[Sausalito Bike & Pedestrian Advocates] HUGE meeting for Ferry Landside project this Tuesday 2/6

[Kieran Culligan]

Hi Sausalito Bike and Pedestrian Advocates,

I'm asking you to add your voice in support of the Ferry Landside Improvement Plan that our Local Professionals Group recently submitted to the City. 

Last Sunday at this time I was riding the ferry home with my 6 year old after her first big bike ride. I found myself reflecting on how absolutely fortunate we are to have a ferry that plays a central role for active transportation in Southern Marin both for locals commuting and visitors coming to enjoy the Sausalito experience. 

However, the Ferry Landside area today is a dilapidated, unwelcoming gateway to Sausalito. The current design does little to prioritize the needs for people walking and traveling by bicycle. (You know that feeling when you get off the ferry in Sausalito, exit along the pier, and then need to walk through the parking lot because the sidewalk is too narrow?)

This week we have an extraordinary -- and rare -- opportunity for the Sausalito City Council to approve a more safe, beautiful, sustainable, and vibrant downtown waterfront. We even have $2.4 million in grant money (free money!) to fund the project. 

But this project is at risk. Crazy, right? Please help! We need you – the silent majority, positive-minded, forward-thinking people of Sausalito – to show up and make your voices heard. We need to counter the voices trying to stop or significantly dilute this plan.

. 

Here’s how you can help.

1. Join me next Tuesday, Feb. 6th at 6:30 pm at the Sausalito City Hall to make a 1-minute public comment supporting the plan (this has the most impact)

2. Write a customized, personal letter to our City Council urging them to approve the plan (key points below to help you).

3. Ask a friend and neighbor to do the same. 

If you are on the fence about the project, heard things that you don't understand, or would generally like to learn more, I'm happy to talk with you about it. Or this website has great information: Ferry FAQ. 

Can you join me at City Hall next Tuesday to show your support? 

If not, no worries. We know you're busy with busy jobs and kids. But then can you send a thoughtful email to the City Council? Below is an email template to help you get started. Please customize it in your own words and focus on the areas you're most passionate about.

Thank you,

Kieran

Template Email to Customize and Send to the City Council

To:  isobieski@sausalito.gov, jc...@sausalito.gov, jhof...@sausalito.gov, jkel...@sausalito.gov, mblau...@sausalito.gov

CC: citycouncil@sausalito.gov, cityclerk@sausalito.gov

Subject: Approve the Ferry Landside Project per the LPG Recommended Plan 

Dear City Council,

Please approve, without delay, modifications or conditions, the Recommended Plan as submitted by the Local Professionals Group for the Ferry Landside Improvement Project. 

This is a rare opportunity for Sausalito to create a safer, more enjoyable and sustainable downtown waterfront. It’s good for Sausalito, good for our residents, and good for our visitors and businesses. It’s also an investment in the future generations of Sausaltians.

Let’s get out of our own way. This is not a complicated or big project – other cities do much more. We’re enlarging the ferry plaza, adding a big sidewalk, adding a crosswalk, adding trees, benches, and landscaping, closing a street for pedestrians. We're valuing people over cars, separating the bikes, cars and pedestrians, filtering car pollutants from entering the bay, and making the space safer, more beautiful and enjoyable overall.

It’s time to move forward!

This project started in 2017. It’s now 2024. We are at risk of losing the $2.4 million in grant money and wasting the ~$400,000 we've already invested in this project. There is also a cost to continued delay. With each redesign, we spend more budget that could have been used to build it. With each delay, construction costs go up, giving us less for more.

This is a great plan that our local experts have spent hundreds of volunteer hours developing with significant input and compromise from myriad parties. Let's trust our local experts.

It’s time to create a downtown waterfront we can be proud of. Let's not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. 

Please approve the recommended plan for the Ferry Landside Improvement Project without modifications or conditions and without further delay.

Thank you,

[NAME]

Sausalito Resident

To further customize your letter, feel free to add and expand on on some of the key points below that apply/resonate with you: 

• I am a member of the Sausalito Yacht Club and I do not agree with our leadership's opposition to the Local Professional Groups recommended Ferry Landside Improvement Project plan. Like with any good project, everyone needs to compromise a little for the greater benefit this plan offers our community. Other businesses and interested parties are also making compromises to support this plan as they see the vision and the bigger benefit it brings to our downtown waterfront. The Yacht Club should be willing to look past its sole self-interests as well. The Yacht Club is also private club, with many members who don’t live here in Sausalito. While we greatly value the SYC and their role and history in Sausalito, a private club should not be able to stonewall this project at the expense of our community, including our residents, visitors, downtown businesses, restaurants, and hotels -- not to mention the future generations of Sausalitians.

• Fixes critical safety issues in the existing Ferry Landside, per the grant requirements, by expanding sidewalks, installing proven safety measures at vehicle driveways, and separating pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicles to create a safer experience for all. Closing Tracy Way enables safer sidewalk crossings on Bridgeway and improves pedestrian circulation downtown.

• Benefits residents, local businesses and increases city tax revenues by creating an enjoyable and vibrant downtown environment. Not only will the residents of Sausalito enjoy strolling along this beautiful, tree-lined plaza but this project will help revitalize our downtown and fill our empty storefronts. An enjoyable, beautiful pedestrian-focused plaza will also enhance the experience for our visitors and encourage people to stay longer shopping, dining and even staying overnight.  Enhancements to the Ferry Landside area dovetails with the creation of the Property Business Improvement District and its goals to host creative “demand generation” events that bring more people downtown, even in the off season, such as holiday markets, art walks, music, wine tastings, etc.

• Begins to tackle our city’s current waterfront environmental problems by installing an attractive bioswale to remove pollutants – oil, fuel, tire residue, and brake dust from Parking Lot 1 – before they enter our bay. It adds 20+ trees to provide needed shade for pedestrians, sequester CO2, and reduce overall heat pollution from the area. The plan also allows for compatibility with future visions and plans to address sea level rise.