Appendix F: Additional Fact Sheet Appendix G: Comments Received at Public Workshops 174 Public Workshop 1 – July 23, 2013 Key Destinations General Comments • Where is our agora? Where is our central square? (*) • Need a gathering place—restaurant, park, garden, etc • Give us a more ambitious central multi-use space, fold in really desirable commercial destinations and arts programming; be alive and fun, and we’ll all walk there all the time • We need more destinations, i.e. more places to walk to (**) • Remember that people walk to get milk, get beer, see friends, etc. When there’s great local businesses and destinations to walk to. Put park for kids near easy milk and groceries and a place to get beer—genius. People will walk every time (**) • Put big box stores behind seventy million parking spots and people will always drive (****) • Green infrastructure is also about human-scaled business development (*) • Good restaurants, both casual/cheap and more high-end • We need a town square o Western parking lot of El Cerrito Plaza BART people instead of cars! Map Destination Ranking Map Destination Ranking Map Destination Ranking ID ID ID 42 El Cerrito Plaza 18 36 Creekside Park 5 25 Portola Middle School 1 32 El Cerrito Library 15 55 Solano Avenue (Albany) 5 27 Sierra School 1 43 Plaza BART 14 8 Del Norte Place Shops 4 34 Huber Park 1 30 El Cerrito Natural 13 18 DMV 4 45 Harding School 1 Grocery 13 Castro Park 49 Swim Center 37 Cerrito Theater 12 4 1 38 ACE Hardware 12 31 Open House Senior 3 50 Staples/Walgreens/OSH 1 Center 51 Swim Center 1 20 Recycling Center 11 54 Pt Isabel/Bay Trail 3 52 CVS/Marshalls 1 23 Community Center 11 5 Madera School 2 53 Giovanni's Market 1 19 Hillside Natural Area 11 21 CVS 2 58 Jenny K's 26 Cerrito Vista Park 9 24 Contra Costa Civic 2 1 Theater 59 Richmond Civic Center 1 9 Del Norte BART 9 39 Mechanics Bank 2 60 Kensington Circle 17 City Hall 1 8 40 Chase 2 2 Tehiyah School 35 Pacific East Mall 0 8 48 El Cerrito High School 2 3 Tassajara Park 22 Safeway 7 0 1 Poinsett Park 2 4 Mira Vista Country Club 0 41 Fairmount Avenue Post 7 56 Tokyo Fish Market 2 Office 12 St. John's School 0 6 Canyon Trail Park 6 57 Albany Waterfront 2 14 Cameron School 0 47 Fat Apples 6 60 Albany YMCA 2 16 Police Department 0 11 San Pablo Avenue Post 5 61 Berkeley Bowl Groceries 2 Office 29 Bank of America 0 7 Prospect School 44 Albany Middle 5 1 33 Fairmont School 0 School/Sports Fields 10 Windrush School 1 28 Arlington Park 5 46 St. Jerome's School 0 15 Castro School 1 * denotes number of check marks, “yes!”, or similar notes of agreement Public Workshop 1 – July 23, 2013 Priority Projects Priority Project Votes Ohlone Greenway/Plaza BART Connection to Bay Trail 15 Ohlone Greenway Path Crossings 11 Lincoln and Blake-Everett-Norvell-Albemarle-Behrens Bicycle Boulevards 9 Bicycle Route/Wayfinding Signs 7 Key Boulevard Improvements 7 Potrero Avenue 6 Arlington Boulevard 2 Arlington Boulevard • Sidewalks needed (*) o Needed from Moeser to Arlington Park • Heavy auto traffic-definite bike lanes needed Ohlone Greenway • Need to open up the space (remove fences, etc for personal security—currently has too much of a backdoor feeling • Need safety for pedestrian on Ohlone Greenway from both bicyclists who don’t ring the ball and from muggers on bikes Plaza BART/Bay Trail • Need safe crosswalk on Lexington crossing Central plus traffic calming • Consider trail alignment along Cerrito Creek from Plaza to Orientation Center • Work with Richmond to extend stream trails and get safe crossings to the Bay Trail. Work together to get funding. • Connect to Bay Trail but not on Central Del Norte BART • Improve traffic circulation around Del Norte BART (*) San Pablo Avenue • Slow traffic at key points along it • Add cycle to San Pablo General Comments • Need walkability • Develop and expand community stewardship partnerships, i.e. Baxter Creek, Creekside, Green Teams • Get phone poles out of the middle f sidewalks • Work to create several key park areas around local businesses—make it was to go shopping and then go to a park * denotes number of check marks, “yes!”, or similar notes of agreement Public Workshop 1 – July 23, 2013 • Add pocket parks (*) • If there were safe places (and effective) for bicyclists, maybe they would stay off the sidewalks! • Add cycletrack to major corridors, such as Carlson and San Pablo • Explore alternative recreational opportunities, such as a bike park • Need free or low cost bike trailers to rent for shopping (*) • Need freedom from violent crime * denotes number of check marks, “yes!”, or similar notes of agreement Public Workshop 1 – July 23, 2013 Pedestrian Network • Need direct access from Plaza BART To Plaza (near gas station) on NE corner • Improve safety along BART path (*) • More hiking trail • Mode shade (trees mainly) along walkable streets like San Pablo, Richmond • Need safer crossing of Central, west of San Pablo o Need wider sidewalk too o Add flashing lights at crossings • Wider-walk friendly sidewalk along San Pablo (wide enough for baby strollers each way, comfortably) • Improve walkability within the Plaza shopping center • Need better pedestrian connections intro parks from end of Terrace. Could connect via PG&E right of way to Bay Trail (along Cerrito Creek?) • Overlay improvement routes with schools, parks, community centers, etc • Safer direct crossing across Potrero to connect fire road with path to Julian/Madera • Encourage walking to school to reduce congestion/traffic • The walk up Moeser should be as beautiful as the views (*) • Public toilets along the Ohlone Greenway (*) • No more having to press a button at crossings • Need electric vehicle charging stations at Plaza • Need connections from Glen Mawr, Blake, and Snowdon to adjacent open space • Improve access and add pedestrian bridge around I-80 • Need LED crossing at Ashbury/Moeser Community Center • Install parking meters and use funds to create greener development strategies (*) * denotes number of check marks, “yes!”, or similar notes of agreement Public Workshop 1 – July 23, 2013 Bicycle Network • Key Route Boulevard—improve as bikeway. Much wider lanes than needed for cars, combine green space and add bike/ped improvements • Need Bay Access via Cerrito Creek Path • Need to have bicycle facility on Central Avenue, west of San Pablo • Need bikeway on Moeser east of Ashbury and connecting to Terrace via Shelvin • Need connection on Navellier and Blake connecting to Stockton • Potrero connection need to continue up to Arlington • Greenway Del Norte BART not really a good bike lane • Ohlone Greenway Bike Lane unceremoniously dumps into a wide intersection without stop signs at Conlon Ave/Key Boulevard • Take Liberty to avoid Key/Hill intersection, but Liberty is one-way o Del Norte BART Station and surrounding street are very unconnected. Hill, Liberty, & Kearney are all one-way, and I’m often needing to go contra flow in order to connect to the rest of town. • Need to be able to go contraflow down Hill to get to the Greenway (Hill is one-way) • Weird jog in Greenway at Cutting • Need a connection the Bay Trail (*******) • Need connection on Central between Plaza/BART/San Pablo and Bay Trail o Bike to Point Isabel (***) • Biking through Del Norte BART Station is challenging/frustrating. Avoid the greenway there and then try to take side streets, but that are all one-way going in the wrong direction • Need access to Plaza shopping from Ohlone Greenway (*) • Mountain bike trail connector to Wildcat through Hillside Area (**) • Need a place for bikes (like bike paths) so they don’t conflict with cars and people • Connect Arlington to San Pablo (within El Cerrito) • Ped/Bike street at Adams St (**) • Bike Lanes to El Cerrito BART (**) o Want to see them on Central • Better regional bike connection near the Plaza (*) • Stops signs for cars at Greenway Crossings (***) • 3-lane configuration of Ohlone Greenway (2 bike lanes, 1 ped lane) is separated and safer (like the Albany segments) • Connection Bay Trail but not along Central Avenue (*) o Consider other routes nearer to Cerrito Creek • Make El Cerrito Plaza and big stores more bike-friendly with racks (*) o Have those businesses partner with the City to install racks in front of stores • Connect Greenway north to bike facilities/trails in Richmond to have connectivity between cities (*) o Crucial to ride to Richmond • San Pablo may not be safe as a long-distance route; nevertheless, it needs to be safe for bicycling short distances to stores and services. Bicycling on the sidewalk is a possibility • I do not feel comfortable/safe at all on Ashbury. A better bike route might be Everett or Norvell? • Prioritize bike lanes on Fairmont to BART and EC Plaza • Need connection from Ohlone Greenway past Baxter Creek to Richmond Greenway * denotes number of check marks, “yes!”, or similar notes of agreement Public Workshop 1 – July 23, 2013 Bicycle Parking • Need e-lockers at El Cerrito Plaza (*) • Need secure bike parking • Need parking at El Cerrito Plaza, near Trader Joe’s • Near parking at Harding Elementary School • Need bike station/valet parking at Off the Grid • Need parking in front of the Plaza Starbucks • Put bicycle parking immediately next to stores in shopping centers not on sidewalk across parking lot from stores • Need more parking at Ace Hardware (**) • Need secured bike parking at Cerrito Theater (**) o Issue is that don’t feel safe leaving bikes out for 2 hours for the movie; need more secure bike parking • Need bike parking near open space at Blake/Ganges and