Safe 8th Street Oakland

By channeling residents' exasperation with dangerous, speeding drivers into a grassroots campaign, I led the transformation of a dangerous West Oakland neighborhood street into a permanent traffic-calmed slow street within three years. This cut speeds from sometimes 70+ mph to under 20mph along the one-mile project area, dramatically increasing safety and comfort for people walking, biking, and driving.

Our Safe 8th Street campaign secured $500,000 in public funding and implemented comprehensive safety improvements along one mile of 8th Street. This demonstrated how engaged communities can drive meaningful change in a short time through a clear vision, coalition building, and integrating with existing city processes, programs, and budget timelines.

• Built and led coalition of 60+ community members
• Secured $500,000 in Measure KK infrastructure funding
• Delivered complete street transformation in under 4 years (2020-2024)
• Installed traffic circles, speed humps, and hardened centerlines along the one-mile corridor
• Created replicable model for community-led infrastructure change
• Inspired city-wide policy changes for community traffic safety initiatives

For decades, 8th Street in Prescott, West Oakland was a wide residential street with cut-through drivers regularly hitting speeds of 70+ mph in a 25 mph zone. Consequences were severe—routine crashes with other cars, injuries, fatalities, and damage to trees and even homes. The community needed intervention, but long-term residents had tried before and failed. Getting the city's attention and action would require strategic organizing and persistence.

Succeeding required bringing togeteher diverser stakeholders across demographic, income, professional, and sectoral lines. I built a coalition of neighbors and public officials, including:

• Volunteers at the community garden
• Long-term residents including multi-generational families and local Black community elders
• A software engineer and fiscal sponsor who helped troubleshoot issues and fund equipment purchases
• A civil engineer friend to prove traffic circles provided sufficient clearance for fire trucks, pre-empting a common objection
• A neighbor who advised on appropriate plant species to populate the traffic circles
• Department of Transportation staff who guided me to align my request with the city's Capital Improvement Program
• Mayor's office staff who provided guidance and political cover while reassuring me that our request was heard

• June 2020: Kicked off Safe 8th Street campaign with flyers and surveys
• Fall 2020: Citizen traffic study data collection, and Capital Improvement Program funding application
• Winter 2020-21: Video/media campaign, engagement from Mayor's office
• Summer 2021: Secured $500,000 in CIP funding
• Summer 2023: Street repaving completed
• Fall 2023: Speed humps installed
• December 2023: Traffic circles and hardened centerlines installed
• Spring 2024: Final striping, signs, and landscaping completed

What started as a citizen-led advocacy campaign resulted in one mile of (literal) concrete outcomes:

• 1-mile of speed humps mid-block along the corridor
• 7 traffic circles with native plants at stop-controlled intersections
• 4 intersections with concrete-hardened centerlines to slow turning traffic at lights
• 1 mid-block crosswalk with median islands
• Slow street markings and signage showing bicycle and pedestrian priority throughout
• High-visibilty crosswalks at every intersection
• Upgraded curb ramps for accessibility
• Mid-block pedestrian refuge islands

The project's success extends beyond physical changes:

• Prompted OakDOT to create a template with standard design elements for future Slow Streets
• Energized dozens of residents to demand specific safety improvements on their streets, seeing progress is possible
• Strengthened neighborhood connections and trust
• Inspired new legislation for community-led traffic safety initiatives
• Built replicable framework for local engagement that leads to systemic change

This project succeeded through:

• Pragmatic approach focused on specific requests aligned with existing project timeline
• Bold, persistent advocacy timed with budget cycles
• Authentic engagement and listening as a newcomer, leading to community trust earned over time
• Strategic use of data, storytelling, and targeted media
• Good-faith partnerships with elected officials and staff

Key takeaways from the campaign:

• Start by listening to invested stakeholders like long-term residents
• Collect data to validate anecdotal observations
• Balance urgency with patience and understanding of implementation timeliens
• Build coalitions across stakeholder groups
• Document success to inspire others and create replicable models