ue efforts help secure $1M for waterfront access
Walking and biking to the Oakland waterfront will be made easier thanks to $1 million in state funds set aside following Urban Ecology, Waterfront Action and other community groups' advocacy efforts.
On June 2nd, Bay Conservation and Development Commissioners made a courageous decision to require Caltrans to deposit $1 million in an account managed by the California Coastal Conservancy. The funds are earmarked for waterfront access improvements to be determined by community members and city officials in the coming year.
The decision by BCDC resulted from behind-the-scenes research and advocacy undertaken by Urban Ecology and other waterfront advocates who believed Caltrans should mitigate disruption caused by a $200 million highway widening project near Oakland's 5th Avenue.
"Flatland residents have been cut off from their waterfront for too many decades,'' said Urban Ecology's Policy Director Robert Hickey, who helped organize strong community turnout at BCDC's hearings, which began in March. "We hope this money starts to create a meaningful connection between East Oakland and the Estuary."
In March, it appeared as if a large turnout coordinated by Urban Ecology would easily convince Commissioners to make Caltrans pay more than the $500,000 the agency was offering for project mitigations. Neighborhood and citywide advocates, supported by the City of Oakland, testified that unsafe conditions which already isolate inland neighborhoods from Oakland's developing waterfront would only be worsened by Caltrans' five-year, $200 million project. Caltrans proposes to widen Interstate 880 where it passes over one of East Oakland's few at-grade points for waterfront access, 5th Avenue.
Advocacy efforts were almost derailed, however, when the City of Oakland dropped out of the loose coalition. Without the City's support, it appeared as if Bay Conservation and Development Commissioners would require half the $1 million compensation advocates felt was needed.
Urban Ecology, joined by leaders of the Oakland Waterfront Coalition and the East Bay Bicycle Coalition, showed up at the June hearing refusing to let BCDC or Caltrans off the hook. Urban Ecology's Hickey reminded the Commissioners of what was at stake and stressed how it was possible, with substantial street and railroad crossing improvements to 5th Avenue, to undo the effects of the 880 expansion -- but that it would take at least $1 million to begin the work.
The passionate and convincing testimony worked, as Commissioners required Caltrans to pay the full $1 million and deposit it in an account with the Coastal Conservancy.
Urban Ecology became involved in waterfront access issues in 2003 as a result of community planning with residents of Oakland's Eastlake and San Antonio neighborhoods, who have less parkland, per capita, than many areas throughout Oakland. With significant open space and trails being developed less than a mile from these neighborhoods along the Oakland Estuary, it became obvious that one way to increase park opportunities would be to improve access to the waterfront. As with many formerly industrial waterfronts, however, railroad tracks, a freeway and BART tracks make the Oakland Estuary impossible to access without a car.
With plans under way for transforming the industrial waterfront between Oak and 9th Streets into a mixed-use development with dozens of acres of new parks, Urban Ecology was convinced that access along a ground-level street, such as 5th Avenue, could help residents access recreational opportunities.
Using research into 5th Avenue's current land uses and traffic patterns, and referring to best practices on nationwide waterfront access issues, Urban Ecology created maps, photo montages and renderings to illustrate a different future for 5th Avenue. One such vision highlights the benefits of a pedestrian and bicycle friendly street that is a connector instead of a divider. These renderings helped make the case to Councilmember Pat Kernighan for why attention should be given to improving 5th Avenue. (See related information in the Q&A with intern Terri O'Connor.)
Thrilled by the June victory, Urban Ecology will now turn its attention to helping 5th Avenue stakeholders develop a comprehensive plan that can point to strategic, community-supported uses for this money.
