Cal Safety Walk...Is It Enough?

Posted by Lani Lee, Berkeley NOW

Last Friday Mandy and I attended a Community Safety Walk organized by students, UCPD and Berkeley city council members. About thirty of us divided into various groups and set out to tackle the Southside, Northside, and Downtown Area, marking areas with poor lighting, uneven sidewalks, and any other impediments to safety and accessibility on a map. The goal was to collectively identify unsafe areas in Berkeley neighborhoods in the hope of increasing awareness and making the streets safer, especially at night, for students and residents.

      As a young feminist, I thought this would be very important to attend because I have noticed that a lot of female students are hesitant about walking alone and there is a growing number of my friends who carry pepper spray with them. Our Berkeley NOW chapter has found difficulty in organizing evening events due to this concern.

So as we walked around and pointed out potential corners for mugs or rapes to occur, we noticed that there were numerous possibilities! Such crimes even occur in broad daylight, so was this really effective? In part it was effective because we identified many broken sidewalks and even some burned out lights in lamp posts. We also were able to talk to others about our personal experiences and set up a committee to organize a safety campaign in early February with a safe defense component. However, when I came home I began to question the layout of the city in general and I started to ask myself some questions.

     First, what percentage of cities in California are walkable or accessible? I mean most of Berkeley is designed with pedestrians and bikers in mind, but many cities are not. There are even some parts in Berkeley where sidewalks lead to nowhere or that public transportation is just not an option. Thinking outside Berkeley, I begin to realize that most cities require a car to get around in. Just think about the many drive thru services that are available these days from fast food to bank ATMs to coffee express windows!

     Second, how does city planning affect women? I remember growing up in different suburbs outside of Sacramento and San Jose as a kid and always asking my mom to give me a ride to a friend’s house or to the movies. Nothing was in walking distance to our house. School was also a problem. In 1974, over 60 percent of kids walked to school. Today less than 15 percent bike or walk to school! Instead parents are driving their children to school every morning and picking them up in the afternoon.  And we wonder why we are facing a global health and global warming crisis?

     As a woman, as a world citizen, I want to be able to exercise and be independent from my car. I want to walk, run, jog and skip down my city streets with out breathing in toxic pollution or tripping on cracked pavement. I want to feel safe and comfortable in my environment, not constantly on guard!  AB 437 would authorize local health officers to engage in local land use and transportation planning. The bill is intended to interject public health considerations (e.g., obesity, asthma) into city/county housing, land use, and transportation planning and approvals. Going on this community walk made me realize that the design of our cities directly impacts our health, safety and overall livelihoods!

Comments

[Bold&Beautiful]

So true... safety is such a concern for us college women here in Berkeley. Almost every day I hear about violent crimes occuring (check out http://police.berkeley.edu/crimealerts/2007/ to see a list of recent crimes compiled by UCPD... its sickening). Although resources and self-defense classes (brand new to Cal) are available, I feel like no one really knows about them and they subsequently go unused by a majority of campus women.
Because of this, I am excited about Berkeley NOW's upcoming safety campaign! I personally feel the need to educate women on the resources available for late night transportation, in particular-- how to use the services, when the buses run, how to contact buses or student safety officers, how far from campus they travel, and so on. I hope we leave Berkeley a safer place than when we arrived, with more services, more publicity for those services, and ultimately more awareness around issues of safety for women.

[mmminteresting]

Wow, that's awesome Lani! Thanks for making me aware of that legislation. I will definitely have to check it out.