Tuesday, May 11, 2010

EIR “Scoping Session” for Alameda Point

Under the façade of an “EIR scoping session,” last night’s Alameda Planning Board meeting was truly just a rant and rave session.


I’m certainly not speaking out against the freedom of speech here, but what I am speaking out against is the lack of leadership in Alameda government. They don’t seem to be providing their citizens with the cut and dry facts of Alameda Point development and unfortunately the two dozen SunCal opponents that showed last night don’t have a clue what the plan truly entails.
The City has a check-in-hand that enables them to study the environmental impacts of the project, and they are passing it up. City leadership needs to keep residents on track and informed of the issues.

They need to set the stage for a successful future Alameda Point development. Let’s be realistic about traffic increase. Whether opponents rant and rave or not, there will be growth on Alameda Point; it’s the natural growth path for the city. Therefore, traffic will increase. So let’s plan it out, study the effects beforehand, and do our best to mitigate that increase with intelligent city-planning. Let’s study commercial and residential land use, let’s study the environmental effects on and off shore and let’s study how we’ll supply sustainable power to Alameda Point.

THAT’S what the EIR is for, THAT’S what the City should be pushing for. Instead, they’re getting caught up in complaints.

What kind of statement is this from Deputy City Manager Jennifer Ott?

“We are going to try to negotiate a [deal] by July 20. I don’t think we can say that’s going to happen, but we’re trying to make it happen,”
My question is, WHY can’t you make it happen? Is SunCal doing something? If so, what? Why are we stuck? How can we move forward?

It would be great to have honest, open answers to these questions, but instead we’re getting a bunch of comments that are intended to pacify the masses.

They’re not working.

3 comments:

  1. Some people's hostility towards SunCal amazes me -- it's as if SunCal were Bernie Madoff, Gordon Gekko, and Dick Cheney all rolled into one company. I think city leaders are afraid of this blind rage, so they too end up demonizing SunCal. It's unfortunate that Alameda is burdened with unreasonable and angry opponents and rudderless leadership.

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  2. Anonymous5/14/2010

    Apparently the opposition that attended the Planning Board had printed talking points. I wonder who is behind it and what their real motives are. It sure doesn't seem to be the successful development of Alameda Point. Just seems like they're enjoying stiring up the pot at the expense of our community.

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  3. The opponents need to realize exactly what it is they're opposing. Is it the Calthorpe plan? Is it development in general? Is it SunCal? It looks to me like they don't care what's in the plan (even if it's great), they just don't like SunCal.

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