COMMENTARY FROM LOCAL RESIDENT ON PROPOSED DEL NORTE "TRANSIT VILLAGE:

The Del Norte area consumed the bulk of over $40 million spent by El Cerrito's Redevelopment Agency to date, including its yet to be paid debt. Due to traffic, land ownership and high crime, it is a difficult place to develop. It is hard to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse and there was some bad luck, but mainly we had unbelievably poor planning. Rather than starting with hard-nosed economic and traffic appraisals of what, if anything, can be done, we had countless "visioning" sessions. The political process is not geared to dealing with issues over longer time spans. Politicians want ribbon-cutting & ground-breaking opportunities during their tenure, and lean on staff "to do something". Staff knows they must have something going on, even if it's a feeble or unrealistic plan, to justify their jobs. Then, there's a whole army of consultants, attorney's, bond brokers, etc., who manipulate the issues, demanding to be fed. Sadly, the hypocritical politics that drive all this, turn "smart growth" into a dumb slogan.

The 1994 Megatheater nonsense plan should have been dropped after a 15 minute analysis, but it took 3 years to defeat. The current Del Norte project doesn't make economic sense either. The developer needs a $30 million subsidy to deal with replacement parking, and traffic & pedestrian circulation, but the money isn't there. Staff need their jobs and politicians need to promote housing, so the developer is pushed toward high density proposals, unsuitable and unacceptable. The $100,000 spent on Del Norte Design Guidelines is a smokesceen. It will go to pot, it could just as well go to pot-smoking.

"Public" money is sorely needed to take care of infrastructure, parks, etc., instead it is spent on politics and job security. If I were a long-distance BART commuter, I'd be upset that just the interest on wasted Del Norte funds could cover free and frequent shuttle buses - essentially an extension of BART, without the high construction costs which make rail extensions uneconomical. New buses promise to be quiet and non-poluting, so this would help the Del Norte neighborhood too. BART is on the right track with for-charge parking. But the money should go to provide acceptable (maybe even better) BART access options, to those who don't need to drive. We can gradually, over say 20 years, reduce (perhaps by half) the need to park at Del Norte with shuttles and satellite parking lots. Then, maybe, a sensible developer could make money on something attractive and less intense. Our "transit village" needs a core, not high-rise tenements. Those who need "affordable" housing, deserve to have available funds spent on more and better housing in liveable areas, not on top of a railroad station. Staff deserve the opportunity to do worthwhile work, rather than waste time on bad or infeasible plans. Commuters deserve a chance to readily and cheaply access BART. Builders deserve a chance to put the "right thing" at the "right site". We, the Del Norte neighbors, deserve good development projects, to preserve what we have, and improve on it. But don't hold your breath. The most likely outcome is .... nothing....for quite a few more years.

Peter Loubal, (510) 233-8027