The Santa Cruz Downtown Commission and Public Works and Transportation Commission held a meeting Nov. 3 to discuss making Pacific Avenue a two-way street. Commissioners tabled the proposal. Photo by Nick Paris.

The meeting was over before it even began. The Downtown Commission and Public Works and Transportation Commission held a special joint meeting on Nov. 3 to discuss the possibility of making Pacific Avenue a completely two-way street. In a unanimous vote, the commissioners tabled the proposal.

Although most blocks on Pacific Avenue are already two-way, a few are one-way — from Pacific and Water Street to Pacific and Cathcart Street. The proposal included a three-month trial period. The estimate for how much the proposal would cost is between $20,000 and $30,000.

Community members gathered in the Chamber of Commerce, anticipating an argument and waiting to speak.

The meeting began with Bonnie Lipscomb, executive director of economic development and redevelopment, who gave a small presentation. She explained the fire department had a test run on
Nov. 3 to see how fire trucks driving through the potential two-way street would fare. Lipscomb said changes would need to be made downtown to make it safe for them to pass.

“In order to accommodate the fire trucks, we would have to remove a row of parking,” she said.

Kelly Kumec of the Santa Cruz Fire Department wrote to the city council, raising additional concerns about the proposal.

“I know especially during the holidays, UPS and other delivery trucks need to stop on Pacific to make their deliveries,” she said. “Currently it is not a problem, because traffic can pass them. But with two-way traffic this won’t be possible and could create gridlock.”

At an Oct. 25 meeting, the Downtown Association proposed to city council members the idea of making Pacific Avenue a two-way street. The idea for the proposal came to the Downtown Association from Bob Gibbs, a nationally respected retail expert, who said a two-way traffic flow would boost sales between 20 and 30 percent.

Removal of parking rows was not in the planned agenda for this project. Lipscomb said fire trucks’ inability to easily drive through a two-way street on Pacific Avenue raises concerns of “safety and access.” The estimate for the cost of the project would also increase significantly.

With a sentence, Lipscomb put an end to the discussion.

“Therefore the Downtown Association does not feel comfortable going through with the proposal at this time,” she said.

Once Lipscomb made the announcement the city council voted to end the discussion. All members unanimously voted to table the proposal and the crowd applauded the quick decision. One council member said it was “the shortest meeting I’ve ever had.” It began at 7 p.m. and was over before 7:15.

Mike Rotkin, a UC Santa Cruz community studies professor and former mayor, opposes the proposal for two-way traffic on Pacific Avenue.

“Despite the recession, we have a very successful downtown even though we don’t have a traditional [two-way] downtown street,” Rotkin said.

The Downtown Association wanted to inact a three-month trial by December or January, which Rotkin felt was “a violation of the process. The speed of it all, they were rushing it. This is a desperate attempt to get cash. I don’t blame them.”

Rotkin, who has lived in Santa Cruz since the summer of 1969, said he has seen a lot of changes within the business community.

“Santa Cruz is a summertime town,” he said. “Back then, people didn’t expect to make money in the winter, but today people do expect to make money in the winter. Rent is higher.”

Rotkin said businesses on Pacific Avenue can succeed without any change in the street.

“If I was a business person, I’d be demanding the government to help me, too,” Rotkin said. “I respect the businesspeople’s concerns. I just feel the basic premise of this is wrong. I don’t believe we need a two-way street on Pacific.”

Though the proposal is on hold until further notice, Lipscomb said there will be a “study session” on Nov. 9 for the city council with more recommendations from Bob Gibbs.

This and other proposals for developing downtown Santa Cruz are still in the beginning phases.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Two-Way Pacific Avenue Proposal Dismissed

“Every agency takes on a Tuesday, so it moves around the area,” Friend said.

A Santa Cruz Police Department officer pulled over and ticketed fifth-year Lucas Healy on Tuesday morning as he rode on his bike down Hagar Drive by the Bay Tree Bookstore and turned left by the Cowell Computer Lab without stopping at the stop sign.

“I stop there when I have to,” Healy said. “It sucks when you’re on a bike. If there’s no traffic or pedestrians, I don’t see the point in stopping.”

The police coverage caught students, including Healy, off-guard.

“It’s bullshit,” Healy said. “I saw [SCPD officers] all the way up High Street today too, waiting at every stop. I can’t believe my first ticket was on a bike.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at SCPD Steps Up Its Presence

A student crossing guard with Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) controls traffic in front of Porter College. Photo by Nita-Rose Evans.

Wearing neon yellow vests and gloves, student traffic controllers are directing crowds of bustling pedestrians and vehicles at some of the busiest intersections on campus. They aim to reduce cross-campus travel times, improve pedestrian safety, and increase sustainability.

Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) implemented a traffic control pilot program this Spring Quarter after receiving complaints about the increasing amount of traffic and pedestrians crossing during class breaks.

“Most of our campus roads and sidewalks were built to handle about 5,000 students, and with 15 or 16 thousand, they’re just overflowing,” said Susan Willats, assistant director of TAPS. “We have these big traffic back-ups that not only affect individual drivers, but that also affect campus shuttles and Metro buses.”

TAPS initially debuted the Traffic Control Project at Porter College, and will be gradually adding traffic controllers to six intersections by the end of the quarter, including those at Science Hill, Colleges Nine and Ten, McLaughlin Drive and Chinquapin Road, Crown and Merrill Colleges, and Cowell College and the Bay Tree Bookstore. Student traffic controllers, who make up TAPS Corps, direct pedestrians and vehicles during the school days’ three class breaks.

“Our focus, first and foremost, is safety and getting people around faster,” said Laura McCaan, lead traffic director. The project also aims to reduce the number of buses and cars idling in the intersections in order to help reduce gasoline usage.

Assistant Director Willats stressed the great need for traffic controllers to guide pedestrians, due to distractions and lack of attention. “Students are using cell phones and iPods, spacing out, and walking right into traffic,” she said.

So far, approximately 30 trained students have learned basic hand signals and methods used to control traffic and let pedestrians know when it is safe to cross. The TAPS Corps worker position is offered through student employment at the Career Center to those with or without work study. TAPS is currently looking to hire an additional 30 workers, to be paid $8.50 an hour, to efficiently monitor traffic.

“Every intersection is really quite unique in the challenges it presents, and it’s taking a while to figure out how to get it under control,” Willats said. “We’re also having a hard time hiring students and training them fast enough. We need more people.”

Mansi Joshi, a first-year health sciences major from College Eight, enjoys her job as a TAPS Corps worker, believing that many are safer with the program in place.

“I really think that the program is a good idea,” Joshi said. “Before the traffic program, kids would try to run in the street, almost getting run over. Some students are impatient with the [directing], but they don’t understand why we’re here — we’re trying to create efficient traffic flow.”

After sending an e-mail to the campus requesting feedback, Willats found that a large number of people were thrilled with the project, saying that it made transportation move more smoothly. Many others feel frustrated with and skeptical of the new program.

“[One of the] main issues [is] that people may feel insulted, because they know how to cross the street,” Willats said. “The thing is, everyone knows how to cross the street, but, as a crowd, we are not good at modifying our behavior. When there is a group of people at the intersection, they just keep flowing across.”

Director McCaan also said that the project has had a positive impact, as witnessed by the approval from shuttle drivers demonstrated by friendly waves to traffic control workers.

Students who often walk to class, like Allie Cooperman, a first-year College Ten sociology major, feel that they do not benefit from the program as much as motor vehicles do.

“As a pedestrian, it slows me down. But it is faster for the cars. So I guess, in that sense, it is good,” Cooperman said. “It just takes me longer to get to class.”

Some of the negative feedback about the project includes concerns about funding for the program amidst the university’s current budget cuts.

“[The program] does cost money, but right now this is coming out of parking fees because it’s benefiting so many drivers. What [TAPS] is looking into now is trying to apply for grant monies on-campus and from different resources. People are also worried that spending is taking money away from the shuttle system, but it’s not.”

Willats, assistant director of TAPS, views the stationing of traffic controllers as an effective way to deal with the transportation issue, as opposed to ignoring the problem or putting in traffic lights, “which are hideously expensive,” she said. “They are half a million dollars apiece and there is no guarantee that people will pay attention to them, at least [not] pedestrians who usually cross [anyway].”

The Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) will make a decision on May 12 on whether or not to make the program permanent in the fall, covering four to six class breaks.

“From the feedback so far, it looks like the program will be continued,” Director McCaan said.

TAPS measured automotive travel time from the base of campus and back before the program’s implementation, and has plans to measure the time again at the end of the quarter, once workers are stationed at all intersections to measure improvement.

Willats has high hopes for the continuation and further improvement of cross-campus transit and pedestrian safety next year. “The question we have to face is ‘do we want to continue this,’ and I think the answer is clearly, ‘yes.’”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at TAPS Aims to Improve Cross-Campus Transit

Starting today, Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) has detoured the Day Core route due to construction on Steinheart Way (the road that goes through the middle of Science Hill) between the McHenry Library and Kerr Hall. The route will be closed from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. until March 14th.

These stops aren’t being serviced by the Day Core bus during construction:

• Classroom Unit bus stop
• McHenry Library North bus stop

Instead, the Day Core will stop at these additional locations:

• Cowell/Stevenson bus stop
• Crown/Merrill bus stop
• College 9/College 10 bus stop
• Science Hill – School of Engineering bus stop

The Day Core bus will still stop at Kerr Hall North, but the stop has moved slightly across the street. The Day Core will continue to stop at Quarry Plaza on Westbound trips.

Remember, the early slug catches the best seat in lecture, so be sure to plan ahead!

Day Core Shuttle Route Detour – 3/1/2010 through 3/14/2010 [UCSC TAPS]

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Day Core Route Detoured

SANTA CRUZ, CA – Both entrances to the UC Santa Cruz campus have been blocked by protesters, causing traffic delays for those both entering and leaving the campus.

The protests are in response to a student fee increase being voted on by the UC Regents today and tomorrow. Should the measure pass tomorrow, student fees would rise 15% effective Winter Quarter 2010.

Persons traveling to and from campus should expect delays. Updated information will be available at http://www.ucsc.edu/news_events/text.asp?pid=3383 and on cityonahillpress.com as this story develops.

UPDATE 3:22pm
Empire Grade is currently blocked due to traffic delays.

UPDATE 4:51pm
The Main Entrance to campus is now clear and traffic is moving in both directions. The West Entrance is still blocked.

UPDATE 5:40pm
Both entrances to campus are now clear and traffic is moving in both directions.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Traffic Blocked at Both Campus Entrances