| | Published September 12th, 2012
| Meet the Lafayette Council Candidates: Mike Anderson
| | By Cathy Tyson |  | | Mike Anderson
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A resident of Lafayette for more than twenty years, Mike Anderson has been serving on the City Council since winning a seat in 2004. He's married and when not working at the East Bay Regional Park District, as Assistant General Manager for Planning/Stewardship and Development, he enjoys making beer and working in the garden. The relaxed, unflappable Anderson has served on numerous subcommittees and has clearly embraced the never ending Monday night meeting schedule. In his spare time, Anderson is a Raiders and A's fan.
"As the popularity of our wonderful City continues to grow, we will need to focus on tempering the impact that proposals for development within both Lafayette and the Town of Moraga have on our traffic. It is essential that we maintain safe ingress/egress through adequate circulation and improve movement within our City by building a network of safe, unobtrusive walkways linking neighborhoods to schools and the downtown, as well as, a system of bike lanes to promote a viable alternative to driving. The creation of strong linkages to our regional trails should also be a high priority. However, no matter what we do to advance the use of these alternative methods of transportation, people are going to drive into the downtown to shop, eat, and socialize.
To address the growing need for parking, it is essential that we find ways to promote the consolidation of existing private parking areas to allow people to park their cars in one lot and to walk from there to the various shops and restaurants that surround it.
Overall, it is my opinion that our best opportunity to manage traffic and provide adequate parking in the City is through better control over the development that occurs in the downtown. With State and regional planning agencies requiring us to provide the opportunity for a specific number of additional housing units within our City, managing our future development must be achieved through a method that is acceptable to these entities. Our Downtown Specific Plan conforms to these requirements and will assure that development in this part of the City is thoroughly analyzed for traffic impacts, both direct and cumulative, on a case-by-case basis. With the establishment and implementation of the development guidelines required by the plan, I truly believe that we can address these growth related pressures while maintaining the small-town character of our downtown and supporting the desirable businesses which continue to play an essential role in the future economic sustainability of Lafayette."
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA