Last summer, the suit reached an incredible conclusion, with Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee announcing a settlement<\/a> in which the city committed to fixing 11,000 curb cuts over 15 years and 78,000 problem sidewalks and the remainder of the city\u2019s curb cuts over 25 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brown-Booker spoke with The Oaklandside about the landmark legal settlement, and what her daily life looks like \u2014 living and traveling in Oakland.\u00a0<\/p>\n The following conversation was edited for length and clarity.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nikki, first of all, congratulations on the settlement. We first spoke a few years ago during a protest action against the city\u2019s unsafe streets, not too far from your home in North Oakland \u2014 and I\u2019m excited to hear more about your life and your activism. What do you do for a living?\u00a0<\/p>\n I work for a foundation \u2014 the Borealis Foundation \u2014 where I\u2019m a program director. I run a national fund called the Disability Inclusion Fund. We resource grassroots, new, and emerging disability justice organizations around the country to help out individuals, sometimes connected to disabilities. We\u2019ve given out close to $30 million over the last five years.\u00a0<\/p>\n What kinds of programs do you fund?<\/p>\n Senior and Disability Action, which you have written about and who brought me to that action where we first met, is a grantee. We support community organizing; arts and narrative change; criminal justice reform; mental health \u2014 many intersections. We have a project that resources Black disabled\u2013led organizations \u2014 10 grantees in the first cohort, with another 10 or so to come. We do annual grants and rapid response, usually for disasters or urgent needs.<\/p>\n Does your organization, or do your grantees, expect to be affected by the federal government cuts?<\/p>\n Yes, and it\u2019s already happening. More grantees are reaching out \u2014 arts organizations cut by the National Endowment for the Arts is one. And we support many disabled, trans-led groups \u2014 they\u2019re rethinking their strategies right now. Some directors are being doxxed by right-wing groups, we\u2019ve heard. There was a recent memo<\/a> about funding groups deemed not aligned with the federal government and classifying support as \u201cdomestic terrorism.\u201d They\u2019re calling out large foundations like Open Society. Philanthropy overall is concerned with who\u2019s targeted next. So we\u2019re doubling down to get money where it needs to go, but being careful about the information we ask for to avoid putting grantees at risk.<\/p>\n Tell us about where you grew up and some of the challenges you faced getting around. What kinds of risks do you face when you have to go up into somebody\u2019s driveway?<\/p>\n I have to go into traffic, go around parked cars \u2014 some are big like trucks \u2014 and ride in the street, on the road itself, because it\u2019s usually flatter and easier to navigate, until I can get to another curb cut or driveway that I can drive up on. And sometimes I\u2019d get to the end of the block and realize there\u2019s no curb cut there, and I\u2019d have to duck back into the street again. That was a pretty regular occurrence in my neighborhood. Or really everywhere in Oakland \u2014 North Oakland, Downtown. Downtown had curb cuts, but they were really steep. A lot of times, the curb cuts weren\u2019t at the corners; they\u2019d be slightly off, so you\u2019d cross and have to go somewhat off the corner to get back up.\u00a0<\/p>\n At 17th Street by the Fox Theater and the Paramount Theatre, the curb cuts weren\u2019t lined up with the crosswalks. I know in particular that one is really steep. And when the curb cuts are really steep, they fill with water when it rains. So when that happens, I have to either go through the water and risk damaging my chair, or avoid that corner and go to another one where the water isn\u2019t pooling. It can take a long time.\u00a0<\/p>\n Describe what happens when it rains.<\/p>\n Some curb cuts become like little rivers. I\u2019d have to go into the street and find a driveway that wasn\u2019t so bad. There are plenty of areas that are particularly bad during bad weather, and the sidewalks are jagged. When sidewalks are really uneven, I sometimes have to drive at an angle to get over them.<\/p>\n Is that because of the power of the chair or the size of the gaps? And what is the role of tree roots?<\/p>\n Sometimes the uplift can be two or three inches, which is hard to navigate even with a power chair. I\u2019ve had to backtrack many times. Tree roots in particular \u2014 there are so many in North Oakland. Also, just old sidewalks that degrade and crack. We\u2019re in earthquake country, too. Primarily, old sidewalks are not properly maintained.<\/p>\n Where in Downtown did you live and for how long? And how did you find the infrastructure there?\u00a0<\/p>\n I lived at 12th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way, across from Preservation Park in West Oakland, for about four years. Sidewalks were generally better Downtown, but curb cuts were still a problem \u2014 especially in bad weather \u2014 and were often steep rather than gradual. The tactile warning strips\u00a0 \u2014 the little nubby yellow panels \u2014 weren\u2019t on most sidewalks Downtown until more recently. Those strips help with traction when it\u2019s steep; they give you a little grip.<\/p>\n And walking up Grand Avenue toward Lake Merritt \u2014 the sidewalks there are really bad, cracked and uneven.<\/p>\n I know you sometimes use bike lanes for your wheelchair, including ones that aren\u2019t protected from car traffic by a concrete barrier. How safe do those lanes feel? A young girl, Maia Correia<\/a>, was killed two years ago when she and her dad were hit while they were biking next to Lake Merritt.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s almost happened to me a couple of times. I\u2019m usually very alert, but sometimes you can\u2019t avoid being on the street \u2014 it\u2019s unavoidable in many places, and often bike lanes are the best option compared to destroyed sidewalks. I know where sidewalks are bad; sometimes I pick a different street or go into the street to get around a bad section. Downtown has so much construction right now, so getting on the road and on those bike lanes is often unavoidable.<\/p>\n And when it comes to construction, sometimes you don\u2019t see hazards until you\u2019re right on them. Temporary curb cuts can be really steep or force you into traffic to even get into pedestrian right-of-ways.<\/p>\n I often have to backtrack \u2014 so many times. I haven\u2019t submitted formal complaints to the city. Usually, I just get frustrated, go around, and it makes me late. With construction, you don\u2019t know it\u2019s there until you get there \u2014 something that wasn\u2019t there last week is suddenly there.<\/p>\n What do you think about Oakland\u2019s crosswalks?<\/p>\n Most crosswalks are okay, but problems happen at the curb cuts \u2014 because a lot of sidewalks aren\u2019t aligned perfectly with crosswalks. You\u2019ll cross straight, and the curb cut is off-center, so you have to jog left or right to get up, which is dangerous. Drivers get tunnel vision; if you\u2019re out of the crosswalk alignment, you\u2019re in a gray zone.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s talk about the civil suit you filed with Michael Curran. How did it start? And what made your attorneys think that this class action could work?<\/p>\n Well, I had actually worked with my attorneys on another sidewalk case, many, many years ago. That time, I had issues at the Apple Store in San Francisco, where I couldn\u2019t access parts of it properly. So I knew Catherine Cabalo, one of the attorneys, and she then reached out to me about this class action case. I was totally like, \u201cI would love to come onto this case because I\u2019ve had so many problems with the sidewalks and the curb cuts \u2014 just even in my neighborhood in Oakland.\u201d So I was like, \u201cYeah, count me in.\u201d<\/p>\n What was the strategy?<\/p>\n They wanted to get the City of Oakland to really pay attention to the fact that the sidewalks and curb cuts had really poor access \u2014 to the point where many of them were dangerous to use. I mean, Oakland has some of the worst streets, right? The potholes and the infrastructure are really lacking and need help, particularly for people with disabilities. Everywhere I go, I run into problems with curb cuts and sidewalks, and I would have to go out of my way to avoid certain ones all the time. It was really frustrating \u2014 even in more upscale neighborhoods like Rockridge, where I do most of my shopping, I was running into issues with sidewalks and curb cuts.<\/p>\n The case took years, right?<\/p>\n We started working on the suit a few years before the pandemic. Once the pandemic hit, everything stalled.<\/p>\n It took forever. I hoped it would move faster. Even after things went \u201cback to normal,\u201d it took several more years. Meanwhile, I had to deal with the issues daily, which was maddening. If they just did proper maintenance, we wouldn\u2019t have had to do this.<\/p>\n We filed the suit in May 2023 and finally began serious settlement talks around January or February of this year. It still took another several more months of back-and-forth with the lawyers to reach the final settlement.<\/p>\n How much time did you spend with your lawyers over the last seven or eight years?<\/p>\n Hours and hours. At one point, earlier this summer, I spoke with my lead lawyer, Cat, almost once a week. We\u2019d talk for five or six hours a month. Lots of emails. Early on, she asked me to think about places with issues; I walked and rolled around, noting them \u2014 probably for 40 to 50 hours. We\u2019d pull up Google Maps and Street View on Zoom and mark locations. We really mapped North Oakland well.<\/p>\n How did you feel when you won?<\/p>\n I was happy that there was a resolution. I know Oakland knows what needs to be fixed, but the timeline is long \u2014 decades. At least now the city is compelled to act. Without the suit, they wouldn\u2019t have paid attention; now they\u2019re legally bound. I\u2019ve already seen some repairs \u2014 College Avenue curbs are better.<\/p>\n I\u2019m glad they\u2019re paying attention, but I\u2019m annoyed that we had to sue.<\/p>\n Have you heard from disability advocates around the country since the settlement?<\/p>\n People think it\u2019s great and want it in their cities.<\/p>\n I travel a lot for work \u2014 some cities are good, some are really bad. DC is pretty good; maybe because of the snow, they inspect more. Chicago is mixed \u2014 downtown sidewalks aren\u2019t great. New Orleans sidewalks are really bad. Manhattan has curb cuts pretty much everywhere, but many are steep. Sidewalks are hit-or-miss; it\u2019s better in tourist areas than in neighborhoods. The streets and pavement there are terrible.<\/p>\n San Francisco has curb cuts everywhere, but many are steep and sometimes off corners; I\u2019ve had to go into traffic because curb cuts were bad. More newly built areas are good, but downtown needs work.<\/p>\n If the City of Oakland were to become more mindful about its road design moving forward, what would you like to see the city do?<\/p>\n For one, they could put up notices ahead of time that construction is coming and there may be obstructions \u2014 ideally, a week or two in advance. A schedule or map by email would be great; they know ahead of time from permits which roads will be worked on, but maybe no one is tasked with communicating it.<\/p>\n Potholes are another huge issue. I have an accessible van that\u2019s lower because of the ramp; we\u2019ll go over a bump, and you can hear it scrape. Tires get damaged. In an accessible van, bad potholes jostle you more \u2014 my attendants drive extra slow on certain streets to protect me and the ramp. It\u2019s basically a low rider. Streets can be really bad.<\/p>\n What about bulbouts that narrow the road \u2014 in your experience, do they help slow cars and make it safer for people in wheelchairs?<\/p>\n Narrowing helps drivers slow down, but the problem is if bulbouts aren\u2019t done well, you sometimes have to go around them. I like the barrier protection.<\/p>\n When you travel, do you have a resource to look up street accessibility?<\/p>\n Not really. Some cities have walking trail maps \u2014 I\u2019ve used those \u2014 but there\u2019s nothing universal.<\/p>\n What would it be like if Google Maps directions had a wheelchair mode?\u00a0<\/p>\n That would be amazing. They should hire people to map it, as they do for Street View. Even mapping central neighborhoods and thoroughfares would help.<\/p>\n What are the issues surrounding mass transit in the Bay Area?\u00a0<\/p>\n I don\u2019t ride the bus much. I mostly walk, drive, or take BART. BART\u2019s new trains are nicer and easier to get on and off because of the smaller gap. They\u2019re more consistent now: every car has a wheelchair space, which wasn\u2019t true before. Elevators used to be an issue, but they\u2019ve upgraded many. What I really hate are the new fare gates<\/a>.<\/p>\n Why is that?<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025.10.17_Middleton_NikkiBrown-Booker_10-1600x1067.jpg\")
Brown-Booker in her backyard with her dog and her custom ramps. Credit: Florence Middleton for The Oaklandside<\/p>\n
I grew up in Vallejo and moved to attend the University of California at Davis at 18. I can\u2019t say I paid much attention to sidewalks as a kid \u2014 back then, there weren\u2019t curb cuts like there are now. But Davis is very accessible. It\u2019s flat; the campus was ahead of the game. Its sidewalks had curb cuts, and they were maintained well. It\u2019s a city of bicycles, too, so I used a lot of bike lanes to travel and never really had issues. When I moved to Oakland, I was like, \u201cOh, this is a real big city, and yet there were so many issues.\u201d I\u2019d have to use people\u2019s driveways to get up and down the sidewalk, rather than curb cuts, because they weren\u2019t necessarily at every corner.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025.10.17_Middleton_NikkiBrown-Booker_11-1600x1067.jpg\")
Brown-Booker says many of the sidewalks near her home are treacherous to navigate. Credit: Florence Middleton for The Oaklandside<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025.10.17_Middleton_NikkiBrown-Booker_18-1600x1067.jpg\")
A broken sidewalk on Shattuck Avenue near Brown-Booker\u2019s home is so uneven she uses the adjacent parking lot to bypass it. Credit: Florence Middleton for The Oaklandside<\/p>\n