News

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…

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,…

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,…

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…

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!

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…

On January 20, 2022, 6 p.m., the Council held a work session to Discuss Vision 2050, Infrastructure Priorities, Stakeholder and Community Engagement, and City’s Bonding Capacity; and Seek Direction on November 2022 Revenue Measure(s) The Berkeleyside report on the meeting is here.

The results of “a community survey to inform a potential Vision 2050 revenue measure” (here) have both Civic Center items near the bottom in terms of importance compared to other needs. But “Improving seismic safety of historic buildings in Civic Center, including Old City Hall and the Veterans Building” was rated extremely, very or somewhat…