Walking for a walkable community

At the January 27, 2020 City Council meeting, one of the Council Members stated that there was no need for either a coffee shop or a small corner grocery store at the proposed Corona Train station development because anyone could simply walk to either "Beyond the Glory" or to "Safeway." (That would be a 1.1 mile or 1.8 mile walk one way, respectively.)

This community walk, on the morning of February 1, 2020, was organized by Brian Barnacle. We walked the 1.1 mile from the Corona Train Station project to Beyond the Glory. Contrary to what a City Council Member stated, this is not a "walkable" trip. By definition, "walkable" is under 1/2 of a mile and has sidewalks the entire way.

 A livable community is one in which at least some trips can be made on foot. For the past 70 years we have been building out east Petaluma as a suburban sprawl bedroom community and, for many residents, every trip everywhere anytime is an automobile trip. This is a failed land use planning model. But even today we continue to build more automobile dependent single family housing.

7 Principles for Building Better Cities

Ted Talk: 7 Principles for Building Better Cities

Peter Calthorpe is a San Francisco based architect, urban designer and urban planner. He developed the concept of Transit Oriented Development in the early 1990’s. His clients include China which has some city blocks with 5,000 residents each and also the State of California which anticipates a population growth of 10 million more by 2050.

(Someday soon, Petaluma will have a population of 100,000 people. The “town” we are building today will be a city tomorrow.)

Summary of the TedTalk:

1) Preserve the natural environment, the history and the agriculture.

2) Mixed use. Create mixed use and mixed-income neighborhoods.

         Mixed incomes, mixed age groups, as well as mixed land use.

3) Walk. Design walkable streets and human scale neighborhoods.

4) Bike. Prioritize bicycle networks and auto-free streets.

5) Connect. Build street networks that provide many routes and many kinds of routes. Many kinds of streets instead of just one.

6) Ride. We have to invest more in transit.

7) Focus. Match density and mix to the transit capacity. Build the hierarchy of the city based on transit rather than on freeways. It’s a big paradigm shift.

“Walking, biking and transit are the way cities and communities thrive.”

Building a vibrant public transit corridor

Building the train tracks and stations is only the first step in developing a functional train system. Part two is the new land uses built within walking distance of the train stations and creating a vibrant public transit corridor.

Corona Station is our chance to begin building a pedestrian-friendly North McDowell corridor by creating a "destination" train station. A coffee shop and a small corner grocery store would be a huge step in this direction. Give the neighborhood something to walk to.




https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2020/1/17/las-lost-transit

Increasing automobile intensity

New Courtyard Marriott is being built.  It is close to highway 101 and the Lakeville Street interchange. Other side of 101 is the new Altura Apartments and also the new Marina Crossing Apartments. 

Petaluma continues to make big commitments to more automobiles in town.