Thursday, December 11, 2008

Our Quality of Life

Dear Mayor, Vice Mayor and Council Members,

I am writing to you because I have some questions that I am hoping you will help in answering. After attending both Monday's and Tuesday's meetings at the City Council Chamber, questions arose in me.

1. My understanding of the reason to bring A's to Fremont is not only to generate revenue from the A's games, but also to boost economy within Fremont with the building of the ballpark village. The idea was to have visitors, from outside of Fremont, to shop and dine before and after ball games. Having A's at the Warm Spring site will not allow for that to happen, in my understanding. Visitors will come, yes, by BART or by cars, not to shop nor to dine, but to see a ball game. They will dine elsewhere, outside the city. They will shop elsewhere, outside the city. Having BART so close is great for the Green project, however bad for the boost of revenue and economy for Fremont, in my interpretation. Visitors come in on BART and leave immediately on BART afterward (I know, because my family did that when we visited A's ga mes at the Oakland Coliseum.). Please inform me then, how's having A's stadium at the Warm Spring site, away from the restaurants and retailers of Pacific Commons or the Hub, going to boost revenues for Fremont?

2. A's claims that there will be approximately 81 home games during any give years. What will happen to the stadium during off-season? At the meetings, all focus were on the days when A's are playing and their impact on the communities, what about the other 280 days (approximately)? Will the stadium sit there empty? Or, is the City allowing other venues to occur at the stadium? These additional venues also impact the communities, not just residential, but businesses as well. Therefore, it is not the mere 81 or less days that we are discussing, but rather an year-round issue. Having the stadium at the WS site will force the residents of South Fremont to dine and shop elsewhere (afraid of getting stuck in traffic), Great Mall perhaps, as we will not be able to cross beyond freeway 680 to get to Pacific Commons. We won 't be able to go to COSTCO or even WALMART for last minute items for school events or family events, because there is a day game and the roads are blocked. We won't be able to get to LOWES or even Home Depot for items to fix a major leak in one of our plumbing because the roads are blocked. Dining is also out of the question at night. Who wants to fight all that traffic when I can go to Milpitas. Please inform me then, how is this going to boost the economy of Fremont, when the residents of Fremont are not even spending our money in Fremont?

3. BART and regional transits are favoring WS site for the purpose of promoting GREEN. It is my believe that we should all contribute to the GREEN project when we can. As one of the speaker in Tuesday night's meeting suggested that she can put on 70 miles on some days due to chauffeuring her children with their activities. Many of our children do have activities that require shuttling, whether by their parents or by after-school care. Many of the businesses that focus on providing activities to children are located near Grimmer and Osgood, within a 3 miles radius of the proposed WS site. In order to avoid the gridlock, as well as trying to avoid contributing to the traffic problem near the WS site once the stadium is built, we would have to take alternative routes that will contribute to additional miles in our cars. Let's say if one family had tap on 10 additional miles in 1 day just to avoid the gridlock, think about the 1000's of families that live on the West side of 680, as well as North of Automall/Durham and South of Mission. You may have 20-30% BART ridership to the game, but at the same time, you may have 1000's of frustrated parents and/or caregivers driving additional miles on the road just to get their children to their activities. Please inform me then, how is having the stadium at the WS site benefiting the EARTH and the GREEN project?

Thank you for reading my concerns and I hope to hear your answers soon. In addition, please include my concerns in the current draft EIR.

Regards,

1 comment:

  1. Susan, very carefully thought and well-written piece of letter!

    ReplyDelete