Where do candidates for the City Council of El Cerrito and candidates for the Richmond City Council representing Richmond Annex stand on sustainable transportation policy issues that could improve walking, biking, and transit access and safety? El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll submitted three questions to the candidates to learn their positions. Another questionnaire, the Sustainable Transportation Candidate Questionnaire, was developed by a dozen Bay Area advocacy groups. It was sent to hundreds of candidates across the San Francisco Bay Area in September 2024. One-hundred-sixty candidates for office in five counties around the San Francisco Bay Area answered that questionnnaire. Below are the responses to both sets of questions from the El Cerrito and Richmond Annex candidates.

Walk & Roll submitted a slightly different Question 3 to the El Cerrito versus Richmond Annex candidates:

Question 1: Access to BART stations
Plans are underway to repurpose parking lots at El Cerrito Plaza BART to provide housing, retail, and possibly a new library. How would you support affordable, low-carbon access to BART thus reducing parking needs on BART property?

Question 2: Travel on San Pablo Avenue
Despite being one of the commercially richest corridors in West Contra Costa County, San Pablo Avenue does not feel safe to travel on except by car. It is also challenging to safely cross by bicycling and walking and it is where the majority of roadway crashes in our area occur. What kinds of changes would you support for San Pablo Avenue so that it is safer to bicycle and walk on, both along and across?

Question 3: Financial sustainability
El Cerrito version: Communities rely on various taxing, bond measures, and grants to support infrastructure. At the same time, there is ample evidence that creating walkable (and bikeable) urbanism with destinations easily accessible without a car generates significant wealth that can be taxed. What will you do to move El Cerrito toward a financially sustainable urban form that reaps the benefits of walkability?

Richmond Annex version: Communities rely on various taxing, bond measures, and grants to support infrastructure. At the same time, there is ample evidence that creating walkable (and bike-able) urbanism with destinations easily accessible without a car generates significant wealth that can be taxed. What will you do to move Richmond Annex toward a financially sustainable urban form that reaps the benefits of walkability?

To see the candidates responses to the El Cerrito and Richmond Annex questions and the Transbay Coalition’s questionnaire, click on their names below.