Kenebrew, Jerice
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Marsha Rood
Tuesday, February 13, 2024 1:47 PM
Kenebrew, Jerice
Municipal Service Committee 2-13-2024 Meeting @ 4 p.m.- Marsha Rood's Comments PasadenaWalks! and revised December 2023 Ped Plan Letter Comments - CC MSC 2-13-2024 DRAFT MVR.docx
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Dear Friend -
Please forward my comment letter attached to this e-mail to the MSC for today's meeting. Also, please let me know if you receive it!
Thanks much, Marsha [Rood]
1 MTG. DATE: FEBRUARY 13, 2024
TO: CITY COUNCIL MUNICIPAL SERVICES COMMITTEE
Vice Mayor Felicia Williams, Chair; Councilmembers Tyron Hampton, Jason Lyons and Justin Jones
SUBJECT: COMMENTS ON ADOPTION OF THE FINAL DAFT PASADENA PEDESTRIAN TRANSPORTA TION A CTION PLAN DECEMBER 2023
FROM:MARSHAV.ROOD.FAICP
Pedestrian improvements are an integral part of community building. The Final Draft December 2023 Pasadena Pedestrian Transportation Action Plan ("Final Draft 2023 Plan") misses a huge opportunity to focus on needed pedestrian improvements that reinforce and improve unique places in the City of Pasadena. The prior Final Draft City of Pasadena's Pasadena Walks! Pedestrian Plan February 2022 (PasadenaWalks!) came before you on October 25, 2022 for review. Issues were raised by the public, including the misnaming of the Final Draft 2022 Plan as a "pedestrian plan" and recommended implementation projects focused solely on mitigation of car-pedestrian injuries and deaths at major intersections along ten major traffic corridors (please see Attachment No. 1 October 25, 2022 memo to the MSC). Those who testified urged that the Final Draft PasadenaWalks! be "Redone or Renamed" and asked that the City's Department of Transportation (DOT) be directed to go back to the drawing board. The result is the Final Draft 2023 Plan\[\a{ is before you today. However, this redraft misses the mark again - it was not redone and is again mislabeled a "pedestrian plan."
RECOMMENDATIONS TO ADDRESS PROBLEMS WITH THE FINAL DAFT (PLEASE ATTACHMENT - MEMO TO THE MSC DATED 10-25-2022 BELOW)
1. Rename It or Redo It. The content should either be changed to meet the objectives of the SCAG grant to update to the 2006 Pasadena Pedestrian Plan for a Livable and Walkable 1 Community of renamed to something like Analysis ff The Safety Improvements Of Pedestrian Crossings Along Selected Major Arterials to better reflect its contents. The 2006 Pedestrian Plan and its policies are now mentioned in the document's Introduction, but there is no further reference to these policies elsewhere in the document. The mislabeting this plan a "pedestrian plan" is misleading and diverts attention and resources away from developing a "real" comprehensive pedestrian plan. Such a plan is critical for the health and economic well-being of areas where the residential population is growing. The Final Draft 2023 Plan should not be discarded; rather, before sending it on to the full City Council, send it back to staff to rename it, make a few changes that will make the plan clearer about what it is and to make it more useful in meeting its objectives.
2. Install basic pedestrian improvements NOW that can be implemented in the very near term.
These improvements are of modest cost, have short lead times and can be phased in to match funding availability (e.g., stripped or "continental" crosswalks, longer-timed pedestrian crossing signals, re-timed traffic signals to slow traffic, and diagonal pedestrian crosswalks).
Large, expensive improvements require large grants, many staff hour and many years in process and implementation. This approach misses the mark and the sense of urgency. The Final Draft 2023 Plan w\\[ take 10 to 15-year to implement and cost $30 Million; the Cordova Road Diet took 15 years from concept to implementation, and cost $6 million. FThe City did a terrific job.]
3. Develop a true pedestrian plan that reinforces place and community plans. A true pedestrian plan lays out a comprehensive set of goals, policies, guidelines, and implementation measures to achieve a vision of vastly improved conditions for pedestrians throughout the city. integrated pedestrian networks knit destinations together with walkways and urban green spaces to create a sense of place and pedestrian connections. The Final Draft 2023 Plan does not meet the objectives of the DOTS 2018 Southern California Association of 2 Governments (SCAG) grant to update the Pasadena Pedestrian Plan for a Livable and Walkable Community (2006). However, the Final Draft 2023 Plan is not an update of tthis plan. In contrast, the 2006 Pasadena pedestrian plan addressed pedestrian issues in a comprehensive, interconnected way.
4. A true pedestrian planning effort must be based on actual walking experiences, not from the point of view of the car. There is no comprehensive and integrated pedestrian network in the Final Draft 2023 Plan \o reinforce and develop a sense of place in the more urban, mixed use areas of the city.
5. Form an inter-disciplinary, inter-departmental team to develop a pedestrian plan to create safe and pleasant walking environments for all of Pasadena's neighborhoods and commercial areas. The F//?a/Z7/-(3/?^z'J/3/a/7 has a very narrow "silo-ed" scope which focuses on auto-centric transportation improvements. To avoid "silo-ing", a successful pedestrian a plan integrates the expertise of the city's planning, transportation, public works, urban design, economic development and engineering departments. To build place, you need to focus on making things come together at the same time and in the same place according to an agreed-upon plan.
For the health and economic well-being of the city, /'/ is critical that the city develop a pedestrian plan with a spending schedule for the central district and other pedestrian-oriented areas of the city to accommodate its growing population and to fulfill the city's three- decades-old plans to "circulate without cars".
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MTG. DATE: OCTOBER 25, 2022
TO:Cm COUNCIL MUNICIPAL SERVICES COMMITTEE
Vice Mayor Andy Wilson, Chair; Councilmember Felicia Williams; Councilmember Tyron Hampton and Councilmember Justin Jones
SUBJECT: COMMENTS ON ITEM # 1. DRAFT PASADENA PEDESTRIAN ACTION PLAN UPDATE FROM: MARSHA V. ROOD, FAICP; CENTRAL DISTRICT RESIDENT
1. PasadenaWalks! must be renamed to better describe what it is. PasadenaWalks!\s the third in a series of City Department of Transportation plans aimed at improving pedestrian safety at pedestrian crossings along major traffic corridors. "City of Pasadena Pedestrian Safety Study at Signalized Intersections, (2011), and "Pedestrian Crossing Treatment Guidance" ^2017) were the first two.
2. A pedestrian plan must directly involve pedestrians in order to develop successful and effective integrated pedestrian networks. This need to be done by an expert in pedestrian planning and financing traffic engineering is different a technical field.. The fine-grained nature of pedestrian problems require fine-grained pedestrian solutions. Successful pedestrian improvements knit together destinations with walkways and urban green spaces without the need for a car. This creates a strong and reinforced a sense of place.
3. PasadenaWalks!\s not based on the pedestrian experience; rather, it is based on computer- generated statistics placed on a "Dashboard" to show the locations of pedestrian injuries and deaths at traffic corridor crossings.
4. Labeling PasadenaWalks! a "pedestrian plan" is misleading and diverts attention and resources away from on-the-ground issues and needed improvements for pedestrians, especially in Pasadena's denser mixed use areas.
5. PasadenaWalks! found that the Central District has a pedestrian-rich environment with the "Highest Trip PotentiaF; the "Highest Population Density", the "Highest Destination Density. and the "Highest Job Density. However, the plan recommends only minimal pedestrian improvements for the Central District. The district is expected to have upwards of 30,000 residents in the next two years - more than the population of South Pasadena.
6. The City goal for the past 30 years has been to "circulate without cars." But the city has made only a(//?oc improvements to address specific pedestrian problems. There have been no significant investments in developing and enhancing integrated pedestrian networks smce 1998 in Old Pasadena.. Many pedestrian improvements can be implemented in the very near term, are of modest cost, have short lead times and can be phased in to match funding availability.
4 7. The City continues to invest in a car-centric, suburban transportation system reflecting Pasadena in the 1940s. But adopted goal of the City is to "circulate without cars".
The City's Adopted Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Fiscal Year 2023 - ^27 allocates only 1.4% of the $250 million for Transportation, and Streets and Streetscapes for three (3) pedestrian improvement projects in the Central District.
The City's Traffic Reduction and Transportation Improvement Fees ordinance was amended in July 2017 to include pedestrian and bicycle improvements. But, to date, only 15% of the $5.5 million generated in the Central District has been allocated to the Central District.
For the health and economic well-being of the city, /'/ is critical that the City develop a pedestrian plan with a spending schedule for the Central District and other pedestrian-oriented areas of the city to accommodate its growing population and to fulfill the City's three- decades-old plans for walkability in the Central District. Pasadena should "walk the talk" \.o "circulate without cars" by putting its money where its plans are.
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