Public Comment

I am a planning, landscape & parks professional of 5 decades' experience, so hope you will give my note your attention. I also happen to be disabled enough to need to use a high-quality walker.

The Stegman Marina circumference trail is a hazard to persons with disabilities. Its surface is eroded, cracked, altogether disintegrated in areas, and tree-root impacted. It is not just burdensome to negotiate with a wheelchair, walker or crutches; it is a harm and a potential lawsuit waiting to happen. 

The trail is so difficult to negotiate, even with my exceptionally large-wheeled "Drive Medical Nitro Rollator" (see pic), that I am forced to use the adjacent dirt/gravel "desire line" jogging path instead -- which is just barely more negotiable. 

I wrote on this concern to the Berkeley City Council four years ago. No reply. I wrote again two years ago, citing the millions spent on the beautifully-restored Marina roadways. Mayor Jesse Arreguin responded, advising me that the State had just granted a significant chunk to the City and that the Stegman Trail would be addressed. 

Nothing has happened: no project proposals, no RFQs, no RFPs, no CEQA actions. No action at all to ensure equal safe access to the waterfront for the disabled. For a City renowned for its claims of diversity and accessibility, the condition of the Stegman Trail and the City's inaction and apparent lack of concern comprise a travesty worthy of the widest public awareness. 

I wrote again to Mayor Jesse two months ago. No reply. 

Now the City is crowing about a $120+M pier and ferry terminal project while decrying an overall Marina budget shortfall -- as usual, couched in terms of lost business, tourism and commuter income rather than in consideration of citizen needs and access. 

Please inform me timely on your own and the City's specific hopes and intentions for replacing the now-irreparable Stegman Trail. I assure you that I will NOT let this concern die quietly. 

Thank you.