ECRA WALK & ROLL 2025 SCHEDULE

Business meetings: Happy New Year! Starting in February 2025, we’ll meet every other 2nd Wednesday of the month on Zoom, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Business meeting dates for 2025 are Feb. 12, Apr. 9, June 11, Aug. 13, Oct. 8, and Dec. 10. Agendas will be posted in the corresponding month’s newsletter.

Happy Hours: New easier schedule! We’ll gather to hang out, eat, have a beer, and talk multimobility and safer streets on 2nd Wednesdays starting in March, 5 to 7 pm, at family-friendly Fatapples, 7525 Fairmont Ave. Look for us at the picnic tables or indoors, depending on the weather. Happy hour dates for 2025 are March 12, May 14, July 9, Sept. 10, and Nov. 12.

EL CERRITO MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR, DAY PARADE – JAN. 20: ECRA Walk & Roll will be walking and biking for MOBILITY EQUITY FOR ALL in El Cerrito's Martin Luther King, Jr., parade on Jan. 20. We'll start gathering at El Cerrito City Hall, 10890 San Pablo Ave. (corner of Manila), at 9 a.m. We will have signs and bike-decorating materials on hand for walkers and cyclists (cyclists may end up walking with their bikes). The parade begins at 10 a.m. and ends at El Cerrito High (540 Ashbury) for a rally at 11 a.m.

2ND ANNUAL JANET ABELSON WALK – JAN. 26: Former El Cerrito Mayor and City Councilperson Janet Abelson left a lasting legacy of community activism before she passed away on Jan. 26, 2023. Buddy Akacik of the El Cerrito Human Rights Commission invites all to join him on Sunday, Jan. 26, at 1 p.m. for the 2nd Annual Janet Abelson Memorial Walk. Meet at the corner of Richmond and Fairmount streets in El Cerrito for a leisurely walk to Abelson’s former home on Pomona Street. Questions? Contact Buddy Akacic at buddyakacic@gmail.com

Welcome new El Cerrito councilmembers

Congratulations to newly elected El Cerrito city councilmembers William Ktsanes and Rebecca Saltzman; re-elected councilmember Lisa Motayama; and returning councilmembers Gabe Quinto and Carolyn Wysinger, who will serve as mayor this year.

El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll looks forward to working with this new El Cerrito council to advance the city’s climate, Complete Streets, traffic calming, and bike and pedestrian safety goals. Please take a moment to send the new El Cerrito council a welcoming email to cityclerk@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us and encourage them to support efforts to make our streets safer and more inviting for walking and biking.

Bay Area greenhouse gas emissions from cars are going down. But is that enough?

As El Cerrito’s Green Happenings newsletter this month reported, electric and hybrid vehicles are reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our area. In 2012, UC Berkeley Chemistry Professor Ronald Cohen began setting up a network of sensors to monitor emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other pollutants across the Bay Area. Between 2018 and 2022, his sensors recorded a small but steady decrease in CO₂ emissions — about 1.8% annually. Cohen and graduate student Naomi Asimow concluded that the decrease was due to passenger vehicle electrification, resulting in 2.6% less CO2 per mile driven each year.

This is great news . . . to a point. While nearly 35,000 EVs were purchased in Contra Costa in 2024, we are still only halfway to the 3.7% yearly reduction in CO2 emissions that we need in order to meet our citywide and statewide goals of net zero emissions by 2045.

Although the atmosphere above the Bay Area might be heading in a positive direction, it is just one part of a global atmosphere that is not cleaning up so fast, so we can’t rest on our laurels. It is encouraging that 1 in 4 new car sales in California are electric (probably even more in our area): Nevertheless, we still need to complement our car driving with bicycles, scooters, other micromobility modes, and transit. Excessive use of cars of any kind is costly and thus inequitable. According to an East Bay Times report, in January 2021 the average annual car insurance premium was about $1,500. The national average is now over $2,300 with California’s over $2,500. In the Bay Area, the average new car price is almost $53,000. Let’s start thinking about making local travel both clean and affordable. — Steve Price

U.S. DOT reports show great potential for greenhouse gas reductions in El Cerrito and Richmond Annex

Two recent reports from the U.S. Department of Transportation make the case that active transportation (walking, biking, and other forms of micromobility) and transit-oriented development can have macro impacts on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The DOT’s active transportation playbook reports that if residents in a city of 50,000 people — the combined populations of El Cerrito and the Richmond Annex are 32,000 people — switched just 1 mile of their daily trips from driving to active transportation, the choice could result in a collective reduction of 10.14 million pounds (5,070 tons) of CO₂ per year and nearly 400,000 fewer miles driven.

Likewise, the DOT’s Climate Strategies That Work report cites a Federal Highway Administration analysis demonstrating the inverse relationship between vehicle miles traveled (VMT) per person and population density. It found that the largest declines in per capita VMT results when cities transform from low density (less than 2,000 residents per square mile) to moderate density (more than 4,000 residents per square mile).

El Cerrito averages 7,000 residents and Richmond Annex has 9,800 residents per square mile. Our area has huge potential for reducing VMT and thus greenhouse gas emissions if transit-oriented development continues apace and residents utilize micromobility.

RICHMOND CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMS UPDATE: Richmondside reported on the city’s spending on 88 active Capital Improvement Program projects, including 26 traffic safety and transportation projects. Funded projects coming soon include Class IV protected bike lanes at the I-580 Bayview overpass and pedestrian improvements to the I-80 interchange at Central Ave.

EL CERRITO DEL NORTE COMPLETE STREETS PROJECT UPDATE: The latest work on the El Cerrito Del Norte Complete Streets TOD project (above) includes installation of sidewalk, irrigation pipe, decorative street light foundation, and electrical conduit for the traffic signal upgrades at Hill Street. New trees and decorative street lights will be added to improve pedestrian safety and comfort, while improving the overall appearance of this corridor.

Reminder: The northbound lanes of the Cutting Blvd./San Pablo Ave. intersection have been reconfigured to include one left turn lane instead of two. Please slow down while driving through the construction area, and be mindful of safety for workers, pedestrians, and bicyclists. Pedestrians should follow the sidewalk closure and detour signs for their safety. Questions or comments about this project? Reach out to: transformingdelnorte@gmail.com or the project hotline: (800) 930-3720, and visit: el-cerrito.org/TransformingdelNorte. Source: El Cerrito City Manager’s Report

BCDC WORKSHOP ON RICHMOND–SAN RAFAEL BRIDGE ACCESS: On Jan. 16, commissioners of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission will participate in a nonvoting workshop on a proposal to modify existing operations of the separated Class I public pathway on the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge. Caltrans has proposed reducing the public pathway days and hours of operations for a 2-year period to collect additional information about response times and delays related to incidents on the bridge. The BCDC meeting is from 1 to 5 p.m. in San Francisco, as well as online. To support 24/7 bike and pedestrian access to the bridge, consider speaking during the public comment period at the beginning of the meeting, and if you haven’t already done so, sign Bike East Bay’s petition here.

BANNER YEAR FOR SEPARATED BIKEWAYS IN THE EAST BAY: Did you know that separated bikeways were not officially allowed in California until 2016? Bike East Bay has posted a roundup of separated bikeways that were completed in 2024, which includes locations, photos, and videos. Over 30 projects were completed in 2024, with more than 100 now around cities in the East Bay, and at least 2 dozen more projects are in the works in the East Bay for 2025 including the El Cerrito Del Norte TOD Complete Streets Project. Stay tuned for the grand opening celebration!

511 CONTRA COSTA WINTER WALK CHALLENGE: 511 Contra Costa’s 2025 Winter Walk Challenge starts this Monday, Jan. 13. Participants will receive a new walk challenge each week by email from January through March and reply to the email with a selfie or photo to show how they met the weekly challenge. Shift as many car trips to walks as possible! All participants are registered to win one of ten $20 Amazon gift cards every week, plus one iPad Grand Prize. Register here.

BAY TRAIL NEW YEAR REPORT: The 26th Bay Trail Richmond New Year Report, prepared by the Trails for Richmond Action Committee (TRAC), summarizes progress toward completing and improving the Bay Trail in Richmond. It covers Caltrans’ request to close the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge Trail Monday to Thursday, plans to rebid the Point Molate Bay Trail, the Richmond Wellness Trail Phase 2, and sea level rise adaptation. For maps and other information about the Bay Trail in Richmond, visit TRAC’s website, and to receive updates email baytrailtrac@gmail.com.

“The Mighty Mini: A Tale of road safety,” By Carrie Schulman