Features

In front of the proposed hotel, museum and conference center in the heart of Downtown Berkeley, Center Street—from Oxford to Shattuck—could be closed to motor vehicle traffic and redesigned as a pedestrian street. Imagine an entire block without the noise generated by cars, trucks and buses. A well-designed plaza could be created with benches and other street furniture. Trees could be planted to provide shade and additional landscaping could be added to naturalize the open space.  

Public art could be part of the mix and would be very appropriate on a street planned to be the new home for the Berkeley Art Museum. Part of the new pedestrian area could be set aside for outdoor lunchtime and weekend concerts. Without traffic noise, people could actually hear music performed outdoors in downtown. 

Hotel restaurant and museum café outdoor seating could face Center Street and help improve the sunny north side of this block of Center, which currently is rather unappealing and underutilized, in contrast to the south side of the street.  

Center provides the major pedestrian link between UC Berkeley and the downtown. As the major walking connector between the downtown BART/bus transportation hub and the campus, it presently accommodates more than 10,000 walking to work or school trips per day. Reinforcing the pedestrian character of the 2100 block of Center will encourage more people to walk to and from the campus, bus and Bart. 

The widening of the south side of Center sidewalk has encouraged more walking and made possible the popular café outdoor seating. By contrast, Center on the north side has narrower sidewalks lined by dull blank building walls and a paved Bank of America parking lot. It attracts little or no pedestrian traffic except bank custom. Little exists to attract walking along the north side of the 2100 block, lingering in the area or noticing a shop or café to cross the street and do business in.  

The current flow of pedestrians boosts business for all on the southside of Center from Starbucks at Oxford to Games of Berkeley at Shattuck. In good weather, outdoor seating gets good use. The block could become more of a destination for people who live and work nearby, as well as for hotel, museum and convention center guests.  

If these visitors are attracted outside, enjoying the day or evening in an ambiance that encourages window shopping and store browsing, they are more likely to explore and spend money in downtown businesses and eateries than if those visitors merely drive up to the hotel, park and stay inside. 

Berkeley’s 2001 General Plan recognizes that Center Street is a good candidate for closure and calls on the city to explore options for its partial or complete closure. Most other streets are not nearly as suitable because of the number of driveways or the necessity for motor vehicle circulation and because of the existing heavy pedestrian use.  

Numerous cities in Europe have pedestrian streets and the evidence is that they work very well for local merchants. There are also some successful examples in the United States, including the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, and pedestrian malls in Ithaca, New York, Boulder, Colorado and Charlottesville, Virginia (anchored by a hotel).  

Downtown San Jose and Monterey (anchored by hotel/convention center) have also been revitalized with pedestrian streets. Frank Ogawa Plaza is the pedestrian plaza anchoring Downtown Oakland’s redevelopment just as the pedestrian Jack London Square has been revitalized as a successful retail destination. 

How would the city pay for the costs associated with converting Center (Oxford to Shattuck) into a pedestrian street? The hotel developer could contribute, since the project would benefit from the pedestrian street location. The city could apply for TLC or Regional Pedestrian Program grant funds from MTC.  

The project will generate a lot of new revenue for the city in the form of a hotel tax and increased property taxes (or possessory interest or use taxes if UC retains ownership). The city could use a portion of the new revenue for the first two or three years to defray the cost of creating an attractive new pedestrian plaza. 

Center Street is the city’s best, if not its only, opportunity to create central public open space in the form of a pedestrian street. It’s an opportunity that should not be passed up.  

Creation of this pedestrian street would require some adjustments.  

Automobile access to any parking garage built under the hotel, conference center and planned museums would have to be from Addison or Oxford Streets, though stairs and elevators from the underground parking could lead directly to Center Street as well as to the hotel or rebuilt Bank of America branch. 

On-street metered parking spaces on the north and south side of Center Street would have to be removed. This parking, like the current Bank of America surface parking lot spaces, could be replaced in the garage built under the project. 

The current volume of automobile traffic using Center Street is relatively light, especially in contrast to the huge volume of pedestrian use. Although this would need to be analyzed carefully, closing this block is not likely to create any significant traffic impacts. 

Some buses use Center Street and their routes would have to be adjusted. AC Transit staff have indicated that ACT is not opposed to conversion of Center to a pedestrian street as long as ACT is able to work out suitable downtown alternative layover and stops for buses that currently stop on Center at Shattuck. 

Yellow delivery zones on Center would be removed. Deliveries could be made from the alley behind the south side of Center Street or from new zones on Oxford at Center. 

A portion of the pedestrian area can be kept free of obstacles to allow necessary access by emergency vehicles. 

If enough space were available with the cooperation of UC and the hotel developer, it would also be possible to incorporate a daylighted Strawberry Creek along the length of the 2100 Center Street block.  

A pedestrian Center Street plaza can create a strong and attractive entrance to the hotel/convention center, can generate additional business prosperity in downtown, can improve the natural environment, and can encourage more people to walk to work, school and shop. If designed to create the most walkable environment, the Center Street promenade can become the center for a substantial destination—Downtown Berkeley.  

Otherwise, it’s a missed opportunity the city will live to regret. 

Wendy Alfsen is a member of Walk&Roll Berkeley.›