On September 25, the San Mateo Bay Meadows Neighborhood Association held a forum for city council candidates. The mixed use neighborhood at the site of the former race track in the area between the Hillsdale and Hayward Park Caltrain stations is still under construction, and new services are starting to open up, with a brew pub and ice cream shop open, and other retail getting ready to open.

 

At the forum, candidates showed differing perspectives on transit, active transportation, and land use, covered in this blog post. 

The forum also included issues relating to parkland and wastewater infrastructure that are particularly relevant for Bay Meadows residents. Happy to send the full writeup, please send the request by email to adina.levin@friendsofcaltrain.com

The candidates’ full bios and statements can be found at the city’s website here.

Another San Mateo City Council candidate forum, hosted by One San Mateo, will discuss issues of housing and likely some transit tonight at 7pm, at the The Congregational Church of San Mateo, 225 Tilton Ave near downtown

Question: How can San Mateo support improvements to Caltrain?

Mark DePaula. “I wouldn’t put a nickel of funds into Caltrain or SamTrans, because of news reports of accounting issues under the previous CEO.  I went to the FBI and asked the DA to investigate Caltrain/SamTrans. The DA looked and said hmmm, but cleared these people of funny accounting. Now the investigation file is sealed. I would go to the FBI and demand further investigations.”

Eric Rodriguez would take a different direction. “The way to alleviate issues is to have a permanent dedicated source of funding for Caltrain. Rodriguez supports SB797, a sales tax that would provide stable funding for Caltrain. We need to work hard to make sure that the region approves it.”  San Mateo can play a leading role in making sure that these things get passed, & educating even non-riders of the value in reducing traffic

Joe Goethals. SB797 would allow an 1/8 cent sales tax that would make Caltrain financially secure.  100 years ago we were a train town. Then were sold on the idea that we should be a car society, and that has created gridlock. Over the next 100 years, we will need other forms of transportation, we’ll need to rely on the train…. We fought hard for the federal funding to electrify Caltrain…. Also, it’s important to build safe bike lanes, if we did more we’d see less traffic and be happier.

Charlie Drechsler. 100 years ago people were parking their horses, then they were parking cars. Now we’re struggling with wealth and success.  If you know a CEO, you want your company to be near your house so you can get to your kids’ little league game.  We cannot afford to lose our seat at the table in regional planning. We need to get freight off roads, get electric vehicles, and more electric vehicle  charging stations.

Robert Newsom. We should help fund Caltrain, it’s a sliver of a penny. We also need to hold Caltrain accountable. Trains are overcrowded and infrequent.  We should be doing a better job providing more frequent service so you don’t need to wait twenty to thirty minutes for the next train.

Rick Bonilla – We’ve been great supporters.  We’ve built this neighborhood around Caltrain, and fought long and hard for electrification.  City Manager Larry Patterson and I have been working on Caltrain improvements including grade separations since 2001, and this is finally coming to fruition. Definitely we support SB797, the tax to provide stable funding for Caltrain. You can call/write the governor and urge him to sign the bill authorizing the tax to go on the ballot.  

Chelsea Bonini – We should support stable funding for Caltrain. Caltrain is operating at a deficit and SamTrans is worse. Without transit, transit-oriented development work ((she’s missing Caltrain’s increasing farebox recovery which is very strong by US standards)).  Also, let’s make riding Caltrain more accessible for different income levels.  We also need to work together with a citywide vision make it safer to walk and bike, by Caltrain and El Camino.

Question about a proposed citywide building moratorium

Eric Rodriguez. I don’t support that at all. It would be crippling for Bay Meadows which is a planned community, and the plan isn’t fully implemented yet.  The concerns may come from issues in the area near Highway 92 which is not planned as well. I don’t have a problem here [in the Bay Meadows area] where it’s well thought out.

Goethals. I don’t support a building moratorium. One of the most important things that city councils do is land use.  There are other areas we might want to change in San Mateo, for example, do we want to wait twenty-five years to change the abandoned gas station with the chain link fencing on El Camino?  The circumstances come along favoring building once in a generation; it took 20 years to pull Bay Meadows together.  Please come to planning commission and make your voices heard. We need to work on making transportation more efficient.

Drechsler. No to a moratorium. Twenty years ago there were a lot of people who did not want to see this beautiful neighborhood built.   This neighborhood wouldn’t be here if we listened to the naysayers. Mixed use is a thoughtful, reasonable approach. We need to consider the “silver tsunami” – aging baby boomers want to be able to walk to pharmacy, walk with their friends without driving a car.

Newsom. I’m not for a moratorium, but I come from a neighborhood that is concerned about development at 92/Concar.  it’s now taking a long time to get onto the freeway.  When traffic is gridlocked, people can’t get home. Before we look at the Rite-Aid site ((with a large underused surface parking lot)) we need to not jump the gun. We should have a short moratorium to see what the impact will be of the new mixed use development.

Bonilla. I live in the original TOD, downtown. I can walk to get coffee, to the theater, my wife walks to do tai chi in the park, and I want more people to be able to do that. Housing is very important. One thing driving the concerns is phenomenal jobs growth without keeping up on housing and transportation. A building moratorium would make the housing crisis worse.  El Camino is zoned for taller, denser buildings that will be part of this community as well, with shops you can walk to. We need housing, affordable housing, housing for seniors, housing for people to work near their jobs.

DePaula – Supports a moratorium. An F traffic rating tells us that we need a building moratorium. Bay Meadows reminds me of Disneyland.

Bonini – Housing is a primary issue. We can’t have a moratorium, we need housing for teachers and other essential workers.  In Bay Meadows we need to finish building the housing near transit (which also helps to reduce the number of cars).    I am in favor of halting building office space. It brings people to our community, so we should build less office until we find a traffic solution.  I would support retail, not office. ((Tech companies near the train in Palo Alto reported a drivealone rate under 30%))

DePaula – I totally object to mixed use – I go up to San Francisco every Sunday, and I don’t want that mixed use!  We need to wait – there’s an upcoming which has 150 housing units of housing ((said with tone of dismay)).

Question about safe bicycling and walking

Drechsler. We need to pay attention to the bike/ped master plan. I am passionate about making neighborhoods safe.  I walk here, though I’m tired by the time I try to run here. I have coached or participated in every sport in town…I raised 5 girls here. It is important that we as adults remember what it was like when we were young, teaching kids about traffic safety, and consider what it will be like in 20 years when we are retired. Every project needs to provide the community benefits.

Newsom. Caltrain grade separations will help. I lived in Netherlands which is a bike and train mecca. We need dedicated bike lanes. I was out cycling last week & there were safety challenges – we have to make sure people respect bike lanes. I work for a microtransit company, and would encourage the city to put out an RFP for microtransit services.

Bonilla. It’s important to provide safe crossing of the Caltrain tracks, the grade separations will help.  We need to look at how they are being built.  I looked at the details and I didn’t see good infrastructure for cycling. I support looking at the details of bike safety with the grade separations.  We have had a bike / ped master plan since 2011. There’s a lot of work that hasn’t been finished yet and and should be

Bonini. There are also small retailers near you that you could get to – for example, at 42nd and 37th, if there was safe infrastructure.  We need to look at the plans holistically. This place is transit-oriented. We should make more places walkable, and calm traffic.  In Grand Boulevard conversations we should have a set at the table and say strongly that we want bike safety, because will make businesses thrive.

DePaula. Maybe all of you ride bikes, but only half of 1% of people ride bikes. Riding a bicycle is dangerous, we need more police control.  I’d like to see more bike friendly streets; we need to do more studies. But realistically only half of 1% of people ride bicycle, so I don’t see it working.

Rodriguez. I live across El Camino Real by Central Park. I thought we were going to be walking downtown and to Central Park all the time. But ECR might as well be a wall. I’ve had near misses with cars when walking on ECR in recent years.  I’d like to see better crosswalks, and bulbouts. If you’re not comfortable walking on El Camino, you won’t be walking to Caltrain.

Goethals is a prosecutor. “I was in court in the morning, and had a PAL (Police Athletic League) fundraiser.  Our public works department is in charge of safe routes to school. Over next 5 years it will get safer – everyone should feel safe walking to a farmers market, walking/biking to 25th for dinner.n, and add bathrooms. I enjoy walking and bicycling through the area. The spaces are pretty thoroughly planned. Nowhere in the early discussion was a behemoth athletic facility contemplated. It’s great for our City Parks director to have a dream ((of recreational facilities)), and I hope we have that somewhere, but this neighborhood has been thoroughly scrutinized and planned, and we should respect the plan.