Item 19 - City Council Work Study Session Regarding the First Street Multimodal Boulevard Study

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City of Santa Ana | First Street Multimodal Corridor Technical Memorandum 24 Figure 12. Residents Over Age 65 and Poverty Rate within Equity Study Area Considerations for multimodal concept development include recognizing specific access needs for people walking/rolling, education and intuitive design for new street configurations, and focusing improvements on traffic safety and reduction of conflicts between different travel modes, especially vehicles and pedestrians. Examples of these considerations may include any placement of a new bi-directional bicycle facility or shared-use path on the southern side of the corridor, where there is less concentration of senior housing developments, or identifying controlled mid-block crossing locations that can better facilitate vulnerable road users access to transit. Another consideration is for providing longer crossing times for slower moving members of the community including the elderly, disabled and young children. Built Environment and Exposure to Harm This section summarizes key points of findings from this memorandum that focus on the existing conditions, built environment, and exposure to harm, specifically for marginalized and vulnerable populations. The corridor study area has a presence of community assets (grocery stores/farmers market, community centers, hospitals, libraries) that serve and are open to the public, but little green or open space. This showed that while there may be important resources, such as access to fresh food and health services, there may be inconsistent access to these resources for community members in the study area based on insurance coverage and food insecurity rates, as well as limited existing opportunities for physical activity. Most of the formal employment opportunities in the study area are within the civic or health and manufacturing sectors (refer to Figure 13). Additionally, preliminary findings show that one in three workers are in a blue-collar sector, with over one in four in the service sector. This may demonstrate a relatively steady commute demand throughout a 24-hour period that includes traditional 9 AM to 5 PM hours, as well as late night or early morning shifts. As described above, a robust informal economy of street vendors has been observed along the corridor. In the observational survey, conducted over a period of four days, the consultant team observed 30 vendors, slightly more than half serving food. In line with SB 946 and the City’s and County’s regulatory framework and given the placement of many street vendors along the