YES, Mayor Arnold needs to recuse himself again
August 29, 2023
Back in June I strongly suggested that Mayor Will Arnold recuse himself from City Council discussion/support of the I-80 Managed Lanes Project - The mayor's main gig is a key role in communications at Caltrans.
He did recuse himself.
Tonight the City Council is voting for approval for one of two variants for re-reconstruction of Mace Blvd (see my opinion on that below).
While it's not a Caltrans project, per se, the continued problem of operators of private motor vehicles using county roads and Mace to try to bypass traffic on I-80 is in large part due to the sad negligence of Caltrans in supporting anything but nice but expensive-to-use and proportionately symbolic commuter-regional railway service (Capitol Corridor), to focus on induced travel as a healthy strategy (the aformentioned Managed Lanes project) and to seemingly ignore any serious consideration of solutions to the awful I-80/CA-113 interchange, modifications to certain on-ramps to permit entering vehicles to get up to the prevailing speed before merging or any kind of substantial long-distance bus service to complement Capitol Corridor (and more...)
The so-called "restoration" of Mace will not solve the I-80 problem, but since Caltrans won't either, and since Caltrans won't help solve the Mace problem... the discussion and vote tonight is very, very much connected with Caltrans and so the Mayor should again recuse himself.
***As an hopefully not so itchy or worse aside in my favor regarding aerial and other spraying for mosquitoes (specifically to counter the threat of West Nile Virus) in relaton to highways workers at Caltrans and private travellers - and in relation to agenda item 4 also in this evening's Council meeting. missing any attachments! - I have repeatedly called via social media - and finally, acknowledged comments from staff for Supervisor Provenza - to ensure better outreach to workers busy on the I-80 pavement rehabilitation project and to people transitting the region by its highways who are unlikely to see or hear local (social) media announcements about the spraying. Some of this is immediately adjacent to I-80 - including tonight, during the Council meeting - and CA-113.
***
Back to the Mace Re-re-design: It's a betrayal of the Commons and of the City's symbol and oft-repeated climate change and related goals to prioritize traffic lanes above bike lanes, and to sacrifice (median, in this case) trees instead of traffic lanes for bike lanes... the latter, in other words, is putting people on bikes - or really kids on bikes riding to elementary school - against trees, really, the Greater Arboreal World. It's a sad, sad day... There's no "restoration" -- the four lanes of Mace are no exiled monarch, and they certainly ain't democracy - automobilist entitlement is getting its way, once again. Look around: Davis is not getting better for walking and cycling. Anyone who has encouraged this motorized farce will have to face their own conscience.
Nope don't agree and the City Attorney won't either. This is a City issue even if cars cut through backwoods Solano County. I'm not sure if you are serious re: mayor, but then again I rarely am sure if you are serious.
And I do agree that bicycling infrastructure ain't getting any better in recent years.
Posted by: Alan C. Miller | August 29, 2023 at 02:41 PM
Alan: I am serious. Thanks for your opinion.
Posted by: Tuvia | August 29, 2023 at 03:08 PM
The county has stipulated that 22' of clear roadway cross-section is required to allow movement of multi-million-dollar, enormous farm equipment between farm properties to the north and south of I-80. This 22' means.... two travel lanes in each direction of Mace. It appears that using public money to assist farm corporations is a mandatory baseline cost, while meeting our city's climate goals and providing safe routes to school for our kids has become a cost-added "maybe nice to have."
We are going to spend millions MORE dollars to convert this section of road to four travel lanes "because there is room" for these lanes, and because the county quietly says that these gratuitous car lanes are "required" for the farm equipment. The city is pretending that somehow more car lanes are going to relieve congestion during the busy times, even though the limit here is the stopped freeway. If we want a bit better bicycle infra, then we'll have to agree to pay extra to jack-hammer out more concrete to remove the median and remove mature trees. The extra, unwarranted car lanes are presented as non-negotiable at this point. And the active transportation stuff (the ENTIRE REASON this stretch of Mace was redesigned) has become merely "you can have it if you want to pay extra for it."
The plan is to once again create a car-optimized moat near our schools. A moat that will not relieve the congestion that so many local residents complain about! In the meantime, we are seeing mention of the importance of "safety" for all of our residents due to library bomb threats. What of the expensive, designed-in threats to our kids trying to get to school? If crossing guards are required for our school kids, we have failed in the design of our crossings.
Posted by: Darell | August 29, 2023 at 03:12 PM
Alan says:
> The so-called "restoration" of Mace will not solve the I-80 problem
It won't solve the I80 problem but adding the extra northbound lane back to Mace will help people "trapped" in El Macero after playing golf get out faster on Thursday and Friday afternoons (and back to Montgomery so they can get home for dinner South of Davis).
P.S. I bet more toads have used the "toad tunnel" than bikes have used the "Mace Mess" bike lanes (the blue haired old ladies on South El Macero and Willowbank have never said "I would start riting my bike to Davis Swim & Fitness and Nugett if only there was a bike lane on Mace")...
https://www.cc.com/video/x8gy2p/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-tunnel-vision
Posted by: South of Davis | August 29, 2023 at 03:25 PM
Regarding the mobility of agricultural equipment, some time ago I suggested that there be a paved ag-only/restricted road to the east of Mace and El Macero, connecting to Mace near Montgomery and to 32B near the fruit stand/I-80 EB egress.... this would reduce the need for ag to use Mace... reaction indicated that it was not a totally new idea, but nothing's come of it....
Posted by: Tuvia | August 29, 2023 at 03:29 PM
SOD:
I'm having difficulty mapping out how an additional NB lane gets people more quickly south to Montgomery.
PS: I'm not sure that we even have a single documented toad use of the tunnel. And there is solid evidence that ridership to Pioneer has notably increased since some (though ham-fisted) protected bicycle facilities were added to Mace. I know that *I* have used the new bike infra. (And I've never used the toad tunnel.)
Posted by: darell | August 29, 2023 at 03:53 PM
Darell, I personally own a half dozen bikes (three at home and three at my cabin) and I not only ride to work about half the time, but grocery shop on a regular basis with a bike here and in Tahoe filling my double Burley trailers (and my kids have been riding to school most days since Kindergarten) so I am not some SUV driving anti-bike guy (I'm a SUV driving pro-bike guy) but I have to agree with the the Yolo county traffic engineer that said the "Mace Redesign" was "Stupid on Steroids" (they did "fix" the Cowell intersection quickly removing all the big rocks that forced most drivers into oncomming traffic when making right turns and we have had the "temporary" plastic barricades for a couple years now). In the decades with the two northbound lanes nobody ever got stuck "inside" El Macero since even if I80 was at a standstill most people would wait in the right lane and people heading north of 80 to to Harper Jr. High would be able to move along in the left lane. Today all the people that want to go to Target and Harper are stuck behind all the people that can't get on 80. Last Thursday afternoon traffic was so bad that it backed up into El Macero to Lakeview so you could not get out to turn left and head south on Mace (I made a U turn and drove to the South El Macero exit but that was also backed up). I know I could put the golf clubs in the bike trailer and drive around traffic, but if I want to get invited back to play golf I make an effort to fit in (the golfers already make fun of me for not smoking cigars and not drinking in the morning and would really give me ahard time if I rolled up with my clubs on my back or in a trailer)...
Posted by: South of Davis | August 29, 2023 at 05:23 PM