BNA Articles
Dunsmuir Heights Property
is Preserved
Recycling being picked
up by garbage trucks?
Neighborhood Traffic
Calming Program
TheBNA.org:
Your Neighborhood Web Site
Dunsmuir
Heights Property is Preserved
Dunsmuir
to Chabot Trail Map (Acrobat PDF)
The saga of the Oakland hillside property
we enjoy seeing from our homes here in the north area of San
Leandro is culminating into an environmental success story.
On August 11, 2009 the East Bay Regional Park District board
put the final stamp of approval on the purchase of the property,
voting unanimously in favor of the acquisition. The City of
Oakland and the East Bay Regional Park District have agreed
to purchase the property owned by developer Chabot-Dunsmuir
LP. The purchase insures the properties preservation as publicly
owned green space for recreation, habitat, and watershed preservation.
Following the ratification, Board Member Doug Siden said,
“It is important to note that due to the keen interest,
support, and citizen action by the north area of San Leandro,
Oakland, and Sheffield Village, this project took precedence
with both the Park District and the City of Oakland. It is
also a landmark project as it is the first project undertaken
using the voter approved Measure WW funding.” “And
we haven’t even sold a bond yet!” he added jokingly.
As one of the largest, never developed, privately-owned
properties in Oakland, this 64-acre site will connect several
large open space areas including Oakland’s Dunsmuir
House and Gardens, Dunsmuir Ridge Open Space, Lake Chabot
Golf Course, and the Park District’s Anthony Chabot
Regional Park. The Park District will build the “Dunsmuir
Heights to Chabot Trail” connecting the existing Sheffield
Village staging area trail entrance to Anthony Chabot Regional
Park’s Goldenrod Trail. Hikers will enjoy spectacular
views from the proposed 1.6-mile trail at elevations heights
ranging between 200 and 600 feet. Ownership and upkeep of
the property will go to Oakland once the Park District has
completed the trail.
The last effort by the developer to build
on the property was in 2006. The developer planned to construct
61 single-family homes ranging in price from $900,000 to $2,500,000,
with the size ranging from 2,100 to 4,610 square feet. The
July 2008 appraised fair market value was $3,600,000. The
owner agreed to sell the property for $2,925,000 and owes
taxes and assessments on the property for 2008-09 now due
and unpaid including penalties of $26,868.57. Acquisition
monies come from the passage of Oakland’s 2004 Measure
DD for Watershed Preservation and Acquisition along with the
Park District’s Measure WW for Regional Open Space,
Wildlife, Shorelines and Park Bond Extension passed in November
2008.
Recycling being
picked up by garbage trucks?
Last Monday Mia Ousley noticed the Alameda
County Industries (ACI) garbage trucks picking up both the trash
and recycling canisters on my block (700 block of Victoria)
and dumping it all into the same trash smasher. Mia contacted
the City's Environmental Services about this, asking them to
find out why the recycling was not being recycled.
Jennifer Auletta, the city's Recycling Specialist, said her
office immediately went out to check on the trash trucks themselves.
While the City did not witness this improper behavior, Ms. Auletta
did report the incident to ACI and spoke with ACI and the driver
of our street.
Ms. Auletta said the driver had some excuse for picking up the
recycling in front of "Mia's" house only, which the
city apparently does not believe.
Therefore, Mia and The BNA is asking
all of us to pay attention to the trash companies activities
in the area, to notice if any further incidents of non-recycling
occurs.
If you spot this type of non-recycling activity by ACI, please
call or write
~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
NEIGHBORHOOD TRAFFIC
CALMING PROGRAM
Planning Commission Recommends City Council Adopt Its
plan
by Leah Hall, Member of The BNA
San Leandro’s Planning Commission recommended
that the City Council adopt the Neighborhood Traffic Calming
Program (NTCP) discussed at last month’s public hearing.
The NTCP is expected to address excessive speeds and volumes
of traffic, and enhance bicycle and pedestrian safety in residential
neighborhoods.
Although only about 20 community members were in attendance,
BNA member Leah Hall was one of them, and she provided the information
for this article.
The primary speaker for the meeting was Anna Vickroy, who teaches
classes on traffic calming at San Jose State University and
prepared a similar program for the City of Livermore in 2002.
According to Ms. Vickroy, the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program
is designed to obtain the following objectives, ultimately to
improve the quality of life for neighborhood residents.
· to reduce speeds;
· to discourage cut-through traffic within neighborhoods;
· to promote pedestrian and bicycle use;
· to create attractive streetscapes;
· to provide clear guidelines for the Traffic & Engineering
Department;
· to encourage citizen involvement and “buy-in”;
and
· to efficiently use City resources.
To put the program in context, here’s
a brief account of the city’s recent traffic calming history.
The Speed Hump Program was adopted in 1997 by the City of San
Leandro. Since that time, about 10 speed bumps a year have been
installed throughout the city with an annual budget of $30,000
per year. To date, the city has spent $90,000- $100,000 on this
program. But the use of speed humps are limited in application
due to physical constraints – they can’t be placed
on short blocks or roadway curves due to sight distance constraints.
Additionally, they may contribute to cut-through traffic onto
other parallel residential routes.
The NTCP would replace or absorb this program. Its proposed
budget is $100,000 per year. According to Ms. Vickroy, one neighborhood
per year will be selected for traffic calming interventions,
through a competitive process based on the severity of a neighborhood’s
traffic issues. Neighborhoods with less-severe problems will
move higher on the list over time as projects are completed
through the program. The program recognizes that traffic problems
do not go away over time, so eventually all neighborhoods that
qualify will get their turn.
The way the NTCP evaluates and prioritizes neighborhood complaints
is described in a handbook entitled Handbook of the Neighborhood
Traffic Calming Program, City of San Leandro Engineering and
Transportation Department. It involves a resident calling to
make a complaint and the Traffic & Engineering Department
gathering street data through speed trailers to determine the
street meets at least one of the following minimum criteria:
(1) 85th Percentile Speed – Critical speed is at least
32 mph for residential local roadways and 34 mph for residential
collectors; or
(2) Average Daily Traffic – The average daily volume is
at least 1,000 vehicles for local roadways and 2,000 vehicles
for residential collectors.
If one of the minimum criteria is met, the neighborhood will
be placed on the list and prioritized. The city ranks severity
established through a point system: more points for higher recorded
speeds and higher recorded volume. Points are also accumulated
for collisions over the past three years that may have been
avoided with traffic calming, and also for “pedestrian
generators” – each park, recreation facility, or
other public facility that draws significant pedestrian traffic.
Once neighborhoods are prioritized, the top will be selected.
The city estimates one neighborhood plan can be achieved each
year. The following are considered acceptable traffic calming
measures: speed humps, traffic circles, chicanes, raised crosswalks
and speed tables, raised intersections, medians and gateways,
bulb-outs and chokers and curb extensions, re-striping, and
in-pavement lighted crosswalks. Definitions – along with
pictures and details – of each of these measures is available
in the Handbook.
Notably, city staff does not consider stop signs appropriate
as speed calming devices. City staff say stop signs are traffic
controls and not traffic calming devices. As such, their use
is governed by state law requiring certain criteria.
The city will then hold informational neighborhood meetings,
presenting design concept proposals. Neighborhood balloting
will then occur. A minimum of 50% of ballots must be returned,
and approval must be by at least 67% of the ballots returned.
If the approval rate isn’t high enough, or not enough
ballots are returned, the neighborhood will have to go back
to the waiting list for next year.
Only 8 individuals spoke with complaints about speeding on their
street, and they all lived on Begier.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~
TheBNA.org:
Your Neighborhood Web Site
By Hillary Van Austen
This community minded web site is here to showcase our wonderful
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:€ A History of The Broadmoor:
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