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Members of the public will get their chance tonight to tell the City Council what they think about the police communications tower, which some Public Safety Building neighbors are calling the “Eyesore Tower.” 

One can expect, however, that the McKinley Allston Addison Grant Neighborhood Association won’t confine itself to complaining about the 170-foot antenna tower that took them by surprise. The neighborhood’s got some specific proposals about how to replace the tower. 

Neighborhood activist Dave Williams has come up with a proposal on how the city can disperse its antennas and replace the tower with a 120-foot pole. In a memo to the council, Williams points out that the university recently “chose to disperse their emergency communications (among) six sites...for security reasons as well as to provide back-up in case one or more antennas go down.” 

Williams is proposing that the city do the same, siting a number of antennas on buildings around Civic Center and installing a 120-foot pole on which several of the antennas would be mounted. 

Councilmember Dona Spring is asking the council to earmark $10,000 for a consultant who would provide expert advice to the neighborhood and the council on reconfiguring the tower. 

In a separate public hearing, the council will consider increasing engineering, zoning-related, and toxics management fees. 

The goal of the increase is so that the fees will cover a greater proportion of the actual expenses they incur. 

But before the regular council meeting even begins, the Redevelopment Agency will take its turn. The RA consists of the councilmembers and approves items relative to the city’s Redevelopment Area, which is close to Fourth Street, north of University Avenue. 

A resolution by the Parks and Recreation Commission to reallocate $3 million currently designated for a West Berkeley parking garage is sure to spark discussion among agency members. Commission members want the funds spent on the I-80 wheelchair/bike/pedestrian overcrossing. The report noted that some parks commissioners said that additional parking would simply bring more cars to the area, and some said “that although Fourth Street generates substantial sales tax for the city, it is poor public policy for the city to fund a garage to support the Fourth Street retail district.” 

The agency members will also talk about spending other redevelopment funds on the I-80 overpass. 

Other items on the council agenda include approval of: 

• A program to give low-income people help in weatherizing their homes. 

• Plans for a traffic signal at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Center Street, where there were four collisions in the period between May 1998 and July 1999, including two collisions with pedestrians. 

• An endorsement of House Resolution 40, co-sponsored by Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, that would establish a commission to study a reparation proposal for African Americans. 

• An inquiry into a citizen’s allegations that files were misplaced in the Building Department. 

• Support for a state Senate bill that would require on-site veterinarians at all rodeos. 

The Redevelopment Agency meets at 7 p.m., with the start of the City Council meeting immediately following. The meetings are in the City Council Chambers at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way and broadcast on KPFB at 89.3-FM and televised on Ch-25.