Your Help is Needed at BART Meeting, Apr 26 @ 7pm
The Livermore City Council will be voting on a preferred alignment for BART at their regular meeting this coming Monday, April 26. The meeting starts at 7 pm and will be held at the council chambers, 3575 Pacific Avenue.
Supporters of a downtown BART (a relatively small but vocal group)have been packing the previous meetings. Unless the city council starts to hear more from the many Livermore residents who disagree with a downtown alignment, there is a high probability that the council will vote to endorse an alignment that runs underground below Portola and Junction Avenues, with stations downtown and at Vasco Road. This alignment will require the acquisition and potential condemnation of close to 200 parcels, including from 84 to 104 residences. City staff and the planning commission are recommending this alignment.
We feel strongly that a downtown BART station would be bad for both the downtown and our chance of ever getting BART. With its massive price tag of nearly four billion dollars, the downtown alignment is significantly more expensive than the two-station freeway option (about an additional 2/3 of a billion dollars.) It also seems that downtown proponents are in denial about the traffic and parking impacts of a downtown BART station. To get a picture of the parking requirement, imagine the Dublin BART parking structure and surrounding ground-level parking in downtown Livermore. We support a single station at Isabel/I580 (1.1 billion dollars) as an acceptable and fundable alternative. BART already owns the station site at this location.
We believe most Livermore residents do not want to see BART downtown. The breakdown of EIR comments from those who expressed a preference showed that more than three times as many people supported the freeway alternative as compared to downtown supporters (241 vs. 73), and most of them were very strongly opposed to a downtown station. We see no reason not to believe that this is representative of the community.
The most effective way to influence the council is to attend Monday’s council meeting and express your views. If you are unable to make the meeting we urge you to e-mail city council members prior to the meeting. You can access these addresses at the council website – www.ci.livermore.ca.us.
Please join us and speak out for the only affordable solution for Livermore. If you would like more information feel free to call either of us.
Valerie Raymond – 447-4027
Linda Jeffery-Sailors – 449-7274
Posted: April 24th, 2010 under Blog.
Comments: 5
Comments
Comment from JonathanV
Time: April 28, 2010, 9:19 am
If we build BART downtown, without parking, we run the risk of having Central valley riders clogging our downtown streets (residential Streets) for parking/ Commuting to BART.
Parking is currently free in downtown, and is designed to be used for the downtown shopping areas.
However, these will quickly become completely saturated with commuter parking for BART. And I fear may nearly “shut down” downtown on weekdays.
Another poster postulated that commuters will not come to downtown BART if there is no designated parking.
However it is an equally valid hypothesis that they will come for the abundant free parking there, thus locking the citizens of Livermore out of their own downtown.
I worry that my wife may not be able to go and shop at the downtown stores during the week because of a parking problem.
Also, As another poster mentioned, BART on the freeway will benefit the Commuters east of the Altamont, however, he failed to realize that, if Altamont commuters are removed from the highway(on to BART) then that will alleviate traffic congestion and provide a better commute for us all.
This also doesn’t even begin to touch on the disruption to residential areas from the BART train/tracks/Construction for a downtown BART, while we have tons of open/non-residential land available on/near the freeway.
Tearing up our homes and neighborhoods when there is a less expensive plan that doesn’t, borderlines on spiteful!
Comment from David S.
Time: April 28, 2010, 10:53 am
In response to the the last poster. I beleive I addressed the concerns ahead of time and they where overlooked.
Of course we will have a problem with outsiders trying to get free parking in downtown. That’s what needs to be worked on. I propose issuing a pass or placard for the vehicles registered at the City with proof of residense in Livermore and displayed when parking for free at the parking structure, anyone else will be cited.
In turn, the multiple story parking structure at Vasco will NOT have the same requirement and will have the regular $1 fee for BART and ACE riders or BART riders Only, whichever they beleive is the best choice. The Station would be about 1 mile from the Vasco/ I-580 interchange through mostly industrial/office land. The convinience and proximity of parking at Vasco will stop a driver from losing anymore time driving deeper into downtown and risking the fact that their is NO parking available wich in turn eliminates the fear of gridlock in downtown. The convinience and simplicity of a parking structure being that close to a freeway, closest from the Altamont will lure everyone off the freeway. The only downside is that Livermore might have to add a lane to the Vasco/I-580 overpass to accomodate the the traffic coming off the freeway onto the current single lane going south.
The downtown should have only a drop off zone for Bart, nothing more.
Comment from vamsee
Time: April 29, 2010, 10:19 pm
In addition to Livermore resident placards for downtown parking, we could also make most of the downtown parking time-limited (2-3 hours) during daytime like they have in downtown Pleasanton. Information from Castro Valley seems to indicate that the BART parking is half empty after 4pm and can be used by downtown shopping/dining crowds.
Comment from JonathanV
Time: April 30, 2010, 9:36 am
Even if we were able to mitigate the parking issue with new parking rules for downtown; I still feel there is an issue with running BART so close to existing residential neighborhoods.
I’m not sure of the exact law or ordinance, but I feel with the proposed route numerous homes will be subjected to excessive noise pollution
A study by the city of Lafayette notes that sounds from BART reach 80db. That same study also concludes that for residential areas, the maximum noise level, without special Noise Insulation/abatement measures, is 55db and even with noise abatement/insulation should never exceed 75db.
Also considering that the noise level that disturbs human sleep is 45db and BART operates at night (after normal quite hours), I am concerned that the sound levels will make these neighborhoods un-livable
Comment from David S.
Time: April 26, 2010, 1:58 pm
I think that the freeway is good and all, but what we are doing is relying on car access to those stations only, with big parking lots that mostly benefit Central Valley users, because by the time we get their if I want to get on Bart, parking is done, It’s gone to commuters out of town.
Yeah, I can take a bus. But then again most people would prefer to be dropped off by a family member or such. I know I have a better time accessing downtown than the freeway.
What needs to be done is have no parking available to a Downtown Bart station. The only parking should be located at Vasco from a multiple story parking structure. If you build a parking structure for Bart in downtown, you’ll get drivers clogging streets. If you don’t build it, they know they will not be able to park their cars because their isn’t a dedicated parking area for them. The current Parking Structure downtown should be strictly for ACE riders and local parking enforced by police.
We also have a better chance of securing the money if TOD is involved and the criteria for Housing Units can be met. It cannot with Freeway alignments.
Bottom line is that I am willing to pay an additional Local tax to have the line done Properly and not done cheaply for the benefit of commuters from East of Altamont.
We want Bart to Livermore, Not Bart to the Altamont Hills.