Closing the Hillcrest Gap: Councilmember Todd Gloria’s departing gift?
“We couldn’t accomplish that at SANDAG but I think we can accomplish that as a city project.”
—Todd Gloria, November 14th, City Council Meeting
At a recent marathon City Council meeting, District 3 Councilmember Todd Gloria took action to fill the Hillcrest Gap (aka HBA hole) as part of the update of the Uptown Community Plan. The failure of the Uptown community to create a safe east-west bicycle route through Hillcrest was one of the reasons BikeSD opposed the draft version of the plan.
Councilmember Gloria addressed the Hillcrest Gap in context with the city’s Climate Action Plan. An analysis of the Uptown Community Plan update showed the city would not reach the city-wide transportation mode share goals in Uptown. In responding to Councilmember Gloria’s question, city staff acknowledged that bike mode share would be higher without the gap.
As the meeting proceeded late into the evening, Todd Gloria made a complex motion to approve the Uptown Community Plan with many additions. For this blog post, we will focus solely on the items related to mobility. First, Councilmember Gloria asked for a process that would allow the community plan to be adjusted if the city is not on target to meet the mode share goals. In addition, Councilmember Gloria asked for staff to “consider developing a plan to fund and implement the University Ave bike lane gap.” Councilmember Gloria’s motion passed with the support of his city council colleagues.
So what did this all mean? For those of us watching on CityTV, it was uncertain. Thankfully, Councilmember Gloria helped us understand through social media.
https://twitter.com/ToddGloria/status/798456681340383233
https://twitter.com/ToddGloria/status/798646291211239426
Councilmember Gloria’s clarification was welcome news. BikeSD has advocated for a solution to fill the gap in our regional bicycle network since the SANDAG Transportation Committee’s shortsighted decision to abandon a stretch of University Ave in June of 2015. SANDAG met privately with Hillcrest Business Association lobbyists to kill the bike lane, while cancelling public meetings. This was another example of the agency breaking the public’s trust, which helped defeat the agency’s ballot measure last month.
While a path to close the gap has been identified, we will not be fully satisfied until changes in the street design have been implemented. We suspect the Hillcrest naysayers opposed to positive change will continue their intense effort to weaken and eliminate any bicycle infrastructure in the core of Hillcrest. In a supposedly progressive and tolerant community, why is the safety of residents who bike disregarded for cheap street parking? BikeSD will continue to advocate for a complete bikeway network so commuters and families can ride safely, and help meet the city’s Climate Action Plan mode share goals.
BikeSD Letter to Planning Commission on Uptown Community Plan
City of San Diego Planning Commission
1222 First Ave, Fifth Floor
San Diego, CA 92101
Dear Members of the Planning Commission,
Bike San Diego asks the Planning Commission to reject the Uptown Community Plan Update. While we acknowledge the many years of effort developing the Update, the current version of the plan is inconsistent with the requirements of the City’s Climate Action Plan and therefore should not be approved.
The Climate Action Plan (CAP) calls for a bike mode share of 18% in Uptown by 2035, a significant increase from current levels. However, since the Uptown Community Plan’s Environmental Impact Report (EIR) performed no analysis for Vehicle Miles Traveled as required by California SB 743, there are insufficient improvements to bicycle infrastructure necessary to achieve this target. The Uptown Community Plan Update also lacks a single continuous, safe east-west bike route through the entire community. To address this problem, the planned Class IV University Ave cycletrack should be extended west, to at least 1st Ave.
In addition, by only considering automobile Level of Service in the EIR, the resulting autocentric plan lacks the multi-modal infrastructure mitigation necessary to accommodate the growth forecast in the Community Plan Update, or the associated increase in greenhouse gas emissions when residents have no robust alternative to driving.
Finally, the Uptown Community Plan Update reduces the number of allowable residential units by 1900 units from the 1988 Uptown Community Plan. This also conflicts with the City’s CAP requirements of significantly increasing density in Transit Priority Areas to accommodate the growth anticipated by SANDAG and the CAP. Areas with higher population density have higher bike mode share rates.
Thank you,
Jeff Kucharski
Board President
BikeSD, Inc
No Way On Measure A
This November, voters like you will be faced with a decision on SANDAG’s ballot measure, Measure A. SANDAG’s goal: get San Diego County voters to give a blank check to the tune of $18 billion for the agency to ensure that there will be no guarantees of traffic congestion relief, despite the agency’s public relations campaign promising congestion relief.
This past Thursday, the Measure A opponents (of which BikeSD is a member), held a kick-off event to highlight the burden that Measure A would place on San Diego, contrary to SANDAG’s claims.
Below is a KUSI video with a brief description of the ballot measure and the opposition behind it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZtCvU27KsA&feature=share
For more information on why the ballot measure needs to be defeated (besides the fact that widening existing highways will not reduce traffic congestion) please visit the No on Measure A website.
Given that SANDAG has no problems holding endless community meetings to build a protected bike lanes (of which not a single foot has yet been constructed), there is no reason voters should hand over a blank check to SANDAG to push a 1950s solution to address traffic concerns of the 21st century.
More information about this ballot measure will be forthcoming, but for now, please do tell all your friends and family to: Vote NO on Measure A.
Why the HBA Hole is a Worrying Precursor to Future Bike Projects
As documented previously, the SANDAG board voted to approve a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exemption for the Uptown project. The SANDAG staff report clearly articulated the reasoning for exemption from CEQA. (Cliff notes version: bicycling is good for the environment!) This was a victory considering the fact that the California Restaurant Association (CRA), hired by the Hillcrest Business Association (HBA) lobbied heavily to expand the HBA Hole (my term for the University Avenue gap created last year after heavy lobbying by the HBA) to Fourth and Fifth Avenues north of Robinson St. The basis for lobbying effort? Concerns over the 12-16 curbside parking spots being replaced with a protected bike lane that would result in many more community and economic benefits.
Prior to registering his vote, SANDAG board member, Supervisor Ron Roberts stated that he was “disappointed” that SANDAG staff was “dismissive” of HBA’s parking concerns. He comments demonstrated his disregard for the net parking gain of the project and he expressed eagerness to revisit the design of the bikeways on Fourth and Fifth Avenues—a project that has been in the community outreach process (with a HBA representative present throughout the process) since 2012! While Roberts eventually voted for the CEQA exemption, he only did so after being reassured that the design of Fourth and Fifth Avenues could be revisited. He expressed a desire for a solution that would appease both the HBA and the CRA.
While Roberts expressed concerns over curbside parking, Councilmember Gloria responded with a passionate defense (audio starts @2:16:03) of the Fourth and Fifth Avenue alignments. Gloria addressed the parking concerns directly by reminding the board of the net gain of parking for the entire project as well as his experience as a Hillcrest resident parking in the local garages that are never full. He also echoed BikeSD’s concerns that parking enthusiasts from HBA and CRA would never be satisfied.
While Gloria’s defense caused fist bumps in SANDAG’s boardroom among us bicycling advocates, Supervisor Ron Roberts comments tempered our enthusiasm. (Audio starts 2:13:25)
The Uptown Bikeway’s goals are also to, “[i]mprove travel safety for everyone, and create an exceptional biking experience.” “Everyone” includes children—a demographic that Supervisor Roberts has repeatedly claimed to care about.
Earlier this year, at the State of the County address, Supervisor Roberts offered a full throated support to reduce childhood obesity, “As a county, our commitment to health covers our youngest, oldest, and everyone in between. Heart health is a primary focus on my health agenda because it is the No. 2 killer in San Diego, and No. 1 in the United States. The fact of the matter is heart disease, including heart attacks, are preventable. Poor nutrition and lack of physical activity are two contributing factors—two habits—hat that we need to change.”
Research has shown that “there are significant connections between having a low obesity rate and a high rate of walking or biking to work. The same is true for diabetes. In statistical terms, about 30 percent of the variation in obesity among states, and more than half of the variation in diabetes, was linked to differences in walking and cycling rates.”
How is continuing to encourage driving (by creating bicycling facilities in a swiss cheese approach) supposed to increase healthy and active living in the current and next generations? How will parking facilities on our public streets reduce obesity when the unequivocal outcome of our elected representatives’ votes continue to encourage driving?
Bike San Diego will continue to advocate for a complete uninterrupted bikeway in Hillcrest. Uptown residents deserve a bikeway without “Bike Lane Ends” signs. Todd Gloria will not be in the SANDAG boardroom to defend Uptown Bikeway in 2017. While he moves on to the State Assembly, the successful implementation of the Uptown Bikeway will depend on the leadership of County Supervisor Ron Roberts, District 3 Councilmember-elect Chris Ward and Mayor Kevin Faulconer. And we hope that Supervisor Roberts shows a willingness to implement the Uptown Bikeway network without supporting any additional gaps, so that the next generation—our children—can integrate active living as a core part of their daily activity and make obesity a relic of the past.
CEQA Exemption for Uptown Bikeway
On Friday June 22nd, SANDAG approved the CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) exemption for the Uptown Bikeway. As expected representatives on Hillcrest Business Association and California Restaurant Association attempted to revise the design on 4th and 5th avenue between Robinson Ave and Washington St. Below are Bike San Diego Board President's comments at the meeting. SANDAG board member comments will be highlighted in a future post.
Hello. I am Jeff Kucharski, Board President of Bike San Diego. We represent San Diego residents who simply want to bike safely in our neighborhoods. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this important item.
The staff report is clear. The project is qualifies for CEQA exemption. Thank you to staff for a great explanation on CEQA exemption rationale.
Despite the fact that parking impacts are immaterial to this CEQA exemption , we are going to hear a lot about parking today. As the staff reports details, there are underutilized parking garages in the contested area of 4th & 5th Ave.
In fact, a single off-street garage in the contested area has average of 151 open spaces on weekdays and 283 opens spaces on weekend. These numbers from a single garage dwarf the 23 spaces parking enthusiasts are lobbying to save. The enormous community benefit of a complete bikeway outweighs this negligible loss of parking. For our membership, the benefit of riding safely in their own neighborhood is invaluable.
Finally, I ask the board to refrain from recommending additional delays. The public outreach for this project has been extensive. I doubt any other project has SANDAG reviewed this thoroughly. While SANDAG staff are friendly, I have seen them too often over the past 4 years. I often think of how my life has progressed since this project began.
But rather than highlight my life progression as a reference point, I will use my Councilmember, Todd Gloria’s career. While this project was announced, Todd Gloria has been my city council member, council president, interim mayor and likely state assembly member before this project’s construction begins.
So please no more delays!! There is no solution to the parking enthusiast’s inflexible and extreme demands. In 2015, they objected to university ave, 2016 they objected to 4th and 5th avenues. And 2017, their objections are TBD.
Thank you for your time. Please approve the CEQA exemption without changes to design or timelines.
