Excerpt:

More than a decade ago, Oakland’s city attorney sued Alameda over plans to redevelop Alameda Point. In the suit, his office claimed Alameda’s analysis of the proposed development’s impacts failed to adequately study and propose solutions for the traffic it would pump into Oakland’s Chinatown neighborhood.

Today that onetime city attorney, John Russo, is spearheading efforts to redevelop the Point as Alameda’s city manager. And as Alameda finalizes a new study of the development’s potential impacts, he is facing some of the same charges he lodged in his 2003 suit.

In a pair of letters, Oakland’s top planner and a coalition of Chinatown groups said Alameda’s plans for 1,425 homes and 8,900 jobs at Alameda Point will create more traffic and pollution in Chinatown than the Island’s recently released analysis of the proposed development’s impacts lets on. And they said Alameda needs to propose and fund fixes that will diminish traffic and keep Chinatown’s pedestrians safe.