First, a study funded by Caltrans is a study being paid for by taxpayers, presumably many in Sebastopol. Studies in this city abound. The library may have to be expanded to accommodate all the binders. All were conducted with presumably free money from the County, or Caltrans that literally goes to waste. The primary issue is that reimaging downtown is not a question of 1 way or 2 way streets. We need a wholistic approach. First is the problem of reducing the amount of traffic coming through the city. Caltrans did a study a few years ago on potential options for a bypass that the city council at the time refused to review. If traffic can realistically be reduced then imagining changes that can make the town more attractive to businesses, visitors and residents, increasing economic activity and sales taxes should be the goal. Without a substantial increase in sales tax revenue the city is on a path to insolvency. Spending staff time and tax dollars on pet projects like bike lanes and 2 lane traffic is wasting money, taxpayer money, your money, my money.
This IS NOT going to happen, lol!!!! The city and State can run all of the studies and waste Taxpayers they want. I am very much looking forward to getting a copy of the studies and running them through my company's Artificial Intelligence (AI) software developed with Silicon Valley Tech giants specifically designed for STATE/CITY/CONTRACTOR COLLUSION.
So far the AI has performed 100% accuracy at lightening speeds in our Global Pilot Programs, so we are looking forward to deploying on top of this NEW CITY/STATE SCAM the Sebastopol clown car participants are attempting to pull over our eyes this time, lol !!!:)
As the person who brought this grant to the attention of the city council I would like co comment on several inaccuracies in this article.
First off, I'm not sure where the 50-50 chance of Main St. reverting to two-way comes from. Per the requirements of the grant, 3 options will be brought forward for the city council to select from. At least one of the 3 options is to be a two-way street network. One of three does not get us to 50-50. The provacative headline seems designed to attract clicks and not necessarily reflect mathematic reality. It could be that 3 two-way options are brought forward, or two one-way options and one two-way option, or a single one-way option, single two-way option and an option to completely close a block of Main St. to vehicular traffic. Or any number of other scenarios, but at least one must include two-way vehicle circulation.
Fehr & Peers currently have not 3 but 11 options that they are hoping for public comment on. These options reflect a variety of one-way and two-way vehicle circulation options in addition to several options that would close 1 or 2 blocks entirely to vehicular traffic. With feedback from the public after these meetings, they will further develop 3 options to get into more detail about bike lane design, sidewalk widths, vehicular turning options at intersections, traffic-calming measures and other urban design amenities (landscaping, benches, lighting, etc.)
Having been a member of the Core Project, our design competition was produced by a group of local citizens and funded with local donations and was not affilicated by the Redwood Empire chapter of the AIA. The Core Project did in fact lead to us successfully getting the AIA SDAT grant isn 2013. I will point out that one of the primary recommendations of the SDAT grant was to revert downtown to a 2-way street system.
I would also like to point out something that is correct in the article which is that people have been complaining about traffic probably since the 1950's and guess what, we're still talking about it. Maybe instead of focussing on traffic, we should focus on making downtown a place people want to spend time. Focussing on what will appeal to actual people walking down a sidewalk might be a way to attract people to walk down a sidewalk. Focussing on 'solving' the traffic problem focusses our energy on the wrong goal in my mind. Personally, I'm less bothered by traffic congestion downtown for a couple of hours in the late afternoon then the fact that downtown is a ghost town after 6PM. In order to support our downtown businesses, and therefore the city's finances through increased sales taxes and possibly new development increasing property tax revenues, we need to focus on making downtown a beautiful vibrant place where people want to spend time. The current design of downtown does not do this. And as someone who generally walks or bikes downtown and does not drive much, I feel much safer when cars and trucks are moving slower. So traffic is not necessarily a bad thing when it leads to slower movement of 2,000 lb plus vehicles within feet of pedestrians and bicyclists.
I'm personally optimistic about this project as opposed to previous discussions because Caltrans is an active participant in this process. I believe we can make downtown a vibrant place that locals and visitors alike want to spend time. A vibrant and successful downtown is an important part of a successful community. I hope people turn out to give feedback and we get some good options to make a final selection from by the end of the year.
Grateful that Paul Fritz chimed in. It remains tiring that people continue to look at thru traffic only from the perspective of the driver. How about we consider the pedestrians and the shop owners?
Myself and another local citizen wrote a successful CALTRANS grant to consider the return to two-way streets prior to the one Paul Fritz mentioned. So there is a lot of history of the citizens clamoring for a more pedestrian friendly downtown.
It sure would be nice if everyone did their homework and analyze all the existing data that has been produced over the years.
Having been here for so long, it’s hard to believe that this study will have any true impact on how to address Sebastopol’s traffic concerns. The points made by @economist ring true for me. Many studies. Many solutions suggested. I was around for the years before the one way street fix was implemented to alleviate the congestion problem. The bypass solution has been floated and rejected many times over. There was an idea that Sebastopol’s downtown could become a walking mall like Santa Cruz’s downtown. We, however, are a town that is built on two intersecting highways. The issue here is not new. Funding studies is not, either. I look forward to seeing if there are new solutions being proposed and, then, adopted. That would be new.
Wow. I wonder if a few “round-abouts” could be added like other modern villages, instead of inefficient stop lights?
Thank goodness for the Sebastopol Times being here to keep us informed of local issues like this. I have not seen anything about it in the PD yet.
Larry Harper
First, a study funded by Caltrans is a study being paid for by taxpayers, presumably many in Sebastopol. Studies in this city abound. The library may have to be expanded to accommodate all the binders. All were conducted with presumably free money from the County, or Caltrans that literally goes to waste. The primary issue is that reimaging downtown is not a question of 1 way or 2 way streets. We need a wholistic approach. First is the problem of reducing the amount of traffic coming through the city. Caltrans did a study a few years ago on potential options for a bypass that the city council at the time refused to review. If traffic can realistically be reduced then imagining changes that can make the town more attractive to businesses, visitors and residents, increasing economic activity and sales taxes should be the goal. Without a substantial increase in sales tax revenue the city is on a path to insolvency. Spending staff time and tax dollars on pet projects like bike lanes and 2 lane traffic is wasting money, taxpayer money, your money, my money.
This IS NOT going to happen, lol!!!! The city and State can run all of the studies and waste Taxpayers they want. I am very much looking forward to getting a copy of the studies and running them through my company's Artificial Intelligence (AI) software developed with Silicon Valley Tech giants specifically designed for STATE/CITY/CONTRACTOR COLLUSION.
So far the AI has performed 100% accuracy at lightening speeds in our Global Pilot Programs, so we are looking forward to deploying on top of this NEW CITY/STATE SCAM the Sebastopol clown car participants are attempting to pull over our eyes this time, lol !!!:)
As the person who brought this grant to the attention of the city council I would like co comment on several inaccuracies in this article.
First off, I'm not sure where the 50-50 chance of Main St. reverting to two-way comes from. Per the requirements of the grant, 3 options will be brought forward for the city council to select from. At least one of the 3 options is to be a two-way street network. One of three does not get us to 50-50. The provacative headline seems designed to attract clicks and not necessarily reflect mathematic reality. It could be that 3 two-way options are brought forward, or two one-way options and one two-way option, or a single one-way option, single two-way option and an option to completely close a block of Main St. to vehicular traffic. Or any number of other scenarios, but at least one must include two-way vehicle circulation.
Fehr & Peers currently have not 3 but 11 options that they are hoping for public comment on. These options reflect a variety of one-way and two-way vehicle circulation options in addition to several options that would close 1 or 2 blocks entirely to vehicular traffic. With feedback from the public after these meetings, they will further develop 3 options to get into more detail about bike lane design, sidewalk widths, vehicular turning options at intersections, traffic-calming measures and other urban design amenities (landscaping, benches, lighting, etc.)
Having been a member of the Core Project, our design competition was produced by a group of local citizens and funded with local donations and was not affilicated by the Redwood Empire chapter of the AIA. The Core Project did in fact lead to us successfully getting the AIA SDAT grant isn 2013. I will point out that one of the primary recommendations of the SDAT grant was to revert downtown to a 2-way street system.
I would also like to point out something that is correct in the article which is that people have been complaining about traffic probably since the 1950's and guess what, we're still talking about it. Maybe instead of focussing on traffic, we should focus on making downtown a place people want to spend time. Focussing on what will appeal to actual people walking down a sidewalk might be a way to attract people to walk down a sidewalk. Focussing on 'solving' the traffic problem focusses our energy on the wrong goal in my mind. Personally, I'm less bothered by traffic congestion downtown for a couple of hours in the late afternoon then the fact that downtown is a ghost town after 6PM. In order to support our downtown businesses, and therefore the city's finances through increased sales taxes and possibly new development increasing property tax revenues, we need to focus on making downtown a beautiful vibrant place where people want to spend time. The current design of downtown does not do this. And as someone who generally walks or bikes downtown and does not drive much, I feel much safer when cars and trucks are moving slower. So traffic is not necessarily a bad thing when it leads to slower movement of 2,000 lb plus vehicles within feet of pedestrians and bicyclists.
I'm personally optimistic about this project as opposed to previous discussions because Caltrans is an active participant in this process. I believe we can make downtown a vibrant place that locals and visitors alike want to spend time. A vibrant and successful downtown is an important part of a successful community. I hope people turn out to give feedback and we get some good options to make a final selection from by the end of the year.
I would love to see a pedestrian only section of Main Street…. They did it on Sebastopol’s 100th birthday….. it was so nice and doable!
Grateful that Paul Fritz chimed in. It remains tiring that people continue to look at thru traffic only from the perspective of the driver. How about we consider the pedestrians and the shop owners?
Myself and another local citizen wrote a successful CALTRANS grant to consider the return to two-way streets prior to the one Paul Fritz mentioned. So there is a lot of history of the citizens clamoring for a more pedestrian friendly downtown.
It sure would be nice if everyone did their homework and analyze all the existing data that has been produced over the years.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
Having been here for so long, it’s hard to believe that this study will have any true impact on how to address Sebastopol’s traffic concerns. The points made by @economist ring true for me. Many studies. Many solutions suggested. I was around for the years before the one way street fix was implemented to alleviate the congestion problem. The bypass solution has been floated and rejected many times over. There was an idea that Sebastopol’s downtown could become a walking mall like Santa Cruz’s downtown. We, however, are a town that is built on two intersecting highways. The issue here is not new. Funding studies is not, either. I look forward to seeing if there are new solutions being proposed and, then, adopted. That would be new.