October 2, 2020
Dear Grizzly Peak neighbors,
Yesterday the inter-agency meeting on Grizzly Peak organized by the Oakland City Administrator included public safety officials from Oakland, Berkeley, EBRPD, UC Berkeley, and Moraga/Orinda. Councilmembers Kalb and Wengraf also participated.
There is wide agreement that the signs/enforcement strategy is not sufficient. As I believe was previously communicated, this strategy was a first step and its effectiveness has now been proven inadequate.
This morning a team from Oakland, Berkeley and UC Berkeley conducted a site visit to make final plans on physical barricades on at least 9 of the parking lookouts. The result:
Physical barriers: UC Berkeley will begin placing Eucalyptus logs at turnouts 1-7 (see attached) starting tomorrow, Saturday 10/3. These will be anchored/staked appropriately at the end of the asphalt. Chloroplast signs will be created and affixed to the logs, citing the relevant penal codes.
Oakland will place fencing at turnouts 8 and 9 since these are so long (1200+ linear feet), scheduled for Monday.
Oakland is creating and affixing signage citing the relevant penal codes to the logs and the fences.
Electronic Message Boards: Oakland will be placing multiple message Boards at critical intersections today: Extreme Fire Danger - All Turnouts Closed - 24 hrs./Day; Berkeley is looking into placing similar signs at Centennial.
In addition, last night, tonight and tomorrow there are joint enforcement operations by police with Oakland, UC Berkeley, Berkeley and the EBRPD, plus CHP helicopters. The efforts to date have focused on education and awareness. Both Councilmembers Kalb and Wengraf urged that citations should be issued, and we hope that this soon occurs.
The team also heard about progress in developing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to allow non-Oakland public safety officers to enforce Oakland municipal codes and State Law on Grizzly Peak.
In summary, your concerns are very much heard and city staff from all jurisdictions are treating these safety issues with the utmost urgency.
More to come.
Very warm regards,
Lisa
