November 5, 2008

Transportation Focus Group

Meeting Notes by Charles Rivasplata

Tom Radulovich chaired the Focus Group meeting, which was held at the Planning Department, on the Fourth Floor of 1650 Mission Street (Calendar Item 1). A total of seven participants attended the meeting, three of them Task Force members, three City staff and one member of the public.

The following bullets summarize the principal topics discussed at the meeting:

· At the outset of the meeting, some announcements were made (Calendar Item 2):

- Paul Lord announced that the Planning Department is currently developing a document that will invite consultants to bid on the environmental analysis work for Western SoMa. He also distributed an October 7, 2008 letter from Planning Director John Rahaim to MTA Director Nathaniel Ford that addressed the bicycle projects being pulled out of the Market-Octavia Plan (e.g., amendments). Paul also announced that the U.S. Postal Service will soon move itsMain Street facility to 550 Townsend Street, but that it was not negotiable. There will most likely be implications for local businesses on Townsend.

- Tom announced that the two-way McAllister Street and two-way Seventh Street proposals had been placed on the consent calendar for the 18 November MTA Board meeting. Also, he said that Supervisor Ammiano will introduce legislation that will seek to measure congestion and provide an alternative through building code changes. He believes that there should be general thresholds established for encouraging healthy streets.

- Marc Salomon announced that with the passage of Prop. 1A, it is imperative that future alternatives for that street be discussed. Tom mentioned that it would be good to contact Bob Doughty of the JPB, concerning the RFP Study.

· Suzanne Chen-Harding provided an update on the status of the EN Trips project (Calendar Item 3). She reported that a meeting had been held with the agencies involved in the study and that a project work scope was submitted to MTC as part of a request for funding. She believes that the scope is straightforward, with a look at all modes, as well as station access, streetscape and other aspects. She outlined the following steps:

- The TA will take the lead on the travel study, with Phase II (including all of SoMa and Eastern Neighborhoods) expected to get underway in 2009. Right now, staff is fully scoping the work involved.

- The second piece of Phase II is to perform a model run with transportation project information. EN Trips wants to take a close look at streets as well as operational analysis. EN Trips will have a public process component and there will be a priority list of projects for the purposes of CEQA.

- Once there is a prioritization of projects and cost estimates have been generated, funding strategies for implementing specific projects will be developed.

- Next, the CEQA/ Environmental Review component of the project will be developed. This will require a well-defined list of projects within the study area.

- The participating agencies will look at the Better Streets Plan guidelines as a template from which to test specific applications (e.g., along streets and corridors in the study area). In addition, the study team will consider operational analysis.

· Tom emphasized the need for project-ready projects and a specific funding strategy for implementing them. He said that he hopes that the EN Trips work will further explore areas where the Western SoMa Citizens Task Force has identified projects. He wanted to know when the EN Trips project will share projects, as he believes that these projects need to be carefully designed, and environmentally cleared. Tom mentioned that he is a bit skeptical of the modeling process, as it constitutes an attempt to simulate conditions over a wide area and is weak on specific projects.

· Marc countered that there are some very good travel modeling techniques available that could provide insight into the future growth of areas.

· Suzanne pointed out that MTA cannot step away from the modeling process (performed by the SFCTA), which is slated to include four to six months of demand analysis and forecasting; and nine months of project development.

· Tom wanted to know what the Task Force can do to enable the Western SoMa Plan to effectively guide the local street system and eventually generate a positive effect on the neighborhood.

· Paul, Tom and others identified the need to have someone represent Western SoMa on not only the EN Trips Working Group, but more importantly, on its Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC), when it is formed. They argued that Western SoMa concerns have to be incorporated in the discussion, as it is an integral part of the overall system.

· Suzanne mentioned that the CAC would play a key role in overseeing the EN Trips implementation process. She said that Ken Rich, in his role as the manager of the Eastern Neighborhoods Plan at the Planning Department, is the person to contact concerning future representation on the CAC.

· Many Focus Group members commented on the ambitious nature of the EN Trips effort, but thanked Suzanne for her update.

· Charles Rivasplata distributed the latest version of the Western SoMa Transportation Study Scope developed by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, or SFCTA (Calendar Item 5). In Chester Fung's absence, Charles went over the tentative schedule of Study Scope presentations:

- Complete Neighborhood Fabric Committee on 13 November;

- SFCTA CAC on 3 December; and

- SFCTA Plans & Programs Committee.

· Paul mentioned that Chester's work should continue to incorporate many of the projects called out in the Western SoMa Draft Plan. He suggested the following:

- Two-way alleys should include traffic calming;

- Study Scope should focus on coordinating with the SF Park program on parking options for Folsom Street; and

- Mid-block crossings should be put back on the list of projects.

· Paul commented that the SFCTA Study will need to move forward in tandem with the Environmental Impact Report (EIR). All of the items listed in the Study Scope will need to be cleared from environmental review.

· Tom cited a city policy that required that a surface street alternative to re-building the Central Freeway be studied once the Freeway's useful life ends. That is to say, in addition to the possibility of rebuilding a new elevated freeway, the future study would need to explore the alternative of not building a freeway. He would like to see this option addressed in the EN Trips study.

· Marc commented that he would like to see a substantial amount of green space on the designated green streets, i.e., not just green medians. He also mentioned that he would like to see stronger parking management strategies introduced, such as

- Parking management with a focus on the Folsom NCT district, a Night Club district, and the SALI district; and

- Different parking typologies for Western SoMa streets.

· Paul remarked that all of the projects listed in the EIR will be coordinated with what is covered in the SFCTA Study.

· Tom believes that mid-block crossings on Folsom should be included in the SFCTA Study. He would like to see a list of the projects circulated to everyone in the Transportation Focus group.

· On the topic of merging the Transportation Focus Group into another Task Force committee (Calendar Item 4), Paul said that due to his absence, the Business and Land Use Committee will not have a chair in December. He suggested that Tom and Marc chair the December meeting and bring transportation issues to the discussion. He suggested that the Focus Group be merged into the Committee in 2009. He will check with staff on the availability of a room in City Hall for that meeting in December.

· Marc remarked that he believed that there still are issues that will emerge, and for this reason, he'd like to see that they are appropriately finalized, i.e., through focused discussion. He suggested having the Business and Land Use Committee meet on 10 December, the evening that the Transportation Focus Group would normally meet.

· In anticipation of that meeting, Tom suggested that participants take another look at the SFCTA Study Scope and the table of environmentally-cleared projects prepared by Planning Department staff.

This meeting addressed all of the items on the Transportation Focus Group meeting calendar. Next month, the Focus Group will join forces with the Business and Land Use Committee. It is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, 10 December 2008 (from 6 to 8 p.m.), in Room 421 of City Hall.