Posted by Las Lomitas District parent, a resident of the Portola Valley: Ladera neighborhood, on Mar 2, 2012 at 1:01 pm

Seems to me if people choose to live in such environments, they accept the bad with the good. The good is rural living, great views, etc. The bad includes delayed response or lack of access by emergency response teams. People need to accept responsibility for their choices and take individual steps to improve their situation (perhaps buy higher levels of disaster insurance?) rather than make the city/county/state take care of them. California has many examples of places where homes should not be built (the sliding mud hill in La Conchita/Santa Barbara) or areas that should not be highly populated (Santa Ana wind fires in Topanga Canyon). Live there at your own risk. I'm tired of supplementing risky living choices with my high property taxes and insurance rates.

Posted by THEREALITY, a resident of another community, on Mar 4, 2012 at 9:57 am

ANYONE living in California, and especially on the Peninsula which sits directly on the St. Andreas fault and has some of the most expensive homes in the U.S.have us all behaving like ostriches.

The destruction that would happen wouldn't be from collapsing homes like the tornadoes now in Indiana, Ohio,and three other states, but would ultimately be from fires like the gas explosions in San Bruno and the inability of people to escape on overcrowded roads and the death toll would be significant.

Those 75% of homes with large cement bunkers of the super rich who have had them retrofitted (mostly without permits)and in some cases, are paranoid of having their addresses published for fear of having to share their shelters with others.

It could and will happen at any time, but don't expect the same kind of brotherhood in those devastated areas.

To be blunt, I live next door to a home which has a bunker which has cement walls several feet thick and an underground living environment almost 3000 sq.ft. which was constructed while 15 ft. circus like tarps guarded the construction and digging.

When I asked the bldg. commission about it, they said that the six month construction time had a permit to put in a sauna.

Photos and names are not permitted for fear of invasion of privacy.

SO, narrow roads seem like a trivial worry when one ignores the potential catastrophe in an area all of us live.

Posted by Bob, a resident of the Woodside: Skywood/Skylonda neighborhood, on Mar 6, 2012 at 12:36 pm

CA is the nanniest of states! Wouldn't surprise me when we're told what width and softness of TP we should be using...