Caltrans Begins Repaving Deteriorated Ramps In North Oakland

At the beginning of this year, we reported that Caltrans had allowed several of its on-ramps and off-ramps in North Oakland to significantly deteriorate to the point of creating safety hazards as well as a very, very bumpy ride for motorists and commuters. These ramps included the southbound on-ramp at MLK and 52nd St. to Highway 24 and the northbound off-ramp from Highway 24 to MLK and 52nd St.. Surprisingly, these ramps were not resurfaced when Highway 24 was resurfaced several years ago. In addition to pointing out the terrible pavement conditions and significant potholes, we noted other deplorable conditions such as graffiti, dead landscaping, overgrown landscaping, litter, and homeless encampments in the Caltrans right-of-way that are contributing to blight in North Oakland. In February, Caltrans came out and removed overgrown vegetation from some, but not all, of its right-of-way and promised that the repaving work would occur this summer.

True to their word, Caltrans has begun to repave portions of the ramps. Grinding has started on both the northbound off-ramp and southbound on-ramp at MLK and 52nd St. It appears Caltrans is also beginning to stage the work for the southbound on-ramp at MLK and 52nd St. While we are not happy with the ongoing conditions in the Caltrans right-of-way and believe Caltrans needs to demonstrate a greater leadership role in graffiti control, landscape improvement and maintenance and litter containment, we are happy to see them finally resolving the deteriorated pavement issue. We would like to think our reporting on these issues and our inquiries to former Director, Will Kempton, played a role in getting the Oakland District Office moving on the pavement job.

If more residents felt empowered to take action and lobby government officials and elected legislators, perhaps we could get better service and infrastructure improvements in North Oakland and South Berkeley. The City of Oakland sued Caltrans because of the lack of maintenance in its right-of-way within the Oakland City limits. Caltrans and Oakland signed a Letter of Understanding in 2005 after the lawsuit in which Caltrans agreed to some minimum maintenance standards. Since then Caltrans and the Oakland Department of Public Works have met monthly to discuss maintenance issues. With this process in place you can let Caltrans and the City of Oakland know your concerns regarding the Caltrans right-of-way and maintenance.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the maintenance of Caltrans right-of-way in the City of Oakland please contact Jocelyn Combs, City of Oakland, Public Works Agency at 510-615-5583 or jcombs@oaklandnet.com. You can also contact the Caltrans, District 4, Deputy District Director for Maintenance, Nader Eshghipour, at 510-286-5893 nader_eshghipour@dot.ca.gov or Mike Marcum, Caltrans, East Bay Regional Manager for Maintenance, at 510-614-5942 mike_marcum@dot.ca.gov.

The Neverending Garbage

You've got to love Oakland. It is the place that people love to trash...literally. Just take a look around at the streets of Oakland. What do you see? Neverending garbage...literally. Cans, liquor bottles, cigarette boxes, bags of fast food leftovers, condoms, candy wrappers, drug packages, and buckets of human waste. Yes, even human waste. Who dumps all of that stuff--Oaklanders. Young and old, black and white, male and female, renters and property owners--we are all responsible. Oakland provides an equal opportunity for anyone to dump their shit on someone else's doorstep and or in someone else's neighborhood or for some their own doorstep and neighborhood. There is a street corner at Shattuck and 65th that has become a dumping spot for any number of neighborhood slobs and the occasional transient parking and camping. Household garbage, old bookshelves, fast food, liquor bottles, chairs, oil containers and other odds and ends and miscellaneous crap have mysteriously appeared under the cover of darkness. Over the last several years, we have noticed that this location is favored by lazy slobs who can't seem to locate the publicly accessible garbage cans on the corner of Shattuck and Alcatraz to dump their trash.

About 2-1/2 weeks ago another culprit struck dumping household garbage, some dirty pillows, empty milk cartons, and some bags of leftover fast food. We Fight Blight phoned in the illegal dumping to the City of Oakland at 510-434-5101. We were told the City would pick up the garbage within several days. After a week passed, we phoned in again. The City assured us the garbage would be picked up within several days. During this time, cars began to drive over and park on top of the garbage, ignoring the bags of trash and debris. Perhaps the City of Oakland staff were either on furlough due to budget cuts or were in Alaska at an Eskimo Yo Yo making class. No one from the City bothered to pick up the illegally dumped garbage that had been stewing for two weeks. The garbage sat and sat and sat. Surely, We Fight Blight were not the only ones in North Oakland that witnessed this pile of trash sitting for several weeks. Tempted to pick up the garbage, we waited because we wanted to see how long it would take for someone else to step up and clean up the trash. Yet, no one did. The trash festered and stewed. Seemingly oblivious to this pile of trash, people drove by day after day and did nothing. The City did nothing. I wondered whether the City staff were just simply incompetent or lazy. I wondered whether the residents of North Oakland were too busy to care about their neighborhood, apathetic or just blind to the piles of garbage. Frustrated, we donned rubber gloves, collected the trash and deposited it in the City garbage cans at Shattuck and Alcatraz.

No wonder Oakland looks like a big garbage heap. People indiscriminately toss their garbage and illegally dump their trash everywhere. Neither the City nor residents seem to care enough to clean it up. More importantly, there seems to be a certain degree of acceptance that this behavior is okay. When will Oakland have enough respect for itself to stop this neverending garbage?