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Word came down Tuesday morning that Oakland Department of Transportation head Fred Kelley is leaving his post. An internal announcement was forwarded to Streetsblog about the change. "Effective March 11, Fred Kelley will be the new Director of Oakland Parks, Recreation, and Youth Development (OPRYD)," read the announcement email. "City Administrator Jestin Johnson has further asked Director Kelley for his leadership to: Establish a capital plan for OPRYD’s many critical City assets, including major parks, neighborhood parks, miniparks, and recreation centers."
OakDOT Assistant Director Megan Wier will become OakDOT’s Acting
Director. Also from the announcement: "Additional key leadership announcements are expected soon for OakDOT, which will remain an independent department within the City of Oakland."
"We are excited to work with Interim Director Megan Wier," wrote Bike East Bay's Justin Hu-Nguyen in an email to Streetsblog. "She's been a great partner in our work for safer streets that put people's safety first, and we look forward to collaborating with her and the OakDOT team."
Wier was previously with the San Francisco Department of Public Health, where she worked with SFMTA on Vision Zero information gathering. "The traditional approach was to accept deaths as inevitable and to focus on individual behavior," said Wier during a 2018 SPUR talk about collision data and the importance of treating traffic violence as an epidemic. "Vision Zero is focused on the idea that traffic deaths are preventable and they're too costly to allow."
Kelley became Oakland DOT Director in July of 2022. Previously, he was OakDOT’s Assistant Director, and had worked as Transportation Division Manager for the City of Hayward. He replaced Ryan Russo—the first leader of the newly formed department—who took the helm in 2017. Oakland's independent department of transportation was created by then-consultant Jeffrey Tumlin, who went on to head up SFMTA.
"We had a good working relationship with Director Kelley and wish him the best in his new role at Oakland Parks, Recreation, and Youth Development," wrote Bike East Bay's Hu-Nguyen.
