Written CommunicationPage 1 of 1
Tamara Pow
From: Sam Fintz [samfintz@alumni.duke.edu]
mmm
NO Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 8:50 AM
To: 'Daniel Nguyen'
Cc: Tamara Pow; Terrence.Calderone@sho.co.santa-clara.ca. us; samfintz@alumni.duke.edu
Subject: RE: Calvert Traffic
Thanks Daniel. I was quite impressed at the speed (no pun intended) and diligence by which you came to investigate the
Calvert Drive speeding situation I reported. It is still amazing to me how it seems my eye thinks people are speeding
when the radar did not. The regular speed sign you are proposing sounds great — please be sure to let me know how that
proceeds. If any other possibilities happen to open up over time (maybe as part of some other bigger project), I would be
very interested in applying them to my street.
Cheers,
Sam
From: Daniel Nguyen [mailto:dnguyen722@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, March 09, 2009 10:16 AM
To: samfintz@alumni.duke.edu
Cc: Tamara Pow; Terrence.Calderone@sho.co.santa-clara.ca.us
Subject: Calvert Traffic
Sam,
On Thursday, March 12, I plan to recommend to the Public Safety Commission that we asks Public Works to
1wnly install a regular speed sign showing the 25 mph speed limit. As we discussed before I did not see
sufficient evidence of speeding or heavy traffic flow to warrant any additional changes to the street. Of course,
you're welcome to come to the Commission's meeting and I encourage you to contact us if problems get worse.
Daniel T. Nguyen, M.S.
City of Cupertino
Public Safety Commissioner
dnguyen722@gmail.com
C: 408-480-3902
H: 408-865-0793
3/12/2009
Pagel of 3
Tamara Pow
0 From: Orrin Mahoney [orrinmahoney@comcast.net]
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 3:07 PM
To: Tamara Pow
Subject: FW: Torre avenue - this Saturday
Tamara,
This lines up with the work that you are already doing on this location. One issue here is hwether it is an "official"
crosswalk (see below). If not, we need to fix that.
Regards,
Orrin
From: stephen hsieh[mailto:stephen_hsieh@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, March 09, 2009 11:45 AM
To: Ralph Qualls
Cc: Stephen Hsieh
Subject: Torre avenue - this Saturday
Hi Ralph,
Thanks very much.
0
This past Saturday around noon time, I was with my kids trying to cross the crosswalk in front of the library and we
were almost hit by three speeding cars that failed to stop at yield pedestrian signs. I took down the license plate and call
the sheriff department immediately. The sheriff indeed came and told me he couldn't do anything about it other then
suggesting me to talk to city councils for a better road calming measurement. He also told me that the crosswalk that
currently in place is not really an "official" crosswalk because it's not between any "white" lines and he also suggested that
multiple speed humps would help to reduce the traffic speed like implemented in many of the city streets.
Our conversation last about 5 minutes, but while I was having the conversation with the officer, several cars u -turned
infront of us, so I asked him about the u -turn issue, he told me it's another gray area because on torre you have
commercial buildings which prohibits u -turning, but there're some residence zone which allows people to make u -turns.
Again, best way is through city councils. :)
City has approvaled builders to constructed Sterling Square townhomes and villagio almost three years ago. And as apart
of the community member I know many young families with kids are living in those complexes. We spent circa one million
dollar to buy those homes, why spent so much for a townhome? It's for a very simple motive; we want to have accesss to
the library with a walking distance and knowing that civic center is a safe place that kids could play at. This Saturday's
incident is not the first time that happend to me, but this time was with THREE cars, three cars had failed to stop at yield
sign and with speed + 30mph didn't even try to slow down the speed. At the time, I was with a three yrs old child and two
months old in the stroller. Across the street there was another mother with kid awaiting to cross the crosswalk as well.
We all know that Torre is not just an ordinary street like Prince street or streets that near by Wilson park which by the way
multiple speed humps are on Prince street, and it has way way less traffic than Torre. A very simple statistic study could
be done by pulling out the library daily usage, among the users, roughly 70-80% of them brings kids with them. It then
becomes very easy to conclude that the clear and present danger on Torre with more kids present at anytime are far
Vrxceeding anywhere else in the city of Cupertino. Althought they're not all crossing the crosswalk, but when they're kids
present, shouldn't it be treated as a school zone?
We will have our annual residence meeting this week and we will collect signatures to address this issue more formally. I
know that the ultima decision is yours and of the city council's but please do seriously consider our suggestions to make
Torre a safer street.
3/12/2009
Page 2 of 3
I did some research on this matter, and this site contain a lot of information about street calming (data, and costs)
ttp://www.trafficcalming.org/speedhumps.htm]
Thanks for your time,
stephen
Original Message -
From: Ralph Qualls
To: 'stephen hsieh'
Cc: David Stillman ; Glenn Goepfert
Sent: Monday, March 09, 2009 9:16 AM
Subject: RE: torre and pacific intersection
Hi Stephen --Thanks for the note --I pass through that intersection twice a day going to and from work and I've never felt
that it was inherently dangerous --you may recall that at one time there was gate which closed during peak traffic hours
preventing traffic in both directions on Pacifica making it effectively a cul-de-sac during those hours ---however based on
your concerns I am asking David Stillman, our Traffic Engineer to take another look at it --David: Please review and
advise--Thanks--RalphQ
-----Original Message -----
From: stephen hsieh [mailto:stephen_hsieh@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009 5:51 PM
To: Ralph Qualls
Cc: Stephen Hsieh
Subject: torre and pacific intersection
Hi Ralph,
During our block meeting, someone brought up a question about why there isn't a three way stop system nor
cross walks between Torre and Pacific?
The only cross walk you can see from this satellite picture is on Torre and the next cross walk if you want to
cross from Torre to Pacific is about 400-500 feet away.
Torre and Pacific intersection is a dangerous place for both pedestrians and drivers. As you can see without the
stop signs in place, the ongoing driver(see red arrows) will have to pay attention what's coming, and what is on
the crosswalk while the vehicle is still moving at 15 - 20mph.
I have no doubt that you and your team had thought about this intersection, but nothing action has been taken so
far. We, the residences that live off Torre and Pacific would urge you to improve this intersection.
thanks for your time,
----- Original Message -----
From: Ralph Qualls
To: 'stephen hsieh'
Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009 9:33 AM
Subject: RE: park next to library
Hi Stephen --we've had enough correspondence between us so please address me less formally as Ralph (PS:
my name is spelled QUALLS, not Quails but you'd be surprised what a common error that is!) --the work in the
Library field is the construction of a cricket "pitch" which the council authorized at the request of the local
cricket club. The pitch is used by the "bowler" to throw the ball to the batsman much like a pitcher in baseball. It
is a very popular sport with our Indo -American residents. While this game has its origins in England, it was
adopted in India during Colonial times. You probably know all this but I rarely get to show off the minor I earned
in college in English History!! ---Hope all is well --
3/12/2009
Page 3 of 3
Ralph A. Qualls, Jr.
Director of Public Works
-----Original Message -----
From: stephen hsieh [mailto:stephen_hsieh@hotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 4:36 PM
To: Ralph Qualls
Cc: Stephen Hsieh
Subject: park next to library
Hi Mr. Quail,
How are you doing? Long time no talk. Just out of my curiousity and many others, what is being
constructed in the "park" next to the library? We're hoping is the playground for the kids because civic
center really need a safe place for kids to play.
thanks
3/12/2009