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Help Save Berkeley Shops!
Save the date:
Thursday, November 6, 6:00 PM
Joint Berkeley City Council/Berkeley Planning Commission Meeting
Berkeley School District Building, 1231 Addison
The Berkeley City Council is planning on upzoning the neighborhood-serving commercial areas of Solano, North Shattuck and the Elmwood. The City's proposed upzoning will make it highly profitable for developers to demolish existing shops and build 5 to 11 story high rise apartments, completely changing forever the character of our beloved neighborhood shopping areas.
If the proposed upzoning moves forward, already-struggling local shopkeepers will be displaced. Berkeley's small businesses are still dealing with the pressures of online retail and the lasting fallout from the COVID shutdown. They will not survive the upheaval brought by demolitions, rent hikes, and the loss of the distinctive identity of their districts.
We do not want to lose our pedestrian-friendly, visually attractive common areas which today fully serve neighborhood needs. We don't want to lose the women-, LGBTQ- and minority- owned businesses that own the Solano, North Shattuck and Elmwood shops. They are our neighbors!
This proposed up-zoning is not even necessary for Berkeley to meet its housing goals! The City has already adopted plans and zoning changes that provide for two times the housing that Berkeley needs to plan for. Whatsmore, the Council earlier this year approved a citywide up-zoning of residential neighborhoods surrounding these shopping districts to ensure that Berkeley will meet its housing equity goals.
Please contact the Mayor and Berkeley City Council and ask them to Save Berkeley Shops. Ask the council to reject the upzoning of these important shopping districts full of locally-owned individual businesses instead of corporate chain stores.
Send a letter to: cou...@berkeleyca.gov
by Monday, October 27 @ 5:00 PM
Then come to the Joint Berkeley City Council/Planning Commission Meeting
on Thursday, November 6, 6:00 PM
1231 Addison (Berkeley School District Building)
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For more information: Livable California and United Neighbors
About Berkeley Together
Berkeley has a long tradition of progressive movements. Over the years, Berkeleyans have fought for building with nature, saving the bay, neighborhood preservation, housing and school equity, undergrounding BART, context and scale in the built environment, clean water, parks and recreation. Berkeley Together strives to pursue a good and fair life for all—the best of Berkeley—in the face of new mandates and challenges.
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