reporting Police found 26 fewer collisions total collisions A bicyclist — while Moun— both car vertain View’s pubsus car and car or pedestrian lic works departversus a bicyclist ment has begun or pedestrian — was hit every planning projects in March from to increase street the previous 12 five days, on safety. months, down average. Projects the from 55 over the council may give same period the the green light to year before. soon include the narrowing of Activists say that the city Castro Street in front of Graham shouldn’t stop with police Middle school to slow traffic enforcement, and City Council and provide buffered bike lanes members seem to be getting after several students were hit by the message. Council memcars there last year. Public works ber Jac Siegel summed up the director Mike Fuller said stud- council’s direction to city staff ies are being proposed for bike about its top goals last week, and pedestrian improvements noting, “our goals (give) staff to highly trafficked California sensitivity as to what we care Street and Escuela Street, a about.” densely populated area where “We said, wherever possible, residents say fixes should be a top we want to put in as safe a bike priority. path as possible and as many A study is also proposed for a pedestrian paths as possible,” buffered bike lane (cycle track) up Siegel said. Shoreline Boulevard to encourThe city can’t “go back in time” age biking from downtown to and design itself around bikes, Google headquarters, while sev- like Davis did when it was built eral other smaller projects are as a university town, Siegel said, being considered city-wide. but “going forward we want to make sure it is as good as posFewer collisions sible.” Despite a pair of pedestrian deaths in the last month, police See STREET SAFETY, page 11
T BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS
MICHELLE LE
It was a breezy day at Shoreline Dog Park on April 9, but Finn, an 11-year-old boxer, didn’t seem to mind. Enjoying the sunshine and clear skies, Finn leaped and lunged during a game of fetch with Lucinda Abbott. Abbott said she likes to take Finn to Shoreline because of the ample space and, as she put it, “the inviting community.”
Pedestrian hit by car dies in hospital 81-YEAR-OLD WOMAN WAS WALKING ON SIDEWALK WHEN STRUCK By Nick Veronin
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arra Golukhov, the 81-yearold Mountain View woman who was struck by a minivan near the intersection of Rengstorff Avenue and Central Expressway on April 3, died in the hospital three days later, according to local police. The police department is seeking the public’s assistance in its
investigation of the accident. Details of the accident were not released by the Mountain View Police Department until April 10. The Santa Clara Coroner’s Office ruled the cause of Golukhov’s death was accidental, the result of multiple blunt traumatic injuries from being struck. The accident occurred at about 4:25 p.m. on April 3, after the
minivan — a gray, 2012 Honda Odyssey, which was traveling west on Central Expressway — veered off the road and onto the sidewalk, colliding with the woman. She was taken by ambulance to Stanford Hospital, where she died April 6. The driver of the car, a Mountain View resident, See PEDESTRIAN HIT, page 14
Council wants to close expressway entrance By Daniel DeBolt
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he City Council is leaning towards closing a Central Expressway on-ramp at the end of Stierlin Road to create a public promenade and the start of a “cycle track” between downtown and Google headquarters
INSIDE
Council members stated their positions on the topic last week in a study session on an apartment project that will be built over the southern end of Stierlin Road, on Moffett Boulevard. Prometheus Real Estate Group proposes 190 apartments for 100 Moffett Blvd., replacing the County Social Ser-
vices building and auto shops on the end of Stierlin. Four stories will rise above an underground garage along Moffett and Central, sloping down to two stories along neighboring residences. “That decision will be a tough See EXPRESSWAY, page 6
VIEWPOINT 16 | GOINGS ON 24 | MARKETPLACE 25 | REAL ESTATE 27