With an increasing number of residents entering the San Francisco Peninsula in recent years, construction of apartments and office buildings on the Peninsula has grown, creating issues for traffic and rent. San Mateo City Council members are trying to manage the development and prevent overpopulation issues. The increase of new residents also ties to an increase of students in the Aragon freshman class. Senior George Marshall says, “I feel that San Mateo is getting a little too crowded and noisy with the increase of people and development.”
Aragon parent Sushma Naik says, “Earlier when I [had] been living here in the year 2003, there were definitely not this many people then, and now … there is definitely more traffic.”
However, Naik also notes advantages living on the Peninsula. She says, “We have good schools. Highways and freeways are accessible and they are very close. Shopping is very convenient.” The increase in people moving to the Peninsula is influenced by these factors.
Because living costs increase in a community when new residents enter, some residents on the Peninsula face rent increases each year. Community member Raja Bolisetty has been a resident in Foster City for around eight years and faces an annual rent increase. He says, “People might want to move since their rent is equal to the mortgage of other houses and they can either buy one here or at a different area … It all depends on the person’s perspectives and how stable their lifestyle is.”
However, for Bolisetty himself, he says, “I do not want to shift or move to a different area because throughout the Bay Area it’s almost all like this with the rent.”
Regarding the next school year at Aragon, Assistant Principal Ron Berggren says, “The amount of freshmen students probably will be around 400, but we are not sure.” He adds, “We get information about enrollment around February and March.”
The San Mateo City Council is working to address issues regarding development. San Mateo City Council Member Diane Papan is in the committees for schools, housing, and development. She says, “We are working on our grade separations so that cars have more options other than 92 and Hillsdale to travel east to west without being interrupted by the trains.” Grade separation is the physical separation of traffic flow to help avoid congestions in traffic and to make roads more efficient.
Papan continues, “We have also just secured the funding for the re-design of the 92/El Camino interchange … The traffic improvements for the grade separations should be done within the next five years and the 92/El Camino interchange is a three-year project.”
With the Peninsula’s population increasing, both the school and the city will have to continue addressing the numerous issues of housing and development.
