Grand Street Improvement Project – Workshop #2 Notes 1
Grand St Community Workshop #2 Notes
May 4, 2022
A total of 25 attendees were at the virtual community workshop, and a total of 16 attendees provided the following comments:
• Hale Foote: Grand St resident. Grand has become a raceway in the last couple of years. He applauds most of the traffic calming measures seen in the presentation. He wants to ask city members and consultants to coordinate with police, and he shared statistics that traffic citations have been going down so he requested more police presence.
• Carmen Reid: Lifelong resident of this neighborhood, and is familiar with traffic patterns in the area.
Suggestions are to include the crosswalks at Clinton, across Grand, San Jose and San Antonio. She does not think that the bulb outs will be helpful especially the way drivers go down the street on Clinton. Construction and delivery trucks need extra space, and bulb outs might cause more accidents. She does not think bollards are attractive. She does appreciate the work, and hopes to continue the conversations.
• Matt Reid: Been here 25+ years. Concerns of statistics cited on presentation slides, and feels like it is taken out of context. He agrees with the first speaker about the lack of police presence contributing to bad habits around town. If federal money is the case, it doesn’t make sense without an acute need. He wants to prove the acute needs with better statistics. The blocks toward Encinal do not seem to need this project.
• Jay Garfinkle: Looks like a well-organized committee. People say it is federal money, but people in Alameda pay taxes. Changes at Grand and Otis are problematic because the concrete islands are hard to maneuver around after looking out for pedestrians. The loss of the lane is too abrupt. He agrees with Carmen Reid, and likes flashing lights. He doesn’t believe the root cause analysis and wants to know if pedestrians crossing the street are paying attention. He is disappointed by the survey and thought it asked unnecessary questions.
• Donna Eyestone: Having really good north/south routes are critical for bike infrastructure to work in town. Anything that can be done to slow traffic down would benefit bicyclists and pedestrians. She is concerned about bollards and paint not being enough protection. Bollards and parking at Park St are not respected by drivers. Drivers drive over bollards. It’s unsafe if you feel protected but drivers go over bollards. If you’re doing down Grand to school and get to Otis, it looks like you’re losing the protected bike lane where it’s needed the most, but it may not be clear. She supports the project and wants to see it through.
• Denyse Trepanier: She echoes what Donna is saying about critical North/South bike corridor because there are not many streets that meet this condition because of the driveways but doing it here where we have opportunities makes sense and she appreciates the protection. She noticed at half a block of San Antonio and Encinal, it looks like Class II and wants the protected bike lane to continue the whole way. Thank you for this work and can’t wait.
• Howard Ashcraft: He is strongly in support of the project, and he expressed issues with the separated bike lanes. Grand is hard to back out on from driveways. By moving the parking space Grand Street Improvement Project – Workshop #2 Notes 2
back, it is harder to back out of driveways. Most people on Grand back out to get into roadway.
There would be problems for deliveries. As a cyclist, it is difficult when people exit the cars and cross the bike lanes without looking for bikes creating safety problems. He prefers Class 2 bike lanes instead of bollards and separation. For traffic calming, there’s no doubt that there’s excessive speeding and thinks this is helpful. He wants Class 2 bike lanes instead of the proposed alignment.
• Paul Bergamaschi: He supports the intentions of the project and similar ones across Alameda.
Traffic calming, bike and pedestrian safety are important. He feels strongly that this project is ill- considered afterthoughts. The designs are visually unappealing, and not integrated for an overall aesthetic of Alameda. The City has gone overboard. Drivers are treated like pariahs. If driving a full sized vehicle, it’s hard to negotiate the corner at Grand/Otis. Vehicles and drivers deserve equal consideration so all can coexist. He wants more consideration for drivers. Webster and Park have confusing striping.
• Michael Sullivan: He is in favor of all the design elements, and is going to help north/south corridor for bikes. He likes the big advantage to keep speeds down. He heard comments that bulbouts and green paint and new signs confuse drivers. It shouldn’t be hard for people to adjust since the prevalence of these treatments around the Bay Area. He thinks it’s a great addition that might take adjustments but is a good idea for the future. With these bike lanes, drivers will feel that they can park in the bike lane, and wants to prevent cars from entering the bike lanes.
• Janine Shafer: She is a daily walker and driver on Grand St., and lives on Palmera Court. It is essential to have a four-way stop at Clinton and Grand and Dayton/Grand. Vehicles higher than 6 feet should not be parked near the intersection. There are large trucks that park at corners and cause accidents because no one can see the pedestrians and bicyclists. She agrees with the gentleman about Grand/Otis because she cannot turn there without going into the other lane.
When Grand is resurfaced, it needs a centerline. It’s dangerous without a centerline.
• Carol Gottstein: She lives on Grand between San Antonio and Encinal. It’s puzzling that city will resurface Grand but not Encinal between Sherman and Oak. It is a big shock when make turns and the pot holes. For this project, she sent Gail an email earlier today. Riding a bike is a choice, but mobility disability isn’t a choice. She needs to park in front of her house and needs the curb cut in the driveway to get in and out of her car. She expressed concern about the bollards and if blue curbs could be provided. She prefers traditional Class 2 bike lanes.
• John Brennan: He applauds the goals and efforts in this project for Grand St to be safer. He lives on Grand St, his kids bike and walk to school, and bike to south shore. He wants traffic on Grand reduced in speed. He does not think the enhanced bike lanes make sense. He thinks it is an opportunity for speed bumps on Grand St, and happy with 4-way stops instead of taking away parking. Parking is for delivery vehicles and for guests. He thinks that there would be more hazards for people by removing parking. Class 2 bike lanes with little separators and curbs with vivid colors would be helpful similar to Greenwich Village in New York.
• Cindy Johnsen: It is a great improvement over the original plan, and she likes the parking protected bike lanes. She wants more robust treatments instead of bollards. They get hit and destroyed.
Bollards give people the feeling of safety. She wants people to consider biking because of the climate crisis. People are scared and we need to make them feel more comfortable to ride bikes. It Grand Street Improvement Project – Workshop #2 Notes 3
is important to prioritize safety because of the kids. She likes the daylighting. About the bike lane at Otis with gutter splitting the bike lane, please pay special attention to bike lane in that regard.
• Donna Fong: She loves the daylighting and crosswalks. She lives on Grand across from Wood School for a long time. She sees speeding cars and it’s frightening. About the changes on Shoreline, she is scared to drive down Shoreline and scared to hit someone with the doors open or people going between parked cars to cross the street. She thinks it’s a matter of time before people get hurt. She doesn’t like driving down Willow. She is unsure about driving left and right down the street, and welcomes a 4-way stop. She likes what Donna suggests about NY. Safety is important.
• Zeke Bowler: He seconds the idea of more 4-way stops on Grand to slow traffic. He expressed concern about parking on the weekends. Children play little league. The parking in the neighborhood is saturated. Removing parking will have bad affect for people using the park. If city takes visibility seriously, take red paint and prohibit parking close to intersections. Concerned of driving down Grand if parking at alternate sides of the streets. He thinks it will create jaywalkers in the middle of blocks, not at crosswalks.
• Alex Spehr: She is curious who people are that like stripes over bollards on bike lanes. She has a kid wants her to be able to bike safely. She hears others who don’t want the street to be too narrow.
She wants separated bike lanes and wants pretty Amsterdam bollards that are more decorative with city logo and not the plastic bollards. Cars should not be able to drive into a bike lane. If bike lanes look wide enough, cars will go in.