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Blank Page 2 of3 3) Walkability A walkable community is a desirable community! The city needs to recognize that its citizens might actually like to walk to the regional park, neighborhood stores, or around the neighborhood without having to walk in a STREET! Due to any apparent lack of vision or foresight the city has been developed to be car-centric. The city needs to be developing and retrofrtting the community with walking paths (or sidewalks for those of us who grew up with them). Walking in a street is not an acceptable alternative - streets are for vehicles, sidewalks are for pedestrians! Residents and the council need to get over their sidewalk phobia and make this community pedestrian friendly for people of all ages. We cannot wait until 2030 and this is not an attribute that should just apply to new developments (although it should be a requirement of new developments)_ Sidewalks should be designed to be pedestrian friendly (not immediately adjacent to the road, pedestrian scale lighting, shade trees, landscaping). The benefits are many and include creating a human scale environment, providing safe access to local amenities, providing opportunities to exercise, positively impacting the environment. reducing vehicle traffic, and creating a sense of community (its easier to visit with a neighbor if you pass each other while walking on a sidewalk. vs. driving by each other in vehicles). 4) Open Space I have often lamented the missed opportunities the city had to create a community that was really special. It is most unfortunate, with its lakes, wetlands. woods, and open spaces there was no overall vision to protect and preserve those unique features. While the county, fortunately. has retained some public property along lake Johanna and lake Josephine, imagine the potential that existed to create a "chain of lakes" such as is in Minneapolis, or to acquire and create public park spaces similar to what surrounds Sf. Paul's Como lake and Lake Phalenr If the city wants to attract and retain residents and hold property values they must have a vision, and develop and implement a plan to attain it, for acquiring, connecting, developing, and preserving the city's open spaces. Instead what happens time and time again is land that was platted as developable 50 years ago, even though it may be wetlands, swampy, or a hillside, is developed. If anyone has study the old plats, they may notice it often looks as if lots were platted by just drawing straight lot lines on maps without any criteria for what was a developable lot and what wasn't. One has to wonder if anyone even looked at the property first. The city needs to be proactive in identifying key parcels of property for public acquisition, that are either substandard for development purposes. or developed but where acquisition might add to a public linkage or neighborhood park, or that might provide needed green space in a developed residential area. If the 2030 Comprehensive Plan is to err at all it should be on the side of daring to dream, daring to have a human scale vision for the community, daring to take risks that enhance the quality of fife for all of its citizens. Thank you for the opportunity to comment. Regards, 7/8/2008