July 2022 – Bond Measure Deliberations Continue
According to an 8/3/22 memo from the City Manager to the Mayor and Council: At the July 26, 2022 City Council meeting the council directed staff to schedule a special meeting to be held on August 3, and to return with a revised single bond measure in an amount from $600 million to $650 million,…
Read MoreJune 2022 – Will Civic Center Be Funded If Bond Measure Passes?
At this point, inclusion in the projects the proposed bond measure would fund is not guaranteed. The City Council will have a special meeting about the bond measure on Tuesday, June 21, at 6 pm–agenda packet here. Of interest is the following outline for the $150 million infrastructure part: $90M for climate change, wildfire protection,…
Read MoreJune 2022 – Council Tentatively Approves Bond Measure
At its May 31 meeting the City Council approved proceeding with a $300 million bond measure. Berkeleyside reported: “The $150 million the bond would raise for affordable housing could allow the city to build or preserve hundreds of homes for less-wealthy residents, though the exact amount will depend on additional funding from other sources like…
Read MoreMay 2022 – Bond Measure Alternatives Go to City Council
Public Works has prepared a report for the Council following the latest opinion survey. The revenue measure combination that comes closest (61-63%) to 2/3 support is a $300M bond (1/2 to affordable housing, 1/2 to other infrastructure for which the Civic Center could be eligible) paired with a 30 cent per square foot parcel tax…
Read MoreApril 2022 – City Contracts with Siegel & Strain
In our April CCCC meeting, Liam Garland announced that Siegel & Strain Architects will be leading the next phase of Civic Center planning. Eleanor Hollander of the City’s Office of Economic Development and Elmar Kapfer of Public Works will co-manage the project, and Gehl Studio will be brought in again for public input. On May…
Read MoreApril 2022 – Vision 2050 Public Meetings
Liam Garland, Director of Public Works, has been leading a series of online meetings in which he imparts a lot of information about the Vision 2050 process and asks for input. In addition to public comments during the meeting, he says his department welcomes emailed comments and questions. See the Vision 2050 website for the…
Read MoreMarch 2022 – Presentation to City Council
It appears that good seismic retrofits to both buildings can be done for less than half the previously estimated cost, with a bonus of more usable space!
Read MoreMarch 2022 – Big State Grant for Park
The City of Berkeley has been awarded $591,666 for improvements to the fountain area of Civic Center Park through the Caltrans Clean California Local Grant Program. After many years of planning, this will finally provide for installation of the bronze turtles and medallions designed by Native artists for the Turtle Island Monument. It will also…
Read MoreFebruary 2022 – City Reports on Measure T1
The City has sent out a 16-page illustrated brochure about how the 2016 Infrastructure Bond Measure T1 has been spent so far. Under “Planning Studies” is the following entry about the Civic Center Area: It’s a little worrisome that the drawing includes the Council Chamber addition to the 2180 Milvia building that our group has…
Read MoreJanuary 2022 – City Gets Report on Building Leaks
A new report by engineering firm Allana Buick & Bers documents water leaks and related issues in the Maudelle Shirek and Veterans Buildings, with an estimated cost to properly repair them totaling $3.4 million. Fortunately, there don’t seem to be any current leaks, so Public Works would like to combine the repairs with seismic retrofitting…
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