Acting Towards a Destination

The ongoing process of developing a community alternative for the Baylands has highlighted the critical importance of public space as a cornerstone of any future Baylands Specific Plan. Beginning in early 2007 with the first Brisbane Baylands Speaker Series, the community was asked to provide input on their preferences for the development of the site. With the public encouraged to attend neighborhood workshops throughout the proceeding years, it was evident that Brisbane is home to a passionate citizenry who never failed to deliver informative, and thought-provoking insights.

Please come to the June 22nd City Council meeting, as it will be a continuation of the Council hearing from the community and providing their direction on the policy issues pertaining to the community alternative. Included in these policy issues are: the location of the Caltrain station location, alternative energy, and a retail/entertainment district.

If you'd like to weigh in on City issues before then, come to this Monday's City Council meeting, where one of the agenda items is the update to the Housing Element - the only element of the General Plan that is required to be updated within a specific 5-yr. time frame. Provided a bit of context, it becomes clear why this is so. In April 2005, San Mateo County Supervisors Mark Church and Jerry Hill initiated HOPE (Housing Our People Effectively) by bringing together approximately 150 representatives from all sectors of the community with a mandate to create a plan to end homelessness. The Plan has been completed and can be found by clicking here. Additionally, it was stated in a recent presentation that "In the 1970's there were 300,000 more affordable units in the nation than households that needed them. In 2005, there were 4.4 million households who needed affordable housing and unable to find it."

To give this issue local context, Brisbane's Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) for the last housing cycle (1999-2005) was 426 units. Actual building permits issued, during that period, amounted to 74 (10 affordable, 64 above moderate). Brisbane's RHNA for this period is 401 (57 low income, 77 moderate, and 267 market rate).

So, come to the City Council meeting on June 15th to weigh in on this important issue, which not only encompasses social equity, but economic and environmental issues as well. To view the night's full agenda, please click here.

You can see that Brisbane has many important issues to work towards, but it's going to take the engagement and involvement of the entire community to make sure that maximum benefit is attained while Brisbane progresses towards the best destination.

However, one destination you will want to avoid is Visitation Ave - on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of every month (the next time being June 24th). This is when scheduled street sweeping takes place, between the hours of 2:00am - 6:00am. Violators will be cited, so please do your part and ensure your vehicle is parked elsewhere, and Visitacion kept as clean as possible, not to mention the Bay. Thank you in advance for your assistance!