As a service to our members, WOBO offered the candidates an opportunity to answer questions about walking and biking in Oakland. Below are the questions and the District 6 City Council candidates’ responses, in alphabetical order by first name. WOBO does not endorse candidates for public office.

The questions:

1. As a City Council Member, how would you improve safety and access for biking and walking in your district?
2. What transportation projects and policies will you work on?
3. How would you improve Oakland’s pavement conditions?
4. Please tell us about how you walk and bike, and/or why you support better walking and biking.

Skip to Michael Johnson

Skip to Shereda Nosakhare

Michael Johnson

1. As a ​City Council Member, how would you improve safety and access for biking and walking in y​our district?

I would work closely with organizations like Bike East Bay in actively promoting ballot measures like Measure BB to secure bike and pedestrian funding that will build a connected network of safe and comfortable bikeways in Oakland and throughout Alameda County.

2. What transportation projects and policies will you work on?

I would work to support projects like the East Bay Greenway and coordinate the city’s efforts with the Alameda County Transportation Commission (CTC) to pursue funding to support the projects completion.

3. How would you improve Oakland’s pavement conditions?

Oakland’s overall network Pavement Condition Index (PCI) is currently 55, on 100-point scale, and falling. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) ranked Oakland 95th among 109 Bay Area jurisdictions. The current backlog of repairs is $418 million, and growing. The projected funding levels are not enough to keep up with the growing backlog of repairs and continued deterioration of pavement conditions.

To improve Oakland’s pavement condition I would take the following actions:

1. I would increase the budget to fund preventive maintenance treatments to sustain streets at high PCI levels at relatively low costs and to prevent pot holes from developing.
2. Grow sales tax revenue through strategic development along transit corridors to fund the $28 million a year that is required to begin reversing overall network deterioration trend and slow down the growth of the deferred maintenance backlog.
3. Increase the Councils level of legislative advocacy focused on maintaining and increasing State and Federal support for local streets and roads.

4. Please tell us about how you walk and bike, and/or why you support better walking and biking.

I walk and bike primarily for exercise and recreationally. I support better walking and biking because it is consistent with and a reflection of my public health background and experience. I walk around Lake Merritt in the morning on a regular basis and I enjoy the vibrancy and vitality of neighborhoods that are bike and pedestrian friendly. Neighborhoods that are bike and pedestrian friendly lend themselves to a true sense of community and familiarity with less crime and where people feel safe.

Shereda Nosakhare

1. As a ​City Council Member, how would you improve safety and access for biking and walking in y​our district?

I would bridge the gap between the East Bay Transit agencies by working closely with AC Transit and BART board members. Engaging with these board members will enable me to learn first hand their priorities and potential opportunities for us to work together on joint initiatives to improve safety and access for walking and biking in District 6s. Additionally utilizing the Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC) and the Oakland’s appointees is also vital.

The Alameda County Transportation Commission manages the county’s half-cent transportation sales tax and serves as the county’s congestion management agency. With its multi-city and agency representation, it is an important forum for multi-jurisdictional communications countywide on transportation matters.  Oakland’s residents are big users of public transit and ensuring that Oakland gets its fair share of funding and attention to long term transportation planning is critical to our well-being. I would see to it that Oakland is well represented on the ACTC.

2. What transportation projects and policies will you work on?

Adopt a Complete streets policy in Oakland: The first step is to initiate planning efforts to develop plans that have broad support and input. Some strategic planning processes have been underway for a while in Oakland (i.e. Broadway-Valdez took six years to complete. We must support these efforts, help turn out the community to work shops, and finish plans that have been started. We also need to start now on areas needing attention because these are efforts take time. As planning gets underway, City staff must take a long view and coordinate with Public Works in an effort to time cross-departmental projects. For example, staff heading up repaving need to work together with bike-ped planning staff to ensure that when a repaving project occurs, that any striping conforms to plans on the books.

Additional transportation priorities:

• Pedestrian-scale buildings, development and redevelopment that is dense, fronts the street (parking in the back), near public transit and is connected by public transit to residential areas.
• Support bike parking, wide sidewalks, outdoor gathering spaces (i.e. parklets, sidewalk dining as long as it doesn’t impact ADA needs).
• Commercial spaces with telescoping sizes and types of spaces that can scale up and down to accommodate smaller and larger businesses without leaving cavernous storefronts when a retailer goes out of business.
• Support business improvement districts and encourage community engagement in selecting the kinds of retail needed/desired in a neighborhood.

3. How would you improve Oakland’s pavement conditions?

As I stated above I believe the adoption of a complete streets plan is important. I also support establishing a transportation department that is a stand-alone department that can address the totality of all transportation concerns including paving. This will allow City Staff to devote time to having projects in place should additional federal or state transportation funds become available. Lastly, I support Measure BB and will ensure that a portion of Oakland’s funds are used to begin paving the streets. It saddens me that our roads are scored so low. We must make paving a priority and leverage state and federal funding.

4. Please tell us about how you walk and bike, and/or why you support better walking and biking.

As times have changed many Oaklanders are looking beyond a car as the main mode of transportation. I want to be sure that our neighborhood is safe to bike and walk in, and that our sidewalks, curbs and streets are stroller accessible. That our children can safely ride their bike in the street and not fear cars mowing them down. Oakland has to begin to look at the long-term plan and that includes bike and pedestrian access. I will begin this process when elected to the City Council and bring stakeholders, residents, City Staff and community leaders to the table to help determine the best way to move forward as a City and as District 6.