Scooter Madness

By C.J. Hirschfield

The good news at Lake Merritt: hundreds of young crabs and an increased number of topsmelt fish, striped bass and bat rays have been sighted recently, and a newly repaired aeration unit near the pergola has resulted in a sweeter-smelling environment. “It’s all an indication that the water is doing fairly well,” says Lake Merritt Institute executive director James Robinson.

The not-so-good news: twenty or so electric Lime rental scooters have been fished out of the lake by James and his intrepid volunteer crew over the last few months.

Scooter in Lake Merritt.

James Robinson has been working around the lake since 2005, when he began teaching sailing at the Lake Merritt Sailboat House. He also teaches science and boat safety to fourth- and fifth-graders. When the first scooter was found in the lake, James was surprised, but no more.

James Robinson

The scooters arrived in Oakland shortly after San Francisco forced Lime to stop renting them until regulations governing their use could be put in place. Here in Oakland, it’s been like the Wild West, with kids under 18 – and adults, too – riding at 15 miles per hour on sidewalks, without helmets. Lime has placed scooter stations wherever it chooses, without receiving permission from businesses or the city of Oakland.

Google “scooters in Oakland” and the first hit is the website of a law firm specializing in accidents.  I myself have witnessed many near-misses on the sidewalks in the last month or so.

The Oakland City Council just approved its first draft of regulations that it hopes will bring order to the chaos, and maybe save some lives. As someone who lives and works by the lake, I would like to believe that these regulations – riding in bike lanes only, parking so as not to block sidewalks, encouraging helmet use – will be enforced. But how?

Meanwhile, back to our wonderful Lake Merritt. Why are scooters being dumped there? Is it a protest against the hipsters who use them? An anti-gentrification statement?  A declaration about how Oakland feels about the controversial Uber, which recently made a “sizeable” investment in Lime?

Maybe, as James suggested to me, it’s young people doing it “just because they can.”

James and the Institute’s volunteers have a couple of ways to scoop the scooters out. If the vehicles are near the shore, they use fishing nets. But when they’re thrown from a pedestrian bridge, they can be down deep, and a boat is required to bring them up.

James didn’t have an easy time contacting someone at Lime, but he finally connected with someone, and the scooter was picked up. He hasn’t had consistent contact with them. “I just want the scooters out of the lake,” says James. “Whatever gets to resolution of the issue, I’m all for it.”

District 3 City Council staffer Justin Lee has been working hard to convince Lime that the company will need to increase its community service and engagement in Oakland if it wants to do business in this city. He arranged for us to speak with Albert Lin, Lime’s East Bay operations manager.

Lime scooter awaiting pickup on Grand Avenue

When we asked him about the environmental impact of Lime scooters on the lake, Albert promised to ask the company’s engineers and get back to me. As this column goes to press, we haven’t had a response.

Even before the scooters arrived, the Lake Merritt Institute and its volunteers had their hands full retrieving about 1,000 to 5,000 pounds of trash from the lake every month.

In June, James told me, trash volume was twice what it was a year ago, due in large part to the influx of what he calls “household items” – dressers, tables, blankets and such—that he believes may be coming from the homeless encampments that circle the lake. “Some of these manmade things are definitely harmful to the environment,” he says. He’s also noticed that metal trash cans are being tossed into the lake.

The news about scooters isn’t all bad. Many of parking lots in downtown and Uptown are now turning into commercial and residential high rises, and convenient, car-free mobility makes a lot of sense. Scooters are a promising  option.

What we need are rules that ensure sidewalk and rider safety, and the common-sense consensus that tossing scooters into our beautiful Lake Merritt is not the way to go.

For information on how you can help keep our lake healthy, contact the nonprofit Lake Merritt Institute.

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C.J. Hirschfield has served for 16 years as executive director of Children's Fairyland, where she is charged with the overall operation of the nation's oldest storybook theme park.