A resident asks whether the berm wall along Moraga Avenue will be a landscaped slope or an eyesore –

Members of the City Council,

Attached you will find copies of the brochures of SIERRASCAPE WALLS and TENSAR Earth Technologies, Inc. detailing the system that is proposed by ELS, Architecture and Design in their Final Proposed Master Plan and Additional Detailed Information.

As you can see, unlike the architects renderings and photo shopped pictures depict, this is a system designed as a cheap reinforced soil solution for grade separation > Click to read more…

An Open Letter from Candidate Tim Rood Regarding His Position on Blair Park –

A recent letter to the Piedmont Post  inaccurately characterized my position regarding the proposed sports complex at Blair Park. I’d like to take this opportunity to set the record straight.

As a longtime soccer parent (as well as baseball and softball) I am completely sympathetic to the desire for additional field space in town and understand that the lease for the fields currently > Click to read more…

The following letter was submitted to the City Council by a Piedmont resident –

I. The Federal Highway Administration’s Roundabout: An Information Guide FHWA-RD-00-067 (FHA) states at page 179: “Mini-roundabouts are not traffic calming devices but rather are a form of roundabout intersection.” The EIR states the Moraga Avenue 85th percentile speed is 35 mph, the 2011 City survey found 38 mph on Moraga Avenue at Red Rock. > Click to read more…

Expanding Coaches Would Be The “Greenest” Of Them All –

Submitted by Piedmont Council Member Garrett Keating on Nov. 27, 2011

While I agree with Morissa* about the futility of analyzing the Blair Park proposal as “green” in light of what it proposes for Moraga Canyon, in this age of increasing global temperatures and declining water resources, we do have to “do the math” as Mr. Hanf** suggests to guide decisions about how we use our resources. To that end, I have compared the green benefits of the field options: Alameda Point, Blair Park and Coaches Field expansion. > Click to read more…

The Piedmont Civic Association appreciates the efforts of Conna McCarthy to explain her candidate’s decision to decline to participate in the PCA forum, as well as her good wishes for future PCA forums which she points out “could be a beneficial part of Piedmont’s civic engagement”.   (November 23, 2011 “Viewpoint” in the POST) > Click to read more…

Resident Responds to “green benefits” of sports field –

The following letter was received  from a Piedmont resident.

In the November 9 issue of the Piedmont Post, Mr. Lance Hanf, the treasurer of the Piedmont Soccer Club wrote the opinion piece “Blair Park green benefits: just do the math”  I’d like to answer that letter.  > Click to read more…

 Changes in Final Plan Call for Further EIR Analysis –

The following letter was sent to PCA on the need for a Supplemental EIR –

Eric Havian stated, “the opponents now claim that the project has fundamentally changed, requiring a new EIR.”  One opponent is evidently the City of Oakland, which stated Dec. 6, 2010:  “In conclusion, the project wholly fails to meet with CEQA’s requirements.” Oakland’s primary concern is traffic flow, and now there is a new traffic plan not analyzed under the FEIR. > Click to read more…

Group Urges City to Hire Sustainability Coordinator

The following letter was received on November 11, 2011 from a group of Piedmont residents.  NOTE: The City Council passed the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policy at its meeting on November 7, 2011. 

Dear City Council,

We’re writing in support of the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policy (EPPP) coming before you on Monday, and also to ask that the City place more priority on the issue of greenhouse gas emissions reductions.  Piedmont had a lot to be proud about when the Climate Action Plan (CAP) and Environmental Task Force (ETF) > Click to read more…

The following letter was received on November 8, 2011 from a Piedmont resident.

I have voted, in one election or another, for each of the current Piedmont City Council members and contributed time and or money to at least two of their campaigns.  I certainly did not do so because I agree with them on all issues.  I, and I suspect others who voted for them, did so because we trusted them to expect and consider objective staff reports, to listen carefully to public testimony, to understand what it would be like to be hurt by their decisions, and to explain how, despite that hurt, their vote furthered the general welfare. > Click to read more…

PCA received a copy of the following letter from a Piedmont resident:

Nov. 7, 2011

Piedmont City Council

Re: Nov. 7: 3^rd Quarter Crime Statistics.

The fundamental changes in the traffic aspect of the Blair Park Proposal may require more Police resources. The Police parking space shown in the Blair Park final plans was not in the FEIR plan. The original traffic plan intent using a pedestrian bridge was to allow traffic to flow; now the intent is to decrease traffic speed by about 50% or “gum up the works” (Clarence Mamuyac 2/24/11) with the insertion of the Maxwelton mini-roundabout. This radical change concept was neither analyzed nor mentioned in the certified EIR. > Click to read more…