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The city of Berkeley has put out the call for a new transportation czar who will be responsible for all transportation planning, traffic engineering and alternative transit programs. 

The manager for transportation will head up a newly reorganized division. The division, with an annual budget of $500,000, will have eight full-time traffic professionals including planning and engineering specialists as well as consultants. 

Division goals include developing transportation strategies based on the Transportation and Demand Study, which was recently completed by the city and UC Berkeley.  

According to the job advertisement, the study is designed to create “efficient, environmentally friendly, economically sound transportation” for the Downtown and Southside areas. 

The manager for transportation will also be expected to implement the Bicycle Plan, which promotes increased bicycle ridership by increasing the number of bikeways and bicycle education programs. 

The job advertisement, which describes Berkeley as “a very engaged and participatory community,” said the ideal candidate should have excellent communication skills and the ability to deal with “highly motivated citizens.” 

The city began accepting applications for the position on July 30 and the last day to apply is September 7. 

A March 3, 2000 release by the city’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Task Force report determined Berkeley has twice as many pedestrian accidents as the state average and four times the rate of bicycle accidents.  

Since then, city officials have said that traffic issues are a top priority.  

Councilmember Polly Armstrong, who represents District 8, said her constituents are concerned about heavy traffic through southeastern access routes to UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Alta Bates Hospital. 

“Everywhere I go, anything I do, the first  

question people ask me about is traffic,” said Armstrong. “I have dedicated the six years I’ve been on the council to make it easier to get around without a car and safer to get around if you’re walking.” 

Despite the political will to address traffic safety issues, the city has been plagued by setbacks in implementing a variety of safety measures outlined in the Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety, or BAPS, Task Force Study and Transportation and Demand Study.  

The setbacks have been primarily personnel related. The city’s traffic engineer, Jeff Knolls, quit in December for a better-paying job after being employed by the city for eight months. Then last May, the city’s first transportation planner, Joe Kott, quit less than a month after he was hired. 

Kott, who returned to his former job in Palo Alto, cited organizational problems as the reason for his departure. Knolls said his decision to leave the city was partially based on similar issues. Both said the organizational issues stemmed from disagreements between the Department of Public Works, the Planning and Development Department and at least three commissions that deal with traffic issues.  

“We have lacked leadership on these issues and we desperately need a transportation manager with a vision for the whole city and who is strong enough to override attempts to pit one group against another,” Armstrong said.  

Bicycle and pedestrian activists have complained that despite strong rhetoric about traffic problems, the city has been slow to respond to safety issues.  

Sarah Syed, a member of Bicycle Friendly Berkeley and the local Safe Routes to School project manager said a Planning and Development Department personnel shortage caused the city to miss a May grant deadline to upgrade pedestrian safety features near Malcolm X and Rosa Parks grammar schools.. 

Syed said the culture of city departments that deal with traffic issues is primarily oriented towards automobile-related issues and has a tendency to neglect pedestrian and bicycle problems. She said she is hopeful the new transportation manager is effective in accomplishing the goal of safer streets. 

“City staff says pedestrian and bicycle safety is a top priority but it seems like they are more interested in counting cars than making the city’s streets safer,” Syed said.