Dear City Administrator Edgerly:
I write with great concern regarding emergency access to our neighborhood (and no doubt other Oakland Hills areas). As you may know, most of the 25 people who died in the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire lost their lives because of blocked roads. We have been working with our City Council Member Jane Brunner, and with the Oakland Police and Fire Departments, to try to secure enforcement of parking regulations. We have also tried with little success to secure regulations to require adequate off-street parking for new development.
In December, we worked with Justin Horner of Jane Brunner’s office who told us “We have a commitment from the City Administrator to send parking enforcement attendants up into the hills. This could be a trial run to see if there are enough parking problems to justify/fund a whole parking enforcement crew for the hills on a regular basis.”
In April, former NHPA President Anne Seasons toured our hills with Deputy Fire Chief Jim Edwards, who wrote, “I spent some time after our meeting contemplating what we had discussed. The first step that I intend to take is to ensure that all of our Vegetation Management inspectors and our Fire Investigators are trained to write citations for illegally parked vehicles. During the summer/wild land season I will have our personnel arbitrarily drive different areas of the hills to issue citations if warranted. This will also include some evenings as well. Other issues that we discussed will take more coordination and interaction with others to facilitate, but I will certainly see what I can do to optimize public safety in the hills.”
Nevertheless, violation of parking regulations by contractors and residents continues. Roads like Bristol, Buckingham, Grandview and Charing Cross, for example, are frequently blocked by contractors and residents. During last week’s frightening fire at Skyline and Grizzly Peak, Charing Cross was blocked. NHPA's treasurer wrote, “My wife noticed that during this fire, there were four trucks parked on both sides of Charing Cross (a few feet away from where 6 people died in the fire of 1991). If we had to evacuate our neighborhood yesterday, we would have faced another disastrous traffic jam.”
What must we do to persuade the City of Oakland to enforce basic rules about parking and street blockages on an effective and continuous basis? Must we sue? Must we go to the press? Must we demonstrate outside City Hall?
People want to be sure they can safely flee their homes in the event of a fire or other emergency. They want to be sure that emergency vehicles, such as ambulances and fire engines, can reach our neighborhood. They want to be sure that both of these things can happen at once, that it’s not an “either/or” situation.
As noted, we have tried our best, working year in and year out to secure this minimal goal. We know we speak for thousands of residents throughout the Oakland Hills whose lives, whether they realize it as fully as our neighborhood does, are at risk because of lack of City enforcement. We are tired of getting lip service instead of a lifeline to safety. There has been no consistent parking enforcement during evenings and weekends. People know this and ignore the current laws because they know the person down the street “got away with it.”
We ask that you let us know, within the next two weeks, your plan for working with the various relevant city agencies, Fire, Police, Parking, Public Works, CEDA and others to make our area safe. This is a dry year which promises to be one of extreme fire danger throughout California.
Sincerely yours,
David Kessler
President
North Hills Phoenix Association
cc: Mayor Dellums, Oakland City Council, Oakland Fire and Police Chiefs