From: Molly Laufer
To: CITYCOUNCIL-List
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Public Comment for Non-Agenda Item - City Council Meeting Mon. 9/16 Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2025 5:39:43 PM
Attachments: Molly Laufer - Alameda City Council Mtg - Mon. 916.pdf IMG_5551.HEIC
Dear City Council Members,
I wanted to share with you a copy of the comments I plan to share at tonight's City Council Meeting + accompanying photo for your digital records.
My best,
Molly
Molly P. Laufer
[email protected]
650.207.8135
@mollylauf
Sent via Superhuman
Good evening Mayor Ashcroft, Vice Mayor Pryor, and members of the Alameda City Council. My name
is
Molly
Laufer
and
I
have
been
a
resident
of
Alameda
for
over
6 years.
I
have
3 young
daughters,
one
of
whom
attends
an
Alameda
public
school.
On
Monday
September
1st,
I
was
walking
down
my
street
on
the
2600
block
of
Otis
Drive
with
my
children
when
I
saw
a
swastika
painted
on
the
traffic
light
pole
at
the
corner
of
Otis
&
Broadway.
I
immediately
submitted
a
See
Click
Fix
ticket
for
“General
Public
Graffiti”
and
a
non-emergency
report
to
the
Alameda
Police
Department
as
this
type
of
public
graffiti
is
considered
hate
speech.
I
also
notified
the
President
of
Temple
Israel,
the
local
synagogue
here
on
the
island
of
which
my
family
is
a
member.
APD
acknowledged
the
report
and
noted
an
officer
was
dispatched
to
record
the
issue.
See
Click
Fix
acknowledged
the
report
the
next
business
day
and
noted
that
the
request
was
now
a
work
order
and
assigned
to
staff.
Every day since September 1st, I have walked past this traffic pole and have yet to see the hateful
graffiti
covered
up.
I
am
here
tonight
as
it
has
been
over
2 weeks
since
the
original
acknowledgement
and
no
one
from
Public
Works
has
taken
action.
While
I
feel
fortunate
that
my
3 Jewish
daughters
are
too
young
to
recognize
this
symbol
and
what
it
represents
from
our
family’s
past,
I
can’t
help
but
wonder
why
this
specific
instance
has
been
ignored
or
otherwise
deprioritized
by
a
city
who
publicly
states
that
“Everyone
Belongs
Here”?
Since October 7th, it has not been easy to be publicly Jewish in Alameda - from wearing a Magen
David,
to
attending
public
holiday
gatherings,
to
walking
my
children
into
the
synagogue
past
our
private
security.
So
you
can
imagine
that
I
can’t
help
but
personally
feel
a
little
less
welcome
every
time
I
see
this
graffiti.
I
am
asking
the
city
to
please
escalate
the
repainting
of
this
traffic
pole.
I’ve
submitted
my
comments
via
prior
to
the
meeting
and
you
are
free
to
follow
up
with
me
directly
with
any
questions.
Thank
you
for
your
time.
From: Mitch B
To: CITYCOUNCIL-List
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Written comment for item 4 of 9/16/25 City Council Meeting Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2025 11:59:48 AM
Hello,
I will be making a non-agenda public comment in-person at the city council meeting today and wanted to share a written copy with linked citations. If it possible within the rules for this written copy to be shared/recorded to support my in-person comment, that would be appreciated. Thank you.
With construction on the Webster and Posey tube about to begin, Alameda will likely be facing high traffic congestion in the next few years before the Oakland Alameda Access Project finishes. I work in between these two tunnels and often pass by the congestion that already exists when I bike to and from work. The city has made meaningful progress in enabling people to use other modes of transportation in recent years from bike lanes to the water taxi and vehicle miles traveled are reducing
(https://www.alamedaca.gov/files/assets/public/v/3/departments/alameda/building-planning- transportation/sustainability/carp/alamedacarp_2024-annual-report.pdf, p3). However, there are still ways that people are being artificially incentivized to use cars, and the city can end these incentives by simply enabling enforcement of a 30 year old California state law.
For those of you who don’t know, “parking cash-out” law has been on the books since 1992 but often goes unenforced. The intent of this law is to prevent employers from subsidizing car use more than they subsidize any other modes of transportation. This law requires qualifying companies to offer employees who don’t drive to work the ability to “cash-out” their parking space and receive cash or alternative transit subsidies instead, equivalent to the cost of each parking space (https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/documents/californias-parking-cash-out-law ).
This could be huge for individuals who can’t afford to own cars or families who can’t afford to own multiple cars. Additionally, for those who currently drive to work but could use other modes, this could be a great incentive to stop contributing to rush hour congestion and road maintenance costs. These people deserve to be properly compensated for the true economic consequences of their decision.
Alameda just needs to do two things to enforce this law. Firstly, adopt a financial penalty for businesses that do not comply with this state law. The state law explicitly grants cities the power to do this. Secondly, change zoning to require that commercial leases have their parking “unbundled” and listed as a separate, adjustable line item in the lease. This makes calculation of the cost of parking easy and allows businesses to save money by reducing their parking footprint. Additionally, it also benefits commercial lessors as it allows them to identify land unclaimed by lessees that is prime for in-fill development. In-fill development in the form of new jobs, homes, and property tax revenue that will likely complete after the Oakland Alameda Access Project finishes. As you are all well aware, we have huge swathes of asphalt all over Alameda. Much of this goes unparked and is for all intents and purposes vacant land, but just hasn’t been formally recognized as such. Unbundling parking is not a radical policy and is in fact already required of all new residential development in most of California.
Alameda can go farther by requiring that all commercial and residential leases in Alameda, on development both new and old, offer only unbundled parking.
It’s not fair that tenants and employees who don’t or can’t drive are made to pay for parking they don’t use and don’t want. It’s a distortion of the market that encourages speculation of effectively vacant land. Unbundling parking and enforcement of parking cash out law reduces car congestion, protects the environment, encourages new development during a housing crisis, doesn’t have any high construction costs, and instead actually provides financial relief to the city’s road maintenance budget as well as Alamedans who need it the most and so should be implemented here in Alameda.
Thank you,
-Mitch Ball