Safety and cleanliness big issues for Lincoln

Business owners, residents agree to preliminary goals

By Kate Carter

Residents and business owners near and along Lincoln Avenue told consultants and city officials Feb. 12 to concentrate on making Willow Glen's downtown safer, cleaner and better for business.

The community meeting, attended by about 50 people at the Live Oak Adult Day Center, was the first of several planned to solicit input on a city Redevelopment Agency study of Lincoln Avenue between Minnesota and Coe avenues. The $200,000 report will identify the business district's problems and recommend solutions, some of which have already begun.

"Things are just now beginning to get underway," District 6 City Councilman Ken Yeager said of the study project that has been budgeted since last summer. "We can really tackle a lot of the issues that are occurring on Lincoln Avenue."

Lincoln Avenue north of Coe Avenue will be studied through a separate effort conducted by the city and the West San Carlos Business Association, Yeager said, which will coordinate when necessary with the Willow Glen study.

Yeager told the Willow Glen Resident that he hoped the study will serve as a blueprint for the future of Lincoln Avenue, with contributions from all parts of the community, to use to avoid potential battles over what changes are made there in the future.

Consultant Design, Community and Environment is the organization spearheading the effort. It has involved several other consulting agencies to address specific issues. One of those, Jeffrey Eichenfeld and Associates, will work directly with the Willow Glen Business and Professional Association to help it become better managed, organized and supported. Bay Area Economics will conduct customer surveys of the area to find out how the business area could better attract shoppers. CCS Planning and Engineering will search for ways to overcome the street's traffic and parking challenges without spreading them to the surrounding neighborhoods.

David Early, with Design, Community and Environment, said the team will also work closely with city departments, Yeager's office, the business association and the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association.

"All of these organizations are committed to a partnership," Early told the group.

The group had identified some of the street's problems already, he said, from its preliminary discussions. Those included cleanliness and maintenance of the street; the design of its lighting, furniture and other structures; traffic and parking; pedestrian-friendliness of the street to include better landscaping, wider sidewalks and pedestrian safety; the mix of shops on the street; and the business association and its use of the area's Business Improvement District funds.

Early said the solutions to these and other identified problems would be classified as short-, medium- and long-term, and that some short-term solutions were already done or being worked on. The city's Department of Transportation has replaced 50 of 60 of the streetlights, re-painted crosswalks, trimmed trees, removed decorative lights, weeded and re-planted planters, and replaced faded speed limit signs and added others.

The city is also having the street swept every Thursday morning between 2 and 6 a.m. and is evaluating the success of that work. The city will be installing 12 new trashcans on the avenue in June, as well.

Public works official Greg Jobe presented to the group a plan to refurbish the archways along the street by replacing the marquee lights. The city will also be installing a light in the center of each arch to aim down at pedestrians waiting to cross the street at the six crosswalks. The work will begin in April and take about 16 weeks, he said.

Those present expressed skepticism at the lighting project, as the lights will only be visible at night and won't address pedestrians' problems of crossing the street during the day or being seen while in the middle of the crosswalk, situations that lead to numerous close calls along the avenue. The group asked the officials to consider other long-term ways to light the crosswalks and make the street safer and more appealing for shoppers to cross and do business, they said.

Some were also concerned about how proposed projects would be paid for and the timeframe in which they would be completed. Early said the street is not eligible to receive redevelopment funds for capital improvements but suggested that some of the BID funds could be used as well as the city's general fund and various grant programs. Yeager assured the group that the study would not languish in a file but would actually be put to use.

"I'm going to make sure this gives us the results that we want," he said.

The gathering met together in smaller groups and then reported their goals for the study. Most concurred with those presented by the consultants and city staff, emphasizing safety and cleanliness of the street and the overall healthiness of the business community.

Other ideas included creating signage to mark the entry into Willow Glen's downtown; sharing the parking lots and making them more attractive; adding open space areas along the avenue; and establishing public information campaigns to slow traffic, pick up litter and enforce traffic and code laws.

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