Walk the Talk Forum: ‘The Time for Commuter Cities is Over’

What does the city of Mountain View need to move forward positively into the future?

That was the question on everyone’s lips at Monday night’s "Walk the Talk Forum," presented by the Grand Boulevard Initiative. People gathered at to exchange and discuss ideas on the changes needed in order to transform Mountain View—and, in particular, its sections of El Camino Real, which translates to the "Grand Boulevard" in English—into a smarter,  revitalized city; one that meets the modern needs of its residents and workforce.

"A 'complete neighborhood' is somewhere you can get your complete daily needs met in your immediate neighborhood, and you're near mass transit," said Michael Freedman, a strategist, planner and designer with the firm Freedman, Tung and Sasaki in San Francisco.

Freedman’s speech honed in on one point—sprawling, drivable, suburban areas, while popular, no longer meet the needs of a modern, economically challenged society like the one we live in today.

Those reasons included poor accessibility and mobility, or congestion; rapid consumption of farmland and natural resources; acceleration of climate change; and becoming increasingly too expensive for families.

In Silicon Valley, those are reasons most residents can probably identify with, and admit to being frustrated with—especially on a day spent out and about, trying to get to work, to run errands, battle commuter traffic and get home at a decent hour.

"This is becoming a bit like a third-world country—there’s no walkability anymore," he said, about the dependence of people on cars not just to get to work, but also to the grocery store, the coffee shop, the dry cleaner, the kids’ schools and all the other places they need to go daily.

Still, Freedman was surprised at the number of cities that still resist or accept these facts, and continue to develop areas in the suburban sprawl, "commuter" model.

"Despite all the signs that moving toward this model would be smart economically and ecologically, the 'modernist' model seems entirely too resilient for developers," one of Freedman’s presentation slides read.

In other words, city councils and developers continue to choose the outdated, failing model, again and again, he emphasized.

One audience member suggested it was due to the fact that the sprawling, modernist city model felt like a safe investment with proven ROI (Return on Investment) for developers and decision-makers.

In response Freedman pointed out that the more modern, walkable urban model combined with access to transit has actually proven to compound real estate premiums three-fold, giving ROIs of between 40 to 200 percent.

In other words, the value of homes in walkable, urban developments that are near a source of mass transit are going up, in a seemingly big way.

Freedman said, it all comes down to making the tough decision and moving toward the future.

"The decision of where to locate your retail is one of the most important decisions a city can make," he said. "Urban vitality is what will sell homes, draw the ‘talent’ and nurture innovation. You must reposition your retail strategically."

While some seemed to find the largely conceptual nature of Freedman’s speech thought-provoking, others hammered into him during the question-and-answer portion of the evening, wanting to know specifics and costs to taxpayers, and whether there is any proof to his points.

"The economics don’t work for 'smart growth,'" one audience member said, citing the city of San Jose as an example of a "smart-growth disaster," as she called it.

Freedman asked that, in general, everyone try to “put off arguing about how we’re going to get where we want to go, and first talk about where we might want to go.”

After the question-and-answer period ended, a panel of regional community and business leaders took questions from the audience as well.

The panelists included Bruce Karney, a longtime resident of Old Mountain View who works for SolarCity; Elaine Breeze, vice-president of development at Urban Housing Group; Mountain View City Councilmember Ronit Bryant; Corinne Goodrich, manager of strategic development at the San Mateo County Transit District; and Kevin Connolly, a manager at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.

One audience member identified himself as a Mountain View resident, a Google engineer, and a “bicycle enthusiast.” He asked how long he would have to wait to see some of these improvements to El Camino, which he currently views as “bike-hostile.”

The question was referred to Councilmember Bryant, who said, "I don't know. This is a huge redevelopment, and some of the proposals we've seen so far are very much 'El Camino the way it always used to be' - drive-thru this, drive-thru that, parking on the street. That's really not what we want to see. I can't say I'm entirely happy with what we've been getting so far.”

Another resident asked, would these improvements threaten the rights of property owners?

“Is where my business is located going to be rezoned, putting me out of business?” he asked.

Bryant said, no.

“We think this vision might work in some places. Let's try it,” she said. “What is there would stay, but in some areas, maybe we could try and do something more. For example, in certain key locations, we could go taller - maybe up to six stories.”

The Grand Boulevard Initiative is a collaboration of 19 cities, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, and multiple local and regional agencies, committed to improving the quality of life for all who live, work and play in the cities along the El Camino corridor. For more information, visit www.grandboulevard.net.