Posted on Mon, 03/31/2008 - 09:38 — by tara1
Rather than an arch, which would be nice, how about enforcing the town's noise ordinances against loud music from motor vehicles -- which happen to also be covered by state law? Dampen the noise, wipe out graffiti, knock down crime FIRST and then rebuild the town's identity. And if we do get an arch, how about lettering to the tune of: "This is Walnut Creek, NOT Pittsburg" on it... it's getting so I don't recognize my old hometown any more.
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Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 1
I completely agree. And I would like to add I too am more than a little let down by what seems to be a huge drive to, as the article says "attract more people" while the very people that have invested in and live Walnut Creek somehow get pushed by the wayside. The quality of life here is on a pretty fast decline in the name of expansion and low income housing opportunities. While I have nothing what so ever against low income families, it is sad to see large scale housing projects getting the traction that they do, like The BART Transit Village, the Mercer, and the JCC project.
The BART project in particular with the goal of providing a "sense of arrival", while calling out similarities to Fruitvale's and 14th Street's transit villages is laughable...if not downright sad. I would like to invite the City Council members to take a month and go live in either of those neighborhoods, making sure take advantage of all that public transit, and the "lifestyle" has to offer and then report back on how Walnut Creek's quality of life will benefit. (note the council members don't live near the current and proposed developments, but they might have drive near them sometimes)
And poor downtown from happy hour till sun up is getting pretty gamey, I always thought we needed more drinking, fighting and muggings, to you know, let the residents know that 'our little city is all grows up'.
So yes that was a rant but in the end, adding more and not taking care of what we have now is just reckless. A pretty fountain is meaningless if there is no safety.
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 20
Please don't waste our tax money on this frivolous project. Who cares about this sign when you can't find a parking space to save your life? Or you worry about getting mugged? Or your favorite bookstore closes? Your favorite pizza place nearly goes out of business? What happened to the Walnut Creek you could live in and enjoy? Seems like it's all about Neiman Marcus or some high end store that we might only shop at once a year. What about the other 364 days? A relaxing weekend is not about spending thousands of dollars on expensive furniture. Maybe more like drinking coffee and walking with our kids. Not always the biggest money makers but definitely quality of life. It seems like our city doesn't care about the people who live here, but only about people from outside who want to spend lots of money. At the citizens expense.
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 6
All they want to do is bring in these high end restaurants. Remember Cantina? I didn't think it was great food but it was a good place to take your family at reasonable prices.
Now you have Maria Maria where they charge you $18.95 for 2 tacos instead of $8.00. And McCovey's while fun, costs an arm and a leg too. A family of four will easily spend $80.00 there for dinner.
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 6
Please don't put a ridiculous sign in downtown (can anybody envision Reno?) My argument is that I don't think you will attract any more business to the traditional downtown. Putting an arch sign there certainly will not accomplish this at all. I would encourage some of the traditional property owners to make improvements to the properties. New paint perhaps? That Dress Barn area is NOT the best presented place on the block.
So City Council, if you read this, please DO NOT put an arch. History is what you make it and no matter how many archways are resurrected, it will not enhance or take away from WC's history.
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 1
Rather than an archway, I'd like to see more attention paid to traffic management. Several months ago I sent in an email to the City Council describing the dangerous traffic situation for cars getting onto Ygnacio Valley Rd. from San Carlos (either from Heather Farms Park or from the shopping center where Sports Basement is). My suggestion was to review adding left turn directional lights for the San Carlos traffic. I never received a response from the city - I presume that this means the time I spent detailing the problem in my email was wasted, and that they'd prefer to wait until someone gets in an accident before they look at the situation. Now they want to spend $300,000 on an arch? There are plenty of better ways that they could use those resources to take better care of their city and its citizens.