{"body": "TransportationCommission", "date": "2017-09-27", "page": 1, "text": "DRAFT MINUTES\nREGULAR MEETING OF THE\nCITY OF ALAMEDA TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION\nWEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017\nVice-Chair Miley called the meeting to order at 7:00pm.\n1. ROLL CALL\nPresent: Vice-Chair Miley, Commissioners Vargas, Bertken, Soules, Hans, Palmer.\nAbsent: Chair Bellows.\n2. AGENDA CHANGES\n*None*\n3. ANNOUNCEMENTS/PUBLIC COMMENT\nCommissioner Vargas announced the scoping meeting for the Oakland-Alameda Access\nProject would take place the next day in Oakland.\n3A\nAlameda Transportation Management Association - Introduction of Chair\nMichael O'Hara of Tim Lewis Communities\nJennifer Ott introduced Mike O'Hara.\nMichael O'Hara introduced himself to the commission. He gave some history on the\nforming and composition of the TMA.\nCommissioner Vargas asked how large the TMA is, how often and where they meet, and\nhow the Transportation Commission can work with them.\nMr. O'Hara said they have been meeting monthly. He said the sub area committees also\nhave been meeting to discuss specific items. He explained the funding they get from\nnew units and employers. He said they met recently to approve their\nwebsite: www.alamedaTMA.org\n3B Station-Less Bike Share to Launch in October\nStaff Member Payne said that there would be a ribbon cutting on October 5th at 4pm at\nFaction Brewery.\n3C Walk and Roll to School Day: Wednesday, October 4, 2017\n3D Climate Action Plan Update Town Hall Meeting: Thursday, October 5, 2017 at\n6:30pm (Main Library)\n3E California Share Your Ride Week: October 2-6, 2017\n1", "path": "TransportationCommission/2017-09-27.pdf"}
{"body": "TransportationCommission", "date": "2017-09-27", "page": 2, "text": "3F Alameda Bike for the Parks: Saturday, October 7, 2017 at 9:00am (Washington\nPark)\n3G Climate Action Plan at Public Utilities Board: Monday, October 16, 2017 at\n7:00pm (City Hall, Council Chambers)\nStaff Member Payne said this item has been postponed to November 13th.\n3H Transportation Commission Meeting: Wednesday, November 15, 2017 at\n7:00pm\n4. CONSENT CALENDAR\n4A 2017-4752\nApprove Meeting Minutes - July 26, 2017 (Action)\nCommissioner Vargas asked if we could insert the dollar range of parking ticket\nviolations on page 4 of 6 for future reference.\nCommissioner Soules made a motion to approve the minutes. Commissioner\nVargas seconded the motion. The motion passed 4-0-2 (Vice-Chair Miley and\nCommissioner Hans abstained due to their absence from the 7/26/17 meeting.)\n5. NEW BUSINESS\n5A 2017-4753\nElect Chair and Vice Chair (Action)\nVice-Chair Miley said Commissioners Bellows and Vargas have a lot of experience and\nhe feels they would make an excellent chair and vice-chair. He said he spoke with Chair\nBellows and confirmed that she would like to stay on as chair. He said he would like to\nmake that motion when the time comes, after discussion.\nCommissioner Vargas said he tried to convince a young man to be chair, but he\ndeclined.\nVice-Chair Miley said he appreciated the offer, but was not in a position to commit the\ntime necessary to be chair.\nVice-Chair Miley made a motion to appoint Commissioner Bellows as chair, and\nCommissioner Vargas as vice-chair for the next year. Commissioner Soules\nseconded the motion. The motion passed 6-0.\n5B 2017-4754\nApprove Draft Transportation Choices Plan (Action)\nStaff Member Jennifer Ott gave the staff presentation. The staff report and attachments\ncan be found at:\n2", "path": "TransportationCommission/2017-09-27.pdf"}
{"body": "TransportationCommission", "date": "2017-09-27", "page": 3, "text": " https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3158563&GUID=FA3FBDE5\nB456-4391-8D95-1AC8D71F82AA&FullText=1\nCommissioner Soules asked what the timeline is to meet the stated goals.\nStaff Member Ott said the goals were based on a 15 year timeline.\nCommissioner Palmer asked what dollar amounts the actual developers are required to\ncontribute to the plan and not just their residents.\nStaff Member Ott gave examples of contributions that developers have been required to\ncontribute, such as $10,000,000 for a new ferry terminal at Alameda Pt.\nCommissioner Palmer asked why 2030 was chosen as the benchmark for measuring the\nplan's success.\nBill Hurrell, CDM Smith, said they wanted to pick a horizon that was long enough to\nallow the plan to have an impact, but not so long that they would not have confidence in\npredicting what would happen in the future.\nVice-Chair Miley opened the public hearing.\nChristina Hanson, employee of Harbor Bay Isle and Central Avenue resident, said the\ncommunity is concerned about the proposal to add bus lanes on Island Drive. She said\nthey do not believe this is the right solution for the problem. She said the median and\ntrees are very important to the community. She said there are also safety concerns\naround the elementary school with adding bus lanes there.\nJim Strehlow said we have added 5,000 new homes and asked where the 5,000 new\njobs were to go with them. He said the city should be prioritizing job creation but is in fact\ndoing the opposite. He said stopping growth is part of the real solution. He said\nAlamedans want another bridge or tunnel. He said the public meetings are too rigid for\ngenuine discussion, or speakers are hand picked. He asked that more discussion time\nbe allowed for future meetings on these issues. He said when he drives kids for a non-\nprofit he is a single driver off the island. He said he is mad because this plan is not a\nsolution to the transportation problem.\nPat Potter, CASA, said she is concerned about the Transportation Awareness\nCampaign. She said we need to drill down deep and understand what prevents\nindividuals from changing their behavior.\nAndrea Wuttke, transportation planner and infrastructure economist, said a bus system\nis a supplemental mass transit vehicle. She said her plan would be to take 20,000 rides\na day out of the system to connect the island to Oakland via an aerial tramway.\n3", "path": "TransportationCommission/2017-09-27.pdf"}
{"body": "TransportationCommission", "date": "2017-09-27", "page": 4, "text": "Randy Woolwine, aerial tram builder, said a tramway would be equal to a fully loaded\nbus leaving a terminal every minute. He said they did a study for Alameda in the past for\na homebuilder.\nMaria Gallo asked why there is no evening estuary crossing goal. She said there could\nbe placeholders in the plan for mid-course corrections. She said there are more\nopportunities for public awareness. She asked why Alameda is so reliant on AC Transit\nfor our services. She said we should do more pilot projects.\nJean Nader, member of Alameda Progressives, said the proposal has some noteworthy\nitems in it that reflects Alameda's history. She said innovation and equity should be\nconsidered in the plan. She said many bike riders use the walking path to get to and\nfrom the ferry because they are trying to get away from the cars on Main Street. She\nsaid residents west of Webster have lost most of their bus service.\nJeff Gould said that there is not enough attention paid in the plan to the goal of reducing\ngreenhouse gas emissions. He said it does not take responsibility for the electrification\nof our fossil fuel vehicles. He said people would be more likely to walk and bike if they\nwere not forced to breathe cars' toxic emissions.\nChristine Bauer said she has seen a huge increase in ferry ridership in recent years. She\nsaid ferry riders would like to see the terminal access plans moved from medium to high\npriority. She said that drivers who cannot find parking often decide to drive to BART.\nChristine Lok said she is a ferry rider with concerns about coordinating access to the\nferries. She said the changes at Harbor Bay have had an impact on people's lives. She\nsaid there are real people behind the graphs and numbers.\nAlan Pryor said we should have more options for charging electric cars in public spaces.\nHe said it would also help get rid of greenhouse gases.\nVice-Chair Miley closed the public hearing.\nCommissioner Soules said there is no silver bullet and is glad the plan is diverse. She\nsaid the public awareness and engagement is important. She wanted to understand how\nthis would be a living document to make adjustments as time passes.\nCommissioner Palmer said she liked the items in the plan. She wanted to know why we\nare pushing the big ideas off into the future.\nVice-Chair Miley said he would like to see another access point on the west end, but that\nthey are extremely large projects that the city cannot carry on their own. He said we\nneed to seriously consider congestion pricing to help fund the big ideas. He said the\n4", "path": "TransportationCommission/2017-09-27.pdf"}
{"body": "TransportationCommission", "date": "2017-09-27", "page": 5, "text": "ferry parking issues have been on the TC agendas for 18 months but the conversations\nwere dominated by the HOAs. He agrees with moving the ferry terminal access plans to\nthe near term.\nStaff Member Ott said they are fine with moving the ferry terminal items to the near term\nand are already working on it.\nCommissioner Vargas suggested adding ferry parking as an issue to items three and\nfour. He said we need to address that issue sooner. He said we should reiterate findings\nthat previous estuary crossing analyses have done on some of the \"crazy, creative\"\nideas so we do not spend a lot of money redoing the same studies.\nCommissioner Soules said she was glad that the Harbor Bay ferry area permit parking\nissue would be returning for review soon. She said she is worried that neighborhood\nparking permits would spread before we are offering viable transit options for people\naccessing the Harbor Bay Ferry. She said we should be doing some risk based delivery\non these projects.\nCommissioner Bertken said the public will judge the success of the plan based on their\nown personal experience today versus the future.\nMr. Hurrell said the data they based the plan off of was from 2015. He said the new,\nhigher goal would dial things back to about 2010 traffic levels. He said success will mean\nthe duration of the peak will decrease. He said the goal is quite aggressive.\nVice-Chair Miley asked for an explanation of the methodology of the jobs and housing\nnumbers in the plan.\nMr. Hurrell said that they used ABAG's regional forecasts to project jobs and housing\nnumbers, as well as all the project specific numbers for the island were factored in.\nCommissioner Vargas asked if Goal 2 would result in a reduction of greenhouse gas\nemissions.\nMr. Hurrell said that the mode shift would result in a reduction in greenhouse gases. He\nsaid that does not take into account changing the mix of cars to more electrics, which\nwas not the focus of the plan.\nCommissioner Vargas asked if the plan could highlight electricity discounts offered to\nelectric vehicle owners.\nMr. Hurrell said they could add some language being more supportive of electric\nvehicles to change the tone of the plan somewhat.\n5", "path": "TransportationCommission/2017-09-27.pdf"}
{"body": "TransportationCommission", "date": "2017-09-27", "page": 6, "text": "Staff Member Ott said that they are entering into a Climate Action Plan update, which\ncould take this plan and switch to the focus of greenhouse gas reductions.\nVice-Chair Miley summarized what he thought the commission's feedback was. He said\nthey would like to review progress in 1-2 years rather than 3 years. He said they want\nitems 31 & 32 to be moved up to near term completion. He said this is a good first step\nat addressing our congestion issues. He asked if each project in the plan would go\nthrough a public outreach process before implementation, i.e. Island Dr. bus lanes.\nStaff Member Ott said that they would have public processes. She said their intention\nwould not be to take out mature trees. She says they think they could achieve a bus only\nlane by taking only about two feet of the median. She said they think it is a good project,\nbut that if the community does not like it, they will move on to other projects.\nCommissioner Soules asked for and received confirmation that there is always a project\nwebsite for any major projects to help with outreach. She said she would like to hear\nmore about engaging genuine ride sharing (no cost) technologies.\nStaff Member Ott said they are working on those kinds of ride sharing issues and can\nadd more. She said it is important for everyone to remember that they need to engage in\nthe budget process as well if they want to see their projects and plan implemented.\nCommissioner Vargas made a motion to recommend the plan with amendments\nsuggested by the commissioners during discussion. Commissioner Hans\nseconded the motion.\nCommissioner Palmer said she was not clear on what they are actually voting to do. She\nasked if we are voting to get started and things in the plan can change over time or are\nwe saying this is how we want things to go.\nVice-Chair Miley said his understanding is that we are recommending approval of the\nplan as it is, with the comments heard tonight, moving items 31 and 32 up, and having a\nquicker reporting back on the plan.\nCommissioner Palmer said she does not have enough information on some of the bigger\nproject ideas and would have to vote nay.\nStaff Member Ott said they can always bring new ideas forward.\nThe motion passed 5-1 (Palmer.)\n6", "path": "TransportationCommission/2017-09-27.pdf"}
{"body": "TransportationCommission", "date": "2017-09-27", "page": 7, "text": "5-C 2017--4755\nReview Station-less Bike Share Program (Information)\nStaff Member Ott gave the staff presentation. The staff report and attachment can be\nfound at:\nhttps://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3158564&GUID=903E0D37-\n5AD5-49DB-B4D7-2413D78711C8&FullText=1\nCommissioner Soules said they have it in Seattle and she liked it. She asked if there\nwas a way to help people acquire helmets.\nStaff Member Ott said they will work with the bike shops and report back. She said it will\nwork well with things like the ferry for those last mile issues.\nDermot Hikisch said he supports the bike share pilot. He said their goal at Gig car share\nis to enable trip sharing and reduce car ownership.\nSTAFF COMMUNICATIONS\n6-A 2017-4757\nReview Quarterly Report on Activities Related to Transportation Policies and\nPlans (Information)\nStaff Member Payne gave an update. The staff report can be found at:\nttps://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3158565&GUID=55E22B57-\n94AF-4020-8F8A-7BC8CA395278&FullText=1\n6-B Potential Future Meeting Agenda Items\n1. Climate Action Plan Update Work Scope\n2. Harbor Bay Ferry Terminal Parking Restriction Analysis\n3. Traffic Calming Draft Policy and Prioritized List\n4. 2014 Parking Occupancy Goal Update\n5. Alameda Transportation Management Association Annual Report\n6. Paratransit Program Annual Report\nStaff Member Payne listed the above items coming to future meetings.\n6. ANNOUNCEMENTS/PUBLIC COMMENT\nJim Strehlow said he wishes he had learned more about the details of the bike share\nprogram. He said traffic is so bad in Alameda it is reducing the quality of life and\nenjoyment of visitors coming to Alameda. He said the Transportation Plan is missing the\nmark.\nCommissioner Vargas said he attended a car show at Alameda Point that was a fun\nevent that provided a great backdrop for the event.\n7", "path": "TransportationCommission/2017-09-27.pdf"}
{"body": "TransportationCommission", "date": "2017-09-27", "page": 8, "text": "Commissioner Hans said that October 4th is Walk and Roll to School Day and folks will\nsee more kids biking to school that day. He said they normally have about 300 riders per\nday, so might see 400-500 that day.\n7. ADJOURNMENT\nVice-Chair Miley adjourned the meeting at 9:06pm.\n8", "path": "TransportationCommission/2017-09-27.pdf"}