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Letters: Trails mean traffic

Dear Editor,

I would like to encourage Pleasanton residents to vote No on Measure D on June 8. I grew up in the South Bay where a situation like this was going on with "Rancho San Antonio," an area with hiking and jogging trails. We all parked on neighboring streets, until the popularity of this park started to drive the neighboring homeowners crazy with all the traffic. The city had to build a parking lot and public bathrooms and hire rangers to accommodate the growing numbers of runners, bikers and hikers.

We are fortunate to live in an area with many wonderful existing hiking areas. Planning this in a residential neighborhood should not happen. We have already experienced fires in the hills when we first moved here. The area can get very dry during the heat of summer and anything that can spark has the potential to be a disaster reminiscent of the Oakland Hills fire. It was very frightening to watch the helicopters flying overhead trying to put the fires out.

The access to Oak Grove would be the same route that kids travel to grammar school, the Kottinger pool and to their friends' houses. All this additional traffic to Hearst is not a feel-good moment for parents that have grade school kids that travel this route daily. The reason so many of us live in Pleasanton is because it's a great community and a great place to raise our kids. Think about how you would feel if this was happening in your neighborhood. Please vote No on Measure D.

Alice Gregg