‘We paid for that peace’: Oakland residents furious after the city removed their DIY speed bumps ‘overnight’ — but city says their ‘solution’ only ever increased the risk on their street

“We've had peace for the past eight months, a hard peace," Oakland man Michael Andemeskel told NBC Bay Area. "We paid for that peace with our labor and money and then the city overnight took it away without excuse and without notice.”

What prompted residents to come with their own plan and why did the city rip it away?

Residents implement their own speedbump DIY solution

A 2023 AAA study found that nearly 60% of American drivers admit to engaging in risky driving behaviors, including speeding, distracted driving and aggressive maneuvers. These behaviors, AAA says, aren’t limited to highways but also occur in neighborhood settings, where they can be particularly disruptive and dangerous.

For months, residents of the Oakland neighborhood watched as their street became a hotspot for reckless driving and illegal sideshows — events where drivers perform dangerous stunts like donuts and drifts.

After multiple calls and complaints to city officials produced no concrete results, neighbors banded together. Pooling their own money, they collectively spent $3,000 building several speed bumps along their street in an effort to curtail dangerous driving.

Residents say their project was verbally approved by the city’s Department of Transportation Director. Confident in their community-backed solution, they believed this would finally end the dangerous driving. Besides, Andemeskel says, the residents were told a planned repaving years down the road would give the city and residents time to find a solution that works for everyone.

"So we're like, ‘OK, we can work with that,’” Andemeskel told the news outlet. “Within eight years, we can figure out a solution that makes everyone happy, right?" Unfortunately, the residents’ relief was short-lived.

City removes DIY speed bumps, chaos returns

Earlier this month, city workers abruptly removed the homemade speed bumps, citing safety concerns. Residents were outraged. Not only had their efforts been dismantled, but multiple neighbors reported the dangerous driving returned a day later.