Green Streets for Sustainable Communities Symposium

In memory of Joseph "Joe" Kott, Ph.D.

Our public roads and their rights-of way are a huge public asset that must be better managed in an imaginative and integrated way. This symposium will bring together diverse stakeholders to explore how to better design, fund, build, and maintain streets to optimize performance on many dimensions.

Who Should Attend:

This symposium is for city council members and local elected officials, city staff leaders, sustainability coordinators, stormwater experts, complete street/transportation experts, citizen and environmental activists, public and private utilities, arborists and tree experts, groundwater and urban ecology experts; and sustainability and real estate leaders for companies and other institutions.

Vision: Urban areas of the Bay Area are fully integrated into a “no net impact” system with the larger natural environment. This includes an integrated water system that follows the call to “slow it, spread it, sink it” and brings together the planning for storm water drainage, drought concerns, and flood prevention. No net climate change emissions means we reduce single occupancy vehicle use and promote walking, biking, transit or other shared low- or zero emission vehicles. Human-caused emissions are offset by a rich canopy of trees, grasslands, and chaparral in our open spaces surrounding the urban area and integrated throughout our urban areas – parks and gardens but also greening our infrastructure especially our street grids. Air flows are slowed and softened by trees canopies, our soil systems are protected by and enriched with natural compost.

Desired Outcomes: Participants will (a) learn from experts and peers, (b) be empowered by a community of peers and citizens who support this vision, (c) bring this vision and set of practices to standard policies and design guidelines for their cities and organizations and, of course (d) this will lead to change “on the ground” through both plans, specifications and implementation.

Agenda

8:30 – 9:00 am Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:00 – 9:10 am Welcome/ Joe Kott Remembrance/ Call to Action: Former Mayor Yoriko Kishimoto, President Transportation Choices for Sustainable Communities

9:10 – 9:20 am Blessing and Greetings: Kanyon “Coyote Woman” Sayers-Rood, Ohlone Leader
Indian Canyon Mutsun Band of Costanoan Ohlone People

9:20 – 9:45 am Keynote Address: John Bela, Partner, Gehl San Francisco:
Public space designer, urbanist, sculptor

9:45 – 11:00 am From Vision to Policy to Practice:
Vision of Green Streets for Sustainable Communities and how it is being translated to Practice and Policy –
Robin Grossinger (Scientist, SFEI)
Sustainable Water – Jill Bicknell, SCVURPPP
Sustainable Transportation – Jessica Zenk, City of San Jose
Sustainable Ecology – Erica Spotswood, of SFEI
Sustainable Human Habitat – Alison Hicks, Mountain View City Council Member
Bringing it together – Complete, Green, Sustainable Streets
Moderator, Gita Dev, Sierra Club
Panel discussion and audience Q&A

11:00 – 11:20 am Break

11:20 am – 12:00 How to Pay for It – Investing for Sustainability:
Josh Bradt, San Francisco Estuary Partnership, Moderator
Speakers: Active Transportation Program, MTC (One Bay Area Grant), CTC (SB 1 Gas Tax funds, Natural Resources Agency (GGRF urban greening funds)

12:00 – 1:00 pm Lunch – Interactive Multi-disciplinary Table Conversations

1:00 – 2:00 pm “Where the (Green) Rubber Hits the Road”: Making the System Work for Complete, Green and Sustainable Streets” How to Execute the Vision: Managing Silos, Lessons Learned and Wisdom Gained Exploring Case Studies in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties
Moderator: Marianna Grossman, Minerva Ventures and TCSC Board

• San Mateo Sustainable Streets Master Plan: Prioritization of projects, community outreach, climate modeling, project concepts and illustrations, Matt Fabry, C/CAG:
• Mountain View North Bayshore: A new paradigm for a whole area, green complete streets, using a Specific Plan, incentives for ecology improvements, storm water, Transportation Management Association,
  Michael Tymoff, Director Real Estate District Development, Google; Martin Alkire, Principal Planner, City of Mountain View (invited)
• Palo Alto: Working across silos and community engagement. Lessons learned from Charleston Arastradero and Ross Road projects, Pamela Boyle Rodriguez and Sylvia Starr-Lack, City of Palo Alto
• San Jose: Multi-benefit Green Streets Projects,
  Jeff Sinclair, City of San Jose
• Stanford University: Holistic campus management supporting integrated design for traffic calming, stormwater management, bicycle and pedestrian safety and programs to drive commuter behavior and transit availability and convenience. Cathy Deino Blake, chief landscape architect.

2:00 – 2:45 pm Applying what we learned to change on the street: Opportunities for Impact
Q&A and discussion – with panel members, engaging the many experts in the audience

2:45 – 3:00 pm Call to Action
Yoriko Kishimoto, President, Transportation Choices for Sustainable Communities

3:15 pm Optional tour of Rengstorff Park to see green stormwater and ecology design features.

Click here for more information

Artwork used by permission of the artist © 2019 www.lindagass.com

Organizing Committee Leads:
Councilmember Alison Hicks, City of Mountain View
Matt Fabry, C/CAG, San Mateo County
Pamela Boyle Rodriguez, City of Palo Alto
Sylvia Starr-Lack, City of Palo Alto
Yoriko Kishimoto, Transportation Choices for Sustainable Communities Board
Marianna Grossman, Transportation Choices for Sustainable Communities Board
Gita Dev, Sierra Club – Loma Prieta Chapter
Jill Bicknell – SCVURPPP, Santa Clara County

Co-Sponsors

City of Mountain View

City of Palo Alto

SCVURPPP

Sierra Club - Loma Prieta Chapter

Valley Water

Supporters

Acterra

Canopy

County of San Mateo

C/CAG

County of Santa Clara

Friends of CalTrain

Grassroots Ecology

Greenbelt Alliance

Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network (JVSVN)

Minerva Ventures

Santa Clara University

Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition

SF Bay Estuary Institute

Sustainable Silicon Valley

Sustainable Stanford

San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority