Beach-bound drivers are called out for bad behavior

As more drivers cut through Los Gatos on their way to Santa Cruz beaches, the mayor is proposing to put more cops on the streets to look for motorists behaving badly while passing through town.

Mayor Rob Rennie wants the Town Council to increase the police’s department’s overtime budget next summer to help pay for the cops and said he was was particularly irked to see drivers recently going down a newly-poured downtown concrete street that was closed to traffic.

He said drivers “blowing” through stop signs, speeding and going the wrong way on one-way streets should be ticketed.

“I would not be opposed to our police department getting a reputation as nasty and if you behave badly in Los Gatos they’re going to be there giving you tickets.” Rennie said.

Rennie’s comments came during Tuesday night’s town council meeting.

In previous years, Los Gatos has hesitated to ticket beach-bound drivers because town leaders do not want to discourage people from visiting downtown retailers and restaurants.

But business this summer isn’t so good when compared to last summer, Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Catherine Somers said. And, town leaders and business owners believe beach traffic is to blame.

Last week, Somers asked 147 downtown business owners to respond to a survey that was distributed via SurveyMonkey.

“Of the 31 respondents, 25 percent said that sales were up, 64 percent said sales were down and sales stayed the same was 9.68 percent,” Somers said.

In the coming weeks, Somers plans to distribute a more narrowly-focused survey asking specifically about Saturday sales.

Saturdays are considered to be the worst beach traffic days.

“We watch the build-up on Highway 17,” said Parks and Public Works Director Matt Morley. “Around 10:30 in the morning we really start to see the freeway get congested and the impact starts to roll up and that starts the spillover.”

The spillover, Morley said, causes SmartPhone mapping apps to direct drivers to exit southbound Highway 17 and cut through downtown neighborhoods before hopping back on the freeway at the edge of downtown.

When the town tried closing the downtown Highway 17 on-ramp, the mapping apps sent drivers into neighborhoods on the other side of town. But those neighborhoods have largely been spared this summer because the onramp is open.

Aside from being inconvenienced by the traffic, many residents have expressed concern about the ability of police and fire to respond to emergencies.

Cut-through beach traffic has been a problem in Los Gatos for decades. But Memorial Day weekend 2014 was the beginning of the current problem that continues to plague the town. That year saw an average police response time of just over four minutes.

The traffic has had limited impact on police response times this summer, said Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Chief Peter Decena.

“I think there was one day that our average (response) went to 5 minutes, 22 seconds,” he said.

Three hundred drivers received warnings and citations during beach traffic hours through the end of July.

But not everyone agrees issuing tickets is a good idea.

“We have a wonderful police department and we don’t want them to be known as big bad Gestapo enforcers,” Vice Mayor Steve Leonardis said. “I think traffic direction is a more appropriate thing. It’s been proven that when traffic is directed rather than enforced that the traffic will flow better.”

Morley said the town has tried to keep traffic flowing by adjusting traffic light timing.

Morley met Wednesday with officials from Caltrans and the Valley Transportation Authority to discuss improvements to Highway 17, which is considered a long-term strategy.