Save Hopkins Street
Friends of Hopkins Street is an all-volunteer educational and advocacy group formed by and for Hopkins Street residents, neighbors, business owners, and friends. We advocate equitable, safe, evidence-based, and common sense designs for Hopkins Street.
Your donations fund our initiatives (flyers, yard signs, etc.) and our legal and other professional service consultations. Since we are all volunteers, 100% of your donation goes to our costs. Please contact us if you would like to donate by check.
Join our mailing list for updates on what we’re doing and how you can help preserve Hopkins Street! You can also get a yard sign and/or a window sign!!
You might have heard some arguments in favor of the Hopkins Street bike plan or received a flyer from Councilmember Kesarwani, but see what the facts really are.
Upcoming Events
City Council meeting – Feb. 2 meeting postponed to April 18
This is a huge huge win!!! The City has pulled back in order to allow for a fuller review by legal and fire. And thank you, thank you, thank you for your many emails and calls to council members, for showing up at the many commission meetings over the last several weeks, for putting up lawn signs. This is not over yet, but we have made real progress!
The Community Weighs In
From the disability community: The ADA must be adhered to at all times so the disabled and elderly in our community can move freely around our neighborhood equally with our able-bodied neighbors. The cycle track is one more barrier for us to negotiate, even if it never has a single cyclist in it! And if we lose our ability to park in front of our own homes, we become prisoners. We deserve better from the city.
From the senior community: I am a senior and very long-term Berkeley resident who of necessity must get around by car. I have long been distressed by the City’s disregard for seniors when it comes to issues relating to parking and access to amenities/ necessities. The removal of most parking and the metering of what’s left will remove my ability to frequent this district which I regularly visit, patronize, and enjoy several times a week.
From the Berkeley Hills community: The Hopkins shops are our lifeline. We are largely an older demographic, and it would be miraculous if one in 20 could switch to an e-bike for shopping! Plus, the hills are a high fire danger zone, equivalent to what Paradise was. This plan threatens to clog the emergency evacuation route along Hopkins, which is our other lifeline. Don’t believe me? Watch this video about narrowing streets in the name of safety.
From the cycling community: Speaking as both a driver and an avid cyclist, I believe this cycle track design is dangerous and will cause both car and cyclist accidents. Add the extra speed of increasing numbers of powerful e-bikes and it’s an even sketchier mix in the bike track. Litigation against the City is certainly possible if it proceeds against the very clear and overwhelming objections of the neighborhood.
From pedestrians: We outnumber cyclists by far on Hopkins St. We are clearly an afterthought in this plan. Trying to increase the number of people riding bicycles through the very busy, congested commercial area puts us at increased risk every day, particularly if new rules give cyclists the option of not following the same regulations that cars must follow.
From residents: We live in an increasingly “delivery economy”. Are all the package and other delivery drivers suppose to block the bike lane to make their deliveries, or fully block a traffic lane and create a different traffic hazard? We see these package trucks practically all day long. And don’t get me started on having to drag a heavy green bin out into the street onto a concrete slab!
From the merchants: Many of our customers are not locals. Eliminating parking is likely to seriously impact our sales. Most of us could not survive on low dollar volume sales. Even if biking increased in the neighborhood, it would be very difficult for it to add enough customers to replace the dollar volume of the shoppers who come by car and make large purchases. And if they can’t park, they will stop coming.
From those with safety concerns: “Protected bike lanes” is a complete misnomer when there are driveways and uncontrolled cross intersections. Drivers’ vision is impaired by the parked cars between driver and bike lanes. This is exactly what exists in the plan on Hopkins essentially west of Colusa through the shopping district. There’s even an important commercial driveway next to the liquor store! Watch this part of a video that talks about the situation on Telegraph Ave.
From those concerned about the economic impact: Walk Bike Berkeley often refers to studies done in different states, under very different circumstances, to prove that the economic impact of removing parking is actually positive for businesses. But we have clear data from right here in the Bay Area that contradicts that. Watch the Koreatown video, about how revenues plummeted when the protected bike lanes were installed on Telegraph in Oakland.