From: John Kao
To: Daniel Gonzales; Michael A. Gardner; marcia.berchenko hellopatsie d.charles.lane@
Cc: City Council; Jeni Roberts; Luke Schloegel ; Heidi Schloegel ); Holly B. Gardner Subject: RE: Piedmont Civic Center Parking Discussion - January 17, 2023 Council Meeting Video Date: Monday, March 17, 2025 1:51:04 PM
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Dear Daniel:
Thank you for the link to City Council’s Meeting held on 1/17/23. I have reviewed the Minutes.
Regrettably, I am not able to get as full a picture as I would have wanted, as “Attachment B” was not included and you specifically directed the attention of the Council to it in your presentation.
As you know, I requested an opportunity to review the 1/17/23 minutes because you began our discussion this past Thursday by informing the group that you were tasked by the Council to revisit the question of turning Bonita Avenue into a one-way street with angled parking on Havens School side of the street. When the group asked for more details in the “tasking,” you responded that the question of one-way street with angled parking was taken off the table on 1/17/23 merely as a “temporary” measure.
I do see from the 1/17/23 Minutes that the question’s resolution was “temporary.” However, within the context of the question having been raised to address parking issues during construction of the community pool to begin with, it would seem to follow that upon completion of the construction, the question no longer exists -- permanently. It would seem, therefore, that the current situation of revisiting Civic Center Parking is a brand-new inquiry, having nothing to do with the 1/17/23 resolution being “temporary” or not. My view is that the 1/17/23 resolution, in the context of its adoption, would expire on its own terms. Later in our discussion on this past Thursday, I believe you admitted that you have not been currently tasked by the Council to look into the Bonita question but are merely following up on the apparently misguided notion that the 1/17/23 resolution was “temporary.” Within the context of the current situation being a new inquiry, my humble opinion, which I stated at our group meeting this past Thursday, is that there would never be parking at the Civic Center that would be considered adequate. So you add a few spaces via angled parking on Bonita, which would be just a drop in the bucket, particularly if you were to plan for many nonresidents to visit the area on account of the new pool. In this regard, I wanted to note, as I pointed out at our group meeting this past Thursday, the way to find additional parking would be to take the approach that parking needs to be dispersed in a neighborhood rather than concentrated in a specific vicinity. Michael Gardner reminded us at our group meeting this past Thursday that he and Sara Lillevand and Conner McCarthy toured the area on the other side of Oakland Avenue and easily spotted 100 vacant parking spaces.
The issue, as David Lane pointed out at our group meeting this past Thursday, is actually congestion created by competition between pedestrian and vehicular traffic at the intersections of Vista/Bonita and Bonita/Oakland avenues, rather than parking. Adding the few parking spaces on Bonita via angled parking would add more traffic to the area, adding to the congestion, which would be counter-intuitive and counter-productive, and would be doing so at the great expense of traffic safety for residents on that street. If you need convincing in this regard, I suggest that you commission a traffic study, without which the action you take may be considered arbitrary and capricious.
Thank you,
John Kao
From: Daniel Gonzales <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, March 14, 2025 8:13 AM
To: Michael A. Gardner <mgardner2366 marcia.berchenko John Kao <jkao hellopatsie d.charles.lane
Subject: Piedmont Civic Center Parking Discussion - January 17, 2023 Council Meeting Video Good Morning All:
Thank you again for taking the time to speak with me yesterday. Following up on John’s request for the video link to the January 17, 2023 Council meeting, the link can be accessed here:
https://piedmont.ca.gov/news/kcom-tv/live content and video archive.
Daniel Gonzales, P.E.
Public Works Director
City of Piedmont
(510) 420-3061 (office)