A pedestrian-friendly Arastradero which is being proposed by the city is not necessarily the way to resolve global warming. Assistant Principal Tom Jacoubowsky said, “Gunn has reservations about the plan, but we’re willing to work with the city to see if it can be improved.” In the long run, it is great to advocate biking and walking rather than driving, but realistically the results of making Arastradero a one-lane street would just be more traffic and more pollution to an already congested road.

If this plan is put into action, Gunn is going to redo the parking lot in order to get students in faster and to lessen stress in the mornings. “Gunn has one of the worst ingress/egress designs in the area,” Jacoubowsky said. There is only one way into the school, and if someone happens to miss the entrance and thinks they can just drive around the school and come back, they are in for a long drive. The new parking lot plans entail giving two lanes to entering cars from Arastradero, so there can be a larger stream and students don’t have to stop and wait for staff, visitor or carpool cars. Currently, cars pulling into this first lot clog traffic all the way to Arastradero.

The city plan will also include wider bike lanes and more crosswalks. The philosophy is that students from Gunn and Terman, as well as other schools along the corridor, do not have enough crosswalks and find it a scary concept to cross a four-lane street without one. This may be true, but there are already five crosswalks between El Camino and Foothill Expressway and another two in front of the Gunn parking lot entrance, not to mention the ones closer to Terman. If the plan wants to encourage environmental health and possibly general health (biking, walking), then leaving Arastradero the way it is would be more beneficial to students’ walking health than having a crosswalk every five meters along the road.

Currently, Los Altos Hills has 63 miles of pathways and Palo Alto has 12.7 miles of hiking trails, according to each city’s website (www.losaltoshills.ca.gov and www.city.palo-alto.ca.us). The two cities have made great efforts to promote different events, such as the Pathways Run in Los Altos Hills, and the Moonlight Run in Palo Alto in order to campaign for exercising and personal health as well as environmental health. In addition, living near Stanford University has been a blessing to many in the area. Lectures, performances and research and knowledge of the students and professors at the school have been a huge influence on this area. Altogether, reducing green house gas emissions and promoting a green environment are already nearing its peak.

Clogging up Arastradero, which currently has a fairly large bike lane and sidewalk, would only cause cars to have to stay on the road longer. Every morning, a line of at least 10 cars fills the road near the Gunn entrance. If Arastradero were even smaller, this problem would only increase and, as a result, so would pollution.

If the goal is to encourage citizens to ride bikes or walk, another solution should be put to action. A bike sale could be proposed, or perhaps even a whole day devoted to bikes, in which citizens could purchase and ride them around. There could even be a race, and bike accessories and decorations could be sold at the same time. This would be a wonderful opportunity to knock the stigma off of biking or walking to school, and show people how helpful bikes can be to the environment.

It is crucial that people begin to take global warming seriously and take the globe into account when making construction plans. Slimming down Arastradero, however, is not a realistic solution. Imagine having to wait 30 minutes instead of 15 at the traffic light on the way to school every day. Cars would pack the road and pollution would fill a city that already has its share of emission issues. This is no way to live and no way to promote a green environment, which should definitely be the aim of any rebuilding plan.­