10-22-18 email from Michael TariDiaz, Lori
From: Michael Tari <michael j.tari@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2018 12:36 PM
To: Bartle, Donna; Diaz, Lori
Subject: 18th Street Safety
Donna and Lori,
I am having some difficulty with my technology today and do not have the email addresses for our city's
commissioners -Would you please forward my note below to all of the AB commissioners at your earliest
convenience and copy me when you do so?
Best,
Michael Tari
Commissioners,
As you know I am member of the PPSARC and the 18th street subcommittee.
It is my understanding that parking configurations, other than the parallel parking recommend by the
committee, are being considered to solve the massive safety issue that currently exists at 18th street. A safety
issue which has been acknowledged by the city since the city has tried to put a bandaid on the problem by
stationing a police officer at 18th at certain times.
I will not go into the obvious details of why having a police officer at 18th street is not a permanent solution
both in terms of cost and the fact that given our limited man power an officer can not be there at all times. For
example, I have personally witnessed many crowed times and dangerous situations over the last few months
when an officer was there as well as when they were not..
What I will communicate is that any other parking solution outside of parallel parking will not solve the safety
problems at 18th street. For example, head in parking will still put people in the middle of the street when
getting things from the trunks of their cars and still encourage them to walk down the middle of the street
instead of walking back to the front of their cars and using any walkway that may be built. Furthermore, head in
parking will require the street to be widened to build the needed pedestrian walkway. This will move pedestrian
traffic closer to the fences of many residents who have suffered enough already due to the overcrowded, and
inequitable when compared to the rest of our city, parking on 18th street. More importantly, there will be a great
expense to building such a walkway (and the retaining walls required) and such a walkway will require many
trees to be cut which is, to my understating, difficult to do in our city due to the "tree friendly" position adopted
by our commission over a year ago. After all of citizens need permits to cut trees, should they have a say if the
city is to cut so many. Finally, leaving head in parking will mean that people will still be backing into a street
where many others, including small children, will inevitably be walking. Again, this exactly what we currently
have. Therefore, head in parking does nothing to change the terribly dangerous situation on 18th street at all.
I also understand there has been talk of changing 18th to a one way street. Let me just say that any change such
as that should not be considered until after there has been an extensive study on how it will impact traffic in the
local area. Feedback from local residents should also be garnered before anything of the sort is considered. The
last thing I would like to see is local residents close to 18th street being treated differently with respect to one
way streets than the rest of the beach access streets in the city. I would imagine that such a move would come
much to the consternation of residents who already feel mistreated due to the inordinate amount of traffic
present in their area.
If you will look at the parallel parking plan developed by the committee, you will see it allows for a pedestrian
walkway using the current width of the street. This low cost solution does not require the expense of widening
the street. It only involves erasing some painted lines and painting new ones. Furthermore, parallel parking
will take people removing things from their trunks out of the middle of the street and encourage them to use the
walkway because it will right next to them. Finally, it will do away with the major safety issue of people
backing into a street full of adults and children.
The members of the parking committee have spent a great deal of time and effort considering public safety in
our city, including many alternatives to solve the safety issues at 18th street. I would hope their opinions would
be respected as they are informed positions rather than rushed solutions that may have been developed by much
less informed, although very well intentioned, people.
I am thankful for all of the work the city has done to help solve the safety issues raised by the committee. Our
city staff has shown themselves to be willing to implement the solutions the PPSARC has developed across our
wonderful city and I am grateful to them for that. I hope we can continue the momentum and finally resolve
what the PPSARC sees as one our city's greatest safety issues.
Best, Michael Tari