[TLC News & Alerts] Green Guerrero Street this Saturday! * Updates on Home Depot and Downtown Parking Reform * Upcoming neighborhood planning meetings

[Tom Radulovich]

GREEN GUERRERO STREET
Saturday, November 5, rain or shine
Two shifts, 9 AM and 1 PM
Guerrero Street between Cesar Chavez and Duncan Streets
bring gloves and a shovel or spade
Call 415 285-8188 or email contact at sanjoseguerrero.com for more  
information.

The San Jose/Guerrero Coalition to Save our Streets, together with  
several public agencies and plant nurseries, will be gathering to  
green the existing medians of San Jose and Guerrero streets with  
drought-tolerant trees and plants, including Olive trees, agaves,  
cacti, and grasses.

HOME DEPOT UPDATE
The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the proposed Home Depot  
store on Bayshore Boulevard was appealed to the Board of Supervisors,  
who took testimony on October 25; action on the item was continued  
until November 1, and was continued again until November 8. The Home  
Depot EIR is inadequate, because the traffic analysis didn't include  
the voter-approved project for bus rapid transit/transit preferential  
streets corridor on the important Potrero, Bayshore, and San Bruno  
corridor; nor does the traffic analysis make provisions for bicycle  
improvements to Bayshore, which street is slated for bicycle  
improvements in the city's bicycle plan. We are urging the  
Supervisors to reject this inadequate EIR, which should be re-done  
with a traffic analysis that incorporates these important transit and  
bicycle projects. The Board may act on Tuesday, November 8, although  
no further testimony will be heard; you can contact the supes and  
tell them not to approve this inadequate EIR. For contact  
information, see http://www.sfbike.org/?leaders

DOWNTOWN PARKING REFORM UPDATE
An ordinance to reform residential parking in public transit- 
intensive downtown core took a step forward when it was heard for the  
first time at the Planning Commission on Thursday October 27.

The legislation would affect the C-3 zoning district, which includes  
the Market Street corridor from Van Ness to the Embarcadero, as well  
as the Financial District and Union Square areas north of Market  
street and the Yerba Buena and Transbay areas South of Market. The  
legislation is the first major reform of downtown residential parking  
requirements in over two decades, and would extend progressive  
approaches to parking management enacted in small areas of downtown  
(Transbay and Rincon Hill) to the entire downtown. It will:

* eliminate minimum parking requirements downtown;
* establish a parking maximum of one space for every two units;
* require that the sale or rental of parking spaces be "unbundled"  
from the sale or rental price of units;
* eliminate size and independent accessibility requirements for  
parking spaces, to allow greater flexibility in configuring parking;
* prohibits parking spaces on upper floors;
* requires bicycle parking in residential projects;
* requires car sharing spaces be set aside in larger projects;
* protects major bicycle, pedestrian, and transit streets from new  
driveways and curb cuts.

TLC was there to testify in support, along with several other livable  
city advocates; a gaggle of development attorneys were there in  
opposition to several provisions of the legislation (particularly the  
estabishment of maximum parking ratios), although, thanks to the work  
of advocates over the past year, many provisions were supported by  
the developer representatives and the commissioners as overdue reforms.

The reaction of the planning commission was mixed; Commissioner  
Shelley Bradford-Bell was powerfully articulate about how the  
downtown is the ideal neighborhood for car-free living--she should  
know, as she lives downtown car-free and raises her family there.  
Commissioner Olague was also supportive, and made the point the city  
must do more to make downtown more safe and walkable for families,  
seniors and women. The commission's more conservative members,  
including Bill Lee and Michael Antonini, parroted the development  
attorneys' spin, including the bizarre argument that more parking  
downtown will actually reduce downtown traffic! The developer  
attorneys made the argument that residential parking downtown doesn't  
increase traffic, but is simply "car storage" for residents who  
rarely use their cars. Their car storage argument was effectively de- 
bunked in a TLC-sponsored research project conducted by San Francisco  
State University (see "Study: If there is parking, they will come",  
SF Examiner, July 28, 2005 http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/ 
2005/07/29/news/20050729_ne05_parking.txt), which demonstrated that  
housing built with more parking generates more automobile trips,  
including many more commute trips (and more pollution and traffic  
congestion), than housing with lower parking ratios does.

The legislation will be heard again at the Thursday, November 17  
Planning Commission hearing; we will give you more details as the  
date draws closer.

REMINDER: ENVISIONING COLUMBUS AVENUE
A Collaborative Community Effort
Thursday, November 3,  6-8 PM
Oakville Grocery at The Cannery
2801 Leavenworth Street (at the foot of Columbus)

An opportunity to see developing plans and hear ideas that will  
change the Columbus Avenue corridor (from Montgomery to Beach  
Streets) during the next five years. For more information contact  
wells39 at msn.com.

DALY CITY BART COMMUNITY DESIGN WORKSHOP
Saturday, November 5, 10 AM to 4 PM
Woodrow Wilson Elementary School
43 Miriam Street, Daly City

Daly City BART station is an important intermodal hub for  
southwestern San Francisco and northern San Mateo County, but is an  
urban design disaster, with poorly designed streets that limit  
bicycle and pedestrian access to the station, and automobile-oriented  
land uses that don't take advantage of the excellent transit access  
the station provides. BART and the City of Daly City have launched a  
two-day workshop focused on enhancing access and safety, improving  
transit connections, managing and guiding growth, and ensuring better  
links between the station and the community. The first session, which  
happened on Saturday October 29, focused on reviewing existing  
conditions, touring the station area, and setting goals for the  
future. The second session (this Saturday November 5) will be a hands- 
on community design workshop. Have your say in enhancing access and  
planning transit-oriented land uses for this important station! For  
more information contact Peter Albert at BART, 510 287-4702.

Tom Radulovich
Executive Director
Transportation for a Livable City
995 Market Street Suite 1550
San Francisco CA 94103
415 344-0489
www.livablecity.org
tom at livablecity.org



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