Mr. Sandberg advised that alternative three regarded regional transit or |
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transit-oriented development in the sense of a bus system, walkability, |
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biking or light rail systems. He mentioned the 15-mile transit in |
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Birmingham and Troy. He attended a seminar and there was a map of |
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hubs and Rochester Hills was not included. He said that was upsetting |
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because the City had a lot to offer. He thought that needed to be looked |
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at on a local and regional scale, and he believed it would improve the |
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The final project Mr. Sandberg brought up was for Old Towne, a place he |
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referred to as “sort of a forgotten shopping area,” that Mr. Anzek had |
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mentioned as a potential project. There were a lot of residents nestled in |
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the area, and he thought it was an interesting prospect. He had almost |
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forgotten it was part of the City. He asked the Commission for any |
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questions or comments on the proposals or whether there was something |
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else he should look at as he started studying for the tour. |
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Mr. Klomp said he was excited to hear about the projects, and he |
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appreciated Mr. Sandberg coming forward and spending time with the |
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Commissioners in his hometown. He believed that this type of approach |
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was certainly needed in the City. The Commissioners looked at mass |
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transit when they were updating the Master Plan, but it was not a |
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component of it. He noted that he traveled for work to places such as |
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Chicago and Toronto, and he loved their mass transit. People did not |
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have to worry about parking, and they could easily go from place to place. |
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In theory, he could visualize that for his hometown so people could shoot |
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downtown on a nice day. The fundamental difference was the population |
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density between cities, which had to be considered. They had discussed |
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a rail that would zip from downtown Rochester to Auburn and one from |
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downtown Rochester to Oakland University. He lived at John R and |
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Auburn, but thinking practically, if he and his wife wanted to go downtown, |
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they would have to walk a mile to get to the transportation. Everyone |
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would have to walk a great distance to get to that rail. That was the |
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difficulty with urban sprawl - people had to get in a car or on a bike. He |
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indicated that he did not want to sound negative, and he thought they |
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should stay on it and look at types of mass transit. Another thing to |
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consider was the businesses. For the line from Oakland University to |
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downtown Rochester, they had to consider the Village of Rochester Hills |
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as a stop-off point. He could see people heading downtown, jumping on |
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some kind of system to go to the Village to eat and coming back or vice |
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versa. It could solve the problem of drinking and driving by providing an |
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alternative. They needed to think outside the box. He mentioned Seattle |
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and Portland which got funding and got light rail moving. It would be great |
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if they could ride to Royal Oak, then downtown for a ballgame and come |
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