Winn Park/Capitol Avenue Neighborhood Association

Issues -Cars, Cars, & More Cars & Parking

Residential Permit Parking Program (RPPP)

As most of you are aware, RPPP currently operates Monday through Friday during regular business hours, 8am – 5 or 6pm. Parking is generally allowed for two hours for non-resident cars. The system has been fairly successful, except for some residences immediately adjacent to heavy commercial or mixed-use (heavy retail, restaurants, bars, etc.) areas.

The recently completed Central City parking study has proposed extending enforcement to include evenings and weekends in these areas. Because the Sutter Hospital expansion has eliminated a sizeable amount of both on- and off-street parking in portions of our neighborhood, the WPCANA board has requested we be a test case for this extended enforcement. This means that posted parking limits would be changed from two hours to one hour. If you live within walking distance of the Sutter expansion, you should soon be receiving a ballot asking you to vote on this change. Many of our residents who don’t have access to off-street parking are having a difficult time parking near where they live, particularly at night when it can feel unsafe to walk. Please consider voting in favor of this extended enforcement.

Two-Way Conversion of L, N, P, & Q Streets

The two-way conversions will come before the City Council in February. When our neighborhood put together the recommendations for our traffic calming plan, it was envisioned in two phases: The first giving us are current traffic calming measures; the second converting L, N, P and Q streets from one-way to two-way from 16th to 30th streets. Conversion would both slow traffic and allow those streets to have pedestrian islands and traffic circles.

Before proceeding, the city chose to do a larger two-way conversion study throughout the Central City and a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR). We expected that the EIR would take a serious look at how two-way conversion might improve neighborhood safety and livability. Instead, it focused on how two-way conversion might cause longer delays at stop signs and traffic signals. As a result, staff is recommending that L, P and Q streets remain one-way. They did recommend two-way conversion for N Street, but on the basis that it will provide one more entrance point into our neighborhood from the freeway.

Members of the WPCANA board, as well as activists from other Central City neighborhoods, will be lobbying the City Council to reconsider staff recommendations. We understand two-way conversion is an expensive process and will need to be phased in over several years, but traffic calming experts agree that it slows traffic and is more conducive to neighborhood livability and business ventures.

High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Lanes

The HOV project proposed for Hwy. 50 from Sunrise to I-5 would add one traffic lane in both directions, as well as new ‘drop ramps’ (possibly elevated) along the WX freeway. The proposed project’s goal is to ease traffic congestion. However, even the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), which supports HOV, admits it will ease congestion short term, but will not solve our congestion problems in the long run. SACOG acknowledges that traffic congestion we will resume in few years.

Construction of HOV lanes is expensive project. It also has the potential to increase sprawl and to add more traffic to already overcrowded Central City streets. Funds to build HOV will money available for public transit projects – a way to give people a real alternative to their cars and significantly reduce congestion long-term.

The Sacramento City Council is on record unanimously opposing the HOV project. A local coalition made up of neighborhood associations, environmental, and other public interest groups, Neighborhoods Advocating Sustainable Transportation or NAST, also actively oppose the project. More information is available on the NAST Web site at
www.NastSacramento.blogspot.com. Please contact the Mayor and City Council and let them know where you stand on the subject of HOV.

Links

Neighborhoods Advocating Sustainable Transportation
Sacramento City Council Calendar