News

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.

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…

The Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission met on January 11 and voted to approve the new concept. CCCC members, who met on January 12, remain skeptical about its feasibility and will ask that cost estimates be developed ASAP. Our next meeting will be at noon on January 30, prior to the City Council receiving a…

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,…

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…

The City now has a web page about the current Civic Center planning process. On Wednesday, November 15, 5-7 pm, the consultants will hold a public meeting at the Central Berkeley Public Library.

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…

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…

The bond measure details and the summary with pro and con arguments are now available here. We appreciate that “Revitalize our Civic Center buildings and Park” is included in the summary. Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) will host a free Zoom webinar, “Saving Our Civic Center’s Crown Jewel,” on October 6 at 6 pm (register…

The City Council voted on August 3 to proceed with a $650 million bond measure. While the Civic Center is still included in “a long list of other infrastructure priorities such as improvements to Berkeley’s waterfront, parks, pools and civic center” [Berkeleyside], the $100 million for that category is an improvement over the June suggestion…