New Bike "Improvements" on Adeline Street Puts Cyclists in Harm's Way

Emeryville City Engineer to Adeline Street Bikes:  “Prepare to Get Doored!”

By John Fricke

Twenty years ago, Adeline Street (Oakland’s sections north and south of Emeryville, and Emeryville’s short section in the middle) included four travel lanes, in addition to parked cars on each side of the street. 

Adeline Street 20 years ago.

When I joined the city council, I pushed to convert the right travel lanes into bike lanes.  A vocal minority living in the Andante apartment building (Adeline and 40th Streets) sought to kill the project because diagonal parking spaces in front of their building would be converted to parallel parking.  They asserted that the whole exercise was meaningless given how short the Emeryville section of Adeline Street is. 

Thankfully, the pro-car voices did not prevail and the project was completed. 

Adeline Street up until two years ago.

(Several years after completion, the City of Oakland repaved its two sections of Adeline Street.  The City of Oakland striped its sections of Adeline Street nearly the same as in Emeryville.  The tail wagged the dog.)

For over fifteen years, Adeline Street was a relatively sound design for bikes; until Emeryville’s current city engineer (annual salary: $168,000) took a look at Adeline Street. 

The city engineer (duly licensed as both a civil engineer and a traffic engineer) recommended a plan which included, in one section near 45th Street, curving the bike lane up against the parked cars. 

Before:

Two years ago, before bungling: Note the ample space 
for car doors.

After:

Adeline today: Prepare to get doored. 

Bike riders are now sitting ducks for a passenger car door that abruptly opens in front of the bike.  So close is the newly-striped bike lane that a bike farthest to the left in the bike lane is still in harm’s way.

Bam!

Are traffic engineers allowed to arbitrarily shift a bike lane into harm’s way?  Not according to the California Highway Design Manual.  At over one thousand pages, the Highway Design Manual dictates exactly how all the public streets in California are to be laid out, including precise details regarding bicycle lanes.  “All city, county, regional and other local agencies responsible for bikeways or roads . . . shall follow the bikeway design criteria established in this manual and the California [Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices], as authorized in the Streets and Highways Code Sections 890.6 and 891(a).”  Section 115.1. 

According to the California Highway Design Manual, a bike lane shall be at least five feet wide and shall be at least eight feet from the vertical face of the curb.  The city engineer's new serpentine bike lane maintains the legally-required minimum width of 5 feet, but is only seven feet from the curb at its closest point.  This represents a swerve of four feet into the door zone.  The curving of the new bike lane is also in violation of the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices which states, “[b]icycle lane markings on Class II Bikeways (Bike Lane) should be placed a constant distance from the marked lane line or centerline . . ..”  Section 9C.04. 

Not only did the city engineer curve the bike lane into the door zone, he reconfigured most of the intersections to force bikes to make sharp turns. 

Street sign reads as follows- Bikes: now swerve right, then
swerve left.  Prepare to repeat until you reach the 
Oakland border.

These new intersection configurations violate the standards dictated by the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices: 

1:  the bike lane is to maintain a constant distance from the centerline (cited above).  Section 9C.04. 

2:  “Raised barriers (e.g., raised traffic bars and asphalt concrete dikes) or raised pavement markers shall not be used to delineate bike lanes on Class II Bikeways (Bike Lane).”  Section 9C.04.

Here is the required intersection configuration:

Normally, traffic engineers slavishly follow the state law requirements so that the city doesn’t get sued when someone is injured.  Not so in Emeryville.  How did this bungling design get approved by the city engineer, city attorney, city manager, and city council?  The Dunning-Kruger effect is alive and well in City Hall.

John Fricke is a longtime Emeryville resident, father of three, husband, lawyer, and former member of the Emeryville City Council.

City Took Away Housing That Would Have Supported CVS

Blighted CVS – Thank City Hall’s Leading Lights from Twenty Years Ago

By John Fricke

Once upon a time, there was a small town with a not so nice street.  To protect the innocent, let’s call this town, Pottersville.  

The not-so-nice street was called San Pablo Avenue, and on one of its blocks there were a number of contiguous properties that were occupied by a grimy Kentucky Fried Chicken, a greasy spoon called, Broom Bush Café, some residential units, and a moribund paint store.  The Best and the Brightest down at City Hall decided that this block of San Pablo Avenue needed to be destroyed to save it.  

Having designated virtually all of Pottersville as a redevelopment zone, City Hall’s big thinkers came up with a plan: they demanded that the private property owners sell their parcels of land to the city government (at a generous price).  The city government would consolidate the contiguous parcels, raze everything, and turn the whole thing over to a developer who would create something better: retail shops that fronted on San Pablo, surface parking, and townhouses in the back. 

To the neighbors living nearby, including this correspondent, the plan seemed like not a bad idea.  Who wouldn’t mind getting rid of the decades-old KFC with its rotating bucket on a pole (which had long since stopped rotating).  The Broom Brush Café had been there for some time, but the area needed more housing.  The paint store was bumping along, but who could argue with progress?  A profit-oriented developer was on the case.  What could go wrong?

City Hall’s alchemists held community meetings, displayed renderings of the future “Promenade”.  No longer would the parking spaces front on San Pablo, they said.  The new businesses would have entrances that would be right on the street, thereby ‘activating’ the street with pedestrians.  The nearby neighbors dreamed of neighborhood-serving retail that they could walk to.  City Hall’s bright lights said new retail space would feature tall ceilings, a smart facade, not another big-box retail monstrosity.  (Never mind that Pottersville’s big box nirvana was brought to you by the same usual suspects. ‘Meet the new boss . . .’)

The existing property owners took their payouts and left.  (Broom Bush Café relocated to Berkeley.)  But even before construction began, the promises started to go south.  The housing would not be built right away, first the retail, they said.  The Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise cut a separate deal with City Hall – it would reopen at a new location right down the street.  And the neighborhood-serving retail was merely a bait-and-switch.  Even though City Hall now owned the land, it made no demands on the developer in terms of what types of businesses would be selected as tenants.  

Then, the developer rolled out the hit parade of proposed future tenants: IHOP, Panda Express, Longs (which demanded a liquor license), Hawaiian BBQ, and Quizno’s Subs.  

Neighbors and I organized a full-throated opposition.  We attended numerous city council meetings, we wore stickers (“Mom and Pop, not IHOP”).  I argued that the city was within its legal right to exercise final approval over tenants.  The city attorney took a different legal position, namely, that the city council had given away the store to the developer, and needed to give away more.

The know-it-all experts in city hall tried to explain – while talking slowly and not using any big words – that the developer had incurred large costs in constructing the new retail space, and that he needed to charge high rents to recoup his investment – only the national fast-food chains were in a position to pay at that rate.  Translation: we should feel the developer’s pain.  

Had my second-grade teacher, Mrs. McGuinness, been on the scene, she would have asked all the miscreants down at city hall to get out a piece of paper and a pencil, and write, twenty times, First Do No Harm.  

Although we were unable to close the barn door on IHOP, over the course of several city council meetings, we pressured the city council to find neighborhood-serving retail for the remaining retail space that was slated for Panda Express.  When Arizmendi expressed initial interest, we organized a community meeting to court the Arizmendi people (mainly, Jacques Kaswan) who had reservations about San Pablo Avenue.  We then persuaded the city council to subsidize the rent for five years so that Arizmendi could get on its feet.  

And what about the townhouses? Pixar cast a roving eye across its vast sea of surface parking spaces, and fixed its gaze upon the land slated for the townhouses.  When Pixar came calling, City Hall quickly struck a deal to ditch the townhouses and sell the land to Pixar.  Was Pixar planning to use the land to house some of its employees?  Not.  Pixar paved it over and striped more surface parking spaces for its car commuters.  The Pixar superblock got even bigger.  

Why did CVS close last fall?  Was it done in by the pandemic?  By the steady stream of shoplifters?  By the ‘challenges’ associated with San Pablo Avenue?  

CVS’s demise was foreordained over twenty years ago when the rocket scientists down at City Hall napalmed the block and then caved to their handpicked developer and to Pixar.  The one success story, Arizmendi, arose despite city hall’s genuflection to the developer, Pixar, and fast food nation.  

So, dear reader, the next time you walk along the Promenade, averting your eyes from the blighted black hole that was once CVS, don’t reach into your pocket looking for Zuzu’s petals.  They disappeared over twenty years ago when the brainiacs down at City Hall decided that they knew best.  

John Fricke is a sometimes Tattler contributor, longtime Emeryville resident, father of three, husband, lawyer, and former member of the Emeryville City Council.  He is currently spending a year living in Berlin.

Crush of Trucks Blocking Bike Lanes Draws Chief of Police to Declare it Legal

Chief of Police Rules OK to Block Bike Lanes in Emeryville

Illegal to Block Lanes in Neighboring Cities

City Hall Scrambles to Protect Bikers, Thwart Chief's Ruling

Officials at Emeryville City Hall have been pushed into a tailspin by recent incendiary comments from the chief of police that claim people are allowed to block bike lanes with parked vehicles for up to 72 hours without fear of receiving a ticket from the police department. The comments came in a November 29th email from Chief Jeffery Jennings after a cascade of citizen complaints about trucks blocking our bike lanes and have pushed the city staff and the Council to search for new ways to keep the city’s bike lanes clear, the Tattler has learned.  Mr Jennings cites the California Vehicle Code as his authoritative source that it is “perfectly legal” for vehicles to block bike lanes, interestingly, the same source that neighboring cities use to declare the practice illegal.

Emeryville Chief of Police Jeffery Jennings
His unique reading of the California Vehicle Code
puts him at odds with chiefs of police in Berkeley,
Oakland, San Francisco and Hayward.

The City of Emeryville is scrambling, responding to the distressing pronouncement from Chief Jennings by exploring extra levels of protection for bicyclists such as painting all curbs in bike lanes red and/or adding ‘no parking’ signs alongside every bike lane.  Mr Jennings expressed to the Tattler that such actions would be enough for him to start directing his officers to ticket vehicles in those bike lanes.  

Attorneys contacted by the Tattler expressed surprise at Chief Jennings’ take on the vehicle code that has the added effect of voiding Emeryville’s new parking meter program by offering a plethora of free parking on any bike lane.  One attorney stated the snippets quoted from the California Vehicle Code by Mr Jennings seem to be cherry picked in such a way as to make vehicles blocking bike lanes legal.  

The November 29th statement legalizing bike lane blocking in Emeryville by Chief Jennings, cites CA Vehicle Code Div 11 Chapter 1 Article 4 Section 2121 which states:  No person may stop, stand, sit, or loiter upon any class I bikeway, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 890.4 of the Streets and Highways Code, or any other public or private bicycle path or trail, if the stopping, standing, sitting, or loitering impedes or blocks the normal and reasonable movement of any bicyclist.

The above language would protect bike lanes but Chief Jennings focuses on the Streets and Highways Code to make his determination that it is OK for vehicles to block the lanes, a move former Emeryville City Council member and practicing attorney John Fricke took issue with.  In a letter to the Tattler responding to the Chief, Mr Fricke was adamant, “The police chief's reliance on S&H Code section 890.4 is severely undermined by the fact that the S&H Code in general is not where vehicle prohibitions are placed.  For that, one must look to the Vehicle Code.  In addition, section 890.4 is part of a larger act that has as its main purpose the promotion of bicycle travel: the California Bicycle Transportation Act.  How ironic that the police chief cites this act as proof that trucks can block a bike lane.”, Mr Fricke wrote. 

Additionally, Mr Fricke notes “Subsection (b) is the general rule, no parking in the bike lane ("upon any bikeway" includes a Class II bikeway as defined in Streets and Highways Code section 890.4, which is the section  the police chief cites as evidence of a right to park in a bike lane).” 

The City of Emeryville’s Municipal Code also protects bike travel in town by making it illegal to block a bike lane.  Code 4-9.21 states “It shall be unlawful for the operator of any train, truck, or other vehicle to stop or park in such manner as to block or impede the flow of traffic”.  However Chief Jennings says the Emeryville Municipal Code is subordinate to the greater authority of the California Vehicle Code and so bicycle traffic may be impeded.

The Tattler contacted the police departments in Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco and Hayward and all reported it is illegal for vehicles to block bike lanes in their respective cities.  Berkeley PD Officer Vaughn (#826) uses the same CA Vehicle Code Div 11 Chapter 1 Article 4 Section 2121 Chief Jennings does but he said, "We cite [vehicles] for that every day”.

The only vehicles allowed to block bike lanes according the the California Vehicle code are specifically utility trucks, newspaper delivery trucks, garbage trucks and tow trucks, and all while actively working only.

Bike safety studies have shown crossing over the solid white line of a bike lane, swerving out into a vehicle lane to avoid a vehicle blocking is the most dangerous legal move a bicyclist can make.  Emeryville, it would appear, will continue to be a place for this very dangerous movement made by bicyclists unless the City Council reverses Mr Jennings and his anti-bike directive.  

Chief Jennings is not some lone wolf it should be noted.  An October 29th 2020 Tattler story highlighted a recalcitrant Emeryville Police Department loath to issue citations for vehicles blocking our bike lanes, indicating this anti-bike culture predates Chief Jennings who was hired in December of that year.

For his part, Mr Jennings has downplayed the whole bike lane tumult.  Shrugging off the mounting controversy his legal-to-block-bike-lanes directive has caused, the Chief was nonchalant, ”If this is the worst problem that I have then I'm doing well” he told the Tattler.

Emeryville Police responded to calls concerning this truck with a large banner
parked on Shellmound Street, blocking the bike lane.  No tickets were written
because "It is legally parked" said one of the responding officers.

This banner could be placed on any one of the hundreds of trucks blocking our bike lanes 
every week in Emeryville.

Trucks blocking bike lanes
earns one Nora smile.

Guest Column: John Fricke on Emeryville's Shoddy Children's Playgrounds

Emeryville City Hall’s New Language of Empathy and Inaction

By John Fricke

Guest Columnist

When I was growing up in Chicago my mother would say to me, ką darai, daryk gerai!  (What you do, do well! – in Lithuanian.)  In my practice of law, I’ve tried to live up to that parental advice.  Not so Emeryville city government.

In Emeryville city government, the performance goal appears to be markedly lower than the one imparted to me by my mother.  What specifically comes to mind is the condition of our public playgrounds.  

My three-year-old son, Dean, and I are frequent visitors to the various playgrounds.  Based on my experience from when my daughters were Dean’s age, playground deficiencies brought to the attention of someone in Emeryville city government would quickly be repaired.  When my parents would visit from Chicago, they brought their granddaughters to various Emeryville playgrounds, all in pretty good repair.  

Therefore, when I brought Dean to the same playgrounds, I was taken aback.  Was the city not aware of the various things in need of repair?  Of the trees that had been cut down by the city and not replanted?  Had no one brought these things to their attention?  A quick email to the city manager (annual salary over $227,000) will address my concerns, I thought.  

I’ve since come to realize that the work ethic of ką darai daryk gerai has been replaced with a new bureaucrat-speak that manages to meld empathy and inaction into one sentence.  

The city manager’s response to my email message (enumerating all the things needing attention at five public playgrounds) included this sentence: 

“We are also assessing what grant opportunities from the state might be available to fund the various infrastructure improvements at the parks you describe below.”

Inquiring minds surely want to know what were these ‘infrastructure improvements’ I was demanding. 

Eradicate graffiti (infrastructure improvement?):

Replant shade trees (cut down by the city) near play structures (infrastructure improvement?):

Why replant a tree when you can fill the 
tree well with concrete?

It almost leaves you with the impression that they don't care.

Patch rubber matting (infrastructure improvement?):

The city manager’s response promised “substantive answers”.  She then passed the buck down the chain of command.  

I held my breath for a response.  After two weeks of no response from our very-well-paid city functionaries, I sent a follow-up message.  

Days later, a response came from the director of public works (annual salary over $161,000), including the following:  “Playground facilities assessment and budget is in the process of being prepared and scheduled based on funding.”

Here was a person well-trained in the new language of empathy and inaction.  

I immediately sent another message demanding to know when the repairs would be completed.  And again, I was provided (with a same-day response, no less) with an exemplar of the new lingua franca:

“We are working on the park assessment now and the recommended repairs.  With that we are also obtaining the costs and timing.  We will then process for the repairs based on the city contracting requirements and available funding.  The rubber matting is high on the list and I look to have the recommendations and timing for repairs soon.  Have a wonderful day and please feel free to contact me at any time.  Take Care.”  

Ron Swanson is alive and well and working in Emeryville city hall.  

Despite the fog of bureaucrat-speak, I did manage to glean a date certain by which seven trees would be replanted.  (No commitment for when the other things would be addressed.)  When, pray tell, will the trees be replanted, you ask?  

In April.  

Of 2021.  

Since my original messages, Emeryville has completed a circumnavigation of the sun.

As far as replanting trees, regular Tattler readers will no doubt chime in regarding the city council’s sordid sell-out of the street trees on Horton Street.  Orwell would appreciate the council members’ Newspeak word, “nuisance tree”, whereby, at the developer’s behest, a healthy tree is transmogrified into a nuisance, and then cut down.   Dean and I should be glad that the remaining trees in the playgrounds have not met the same fate.  I suppose that’s because a developer hasn’t yet cast his wandering eye on a parcel occupied by a playground.  Longtime Emeryville residents will recall how adamantly opposed Council member Nora Davis was to a park at Doyle and 59th streets.  After all, the city council had purchased the property with the intention of constructing a four-level parking garage.  During the dot com frenzy of the late Nineties, Emeryville business owners’ demand for more free parking had to be sated, according to Nora.  My election put an end to that folly.  

Say!  A parking garage!  No muss, no fuss.  No grass to mow, no trees to replant, no play structures to repair.  The new Newspeak word:  nuisance playground.  Doubleplusgood!

In the twelve months since I emailed the city manager not only have none of the repairs been done, but more things have broken down in the interim. 

In June, the public works department boarded up a slide that needed repair.  

Seven months later, even the barricades are breaking down. 

Perhaps we should set our sights on a more achievable goal: repair the barricades.

The rubber matting in one location has now been worn down to the concrete slab beneath.   

A spinning item has broken off at the base creating a protruding pipe.  The city’s solution:  more traffic barricades. 

Personal injury lawyers smell blood in the water.

These days, when I ask Dean which playground he wants to go to, he refers to them based on the thing that’s broken.  The playground at Doyle and 59th streets:  “Broken Slide Park”

Perhaps I should appropriate the new language of empathy and inaction when responding to my son’s questions.

Dean:  Daddy, why is the slide still boarded up?  

Me:  Son, the city is working on the park assessment right now, is assessing grant opportunities, and is processing for this repair based on regulatory contracting requirements.  The city will coordinate with all relevant stakeholders and interested parties.  The slide will be repaired soon.  Their door is always open.  Have a wonderful day.  Take Care.

Or, maybe this new language is best appropriated in my practice of law.  If I fail to complete a task on time, why not replace candor with the new bureaucrat-speak (“nuisance deadline”)?  Will my client be any the wiser?

And what of the city manager’s “promised answers” (as indicated in her message of February 26, 2021)? 

 

Perhaps the leading lights down at city hall should seek funding opportunities to establish a new city motto.  I propose the following candidates:  Good things come to those who wait.  Or, Emeryville Public Works, Out of Order (temporarily).  Or, Don’t make the perfect the enemy of the slothful.  Or, How can I not help you?  Or, Fool you once, shame on you.  Fool you twice, shame on you.  Or, “Playground facilities assessment and budget is in the process of being prepared and scheduled based on funding.”  

Gentle readers, please contribute your own suggestions for a new motto.  The following will be rejected out of hand:  Ką darai, daryk blogai (what you do, do poorly).

John Fricke is a longtime Emeryville resident, father of three, husband, lawyer, as well as a former member of the Emeryville City Council.

Guest Column: John Fricke on Emeryville's New Bike/Ped Bridge

The Long and Winding Road to the Bay Street Pedestrian/Bicycle Bridge

by John Fricke

Guest Columnist

The pedestrian/bicycle bridge to Bay Street shopping mall will open December 3rd, this Friday evening.  It's been a long time coming.  Formally proposed in Emeryville’s 1993 General Plan, the bridge idea languished until 2002 when the City paid an engineering firm to produce a rough design, which began for me a yearlong effort to torpedo the flawed design, and promote a more functional design.  

By 2003, I had become very familiar with Emeryville’s streets and sidewalks while behind the wheel of a double stroller occupied by my twin daughters.  

Nina Criswell & Lane Fricke
in the Emeryville City
Council chambers

Then (as now), Emeryville city government prioritized the car over pedestrian and bicycle access.  On a typical walk from my house with Lane and Nina in the stroller, we would risk life and limb crossing San Pablo Avenue (or wait an interminable period of time at a traffic signal).  Various routes north (between the railroad tracks and San Pablo) were pleasant enough.  But I heard rumors that there was a place not far to the west with a gorgeous mile-long path along the water.  One need only traverse railroad tracks, and then a ten-lane freeway.  But how to get there on foot?  

The 40th Street bridge, with its four lanes of speeding vehicle traffic, was not the best environment for facilitating a nap.  In 1997, the Emeryville city government had produced at the train station a pedestrian bridge with elevator and stairs, but no ramp. 

 

Prison watch towers in Emeryville?

Setting aside for the moment the neo-prison-watch-tower design and the placing of the elevator doors out of view from the street, the functionality for someone with a stroller (or wheelchair) depended on the whim of the elevator vandals, and the swiftness of the City to repair the broken elevator.  (Suffice it to say that Emeryville city government appears unfamiliar with the US postal service motto.)  Quite a number of times, Nina, Lane, and I would hold our noses going up the elevator on one side, only to be left waiting at the altar for the down elevator to arrive at the other end of the bridge.

Apparently, the folks in Berkeley responsible for designing the I-80 ped-bike bridge took note of the folly of the elevator/stairs design in Emeryville.  Their bridge design was all ramp, no moving parts.  In 2002, five years after Emeryville cut the ribbon at the prison watch tower, the Berkeley bridge over I-80 opened to critical acclaim.  

Berkeley I-80 ped/bike bridge

So what did we, pedestrians and stroller passengers in Emeryville, receive a year later from the high-priced engineers that the City hired to design a second bridge across the RR tracks?  Gentle reader, you can see where this is going.  Incredibly, the city manager was so pleased with the engineers’ elevator-stairs bridge design that he asked the firm to produce a large 3-D physical model of the bridge.  

In Hans Christian Andersen’s folktale, The Emperor’s New Clothes, one small child’s revelation is quickly embraced by the crowd, but the emperor will not acknowledge his error.  He walks more proudly than ever.  So, too, in Emeryville.  At the first City Council meeting on the elevator-stairs bridge design, I stated the obvious flaws in its design, and suggested that the design should model Berkeley’s bridge of gradual, open ramps.  Could we learn from Berkeley’s success?  ‘No’, came the answer from city government.  At the next City Council meeting, the city manager presented an alternate design which eliminated the elevators, but added narrow, steep, stacked ramps with sharp turns, and blind spots.  

2003 City commissioned design by Mark Thomas & Co

I realized that to kill this bad idea would take more than stating the obvious.  I looked up the federal regulations regarding spanning railroad tracks and then went to the Bay Street mall with my 100-foot tape measure.  Lo and behold, it would be possible to replicate the Berkeley Bridge ramps’ five-percent slope with a there-and-back ramp configuration (between mall parking garage and RR tracks), while still providing a generous open-ramp width of ten feet.  On the east side, there was plenty of room for a straight-shot ramp to the bridge span.  I produced very rough sketches of an open, gradual, wide ramp design.

In talking up the alternate design with neighbors, it soon became obvious that my hard-to-read sketches weren’t telling a thousand words.  I needed help.

        .                                  .                                 .  

Look! Up in the sky!  Is it a bird?  Is it a plane?  No, it’s Philip Rostonovitch!  

From: Philip Rostonovich Sent: Wednesday, Jun 4, 2003 10:41 AM PDT To: John Fricke Subject: question about Pedestrian bridge designs

Hello John,

My name is Philip.  I'm on the Triangle Neighborhood mailing list.  

You've probably seen me around the neighborhood - big guy, long hair, beard, backpack.

Anyway, long intro short: I'm aware of the recent proceedings about the 

proposed pedestrian bridge, but I'm unsure of its current status.  My reason 

for asking is that I have some new free time (recently laid off), and I 

might be able to contribute some 3D computer graphic renderings.

Perhaps my skills can be applied in some helpful way to this or future endeavours.

Thanks for your time, John.  Let me know if I can still be of help.

Sincerely,

Philip Rostonovich

Philip and I went to the site to take photos, and then Philip worked his magic:

These renderings of Philip's told a thousand words.  I met with various groups in Emeryville who endorsed this alternative.  I kept adding neighbors to my email distribution list.  

At the next City Council meeting, several neighbors and I spoke up in favor of the gradual ramp design.  But the emperor kept parading around in his new clothes.  Years later, I was told by someone in the room where it happened that the city manager instructed his city staff members to see to it that my design be undermined.  I was invited to a meeting at city hall with the city engineer, the chief building inspector, and the city’s building code compliance consultant.  Each in turn raised technical objections to my proposed ramp configuration.  I was not good at sketching, but my law degree came in handy in researching the building code, fire code, and RR regulations.  I refuted each of their objections.  

At several City Council meetings throughout 2003, more neighbors advocated for the open, gradual ramp design.  By December’s meeting, the City Council cried uncle.  The bad design was shelved, for lack of funding.  The emperor took his ball and went home.  

Two years later, I was sworn in as a member of the City Council, having included in my campaign platform a promise to fund livability projects like the bridge, the public park at Doyle and 61st streets (now called the Doyle/Hollis Park) and the bike lanes plus traffic calming measures on Adeline Street.  One year later, the Council voted to fund these projects.  I chaired the design committee that selected the engineering firm and the architect, sponsored community meetings, and eventually approved a detailed design that was finally constructed.  

Despite the design-by-committee aphorism, the bridge survived the design process.  My fellow committee members were a pleasure to work with -- they deserve credit:  Ken Bukowksi, Charles Debbas, Brian Donahue, Joseph Mudd (Novartis representative), Tim Doran (Novartis representative who replaced Joseph on the committee), John Scheuerman, Ann Weber, and Cedric Young (Bay Street mall representative).  The city staff member assigned to the committee, Ignacio Dayrit, was excellent.  Lastly, the chief engineer, Mahvash Harms, and the architect, Rick Phillips, were outstanding.  They produced a great bridge.

When I was elected to the City Council on a campaign platform of improving access for pedestrians, bicycles, and public transit riders, I proposed a number of other public works projects to make it easier for future parents with strollers to safely and comfortably walk to the Emeryville Marina from any Emeryville neighborhood.  These proposals included two bridge spans across I-80:  one at Temescal Creek, and another just south of Ashby Avenue.  The Temescal Creek bridge would complement the Bay Street bridge.  (Without a Temescal creek bridge across I-80, pedestrians heading west are still relegated to negotiating the Powell Street freeway interchange to get to the marina.)  For the proposed bridge near Ashby, an additional design committee was formed and held meetings.  When the City Council chose not to fund further design work (over my dissenting vote), the committee was disbanded.  

My daughters are now seniors in college.  I look forward to crossing the new span with them and their brother, Dean, and not having to hold our noses in an elevator.  Maybe someday, we will make it all the way to the Emeryville marina on foot without stepping into the Powell Street vehicle vortex.  

John Fricke is a longtime Emeryville resident, father of three, husband, lawyer, former Chairman of the South Bayfront Bike/Ped Bridge Committee as well as a former member of the Emeryville City Council.

South Bayfront Bike/Ped Bridge Grand Opening Celebration Slated for December 3rd.

Long Wait For Bike/Ped Bridge Finally Over

Completed Bridge Set to Open December 3rd

More than 25 years after it was first seriously proposed, Emeryville’s second bike/pedestrian bridge over the much cursed and city-bisecting Union Pacific railroad tracks, will finally be opened to the public December 3rd in a gala grand opening public ceremony planned for 6:00 PM.  

Former City Council member and Bridge Committee chair John Fricke, who as an outspoken critic of an early design of the bridge that didn't include bicycles, was outwardly sanguine but more likely sardonic about the December 3rd opening when he told the Tattler dryly, "Good things come to those who wait".

Not just a basic and prosaic over-crossing
Our new $21 million bridge is not without its charms,
even flirting with a sense of the dramatic.

The long awaited opening will finally silence a growing chorus from apprehensive residents about a boondoggle 'impossible bridge' and 'never bridge' and other such epithets.  

As with any large infrastructure project, this bridge, formally known as the South Bayfront Bike/Ped Bridge but called the Bay Street Mall Bridge by some, had its share of setbacks and colliding egos associated with its implementation.  Arguably more than its share.  

Madison Marquette, the Washington DC based developer of the Bay Street Mall, was an early promoter of a bridge at this location.  Seeing better connection for East Emeryville shoppers as a booster to its corporate bottom line, Madison Marquette pushed the City to build the bridge straight into their mall.  The City of Emeryville was listening and its Redevelopment Agency approved $8.4 million in 2003 to construct a pedestrian only bridge with elevators.   Mr Fricke cried foul to that concept, rallying instead for a multi-modal design with stairs for pedestrians and ramps for bikes (and wheelchairs).  Former City Council member Nora Davis and City Manager John Flores however fought against bikes on the bridge, insisting at first ramps not be provided.  Mr Flores, reiterating Ms Davis' concerns about unruly bicyclists, famously stated they represent a "ruffian element".   So Mr Fricke took his bike friendly design idea directly to the people.  The City responded with a ramp design that would have bicyclists dismount at switchback corners that would be too sharp and in conflict with wheelchairs, pedestrians and other bikers. 

The City, buckling to public pressure for a real bike/pedestrian bridge in response to a rising John Fricke who had subsequently been elected in a landslide victory to the City Council, finally appointed him as Chair of a newly commissioned South Bayfront Bike/Ped Bridge Committee in 2008.  Meanwhile, the cost had risen to $12 million and then $13.9 million owing mostly to delays associated with the redesign to accommodate bikes.  Councilwoman Davis and City Manager Flores finally gave up on their insistence on a pedestrian only bridge after they started receiving a lot of public support for Councilman Fricke's pro-bike design.  

The dissolution of the Redevelopment Agency, legal concerns with Union Pacific Railroad and City Council priority drift caused the bridge project to languish for years after Council member Fricke stepped down.   Finally in 2018, then mayor John Bauters, attempting to follow through on a campaign promise to voters, pushed the issue and convinced his colleagues to make the Fricke designed bridge a City priority issue.  By then the price tag had risen substantially and the Council finally signed a construction contract at $21.4 million (not including the eastern 'Horton Landing' approach from Horton Street).

The ballooning cost will likely soon be forgotten however when pedestrians and bikers begin using the long awaited infrastructure.  With this much needed bike/ped connection from East Emeryville to the Bay Street Mall, our town is on the cusp of being able to state with earnestness the oft repeated but heretofore glaringly unrealized proclamation of being a 'connected place'. 

The City will host a parade from City Hall to the bridge starting at 5:30 culminating in a ribbon cutting ceremony at 6:00 (ish) at the bridge followed by a party open to the public at the Bay Street Mall. 

Guest Column: Former City Councilman John Fricke on the Privatization of Emeryville

The Privatization of Emeryville

By John Fricke

Guest Columnist

Back in high school, I learned about the concept, the tragedy of the commons, which holds that unregulated access to public land will inevitably lead to its degradation.  I’m happy to report that we in Emeryville are not at risk of suffering the tragedy of the commons because our public spaces are being safeguarded for private users, to the exclusion of members of the public.

Dean and John on the smaller
play structure in 2019, now
off-limits to the public.

As a parent of a three-year-old, I am again a frequent visitor to Emeryville’s parks and playgrounds.  My son, Dean, my wife, Andrea, and I often visit the public schoolyard next to our house that is owned by Emeryville’s school district.  The schoolyard includes a large play structure for big kids, and a smaller one for kids closer to Dean’s age.  (When my daughters were Dean’s age, we used to enjoy having access to the schoolyard on the weekends.)  But this site is no longer used by the school district as a public elementary school, and the weekend public access is being curtailed by a private school that occupies the site.  

In 2017, the public elementary school was relocated to the high school site, and the school district struck a deal to lease the original elementary school site to a private school that conducts classes in German.  Rest assured, the school district said, public access to the schoolyard would continue.  Indeed, this promise was memorialized in the lease agreement.  

But ever since the German school occupied the site, the public access has been spotty at best.  Most recently, the German school installed a gate and padlock, preventing public access to the smaller playground, sandlot, and community garden.  

Contrary to the lease, access to the public
is denied.

When I brought this to the attention of the school district’s superintendent, Quiauna Scott, Ed.D., a week went by with no response.  After following up with email and voicemail messages, Dr. Scott responded that she would forward my email message the school district’s facilities person, Jody Clarke; and, to the head of the German school, Rufus Pichler.  This latter action struck me as odd given that my message to Dr. Scott included my many unanswered email messages to Mr. Pichler complaining about the German school’s weekly leaf blower noise on Saturdays.  

Apparently, Mr. Pichler felt no need to respond to repeated messages from a member of the public until the superintendent directed him to do so.  His response?  Threaten a lawsuit.  

“It is unlawful to interfere with our contractual relations in this manner. We hereby give you notice and ask that you cease your unlawful interference.”  -- Rufus Pichler.

As it happens, not only does the lease with the German school require that weekend public access be maintained, it also requires the German school not to engage in annoying behavior, such as hours-long leaf blower noise on Saturdays (often coinciding with Dean’s naptime and his parents’ only quiet time during the day).  

Let me pause here to state the obvious:  there is no need to use a leaf blower at all.  The state of the schoolyard grounds before the leaf-blowing is generally fine, except for small areas that can be taken care of with a broom.  Just because there is a tool that can remove every speck of dust from the ground doesn’t mean that it must be used.  Schools somehow managed to operate quite well before the advent of the leaf-blower.  

Why does the school create this noise pollution on Saturdays?  In an unattributed message I received the German school stated that “this work can only be done on weekends when the school is not in session.”  In other words, the noise pollution is not acceptable when the private school is in session, but it is fine to create noise pollution on the weekends when the public has access to the schoolyard.  Mr. Pichler would have us believe that this creates no deterrent to the neighbors’ use of the schoolyard.  By sheer coincidence, whenever the private school parents and students gather for a weekend activity in the schoolyard, the leaf blower noise does not occur.  

What can we expect from Superintendent Scott?  Will she exercise her authority over the private German school, a tenant of the school district?  

The lease revenue from the private German school (close to half a million dollars for this school year) represents a significant portion of the school district’s budget.  Any school district would jealously guard this revenue stream since it comes with few reporting requirements (unlike the money from the state).  

Dr. Scott’s most recent email message reported that she met with Mr. Pichler.  Dr. Scott provided assurances that the small play structure and garden area will remain accessible to the public on the weekends, subject to the area being assessed.  As for the weekend noise pollution, Dr. Scott assured me that the German school “will make a concerted effort with the landscaper to reduce the amount of time the leafblower is used as practicable.”  (Read:  the German school can continue its leaf-blower noise pollution on the weekends when the public is present, so that noise pollution can be avoided when the private school is in session.)  Did Dr. Scott ask Mr. Pichler the obvious question:  why is the leaf blower necessary?  Inquiring minds want to know.  

Any email message assurances from Mr. Pichler directly?  No.  Will my “unlawful interference” on behalf of the public lead to a lawsuit against me or the school district?  Stay tuned to this bat channel.  

Until public access is restored, I will tell Dean that he can only play on the schoolyard’s play structure designed for older children.  As for the leaf blower noise on the weekends, let’s all bring our ear plugs to the schoolyard.  The tragedy of the commons in Emeryville is not overuse, but denial of public access in favor of private use.  

John Fricke is a longtime Emeryville resident, father of three, husband, lawyer, and former member of the Emeryville City Council.

South Bayfront Ped/Bike Bridge Spans Railroad Tracks

Some 37 years after it was first proposed, a bridge for pedestrians (and bicycles) has finally spanned the railroad tracks between Powell and 40th streets in Emeryville.  At 11:15 Saturday night, a crane lifted the red steel pre-built arch over the tracks while workers busily fastened it down on both the east and west anchorages.  The next several months will bring completion of the ancillary approaches and other finishes.  Pedestrians and bicyclists will be able cross the completed span in summer of 2021.

The elevator at the pedestrian bridge
at the Amtrak Station was out of 
service again Saturday.

The new bridge, called the South Bayfront Ped/Bike Bridge will connect the Bay Street Mall with east Emeryville and get the City just a little bit closer to realizing its long standing General Plan shibboleth of Emeryville being ‘a connected place’.

As if by design to serve as a counterpoint, the elevator at the Amtrak Station pedestrian bridge that also spans the railroad tracks was out again on Saturday, a perennial frustration that has helped spur the new bridge. 

 The South Bayfront bridge has gone through a very tortured path over the years to finally get to this point.  Its first iteration, proposed by then City Manager Joe Tanner was a modest crossing only for pedestrians with stairs and elevators at either end.  Later, in 2005, a bicycle contingent led by soon-to-be-elected City Councilman John Fricke said any bridge built there must include bicycles.  Pushback against Mr Fricke’s bike friendly bridge idea came from the next City Manager, John Flores, who said bicyclists represented a “ruffian element” and that the bridge design should preclude bikes because bicyclists could use it as an escape route from crimes.  Luckily, Mr Flores’ argument didn’t win the day and after a selection process, the new design allowing for bike riders became the final plan.   As late as 2011, it appeared the bridge would never be completed after the State attempted to seize money set aside by the Emeryville Redevelopment Agency.  

After the City passed on an ambitious plan by the Emeryville based visionary architect/designer Eugene Tssui, the final design of the pedestrian/bike bridge has been called ‘pedestrian in use and design' in the sense that it lacks excitement or innovation.  It may not be too beautiful but it's certainly a long overdue stitching together of railroad divided east and west Emeryville.

A train roared past minutes before the crane began lifting the span into place.

It was all finished up by 12:30 AM.

Letter to the Tattler: Traffic Diverters Needed; Former City Councilman John Fricke

Traffic Diverters in the Triangle Neighborhood Overdue

-by former Emeryville City Councilman John Fricke

Last night, an SUV driver, traveling at a high rate of speed down my residential street in the Triangle neighborhood, struck a traffic circle, lost control of the vehicle, and struck a utility pole and a parked car.  The parked car, in turn, struck another parked car behind it, which then struck a third car.  

I was not at home at the time, but my neighbor told me that the force of the collision shook his house.  The Emeryville Police Department responded.  The SUV driver struck the wooden utility pole with such force that PG&E was summoned to inspect the integrity of the pole.

This incident would not have occurred had the City of Emeryville permanently installed the traffic diverters that were tested over ten years ago.  The policymaking process was exemplary, up until my colleagues on the City Council made the snap decision to deviate from the orderly process:  

•  A number of neighbors and I drew attention to the problem of a large volume of cut-through traffic on the east-west streets (41st, 43rd, 45th, and 47th).
•  The City Council convened a series of widely-advertised community meetings to solicit input from Triangle neighbors.
•  At these well-attended community meetings, we discussed various solutions, including speed bumps, traffic circles, and traffic diverters, ultimately reaching consensus on the need for traffic diverters.
•  The City Council directed the city staff to install temporary traffic diverters for a six-month trial period, data would be collected before and during the trial period.
•  The preliminary data showed that the traffic diverters were effective in reducing the volume and speed of vehicle traffic.
•  At two city council meetings during the test period, a vocal minority of Triangle neighbors complained about the traffic diverters.
• At a meeting in October, 2007, the vocal minority prevailed over the orderly process.  A City Council majority consisting of Ruth Atkin, Ken Bukowski, Nora Davis, and Dick Kassis, made a snap decision to halt the data collection, ordered the city staff to remove the diverters, and replace them with temporary traffic circles (a permanent version of one of these circles was struck by the speeding SUV last night).  
•  I voted 'NO' to the snap decision to prematurely end the trial period.  
•  Why was the original traffic diverter on 47th Street spared from the City Council majority’s impetuous decision?  Because none of the vocal minority complained about 47th Street.

This series of events took place before and after my election to the city council.  Indeed, it was one of the issues that I ran on, including advocating for traffic diverters during my campaign.  

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vk83k107tzp2s2p/ProposedTriangleTrafficDiverters_Aug.2005.pdf?dl=0

The City Council majority’s decision to ignore the process that it established was a slap in the face of the numerous Triangle residents who attended the community meetings, who listened to the consultant describe alternatives, who listened to their fellow neighbors’ input regarding the possible solutions, and who ultimately reached consensus around traffic diverters.  Their fault lies in the fact that they had confidence that a majority of their elected representatives would engage in evidence-based policymaking, namely test a proposed solution by collecting and comparing baseline data against data collected during the test period.  They did not anticipate that the decision would be governed by a few loud voices.

The legacy of this process is failure.  The traffic circles have failed to solve the problem.  Over the years, I have observed an increase in the volume of cars.  The number of speeding cars remains high.  As I type this opinion piece on a Saturday afternoon from my home computer with a view of the traffic circle at 43rd and Salem streets, I have counted thirteen cars that have not slowed their speed at all as they drive through the stop sign.  This traffic circle is right next to the entrance of the playground of the elementary school, the gate to which is opened each weekend day for the neighborhood’s use (shout out to School Board member Barbara Inch for getting this done).  These residential streets should include traffic calming that places the safety of residents above the convenience of cut-through traffic.

I believe that traffic diverters are the best solution.  I will send this column to each of our five elected representatives on the new City Council (John Bauters, Scott Donahue, Dianne Martinez, Ally Medina, and Christian Patz).  I will ask them to decide whether there is a problem that needs to be addressed, if so, to collect data, and then to implement an evidenced-based solution.  
Photos courtesy John Fricke 

Links:

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https://www.dropbox.com/s/g28xlme5ya7hcak/TrafficCalmingMeasures_Sept.2006.pdf?dl=0

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https://www.dropbox.com/s/eyimbvw0338iwc3/Emeryville%20Summary_Nov.2005.pdf?dl=0

Before data:https://www.dropbox.com/s/0ctup5vzggajsze/WorkshopSummary_April2006.pdf?dl=0

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https://www.dropbox.com/s/l6gy3bueh442bnh/TrafficCounts_BeforeTriangleTrafficCalming.pdf?dl=0

During data (partial):

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https://www.dropbox.com/s/s8m4al1f61f3nlt/TrafficCounts_AfterTrafficCalmingSalemSt_Sept.2007.pdf?dl=0

John Fricke moved to Emeryville in 1994 and was an Emeryville City Council member from 2005-2009. An attorney, he worked for the Alameda County public defenders office before setting up a private practice in Emeryville.  After having lived abroad and in San Francisco for several years following his Council stint, Mr Fricke calls Emeryville his home once again.