Palace Court - one way dead end block, POORLY neglected, big sewer holes on corner of Palace Ct and 6th ( a pedestrian's nightmare) and no parking spaces are painted/indicated anywhere on this block.

Many people park on both sides of this one way street, even though signs are in place indicating NO STOPPING on NW side of the street. Help us please!

The culverts on this corner need reflectors or some sort of warning to let bicyclists and pedestrians know of the drop off. A pedestrian could break an ankle and a bicyclist could go face first into the pavement.

Maria assigned this issue to PW Engineering Laurie

What is the status?

Mich and Steve,

This case appears to include several concerns. I can address some of them now. For others, you will need to clarify your request in a new comment.

1. "POORLY neglected". The Pavement Condition Index (PCI) – the average condition of the asphalt for all of the City’s streets - was recently found to be 71 out of 100, or "very good" which is better than Oakland (60) or San Leandro (57). Palace Ct has a PCI of 44. We are currently spending $3M to $5M per year to resurface street. We pave 3 to 5 miles per year out of the 125 miles of streets that the City is responsible for. At this rate, it takes 20 to 40 years to repave all of them. Palace Court was constructed about 30 years ago, so it is likely that it will be resurfaced within the next 10 years.

2. "big sewer holes on the corner of Palace Ct and 6th". I assume you are not speaking of open sewers. That would be an emergency for which you would be requested to immediately call Public Works. If you are speaking about the openings to the storm drain culverts, that is a different issue. We have hundreds of these old-style culverts and we are planning to replace them all, eventually, with the newer style culverts that have openings in the vertical face of the curb, such as can be found one block south at Sixth and Central. Crushed and blocked culverts have the highest priority on our repair list. The old-style culverts do cause clearance issues if someone parks too close to them. For that reason, the curb leading up to the culvert on each side has been painted red. If this needs to be refreshed, or if you think a longer spaces should be painted, reply to this comment with your specific request.

3. "(a pedestrian's nightmare)". I am not sure why the storm drain openings are considered to be a pedestrian's nightmare - are the pedestrians walking in the gutter? Are they straying outside of the marked crosswalk and falling off the edge of the curb?

4. "no parking spaces are painted/indicated anywhere on this block". The City does not usually paint parking tees except at high use areas, such as in front of schools and in the business district. Adding parking tees in a residential area generally decreases the number of cars that can park on a block, because the tees are all marked for the longest likely car. Three compact cars can park in the space needed for two full sized cars, but we can only mark the tees for full sized cars. If you and your neighbors would like to have tees in your neighborhood, please make a specific request as a new comment.

5. "Many people park on both sides... even though signs are in place indicating NO STOPPING". The illegal parking is an enforcement concern. I have forwarded this issue to our police department.

6. "The culverts on this corner need reflectors". If there is a true concern that bicyclist are biking in the gutter within inches of the curb, and not noticing the culverts at the corner, this could conceivably be an issue. At San Antonio and Union, on one corner only, residents requested reflector paddles be installed to aid in parking. This could be done at Palace if found feasible. See attached photo. If you are interested, please note your interest by replying to this comment.

I see that the original request was for a different street - Taylor Avenue west of Webster Street, which you report has major potholes and deep ruts. I have forwarded that concern to Maintenance for field review. Taylor was last paved 23 years ago and has a PCI of 51. It is scheduled for sewer repair in about 2 to 4 years, and for pavement repair and resurfacing in about 5 to 7 years. Ponding and ruts will be addressed at that time.

There is a lack of proper drainage on the 600 block of Taylor. Towards Webster Street, water pools and does not drain properly due to slope problems. Toward the west end of the 600 block, there is also a problem with drainage. The open culverts are immediately adjacent to the crosswalks. When water backs up, it is difficult to see the eight inch drop off. Reflectors have been placed at similar locations elsewhere in Alameda, so this intersection, adjacent to a church, school and childcare center, should have them as well. As for the parking tees, I believe that another resident raised that issue separately. The City conducted a study which verified the lack of street parking in the area. If tees are not the answer, perhaps you could suggest another solution to the problem? The illegal parking is another indication of the lack of on street parking.

This is a high volume pedestrian, bicyclist, dog walker area due to its proximity to churches, schools, shopping, parks and transit.

Ponding and drainage issues are a problem throughout West Alameda because of extremely flat terrain. We will address the drainage as much as practicable when we repair and resurface the street. It would not be wise to do the repairs now, only to have the work torn up by sewer repair in a few years.

It sounds like you are requesting reflectors at the northeast and southeast corner of Taylor and Sixth (600 block Taylor). Is this correct?

Please address the safety issues at the intersection of Sixth Street / Taylor Avenue / Palace Court as has been addressed at San Antonio at Union. I assure you that people in the West End do not walk in the gutters any more than those in the Gold Coast and the safety treatments applied at San Antonio and Union are needed as much, if not more, at Sixth / Taylor / Palace. Attached is a close up of San Antonio / Union.

There are six corners with open culverts by Saint Barnabas Church. There is also a school and a daycare center at that corner. There is a lot of pedestrian traffic. From my observations, the two corners that you note are the busiest and the most dangerous.

Could we please get an update on this? Due to a faulty grade, water is ponding on the 600 Block of Taylor at Webster and at Sixth. Could the excess water please be vacuumed in preparation for the major storms? The City of Alameda is well aware of the issues in this area as has been documented in the 2008 storm drain master plan.

Update? Could the responsible staff members please respond? This issue is not going to be resolved on its own. Motorists continue to crash into the culverts. The concrete is cracked and broken. Who on staff has been out to the site? Why haven't safety measures been taken at this intersection as they have been at other locations in Alameda?

Culvert at Palace and Sixth. These are probably from the 1930s and are antiquated. People do not expect a drop off and keep hitting them.

Thanks SGerstle. This what I was calling every pedestrians nightmare. The corner is not lit well (no streetlight on side of church) and these are very deep culverts, if you step into or slip into one, you would surely break an ankle or sustain a pretty serious injury. I can see how drivers and bicyclists would find it a hassle especially bicycles.

They're a hazard to the many elderly that attend church there, for sure. Definitely make parking difficult.

Asked City Manger's Office to follow-up.
https://seeclickfix.com/issues/2187412-city-manager-contact-question

I would also like to see the same precautions taken on Taylor as were taken on San Antonio and Union. I have a small child who rides her bike straight down this path, past St. Barnabas church. While she is learning to ride better, these sorts of drains are very dangerous if she gets off track. Same when she is walking our dogs or walking in general. It seems a rather easy fix to put up the post/flag reflectors to ensure our children and pedestrians are safe, just like those in the San Antonio neighborhood. Please make this a priority for our neighborhood.

Could the community please be provided with an update from the public official responsible?

All:

We appreciate your advocacy for helping this stretch of street improve. I've forwarded your input on the poor drainage and potholes on the 600 block of Taylor to Laurie Kozisek, the Public Works' engineer who is in charge of developing our 20 year plan for street resurfacing. That plan is being worked on currently, and Laurie will incorporate your input into that plan. I've also asked Laurie to work with Alan Ta on the question of putting up reflectors at the three culvert locations on 6th and Taylor.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to call me on my direct line, 510-747-7962.

Thanks,
Liam

Thank you for filling us all in.

this type of signage is absolutely needed in both directions - best in the median or on the right as they exit the tube and enter Alameda.

Mich415: thank you for your suggestion. Can you resubmit this as a separate request? It's difficult to track multiple requests within a single thread, especially when different staff are responsible for different requests. Hope this makes sense, Liam

This original issue - request for resurfacing on Taylor west of Webster - is now being closed out. This section of street is scheduled for badly needed sewer repair in 2018-2019. Street will be repaved 2 years after the sewer work is completed. At that time, gutters will be repaired to restore proper drainage.