Walking on the Moon or Crossing the Street in San Leandro?

While I'm in the minority of people who weren't pleased with the passing of the BRT initiative by our city council, I do look forward to seeing a little beautification hitting our streets in the coming years. Years, though, is a little too long to wait for some of the problems on our roads.

The corridor going down East 14th from Davis to around San Leandro Hospital is pretty atrocious. The biggest offenders are the set of crosswalks right in the heart of downtown. Walking across the street at the intersection of Davis and East 14th is like walking through a warzone pock-marked by mortar fire. It's a real shame, particularly when you think of the care that was lavished on the lovely BART walking path and what is being proposed for the bike path that will run under the BART tracks. This is a pretty high-profile shopping area to have the street and crosswalks in such disarray. If the idea with BRT is to promote walking and not taking cars, and if it isn't going to extend to Bayfair, maybe the city should start looking into repaving this stretch now as opposed to later.

We already have a great deal of people who walk around downtown as it is, so why not reward them and attract others by getting at least the stretch of road downtown looking pristine? It would certainly mean a lot to the elderly and handicapped people who have to weave between craters and keep their balance on the crunching, crumbling asphalt beneath their feet. I, for one, would like to see attention put here as opposed to crafting a bike path where you'll get to "enjoy" having BART scream over your head every five minutes or so.

I understand that the city has a lot on its plate, but downtown is practically the backyard of city hall. Maybe city leaders should get out of their cars and experience walking around and seeing just how shoddy the roads are on foot for themselves.