Now's the time to ask City Council members to support the Fernside Traffic Calming and Bikeways Project

Slide from June 26, 2004 presentation to the Transportation Commission.

Tomorrow evening, Alameda City Council will hear — and hopefully approve — the Fernside Traffic Calming and Bikeways Project.

This project is an important opportunity to redesign this corridor to reducing speeding by drivers, to expand where cyclists of all ability levels can safely travel, and to enable walking and biking and other carbon-free modes of travel around Alameda.

This project also represents a pivotal moment:

This is the first street design project to be heard by two new members of City Council: Vice Mayor Michele Pryor and Councilmember Greg Boller. Both spoke to the value of traffic safety during their campaigns — will they now put those values into practice with their votes?
This is the first street design project in a residential area to be brought to City Council since the rethink of the rethink of Grand Street. Instead of perseverating, can the City of Alameda learn from that experience and deliver safety improvements for Fernside in an effective and efficient manner?
This transportation project is on the same City Council agenda as updating Alameda's Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (CARP) for the next five years. The first five years of the CARP met targets primarily thanks to Alameda's city-owned utility sourcing electricity from cleaner generating sources. Succeeding over the next five years of the CARP will depend in large part upon reducing transportation-related emissions within Alameda. Will we use our street projects to support our climate goals?

Please use this opportunity to:

Write an email in support of staff's recommendation for the Fernside Boulevard improvements to City Council. If you've never submitted a public comment to Alameda City Council, this is an easy opportunity to give it a try by emailing CITYCOUNCIL-List@alamedaca.gov

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If you want to ensure your email is included in the agenda packet posted to alameda.legistar.com send it before noon tomorrow/Tuesday.

City Council recently adjusted this policy, to give the City Clerk's office a bit more time to prepare for the meeting, as well as to give the public a clear cutoff.

Join the meeting via Zoom and give a live public comment in support of staff's recommendation for the Fernside project.
Or join in person on Tuesday at City Hall in Council Chambers. It's the second "regular" item on the agenda (after the city's settlement of its threatened lawsuit against OAK airport expansion and before the CARP update).