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THE YEAR THAT WILL BE
S
“Completion of the precise plan and the general plan
by the city are critical issues for 2007,” added
Jolette. “They will set the direction for future years,
benefiting the residents and making it an even better
place to live and work. It is my hope that we will
then make significant progress in developing housing,
especially in the downtown area, which is so critically
needed.”
Amann chose “the decisions surrounding the closing
of the Cargill Salt works and the development of
that land” as the key for 2007. “While the development
won’t actually occur for several years, battles
between environmentalists, the city and developers
should be interesting to watch.”
some of our stores speak
only Spanish amongst themselves in front of customers.
Today when I was sitting in a restaurant with
a friend having lunch and heard only Spanish being
spoken, loudly, we were offended and thought it was
rude. This is happening more and more. What has
ever happened to being courteous to the customers?
This division in communication is likely to discourage
many customers from returning to these stores.
You don’t get this treatment in San Carlos, Menlo
Park or Stanford.” How do we deal with the language
issue while respecting each other’s heritage? And can
we even do such a thing?
REDWOOD CITY’S NEW AUTO MALL?
we’ll have to consider the
impact on our neighborhoods and traffic,” he added.
Bohl raised a related concern. “2007 may be the year
that we look back at and say, ‘We blew it,’” Bohl
said. “If we’re going to build all this housing, where
are the kids going to go to school?” he asked. Bohl
contended that the city is aware of the potential
problem, with not much being done to deal with it.
With crowded schools and the only available land
perhaps at Cañada College, will the city and the
school districts work together to integrate planning
for schools with planning for development?
PUBLIC SAFETY
“The critical issue for Redwood City is the establishment
of the Gang-Free Zone, with the inclusion of
the library and cinema,” concluded Diaz. “This
hopefully will be brought about with a new police
chief who will continue to work with the community
to solve our mutual problems via the community
policing model we have become accustomed to. The
Gang-Free Zone will be critical to our neighborhood
safety and will continue to foster the vision of
Redwood City being a people-first city, but more
importantly one that values the community’s needs
and input.”
WHICH TRACK TO CHOOSE?
Our readers have considered some of the key elements
in 2006 and looked ahead at critical issues for
2007. They have raised some important points that
need to be addressed as Redwood City continues its
journey into the 21st century. What track will the
city take on that journey? The choice is up to all of
us. Rest assured, The Spectrum will be along for the
ride!
19
2007: THE YEAR THAT WILL BE
CITY COUNCIL ELECTION YEAR
The Britschgis contended that “The City Council is
badly in need of members who will exhibit critical
thinking. So the election is most important.”
DOWNTOWN
Alpio Barbara, of Redwood General Tire and president
of the Downtown Business Group, thinks it’s
time for a “20-second timeout” while we assess
where we are and where we’re going. “I think we
need to continue to improve downtown; what I
mean by that is bring more retail into the city.”
The Britschgis agreed, advocating a “gold star effort:
to get retail leases completed in downtown.”
Further, Barbara suggested that we need to “continue
with crime prevention, have cleaner streets, get
back to basics.”
PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
“It’s hard to say what next year’s big issue will be,
but I think it will again be around development,”
explained Bain. “We’ll deal with Costco reconstruction
and several housing developments, both inside
and outside the downtown. As we deal with these
ANOTHER REDWOOD SHORES-TYPE NEIGHBORHOOD?
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