The City Administrator’s Office

Contacts:
Julia Liou
Asian Health Services (510) 986-6848, ext. 267
Paul Tran
City of Oakland
(510) 238-7022

June 5, 2001

Concerned with pedestrian safety issues in Chinatown, including an alarmingly high fatality and injury rate at their own 8^th and Webster Street address, teen-age members of Asian Health Services’ REPLAY Peer Education Program have completed an intensive analysis of Chinatown intersections. Two of the teenage advocates, Gar-yin Lee and Stephanie Yeung, will present the group’s findings to the City of Oakland Public Safety Committee on Tuesday, June 5^th, at 3 p.m.

The death of a community resident at 8^th in Webster in January of this year was the catalyst for the youth group’s study.

"We have a pedestrian and transit oriented shopping district here," said Julia Liou of Asian Health Services, "and with the increase of traffic in our shopping area, pedestrian safety has become a very real issue. We are very impressed with the initiative of these young people and their efforts to inform the public."

(more)

Safety in Chinatown Page 2

June 4, 2001

The youth at REPLAY have made suggestions that they will present to the City of Oakland’s Public Safety Committee on Tuesday:

• Increasing the timing of traffic lights to give pedestrians enough time to cross the street safely
• Installing countdown pedestrian signals at the most dangerous intersections -these are now commonly used throughout China
• Installing bulb-outs (curb extensions) at dangerous intersections
• Exploring new engineering technologies for pedestrian safety

The efforts of the young people at REPLAY reflect the concerns of many interested parties in Chinatown. Council member Danny Wan, Asian Health Services, and the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce have formed a partnership committed to both short-term and long-term solutions for pedestrian safety and the many related issues of parking and accessibility in Chinatown. Mr. Wan is a member of the Public Safety Committee.

The youth group has a display window at 818 Webster Street (on the 8th Street side of the building). The display includes a map of pedestrian injuries and collisions in Chinatown, photos of the study project in action, and fact sheets resulting from the project in three languages.

The City of Oakland Public Safety Committee Meeting is Tuesday, June 5, 2001 at 3:00 p.m. The meeting will be held in Hearing Room 1, first floor, located at City Hall, One Frank Ogawa Plaza, at 14^th and Broadway.