Electric scooters: Once one notices them, they’re hard to miss. In many neighborhoods around Berkeley it’s common to encounter two, and sometimes even three, wheeled scooters directly in the middle of a sidewalk.
A mild hindrance for some can be a harsh injury for others, leading advocates and members of disabled communities in the city to seek change. On Aug. 14, a Zoom meeting was held for community members to voice their concerns and suggest solutions to the problem of e-scooters infringing on the daily lives of blind and otherwise disabled Berkeley residents. It was attended by organizations such as Streets of Equality and the East Bay Center of the Blind, and Jeff Hoover, a government affairs and mobility and transportation policy representative from the rental scooter company, Veo.
Other notable attendees included Rena Fischer of the Berkeley Commission on Disability; ADA program coordinator for the City of Berkeley, Thomas Gregory; and Judy Wilkinson, former state president for the California Council of the Blind…