From: Robert Prinz
To: CityCouncil-List
Cc: City Clerk
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Alameda City Council Meeting 3/21/2023, Public Comment Date: Monday, March 20, 2023 8:15:58 PM
This is a public comment on behalf of Bike East Bay to Alameda City Council for their meeting on 3/21/2023, agenda item 7-B "Recommendation to Endorse the Design Concept for the Clement Avenue/Tilden Way Project".
Bike East Bay encourages the council's strong endorsement of the staff design concept, and ongoing support for complete design in 2023 and a construction start in 2024.
On the other side of the Estuary, Oakland's Fruitvale Ave raised, protected bikeway project is now under construction from Alameda Ave to Fruitvale BART, with an estimated completion in 2024. A Bay Trail connection north of Fruitvale Ave and Alameda Ave will also be underway on the same timeline.
A high amount of the induced bike traffic from the Oakland project will proceed to and from Alameda, so expediting the Tilden/Clement project as well as a bikeway across the Miller- Sweeney Bridge is a high priority to ensure these individuals aren't left without a complete and safe connection, via continuous all ages and abilities bikeways.
Thank you for receiving my comments,
Logo Robert Prinz | Advocacy Director
Pronouns: he/him
Mail: PO Box 1736 Oakland, CA 94604
Office: 466 Water Street Oakland, CA 94607
P: (510) 845-7433 x5 | E: [email protected]
From: Greg Meagher
To: City Clerk
Cc: nicci woodward
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Support Clement Ave/Tilden Way Project Date: Monday, March 20, 2023 4:46:19 PM
Dear City Council Members,
I am writing to request your support for the Clement Ave/Tilden Way Project. As our city continues to grow, it is important that we prioritize the development of outdoor spaces that allow residents to connect with nature and enjoy the outdoors.
I believe that the creation of a new trail and green space would provide numerous benefits to our community. First and foremost, it would offer a safe and accessible space for residents to walk, run, bike, and enjoy other recreational activities. Additionally, it would serve as a beautiful and sustainable way to enhance the natural beauty of our city, providing an opportunity for residents to appreciate and preserve our local environment.
I am confident that this project would be a valuable addition to our city.
I urge you to consider this proposal and support the development of Clement Ave/Tilden Way
Project. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely, Greg Meagher (Alameda Resident)
From: Lorin Laiacona Salem
To: [email protected]; City Clerk
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Clement Ave/Tilden Way Project
Date: Monday, March 20, 2023 3:52:35 PM
Hello, Mme. Mayor, Vice Mayor Daysog, and Council Members, I am writing in support of the Clement Ave/Tilden Way Project, which will be in front of you this evening, 3/20/23. I am excited that this project will extend the Cross Alameda Trail and improve our connection to the Bay Trail. I also appreciate the traffic calming along Tilden Way will make the intersections much safer for all users.
Thank you in advance for approving this project!
Regards,
Lorin Salem
Alameda
From: Cyndy Johnsen
To: CityCouncil-List; City Clerk
Cc: BWA Board
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Item 7B: Clement/Tilden
Date: Monday, March 20, 2023 8:20:31 AM
Attachments: We sent you safe versions of your files.msg 3_21_23 CC Comments Clement_Tilden.pdf
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Dear Mayor Ezzy Ashcraft and Members of the City Council, Bike Walk Alameda would like to submit the attached letter of support regarding Item 7B (Clement/Tilden) for Tuesday's City Council meeting.
Thank you in advance for your consideration.
From: Drew Dara-Abrams
To: Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft; Tony Daysog; Trish Spencer; Malia Vella; Tracy Jensen Cc: City Clerk
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Item 7-B Clement Avenue/Tilden Way Project Date: Saturday, March 18, 2023 8:47:21 PM
Dear Mayor Ezzy Ashcraft, Vice Mayor Daysog, and Councilmembers, I've appreciated seeing the plans come together over the past few years to redesign the intersections at Tilden, Clement, Fernside, and Blanding.
I regularly walk or bike through this area on my way to my office, and I regularly drive through here coming and going from Alameda. The current arrangements are a subpar experience by any mode.
The modern roundabout at Tilden/Fernside/Blanding will provide drivers with a smoother traffic flow, while also designing against the worst outcomes of drivers speeding through yellow or red lights. Cyclists and pedestrians will be able to travel the length of the Cross Alameda Trail. And a number of existing intersections that are currently a pain to cross on foot will get stop signs and raised crosswalks. I am looking forward to using all of these new features, on foot, on bike, and in a car. And I believe they will be a net positive for all travelers in Alameda.
Regarding the "punch through" of Clement Ave, it's slightly disappointing to see open space given over to more pavement for autos/trucks. However, I trust that staff and consultants have identified useful benefits to this approach. If you think about the area around the Webster/Posey tubes, those roads suffer from too few connections and an incomplete street grid. In contrast, by completing Clement Ave, auto and truck traffic could be spread out more around the Tilden/Clement/Blanding entry area. This could ease speeds, volumes, and driver impatience at a number of intersections, so it seems a reasonable tradeoff to complete Clement. (The plans do include a good deal of park space elsewhere in the area.) While completing the grid with Clement will likely be positive, I also appreciate that the designs discourage those driving northbound on Pearl St. Currently the length of Pearl is used by a few too many drivers who are trying to avoid traffic on Broadway and roll through stop signs the entire length of Pearl. The slight adjustment in this plan means that Pearl will continue to be accessible for all local traffic, but will discourage drivers who turn off Otis Drive and shoot up the entire length of Pearl straight across Fernside and up Tilden to Oakland, as can be done presently.
As the consulting engineer noted at your on-site Council meeting, the new plans were designed against 120% of current traffic volumes at the peak morning hour and the peak evening hour. This design will moderate speeds at those critical points where crashes can occur, while still moving everyone at a smooth pace onward to their destinations, even at the busiest times of day.
Finally, I know you heard skepticism and also anger from some at your on-site Council meeting. Skepticism is understandable. While Alameda has other modern roundabouts under design and they already exist elsewhere in the Bay Area, we don't yet have one we can point to as a concrete example here. Anger is less understandable. To be frank, street design is almost becoming a "culture war" type of issue in Alameda.
Please focus on this project from a practical angle. It's designed by professional planners and engineers according to current best practices for all modes of transportation — that includes semi-trucks, drivers in a wide range of vehicles, people on foot, people on foot without vision, people in wheelchairs, and people on bikes. The project will help reduce potentially fatal or serious crashes, while still moving people efficiently. Please move ahead with the Clement Ave/Tilden Way Project.
Thanks for your time,
Drew Dara-Abrams
Calhoun St.
From: Karen MIller
To: Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft; Malia Vella; Tony Daysog; Trish Spencer; Tracy Jensen Cc: Lara Weisiger
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Item 7B Tilden Reconfiguration
Date: Tuesday, March 14, 2023 4:05:31 PM
Dear Mayor and Council members,
I am puzzled why you are so motivated to reconfigure the streets in Alameda when your own survey does not suggest that the residents of Alameda want it.
The survey shows that only residents in the East End favor turning 4 lane streets into 2 and even then it is only by 53%. 61% of Bay Farm residents and 51% of West End are against it Clearly there is not a consensus to do the wholesale redesign of any street in Alameda. If we assume that local government is in the business of meeting the needs and demands of their residents, then this doesn’t seem to make much sense.
I am also very concerned that if we have a natural disaster, that the streets will be impassible with traffic. We all saw what happened with the PGE power failure. Please do not make a bottleneck out of a primary exit point in Alameda. Please do not vote in favor of this redesign. Thank you.
Regards,
Karen Miller
Virus-free.www.avast.com
From: Gail Payne
To: Lara Weisiger
Cc: Ashley Zieba
Subject: FW: [EXTERNAL] Clement and Tilden
Date: Friday, March 3, 2023 1:22:35 PM
Lara,
For the March 21 agenda, please attached these correspondences - one shown here - in that it seems like the most transparent way to proceed due to the withdrawn agenda item for Clement/Tilden, which seems to be now for March
21. Thank you kindly,
Gail Payne, Senior Transportation Coordinator, City of Alameda (she/her/hers) 510-747-6892 - [email protected]
-----Original Message-----
From: Lindsay Whalin <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, March 2, 2023 7:14 PM
To: Gail Payne <[email protected]>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Clement and Tilden
Great plan!
This is one of the most dangerous spots in my bike commute.
Thanks for planning to make it safer and greener. I fully support the plan.
Lindsay Whalin
2842 Madison St.
Sent from my iPhone
From: Alameda Citizens Task Force
To: Manager Manager; Yibin Shen; City Clerk; Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft Cc: Tony Daysog; Trish Spencer; Malia Vella; Tracy Jensen Subject: [EXTERNAL] Item 5-G March 7 City Council Agenda Objection to Placement on Consent Calendar Date: Monday, February 27, 2023 12:03:27 PM
ACT
Alameda Citizens Task Force
Vigilance, Truth, Civility
Dear City Manager Ott, City Attorney Shen, City Clerk Weisiger & Mayor Ashcraft:
We understand that the City Manager is responsible for the content of the agenda with the assistance of the City Attorney, City Clerk and Mayor. We believe that the Clement Avenue/Tilden Way Redesign Project has been improperly placed on the consent calendar and should be moved to the regular agenda well in advance of the meeting so that it can be noticed to the public as soon as possible. We also believe that Section 4 of the City Council Rules of Order needs to be amended.
Objection to placement of item 5-G on Consent Calendar
: Section 4 states “Agenda items listed
under the Consent Calendar are considered routine and will be enacted, approved, or adopted by one motion without discussion.” There is nothing “routine” about a 1.1 M contract to provide engineering and consulting services for the project through the final planning and construction stages. On December 21, 2021, the City Council contracted for the initial engineering/consultation services to explore the feasibility of the project. Since that time, the project has been reviewed by various city agencies and public input has been received from people living in close proximity to the project. However, the City Council has not addressed the subject since then.
Now the Council is presented with a detailed plan for the project and is asked to approve an engineering and consultation contract which greenlights the project through its completion. This project is at a major island ingress and egress point for all classes of vehicular and pedestrian traffic directly adjacent to a major shopping center, a future housing project, and a planned additional park space, including a dog park. It includes a roundabout that will have to serve all of this traffic, including large vehicles like trucks and buses, while still providing safe passage for bikes, pedestrians and passenger vehicles.
It is a misapplication of our Rules of Order to classify this as a consent item to be adopted without discussion. Any council member may remove this item and require discussion/explanation. However, that does not provide a process equivalent to placement on the regular agenda.
As a regular agenda item, there would first be a staff presentation followed by clarifying questions from council members and staff response. Only after the public had learned more about the project from that process would public comment commence, with three minutes per speaker allowed if there are less than 7 speakers and two minutes each otherwise.
The process for removal of an item from the consent calendar is not clearly spelled out in the Rules, other than providing that public comment will be limited to two minutes per speaker on all items combined. However, the Mayor’s practice has been to open public comment at the outset of the consent calendar, before asking for any council member’s desire to remove an item. This forces the public to comment before hearing a staff presentation or clarifying questions and answers. Thus, this process severely limits public comment that would otherwise been available on the regular agenda.
Based on the above, we urge the City Manager to immediately amend the agenda to place the Clement Avenue/Tilden Way Redesign Project on the regular agenda.
Amendment of Consent Calendar Rules
: Section 4 of the Rules of Order needs to include a
definition of “routine” and a codification of the process to remove an item from the consent calendar. The definition of routine should be expressed from the point of view of the public, not the City Council. For example, current practice is for Council confirmation of public employee MOU’s to be listed on the consent calendar. This is a routine matter for the City Council because they have previously reviewed the MOU in closed sessions, but it is clearly not routine from the point of view of the public.
The consent calendar process should be added to section 4 and provide that a council member’s request to remove an item from the consent calendar occur at the opening of the calendar, before public comment, and removes the matter to the regular agenda, thus reserving public comment on the item until after the staff presentation and council member/staff Q and A.
Sincerely,
Alameda Citizens Task Force Board of Directors