During my many years of teaching piano, nurturing students along of diverse backgrounds and levels, I never imagined that I would find myself channeling music into a form of local activism. But it’s happened here in Berkeley, California on Hopkins Street, with its lovely stretch of trees and quaint shops owned my merchants of many cultures whose employees are a rainbow of minorities.
Upper Hopkins (the Eastern portion of the “Hopkins Corridor”) is lined with the Monterey Fish Market, The Bottle Shop, Gioia’s Pizza, The Hopkins Bakery, Asaka Sushi and Bar, Raxakoul Coffee & Cheese, Magnani’s Poultry, the treasured Monterey Market, Cafe Roma, and various hair salons that are leisurely steps from each other. (Hopkins Hair and Elixir) Add to the mix, two Realty companies, Northbrae, Red Oak, and the long established Hopkins Launderette that sits beside Roma.
For years, “our” merchant family enjoyed a special bond with faithful consumers coming from the immediate area (on the “flats”), into the Berkeley Hills and well beyond.
For the aging population residing in the Hills, a car has always been a necessity as shopping accrues bags of groceries that cannot be otherwise transported without physical challenge. The disabled, in particular, rely on their automobile when shopping, along with many others who need places to park that are within easy range of the merchants.
For pedestrians, who regularly traverse Hopkins as shoppers and/or fitness enthusiasts, the challenge of safely crossing streets without a traffic signal, can be daunting. It’s not just SUVs and smaller vehicles that run Stop signs in their haste–but motorized E-Bikes and E-Scooters pose additional perils. The bikes can travel from 20 mph, to 28 mph in some cases, and without a license or insurance requirement, these engine bearing bikes often blaze through Stop signs (though prohibited by California law) The old-fashioned, generic bikes, that many of our parents purchased for $50 to $100 or more, are currently upended by the German and Netherlands manufactured motor bikes that can run from $3,500 to $10,000 depending on options and accessories. In this climate (no pun intended) who can afford them? Is gentrification an element of a movement to rid Hopkins of cars!
And here’s where a set of troubling issues have arisen amidst the charm of Hopkins with its neighborly merchants and loyal brood of shoppers. The City of Berkeley (that includes the Mayor, City Manager, City Council members, and Transportation Division Manager/consultants) want to dig up Hopkins at its narrowest, and install dual track bike lanes with concrete dividers, going in opposite directions on one side of the street. This incursion will cause a huge loss of parking spaces that will impact the full length of Hopkins from one end to the other. The plan as designed will also confuse pedestrians trying to cross amidst multiple stop sign lanes, (children on bikes, beside motored ones) while drivers in neighboring lanes, and those turning left onto Hopkins will be disoriented. In so many words, the City of Berkeley’s one size fits all agenda of Complete Streets and Vision Zero, powered by the influence of Bike lobbies, is fueling a war on social media–Next Door being the nexus of insults, hurled back and forth.
Representing all Hopkins merchants, Paul Johnson, Monterey Fish owner, had the courage of conviction to make his voice heard loud and clear, when he addressed the City Council at one of its pivotal Hopkins Corridor meetings. (It was so perfectly in synch with what so many of us wanted to say but yet, we felt a sense of powerlessness in the face of well-funded lobbies crushing the voices of Hopkins residents)
Johnson said it succinctly: “I think we are all against putting bike lanes in the street. We all feel that the bike lanes would be better served to the area if they were put on side streets, and to run bike lanes through the commercial area just seems like–it seems so dangerous. It’s unbelievable! Particularly double bike lanes going up and down the street between parked cars. It’s a recipe for disaster.
“…. people are going to be run over. Nobody knows to turn left. It’s like when you go to London, and in the streets, the sign says ‘Look Right!’ It’s really gonna be a dangerous situation.
“…. you’re gonna be cutting down trees, ripping up sidewalks and everything else. It’s going to be endless. …I think pretty much we’re on the same side as the Hopkins Street residents.”
A local, aging resident, Effie Dilworth, expanded on Hopkins Corridor Plan problems in her Letter to the Berkeley Times.
“Currently, Hopkins is a two-way street with bicyclists moving either in the same lanes as the car traffic or between the parked cars and the traffic, and they are moving in the same direction as the cars. To turn left onto Hopkins from Carlotta, I do not have a clear view of what’s coming east (on my left), if there is a car parked at the SW corner on Hopkins; it requires creeping out a bit into the intersection. I believe the City is proposing the following for the south side of Hopkins; next to the curb will be two bike lanes, one in each direction; then a lane of parked cars; then the two lanes for cars and faster bikes moving east and west. Therefore, for me to make a Left turn onto Hopkins, I will be first watching for bike traffic that will be moving in two directions, crossing those two lanes, then creeping out beyond the parked cars to watch for cars and bikes traveling east, and finally, for cars and bikes going west in the lane I’m turning into. Can drivers be expected to navigate this multiplicity of lanes safely?”(MY COMMENT- can pedestrians likewise be expected to navigate this multiplicity of lanes safely?)
To add to rancor among warring factions regarding the Hopkins Corridor, Ageism surfaced early on as an issue–well fleshed out in a Berkeleyside Op-Ed by Donna DeDemier ( “a former Berkeley business owner and a self-identified ardent environmentalist.”) https://www.berkeleyside.org/2022/05/05/opinion-hopkins-corridor-pits-seniors-vs-young-people Donna and others eventually inspired a Save Hopkins movement that distributed signs as potent message makers to merchants, residents and neighboring supporters.
Bundled into Save Hopkins efforts, is an embracing Friends of Hopkins Street nonprofit organization that defines “an all-volunteer educational and advocacy group formed by and for Hopkins Street residents, neighbors, business owners, and friends. It “advocates equitable, safe, evidence-based, and common sense designs for Hopkins Street.” http://www.SaveHopkins.org
In the spirit of Saving Hopkins, I took three jaunts in and around my neighborhood, snapping photos of support signs– giving expression to my personal community activism. At first I used a generic music choice to accompany my photo slide show –soon to be followed by another “Save Hopkins Neighbors” video where I embedded recorded selections from Alexandre Tansman, (Pour Les Enfants). In a blitz of activism, I again explored the nooks and crannies of Hopkins, taking more photos of Save Hopkins signs, uploading them to the strains of a Domenico Scarlatti and J.S Bach. It was fun, cathartic and empowering!
from Arioso7's Blog (Shirley Kirsten)
https://arioso7.wordpress.com/2023/02/16/music-and-community-activism/
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