Supporting the CAC
Well, I feel a little better in knowing I am in good company. It seems that members of Councilwoman Hahn's Community Advisory Committee have also received hate-mail and thinly veiled death threats. This is completely out-of-bounds.
Whether you agree with any particular member's position, these people have devoted a great deal of time and effort to get it done correctly. They've come up with a few recommendations for the Councilwoman, but have a ton more work to do in the coming weeks. I have confidence that they will bring forth some more good recommendations.
What I (unfortunately) let myself get dragged off-topic from, was a discussion of Jerry Gaines' presentation of his traffic template. Mr. Gaines is a very intelligent man and most times when he starts talking my eyes glaze over because it is so hard to keep up. However, this last presentation was very clear and concise, and combined with the graphs, brought it down to where someone who doesn't have Jerry's years of experience with traffic on Western Avenue could follow. My only sugestion for the presentation was that perhaps Bisno Development could have provided enough copies for those of us in the audience trying to keep up. Therefore I cannot find the exact number in my notes. Can anyone out there assist? Did he say there was a baseline of 35,000 trips at the Western Avenue/PV Drive North intersection?
The good part, is that Jerry came up with a rational baseline number to use for traffic. Once you have an accurate baseline, it becomes much easier to examine all the options. I guess this is what Mr. Gaines did in his handout to the CAC. Does anyone know if we can obtain a copy?
I would suggest that all sides of this seminal event drop any further incendiary comments to the CAC. Unless you have NEW information to add, they probably already have a good idea that there are lots of people who support it, and lots of people who don't want the zoning changed. Let's support the CAC in making the best recommendations they can.
Comments and discussion on Mr. Gaines' presentation are welcomed.
Tom Field
5 comments:
"Tom"
Jerry claimed that in 2005, there were 37,500 trips along Western Avenue.
He also stated that with "normal" development and growth in the area, (remember they did not consider anything at the Ponte Vista site), there would be a 1% increase in traffic along Western Avenue for the study period of 20 years, or until 2025.
Jerry also calculated that a 600-student Mary Star campus, with access to Western Avenue would generate four trips per student, or 2,400 more trips along Western Avenue, each school day.
I know the DEIR did calculate the number of daily trips generated if Eastview Little League had taken up residence on the ball fields at Ponte Vista, but I think the number was higher. I have the DEIR here at home and when I get a chance, I'll look up the number.
Everyone has the opportunity to read the DEIR in sections, in its entirty, and even download and/or print whatever is wished by going to www.pontevista.com/deir/ or going to google where the access point is on the first page of sites.
I consider Mr. Gaines and Mr. Satomayor the lead mentors on the CAC because they were part of the Western Avenue Task Force, and Jerry was the chair of it.
I feel that his reasonings concerning traffic and the summary and recommendations made by the group should be read by all of us who are interested and concerned about whatever happens at the Ponte Vista site.
MW
P.S. see what we can accomplish when we are nice.
Thank you Mark. There were many numbers being thrown around and after you mentioned it, I found it written in my notes with no annotation next to it. Duhh!
But I agree that between Mr. Gaines and Mr. Satomayor we have a wealth of information on what is obviously the most pressing issue of the entire project.
The number for the two baseball diamonds is published in the DEIR in Appendix IV.J-1, Project Traffic Study, Page 34, Figure 6-1
Tom
When is the FINAL CAC meeting and vote? Or is Mrs. Hahn the ultimate decision maker? I'm not clear (or ignorant, however you want to call it). When can people on the outside like me expect to see some measurable progress?
BTW, Hi Tom. Thanks for the new Blog.
Thanks for the figure number.
But it doesn't look like Eastview Little League will find a home there and if no other league plays there, then the true trip generations would probably be lowe for a regular public park.
MW
You are spending a lot of time talking about traffic (which is certianly a topic that merits discussion) but I glean from your posted profile that one of the reasons you support Ponte Vista at its proposed size and upzoning is the idea of "affordable housing."
I am sorry to hear that you children were unable to purchase a home here. I'd like to point out, though, that home ownership takes a while. My husband and I purchased our first home here 5 years ago, when he was in his early fifties. This is the California coast, some of the most desirable real estate in the nation, don't forget.
I keep hearing this over and over again, that the PV development will provide housing that teachers and firefighters can afford. Well, the proposed development is not dissimilar to the condo developments all along Capitol already. Is it logical to assume that new units, with public amenities in a gated community, would be any less expensive than the units in, say, the Gardens?
Kara McLeod
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