Atherton Special Council Meeting today

(From an email forwarded by the Athertonian Moderator)

Please see this urgent appeal from Council Member Lewis and consider attending this emergency meeting called by the council for today to provide your input to our elected town officials on how to keep the town running with no senior, experienced management as of next week.  (Note: since January, we have lost Police Chief Glenn Nielson, Building Chief Mike Wassman, Town Manager Jerry Gruber and now Assistant Town Manager Eileen Wilkerson.)

Begin forwarded message:

From: Elizabeth Lewis <lizlew08@gmail.com>

Date: October 16, 2010 7:50:47 AM PDT

To: Elizabeth Lewis <lizlew08@gmail.com>

Subject: Atherton Special Council Meeting today - Sat Oct 16 @ 3pm

Dear Atherton Friends,

I am writing to inform you of an emergency, Special Open and Closed Session Council Meeting scheduled for TODAY, Saturday, Oct 16 at 3pm at Town Hall.  I urge you to come and express your concerns about the state of the Town.  The agenda is attached.

Yesterday, Friday, Oct 15, 2010, Eileen Wilkerson who served as Atherton's Asst City Manager, City Clerk and head of Atherton's Human Resources and Employee Relations tendered her resignation effective next Thursday, October 21, 2010.

As you probably already know, Jerry Gruber, our City Manager, resigned with his last day being next Friday, October 22, 2010.  By next weekend we will be without a City Manger to run the Town.

An Ad Hoc Interim City Manager Search Committee was formed at our last Council Meeting on Sept 30, 2010 consisting of Mayor Kathy McKeithen and Vice Mayor Jim Dobbie.  A recruitment notice has been sent to all appropriate agencies calling for resumes with the expectation to receive and review resumes over the next several weeks or month.

It was anticipated that Eileen Wilkerson, the current Assistant City Manager, serve as the interim City Manager to minimize disruptions in the operation of our Town while a thorough and careful search was launched for an Interim City Manager to manage the town until a permanent City Manager was hired.

On Thursday this week the Ad Hoc Committee met with Eileen, Jerry Gruber and the City Attorney to discuss this transition.  The result of this meeting leaves us with no management at all!

Eileen was hired by Jerry Gruber 2 1/2 years ago.  She came to Atherton with years of public sector experience and has put in place valuable critical ABAG insurance, and emplopment and H/R procedures, which we didn't have before to protect the Town from potential employment liabilities.  It is a great loss for the Town to have Eileen leave at this critical time.  I am distressed that the Ad Hoc Committee was unable to keep this valuable

employee from walking away.

Every month since the beginning of the year we have been in one crisis after another.  Over the past several months we have lost one key and valuable employee after another; the Chief Building Official; the City Manager and now the Assistant City Manager.

We are now in a crisis mode with no good options. Maybe our temporary, 3-day a week, part-time Building official could take on the job? Maybe our Chief of Police could take the helm? I am very wary that we may be pressured to hire a bad choice because we have lost the luxury of time to an adequate recruitment job.  We could use the support of more concerned residents to help the council sort through this crisis situation.

If you cannot come in person to express your thoughts, please feel free to email me back and I will make sure your voice is heard at this meeting.

  

Elizabeth Lewis

Council Member

Town of Atherton

El Camino is Closed

(From an email sent by Paul Tonelli on a new report of a major accident on Atherton Avenue)

Yes...another FATAL accident.  Reports this morning are that is COULD be closed for up to 4 hours.  Something needs to be done.

 

Paul Tonelli

Lloyden Park

---

From: Atherton Environmental Programs <events@athertongreen.net>
To: Athertonians@Yahoogroups.com
Sent: Fri, October 15, 2010 7:44:02 AM
Subject: [Athertonians] El Camino is Closed
 

Hearing a helicopter! It's not Obama, but an accident between 
Atherton Avenue and Encinal, according to early reports!

Atherton Transportation Commitee Meeting is Nov. 9th

From and email message from Joan Solari to Athertonian email list:

Hello All,

This horribly tragic accident is another reminder of how dangerous our streets have become for bicycles & pedestrians.  I joined the Atherton Transportation Committee for this very reason--to make our streets safer for pedestrians & bicycles.  My belief is that our police department needs to be more accountable regarding enforcement.  You can paint all the lines & put in any signage you want but, without enforcement, those things have little meaning.  

Our next meeting is November 9, 2010, at 6pm.  I encourage residents to attend & speak out at this meeting.  Among those in attendance will be the Director of Public Works, Chief Guerra, Councilman Dobbie & Mayor McKeithen.  If you would like me to put something on the next agenda to get the conversation going, please let me know.  

Thank you,

Joan Collins Solari
(650)322-3517

Re: Everyone that rides a bike needs to read this

From an email by Joan Lambert to Athertonians:

I have 3 kids and live right off Atherton Ave. and ECR.   I believe a big issue is that it is very dangerous for kids (or anyone) to ride their bike or walk along ECR.   I agree with Paul that people often speed on ECR in this area and that more accidents will happen unless changes are made.    I drive my kids to school every day because I do not think it is safe for them to walk or bike along ECR.  I am wondering if there is anything that the residents can do to improve the situation.    
 
In Menlo Park, some of the crosswalks now have lights that flash when a pedestrian is crossing.  Perhaps we could get these types of crosswalks installed on ECR in Atherton.  Some of the crosswalks also have orange flags that someone can take with them when they cross.  I don't know if either of those things would have helped in the recent fatal accident or not.
 
Is there anyone who is looking into anything like this?
Please post on this board if anyone has information about what residents can do to help make ECR (and other Atherton streets) safer.
 
Thanks so much,
Joan Lambert
Odell Place

Re: Everyone that rides a bike needs to read this

From an email by Paul Tonelli to Athertonians:

At the heart of this problem is the decision made years ago to widen ECR to three lanes.  In effect this decision has made ECR an expressway through our town where speeds in excess of 50 mph are not uncommon.

Being that ECR is actually State Route 82, I imagine it would take an act of a budget paralyzed legislature to get anything done.  In my more than 13 years as an Atherton resident I have always imagined an El Camino with 2 lanes of traffic in each direction with a pedestrian walkway / bike lane in the curb lane.  Said curb lane could be nicely landscaped and protected with some sort of decorative barrier that both provides separation from traffic while being appealing to the eye.

Within the first couple of months of relocating to Atherton in '97 an elderly man and his wife were literally run down while crossing ECR near Selby Ave.  In that case the driver was estimated to be travelling at nearly 60 mph.  NOTHING has changed in 13 years.  We continue to live with what amounts to a mile long freeway right outside our front yards.  It's obvious we aren't safe even when using the crosswalks. 

While I would love to provide a solution, I don't know what can be done, nor do I have any idea how to go about generating any kind of change.  What I do know is that there definitely will be more tragic incidents, as in the case of Christopher Chandler, until something is done.

Paul Tonelli

Everyone that rides a bike needs to read this

From email by Colleen Anderson to Athertonians:


I did not know if you ride your bike across a cross walk you are at fault if you get killed, or hit.
Bicyclist, 62, killed by car in Atherton
by Dave Boyce

The San Mateo County Coroner's Office has identified a 62-year-old bicyclist who was struck by a car and killed while crossing El Camino Real in Atherton on Thursday morning, Sept. 30.

Christopher Chandler of Redwood City was killed at about 10:35 a.m. when he was hit by a car on southbound El Camino Real at Isabella Avenue, Atherton police Lt. Joe Wade said.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A preliminary investigation indicated Mr. Chandler was riding his bike in a crosswalk when a southbound Toyota Camry struck him, Lt. Wade said. The point of impact was the passenger-side windshield.

The driver, a 69-year-old man and a resident of Stanford, stopped at the scene and was cooperating with investigators, Lt. Wade said.

Mr. Chandler came to rest 53 feet south of a curb at Isabella Avenue, Lt. Wade said. The frame of his bike was found on the shoulder of the road about 74 feet away. The distances are likely to increase once measurements from the point of impact are known, Lt. Wade said.

It does not appear that alcohol played a role in the accident, and it has not been determined whether speed was a factor, Lt. Wade said, adding that investigators have not yet made a determination as to who was at fault.

Unlike a pedestrian in a crosswalk, for whom traffic must stop, a bicycle has no special privileges. It is considered a vehicle pulling on to a roadway and is responsible for yielding to oncoming traffic, Lt. Wade said. A cyclist walking a bike in a crosswalk is considered a pedestrian, he said.

Southbound El Camino Real was closed between Watkins and Atherton avenues for about five hours while the accident was investigated

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