""I'm not anti-car, I'm anti-speed," explained Oakland DOT director Josh Rowan, at a SPUR talk Tuesday in Rockridge. The key, he said, to making a city inviting all comes down to how it feels to walk around, and it's a big deterrent when people don't feel safe crossing the street. "We have challenges in Oakland with reckless drivers, speeding... how do we scrub some of that speed off?""
"Oakland, he said, also suffers from illegal dumping and garbage clogging up rights-of-way. The sheer bulk of trash the city regularly removes from streets "is enough to fill the Titanic." He said there's a tendency to blame the homeless for all the litter, but really it's "haulers who come into Oakland and dump," which clogs up sidewalks and streets."
The Department of Transportation focuses on deterring side shows and reducing speeding to make walking feel safer and more inviting. Limited staff capacity limits rapid implementation of physical treatments like daylighting, so community participation is sought to accelerate painting and other low-cost interventions. The department is pursuing standardized designs for traffic circles and preparing street-safety plans for quick implementation when funding becomes available. Illegal dumping and large volumes of trash regularly clog rights-of-way, with commercial haulers identified as a frequent source of dumped waste that burdens sidewalks and streets.
Read at Streetsblog
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