ECRA Walk & Roll honored for advocacy work
Left to right, Carrie and Owen Schulman and Stuart and Gaia Sonatina accept ECRA Walk & Roll’s Best Community Advocacy Award at Bike East Bay’s Biketopia event. Photos by Olivia Smartt
On September 17, El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll was honored to receive Bike East Bay’s Best Community Advocacy Award at its annual Biketopia fundraiser.
“El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll is a small team of volunteer advocates making a big impact,” Bike East Bay wrote in its award announcement. “They’ve worked within their cities to improve projects underway and advocate for undertaking new projects.”
ECRA Walk & Roll coordinating committee members Carrie Schulman, Gaia Sonatina, and Stuart Sonatina accepted the award at Preservation Park in Oakland.
El Cerrito city councilmember Rebecca Saltzman and ECRA Walk & Roll coordinating committee member Carrie Schulman at the Best of El Cerrito awards event.
“Every year I see more and more people riding their bikes. This is such an exciting movement to be a part of,” Schulman told 300 attendees of Biketopia. “On behalf of our whole group, thank you to Bike East Bay for providing your support and expertise and thank you for honoring us with this award.”
The following evening Schulman and ECRA Walk & Roll member Mike Balmaceda accepted the Best of El Cerrito co–runner-up award for nonprofit groups (wide reaching) during an event at El Cerrito Honda. More than 24,000 community members voted for their local favorites in 120 categories. Co-awardees in the nonprofit (wide reaching) category were winner The Foundation Project Foundation and co–runner-up The Practice Space.
“Walkers and bikers are dedicated customers because we don't travel as far,” Schulman said at the chamber event. “We hope to partner with businesses — and have funds available — to get bike racks installed.”
ECRA Walk & Roll joined the El Cerrito Chamber of Commerce in 2024 to help promote better access to local businesses by foot and bike.
“We aim to educate local business owners about our advocacy for better bike and pedestrian infrastructure on local streets,” says ECRA Walk & Roll coordinating committee member Janet Byron. “Our members are loyal customers of local businesses and we want to be able to arrive at their doors safely and have a place to park and lock our bikes while we shop.”