Stevens Creek Trail Inches Forward

The Stevens Creek Trail is inching its way from the San Francisco Bay toward Stevens Creek Reservoir.

On Tuesday April 28, the Sunnyvale City Council removed a ban in the Sunnyvale General Plan that specifically prohibited the Stevens Creek Trail from any creekside alignment within Sunnyvale City limits (the former section 2.2.C.5). While much of the creek that is in Sunnyvale is very unsuited for such a trail, there are some short sections that are quite reasonable. Removing the ban was necessary because it was out of character with what should be in a general plan and it tied Sunnyvale's hands so that it could not participate in some important regional planning efforts.

Currently there is a four city task force (Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, and Cupertino) that is reviewing trail options and coming up with plans on how best to proceed.

For an unofficial map of the current trail along with some speculative possibilities for future routes, please see a map I've drawn in Google Maps.

Please note that while I've tried to make this map as accurate and realistic as possible, this map is speculative and may have numerous errors. It is primarily for discussion and educational purposes. I am currently just a private Sunnyvale citizen and not officially part of any planning efforts.

Enjoy!

The Amazing Mary Ave Bike/Ped Bridge!

The new Sunnyvale-Cupertino bicycle-pedestrian bridge at Mary Avenue is wonderful and beautiful night and day. This is one amazing bridge!




However there are at least 3 issues that need correction to let this masterpiece achieve perfection:

1) The bollards at each end of the bridge are a bit hazardous to bicyclists.
2) The main approach paths to the bridge are a bit narrow leading to more conflict than necessary between bicyclists and pedestrians.
3) The Sunnyvale intersection at Mary and Homestead has a problem because there is no safe and natural way for bicyclists traveling north bound onto Mary to get across this intersection.

#1 & #2 could be solved simply by making the approach paths wider:
The extra width would allow both bicyclists and wheelchair users to go to the right of each bollard in their direction without catching a wheel on the edge of the path in the dirt.

As for #3, the Mary and Homestead intersection in Sunnyvale, I think the easiest solution is to open the gate to allow northbound cyclists to pass through the Homestead High School parking lot and into the right lane heading north on Mary.

Cheers,
Tim

Let the punishment fit the crime

The Iraqi who threw his shoes at President Bush was sentenced today to 3 years in jail. While throwing your shoes at someone is rude, I do not think the punishment fits the crime in this case. Islamic nations seem to have some very harsh punishments. Thankfully the US Constitution has many protections such as the 8th Amendment that says "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."

If someone threw their shoe at someone in the US, I wonder what the likely punishment would be?


For more info see:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090312/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retributive_justice
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html#amendmentviii

A Better Solution Needed for Diabetic Students in California

A California state judge's ruling on the California Nurse Practice Act determined that only nurses can administer insulin to students in California. I think this act needs to be amended because that does not make practical sense. We do not need professionals to do every slightly dangerous thing for us. Driving a car is far more dangerous yet are we going to require everyone to have a professional chauffeur? Millions of regular people can can administer insulin safely. All that is really needed is to offer some simple training to those who administer insulin. Requiring a nurse for this is overkill.

Evernote -- Interesting

Evernote is Vannevar Bush's memex in the palm of your hand. Your brain on the net. Could be scary though if you ever have to go through legal discovery. :-/

The President Can Now Do Email!

Obama retains a "Blackberry" (hurray!) and the US Presidency enters the 21st century by now doing email himself. An interesting side effect is that the latest ultimate power status symbol is whether or not you have Obama's email address.

A Practical President

As demonstrated by his inaugural address, Obama is a practical President. He knew he had to get right down to business and so delivered an inaugural address that got right down to business. In it he gave an overview of his perspective and his top priorities. He again demonstrated a true and steady hand on the tiller, as he did during his campaign, and in his book "The Audacity of Hope."

And in his first full day in office he delivered.

Obama ordered the Guantanamo detention center to close. We all knew it was wrong and finally we have an honest leader who knows this as well. We must honor our own laws and procedures. To do otherwise was hypocritical and reduced our standing in the eyes of the world. In his inaugural address he said:

"As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers ... our found fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake."

Obama also froze the pay of White House staffers (just as a number of commercial companies have), he worked on his economic plan, he called Middle East leaders to get the ball rolling, he put in place an ethics order so that people in government cannot abuse their former connections and power as lobbyists, and he dug in to dealing with our economic crisis with an approach that looks like it will be much more effective at dealing with it than the prior TARP bailout that went awry.

Hallelujah for a President who builds a great team around him works methodically, is ethical, and thinks rationally. Our world now has a much better chance for peace and prosperity with Obama leading the US. Yet as he referenced in his inaugural address, it is going to be a hard climb out of the deep hole that we've dug for ourselves in the past 8 or more years.