Thursday, March 29, 2018

Parking & traffic in Point Richmond topic of April 10 meeting at Community Center

   POINT RICHMOND - A special two-hour meeting - specifically to discuss parking and traffic issues in Point Richmond - will be held Tuesday, April 10 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Point Richmond Community Center on Washington Avenue.
     "The meeting is just to talk about parking and traffic," Denée Evans of Richmond Transportation Services said. "Prior meetings have been too short."
     Evans made her comments during a presentation at the Point Richmond Business Association luncheon Thursday at the Hotel Mac.
Irene Hightower (L) with Denée Evans
     Her appearance had been scheduled to discuss a wide range of parking matters relative to the Point and also to explain the mysterious appearance - and quick disappearance - of four parking kiosks installed on Park Place several weeks ago.
     The kiosks were part of a planned paid parking pilot program that had been under discussion for months at both the PRBA and the Point Richmond Neighborhood Council.
     But Evans said that particular idea has been taken off the table.
     "There will be no paid pilot," she said.
    The sudden installation of the kiosks was the result of what Evans called a "perfect storm" of miscommunications - as well as "liberties" taken by the vendor, a company called Parkeon.
     "That will never happen again on my watch," she said.
     Evans also lined out some ideas being considered by the city - all of which will be up for discussion at the April 10 community meeting. One is to standardize the parking stall sizes on Park Place, Washington Avenue and Richmond Avenue. The slots now are different sizes - some as large as 24 feet.
     Another is to strategize how to deal with the anticipated big influx of vehicles - and people - as various approved residential developments are completed in the next few years.
     Outgoing PRNC President David Schoenthal is helping organize the April 10 meeting. He said there will be a professional facilitator helping run the meeting.