APRIL 2026-1

ECRA WALK & ROLL GENERAL MEETING, APRIL 8: Join us on Google Meet at 7 p.m. We will discuss several advocacy campaigns, including Ohlone Greenway safety and citywide traffic calming.

El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll meets every other second Wednesday, now on Google Meet. Future general meetings on our 2026 schedule are April 8, June 10, August 12, and October 14. (In December, we PARTY!) Click on this Google Calendar link to add all of our 2026 meetings to your calendar, with the meeting links.

EAST BAY CAR-FREE HAPPY HOUR, THURS., APRIL 16, 5:30 P.M., HEADLANDS BREWING CO., BERKELEY: Everyone is welcome, whether you’re car-free, car-light, car-free curious, or just want to connect with like-minded neighbors. The next East Bay Car-Free Happy Hour is Thurs., April 16, 5:30 p.m. at family-friendly Headlands Brewing Co., 1280 Gilman Street, Berkeley. Accessible via AC Transit lines 12, 52 and 72; North Berkeley BART (0.8 mile); Ohlone Greenway (bike parking is inside the beer garden). To sign up for the Car-Free Happy Hour email list, go here. Source: Jean Walsh

ECRA WALK & ROLL AT EL CERRITO EARTH DAY, APRIL 25: El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll will have a booth at El Cerrito’s Earth Day Celebration and Repair Workshop, 1–4 p.m. at the El Cerrito Community Center, 7007 Moeser Lane. Stop by, say HI!, and sign the petition to get the Regional Transit Measure onto the ballot.

FAMILY-FRIENDLY HAPPY HOUR – MAY 13, 5–7 P.M.: Join us to hang out, eat, have a beer, and talk multimobility and safer streets with like-minded neighbors! Bring the kids/family/friends/partners! Our happy hours are every other second Wednesday 5–7 p.m. at family-friendly Fatapples, 7525 Fairmont Ave. Look for us at the picnic tables or indoors, depending on the weather. Mark your calendar for our remaining 2026 happy hour dates: May 13, July 8, September 9, and November 11.

BIKE TO WHEREVER DAY – VOLUNTEERS NEEDED ON MAY 14, 7–9 A.M. @ DEL NORTE BART: ECRA Walk & Roll will host a Bike to Wherever Day Energizer Station at Del Norte BART Station, 7–9 a.m. on Thurs., May 15. Roll by and say HI! To volunteer at our super-fun Energizer Station, write to info@ecrawalkroll.org.

SAVE THE DATE! BART DIRECTOR BARNALI GHOSH TO SPEAK AT JUNE 10 MEETING: Join ECRA Walk & Roll and Albany Strollers and Rollers for our first-ever joint meeting, featuring a presentation and discussion with our BART directo, Barnali Ghosh, on Wed., June 10, 7-8:30 p.m., at Hana Gardens Community Room, 10870 San Pablo Ave. (just south of city hall at Manila Ave). After short updates from both groups, BART Director Barnali Ghosh will present “2026: A Defining Year for BART,” followed by Q&A. Pizza and refreshments will be served. 

TAKE ACTION: Tell El Cerrito council that safe streets are a budget priority

As El Cerrito develops its biennial budget for Fiscal Years 2026-27 and 2027-28, the city is soliciting input from the community about how to prioritize programs and services over the next 2 years. 

TAKE ACTION:

There are two actions you can take to let the El Cerrito council know that you want safer, multimodal streets to be a top priority in the next 2-year budget cycle:

1) Take the city’s budget priorities survey (linked here). Be sure to prioritize spending for “Active Transportation” and add anything you would like to see more of (protected bike lanes, traffic calming, pedestrian scrambles, etc.) in the comments box.

2) The council is holding budget study sessions on Tues., April 7, and Tuesday, May 5, 6 p.m. at City Hall. Email the council at cityclerk@elcerrito.gov before both meetings and consider speaking at public comment regarding the urgent need for safer streets in El Cerrito.

New bike racks installed at El Cerrito Plaza shopping center

After 2.5 years of advocacy by Steve Price and Carrie Schulman of El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll, the Contra Costa Transportation Authority’s 511 CCTA program reached an agreement with Regency Centers, managers of El Cerrito Plaza shopping center, to install 21 new bike racks at the shopping center. The new racks, which were installed in March, were paid for from a special $15,000 allotment of Measure J (28B) funds to 511 CCTA for new bike racks in the El Cerrito Plaza. More racks are needed, but this is an exciting, positive step. Our thanks to Coire Reilly of 511 CCTA, Bryanna Fox of Regency Centers, and Jarrett Mullen of the City of El Cerrito for partnering with ECRA Walk & Roll to make it easier to shop by bicycle! — Steve Price (and photos)

San Pablo Ave. repaving and safety improvements delayed until 2028

Due to shortfalls in funding for the State Highway Operation and Protection Program (SHOPP), Caltrans is delaying the State Route 123 (SR-123) Pavement Rehabilitation Project for San Pablo Avenue in El Cerrito to Fiscal Year 2027-28. The scope of work in our area would have included safety improvements to the avenue that the City of El Cerrito and local safe-streets advocates had hoped would begin this year. State Route 123 (on San Pablo Avenue) goes the full length of El Cerrito and Richmond Annex south of Cutting Boulevard. El Cerrito had vigorously negotiated urgent safety improvements as part of the repaving project, including narrower travel lanes, high-visibility markings, and new pedestrian hybrid beacons. This delay is a big disappointment.  El Cerrito and Richmond Annex have seen two fatalities and several serious injuries in the past 6 months that warrant speeding up the safety improvements, but on March 19, the California Transportation Commission decided to put off the project. Caltrans says the project is delayed or canceled, although delays often increase project costs, which could impact project scope in the future.

Above, artists’ rendering of the transit-oriented development at El Cerrito Plaza BART station.

El Cerrito Bets on Car-Free Living

By Juan Pablo Perez-Burgos, in KneeDeep Times

For more than two years, I was one of the few in the Bay Area without a car. 

I really didn’t need one. I took the bus, the train, or biked to grad school and work. There was a Lucky’s nearby for groceries, and a Trader Joe’s a few yards away from there, where I’d pick up whatever quirky, irresistible thing they were selling that week. A bookstore. A family-owned Vietnamese restaurant. A lauded dumpling place. And the most beautiful theater I’d ever seen, with a 1930s art-deco mural of dancing nymphs and a red velvet curtain veiling the screen. All within walking distance.

You might assume I lived in San Francisco, where nearly one in three households doesn’t own a car; or in Oakland, Berkeley, or somewhere in Alameda County. But no. This was in Contra Costa County, where the vast majority of households have a car, and my home was in southwest El Cerrito, where having one can actually be a choice.

READ MORE 

NOMINATE ECRA WALK & ROLL FOR BEST OF EL CERRITO: The El Cerrito Chamber of Commerce is collecting nominations for their Best of El Cerrito competition.

1. Please navigate to: El Cerrito Chamber of Commerce - Best of El Cerrito

2. Select Lifestyle and Leisure

3. For best nonprofit input ECRA Walk & Roll

REPORT TRAFFIC CONCERNS TO EL CERRITO PUBLIC WORKS: If you see a traffic hazard or problem of any type — such as potholes, trees down, maintenance needs, lights/signals out, bad sidewalks, illegal dumping, or graffiti — the best way to take care of it is to report it to El Cerrito Public Works Department via their traffic improvement page. Things can only get fixed if the city knows they need fixin’!

REPORT ROAD HAZARDS TO RICHMOND AND BEYOND: To report debris in bike lanes and other transportation-related road hazards, be a squeaky wheel here; and for up-to-date links for reporting systems in every East Bay jurisdiction, go to Bike East Bay’s hazard reporting page.

Our mission: El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll promotes walking, bicycling, and other low-carbon multimodal transportation alternatives and builds community for safer, more joyful, and inclusive streets for all.

To sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit our website at ecrawalkroll.org (scroll down for sign-up) or write to us at info@ECRAWalkRoll.org.

Please submit traffic safety requests to El Cerrito’s online traffic improvement request form.

Newsletter edited by Janet Byron