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11 <br /> <br /> <br />2.2.3. Legacy: Connectivity Challenges. <br /> There are few through-streets in the district. Many district streets and blocks are configured as <br />“superblocks” and have large parcels with limited street access; a “walk around the block" exceeds two <br />miles in some cases (Fig. 13). Nearly all district through-roads are truck routes, and these truck- <br />dominated roads are sometimes daunting to drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians; they are not yet <br />"complete streets." With the sprawling 2,000 acre-plus size of the district, the single Links shuttle to <br />BART counterclockwise loop route provides slow access (shuttles every 20 minutes and up to a 40- <br />minute long ride) for employees and others. From informal interviews with area business <br />representatives, though the Links shuttles are free, they are not seen by businesses and employees as a <br />convenient and practical connection. In addition, within the workplace districts, there are only four <br />existing bus shelters among the 19 Links Shuttle stops and two bus shelters among the approximately 30 <br />AC transit bus stops 22. Most stops lack even bus seating, adding up to a less than rider-friendly <br />experience. Though Williams Street, Fairway Drive, Farallon Drive, Doolittle Drive and Wicks Boulevard <br />provide almost continuous bike lanes along their lengths through the business districts, there are <br />"missing" segments of Merced Street, Westgate Parkway, and Teagarden Street bike lanes that leave <br />gaps with no bike lanes or several miles of detours to take (Fig. 35). Lack of bicycle lane buffers next to <br />truck routes makes for frequently uncomfortable riding and frequent detours by bicyclists onto <br />sidewalks. Finally, though all streets have sidewalks, many are relatively narrow, without physical <br />buffering from truck routes, and are alongside long blank walls and razor wire fences (Fig. 21). Lighting <br />on sidewalks is often uneven, discouraging walking in the district after dark. <br /> <br />2.2.4. Legacy: Few services and amenities. <br />In interviews we conducted with area business leaders and representatives, the most frequently raised <br />compliant was that there are few (or none, according to some) desirable restaurants and cafes in the <br />district to eat lunch or dinner, particularly for bringing out-of-town guests and collaborators to do <br />business over a meal. Instead, what exists at the edges of the districts are small clusters of fast food <br />restaurants adjacent to the Davis and Marina freeway interchanges; a small cluster of "Mom and Pop" <br />budget, ethnic and coffee shop eateries at the Marina Faire shopping center at the Doolittle/Fairway <br />intersection; and another cluster of similar establishments near the Doolittle/Marina intersection (Fig. <br />22). The latter two appear to be more oriented to surrounding neighborhoods than to businesses. <br />Inside the districts, about a half dozen highly dispersed, single restaurants or snack bars are scattered <br />throughout - like La Piñata Restaurant and Tequila Bar at Merced and Fairway, or like those almost <br />invisibly occupying one of the lease spaces of a multi-tenant industrial building, as is the case with The <br />Big Cheese at 2194 Edison Avenue or Blue Dish Cafe & Catering at 2956 Teagarden Street. Another <br />common complaint was that there is no national hotel or motel chain of any kind within the industrial <br />areas. Outside the industrial districts, some businesses feel that most hotels within a convenient <br />distance (e.g. the Oakland Airport area) are aging and not presentable to visiting clients and <br />collaborators. <br /> <br /> <br />22 Counted from the LINKS shuttle route map and from Google Maps graphics, aerial photos, and street views.