Honorable councilmembers,
We watched last weeks planning commission meeting on the housing element and, just tonight, watched Mayor Wolosins YT presentation on the topic (thanks for the work on that). Well also watch the city council meeting tomorrow. Weve felt that there are a few omissions that make it difficult for us residents to get a sense of whats being proposed. In the name of transparency, those are the issues I noted:
1. The maps on display dont show the names of the streets. Since the scale of those maps is not noted, its hard to tell where the proposed actions are located. ECR is referred to, but people in the most affected areas need to see the names of the streets that relate to their daily lives. Asking residents to guess at street names when such profound changes are being proposed feels lazy.
2. Theres no cheat sheet on the zoning districts that are referred to. Googling them isnt an option. A zoning map should be included in the slides and referred to again and again, ideally in the presentation, at worse in the chat or wherever, so that residents understand what they have now vs. what our representatives are voting on.
Thank you for considering those points, in the name of transparent communication, even in the final hour of this housing element zoning update
Catherine McMillan
