Notes on 5/22 task force meeting
Robert Lauriston
night's meeting. Several other people promised to give me follow-up
messages for distribution. I'll also write a brief report in the next
day or two.
From: "John Warren" unth...@earthlink.net
Date: Mon May 22, 2006 11:59pm(PDT)
Subject: Ashby Arts District's BART development principles
I attended tonight's community meeting regarding the proposed Ashby
BART
development, and passed out a statement of principles on behalf of the
Ashby
Arts District. In the spirit of inclusion, I've pasted them below for
greater community review. We do not know what role, if any, our
principles
will play in the process that the South Berkeley Neighborhood
Development
Corporation is currently engaging in.
Please be assured that the following statement is NOT an exhaustive
list of
principles that should be brought to bear on the project, but merely
the
concepts that we as neighborhood arts organizations felt entitled and
qualified to comment on. These principles also assume that some type
of
development will move forward on the BART lot -- we haven't addressed
the
possibility of whether the project might be shelved or moved to another
location, which was suggested by a number of speakers at tonight's
meeting.
If you have feedback on these principles, or suggestions on how the
Ashby
Arts District can be involved in this process, we welcome your
responses.
Best,
John Warren
Director, Unconditional Theatre (www.untheatre.org
<http://www.untheatre.org/> )
Member, Ashby Arts District (www.ashbyartsdistrict.org
<http://www.ashbyartsdistrict.org/> )
--------------------------------------
ASHBY ARTS DISTRICT
Statement of Principles
for
Development of Ashby BART Station's West-Side Parking Lot
The Ashby Arts District is a partnership among eight non-profit
organizations and performance venues in the South Berkeley/North
Oakland/Lorin District area including La Pena Cultural Center, Epic
Arts,
The Shotgun Players at The Ashby Stage, The Black Repertory Group,
Nomad
Cafe, Northern California Land Trust, Unconditional Theatre, and the
Triptych Gallery. Through collaborative events and programs, we work to
increase awareness of the arts in our neighborhood and to unify the
communities we serve.
One of the challenges faced by this community is lack of common
identity.
Since the area is so culturally diverse, communities operate side by
side
with little interaction. We seek to bridge gaps between neighboring
organizations and to connect with local residents, in order to
strengthen
the greater community. Cultural development can offer a sense of pride
and
optimism to residents, which we have already experienced through
community
arts projects and collaborative events within the district.
Recommendations
In service to this vision, the Ashby Arts District is committed to the
inclusion of the following elements in the development of the west-side
parking lot of Berkeley's Ashby BART Station:
1) The development should be conducive to pedestrian enjoyment, and
embrace
a town-square sensibility that encourages neighbors to gather and
mingle;
2) The project should include community spaces available for
neighborhood
use, and vibrant activity should be encouraged in these spaces both day
and
night;
3) Project architecture should relate to the existing neighborhood's
architectural mix, including human scale design concepts and natural
open
space elements;
4) There should be some street-level artistic presence for the
enjoyment of
residents and neighbors, including both public art projects and
creative
"functional design" elements integrated into the architecture;
5) The development should be mixed use, both residential and
commercial, and
ensure that these uses complement and support one another;
6) Housing should be mixed income, including a large proportion of
units
that are permanently affordable enough for artists and other low-income
residents;
7) Commercial development should complement and support the merchants
and
cultural activities already present in the neighborhood;
8) Commercial activity should include restaurant(s), cafe(s) and other
such
businesses that are conducive to community convening;
9) Security and safety concerns must be addressed in all elements of
the
design;
10) Parking issues must be adequately addressed to minimize impact on
the
neighborhood;
11) A plan must be established for the Flea Market's continued
community
presence.
Most importantly, we insist upon a truly participatory process in the
development of plans for the project, inclusive of our neighborhood's
diverse voices and viewpoints.
***
Robert Lauriston
force meeting.
There was a rally organized by the Flea Market outside starting at
6:30. It was still going on when the task force meeting started a
little after 7.
The layout was confusing: large round tables were set up in a horseshow
shape, and the task force members were seated in two groups across from
each other at both ends. There was thus nowhere to sit where you could
see all the members and read all their name cards. When the chairs ran
out, at least one member of the audience sat between a couple of task
force members, and I probably wasn't the only person who thought he was
a member.
Taj Johns (recently retired from the City of Berkeley) was the
moderator. She said there had been a private meeting (unannounced) of
the task force on Saturday to talk about format. No minutes of that
meeting or the 5/15 meeting were provided to the public. One audience
member said she'd provide some notes on the 5/15 meeting to post on
nabart.com.
She said the first order of business was for the task force to select a
chair, and called for volunteers. About that time, the Flea Market
people came in, and between the weird layout and their being late
couldn't figure out what was going on. They were shouting and carrying
on for a while, making the proceedings even more confusing. There was
also a lot of noise as people got chairs out of the stacks at the back
of the room.
Jon Selasky was the only volunteer. He suggested a co-chair would be a
good idea, Toya Groves volunteered. They were elected, apparently
unanimously. I had one of the few good seats but it seemed clear to me
that many people in the audience were unable to follow the proceedings.
Taj Johns then said it was time for public comment, and the Flea Market
people, who might not have been able to hear what she said, started
shouting various slogans, including, ironically, "Let us speak!"
Beatrice Barrigher got up at the front and called for peace, the Flea
Market people calmed down quite a bit but continued to heckle
sporadically for the rest of the evening.
There was around an hour of public comment, which per Taj Johns's
ground rules was supposed to regard items for future discussion by the
task force, but people said pretty much what they wanted. Taj Johns
promised to provide a summary of public comments for me to post on
nabart.com.
Osha Neumann, the Flea Market's attorney, in discussing why he declined
to participate in the task force, said that in a private meeting of the
Flea Market board with Ed Church, Max Anderson, and Mayor Bates they
said they would not accept a development in which the Flea Market
stayed where it is.
Then there was a 15-minute presentation by Jeff Ordway, BART's Manager
of Property Development, about BART's policies regarding development at
stations. He said a key element of such developments is that the
community has to make primary decisions such whether BART commuter
parking can be reduced and what the "focal point"--which could be the
station, or could be a nearby plaza or mall or whatever--should be.
Then there was more public comment. One person asked about the Flea
Market's lease with BART. Ordway said a court ordered that the Fela
Market could remain until BART needed the space for transit purposes.
Osha Neumann clarified that it was a jury verdict, and that the sort of
mixed-use development envisioned by Ed Church's Caltrans grant
application is not the kind of BART-related need that could terminate
the lease.
The next meetings were announced for June 5 and June 19.
Robert Lauriston
Max Anderson after the meeting with the Flea Market board they
mentioned on Monday.
March 9, 2006
Councilmember Max Anderson
City of Berkeley
2180 Milvia Street
Berkeley, CA 94704
Ed Church
1767 Alcatraz Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94703
Dear Ed and Max
We appreciated your meeting with the Flea Market Board on March 1st and
the opportunity it gave all of us to clarify our positions. In order
to avoid an "overly optimistic" or "overly pessimistic"
interpretation of what happened I would like to summarize briefly what
we got out of the meeting.
You expressed the hope that we would be willing to participate in the
planning process outlined in the Caltrans grant. You also said that you
recognized the importance of the Flea Market and were committed to
preserving it and finding a place for it in South Berkeley.
We said we heard that you wanted to preserve the Flea Market, but you
also wanted to build housing on the portion of the parking lot that it
occupied. It seemed to us that those two goals were incompatible, and
wishing they weren't wouldn't make it so. There simply wasn't a
viable alternative location for the Flea Market in the community. The
one suggestion that you had made, moving the market on to Adeline St.
is unworkable, for the various reasons which we had outlined in our
letter to the Council - it would put us in constant conflict with the
residential and commercial neighbors, it would disrupt traffic flow on
a major north-south artery, and we would never have the security that
our lease with BART currently provides us.
You responded by reiterating your hope that we would participate in
your planning process. You asked us to have faith that solutions we
were currently unable to imagine would emerge from that process. We
said that participation in the process required us from the beginning
to buy into a "premise" we were unwilling to accept -- that it was
a good idea to build housing on the current site of the Flea Market. We
asked you whether you would be willing to let go of that premise and
engage with us and the community in an open-ended process of planning
directed at solving the community problems. You both make clear that
you would not do that, although Max said he works on community problems
in other ways.
It seems to us we pretty much ended up where we began. We all agreed
that there are pressing problems in South Berkeley that need to be
addressed. We disagreed on whether the housing project that is
envisaged in the Caltrans grant is the way to solve them.
Very truly yours,
Osha Neumann