This letter was presented at the Oct. 7, 2003 County Board of Supervisors meeting with a speach by the undersigned. 

Action taken: Supervisor Blanca Alvarado, Chair, instructed the County Executive to answer the question [in red, below].

Oct. 7, 2003

Board of Supervisors
Santa Clara County
70 W. Hedding
San Jose CA 95110

Subject: Unjust discrimination by the County

Dear Board members:

The following link is to our expressway links page which contains links to the County Counsel’s legal opinion and other documents regarding illegal discriminatory signs banning pedestrians:

moderntransit.org/expy

There is unjust discrimination by the County against transit patrons, pedestrians, and formerly, bicyclists. I will relate my personal experience. Some years ago, I was bicycling on what could be considered a bike lane, on the safest route to work, when I was pulled over by police for going passed prohibitory signs. I took it to court and proved to the traffic commissioner that the signs were illegal, but he found me guilty pro-forma. I was forced to pay a $126 fine. I could have appealed it, but it would have cost me more in attorney’s fees. A year later, I forced those signs to be removed because County Counsel agreed with me that the signs were illegal. I was wrongfully convicted, yet I never got my money back.

This unjust system empowers the County highway engineers to make up their own laws, and enforce them despite being bogus, by posting illegal signs. It continues today. One example is where I used to work, at the corner of Central and Middlefield. The nearest bus stop is on Mary Ave., one block away, but transit patrons must go past illegal “pedestrians prohibited” signs as they walk on a pedestrian path. This pedestrian path along Central Expressway is also used by people walking to lunch -- benefiting clean air and themselves by healthy exercise.

The departmental culture of Roads&Airports, of refusing to comply with law and with policy, is not new. It has, in fact, been the norm for the 21 years I’ve been an advocate. It can only be changed from the top level --the Supervisors’ level.

Madam Chair, why are the discriminatory signs still posted when they violate the Supervisors’ policy, and are illegal even according to County Counsel’s legal opinion?

Sincerely,

Akos Szoboszlay, Vice-President

Additional questions that should be asked are:

• Why is there a pattern of violating the law by the R&A Department, considering that most of the time, since 1987, MTS had to go through a huge fight with them whenever a city repealed a bicycle or pedestrian prohibitory ordinance, to get them to comply by simply removing prohibitory signs?
• The FHWA policy describes the historic animosity of highway engineers towards pedestrians, and promotes changing it. Why is the Traffic Operations Branch allowed to continue this animosity towards pedestrians?

Links:

Also see related articles:
Dangerous policies of County highway engineers
Analyses of Pedestrians along Expressways

or the Expressway topics, links page.