Gotta hand it to AC Transit and Alameda's Traffic Commission... they are determined and persistent!! They really really really really really want to put this bus stop where nobody else wants it... the neighbors don't want it.... the school parents don't want it.... the crossing guards don't want it.... click here for more background on the matter.

How much time must they suck from our lives to fight this, when nobody* (see addendum below) from the Transit Commission or AC Transit has been willing to come down and actually observe this situation when it matters, which would be a school day morning. I keep going to their meetings and inviting them, but still no takers.

The safety issue here is a no-brainer, but the TC keeps sweeping it under the rug. In last fall's info packet, the word "safety" is only mentioned once, declaring that the police dept (still?) thinks it is safe. Never mind that the bus stop at this very same location was de-activated a few years ago because that same police dept. declared it unsafe.

Never mind that when the Alameda motorcycle cops decide to watch this particular sketchy situation as it is, busting violators is like shooting fish in a barrel. Has our city gov't ever bothered to ask them what they think is safe?

I doubt it. Why does AC Transit want to plan the route where there is less density and therefore less riders? (answer: cut down the runtime to save $$) Why are people on the TC, despite the protests of so many, so absolutely convinced that "bus stops near schools are safe." (Generally speaking, it is.) And perhaps it all looks very keen on a map in somebody's office. But in this particular situation, with the drop-off lanes and the 4 lanes of traffic and the two other streets and little kids on bikes and the misbehaving drivers here on a daily basis... are you freakin' nuts?

Once again... TC folks, if you are reading... bring your coffee mug down to Otis and Sandcreek Way at 8:10 a.m. some weekday and show me how this wouldn't be a major DIS-IMPROVEMENT and EN-DANGERMENT for the families who use this pedestrian crossing. If you are still unwilling to do this, then please just hang this project up and quit wasting our time.

* Addendum Mon 1/7/2008: I just heard from John Knox White, the chairman of the TC. Apparently he himself has been on site at Lum Crossing. (The others I still don't know for certain, but I am picking on the others who make up the subcommittee who came up w/ this recommendation. John is not part of this subcommittee.)

John says the longer term plan is to possibly make some changes to Otis and narrow to fewer lanes, which I think would be great! But in the meantime, they intend to put in the bus stops and this is the very thing that I am still against.

I admit I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the bureaucratic processes at city hall and nailing down what exactly is a recommendation and what is reality. But the simple truth appears to be thus: the forces that be are moving forward to put a bus stop at this location for reasons that don't make good sense.