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From:Kate Allison <br />To:publiccomment <br />Subject:Fwd: Redwood City Public Comment: Lawrie Duncan Park and the Southgate Street closure <br />Date:Monday, April 28, 2025 7:09:54 PM <br />You don't often get email from kateallison@gmail.com. Learn why this is important <br />Begin forwarded message: <br />From: Kate Allison <kateallison@gmail.com> <br />Date: April 28, 2025 at 7:01:28 PM PDT <br />To: council@redwoodcity.org <br />Subject: Redwood City Public Comment: Lawrie Duncan Park and the <br />Southgate Street closure <br /> <br />Dear City Council Members, <br />Two minutes is very tough to get it all in. Thank you for allowing me to speak this <br />evening. This is all I was going to say and my full statement: <br />Good evening. My name is Kate Allison, and I’ve lived in Redwood City for 10 <br />years across the street from the traffic islands dubbed Lawrie Duncan park on <br />Outer Circle. I’m here to voice strong opposition to the current pilot project at <br />Lawrie Duncan Park and the Southgate Street closure. <br />This project was introduced as a traffic calming measure in response to accidents <br />on Brewster. But recently, the focus has shifted to park amenities—like fences, a <br />dog park, and playground upgrades—without first addressing actual traffic or <br />pedestrian safety concerns. This feels like a bait and switch. The original issue <br />was serious: speeding cars, dangerous intersections, and unsafe streets. Now the <br />conversation has turned to “park improvements” without fixing the core safety <br />problem of the entire Brewster corridor. <br />This was supposed to be about safety issues, and we speak of making it into a <br />“destination” park - and those doing so aren’t considering the fact that by bringing <br />more people (especially with kids) to this strange "corner," there is an even <br />greater safety issue from the traffic. No play equipment/ tables (people/dogs/kids) <br />should be added to lure folks to a dangerous spot. <br />At the community meeting, there were no traffic staff—only parks department <br />representatives and city volunteers. The Parks Department is now leading