BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Will try to make it.

Are they finally tearing those dilapidated row houses down? That intersection of streets has always been F’ed up. I think it would work better to have that one-block section of Bates be one way (into Oakland) and have the traffic on Bates leaving Oakland make the right onto Zulema Street, then turn onto the Blvd of the Allies. This would allow traffic on the Blvd to turn right onto Bates almost continuosly – there should be a pedestrian on demand red light to stop the flow. It would also allow the traffic coming up Bates from 2nd avenue to be constricted into a single lane with the ability to turn left or right onto the Blvd. or continue straight on Bates without any delay due to oncoming traffic. This might give enough space for a bike lane going “up” Bates. Something like this: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zlrJ_N1zpoVg.kRDESyKnIlTY The traffic signal timing would need to be worked out, but this would alleviate a lot of conflict between left turning vehicles at that intersection.

Looks like the entity was formed in Feb 2014, and they bought 3411 Bates on 3/6/2014. It looks like an opportunity to see what they're proposing to see if it would be a benefit or problematic.

I like the idea of the roundabout that is in the Oakland 2025 master plan - looks pretty sweet. http://www.opdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/1209010-Oakland-2025-Report-SCREEN-Sec-5.pdf It's on the page labeled #113 (or #14 of the actual pdf).

TOP, tonight.

Big stuff, reconfiguring the parklet, taking out a street (Zulema) or two (Coltart?), building up to the same visual level as the neighboring hotel. I was there for a little while, I had to leave by 7. Unfortunately one guy totally monopolized the meeting, saying "how you gonna X" time and time again without giving the presenters any chance to talk (though a lot of what they were saying before he started cutting in was a bit fluffy and evasive). But anyways, the neighbors were mostly concerned about parking (which the developers said was going to built into the development, underground), and the effect of a development that big on traffic. The thing of greatest interest to me was something mentioned in passing, when they were talking about what they were doing with Bates. There was mention by the developer, and it wasn't clear by their diagram, but that in reconfiguring Bates along their property they'd be including provision for double bike lanes in line with the city plans. I was pleasantly surprised that that passed without comment, I expected to hear someone complain about making room for bikes in a place where parking is in demand. I wish I could have stayed longer to hear if anything more was going to be said about that or about blvd from a bike perspective. Would love to hear more if anyone managed to stick around longer. There was at least one other cyclist, a woman who arrived in a high-vis vest, and I thought maybe a couple others who I saw outside but I'm not sure.

Thanks for going, I was unable to attend. lol @ "a woman who arrived in a high-vis vest" That was my wife. She concurred with your assessment of "that guy" who is an owner of several rental properties in the neighborhood. She said that the inital plan described by the developers involves a "12 story" property with a mix of rental space above retail, probably not all that different from the Quality Inn on Blvd or Piatt Place, downtown and that there was some talk about granting them Zulema, which she interpreted as closing off the street. They didn't have preliminary drawings online or available to the attendees. She noted some scuttlebutt about Pitt buying Quality Inn and turning them into dorms, but who knows, probably just someone speculating. There was talk about bike lanes on the Bates side in Oakland, but she said from her understanding, they would stop at the Blvd/BOA until the City/whomever figures out how they are going to develop lower Bates to Second. I think this is a big deal because today I saw several cyclists using Bates both directions on my commute in and my anecdoatal observation is that cycling traffic is up at that access point to EFT. Kraus' office sent an intern to "take notes" and report back to him. It's in his distict, you'd think he'd take a bigger interest, considering it sounds like a major project. Does he do anything? There was also someone there from Peduto's office, so it's probably be a good time to drop a note off to his office to let them know that interested parties are watching this development and want the city/developers to get it right in terms of designing this intersection and making sure any development is congruent with Complete Streets.

There were also bike lanes noted on some type of diagram and mentioned a few more times (without negative/any comments). She noted that they said they were going to have a follow-up meeting on traffic/parking issues after the traffic study was complete and that she requested that they make some of the preliminary drawings available online and OPDC said they would be willing to post (if developer allowed), so if that happens I’ll pass that along.