Stay Alert for Safety
The perception is that Redwood Shores is about as safe as Mayberry, which is close to true. However, there recently has been a spate of vehicular burglaries in the Shores. For example, in the last month there were 12 vehicular burglaries here, about half of which occurred at businesses along Twin Dolphin, the others being at residences (both homes and apartment complexes) across the Shores.
Redwood City Police Officer Kenneth Faljean explained to the RSCA Board that in many of these incidents the cars broken into were unlocked and/or had valuables or cords associated with GPS units or MP3 players in view. Ken also noted that burglars who commit crimes like these are opportunistic and that the best way to avoid being their victim is to lock your car and keep any items of potential interest, including electronics cords, out of sight.
While any crime in the Shores is a concern, Ken provided some statistics to help put things in perspective: while we’ve had 12 vehicular burglaries in the last month, another beat in Redwood City has had as many as 150 in the same period of time. So, on an absolute scale, we’re practically crime free. That said, we can reduce our already low crime rate by taking some simple precautions.
On another safety-related point, Officer Faljean shared some information on traffic citations issued by the Police in Redwood Shores. It turns out that in the last month around a third of the 126 citations issued were for stop sign violations, including rolling stops. Be advised that the police are on the watch for this type of violation, which you can easily avoid by stopping completely at intersections. In addition, the Police pay close attention to crosswalk violations, where a driver proceeds through an intersection when a pedestrian is in the crosswalk. This sort of violation can lead to an expensive ticket, and obviously is dangerous to pedestrians. This is a particularly serious issue now that our two schools are in session. So, please pay attention when you’re at a crosswalk, especially near our schools, and be sure to yield to pedestrians until they are through the crosswalk.
New School Opening
On August 15, I was proud to attend the ribbon cutting and open house for our new school, Redwood Shores Elementary. I hope you had a chance to see it — it’s a beautiful school on an ideal site that will provide a great learning environment for our kids. Its opening ensures that all of our elementary-age children will be able to attend school close to home. As such, the opening of the Redwood Shores Elementary completes Redwood Shores and is a tribute to those in our community who made it possible. This includes the many Shores residents who worked for six years to make this a reality (including the New Shores School Advisory Committee and the Measure C Bond Oversight Committee), and the community as a whole — which overwhelmingly voted for the bonds that paid for the project.