Come Play In The Street!

Love Our Neighborhood Day is This Saturday, folks! 

Walk Oakland Bike Oakland is super proud to link arms with local neighbors of the Golden Gate, Santa Fe, Longfellow and Berkeley / Emeryville to bring the third annual Love our Neighborhood Day back to San Pablo Avenue.  100+ activities and 70 performers will line this state route from 11am to 4pm.  Details on the ins and outs of the day are here.

And if you're looking for a brand new T-shirt, free lunch and lots of kudos, sign up here for a volunteer gig at Love Our Neighborhood Day.

While you're enjoying car-free fun, join in on our social media contest.  

‘Gram it! Tweet it! Post it! Share it! Like and follow!

Share what you love about open streets and our neighborhood for a chance to win one of many awesome prizes!

1) Take a photo while out and about at this Saturday’s Love Our Neighborhood Day.
2) Post to Instagram or Twitter
3) Tag @loveourhood and use #loveourhood in your caption. (If you're not already following us there, get on it!)

Bonus points for video clips, tagging friends, or if it gets shared and retweeted.

Contest will run June 4th, from 11 AM to 3:30 PM PST. Winning posts will be determined by the most likes, shares, retweets and user tags. In the event of a tie, winner will be selected by random number generator. Winners will be announced throughout the event via Instagram. Prizes must be claimed by end of event, 4 PM PST. 

Every 2nd Saturday & the following Sunday of the month! 

SATURDAY! JUNE 11th, Middle Harbor Shoreline Park

Join Oakland Urban Paths as we explore one of the lesser-known parks in Oakland. It will include views of the Port of Oakland, the Bay Bridge, and San Francisco that you may not have seen before; plus some wildlife and history. Neal Parish will lead us as we explore this part of west Oakland.

A level walk, about 3.8 miles. Sorry, no dogs for this walk. There is no shade, and it can be windy at the park. Bring a hat, sunscreen, water, and whatever else you need to prepare for variable conditions.

Heavy rain cancels, light rain - forge on. Check the OUP website for updates and a map of the route.  Meet up: 2777 Middle Harbor Rd.  Oakland, CA, 10 am
 

SUNDAY! JUNE 12th, RiDE LiKE A GiRL: Part II

Walk Oakland Bike Oakland, with generous support from Bike East Bay, presents RiDE LiKE A GiRL, a 3-part bicycling skills workshop series designed for every woman who wants to ride.

Part II will focus on how to pick the perfect bike for you, basic maintenance and a 10-12 mile, mostly flat, group ride!

Meet us at Sports Basement Berkeley around 12:30 for safety checks. Workshop begins at 1pm. We will dedicate the majority of our time on the road to practice on all kinds of bikeways and turning movements.  Bring your bike + helmet, stories of biking past and a smile. RSVP on Facebook!
 

Bike To Work Day 2016 through our lens! 

What's Coming Down the Lane for Fruitvale Avenue?

An update on one of Oakland's most dangerous streets, Fruitvale Ave.  

Over the last six years 122 collisions have been reported on Fruitvale Avenue, which is three times the number of crashes compared to similar streets in the state.

In 2007, the Fruitvale Community Based Transportation Plan, better known as Fruitvale Alive! heard a chorus of residents asking for bike lanes on Fruitvale Avenue. But Councilmember Gallo’s predecessor said ‘no’ because speeding up traffic and parking cars were more important than your safety  while walking and bicycling in this busy corridor.

Finally, Oakland Public Works is studying repurposing one of the two uphill, eastbound travel lanes on Fruitvale Avenue to add bike lanes and significantly improve safe pedestrian crossings, on the blocks between International Blvd and Foothill Blvd. This is a project long overdue.

"It’s time–people are walking more, biking more. We have to do this to make Fruitvale Avenue safer,” said Councilmember  Noel Gallo, District 5, Oakland at a May 26 community meeting to gather feedback on a city proposal to add bike lanes to Fruitvale Avenue. Councilmember Gallo’s support for a safer Fruitvale Avenue is not surprising, but it is refreshing given noticeable neighborhood opposition at the meeting to removing any on-street parking.

The plan is to add left turn pockets where none currently exist in order to maintain traffic flow with one less lane. The graphic below shows one potential option at intersections.

Another design alternative is to remove some parking spaces on both sides of Fruitvale at the intersection. It’s estimated that 7%-17% of parking spaces could be removed, and this is why there will be concern from local businesses.

For more information on the next steps and what you can do click here.

 

WOBO Wants You!  

Take the handlebars by the horns and steer yourself to WOBO!