Meeting report-back, and where we go next

Dear Neighbors and Fellow Advocates,

On Saturday May 25th, 20 advocates gathered to assess where TVRR stands now, and where we want to go in the coming months. Many thanks to all those who could make it, and much understanding of all those who wanted to come but could not. We’ll have another, and it won’t be so long next time.

First up, a quick recap: Traffic Violence Rapid Response (TVRR) is an informal gathering of concerned Oaklanders and nearby allies committed to working together to bring about safe streets for everyone, with an emphasis on people walking and rolling. We have no formal structure and no political affiliations as a group. We are (to borrow a phrase) a “Do-ocracy”: if some of us want to pursue a strategy or action, and if others in the group agree that it fits our identity and mission, then that work can go forward under the TVRR name. Always more to talk about here.

New Ideas and Ongoing Projects

Once we got rolling, we did an open call for topics of interest, then ranked them by level of interest, and broke out into 4 conversations. We rotated around so everyone could discuss and add ideas. People who want to work on any of these can join the discussion to build a plan of action. See the end of this email for our call to action!

Quick Builds for Traffic Calming

There are two threads here: pushing OakDOT to do more quick builds, and then supporting the community to enact their own. Here, we enumerated the challenges, and then potential solutions, so that more quick builds can get done. Much of the difficulty comes down to institutional resistance and available resources, but solutions to all of this are available to us through some concerted effort. Strong interest here to push on both paths. Community-driven traffic calming is an ongoing project, with Anwar stepping up to lead this for now.

Commemorating Traffic Fatalities, Pushing for Change (Vigils)

TVRR came into being by holding “vigils” at the sites where traffic fatalities, primarily of pedestrians and cyclists, had recently occurred. We all learned a lot, built a playbook of sorts, garnered a lot of visibility, and changed Oakland politics around traffic violence. We also poured in a huge amount of energy, and some members suffered some real emotional burnout. And we began to ask ourselves some hard questions about the meaning of what we were doing.

On Saturday, the group expressed a strong interest in continuing the practice of highlighting the impact of traffic violence in our communities, especially in East Oakland, where a disproportionate number of crashes occur. And the thoughtful conversation of how to evolve our strategy is starting to coalesce into specific improvements. Emma and Laurel stepped up to lead this re-launch through a new playbook.

Community Engagement Activities

Several ideas popped up around engaging and educating the public about complete streets and a positive vision for Oakland streets: educational bike rides and walks, cross-organizing with different groups (seniors, parent groups, social justice, disability access), creating standard handouts, upping our social media presence, and the like. This one is by definition a whole category of many smaller efforts that can adapt over time as desired or needed. No organizer is leading at this time, maybe it’s you?

Funding Issues

This topic is another broad one, but for the immediate time frame, folks are concerned about the looming city budget deficit and the need to tighten the city budget. Luckily, the vast majority of OakDOT money is actually from grants, bond measures, and other sources, while only about 10% comes from the city’s general fund. However, some budget losses are on the table, so some action may be called for. This conversation also included a wider array of ideas and questions, with no actions defined yet.

Ongoing Campaigns

International Blvd Emergency Safety Project

The current state of International is that construction along most of International will occur between June and August of this year, to install lane separating flex posts, and center-line delineators (also flex posts closer togetther), along with additional signage and pavement markings. The announced speed cushion pilot is still in negotiation with AC Transit, but OakDOT has stated publicly that they are committed to installing speed cushions the whole length of the corridor, so this negotiation appears to be mostly about the design specifics. We need to push all parties to move faster and get the full safety project installed. We also want to see, and may try to do, a before-and-after speed study when the pilot is installed. Bryan will start out as the organizer for this.

Grand Avenue / Finish the Loop around Lake Merritt

OakDOT will release a new range of options for the Grand Avenue re-paving redesign. A growing chorus of business owners want zero parking removal, despite the majority of people on the street arriving there by means other than private cars (Thanks Joanna, Carter, and Bryan for their live survey on Grand this month!). So we need to organize a big response to make sure that OakDOT hears our message loud and clear. Joanna stepped up to take the lead on this.

Lakeshore Blvd will get a two-way protected bikeway from El Embarcadero to 18th St. around the end of the year, once EBMUD finishes a planned dig this fall/winter. Other projects in the next 2 years will extend the two-way track on the west and south sides of the lake as well. All this, even if Grand goes our way, will still leave gaps, but each project builds further momentum to “Finish The Loop”. We are working in coalition with Bike East Bay and Walk Oakland Bike Oakland on this campaign.

Fire Code Changes

At first seemingly esoteric, this is one of those “99% Invisible” issues. Oakland’s fire code, based on the California version, directly impacts the street redesigns we advocate for, by imposing limits on lane widths, turning radius at intersections, speed cushions and “any and all traffic calming measures”. Kevin has been researching this topic, and working to convene conversations, for almost 2 years, and some initial compromises have allowed OakDOT more design flexibility. Kevin will continue to lead on this and is open to others joining in.

Call to Action

All of these efforts need more help. If you want to get involved, you now have an idea of where we are, and a chance to join in. The link below will take you to a response form, where you can express interest, and those who stepped up to coordinate will contact you to get started. As always, you don’t need to join our Slack channel, but if you’re open, this is our primary day-to-day organizing tool (it’s on the form). If not, you will still get regular updates and invitations to join meetings and actions according to your interests:

Thanks for every one of you stepping up to make Oakland better!

- George