Alan Tobey, a citizen of Berkeley since 1970, has been closely following the plans for Bus Rapid Transit in Berkeley. He reports on the latest developments:
In 2001, the Berkeley City Council unanimously approved its choice for an AC Transit “major improvement” project: Bus Rapid Transit on Telegraph Avenue and on into Downtown. Only nine [...]
Posts under ‘Downtown’
Council approaches BRT “study” decision
Fundraiser honors famous alumni of Berkeley High
Quick! Which one of the following people is not an alumnus of Berkeley High?
Thornton Wilder, playwright, novelist, 3-time Pulitzer Prize winner
Ursula K. LeGuin, science fiction writer
Philip K. Dick, science fiction writer
Jack [...]
Venus to take over Downtown restaurant spot
While we miss Downtown, the restaurant that served us well when taking in a show at the Aurora or a set at Freight & Salvage, its forlorn facade was getting us down. The restaurant closed down last summer and plans to refurbish and reopen never materialized.
So we’re pleased to hear that the space is getting a [...]
Bates downtown plan approved
The Berkeley City Council last night approved on an 8-1 vote Mayor Tom Bates’ revised plan for downtown. Prior to that vote, the council had unanimously voted to rescind the Downtown Area Plan which was approved last July in a 7-2 vote. The only objection to the new plan was from Councilmember Jesse Arreguin, whose [...]
New Teen Center in the running for $250K grant
The Berkeley Teen Center, which broke ground earlier this month on the corner of Center and MLK, has been nominated as a possible candidate to win a $250,000 Pepsi Challenge Grant.
The Berkeley-Albany YMCA center will provide programs and services in support of academic achievement, youth employment and career planning and leadership development for all teens, including those considered [...]
Revised downtown plan put to vote
The main issue on the agenda of tonight’s City Council meeting will be the fate of the Downtown Area Plan (DAP). Passed by the council last July in a 7-2 vote, the plan allowed for some taller buildings in the downtown core, but met resistance from both opponents of greater density and those advocating stronger [...]
Comment: how to make Downtown an economic asset
Almost six months after the Downtown Area Plan was referended and almost five years after the process began, the discussion is starting to heat up again regarding the future of Downtown Berkeley. The referendum gave the council the option to put the plan passed by the City Council on July 14, 2009 on the ballot, [...]
Where to find caffeine and free wi-fi in Berkeley
When the home office is dulling the senses, the nine-to-five office is stemming the creative juices, or the university library’s “collective atmosphere of stress” is taking you to the brink, you head out to a cafe to work, right? But which Berkeley coffee shops offer free wi-fi, a decent espresso and the least amount of [...]
Shortcut on Berkeley planning?
Today’s San Francisco Chronicle reports that Berkeley mayor Tom Bates has a new plan to cut the Gordian knot of the city’s planning process:
How do you persuade developers to hire local workers, pay fair wages and build ecofriendly structures with housing for the poor in downtown Berkeley?
The mayor proposes giving them a carrot that’s particularly [...]
A possible future for Center Street
Following Berkeleyside’s coverage of the Streets and Open Space Improvement Plan yesterday, San Francisco Chronicle architecture critic John King hailed one potential element in today’s paper. He looks at the work that Walter Hood and his practice Hood Design have done on Center Street:
[Hood] treats the block as pedestrian terrain, the rigid 13-foot climb to [...]
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