September 2021

The Coordinating Committee began working more closely with the Public Works Department to see how the Civic Center renovation projects may fit in with other capital needs and funding measures over the coming years. Public Works is taking a serious look at water damage to the buildings and what can be done to mitigate it…

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7/9/2021

Lisa Bullwinkel brought to the Coordinating Committee’s attention that there is a City Council-approved Arts and Culture Plan with the following features, some of which are applicable to the Civic Center project: Artist housing and live-work units. Small to midsize, mixed-use performance spaces designed for theater, film, dance, literary arts and musical use. Gallery space…

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6/29/21 – City Budget Allocations

The City Council adopted a budget for 2021-22 that includes $200,000 for further Civic Center planning and $400,000 for infrastructure bond planning.

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6/22/21 – Performance Space Possibilities

ELS Architecture and Urban Design provided, pro bono, some ideas and drawings for both a small amphitheater behind 2180 Milvia that would seat about 300 and temporary stage setups for events in the park with as many as 3000 attendees.

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6/22/2021 – Seismic Solutions

At the June 22 general CCCC meeting, Tipping Structural Engineers described a new concept for reducing earthquake damage risk and adding usable space to both buildings for a much lower cost than previously projected. The areas in color on these drawings would be seismically strong additions that would serve as buttresses to stabilize the entire…

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May 2021 – Refocusing

After several months of meeting on Zoom as CCCC and as three subgroups looking at ideas for the park, the Maudelle Shirek Building and the Veterans Building respectively, we learned that the City was considering a major infrastructure bond measure and began advocating that the Civic Center projects be included. It is not our role…

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5/17/21 – Biodiversity Talk

Robin Grossinger of San Francisco Estuary Institute gave a Zoom presentation on “Urban Ecology” with reference to the downtown Berkeley area. The video is here.

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2/16/21 – “Gray” Infrastructure of Civic Center

In a Zoom meeting, Margo Schueler gave an illustrated talk about what lies beneath the surface of Civic Center Park and the surrounding streets. A video of the session is here and the PowerPoint slides are here.

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