The Problem With the Richmond Street Complete Streets Improvement Project

The City of El Cerrito plans to add Class II (dedicated) bike lanes along eight blocks of Richmond Street between Moeser Lane and Hill Street, eliminating 65% of the existing on-street parking. While ostensibly about safety and sustainability, this plan ignores the needs and realities of the people who rely on Richmond Street for daily access to their homes and their neighborhood. The proposed redesign would significantly compromise neighborhood safety, accessibility, and livability while disproportionately impacting local residents, especially the elderly and people with disabilities.

Why We Oppose the City’s Plan

A Flawed Process

The City failed to consult local residents when developing this plan. While the City reached out to local bicycle groups for early input, no meaningful outreach to residents and local senior organizations took place before significant decisions were made in the project. In response, RSNA conducted a neighborhood petition in January 2025 showing 90% of Richmond Street households north of Moeser declared their opposition to the project. The latest project Open House in July 2025 had overwhelming turnout in opposition to the project, not only from just Richmond Street residents but also neighbors from throughout El Cerrito. This demonstrates there is a clear disconnect between the City’s vision and the residents’ real needs and concerns regarding parking and safety. In addition, many residents believe the Community Workshops were held for show, as all the important decisions about the direction of the project had already been made. The December 2024 Community Workshop was the first time the City engaged specifically with the residents of Richmond Street, and the result was the formation of the Richmond Street Neighbors Association.

Instead of leveraging parking data to determine the best design, the City conducted flawed surveys in order to bolster its claims. The City’s original October 2024 daytime survey showed a peak parking occupancy of 50% north of Moeser Lane, and thus the City claimed that the 50% reduction in parking would not be a problem. RSNA objected that as a residential street, Richmond Street parking occupancy is highest late at night, not during the day. Despite these objections, the City conducted another daytime survey in May 2025. Furthermore, to support their revised plans that will remove an increased 65% of parking, they deceptively increased the survey area to the surrounding streets to claim that a peak of only 34% of parking in the area was used. The RSNA parking survey (January 2025) and a recent local survey (July 2025) showed parking occupancy averaging more than 55%, with some blocks occupying up to 75% of spaces. The true parking occupancy is what will determine the success or failure of this project, but the City continues to ignore the real-world usage of Richmond Street in favor of flawed surveys that further its agenda.

Misplaced Priorities

The City's current proposal does not include any additional street lighting—a basic, proven measure to improve pedestrian safety. This omission is concerning, especially because there have been no bicycle accidents reported on Richmond Street in the past 12 years, while there have been plenty of pedestrian accidents. The City’s insistence on installing bike lanes while neglecting pedestrian improvements raises serious questions about its priorities and its distorted interpretation of the Complete Streets policies.

Richmond Street is already a Class III shared bikeway. Adding dedicated bike lanes will force residents, visitors, and service vehicles to double-park or encroach on bike lanes—a hazard for everyone. Together with the massive reduction in parking and the projected 50% increase of traffic on Richmond Street, the City shows its disregard for the harm this project will cause its residents in pursuit of its bike lane boondoggle.

The Ohlone Greenway—a dedicated pedestrian and bicycle path that connects the two El Cerrito BART stations —is saddled with safety and maintenance issues that affect seniors, children, and people with mobility challenges. It seems as if the City's solution to these problems is to spend its limited resources on building a new duplicate infrastructure two blocks away on Richmond Street, while failing to maintain the Ohlone Greenway.

Fiscal Irresponsibility

The City is advancing this $11M project without adequately considering more balanced, cost-effective alternatives. While the current plans do include sidewalk repairs and raised pedestrian crossings, a significant portion of the project's budget is going toward installing chicanes. These artificial curves in the road eliminate even more parking while adding little measurable safety benefit beyond what raised intersections already provide. Eliminating chicanes from the design would preserve vital on-street parking, while maintaining resident safety and controlling project costs. This is important because parts of the current proposal remain “contingent on additional funding,” particularly the Moeser Lane-Richmond Street intersection— the largest intersection in the project area
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The $8 million Federal grant to does not require bike lanes!

Despite what local bicycle groups have claimed, the $8M CCTA grant does NOT require bike lanes. It is critical that this project actually improve residents’ lives, especially considering ongoing budget shortfalls and underfunded priorities. Several local cities have faced costly reversals to similar bike lane projects after ignoring public opposition.

Our Position

We are calling for a pause to the current project and for a full, transparent look into actual community needs. The City should hold a public hearing to engage residents in meaningful dialogue, gather real community input from the residents most affected by this project, and prioritize the most impactful improvements to ensure public funds are directed towards measures with value for the whole neighborhood .