Transportation Advocates Brainstorm Improvements

About 70 Peninsula residents packed the Council Chambers in City Hall of Redwood City at the second Healthy Communities Forum to discuss potential improvements to local city streets to prepare for a changing population.

During the event, Redwood City Councilwoman Barbara Pierce led an interactive discussion related to transportation assisted by master of ceremonies Chris Bui, which allowed the audience to give instantaneous feedback to survey questions with a remote controller.

Menlo Park Transportation Commissioner Raymond Mueller co organized the event.

"I was very interested in what the Sierra Club wanted to say, with respect to complete streets and the Grand Boulevard Initiative, as it relates to the Menlo Park Downtown Specific Plan," Mueller said. 

A poll of the crowd, comprised of elected officials, residents and community leaders of San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, showed a majority of those in attendance wanted to find ways to reduce resistance toward the changes that must come to local means of transportation.  The discussion surrounded improving local city streets to best accommodate an aging population. Such improvements focus on making local areas more friendly to those who rely on walking, biking and public transportation rather than cars as their primary means of transportation.

Some suggested improvements would be increasing sidewalk size, bigger bike lanes, higher density housing near bus and train stations and building more mixed use neighborhoods that centralize amenities near housing.

"You shouldn't need to burn a gallon of gas to get a gallon of milk," Pierce said.

Another suggested design improvement is changing the way city blocks are constructed to increase the walking efficiency by allowing more diagonal walk-thrus rather than needing to walk around a city block.

According to Pierce, the amount of San Mateo County residents at or over 60 years old will nearly double by 2050, which illustrates why increasing mobility efficiency in local cities is important. But according to those in attendance last night, on a scale of 1-10, the average rating of public transportation options was only slightly above a 4. On the scale, 10 would be considered "healthy."

Alternatively, the audience considered the health of open space such as park lands or access to bodies of water to be in the best health of environmental elements. According to the audience, on a scale of 1-10, the health of open space was given a 6.6.

And the overall health of the greater Bay Area was rated as a 6 on a scale of 1-10, according to those in attendance.

"We're are kind of doing OK," said Bui, as he read the results of the instantaneous poll. "But the overall score is low. That is not a high sense of health."

Pierce said that these public perceptions need to change, and that there is still time to make the necessary alterations, but that it should be done soon.

"We've got time, but we've also got to get going," she said.

In an effort to maintain an efficient meeting time, those in attendance did not discuss the means by which these suggestions would be implemented. Pierce, a self described "urban design junkie," said it was the best available option of local cities to modify the buildings that are currently in place.

"How we design things can make a difference," said Pierce.

Available open space needs to be managed in a responsible fashion to provide both parking options and central public gathering areas, said Pierce. She gave an example of how Redwood City changed the streets near the San Mateo County Courthouse downtown by adding more crosswalks, bike lanes, street signs and parking to make it more attractive to pedestrians.

"Increased mobility cuts cost and improves efficiency," said Pierce.

Overall, Pierce said that there is a significant need to implement many of the suggestions made last night, despite the difficult nature of the efforts.

"I know it's not easy, but it's important work to do," she said.

Mueller said, "Personally, I am still trying to sort through the issues, as they relate to Menlo Park. But as a general rule, when I shape my opinions, I try to become as educated about the issues as possible, from all available perspectives."