Oakland, CA
Urban Forest Community
Engagement Summary
2022
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................................................ 1 Figures ................................................................................................................................................................................. 2 Tables ................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction....................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Methods.............................................................................................................................................................................. 3 Who .............................................................................................................................................................................. 3 What ............................................................................................................................................................................. 3 Project Website ................................................................................................................................................. 3 Community Survey .......................................................................................................................................... 4 Planning the Future of Oakland’s Urban Forest Presentation ......................................................... 5 StoryMap ............................................................................................................................................................. 5 Tree Keeper Canopy ........................................................................................................................................ 6 Oakland Council District Summary Report ............................................................................................. 6 Oakland Tree Canopy and Land Cover Assessment 2020 ................................................................ 6 Oakland Urban Forest Resource Analysis 2021 .................................................................................... 6 Where ........................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Why ............................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Results ................................................................................................................................................................................. 9 Community Priorities .............................................................................................................................................. 9 Community Perceptions ..................................................................................................................................... 10 Community Likes and Dislikes About Trees ............................................................................................... 10 Urban Forest Recommendations .................................................................................................................... 11 Demographics ........................................................................................................................................................ 13 Community Engagement Partner Reports .................................................................................................. 18 Discussion ....................................................................................................................................................................... 19 Appendix ......................................................................................................................................................................... 21
Figures
Figure 1: Survey Responses During Community Engagement ...................................................................... 4 Figure 2: Engagement Events by Council District ............................................................................................... 7 Figure 3: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community. ............................................................... 9 Figure 4: Do you live in Oakland? .......................................................................................................................... 13 Figure 5: Figure 5: Do you work or own a business in Oakland (if you are under 18, do your parents/guardians work or own a business in Oakland)?” ........................................................................... 14 Figure 6: Figure 6: Describe your living situation ............................................................................................. 14 Figure 7: Do you own your home (if you are under 18, do your parents/guardians own your home) ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 14 Figure 8: Figure 8: Describe your age ................................................................................................................... 15 Figure 9: Describe your highest education level .............................................................................................. 15 Figure 10: Describe your race/ethnicity ............................................................................................................... 16 Figure 11: Location of Survey Respondents by Council District ................................................................. 17 Figure 12: How did you find out about this survey? ....................................................................................... 17 Figure 13: If you learned about this survey in another way or from a particular community group, please share more details here: .............................................................................................................................. 18
Tables
Table 1: Community perceptions about trees ................................................................................................... 10 Table 2: I like trees in my community because… .............................................................................................. 11 Table 3: I don’t like trees in my community because… .................................................................................. 11 Table 4: Potential recommendations for the urban forest ........................................................................... 12 Table 5: Interest in volunteering ............................................................................................................................. 12 Table 6: Other: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community. ................................................ 21 Table 7: Comments: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community. ..................................... 21 Table 8: Comments for “I like trees in my community because…” ............................................................ 36 Table 9: Community Engagement Partner Engagement Event Reports.................................................. 38 Table 10: Comments for “I dislike trees in my community because…” .................................................... 40 1 Introduction
Introduction
The Urban Forest Master Plan (UFMP) is important for enhancing Oakland’s urban forest over the next 50-years. With the backing of the community, the plan will build momentum toward its goals and objectives. The strength and success of the UFMP is dependent on how authentically the plan captures the will of Oakland’s community. The UFMP must provide solutions to the environmental issues and priorities identified by the community, serve as foundation for stewardship, and support advocacy for the necessary resources to address the community’s goals and objectives.
Recognizing the importance of a broad -based community engagement process, those involved in the development of the UFMP created the engagement plan that included:
● I dentifi cation of local partners and communi ty leaders who would facilitate culturally - relevant and inclusive events and engagement materials and targeted outreach to “ frontline communi ti es”
1 ● A project landing page
● A n engagement “ tool ki t”
● A n online survey
● A virtual recorded presentati on
The community engagement for the first phase of development of the UFMP kicked off in April 2022 with the launch of a community -wide survey designed by the Oakland Tree Services Staff.
Four community-based, non-profit, groups promoted the tree survey and distributed educational materials related to the development of the UFMP through social media, emails, and community events.
This report explains the methods for soliciting
community input and summarizes the input
provided by the community. The information
gathered informed the plan development.
Community input will also inform future
engagement efforts to ensure that the
community continues to have a meaningful role
in the implementation of Oakland’s Urban
Forest Master Plan.
1 Defi ned by the E CA P R acial E quity Impact A ssessment (R E I A ) as those who “ face hei ghtened cli mate vulnerability due to the cumulative impacts of environmental harms and socio - e conom ic ineq uality w hich limits their capacity to adapt to, resist, or recover from climate impacts” A survey respondent said, “[w]ell
planned green space, street trees,
gardens, and robust regional,
state, and national parks are
critical for good physical and
mental health of our citizenry”.
Introduction 2
Community outreach event conducted by Common Vision.
3 Methods
Methods
The overall strategy and area of focus for community engagement was to provide equitable engagement to develop an urban forest master plan for all who live and work in Oakland.
Engagement included information about the importance of an urban forest master plan and made the results of early deliverables, including a resource analysis of inventory of City trees and a land cover assessment available to the community.
Who
Community engagement began with the selection of local community groups to assist with the community engagement for the Urban Forest Master Plan process. The City of Oakland’s Tree Services put out a request for proposal between December 1st, 2021 and January 14th, 2022. Five community groups responded, and Tree Services selected four groups t o organize engagement city-wide and at the neighborhood level, including:
● Common V isi on
● T rees for Oakland in partnership with the Oakland Parks and R ecreation F oundation ● Interfaith Power & L ight
● Forest & Tree
The community engagement partners received a t raining on April 13 th, 2022. The training introduced partners to the project and included an overview of engagement materials. Partners had an opportunity to ask questions about the project and expectations for outreach and engagement. After the training, community engagement partners were provided the Oakland Urban Forest Community Engagement Handbook. The handbook outlined the materials available for use during the engagement process, suggestions on how to use the materials during outreach, and best management practices for engagement.
These groups, along with the City of Oakland’s Department of Race and Equity, conducted engagement throughout the community. The City’s council districts were used as a means to divide the community into more localized gro upings. While community members may not be aware of which council district they reside, the known council district boundaries are convenient for identifying a persons’ approximate location and can serve as a marker for engagement efforts reach in the community.
What
Community engagement focused on informing the community about the project and obtaining feedback from the community about challenges and the opportunities for the urban forest.
Several materials were produced to help facilitate outreach, includi ng a project website, a community survey, a virtual presentation, and other educational materials.
Project Website
A project website was created in June of 2021. Through publicinput.com/Oaklandtrees community members could:
Methods 4
● Learn about the project
● View the project timeline
● Review deliverables produced from the project, including the Oakland Tree Canopy & Land Cover Assessment 2020, the Oakland Urban Forest Resource Analysis 2021, and the Urban Forest Council District Summary and Supplemental Materials ● Explore the urban forest through a StoryMap and Tree Keeper Canopy tools ● Access the online survey
● Watch the community presentation recorded by Tree Services ● Translate the project site and the online survey into more than 100 languages using google translate
● Use the project website and outreach materials as a “toolkit” to conduct outreach activities on their own for the urban forest master plan development process Users of the project website could sign up for email notifications about project happenings through subscribing for email updates. As of August 8
th, 290 people had subscribed.
Community Survey
The project website was used to distribute a city -wide survey, which included 50 questions that were designed by Oakland Tree Services staff. The survey questions asked participants about their priorities for the community, perceptions of trees, likes/dislikes about trees, potential recommendations, and demographic information. The survey was open from April 8 th through
August 8th, 2022 and received 2,484 responses (Figure 1) 2.
Figure 1: Survey Responses During Community Engagement
2 Paper surveys were submi tted after the survey closure 0 20
40 60
80 100
120
140
160
180
200
4/15/2022 5/15/2022 6/15/2022 7/15/2022
Survey Respondents
Date of Response
5 Methods
The survey was translated into Spanish and Mandarin for the distribution of paper surveys at outreach events. The digital survey could be translated into more than 100 other languages using the google translate function in the project website.
The City sent email reminders to subscribers to the project website to participate in the survey.
Reminders were sent on June 7
th and June 21st to notify subscribers of the survey closure on June 25th. Tree Services decided to extend the community engagement period and sent out an email to subscribers to let them know about the extension for a closure on July 29 th. Reminders were sent on July 25th and 29th. The survey remained open until August 1st. Paper surveys were inputted between August 1 st through 8 th, which allowed for additional submissions. The reminders appeared to boost overall participation, as there were notable spikes after reminders were sent (Figure 1).
Planning the Future of Oakland’s Urban Forest Presentation Oakland Tree Services recorded a twenty-minute presentation that provided project website users an opportunity to learn more about the urban forest and the development of the urban forest master plan. A transcript of the pr esentation was included to allow users to translate the presentation into multiple languages through the google translate function on the project website.
Both the survey and presentation were created at a fifth- grade reading level to promote engagement from as many community members as possible. In addition, technical reports were available for participants that wanted a more in-depth view.
StoryMap
The StoryMap is an interactive tool that allows participants to learn more about Oakland’s urban forest through a series of interactive maps. Community engagement partners were encouraged to share the URL of the StoryMap with the community to explore Oakland’s urban forest digitally.
The community could access the StoryMap through the project website.
Survey respondent participating through a paper survey.
Methods 6
Tree Keeper Canopy
Tree Keeper Canopy is a dynamic tool that users can explore existing canopy and identify areas for priority tree planting based on preferred variables, including heat islands, air quality, and median income. Community engagement partners were encouraged to share the tool through mobile devices at outreach events. The community could access the tool through the project website.
Oakland Council District Summary Report
To better understand the existing urban forest, DRG performed a comprehensive tree canopy and land cover assessment (Land Cover Assessment, 2020) and an analysis of the community tree resource (Community Tree Resource Analysis, 2021). The assessment provides a birds-eye view of the entire urban forest and establishes a tree cano py baseline for discussion, planning, and assessing future change and progress towards canopy goals. The results of this analysis are summarized in the Council District Summary Report. Supplemental Materials are also available on the project website to allow for individual exploration of data used for the analysis.
Oakland Tree Canopy and Land Cover Assessment 2020
The Tree Canopy and Land Cover Assessment summarizes the GIS assessment and analysis of Oaklands’ tree canopy and the relationships with other primary land cover and zoning. The draft report was made available through the project website.
Oakland Urban Forest Resource Analysis 2021
The Urban Forest Tree Resource Analysis used public tree inventory data in conjunction with i - Tree Eco, a benefit -cost modeling software, to develop a detailed assessment of the current structure, function, benefits, and value of the community tree resource. Community members could read the draft report through the project website.
Where
Community engagement partners and the City conducted outreach in all seven council districts.
However, there was focused engagement efforts in Council District 3 and 5, as these districts are primarily home to persons with lower incomes and other characteristics, which may present barriers to participation (Figure 2). Community engagement events (virtual and in- person) were led by local community groups on the following dates:
● Ap ril 1 6th and 26 th
● May 5th, 9th, 14th, 18th, and 21st
● J une 1st a n d 11th
● Ju ly 1st, 14th- 16th, 19th, 20 th, and 22 nd
7 Methods
0 1
2 3
4 5
6 7
8 9
Council District 1 Council District 2 Council District 3 Council District 4 Council District 5 Council District 6 Council District 7 Number of Events
Figure 2: Engagement Events by Council District
Community engagement included outreach events both virtual and in -person, including events at:
● Prescott Elementary School
● Oakland T ech High School
● West Oakland E nvironmental Indicators Project (WOE IP) meeting ● Mama Wanda Good E ggs F amily Challenge
● SPRAC Health & W ellness Fair
● Com m unity Circle at Peralta Hacie nd a
● ASCEND School
● Virtual m e etings
● Em ail b lasts, social m e d ia p osts, and new sle tte rs Community groups increased awareness of the community survey by encouraging attendees to visit the project website or to participate through paper forms. Paper surveys were later manually entered into the online survey to capture those results.
Advertisements on the Cit y website and through social media networks (e.g., Facebook, twitter, Instagram, Nextdoor, etc.) extended the reach of the survey. QR Codes were shared to allow for ease of access to the online survey through mobile devices.
Why
In order to capture the diverse perspectives of people within the community, engagement was driven by working in partnership with the community to provide an equitable engagement process.
The language in the survey was designed to:
● E asily translate into multiple languages using google tra nsla te ● Cap ture m ultip le p oints- of- view
Methods 8
● Gauge support on potential recommendations
● A llow for open- ended commentary
● Id e ntify surve y re sp ond ents’ locality in term s of Council District ● R ecord opti onal self - reporting on demographic characteristics (e.g., age, education, race, etc.)
Simple language allowed for easy translation and removed any barriers to understanding, which provided a greater opportunity for everyone in the community to feel invited to participate and share their opinion.
Tree Services’ Urban Forestry Project Coordinator talking with community member at outreach event.
9 Results
Results
The tree survey received 2,484 responses. However, excluding questions regarding demographics, an average of 1,914 people, when permitted, responded “rather not say”, which were recorded as a blank. Where applicable, blank responses are noted. A comment box was available for most of the sections of the survey, the results reported in this section provide a summary of the comments, but for a complete summary of comments, see the Appendix.
Community Priorities
Oakland is a community with a lot of opportunity. Investments will be needed to provide solutions to challenges within the community. Survey respondents were asked to select up to 5 of their priorities for the community. The number one priority for most respondents was reducing crime and improving public safety, followed by housing and/or ending homelessness (Figure 3).
Approximately 200 respondents indicated “other(s)” and specified through comments what they felt was missing. Comments included concerns for overall reduction in inequities, fire prevention, pesticide use, transit, and criminal justice reform.
Figure 3: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community. 0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800
Other
Job creation/economic opportunities
Improved roads and other infrastructure
Trash and litter control
Better schools
Clean air and water
Housing/ending homelessness
Reduced crime/improved public safety
Respondents
Community Priority
Priority 1 Priority 2 Priority 3 Priority 4 Priority 5
Results 10
Community Perceptions
To identify the communities’ perceptions about trees, respondents were given a series of statements and were asked to indicate “yes” or “no” or were provided the option to “rather not say” (Table 1). Among the participants who chose to respond, more than 94% of responded “yes” I notice the trees in my community”. Similarly, more than 95% of respondents indicated “yes” to the statement “I wish there were more trees in my community”.
There was a nearly fifty-fifty split between those who responded “yes” and “no” for “I'm aware that most trees in Oakland are protected by a City Ordinance and require a permit to be cut or removed”. A similar split was also seen for “I'm aware that there is a permitting process for property owners to plant trees between their sidewalk and the curb”.
Table 1: Community perceptions about trees
Statement Response
Yes No Blank
I notice the trees in my community 2,013 119 368
I wish there were more trees in my community 1,943 94 463 I wish there were fewer trees in my community 41 2,002 457 The City of Oakland maintains trees in streets and parks 937 911 652 The City of Oakland educates the public about trees 168 1,737 595 The City of Oakland provides tree planting or tree care activities for volunteers 530 1,241 729
I'm aware that most trees in Oakland are protected by a City Ordinance and require a permit to be cut or removed 1,226 716 558
I'm aware that there is a permitting process for property owners to plant trees between their sidewalk and the curb 334 1,083 583
Community Likes and Dislikes About Trees
To better understand why the community likes trees and why they dislike trees, survey participants were asked to indicate whether they “strongly agree”, “somewhat agree”, “strongly disagree”, “somewhat disagree”, or are “neutral”, or would "rather not say" about a series of statements (Table 2, Table 3).
Of participants who responded, most indicated some level of agreement with the benefits that trees provide. Among the reasons why a person might dislike trees, many respondents agreed that “Leaf litter mak es a mess”, “Tree maintenance is a burden”, and “Street trees may damage sidewalks and cause tripping hazards”.
Survey participants were invited to provide comment about other reasons why they may like or dislike trees. A common thread for those who provided comment on why they like trees was an appreciation for the unique benefits of native trees for wildlife. For those who provided comment on why they dislike trees, a common thread was that the benefits of trees outweigh the costs for maintenance. Several commenters suggested that the type of tree and where a tree is planted are important for reducing conflicts with trees.
11 Results
Table 2: I like trees in my community because…
I like trees in my community because…
Response
Strongly
Agree
Somewhat
Agree Neutral Somewhat
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree Blank
They provide shade 1,706 205 46 6 7 530
They clean the air 1,751 124 43 6 3 543
They beautify the neighborhood 1,861 66 20 3 5 545
They provide mental/spiritual/cultural
benefits 1,609 227 95 6 7 556
They improve local water quality 1,017 432 446 27 11 567 They reduce traffic noise 1,142 487 258 38 11 564
They capture carbon dioxide from the
air and help fight climate change 1,658 209 62 7 5 559
They benefit birds, wildlife, and
ecosystems 1,831 99 22 2 6 540
They reduce crime 508 397 790 142 74 589
Table 3: I don’t like trees in my community because…
I don’t like trees in my community
because…
Response
Strongly
Agree
Somewhat
Agree Neutral Somewhat
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree Blank
Leaf litter makes a mess 54 232 362 430 594 828
The City doesn't take care of street
trees 49 250 307 455 587 852
Tree maintenance is a burden 347 498 441 239 100 875
Street trees may damage sidewalks
and cause tripping hazards 139 634 412 281 172 862
Urban Forest Recommendations
To gain an understanding about the community’s desires for the urban forest, survey respondents were asked to indicate whether they “strongly agree”, “somewhat agree”, “strongly disagree”, “somewhat disagree”, or are “neutral”, or would "rather not say" about potential recommendations (Table 4). The majority of those who responded strongly agreed that “Oakland’s urban forest needs to be sustained for my children and future generations”. Survey responses indicated on the whole, support for more trees throughout the community and more than 700 people were in strong agreement that they would be willing to plant a tree on their own property if they were provided a free tree and given guidance on how to plant it.
Of those who responded, most were favorable to recommendations that involved expansion of the urban forest through tree planting throughout the City, neighborhoods, streets, parks, and private property. While most persons were agreeable to planting a tree on their own property if provided a free tree, nearly 10% of respondents disagreed and another 2 7% felt neutrally about planting a tree on their own property.
Results 12
Table 4: Potential recommendations for the urban forest Recommendation
Response
Strongly
Agree
Somewhat
Agree Neutral Somewhat
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree Blank
Oakland's urban forest needs to be
sustained for my children and future
generations
1,518 97 31 7 8 839
There should be more trees throughout
the City 1,504 98 31 4 13 850
There should be more trees in my
neighborhood 1,346 158 85 34 14 863
Environmental justice should determine
where to plant trees first so trees are
equitably distributed
992 347 197 51 45 868
The City should support creating job
opportunities for local residents related to
planting and maintaining trees
1,183 328 95 18 17 859
The City should educate people about
trees, including how to plant and maintain
them
1,142 342 116 17 6 876
I own property and would be willing to
plant a tree on my own property if
provided a free tree and guidance on how
to plant it
703 183 386 54 83 1,019
The City should restore its program to
planting trees and regularly maintain all
street and park trees
1,368 190 38 7 5 891
Survey participants were asked about their interest in volunteering to plant or maintain trees and to indicate their willingness to travel to other neighborhoods to volunteer (Table 5). Of those who responded, nearly 60% indicated “yes” to “I am interested in volunteering to plant or maintain trees in the City of Oakland” and more than 75 % indicated “yes” to “If you answered yes to the last question: I would be willing to travel to other neighborhoods to volunteer”.
Table 5: Interest in volunteering
Interest in volunteering Response
Yes No Blank N/A
I am interested in volunteering to plant or maintain trees in the City of Oakland 855 631 1,014
If you answered yes to the last question: I would be willing to travel to other neighborhoods to volunteer 673 221 983 166
13 Results
Demographics
To learn more about persons taking the survey, respondents were asked to indicate if they live in Oakland. Of the 1,331 people who responded, 95% indicated that they lived in Oakland (Figure 4)3.
Figure 4: Do you live in Oakland?
Additionally, respondents were asked to indicate how long they have lived in the community, the average 24 years of residency and a range of 1 year to 68 years.
When asked “Do you work or own a business in Oakland (if you are under 18, do your parents/guardians work or own a business in Oakland)” 54% of respondents indicated “no” (Figure 5)
4. 3 1 ,097 parti ci pants di d not respond
4 1 ,060 parti ci pants di d not respond
Yes
46%No
54%
Yes
95%
No
5%
Results 14
Figure 5: Figure 5: Do you work or own a business in Oakland (if you are under 18, do your parents/guardians work or own a business in Oakland)?”
To understand the types of homes that people live in, respondents were asked to “Describe your living situation”. More than 65% of respondents indicated that they lived in a single-family home and 33% indicated that they lived a multi-family building, apartment, or condo (Figure 6)5. Another 2% selected “other” but did not provide additional detail in the provided comment box.
Figure 6: Figure 6: Describe your living situation
Survey participants were then asked, “Do you own your home (if you are under 18, do your parents/guardians own your home)”. Approximately 1,154 people responded and 69% indicated that they owned their own home (Figure 7).
Figure 7: Do you own your home (if you are under 18, do your parents/guardians own your home)
5 1 ,789 parti ci pants di d not respond
A multi-family
building, apartment,
or condo
33%
A single-family
home
65%
Other
2%
Yes
69%
No
31%
15 Results
To better understand the people taking the survey, participants were asked a series of questions related to socioeconomics. When asked to describe their age, nearly 41% of respondents to the question were between the ages of 36 and 55 (Figure 8).
Figure 8: Figure 8: Describe your age
Survey participants were asked to describe their level of educational attainment. Of the 1 ,135 people who responded, 46% indicated they “completed Master’s Degree or higher”, followed by 39% “completed a 4-year degree/Bachelor’s Degree” (Figure 9).
Figure 9: Describe your highest education level
To identify the effectiveness of engagement reaching people who have historically had barriers to participation in planning for the community, the survey asked respondents to describe their race/ethnicity (Figure 10).
Did not graduate high
school
3%
High school graduate
3%
Some college
courses but no
degree
6%
Completed a 2-year
degree/Associate's
Degree
3%
Completed a 4-year
degree/Bachelor's Degree
39%
Completed Master's
Degree or higher
46%
0 5
10 15
20 25
30 35
40 45
0-17 18-35 36-55 56-70 77+
% of Respondants
Age of Respondants
Results 16
Figure 10: Describe your race/ethnicity
Respondents were able to select multiple races and ethnicities to describe themselves. More than 65% of respondents identified as “white or Caucasian”. Persons that identified as “Asian or Pacific Islander” or “Hispanic or Lat ino” represented 23% of respondents to the question, respectively.
Survey respondents were offered a comment box to describe their race/ethnicity, but no comments were submitted.
To evaluate the extent of outreach efforts, survey participants were asked to indicate which council district in which they live. There were survey takers from all seven council districts, with the majority of respondents from Council District 3 and Council District 1(Figure 11) 6 6 809 surveyor did not respond to the question
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Native American or Alaskan Native
A race/ethnicity not listed here
Multiracial or Biracial
Black or African American
Hispanic or Latino
Asian or Pacific Islander
White or Caucasian
% of Respondants
Race/Ethnicity
17 Results
Figure 11: Location of Survey Respondents by Council District To gauge which avenues for marketing the survey was most successful, participants were asked to share how they learned about the survey. Most of the 1,119 respondents indicated “ Other” (Figure 12).
Figure 12: How did you find out about this survey?
Local community group
20%
Other
32%
Friend/family/word
of mouth
20%
City government
announcement
18% Internet search
6%
School, place of worship,
or other institution
4%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
Council
District 1
Council
District 2
Council
District 3
Council
District 4
Council
District 5
Council
District 6
Council
District 7
I do not live
in Oakland
I do not
know
% of Respondents
Location of Respondents
Results 18
Oaklandside Article
23.8%
Interfaith
Power & Light
11.3%
Nextdoor
8.2%N/A
7.7%Facebook
6.3%
Twitter
6.1%
Instagram
5.7%
Trees for Oakland
4.4%
Neighborhood
group/association
3.4%
Forest & Tree
2.7%
Email
2.3%
Friend
2.1%
School
1.7%
Community Group
1.5%
Alameda County
Beekeepers Association
1.5%
Friends of Sausal
Creek
1.5%
Common Vision
1.3%
Other
8.2%
A comment box was provided for respondents to identify where else they heard about the survey.
Nearly 24% heard about the survey through an article on The Oaklandside website. Another 18% of respondents indicated that they heard about the survey from one of the community engagement partner organizations (Figure 13).
Figure 13: If you learned about this survey in another way or from a particular community group, please share more details here:
Community Engagement Partner Reports
Local community groups were contracted to provide outreach and engagement throughout the community. Those partners submitted reports on their engagement activities and summarized the comments that they heard from attendees. The majority of feedback attendees shared with engagement partners was in suppo rt for city -wide greening and additional tree planting in neighborhoods. For a complete summary of community engagement reports, see Appendix. 19 Discussion
Discussion
Tree Services worked with the Department of Race and Equity to provide equitable outreach and engagement. Outreach events occurred in the spring and summer of 2022 in every council district.
Most of the outreach events were hosted by local community organizations and provided a safe place for community members to speak openly about their concerns for the urban forest.
Community engagement partners submitted reports to the urban forest planning team to summarize what happened at the engagement event and what was heard from the community.
Trees Services developed a survey to ask about the community’s desires for the urban forest master plan. The survey was designed to be easily translated and comprehended by someone with a fifth-grade reading level in order to be accessible to the most people in the community.
Through outreach events and promotion by the City through print and digital media, the survey was successful in reaching people from every council district.
To extend the reach of the survey, community groups promoted it through their networks and the City shared the survey through its various social media communication channels. An article on The Oaklandside greatly contributed to people’s awareness of the development of the urban forest master plan and directed them to take the survey. While the survey and online presentation reached a wide audience, there were limitations in the results gathered. For example, most of the people who participated in the survey opted to not respond to most of the questions.
Oakland is a community full of individuals with numerous interests in making their community a better place. Most respondents indicated that reductions in crime and improvements in public safety are their top priority for the community. The survey also revealed that respondents agreed that trees can reduce crime. While job creation and economic opportunity was not the top priority for most respondents, there was support for creating job opportunities for local residents related to planting and maintaining trees.
Of the people who responded to questions in the survey, most agreed that trees provide numerous benefits to the community. Overall, the community appreciated the environmental, mental, spiritual, and cultural benefits trees provide. Respondents recognize that trees require maintenance, which can be a burden. The results show that participants acknowledge that trees can be a nuisance, but in large part the benefits offset these negative qualities.
Participants largely feel that the City doesn’t take care of street trees. Potential recommendations for the urban forest were largely supported, including for the City restoring its program for planting trees and regularly maintaining all street and park trees.
The survey requested that participants share a little about themselves including age, educational attainment, and race. Most participants opted to not share that information. Those who did respond to questions related to demographics, were mostly white, followed distantly by people who identified as Asian or Pacifica Islander. Based on the response to this question, the survey was able to capture the opinions of a diverse audience. However, the reach of the survey to communities of black, indigenous, or other people of color is mostly unknown.
Comments in the survey and engagement with local community groups provided people an opportunity to share their experiences with trees and their vision for the urban forest in the future.
Discussion 20
The responses to the survey questions where participants had majority consensus and the themes articulated by individuals through the comments helped inform the development of the urban forest master plan and were integrated into the plan as objectives.
Outreach event at Prescott School.
21 Appendix
Appendix
Table 6: Other: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community.
Other: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community. adaptation to climate change
Better public gathering places and less City taxation
Environmental equity (especially more trees in flatlands) Infrastructure + safety specifically for pedestrians, cyclists, and public transportation Infrastructure maintenance
restorative justice
Table 7: Comments: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community.
Comments: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community. (1) Siting of Pallet Shelters in driveways or side yards. Many of us know homeless people who we could host in a separate unit.
(2) mental health workers stationed throughout the community who get to know residents. 40-year resident of Oakland here. While some things have gotten better, some things have gotten out of hand, reflected in these survey results.
A healthy community is one where we feel a deep sense of belonging with our neighbors and within the natural ecology of our habitat. We can support connection and wellness of all life through renewable energy projects, local workforce development, investment in ECE, childcare, and education, and focus on the solidarity economy rather than on an extractive economy. Well planned green space, street trees, gardens, and robust regional, state, and national parks are critical for good physical and mental health of our citizenry.
Actually, I believe all of those items are very important for the people, environment and good health. add more areas of native plants and biodiversity!! restore abandoned lots back to nature Addressing homelessness can help improve trash and litter control. Keeping our air and water clean is important for ensuring clean water and air for generations to come. Improving infrastructure in areas most affected by poor air quality and litter can make those areas safer in terms of lung health. Lastly, giving our oakland youth a better education can make students more aware of what is going on around them, and a good education can inspire them to help their community.
Addressing housing and ending homelessness are likely too big of a problem for the city to fix on its own; however, the city can do a lot to clean water and air, and to control litter, and to reduce crime.
Addressing issues of poverty, housing, and poor services is the only actual way to improve public safety Addressing these problems are what we need to be on top of fixing in my personal experience there have recently been shoot outs around my street and near my family lately Affordable, safe housing for the lowest income citizens that is also accessible to living wage jobs, good schools, food shopping, green space are essential to reducing trash and crime.
After and durring this tree survey, my neighborhood experiences a truly huge tree loss of those trees to PG&E for power lines clearances (understandable). Libby’s “thinning” program, and The Vegitation Management plan. The three together in my area are decimating everything besides the diseased remaing Oaks with Sudden Oak Death. And have watched the oaks be removed there after due to the disease in Oakland’s federally Quarantined zone for Sudden Oak Death.
A thoughtful and smart group in my neighborhood started a replacement program from what we are experiencing first hand, forllowing the replacement code 12.36.080 of fire resistant tree species for tour Appendix 22
Comments: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community. specific zone. We can not aquire funding or assistance and have tried every outlet possible. “When a tree dies, plant another in it’s place”
All are important priorities. I would add public safety and access to environments that are calm and quiet.
All are important!
All of the above are important, of course!
All of these are equally important if you can earn a living then how will the rest be added to you? State Redevelopment needs to come back to build affordable housing. My pension dollars are being used to develop all around me and I have no say in any of it. Driving and walking past unhoused residents should never be the norm it's a health crisis and our County health partners should be leading the effort ; Many pressing issues are facing Oakland residents, and if given the real opportunity with clear and transparent facts Oakland residents are wise enough to choose what's best, participate in decisions and process that are designed for full community participation and noticed to residents in a timely manner. The unhoused population was suddenly provided hotel rooms when the crisis effected all. The unhoused population are experiencing a health crisis. Our county partners should lead the efforts to address it. Redevelopment funds should come bk to City governments to build affordable housing. The City Couny Port and School District should be hiring Oakland residents with a vested interest in the outcomes. My pension dollars are used for Development all around me and I don't have a voice in whats Development. Community participation is lower than ever and there should be intense outreach to community to participate and be included in the decision making processes that have long term effects. Thank you for the survey All the things, of course. But we will reduce crime and improve public safety if we do all the other things. Add to this: maintain our parks. Maintain our street trees, so long neglected! Don't just add new stuff without funding more maintenance.
All trees give us oxygen. Global warming is killing trees. We need every tree especially mature trees! Stop clear cutting! And poisoning which not only is bad for children band humans but also wildlife and the eco system. Thankyou!
An urban forest plan should prioritize the benefits derived from plentiful and well-maintained trees. I wish the town would replenish native oaks.; An urban forest plan should prioritize the benefits derived from plentiful and well-maintained trees. I wish Oakland would replenish native oaks.
An urban forest throughout the city contributes to all such issues And #5 Make all businesses replace plastic with more environmentally friendly material whenever possible.
Make 5his legally required.; Give tax breaks and benefits to businesses and residents who are least using fossil fuel and least using plastic and most conserving water And death for pollinators, on which all plants, and therefore humans depend.; Research how communities are planting fruit trees in public spaces, water use will be restricted in drought impacted western US, and food security will no longer impact only global south.
Appears to me crime outvof control
As an Oaklander, I'm proud of the housing we are building. We aren't dragging our feet like many communities in California are.
Better and bigger urban forests equal healthier populations in higher economic brackets.
Better and more housing for low and no-income people, more support for schools, and more community programs are vital to the health of the Oakland community.
Better education makes better citizens and helps alleviate other issues. Please make sure that is one of Oakland’s priorities.
23 Appendix
Comments: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community.
Better School System it Broken
Trash and litter
C
Car Moblie Home BIG truck parking in your
neighborhood
Crime
MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS
MORE COMMUNITY WORKING TOGTHER
LIKE CHURCH COMMUNITY CENTER
Beyond the native/non-native debate, I wish the city would communicate to the public about what criteria are used to get a tree on the approved list. Heat tolerance, water usage, carbon capture, and ability to sustain local insects, birds, and other fauna, for example all seem like important criteria; it would be helpful to educate the public so we can make informed decisions on what to plant on our properties and on our parking strips. Why, for example, is Gingko Biloba an approved tree? It doesn't sustain much insect life, as discussed here: http://www.planetexperts.com/ginkgo-trees-urban-biodiversity/. Maybe there are good reasons for its inclusion; please share them.
broken car windows are a major problem for our city. Homelessness is another, then trash on the streets.
There are other major problems but these are things I believe the city can be effective in reducing.
Build more housing, eliminate parking minimums, expand transit! Can't deal with trash and litter without help for the homeless Civil rights, animal rights, and environmental sustainability are interdependent. Support Humane Education and Solutionary curriculum in schools.
Clean up the city. Enforce parking. Listen to the home owners. Maintain all neighborhoods equal. Make MacArthur look like West st to prevent sideshows. It was a East Oakland problem way before a north oakland problem
Climate change tops all other issues. We must address more aggressively as a community.
Communities should promote sustainability.
Conservation and tree planting, along with preparing for Climate Change are of utmost importance now.
Considering the melting of the polar caps, best to move uphill; the rest of Oakland being underwater.
Creating a clean and welcoming environment for all beings. Let us make a City we are proud to show off.
Creative institutions might help. Like what was good about Napa. For many, life after the institution closed wasn't good.
Crime and trash are symptoms!
Crime and Trash has got to be addressed. ; We need more Trees!! Crime is the #1 priority.
Crime will reduce when there is affordable housing and economic opportunity providing local jobs for local residents. People need to have their basic needs met to reduce crime.
Do we have to choose? All of these are vital! ; Why do we have to choose? I want all 7! Ending homelessness and poverty by decreasing the costs of housing will help us shift from public safety spending and dedicate more funds to social programs, infrastructure, and job creation. endingh homelessness is 85 percent thas crazy
Enforcement of traffic laws.
Appendix 24
Comments: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community.
Eucs are crazy flammable. They can actually explode in a fire. Better to put in native trees or even trees that just don't have that high fuel load. https://www.kqed.org/science/4209/eucalyptus-california-icon-fire- hazard-and-invasive-species; All the old SROs were torn down and a lot of old guys lost their housing. We need more cheap SROs for the old guys and, even better, SROs that they don't have to pay for. All new development appears to be 3-5 stories for commuters to SF. Entry level houses get bought up by developers and flipped, which keeps locals (real people) from getting a toehold in a difficult housing market. Also, jeez, the streets are awful. Please fix 24th street near Telegraph. I had a friend drive me to Chaco Canyon in NM, which has NO road and that was less bumpy than 24th street.
Everything on the list (better schools, trash pick up, jobs, etc.) will reduce crime and make us all safer.
Reduced crime and improved public safety will come with more investment in addressing inequality and quality of life issues.
fasho
Feeling unsafe to walk around outside in your own neighborhood is debilitating. Chronic gun violence, robbery and murder in neighborhoods where houses cost a million dollars is incomprehensible. We need to keep peopl safe. When haft working individuals can’t sit outside their house in their cars without being murdered we have a problem
Fully agree on the eucs problem and fully support natives, especially those that support pollinators! FYI - You can’t even buy homeowners insurance unless you cut down eucalyptus trees; Need to plant more trees especially around Lake Merritt. Too many cars, too many people, we need more trees!! Where are the Oak trees in Oakland??!!; Homelessness will not be solved at the local level. No city has that kind of money.
We don’t even have resources to hire more police. It will come from the State level. Only way homelessness will be solved is to separate into 3 camps: 1) those with mental illness need to be put on meds and admitted into psych wards for evaluation and treatment away from Oakland 2) those who are drug addicts need to be put into treatment plans, also need to be put in rehab, transported outside Oakland away from the big cities 3) poor and destitute need to be put into work programs by the government e.g. pick up litter, farm, etc. ; Oakland attracts the homeless. Treat them too well by not enforcing laws, well, word spreads, they come in from other states in droves. ; Hire more police, start enforcing the laws, attract more big corps to Oakland which brings in more revenue for the City of Oakland, then you can plant more trees and maintain them with more revenue going to the Oakland Parks.
Get rid of homeless camps
Getting young people involved in sports, theater, creative, music programs is the only way we'll work our way out of criminal behavior later on. Plus, making sure they can read by 3rd grade! H
Healthy trees and plants create a feeling of nature within urban confines. Even better would be to plant edible species so that anyone can forage for nutritious in-season fruits and veggies. homelessness can't be resolved on local levels. providing housing is not an appropriate role for cities.
Homelessness is the single most pressing issue in Oakland, and it’s due to the massive affordability issues in the Bay Area, as well as our city government utterly paralyzed to confront the homeless issue head on.
Reduced crime, trash, litter control all come back to homelessness and lawlessness. Let’s please help these people and clean up our city.
Housing is top priority. And I don't mean homeless shelters where people basically live in prison cells and never get permanent housing. We need real, stable housing for everyone, to solve homelessness, over crowding, and rent burdens. Biggest possible quality of life win. Trash and crime is would go down if people's needs were better met.
Public transit and pedestrian infrastructure should also be improved, to handle this increased housing density. 25 Appendix
Comments: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community.
Housing needs to be made available to all members of our community by the most immediate means possible: building a lot of housing, including enough affordable housing to keep people in the community.
Housing, education and training/jobs will lead to crime reduction. I also believe we need mental health care and alcohol and drug treatment.
How are you going to maintain new trees? The deep east has very little green spaces. A large tree on my street came down with last high winds we had. It was never maintained and now the sun beats on our home 24 hours a day.
I would like more trees to be panted on oakland streets esp in poorer neighborhoods; trees help reduce CO2 and beautify hoods reducing the potential for crime. i would like the cost to be free. the city suppies the trees. Marion Mils Dimond dostrict
I agree with comment "I believe addressing housing, health, education, economic, and infrastructure disparities are necessary for reducing crime and trash. All those issues are root causes. Crime and trash are symptoms"
I also have maintaining and improving Oakland Parks as a priority.
I am concerned that the list of acceptable trees in a proposed plan include non native trees. I do not believe we shouild be planting non-native trees in the city of Oakland I believe addressing housing, health, education, economic, and infrastructure disparities are necessary for reducing crime and trash. All those issues are root causes. Crime and trash are symptoms-- please understand that!
I believe addressing housing, health, education, economic, and infrastructure disparities are necessary for reducing crime and trash. All those issues are root causes. Crime and trash are symptoms-- please understand that!
I believe that if crime if more accountability is executed by community and authorities, all my above selections will decrease immeasurably. That includes accountability of all individuals, especially the homeless who trash our communities and cities and are continually allowed to do so. Not speaking against homelessness, but their lack of respect for others, which all should. Just because one’s homeless, does not mean they misuse and abuse others.
I don’t care about the specific solution but the homeless situation is a horrible blight and a danger. Whatever the decision, the streets and public spaces need to be cleared of encampments. It is inhumane to the unhoused, but it is also inhumane to the property tax paying residents. The unhoused generate heaps of garbage and cause, directly or otherwise, serious health and safety hazards for the entire community. How many fires, drug deaths, and violent events will it take for the city to recognize the time is long passed.
Enough!
I don’t know how greenscape can address crime or improve education but I feel like it can directly impact infrastructure, create jobs, improve air quality, provide shade on hot days for anyone outside and it can detract from the sight of litter though I feel that is a separate issue.
I have lived in Oakland for 50+ years and the decline in recent years is shocking. Homelessness is out of control and the price of housing renders solutions impossible. Trash and crap everywhere: Have parents taught their kids nothing? The streets are in abominable shape and repairs and resurfacing do not last. Public schools are horrid. Crime is rampant. I am 83 and used to be able to go out even at night without great fear; no more. City Council and Mayor seem not to communicate with citizens or offer useful solutions. I cannot move because I have rent control where I live.
I hope the city will reinstate a tree maintenance program and choose trees that will not buckle the sidewalks and then force to property owner to fix a problem that they had no part in creating.
I live near Courtland Creek park & city of Oakland has never planted a tree in the 25 years I lived here. I have see them take away trees that fell over or damaged but never replace one. Last year nine trees were removed Appendix 26
Comments: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community. from one block & none were replaced. Plant more trees, create barriers so people can’t park on roots or damage trees.
I love my survey
I totally agree on the importance of addressing all these issues. Many, if not all of them are in one or another way connected. Hopefully working on improving some of them will have a positive edfect on the rest.
I understand there are real challenges to addressing homelessness in Oakland, but I cannot fathom why the city doesn't prioritize certain areas as off-limits and commit to enforcing. Specifically thinking about Lake Merritt, and the constant mess surrounding one of the unhoused folks on the west side of the lake. The lake is a beautiful resource for the a huge swath of the city, but a few people can make everyone feel unsafe. If Oakland wants to keep their tax base of young professionals, especially as they begin to have families, there needs to be at least a few safe, clean places for them to spend time.
I would also like to see free public transportation. It is the fastest way to clean air and it is an equity issue for lower income people. If we all rode the buses they would become cleaner, more pleasant, and a way to reintroduce civility and community. If we had to deal with each other daily, on the buses and walking in our neighborhoods, we would be accountable to our neighbors. We are strangers now, only interacting between car trips in our immediate block. I am a walker, and have more interactions with barking dogs than I do with the people, who are rarely on the streets.
I would like to see 27th Avenue between International Avenue and 16th Avenue be landscaped with trees/palm trees and a roundabout at the corner of 16th Avenue and 27th Avenue. Much like the look at Havenscourt Avenue near International Avenue. Speed bumps would be useful for school safety. 27th Avenue is a straight thoroughfare used by many coming from MacArthur Blvd. In general, no trees should ever cover murals and their view, such as the one on Fruitvale Avenue near International Avenue at the Spanish Speaking Citizens Foundation. This reflects a disrespect for the arts. That particular tree should be replaced by a much shorter tree. Main streets in the Fruitvale should have more oversight to constantly fix bad holes and sunken street pavements.
I would like to see a street tree (drought tolerant natives) planted in all of the vacant planting sites City wide.
I would like to see California native trees and plants planted.... trees and plants native to this region would be wonderful. Fruit trees to residents would be nice too. We must think of the future, and growing locally is more sustainable. We don't need lawns, we need to save water! Thank you. (If you are a resident reading this, think of planting native plants, you can even do container ones!); I would also add that we shouldn't let the City of Oakland or any city off the hook in terms of "dealing" with homeless and unhoused folks. To throw our hands up and/or allow our leaders to do so is inexcusable. While we can't resolve the entire problem of people suffering out in the streets, there are things we can do: provide housing where possible; mobile medical clinics; bathrooms/porto-potties, water, cleaning. I am no expert but do want to see our city lead on homelessness where and when possible. Spending a billion for the A's and not doing anything for the unhoused is wrong. Also, based on the survey results, most of us want to see leadership and change around the homeless issue. Maybe the state can reserve certain lots of land and allow RV's there, maybe we can fix the RV's so they can plug in, like into a campground situation, but using land that currently isn't being used for that, plots of land. We need to ask those who are experts and involve those who are homeless themselves.
Sitting around waiting for the state, no bueno. Also, the politicians know each other and this is their job, whether state or local, they ned to figure this out and learn how other places have handled these situations.
Thank you.
I would love to see more edible trees—whether they produce fruit or you can use the bark for tea, etc. It'd be great to work with indigenous folks, practitioners of Chinese herbalism, and other traditions seen in Oakland in order to do so. I know that some of these can be hard to manage but it'll help provide a more community- 27 Appendix
Comments: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community. oriented planting system and help provide for our people. Berkeley has a lovely lowquat tree that many people make jam out of!
If people have good and appropriate economic opportunity, with a grounded understanding of a BALANCED, SIMPLE, and SUSTAINABLE life worth living IN COMMUNITY, with HOPE for the future (grounded in fact), many other issues would be addressed in the process. Let's focus on what can provide this opportunity and mental outlook based on a reality that we need to create.
If we could solve these problems before the others no one will be mad.
If we do not reduce the threat of climate change, all other priorities will be lost. Planting trees is the most important action we can take to fight back against this looming catastrophe. Shade trees lessen the impact of extreme heat. Trees also help make cities better places to live.
If we spend our money to invest in education, health resources (access to treatment and support system), health care as a human right (univeral healthcare), address housing concerns, improve access to jobs and resources and reduce OPD budget and put it toward health services we would have a better foundation of support.
If you adding trees, take care of the trees we already have I'm all in favor of more trees in the many areas that lack street trees. However, in the very high wildfire hazard zone, trees are fuel and need to be managed as fuel. I would hope that this very important concern would be addressed in the tree plan.
Improved bike infrastructure
Improved economic opportunity is one of the keys to reducing crime and MUST be addressed.
Improved roads and infrastructure to me means making the roads safe for cyclists (more protected bike lanes) and improving public transit
Improved roads and other improvements are constantly being vandalized and maintenance is close to non- existent. Trees are damaged, have not been replaced, shrubs overgrown, and so on. New pavements are purposely marked by tires from illegal moving violations, etc. I.E. MacArthur Blvd starting from the 580 off- ramp is quickly returning to looking dilapidated and neglected interesting that the first question for a tree survey is not really addressing this issue. If we had our phone/electric lines put under ground, we could have taller trees!!!!! I pay crazy high property taxes, and see very little return. bad roads, homelessness, terrible police work, poor public schools, few civic services. does all that money just go to high executive salaries?
Invest in native plants and in the indigenous knowledge to care for the ecosystem, including cultural burning practices, which not only reduce wildfire risk but rejuvenate the ecosystem.
It is very sad to see that the trees that have been planted are not being taken care of. Prime example - 14th st between Market and Mandala. Many dead limbs on "living" trees and stumps from dead trees being cut. The flatlands in particular need trees, for better air and to offset all the concrete. Many trees dead because of homeless encampments. Put trees back in our parks.
It seems to me if we can address the top 5 concerns I selected for this survey, economic opportunities and trash/litter control will follow.
It would be deeply helpful if the taxes paid in this city actually went to efforts that helped people have places to live, improved the roads, ensured kids had schools to go to, and did its best to manage crime. We're all responsible on some level, but it's unconscionable that our elected officials and various governmental structures continue to fail our most vulnerable neighbors, organizations, and businesses.
Keeping air quality good is important for everyone. A few bad actors shouldn't be able to compromise everyone's health
Let's build homes for people
Maintenance of ALL city owned trees is a necessity. Start doing it again Appendix 28
Comments: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community.
Make Lake Merritt the jewel of Oakland, not a place where homeless can defecate and throw litter and attack people.
Make the proper repairs when doing construction work. They are putting new sewer popes in the Havencourt neighborhood. When they dig up the street they just pile on asphalt without smoothing it out. They have just replaced and painted the street now they are torn up already. The sewer work should have been done first.
Many neighborhoods in the flats have little tree canopy partially because the planting / furniture zones have been paved over. We need an active program to cut concrete and restore tree boxes More pollinator resources. Please plant more CA native plants that provide habitat and forage. If you plant it they will come!
More public parks and amenities ; Housing first. Abolishing landlords More street trees adds value to our homes, shade for summer, homes for birds & other wildlife & a daily experience with beauty.
More trees and plants in the corridors around and under 880 please. It is a scar that divides the city and although there is effort to reduce those effects they still exist.
Most of these are interconnected, so the question is somewhat difficult to parse.
N/a
NA
Native trees please. "Any tree that grows" in the city doesn't mean that it helps the insect/ pollinators. Euc.s don't support much insect life in Alameda Co. Live Oaks do. Madrones do. Don't forget to consider patches of native bunch grass - blue wild rye, cal fescue, rush. shrubs like ceanothus, Gumplant ( Grindelia spc.s). Plants and trees take time to grow in.
Need for more public trees and public works staffing to support trees, parks, etc.
Need more trees, thanks for all your work!
Need to maintain the canopy of trees around street lights is all, More pruning and care for trees; Prune trees around street light for safety at night
New trees today are a gift to our future self and our descendants. Like us, not every tree we plant survives to adulthood. Planting a few too many now means our children won't have too little.
No comment
No comment
No pot holes
none
North of 580 dimond is beautiful. Clean streets, lots of trees. South of 580 fruitvale is starkly different - no trees, lots of trash and dumping, concrete jungle. Why is the 580 divide so stark. Oakland needs to ensure all resident have clean green streets — not just the residents in rich neighborhoods.
Nothing else matters if people don't feel safe walking around the city. If people feel safe enough to live their lives, they can enjoy the other benefits of living here.
Oakland has become very dirty over the last few years and needs a big clean up.
Oakland is a beautiful city and we need to keep it that way Oakland is beautiful but not all neighborhoods are welcoming, and that does contribute to one's sense of belonging and mental health. It doesn't feel like a cohesive city. There are deep inequities in the quality and number of recreational centers, parks, trees, sidewalks, and the provision and maintenance of city services.
Oakland is becoming a failed city. I can't shop without risking broken windows in my car or being assaulted.
It's safer to make my purchases online.
Oakland needs climate resilient solutions for cleaning our air and water, such as urban green infrastructure.
Multibenefit solutions like this should be integrated into roadways, creating green Complete Streets that are safe for cyclists and pedestrians and provide a multitude of physical and mental health benefits to 29 Appendix
Comments: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community. surrounding communities. More information about urban green infrastructure can be found here:
https://savesfbay.org/urban-green-infrastructure
Oakland needs to be livable and equitable for everyone. Livable = walkable and bike-able. Cities are for people, not cars. Reduce or eliminate parking minimums so that we can have on-street gardens. Phase in undergrounding utilities so that trees can grow larger.
OPD needs to enforce residential streets that have over 1,000 vehicles per day including "all transportation over 4.5 tons - signs do not work!!!
Streets: 56th St (between Telegraph Avenue and Shattuck Avenue. Pot holes, accidents, and running stop signs.
Our selves and our planet need more trees, and eucalyptus trees grow well in the increasingly arid climate of the Bay Area and Oakland. We need trees that can survive drought and heavy rains. We need eucalyptus trees. Stop finding ways to use poison in Oakland. Whether it's purpose is to destroy an unwanted plant or to appease a nativist, the damage caused by spreading poison over the environment is immeasurable. Fire travels even faster over dried grass and brush than through forests of living trees. Any advocacy of poisoning trees because of the fear of fire makes no sense.
our street has many accidents involving cars, pedestrians, bikes and houses.
Our street trees ( whittle Ave) have many many dead limbs that need pruning as they are falling off onto cars etc. More tree maintenance please!
Out streets are so unclean and the drug use and shoplifting is so demoralizing.
Parks and wildlife, reducing income inequality
Parks, green spaces, and above all (literally and figuratively) trees, trees, trees, that help us breathe cleaner air and soothe our souls.
People need good paying jobs and careers to improve their living situation and long term self-sufficiency, people need stable housing and homeownership, how can you be proud of your city when it’s trashed and dirty? The city spends a lot of money over 100 million dollars each year in its public works department and we still living in trash, driving pass 12th street and 23rd avenue everyday feels like you’re living in a third world country that doesn’t have a city government agency to clean up a metropolitan city. The city government should be ashamed of theirselves. Economic opportunities and mental health goes hand in hand, these individuals committing crimes will continue to do it if the city doesn’t address the root cause of it. Let’s continue to promote community policing and community non-profit partnerships.
Places like Mountain View cemetery are constantly killing (lack of water, overcrowded planting of new redwood) and cutting down old oakland and redwood. Their entrance trees are strangled by Christmas lights that have been tied around them for many years as the trees grow -they’re being strangled. They need investigating and more oversight please
Plant more native trees and shrubs, restore waterways that the city has turned into literal sewers (Temescal Creek), and involve the Ohlone people in more land development and stewardship decisions. In short, treat the land with some actual respect.
Plant more trees and protect existing ones! Top priority ; Please take care of our trees and plant new ones! Plant more trees! The fact that predominantly white neighborhoods are tree canopied while other neighborhoods are bare is shocking. The most racist city management anywhere! Plant native trees. Create a double benefit to humans and wildlife.
Comments here imply Oakland sprays its trees. Absolutely stop that. Poisons kills ecosystems that need to establish balance. Poisons affect humans too. No spray saves Oakland money up front and human health, water issues in the future .
Plant redwoods: these natives grow quickly, are hardy, & so beautiful too.
Planting more trees and greening Oakland could provide tremendous community and health benefits.
Appendix 30
Comments: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community.
Planting more trees help fight climate change & with clean air.
Planting native and endemic trees is vital as we regenerate natural systems. Replace invasive and poorly adapted trees with native plants!
Planting trees brings joy, calm, beauty, relaxation and has been scientifically proven to lessen crimes in areas of the city as well as to contribute to positive mental health and reduce stress. please better schools for the future
Please bring trees to e 17th street, foothill, and 23rd ave. The area around 23rd Avenue is so blighted and needs lots of trees. Some streets have no trees. Please invest in our community oakland. The area around Garfield elementary deserves better.
Please consider the environment and environmental justice in a holistic way! Please don't use poison — manually removing eucalyptus trees can create jobs. I would like to see Oakland's urban forest resemble the way this area looked before settlers came as much as possible. Please stop watering lawns! please enforce the ban on gasoline powered string trimmers and gasoline powered leaf blowers !!! Please give POC decent parks
Please more street trees down East 8th surrounding neighborhoods and all Oakland. Cool the streets, it’s only going to get hotter in summers. ; Please expand your list of allowed street trees to add some variety and take note of the various microclimates. Thanks!
Please plant more trees in reservoir hills clean up trash clean up downtown diamond Please plant only native trees in Oakland- If you don't know what the species are you can talk with California Native Plant Society. thank you!
Please stop the use of herbicides and pesticides in Oakland. Very worried about decline in insects and birds.
Plant native species in parks and natives as much as possible for street trees.
Protect existing mature trees, especially in neighborhood with few trees (mature trees are providing public benefits many times greater than newly planted trees) and be more critical of permits to remove them.
Educate residents about the value of preserving them (and the realistic costs and risks, such as sweeping fallen leaves or providing occasional supplemental watering in summer). Establish a (or partner with another organization's) program to maintain young and mature trees, including watering and pruning.
Protected bike lanes and bus only lanes need to be a priority Provide jobs and diversified housing to reduce crime and homelessness and get rid of ghettos as a breeding ground of low expectations and crime
Pruning trees every 7 years is unnecessary. It should stop permanently. It destroys wildlife habitat. Formerly pruned sycamores are beautiful and should not be pruned anymore, unless an occasional limb needs cutting.
Public Safety, Trash Control, improved roads and education are the most visible community items Oakland should focus on.
reduce city wasteful ideological spending
and use to funds to keep city clean, safer, and small business opportunities - beautiful parks ans schools- it’s sad to see how poor our schools are - it shows we don’t care about our children- clean up the encampments ! Reduce the crime.
Reducing crime should be on top of the list because without it only the homeless and trash will remain Reducing inequities and homeless will reduce crime.
Reducing inequities is important
Reducing inequities must be our priority vs dealing with symptoms of the problem Relax and/or be creative with tree planting guidelines so more trees can be planted. Why 48” for ADA when federal standard is36”?
Removing encampments and controlling the trash WILL improve public safety and lead to cleaner air and water. (The trash leeches directly into our water)
31 Appendix
Comments: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community.
Repurpose the excess lanes on every street in Oakland that has more than 2 lanes of car traffic.
Replace the extra lanes with parks, trees, pathways, playgrounds, etc.
Rice and bamboo need to be completely eliminated at every level No asset what ever
Right now, City of Oakland lets PG&E cut down trees growing near power lines with no community input, no posted notices, no plan for regeneration of trees, no commitment to replace greenery with suitable alternatives in the spaces they desecrate. Please change this.
Safety in numbers!
Schools are the generator and incubator of change. We need better schools for a better tomorrow.
Schools that are currently covered in asphalt are a great place to start increasing tree coverage and reduce the urban heat effect and pollution.
Sex Trafficking and prostitution is a major problem
So, trash and litter abound near homeless encampments, so the two are not unrelated. Roads are getting to be truly awful, like Buffalo, NY in the 1970's but without the excuse of snow and ice; Also please partner with PG&E to stop the cutting of trees for no reason - wholesale removal, and lollypopping healthy trees is really bad for the trees and the creatures who live in them .
Stop cutting down trees! The whole hills side and side of Hwy 13 at Park Blvd off ramp has been cleared, without notice! It looks hideous and depressing. The Redwood Regional Park trails East and West ridge look horrible after plundering the hillsides, removing everything in sight. Please stop! And at the very least replant! Mudslides are going to happen like they have in the past.
Stop planting trees that have no chance to survive long-term without adequate staff. Trees need to be properly and correctively trimmed while young to avoid becoming hazards in the future. Let's not forget about the water required in the first two years. Staffing staffing staffing.
Stop spraying poison in our parks, roadsides, etc. Marin stopped. This would prevent more chronic illness and cancer.
Also, make it illegal to poison our air with toxic chemicals from people's drier vents.; Stop killing and "limbing" trees and using poisons in parks and along roadsides. Marin stopped. I know Oakland has deals with Monsanto/Bayer, but no excuse to cause even one more case of cancer and chronic illness.
Stop using pesticides; plant native and drought tolerant trees and plants; reduce "lawns"; create open green spaces for everyone --including birds and bugs.
Stop using the fascism imposing lockdowns and mandates period from early February 2020 as an excuse and cover for destroying our urban forests!! Within two to five blocks of me more than a dozen mature trees have been illegally cut by developers. Lega or not legal on HEALTHY tree removal is CODIFIED in city legal papers, but the bottom line is that it is the CITIZENS who supercede the City Council in all things ecological. You will stop cutting down trees.; Eucalyptus trees are NOT flammable unless there has been a HARD FREEZE, which we have NOT had in Oakland since 1990. Stop cutting down mature Eucalyptus. EACH Eucalypt in drought or wet years, equally binds an average of 450 TONS of CO2 annually. Most people responding to this survey may be unaware that the soil biology is destroyed after the City, County, Fed boondoggle cuts down Eucalyptus through widespread heavy application of Glyphosphate and other hyper toxic chemicals, further destabilizing our unconsolidated soils. We do not have time to cut down trees performing mature tree ecological services, which include attracting rain, cooling the atmosphere (drought year or we), holding the soil together to prevent slides, cleaning the rain, collecting summer or "tree rain". Many native animals actually prefer Eucalypts over native species, e.g., Monarchs and several species of owls and kite.
Appendix 32
Comments: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community.
Street trees are vital! I have personally funded numerous street trees in 94608. There are not enough trees in our hot, ugly concrete jungle. These trees create a totally different Oakland and are VITAL to creating a city people can live in!!! I am tired of barren hot surfaces! There needs to be more investment in tree maintenance otherwise neighbors cut down their trees and refuse any new trees. Most owners are unable to maintain trees.
Studies have shown that well maintain streets with trees reduces crime.
Systemic change is needed in how we coordinate our response to issues in Oakland. All departments can't be working on all issues. We suffer from mission creep and lack of staff and or lack of focus of staff. We run in circles and achieve little at times.
Take care of what you have. Stop being a part of the 'we'll just replace it" culture Taking care of the huge amount of Trash and litter, particularly in Deep East Oakland is one of my greatest concerns
The city needs to save its urban trees, plant more, and involve the community in creative ways, e.g., (1) spend money to train a tree-care corps of young people, teaching them skills, tree knowledge and given them job experience, all while being of great aid to the city's tree staff; (2) revise the guidelines for planting trees so more can be planted, not continuous tell the community where they can't plant trees; (3) require utilities to place their underground infrastructure in such a way as to not preclude the planting of trees.
The City of Oakland and the Public Works Agency have been discriminating based on considerations of race/income in limiting tree planting and tree planting services just to 25% of Oakland census tracts using both City funds and Cal Fire/State of California grant funding while redlining 75% of Oakland census tracts and 75% of Oakland residents (over 200,000 residents) in violation of California's Unruh Civil Rights Act that bars public agencies from discriminating in their provision of services. All of Oakland census tracts and residents deserve equal treatment and trees/tree planting services. The City and the Public Works Agency should end the discrimination related to race/income and initiate as part of the plans for each year in the next 50 programs that ensure nondiscrimination and equal treatment and that end the racial redlining that has been its policy in the last several years using City of Oakland taxpayer funds as well as Cal Fire grant funding that effectively redlined and denied important benefits related to trees and tree planting to millions of residents in 75% of California census tracts. Every resident in multiple City Council districts were denied trees and tree planting services. Environment justices is supposed to be fair to all groups and races, but the City's so-called "equity" policy has been used to deny benefits in violation of the California Unruh Civil Rights Act and Federal nondiscrimination requirements.
The Climate Emergency is being ignored by too many .. and tree planting/protection is one of the simpler things that can be done to effect it .. along with enhancing skills which create more economic opportunities ... jobs reduce crime ... jobs that are taking care of the future air/water/ambience make everyone feel a bit better about their prospects & their surroundings ...
The Democratic Party platform should support: Animal Rights, Defending the Affordable Care Act, Ending Citizens United, Ending Marijuana Prohibition, Giving Greater Visibility to Pro-Life Democrats, Gun Control, Net Neutrality, Raising the Minimum Wage to $15 an Hour, Responding to the Scientific Consensus on Global Warming, and a Sustainable Energy Policy. Democrats for Life of America, 10521 Judicial Drive, #200, Fairfax, VA 22030, (703) 424-6663
The disgraceful disparities shown to the residents of East Oakland are criminal. City government should be forced to trade places on our desolate and filthy streets. We need economic growth and development opportunities to empower our residents. People should be held accountable.
The garbage that homeless people have is awful and unsafe for our community. Fix the housing issues and get these people off the streets. Crime is out of control. I can’t walk home alone in Downtown Oakland due to shootings. You can’t leave anything in the car ever. Fix some basic issues with the community. Have police answer 911 calls on time. Hell have someone even answer when you call 911. There is so much funding to be used. Get it together and make Oakland a wonderful safe place to live. 33 Appendix
Comments: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community.
The lack of funding for care and protection of our urban forest is appalling. Stop with the free for all for developers and property owners. Trees are a valuable part of neighborhoods and they need our collective protection, especially with toeratires going up and all the noise pollution. Crime and homelessness are a symptom of lack of overall funding for uality of life issue and the landscape around us is a huge part of improving quality of life for everyone. Oakland need to protect the resources we already have and enforce ordinances to save our trees!
The multi layered disparities that exist cannot be ignored. However, trash is ignored across the board by the city of Oakland. The permissive city leadership (our mayor) should enforce the most basic city services. Trash fosters trash.
The presence of trees and other vegetation in city landscaping, should be used as part of a strategy to alleviate the sense of desolation and imprisonment that some residential may feel. Environment helps shape people's behavior and overall outlook towards life.
the Progressives and leftists who run this town have transformed it into a weird horrible place. If you don't have their exact PC political viewpoint, you risk being destroyed by this judgmental sanctimonious group of hags. This tree thing already exists thru Sierra Club, who receives money from the US Forest Service to plant trees in Oakland. The fed'l gov't won't give the money directly to Oakland: good call! This whole enterprise here smacks of the City of Oakland trying to establish yet another level of bureaucracy so they can get money directly, which they can then mismanage, direct to their growing uncompensated city staff pension plans, and we'll never see one tree planted.
The public safety issue is #1 and the homeless issue is directly correlated to the crime and trash that we see around the city. There are still open chop shops in the city at homeless encampments and they have been active for over 2 years. We have spent millions trying to tackle the problem but it is still a big problem. As business owners we can not conduct business if we can not create a clean safe environment for our customers.
The trees can assist in alleviating the effects of climate change to some extent. We should be working to put California native trees (which do much better in the droughts here) in every street in every area of Oakland.
There are fewer trees, particularly large trees in our area than in years past - that is the opposite of what we need. Can tree plantings and projects be turned into community building opprtunities?? There is trash all over our neighborhood collecting in front of homes and OUSD properties, one of which is an abandoned school site where there is frequent dumping
They are all important.
This City need a lot. Crime and homelessness is equally the cause of most of our issues.
This, so far, isn't about trees.
Trash and litter on our roads create a sense that Oakland is trashy, dirty, and ugly.
Tree planting in Oakland should focus on underserved communities, areas where there are few trees now.
Trees have known benefits--they provide shade and lower sidewalk temperatures, clean the air of pollutants, prevent loss of rainwater, absorb CO2 which helps cool the planet, provide habitat for birds, mammals and butterflies (bringing them into the community with the trees), and finally trees beautify communities making them more valued and safer.
Tree planting will benefit everyone
Trees are a balm, a comfort, a healthy addition to our communities. Children need to see them, climb them, lean into them; older adults feel calmer under a canopy of leaves, a reminder of a healthy world. We must find housing for people suffering without them and we owe our children and ourselves excellent schools that encourage, expect our young people to flourish with the supports they need. Trees remind us of beauty and possibility. Some days.
Trees are critical for climate change. We have had to fight to get trees. It cools houses makes it more pleasant and feasible to be outside.
Appendix 34
Comments: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community.
Trees are so important in our environment with regards to climate change,aesthetics, clean air, wildlife habitat, and pride of neighborhood. It is equally important to plant and maintain trees in the flatlands and the hills of Oakland. It is essential that a program to maintain our trees is reinstituted (pruning and watering) as well as bringing back enforcement of the policy to plant news trees anytime a tree dies or is removed.
Trees help communities in so many ways; mental health, air quality, aesthetics…What a wonderful effort here and hope for improvements to neighborhoods throughout the city in more affordable homes, reduced crime, graffiti and trash abatement and better schools
Trim trees for safety.
Urban forest maintenance
Urban neighborhoods without trees can get 10 degrees hotter or more than leafier streets just a few miles away. Often these are predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, sometimes formerly redlined neighborhoods, and they tend to be poorer communities where many residents (housed and unhoused) lack a way to cool off. (Source: https://theconversation.com/satellites-zoom-in-on-cities-hottest-neighborhoods- some-10-degrees-hotter-to-help-combat-the-urban-heat-island-effect-182925) Use a light touch in managing trees.
Uuij; I believe that this I selected above needs to be enacted and that the people we vote into office should be held accountable ; I
Want trees that are low allergens
We are OAKland yet our streets are barren! A comprehensive, ongoing commitment to public and private investment in our urban forest is necessary. So many of the trees on my block in the Dimond have been cut down de to powerlines that it's genuinely ugly. And then I was overwhelmed by the permitting process to plant trees in front of my house so like many neighbors, I just did my best to follow the rules without a permit. We help removing concrete, eliminating permits, and working to prune those trees that are mature so that they last another few decades. ; It would be great to see blocks choosing a new tree together. In 20 years it will look amazing if all or most of a block has mature trees like the best streets in piedmont.
We live in Oakland. Why don’t we plant oak trees
We need more green spaces. That means planting trees on mass on sidewalks, opening up new parks, and increasing the density of plants and trees at existing parks. ; We need more and better green spaces throughout Oakland. That means planting a massive amount of trees on sidewalks, opening up new parks, and increasing the plant and tree density of existing parks.
We need more shade trees as school. Kids don’t want to play in the blazing Sun.
We need more trees.
We need to focus on long-term priorities for everything, including trees. Fund the Tree Services Division. Fully fund it, so that it can do the maintenance that's needed.
We need tougher penalties for repeat offenses to reduce recidivism. We need harsher penalties for those who deface property. We need basic city services to actually be held accountable like trash pick up, incl. loitering on the streets. There are a ton of trash bags from community clean ups with no city member ever picking them up with no timeline on site. We need our public parks to be clean and accessible including not allowing encampments to simply foster on the grounds, turning our tourist attractions to waste (ie Lake Merritt). We need more trees, especially in the flatlands and in deep East Oakland. ; Leave whatever trees that are in the ground, in the ground. Instead of cutting our forestry, incentivize people to stop starting fires stupidly or for PG&E to be forced into converting power lines into underground utilities. Use your power as a city.
35 Appendix
Comments: Please list up to 5 of your priorities for the community.
We reduce crime by improving socioeconomic opportunties and socioeconomic EQUALITY for all. All who are unhoused must be HOUSED, period and this is the policy in Finland. It works. Housing the homeless costs taxpayers a LOT less than leaving them unhoused on the street. Stop closing public schools. Some of us are aware that Oakland remains under top-down attack for being the last City in the U.S. to have had a general strike (what generates all rights, privileges for all workers most) in 1946. Oakland needs to cease application of pesticides in ALL cases. The community doesn't wish to be doused in cancer causing chemistry. Train all residents who wish to learn in GEURRILLA GARDENING tactics, all of which CAN BE SCALED.
We want to live in a healthy environment and trees, lots and lots of trees, are crucial now more than ever.
West Oakland's children deserve more, healthy trees. Persistent homelessness is at least one reason why we have fewer trees. Many trees are browning and dying in our small parklets and larger parks because tents, equipment, and waste products are right on top of the trees' root systems. There are many trees with serious burn marks because of encampment fires beneath the trees! With homeless residents around the trees, nobody goes near the trees to provide tree maintenance or to intervene when the tree is in trouble. When homeless residents are moved, nobody goes to inspect the state of these trees, and they continue to be stressed. A mentally ill homeless person nearly destroyed our sidewalk tree in a fit of rage...
Where is area for input on trees. Am I looking at the wrong survey ? I would like trees planted that will be cared for not just left to die. Considering the drought trees, these trees should be natives that can withstand drought. Such trees must have supplemental water for several years until well established.
With climate change, we will face increased heat and equity issues related to access to cooling centers and air condiditioning. Trees go a long way to creating shade in urban environments and reducing heat islands. But if the City is going to plant trees, it needs to properly maintain them and protect their roots/trunks from cars etc.
With limited resources at the local/city level, we should focus growing residents' participation in community.
Regarding roads, focusing cars onto fewer streets or narrower lanes will give back the street space for public use - green space, safe walking, trees! ; Regarding roads, focusing cars onto fewer roads or narrower lanes will allow more green space instead of asphalt. Discloure - I am an Oakland homeowner with three vehicles.
Would be great to add more trees near Oakland's gratuitous freeways to reduce noise and dust.
Yes
You missed adding priority, “Increased tree canopy.” This is a Tree Survey, right?
Appendix 36
Table 8: Comments for “I like trees in my community because…” Comments: Something else not listed? If so, fill in the blank:
Check on trees to make sure that they are safe and won’t injury or kill peopl Drive thru Piedmont to be the benefit of trees, Alameda also! I agree that more native park and street trees is desirable. Also, the beauty of trees is related to health and the feelings of well being of residents.
I agree to have more native trees for our wildlife, but to be aware of water usage of those trees. I think we need to prioritize native, but secondly, drought tolerant even if non-native. I also agree to prioritize neighborhoods that lack trees and deal with increased heat, noise pollution and air pollution.
Ironic that Oakland is encouraging the planting of trees when our regional park district, UC Berkeley, PG&E, and EBMUD have been cutting down thousands of trees. We need trees that will be adaptable to climate change whether they be native or not. ; Please plant whatever trees that can adapt to climate change and are drought resistance which includes Eucalyptus and Monterey Pine.
Linpiar calles alludar a mantener linpios los lagos rios orrillas del mar More native trees a good idea - I own a copy of the 1990's tree plan and was a member of Oakland Releaf, so very familiar with the species in the list. The fremontodendron on 51st/Pleasant Valley are lovely, for example.
No
Our native birds need their baby food: caterpillars (which also become butterflies). These caterpillars only grow on certain plants: our native plants. That's why planting native trees is so important. Oak trees alone host 150+ different species of butterfly and moth.
If we can't plant an oak somewhere, perhaps we can plant a tree-shrub? There needs to be more emphasis on toyon and large shrubs. Dr Hurd manzanita makes for a stately looking small tree.
These need to come with education, or homeowners will water them when it is hot. California ecology is so special! ; Schools that have a play area of asphalt should get their own coast live oak tree and a bunch of clear dirt around it. And some scrub oaks: those make for great climbing trees! Kids love to play with sticks and leaves: we should encourage it.
Revise the Tree Planting Permit to make it clear to the homeowner that the City supports planting more street-trees but seeks to minimize the risk of future damage. Make it clear that if the new tree follows the standards, the City accepts responsibility & liability for this new "official tree", including future repairs of sidewalks or pipes damaged by the tree roots. The current permit is not clear, but implies that the homeowner still accepts all liability when signing the permit.
Revise, loosen, or eliminate some of the Tree Planting Standards if they make it impossible to plant a new tree that meets all the rules, and unintentionally reinforce the inequities in tree plantings, especially in older flatlands neighborhoods with long-established utilities and other infrastructure:
- state an explicit goal of having at least one street-tree at each property, preferring species with a large stature at maturity
- current standard, minimum 20' from streetlamps: there are many existing mature trees within 20' of streetlamps and no data to support that these trees promote crime or other problems (ostensibly because of the shadows?). With so many streetlamps on residential blocks, this standard rules out many locations that 37 Appendix
Comments: Something else not listed? If so, fill in the blank:
are otherwise suitable for a new tree. Eliminate this rule.
- current standard, minimum 5' from all underground utilities: loosen the standard if there is no way to provide 5' clearance for a new tree, but it is possible with less clearance (such as San Francisco's standard of 3'), especially with "dry utilities" such as electrical or telcom that pose no risk of leaking from a broken pipe.
- current standard, minimum 20' between trees: revise this standard to allow for variations in tree species and mature size, and for plantings of multiple new trees. A distance of 20' between trees may be a general guideline, but some large or wide-spreading trees may be better farther apart (25', 30', etc.) to accommodate their mature size, while some small-canopy or upright trees may be fine if planted closer than 20' apart. Also, multiple new trees planted with less than 20' spacing may be fine as they will regulate their lateral spreads like trees in a natural grove or forest. It may be better to plant 2 new trees at 18' or even 15' apart, rather than only 1 new tree.
- current standard, minimum sidewalk width and compliance with the ADA: revise the wording to explain that Oakland's desired width is 48" (following the California Building Code), but sidewalks as narrow as 36" are still legal under the ADA (federal law). In residential neighborhoods with existing sidewalks and few pedestrians, it would often be better to have a wider tree-well (at least 3' wide) and a larger-stature tree with a narrower sidewalk (less than 48" but more than 36") alongside it. There are already many mature trees in Oakland with sidewalks 36" to 48" wide beside them.
- current standard, allowing only small-stature new trees under high-voltage (HV) electrical wires: revise this standard to allow taller trees under wires that are higher than 35'. Allow certain species of large-stature trees that can be pruned around the wires. Oakland should insist on providing large trees for all residents. There is only a low risk of power outage or fire if a tree branch damages a wire in the densely developed Oakland flatlands, unlike in rural areas where a catastrophic wildfire could result. Large-stature trees provide more shade and other benefits to the neighborhood, even if their canopies are reduced by pruning around HV wires. Let the utility provider (PG&E) spend the extra money on that pruning and distribute it among their customers, who are already paying for such pruning in neighborhoods with big trees; the small additional marginal cost of pruning large trees in new neighborhoods would be a fair expense and justified by the greater benefits to the additional neighborhoods. A few local examples of streets with large trees on both sides, including under HV wires: London plane trees on the 2900 block of 56th Ave in Oakland (see the sharp difference from the 2900 block of 57th Ave!); London plane trees along most of Central Ave in Alameda; 900- 1000 block of Billings Blvd in San Leandro; 2200 block of California St in Berkeley.
Encourage (and even subsidize) planting of large-stature quasi-public trees in private front yards, if the existing sidewalk is too narrow to allow for new street-trees. Example: 10600 block of Acalanes Drive in East Oakland, where London plane trees in the front yards extend over the sidewalk and roadway.
Express clear support for community-based / volunteer / non-profit groups that are working to plant, maintain, and protect Oakland's trees. We all share a goal of providing the benefits of trees to the city's residents and should not be competing against one another for planting locations or funding -- already more than any one group could handle alone.
Overarching goal: Funding. The Landscape & Lighting Assessment District (LLAD) was not tied to the increasing cost of living and no longer provides enough money for adequate tree and park operations.
Use collaborations and creative approaches, using examples from other cities, to increase the funding for trees in Oakland, both official City operations and complementary community/nonprofit allies. Trees might Appendix 38
Comments: Something else not listed? If so, fill in the blank:
be funded with money available for public health and walkability/bikeability, transportation, proactive crime- prevention strategies, stormwater abatement, etc.. Look to state grants, private foundations and grants, etc.
Consider using a new system of neighborhood car-parking permits and increased parking fees to pay for public infrastructure, including new trees, and reconfigured green streets and sidewalks (as described in economist Donald Shoup's book "The High Cost of Free Parking", among others).
More broadly, continue advocating (as city officials and residents) to revise / amend California Proposition 13, in order to restore adequate revenue for public expenses across the state, including infrastructure and education. But don't let this debate distract from local action on trees and other forms of environmental justice now.
Possible future goal: Coordinate Oakland Public Works / Tree Services with Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) as partners in the citywide urban forest, especially if some school campuses can be opened as publicly accessible neighborhood parks. If OUSD does not have arborists or landscape architects on staff, Public Works / Tree Services may be able to share their skills in maintaining the school's trees as part of a robust comprehensive urban forest. Money for green schoolyards and outdoor education may be available for it.
They calm traffic.
They provide me with heart-lifting beauty & spiritual uplift.
Tree are an investment for future generations.
Trees make a huge difference in the perception of how “nice” a neighborhood is. They improve quality of life and are even more important now with climate change. A plan to plant climate resilient trees and maintain native trees to support native wildlife is essential.
We need to plant more natives; they support native fauna, especially pollinators
Table 9: Community Engagement Partner Engagement Event Reports Please summarize the discussion that you heard and the input you received at your event.
Virtual meeting event for City employees (most work in D3) presented by Gordon. Attendee comments included: 1) Species selection for drought conditions and allergies (allergy season is expected to become more intense due to climate change), 2) desire to connect urban forestry with watershed programming, 3) job training programs similar to what the City of Baltimore is doing with jobs and trees (no additional details provided), and 4) plant id walks/tours/books or other things that can connect people with actual trees in their neighborhoods.
The event was the end an end of year celebration held at Prescott Elementary School. The goal was to celebrate staff, students and the local neighborhood near Prescott. As part of the event Common Vision helped to raise awareness about the tree survey by encouraging attendees to go online or fill out the paper form. We were able to collect approx. five paper surveys but are unsure of how many online forms were filled out.
Presentation at Oakland Tech High School. Jayson Johnson attended Oakland Tech as a guest speaker to give a presentation on Common Vision's Tree Corp program and the tree survey w/ Davey and the city. Each student received a flyer on our tree program and filled out the survey. The students asked several questions about how trees have a calming nature and what the city is doing to maintain the trees already planted.
Wanda attended a meeting for the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project: WOEIP and pitched the tree survey to those in attendance. Wanda shared the QR code to the attending members who were instructed to take the survey. The survey was applauded for its efforts to educate the citizens of Oakland in effort to progress the move towards additional greening for the city. 39 Appendix
This was an event at Prescott School (orientation and registration) in Oakland supported by Common Vision.
There were many families there. David Moore (and family), Gordon Matassa (and daughter) also attended. I met Wanda from Common Vision as well as Sean/David (name?) who helped with the prior event that Elizabeth attended. Other key people there were StarHawk (legendary in the women and spirituality moment of the late 60s). While Gordon brought a hundred or so printed surveys and I brought the i-pad, we only got 5 or so responses. There was no booth, but David did do multiple announcements and we gave away some shwag as we talked to families, etc about what were were doing. If attending further events I think our outreach booth would help reinforce our message. This event was particularly difficult as events there (bouncy house, book give away, plant give a way) were all very spread out over the campus. Let me know if you have any questions or want more information. I will upload event photos to the drive (in the Common Vision) folder.
Event: Mama Wanda Good Eggs Family Challenge. We teamed up with Good Eggs and Stop Waste to hold an event at Hoover Elementary focusing on educating youth and the community on the importance of stopping food waste and how it negatively affects the environment. As part of the event we (Common Vision) engaged with the eventgoers on the tree survey. As a result we had approx 5-6 paper surveys completed which I will mail to Gordon.
Community members were happy to see that new tree plantings were being planned in their neighborhood.
SPRAC Health & Wellness Fair
Monthly Email newsletter to the OPRF mailing list of community members.
I was allowed to ask people individually to take the survey. There were 9 people that took the survey Community members were informed about the survey and that their input was appreciated.
All but two people had never heard about Oakland's Urban Forest Master Plan. People that came to the table were happy to hear about the vision for tree planting in the city of Oakland Over 70 percent of the event participants were of Chinese descent. Some individuals were able to translate for those who were not able to read Chinese, as nearly all of those who took the survey indicated that they had an education level below high school graduate. Only one individual had heard of the forest mastery plan prior to the event.
e-blast sent to CIPL members in Oakland
We held a community circle at Peralta Hacienda and engaged community in a gallery style presentation and conversation around the need for trees, particularly in this corridor of Oakland where there is minimal green space for residents. We presented letters and research by high school students at MetWest around tree equity, and presented the survey at the end of our session.
We held a virtual session for ASCEND families to continue the conversation around outdoor equity. We were trying to hold an option for families who could not physically attend in person and provided a multilingual space to converse with families. Many families are not aware of city policies and were not familiar with the planning around trees. They were excited to consider having more green spaces in the neighborhood where there kids could safely play.
This was our last digital email campaign with our local community. We shared out the information, slides, and resources and a link to the survey. In reviewing some of the comments on the public input, the conversation seemed similar that people would like to see more trees equitably planted in our city, and also a desire to care for the current trees that are planted.
This is the 2nd day of the event I attended
Appendix 40
Table 10: Comments for “I dislike trees in my community because…” Comments: Something else not listed? If so, fill in the blank:
(also commented from previous section)
Revise the Tree Planting Permit to make it clear to the homeowner that the City supports planting more street-trees but seeks to minimize the risk of future damage. Make it clear that if the new tree follows the standards, the City accepts responsibility & liability for this new "official tree", including future repairs of sidewalks or pipes damaged by the tree roots. The current permit is not clear, but implies that the homeowner still accepts all liability when signing the permit.
Revise, loosen, or eliminate some of the Tree Planting Standards if they make it impossible to plant a new tree that meets all the rules, and unintentionally reinforce the inequities in tree plantings, especially in older flatlands neighborhoods with long-established utilities and other infrastructure:
- state an explicit goal of having at least one street-tree at each property, preferring species with a large stature at maturity
- current standard, minimum 20' from streetlamps: there are many existing mature trees within 20' of streetlamps and no data to support that these trees promote crime or other problems (ostensibly because of the shadows?). With so many streetlamps on residential blocks, this standard rules out many locations that are otherwise suitable for a new tree. Eliminate this rule. - current standard, minimum 5' from all underground utilities: loosen the standard if there is no way to provide 5' clearance for a new tree, but it is possible with less clearance (such as San Francisco's standard of 3'), especially with "dry utilities" such as electrical or telcom that pose no risk of leaking from a broken pipe. - current standard, minimum 20' between trees: revise this standard to allow for variations in tree species and mature size, and for plantings of multiple new trees. A distance of 20' between trees may be a general guideline, but some large or wide-spreading trees may be better farther apart (25', 30', etc.) to accommodate their mature size, while some small-canopy or upright trees may be fine if planted closer than 20' apart. Also, multiple new trees planted with less than 20' spacing may be fine as they will regulate their lateral spreads like trees in a natural grove or forest. It may be better to plant 2 new trees at 18' or even 15' apart, rather than only 1 new tree.
- current standard, minimum sidewalk width and compliance with the ADA: revise the wording to explain that Oakland's desired width is 48" (following the California Building Code), but sidewalks as narrow as 36" are still legal under the ADA (federal law). In residential neighborhoods with existing sidewalks and few pedestrians, it would often be better to have a wider tree-well (at least 3' wide) and a larger-stature tree with a narrower sidewalk (less than 48" but more than 36") alongside it. There are already many mature trees in Oakland with sidewalks 36" to 48" wide beside them.
- current standard, allowing only small-stature new trees under high-voltage (HV) electrical wires: revise this standard to allow taller trees under wires that are higher than 35'. Allow certain species of large-stature trees that can be pruned around the wires. Oakland should insist on providing large trees for all residents. There is only a low risk of power outage or fire if a tree branch damages a wire in the densely developed Oakland flatlands, unlike in rural areas where a catastrophic wildfire could result. Large-stature trees provide more shade and other benefits to the neighborhood, even if their canopies are reduced by pruning around HV wires. Let the utility provider (PG&E) spend the extra money on that pruning and distribute it among their customers, who are already paying for such pruning in neighborhoods with big trees; the small additional marginal cost of pruning large trees in new neighborhoods would be a fair expense and justified by the greater benefits to the additional neighborhoods. A few local examples of streets with large trees on both sides, including under HV wires: London plane trees on the 2900 block of 56th Ave in Oakland (see the sharp difference from the 2900 block of 57th Ave!); London plane trees along most of Central Ave in Alameda; 900- 1000 block of Billings Blvd in San Leandro; 2200 block of California St in Berkeley.
Encourage (and even subsidize) planting of large-stature quasi-public trees in private front yards, if the existing sidewalk is too narrow to allow for new street-trees. Example: 10600 block of Acalanes Drive in East 41 Appendix
Oakland, where London plane trees in the front yards extend over the sidewalk and roadway.
Express clear support for community-based / volunteer / non-profit groups that are working to plant, maintain, and protect Oakland's trees. We all share a goal of providing the benefits of trees to the city's residents and should not be competing against one another for planting locations or funding -- already more than any one group could handle alone.
Overarching goal: Funding. The Landscape & Lighting Assessment District (LLAD) was not tied to the increasing cost of living and no longer provides enough money for adequate tree and park operations.
Use collaborations and creative approaches, using examples from other cities, to increase the funding for trees in Oakland, both official City operations and complementary community/nonprofit allies. Trees might be funded with money available for public health and walkability/bikeability, transportation, proactive crime- prevention strategies, stormwater abatement, etc.. Look to state grants, private foundations and grants, etc.
Consider using a new system of neighborhood car-parking permits and increased parking fees to pay for public infrastructure, including new trees, and reconfigured green streets and sidewalks (as described in economist Donald Shoup's book "The High Cost of Free Parking", among others).
More broadly, continue advocating (as city officials and residents) to revise / amend California Proposition 13, in order to restore adequate revenue for public expenses across the state, including infrastructure and education. But don't let this debate distract from local action on trees and other forms of environmental justice now.
Possible future goal: Coordinate Oakland Public Works / Tree Services with Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) as partners in the citywide urban forest, especially if some school campuses can be opened as publicly accessible neighborhood parks. If OUSD does not have arborists or landscape architects on staff, Public Works / Tree Services may be able to share their skills in maintaining the school's trees as part of a robust comprehensive urban forest. Money for green schoolyards and outdoor education may be available for it.
Apillar la comunudada para mantener limpia la siudad
Can I second this? It is spot on!; Leave oak leaves under the oak tree: it's free mulch and the tree needs it to live. ; Does anybody get prosecuted for illegal tree-cutting? Anybody? Depends on the type of tree
I agree that tree selection needs to be considered. Sidewalk damage and leaf litter do not outweigh, by any means, the absolute benefit of trees.
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Planting the correct species near the sidewalk would not contribute to a tripping hazard. STOP planting Liquid Amber and Sycamore.
So some trees cause more sidewalk bulge than others. BUT the way you plant them has something to do with that too. There are old trees with rocks instead of concrete in a wide swath around the tree which lets the ground move without cracking sidewalks.
someone needs to clean up the suckers on new trees, they are not good for the health of the trees, and on some of new trees the suckers have some sort of insect taking over The benefits of trees to climate change, out weigh the consequences of tree maintenance! These may be considerations for trees but it doesn’t make me like them less