| | Published June 9th, 2010
| Crestview Residents Take Road Repairs into their Own Hands
| | By Andrea A. Firth |  | | Crestview Drive cul-de-sac off Valley View Drive
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To many of her neighbors on Crestview Drive, Diana Stephens, a 23-year resident of Orinda, is known as "the pothole lady." Due to the decaying road condition and the lack of city resources to repair it, about two years ago Stephens started filling the ubiquitous potholes on her street herself. "I have all the supplies, the orange cones, the apron. The hardware store loved it when they saw me coming to make a purchase." But soon she and her husband realized that they could not bear the cost of her one-woman road repair initiative alone and that they would need to find another solution to repairing their street, which they believe has deteriorated to an unsafe condition.
Located on the southside of Orinda, Crestview Drive extends from Valley View Drive and winds over a mile up into the hills and dead ends. "We think it is the longest cul de sac in Contra Costa County," says Stephens. This distinction is part of the challenge that faces Crestview Drive residents. Although the street, especially the bottom portion, sees quite of bit of traffic from the 124 property owners that live in the neighborhood, it is not a city thoroughfare, thus low on the City's road repair priority list. "Crestview is not scheduled for any other city sponsored repairs in the foreseeable future," says Stephens.
Stephens banded together with about ten other neighbors, circulated a petition, and subsequently presented Crestview Drive's situation to the City Council. Through the process, she got to know the members of the Council and the Citizen's Infrastructure Oversight Commission and staff of the Public Works Department and concluded the cost of the City's infrastructure problem is overwhelming. "The City receives only a limited amount of our property tax dollars and much of that is allocated to the schools. There is no way the City is able to afford the $65 million in road repairs that are needed," she says. "I have concluded that I have to maintain my own road." And that includes paying for it, according to Stephens, who compares the concept to the private monies raised locally to support the public schools.
Stephens and a few other neighbors have launched a campaign to raise funds to repair their street and so far over 50 residents have contributed a total of $35,000 toward the cause. They are focusing their funds on the most heavily used segment of the street from just above the hairpin turn to the bottom at Valley View Drive. To repave the entire stretch, roughly 1981 feet, will cost about $180,000. Last summer EBMUD retrenched sewer lines along the first 900-foot section extending south from the junction at Crestview Court; the City has partnered with the agency to cover the $84,000 cost to rehabilitate this segment. "We'll repair the first 900 feet then continue working down the street with the money available from the neighbors," stated Chuck Swanson, the City's Director of Public Works and Engineering Services. He noted that the City is currently developing a formal policy and criteria for citizen-initiated pavement projects so the City can engineer, negotiate, oversee, and absorb liability for citizen-funded repaving projects.
Remarkably, Diana Stephens' home in not within the area of the road repair project. "I live further up the street, so I'll still be maintaining the road in front of my house," says Stephens who seems fully prepared to continue to sweep up the loose gravel and fill potholes. "Through this process I have come to really know my neighbors. I have made many more friends. We'll be able to come together better than ever before if we need to in the future," she adds. "We have a certain amount of pride in our homes, our roads, and this city. In the current condition, the roads do not reflect what we think of as Orinda."
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 | | Pia Loeper (seated) and Diana Stephens working at a neighborhood rummage sale that raised over $2,000 for the Crestview Drive repair cause.
Photo A. Firth
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA