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the parking on non-arterial streets as Commissioner Brown mentioned or the closing to <br /> all vehicular traffic, or something like Livermore did where they narrowed it, changed it <br /> and designed it. But that being said I think the 10 that they listed out except the parking <br /> structure right off the bat--I think those are good. I can see how some of the public <br /> comment has been supportive of one or two of them more than others, but it's on the list <br /> of the top 10 so I can support that. <br /> Commissioner Nagler: I just wanted to echo what others have said which is, I obviously <br /> continue to support this as a recommendation of the Council, but in the larger context, I <br /> think we do need to start with the question about, and it's certainly part of the DSP <br /> conversation, is what do we want the personality of the Downtown to be? What are our <br /> larger global policy interests? There's a debate as we know underway today about <br /> having changed the number of lanes on Owens Drive from the BART station, and the <br /> focus is on those people who are angry about an additional 30 second delay in getting <br /> to and from the BART station during peak hours. But what seems to be lost in the <br /> conversation is why the lanes were narrowed in the first place. The reason the lanes <br /> were narrowed was because it was an attempt to implement a larger policy interest of <br /> encouraging people to use public transportation and to reduce the number of cars on <br /> the street. One way to do that is to make it safer to walk to and from public <br /> transportation and specifically on Owens Drive, the traffic went through so rapidly that <br /> the idea was to narrow the funnel of cars so that pedestrians could more safely get, <br /> particularly from that new development, to public transportation. But again, it was <br /> grounded in an over-arching interest of reducing the number of cars on the road, <br /> increasing therefore pedestrian safety as a way to encourage public transportation. <br /> So similarly, I just think the conversation we're having is the right one. Whether there's a <br /> one-way street or not, I honestly believe is ground first in a question of what do we want <br /> the character of the Downtown to be. Then, that becomes a sort of an implementation <br /> strategy or challenge, parking being one of the issues. I actually think a one-way street <br /> would be an unfortunate development for Downtown because in fact, in Palo Alto when <br /> you're on Emerson and some of those other streets, you're on those streets to be off of <br /> University Avenue so you can go as quickly as possible from one end of Palo Alto to the <br /> other. That's why you're on those streets, right? So, one-way streets absolutely have <br /> their intended purpose. They work. They question is whether that's something that <br /> works once we determine what we want the personality of Downtown Pleasanton to be. <br /> So I just encourage us to start there as we have the DSP conversation and parking is <br /> just one of the elements. <br /> Chair Balch: I'm going to tap into that. One of the presenters at the conference—I sound <br /> like a broken record—was the City of Livermore talking about their downtown. They <br /> specifically talked about how their downtown one way in the beginning and that they <br /> consciously chose to go one lane each way and the parking kind of semi-perpendicular <br /> at 45 because it purposely caused everyone that was doing cut-through to avoid it like <br /> the plaque and by doing that, it made it safer for pedestrians, it opened it up and it made <br /> it a much better city than the surrounding area to go and dine at. But, the comment is <br /> right. I do say that I've been in cities that I think one-way has worked and I'll mention <br /> San Luis Obispo which has several one-ways in order that kind of go across and their <br /> downtown is both long and wide in its downtown nature. It might not work there, but in <br /> EXCPERT: PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, March 8, 2017 Page 8 of 10 <br />