From: Donna West
To: Clerk
Cc: Mary O. Grizzle; [email protected]; Dan Ondrasek; Donna West Subject: II. 2024 CITY COUNCIL PRIORITY SESSION #1 1. 24-219 Date: Saturday, March 23, 2024 11:45:30 AM
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[email protected]
Mayor and Council
Grogan, Jōvan
City Manager, Santa Clara CA
408-615-2210
[email protected]
Dear, Mayor and City Council, and City Manager Grogan,
With review of the city survey concerns:
Concerns from residents: Focusing on strategies to boost the local economy 76% with Downtown revitalization is 2%' Supporting local businesses 80% Downtown is a proven piece and adopted a plan to provide immediate solutions to all THREE of these.resident concerns. Let's get started immediately with the selection of a Federal Funding consultant to utilize funds from the Department of Transportation available so we are ready for the next major city events.
Please add "Form Based Code Objective Designs Standards" to the Station Area Plan.
HIRE "city community development department director" with thorough knowledge and expertise to implement and execute this form base code from A to Z and manage the Department of Transportation funding to focus on the local economy strategies. ********
On Dec. 5, 2022 our current city council signaled a change of our city practices by voting unanimously to approve the new Downtown Precise Plan and Form Based Code. Thank you and your staff, and city council for supporting this citizen driven effort.
The correct implementation of Form-Based Code will deliver excellent results based on our adopted Precise Plan and cut the red tape so the right developers are on board. We have seen good and bad implementations in downtown revitalizations..
We choose to skip over the errors and divided ways of the city past our recent Op-Ed in San Jose Spotlight by Mary Grizzle and Dan Ondrasek speaks about. Let's bring the right people in the city to make the changes needed for an amazing downtown and station area plan.
We need someone working as the "city community development department director" with thorough knowledge and expertise to implement and execute this form base code from A to Z as other economically viable Downtowns have done.
Mayor Berke from Downtown Chattanooga TN simplified the message: :"compared to conventional zoning, “form-based codes are people-centric.” The following Downtowns are ones where our Core Team called city managers, city planners and urban planners and asked how they used and executed form base code with downtown revitalization projects.
⦁ Downtown Redwood City
⦁ Downtown Mountain View
⦁ Downtown Ventura
⦁ Downtown Fort Worth
⦁ Downtown Chattanooga
⦁ Downtown Tucson
⦁ Downtown Winston-Salem
⦁ Downtown Pasadena
⦁ Downtown Lancaster
⦁ Downtown Claremont
When we hire the people on staff with this deep knowledge and experience, we will finally create an incredible downtown destination for this community after 60 long years.
Please let me know any questions you have about these downtown best practices.
Sincerely and Thank You -
Smiles,
Donna West
Head of Research - Reclaiming Our Downtown
Business Mailbox:
3561 Homestead Rd No 483
Santa Clara CA 95051
408-489-4651
Copy
Mary Grizzle
Dan Ondrasek
From: Nandana Maheskumar
To: Mayor and Council; Clerk; Manager
Cc: [email protected]; Rosie Chen
Subject: Letter about Santa Clara City Priorities for 2024 Date: Sunday, March 24, 2024 11:01:55 AM
Attachments: Letter to Santa Clara City Council on Priorities.pdf Some people who received this message don't often get email from [email protected]. Learn why this is important
Hello Santa Clara City Council and Mayor,
We are a team of youth from the Santa Clara Youth Climate Action Team. Our team would really appreciate it if you could read through our letter about the upcoming priority session on March 25th. We have attached a pdf of the letter to this email.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration,
Santa Clara Youth Climate Action Team (SCYCAT)
March24th,2024Re:March25th1stPrioritySettingSessionHelloSantaClaraCityCouncilMembers, WearetheSantaClaraYouthClimateActionteam,ayouth-ledgroupthatwishestofightagainsttheclimatecrisis.Weareateamconsistingofhigh-schoolstudentsfromWilcoxandSantaClaraHighSchoolworkingtomakeanimpactthroughenvironmentaladvocacyandvolunteering.Theclimatecrisisisthebiggestthreatfacingourgeneration.Itwillimpactourfuturecareers,health,andsecurity. Wefighttheclimatecrisisinordertoprotectourfuture.Bytransitioningtorenewableenergysourcesandincorporatingmoregreeneryintoourcities,wecanensureamoresustainablefuture.WehopethattheSantaClaraCityCouncilcansupportusinourgoaltocombatclimatechange.Westronglysupportthecounciltoincorporatemoresustainabilityprioritiesintheupcomingyear, inlinewiththeoverallcouncilpriorityof“PromotingSustainabilityandEnvironmentalProtection.” PrioritiesWeSupportAfterreviewingthecouncilprioritiesthatarebeingconsideredfor2024,wewouldliketoputoursupportforthefollowingpriorities:theSantaClaraVisionZeroPlan,FinancialFeasibilityofRooftopSolarforSantaClaraHomeowners,ConsiderationofTrafficCalmingMeasuresonCabrilloAvenue,andLifecycleCosts/BenefitsofArtificialSurfacing,IncludingTurf.
SupportforVisionZeroPlanandTrafficCalmingWebelievethatwidertrafficlanesandspeedreductionmeasuresareimportantforthesafetyofresidentsinSantaClaraandcanbeimplementedthroughplanssuchastheZeroVisionPlan.Additionally, whilewefocusonthesafetyofpedestriansandcyclistsfromcars,weshouldalsofocusonthesafetyofresidentsfromthesun.PeopleshouldhaveaccesstoshadedareasthroughtreecanopycoverinallpartsofSantaClarawhentheygoonawalk.
SupportforRooftopSolarWewouldalsoliketomentionthatthecitytakesintoconsiderationaddingmorefinancialfeasibilityforRooftopsolar. Increasingsolarpowerusagewouldbemoreenvironmentallyfriendlyaswellasbeneficialtofamilies.Additionalfunding,specificallyforlow-incomefamilies,iscomingfromtheCaliforniaEnergyCommissionattheendofthisyear. Let’shelplow-incomefamiliestakeadvantageofthatfunding.
SupportforStudyonArtificialSurfacingWewouldalsoliketosupportthestudyofexploringthecostsandbenefitsofartificialsurfacing.Weareinterestedinseeingtheresultsofthatstudy. Therearemanyalternativestoartificialturfsuchaslong-playingnaturalsportsgrasses.
Consideraddinganewpriorityitem“ExpansionofDrought-ResistantNativePlants”oraddthislanguagetotheVisionZeroPlanDescriptionAdditionally, we’dliketosuggesttwoprioritiesthatthecouncilshouldconsider. Plantingmoredrought-resistantnativeplantsinpublicspacesaroundSantaClarawouldhelpraisethebiodiversityofourcity, makeourcitymoreaestheticallypleasing,andgiveourcitymoreindividuality. ExpandinggreeneryinSantaClaraissupportedbyvariouscommentsfromthecommunitysurveyconductedbyEMC.Asbothanenvironmentallybeneficialtaskandacommunitybeneficialtask,theexpansionofgreenerywouldbeoftremendousbenefittothecityofSantaClara.ThisinitiativecanbetakenonasanewpriorityorthereisawindowofopportunitytoincludethiswithintheVisionZeroPlantousetreecanopycovertoincreasewalkabilityandreducetheheatislandeffect.
Consideraddinganewpriorityitem“EVChargingforExistingMulti-familyHomes”WearealsoaskingforacityinitiativefocusedonaddingmoreEVchargingspacesforexistingmulti-familyhomesinSantaClara.Thenumberofelectricvehicleswouldbeincreased,therebyreducinggreenhousegasesfromtailpipeemissions.Withsomanyrebatesnowavailableforbothnewandusedvehicles,multi-familyresidentswouldbeencouragedtopurchaseandusetheseenvironmentallyfriendliermeansoftransportation.
Weappreciatealltheworkthecitycouncilhasdoneintheareaofsustainability.However, thereisstillmoreworktobedone.Itisnowtimetocontinueconfrontingtheclimatecrisishead-onbysupportingspecificsustainableinitiatives.
Thankyouforlisteningtooursuggestions,TheSantaClaraYouthClimateActionTeamRosieChen,Co-leadNandanaMaheskumar, Co-leadShreeyaKhairnar From: Robert Whitehair
To: Nandana Maheskumar
Cc: Mayor and Council; Clerk; Manager; [email protected]; Rosie Chen Subject: Re: Letter about Santa Clara City Priorities for 2024 Date: Sunday, March 24, 2024 11:04:51 AM
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Great letter, great collaboration.
Robert Whitehair
A full scale, all hands on deck response to the climate crisis will be successful within 7 generations..
Arrogance is thinking that success will be accomplished in our lifetimes.
But without that full scale response, there won't be a 7th generation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRu_FwmidlU&t=10s
On Sun, Mar 24, 2024 at 11:01 AM Nandana Maheskumar <[email protected]> wrote:
Hello Santa Clara City Council and Mayor,
We are a team of youth from the Santa Clara Youth Climate Action Team. Our team would really appreciate it if you could read through our letter about the upcoming priority session on March 25th. We have attached a pdf of the letter to this email.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration,
Santa Clara Youth Climate Action Team (SCYCAT)