Transportation Safety Committee

David Loya dismisses the Transportation Safety Committee's input in a major way -- yet again. Arcata's Community Development Director David Loya has inadequately, inaccurately, or in a diminished fashion presented recommendations from the Transportation Safety Committee to the Planning Commission. It is evident from past manipulations of the Transportation Safety Committee's recommendations that Director Loya cannot be trusted to convey information from the Committee.

David Loya dismisses the Transportation Safety Committee's input in a major way -- yet again. Arcata's Community Development Director David Loya has inadequately, inaccurately, or in a diminished fashion presented recommendations from the Transportation Safety Committee to the Planning Commission. **** David Loya's reply, and a response from Fred Weis ****

This letter was sent by Dave Ryan, Chair of Arcata's Transportation Safety Committee, to David Caisse (the TSC liason), to the full Transportation Safety Committee, and to David Loya. It was distributed to the Planning Commissioners at their April 11, 2023, meeting. It was partially posted to the City's website -- just the first page, and not the whole letter -- on April 14. Here is the full letter from Dave Ryan.

If indeed L Street were to become a through road carrying truck traffic from Alliance Road, there would be some pretty major issues. UPDATED

For what appears to be the fourth time, Arcata's Transportation Safety Committee has once again rejected the Gateway Plan and General Plan concept of the L - K Street Couplet. At their May 16, 2023, meeting, Chair Dave Ryan and other members of the Committee took mere seconds to reinforce what they have clearly stated as their firm position on the couplet concept for L Street: They are against it and feel it has no place in the modern design of Arcata's streets and traffic patterns. Arcata deserves the L Street Corridor as a people-oriented linear park.

Utilizing stop signs to regulate vehicle speeds and create traffic calming and pedestrian safety are the prescription that the Transportation Safety Committee and the Planning Commission have asked for. But City Engineer Netra Khatri is telling us that those stop signs might not be so easy to put in.

Let’s go the next step beyond travel lanes and bike lanes, sidewalks and crosswalks. Let’s design streets for living, not just driving. *** We used to grow up on the street. We’d play, we’d walk to the neighbors with a casserole for the block potluck, we’d ride bikes, play games, hang out, socialize. So would our pets. Drivers knew enough to watch out for us. We all survived and thrived. We want that again. ***

This just goes to show that almost anything can become controversial. Last year, Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton warned Fox News viewers that Democrats "want to make you live in downtown areas, and high-rise buildings, and walk to work, or take the subway, or ride an electric scooter" and "make us all poor."

“Revise circulation plan to eliminate L Street as being considered for new streets and car traffic. This area is recommended to become a car-free linear park that prioritizes people.”  ***** There have been questions raised whether this draft accurately or adequately reflects our recommendation regarding L St being designated a linear park.

The full video of the April 11, 2023, Planning Commission meeting. **** Calling this a special meeting allows, by law, an allowable reduction in the manner in which input from the public is taken. Far more people were in the audience at this Planning Commission than at prior Planning Commission meetings. At this meeting, there were TWENTY-ONE members of the public WHO SPOKE.

The Gateway code includes a MAXIMUM number of parking spaces at 1 per every 4 units -- which works out to one per every 4 to 8 tenants. A restaurant with a staff of six and hosting 35 or 40 diners would have a MAXIMUM of ONE space. How will this work out for Arcata?

At the November 8th, 2022, Planning Commission meeting, David Loya acted as though he was familiar with the 2010 City study that proposes what amounts to a linear park on the L Street Corridor. But from his speaking, it was clear he did not know what that study contains. A suggestion to him: Come to the Arcata1.com website and learn.

The Transportation Safety Committee at their September 20, 2022, meeting discussed how the City Council had asked the members to revisit and reconsider the strong recommendation to not construct the L Street - K Street Couplet. Instead, the TSC committee stated, the L Street Corridor should become a permanent Linear Park.

The joint City Council / Planning Commission study session introduced big problems when an elated City Council considered the Transportation Safety Committee's strong recommendation for an L Street Pathway and Linear Park and tossed it out the window -- well, sent it back to the TransSafetyComm for them to review. This presentation was the cause. Is it filled with misleading and possibly false information? Read it, and you decide.

This page contains an assortment of photographs and aerial views of the L Street Pathway area. It will be updated as new images come in, so be sure to check back to see what's new.

It’s a question of priorities. What do we want to see in Arcata? Do we make our roads better for cars, or do we make the Gateway area better for people? Yes, it is that simple.

Excerpt from a letter from Fred Weis to the Arcata City Council.  August 16th, 2022 -- prior to the joint CC/Planning Commission study session on August 23rd, 2022 -- ONE YEAR AGO. At that meeting very little was accomplished. The Transportation Safety Committee was asked to revisit their firm recommendation to ELIMINATE the couplet.

The draft Gateway Plan calls for making a new L Street for the southbound traffic from Alliance Road. But Arcata doesn't have property rights to build a road. Community Development Director acknowledges this.

A major component of the December 2021 draft Gateway Plan involves splitting the vehicle traffic on K Street and making a new L Street for the southbound traffic. Does the City have the rights-of-way to do this? Who knows?

The L Street pathway could be a community jewel in the heart of the Gateway area. The City wants it to be a high-traffic road, taking all the southbound car and truck volume from Alliance Road to Samoa Boulevard.

The "couplet" created by making K Street and L Street be one-way, one-lane streets seems unlikely to happen. And if it were to take place, the joyful humanity of the current L Street Pathway would be destroyed. Why does it seem that the City is not being forthcoming on this? Why aren't we presented with alternatives?

8th & 9th Streets are proposed as one-way streets with bike lanes. That sounds good. But it comes with a 30% reduction of parking on those streets. That sounds bad.

New proposed bike lanes for K & L Streets and for 8th & 9th Streets. Could we do without a K Street bike lane and instead keep L Street bikeable, walkable, and protected from vehicle traffic?

We've been promised to see Traffic Studies for getting close to a year. Do they exist? Have they been started? Can we see them? What is going on?