Problems With Walkway Prompt Discussion About Closure

Memory Lane, the 10-foot-wide cement path that pedestrians often use as a shortcut to get from Elm Avenue to El Camino Real, has left nothing but bad memories for the homeowners who have had to live by it. 

The group of homeowners who live next to the path are now upset because vandalism, graffiti, drug use and other public nuisances have inconspicuously gone on there for years, yet, according to them, the city has turned a blind eye to the problem. 

“It’s a nuisance and the city won’t don’t anything about it, “ said Suheil Azar, one of fourteen residents who have hired an attorney to take matters into their own hands. 

The City Council will be bringing up the matter at its The discussion will focus on one main concern: Should the city close Memory Lane for good? 

The walkway has existed since the 1930s, when the developer first starting building homes in the area. 

But Azar and his neighbors decided they had had enough when students—some believe Parkside Intermediate students—were going down the walkway and threw a rock inside his window and hit his 90-year-old mother, whom he was caring for. Azar’s mother’s caretaker left the position after the incident out of fear, according to the San Mateo Daily Journal. 

Now, deciding whether to close down Memory Lane not only involves the city and the residents near the path, but also Parkside. 

The homeowners are also displeased with how the city has tried to address the problem in the meantime. Instead of talking to the homeowners most affected, Azar said, the city sent a survey to 390 residents in the neighborhoods adjacent to the three blocks that Memory Lane crosses. 

About 100 people responded to the survey, and about 70 percent said they didn’t favor closing the block because people find it useful to go shopping downtown, visit family and friends and access other convenient activities. 

The council meeting will also include discussions about:

• Garbage rate increases,
• The city’s , and
• Plans for the development of aesthetic features for the .

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