Oakland neighborhood sets up DIY street barriers to stop sideshows

A group of neighbors in Oakland got so fed up with the sideshow activity happening in front of their homes that they took matters into their own hands — by building barricades out of tires and even installing their own speed bumps.

People who live in the area said the streets themselves tell the story of what's wrong, dozens and dozens of tire tracks and skid marks cover the intersections on East 21st Street. And according to the neighbors, the city wasn't doing enough to keep them safe.

"It's terrible. So bad," said Faustina Mendoza.

She lives just a couple of houses down from this intersection at East 21st Street and 19th Avenue in the San Antonio neighborhood of Oakland.

She said cars routinely run the stop sign and speed up and down the street. One time a car narrowly missed her daughter as she was in the crosswalk.

"This one guy comes and runs over, and she runs, and if she didn't run maybe they," she said, stopping as she imagines the worst.

That's why a few weeks ago neighbors got together to put massive tires filled with dirt and concrete into the median of East 21st Street. It's a homemade form of DIY traffic calming, and people in the area said it worked. It stopped the sideshow activity and much of the speeding.

But after an accident when a car hit one of the tires and flipped on its side, the city said it had to go.

In a statement from Josh Rowan, the director of Oakland's Department of Transportation, he said, "The community is fed up (and justifiably so) with the sideshows in their community. The community was upset that the city removed their self-installed traffic calming. I directed the removal due to the risk that it created to the traveling public."

There are piles of tires, all that's left of the neighborhood-made traffic calming devices, still sitting along the sidewalk.

City leaders met with neighbors on Monday night to talk about adding city-sanctioned speed bumps or traffic circles, but some people said they're tired of waiting for the city to act.

"That's what Oakland used to do. We took matters into our own hands. We made sure our communities and our youth was protected so I don't have any issues with the community stepping up like they should be doing," said Kariah Scott, a native of Oakland.

"It's bad because if we call the police they say they can't do anything," said Mendoza.

The neighbors also installed speed bumps, bolting them into the pavement. Rowan said because they don't cause the same safety concerns as the tire barricades, he's inclined to let them stay.