Features

I don’t normally comment on projects in other neighborhoods, as I don’t like people outside my neighborhood telling me what’s best for mine. I feel we each know our area the best. However, with the “expansion” of the Berkeley Bowl I will take an exception. 

I worked many years ago with the West Berkeley neighborhood Development Corporation members Willie Smith, Margaret Breland and Betsy Morris to develop their PrideGuide. At that time my neighborhood was loosing its only grocery store and the community was actively trying to work with the company to persuade them to stay (it turned out the city had set the stage for their departure years earlier). Willie and Betsy were very interested in our progress or lack thereof because they wanted a full-service grocery store in West Berkeley. 

It’s fashionable to trash the Economic Development Office as a bunch of political/developer wannabes. But thanks to Dave Forgarty, the Berkeley Bowl agreed to move into the old Safeway store and expand to a full-service grocery store. It was a big undertaking for the Yasudas; one that gave them many sleepless nights and worries. 

Of course, we now know it’s a huge success. But there are problems with the new site. It’s so popular that shopper parking is impacting the surrounding streets and people come from out of town to buy the unusual and organic items sold only at the Bowl. Warehousing is also a problem. The parking lot is the loading dock for the store and delivery trucks arrive almost all day long. 

The need for a nearby place to warehouse items for the store, the need to be near the freeway for easy delivery of goods and the need for West Berkeley to have a grocery store neatly dovetailed into a plan to accomplish all goals. 

I have respected and taken the advice of Charles Siegel seriously for many years. But in this case I feel he is missing the point. There needs to be a better system and place for warehousing goods than the parking lot at the existing Bowl and judging from the success of the first Bowl, it would be foolhardy to build a small store. The current Bowl could be even bigger judging from all the shoppers who come. By being near the freeway, the new store will cut down on semis driving through. People gotta eat but semis don’t have to roam through town. The Bowl already is a regional draw (one woman I chatted with in the checkout line was from Fairfield). The new Bowl, hopefully, will be used by those who come by freeway and lessen the impact on the Oregon store. 

Yes, it’s possible to grocery shop on a bicycle, but not when you’re feeding a family of four. A lot of those who propose public transit or bicycle for an exclusive means of travel don’t have families and have extra time to go to the store three or four times a week. This is a luxury working families lack. And, IF you feel parents of families should be shopping by bus, take the 51 through Alameda to see how horrible an experience THAT is for both the shopper (watch the eggs) and fellow riders. 

Lastly, I served many years on the Environmental Commission and the Ecole Billingue would occasionally complain about development in that part of town. Unfortunately, the school should not be located in the area. It is highly polluted by the manufacturing/industrial residents and exhaust from the freeway. That this project will add more traffic and exhaust is inevitable, but for the sake of a part of town that has been wanting a grocery store for over ten years and a green grocer who succeeded in providing quality, low cost food beyond his wildest dreams, the school should not be allowed to derail this project because they located in the wrong place. 

b