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Who’s paying? It’s the question of the Millennium. 

Either the city or Fourth Street businesses will foot the bill for a proposed central parking lot to be built near the burgeoning west-side gourmet ghetto.  

As the shopping public flocks to Fourth Street – a boulevard of new age pastel, boutiques and restaurants – parking has gotten so bad, that many business owners say they are actually losing customers because they can’t park. Some shoppers have even resorted to chauffeurs to avoid having to park in lots three or four blocks away. 

“A guy came up in his limo today and just parked it illegally in our lot,” says Michelle Tagger, manager at Cody’s Book Store on Fourth Street. “I said, you’ve got to move it and he said, ‘where?’”  

“I told him, ‘Drive around ‘til you find one, just like everyone else!’ He didn’t like that- and he wouldn’t move it either.” said Tagger. 

“Parking is definitely a problem around here,” adds Meghan Ritchie, an employee at the Vivarium, the well-known reptile retailer. “Our driveway here is always full because people can’t find parking and nobody wants to pay for it at the Spenger’s lot.”  

Spenger’s Fish Grotto, a landmark of old Berkeley that many first time visitors see upon arrival, is located a few blocks from the main shopping center. 

Fourth Street is an obstacle course of construction crews, sauntering shoppers, and the inevitable fleets of reversing SUV’s. Parking is scarce, even in the myriad lots already available to the legions of high-end consumers.  

“To get a parking spot in those lots, you have to be in by 9 a.m.,” says Ritchie. 

Owen Maercks is co-owner of the Vivarium.  

“I’ve had customers call me up and say they’ve gone around the block 20 times and just couldn’t get a parking spot. It’s ridiculous,” he says. 

Bringing things to a head however, are plans to expand the shopping district. A proposed outdoor market on 5th street would close the block between Hearst and University on weekends, attracting even more traffic to the area. “Before the city starts handing out more permits and licenses,” says Maercks, “it should solve the parking problem. I’ve been here 12 years, and it’s just gotten worse.” 

To relieve the jam, business owners have proposed a central parking lot, estimated to cost in excess of $7 million dollars. Where that money will come from, however, has yet to be decided. Originally, Rick Millikan asked for matching funds from the city for a public garage to be built over his Fourth Street property. While owners feel that the city should foot $3 million of the bill for “business infrastructure costs,” Berkeley City Councilman Kriss Worthington calls the proposal the “most outrageous giveaway of taxpayer money in my entire time in office.” 

“I agree that the Fourth Street parking problem should be addressed,” says Worthington, “but the law is very simple. When a new business opens it has to create parking for its clientele. If we license new businesses, it is their responsibility to cover those costs.”  

Maercks, however, disagrees. “The city should solve the parking problem here first, then grant new business licenses. They make money from taxes and licensing, and it is their responsibility to upkeep infrastructure. That’s why I pay taxes.” 

The final decision will be left up to the City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency. The Berkeley Redevelopment Agency Project Area Commission, which will meet Thursday night to discuss the possible manifestations and funding of such a “garage concept,” may make a recommendation for or against the project to the Redevelopment Agency. 

According to an August 24th report by Daniel Vanderpriem, Berkeley Redevelopment manager, there does not appear to be sufficient support on the Redevelopment Agency Board to pursue the endeavor. Already $1 million of the $3 million proposed for the garage has been redirected toward the I-80 overpass project. The remaining $2 million also seems likely to end up elsewhere. 

Furthermore, the fact that there is quite a bit of unused parking only a few blocks away from the shopping district makes the board less likely to move forward with a multi-level garage.  

But some long-time residents see the entire quandary from a different perspective.  

Gino Borgna, a 40-something handy man who has lived in West Berkeley for most of his life, feels that the added business has been positive for the area, but a downside also exists. 

“The expansion of business has moved people out of the neighborhood, people who couldn’t really afford to live here anymore. You don’t see the same kind of diversity here anymore.” says Borgna, who recently bought a home in San Pablo. 

The Ocean View neighborhood, once predominately working class and largely people of color, has undergone radical change over the last five years. Small homes have become condos, warehouses have become businesses, and the “blight” has become neon light. Home to Berkeley’s industrial zone, the gentrification has chased many lifelong Berkeley residents out of the city, which is no longer affordable to them. 

“I bought my home for $90,000. I couldn’t even rent a parking spot in Berkeley for that much,” says Borgna. 

The West Berkeley Project Area Commission will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday at the West Berkeley Senior Center at 1900 Sixth St.