Oakland Tribune Article 11/28/2000
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Oakland Tribune Article 11/28/2000 |
Worst Stairways list holds surprises
PEOPLE WHO LIVE in the Montclair hills and use the rickety stairways that have
been there for many years asked the city to repair them. After years of neglect,
some Merriewood/Thornhill and Oakmore stairs are in such disrepair they're almost
unusable and in some cases, dangerous.
Upon hearing this, the public works department posted signs at the stairways declaring them unsafe and dangerous to use, exactly what people had already told them
Then the city told the people it would come up with a list of the Ten Worst Stairways out of about 75.
Most everyone thought the Top Ten Worst Stairs Contest run by the public works staff would be topped by the hills because that is where there are stairways. And hills. And because stairs go up and down hills.
Also, most everyone thought since there are no flat hills, no stairways would be found in the flats. Sidewalks but not stairways.
Now public works has published a list of Oakland's 50 Worst Stairways and they are not just in Montclair and Oakmore.
Only three of the Top Ten Worst Stairways are in Montclair, and the Merriewood to Thornhill stairs, are ranked last, number 10.
Number One for being the worst stairway in the entire city of Oakland is the East 21st path to East 22nd Ave. in the Fruitvale District, which most everyone thought was mostly flat.
It's the only Worst Stairway in the Fruitvale, and maybe the only stairway. And this Worst Stairway would cost $548,376 to replace -- the costliest estimate on the list.
In second and third place are the Leimert Path to Bridgeview in the Oakmore District, and Rolando path from Broadway Terrace to Florence Avenue, in Montclair.
There is a discernible deference to political correctness in the listing of Worst Stairways. The city staff has parceled them out by City Council Districts, as if in some perverse way this is a desirable condition leading to cruel taunting, "We have more Worst Stairways than you do, so fiddledeedee!"
This may have a direct correlation to the sum of money each council district would get to fix their Worst Stairways, since the prevailing "fairness doctrine" dictates that council districts should be at parity.
Costs to replace the stairways range from a low of $2,640 to the high sum in Fruitvale.
In the list of 50, the Rockridge/North Hills District 1 had 22 Worst Stairways, followed by 16 in the Grand Lake/Chinatown District 2 with 16, and five in the Montclair/Laurel District 4. Central Oakland District 6 had none and East Oakland District 7, one.
The public works staff seems to want this project to be a landmark capital improvement project costing a total of $6 million. Maybe they think this will bring architectural fame to Oakland. The city that knows how to build stairways to the stars! Or something along those lines.
Claudette Ford, director of public works, has told the group known as the Montclair Stairs Advocates they will be fixed in the summer of 2001. But why will it take so long when they know now what needs to be done?
Still, I suppose we should be grateful for the diligence of those who have spent so much time compiling this matrix of facts, like sites of every obscure stairway, and the exorbitant costs of their replacement. And shouldn't there be special accolades to those who spent days measuring the lengths and widths of every Worst Stairway? You never know when you might need that information.
You have to wonder if it wouldn't have taken less time for a couple of workmen to fix the busted stairs instead of measuring the entire city.
Instead of replacing the stairways with wood, which would serve for another
hundred years if properly maintained, the public works staff suggests concrete.
Concrete is much, much more costly than wood. Concrete is really made of money.
And so far the taxpaying people who asked for the repairs aren't demanding concrete,
and might prefer wood, repeat, if it is maintained.
Yet public works proposes concrete for all but four of 50 stairways. It's one of those absolutes of bureaucrats. Their trust is in concrete.
The crux of the matter is Oakland's public works staff likes to think big. But these are simple stairs that should stay simple. Just fix them quickly and keep them clean. Is that too small an order?
The City Council's public works committee will hear about all this Tuesday, Dec. 5, at 7:00 p.m. City Hall
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E-mail Peggy Stinnett at pstinnett@angnewspapers.com
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