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Officials called for transportation to be the number one priority of the developing Southside Plan at this week's Berkeley Planning Commission meeting. 

The meeting discussed two key transportation issues for the plan including proposed rapid transit AC bus shuttles between Oakland and Downtown Berkeley and the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists in South Berkeley. 

The Southside Plan was introduced in 1997 as a Memorandum of Understanding between the city of Berkeley and the University to create a cooperative relationship and long-range plan for the improvement of the neighborhood immediately south of the UC campus. 

According to Tim Stroshane, Secretary of Berkeley's Planning Commission, plans for changing one-way thoroughfares like Bancroft and Durant streets into two-way streets were also proposed at the meeting. 

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"The dilemma is that Bancroft and Durant are three lanes. You can do a variety of things with those streets. You can make a super-loading zone and make them two way streets," said John Cecil, president of the Claremont-Elmwood Neighborhood Association. 

According to Cecil dozens of proposals have been made for changing and re-zoning the streets of south Berkeley. Cecil emphasizes that the most important matter is the safety of pedestrians. 

"The main thing is to slow things down. Nobody wants injured pedestrians or cyclists," said Cecil.  

Peter Hillier, assistant city manager for Transportation, commented that the Planning Commission has not established a set time frame for completing the Southside Plan and taking it to the City Council.  

According to Hillier, Wednesday's discussion has, however, provided a framework from which to evaluate information and make recommendations to the Transportation Commission.  

Hillier is a part of a new office created to bring the offices of traffic engineering and transportation planning under a single and more productive office of control. 

Stroshane says that the Southside Plan also includes ancillary issues which are important to local merchants. 

"Parking is a hot issue with the Telegraph merchants, they have to deal with parking for customers and access for delivery trucks," said Stroshane. 

South Berkeley residents have also expressed concern about south Berkeley turning into a transit monstrosity, citing the transit complexes already built in Richmond and being built in Emeryville. 

"We already have BART that serves the Berkeley to Oakland line, it sounds like AC Transit would be trying to compete for the same customers," said Cecil. 

Cecil also noted that the one-way streets in Berkeley are used mostly for passing through the city, not for stopping to conduct business. 

"60 percent of the one-way traffic is just going through Berkeley. The one-way streets create a freeway mentality. The two-ways would cut down on both volume and speed of traffic," says Cecil.  

The Planning Commission expects to discuss housing and zoning issues concerning the Southside plan at its next meeting scheduled for May 8th.  

Stroshane predicts that the Southside plan will not be ready for the City Council until later this year or early next year and that several key issues, including land use and housing, are still under discussion. 

"The Planning Commission does not want to rush things unwarrantedly. There have been a few disagreements internal to the subcommittee within the planning committee," said Stroshane. 

Stroshane added that environmental impact reports must be taken and assessed before the plan can be actualized. 

According to Cecil, the resources of the UC Berkeley have not been used to their full potential. 

"If UC agreed on a preferred transportation route, that would reduce traffic," said Cecil. 

Cecil added that UC has databases that could be used to figure out a traffic plan.  

"If they were really committed to transportation there would be a way to figure this out, it's like there's no effort," says Cecil.