The American Institute of Architects (AIA) sponsored an event on February 24, that focused on issues and proposals to the problems in crossing the estuary. It was an interesting evening.
Panelists Jeff Cambra (BikeAlameda), John Knox White (Transform), John Eddy (ARUP), and Oakland City Councilmember Pat Kernighan gave presentations and fielded moderated questions from the audience. Plenty of interesting stuff. BA got the word out about the Tube to land use planners that can make a difference in designing transit corridors and not creating barriers to non-auto transportation.
We now have leads from several of our contacts on securing more coalition partners, and we made an important contact with Pat Kernighan, Oakland City Councilmember.
One of the undisputed presentation highlights was Jeff's movie of a ride through the Tube, capturing all the nitty gritty details of the experience. Big fun, especially watching it instead of riding it! (stay tuned for the video online)
There were plenty of questions during the Q&A period, but the question most asked revolved around the Coast Guard, whose big cutters and need to respond to emergencies without impediment presents the biggest challenge to any kind of bridge in this location. People questioned whether moving the Coast Guard closer to the Bay, like to Treasure Island or Alameda Point, might be worth exploring.
AIA (http://www.aiaeb.org) will post a link reviewing the event soon and we'll be sure to share it in case you want more detail.
posted: Wed, 03 Mar 2010