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The Redwood City Council has laid out its top priorities for the year ahead, including road safety improvements, homelessness, an anti-harassment ordinance and a new arts center.
The offsite biannual meeting, which took place on Feb. 5 and was open to the public, included an update on major goals and initiatives for this year, followed by an in-depth discussion of the council’s proposed priorities for the 2022-2023 budget.
Though no official action was taken during the meeting, each council member brought two topics for consideration. Among the items discussed were protecting reproductive health, offering small business grants and supporting the Redwood City Ferry project.
Ultimately, over the course of a two-hour discussion, the Council voted on four items for possible inclusion in next year’s budget:
- Accelerate the implementation plan for the El Camino Real corridor by working with staff to address the most acute safety concerns in an interim manner ahead of the Caltrans process and Safety: adding calming measures, stop signs, lights to areas that have high pedestrian and children going to schools
- Homelessness: add resources and mental health to our responses. Homelessness – take a regional lead in establishing an agency alignment program with the County and State (Caltrans) as critical elements of Functional Zero for Redwood City
- Develop an Anti-Harassment ordinance. Strengthen Relocation Benefit Ordinance to make it possible for tenants to return to their home if they wish after repairs are completed
- Include an Arts Center as a Community Benefit sought as part of the Central Redwood City Plan
Thirteen members of the public, including former Mayor Ian Bain, also spoke in favor of the Center for Creativity, a public arts center, during the public comment.
“As you all know, we desperately need more activities for children and families in this community and this would be a great addition,” he said. “So I support adding this to the list of community benefits that you can ask developers for as you consider projects.”
Mac Hart, an outspoken community member who helped organize a letter that demanded council take action on a “high-collision corridor” of El Camino, also addressed the council.
“Thank you for reading the letter co-signed by students, educators, healthcare professionals, business owners and property owners,” he said.
The letter, which was signed by more than a dozen residents, brought pedestrian and bike safety to the fore in the week leading up to the special council meeting.
“The letter talks a lot about pedestrian improvements, but also bicycle improvements. And I just want to outline that the inclusion of that is not for the Lance Armstrongs of our community,” he added. “It’s for the community members who perhaps don’t have a lifestyle that aligns with the bus schedule or they don’t have the opportunity to own a car.”
