HomeMy WebLinkAbout9/5/2017 Item 7, Mulvihill
Christian, Kevin
From:Michael D Mulvihill <michael.d.mulvihill@gmail.com>
Sent:Friday, September
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Re: Downtown Concept Plan
Re: Downtown Concept Plan
Dear City Council:
First of all I want to apologize for not having provided input at an earlier time. My travel schedule and business dealings
simply did not allow for it.
It is very evident that a lot of people have been working very hard on the plan and I greatly appreciate and applaud all
the effort. It is exciting and phenomenal work!
I would like to make the following comments for your consideration.
1. The Vision Statement
The current vision statement could be more imaginative, bold and visionary.
However it is not an easy task and it requires collective community intelligence to create a powerful vision statement.
If I were writing a vision statement for the plan document it would go something like this:
"San Luis Obispo aspires to be a great place to live and work by promoting the health and wellbeing of it citizens with a
commitment to environmental stewardship. We aim to strengthen the sense of community, preserve our historic charm
and character, ignite business vitality, and ensure economic sustainability for all. We are committed to reducing the
carbon footprint and automobile dependency, and we seek to improve walkability and bike ability within our
community."
Many of these ideas align with the growing research on sustainable health, happiness, life fulfillment and vitality.
The most glaring omission in the vision statement and the plan document is the lack of focus on the health, wellness and
wellbeing of our citizens.
Since we are at a late date regarding the plan document, perhaps it is more advisable to create a policy that addresses
this issue that could be easily inserted into the document or positioned elsewhere as the council sees fit.
2. Walkability of SLO
SLO has a walk score of 51. Over a 120 California cities have a better walk score! This should cause us pause. I believe a
commitment must be made to improve this score. I understand that a Master Plan for Pedestrians is being created and
therefore I leave it up to council as to where this issue should be addressed.
For reference, Walk Score is division of Redfin and has an advisory board of urban planners, environmental and technical
experts from esteemed institutions like The Sightline Institute and The Brookings Institution. They are tracking the walk
score of cities across the country.
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Their mission is to promote walkable neighborhoods as one of the simplest and best solutions for our environment, our
health and our economy.
Their mission is striking and you can see how they are forming the connection between health and wellbeing, the
environment and the economy. SLO should be doing the same!
Thank you for your consideration of my comments!
Michael Mulvihill
375 Chorro
Sent from my iPhone
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