By Robert Haugh
There is a special Santa Clara City Council meeting tomorrow evening.
Mayor Lisa Gillmor is requesting the City to subpoena documents relating to the FIFA World Cup 2026 Levi’s Stadium from the San Francisco 49ers Management Company, Bay Area Host Committee or other 49er Entities. Wow.
You’d think the stadium managers would want to share information with the stadium owner so they could prepare for the one of the world’s biggest sporting events. Nope.
Other items:
- Closed session — conference with real property negotiators — 2435 Lafayette Street, Santa Clara — negotiating counterparties: Wesco Properties, Inc., Home Depot
- Study session: Project update and action on a Resolution adopting the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s Central Bikeway Feasibility study
- Study session: Mission City Memorial Park (Cemetery) operations
- Public hearing — Reconsideration of Council action taken March 7, 2023 regarding a Resolution declaring City-owned property at 2319 Gianera Street as surplus land as required by State law
- Proclamation of Earth Day/Arbor Day for April 27, 2023
- Presentation for 2023 Santa Clara Relay for Life by American Cancer Society
- Public hearing: Discussion and potential action on a request from the Office of Assemblymember Evan Low to support ACA 5
- Public hearing: FY23/24 DRAFT Annual Action Plan for the Use of Federal Housing and Urban Development Grant Funds
- Public hearing: Silicon Valley Power quarterly update
- Public hearing: Action on Resolution for an Exception to the 180-day waiting period to appoint retired annuitant, Mark Giovannetti, to serve as Temporary Extra Help in the Finance department as a Purchasing Division Manager
Ted, I found several studies/reports online that the VTA will be putting millions of tax payer dollars into this project, and of course they have a huge hand in the logistics and planning. The latter worries me more than the former as they have failed to implement any mass transit system suitable for Santa Clara County County demographics, and many local news sources have run so many articles on the lack of leadership and horrible working conditions at the VTA. I have zero faith they will deliver a top notch bicycle system. Empty busses and light rail, bus stops eliminated etc. If you have information that local bike lanes are well utilized, I was not able to find much about that.
@ Buchser. It appears one lane of traffic will be removed in each direction from El Camino Real causing longer commute times for everyone. Since you mentioned in your response that bike lanes are not being a problem for you getting around, though I never stated they were a problem for me either. A superhighway for bicyclists is certainly different than a single bicycle lane, though. Now that ebikes are being used and can go 20+ mph, how well would that work with seniors or a family out for a leisurely bike ride on the El Camino Super Bike Highway peddling just a few mph? How about for the deaf and visually impaired with aggressive bicyclists breathing down their backs?? Unfortunately, between my own hiking and bike riding on local streets, I have seen and heard very rude things said to families, seniors, and children when they get in the way of some hot shot bicyclists thinking they own the trail. They had it right 150 years ago when local trollies were built down the middle of some local major streets. Building that same type system down El Camino, Stevens Creek Blvd etc etc would benefit so so many more citizens who are elderly, have physical impairments, aren’t going to commute in the rain, or get off late from work and don’t want to be mugged or run over etc etc. For bike trails, a much cheaper and common sense solution is to build more trails along local creeks which all inevitably end up in a neighborhood at a retail store at a library etc etc etc and would be much much better for family usage. IE Homeridge Park to Central Park for a local example. I don’t put any faith in the numbers VTA puts out for ridership as each day I see so many empty light rail cars and busses from the prior rosy ridership picture they painted. Anyway it is sliced, a bike super highway potentially benefits a small number of bicycle commuters rather than the majority of commuters.
observation,
It would be nice to see even more creek trails but we have several in the area now and they run north south. A project like this is needed to run east west.
El Camino is not something I consider to be a commuting route. I only take El Camino to get to something on El Camino and usually only for a few blocks because the lights are timed to stop you frequently.
And I too have seen rude behavior from people riding bicycles. But not anywhere near as much as I have seen rude behavior from people driving cars. And it is the people driving cars who actually threaten other people’s lives when they drive dangerously and not just their own.
Instead of worrying about some bicycles going twenty miles per hour I think it is exciting that people can go that speed with little physical effort. People who are much older or not as physically fit can use these for everyday transportation.
I believe it was Becker who wanted to reopen the Gianera Street issue to reexamine the resolution to declare the property surplus land.
I believe that would make it open for affordable housing development. Is Becker trying to help reverse this as a favor to Park and Chahal who voted against that resolution? It was a five to two vote so Becker changing his mind would not affect things but is there another councilperson who will change votes with Becker?
Surely you jest. Nothing is ever done by the 49er 5 without a motive. No doubt there is a plan.
Cpra filed
VTA has done a horrible job with the bus and light rail systems. Bart’s ridership is way down. More and more bike lanes have been built over the decades, and all are vastly underutilized, not to mention a waste of tax money. I am not necessarily against bike lane development, but VTA is a proven loser, and we should not expect different results when they build a “bike superhighway”. Of course our city council will rubber stamp this project anyways.
observation,
There appears to be a recent trend of more bicycle riding with electric bicycles. More people will use these instead of cars if we can make it safe to ride them instead of driving cars.
I have not found it any more difficult to drive around town since more bicycle lanes have been created.
Observation – Actually the bike lanes are very well used in SC County, relative to other counties in the country. Obviously college towns like Davis and SB have more ridership.
You say VTA has done a horrible job – they have – which is why VTA is the #1 worst fairbox return on costs for any public transit agency in the nation! However, this idea should make you happy – it’s a public infrastructure improvement that will cost VTA $0 to operate. So VTA won’t make or lose money, which is better than of their other programs!
Do I anticipate another 5 to 2 vote on FIFA discussion? You bet.
Though discussed in a closed study session, interested folks can read the finalized study concerning an east-to-west bike “super highway,” and can make comments via eComment or through email. Note this project has been underway for several years, and the bike path itself has been picked, so the most effective comments might concern implementation details. https://www.vta.org/sites/default/files/2022-03/220228_CentralBikeway_FeasibilityStudy-FinalSpreads.pdf
SE,
Thank you for the link. I like how the number three Shortliner option would bring more safe bicycle access more in proximity to the old downtown and can help to activate the area.