Action Item: Last Chance to be Heard on Hopkins
The Berkeley City Council will vote Tuesday (today), July 28, on whether to proceed with protected bike lanes on a busy stretch of Hopkins Street in Berkeley. Be sure to get your letter written and, if possible, attend the meeting, which starts at 6 p.m.
From the advocates at North Berkeley Now:
Our kids need safe routes to schools: King Middle School, Saint Mary’s, Crowden, and Ruth Acty Elementary. Not to mention all of the daycares and preschools in the area.
We want protected bike lanes that encourage car-free travel. There was a plan to add a 2-way cycle track to Hopkins that was approved by Berkeley city council years ago, but for many reasons the project was paused.
Now it’s back and we need to remind the city council that there’s still a lot of support for this plan.
And from the action letter put together by Walk Bike Berkeley:
The proposed design has one-way protected bike lanes on each side of the street from The Alameda to Peralta (where they will connect to the Ohlone Greenway). It also proposes painted bike lanes and traffic calming from The Alameda to Sutter, traffic calming from Peralta to San Pablo, and pedestrian safety and transit improvements. While there’s room for improvement, the proposed design would be a very good outcome.
The switch to one-way protected bike lanes is an improvement over the earlier two-way concept, as it will be even safer. And we’re excited that this proposal would create low-stress bicycle connections to Martin Luther King Middle School and track/park/pool, Hopkins businesses, Gilman Street, and the Ohlone Greenway. However, the lack of protected bike lanes east of The Alameda and west of Peralta is a disappointment, so we are continuing to push for them, while supporting the referral.
So what’s the opposition to the bike lanes? Over 100 parking spots would be lost, reports Berkeleyside’s Nico Savidge. That’s important, reports the SF Chron‘s Rachel Swan, because many elderly folks live there, and “And they can’t all ride bikes.”
Streetsblog is still trying to understand how adding a bike lane to keep people from getting mashed translates into: “everybody must ride a bike.”
To Bike East Bay’s Robert Prinz, it all translates into a larger problem with how our cities are designed:
I read through all several hundred written public comments sent to Berkeley City Council so far for the Hopkins project proposal.
Even in Berkeley there are a great many expressions of fear represented in the comments from individuals who aren’t confident about their ability to accomplish daily trips without a private motor vehicle, and concerns that any changes to the already very limited on-street parking on Hopkins will make or break their ability to maintain their lifestyle. This includes comments from seniors living in the hills expressing concerns about their ability to age in place, including some comments about how reductions in bus transit service in the hills have made them more car-dependent.
There are also many expressions of fear in the comments from parents in the neighborhood who are concerned about the ability of their school-aged kids to get around safely on their own, without having to be shuttled by car for even short distances. And there are comments from seniors and individuals with disabilities who already bike in the area and/or are car-free, expressing safety concerns about the status quo.
And…
The city needs to support the ability for people of all ages and abilities to remain active and vital in their communities, with or without a car. This will require us to stay true to a clear vision and make difficult decisions around both transportation and land use, and there will necessarily be many more decisions for other corridors along the same lines as Hopkins in the years to come.
In other words, streets have to be designed in a balanced way that keeps everyone safe, whether they drive, walk, bike, take public transit, or some combination. The status quo, which favors motoring convenience at the expense of all other modes, doesn’t do that. The Hopkins project is another step towards a balanced city that tries to accommodate everyone, no matter how they get around.
Be sure to sign the letter and/or attend the meeting. Show up in person at 1231 Addison or on Zoom.
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