Ford GoBike program invades Oakland's Rockridge neighborhood
Shafter Avenue in Oakland's Rockridge neighborhood is a heavily traveled area for cyclists.
People living here say dealing with the bikes is one thing, but a bike-sharing program is another story.
"Just bringing about additional people into the neighborhood late at night, noise, trash, says Anna Dair of Oakland.
Dair says the first she heard that Ford GoBike program was coming to her neighborhood is when she saw 'No Parking' signs posted outside her home.
The bike station is slated to be installed on the street this Friday eliminating at least three parking spaces in an area that is already overcrowded with cars.
"I have no problems with the bikes. I just think that we should have had a little more notification. We should have the same notification that anybody who does improvements would have to give," says Tim Smith of Oakland.
He says the only notice he received about the new bike station was a small index card. However, Ford says from May 2015, until June of this year it held close to 350 public meetings and 31 planning workshops for neighborhoods in five bay area cities to discuss the best locations for the company's 7,000 bicycles.
"When they first came here they did some general outreach meetings but they did not do specific outreach on a location by location basis," said Oakland City Councilmember Dan Kalb
"Working closely with the Oakland Department of Transportation, we've done extensive community outreach about these stations and canvassed these neighborhoods to talk with residents face-to-face about bringing bike share to their neighborhood," says Julie Wood spokeswoman Ford GoBike.
"They never said specifically it was going to be on this street or that block or that block," says Smith.
"I don't want to reduce the number of locations we need to have these bikes around I think they're overall a good thing, but let's just make sure the community is aware and have some input into it," says Kalb.
As of now, it looks like the installation of the bike station is a go. Ford has already posted the location for Shafter Avenue on its website and on Google.