Last Updated: January 28, 2022
Date Posted: September 24, 2019
“All East Oaklanders have access to, and choices within, a local and regional transportation system that is safe, efficient, and affordable, and connects them to the places they need to thrive. The City will partner with local residents, community groups, and small businesses to prevent displacement and gentrification and acknowledge historical injustices.” East Oakland Mobility Action Plan (2022)
In January 2022 Oakland’s Department of Transportation in partnership with East Oakland Collective, JustCities and TransForm finalized the East Oakland Mobility Action Plan. The plan reflects intentional partnerships with Community Based Organizations in the planning process, whose input was critical in making sure this plan reflects the needs of all East Oaklanders.
Download the plan | 5 Year Action Plan |
The East Oakland Mobility Action Plan planning process focused on:
- Providing a central place for coordinating existing plans
- Working with the East Oakland residents, to identify which transportation routes provide access and opportunity to jobs, education, recreation, and services
- Work with the East Oakland community to identify gaps and needs for transit, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, especially as it relates to access to the East Bay Bus Rapid Transit system
- Prioritize transportation projects and programs-based recommendations with identified funding for projects within the next 5 years and visionary projects in the longer term
- Create an equitable framework for community-based decision making for transportation projects and planning
- Streamline grassroots community engagement
Equity Framework
To ensure the East Oakland Mobility Action Plan responds to the needs of the most underserved in East Oakland, the project team established and used a Racial Equity Framework to navigate the development and recommendations of the Plan. The core questions of the Framework are: What proactive approach to transportation equity can we use to ensure East Oakland projects align with community values and needs? How can the Plan process and implementation meet East Oakland residents, particularly Black residents, where they are at and improve mobility regardless of how they travel? Advancing racial equity requires listening to and investing in communities who have the least, meaning OakDOT cannot and will not make plans for those communities without those communities. The Framework is a tool for community partners to keep OakDOT accountable during plan development and implementation.
The East Oakland Mobility Action Plan is organized around four principals:
- Just Planning: Access: City planners and engineers will center racial justice in the planning process and uplift historically underserved East Oaklanders, especially Black residents.
- Self-Determination and Transformative Partnerships: Community members will be partners in the planning process and will be co-designers in shaping their neighborhoods.
- Freedom of Movement: East Oaklanders will travel whenever and wherever they want comfortably, efficiently, safely, and affordably.
- Power in Place: As changes occur in the right-of-way, East Oakland community members will feel secure in the preservation of their housing, businesses, and culture and be able to benefit from those changes and thrive.
Engagement:
The East Oakland Collective (EOC) delivered equitable and inclusive community engagement for this Plan. Widely recognized for their authenticity and realness, EOC staff are natives committed to administering culturally responsive community engagement and to restoring community and culture. Their approach is simple yet effective.
The engagement approach for this Plan was guided by our East Oakland Mobility principles: Just Planning, Freedom of Movement, Self-Determination and Transformative Partnerships and Power in Place that aimed to build relationships, be creative and culturally relevant and uplift participatory planning to deliver authentic and inclusive engagement. Engagement included:
- Focus groups to speak candidly and discuss how the built environment can better support their mobility.
- Pop Ups where EOC and OakDOT were able to speak with East Oaklander and listen to their perspectives of East Oakland's future.
- Virtual Engagement to leverage social media platforms and establish a presence and engage in dialogue.
- Collaborative surveys to minimize duplication and gather input of multiple projects at once.
