July 2023 – Design Concept Approved

At a special meeting of the Berkeley City Council on July 25, the Council voted unanimously to declare the Council’s intention to: support the preferred design concept and necessary future studies and projects articulated in the plan developed by staff and consultants and direct staff to pursue the next steps identified in the plan, including…

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July 2023 – Council to Vote on Design Concept

At its July 11 meeting the Berkeley City Council will vote on a resolution approving Berkeley’s Civic Center Design Concept Plan, and declaring the Council’s intention to support the preferred design concept and necessary future studies and projects articulated in the plan. The agenda item will probably come up after 9 pm. The agenda packet,…

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March 2023 – Council Work Session 3/21

The City Council had a special “work session” meeting on March 21. The CCCC had sent a letter to all concerned stating several points that we believe the Council should take into consideration. The Vision Team’s  report of more than 160 pages, summarizing recommendations and estimated costs, is here.

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February 2023 – Presentation for Super-Subcommittee

The slide deck for the February 9, 2023 Super Subcommittee meeting is here. It includes some public survey data. The new drawings for the Maudelle Shirek Building allocate a significant amount of space to city offices and “support spaces” despite only 42% of respondents favoring such uses. The Historical Society museum is distributed onto parts…

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December 2022 – Turtle Island Monument

The City departments of Parks, Recreation & Waterfront and Civic Arts are presenting a new design for the conversion of the former fountain in Civic Center Park to a Turtle Island Monument and for improvements to the surrounding plaza. They met with the Landmarks Preservation Commission on December 1—see the documentation, including the conceptual design,…

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November 2022 – About the Turtle Island Monument Project

Three City Commissions will be reviewing a revised design for the Turtle Island Monument this month. We have sent the following letter to the commissioners, mayor and vice-mayor: Dear Landmarks Preservation, Civic Arts, Parks Recreation & Waterfront Commissioners, We understand that designs for the Turtle Island Fountain, a monument to the Indigenous community located at…

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October 2022 – BAHA program

During an online event by Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association on October 5, Daniella Thompson spoke about the history and significance of the Maudelle Shirek Building. Marc Steyer of Tipping Structural Engineers spoke about his company’s research into the seismic weaknesses of both buildings and how they could be addressed. See his slides here: 2022-10-05 Berkeley…

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September 2022 – Entering Phase Two

An online meeting on September 29 included representatives from the project planning team, CCCC, and four City commissions—Public Works, Civic Arts, Landmarks and Parks. The project team gave a presentation illustrated with the slides shown here on the City’s webpage for the Civic Center project. New concept drawings (see below) seemed to: relegate the Historical…

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