four, three.
Good.
All right.
Welcome to the thursday, MAY
21st walnut creek
transportation commission
meeting.
>> will the secretary please
take a roll call?
Student commissioner kersh
absent commissioner ash absent
commissioner guerrero present
commissioner mcmahon present
vice chair patch present chair
carolyn present.
>> all right.
Moving on to public
communication.
So this portion is for anyone
in the public who wishes to
address the transportation
commission on matters within
our jurisdiction that are not
on the agenda.
So if you'd like to address the
transportation commission for
an item not on the agenda, this
is your opportunity.
>> we have no members of the
public wanting to provide
comments.
>> all righty.
>> thank you.
Then we will close this portion
of public comment before moving
on to the consent calendar.
>> I believe all we have is
approval of the minutes of
MARCH 19th, 2026 our prior
meeting so I'll just poll the
commissioners if they have any
edits, upgrades or changes as
commissioner guerrero no
changes.
>> oh right.
And forgive me I'm still got
new commissioners here.
>> commissioner mcmahon navin
vice chair patch I'm good and
to the chair has no comments so
motion I motion to approve the
minutes I second all right
motion made seconded let's do a
roll call vote please.
Commissioner guerrero I
commissioner mcmahon I ice
chair patch yes chair crawling
I all right consent items are
closed moving on to item for
consideration item so item a
electric vehicle charger
program analysis and
recommendations the staff have
a presentation for us.
Good evening commissioners.
Good evening.
>> all right, so I'm candice
regan mumby.
I'm the city sustainability
manager and I've been working
on this project with gina achor
who's one of our public works
managers.
She'll be here to help answer
questions and so we're going to
give an update on some analysis
that we have been doing about
the city's ev public ev
charging program.
>> so tonight we'll cover a bit
of background on the chargers
that we have and how they
relate to the city's
sustainability goals.
Then we'll give more detail on
the current state of the
chargers and some of the
performance gaps that we'd like
to address and some of the
opportunities that we came
across in the analysis and then
we'll talk briefly about the
next steps.
>> so to get started with the
sustainability goals.
>> so the city adopted a
sustainability action plan in
2023 which is how we're really
organizing all the city's
efforts across different topics
to reach state sustainability
goals and also to reach the
council's priority of
environmental sustainability
and climate action.
And for walnut creek, our
largest area when we look at
our greenhouse gas inventories
we try to measure community
wide where our emissions coming
from.
The largest category is
transportation and that's you
really do as you all are very
familiar with to our suburban
development you know we're very
dependent on passenger vehicles
for folks to get around.
And right now most of those are
gas powered internal combustion
engine vehicles.
So really from the levers that
the city has control over
encouraging folks to transition
ideally to drive less and then
if you are going to drive to
drive evs as one of the biggest
ways that we can hopefully
bring down greenhouse gas
emissions from the community
and our impact on the climate.
>> so because of that we have
some goals in he plan that
really relate to ev hargers
and other ev adoption.
>> and one of the goals is to
have the city have on our
property 70 charging port ports
by 2030 and we'll get into a
bit more detail on what we have
now but we are on track with
our fleet chargers.
We have I think it's 52 right
now so we're we do think we're
well on track to meet that goal
.
So before the plan was adopted
we already had public ev
chargers.
The first ones went in about
ten years ago and so they that
program itself has its own set
of goals to make sure that it's
being successful.
So these are the four areas
that we look at.
First, we want to make sure
that the infrastructure
sustainable and we think f
that in two different ways.
One, we provide this asset of
parking to the community and so
we want to for folks to be
drivers, we want them to have
access to chargers but we want
to make sure those chargers are
assets that are lasting that
are in good quality and that
are something that can be well
maintained and managed.
And then once we put that
infrastructure in anything we
have access to for the
community we want it to be
highly utilized so make sure
that folks are charging at them
well we also want to make ure
that you know, we're filling a
gap in the market and so the
folks we want to the folks most
to wouldn't be able to charge
somewhere else or would have
challenges charging elsewhere
and this is something that
might drive them towards
switching to an ev by having
this access.
>> and then as with anything we
do we want to make sure folks
have a superior customer
experience when they are
utilizing our programs.
>> so getting into the detail
of the chargers that we own.
So the next slide after this is
a map with kind of laying out
where they are.
But right now we have 40
chargers that are available to
the public.
So 40 ports across 23 chargers.
So some of the chargers
structures they have two ports
on them and they're located in
our downtown garages.
And then we have a couple
outside in the small lot at
city hall and then some more at
shields civic art center.
And then if you're looking at
our chargers within the broader
context of you know as a
drivers driving around and
walnut creek looking to charge
where they go this is an area
where we're planning to do more
detailed analysis on.
Right now we only ave data
from some other public
aggregators.
And it's a quickly changing
market.
So our estimate there is that
there's somewhere from 150 to
250 chargers in the radius of
walnut creek and our very close
neighbors.
So our our public charging
ports of 40 that is a chunk of
that but there are a lot of
other options out there now.
>> so these are the maps I was
-
mentioning.
So the one on the left shows
the green dots are from the us
department of energy data on
where publicly available
chargers are and then the
orange ones are our chargers.
And I'll just point out if I
know how to use y clicker.
So you'll see this orange dot
here is on the one on the left.
And it's not on the one on the
right and that's because these
are our fleet only chargers at
the courtyard.
So those are our chargers that
we own but they're not
available to the public or the
one on the right just kind of
highlights what we just talked
about in the past slide.
Most of the publicly owned
chargers that are available to
the public are in downtown and
then we also have a few
overarching plans.
So taking a step back from
that, you know what what do you
need to make sure that you have
a modern successful ev charging
program?
And what's shown on this slide
here is how a lot of public
agencies and municipalities
have thought about it for a
while.
You just need a charger and
then the cars will come.
And that's how a lot of the
grant funding is right?
They'll have you pay to put the
actual thing in the ground and
then kind of the high level you
think of it you're good to go
then.
But actually there's a lot of
other elements that you need to
make sure that it's successful.
So kind of you don't have to
absorb all of all of what's on
the slide here.
I think the three things I want
to point out is you need two
different types of staff.
You need staff who can provide
maintenance on the charger so
actually switch out components
whether that's them degrading
over time vandalism for lots of
different reasons.
the chargers need they need
work.
And then you also need olks on
the customer support side so
that when a customer is using
the charger they can reach
someone if they're having an
issue and then you need some
data tracking to make sure that
the chargers are being
communicated with and that also
we can kind of see how they're
being used and operated.
>> so ight now our model we
definitely have this part down
but we've been sort of using a
few different structures to try
and fit in the other pieces and
so the way that that's looking
for us is that there's nobody
in the city who it's their
their ain responsibility to
manage the chargers.
It's sort of something that
different teams are doing on
top of work that they already
have.
And so from their labor from
materials and mainly from the
electricity going into them
we're spending approximately
$250,000 a year to provide this
asset to the public.
As I said before we started
this about ten years ago, some
of the chargers are original
and so we're starting to see
the aging in that
infrastructure.
But we've also seen a lot of
them go out for various
reasons.
So we're trying to keep on top
of the equipment that we have
and then because we're managing
it all internally we have
different systems.
We don't have the most modern
data tracking on you know,
who's using the chargers for
how long.
A lot of that is there are more
modern ways to be able to track
that and then that could help
us looking at how to expand
that potentially in the future
.
And then we are seeing at at
some of our sites folks are
coming there specifically to
use the chargers maybe not to
access the city facility that's
there as well.
And so sometimes they have a
more charger focused mindset
and that can provide some
conflicts with the actual use
at the site.
And so for example, our
challenge site is a preschool.
There's lots of pick up and
drop off and people milling
around and lots of kids and
some folks are coming in and
out of the parking lot just for
the chargers and so that has
led to some conflicts just in
the different priorities of
users at that site.
So the chargers went in around
2016 2017 to start in the 2018
rethinking mobility plan.
It's kind of understood that
there would there could be
reasons to start charging a fee
for the chargers.
Currently we do not charge for
them but coming out of that
plan a fee range was
established so that we could
elect to charge charge money
for the use of the chargers
charge to charges kind of how
we refer to it internally.
So as they said right now we're
not utilizing that fee but it
has been sort of updated
through different fee
structures since 2018 and
currently the adopted fee range
is between $0.16 to $1 per
kilowatt hour which is how you
measure you know, ev charging
versus a per gallon.
And we've been doing some
research and looking at what
other publicly city owned
chargers in contra costa county
what folks are charging for
those and from our research so
far most of them are charging a
fee and it averages about $0.36
a kilowatt hour.
So this next slide it goes back
to those goals that I talked
about previously of what are
the goals that we have around
this ev charger program and
having public access.
And this slide here kind of as
a color gradient to show how
well we're doing right now at
meeting each of those goals.
So the chargers are highly
utilized if you drive by them
most of the time you'll see
there's there's usually people
in most of them.
So for that one we are doing
well right now.
>> the community access is more
of an orange medium success
because our understanding is
that there's they're kind of
like the best kept secret in a
way.
So there's a small group of
people who know these chargers
exist and know that they're
free and are highly utilizing
them but it's not generally
known amongst the community.
And because they're so highly
utilized right now we don't
necessarily promote them very
much because there's not always
availability at them right.
And so we're really trying to
target folks as I said earlier
who might not buy an ev
otherwise.
So with them right now with
them being free for everyone,
it's cheaper generally than
charging at home.
So we do see that there's those
folks who know about them are
using them a lot.
So that's that's kind of a
there's a few different ways to
look at that.
Terms of the sustainable
ifrastructure right now
because we don't have the
dedicated internal staff and
the management company of the
chargers changes on how you can
replace different parts over
time.
It takes a lot of communication
back and forth between our
staff and the charger companies
.
And so it's been challenging to
keep them up and running and
replace them quickly.
It's a lot these hard to
orchestrate is the quality
customer experience.
So even though we have these
high utilizers we do hear from
them a lot when chargers are
down they'll be own for a long
time.
And then as I mentioned earlier
a can right now cause some
challenges with other facility
users as well.
So we think that there are ways
to improve this.
>> so our recommendation is to
improve the program.
There are third party operators
that we could contract with who
would be able to provide 24
seven customer support which is
not a model that we're able to
provide right now and then also
provide proactive maintenance
on the chargers and they have
more modern tracking systems.
There's lot of different
flexibility in how we set up a
contract with someone like
that.
And you in the contracts can
set minimum required uptime is
how it's referred to making
sure the chargers are working
you know 95 plus percent of the
time.
Things like that because that
turnaround minimums for
response time and all of that
so it can be very closely
managed but it's also in a way
that's done by a third party.
So it doesn't have to take up
as much of our staff time and
it's also folks who are more
expert in this.
This is what they do all day,
every day.
Generally how those work is
that the fee that you are
charging for the use of the
charger they take a cut of it
and the cut depends on how much
you're having them do.
So there's quite a bit of
variability there and we're
still sort of researching the
exact model of what's out there
in the market and what might
work well for us.
>> but in order to do that you
have to be charging a fee for
them to ake a cut of.
So in order to make that work
we would uggest beginning to
charge a fee for the public
facing chargers.
And our goal that we'd
recommend is to still et the
rates lower to start lower than
our comparable neighbor cities.
>> but the goal that we still
want them to be accessible we
want it to be something that
would be much cheaper than
fueling a gas powered car but
give us enough funding to keep
the system sustainable.
And maybe for folks who could
be charging at home, maybe they
have slightly less incentive to
be using the city chargers.
And then that would free up
space for those folks who don't
have that option to charge at
home because this would be new
and would be still kind of
figuring out all the logistics.
We'd make sure to regularly
review those rates and ensure
that it's creating the behavior
that we are.
>> that's our goal.
>> so this is our last slide
before we take feedback and
questions.
So we're coming to you tonight
to get your feedback on this
analysis and your thoughts
about this plan.
And then in JULY we're going to
take this to city council as
part of a larger plan that
we're developing that also
looks at goals around our
internal fleet.
And if we get approval of the
plan from council then we would
spend late summer early fall
doing that vendor analysis and
really getting a much better
understanding of what exactly
the economics of that would be
.
Okay, if we move forward with
that direction then we would do
targeted outreach to the users
of the chargers before likely
around early 2027 would be when
we might see a fee be
implemented.
>> so that's the overview that
for you tonight and I'm happy
to take any questions and
receive your feedback.
>> thank you.
All right.
So we'll do commissioner q&a.
So how about we tart with
commissioner rick mann?
All right.
Thank you so much for the
presentation.
That was really good and really
clear and it's awesome.
Yeah.
So I think the one thing that I
was kind of thinking when
you're talking about the data
for these chargers and like the
locations I don't know if we
can go back to that map real
quick but I think if possible
can we get as much data as
possible before we make like
too many decisions?
I'm like where he private
chargers are where the public
chargers are like who's using
what?
Like how often are they being
used so then we can actually
like you know, put more in in
the places they need to go
instead of, you know, putting
extras in if they're not being
used and stuff like that.
So yeah, with the data just
collecting that data is that
like doable with you know
before this all gets completed
or you know, do you have to
start making money first to be
able to collect that data
because I know that takes time
and that's a whole process oo.
>> yeah.
Yes, that's a great question.
So I think the way we're
thinking of a partner right now
is ort of stabilizing the
charger network that e have
now and proving that customer
experience and the maintenance
of it first which we think that
this you know, getting a third
party in will help with that.
It will also get us better data
on what those users at those
facilities are like.
But I hink before we expand
the public chargers we want to
do exactly that get much better
data on which are already
publicly available.
>> also see if we can
understand what might be coming
down in the market, what are
the trends, what are some of
the private facilities that you
know might put their own
chargers and and so we can look
at exactly that where are we
really filling gaps?
Another layer I'll mention that
I want to look at in analysis
is the housing stock that we
have you know, where do we have
older multifamily where it's
going to be the most
challenging for folks to charge
at home and do we have, you
know, city owned property
around that r nearby that we
could utilize?
So before we expand any more of
that, that is the direction we
like to go in.
>> and then just for the
private garages, do they
currently charge like the main
ones in downtown or are the
private chargers and in walnut
creek in general?
>> yes.
They don't have their rates on
hand but that is our
understanding is that they do
grow so we could match theirs
or get kind of closer be like
under there's basically a it's
and then yeah.
Is there any other cities that
are kind of you know doing this
on like a similar size to us
that are doing a really good
job of this like you through a
private partnership or they're
doing it themselves that we can
kind of you know copy what
they're doing a little bit.
>> I this is something that I
think cities in general are
struggling with and it's I
think it's the maintenance nd
of that.
I think we are there are the
vast majority of cities are
charging something at this
point which is then allowing
them to fund and t's there are
different models of is it
internal staff, is it external
which charger company do they
work with?
I'm on a lot of email threads
of like what is the most
reliable ev charging pad.
So I think we are all kind of
figuring it out together but
that is something that we think
about as our drivers especially
are driving to our neighboring
cities and they don't really
care if they're in walnut creek
or pleasant hill or concord.
>> they want a similar charging
experience.
So that is something that we
try to coordinate with cool.
>> cool.
Well thank you so much
commissioner guerrero.
>> thank you.
Good presentation.
Just a couple of questions.
Of the $250,000 that we spend
annually, how much of that is
to pay electricity?
>> so I believe I have it
written down.
I think t's 155,000.
>> yes.
Okay.
And that comes out of the city
budget to to pay that.
>> yeah.
So right now it's just all
general funding that 200
50,000.
>> and do any of these charges
ation support solar power in
order to offset that or is that
something in consideration?
>> the only one that's out of
facility with solar is city
hall which we currently are not
monitoring.
That's that's a whole nother
challenge that the solar panels
on city hall are.
They are operational but we
also need better data tracking
on those.
But es, ideally I would say
that that is setting it off
offsetting it a bit.
I'm not sure if we've thought
about putting solar and in
other facilities but I'm glad
you said that.
17 yes.
So ideally the chargers would
be on their own meter which
could still interact with the
solar on the building but you
can get an ev charger
electricity rate from mce or
energy provider that's more
favorable to the type of
charging for that.
Some of ours are networked on
their own meter and some f
them are not so that would be a
goal over time to is to get
them on their own meter but
probably wouldn't happen
necessarily for all of them
before.
>> okay.
Would like to implement this.
So I assume a lot of this
information was developed by
from from black and veatch.
>> yes.
yes.
So we worked with them that was
our consultant on this plan.
>> and do they have more data
as to what ryan was saying as
far as other cities have been
successful as far as you know
how to go about implementing
it?
And I guess to follow that, you
know, is solar powered you know
charging stations that that
support the infrastructure, is
that something they recommend?
>> I'm just kind of curious of
that piece that wasn't
something that came up in the
analysis or something hat
we've seen directly from other
cities.
I think even if the electricity
that the chargers were using
was fully offset by the solar
power or some other
alternative, you would still
have the maintenance costs and
the networking cost.
So there are still costs but
obviously electricity is it's
more than half of the rate
we're paying now.
But you would we would still
see hose maintenance
challenges nd those sorts of
things where a third party
could help address that.
>> got it.
And then what's what's the
difference between the the lots
that like tesla runs where you
see all the tesla chargers like
the jam or you know across from
other farms and he's put those
in now.
Like are we benefiting?
Are we profiting at all from
from any of those private ones
.
>> so none of those are on city
property.
so they're they're all managed
privately.
>> we did look at models to you
know, potentially lease city
spaces which is something that
some other cities do and then
the the third party can do 100%
of that but that would e I
think we were looking at how do
we solve the problem now in the
short term with the charters
that we have and from our
analysis, you know
transitioning that to the third
party is what makes sense
because someone who would come
in at least a spot they don't
want to buy our old
infrastructure or work with our
aging chargers.
So when we go back to looking
at expanding, that's something
that we'll keep on the table to
consider.
But I think in the short term
that's not something that is
likely to solve the issues that
we're having.
>> okay.
I just have one last thing.
Could you show me the or you
talked about the different the
customer and the network and
the little map that show like
who deals?
>> yeah.
So right now how is how is that
manage these pieces right here?
Like who actually does that for
for us?
>> yes I'll bring you up for
that one.
>> so I just want to understand
a little bit can just as much
color.
Good evening.
Gina eicher public works
manager.
So currently right now we ave
some of our signal technicians
who are not ev experts but they
are able to go out there and
make repairs to our ev
infrastructure for the phone
calls, go to our traffic
operation center which really
only monitors their in the
field most of the day.
So they don't even get the
calls until the end of the day.
Then they're able to kind of go
through their you know, their
voicemail is the following day
they MAY be able to go out and
take a look at it 90% of the
time.
Right now we do not have the
infrastructure in place that
allows us to make repairs.
So the way that the chargers
were originally set up is that
they used to be modular.
That's not really the case so
much anymore with the current
vendors.
One of the current vendors that
we have we have to replace an
entire system every time that
we have a charger go down.
So and a lot of that has to do
with just the way that we had
it the existing contract is so
there's quite a bit that we can
do to improve that experience
and to allow for people to have
easier access to the charging
systems.
>> good.
So this is outside or third
party would definitely relieve
a lot of the stress of this.
>> yeah we have to make do
contract every single time
something happens.
So we end up going through and
whether they get damaged or
it's something that just
because of the time in them we
end up having to do individual
contracts to get these repaired
and so that takes time and it's
own too.
>> sure.
>> okay.
Thank you.
That's all I have.
Thank you.
Vice chair patch.
>> the nice thing about going
after other people have is that
a lot of my questions were
already answered.
>> so a couple that I do that
we haven't talked about do we
have a plan in place to replace
the old ones already?
I know you said you're not
looking at expanding the
locations right now but if
they're already failing are we
looking at replacing the ten
plus old ten year plus old ones
?
>> yeah.
So we are sort of was just
talking about you know when we
get to the oint of need to
repair them especially now that
the modular model is kind of
going away with some of the
brands we are looking at when
it makes sense to take them out
entirely and replace with a
company that maybe we've had a
better experience with and we
have replaced some I believe
the ones at the library got the
if you see the blink model
chargers those are the newer
ones that we've worked with.
So this thing we're doing over
time and that's coming out of
the general fund still right
now.
All right.
And kind of similar to the
tesla question but not
specifically tesla.
>> have you thought of any
corporate sponsorships that
like they are sponsoring
specific charging ports and
they might be in charge of the
maintenance?
I'm my understanding where the
market is now on that is that
those in the esla this is true
for those are generally the dc
fast chargers which we didn't
really talk about charging
levels in the presentation but
just for full background you
know there's like a level one
which is plugging in at home
into a regular plug there's
level two which is what we
have.
It's sort of an in-between
energy level and then there's
level three or dc fast and so
those are we didn't really cost
more per kilowatt hour because
they're they're you know,
expending energy much more
quickly.
And so my understanding for the
market is right ow there's a
lot of though that sort of
model is that dc fast charger
kind of more charging hub folks
coming in and out within like
45 minute increments.
And so the folks aren't that
companies that are doing that
are not looking at the level
two that's the service model we
have right now.
So I think that would kind of
be opening a whole a whole
nother possibility that would
need to be part of that next
level of analysis for where
might that kind of model make
sense for us?
>> sure.
Okay.
And then if we do start
charging people for using the
chargers and how much of the
contract and electricity are
you hoping to offset with the
charging like are you trying to
get to 100% or is it half of it
that we're I think we're trying
to get to a better place than
we're at now because of the
lack of sophistication our data
tracking right now we we don't
really have that understanding.
And I think we also we'll have
to see ow it affects our
customer demand, how much
utilization we're having.
So we honestly aren't sure what
how that's going to level out
in the end it will definitely
we're not be profiting off of
it that's for sure.
Right.
I think it's still going to be
probably subsidized even to
some degree but much less than
it is now and that's what
overtime is.
We're going to track the ate
especially early on to make
sure we're kind of hitting that
right mark?
So that's a long way o say I'm
not sure.
>> fair enough.
Okay.
And then my my last question is
,you know, I don't know how to
phrase this actually so I'm
going to I'm just going to skip
it for now.
>> we'll come back to you.
>> all right.
Thank you.
Great presentation,
commissioner guerrero.
Got my top question.
How much of the money was going
to electricity?
So I'll I'll ask the flip side
question.
>> so the other approximate
$100,000 what would be the
biggest buckets on an annual
that we're spending on that's
not electricity with our
current model?
>> yeah.
The next biggest bucket is the
contracts hat I was mentioning
with aintenance staff that's
about another 60,000.
And then the rest is sort of
spread across our internal
staff time that if we are
purchasing the equipment
ourselves that's needed to
replace it.
And then the the limited
networking that we do have the
fees for that.
>> okay, great.
So speaking of the data and
networking, if you can share
briefly what what kind of data
elements do we get today?
>> what are the ones we don't
get that we really want that
makes having one of these
providers really beneficial?
>> right now we do not have a
system in place to regularly
monitor data so it's sort of
like a project to get the data
updated and dig in to that.
So what we would be able to get
with this is more our
understanding and we'll find
out the details of this when we
do the rfp and really
understand what the vendors are
offering.
But our understanding for the
research e have now is it's
more like a ashboard model
where you could regularly check
in with days of what times of
day are they being with you,
how long are folks staying at
them?
There's also likely the ability
to get understanding of repeat
customers versus different
customers.
So all of that would really
give us better insight to who
is using it and how they're
using it and how's that
behavior maybe different than
some of our other parking
customers in those facilities
as well?
So with the existing free model
or if we got one of these
companies in place but we were
still going with free, how
would we identify I like the
repeat customers who's using it
like what what data if anything
do we capture from the people
driving up I'm plugging in
today.
>> yeah.
Do you want that part?
Yeah, maybe.
So the data if we were to try
to go we would have to get
another ontract in place that
would allow for us to better
monitor that.
It really depends if that's a
good answer right now because
we really don't know what our
options are.
So we really looking to kind of
when e do when we go out to
try to get a third party vendor
we're really going to do more
of like a request for
qualifications and have them
tell us hat it is that e're
missing out on because we don't
right now we don't know what we
don't know.
>> right.
Because I think if we go to a
fee model we're going to get
credit card numbers and we'll
know we'll know who's using
system.
>> right.
So it wouldn't necessarily be
with credit card numbers.
i think that they actually
users have to have like a sign
on it like oh like an app like
an app that they utilize so
they don't do with credit cards
because we don't there's a
whole compliance thing with pci
.
Yeah, exactly with it.
Thank you.
So there is an entire pci that
we model that they have to
follow and that's all part of
the process that we would have
to go through.
We would be getting way more in
the details if I started to
explain the fact that sometimes
the vendor is not even involved
in that.
So it is just a totally
different option but we don't
know what we don't know right
now and so we're really looking
to see what kind of models are
possibly out there and that
would allow us by going out you
know, to search out at third
party vendor we would be able
to see what the options are and
maybe they could provide us
information even with what we
currently have.
But we won't know that until we
go out.
So here's a question and this
is a question I think that
would be is a pass through
question.
>> and I think when ou're
asking vendors would any one of
these vendors have the ability
to wait for it have a discount
free pricing kind of like a
validation model.
So if someone comes just to
charge they would spend a
little more er kilowatt hour
but if they came to charge but
added at original joe's or one
of our other restaurants maybe
they get it for a half price or
free.
It'd be an interesting to ask
the vendors if anybody could do
that now.
>> excellent question.
Well will pass that question
along because we're going to
give people free electricity.
>> it might be nice to get them
to spend money downtown, right?
Yes or in the other locations.
>> correct.
>> I think you've already
answered this question.
I was going to ask if our
chargers today are all the same
vendor and model they are not.
>> we actually have two vendors
that we're utilizing right now
and if we went to one of these
newer vendors would we would we
wholesale replace out all these
chargers?
>> not necessarily and that is
not our intent.
Our intent is to utilize the
existing infrastructure and
have them be able to work on
the oldest infrastructure you
know, as it's needed.
We can determine what that
looks like.
It can be anything from a full
replacement to use what we have
until it dies.
Got it right so we can
determine what that looks like.
>> and I know in the in the the
letter or memo e received as a
part of our packet it talked
about if we did it internally
we would need to sound like I
said one full time person.
>> yes and even then one full
time person wouldn't be able to
offer 24 seven service for
repairs and or you know
necessarily being able to get
you know, chargers running up
and running again.
You know, we won't have an
inventory on hand to quickly
swap things out as when you
have a vendor an on hand they
have those options.
>> okay.
So it sounds like something is
more valuable beneficial to
outsource then I always hate to
see jobs outsourced of the city
.
>> I think that that is our
recommendation is to look at
the third party vendor.
Got it.
Those are all my questions.
>> vice chair patch did you
your question.
I've got two what I needed
around the data so we're good.
>> okay.
Awesome.
>> all right.
Any any further questions from
any of the commissioners?
I had one other question
actually.
Um, I don't know if you saw
this if I missed it, but did
you say what the cost per
charger is for like to replace
one or to put one in writing it
back up like average?
>> I know there's a bunch of
different ones too, but yeah,
there are a lot currently we're
seeing anywhere from 11,000 to
15,000.
>> it's a lot of money.
Yeah it is a lot of money and
if you do like a bunch in a row
does it get a little bit
cheaper because the
infrastructure is kind of you
know so it depends on which
company we're talking about too
right now because like I said
there is one of our vendors is
allowing for some modular
upgrades and updates.
Another one if there's a hose
that's broken, they want the
entire head replaced.
>> and so whereas before you
know and the model or one of
the vendors is drastically
changed from when we originally
went with them.
So that's kind of the other
thing that's pushing us to move
to a third party vendor that
can help us better manage this.
>> yeah.
Cool.
Thank you.
>> I do have ne more question.
I'm sorry.
So originally we put these in
2017.
We don't charge for them.
There must have been a plan or
some kind of idea of of wire
you know what we were going to
do with these.
So my question is more like if
these are level two and they
don't charge very fast and then
we charge charging a fee what's
what's the incentive?
I don't have any v so I don't
know if I can answer this.
I'm asking what's the incentive
to use a level two that's not
as fast and now they ave to
pay a fee for it.
>> and will they?
Yes.
So the intent when they were
first put in and you also think
you know ten years ago the ev
market was in a very different
place and so it really was we
won't charge a fee now the goal
of this is to try and encourage
folks to transition their
vehicles and free is better
than than a fee.
Right.
and now there are so many more
chargers available and
different charging models and
benefits from mce if you charge
at home you can sign up for a
special app that is just for
that.
>> there's a lot more options
out there and so from a
convenience versus charging
perspective customers have more
distinction there.
So I think the goal with
charging a fee is really to
make sure it's a sustainable
system that is providing the
quality customer experience.
I think another benefit that
we've we believe we will find
from our analysis is that it
will target more of the folks
who really need those chargers
who aren't ble to charge at
home who aren't able to charge
at work.
Our feedback so far from folks
has been oh if you charge you
know at ind of this level I'll
probably charge at home.
You know it takes that
convenience out.
It's going to cost a similar
amount but it's really for the
folks who you know, live in an
older apartment or don't have
onsite parking for whatever
reason they're not able to
charge at home or they're
already accessing our
facilities and it's something
that you know, can be a benefit
for them when they're there.
Maybe it's convenient.
>> okay.
Mm hmm.
Vice chair anything?
So I did have one more
question.
>> I appreciate the engagement
.
say, you know we care.
You know when you buy solar
panels for your house now you
can also, you know, essentially
lease some and put no money
down and it's like power
purchase program.
>> hmm.
Do any of these vendors just
out f curiosity have a model
where we don't have to do the
capital investment?
It's it's their chargers.
They do everything full service
package we pay x customer pays
y and hopefully we can break
even.
>> the model is more we lease
the parking space to them and
then it's their infrastructure
.
>> they set the rate.
There's there are some
parameters you can put around
it but that that's a bit more
what that would be and so it
wouldn't be necessarily our
parking fee.
It would be their their fee on
their space that they're
leasing from us.
Okay.
So that's what we see in some
other cities.
Do I I'm I'm not personally
aware of though this might be
out there like that gets more
complicated when it's inside
our garage right where we're
charging it so that works
better at a surface like but
yeah that's more the model
we've seen for that there re
some providers who do that.
Okay, great.
Thank you.
All right then I think we've
concluded commissioner
questions.
So for the record I have to ask
if there's anyone in the public
who would like to address the
commission on this topic.
>> we have no members of the
public wishing to provide
public comment.
>> thank you, MR. Secretary.
Then we'll close public comment
and we will move on to
commissioner comments.
Let's go.
Reversal here.
>> how about vice chair patch?
Thank you for this
presentation.
It's great.
I actually just recently went
to london and I was going to
reach out to you because I saw
some cool things around ev
chargers and then I saw this
was on the agenda.
I was like oh I can tweet now.
So that's kind of cool.
>> one of the things that I saw
in london is they have shell
charging units attached to
telephone poles and street
lights.
So the city that like basically
leases the street lights to
shell and shell charges but
like they're responsible for
the maintenance and stuff and
so that's why I asked about
corporate sponsorships.
I know you're ot looking to
expand but that might be
something to start thinking
about and considering and as
-
you're looking for a third
party vendor I would definitely
ask them or include in their
qualification portion what
their creative solutions are to
this issue.
Right.
Because as you said, you know,
we have 40 ports but we have
goals of installing a lot more
than that.
>> so knowing not just how
we're maintaining it now but
how the expansion is going to
work would be really important.
I have found as you change
vendors that that can be
complicated.
So if we could find a vendor
that actually works with the
growth plan as well as the
maintenance plan that would be
really important.
And also on the data front I
would be really curious if they
can tell us which of our
locations are full most of the
time so that maybe that's an
indicator that there needs to
be more chargers there or a
higher priority on maintaining
those chargers versus like if
the other areas are not used as
much and I as a person who
lives in multi-family complex
who cannot install a charger I
understand the importance of
this publicly available
chargers.
>> I do think it's reasonable
to start charging for them
especially if it's a nominal
amount that kind of just covers
the electricity or a portion of
the maintenance coverage.
I think that as we move forward
the communication on that and
why we're charging instead of
free is going to be make it
making sure that we communicate
on that will make sure that
it's accessible and hopefully
will address some of the user
conflict that you're
experiencing at places that
shouldn't be charging just for
charging purposes right?
I would also look at if the
vendor can have a robust plan
for replacing the old ones it's
really disappointing to hear
that they're not module there
anymore.
That's just me from a
sustainability perspective
really irritating to me like
why are we wasting materials
instead of just replacing the
thing that is broken and and
understand that that comes from
the charger vendor itself and
not the person or the company
that's going to maintain them
but if they have those
relationships or they have
insights in how we can not have
to create waste as we're
replacing old chargers that
would be great to hear.
And a lot of my comments are
just about the expansion which
you're not focusing on but also
I love that we're doing this so
I'll probably just send you an
email about ideas that I have
for expanding our ev chargers
in general so that we stay on
topic here.
>> >> commissioner guerrero.
No further comments.
Thank you.
Was good presentation
commissioner mcmahon.
>> oh yeah.
This was a really good
presentation and I really love
that we're focused on
sustainability for this and I
think electric cars are just
going to continue to get more
popular, more popular as gas
prices go up and all this other
stuff is going on and as the
car prices et as the electric
car prices get cheaper, more
people are going to be buying
them.
So I think it's definitely
something we should focus on.
i totally agree and just some
of the comments and what he
agenda said that you know,
having people pay for it will
make it more sustainable.
We can keep up these chargers.
They can have more uptime.
They can be safer too.
That's something we actually
didn't really talk about today.
But I know like six months ago
there was a fire in one of the
garages and you know that
caused a big issue too.
So you know, like having money
coming in ensures that these
are all safe and you know,
protecting the cars and
protecting the people using the
garages.
I would say like we should try
to gather as much data as we
can and use the money that we
do make from this or that
data.
And I second what my other
commissioner said in terms of
communicating that to the
public in terms of like you
know, we want to we're charging
but we're we're going to use
this money to make the chargers
better.
We're going to put them in
places where people need them
and it's not something that the
city is trying to make money
off of and it does seem like
the most efficient way would to
be hire hired a private company
to do this like they're the
experts at it.
They know what they're doing.
So that's would be my
recommendation for that.
>> so thank you so much.
Thank you.
Good presentation.
Looks like we have pretty good
growth of ev chargers across
the city mostly you know the
commercial chargers see the
tesla ones popping up a lot.
So I don't have a lot of
comments.
I know we're trying to I know a
part of doing the free was
trying to help people who are
in the lower income brackets as
another part and I don't know
if there's a possibility to
income qualify for ree
charging while having fees for
the that you know the more of
the masses you know I think
unfortunately the hard thing
for the people you might want
to attract with the free
charging the biggest barrier is
really not the charging fee
it's the cost of getting the
the ev itself.
Those are you know and even to
get a new gasoline car for
somebody is expensive these
days.
But I think this is great I
would just offer up we're here
if you're interested when you
get to the stage of you've
-
picked like your top 2 or 3
vendors and have different
models.
I'm sure my fellow
commissioners would love to
kind of see the options and
give input and ask questions
before you pick that.
I don't certainly not a
requirement but it's a we're
here if you want us.
So that being said I thought oh
we have another comment.
>> vice chair of hatch our
chair inspired me potential
lee.
>> I'd be curious to know if
there was like a monthly
program instead of a per usage
charge rate like you purchase
into this number of credits for
the month and you get to use
one of the chargers.
I've no idea if that would work
and that would obviously depend
on what vendor you go for but
it might be a way to offset
some of what my fellow
commissioner was suggesting on
lower income individuals.
So I think the purpose of
tonight's session was just to
give feedback.
>> so I don't think there's any
motions required for this one.
So we will close this topic.
>> you just wanted to hate your
gavel.
>> I just wanted to yeah, it's
you know, it's very satisfying
and just wait till next year
you'll get to feel the
satisfaction action.
>> all right.
Moving on to our second
consideration item item b
update on bike to wherever day
2026 while the brief update on
the bike o wherever day events
at broadway annual nd civic
park.
>> so we're ready for staff
presentation.
Thank you MR. Chair.
Good evening commissioners.
My name is henry rude
transportation planner for
public works.
Tonight I'm going to be giving
you a quick update on the
activities that the traffic
engineering division organized
for bike tour every day that
was last thursday as part of
our larger bike month effort
for 2026.
>> so to begin with our morning
location this is the energizer
station that we've been hosting
at the city.
But for the covid interruption
for about ten years this was
until last year hosted in front
of city hall last year and this
year we moved it to broadway in
newark at the crossing of the
iron horse trail.
This is an area where we have a
larger roadway improvements
project underway so this is
also a chance to do outreach
with people directly on site
and additionally just being
closer to the trail is a much
better way to get cyclists on
their way to different places.
So like last year we had
significantly higher numbers of
cyclists come by than the city
hall location.
We had to about 200 this year.
There were some concerns about
rdundancy with the bike walk
walnut creek location also on
the trail pretty close by but
there didn't seem to be any
issues.
Many cyclists are happy to
visit many or even all of the
energizer stations and you
know, we all offer slightly
different things so it worked
out pretty well.
It also that morning allowed us
to advertise as our evening
afternoon event in civic park
which is what most of this
presentation will be about
because it was a big change.
So you an see here a picture
it's called the bike rodeo.
So this is a almost like a
festival in civic park.
So compared to the morning
energizer station which is just
sustainability and traffic
engineering hosting like one
table each.
This was a much, much larger
undertaking.
We had partnerships with local
vendors.
We had an obstacle course for
cyclists.
We had information booths for
many more city departments and
some local organizations.
So just to give you a sense of
the scale, this is a map of the
event.
If you know the civic park
layout, that bottom left corner
is the bridge into the parking
lot.
So you can see we had many
booths in that kind of cul de
sac central area stretching up
the path.
And then the larger obstacle
course by carmel drive.
So there's a picture of the
obstacle course you can see
there it's a chance for kids to
kind of practice biking in a
safe environment.
They can learn about safety
practices and improve their
maneuvering just kind of get
generally more comfortable on
the seat of their bike driving
on the road, biking on the road
and you know, if they can
complete the obstacle course
they can feel more confident
about themselves and be better
prepared to handle different
aspects of cycling.
>> so this as what your extra
special attachment was?
Our pedal passport the traffic
engineering booth provided
these to anyone who wanted one.
The idea is hat each page has
a place where you can get
stamped by ne of the
information booths.
So if you go around and visit
everything at the festival you
can come back and get a $5 gift
card which is not a huge prize
but if you're a young child $5
at target goes a long way.
And we did have great uptick on
this target donated us $250 so
$55 gift cards and we use them
all and in fact we had one
unfortunately one additional
person who came after we'd run
out but they were very
understanding luckily and we
also had a polaroid camera so
you'd see on that first page of
the passport there's a spot for
a photo so people could
directly staple those on and
kind of make it more like a
real passport, a little
souvenir.
The parents definitely seemed
to love it.
A lot of the kids were excited
to get their picture taken.
You can see in the back of that
photo there there's kind of a
billowing like yellow orange
curtain.
That was a little photo booth
that we had if you wanted to
really do it p properly, a lot
of people just wanted a photo
right with their bike at the
station.
But I'd say about half
appreciated the photo booth so
newly this year we had a much
larger collaboration with the
kind of outside agencies and
vendors.
So in addition to the city
staff departments and
sustainability who was right
here police clean water arts
and recreation, open space and
of course public works with
traffic engineering.
We also had a booth for bike
walk walnut creek which is a
local kind of pedestrian
bicycle advocacy organization.
we also had vendors show up.
This was soul house matcha in
their debut appearance jp
design jewelry, chick-fil-a and
target.
Some of these were doing
giveaways and donations.
Others were selling but they
definitely helped add to the
atmosphere and provide more
activities and options for
people who were attending.
>> so overall this event was
definitely a huge success.
I think we brought a lot of joy
to a lot of kids and families
we helped you know, dispense a
lot of great information about
biking, walking sustainably in
walnut creek.
There are some lessons learned
that we would want to take
forward if e were going to do
it again.
The children were younger than
we expected.
It was mostly around 4 to 8
years old with their parents.
Most e-bike and bicycle safety
advocacy is typically targeted
more at like kind of 12 to 18
like tweens and teenagers who
are out biking on their own who
might be riding e-bikes in a
kind of unsafe speed or fashion
so that they can learn best
practices.
So that had kind of been what
we'd expecting which is why we
opened at 3:00 after school
gets out.
-
but we saw that it was
definitely a much younger
demographic who are kind of
just learning the basics of
cycling, doing practice
sometimes with training wheels.
And that also meant that they
the spike in attendance was
after 5:00 when their parents
could take them directly after
work.
We also learned that rodeo is
not a great fit for walnut
creek.
People thought it was some kind
of a hoedown or something.
It's it's not really the kind
of place we are.
So if we were going to o it
again we would probably choose
a name that's a little bit less
home on the range.
We would also probably want to
-
increase staffing.
We had enough to make it work
but it was more strained than
we typically like to plan for.
That's just something where you
have to kind of do it and see
how it goes.
So now we know we could also
revise certain passport
exercises like the mad libs
one.
We had our traffic engineering
booth supervising and stamping
that and managing handing out
the passports and redeeming
them and it could lead to lead
to some, you know, holdups and
delays and we would also have
more trash facilities nd staff
also just something you kind of
have to try and see how it goes
.
We are considering also adding
something to the passport about
trash pickup so that the
attendees have an incentive to
participate and help out.
>> especially for kids it's a
great way to teach them
sustainable practices.
>> o I just want to give a
special thanks to a lot of the
organizations that helped us
out.
street sweeping parking
enforcement and traffic
maintenance were crucial to
clearing out the area, making
sure that everything was clean
and ready to go helping us set
up.
Really coffee donated us a
giant pitcher of cold brew.
So even though they weren't
attending their presence was
definitely felt.
Sports basement and bike link
help provided coupons or gift
cards that we were allowed to
distribute on their behalf and
target supplied of course the
prize for the pedal passport
which was huge.
We also had a lot of other city
staff who weren't from the
specific departments listed who
volunteered their time to help
us with setup and tear down and
we I just wanted to show this
picture here of a thank you
from one of the attendees.
>> so with hat in mind I will
open it up to you.
We would love to hear your
thoughts and insights about how
we can make bike month 2027
even better.
Is there anything else you'd
like to see at the rodeo which
would probably be under a
different name if it happens?
And how would you feel about
staff focusing our time and
resources more on this event
and potentially suspending the
morning station?
Thank you.
>> all right, commissioner,
question is how about
commissioner mcmahon?
Yeah, this is an awesome event.
I went to one of the tations
and it was great just being
there.
one of my favorite parts of it
is the bike to work bags.
We always try to get a few
every single year so I would
say get as many as possible and
then I don't know can you guys
sell them as well because we
would like to buy them honestly
because we use them all the
time.
We lose them all the time and I
just I want as many as
possible.
>> so so a little info about
that the bike to work day
branded merch is supplied to us
by an organization called five
on one contra costa.
They provide it to everyone
hosting an energizer station.
It's a fixed amount which is
why we always run out of bags
so fast so we're not really
allowed to sell them either.
It's kind of part of the
partnership we agree to host an
energizer station, be part of
their network and in return
they help us with some supplies
including the bags also like
chapstick.
So they give us some money to
buy snacks and some other
things.
So we were this year because we
had the morning event in the
evening event we were able to
double dip so we got twice as
much stuff to host twice as
many events but e can't really
scale up and get more bags on
our own outside of that much as
we'd like to because we do
always run out really fast.
People love the bags they're
the best.
We love them.
Yeah I definitely agree with
the change in the name from
rodeo because I was confused as
well as a bike rider I'm like
what's going on with this?
But yeah I love all the
pictures and seems like a great
event and it seems like you did
a great job.
I'd love to be considered and
helping out with the event so
if you guys need more people
definitely reach out and let me
know and I'd love to be there
next year.
That's great.
Thank you.
Yeah, thank you.
We have a volunteer
commissioner guerrero.
I'll throw my name in to
volunteer also I would love to
help out talking about those
those bags.
Maybe we can find another
vendor who can make something
like it and maybe we could turn
it into a prize for
sustainability games talked
about trash teaching kids I've
seen that before where you know
they have a certain amount of
trash.
It's not dirty but they get to
figure out where goes as far as
recycling and stuff goes.
And then you talked about
having older the use so I know
tomorrow northgate has their
bike to school day I don't know
if that's something not just
them but maybe you coordinated
with having it on the same day
one of the high schools or
middle schools you know are
biking to school to school day
maybe in the afternoon they can
come by after school and they
can participate are just
throwing it out there.
>> yeah, it's something we can
look into and definitely doing
direct outreach with the
schools is a good way to get
more students to come
especially those older
demographics whether or not
it's on the same bike to school
day that they have.
>> yeah but no I think it's
great.
Vice chair patch all right.
I have a couple questions and
with the morning station versus
this did you see more of those
older high school age students
at the morning station that was
on the trail?
We did because los lomas is
down there.
A lot of them were in too much
of a hurry.
They didn't even want to grab a
free banana.
They kind of just ignored us.
Some of them did stop but it
was a lot f kind of older
groups including some of the
like families with young
children who we got to
advertise the evening event to.
There was still probably more
of those.
Yeah, like you know, 10 to 16
kids in the morning, you know,
even if a lot of them ignored
us a lot of them didn't so you
know we did mention the evening
event to them where we could
but it seems like they were not
enticed.
>> and do you feel like it was
about the same level as last
year at that station as your it
was similar.
It was a little less last year
we had 219 and this ear it was
200 but still pretty comparable
and our old city hall stations
would get like 100.
>> so it's way better than that
great, great.
>> and and how did you decide
to have the evening event at
civic park instead of any other
location?
>> civic park it's city owned
so we have the latitude to do
things like clear out the
parking lot for the obstacle
course, you know, clear out the
area host all the vendors get
the setup going earlier we
wanted something that was close
at hand because all of our
staff that is helping out
needed to be able to get their
materials over there and back
in a reasonable time frame.
We had we used like city
vehicles like cool cars to help
transport everything but giving
people the option to just walk
back to city hall or like at
the end of the day to walk to
bart or whatever it makes it
much easier for not only our
dedicated staff but also the
people volunteering their time
and it's I don't think we had
any issues with the venue this
year really it served our
purposes very well.
Great.
That's awesome to hear and then
did a few meetings ago we had a
great presentation on on the
bike to school.
It has a special name is that
what it's called a walk and
roll program.
Thank you.
The walk and roll program did
you reach out to them about any
collaboration?
So the walk and roll program is
also undertaken by five and one
contra costa who's the bike
tour everyday organization.
>> so we were collaborating
with them very closely.
>> you could mention that chiro
had our station up in the
trail.
>> yes.
Yeah they had a station
dedicated to that further up on
the iron horse trail as well.
>> yeah I figured they had an
energizer station wasn't sure
about yeah the evening of it
and they were the ones who use
the bike blenders which is why
we are not allowed to bar them
there.
>> okay, that's t for my
questions.
Great.
What now when you had the
people showing up at the
station I'm running station the
morning station.
We're gathering feedback from
them.
Right or we're getting
questions were there any
thematic questions or comments
from the 200 folks?
You know that trail crossing is
pretty hairy.
It's got a very long signals
across a very wide you know,
stretches of roadway.
So people are generally pretty
excited about the thought of
having a diagonal crossing
about how many general
improvements, you know,
unsurprised really since we
were right at that corner
catching people going from
corner to corner.
They were more focused on that
than on the other you know, new
all ut improvements.
But that doesn't mean that
they're not meaningful.
It's just you know, what's the
demographic you're catching so
wat makes you comfortable with
the thought of potentially
suspending the morning station
because there's obviously
something in the back of your
mind going away maybe we can do
without it.
>> what what's what's behind
that?
So we had kind of a postmortem
this morning as I alluded to in
the presentation a bit.
It was very draining on staff
time, resources nd energy.
So being able to consolidate
all of that into the evening
event leaves us with much more
options to ake that much
better instead of having to
stretch ourselves so thin.
So it's not necessarily true
that we would do that.
It's just a possibility we're
exploring not only for our, you
know, time and energy but also
the people helping us the
volunteers potential donors
supplying things or showing up
.
It's basically just that if we
have, you know, one event
that's smaller scale and you
know, not as fun we have one
that's a much bigger deal being
able to consolidate everything
into that could potentially,
you know, have a much better
day overall all that we're also
looking at impact in terms of
the community and engagement
and we just feel like the the
afternoon event engages a lot
better.
It gives that full experience
of a festival kind of going on
getting kids actually on bikes
at the younger ages is great
but yeah the day it's a it's a
great great day it's a holiday
really for us in terms of
celebrating alternative modes
but you know at 7 A.M. To 7
P.M. And there's a lot of steps
you know I got my 15,000 steps
that day it's it's a lot of
moving stuff coordination and
not only that prepping for both
events and advanced so brianna
henry and I were all done a lot
of that that effort so got it
and and like all good hallmark
movies there's always a
festival.
>> something else I'll add is
that the evening event?
You know even if there are just
passers by who see a sign in
civic park there coming on
purpose they're necessarily
interested whereas in the
morning you're just catching
some fraction of people on
their way who are willing to
stop.
A lot of them are just happy to
grab a snack and go and that's
fine.
That's what we're there for.
But in terms of outreach,
having these dedicated
information booths especially
with a prize incentive to go
visit them all it lets us be a
lot more direct and a lot more
specific across different areas
just cover a lot more ground as
well in terms of outreach and
information.
Great.
All good thinking there.
Any other commissioner
questions there being none we
will move to public comment.
Is there anyone in the public
who wishes to comment on this
item?
>> we have no members of the
public wishing the required
comment.
>> thank you MR. Secretary.
We'll close public comment and
move to commissioner comments.
How about will the vice chair
patch you just like gone in
reverse order?
I like to mix it up.
Yeah.
Thank you for this presentation
.
I am so glad that it was such a
successful event for our first
time trying something like
this.
I mean that's very hard to do
so props to all of the staff
that made that happen.
I was really sad to MISS It.
I ended up with a migraine that
day so I couldn't go but I it
sounded like it was really
great.
I kind of understand why the
children participating skewed
in a younger age just given the
passport that we put together.
So I think there might need to
be like a second activity or a
more complicated obstacle
course if you do want to get
those older children involved
and participating in a way
that's meaningful like maybe
there is two activities, right?
Like there's a safe space to
learn to ride a bike and then
there's an obstacle course
that's hard or for those teens
in terms of the the morning
station versus this I totally
hear staff on it takes a lot of
effort and resources to do that
and I'm almost wondering if
maybe we need to think about
doing the bike not a rodeo
rodeo n a different day like
halfway through the years you
have two events kind of trying
to promote bike safety and
other modules of transportation
just because I think that the
morning session does hit a
different demographic than a
fun festival family focused
situation or maybe you save
having those morning sessions
for years where we are looking
for public feedback on specific
transportation changes, right?
So last year it was really
important because we were
asking questions about the
changes the city was looking to
make on some of those
intersections where we have the
station and and maybe we didn't
need it this year because we
got the feedback last year or
next year we don't need it
because we're not doing
anything active instead of just
doing away with it entirely for
all for forseeable future using
it more strategically when we
want to do constituent
engagement and and then it
sounded like you had a lot of
booths for your first year
which is fantastic.
I think two ideas for
additional booths is working
with the organization downtown
walnut creek to see if maybe
they'll get some of the walnut
creek businesses to have booths
there and a lot of them do.
Have you know, bike racks right
in front of their stores.
So those might be particular
for companies that want to
participate and then the why am
I forgetting the name again
role to school walk and roll
rock rock and roll program I
got that they had a little
energizer station but it feels
like they should have a booth
at this festival as well
specifically because they focus
on bike safety for kids and
they can you know, talk to the
parents about if they want to
volunteer or if their school is
not already participating in
the program how they could get
the program at their school.
Thank you.
Commissioner guerrero I thought
I was going to presentation and
yeah thank you very much.
>> other comments?
MR. Mcmahon yeah thank you for
the presentation that was
awesome.
The bike rodeo looks super fun
and yeah I think it's one of
the best days of the year in
walnut creek honestly overall
and I really like what
commissioner paige said about
maybe make it two days where
just so you guys don't have to
you know be there ll day and
then yeah and then you kind f
have two days where we focus on
alternate forms of
transportation.
But honestly from the pictures
and from your presentation it
looks like you've been doing it
for many years and it's looking
awesome.
So I think yeah maybe just a
few little tweaks here and
there to just get more people
out there and make it better
and yeah get a few more older
kids in there I think would be
great but yeah it sounds like
you guys are on the right track
and you're doing a great job so
really ppreciate that.
Thank you.
This is great.
It's very cute.
I like the idea.
I also like the idea of
expanding it.
>> I guess the main comment I'm
thinking of I always like to
think a little outside the box
so thinking about the state of
the walnut festival and you
know it was been displaced from
heather farms park some eople
have suggested oh why can't we
have the walnut festival at
civic park secretary's
wondering where I'm going with
this but what about maybe
growing this a little bit
bigger within the confines of
civic park and you know, at a
minimum make it all I guess
call it all non car
transportation mode so walking
biking, biking e-scooters you
can also even bring in contra
costa county transit.
You know that's another form of
it's not human transportation
per se but it's another form of
non vehicle because that's I
think that's what we're kind of
driving towards and if you
could bring in more if you
could get more maybe food
booths and vendors there and
just kind of grow it to maybe
make it a little bit bigger if
you're going to go with the
festival came up with a crazy
name the bike nut festival
instead of the walnut festival
but I know that sounds really
bad but I'm just wondering you
know consider thinking a little
bit bigger.
You got a great facility there
and I think people walnut creek
are craving what they're not
getting with the displaced
walnut festival even if it's
going to be obviously a lot
smaller than what the walnut
festival used to be.
>> and you know now when they
do the walnut festival when
they do it, they do t in
antioch and that's really far
away.
What could we make this
something bigger but at the
same time keep that you know
non automobile transportation
focus as a theme that's really
my only comment other than you
know great work on the event
and I think that's just like
the other item we don't need
emotion we're just receiving
information so I get to do it
again.
>> this topic is closed.
>> thank you very much.
Here eel my gavel apple all
right.
>> all right.
Moving n to commissioner
announcements and brief reports
on activities.
So do any of the commissioners
have any activities they've
attended or have any
announcements or reports if
any?
>> we have the the breakfast to
report on we can would you like
to report on that vice hair
approach?
I think you would be fantastic
at it.
>> I, I don't know what to
report on.
I'll just just you know every
every corner there's a for
people who don't know there's a
mayors breakfast meeting it
usually has the mayor the vice
mayor mayor pro tem city
manager and then it has the
chair and vice chair of all the
commissions and committees and
then usually the city staff,
usually the secretaries of the
various commissions and we get
great update from the mayor
what's going on in the city,
the mayor, the mayor pro tem
and the city manager and then
we rotate around and each pair
of commission chair and vice
chairs do an update on what's
happened since the last meeting
that the various commission so
it's a great it's a great way
to share I always ncourage
even if you're not chair or
vice chair when I'm not vice
chair or chair I still go it's
really fun to listen to and you
get a free breakfast with some
pretty good food so anything
that that brings up some
memories for you.
Yeah.
-
all right.
Any other the the only activity
I took part in because I think
I mentioned this at that
quarterly breakfast meeting I
did a friday night right along
with walnut police with officer
eric payton.
That was really a lot of fun.
Very educational and I
encourage others to request a
ride along the police
department is very open and
likes to take people along and
show us what they do and how
they do it.
>> I was definitely very
impressed with I never realized
because we just at a restaurant
in downtown you might see one
police vehicle but when I was
driving around with officer
payton I couldn't believe how
many times we ran into another
officer.
>> we have a lot of active
patrolling on friday and
saturday nights in downtown
makes us feel like it made me
feel a lot safer so I encourage
people to take advantage of the
generosity of the police
department allowing the ride
alongs.
So that's all I've got.
That's oh go ahead vice chair
for a crosswalk improvement
bike trail improvement on jones
road is in place and it looks
fantastic.
>> great job.
>> and do we have any report
out from our williams
secretary?
>> well we have so many I'm
going to have brianna ome up
and all right.
Yeah.
Hi commissioners again my are
for the new commissioners.
My name is brianna byrne.
I'm also a traffic engineer
here at the city of walnut
creek.
So good news grant updates.
So back in JANUARY, rashad
culver with our capital
improvement program presented
on tda grants we were going for
$100,000 to cover a portion of
class for bikeways on your
avenue.
We asked for 100, we got 80 so
and then the other great
updates just this past tuesday
we applied for tfc a grant it's
transportation clean air fund
fund air for clean air and so
we applied for two hundred and
$20,000 to cover a portion of
our parkside cycle track
project.
This project received some
funds from our affordable
housing and sustainable
communities rant that we were
awarded a couple of years ago
but with the cost of
construction and general price
increases that we're noticing a
deficit.
So we had pursued $220,000 so
we applied on tuesday.
Stay tuned for updates on that.
And then the last thing I'm
going to share before passing
off to matt on also on tuesday
as we're still coming down from
our party planning energy, matt
and I got the opportunity to
work with our local fire
department station number one
over on civic drive just
literally across the street.
They had eached out a couple
weeks ago about our preemption
system so at our traffic
signals there is a device where
emergency service vehicles like
ambulances, police officers and
fire, they can put in a signal
to our traffic signals and ask
for the green.
So they had reached out about
some intersections they were
having difficulty with.
And so matt and I got to do a
bit of a ride along.
I was in the front seat with
the laptop, remote it into our
servers and matt was at the
cabinet making sure that we
were getting the preempt and so
we looked at five
intersections.
We were able to investigate a
couple tweaks our traffic
signal and maintenance guys
made a couple tweaks, confirmed
some we're working and matt and
I have some next steps and
we're looking to do another
ride along with our officers in
the next six months or so after
we've been able to make more
tweaks on our system.
Yah that was fun.
Just as a kind of public
announcement that the bridge
the pedestrian bridge that goes
along the iron horse trail
overtreat boulevard it has some
repairs and so they will be
closing treatment boulevard
they will close tree boulevard
at this location at jones road
basically at night for two
weeks time.
i don't know when this will be
just heads up and if we meet
again or have a date if they're
closer to to working on that
you should know the general
plan study session meeting is
in on JUNE 25th at 6 P.M. On
the third floor which you can
take that elevator to get up to
.
So just looking for your
attendance there it's a
basically informational item
gather feedback and kind of
start that general plan
outreach effort with our
commissioners.
So be a big all the
commissioners, all ill be
gathering and that's all.
>> thank you.