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While the new Levi’s stadium was nearly filled to capacity for its first 49er game there on Sunday, football fans who used the Mountain View transit center were met with new parking fees and for some, parking tickets.
Last month City Council members voted to spend $85,000 on a stadium day parking program for one year, expecting 500 to 600 drivers to seek parking in downtown Mountain View and take buses and light rail trains to the stadium in order to avoid parking near the stadium that costs as much as $50.
City officials said 123 drivers paid $10 to park in the three downtown parking lots — and a garage — that were designated for $10 parking beyond the usual three-hour time limit. One of the lots, at Dana and Hope streets, was nearly vacant. The transit center’s parking lot, where VTA charged drivers $5 to park, appeared to still have 20 percent of its spaces free around 12:30 (the game began at 1 p.m.).
Meanwhile, police were busy enforcing new three-hour time limits that apply on game days in nearby residential areas, where many cars were seen parked. Police say they issued a total of 36 tickets for time limit violations. That is up from 32 during an Aug. 2 soccer game at the stadium, which also spurred 96 drivers to pay for parking in city lots.
“I think the initial observation is that the paid parking system worked fine,” said council member Mike Kasperzak, who initially called for the parking program to prevent the downtown from becoming a free parking lot for Levi’s stadium. “This was a pre-season game. We have no idea, during the course of the season, what the parking demand will be, or if people (who) drove to the game yesterday will decide, ‘I want to do public transportation.'”
VTA reports that 3,310 people left Mountain View on VTA buses and trollies to get to the game, said Colleen Valles, VTA spokesperson. And about 1,500 people used Caltrain to get to those buses and trollies, said Caltrain spokesperson Jayme Ackemann. It is unclear how many of the other 1,810 stadium-goers arrived in cars parked in Mountain View. The city has yet to release any numbers.
For the thousands of fans who descended on the downtown Mountain View transit center on their way to the game, things appeared to go smoothly. Initial reports from police were that it was “uneventful” in terms of problems. About 50 police officers employed by the county, city and transit agencies were seen around the downtown transit station helping to manage the crowd.
Fliers posted by the VTA alerted drivers that the $10 fee charged for parking in the transit station lot on game days will soon be raised to $25. Under the new parking ordinance, the city will match that $25 fee for parking in the city’s designated lots.
There were reportedly 68,000 people at Sunday’s game, nearly the limit of the stadium’s 68,983-person capacity. The first event at the stadium, an Aug. 5 soccer game, drew 48,765 people.
Around 50 police officers – paid by? … Oh, 49ers owners, City of Santa Clara? Or are the parking fees and restaurant sales taxes suppose to pay for this outlay? If not – seems like the City of Santa Clara has managed to increase their revenue – at Mountain View’s expense.
I hope not.
ow $25 dollars for even the non 49er fan using light rail? How is that a benefit for the people of Mtn View. or will we be offered discount Monster truck tickets?
How can this be good when I can still complain about a few bad things? How can we feel good about anything as long as there is a negative someone can point out…even if its a negative complaint over something that hasn’t even happened yet and might never happen.
Nothing will ever be good here, so say-eth the frowny mouths.
Two of the police officers pictured in the photo gallery look like San Mateo County deputies who have jurisdiction over the Caltrain stations and trains. Most of the police who monitored the event were probably transit police, other than the MV parking enforcement officers. Perhaps The Voice can provide more details on this.
The article says: “The transit center’s parking lot, where VTA charged drivers $5 to park”
Then it says: “Fliers posted by the VTA alerted drivers that the $10 fee charged for parking in the transit station lot on game days will soon be raised to $25.”
So were they charging $5 or $10?
All the gripes are about the details of the story or $ so it looks like the plan worked well.
50 Police Officers? 50? What is this, Ferguson? My oh my. The militarization of our police force is well under way. I hope they all had their automatic weapons and tear gas launchers in good working order.
People who think 50 police officers for parking enforcement is reasonable probably have relatives working on the Ferguson police force.
Hey Fifty. Tell us how many should have been there and why. No really, you seem to have an alternate number.
Also how does quantity equate to militarization? If I have one cop w/ a tank, that’s militarization. If I have 590 beat cops with standard equip, that is not militarization. Quantity does not enter into it.
Think and realize friend.
I love coming to downtown Mountain View. I conduct business as a sales person with local businesses, and choose to spend much of my free time frequenting local establishments(mainly on Castro). I love coming to the farmers market and getting coffee downtown often staying for lunch on Sundays. It is unfortunate for the local businesses and vendors at the farmers market that I will no longer be visiting downtown on days when they are charging for parking. It is unfortunate that the City of Mountain View has chosen its current path a far as parking instead of supporting small business…… Perhaps a few local businesses would like to post here how business was on Sunday. Was it up or down? By how much?
The parking restrictions that have been added for downtown on game days have been really poorly implemented. As Jim Neal mentioned, there are contradicting parking signs on some blocks. The new signs noting the restricted hours on game days have only been placed on some blocks, not all. In our neighborhood they are on one side of the street but not the other. The signs are placed at the beginning of the block and can easily be missed by someone who is not aware of the new restrictions, especially on some of the really long blocks. Not all residents have their permits. Some games are on weekdays, one is on Thanksgiving. This is only going to get worse.
It essentially all went off without a hitch. I even heard a fan sound bite on either KLIV or KCBS talking on the issue of getting to the game “We started from Mountain View and they had it totally organized. It was really easy”
I felt some nice civic pride when I heard that. I guess some people simply don’t like it when MV looks good at something…look at everyone struggling their hardest to find some iota of negativity they can harp on.
Too late, it all worked very well for the most part. I’ve not heard one complaint aside from the usual suspects on the internet.
Due to the game, the Farmers Market moved. The new location was great. I asked a vendor what he thought and he liked it too: he had more space in the new location. My neighbors all liked the comfortable feel of the new spot. Is there any chance of moving the Farmers a Market to lot 12 permanently?
I’m not happy about what these idiots who run this city are doing. I see there are not enough signs on the streets and also 3 hour limit. It takes 20 mins give or take to get the the stadium and the game is longer than 3 hours. So is this a scam to ticket more people ?
Well I’m glad we don’t have to worry about the realities of the situation, and all we have left is the doom and gloom that some feel will inevitably come one day (this is the prophesy of so many here “Its not bad now, buy oh you just wait…it’ll be horrible”)
Look for this “issue” to dissolve away quickly…oh except for all the terrible things that will follow, one day, maybe…but probably not.
Your choice to fret over things. Enjoy.
I talked with the traffic supervisor last Sunday. The program is losing money. By noon lot one had sold 22 tickets. Maybe it will improve when Caltrain raises its price from $5 to $25. I am assuming they won’t do this until the Giants season ends. There are way more Giants fans that take Caltrain from Mtn View than Niner fans paying for parking.
Also the posting for the 3 hour ban on streets is minimalist. One sign per block to cover both sides of the street. I have a feeling that many tickets will be contested because all of the other signs that are easily visible exempt time limits on Sunday. At this point the program is a disaster, that needs to drop the 3 hour limit for street parking and stick to charging for parking in lots that are easily monitored.
I talked with the traffic supervisor last Sunday. The program is losing money. By noon lot one had sold 22 tickets. Maybe it will improve when Caltrain raises its price from $5 to $25. I am assuming they won’t do this until the Giants season ends. There are way more Giants fans that take Caltrain from Mtn View than Niner fans paying for parking.
Also the posting for the 3 hour ban on streets is minimalist. One sign per block to cover both sides of the street. I have a feeling that many tickets will be contested because all of the other signs that are easily visible exempt time limits on Sunday. At this point the program is a disaster, that needs to drop the 3 hour limit for street parking and stick to charging for parking in lots that are easily monitored.
its fun to read all the gloom and doom from my fellow old mountain viewers. of course the city wants a manageable parking program and are using the levi stadium situation to get something going.
how can the program already be losing money when the regular season hasnt started yet? the city will raise parking rates to match caltrain/vta at a minimum. this was already announced.
this so-called minimalist parking signage? “only” 1 sign per block??? are you serious? maybe we should have two stop signs facing drivers on every intersection?
let them contest the tickets all the want. bet they won’t park illegally again. the important thing is a manageable parking situation.
are the whiners just residents who own too many vehicles? ive seen people park four or more cars on the street and preserve their garages and driveways for junk. pretty sure the complainers are in that situation..or worse!
Jim Neal: “We have no way to know whether there would have been more people here or the same number since Council decided that we had to rush this through before the data could be studied to see if there was a problem or not.”
My thoughts exactly. And this is why I’m looking forward to some changes to who is on city council.
There will always be snivelers. Hand them a tissue but don’t spend too much energy trying to appease them. There will always be snivelers.
I’m glad there were no real issues from the 49er game. Go MV!
I call for a boycott of downtown whenever they charge for parking. Make the city loose money until they loose money and the businesses rise up in revolt!!!
A lot of Cities have Permit Parking for residents. For example Sacramento has the entire downtown area organized like that. Each resident has Visitor passes (besides the regular resident stickers) to display when visiting cars are parked in that neighborhood. What is so difficult about this system? The only challenge for the visitors is not to drive off with these official placards on their dashboard instead of returning them to the resident.
It forces everybody from out of town to park in designated areas. I did not find the lot signs in downtown MV difficult to read, I thought they were very specific about dates and time. 3 hrs is not enough, game duration and commute will be longer, the person coming up with this must not have been to an event lately, but this can be fixed easily.
@ Poorbabies, a resident of Old Mountain View
They lose money because it costs over $2k for each Niner event to pay for the 4 parking attendents and 3 parking officers to work on Sunday when parking would normally be free. It also costs money to change the signs as the niners add new events. As i stated they sold 22 permits in the closest lot. That’s 210 plus what they make up in ticket violations. If people protest the violations the city loses money handling the protests.
I have heard that staff is proposing to not add the niner soccer event that occurs on the same day as the art and wine festival in Mtn view. I wonder why?
@Sunday Shopper:
Curiously I had several discussions with MV farmers market vendors and they were a bit ambivalent about the move.
The load-in is more difficult since the lot is actually smaller and doesn’t allow for many farmers to leave the vehicles on site.
Also, with their closer proximity to housing, they have delayed access to the site and the 9am start time is strictly enforced, a rule that the market has been flexible at the Caltrain/VTA lot (customers are asked to wait until 8:30am to enter the market).
One vendor made a very specific comment about losing a half-hour of sales because of the later start time.
Jim Neal is blind. One of the city lots (Hope St between California & Mercy) heavily suggested BY THE MOUNTAIN VIEW FARMERS MARKET STAFFERS was largely empty during the entire morning. The lot to the north (Hope St between California & Dana) was subject to the 3-hour Levi’s event day time limit, but also largely empty.
I highly suggest Mountain View registered voters to consider Mr Neal’s bombastic, completely unfounded (and incorrect) statements when they submit their ballots in this November’s election. He continues to offer a cavalcade of interesting commentary that may reflect his grasp on reality.
Ninerfan, do you think every policy made by the city needs to generate money?
One could also complain that operating Cuesta Park is a failed program…if they were looking for some negative.
If the purpose was to generate money, it would have been managed that way and you could have complained about them trying to use the program as a money generator to fleece users.
The snivelers can and will complain about any action taken.
I’m glad this issue illuminated those who do nothing but complain. Whaaa!
@ by Whinner Spotter,
Obviously you are clueless about government finance. The city runs a balanced budget because it can’t print or borrow money. Parks are paid for by taxes. The reservation fees are set to cover the cost of the reservation program. Rec classes are prices to cover the variable costs. I am not expecting the city to fleece the residents but look at the benefits and costs of each program.
Get some education on government finance and budgets and maybe you can contribute to the conversation.
Yeah, that’s about as clear as mud. All I can say is I will be avoiding the Farmers Market and Downtown in general on Sundays. I am a MV resident, don’t follow football and can’t afford a parking ticket.
Not many are actually complaining. Just a few of the usual suspects here. Tissues for the snivelers, live for those who have moved on.
Observation, Mtn View parking plan, apparently every must use Mtn View to only go to 49 er, Farmers market or park at home. No one else uses Cal train on game days to go SF or any other location. How much is the parking ticket? The paper should make a new column “ASK JIM” or Mr Mtn View.
Why not get the local restaurants involved and implement a validation system that gives 4 hour free parking if they eat lunch before or dinner after the game at a downtown restaurant . Then charge them 5.00 an hour for each extra hour. With all the events that shut down Castro and keep many locals away this would give back to the local businesses and add to the tax base. Mike
Is Jim’s hat running independently? I might vote for his hat.
@Linda Curtis —
Really classy of you to hijack a message board on downtown event parking to offer your “endorsements” for the Council election this fall. Just like you hijacked the message board about yesterday’s earthquake to blather on about the evils of multi-story housing.
Used to reduce our carbon footprint by taking Caltrain to San Francisco, but now it sounds like we risk incurring a how expensive parking ticket if we return home late on Thursdays or travel on Sundays or Thanksgiving before we have the privilege of paying $25 to not go to a 49ers game!
Hmmm, think I’ve just persuaded myself to drive to and enjoy simpler downtowns than Mountain View.
Perhaps downtown residents will be consoled that MV has provided their excuse why in-laws or other unwanted relations can’t visit on weekends or holidays. “Neighbours wouldn’t lend their permits or a cup of sugar, yet asked to borrow mine!”
When I walked over to the transit center on Sunday at 12:30, I saw about 10 or 12 sheriffs there. The rest of the people were transit workers assisting with ticketing and questions. When I spoke to Chief Bosel later in the day, he told me that the security at the Caltrain station was being paid for by Caltrain and the VTA.
I saw the MVPD at various points in Old Mountain View, in vehicles and on bicycles. Since the plan by the Council did not address security for the event, I was glad to see the various police agencies taking the lead on this and I think they did a great job.
As far as the paid parking system “working fine”; what was the goal? If it was only to prevent a few people from parking for free, then yes, it was a great success. However, there are still many residents who do not have their parking permits yet, the neighborhood streets were jam packed with parked cars for the Farmer’s Market and for the Game, the parking signs posted have contradictory information for the same streets, and two of the “paid” parking lots were almost completely empty. So what was gained? We have no way to know whether there would have been more people here or the same number since Council decided that we had to rush this through before the data could be studied to see if there was a problem or not.
Is the “paid parking” making money, losing money, or breaking even? There is no way to know yet. It is very easy for someone to claim that something is a success when they haven’t had to deal with all the headaches that they’ve created for other people.
I’ve been working with staff for the last 4 weeks getting information on how the program currently works, what changes are planned, as well as trying to get answers to the questions and solutions for the problems my neighbors have been having.
One large issue that remains is that there is still not yet a solution for guest parking on event days. The 49er’s have a game on Thanksgiving, so unless everyone decides not to have family come over, working out parking for friends and relatives could be a problem. I am hopeful that staff will come up with a workable solution.
Jim Neal
Candidate, Mountain View City Council
https://electneal.org (campaign website)
info@electneal.org
Don’t even get me started…
My time is too valuable to even comment on this absolute nonsense from our city staff/council. Spending money on a problem they don’t even know will exist and then claiming victory because “all went well”.
Mark my words. Just a foot in the door towards universal paid parking downtown. The vacuum salesman has succeeded!
Here is what I said:
“As far as the paid parking system “working fine”; what was the goal? If it was only to prevent a few people from parking for free, then yes, it was a great success. However, there are still many residents who do not have their parking permits yet, the neighborhood streets were jam packed with parked cars for the Farmer’s Market and for the Game, the parking signs posted have contradictory information for the same streets, and two of the “paid” parking lots were almost completely empty. So what was gained? We have no way to know whether there would have been more people here or the same number since Council decided that we had to rush this through before the data could be studied to see if there was a problem or not.”
I pointed out that the “neighborhood streets” were packed with parked cars and that two of the parking lots were nearly empty, so what is the issue? Perhaps someone mistakenly thought that I wrote the article?
Jim Neal
Candidate, Mountain View City Council
https://electneal.org ( Campaign Website )
info@electneal.org
I can’t understand why anyone would complain about the new parking program. It’s so simple:
Q: What is the “Stadium event day residential parking pilot program”?
A: On July 1, the City Council asked Staff to implement a program for the
first Levi’s Stadium season (through May 2015) that would, among other
things, restrict parking to “local” vehicles on most Old Mountain View
streets on “event days”. Caltrain was talking about charging up to $25 to
park in their lot, on these days, and Council wanted to charge $10-$25 to
park in any of several City lots near the Transit Center. There was a
consensus that this would incentivize people driving to Mountain View, to
board the light rail to the stadium, to park on residential streets,
rather than closer to the station. Therefore Staff specified that most
Old Mountain View households (in houses and small apartment complexes)
would be provided with two free parking permits (and more upon evidence of
need), to give residents an exemption to the three-hour parking limit that
would go into effect on all of these streets on event days. There is a
separate permit program for businesses. Please read on for the fine points
but that’s the basic summary.
—
Q: What is an “event day”? As Levi’s Stadium announces additional events,
how will we know what day the parking restrictions are in effect?
A: The City now has a list of “event days” on its “stadium event day
parking” page, at
http://mountainview.gov/depts/comdev/economicdev/levisparking/default.asp
As of August 20, these are the same days as the ones in the pilot program
guidelines (also available from that page, and in the mailing sent on July
24 with parking permits), and identical to what’s posted on the “3 hours”
street signs:
August 2, 17, 24
September 14, 28
October 5, 24
November 2, 23, 27
December 5, 20, 28, 30
March 29
April 11, 18
The City website will be updated as needed, and we will announce changes
immediately on OMVNAtalk. Street signs will also be updated (we don’t know
how frequently).
The website previously pointed to the Levi’s Stadium event calendar, which
might occasionally have events on it that will not be triggers for
features of the parking pilot program plan (four paid City lots,
three-hour parking restrictions on streets, etc.). In other words, the
list on the City website is the list you should be looking at.
—
Q: How long is this going to go on?
A: The pilot program was authorized by City Council to run through May
2015. We don’t know what will happen after that, since an evaluation and
decision cannot be made until there’s information about how the pilot
program worked. We do know that the stadium has announced its intention to
schedule as many weekday events as possible, starting soon, so it is
possible that adjustments to the program might have to be made even before
May 2015.
—
Q: I live in the designated area (west of Calderon, east of Shoreline,
north of El Camino Real, and south of Evelyn—and an area north of Central
Expressway is also included) and have not received any parking permits in
the mail. What should I do?
A: You will only need these permits if you need to park on the street or
if you have guests who need to use your permits to park on the street, on
event days, for more than three hours. If you think you will need them,
you can obtain two permits from Joanne Francis in the Community
Development Department, first floor of City Hall (straight ahead as you
enter the building), between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays. You will need
proof of residential address, such as a utility bill or rental agreement.
—
Q: I can’t get to City Hall during their business hours. May I appoint
someone to be a proxy and pick up my permits?
A: Yes, you may use a proxy. Your proxy should follow the directions just
above. You will need to authorize your proxy in writing, or by sending
email in advance to joanne.francis@mountainview.gov; cc the proxy in your
email message.
—
Q: If I obtained “replacement” permits for ones that did not arrive in the
mail in a timely way, and later received the original mailing, do I need
to return the extra permits?
A: Staff says “yes”.
—
Q: I need to park more than two vehicles on the street during event days.
How can I get extra permits?
A: You can get extra permits from the Finance Department, second floor of
City Hall, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. You will need to show the
registrations of all vehicles registered to your address. It will not be
possible to obtain permits for guests who do not live at your address.
Before you visit City Hall, please also fill out the application form
available at
http://mountainview.gov/depts/comdev/economicdev/levisparking/for_residents.asp
—
Q: What is the maximum number of permits that I can get?
A: There is no set maximum for the pilot program; you will just need to
follow the steps immediately above.
—
Q: The guidelines that came with my permits said to hang them from the
rear view mirror of my vehicle. I need to park an open convertible
/trailer/motorcycle on the street. What should I do to display the permit
and keep it secure?
A: Each vehicle that requires a license plate needs a permit for on-street
parking, so the most attractive option is to find an off-street parking
place for these types of vehicles. If you cannot do that, one option is to
affix a note securely to the vehicle, where parking enforcement personnel
can see it easily, and refer them to the vehicle’s actual permit,
displayed securely and easily visible in another vehicle. (For example, in
a car or pickup that tows a trailer.) Give the license plate number of the
stand-in-display vehicle.
—
Q: I’m expecting a lot of guests, in cars, for Thanksgiving. How can they
park, since this is an event day?
A: Staff expects that you will first use up all available parking in your
garage and driveway, so that your parking permits are available to loan to
your guests. You might also be able to find neighbors with extra driveway
space. If you still need more permits, in addition to any above the first
two that you obtained from the City, you are expected to borrow more from
neighbors who do not need them that day. It is likely that some neighbors
will be driving elsewhere to celebrate the holiday, just as you are
welcoming visitors in Mountain View, and you can borrow their permits
before they leave. Some residents do not need on-street parking at all,
but still received two permits in the mail.
—
Q: Can I really not get “guest permits” for caregivers and other
frequently-visiting service providers?
A: That is stated in the official guidelines for the program. Please see
the first couple sentences just above for some suggestions on how to deal
with it. If you still find that you have a problem that it is physically
impossible for you to solve, please get in touch with City Staff (see
below for new contact info).
—
Q: Are the three-hour parking limits being enforced?
A: We have been told that they are.
—
Q: It’s too much trouble for me to keep track of all these dates and
remember to display a permit. I’m afraid I’ll forget and get a ticket.
What should I do?
A: The easiest solution is to make a habit of displaying a permit in any
vehicle parked on the street (place the hang-tag on the rear view mirror
with the printed side facing the front of the car), whether or not it’s an
event day. That way you don’t ever have to keep track of the dates. (See
above regarding vehicles for which this display is not possible.)
—
Q How can I contest a parking ticket?
A: Staff has referred us to
http://www.mountainview.gov/depts/police/info/citations.asp
and to other information on MVPD web pages, regarding parking and
enforcement.
—
Q: There are “no parking any time” signs on my block. There is also one of
the “3-hour” signs. What’s the story?
A: “No parking” takes precedence.
—
Q: Will the hang-tags be replaced by stickers, at least for residents?
A: There have been a lot of requests to do this. It is possible that the
City will do it after the pilot program is over, but we don’t know. The
main reason we have hang-tags for the pilot program is that the whole
thing had to be put together in a matter of days, and that was the easiest
solution for staff to implement quickly. In the future, they will have
more lead-time. One advantage of hang-tags is that they can be loaned to
guests.
—
Q: I have heard that there are different parking restrictions on the
various public lots downtown.
A: All public lots, and garages, will be subject to a three-hour event-day
parking limit, as on streets, unless they are paid lots–but not
necessarily for the same hours. On weekdays, the restriction in city lots
runs from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., unless it’s a holiday. On weekends and
holidays, the restriction runs from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., just as on streets.
Exception: There is a one-hour restriction on parking on both sides of
Castro Street, from Evelyn to El Camino Real, on all event days, 8 a.m. to
10 p.m.
—
Q. What are “paid lots”?
A: Downtown lots 1 (the more northerly parking garage, on Bryant St. near
Evelyn), 4 and 8 (on either side of Hope St. in the 100 block), and 9
(enter on Hope St., in the 200 block; entrances to the lot that are east
and south of there will be closed) will charge at least $10 for all-day
parking on event days,
—
Q: What’s this about the Farmers’ Market moving?
A: The Farmers’ Market will move temporarily from the Caltrain parking lot
north of Evelyn to the City parking lot at Bryant and California on 49ers
home game days:
August 17, 24
September 14, 28
October 5
November 2, 23
December 28
Parking for Farmers’ Market shoppers will be provided explicitly in the
“CVS Parking Structure” and in one of the City lots. Most of the other
City lots will also be available. Vendors will also be provided for. The
market organization will put up signs at the Transit Center and elsewhere
directing people to the right location.
—
Q: How can I provide feedback to the City on this program, or get answers
to other questions?
A: Here are the feedback methods just advertised on the City website:
* submit to Ask Mountain View (topic is under Economic Development);
* leave a message at (650) 316-4520; or
* send an email to stadiumparking@mountainview.gov.
The Parking Subcommittee might know things they have forgotten to include
above, so asking them first might be useful. You can send email to
parkingomvna@googlegroups.com to receive a response, probably from a
neighbor who lives near you.
Just to chime in my observation:
I don’t personally see the parking impact as a problem. No more a problem than Art & Wine Festival weekends, or A La Carte and Art weekends, or Sunday mornings with parades.
But let me mention this caveat: we can accommodate the impact because we are a suburb. If downtown was full of high-density housing, as some have suggested, it would be a parking nightmare for residents and visitors. Especially in light of Thanksgiving.
For myself, game days are just another day to ride my bike around, and be glad that other parts of town are sleepy and suburban with easy access to the grocery store.
The suggested urbanization would make the impact painful, perhaps intolerable. But as it is, I think is seems pretty good so far. We’re a transit hub, perhaps visitors will patronize our downtown eateries; and those of us who actually *live* here aren’t necessarily too inconvenienced.
Honestly, I find the Amphitheater traffic jams more inconvenient than what I’ve observed of the Levi’s Stadium impact so far. The Amphitheater snarls traffic all the way to the freeway, clogs two freeway ingress/egress roads (Shoreline and Amphitheater, and to some extent San Antonio) and prevents residents like me from getting to the park or the golf course. (By the way, could someone perhaps mentioning opening the back street on the San Antonio side to allow access to Shoreline Park and Golf Course when the amphitheater has an event? They open it up for egress, why not for park access?)
I appreciate the research Jim Neal has put into this matter, and many other matters that we face here in MV. I’m voting for Jim for MV City Council.
If you want to improve plans facing our city, preserve its neighborhoods & its charm, vote for Jim also. Jim Neal, along with Mercedes Salem and Lisa Matichak, all understand this city’s limits and have better ideas to handle the job/housing imbalance than just jamming tons more housing into everywhere, until this town is so bloated no one can get any where, or into any restaurant or anything. Seriously.