Urban planning

BART plaza to become an inviting spot

August 4, 2010 7:00 am by Frances Dinkelspiel

Downtown Berkeley BART plaza

The downtown Berkeley BART plaza is kind of a dead man’s zone. More than 18,000 people pass through it daily, yet only a handful stop to savor its attractions.

On most days, just a few people sit on the benches scattered throughout the plaza. Some of them are a little down and out and loiter for hours, talking and smoking cigarettes.

There is just one vendor – a flower stall – and no other reason to hang out in one of Berkeley’s most visible public spaces.

“It’s rather dated,” said John Caner, the director of the Berkeley Downtown Business Association. “The seating doesn’t work very well. It’s dispersed. We have these large planters creating barriers seeing into the plaza.”

But all that is about to change.

Last week, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority awarded a $1.8 million grant to the city to renovate the plaza. Combined with a $50,000 grant from BART and a $400,000 grant from the UC Berkeley Long Range Development Fund, Berkeley now has $2.25 million to spend on transforming the space.

“Since so many people use the bus or BART to come to Berkeley, this is really our front door, said Kara Vuicich, an associate planner in the transportation division of the Department of Public Works. “It’s really exciting to think we will have a space people will feel really good about being in and using.”

The current plaza is worn and feels outdated, according to Vuicich. The brick pavers are old-fashioned and are uneven, making it difficult for people with mobility problems to walk there. The aesthetics are not particularly pleasing, trash is often dumped into the planter boxes, and people urinate in the BART steps at night.

Imagine instead an inviting space where café tables line the sidewalk and portable chairs and tables in the plaza entice people to play chess or eat lunch. Trees and plants will make the space green and at night LED tea lights would form an informal canopy over the plaza, creating a party-like ambiance. Instead of just a pass through for those rushing to BART or to the bus, the plaza would become a place people want to linger.

“The goal is to create a space that is more welcoming to bigger and more diverse groups of people,” said Vuicich.

The city has been working on a plan for the BART plaza since 2004. Construction should begin in 2012 and take six to eight months. The construction will be phased so no businesses have to shut down.

Some of the design details:

The brick paving will be removed and replaced with permeable, low-impact concrete. A new green water filtration system will direct water to landscaped areas rather than the storm drains.

There will be more trees and plants, courtesy of an underground milk crate-shaped structure that permits looser soil and space for tree roots to grow.

The low brick walls in the plaza will be removed, improving sight lines. Seating will be reconfigured.

There will be a new “café zone” along Shattuck Avenue.

There will be better lighting throughout, including LED catenary lighting (like tea lights) across the plaza.

There will be a new, large bus shelter constructed for the bus stop along Shattuck Avenue to provide protection from sun, wind, and rain. It will include seating.

There will be a canopy over the BART stairs by Allston Way. The new structure will include a security gate at the top of the stairs that can be rolled down at night. Currently, the security gate is at the bottom of the BART stairs, and people frequently urinate there at night.

There will be more bike racks.

The funding does not include money to redo the Rotunda, but it does include funds to study design ideas. The city would like to swap out the dark glass panels of the rotunda for clear ones, bringing in light and making the place feel more transparent, said Vuicich.  The city would also like to add more seating on the exterior of the structure and an awning to shelter people from the elements. (Berkeley had hoped to move the rotunda across the street, closer to UC, but the cost was prohibitive, said Vuicich.)

“We want to create more of a sense of arrival for people when they get off BART,” said Caner. “It really is the nexus point for downtown. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you got off BART and there were people having cups of coffee and people playing chess?”

21 Comments

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  • Laura

    The change will be welcome. The plaza is more than a dead man’s zone: it’s filthy, full of loiterers (many drunk or with mental issues), and fronted in part by the dead Ross’s storefront, which encourages more loitering and panhandling. The makeover sounds wonderful, but whether it succeeds depends on whether Berkeley is finally willing to really deal with the overwhelming homeless problem that has killed much of central downtown.

  • http://www.preservenet.com Charles Siegel

    It is a great idea to remove the brick wall so there is room for cafe tables in front of the restaurants. I am glad to hear about the entire plan, which will make downtown (my neighborhood) much more attractive.

  • Jennifer

    I concur with Laura–the problem with the plaza is not that it’s “dated,” it’s that you can’t walk through there without being approached or harassed by panhandlers. Berkeley, like many other Bay Area towns, has not figured out how to deal effectively with this huge problem.

  • laura menard

    the adage “Lipstick on a pig” comes to mind,

    The plan for this transformation is missing key elements standard in good city planning especially transportation planning. To ignore the social disorder or minimize its impact is ludicrous yet typical of the way Berkeley approaches civic improvements.

    Addressing prevention through environmental design to reduce crime and the percentage of homeless folks dominating the square is doable with this budget, but judging from the statements from DBA and the downtown plan itself these requirements do not seem important.

  • Ken Herrick

    Good, I am there most weekends. I ride BART, have my hair cut at Salon 2000 (for 5 years now), love Amanda’s & get sandwiches for home at E-Z Stop Deli. Clean it up & DO SOMETHING about the people sleeping in doorways etc. I work for a non-profit so know the problems but you’re killing downtown by not taking action. I really hope this is the start of better things.

  • Dennis

    An equally (if not more) pressing need is to clean up the Downtown Berkeley BART station. As soon as possible, the former bike parking area either needs to be sealed off or restored as an entrance (with fare gates) to the platform below. I use the station 2x per day, at least 5 times per week, and EVERY DAY I see at least one person evading fare payment by going down or coming up through that entry, which is very easy to do. Also, with so much public urination occurring on the platform (sometimes blatant, sometimes semi-concealed), it should be power-washed at least once per month, not just yearly. I am so tired and disgusted by seeing the streams on the floor simply marked off by orange pylons rather than being cleaned up immediately. This station is frequently unfit for use. Seriously!

  • Anamaria Sanchez Romero

    White planners practice a sidways type of racism in Berkeley by saying revitalize the Bart Plaza “to welcome bigger and more diverse groups of people”

    When the sun is out, the Plaza is a gathering place for hundreds of people; of late most all are African-American. Few are homeless; some are poor, but not all. And, the high school and language school youthes congregate at lunch and after school in the Plaza space.

    Gentrifying the plaza for more and more upscale businesses use pushes out the current folks as the businesses that move in pay high rents–which is why so much of downtown commercial sites are vacant. The people sitting and talking in the Plaza today will not be able to afford cafe table seating. Lest we forget, this is PUBLIC SPACE. BART closed their restrooms years ago; there is no public restroom nearby. A public restroom is needed–especially for our elders.

    “Imagine instead an inviting space where café tables line the sidewalk and portable chairs and tables in the plaza entice people to play chess or eat lunch. Trees and plants will make the space green and at night LED tea lights would form an informal canopy over the plaza, creating a party-like ambiance.

    “The goal is to create a space that is more welcoming to bigger and more diverse groups of people,” said Vuicich.

  • http://localecologist.blogspot.com Georgia

    Welcome news! I remember hurrying through that space.

    I wonder if the City will consider the configurable/shade canopy/with seats bus shelters that LOHA designed for the City of Santa Monica. http://localecologist.blogspot.com/2010/07/blue-spots-shade-santa-monicas-bus.html

  • deirdre

    “And, the high school and language school youthes congregate at lunch and after school in the Plaza space.”

    Are you saying that by trying to revitalize an area where teenagers “congregate at lunch and after school”, that planners “are practicing a sideways type of racism”?

    I suspect lots of people feel that downtown Shattuck avenue is not an ideal place for teens of any race to congregate, whether the street gets spiffed up or not, especially during the school day.

  • http://basiscraft.com Thomas Lord

    It’s funny that people so readily accept that some fairly minor tweaks to architecture are going to have a large impact. I don’t the architecture is but a minor problem there. Also, where are all these chess players going to come from?

  • CJ Higley

    If the city can figure out a way to keep the plaza from smelling of urine (and worse), I promise to do my part by playing chess there.

  • laura menard

    Annamaria,

    I walk all over Berkeley so there is not much I miss.

    Just returned from downtown and passed through constitution plaza on a sunny afternoon. Contrary to your claims about who uses the plaza, there were 14 Caucasians and 1 black male hanging out at 1 pm Sat. The YBM was smoking pot in a pipe with a white kid with dirty dreads. 4 of the people had obvious mental disorders and they did not appear to be taking care of themselves.

    How do you know the planners are white? and renovation of civic space is not gentrification.

    The environment was dirty, smelling and very unwelcoming.

    The wall used to be the organizing site for truants teens(from the entire east bay) intent on robberies. Now the grinding wall in civic center park is the spot for 211s.

  • http://trampleasure.net/lee Lee Trampleasure

    I would like to see strict enforcement of Berkeley’s no smoking downtown laws. I walk home along Shattuck past Thai Noodle and Triple Rock Brewery and am daily assaulted by the smokers who hang out on the sidewalk since they can’t smoke inside. I believe that Berkeley’s anti-smoking law prohibits this, and would hate to see a newly updated BART/Constitution Plaza become downtown’s “smoking zone,” but without enforcement of the no-smoking laws, I’m afraid this will happen.

    Berkeley has put out the message “Smokers are not welcome here.” Smoking clearly causes early death and disease in many of smokers, and second-hand smoke can cause similar problems, as well as general discomfort in non-smokers. We may not be able to prohibit smoking “in the comfort of your own home,” but we sure can restrict it in public.

  • http://basiscraft.com Thomas Lord

    Lee:

    While I’m not *entirely* confident / comfortable assuming you can adhere to the “reasonable person principle” I will pretend I am.

    I know for a fact three things re the street around Triple Rock:

    1) There are lawful places to smoke around there that are sufficiently removed from the various doorways – and polite places where, at worst, you give a passing person at most the very slightest of whiff.

    2) A bunch of passing through punks and jerks violate both spirit and letter of law, from time to time around there. I make no apologies for them.

    3) Management at T-rock has absolutely no interest in encouraging the bad behavior of the punks and jerks. Nor in discouraging the lawful. If you can muster a calm and mutually respectful attitude when an incident pops up (and if you have a few moments) – pop in and ask to talk to the general manager or at least the main bartender. They aren’t the police but they can poke their patrons not to break the law around there. Just don’t approach them rudely or foolishly excitedly, please.

  • http://trampleasure.net/lee Lee Trampleasure

    Thomas:

    Please see http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=21652

    “Smoking is NOT permitted in the following locations:
    * ALL commercial zones
    * …”

    Berkeley completely bans smoking in commercial zones, so “sufficiently removed” from entrances is not an issue.

    People flagrantly violate Berkeley’s Tobacco Control Policies. This seems to me to be another example of our city passing something that “looks good,” but then not following up on it. It is not my job to ask a business to enforce the law, it is the police department’s job to enforce it. I’d be interested to know how many citations the city has issued against smokers.

  • http://basiscraft.com Thomas Lord

    Lee,

    You are quoting the city’s “summary” of the legislation. What the legislation actually says is:

    12.70.030 Locations where smoking is prohibited.
    [....]
    W. Commercial area sidewalks;

    I trust you can see the important difference between the summary and the actual ordinance.

    You write:

    People flagrantly violate Berkeley’s Tobacco Control Policies. This seems to me to be another example of our city passing something that “looks good,” but then not following up on it. It is not my job to ask a business to enforce the law, it is the police department’s job to enforce it. I’d be interested to know how many citations the city has issued against smokers.

    People certainly do violate the ordinance with abandon.

    In many instances, they violate it in ways that generate no complaints or even bad feelings. In many other instances, they generate bad feelings or even complaints. It is not entirely unlike jaywalking, drinking in public, wood burning, making loud noises, and so on.

    Now, yes, it is not your job to ask a business to enforce the law. It is not the business’ job to enforce that particular law. In some instances of smoking around the place – no law is even being broken.

    All I’m saying is that the folks at the business you singled out are friendly and actually care about such problems. Call their attention to legitimate issues in a cooperative way and I’m confident they’ll try to help solve problems.

  • Paul-Kealoha Blake

    Laura Menard
    I also walk everywhere and there is also little that I miss. I have done so for years. Have you noticed that Berkeley has a significant number of homeless and psychologically distressed individuals in our diverse community? I think Ms. Sanchez raises some good points about “widening” diversity while demonizing individuals who already use the Plaza. That sounds a bit like a narrowing of diversity rather than a widening. I have seen and participated in a wide variety of events in Constitution Plaza. Political actions, music, celebrations, and yes just plain sitting and visiting… are all taking place there. Perhaps you have missed some of that activity in your walks. Rather than closing down dialogue and demonizing those of us who currently utilize the Plaza, in the marginal state that it is in, I hope you will be more inclusive in your vision of a diverse community Plaza. I am in agreement that some basic spatial design changes and better lighting and seating, might be a nice addition… even for the activists, homeless, and other demons such as myself who currently walk on those bricks.

  • laura menard

    Paula,

    No where in my post did I demonize folks struggling with mental illness.
    I have family with serious mental illness, who has been homeless, arrested, and worse. Also I have helped people with mental health problems obtain treatment and SSI.

    reread what I wrote and (if possible) try not to ASSUME the worse intent.

    “4 of the people had obvious mental disorders and they did not appear to be taking care of themselves”

    That is merely a description, not a condemnation of vulnerable folks.

    In my own family there is plenty of suffering, mental illness, disease, proverty and living on the edge, I so please don’t lecture me about diversity. I have plenty already.

  • http://basiscraft.com Thomas Lord

    Laura, I don’t quite get either why Anamaria made it about racism when, really, her substantive point was about gentrification (more of an economic and social class issue, though often having racial implications).

    You wrote: “[...] renovation of civic space is not gentrification.”

    It doesn’t have to be, no, but it can be. Don’t you have to look at the specifics of the renovation?

    For example, if the civic renovation impairs existing sleeping areas used by homeless folks, or sitting areas used by homeless, poor, frazzled, etc…. that can be part of program of gentrification. Indeed, if the civic space abuts private property for which a “higher class” [sic] of tenant or owner is sought, such civic improvements are probably necessary to gentrification.

    The thing that leaped out at me about this proposal is the “cafe seating” and “cafe zone”. I’m not sure how that’s supposed to work unless there’s going to be some new ordinances or use of existing code that turns that part of the space into, essentially, a “pay to sit” zone.

    I also think it’s pretty amazing to spend that much money and effort to seal off the BART stairs yet, apparently not a dime on an obviously needed public sanitary facility. Charges of racism per se notwithstanding, Anamaria’s charge of gentrification has some merit: if you ain’t spending or selling, apparently you’ve no business lingering downtown.

    Whatever. We’ll see. I’ll be surprised if catenary lighting over the place lasts more than 3 months.

  • laura menard

    TL.

    Good point, I have never read or considered public spaces as being subjected to gentrification reach, but then again charges of gentrification are so terribly misused it is hard to take it seriously. After all, if you white and live in south Berkeley, you must be gentry and have stolen your house from a more worthy person of color.

    Interesting article about public space and gentrification
    http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/is-gentrification-transforming-the-citys-public-spaces/

  • http://basiscraft.com Thomas Lord

    With the disclaimer that I do some writing for BDP, I’ll mention that Anamaria has a more fully developed version of her argument in today’s issue of Berkeley Daily Planet:

    http://berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2010-08-10/article/36039?headline=Unconscious-racism-Revitalizing-Bart-Plaza-to-welcome-bigger-and-more-diverse-groups-of-people-

    I second her observation about the plaza on nice days.