Streets are for people too, and no where more so than amongst the temporary park benches, tables, plants, and street furniture at Kasper’s Korner Music & Art Pocket Park at the Temescal Street Fair, which took place Sunday July 7 at corner of Shattuck and Telegraph. Kids helped paint the street in the pocket park under the direction of talented local artist Alan Leon of the Temescal Flows mural. And while the kids had fun painting the street and practicing hula hoop with Choi Tse, parents enjoyed music by CelloJoe, Robert Temple (acoustic rock), accordionist Karen Penley. Doc’s of the Bay food truck and Fist of Flour popup grilled up delicious burgers and pizza, something that could happen regularly as part of a permanent pocket park.
We signed up 25 new EBBC members and got over 100 signatures in support of bike lanes on Telegraph Ave, as well as over 50 surveys completed about potential improvements on Telegraph for bicycling. Thank you volunteers: Jeff, Tony, Pam, Sean, Dianne, John, Mike, Josef, Antonio, and Steve for helping make the debut of Kasper’s Korner a success.
Check out our cool video simulation of what Kasper’s Korner could look like as a space for people
Take a quick survey and provide your input on how Kasper’s Korner can be a better space for people
Here’s what Kasper’s Korner could look like:*
Our proposed new bikeway connection at the intersection of Shattuck & Telegraph, which EBBC and Walk Oakland Bike Oakland have jointly developed, includes an advance bike box and bike traffic signal to make it easier and much safer to make a left-turn off of Telegraph heading north on Shattuck Ave (which gets new bike lanes later this year). It’s part of our Telegraph Avenue Bikeway Campaign.
A pocket park is a reimagined use of under-utilized street space that is not needed for cars-Oakland has lots of this. The prominent intersection of Shattuck & Telegraph is one definitely under-utilized and could use some sprucing up, as it is dominated by asphalt and space for cars, the old Kasper’s Hot Dog Shop is closed and has few people walk around or hang out and enjoy the Temescal District at this location. While in some ways this corner acts as a gateway to the Temescal, in its current configuration it belies the wonderful shops and restaurants located just beyond.
Our pocket park demonstration seeks to build on this intersection’s prominence by creating an enhanced pedestrian space through a low-cost effort that could lead to a long-term people-friendly solution, eventually increasing economic development potential, improving parking and providing much safer bike circulation. A similar demonstration project starts up this Summer at Latham Square Plaza in Downtown Oakland.
Our proposal closes down the last block of Shattuck to cars and opens it up to people. Thru car traffic would use 47th, 48th, 49th or 51st/52nd to get to and from Shattuck Ave and Telegraph. On the other hand, bikes could still use the pocket park for thru access, as they are allowed to use Frank Ogawa Plaza currently, and as they will be allowed to use Latham Square Plaza during its pilot. In addition, we propose making the block of Shattuck Ave between 46th & 47th Streets a one-way street southbound, with diagonal parking, for added parking.
Here is a bird’s eye view of what the street layout could look like:*
*the drawings shown here are proposals by the East Bay Bicycle Coalition and Walk Oakland Bike Oakland, and are not official documents of the City of Oakland. There are official plans of the City to start designing pedestrian, bicycling and transit stop improvements to Telegraph Ave (not Bus Rapid Transit) and updates on this upcoming process will be posted at our Telegraph Avenue Bikeway Campaign.