Another great place to watch the fireworks is from the Shoreline Lake Aquatic Center & Cafe.

They have lots of fun stuff happening for the 4th too (e.g., barbecue, all day access passes, new picnic baskets & combos, etc.).

Their last newsletter has the details: Web Link

oh i bet the endangered owls love that

that traffic was disgraceful! 10 min of fireworks 2 hours to get out of there.

Traffic was a 2 hour disgrace. The parking lots were a state of chaos with MVPD (two to a car) sitting in parked cars at the exits. Traffic attendants standing around in groups of 3-4 not doing their job. No one actually working or taking charge. I only saw one attendant briefly trying to direct traffic in the lots MVPD and attendants need to be directing traffic flow in the lots and moving things along on the streets.

Perception is everything. The Chief of Police needs to be called on the carpet for this one BEFORE we start building more apartments!

Shoreline is a great venue but its infrastructure has not kept pace with the time. Add in Google and lots of pedestrians and it becomes an accident waiting to happen. I was surprised that no one was killed during the 4th of July exit stampede.

There are several things that should / MUST be done before next year's fireworks display: a) the sidewalks need to be widened, flatted (get rid of the tree root damage) and well lit; b) there needs to be a PLAN for getting vehicles out of the parking lots as quickly and smoothly as possible; c) The sprinklers have come on during the exit rush every single year for the past eight 4th of July concerts soaking pedestrians leaving the show. Somebody should coordinate this.

The bottom line: Until somebody steps up and oversees the entire event it will not get better and somebody might / will get very badly hurt. It's better to pay to fix things up now than to pay a lawyer and plaintiff's damages. Google . . . are you listening?

My husband and I have attended the Shoreline 4th of July Fireworks program for more than 10 years. We learned after the first year not to park in the official parking lots, because it took so long to exit after the program. We usually park, then walk a good distance, because it ensures a quicker exit. In the past, Mountain View police, along with what appeared to be Shoreline employees, controlled the intersections along Shoreline Blvd after the concert, and all seemed congested but orderly. Something was terribly amiss this year...the traffic control was left to young people with orange vests--I don't even know if they were Shoreline employees--trying to control the intersections, ordering pedestrians not to cross at certain intersections on what are public streets. They simply do not have the authority to do this! They were forcing folks to walk on dark, uneven sidewalks that were being watered by a sprinkler. Many people decided to walk in the bike lane, as at least they could see where they were going. As we walked back to our car and reached the Pear Ave. light, we finally saw six MV motorcycle officers, just sitting and watching. I expressed my concern that such young people were left to control such massive amounts of both auto and pedestrian traffic. The officer did not speak, but raised his eyebrows and shook his head, and the message I got was that he did not care for the situation either. What happened? Does anyone know why the MVPD was not in charge of the intersections? There are safe ways to handle Shoreline when people leave such an event, but it was definitely not a safe situation last Wednesday night.

Not suprised that the MVPD did not take charge to make sure that things ran smooth. I gave up on that venue a few years back and I live on shoreline!

All I ask of our police officers is please use turn signals.
Follow the rules you swore to uphold.

We too gave up going to see our hometown fireworks this year due to lack of safety and, I think, lack of respect for spectators. People are treated like hoards of angry mobsters, when the crowd is mostly made up of nice families. We always parked on the other side of the 101 bridge then walked down to the show. Last year, I twisted my ankle walking on a dark, uneven sidewalk. I was appalled at the sprinklers spraying pedestrians and the rudeness of the guards in the corporate lots. The whole experience was an insult to our national holiday. Sad.

The city just build a beautiful new pedestrian path and bridge from Middlefield, over Hwy 101, to the Shoreline Amphitheater. Distance is about 1.5 mile, which is a half hour walk for most people. Much more pleasant than fighting traffic for 2 hours.

Next time walk: I've walked to this event for years and got fed up with the condition of the walkways in and around the venue. They are terrible: poorly lit to completely dark, unevenly paved due to tree roots popping up, sprinklers shooting water right onto the walkways, poorly trained crossing guards causing overcrowding and confusion at intersections, traffic jams all around filling the air with noxious fumes. It is not pleasant at all.