By Skye Christensen

Steve Price, co-founder and coordinating committee member of the citizen advocacy group El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll (ECRA Walk & Roll), is on a clear path: “I’ve always been interested in people’s ability to provide for themselves, be healthy, and be housed affordably, ” he says. As an El Cerrito Chamber of Commerce Member, Price says that ECRA Walk & Roll joined the Chamber, “because our missions align, especially with the ‘shop local’ initiatives. ” By encouraging accessible transit options, ECRA Walk & Roll works to enhance community interaction, including support for local businesses.

The premise of ECRA Walk & Roll is to advocate for mobility choice — streets that safely welcome sustainable, equitable alternatives to getting around El Cerrito and adjacent neighborhoods. Don’t be alarmed, Price insists, “We don’t want to have some kind of cultural revolution where we tear people out of their cars!” The overarching vision is to develop urban areas where shopping, living, and commuting coexist, benefiting both residents and the local economy.

This type of urban planning and advocacy is good for public health and for local businesses. “So much of our well-being is tied to the physical places that we live in, ” says Price, citing frequent visits to Japan as inspiration.

“I would come back to the States and look at the BART stations and think, ‘The stations in Japan are the nucleus of small businesses, with many independent merchants. Whereas, here, we put a Walgreens and some parking lots…’ They don’t do this in Europe or Japan, so why here?”

Vibrant pedestrian and cycling cultures in other countries, in contrast to the car-centric development typically seen in the United States, motivated Price to take action. “The United States is turning out to be one of the least healthy advanced countries in the world because we are the most auto-oriented, ” offering that people who walk, ride bikes, or take public transit are statistically healthier than people who only drive cars. “Often, taking the bus involves running, ” Price jokes, “but it certainly involves walking to the stations.”

Long before helping to start ECRA Walk & Roll, Price set his sights on what is now known as the Ohlone Greenway: “I would see this bike path under the BART tracks, and it looked so lonely. The City would load up a truck full of herbicide and spray along the path. I thought, ‘This is a sorry sight. There is such potential here.’ So I went to the City and suggested, ‘Why don’t we get some money from the state and plant some trees along the path?' So we planted about 800 trees along the east side of the path.”

Alongside the trees, businesses and an active community grew.

Naming the path was an act of community, too. “It didn’t have a name, so we named it the Ohlone Greenway. The City was going to name it the El Cerrito Bike Path, but I said, ‘This connects cities. It can’t be named after one city.’” The committee working with Price considered calling it ‘The Greenway.’ Price says he suggested the name Ohlone Greenway. “I called up some Ohlone people and asked them if it would be OK. I also talked to Malcolm Margolin, who wrote the book ‘The Ohlone Way, ’ and he said, “Sure, go for it.” So we got Berkeley and Albany to agree to it.”

Deeply rooted in El Cerrito, Price has been a resident since the 1980s. As an illustrator, author, and organizer, he’s been dedicated to urban design as a means of improving the well-being of the area for over 30 years. He served as a Planning Commissioner, Design Review Board member, an Urban Forest Committee member, and, more recently, joined Plaza for the People to advocate for interconnected urban spaces around the Plaza shopping center and BART station. From that point, Price, his wife Janet Byron, and other members decided to start ECRA Walk & Roll to more fully focus on mobility — promoting a walkable, bikeable, mixed-use, urban environment that serves as a hub for community engagement and economic activity.

The images are from Steve Price’s “Imagining a Walkable America” (www.imaginingawalkableamerica.com) publication, which visualizes how transformative urban development can be when prioritizing other forms of transit.

One recent win for ECRA Walk & Roll was securing a countywide grant for El Cerrito to purchase bike racks for installation on public rights-of-way. Price credits city council member Rebecca Saltzman as a key project champion.

Price says that statistically, bike racks within 50 feet of a business increase customer loyalty and make shopping more accessible for bicyclists. The initiative is just beginning to be implemented, with the El Cerrito Plaza Shopping Center signing on. ECRA Walk & Roll has helped identify best practices, such as ideal bike rack locations. “We want to work with businesses to see if they want to get a bike rack,” Price says. Write to ECRA Walk & Roll at info@ecrawalkroll.com to learn more..

ECRA Walk & Roll is a small, local nonprofit making a big impact. It is part of a broader community movement prioritizing healthy communities, including thriving businesses. By fostering environments where people can shop, live, and commute safely, both the community and the local economy will benefit. The organization is a model for others looking to achieve similar goals in promoting health, sustainability, and economic vitality.

Price’s “Imagining a Walkable America” publication shows how a roadway can become more accessible and inviting.

For Price, the work is about community-building, but it’s also personal. Five years ago, Byron was in an accident that totaled their electric car. Instead of getting another one, they decided to try e-bikes. Suddenly, Price became more aware of local businesses, “because I wasn’t going 30 miles an hour past them. I’m burning calories, not gasoline. I want to know what’s nearby. It’s amazing what’s in El Cerrito!”