Public Opinion Differs on New Bay Area Road Diet

"It’s only been a week, but just about everybody has an opinion on Los Gatos’ controversial redesign of it downtown main drag North Santa Cruz Avenue," reports Kaitlyn Bartley.

There are people like Julene Pief, 40-year resident of the city, who says, "I don’t think an ounce of design went into it."

The new pilot project includes parklets, angled parking, a reduction of vehicles lanes (and conversion to one-way traffic), and a new bike lane. Los Gatos Mayor Steve Leonardis is quoted in the article reminding the public that the design is temporary, which explains some of its low budget appearance. The city would install permanent parklets if the pilot proves successful, and assuming the changes win over some of the initial detractors.

Other detractors quoted in the article point out the larger problems of congestion and housing prices that the city is struggling to deal with, and express skepticism that the changes to the street won't do anything to address those problems.