"There is no magic compromise that preserves all parking on Hopkins and makes Hopkins safer for everyone," cyclist and advocate Marc Hedlund told the Berkeley City Council in July, as Berkeleyside reported. The council voted a little before 1 a.m. that night. Its decision answered whether Hopkins Street gets protected bike lanes. It did not answer what happens at the curb in front of Monterey Market, Monterey Fish Market and Gioia, and that is the question that will shape the strip.
On the 1500 block, people still park and shop the way they did in the spring. On a Saturday morning this fall, the street looks like it always has. What has changed is the decision ahead, which now comes down to a few hundred feet of curb.
What the July Vote Actually Set Up
The council's 7-2 vote sent Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani's referral to Public Works. The referral calls for 1.2 miles of new or upgraded bike lanes from Sutter Street, at Hopkins' east end, to Peralta Avenue and the Ohlone Greenway. It also calls for a raised intersection at Hopkins and Monterey Avenue to slow drivers. The council's agenda language makes one-way Class IV protected lanes the "foundation" from The Alameda to Peralta, with buffered lanes east toward Sutter. It also directs staff to consult businesses, residents, schools and other people who use the corridor.
The council turned down a competing proposal from Councilmember Brent Blackaby, which would have studied sending cyclists to Rose or Ada streets before a final decision.
Here is the timeline as it stands now:
- 2022: The council approves an earlier lane plan with a two-way track on the south side of the street.
- 2023: City officials shelve both the lanes and the repaving.
- April 2026: A proposal to repave without the protected lanes comes forward. Berkeleyside reported that it would have pushed any redesign back at least five years, because of the city's moratorium on cutting into newly paved streets.
- July 7, 2026: The council adopts the five-year street rehabilitation plan.
- July 28 to 29, 2026: At a Tuesday meeting that runs past midnight, the council votes shortly before 1 a.m. Wednesday to restart the protected-lane design.
- Fiscal year 2028: The city plans to break ground.
The paving moratorium is why the lanes and the repaving travel together. Once the city lays new asphalt, the street's layout is effectively fixed for years. That is why the design work leading up to the 2028 fiscal year carries so much weight.
The 1500 Block Is the Part Nobody Has Settled
Interim Public Works Director Wahid Amiri gave the council a preliminary count of about 145 parking spaces removed. That count includes every on-street space between McGee and Peralta avenues and the spaces on one side of the street east of McGee. Kesarwani has said the city can keep parking on one side of the street in front of the commercial strip on the 1500 block. A preliminary Public Works count suggested all of the spaces between Monterey and McGee could go. The City Manager said exact numbers will take a parking-impact analysis, according to Berkeleyside.
That analysis feeds a curb-management plan, which the referral requires. The plan has to account for:
- ADA parking spaces
- Loading zones
- Short-term parking
- Waste collection
- Metering
The city's stated goal is to strengthen the commercial district, not undermine it. Everything that makes a Hopkins errand quick or slow falls inside that plan. That includes the delivery truck outside the fish counter, the 10-minute stop for a pizza pickup, and the space closest to the produce bins.
Who Is on the Curb Being Planned
The strip is worth looking at closely, because most of the businesses on it have outlasted several earlier street plans.
| Business | Address | Since | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magnani's Poultry | Hopkins Street | Serving Berkeley since 1917 | Poultry counter |
| Monterey Market | 1550 Hopkins | Opened 1961, focused on produce from 1968 | Produce, including from local farmers |
| Monterey Fish Market | 1582 Hopkins | Founded 1979 | Seasonal fish and shellfish |
| Raxakoul Coffee & Cheese | 1578 Hopkins | Started as Country Cheese Co. in 1992 | Family-owned coffee and cheese shop |
| Gioia Pizzeria | 1586 Hopkins | May 2004 | Funghi pie, house-made cannoli, strawberry lemonade |
| Hopkins Cafe | 1549 Hopkins | June 2026 | Coffee, breakfast, bread |
Monterey Market traces back to Tom and Mary Fujimoto, who started it in 1961. It turned toward fresh produce in 1968, according to Berkeleyside's history of the store. Monterey Fish Market describes itself as family-founded and still independently run. Gioia has been on the block for more than 20 years. Raxakoul Coffee & Cheese has been there since 1992.
The newest name is Hopkins Cafe. It opened in June 2026 in the former Espresso Roma space at 1549 Hopkins, Berkeleyside reported. The cafe will spend its first couple of years next to a street whose final layout is still being drawn.
Merchants and residents who spoke against the plan in July said losing parking would make shopping, mail delivery and preschool drop-offs harder. Some said the new layout could be confusing for seniors and people with disabilities. Supporters pointed to Hopkins' designation as a "high-injury corridor." Parents and teens described biking a street where riders often share traffic lanes with cars. Both groups were talking about the same curb.
The Lawsuit Targets the Approval, Not the Curb Plan
On Aug. 28, Friends of Hopkins Street filed suit in Alameda County Superior Court. The plaintiffs include the owners of Monterey Fish Market and Hopkins Launderette. Berkeleyside reported that the complaint alleges the July approval violates the California Environmental Quality Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and local planning documents. It asks a judge to bar further work on the project.
The CEQA claim rests on design changes since 2022. The suit argues that the exemption notice the city filed in 2022, for a two-way track on one side of the street, doesn't cover the current plan for one-way tracks on both sides. These are allegations, not findings. As of Berkeleyside's Sept. 4 report, the city had not filed a response and city officials declined to comment. Walk Bike Berkeley's Ben Gerhardstein told the outlet he expects the lanes to go forward.
The Berkeley Scanner reported that the first hearing is set for Nov. 10. That falls after this post goes up, so the court's first look at the case hasn't happened yet.
Where the Money Question Sits
Public Works estimates about $20 million to repave and redesign Hopkins. The bike lanes account for $5 million to $6 million of that, and city officials have not said how they will pay for the lanes. The adopted paving plan schedules the Monterey-to-McGee segment, the stretch in front of the shops, for the 2028 fiscal year. Its estimated cost of $176,649 covers only paving that segment, not the full redesign.
The two citywide measures on the Nov. 3 ballot don't change that math directly. Berkeley lists Measure U as an infrastructure bond and Measure V as a sales tax. Measure V's revenue goes to the General Fund with no Hopkins earmark. The city's proposed bond project list doesn't name Hopkins paving. Measure FF, the 2024 parcel tax for paving and street safety, specified that its money couldn't be used to build bike lanes on parts of Hopkins.
Hopkins is also an issue in the District 1 council race on the same ballot. In Berkeleyside's Oct. 7 candidate profiles, three candidates criticized the July vote and two supported it. Whoever wins will be on the council when the curb plan comes back.
What Stays the Same on the Strip Until Groundbreaking
No construction is scheduled this fall. The council directed staff to restart outreach and design, and the city plans to break ground in the 2028 fiscal year. Until then, Hopkins stays the worn street it has been. In April, Berkeleyside reported that the pavement had kept deteriorating since the 2023 pause.
The stretch where parking may come out entirely runs between McGee and Peralta, west of the shops. In front of the shops, the question of one side of parking or none will be settled in the city's curb-management plan and parking-impact analysis. The design outreach the referral requires is where businesses and nearby residents can weigh in before that plan is final. For more on the area around the strip, see our North Berkeley neighborhood guide.
If you own a home near Hopkins and want to know how a pending street project like this one could come up when you sell, Tomaj Trenda can talk it through with you using what the city has actually decided. Request a Free Seller Consultation & Home Valuation.
