Dear Friends,

Bay Area Citizens strongly recommends that you consider attending one of the remaining public hearings on the draft Plan Bay Area and share your views about the Plan, regardless of whether you are for or against the Plan. The remaining hearings are in Foster City and San Rafael Monday, April 29, and in San Jose and Fremont on Wednesday, May 1:

http://onebayarea.org/regional-initiatives/plan-bay-area/meetings-events/Public-Workshops-Public-Hearings.html

Even though the planners are only allowing 2 minutes per person for public comment at the hearings, the commenters have tended to have a lot to say. This is our chance to have our voices heard in a public setting.

This past Monday night's hearing in Walnut Creek was well attended. Steve Kemp, who has, as a volunteer, videotaped many of the Plan Bay Area hearings, appears to have put in many long hours of time to provide the video of the hearing on Youtube so that citizens who were not able to attend can nonetheless view the hearing. Watching the video will give you a sense of the public feedback that ABAG and MTC have been getting about the Plan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkqWvlabnpc

As has been the case at all of these meetings both last year and this year, the vast majority of public commenters expressed opposition to the Plan. One thing that is a bit regrettable about this past Monday night's Walnut Creek hearing is a number of the folks who spoke in favor of the Plan appear to have been affiliated with Greenbelt Alliance, a non-governmental organization that is closely aligned with ABAG and MTC--but they did not disclose that affiliation. Even the Board President, and apparent leader of this group of six or so folks who came and left together and spoke in favor of the Plan, didn't identify himself other than by name.

But again, all of the citizens commenting had a lot to say, as you will see by watching the video, and we recommend that you do watch the video.

We also recommend that you consider submitting a comment in writing. To comment on the draft Plan itself, send an email to info@OneBayArea.org, or to comment on the draft EIR, eircomments@mtc.ca.gov.

Alternatively, send your comment by mail or hand delivering it to:

MTC-ABAG

Plan Bay Area Public Comment

101 8th Street

Oakland, California 94607

re: Public Comment on Draft Bay Area Plan and Draft Bay Area Plan Draft Environmental Impact Report

Your written comment is due by 4:00PM, Thursday, May 16, 2013.