Rebecca Saltzman

El Cerrito City Council, City Manager, Deputy City Manager riding the train

Enjoying a lovely ride to Sacramento on the California Zephyr with my fellow councilmembers, City Manager, and Deputy City Manager.

Super appreciate that Amtrak honored the tickets of folks who were supposed to be on the extremely delayed Capitol Corridor train.

Can you share any info about the CA law that allows cities to set weight limits on roads? I’d love to pursue that in El Cerrito.

California’s absolutely backwards property tax system thanks to Prop 13 means cities across the state are faced with such challenging decisions to balance budgets.

Here’s an exercise El Cerrito had residents do at a budget workshop this morning. These are the questions councils across CA face.

It absolutely is. But since it’s a connection with BART, BART folks will care and can help make change happen.

If you haven’t already you might consider reaching out to both AC Transit and BART about this and ask them to work out a plan to address this at the next AC Transit BART Interagency Committee meeting.

Yeah, than your rate must be much higher than the proposed El Cerrito rate.

Also, it’s wild to me that there are folks who read who don’t use the library at all. I save thousands per year using the library. Even without a kid, between me and my wife we’d probably save about $1000 per year by using the library instead of buying books.

The tax rate in the El Cerrito measure is $0.17 per square foot, and based on your tax bill I’m guessing your rate is higher. $1000 per year here would be for a nearly 6000 sq foot home, and there aren’t many of those in El Cerrito.

Yes, it is per square foot, as they all should be.

They all claim to love libraries. They just want a new one to magically appear without paying for it.

95% of the people who speak at our Council meeting opposing the library parcel tax measure mention how many decades they’ve lived here.

So they pay next to nothing on property tax and are irate about the need for special taxes. Very frustrating.

It was at the end of the workshop after an excellent, easy to understand budget presentation.

California’s absolutely backwards property tax system thanks to Prop 13 means cities across the state are faced with such challenging decisions to balance budgets.

Here’s an exercise El Cerrito had residents do at a budget workshop this morning. These are the questions councils across CA face.

Absolutely! The vast majority of the transportation funds in the US and California go to car infrastructure. If a small portion of that was reallocated to bike and pedestrian infrastructure, we could make our streets safer AND reduce greenhouse gas emissions by replacing short car trips.

I can’t speak to other countries, but in the US cars are by far the biggest safety problem on our streets. So it’s incredibly frustrating to see a state legislator ignore that and act as if e-bikes are the biggest problem.

Especially when most of the problems she cites are e-motos not e-bikes.

If you too find this maddening, sign @bikeeastbay.bsky.social’s petition to say no to Bauer-Kahan’s bill requiring mandatory e-bike license plates and registration. Bike East Bay will update signers on future action opportunities to stop this bill.

bikeeastbay.org/say-no-to-ma...

I’d like to get to a point when I don’t have to drive at all, but when I do drive my favorite part is driving down single lane streets in El Cerrito at the speed limit (25mph).

Especially going down our steep hills, I keep everyone walking and biking safe, even if I frustrate drivers behind me.

And I was hit by a car driver once, luckily at a very low speed. I was walking in a crosswalk with a green light. They were turning right and didn’t look right so didn’t see me, even though I was walking with someone who was walking his bicycle. We were very visible!

I do drive, unfortunately. But I mostly walk and take transit to get around.

I’ve had near collisions with cyclists as a pedestrian a couple times in my life. Cars have nearly hit me probably hundreds of times, including twice in the past two weeks. This was the scariest:

bsky.app/profile/rebe...

But even if it was true, it would be meaningless regarding e-bike regulations, since drivers are the ones causing the fatalities.

Say NO to Mandatory E-Bike License Plates and Registrations - Bike East Bay Tell the state legislature that increased regulation on legal e-bikes is counter-productive to traffic safety, sustainability, and equity goals.

Sign @bikeeastbay.bsky.social’s petition to say no to Bauer-Kahan’s bill requiring mandatory e-bike license plates and registration:

bikeeastbay.org/say-no-to-ma...

Bluesky post from Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan: 1) E-bikes are a fun and eco-friendly way to get around, but higher-speed riders aren’t always following the rules—and that can put everyone at risk. Since 2023, there have been nearly twice as many e-bike fatalities as regular bike fatalities, even with fewer overall injuries.

Maddening to see such obfuscation from the author of a bill that will criminalize people biking while doing nothing to address unsafe driving.

The cause of the vast majority of deaths while biking or e-biking is drivers in CARS. If the Assemblymember truly cared about safety, she’d regulate cars.

As Bike Cars Overflow, Caltrain Bans Large Bikes and Panniers - Streetsblog San Francisco New rules heavily restrict the types of bikes Caltrain users can bring on board. Years ago advocates warned Caltrain that they weren't allotting enough bike space on the new trains

This need to be called out at perpetuating sexist policies that privilege bikers without child carrying, errand running responsibilities. Caltrain would never consider banning kids from trains, why is it ok to make it impossible for parents who travel bike to use the system?

Bus lanes and bike lanes make it so much easier and faster for emergency vehicles to move.

It seems so obvious that it’s easier for emergency vehicles to move through bike/transit lanes than through a row of parked cars, right?

Yet opponents continue to argue the opposite.

A group of students just boarded the BART train I’m on and they’re so excited to be riding!

Their joyousness reminds me how important it is to pass @connectbayarea.bsky.social measure to fund transit. We need to ensure these kids and future students can continue to experience the joy of transit!

Me at El Cerrito Plaza TOD construction site, smiling wearing BART and El Cerrito pins

El Cerrito Council and staff breaking ground with shovels at El Cerrito Plaza TOD construction site

Construction equipment at El Cerrito Plaza TOD construction site

Related shovels in dirt at El Cerrito Plaza TOD construction site

Today’s groundbreaking ceremony for El Cerrito Plaza BART TOD was exciting!

It will be transformative for our small city, with 743 homes, major bike/ped improvements, and hopefully a new library.

I’ve worked on this project for a decade and couldn’t be happier that it’s now under construction.

I didn’t realize that. So frustrating when Contra Costa has such an effective program that neighboring Alameda County could copy.

Shameful!

BART tried for years to get Alameda County to partner on homeless outreach and offered funding for it. It never happened.

I’ve heard from several folks who have experienced that.

Here’s a thread I wrote last year about the program: bsky.app/profile/rebe...