By Raúl Ayrala. Peninsula 360 Press.
With the help of two colorful panels strategically placed behind the councilors, and one more in front of them, the Council of Redwood City It was transformed, this Monday the 18th at six in the afternoon, into a kind of television news studio. The thing is that the legislators and the mayor decided that the presentation of the ?State of the City? would be new this year, with the title "Redwood City Reporting Live."
Thus, Mayor Jeff Gee became the presenter, and each of the Council members - who were all present - was a reporter, reporting (in recorded segments and later with a live update) about some of the initiatives that the same body imposed for Redwood City in its strategic plan: Housing, public transportation and roads, and support for children and youth.
Before about 50 people (many of them Mayor's Office officials) the legislators presented specific projects and achievements.
Councilwoman Alicia Aguirre, installed with her reporter microphone in front of the new apartments at 353 Main Street, spoke of the work being done not only to ensure stable housing for lower-income residents, but also for those who live in the street. He recalled that among the people who are in this situation should not only be counted those who spend the night in a tent or in improvised housing, in public places.
"There are families who sleep in their cars, and other people who only rely on a friend's couch to rest on," Aguirre said. Redwood City's intention, according to the Council, is to achieve zero homelessness.
On the topic of transportation and roads, Councilwoman Kaia Eakin revealed that the intention of the Caltrans agency is to begin with the improvement of Woodside Avenue, which is state route 84. California wants to repave Woodside between highways 280 and 101, and condition the section so that possible bike paths can be incorporated, and the possibility of preparing it for alternative public transport such as tram is even being considered.
Another highlight is the plan that is already beginning to be developed, referring to avoiding accidents (between cars or involving pedestrians) due to the high speed at which many vehicles circulate in the city. Eakin mentioned, and it is good to highlight it, that the United States is the only developed country in which traffic accidents increased in the last decade.
Vice Mayor Lisette Espinoza-Garnica spoke about the programs that Redwood City implements to support the city's children and youth, while Councilwoman Diane Howard spoke about the renovation of the senior center in Red Morton Park. ? Veterans Memorial, which will include a new YMCA and would be completed by the end of 2024, he announced. Another novelty is that the city plans a new green space in the center, which would be called Library Park and would be operational in 2025.
Councilman Chris Sturken spoke from Broadway Street, which between Main and Jefferson has been definitively converted into a pedestrian street. These two blocks of Broadway have seen new businesses settle in and some existing ones consolidate. He said that it has been a priority to find new economic vitality after the COVID-19 pandemic, and that they are trying to achieve this, among other measures, with the faster and easier approval of business permits while avoiding bureaucracies.
And Councilman Elmer Martínez-Sabalos finished the State of the City, recorded from Redwood Shores, with the environmental challenges. That coastal neighborhood is part of the city, and it is essential to build barriers there to contain an inevitable advance of the Bay on the mainland, which will occur sooner or later as an effect of global warming.
In that sense, he added that Redwood City also plans to plant more trees, especially in neighborhoods that may be affected by heat waves in coming years. And he recalled that there are economic incentives offered to replace gardening tools that use fossil fuels such as gasoline with electric ones, as well as aid for the installation of power outlets for electric cars.
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