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City Waste on display at Horton Bicycle Boulevard meeting amid another “Tattler Tantrum”

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Some of the worst things about Emeryville were on display on Monday night when the city held its Horton Bicycle Boulevard Special Meeting. Unlike the “goal-setting” workshop that was barely noticed and sparsely attended, the organizers blanketed the area with signs mounted to A-Frame barricades. The turnout of an estimated 30+ people were broken out into groups and asked to provide their feedback on four traffic calming options created by Alta Planning & Design.

Also on display was the seemingly increasing aggressive behavior of founding RULE member (Residents United for a Livable Emeryville) and Emeryville Tattler editor Brian Donahue. Donahue has a recent history of disrupting Council & School Board meetings in addition to continued online personal attacks and harassment of Emeryville businesses.

horton-bike-boulevard-emeryville

No clear agenda for the meeting was provided prior and neighborhood concerns were that the city was going to attempt a Level 5 blockade of car traffic at Horton/45th as the city had previously proposed as an option. This shortsighted approach would have come at the expense of squeezing cars onto more heavily pedestrian-trafficked roads like Park Avenue. The established intent of the meeting was to determine public preference for which traffic calming measures would deter cars from using the boulevard and ultimately recommended to council for implementation.

horton-bike-boulevard-emeryville-01

Speed feedback signs were implemented last year as a level 4 traffic calming measure.

Emeryville’s 166 page Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan [30MB PDF] that Alta prepared outlines milestones to initiate traffic calming measures like above. Some cities use the 3,000 car-trip designation on their bike boulevards, while neighboring cities like Berkeley do not. Surpassing 3,000 car-trips is what is supposed to trigger additional traffic-calming measures and thus initiate the community discussions that we were having. “In 2009, the BPAC recommended the 3,000 car threshold for bike boulevards, and it was ultimately decided at that time that staff should study this issue, but not make a specific requirement” according to City Environmental Programs Technician and BPAC secretary Marcy Greenhut. In September 2015 (The last full month of data available), there were an average of 3,358 vehicles per day (VPD) on Horton (2,062 northbound and 1,296 southbound), with an average speed of 23 MPH.

The plan itself states as follows:

There is a wide variation in vehicle volume goals for bicycle boulevards considered by different jurisdictions, shown in Table 6-2. Goals range from 1,000 to 3,000 vpd, with the majority of jurisdictions lacking a volume goal. No jurisdiction has a specific set threshold that triggers implementation of volume control treatments. Instead, the decision to implement volume control treatments is based on the context of the bicycle boulevard, and engineering judgment plays heavily in the decision.

Tattler Editor Brian Donahue disrupts another meeting

Public comment was reserved for after the meeting but this didn’t stop the younger Donahue from inserting himself into the presentation several times. Donahue challenged moderator Jeff Knowles on what defined a Bike Boulevard insisting that the reported 3,000+ car-trips had disqualified the designation. Knowles & Environmental Programs Supervisor Nancy Humphrey attempted several times to move the meeting along but Donahue persisted.


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“ee-sq-ad”

Things finally came to a head [26:08 in video above] when Donahue was allowed to make a comment but then insisted on several follow-up comments that were putting the meeting off track and misrepresenting city information. “Brian, that’s not true, you know that’s not true” chided Humphrey. “We’re not going to put up with this today!” Humphrey is familiar with Donahue’s antics as he had previously undermined Humphrey & Public Works Director Maurice Kaufman at a 2014 council meting by misstating the results of an impromptu straw poll stating the community “voted” to implement Level 5 traffic calming measures.

Tempers flared as Donahue tried to talk over Humphrey several times. “You’ve been shouting down every woman that speaks!” noted a another in attendance trying to defend Humphrey and defuse the tense moment. After a heated and uncomfortable exchange, Donahue got up in a huff and stormed away amid some tempered clapping. Donahue has been known for expressing black & white views on many subject matters and labeling those that disagree with him as “Right-Wing”.

Donahue is a central figure in the current Emeryville political scene. He is the brother of City Councilmember Scott Donahue, a “good friend” of Councilmember Jac Asher and played a pivotal role in the election of Councilmember Dianne Martinez through his involvement in RULE. Mr. Donahue was recently removed from the neighborhood social media site Nextdoor.com after levying personal attacks against residents and the neighborhood lead. It should also be noted that he was also temporarily suspended from commenting on this site after several warnings for violating our comment policy including posting off-topic links to promote his own site and other trolling behavior.

brian-donahue-emeryville-tattler-horton

No Clear Consensus Reached

Participants were asked to rank their favorite bike & pedestrian option and favorite/least favorite calming features among chicanes, speed tables and striped lanes. The plans also outlined the amount of parking spaces that would be eliminated as a result in the already jammed mix-use area that is home to the Peet’s headquarters, a growing Plum Organics and soon to be massive Sherwin-Williams Development. Participants were then asked to label features in a convoluted process that involved adhering a series of color-coded dots.

Not surprisingly, a clear consensus was not achieved and the next steps will be for Alta to somehow decipher the results. The results will be reported to city staff and scheduled to be presented to the Emeryville BPAC (Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Subcommittee) on March 7th. Recommendations will ultimately be brought before council for recommendation and approval. A construction budget has not been outlined but depending on how many features are implemented could easily surpass $100,000.


[poll id=”46″]

Is the City Getting the Bicycle Boulevard wrong?

As a freelance web designer who works from home, I ride the Horton Blvd. daily and have never had an issue on the strip in question between 53rd & 45th. I conferred with the folks at the East Bay bike courier service Pedal Express (who in fact have their offices on Horton) and they agreed that section wasn’t an issue for them. While the data and any observational evidence clearly point to issues at 40th and near the Amtrak station, no proposals for remedying these were presented. Again, every bicycle & pedestrian collision in the last 6 years has occurred at these two intersections (none have occurred between 53rd & 45th). If this is about Bicycle Safety (which it should be), the city is clearly missing the mark.

Horton Bicycle Boulevard

Many I’ve spoken with agree that if the City wanted to reduce car-trips on Horton, more should be done to discourage vehicle traffic from the East Bay Bridge Shopping area besides the ineffective sign shown above. Meanwhile, improvements to the blind intersection at Horton & Sherwin shown below were completely left out of their plans and not even addressed.

horton-bike-blvd-sherwin

While I applaud Humphrey and Alta for their efforts to make our city more Bike-Friendly, it didn’t appear to come from a perspective of someone who is familiar with and rides the road on a regular basis. Planning this while ignoring the forthcoming Sherwin-Williams project is a huge waste of time and money (I’m of the personal opinion that the Sherwin Developers should foot the bill for this!). Our City has taken a strong stance on integrating Bike-ability in our town and is on track to improve this with the inclusion of Bike Share and the soon to be finished path to Treasure Island.

When we previously polled residents, 69% thought we should either wait until the Sherwin plans were clearer or that there were no problems at all:

horton-poll

Meanwhile, areas that clearly need more attention get overlooked like the Halleck-Beach Dog Park under the 40th street bridge:

40th-shellmound-bridge2

And the Peladeau Park strip of the Greenway that is now three years behind schedule:

peladeau-park-emeryville-greenway

Video provided by Ken Bukowski’s EPOA YouTube Channel.

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Rob Arias

is a third generation Californian and East Bay native who lived in Emeryville from 2003 to 2021. Rob founded The E'ville Eye in 2011 after being robbed at gunpoint and lamenting the lack of local news coverage. Rob's "day job" is as a creative professional.

16 Comments

  1. I’ve lived in Emeryville for almost eight years and just READING this article was more City politics then I could stand. Seriously what the hell? Is this why nothing ever gets done? You can waste a whole night on this kinda of trivial crap?

    • Thanks Anonymous. The frustration I share with you is reflected in this post. I moved here because this city had a reputation for getting things done and I have unfortunately seen NONE of this in the last several years. I have no idea what the city priorities are anymore but they don’t seem to involve residents.

  2. If this guy is what defines a progressive, I want no part of it. That group RULE should be on the domestic terrorist watch list!

  3. Another excellent piece Rob! As a small business owner in the area this seems like a total waste of time. First there will be complete chaos once the Sherwin WIlliams site begins construction why do anything now that might possibly need to be torn down? Second, there are so many crucial spots in need of real attention especially the danger bike spots you spoke of and the intersection at Sherwin & Horton, a complete blind intersection. Needless time, money and energy that will solve a problem that does’t exist.

    • when I read this, I’m dumbfounded. we need this much energy, thought, community input and study for whether to put in speed bumps, but a radical “progressive experiment” with thousands of workers and local businesses on the line…eh, no big deal.

      WTF is up in this town…

  4. This was my first time attending a city hall community meeting in Emeryville and I had mixed feelings. I was really surprised at the lack of organization and that the people running it weren’t clear on the procedure or agenda. I didn’t really like any of the options and I’m also not sure if they will produce the traffic calming efforts necessary to ensure the safety of cyclists or to divert traffic…or how it will hold up when the Sherwin Williams development goes in. Another layer that I feel is important, but wasn’t discussed, is how diverting vehicle traffic to Hollis or San Pablo Avenue (an clear goal of the consultants) will negatively affect cyclists. Many cyclists (myself included) use these roadways to access Horton, so more traffic on these streets without installing adequate bike infrastructure will create more safety issues.

  5. Hey Rob – Your blog is getting too predictable. It’s always the same scapegoats – Brian Donahue, Jac Asher, Diane Martinez and MWO. Yesterday’s blog on Dianne Martinez was particularly tasteless. These folks are our elected representatives, sitting there because they were elected by the majority of us. Why don’t you try working with them instead of against them, sitting on the sidelines and bitching because they don’t agree with you. And then it seems that your responders are all “Anonymous” so that we can’t tell how many are original and how many are counterfeit.

    • Bob, I believe Dianne Martinez wrote the article about Dianne Martinez that you describe as “particularly tasteless”. Give reading a chance. It’s worth it.

    • Yes Bob, I think you’re right. Rob is so skilled and does so much good that I’m surprised he’s let himself get into such a rut. Let’s hope he’ll give his readership credit for a little more intelligence.

      • Anon. to Anon. – A quick reply Rob! And who wrote all those “Anonymous” responses following her article, the ‘tasteless’ part of your blog?s

    • Would most of us even know about these issues in our community without the information presented here or on Nextdoor?

      Obviously Rob has an opinion, but it’s his website to present an opinion if he chooses. I’m not reading or viewing impartial local Emeryville news from the Tribune, Chronicle, or TV stations, and I can process occasional commentary and not feel it’s counterproductive.

    • Thanks Bob, we try to cover a gamut of subjects and city government is just one of them. I can’t control what everyone says in the comment thread of course. There appears to be some hostility bubbling over in the city especially in regards to small businesses who feel marginalized by recent policies that are threatening their existence. I can’t fault them for not wanting to “sign their work” in a small town where everyone’s separated by two degrees. I also think their are some residents who are feeling underrepresented and here’s been quite a bit of antagonistic behavior from the so-called progressive political spectrum. My personal relationship with 4/5 of council is actually pretty good but it’s not going to stop me from holding them accountable for their decisions and priorities.

    • Mr Hughes, I’m curious what specifically you found “particularly tasteless”. The comments seem to be a sincere request for City Council to start listening to the community, to speak out against union harassment of local businesses, and to address the problems caused by the MWO. Those seem like pretty reasonable requests.

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