 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
NEWS AND HISTORY BPWA History
|
A History of BPWABackground: Path Development in Hill Neighborhoods Berkeley 's population grew rapidly in the early part of the century due primarily to the growth of the University of California, the extension of the Key System rail line from San Francisco in 1903, and the influx of refugees following the 1906 earthquake and fire. Traction companies were formed and bought large areas of undeveloped land in the hills to the north, northeast and south of the University campus, and platted residential lots which were sold individually to home-builders. These new Berkeley neighborhoods (developed before the automobile became the common mode of transportation) included Claremont (1900), Northbrae (1907), Thousand Oaks (1911), and Berkeley View Terrace (1926). Due to the slope of the northeast and southeast hills, upper lots were relatively inaccessible. Pathways served as pedestrian transportation routes linking hill residents to rail lines, parks, schools, and as short cuts for neighborhood residents. The Hillside Club, formed in 1898, urged developers and City planners to lay out streets to follow the contours of Berkeley's hills, with "footpaths above and below [with] connecting steps for pedestrians." Some paths were originally provided the only access to streets for adjoining homeowners. Even today some homes still exist on a few paths whose owners must use the paths to for access to city streets. In the 1991 Oakland-Berkeley fire, some paths could not be used as conduits for fire equipment because they were completely obstructed by vegetation, fences or other structures. Nor could those paths be used for pedestrian evacuation from hillside residences. The Fire Department's request to clear blocked pathways resulted an engineering survey of pathway conditions, specifically "unimproved and partially improved paths" in the hills to evaluate their potential as "part of an emergency evacuation network." The City contracted with Luk-Milani Associates to survey all pathways and determine the priority for improvement. They used data found in City's Pathway Inventory published in the 1977 Master Plan. The Luk-Milani final report, dated October 1993, selected eleven paths as the most critical and recommended that they be immediately improved based on their utility as evacuation corridors. Unfortunately, the City lacked sufficient funds to implement the recommendations. Four Founding Women Make a Start. The Berkeley Path Wanderers Association (BPWA) was conceived in 1997 by Ruth Armstrong (Moskovitz), a long-time parks activist and graphic artist . Ruth was an early member of Los Amigos de Codornices and had been instrumental in the formation of Berkeley Partners for Parks (BPFP) prior to its incorporation as an umbrella group for community efforts to enhance City parks and open spaces. Ruth posted a notice at the North Berkeley branch library, soliciting interest in the City's pathways. Jacque Ensign responded to the notice and met one November afternoon in 1997. At appeared that mutual friends Pat DeVito and Eleanor Gibson were also interested. The four founders met together for the first time on Tuesday, December 9, 1997. Thus began a true collaborative effort among these avid path walkers to raise community awareness of Berkeley’s pathways to encourage action, after many years of neglect, to restore and preserve them. During this period, the founding four did a great deal of research, gathering background materials and talking with people from various City offices. Included were the departments of Public Works, Parks, Planning, and Fire & Safety, as well as City engineers and landscape gardeners. Copies of the planning reports, maps and other relevant documents were mined for information about the path system. Many of the paths that appeared on street maps and had been easily walked in the 1970s were completely obscured by 1997. Several dirt paths, lacking signs, had been merged into adjoining landscapes and were no longer visible or passable. At meeting in December of 1997 meeting the four founders adopted the name, the Berkeley Path Wanderers Association (BPWA). They also set the annual membership at $5, so that membership would be affordable to nearly everyone. It was decided that Berkeley Partners for Parks should serve as fiscal sponsor, allowing BPWA to collect, deposit and disburse moneys. A mission statement was drafted to encompass the long-term goals: "Dedicated to the preservation and restoration of public paths, steps and walkways in Berkeley for the use and enjoyment of all." They determined that the short-term goals should be accurate mapping of the paths, updating path surveys, signage and sign replacement, and monthly walks to raise public awareness of the City pathways. During the next six months, the founders made plans to hold a public meeting in order to introduce the new organization and gauge community interest in the pathways. They set the agenda and meeting place, enlisted speakers and developed a mailing list and a membership form. Flyers announcing the meeting were distributed throughout Berkeley, and hand-addressed postcards were mailed to City officials and staff, community groups and individuals who might be interested in BPWA's mission. BPWA Goes Public: The First Meeting. The first public meeting, held at Live Oak Park Recreation Center May 20, 1998, was chaired by Jacque Ensign. The size of the response was unexpected: more than 60 turned out to see what was in the wind. Several of City Council members and Parks staff were also present. Jacque announced the very first monthly Saturday morning walk for June 6, to include many northeast hill pathways, to be offered free to anyone arriving at the scheduled meeting place. The featured speaker for this first meeting was Jackie Simon, who gave a brief historical background of the paths noting the efforts of the Hillside Club and the Garden City Movement from 1898 to 1903, and Duncan McDuffie's development company's part in laying out parks, paths and residential tracts, specifically in Northbrae. Prior to the first open meeting, the founders had developed a path evaluation form, the 1998 Volunteer Survey, to be distributed to volunteers at the meeting. Those who volunteered for the survey were given a packet that requested them to walk an assigned path segment making note of adjoining street addresses, current path conditions, obstructions, missing signs and railings. The were also requested to observe the number of steps, views, amenities, flora, and whether the path accessed parks, bus stops or schools. Information about each path would be later entered into a database. The City Pathway Inventory showed 150 differently path segments, each of which was included in the survey. During the meeting a call for volunteers was also made to identify people who were willing to lead walks, participate in work parties, make maps, work on newsletters, and help with mailings, publicity and other tasks. BPWA Takes Off -- 1998 Was a Very Good Year The first four public meetings presented various aspects of the Berkeley pathways. At the second public meeting held on June 17, 1998, the featured speaker was J. G. Stillson MacDonnell (chair of the Fire Safety Commission at the time), who spoke on the effect of the devastating 1923, 1970 and 1991 hills fires. This, he asserted, demonstrated the importance of pathways as pedestrian evacuation routes. At the third meeting on September 24, Paul Grunland, a member of the Berkeley Historical Society (and later a member of the first BPWA Board), discussed local research resources such as historical documents (from BHS and the Bancroft Library). He also discussed the importance of maps that show the topology, geography, earthquake faults, and creeks that flow through Berkeley, and how these relate to the pathways. At the fourth meeting on October 22, Mary Lee Noonan of the Berkeley Architectural History Association described the history of La Loma Steps and its landmark status. During 1998 the four founders continued to meet between each of the public meetings for follow-up and evaluation, planning, leading walks, issuing newsletters, maintaining the membership list. The BPWA Newsletter made its first appearance in September 1998, with a second issue to follow in January 1999. It went out to about 300 members and summarized the first year of BPWA. 1999--BPWA Board Formed, New Projects Developed Although volunteers led walks, offered workshops, participated in work parties and presented talks at public meetings, the rapid growth in membership and activities required a commitment in time and energy beyond that of the four founders. Consequently, they decided to recruit a volunteer governing Board to share the increased workload and ensure the continuation of their efforts. At the fifth public meeting, on January 20, 1999, they announced the proposed Board of Directors and circulated a sign-up sheet among the attendees. Eleven people volunteered and were invited to the first Board meeting on February 17, 1999. This first Board eventually consisted of 13 active members, with the four founders in key positions. Board members immediately volunteered their energies and talents, taking on many of the tasks involved in BPWA with its increasing membership and community-wide activities—including leading path walks, writing newsletter articles, assisting with mailings, recruiting members, and making presentations at public meetings. They also developed new projects and brought a new face to BPWA. The present BPWA Newsletter was designed by Karen Kemp, a local graphic artist. With third Newsletter, the Spring 1999 issue, a new and professional look was initiated. Karen also designed a set of note cards from her watercolors, depicting four Berkeley paths and stairways. She also provided the art work for the BPWA banner that is used at the BPWA booth at public events The BPWA website was started in 1999 by Board member Jay Cross who served as the first Webmaster. The web site featured a schedule of monthly walks, BPWA meetings, a link to the City's website, and written narratives of some path walks that provided a bit of Berkeley and pathway history Early on, BPWA members assumed a stewardship role by reporting pathway hazards or encroachments to appropriate city staff. One of the first reports made to the City prevented an adjoining property owner from blocking Upton Lane. When a path neighbor topped some large redwoods on Tamalpais Path without a City permit, BPWA members reported the illegal action; fines paid as compensation were later used by the Public Works Department to repair the path's steps. Under the leadership of Board member Tom Edwards, BPWA developed an Adopt-a-Path project to encourage neighborhood stewardship of paths; he and Board member Sue Fernstrom also developed protocols for its implementation. Although the project was not fully realized, some path neighbors have taken it upon themselves to trim brush, sweep path steps, and to organize informal work parties to clear paths, and, in one case, installed some wood steps on Acacia Walk. The BPWA Map is Published A map committee was formed under Jacque Ensign’s leadership in October 2000 to explore the possibility of publishing a BPWA-sponsored path map. On April 19, 2001, the Board authorized the committee to begin discussing costs and details, and authorized a meeting with Hedberg Maps to enter into an agreement for publication. The committee worked to create a comprehensive guide to all the known paths throughout Berkeley from the hills to the Bay, including portions of Albany, Kensington, and Oakland that border on Berkeley. The map, printed on durable recyclable paper, featured original artwork by Karen Kemp with a brief descriptive history of the pathways and an Index by path name and number so paths could be easily located. The first edition of the map went on sale in the spring of 2002 and all 2000 copies printed sold out in two months. A second edition of 5000 copies with minor revisions went on sale in September 2002, with a second printing of 5000 in July 2003. During this time BPWA began its program of building new paths, with the result that paths previously listed as impassable now had to be shown as completed. The map committee began in late 2003 to discuss revisions and corrections in preparation for a third edition. The map was heavily revised with more than 70 changes to clarify path sites and correct known errors and to show ten new paths. In March 2005, 5000 copies of the third edition were ordered and the new maps were available in September by mail, at bookstores and other locales, and at the BPWA booth at local events. Path Improvements With City Funding and Hard Work by the Boy Scouts In 1999 BPWA was awarded a Parks Department mini-grant in the amount of $2000, and a second one for $3300 in December 2002. By the terms of the mini-grant program, funds could be used only to purchase materials, such as wood ties and rebar for steps, with volunteers providing the labor. Board member Susan Schwartz, who wrote the grant proposals and worked closely with the Parks Department, organized projects to improve seven paths. Scouts from Troops 6 and 19, supervised by Board member and Scout Master Paul Maheu, carried out the following improvements:
Path Improvements with Public Works Support Over the years NPWA has established a close working relationship with Berkeley Department of Public Works, and in particular with Ken Emezium, the engineer in charge of paths, who agreed to use their budget for repairs of pathways identified by BPWA as having a high priority for improvement at a relatively low-cost. A list of "Ten Easy Fixes" recommended minor repairs to cracked or uplifted steps and installation of railings or replacement of hazardous railings. The list was revised several times between 2000 and 2004 as BPWA monitored and updated priorities for path needs and as path improvements by volunteer work parties accelerated. Path repairs from the list included:
In addition, the 1993 Luk-Milani report recommended three paths that, although usable, could be improved with a minimum of work: Tamalpais Path (#100), Vistamont Trail (#35) and Twin Path (#70). Public Works repaired Tamalpais Path steps using funds from fines imposed on a neighbor who illegally topped redwood trees on the path right-of-way. Neighbors of Vistamont Trail organized themselves in 2002 and spread woodchips on the heavily-used dirt path connecting the two ends of Vistamont Avenue; Public Works engineers built a retaining wall to fix drainage problems that made the path usable all year-round for neighborhood circulation. Twin Path (#70), now Anne Brower Path, was repaired by Boy Scouts with mini-grant funds. Two new paths were added to Berkeley's pathway network. Scott Newhall Path (#79), on land donated by Trudy and Jack Washburn, was dedicated by City officials on December 2, 2000. In late 2001, the Public Works Department signed the concrete walkway leading to Neilson Street community gardens as Geneva's Path (#29), named in honor of a woman who had used the path for many years. BPWA Begins its Own Path-building Program Apart from the map, the most important addition to the BPWA program of activities has been its work on developing paths that were planned but never built. The Unimproved Paths Committee was formed in October 2001 under (Ms.) Charlie Bowen's leadership. On January 17, 2002, the Board approved the Committee's mission: “to update the impassable path list, develop priorities for improvement, and take appropriate action”. Approximately 50 impassable paths were selected from the BPWA pathway database that Charlie compiled into a smaller database for the Committee's use. By 2003 Charlie Bowen began to organize work parties to clear paths and make them passable from top to bottom. Many paths were heavily overgrown and numerous work parties were held just to clear them before wood steps could be installed. Public Works staff was consulted to confirm path boundaries and to establish how much of the path could be improved by volunteers and what would require construction by the City. In some cases, fences had to be removed and City ownership of the right-of-way confirmed before volunteers could begin working on a path. Paul Maheu, who had supervised the scouts in restoring Atlas Path, worked with both Susan Schwartz and Charlie Bowen, showing them how to overcome the difficulties of constructing a path on a steep slope and how to install wood steps, anchoring them with rebar. Many of the impassable paths had steep drop-offs at the street level, and it was first thought that Public Works would have to install concrete steps at the bottom of each one. As Paul showed the Scouts how to install wood steps on steep inclines, it became clear that volunteers could be shown how the do these more difficult tasks. To date, eleven paths have been built, transformed from impassable to passable by BPWA volunteers and by caolege and high-school students, the Cal Corps and other civic groups. Paths completed or nearing completion include:
Glendale Path: A Vital East-West Pedestrian Link In 2000, with Charlie Bowen's leadership, BPWA began the process to change the three-segment Glendale Path from being almost completely impassable to a path that, when completed, will be part of a critical evacuation corridor for hill residents. It will connect with Atlas Path (#81) above it to provide a direct east-west pedestrian route from Tilden Regional Park to La Loma-Glendale Park, and by following other paths and streets, all the way to downtown Berkeley. Glendale Path had been ranked a "high" priority for improvement in the 1977 Berkeley Master Plan, and the Luk-Milani 1993 report selected it as one of the most important for improvement due to its "value as part of an evacuation corridor." In August 2004 Berkeley was awarded a grant from FEMA for Fire Prevention and Safety, and the Fire Department consulted with BPWA to recommend a high-priority path to be built as part of a disaster evacuation route. Charlie Bowen, Path-building coordinator requested a portion of the grant to fund the design and construction of concrete stairways on steep sections of Glendale Path. Support From a Caring City Council Member During recent years, Council member Betty Olds has been a stalwart supporter of BPWA activities. She has made several generous donations enabling BPWA to go forward with the publication of its first path map. She also was instrumental in obtaining funds for BPWA efforts to make Glendale Path a reality. Ms. Olds was responsible for a City Council proclamation naming May 2004 as Berkeley Path Wanderers Association Month, in recognition of BPWA grassroots volunteer efforts to restore the pathways. She arranged for public officials to be present for the dedication of the Scott Newhall Path in 2002, and for the re-naming and dedication of Anne Brower Path on April 6, 2002. The Berkeley General Plan and its Impact on the Path System. In May 1999 the City began drafting a new General Plan, the first since its 1977 Master Plan. The Plan, required by State law, is "a statement of community priorities and values," intended to help guide the public decision-making process in "making funding and budget decisions." Pat DeVito represented BPWA in the planning process, attending community and public workshops, round table discussions, speaking on behalf of the paths at public hearings before Commissions and the City Council, and submitting written suggestions to include pathways in the Plan's goals, objectives, policies and actions—many of which were incorporated by the Planning Commission in its final draft. The General Plan was adopted by the City Council in April 2002 and recognized the pathways in northeast and southeast Berkeley as "unique networks" that "provide pedestrian access in the hill areas between streets, quiet resting places, panoramic viewpoints, and a critical evacuation alternative to the often narrow and winding streets". The Disaster Preparedness and Safety Element notes that since Berkeley "faces an ongoing threat from urban and wildland fire" with hillside residences being among those most vulnerable to fire hazards, all streets and public pathways in the hill areas "are considered to be evacuation routes". To ensure preservation and restoration of pathways, the General Plan calls for allocation of resources to continue the repair, maintenance and improvement of public pathways. Events Since 1998, BPWA has increased its participation in community street fairs and events like the Solano Stroll and How Berkeley Can You Be, the Spice of Life Festival and the Holiday Farmers Market Fair. In May 2005, BPWA was invited to assist the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association in preparations for its annual house tour held in the Panoramic Hills neighborhood, which included five historic paths. BPWA members swept, raked and weeded the paths in preparation for the event and in exchange were given tour passes and space for a booth at the top of two paths. The first Pick-a-Path Picnic Day was held at Codornices Park on Sunday, July 24, 2005. Walkers gathered at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley Rose Gardens and chose one of three member-led walks; they returned to Codornices Park where a bring-your-own picnic lunch was held. Participants judged the event a big success so it may be repeated. This historical review is adapted from a history of BPWA written by Patricia L. DeVito, BPWA co-founder and archivist. (December 2005) The information contained her history was gleaned from numerous sources -- including agendas, Board minutes, BPWA newsletters, news clippings, e-mails, copies of drafts and letters to City officials, and materials from her files as well as the 1977 Berkeley Master Plan, the 2002 General Plan, and the 1993 Luk-Milani Associates Path Survey. |
Last updated: 24 September, 2008