Coddling a Developer on Spur Alley
at the Expense of Bikes
City Refuses to Enforce Public Bike Path Easement
Bike Path Forsaken
News Analysis
There’s a bike path in Emeryville, putatively on private land but officially recognized in the City’s Pedestrian/Bicycle Plan and legally dedicated for public use by means of a City Hall mandated public easement that could nonetheless get you arrested for trespassing were you so bold as to actually ride your bike on it. Welcome to Emeryville’s Spur Alley bike path…however ‘welcome’ is not really the kind of word that would be used to describe how bicyclists are made to feel on their bike path.
The ‘preferred use’ north/south bike route running parallel with and a block east of busy Hollis Street was dedicated when the City placed the route in its Bike Plan in the 1990’s. Conceived as a way to encourage bikers to use the former railroad spur route instead of the dangerous Hollis Street, the City subsequently secured an easement on the private land that guarantees unrestricted public use of the corridor. The developer owner of the land sees the easement differently however and he’s placed signage there that tells bikers the land is private property and their use of Spur Alley is provisional.
Public Use?
Bikers would be understandably confused by the plethora of signs informing them Spur Alley is an official City bike route at the same time threatening them with arrest at the behest of a private ‘controlling’ owner. The Emeryville Police Department is not confused however and they have acknowledged that bicyclists will in fact be arrested if they fail to vacate the bike path if the owner tells them to leave. It’s a conundrum; the City guarantees the right to pass unconditionally through the same piece of land its own police department says NO to.
This bike route starkly reveals how what the City of Emeryville says about bikes runs into the reality in the field; the deference City Hall pays not to bikes but to developers and the business community. Citizens attempting to use this City recognized bike route could get a very clear correction for believing in the good faith of Emeryville and its Bike Plan with its oft repeated claims of bike love…as clear as a pair of handcuffs.
Not A Bike Friendly History
The history of Spur Alley is a Cliff Notes summery of bikes in Emeryville in the aggregate, revealing a city that’s long on talk and short on action.
The history of Spur Alley is a Cliff Notes summery of bikes in Emeryville in the aggregate, revealing a city that’s long on talk and short on action.
Earlier, Councilman John Fricke noticed the staff wasn't taking Spur Alley seriously as a bike route, "second class status" he called it (in the normal parlance unrelated to official bike route class designations). He noted in November 2006 the developer had closed the alley for construction but hadn't even gotten an encroachment permit as would be required for any public easement as he testified at a Council meeting (see video below). The staff responded that they had "forgotten" Spur Alley had a public easement and so that's why the developer shouldn't be taken to task for the illegal closure.
Mr Fricke's charge that the staff wasn't taking bike use on Spur Alley seriously was further bolstered after they worked with Pixar to eliminate the southern section of the planned bike route. Pixar, seeking a private campus expansion, twice re-routed the path jogging it over closer to San Pablo Avenue, rendering it useless for bike use. The southern segment of Spur Alley disconnected as the City and Pixar made it, is now reborn as Joseph Emery Skate Park.
After the Council voted to allow the developer use of the public bike easement for his tenant's exclusive parking use in 2007, the developer, unsatisfied with his victory and wanting more, unilaterally ratcheted back his agreement and without permission from City Hall, put up the signs that deny the public the right to use their path and signal to police their right to arrest the public for so using it.
A City Seized With Inaction
As our little city struggles with an image it likes to forward to the world about being a bicycle friendly community versus the actual on the ground conditions as directed by a not-so-friendly-to-bikes business sector the City is in bed with, a bike facility that was supposed to be built long ago serves as emblematic of a dichotomy, vexing an Emeryville that wants its bicycle bonafides but without having to deliver amenities for bicyclists.
Spur Alley is the bike corridor promised but never delivered, a public right of way for bicyclists secured by City Hall but given over instead to business interests, the signs canceling the public easement serving to mock the City Council who gave away this public asset for nothing and who still refuse to make amends to the bicycle community.
Spur Alley is the bike corridor promised but never delivered, a public right of way for bicyclists secured by City Hall but given over instead to business interests, the signs canceling the public easement serving to mock the City Council who gave away this public asset for nothing and who still refuse to make amends to the bicycle community.
Video courtesy of the Emeryville Property Owners Association
"Spur Alley is being treated as though it has second class status" said Councilman Fricke in 2006. "We forgot about Spur Alley" replied the staff, proving the Councilman's point. Biking on Spur Alley: what was forgetful in 2006 later became something for City Hall to actively limit and constrain.
I never understood the reason for the spur alley bike path. It doesn't connect to anything and seems like an afterthought.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like that because the City never worked to protect the interests of bikers on Spur Alley. If it would have been built as originally planned, a biker could ride from City Hall all the way to the Berkeley border. It was to connect through to Doyle Street by an easement through a private parcel now being used as a private school. That easement was never optioned and Pixar grabbed the southern leg. Bike interests have definitely taken a back seat on Spur Alley.
DeleteThose bike friendly signs are everywhere in the bay area. Every town has them but it's true that Emeryville doesn't have the follow through when it comes to bikes. Other towns have passed us by especially Oakland. Those guys really have come around on bike infrastructure.
ReplyDeleteYour headline got it wrong. Emeryville never had a bike friendly reputation. Those signs from that bike group are bull s**t. You the tattler should know that more than anybody.
ReplyDeleteI use the spur all the time. The weekends are actually a great time to use it as i even taught my child to ride a bike there. I have never heard of the owner not allowing the use of the public. Maybe you are more upset at the city, I'm sure they will sell the easement back to the owner for pennies of the value of the deed when they see fit. That is just the way this corrupt terd world city is.
ReplyDeleteEasements are not something that can be sold. They are something taken; in this case from a private owner, taken by the City. The City has chosen not to use the easement. If we had a City Council that cared, it could be used as a bike path as it was originally intended when they secured the easement. But the developer/owner doesn't want that.. Now it's just an easement in name only.
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