Consider Directing the City Manager to Prepare a Presentation on the Neighborhood Parking Permit Program.  (Councilmember Daysog)
Great. Well, thank you very much. The reason why I put together this referral was in light of our decision several weeks ago, about 1435 Webster Street. At which point in time a resident had indicated a desire for a parking permit program. Such a program does exist in the city of Alameda and has existed since, I believe, roughly 2011. And has been in existence since 2011. Now, I don't know if any parking program has actually been implemented, and I suspect none has. And I do recall during the course of the Del Monte project, so there was possible discussion of having a parking permit program around the Del Monte project. But for whatever reason, none such came to pass. I have heard indirectly that that the work required to ratchet up the support, especially from the area that the parking permit program has currently devised, is it requires a lot. At a minimum. For example, the parking permit area has to encompass six contiguous blocks and to get a consensus on that might be a one of the stifling factors to the creation of a parking permit program. So one of the things I'd like to do is just have a presentation on the parking permit program so that in hopes of actually of preparing a program involving the different facets of of our of our city hall that's involved in the parking permit program so that people, residents on the night of the presentation as well as as on a permanent basis, perhaps some kind of saved video, kind of can see the way in which the parking permit program works, how people access the different rules that have enabled it. So that's one thing. It's kind of informing the residents about its availability. Two is looking at where we can make things perhaps easier for residents to implement such a program. And let me give you a specific example. Recognizing that a parking permit program requires and ought to include at least six contiguous blocks, we might think about having even more scaled down parking permit program because it's altogether possible that for the project that we had discussed two weeks ago, 1435, a program, all that's needed is just for the 600 block of Taylor Avenue and the 700 block of Taylor Avenue, which stretches from St Barnabas all the way down to Webster Street and from Webster Street all the way down to Washington School. That's not a Washington school anymore. Myelin. So that. And what part of the discussion is in limiting a parking permit program, making it even possible to have it even scaled down to this level and making it easier for residents to have such a scaled down parking permit program. Part of the discussion. My hope is to see if the costs involved with that are already embedded in services that are right now delivered anyways. So that a scaled down parking permit program. As as a separate parking permit program from the one that's in books right now or maybe as a replacement, I don't know. So that as so that a scaled down parking permit program does, it won't necessarily represent a substantial incremental increase in service outlays. For this reason, you have a traffic person going up and down what street? I don't know, maybe twice a day anyways. So for them to go down one block to the left of Taylor and one block to the right of Taylor at the Taylor. And what Webster seems to me does not represent an incremental a substantial incremental increase in outlays. It may or may not. I don't know. But that's that's something to to be discussed and for staff to take a look at. So just to summarize, one is I think the city manager and her staff put together a presentation, hopefully very well prepared, so that it could be kind of posted on our website somewhere so that the value in and of itself that it's there to is to have a discussion, to see if it's possible to have fiscally possible, to have an operationally possible to have a scaled down parking permit program. So as to deal with what I believe to be one of the fetters to implementing such a thing. That being the sixth contiguous block requirement. Thank you. Thank you. And we do have one speaker on this item. I'm going to go ahead and call her at this point. Eleanor, I'll pretend. I am Eleanor Albertsen, and this is my first time at a city council meeting. So anything that I hear parking my ears perk up, people. I live in Bayport and people don't even know what Bayport is. Bayport, if you by chance don't know. I think it was the first area from the Navy base that became a development. I mean, people think I'm talking about Bay Forum when I say Bayport and it's on the West End near the City College of Alameda. Okay, I've lived there for four years and for the past two years I have been the chair of the parking committee of the HRA. It's a voluntary position, you know, you see, I'm spending like over 2 hours of my time here. Over the past two years, I've spent much time on this because what's happening is with all this new development that's going on. Things get really complicated when it comes to parking and it's so bad for some people in Bayport. Seriously, I mean, it it's some streets are so bad that people have actually moved out of the community. Some houses have turned over quite a few times. I'm the third or third owner of my home and the house is only like 11 years old. And I think what created the problem is the whole idea that it's complicated because your city streets and private streets. And I think the I'm just putting this out there to you as people of importance in our community. You know who. Who are responsible for new housing and things like that, that you have to really consider people's needs. And people do use cars. I mean, I ride my bike, but I also do need a car. And when I have company, I really have such anxiety as to whether they're going to have a parking spot or not. Because when you're on a private street, only owners and guests of owners are supposed to park there. But that's not the reality. The reality is we have people parking in all sorts of vehicles like trucks and people living in their vehicles on the street. We get all the people from across Ralph Esposito who can't find parking there in their Section eight housing or their apartments, and they park on the street and there's really no way to enforce it. So anyway, so I came out with a lot of other people to do this parking proposal, and we did. We came further than anybody else. I believe in the I don't know, maybe the 11 years that they ports existed. And we have a very solid proposal that because everybody has a different situation, it's very hard to get a consensus. So. I want to support any type of permit parking because that has come up as an option in our neighborhood, too. And it's very, very difficult to reinvent the wheel. I mean, I'm from the health field. What do I know about parking? But I had to do a lot of learning and I've lost a lot of sleep over this. So please consider having some kind of parking permit proposal out there so we can use it to in Bayport. And if anybody has any suggestions or any direction for me, I greatly appreciate it. Thank you very much. And I talked to Tony a few times about this. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. All right, counsel, comments, questions. She was our only speaker on that item. And vice mayor. I think it's a great idea. It's 2011 listen and if the depth of the depression from the city side and. We have had point after point on parking coming up so I'd like to move that we erect for the the council referral to direct the city manager to put together an updated presentation on neighborhood parking permit program with the options that have been discussed by council member disorganize referral as well as the points that have come up in the discussion of 1435 Webster Street and at the Harper Bay Ferry Terminal. Member. Ashcroft Thank you so. I mean, I think this is something to look into. It certainly came up in the context of 1435 Webster. I think staff, I believe Jennifer and Liam Garland have been having some meetings. I mean, I know they have have been meeting with folks from the Arab neighborhoods that are impacted by overflow parking for the ferry there. So I imagine staff is already looking into this. You know, go forth and do good work. But I would also just add is that obviously money doesn't grow on trees. We had some pretty sobering comments earlier in this meeting about the need to do to address some of our traffic concerns that could lead to personal injury. We had a very unfortunate fatality recently if we had to decide and maybe these are completely different pots of money. But if we had to decide between. More. Enforcement, traffic enforcement on the streets to keep our pedestrians and cyclists and motorists safe, you know, that that would, in my mind, be a priority. Maybe we can do it all, but it's not easy. And I do. Commander. Speaker four The effort you're doing in your homeowners association volunteers rock. But anyway, so I'm not I mean, I think it's a, it's a timely topic, but just to to see, you know, where it fits into our budgetary constraints. Remember, Odie? Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'll second the motion that the Vice Mayor made. I think this is a very timely referral. I mean, when you brought this up, when we had the discussion on the motion to approve the 1435 project, know I committed to supporting this if you would bring this forth. So I'm not going to change that commitment. But, you know, we've this is this is our responsibility to tackle. And we've heard the problems with the Del Monte and the issues with the parking there. You know, we've heard the issues on Bay Farm with the ferry when I served on the homeowners board, on when I lived on Bay Farm, and that was our biggest issue. I think that's probably the biggest concern people have out on Bay Farm is people parking in front of their houses. But, you know, it took us a while to actually, you know, decide to go forward and put in a parking program and starting to tell people when they shouldn't be there. So it's kind of a big step. I understand there might be a little reluctance, but, you know, we have a program out there and I believe from the comments that we heard last meeting, that the program is supposed to generate enough revenue to support itself with with tickets and permits. So I'm not sure that's going to be a problem if we design it. Right. But maybe there's a way that we can fix it or adjust it, you know, for like the council member district said on on Taylor, but not too many of us were aware of this program. So the more education that we can do, you know, the better it is for me. So I'm planning on being supportive of this. And thank you for bringing this forward. Oh, I have I have questions because it's my understanding staff is currently working with the homeowners associations at the ferry on a proposal that would go to them. And in regards to what just happened on Taylor, that would be, I think, a different scenario. And the ask here, I'm not sure. I actually think it may be better to address these different neighborhoods in different as different items. And I and and if in fact people on Taylor have are interested in the program, then I think it would be appropriate if there is a barrier to the current system. But then it could come to council to read to to see if there's a problem. If people are, you know, then we could modify the program. But I'm not sure that this is the best use of staff's time. And I'd be interested in hearing from our city manager because I know that they are. In fact, I'm sure we all know working closely with the homeowners associations by the ferry on the farm. And that to me is a and in regards to prioritizing how we're going to be spending staff's time. My preference would be that we address real problems. If people on Taylor have an issue, then we should be looking at that. The people they form. I know we are currently working on that and the people I can report whatever that issue is, but I don't. I think that they actually are very distinct issues for each one and would and this ask I'm not sure that this is really the best use of staff's time in addressing the real problems in certain. Neighborhoods. My son, I'd like to hear about. My senses just quickly that they are actually very similar problems in that what we're dealing with in both situation is the overflow of parking as a result of some kind of transportation network, whether it's the ferry system in the at the Harbor Bay or whether it's the carpool system for which there is a city side that encourages carpooling right there. So it's a city that's promoting, carpooling and and the bus system. So those people parking their cars there and leaving it all day. Yes. So I'd like to hear from staff. I actually think they both are. Right. There's lot staff, though. Liam, the police chief, are here if we have any specific questions, because they have been meeting on a regular basis, both internally with a bunch of different departments and with the Harbor Bay groups and Harbor Bay and Bay Port have similar issues that might be resolved with some proposed language changes to the way. Oh, it would be lovely if we did have a yes update from both Mr. Garland and SCHIEFFER, Larry. But I'd like to let the city manager finish her comments and then introduce them to her. And I think the issue is, although they're similar, when we look at how best to implement them, it may be like in Harbor Bay, if if it's a very small area, then people are willing to walk farther and it just impacts the next adjacent block. And so I think we have to look at it pretty much at a case by case basis of how far someone's willing to walk. So we don't keep impacting the next neighborhood. So. But so would you like to give us some insight as to what this should look like? Do you want to hear from them first? Yeah, let's hear from. All right. Observer, Larry. Chief just got. Demoted. Very cheap. Ouch. That's right. That was really quick. No, sir. Would you like to speak to Chief Ledbetter? So there's a lot of sort of. Floating balloons with this concept and we're still we have been meeting with the Harbor Bay is about working out a residential permit program there. There are there are some distinct differences but like member dislike said, the the main issue the one that's going to be common in any of these proposals is the overflow that's impacting the residents who have homes who can't park or have their guests over. So with that in mind, fiscally, it's not going to cost us. We're not going to I don't see the police department having to make a choice between the traffic enforcement that was brought up earlier and enforcing a residential parking permit program. I have most of our parking citations in town. Most of them are issued by our part time parking tax. We're down one position. There may be two. They're not. Although I have my staffing issues with the with the police officer rank these the part time parking positions are not really difficult to to fill. Member days I've mentioned you know the the regular routes that they run to do the meter enforcements and you're correct it wouldn't be a big deal it wouldn't add any additional cost to the department to have them come through another time or two on six or the 700 block of Taylor or out at Harbor Vale. On the public and private streets to do the extra enforcement where we're not talking about all day, we're talking about the beginning of the day and the end of the day. So it's really kind of already baked in to our costs. I do. I would have some concerns further down the road if this becomes popular and it takes off. And we've got 15 neighborhood parking permits going on and we've got different areas to enforce. Then I might come back and say, okay, I've got a problem, I need more people. Or This is this is now starting to be a problem. But if we're talking about Bayport Harbor Bay and the six or 700 block of Taylor or some other nearby neighborhood to the Webster Street corridor, we can handle it with what we have right now. Thank you. Liam Garland from. Public Works, which won out a couple of things to that, which is we will be back in front of this body on June 7th with some proposed changes to the residential permit parking program for four ways specifically. And that has to do with a proposed solution for the Harbor Bay Ferry terminal might relate to Bayport. So that's something we should definitely be in contact about. The other thing to consider is you've got a citywide transportation study and parking is an element of that as to whether proposed changes to the parking program are worthy of analysis. It seems like that's the vehicle to address that because as if there's more of these permit programs citywide, that's citywide effect. That's something that can be considered through the course of that study. So let it be. I wanted to hear from staff or city manager regards you. So when you look at this proposal, is this the best way for us to address these issues or. Well, it sounds like some of them will be coming up to us through work that staff is already doing? Or would you recommend. Ideally we could bring this back June 7th with the first set of changes. We can see how that works here. Continue to hear from the community, have it included in the citywide transportation plan and that's coming now. Fairly soon, too. And in part of that process, we're meeting with residents and we can figure out more specifically what it is under the current program. And we can also encourage residents to, if they have an issue, they can start talking to staff now on what it would look like and what the barriers are so we can sort of learn . Under our existing program because any resident can apply for it. Now, any group of blocks of residents can apply for it now, and so once they start learning about it, then we can find out specifically what the issues are. Vice mayor. And I think the motion in the second can still stand because you've outlined that there's already work being done, and I think the timing is actually good because the points that are in here can be can leverage the work that's been done. And this can come back in the context of those are the public works report that's already coming back and the transportation master plan but that that work that's being done. So I think if we go forward with this, it takes these elements. I think the scale scaling element, the financing element and that that impact that's talked about where where the problem is being pushed. I think are specified in this referral. And those now I'd like to see highlighted as we go through this process, both with my own bay and what's going on with our overall transportation demand management program . I only can. My only concern that I would raise, though, is that the citywide transportation plan that we're putting together is I think we're like three months into an 18 month process. So. So that would be that would be a concern. By the same token, I don't I mean, the work that's being done in terms of the H-2A, it seems as though there's been good forward progress on that. So I think that should move along. So, you know, with regard to some of the issues that are raised tonight, particularly the is it possible to scale it down and how do we deal with what are the secondary policies we need to think about should in scaling it down, if others then begin to like begin I mean, what are our countermeasures? I mean, those are things that I'm looking to staff to think about and then and and come back. But it doesn't have to be in June, but I really encourage us to not wait 18 months, though. And I would like to have some input from the community if if if people on Taylor are looking at this, I think it's important we hear from them. That's a concern of mine if we're driving it and we haven't heard from them. Now we do have someone here from Bayport. But to me that is telling us that there's a neighborhood there that staff could very well be meeting with and making sure that we are meeting their demands and seeing if, in fact, our current policies already meet their demands and that we just need to have that conversation. Member Ashcraft That's your hand up. I think there's more. Manager. I was just going to make the recommendation. That as part of what Councilmember de Saag was asking for is that when we come back on June 7th, that we can actually do a presentation on the ordinance, not just what our changes are, but so that it's a presentation and this is what we currently have on the books. So it's sort of like a tutorial 101. And, you know, and at that time, I think Mayport and Harbor Bay and we will have some of the Harbor Bay changes. But I think that also might help address what Councilmember Desai was looking for. Let me just make sure to say Taylor Avenue was raised only as illustrative purposes, largely because it was a project that it occurred and that there was a resident who did speak for that. But the larger point about Taylor is that is this is that we have these business districts part Street or Webster Street, and you have you have police going down there, traffic, traffic people going down them and doing their their stuff. So in the regular course of doing their stuff, they're there anyways. It's not necessarily a significant incremental increase in in outlays that's required for them now to go to one or two blocks. Now, as Chief Larry said, yes, but if you have success with one or two blocks, you know, it might spur ten others in the area. But my response to that is. Or staff then to kind of contemplate what our our countermeasures in dealing with. All right. Remember, I just wanted to add real quick, I think the assistant city manager said what I was going to say. I mean, I think the important part of this that's common to all the neighborhoods is that there's a plan out there, a program, and that we need to educate the public on what it is and how we can go about setting it up, and then we go from there. So with that, I'll call the question and list the other question. All right, so we have a motion and a second. All those in favor, I. Oppose. I'm going to oppose a motion carries for two one. Thank you. Next item is nine d. Consider reforming the Council of Council Review Process of Planning Board decision. And this was a member of his referral. Or my comments to. All right. So well, then, do you want to speak to what we're going to describe what the referral is, or should I ask the court to? Well, we have an audience of watching here. All right. So. Oh, has it pulled up? A brief description. The review process for planning board decisions calls for review on important check and balance in the city process. Ensure that a majority of elected council have the ability to ensure that the work generated by the Planning Board and other bodies rise to the expected quality and appropriateness. And it goes through and makes a proposal on reforming it. It doesn't take any authority away from the council members. Council members could still weigh in under this proposal. They can even weigh in earlier and probably have a chance to convince others earlier to of the validity of their their concerns. So it's just an idea that we have maybe a more nuanced review that would ensure that all projects go through a full vetting before being brought to the Council for a rehearing, and that a review actually has the likelihood of actually being overturned if brought to the council. You know, for example, I'm not comparing us to the Supreme Court, but, you know, if you want to bring a case to the Supreme Court, you need four of the nine judges to say, I want to hear that case. You know, it might be worthwhile to consider, you know, perhaps two or three individual on this council. It would have to raise a concern because there are issues that we may want to hear that we may not vote against later on, but we want to give them an opportunity to have an hearing. And there may be situations where we do want to have a hearing or the other way around. So I want to hear the public comment and I have some remarks and then I'm happy to hear colleagues input. But the one thing this is not the end all be all.