From: Abby Thorne-Lyman
To: Lara Weisiger; Ashley Zieba
Cc: Lisa Foster
Subject: FW: [EXTERNAL] Almanac & The Oakland/Alameda Access Project Date: Tuesday, October 1, 2024 4:41:18 PM
Attachments: image001.png
Hi Lara and Ashley, can you please put this in Item 7-C?
Thanks
Abby Thorne-Lyman (she/her)
Director
Base Reuse and Economic Development
City of Alameda
[email protected]
c: 510-872-2686
From: Kevin Scoles <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 1, 2024 4:10 PM
To: Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft <[email protected]>; Tony Daysog <[email protected]>; Tracy Jensen <[email protected]>; Trish Spencer <[email protected]>; Malia Vella <[email protected]>; Madlen <[email protected]>; Abby Thorne-Lyman <[email protected]>; Lisa Foster <[email protected]>; Rochelle Wheeler <[email protected]> Cc: Damian Fagan <[email protected]>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Almanac & The Oakland/Alameda Access Project
Dear Council Members,
I am reaching out this afternoon on behalf of Almanac, and ahead of this evenings City Council meeting, to share our strong reservations about the Oakland/Alameda Access Project.
Perhaps more than anything, including the beer we produce, we are most proud of being a community hub for Alameda. On a typical weekend over the last 120 days we average between 5,000-6,000 guests per weekend(Friday-Sunday). We have had well over 100,000 total guests during that same time frame.
That crowd is a blend of Alameda Island residents as well as residents coming from throughout California. While construction is still taking place on the base it has been great to finally hit our stride in our 6th year of being located on the island. Spirits Alley has become a destination point.
We mention this as we, and other Alameda Point businesses, have suffered from numerous disruptions that have had a negative impact on our business. In addition to the challenges brought on by COVID-19, the multi-year infrastructure projects still underway, and the potential for new adverse construction, you would be placing many businesses in Alameda Point and West Alameda in an increasingly precarious position. The prospect of facing yet another several years of potentially disruptive construction and traffic complications is both daunting and demoralizing.
Further more it adds salt to the wound to find out that this project will add an estimated 20 minutes to morning and evening commutes during construction, while also not providing any relief from current commute times once completed.
In our mind the juice is not worth the squeeze, and the risk is not work the reward.
Frankly speaking we are frightened of the impact that this will have on all Alameda based businesses during the estimated 18-24 month time frame(likely 24-36 months) when construction is taking place. The small improvements of the added on-ramp, and widened pedestrian walk way do not seem to be impactful enough to justify such a long closer.
Almanac prides ourselves on being a community hub, and strong pillar of Alameda.
We are proud to represent the Island both locally, and with our product in places like Disney’s California Adventure, every Safeway in California, and as far reaching as Japan. We are hopeful that you will understand our point of view, and help us with seeing a path forward.
Most Sincerely,
Kevin
==============
Kevin Scoles
Executive Vice President of Sales
Almanac Beer Co.
==============
Mobile: 760-391-8647
651B W Tower Avenue
Alameda, CA 94501
www.almanacbeer.com
From: Carol Gottstein
To: City Clerk; Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft; Tony Daysog; Trish Spencer; Malia Vella; Tracy Jensen; Jennifer Ott; Yibin Shen
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: 10-1-2024 Council mtg: Agenda Item 7-C. Tube Closure Project Date: Tuesday, October 1, 2024 2:58:43 PM
Dear Alameda Mayor and City Council:
I share all of the City Manager's concerns about this project, as she expressed in Exhibit 3. I want to add my serious concerns about how this project will affect ambulance transit times to Kaiser, Highland, and other off-island hospitals. As you will remember, Alameda Hospital stopped performing elective surgeries after June 30, 2024. The operating room was eliminated, according to the Alameda Post. While the hospital still provides very basic emergency services, many emergencies, not to mention scheduled surgeries, end up being transported directly to Oakland. The detours described in tonight's presentation would dangerously prolong the ambulance transport time for Alameda patients to the appropriately staffed hospital, as well as make people late for scheduled procedures.
I'm sure others will have these concerns once they are aware of the scope of the project, which is not yet widely known.
Please consider these scenarios when approving this project . Thank you.
Carol Gottstein
Alameda, CA 94501
September 24, 2024
John Bauters, Chair
Alameda County Transportation Commission
1111 Broadway, Suite 800
Oakland, CA 94607
Dear Chair Bauters,
I am writing as the Executive Director of the Housing Authority of the City of Alameda (AHA). As you may know, AHA serves some 4000 low-income tenants, the vast majority of whom live at the West end of Alameda and use the Posey Tube when exiting and entering the island. The bulk of multi-family housing is in the West end due to historical, planning restrictions in other areas of Alameda.
We understand the necessary work for the residents of Chinatown, but we urge you in your planning to also consider the low-income residents of Alameda. These changes will have an adverse and disproportional impact on low-income households.
Many of our tenants work off island including at the Oakland Unified School District, VTA, IHHS workers, or are city and county employees, food services and retail workers, nurses and other essential workers. These households are much more likely to rely on public transit and to work hourly jobs serving the public. They are generally not able to work from home, as many higher income Alameda households can if there is a traffic issue, and their pay will be docked if they are late, or worse, they may lose their job. Our tenants also do not have the option of the high-speed ferry- first it is cost prohibitive for low-income families and second very few, if any, work in San Francisco - most work in Oakland and the East Bay.
Further 65.7% of our clients are elderly and/or disabled and need timely access to their health care providers in Oakland. Again, the use of public transit is significantly higher, for our residents, than the general public. Finally, we have 40 employees, who work in our West end office, to serve low income and homeless residents of Alameda, who will also be impacted.
Again, we understand the need for the work, but we ask that you consider the following requests:
1. Hold a public input/outreach process and adequate noticing for all Alameda West end residents of the forthcoming plan and schedule so that all those impacted can provide input. (We would be happy to offer our meeting room for such an event. It can host about 100).
2. Limit the time the Posey tube has a reduction in lanes or is closed completely to the absolute minimum necessary by maximizing night and weekend work.
3. Establish an electronic notification system for Alameda and Oakland residents to receive real- time updates once the work has started regarding delays and changes in schedule. (We would be happy to work with you to use our newsletter for informing our clients).
We appreciate your consideration of the needs of low-income Alamedans in this project.
Please feel free to contact me if you need any additional information
Docusign Envelope ID: D4F16808-1476-4F47-9689-33040C8C2CD4
Best regards,
Vanessa Cooper
Executive Director
Housing Authority of the City of Alameda
[email protected]
Cc:
Mayor Ashcraft – [email protected]
City of Alameda
John Bauters, Chair - [email protected]
Alameda County Transportation Commission
David Haubert, Vice-Chair - [email protected]
Alameda County Transportation Commission
Tess Lengyel, Executive Director - [email protected] Alameda County Transportation Commission
Docusign Envelope ID: D4F16808-1476-4F47-9689-33040C8C2CD4
From: Cyndy Johnsen
To: CityCouncil-List
Cc: board; City Clerk
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Item 7-C (Construction Impacts of OAAP) Date: Monday, September 30, 2024 4:44:36 PM
Attachments: 10-1-2024 CC OAAP.pdf
Dear Mayor Ezzy Ashcraft and Member of the Council,
We hope you will consider our comments regarding the construction impacts of OAAP, attached.
Thank you,
Bike Walk Alameda Board
Board of Directors
Denyse Trepanier
President
Brian Fowler
Treasurer
Tim Beloney
Secretary
Cyndy Johnsen
Board Member
Maria Piper
Board Member
Lucy Gigli
Founder, non-voting
September 30, 2024
RE: Item 7-C: Construction Impacts of OAAP
Dear Mayor Ezzy Ashcraft and Members of the Council,
If the opportunity arises, we hope you will propose that project sponsors fund expanded estuary water shuttle service as mitigation for construction impacts of this project. We believe this could address bicycle and pedestrian access issues, while also potentially helping to reduce traffic through the tubes.
There’s precedent for providing shuttles as mitigation: Caltrans has run free ground shuttles for bicyclists and pedestrians during Posey Tube closures in the past.
Ground shuttles could again be offered, but if reducing traffic through the Tubes is important, thinking of options outside of the tubes might make more sense, at least for busier times.
There’s also precedent for offering water service as a substitute for ground service:
Caltrans has operated two “ floating highways ” in the delta to complete gaps in the highway system there for many years.
What would expanded water service look like? A good starting point would be to fill holes in the existing service by adding early morning and later evening service, service during the mid-day gap, and service on Mondays and Tuesdays.
A more ambitious strategy would be to add an additional boat to better manage peak periods, when people are currently getting bumped. Improved headways and redundancy in the event of maintenance needs would be added benefits.
Enhancements like these will help make the service more utilitarian than recreational, and entice more drivers to take advantage of it, ultimately relieving pressure on the tubes during these challenging years of construction and maybe beyond.
Thank you for your consideration.
Bike Walk Alameda Board