Recommendation to Approve the Transportation Commission’s Recommended Design Concept for a Two-Way Bikeway for the Clement Avenue Safety Improvement Project and Cross Alameda Trail between Grand Street and Broadway. (Transportation 91819)
Public Works Department has been another very important partner in this project and. Maybe the city engineer to his. City. NJ Well of course. Thank you, Scott. Take it away. Yes. Okay. So we are here to get your approval of what we believe is the preferred design concept. If you, um, we are recommending this preferred design concept. The Transportation Commission also recommended it. If you are, what we want you to do tonight is make a decision about this preferred design concept. What that will do is then kick off the next level of design. We then we get going with very specific essentially 30% construction drawings. So we don't want to be changing our mind after tonight as to what we're drawing. This is a probably about a $6 million project. When it's all said and done, we have about $5 million for construction. So the city has been investing at the front end on the design aspect of it and we've been very efficient so far, so we'd like to keep that going. This is a design for Clement Avenue from Grand to Broadway. This is a portion of our Cross Alameda Trail that was planned by this has been really a plan for 20 years. But you and the city of Alameda are now actually constructing the cross Alameda Trail. You're making great progress. The portion at Alameda Point, this trail goes from the seaplane lagoon all the way across to the Miller Sweeney Bridge. I mean, it's quite an accomplishment. This idea first came up when the Alameda Beltline closed down over 20, 25 years ago. And it's actually happening. So essentially by the middle of next year, you will be able to ride your bike in a protected to a bike lane from out from the seaplane lagoon at Alameda Point all the way across West Alameda through Constitution through Jean Sweeney Park. The Jean Sweeney Park piece is done, as you know, and we will that will get you all the way to Sherman, then the Del Monte Project, which we hope will be moving forward in short order. We hope they're doing a little segment between Sherman and Entrance Road. There's a piece that's already done. They're behind Marina Village. And now what we're talking about is this next big chunk grand Broadway. It's all on the Clement Avenue, right of way. We would love to start construction on this piece in late 2020, early 2021. Existing conditions, you know about Clement? It's a it has substandard sidewalks. It has no bicycle facilities at all, even though it is part of our cross Alameda Trail. Although you can't see the railroad tracks, they're there. They just we just put a nice little patch over the top of them. But that's not going to last for long. So we want to get those tracks out of there to create really a solid road for the future. We have speeding on this street and safety issues. We've had we have about 68 collisions over the last five years for severe but of those for severe accidents, three, you know, collisions with pedestrians and bicyclists, three were PEDs or bicyclists. Pedestrians and bicyclists. So the pedestrians and bicyclists are are the ones who are really taking the brunt of the safety issues out here. It is a truck route and we have to keep it a truck route, but it's about 1 to 2% of the overall vehicles on the street . And as you know, this area is changing. It was historically our industrial warehouse, maritime industrial area. It's changing. We've got changing uses in the northern waterfront is the Alameda landing excuse me, Alameda. A project, hopefully someday. The Boat Works project, the Penn Shell Pennzoil site, the Mulberry Neighborhood, which has built 52 homes right on the new cycle track Cross Army Trail. We are just approved the Park Street Hotel. We see that coming in for building permits in the near future. And then we have the school district has a warehouse. So this area is changing. We're going to see not only we can see the cross along the a trail coming through here with more bicyclists and pedestrians as we build those other sections. But they're going to be more people and more parks along this area. Every single one of these projects has public parks. So we see a lot more activity, not just along the stretch, but a lot more families and and kids on bikes in the vicinity going to the waterfront parks . Our goal is, of course, reduce speeding, increase safety, particularly as we start seeing more and more children riding bikes in this area. Obviously, one across. We want to complete this cross Alameda Trail since we're making such great progress. Of course, one of the things we want to make it safe and we want to really encourage people for climate action reasons and all sorts of other good reasons, traffic reduction to increase bicycling and walking as people that we want people to feel safe on this road if they are riding their bikes. I've talked about the access to waterfront. Of course we have also we need to maintain truck access. It is a truck route and we have, to the extent possible, minimized parking lots. And we've been thinking about public parking on the street as as a factor and a consideration. So what we did is we sort of looked at four different options and we kept these four options alive all through the process, just so that the public, through our task force and our community meetings, could consider the options. And the Transportation Commission, of course, there is what we call the do nothing option, which is these existing conditions you are familiar with. We then did a sort of a traditional bike lane option where we just striping lanes. So these have six foot bike lanes, seven foot parking lanes and 211 foot travel lanes. Then we have what we call the two way protected bikeway. So this is a two way projected bikeway on the north side of the street where we have fewer driveways. And then on the right hand side of the street you have parking along the two way. Bikeway is protected with parking on the outside of the bikeway. And then you have the on streets parking against the sidewalk on the south side. Once again, two lane to 11 foot truck lanes or travel lanes that are basically an Alameda truck. Truck routes are 11 foot travel lanes. We also looked at then a what we call the hybrid option since we have protected to a bike lane coming all the way from Alameda Point, all the way through Jean Sweeney Park, all the way behind Del Monte and behind Marina Square, we thought, well, there might be a hybrid where we continue the two way protected bike lane for half of the length to walnut. And then we do this sort of transition people from a two way bike way to more traditional bike lanes at walnut and then continue the bike lanes for the second half, the eastern half. But this requires a transition at at Walnut Street where we move people out of the two way and into bike lanes. It's important to realize there's there's a lot of commonality. This really comes down to how we treat the bikes and the bike access and bike safety. All three options short of the do nothing, have the same basic sidewalk street tree improvements we've got to fix them for to make them adequate. So the basic curb, gutter, sidewalk work is the same. And those three options we have to increase intersection safety daylighting stop signs, crosswalks, bulb outs, signal timing, same and all 311 foot travel lanes the same in all three obviously improve the on street parking for disabled parking loading zones. That has to happen in all three removing the railroad tracks, all three undergrounding utilities the extent we can and working with our developed partners. That's the same in all three. So it really comes down to how we handle the bike facilities lane versus to a cycle track or the hybrid option. Um, we staff throughout this entire process with the technical advisory committee that we had with the sort of interest groups and then with the Transportation Commission took a very consistent approach throughout. We've recommended from day one that we think the two way bike way is the safest for bicyclists and therefore this is the one that we're recommending . It provides physical protection from trucks and cars, not just a straight lane, but literally physical protection with parked cars and bollards. Besides continuity with the cross Alameda Trail, as I described. So trying to minimize that, not at times where we have to tell bicyclists, hey, move from one facility to a different facility, especially if you're dealing with kids and, you know, trying to keep as consistent as possible. So we like that. It also provides the best protection at the Park Street intersection, which is a busy intersection for bicyclists to be crossing. And we also believe because the although the lanes are similar in all four scenarios, by removing those park car lanes and the apparent width of the street looks narrower, which will help with the the speeding parking has been a big issue. We wanted to just be really honest about this. We we've had these numbers for everyone so they could see our recommended one removes the most amount of parking. But let me just quickly so you understand how the parking works. You've got about 300 spaces out there today. Even if you do the do nothing approach with the daylighting policies, we're going to lose about ten for daylighting. So even in the do nothing, we removed ten approximately ten spaces just for intersection safety. If we do the bike lanes option, we remove ten for daylighting and then we remove another 55 to deal with our sidewalk widening and fixing the sidewalks. So then if you look at the two way, what the recommended to a bike approach that we're recommending, we remove the ten for daylighting the 55 for sidewalks and then when we need to lose another 20 approximately along the corridor for the bikeway. Um, obviously if we do the hybrid, it's just a slightly different math ten for the daylighting, 55 for the sidewalk, and instead of 20 for the bikeway, we only need to pull out ten for the bikeway. Obviously occupancy rates will vary as we build the new projects in this area, but if you just took today's occupancies, you know, obviously occupancy goes highest with our recommended option up to about 90%, but still it would be at 90%, not over over 100% in terms of occupancy. So we are recommending the two way bikeway, as I said, Gail Payne, Thaddeus from CDB Smith has been Wozniak has been fantastic, our consultant team and of course Scott Wickstrom, our city engineer. And so our recommendation is for you to identify the two way bikeway as the preferred alignment. And what if you do follow, if you do make this recommendation tonight or choose any of them tonight, and that's what we'll we will proceed with that alternative into design drawings. I am available to answer any questions. Thank you, Mr. Thomas. Do we have any clarifying questions from council members before we get to our 18 public speakers? Okay. Vice Mayor, keep looking at the ceiling. Okay. Okay. So then our city clerk will read several names when you hear your name. Get ready to move to the aisle so we keep things moving. Okay. And the speakers will get 2 minutes because there's over seven. Thank you. Yes. James Johnston, Pat Potter, Bonnie Lehman, Doug Letterman and Susie Hofstetter. Evening. Hello. Hi. Uh, my name is James, and. I live near South Shore Center, and I'm in favor. Of option two, which is for the 100%. Protected bikeways all the way. I moved here about three years ago. Shoreline Drive has always had a two way bike lane to me. And I love riding on it. I was actually surprised to learn it was new. And. Controversial not so long ago, and it used to be. Called the Shoreline Expressway, which doesn't really sound like a nice place to be as a bicyclist or pedestrian. So I've enjoyed the most riding. On protected bike lanes. I feel they're the safest and the friendliest option. Two problems with option one. For example, is a door zone. We mentioned there are some trucks and car doors may throw you in front of a truck. I've ridden in these normal bike lanes before and it's nearly happened to me. I've just been lucky so far. And so to avoid that, I might have to ride in the street a bit. Some drivers and police. Don't think you have a right to ride in the street. They're wrong. But you're on a bicycle. You have to deal with them. Sometimes you might. Okay, so maybe option one has wider bike lanes. The next problem. Is people will treat it as a parking spot. And then I would have to go completely into traffic to get around somebody parked in the bike lane. So option two is the only one that avoids these door zones, illegal parking and these other intrusions. So, you know, one question I would. Ask is, like, if you had a young child, which of these options would you feel them safest to be on? And I believe that would be option one. And even if you don't ride, you still benefit from less cars on the road, lower greenhouse gases. You know, the friendlier. We make it for bicyclists. Other people can benefit, too. Even if you don't ride. And also, I'd like to add that, you know, streets are for everybody. They're not for. People that just spend thousands of dollars on a car. Thank you. Thank you. It's just Pat Potters and Bonnie Bonnie waving women. Yeah. Hi. Pat Potter, bike walk, alameda and the transportation chair for CASA's Transportation Commission. I am in favor of the city's proposal of option two. I think that that's what's most exciting to me about this, is envisioning what this street's going to look like when those developments come in. There's going to be children. There's going to be parks. It's not going to be this industrial freeway that that is so dangerous. Now that you've had, you can see how many accidents you've had. And four of them have involved bicycles and pedestrians. So a protected bikeway helps you so much as far as keeping people safe, keeping kids. One of the things that kids do, and this has happened a couple of times I've heard just recently, is they don't really think so much. So they're going down the bike lane and they want to pass somebody and they don't look. So out they go. There was a girl on Grand. It would school that got hit. There was a friend of mine who was driving and knew the two, the mother and the child who were on their bicycles. And the child decided, Oh, I'm going to pass Mom. Fortunately, she was paying attention and braked. So anyway, I do hope you'll vote for option two. I think it's an excellent opportunity for us to have safety and help the environment. Thanks. Thank you. This woman. Creating Council members. My name is Bonnie Wayman. I'm also a member of Bike Walk Alameda and I run easy street cycling and I teach kids safe biking around town. Independent. Safe biking. Two paths point the bike lanes alone. Don't. Don't work the way we want them to. The girl that was hit on ground was just in the bike lane and a person in the parked car pulled out and hit her. One of the issues with the with the bike lanes is that like the first gentleman mentioned, people people use it as a loading zone and it's in for kids to have to go around. The Uber drivers and the moving trucks and the delivery trucks and the garbage trucks and the Lyft drivers and the people who just don't want to look for a spot. It's not it's not safe for people to do that. I wanted to mention that during camp I had a group of kids and we did the four way stop on Oak, and we did a short turn on to Clement, and a woman came behind us and I found out for my assistant in the back. She was screaming profanities at the kids. She passed out that way too close of a range at way high speed. And that doesn't happen on a protected bike lane. That shouldn't happen to a group of kids who are stopping at stop signs and saying single file. And my last point is that this this the protected bike way would be a path that would connect the east end kids to academy of alameda, to koa to near to asti. There's a whole bunch of schools that the kids there would be using this path to get across a lot more charter schools now that we need to keep in mind that kids are biking, too. And lastly, every kid riding a bike to school is one less parent driving in a car on the road, taking their kid in traffic. Thank you. Thank you. Doug Letterman then Susie have center and Suzanne Dion diers. Thank you, Mayor Ashcraft, Vice Mayor White and council members. I am a resident of the Mulberry Development at the corner of Clement and Willow. I am actually also a newcomer to Almeida. Happy to be here. I've been here about a month with my wife and my three year old daughter. We moved from Oakland. In Oakland. We were effectively a zero car family, and we tried to give that a shot here in Alameda. My wife tried taking the bus to work. The headways were too long for it to be very usable for her. I tried taking my bike with my daughter behind me on our commute and the street conditions. We thought they were a little too dangerous to do that at this time. So reluctantly we became a two car family. And I know that one of the stated policies of Alameda is to decrease the number of single driver trips that cars are making. It was actually discussed during the development plans for our our home. But a lot of the policies in the city seem at cross-purposes to that. For example, our developer was required to to build two parking spaces for each unit. The conditions on Clement are very dangerous, we think, to be biking on them currently. In fact, in our first week living in our place, we saw pedestrian the aftermath of pedestrian hit by a car on clement and oak. So I just want to say I'm fully in support of staff's recommended option. I think it's great. It's perfect. In the public comment phase, I wished for two bike lanes protected by parking on either side of the street. But as you said earlier, not everyone can be happy with everything. And I think this is certainly the perfect be the enemy of the good. And I hope that one day we can all bike safely to work and I can get rid of my car. Thank you very. Much. Thank you. That's Susie. Have better than Suzanne, dear. Sun shone through. Good evening, Mayor and council members. It's great to be here. My name is Susie Hofstetter. I'm staff with Vicki Spay on the advocacy team and I'm a resident of Alameda. I actually live on Broadway barely a block off of this project. So I'm very excited. I'm here to ask you to support option two with all my heart and soul. I'm just very excited about this project. I want to thank staff, especially Gayle Payne, who has done a huge amount of work on the outreach process. She has been talking to everyone and has done an excellent job getting a really broad range of input, which I believe is reflected in option to my partner. And I live, as I said, on Broadway and we like to bike to the Alameda Point area and in other places in Alameda. And we're just so excited about the new we park trail. But getting to it is a really big challenge. And you know, often people say like, take this other street or that other street and Pacific, which is supposed to be this. That we go to has a bunch of really challenging side street crossings, and I know that staff are going to be looking at that soon, but I guess that's just to say that there is no other street, this is it. And we're really looking forward to a continuous trail facility that's just to a protected the whole way across the island. I can't just praise this project enough. I'm so excited and selfishly, it's like my home project, so it couldn't happen fast enough. And this, as others have said, this design is the one that will serve the most users, kids, older riders, people of all abilities. So that's what we're going for here. This is what will increase the mode share of bicycles in this community. So thank you for your support for option two. Thank you. Okay. Our next maybe four. Speakers in tears shone through Jim's trailer. Strelow Nila Miller or no? Sorry. Good evening. I'm Suzanne Diers and although I'm pro bicyclist, I'm actually against this particular project as I feel it's not safe for the cyclists nor the vehicles. The trucks on this route for cyclists, for one with a dedicated route, they're the car. The cycles are going both ways. With the new projects coming in, there's going to be a number of driveways across this path. Drivers are not expecting to see cyclists cross their path from either direction. If you think about the truck route aspect, a number of properties along this route are light industrial, including the property my family owns at the corner of Lafayette and Clemens. We have two boat related businesses at that property and they are regularly bringing boats onto and off of the property. When you have a boat, the California law says the width of the boat with the trailer is eight and a half feet. If you add ten inches four mirrors on either side, that's close to ten feet wide. That means the. 11. Foot lane that for one direction of the vehicle would allow for this width, six about six inches on either side of the vehicle to get past parked cars and oncoming traffic. Without hitting anyone. For a vehicle, pulling a trailer with a boat. That's not talking about even a wide load boat. So for those reasons, the safety of the cyclists, safety of the vehicles, I think this is inappropriate for Clement. It should be routed to a different street. Thank you, Mr. Dias. Our next speaker, Sean throw Jim Strelow, Zac Caplan, Nila Miller. Good evening, Mayor. Council members, my name is Sean Throw. I am the owner of the boatyard, the Grand Marina. I am the only boatyard left in the island, thanks to the city. To a certain extent. But anyhow, my boatyard does rely on large vessels coming down the street. And your proposal under a double track will inhibit that. I talked to many of my drivers who come in to and bring a fair amount of boats to us, which is a fair amount of my income. Without that, they will go to another city, to the other boatyards that still exist in the Bay Area. I don't think we want to lose the only boatyard we have. I need the business. The other interesting thing I see when I look at their slides that they showed you today, they're showing you the old Alameda development, old Alameda Marina, the buildings there, they have never drawn their drawings with the new project that you're putting in . You've approved that new project, has a beautiful waterfront walkway, bicycle way. Now, if you have a child, where are you going? To bring your child along clement and sea buildings. Are you going to go across over to the nice, beautiful boats, big wide area? I know from my boat yard on weekends, children and bicyclists and runners and dog walkers come through my boatyard all the time on the weekend. They try to sometimes come through during the week. It's not the most safe thing in the world because I have a huge operation going on with very expensive equipment that don't stop on a dime. So a kid run in front of my machinery is not a good thing, but they do that, so we have to watch out for that. So they're going to do that anyhow. On the weekend, they're going to go over to the old Svenson property. They're going to ride there. They're not going to use this. Double track. If you put the double track in, you can't take it out. My suggestion, if you want the money, which I know you do, to fix that road, do selection, whatever it is to separate lanes. Thank you. Our next figure, Mr. Australia. Thank you. I have ridden my bike along combat for over 50 years without incident in its current state. I it's what I recommended four years ago. So I'm very happy as it is right now. You claim this is a safety project. And however, my biggest concern is the East section between Park Street and Everett, because along that section is Ted and Joe's Tow Triple A emergency service at Ulsan Plumbing. Those three businesses are all within the same block and they probably do 20 to 30 entrances and exits along their way every day. Yeah. So therefore they don't have to. Look at. Just one direction. They're now going to have to look at two directions. So I think you're actually creating a safety hazard in front of all those three different businesses. The Cross Alameda Trail Project has the large Pennzoil properties still on its way. Five years ago I was told that that property would be sold in five years, so that's still a roadblock in this whole project. As a taxpayer, I'm concerned about how much money is spent on duplicative projects. The official city bike route is west of Park Street along Pacific Avenue. Just three blocks away? Yeah, two blocks away is the San Francisco Bay Trail. The official Bay Trail straight on the map has been for the last ten years, Buena Vista Avenue or Bay Trail. Dawg, take a look. It's been there for ten years. They have Buena Vista as the official route. So how many different ways do we have to have going across the city? I just like disorganize government projects that spend my taxpayer money similar to the $1 billion of the Transbay terminal facility for an express train to L.A. that I'll probably never see in my lifetime. Oh, similar to that $1 billion that I'll never see again. That has been wasted. Excuse me. Spent billions better coordinate our governments and how we spend our money. Taxpayers money. Thank you. Thank you. Zach Kaplan. Nila Miller. Rich CUSUMANO. Hello. My name's Zach Kaplan, and I've been using bicycles as my primary transportation since 1990. And I'm all for widening the sidewalks and getting rid of the railroad tracks and planning street trees. I am entirely against option two of the bi directional bike lane, primarily for safety reasons. I find that well, for one thing, in the United States for over ten or 15 years, traffic is on roadways just kept to the right. And this is putting some cyclists facing oncoming traffic, which is not the way drivers have been trained to expect faster moving cyclists to be. When people are pulling out driveways and cross streets, they're looking for slow moving pedestrians, but not a cyclist that might be doing 20 miles an hour. So this is going to greatly increase opportunities for collisions between motor vehicles and cycles. And most collisions between motor vehicles and cyclists happen at intersections. Not not mid-block. Rear rear enders are a relatively small percentage of collisions and which appears to be what the bi directional bike lane is addressing. And it's not addressing at all the issue of intersections. It's actually going to make it worse, and I think that's a liability for the city by putting this in because it's putting cyclists in dangerous position. Also, there are convenience reasons I happen to live on Schiller's Street, which intersects with Clement, and I would have to cross two lanes of traffic to make a right turn to use that. When I use Clement as my primary way of getting the Park Street Bridge, get off Alameda, come back from the Park Street Bridge. I would have to somehow get over to the left like a pedestrian. I couldn't do it the way I do now, which is I gradually merge. I look at my rearview mirror, gradually merge. Mercia left like a hood of our driving motor vehicle. So thank you, Mr. Capp. Thank you. Thank you. Miller, Rich CUSUMANO and David Burton. Hello. Hi, I am Neil Miller and I want to encourage the council to vote on option two. Yes, for a two way protected bike lane on Clements between grand all the way to Broadway. I honestly don't really ride my bike anymore. I used to ride a bike as a daily mode of transport when I was in college in Brooklyn. I used to ride through ice and snow. And I mean, now, after a few close calls, particularly with a truck, I got a sense of my mortality and I'm a little more nervous of a driver and or bike rider . And I think particularly on Clement being a trucker, it needs protection for children for all kinds of beginner riders. And if in my travels in places in Europe where there are there's extensive bicycle infrastructure, people feel so safe there that they hardly wear helmets because it's so rare to have an accident. So I think that we would endeavor to have that kind of safety here in Alameda. So thank you. Thank you. Rich Simoneaux, David Burton and Morgan Belanger. Hello. Hello. My name is Rich CUSUMANO, and I came to voice my strong support for the double sided, protected bike path on the cross Alameda Trail. There are many great reasons to improve it from economic to sustainable. But however, my primary concern is safety. And I believe option number two to be the safest option. A little over a year ago, I was biking down Clement with my 22 month old son in the back of my bicycle. We were struck by a car who fled the scene and we were riding where a bike lane like option one would be. I thank God every day that my son was well protected by his seat and his helmet. And then I took the brunt of of the damage. I had a broken tibia, fibula, a ruptured disc in my back, and my wife was on a bicycle behind us. She saw the whole thing. And, you know, seeing your family suddenly get thrown like rag dolls is traumatizing, to say the least. At the end of the day, I hope no other family has to go through anything like that. And I believe that this type of incident could have been avoided had we been in a protected bike lane away from speeding traffic. I have yet to return to biking, but I was biking regularly and I would like to return to biking for my commute and know that there's a safer option to do so. And I would really like to also know that when my son is older, he has a safer option to bike across the island. Whether that's to a school, whether that's to a football game or inclement weather, that's, you know, anywhere. So I guess I'll just I'll just close up by saying, please approve option number two. And while we have you at the podium, I wondered if you might be in the audience. And your wife is here, too. No, no. But I remember it was an awful incident and it happened either on Mother's Day or Father's Day. It was Mother's Day. It was Mother's Day. And I remember thinking, what an awful experience. And like you said, thank God your child was protected and not hurt, but was so happy to see you here and that you've healed. And maybe assuming this project gets approved, he moves forward. Maybe you'll come and help us with the ribbon cutting. So but thank you so much for speaking to us and I'm glad to see you up and up and about. Thank you. Take care. Okay. David Burton, Morgan, Bellinger and then Linda dares you. Madam Chair, members of the Council, David Burton, a dedicated owner of Zero Cars, one bike and many well-worn pairs of shoes. I hope this will be an easy vote for all of you. I appreciate the great details provided by the other speakers outlining my option two is the clear choice. Just look to the cities goals as stated in the presentation, and it's clear that IP option to is the best way to achieve the stated goals. It's imperative that we go for the highest standard if we're to provide safe, convenient, complete routes around the island, which gives all living good alternative to driving. Not everyone will be a cyclist, but let's make it possible for as many as as many to do so as we can all Alameda is benefit when more of us get out of our cars. Building a first class cross Alameda Trail is critical to the future of the city. When complete, the trail will connect Alameda with both their main shopping streets. It will connect us to the ferry and to BART, and it will make it safer for kids to bike to schools on the west end of the island. A complete cycling infrastructure is critical to reaching our goals for carbon emission reductions by reducing transportation emissions, which are our largest source of emissions, said. You just reaffirmed his commitment to reducing greenhouse gases. Don't betray that commitment now. So I just encourage you to adopt option two as recommended by the staff. And let's keep moving forward in the effort to build a high quality, complete cycling network here now. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Green. Our next speaker. Morgan Bellinger's and Linda dear, then Robin. Olivia Kraft. Madame Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of the council. Thank you for walking the walk. My name is Morgan Belanger. I'm an Alameda resident. My three year old bicycle commute buddy helped me speak last time, but she had a prior obligation to join us tonight. I'm not speaking tonight for myself. I'm a privileged white male, an experienced cyclist capable of taking the lane. Instead, I'm speaking on behalf of the kids and inexperienced cyclists I see riding every day in unprotected bike lanes on our way to preschool. I know some of them had homework or couldn't be here this late. I'd like to share a story about a recent experience I had in the unprotected bike lane on Santa Clara near Webster on September 11th. Just after 8ami was riding westbound when I encountered a stopped minivan completely blocking the bike lane. The driver walked out of her house 30 seconds later. In that time, three men. Middle schoolers rode around the minivan and had to merge with the morning commute traffic to do so. The driver said she was just getting her bag. 30 seconds. Now, how do we discourage that behavior? Her car wasn't there long enough for one of our many to find us to give her a ticket. And license plate cameras are just silly, right? No. The inexpensive, reasonable way is to simply make it physically impossible for drivers to block bike lanes in the city with their cars . We've already made tremendous strides in bicycle infrastructure, but the tricky thing about adding bike lanes like the one on shoreline is you don't ever really know how many lives you will save or you have already saved. Please vote for option to the two way protected bike lane. It's a terrific fit for this street with its limited estuary side driveways. It will help us eliminate free vehicle storage on a street that's fundamentally inequitable use of public space and it will save lives. Thank you. Thank you. Linda. Dear Robin. Olivia Craft. Good evening. My name is Linda Diers and I have been a resident here in the city of Alameda since 1971. To help you do the math, that's the last 48 years. And yes, I successfully rode my bicycle to school to and from for many years on our existing infrastructure. I just want to start by saying that I am not against a bicycle path. I'm very much for it, but I am against a bicycle path. I'll comment straight. I urge you to take the opportunity now, as County Council member de Sykes said earlier about the hotel project, take the opportunity now to reroute the bicycle lane as our fellow Alameda. And over here from the from Grande Street Marina said let's move it closer to the water where it's a much more desirable and pretty place to to ride. But I do want to say that Clements Street is not wide enough to handle the increase in traffic, that it will occur over the next several years . And let's be frank, there will be an increase in increasing traffic. Just because we have bicycle lanes doesn't mean that people will trade in their cars completely to take their bicycle. Alameda has several large building projects going on that are all being evaluated in isolation. We heard about the hotel project tonight. There's another 1200 units going on at South Shore, not to mention all of the construction that's going to happen on Clement Street. This will only increase traffic on Clements Street to make it a larger thoroughfare than it already is and a bigger truck Lane Park Street still will be heavily trafficked as it is today, and more and more people will use come street. Shoreline is dangerous now with a bike lane, busses are always straddling the line. So are vehicles hauling things. There are so many near-misses every day along Shoreline, and there was one this morning that I witnessed. Shoreline also is not very pretty. So we have the opportunity to out here. Please, let's take it. Here is. Robin, Olivia Kraft, Lorna, Sheena and Denise Trapani. Hello, my name is Robin Oliva Craft. Thanks for listening to us tonight. I want to speak in favor of the two lane to a bike lane. I experience the the wonders and safety of protected bike lane in downtown Oakland. A couple of years ago I lived right near the. New bike lane there. And it was a night and day difference. Biking to work every day. I bike on Clements Street every morning to go to the ferry, and this morning I also had a close call where somebody went. There was a large truck parked next to the sidewalk. I had to go around them. He almost doored me and the person who was passing me on the left went into oncoming traffic, kind of all in this same moment. So I, I strongly and in favor of bike lane on on Clements Street. People are already doing crazy things on that street. We should slow it down. We should make bicyclists feel safe on on that thoroughfare. And I have taken the taken Buena Vista, the official, I guess, bike trail. And that is as scary, if not scarier than the inclement. There's just a lot more traffic there. So Clement feels like a great a great spot to me to have this to a bike lane. And I'm super excited to be writing on really nice bike lanes all the way to the ferry every morning. Thank you. Thank you. I'm Ms.. Yes, Mr. Skinner. Good evening. I would like my name is Lorna Massena. I would like to start with thanking the. City Council and the. Mayor for acting properly and protecting the elderly and disabled. And I'll give you a let you know the good news that my father is. The case has been dismissed. So thank you very much. And speaking for the bike, it was a total surprise. I heard my fellow moms speaking about the bike lanes and I'm an avid bike rider and so. Is my son. He's turning 12 tomorrow and he couldn't be more excited to hear about the plan. Number two, as proposed by the city of Alameda. I like. The safety. Of the bike riding that we have on the shoreline. I can just send my son down and say go to school and he goes there by himself. I cannot say that for any other places in Alameda. And though we love the new Sweeney Park. It's gorgeous. And it would be so nice. It would be a dream come true for my son and I to be able to come all the way to Broadway and be protected. And that protection that allows bikers, especially small children, to ride safely. And making it impossible for the trucks and the cars to cross the line is very, very important. So if we want to increase safety for our children, and I think it's especially for our children, who we have so many schools and so many youngsters in Alameda that we should encourage to vote for the option number two. Thank you. Thank you. The last speaker is Rick Stewart. Thank you. Honorable mayor, vice mayor and council members. In preparation for speaking to you tonight, I wanted to understand what people's objections were to implementing the safest design. And on that portion, that's going to be a really critical component for the Cross Alameda Trail. So I actually read through all the publicly available comments that are linked to the staff report, and I can say we certainly have an engaged citizenry with a very opinionated citizenry. But after reading through all the comments and looking at all the objections, I was able to bucket them into three main area. One, there was concern for lost parking. Two, there was concern that drivers are going to have to slow down, check for and yield to people on bikes when they cross through the intersections and the driveways. And then three, there was concern by vehicular cyclists about being expected now to ride in a cycle track instead of the car travel lanes. And if you're not familiar with what a Hegelian cyclist is, it's somebody who, like me and a lot of other speakers tonight who are very comfortable riding their bicycle in car traffic. But unlike vehicular cyclists, we're advocating for safety for people who are not yet riding bicycles and who are not comfortable taking the travel lane . So we're not advocating for the status quo, even though we're comfortable in it. We're advocating to get more people on bikes. So I was going to address each of the buckets, these three buckets of objections in turn. But then I read something that a very wise person wrote today in reference to the gun control issue. And this person said that you start with a clear goal and then you judge the worth and success of specific tactics to address that goal according to it. So instead of providing counterpoints to the three major buckets of objections, I'm simply going to ask you to stay focused on the goal, which is safety. Thank you, Mr. Venue. And that was our like one more speaker. Sorry, sorry, sorry. No. And it's Rick Stewart, property owner and Clement. We are super excited about all the improvements happening to the street. It's been a long time coming. We're very thankful for that. We're not in favor of the two way cycle track. Primarily for. Safety for riders at the intersections. I'm talking about. The drivers coming out of the new Marina. Project. Of course, Oak Park Street, specifically 10,000 cars a day. I agree that children are really at most risk here. Are they really going to know the controls at each of these intersections more? More importantly, are the drivers going to know these controls? There's going to be no right turn on red. That should be followed all the time. Maybe it won't. I can see large trucks turning right on to Clement from the Park Street Bridge entrance, not seeing a rider coming from the right at speed. And I think there's a potential for liability here. We're in favor of traditional bike lanes. Thank you. Thank you. And that was our last speaker. Okay. So thank you to all the speakers who came out and help inform us. And by the way, I like what somebody said. I think, Mr. Pannier, about an engaged citizenry. We do indeed have an engaged citizenry. And you you help us with your comments and I applaud you for all being here at this hour to inform us. So I would like to lead I'm going to look to my left because I've been looking to my right all night. But you don't have to lead unless you'd like to. I'm happy to. Councilmember Vela, mother of a new young child who I'm sure will be on the back of a bicycle before long. For the front or front? Yes, for riding you. So so thank you for all of our speakers coming out. I, I guess I should start by saying I spent most of my college years. I didn't have a car. I cycled everywhere. This was in Wellesley, Massachusetts, in Boston, Massachusetts, and and then in London. And I actually was hit by a car when I was in London. And you know how. And yet I've gone back to London and I still ride a bike when I'm there. And part of the reason is, in the past, I don't want to date myself here, but in the in over the decade since I was in school there, the city has evolved spectacularly as it comes to bikes. And the reason that they've evolved is because of the growing population in their urban center, trying to make it more accessible to all levels of income in terms of their commute and really recognizing what adding different cycle options can really do to the population in terms of getting people interacting, stopping. You want bike and pedestrian traffic. That means that you're going to have more foot traffic. It means that people are going to interact more. It means they're going to spend more time in their local community. And especially when you can't get public transit connectors, you know, subsidized enough really to expand to meet everyone you really need to allow for and protect cyclists as well as pedestrians, because it's how people can do that first and last mile. And here in Alameda, where we're a smaller geographic with a smaller geographic expanse, having a crosstown trail is is really important in terms of addressing some of the traffic issues that get raised, because a lot of times we can't really control the off island traffic. We don't have any control over the, you know, timing of the stoplights in Oakland or some of the regional connectors where we might have to we might be having a voice, a little bit of a voice, but we don't have the final say in those decisions here in town. What we've noticed and councilmember motorists used to always say this, you know, to monitor the traffic when schools in session across town and then monitor the traffic when schools on break and it's very different. The traffic flows and patterns are very different and there is a substantial need to allow our schoolchildren to bike to and from school in a very safe way. And part of that reason is because some of our crosstown traffic and the reason and our mayor mentioned this on the last agenda item is because you have parents like myself where we have to bring our children day care before we leave the island or we have to eventually I'll be dropping my son off at school before I had out of town. And eventually I'd like to get to a point where he can just ride on his own to school. I used to commute to school on my own, either on bike or by foot, and I think that that's something that we want to preserve and we need to preserve it as we have, you know, more different types of vehicles on the road. In terms of the. So I'll cut to the chase. I'm very much in support of option two. I think it's the safest thing and I think that safety needs to be paramount. And in terms of the decision that we make and I think the argument that it's unsafe for cyclists because people aren't looking both ways, part of the reason that there's different types of striping and painting is to signal and to indicate to folks to look in both directions and to identify that there is a cycle track there and to be to be cognizant and careful. I think the other problem is, is that, you know, we have speed limits in town that get blown all the time by by cars. I was you know, there was a mention about taking some of these alternate routes. Yes, there's alternate routes. But that's because we don't have. A. Full cross town trail that's protected as soon as we have that. All of those other options hopefully will fold into and recognize that the cross town. Trail, which should be the safest option. And that's really what we should be focused on. And I think that, you know, there was a time where we didn't have a lot of different other types of traffic markers. That's evolved over time, right? I mean, a certain point we had dirt roads with no signs and no stop signs and things like that. And, you know, people had to learn to kind of learn the new signals and adapt to them and respond to them. And I want to start training that behavior that when you get to an intersection, regardless of if you have a stop sign or, you know, a button that you press, that you that people need to stop and or go drive through the intersection with with care. As a as a mom who's out, I also think that this you know, I've noticed I take a walk at least once a day with my son and I'm pushing the stroller. And there's a number of children who still ride their bikes on the sidewalks on some of our streets. And that's because it is so dangerous. I see cars flying down Central Avenue. I live off of Central. And, you know, whenever I'm pushing the stroller and there's a kid coming down on the sidewalk, you know, and I just sit there and going, you know, if we had that crosstown trail, if we had that protected bike lane and that access, there would be room for the car. Yes, the car can still drive. They should be driving the speed limit, though, a safe spot for the child to ride his or her bicycle and then also a safe place for for the pedestrian for me to push my my son in the stroller and not worry about traffic coming in every which direction and whether it's on two wheels or, you know, or somebody a kid on a scooter or something like that. So I think that, you know, ironically, one of the first meetings that I came to was about our vision zero goals in terms of making sure that we were protecting everybody who's, you know, we want to eliminate those sort of risks. And as I left that meeting two blocks from here, I was on Oak and Buena Vista, and I got hit by a woman who was texting and driving and blew through a stop sign. And that's supposed to be one of our bike routes. And there was actually a cyclist who was would have almost been hit except for she fell into the bushes at the corner. And, you know, I think those are the types of situations that we want to avoid. And it worries me that we're trying to push people on these side streets where there's even less clear vision, less daylighting. It's very worrisome. And I don't think that's what we should be doing. And I think we need that crosstown trail. We need to make it as safe as possible. So I'm looking forward to supporting option two. Thank you. Vice Mayor Knox White, how about you going next? Hello. He's got a little delay. Yeah. It's an app. When you turn on. It's that. Is that difference in the time zone from here to Santa Barbara? Right. So I was waiting. For the city video to catch up. I got. Oh, thank you very much. Still enjoy. I think a lot of our speakers really understand the need for us to start creating usable space for the entire community of not just folks like myself who feel very comfortable away. I think traffic, you know, unfortunately, too often I think they can get it by Christmas cards. And really what we're talking about is helping people get around the city the way they want to get it right now. I think that's probably good option to which a good solid option. I can commit to our opening both telling folks that if we find an issue with delivering both and so we can talk about that parking on whatever else that would be needed to accommodate that at a future time. But, you know, this really doesn't have to be any one moment to a person then either. And I really appreciate the outreach that I'm prepared to do for the future plans. Thank you. Councilmember Dysart. Oh, yes. Some questions. For. Mr. Thomas. Yes. Currently the design of Clement, is it correct that on the north side of Clement, so the tool option too has a two way bike lane and then some parking and then road. That's right. Okay. So if we remove the parking from Grand Oak, who do we know off on the north side? Do we know off the top of our head how many parking? So if. You from Grand Oak, if you removed all the parking that we. Have on the north side. And just on the north side, it would be. 100. Okay. Estimates about 100. Okay. Yeah. The reason why I'm inquiring because I am I'm struck by the concern raised by the by speakers, I believe the deers, sister, sisters about the, the closeness of the boats that are that would be driving down. And if if there's a concern about boats, I suspect there will also be a concern about trucks. So the question then is can we free up capacity or space so that yeah, I would throw that out there that that may be that would be a way to. It's it's certainly something that the council could consider removing the on street parking it's a it's a rather big. Most of the thing currently on the north side is Paul industrial in a lot of the part a lot of the parking is on the parcel. You know that's that's true in the current situation. That's right and there you have that whole stretch by the US is that the Navy facility where there's just no parking at all. Yeah. Part of driveways are limited on the north side. So it's, that's why we put the cycle track on the north side. Did you want to miss pain? Good evening. And a mayor and city council. Gail Payne, Senior Transportation Coordinator. We did that same analysis back in 2015 because we had the same question by the Transportation Commission and what it showed is the parking occupancy exceeded 100% in that area. So that's that's what it would cause is just an excess demand in parking. But it would still free up. Space right. To see concerned like like the deer sisters are about moving boats or or if you're concerned about trucks. The other the other thing to think about is when you think about the the other parts of the bicycle, whether coming from Alameda point I mean it's completely protected over there. It's going through Jean Sweeney. It's completely protected. I mean, so we might as well go big and make, you know, the north side completely protected to bye bye by not allowing parking on the north side of of Clement Avenue. Well, I mean, I'm just Dana. Yeah. Just trying to figure out how to accommodate the concerns raised by two thoughts. One is the parking lane provides a lot of that protection. I mean, that's that is that is a row of parked cars providing protection for the two way bike lane. Number two is, you know, 11 foot travel lane is a standard width of a lane in a truck route. So every UPS truck, every major truck, I mean, that is what is a very standard lane when two of those trucks are coming to each other. Close. And it's I mean, there's going to have to be some slowing that goes down. It comes about so that the trucks pass. But there isn't an issue of I mean, that's that's a very standard lane width for trucks. I. I guess the other thing is I think there's a bit of an elegance there, though. If you have the north side of Clément just dedicated to to the to two lane option, to bike lane option without the busyness of of the other cars parked right next to it. And I think that might deal with the issues raised by some about people making traveling westbound on Clement and then making a right turn. I don't know it's it's something you know, it's something to think about. Some residents have raised some concerns. And so let's kind of think outside of the box and try to, you know, juggle all the balls. Thank you, Councilmember Desai, Councilman Brody. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, everyone who came out. And thank you, Andrew, for your work on this. And thank you, Gail. Also, I think I said this last meeting because we had a bike discussion, but my first venture into public service, I was 16. I was on the Bicycle Safety Council in Finley Park, Illinois. So to me, the most important thing for me is safety. So and and I don't think there's any question that design number two is the safest. I just want to add a couple of things. I do think that, you know, this is not the end of our bicycle infrastructure. There was a comment made by somebody that, you know, we don't have the bicycle infrastructure they have in Europe. That's right. But, you know, we're we're not going to stop it. Well, in an ideal world, we wouldn't stop at Central and Otis and Shoreline and Clement, you know, every every four lane road, I think, is a candidate for a road diet and a candidate for protecting bike lanes. You know, in an ideal world, you know, we would have, you know, these these spaces at the corners where people could see and not crash and not be blind, blinded, and we would have bike lanes. I mean, that that's an ideal city. And somebody mentioned it and I think I've said it before, and the vice mayor said it before these streets were not built just for cars. In fact, bikes came before cars. So cars do not have a 250 year history of being on our streets. They have probably the least history of anybody that that shares our streets. So I think we have to be cognizant of that. You know, anything that helps slow traffic down, you know, is a good thing for me. I don't I don't look at that as a negative. I look at that as a positive. And we have to make sure that, you know, not only our you know, I think our our newcomer, James mentioned, you know, young children. You know, my daughter turns 30 tomorrow. Not that well, young to me, I guess. But, you know, I worry about her, too. You know, I worry about, you know, people like Denise, even though she's an expert, you know, I worry about everyone who's on a bike that, you know, there's going to be going to be safety concerns . So this is the safest thing to me. And, you know, I don't want to get preachy from up here because there's always that temptation. But we got to be able to learn how to share the road with people. So a lot of these concerns about, you know, this this business or that business, you know, has too many cars, you know, by Park Street or whatever. I mean, they got to learn how to how to share the road. Truckers have to learn how to share the road. People that pull by boats on their trailer have to learn how to share the road cards have to have to learn how to share the road. Bicyclists, you know, they do a good job, but, you know, they need to learn how to share the road also. So let's all just kind of be respectful of each other when we're commuting, when we're driving, when we're taking our bikes, when we're walking and anything that gets gets us to safety and, you know, vision zero I'm all in favor of. And nice shout out for Wellesley there. That's Sarah, Sarah's alma mater. Thank you. And happy birthday to Sarah. If it's Sarah. So thank you, everyone, for for being here, for all your good input on whatever side of this issue you came down on. Once again, the Council is called upon to balance some competing interests. And I do understand and hearing from the business owners along Clement that you're concerned with your businesses, that's one concern we balance. I think there's ways to address that short of just not doing a cycle track on Clement and making it part of the cross Alameda Trail. Um, and what I also see is that it's a, this is an exciting time to be in Alameda as every year I see increased bicycle pedestrian facilities throughout our city and I see more people using them, including families with young children, people commuting to work, people getting their groceries, dropping kids off at school and preschool. We want to make the the streets safe for them. We don't want any more accidents like Mr. CUSUMANO survived. And so this is one way to do it. And I think Councilmember Vella said as much that people can learn new habits. I grew up in the city and yes, I rode to school. I rode everywhere. My parents worked. And that's how I got around. It was the population was probably a little bit bigger because the Naval Air Station was in full swing in those days. But times changed. People did not own two cars and didn't drive everywhere. So now I still ride my bike. But I very much appreciate when I get to ride on streets where there are bike lanes or better still, dedicated cycle tracks. And I heard it mentioned that we do all these new developments and we consider them in isolation. I want to correct that misinformation. Not true. And let's just for a minute talk about the 1200 residences planned for Castro Center. Okay. You might have gone to a presentation. You might have seen a story in the newspaper. To the best of my knowledge, those plans haven't even been submitted to the city. So there is there is a gap between what you read in the newspaper and what actually comes to the city and goes through a long planning process . But if and when that development comes to the city, just like every other residential development that comes to the city for consideration, it will be considered in conjunction with all the existing developments. We know where new units are going in, and that's all that all goes into the environmental study, the impact, the traffic impact of new residences , new residents. We and we know that not everyone is going to be a bike rider, but we know that every year more and more people, and especially some of our newer, younger residents, are opting to have no car or one car or do most of their travel by bicycle. And as one of our speakers said, even if you don't ride a bicycle, you benefit from those who do, because that's one less vehicle on the road that's cleaner air. And if you are the bicyclist, I don't have to tell you all of the benefits. And I want to see more kids riding to school because it will help cut down on our traffic during school hours. It's good for kids to get that exercise. It helps them develop independence. But I think as elected leaders, we have an obligation to make sure that our residents are traveling around the city in as much safety as we can provide to them. And I will be quick to say, we all do need to slow down in town and observe the the speed limit. So I am very excited about this project. I commend staff for doing a great job and it's gone through many hearings, lots of public comment and I am ready to support this. The, the Transportation Commission's recommended design concept for a two way bikeway on Clement Avenue. And if anyone would like to be the first to to make a motion, I would be happy to entertain it. I'll do that. Okay. Yeah. Vice Mayor Knox, is that you? Yes, sir. I prefer to get a motion. I would like to just. I beat him to clarify one thing, please. That your staff is opposed to their lane with the 7-Eleven feet, the Golden Gate Bridge lane and all the rest of the lanes on that bridge are ten feet there. There is no concern to me is not a 25 mile an hour street that has not been built for Trump. So it's not a machine that can get left out that somehow there might be a truck concern here. We have literally built our building a common street that has built a freeway standard for trucks. With that, I would like to improve on the option to our recommendation from the transportation hub. I will happily have you second the motion. Your colleague, Councilmember Odie made the motion and thank you for the clarification on the lanes. And so we have a motion is second we'll have discussion. Councilmember Desai I'd like to make an amendment to it that we that we go big and that we not do that. We disallow parking on the north side of Clement Avenue from Grant Street to Oak Street in an effort to free up capacity to deal with concerns raised by some of the businesses and some of the residents about having enough with. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Are you making a substitute motion? Yeah. Do I have a second? Hearing, then that motion fails for lack of a second. Okay, any further discussion? Councilmember Vela? Councilmember Vela, then Vice Mayor Knox White. Sorry, I didn't see your hand up. I think that I think that the vice mayor made this point earlier, which is as the ne you know, if there is a need that develops, we can always look at potentially removing parking and it might not be in that whole stretch, it might be in certain sections of it or where needed. And I think, you know, I think if that comes up, I don't know if staff needs additional direction along that line, but I would be supportive of and I think this is still developing in terms of that aspect of it. What we're approving tonight is going with the option that would allow that. The the track itself, it doesn't have to do with the specifics as to parking. Does staff want someone from step one to affirm that. Will be what the motion is set forth? We will continue the design process. Right? We will be coming back to you for the ultimate construction contract. That would be that would be an opportunity for you to yank out the parking at that time. Or we could build it or you could build it and then at some future date decide, hey, we really want to pull out parking. I mean, it's that would not be hard to do later if you wanted to. Okay. And vice mayor, not quite sure. So just by voting yes on the motion tonight with the idea that we should come back and discuss the design of this project when we have a contract moving forward, my my my idea was that if after we implement that identified, we can make those changes. Right. But I do want to just kind of move by why why I would not support removing more parking for main with this is a safety project so we know that the number one thing we can do to maintain the flow of traffic down to the travel that our speed limit and the one thing that we can do to actually have that is narrow lane. So the idea that we remove the parking, turn away from the vehicle and drive down, come in 40 miles an hour, is actually counterintuitive, but in the project it will be a much more expensive project to maintain speed. It will remove all that parking vehicle, the infrastructure, and keep it going in order to continue to maintain the speed. Thank you. Okay. Councilmember Desai, then councilmember like. You in my final 6 minutes. I do want to say that this is a very exciting project. I mean, the idea that we're going to link from one end of one end of Alameda to the other in a unified bike project. I think what would make it more exciting, though, is if we took the time to remove some of the parking on the north side of Clement Avenue. And I hear what Vice Mayor Knox White is saying, that engineering wise, that maybe there are some issues there regarding speeding. But, you know, I think that comment, I think saying among the traffic planners is that it's not just about engineering, it's also about enforcement. I mean, if we know that that we have a problem there, then even even with adopting the engineering that you have, you're still going to have fast moving cars. Are you going to tell me that there aren't fast moving cars on Shoreline Drive as as skinny and tight as that is? Come on. So we're missing an opportunity, again, similar to what I said earlier during the discussion about the hotel, we are once again missing an opportunity to work with residents when there are some solutions, easy solutions in front of us. At the end of the day, if we remove the parking on the north side of a claimant, it's no skin off the back of anyone. I mean, certainly there might be some businesses on the north end, you know, such as the military depot that might be concerned. But by and large. Five years from now, seven years from now, when the development occurs, you're not going to be able to remove those cars in an effort to deal with any safety issues that they arise that might arise at that time. Let's deal with it now. You've got this rare opportunity. You've got this rare opportunity to make this elegant, protected bike path, two way bike path that stretches from the seaplane lagoon all the way down to Park Street and even beyond that. So I would really encourage us to really pursue that. I think if we don't do it, I think it's a missed opportunity. I think. I think this project is a great project, something that that aluminum can get around. But I think we can all get around. But I think we can even make it better. And so I'll just leave my comments on that. Thank you. Before I go to Councilman Brody, you raised the shoreline cycle track and traffic on Shoreline Drive. And in fact, if you were to ask the police department, they would tell you that the average speed has reduced significantly on Shoreline Drive since the cycle track went in, as have the number of vehicle collisions. Councilmember Ody. So in my last 6 minutes, I'm joking. I saw the ground out there. Slowly, Mike. I'm not going to use all of it. I mean, I think there's some merit to the idea of reducing parking because, you know, you reduce parking. You kind of encourage people not to drive as much. But, you know, as the vice mayor said, if we're building a freeway standard lane anyway of 11 feet, then, you know, I would not be in favor of reducing parking to add wider lanes. But if you know, that comes up later, you know, it's an interesting idea. The only thing I want to make sure and I think the vice mayor kind of touched on it, you know, I don't really want a repeat of central with this where we're going on and on and on and rehashing and rehashing and design, you know, and it just doesn't get done. So I want to make sure that that's part of the motion that this gets done and we're not coming back for every little thing. So I don't know if, you know, I was the maker of the motion. I'd be happy to amend it. But I know what we need to say in there. But or maybe we just have to say it needs to get done. Yeah. We don't need to be debating this in five years. And just because I hate to mislead the public, we Central Avenue is getting done. It's just a little more complicated because of the state highway bridge. But I see Payne nodding earnestly. That's another report for another time. But Mr. Thomas. I hear as the motion, I think they're so emotional floor is they move forward with the design as drawn with the 11 foot lanes keeping keeping the parking in. I'm as a planner. I got excited also about, you know, let's go big. But if it means if the intent is to stray 15 foot travel lanes, that's that's because we got rid of parking that is counter to what staff has been recommending. So that's why I think and to go move this project forward and keep it moving, it is very helpful for the Council to give us very clear direction . This is what we want so that we will just tell our designers, draw that up and let's keep moving fast. And we don't have to keep second guessing ourselves as to what our design is. Councilmember So be. Clear, the lanes can still be 11 feet wide or 12 feet wide. All. All what we're doing is just putting a little more cushion between the north side and the and the north lane. There's still 11 feet. It's just now there's more cushion by virtue of not being a lane dedicated to parked cars. It's. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. So we have a motion. We have a second. We're going to do a voice vote. Councilmember decides I'm going to support this project because I think the larger objective, you know, I think this is good for Alameda, the details of the parking. I think we'll have to leave that for another day night flight. I only I. I. As I. All right. That motion passes unanimously. Thank you, everybody, for coming out. Remember, we just go, yay! And then we move on to the next item. But thank you all. Good job. You can go high five in the hall. We are moving on to remember my goal is to get us home the same night we started. And so with that, we move on to item number seven, City Manager, Communications.