Updated Guiding Principles for the Downtown Transportation Plan
We want to thank you, the people of San José, for providing such valuable feedback on the Downtown Transportation Plan principles during our workshop in October. In this workshop, the City presented its draft guiding principles (see below) and opened the conversation for discussion around what might be missing or need adjusting.
One strong point of feedback was a desire to see more emphasis on community. While it is important that neighborhoods be safe, healthy, vibrant, and comfortable, if there isn’t also a sense of living in community, there would still be work to do. Additionally, while equity was listed as a top guiding principle in the plan, the public wanted to see more specificity about which groups would be taken into consideration, and suggested the list below that has now been incorporated.
The City is excited to be moving forward with these updated guiding principles, in partnership with you, the people of San José:
People-first: Include a wide variety of individuals who live, work, and play in San José in the planning effort, and particularly to their need for safety, health, dignity, comfort, community, and enjoyment.
Place: Advance the vision of a vibrant, creative, and livable downtown with neighborhood communities that are complete, unique, and reflective of our City’s diverse history, for all types of people through smart transportation investments.
Equity: Support equitable, affordable, and inclusive access to places in Downtown San José for all residents, workers, and visitors to San José across all abilities, ages, races, gender identities, and income levels. Ensure that equity and the needs of vulnerable populations are incorporated into all aspects of the Plan.
Economy: Design a resilient multimodal transportation system that supports people of all means and downtown economic development in a fiscally responsible manner.
Climate: Support the City’s Climate Smart goals of resiliency, reduce the number of trips taken by single occupancy vehicles, and increase the use of clean travel modes.