<![CDATA[Imagine Sonoma County]]> Commentics Emmett Hopkins Yes, definitely! Let's add Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) into the policy ideas here:

http://imaginesonomacounty.com/solutions/transportation.html

]]> Mon, 21 Jun 2021 22:09:09 -0700 item_224 Kevin Anderson Might be a good idea to discuss what BRT is. Many get hung up on trains which of course urbanists love; however, trains take so much time to implement as we know with High Speed Rail and SMART. But BRT can be rolled out much quicker AND buses can even be two stories (think England) and have wifi etc.

]]> Wed, 21 Apr 2021 21:59:22 -0700 item_194 Dr. Dan Levitis Sonoma County's efforts at sustainability are 50% window dressing until we deal with vehicle emissions.

]]> Tue, 20 Apr 2021 09:11:12 -0700 item_177 Roberta Delgado In the second sentence change “include” to “prioritize”. Those of us who ride road bikes and would like to make non-motorized transportation our primary mode are clear: motor vehicles (especially gas-powered) still come first in Sonoma County. Projects like the Santa Rosa Southeast Greenway, the SMART Trail, the Russian River Trail, a Class I trail along the Highway 12 corridor to Sonoma, Class II bike lanes (buffered where possible) on all key streets/roads that cross through large parts of a town or are major connections between Townsend Class III designations on main neighborhood street need to come FIRST. Otherwise, existing unsafe conditions will discourage families and inexperienced riders from leaving their cars at home for the short drives that create heavy emissions or getting on a person-powered vehicle just for the healthy joy of it.

]]> Sat, 17 Apr 2021 14:33:04 -0700 item_143 Sharon Kirk Let's make EV charging stations easy to access.

Following Petaluma's permanent ban on new gas stations, let's create a plan for the development of widely distributed and easily accessible EV charging stations. Let's consider what it might mean to allow a homeowner to place a charging station on their home's frontage (on the street, rather than in the garage or on the driveway). Let's encourage private/public partnerships to build charging hubs. Church parking lots are busy a half day/week on Sundays. Why not fund solar installations and charging stations at all those underutilized lots?

]]> Thu, 25 Mar 2021 19:58:36 -0700 item_100 Sharon Kirk Let's get serious about enabling travel by bike. Today I am afraid to ride on most streets (in Petaluma). We need class I or class IV bike lanes (https://www.urbanchat.org/definitions.html#B), no excuses. They must be contiguous and not a negotiation of tradeoffs in new developments. In Amsterdam, one of the "big" problems for the city is illegal bicycle parking. Wouldn't it be great to have that problem?

There must be a coherent PLAN for the development of bicycle pathways, not start and stop access that puts all but the most intrepid bicyclist in danger. This is where age-friendly practices are a good litmus test. Would you let your 80 year-old-mother or 8-year-old grandson use the bikeway?

]]> Thu, 25 Mar 2021 19:51:27 -0700 item_99 Edward Meisse Although electric cars contribute much less to global climate change than internal combustion types, they create other problems that we need to bypass from the beginning. The only cars allowed in towns like Santa Rosa, Healdsburg and etc., should be mass transit and emergency vehicles. That would even include freeway on and off ramps. In the county's rural areas we should have park and ride lots such as the ones in Guerneville and Forestville for people who live in places where mass transit is impractical. For purposes of tourism, we need to coordinate with other bay area communities to connect SMART with BART and Amtrak. If air travel can't be made sustainable, we need to eliminate it (again, except for emergencies). We might build ports at Bodega and Petaluma that would be suitable for the type of passenger sailing ships that are already being imagined. Our port should also be suitable for freight as should our rails.

]]> Tue, 23 Mar 2021 18:44:05 -0700 item_83 Stevan Bosanac multiple cross-town electric rail lines to provide quick, convenient cross town connections, joined to hubs for inter-city travel. Also, elimination of autos in select areas of downtown to promote bikes, walking, community socialization, and greater use of city electric transit

]]> Tue, 23 Mar 2021 17:07:10 -0700 item_81 Steve Birdlebough We can envision cities that have slow streets (15-MPH) in neighborhoods connected by moderate speed (20 MPH) arterials, similar to those of Barcelona. Each neighborhood would consist of about 9 blocks (3 blocks on a side). The slow streets would be safe for use by cyclists, pedestrians, and wheel-chair users; the arterials would have protected bike lanes, wide shaded sidewalks, frequent bus service, and some corner stores.

Each city would have a few 25-MPH thoroughfares about a mile apart, with protected bike lanes, wide shaded sidewalks and inter-city as well as local transit service. Offices, stores, and apartments outside of the central business district would largely line the thoroughfares. Housing would replace the current mall and strip-mall parking lots.

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