Comments on: Coming soon to a Lake near you: the world’s widest sidewalk

By: Ralph

Ralph — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:30:32 +0000

ah, that makes me giddy like a school girl. thx jk

By: John Klein

John Klein — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:15:44 +0000

Measure DD Update – Boat House rededication tomorrow, Thursday, at 2:00 pm.

Here is the link to some pictures and videos at the Boat House – mostly about pouring that big, wide….permeable driveway. http://tinyurl.com/n6f6j8

Rededication info can be found at this link: http://tinyurl.com/lamjt8
John

By: John Klein

John Klein — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:39:46 +0000

Hi Everybody, here’s a Measure DD Update. El Embarcadero pictures and videos on Lakeshore and the El Embarcadero. http://tinyurl.com/ltetok

I’ll post an update about the Boat House in a few days. Btw, the restaurant is taking job applications and interviewing people this week.
John

By: ken

ken — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:16:31 +0000

i prefer to run/jog on grass or dirt instead of concrete as well.

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:12:39 +0000

So it looks like the world’s widest sidewalk is not a sidewalk afterall, although it is not clear what exactly it is intended to be. It looks like it might be for small scale street vendors.

By: rob

rob — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:37:51 +0000

@ oh pleeze, that’s really cool about the re-use for the path. i would’ve still preferred a dirt path ringing most of the lake, but love hearing that people are being creative like that.

By: John Klein

John Klein — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:08:49 +0000

Measure DD Update: photo and video update of progress at the Boat House. More interior shots; pics and videos of the stone masons, too….

http://tinyurl.com/l8rlmb

John

By: Ralph

Ralph — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:58:47 +0000

Glad, it went off without a hitch. I saw them when I drove down Grand. Thanks for the heads up.

By: Karen Smulevitz

Karen Smulevitz — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:39:53 +0000

The Healthy Living Festival went off without a hitch. At last report, no senior citizens were knocked down by joggers or anyone else on the paths. Thanks Ralph, for avoiding us.
As to concrete, why isn’t a green city like Oakland considering permeable surfaces?

By: Oh Pleeze

Oh Pleeze — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:34:29 +0000

1. Geese & greenery. Yep. Geese eat grass around the lake. Since Oakland slashed gardening staff, the geese do lawn trimming, aeration and fertilization, all free of cost, especially since all are these services beneath the notice (and skill set) of city’s white shirted desk jockeys. We should extend Oaktree Volunteer medals to the geese for quietly providing real budgetary savings and tangible productivity beyond the wildest conjurings of our elected officials, though I’m surprised the unions haven’t protested the lost jobs going to birds.

2. Chris is correct. DD planners promised us 4-people-wide sidewalks during the public meetings. DD’s execution of Lakeshore’s 4-people-wide sidewalks, however, appear based on calculations taken from anorexic physiques in the pages of Vogue, rather than from Oprah (and Oakland) realities.

3. Street Furniture, as in the benches DD promised us? The concrete sarcophagi rimming Lake Merritt’s western edge aren’t street furniture?

4. Ref: (Rob) “…concrete that’s replaced the dirt path…” (Lazercat) “Wide, smooth cement sidewalk alongside a lake.” Guess again: It’s the old asphalt (that used to ring parts of the lake) with the gaps filled in and skim coated with more asphalt that’s powdered with decomposed granite to *look* like concrete.

Me? I’m fed up with being forced to walk in Grand and Lakeshore auto traffic on my way to and from work, the Farmer’s market and shopping because construction crews routinely remove pedestrian walkways. I’m also irked that trees barriers are routinely removed so construction crews can park their cars and portapots in the shade, while I have to walk through construction debris, without shade. Why are we paying city staff to monitor a project that isn’t providing what we were promised? Our esteemed planners promised pedestrian barriers and a nominal nod to saving a few trees, but they don’t budge from their desks to monitor their promises.