The fight is brewed through do-it-yourself solutions in the Auckland neighborhood to stop speeders and sideshows.
Residents said they were sick and fought back with their own speed bumps, but the city said the corrections were not flying.
Earlier this week, the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) tore homemade speed bumps on East 21st and 19th Avenues.
Residents set them out of despair after eight months ago they had in favor of the city for four years, dealing with the area’s dangerous sideshows and claiming nothing had been done.
“We have been in peace for the past eight months, and it’s been a tough peace,” said a resident of Michael Andemskel. “We paid that peace with labor and money. The city then took it without excuse and without notice.”
Andemeskel and his neighbors spent $3,000 on installing the speed bump. Andemeskel said the city’s DOT director verbally approved the DIY project last year.
“He said it would be replaced eight years after the street was refunded, right?” Andemskel said. “So we’re ‘OK, we can work with it.” Within eight years, we’ll understand the solution that will make everyone happy, right? ”
Oakland residents took matters into their own hands and pleaded the city to deal with sideshows and speeding before installing speed bumps. The city has drawn the winds of this effort, tearing things that its neighbors had set up. Raj Mathai of the NBC Bay Area spoke with Michael Andemeskel, one of the residents who helped set up the traffic threshold, to understand the effort.
The city told the group that the speed bumps were removed because they caused a danger. A day later, the sideshow was back, Emeskel said.
“We don’t understand how dangerous it is, rather than having a speed bump, a rubber speed bump at the intersection,” Andemeskel said. “I need the middle part.”
Councillor Charlene Wang took over on behalf of the district the day after its removal. The new councillor expressed dissatisfaction that residents and her staff were not warned before the city abolished the Speedbump.
“What I drove off was such a quick build, cheap and easy street treatment, being smart and resourceful, especially in the face of a budget deficit,” Wang said. “The fact that the residents did that, I think it’s pretty surprising.”
Wang said he was working with city leaders to set up a city-approved option to stop the sideshow, but she explained that the city still has questions.
“The director hasn’t made it clear why that decision was made,” she said. “Yeah, I think there are concerns. He’s concerned about the responsibility, but he’s also responsible for the sideshow’s already coming back.”
The city claimed it was investigating the issue but could not immediately comment on how it would deal with removals and street safety in the area.
Residents said they are ready to regain the speed bump if the city doesn’t act immediately.
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