Here we are again, the city council is moving forward on something that the 59% of people who responded to their survey said "No" to. When is the city council going to start listening to the people who live here?!?!
59% of the approximately 200 people who responded to the survey is hardly representative for Sebastopol’s whole population. We all know that people are much more likely to respond to ‘anything’ they feel negatively about–it’s called negativity bias. Maybe it depends on who you talk to in Sebastopol. In my circles the “Reimagining the Core” process and the two-way solution have been welcomed and the approval by the City Council will make these Sebastopolians happy, including me.
I agree that 200 out of 7000 is hardly representative however that survey wasn't just about 2 way streets. That survey was difficult for some folks to understand and they gave up. Myself, it closed down twice and I got in touch with Mary who got in touch with someone who fixed it. Most people wouldn't have gone through that. Additionally, if we were able to take a survey with one question and everyone answered, I'll bet it would be "no two way streets" over 80% easy.
Excellent, the Council made a decision which stated a clear intention: Make Main Street a place. Massive and complex projects need a single focal point to drive all subsequent decisions. Now that we know what the City is for, we can better understand the necessary tradeoffs required to make it happen. Too often, Council meetings and community discussions are mired in the details as if they were the goal.
It makes sense that not everyone agrees that Main Street should be a place first and everything else second. Any major policy/vision decision that everyone agrees with would already be enacted. With any divisive civic plan, some official body has to define the priority...a goal that in the context of everything else, helps the entire community thrive.
We all generally agreed downtown could use some structural help, and now we have a stated direction and a priority. Going forward, the job is to fine tune and make sure as many of the sub issues are handled as best we can. But those sub issues all exist in a system. Every decision about something affects something else. Fixing potholes in one street means more and faster traffic in one place and less somewhere else.
As much as some people would like to imagine their issue is a stand alone simple choice, they just aren't. Every civic decision is a balancing of different ideals and practical realities. When you make downtown thrive without attracting more visitors, you make the South and North end commercial areas suffer. When you bring in more visitors without changing traffic patterns, you make locals suffer more traffic.
Cities need a growing tax base to thrive. Cities are in competition with each other to entice residents and visitors. Wanting to keep things the way they are is wishful thinking. Demographic trends, the economy, and climate change forces change on all municipalities. The question is: what is the "character" of the area we are trying to preserve? What are we for? From there we move to messy implementation tradeoffs.
Only in the context of the larger system can we understand the usefulness of any particular complaint about a particular tactical issue.
Ten to Fifteen years. Most likely I will not be driving anymore by then. Thankfully, most of the places I want to go to in Sebastopol are walking distance for me. At least they will improve the awful sidewalks.
Should’ve just left it two way in the first place! Now here we are again ready to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars to study (for years) to change it up yet again. Unless it’s a bypass no amount of change is going to fix the traffic problem. Certainly not changing it back. That’s the perfect example of insanity
Two years of public meetings and workshops to gain agreement on a plan and one unelected individual on the planning commission says no, let’s do this instead…consultant falls in line…they want the future business that comes from endless projects like this one…we don’t know why city council fell in line with almost no information about the plan and the impact on traffic. They didn’t even ask many questions and ignored public comment that was largely in opposition . This council is not very curious…seems like they just want to break records for fastest meeting.
Do you think it would be possible to have a trial run with orange cones to help direct traffic to see if the plan really works before bringing out the cement truck and making permanent changes?
Here we are again, the city council is moving forward on something that the 59% of people who responded to their survey said "No" to. When is the city council going to start listening to the people who live here?!?!
59% of the approximately 200 people who responded to the survey is hardly representative for Sebastopol’s whole population. We all know that people are much more likely to respond to ‘anything’ they feel negatively about–it’s called negativity bias. Maybe it depends on who you talk to in Sebastopol. In my circles the “Reimagining the Core” process and the two-way solution have been welcomed and the approval by the City Council will make these Sebastopolians happy, including me.
I agree that 200 out of 7000 is hardly representative however that survey wasn't just about 2 way streets. That survey was difficult for some folks to understand and they gave up. Myself, it closed down twice and I got in touch with Mary who got in touch with someone who fixed it. Most people wouldn't have gone through that. Additionally, if we were able to take a survey with one question and everyone answered, I'll bet it would be "no two way streets" over 80% easy.
Excellent, the Council made a decision which stated a clear intention: Make Main Street a place. Massive and complex projects need a single focal point to drive all subsequent decisions. Now that we know what the City is for, we can better understand the necessary tradeoffs required to make it happen. Too often, Council meetings and community discussions are mired in the details as if they were the goal.
It makes sense that not everyone agrees that Main Street should be a place first and everything else second. Any major policy/vision decision that everyone agrees with would already be enacted. With any divisive civic plan, some official body has to define the priority...a goal that in the context of everything else, helps the entire community thrive.
We all generally agreed downtown could use some structural help, and now we have a stated direction and a priority. Going forward, the job is to fine tune and make sure as many of the sub issues are handled as best we can. But those sub issues all exist in a system. Every decision about something affects something else. Fixing potholes in one street means more and faster traffic in one place and less somewhere else.
As much as some people would like to imagine their issue is a stand alone simple choice, they just aren't. Every civic decision is a balancing of different ideals and practical realities. When you make downtown thrive without attracting more visitors, you make the South and North end commercial areas suffer. When you bring in more visitors without changing traffic patterns, you make locals suffer more traffic.
Cities need a growing tax base to thrive. Cities are in competition with each other to entice residents and visitors. Wanting to keep things the way they are is wishful thinking. Demographic trends, the economy, and climate change forces change on all municipalities. The question is: what is the "character" of the area we are trying to preserve? What are we for? From there we move to messy implementation tradeoffs.
Only in the context of the larger system can we understand the usefulness of any particular complaint about a particular tactical issue.
Ten to Fifteen years. Most likely I will not be driving anymore by then. Thankfully, most of the places I want to go to in Sebastopol are walking distance for me. At least they will improve the awful sidewalks.
Much ado about nothing. Endless process but no product.
Should’ve just left it two way in the first place! Now here we are again ready to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars to study (for years) to change it up yet again. Unless it’s a bypass no amount of change is going to fix the traffic problem. Certainly not changing it back. That’s the perfect example of insanity
Two years of public meetings and workshops to gain agreement on a plan and one unelected individual on the planning commission says no, let’s do this instead…consultant falls in line…they want the future business that comes from endless projects like this one…we don’t know why city council fell in line with almost no information about the plan and the impact on traffic. They didn’t even ask many questions and ignored public comment that was largely in opposition . This council is not very curious…seems like they just want to break records for fastest meeting.
Same as it ever was…
Do you think it would be possible to have a trial run with orange cones to help direct traffic to see if the plan really works before bringing out the cement truck and making permanent changes?