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The project began in 2000 when
my wife and one year old son were working in our
yard, next to the public stairs which run from Valley View to Merriewood
Drive. Our family dog, Mali, was on the stairs when one of the loose
stair treads came apart, chased her down a particularly steep section
of the
stairs and wacked her in the leg. She limped around for most of the afternoon.
We had previously had many
chats with our neighbors about the stairs. Some had called the City, requesting
maintenance and repairs. As the stairs continued to deteriorate, many
called to complain and were subsequently disappointed by the City's response
-- posting "Stairway Unsafe Do Not Use" signs.
Even with the stairs boarded
up and signed as 'closed', locals continued to use them. After
the Mali dog incident, I remember thinking 'What if that board had
hit one of
the neighborhood
kids?" We weren't the only ones concerned. In countless over-the-fence
conversations, it was clear that other neighbors were angry with
the City's neglect.
Being a self-employed computer
consultant, I have plenty of opportunity for procrastination. During
one such time, I spent an afternoon on the phone, trying
to find out who was responsible for the stairs. I had no previous
experience
with or knowledge of local politics; I didn't even know who my Councilmember
was.
During my afternoon on the
phone, I was transferred zillions of times, with some comical destinations.
I even spoke with the garbage division ("You want something cleaned,
sir? One moment I'll transfer you..."). Finally, I got in touch with
a young, charismatic assistant in Councilmember
Spees' office, by the name of Niccolo De Luca. He pointed me in the
direction of Claudette Ford, the Director of Maintenance at Oakland Public
Works. Bingo.
Using the City's new Oaklandnet.com
website, I found out more about the City's organizational structure.
The
City's website included email addresses for Ms. Ford, Dick Spees and
other Councilmembers, as well as City officials, such as the City Attorney,
Mayor, City Manager, etc. This made me think that an email campaign could
be an effective way to get someone's attention.
With this information (and
some supportive words from Niccolo and my wife), the Stairs website was
born. On the website, I posted contact information for the City officials
and suggested that neighbors send letters and email asking for the stairs
to be repaired. I saw the Stairs website as the glue needed to bring together
neighborhood intentions to get the stairs fixed.
In this light, I created a
mailing list on the site, which people could sign up for to receive information
and updates about the stairs. As news, issues or calls for neighborhood
action came up, I promised I would forward the information to the members
of the mailing list. Technically, this was super low tech. All I did was
manually add the people who signed up for the mailing list to a group
in my email program.
To advertise the website, I
printed a big sign (on 8 1/2 x 11" page sections on my home printer)
and stapled them to a piece of plywood. I screwed the first "Let's
Fix these Stairs...Take the first step at: www.lansharks.net/stairs"
sign to the closed stairs at the intersection of Thornhill and Merriewood
Drive - which most of our neighbors pass on their way up the hill. I did
this late one night, as I wasn't quite sure what the reaction would be
and I didn't want to get 'caught' by anyone.
People copied me on some of
the emails they sent to the City. With each individual's permission, I
posted a few of these as sample letters on the site. I figured that most
people would be too busy to spend much time on the issue and we would
be more successful if I made it as easy as possible for them to be heard.
Initially we tried to gather
neighborhood support and awareness through any means we could. In addition
to the website, on several occasions, we printed and distributed flyers
to about 250 homes in the neighborhood to get the information out to non-computerized
folks. At one point, my wife, Oliver and I attended the City of Oakland's
Walk-to-School Day, spending the morning at Thornhill Elementary, handing
out flyers and talking with parents about the stairs issue.
The results to the website
and our promotion efforts were prompt and varied. I received emails and
comments from neighbors ranging from "Great idea, how can I help?"
to the sarcastic "Good luck. Hope you have lots of experience working
with City politics and guerilla funding."
I was particularly inspired
by the response to the website, the quality and quantity of the emails
and letters generated and the subsequent response of Councilmember Spees.
He heard our concerns and immediately began to work for improvements on
our behalf.
During my communications with
the folks at Public Works and Councilmember Spees, I realized that
none
of them had a clear picture of these stairs, how badly neglected they
are, and what a liability they pose to the City. Thinking "If a
picture is worth a thousand words..." I walked up and down the
stairs with my son Oliver in a backpack (when Mom was working and
couldn't object),
and shot some video tape on my home camcorder. Apple computer had recently
released it's free video editing program, iMovie,
which I used to add narration, titles and music to the video on
my Macintosh
PowerBook laptop. This short (3 minute) video documentary was titled
"A
Closer Look at the Merriewood Stairs" and was immediately posted
on the website in QuickTime format for public viewing. This
video was eventually shown to the City Council and broadcast on KTOP channel
10. I distributed VHS tape
copies of the video to KTVU channel 2 (who later did their own report
on the stairs), Public Works, the Mayor's office and the City Attorney.
One of the neighbors from the
lower Merriewood stairs area, Jim Dexter helped immensely. His cool, righteous,
ask-for-it-all, because-I'm-a-taxpayer, prolific writing style was a big
asset. He made clear, direct requests of Public Works and stated that
he expected a response. "I am making an official request to the Public
Works Maintenance Division that the Merriewood/Marden Lane/Thornhill Stairs
be cleaned as soon as possible. May I ask you to call me tomorrow at the
following number... to discuss both the 'run-around' and the original
concern about the stairs."
It's my impression that the
correspondence generated from the website and neighborhood flyers, not
to mention the video images of loose hand railings, missing steps and
sharp rusty nails, got someone's attention. As I previously mentioned,
Councilmember Spees was immediately our ally and instrumental in pushing
the issue from inside City hall.
Jim Dexter and I, as well
as a few other neighbors, attended several City Council meetings. First
to show the stairs
video, and subsequently
to speak on behalf of the neighborhood. Jim Dexter introduced himself
to Claudette Ford at the first meeting, giving the Merriewood neighbors
a human face to the officials at Public Works. Jim nurtured this personal
relationship across several meetings until he, Claudette and Berry Weiland
(the Assistant Director of Maintenance at Public Works) were on a first
name basis.
I was a little slower in the
personal meeting end of things, but my wife Lesli and I thought it
might be nice to invite Claudette Ford up for lunch, both to familiarize
her
with the particular sections of stairs, as well as to continue to place
our concerns in a personal context. We were surprised and thrilled
that she accepted. Jim Dexter and my son Oliver also attended the luncheon.
We met Ms. Ford at the base of the hill and were able to point out
each
of the different sections of stairs as we drove up the hill to our
house (menu planning note: don't serve whole
artichokes to non-native California
residents. They may not know what to do with them!) During lunch, Ms.
Ford mentioned
that she had received over 100 emails in one day from neighbors asking
to have the stairs repaired. Go team!
We may have simply had good
timing with the then bustling economy and the City's commitment to upgrading
their image, but things definitely began to accelerate. The lower Merriewood
stairs (Thornhill to Marden to Merriewood) were cleaned of overgrowth,
and repairs to these stairs began, including installation of new hand
railings and a new section of stairs at the top.
I need to mention that throughout
the entire process, Niccolo De Luca in Councilmember Dick Spees' office
has always been there with supportive, prompt responses and helpful insights.
He pulled the right strings so that the video could be shown on the huge
A/V screen at a City Council meeting one night. He's been my most instrumental
ally inside the City during the entire campaign. I'm sure there haven't
been many neighborhood battles waged with video tape, or websites and
email but when things got wacky or without a previous path to follow,
Niccolo always hung in there and did his best. He's my hero.
Just after the first of the
year, Councilmember Spees organized a public meeting at Thornhill Elementary
(with Ms. Ford and Mr. Weiland of Public Works) to publicly inform
the neighbors that the Merriewood stairs were going to be repaired!
A discussion
ensued with neighbors brain storming ideas about certain types of materials,
construction methods, safety concerns, pros and cons of lighting,
etc. Jim Dexter and
I were invited to several engineering meetings with the City's private
architect, hired to design the new upper Merriewood stairs
(Thornhill, Doncaster,
Valley View, Merriewood, Abbott). We met with the Public Works staff
to review their design and discuss materials. Construction began mid-August
2001.
In closing, the thing I'm
most impressed with is the fact that this effort hasn't ever gone in
the direction of laywers or lawsuits. The stairs were extremely dangerous.
The City was shown what the stairs looked like and heard the neighborhood's
cry for them to be repaired. They're responded as quickly as any large
bureaucracy could be expected to. I'm quite pleased.
(by Kirk
van Druten, 7/6/2001)
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