Make our streets, sidewalks, and transportation systems safe for everyone

Streets, sidewalks, and transportation systems are the infrastructure that keeps Berkeley moving forward. We can’t function as a city without them, yet we continually defer maintenance and expansion to deal with a never-ending supply of urgent problems. Adena knows we can’t defer any longer. As a pedestrian, cyclist, transit rider, automobile driver, and community leader, she knows our crumbling infrastructure is unsafe, inequitable, and a growing impediment to solving our housing crisis.

• Support SAFE Streets Initiative. Adena strongly supports the SAFE Streets measure on the November ballot as the best choice to fix our neglected streets and sidewalks, implement essential traffic safety improvements to benefit all road users, enhance the environmental sustainability and climate resilience of our public spaces, and transform Berkeley’s future into one where it is safe, easy, and fun to get around, regardless of age, mobility, or mode choice. 

• Preserve the Equity Zone in our current paving plan and if possible, add funding to accelerate pavement improvements. The Equity Zone is a collection of historically neglected South and West Berkeley neighborhoods that include residents with lower incomes and disabilities that were redlined in the past by the federal Homeowners Loan Corporation. 

• Prioritize sustainable and resilient infrastructure development. Adena supports the principles in the Berkeley Vision 2050 framework (approved by voters through Measure R in 2018) – a 30-year plan to identify and guide the implementation of climate-smart, technologically advanced, integrated and efficient infrastructure to support a safe, vibrant and resilient future for Berkeley. She will maintain a particular focus on these goals:

• Prioritize Complete Streets. As our population grows and technology advances, we need safe, reliable, affordable, and efficient transportation options. Adena supports the Complete Streets model that will enable a greater number of pedestrians and a variety of vehicle types, sizes, and speeds to pass safely on public roads and pathways.

• Accelerate the transition to clean energy and electrification. Adena supports transitioning our local energy system to one that delivers carbon-free electricity across a highly distributed system.