Orinda's Roads
Orinda has 123 miles of roads; 93 miles are maintained with public tax dollars but 30 miles are forced to support themselves through donations from the residents living on them. Everyone in Orinda, those living on publicly supported roads and those who do not, pay the same taxes.
Starting in 2012, new taxes supporting public residential streets were imposed, plus a road impact fee paid by the garbage company and reimbursed by higher garbage bills. These additional taxes and fees now add up to $8.0 million a year. This equates to over $1,100 for each of Orinda's 7,000 household; benefiting mostly those 4,000 families living on public maintained residential streets.
This website describes Orinda’s bifurcated road system with an Overview and details on the Three Parts of the System. It then goes into detail as to how those living on what are euphemistically called “Private” Streets are supporting those living on the public streets. There is also a history of how Orinda upgraded its public streets from the worst in the Bay Area to the best.
Finally, there is a Letter of Support we hope you will consider signing, asking the Orinda City Council to rectify the inequity of two classes of Orinda citizens: Those who receive as a basic service, public road maintenance up to the driveway of their private residence and Those-Who-Do-Not.