Second gang-style attack in a month. This town changed.

Please consider El Camino, Alma, Middlefield & 101 to run N/S (even when they don't, so indications of direction can be interpreted accurately.

"Please consider El Camino, Alma, . . .to run N/S"

Problem: they don't. In local compass bearings, MVPD's description is accurate, and the only possible one consistent with other cues. Castro is more or less north-south, ECR east-west, there. Street addressing and signage (E. and W. El Camino, E. and W. Evelyn Avenue, etc.) reflect that reality in this part of the peninsula. Surely it's more reasonable for out-of-town readers to check a map occasionally (they're just a click away) than request directions to be distorted for them!

ECR travels the whole peninsula at an angle, never close to truly north-south (though closer to it some places than in MV; let alone Sunnyvale, where it actually does become strictly east-west for a stretch); yet there's a habit around Palo Alto of referring to it as if it were simply a north-south road (along with calling Central Expressway "Alma").

Thank you Max. ECR is indeed E/W and Castro N/S. Anything else is just incorrect.

I'm sympathetic to Raymond's comment and I recall many years ago a software engineer (who else?) using the term "logical north" and "logical south" to describe orientations on roads like El Camino Real (which runs from San Jose (south) to Daly City (north), even if it's sometimes *literally* going more west than south. Through MV, El Camino is actually NW/SE, so the use of "eastbound on El Camino" can definitely be confusing. It's not until you get down to Sunnyvale that El Camino is literally an east/west street.

Nevertheless, PeaceLove, Raymond's argument is fatally flawed, in its context -- which is, local directions. When MVPD mentions eastbound ECR near Castro -- an accurate compass-quarter approximation there -- the road's shape 10s of miles away in Daly City or San José has no bearing. Raymond's request was, essentially, to distort locally accurate directions to accommodate someone's preferred idealized model of ECR's overall shape. It is more humble to learn local directions than ask they be changed to fit your preferences.

Someone wanting to stretch a point could also call ECR "logically" an East-West road on the basis that it does traverse a long distance in that axis too. (Barbara Tuchman: "This was logical, but as often with logic, wrong.")

"yet there's a habit around Palo Alto of ... calling Central Expressway 'Alma'."

Google Maps shows Central Expressway becoming Alma after it crosses San Antonio Road, so you might want to submit a change request to them.

I assure you Greg, the name change at the Palo Alto border long predated Google Maps.

In case anyone else too missed this point: The road is only "Alma" around Palo Alto. For the larger part of its total length (from MV to the SJ Airport), it's Central Expressway. Many people know that; but some erroneously call even the Central Expressway part -- which runs through Mountain View -- "Alma." Including occasionally in MV-Voice comments.

Thanks for setting me straight, Max. Hopefully your comment will be enlightening to some other readers too.

the crime - Attempted Murder by the discharge of a firearm into an occupied vehicle (+ other crimes) - is an unfortunate example of a Return to the times in MV when there was more gang activity. About 2-3 decades ago as I remember? Included multiple murders.

This uptick in violence (often gang related) has also been noted During The Pandemic in other areas across our country. Not unique to MV. Unfortunately the sociology seems to be: More Poor People out of work -> more Poor People in Gangs -> more Gang related violence. [not even counting middle-class "Breaking Bad" contributions]