El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll blog

By Steve Price and Janet Byron   On April 16, El Cerrito Strollers & Rollers will lead an outing from El Cerrito Plaza BART to the Bay Trail. We'll travel via El Cerrito and Richmond Annex streets and the Sacramento Street pedestrian bridge over I-80. On the Bay Trail, we'll continue to Armistice Brewery in Richmond. (It's about 8-9 miles roundtrip). We’ll explore the possibilities for improving this little-known route to the Bay Trail to make it safer and more accessible for walkers and cyclists. El Cerritans have dreamed of a safe bicycling route to the Bay Trail for decades. A bike lane down Central Avenue would be challenging given the narrow and busy right-of-way of the street. An alternative route along Cerrito Creek would be scenic if a safer crossing of San Pablo Avenue could be worked out, but that wouldn't be very accessible for our neighbors in the Richmond Annex. And then both routes would have to deal with the complicated intersection at I-80 and Centra...

ECS&R members share their car-lite adventures By Janet Byron When my husband, Steve Price, and I decided to try out the car-free lifestyle (after his Nissan Leaf was totaled), I said that it would only work if we never didn’t do something because we didn’t own a car. I know, that’s a lot of double negatives, but what it meant for us is that we would always figure out a way to do what we wanted or needed to and never fall back on “We can’t because we don’t own a car.” For me, getting out of town for weekend hikes is especially important.  Steve and I decided to call up Doherty’s Truck and Auto Rental on San Pablo Avenue across from City Hall to see what they had available. We were in luck! They had a car for us, available for a good price. We had also checked the GIG app on our phones and a few cars were available nearby, but renting one for that day would have cost more. We were happy to reserve a car with Doherty’s. Steve and Janet on the trail Steve and I left our condo on S...

Governments and car manufacturers are touting electric vehicles (EVs) as the wonder antidote to climate change. However, EVs will need abundant mined lithium, a key component of EV batteries. A recent report by the Climate and Community Project at the University of California, Davis, “ Achieving Zero Emissions with More Mobility and Less Mining , ” calls into question whether mining lithium will be able to meet the urgent need to address climate change. The report challenges the hope that lithium mined in large quantities can steer America clear of structural changes to the built landscape, confirming the suspicions of new urbanists.  Lithium is an essential component of car batteries, and there is presently no replacement for it. It is mined from both hard rock and from below-ground brine. Both require significant landscape disturbance either from open-pit mines or from large evaporation ponds. Lawsuits by indigenous peoples and environmentalists is a given. Although research con...

ECS&R members share their car-lite adventures By Steve Price and Janet Byron El Cerrito is the perfect launching pad for myriad adventures that don't require cranking up a personal car! We walked the San Francisco Crosstown Trail starting with a walk to El Cerrito Plaza BART. Our trailhead starts at the Glen Park BART station in San Francisco and continues 5.2 miles to the Inner Sunset neighborhood.  The trail is the work of volunteers. As their website describes it, "The full length of the trail is just under 17 miles . . . The trail is a mix of about 45% roads and sidewalks, 15% paved off-road paths, and 40% trails." It is composed of five segments — walk as many segments as you want.  Along the way are several connections to public transportation if you tire and want to head home. Janet and Steve walked the second and third segments, which have lots of surprising trails through nature, spectacular views, diverse neighborhoods, and beautiful decorated stairways. T...

What are sustainable and safe alternatives for people who are not big on walking and can’t or won’t ride a bike? Even in Amsterdam and Copenhagen, known for growing numbers of people riding bicycles, plenty of cars are still on the street. Getting everyone to give up driving cars is not realistic or necessary. As the chart below shows — confirmed by surveys in recent years — about a third of Americans will not get on a bicycle. Some of them fulfill most of their mobility needs by walking and riding transit, using neither a bicycle or car. But most of that third are wedded to using cars for all mobility needs, either out of necessity, habit, lack of interest in the alternatives, or the belief that cars provide them with safety. Since automobiles compromise the safety of people on the street who are not enclosed in a car, perhaps the solution is to consider safer, self-propelled alternatives to the standard 2- or 3-ton automobile — vehicles that can provide the satisfactions of the car w...

People around the world are no more physically energetic than Americans, but many can't afford the luxury of a full-size car. That's where mopeds come in. There is no pedaling; you turn a throttle and the moped moves forward. Although mopeds look very similar to sit-down scooters, they are lower speed and intended for local travel. There aren't as many mopeds as bicycles in Amsterdam and Copenhagen, but there are a lot. Electrified mopeds are growing in popularity in Europe and Asia. As they get electrified, mopeds offer local green transportation for people who can’t afford to purchase a car. These are good reasons for El Cerritans to consider this form of local mobility. In addition, topography is a challenge in El Cerrito; mopeds will get you going uphill with ease. Hillside dwellers can use mopeds as a second vehicle for local travel and keep the family car for out-of-town excursions. Most electric mopeds have removable batteries that can be charged at a standard wall o...

Bicycles and mopeds may have a lot going for them, yet a lot of people still want the comfort of traveling in an enclosed space with heating, a radio, an upholstered seat, and lockable doors. Electric microcars are gaining popularity in Asia and Europe, with some nascent manufacturing popping up in the United States. They are not designed for freeway speeds, but rather are intended for local travel at up to 25 to 30 miles per hour. These vehicles are a half or third the size of a standard automobile and much less expensive. And being much lighter weight, they impose less wear and tear on street pavement, thus saving cities street maintenance costs. Because they are narrower than cars and pickup trucks, microcars leave more room on streets for bicycle riders, and their excellent visibility makes them much safer to pedestrians. Will microcars eventually start showing up on the streets of El Cerrito? McKinsey & Company, the global management consultancy firm, predicts that they will b...