From:     Ginni Dofflemyer
Date:     November 16, 2001
Subject:  League of Women Voters Mtg: November 15
 

Very interesting assignment.  The Presentation on the development plans of
Alameda Point were rather cursory it seemed.  The speaker who had been
slotted to present the very splashy and upscale posters, video and
computerized plans, etc.  was Thomas Gamble, the President of Alameda Point
Community Partners; unfortunately he was hung up in Sacramento and could
not come.  Lori Philberg, an architect, filled in for him.

1.  The opener was a somewhat longer and somewhat more splashy version 
    of the video Jean Sweeny obtained.  
    
2.  This was followed by a presentation of each of the several 
    versions of the plan in the book in which she discussed what was
    envisioned to go in each area, how it would interface with the rest
    of the area, and of course how much it would resemble the existing
    character of Alameda and its very diverse population.  
    
3.  She then took a few questions.  Perhaps what is important are those
    questions that she seemed uncertain about the answers or could not
    answer:

    a.  When asked what percentage of the housing would be affordable
    housing, she replied that it was whatever percentage was called
    for: 15% or 20% or 25%...she could not remember.  She expanded with
    a discussion of what she called carriage units, ostensible
    apartments built above garages that were entered from alleys, the
    houses opening on to mutually shared green spaces.

    b.  Where was the golf course?  She thought to the left of the planned
    area.  I heard from someone today that they had understood this to
    be a low maintenance course with a lot a "roughs" and minimally
    maintained "greens."

    c.  Had they planned for a school?  Well, no, not yet.  Not at this
    stage of the planning.  The response was that it was obviously
    going to be needed.

    d.  Had they planned for a library?  Same response.  e.   How would
    this be integrated into the rest of Alameda?  Here she made some
    unclear comments about the treatment of the perimeter such that it
    would blend with the Webster Street area.  Seems that additional
    monies will be needed to fix up that area as well but she made no
    mention of it.

    f.  How would this project impact transit to Oakland?  Here she took 
    a few minutes to expand further on the proposed multi-nodal
    transportation hub that will provide gondola access to the platform
    of the West Oakland BART station (they have begun discussions),
    additional bus transportation, a ferry landing, all of which (it
    seemed) would provide bicycle access.  When asked for greater
    specifics, I heard  22 people per gondola car plus room for
    bicycles (equivalent to approximately 80 bus loads!)  She also
    cited places where this was working and was in the planning stages,
    eg.  Detroit, etc., and the name of the designers they were working
    with for this high speed gondola (Dopplemeyer?).

Apart from the views, the corporate campus environment, sociable spaces, I
gleaned that the marina was planned to handle 900 slips, a ferry terminal
and 50 houseboats; there would be a park space large enough for softball;
affordable senior housing, lofts and apartments located over retail shops;
additionally there would be considerable reuse of existing structures that
would help retain the flavor of its original use as a naval airbase; after
seismic upgrades, she felt the effect would be in keeping with that of
Alameda.

The meeting was attended by approximately 20 people if one counts those who
did not stay very long.  Also in attendance was the Mayor, Ralph Appezato.


I'm glad I went,  not only do I have an application in hand, but I was able
to meet the current President, Connie Hanna (channa@aol.com; telephone:
510/814-4814) who was very interested in our situation and quite willing to
help:

    1.  She agreed to help circulate a flyer that we might produce that
    outlined our concerns.  There is no planned meeting for the third
    Thursday of December, but they will be having a party.  Maybe we
    should all join by December and bring information for circulation.

    2.  She said we should definitely pursue our contact with the Alameda
    Sun, reiterating what also experienced--that the general manager
    who I met on Thursday was very interested in printing the concerns
    of Alamedans.

    3.  She was very eager to have someone from our group come to speak 
    with the League of Women Voters at one of their meetings, but since
    there was going to be no meeting per se in December and January and
    February were booked (she thought), it might not be until March,
    which may be a bit late.  But who knows?

Connie Hanna is a realtor with Bay Harbor Realty.

I also met Karen Butter, the last President of the League of Women Voters,
who is a librarian and is currently quite involved with the new renovations
with the library and the beautification project (more greenery) of Park
Street.  She also had a suggestion:

    1.  She mentioned a group called CLASS, but could not remember what 
    it stood for.  I check with the library tomorrow.  This group is
    apparently linked to the Harbor Bay Association and seems to
    function from what I could understand as a watchdog for Oakland
    airport expansion, etc.  The President is Barbara Tulega.

    2.  She introduced me to at least three other members, including 
    Nancy Gill, President of the Northern Waterfront Strategic Planning
    Committee, whose primary concern is with historic preservation.  I
    mentioned the our community group and our concerns for the estuary
    development and the 1991 slotting of this region for park area.
    She was surprised to know of it and seemed at that juncture not to
    want to discuss it, maybe because I really had not accessed her
    site on the web.  In any event her home telephone is: 865-3522.
    Clearly someone with more information might find her a good ally.

If there are any individuals wanting applications for the League I am sure
I can get quite a few.  We could go to the December party....seriously,
though, they do seem to be a community-minded group who are committed to
getting things done.