The Berkeley paths are one of the treasures of the city. Even after walking them for 30 years I still find new ones.<p>It's hard not to feel admiration for the people that thought of adding paths with public rights of way to new neighborhoods before houses were even built. They envisioned a future of people walking through about and discovering the hidden corners of their fully built city. I sometimes feel we've lost the civic vision that animated much of America in the 1800s and early 1900s.
One of the problems that cities like San Francisco and Berkeley have in the Bay Area is a surplus of unmonitored, poorly policed public spaces where vagrants can loiter and make mischief. Woodsy, shady hillside paths might sound romantic in the abstract, but are hazards and petty crime magnets in reality. I don't know anyone who would want one next to their property.
For people who know Berkeley paths, I believe the first path in the article is mislabeled. It's the Tamalpais Steps, not Covert Path. I walk both of them regularly.